Proverbs 28: 12 When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory; but when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.
Proverbs 28: 12. Elections are always spiritual contests, conflicts of good vs. evil. “Good” meaning whomever you are voting for. “Evil” of course meaning whomever your guy’s running against.
At the end of the day, none of us human citizens really know what’s in the heart of any of the candidates or how those hearts would respond to the power and problems that their campaigns seek.
No. You DON’T know.
None of the candidates are perfect. None of them has a purely Christian agenda. (They’re all just kinda christian-ish.)
As citiziens, as Christians, as people who claim to care about other people, as people whose signature prayer is “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” we have an undeniable obligation to vote. It is our duty to do what we can to raise up leaders who are more likely to bend their will to the will of our God.
Our ethnic, economic, and social biases and assumptions can and do blind us. So, how do we choose? Use the criteria of Proverbs 28:12.
Imagine that a year from now, 9 months after inauguration day, the policies of the person you voted for are all, fully implemented just the way they he it in the campaign.
(Don’t imagine that the policies will have had the promised effect. Everybody promises that the effect will be rainbows and sunshine, new cars and fabulous hair for everybody. Set aside which way will supposedly fix the economy overnight and bring the world peace that both sides delusionally promise. )
Next year this time, will it be easier or harder for you to serve God the way you are burdened to serve?
Will it be easier or harder for you to respond to the homeless, sick, incarcerated, unfamiliar, and hungry with Christ-like compassion?
Will it be easier or harder for you to spread the Truth of the Bible, to exhort, rebuke, reprove, and teach as God has commanded?
Setting aside how you will personally feel about whomever wins, how will the people you do/ will serve feel about what your church is doing a year from now?
Pray and vote for the one under whom you think can save more souls and change more lives for the better.
Instead of voting based on how you want to feel the day after the election, vote based on how you want your ministry to perform a year after the election.
Choose so that the righteous (not the self-righteous) will rejoice a year from now.
Choose so that the lost have a better of being found a year from now.
Choose because what’s best for the Kingdom is what’s best for the nation.
Choose that way and your conscience will be clear before God, whichever way things go in November.
----- Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
Proverbs 28: 12. Elections are always spiritual contests, conflicts of good vs. evil. “Good” meaning whomever you are voting for. “Evil” of course meaning whomever your guy’s running against.
At the end of the day, none of us human citizens really know what’s in the heart of any of the candidates or how those hearts would respond to the power and problems that their campaigns seek.
No. You DON’T know.
None of the candidates are perfect. None of them has a purely Christian agenda. (They’re all just kinda christian-ish.)
As citiziens, as Christians, as people who claim to care about other people, as people whose signature prayer is “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” we have an undeniable obligation to vote. It is our duty to do what we can to raise up leaders who are more likely to bend their will to the will of our God.
Our ethnic, economic, and social biases and assumptions can and do blind us. So, how do we choose? Use the criteria of Proverbs 28:12.
Imagine that a year from now, 9 months after inauguration day, the policies of the person you voted for are all, fully implemented just the way they he it in the campaign.
(Don’t imagine that the policies will have had the promised effect. Everybody promises that the effect will be rainbows and sunshine, new cars and fabulous hair for everybody. Set aside which way will supposedly fix the economy overnight and bring the world peace that both sides delusionally promise. )
Next year this time, will it be easier or harder for you to serve God the way you are burdened to serve?
Will it be easier or harder for you to respond to the homeless, sick, incarcerated, unfamiliar, and hungry with Christ-like compassion?
Will it be easier or harder for you to spread the Truth of the Bible, to exhort, rebuke, reprove, and teach as God has commanded?
Setting aside how you will personally feel about whomever wins, how will the people you do/ will serve feel about what your church is doing a year from now?
Pray and vote for the one under whom you think can save more souls and change more lives for the better.
Instead of voting based on how you want to feel the day after the election, vote based on how you want your ministry to perform a year after the election.
Choose so that the righteous (not the self-righteous) will rejoice a year from now.
Choose so that the lost have a better of being found a year from now.
Choose because what’s best for the Kingdom is what’s best for the nation.
Choose that way and your conscience will be clear before God, whichever way things go in November.
----- Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
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