Ask Sam – What Does the Bible Say About Voting?
Episode 85
Oct. 23, 2026
Host: Dr. Isaac Crockett
Co-host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 10/23/26 To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.
Isaac Crockett:
Welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining us today, whether you’re tuning in or streaming or listening on a podcast, maybe an archive or to our app, Stand in the Gap Today app, which I highly recommend. I just thank you for listening to this program and we have a lot to discuss. We are in a crunch between now and the first week of November. We are going to have a lot of voting going on. There’s the midterm election coming up and there’s early voting maybe already started in your community, in your state, maybe about to start. And as we get closer and closer to that, what is it, November 3rd, we have a lot to happen. As this election approaches, we’re going to hear tons of information about lots of different candidates. The political parties are going to go crazy, pushing their advertisements, and we’re going to hear the importance of voting.
But the questions that I want to look at is what does the Bible say? Does the Bible talk about voting? How should Christians evaluate the choices they have and what responsibility comes to a Christian with casting a ballot? There’s those questions and many more, but with that, I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and we have our show’s regular host, the honorable Sam Rohrer is here to answer some of these tough questions if we can find the time for all of them. Sam, you’re bringing a biblical worldview to this as well as decades of experience in elected office and working with this stuff. So thank you for joining and I hope you’re ready to be put in a hot seat.
Sam Rohrer:
Well, Isaac, this is a great topic. It certainly is relevant. And as we know, and we talk about in this program, does the word of God speak to issues such as voting? Yeah, it does because we know that the word of God speaks to all issues of life.
Isaac Crockett:
Well, as we’re looking at political parties, political candidates, just maybe a quick question, what should be the primary question, most important question front of mind with Christians as we’re thinking about a candidate?
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. I’m going to start very basic here. I’m going to give you a short answer and then we can take and expand upon this, Isaac. And that is this. When you say, what is the most important question that Christians should consider as we’re talking here now today about candidates, whether we vote for them or we don’t vote for them or political parties, whether we align or we don’t line or whatever. So here’s where I would start with. Since God’s word speaks to all issues of life, we know the Bible has an answer. The question is, are we going to go there? And we are going to go there as we go into the program. But here’s the question. And I thought about this. Is there any aspect of a believer’s life, any choice that we make and any aspect of life from a financial decision to a home building decision, what do we add onto our house or we don’t or how we educate our children or all these things.
Is there any aspect of a believer’s life where the question is not this, will my decision glorify God? That’s the question. So how do we know what glorifies God? Well, from the word of God and the very words of Jesus Christ. And so that’s what I’d say when we vote, when we consider anything that we hear about how we are going to make a choice, the question is, will that decision glorify God? What does God think about it?
Isaac Crockett:
Well, Sam, we have such an amazing country that we live in and the opportunity to vote and to be involved, something that I don’t know how many of our forefathers had those opportunities back when scripture was being written. And so sometimes we think about voting, it’s not necessarily black and white in the New Testament somewhere, thou shalt vote in midterm elections. So you’ve kind of looked into this and you talk about it as a spiritual stewardship. Could you explain that part, how this is stewardship, very similar to what you were just talking about. Is this going to glorify God? How does that filter in then as we filter out who to vote for or who not to vote for?
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Here’s where I would go, Isaac. I believe that the Bible gives us and identifies four core biblical principles that touch on this matter of voting and I’m going to say even civil engagement. Let me give the four and then I’ll go back a little bit. The first is this, there is no direct biblical command to vote. That’s number one. Number two, voting is a civic privilege under our constitution because of that and therefore a duty associated with that. But voting is not a God granted right such as the right to life. Okay, that’s number two. Number three, choices carry consequences and we should never in our choices endorse what God condemns or in any way choose not to glorify God. That takes you back to the first question. And then number four, wisdom, discernment is required and in these days in which we live in a special alertness to resist and watch out for deception.
So those would be the four I’d put out there and I can go back. Anything you want to say at that before we go back into it?
Isaac Crockett:
Well, yeah, I think all of those are very helpful of looking at how much time we have to see how much they can ask. But if you could hit on this idea that it’s not a command to vote, it is a civic privilege, those two. Okay.
Sam Rohrer:
All right. Because I said scripture nowhere, you can’t go into scripture and say, well, thou shalt vote the here and us. There’s no even example. Scripture nowhere explicitly commands believers to vote, nor does it present the modern concept of what we’ve come to enjoy of electing civil leaders. Why? Well, because representative democratic voting as we have done it was really not a part of the Old Testament biblical world. It didn’t happen in Rome. And voting because of that cannot be elevated to the level of what we would say would be the mandate to carry out the gospel mandate as an example. And it cannot be established as a test, for instance, of Christian orthodoxy. Now here’s the second part. Voting is a civic privilege and a duty. Voting in America is a civic privilege and it becomes therefore a citizen responsibility, but it is established under our constitutional framework.
That’s the only reason in our representative republic under our constitutions is there this aspect of voting. Unlike life and liberty and freedom of conscience, voting is not an inherent creation ordered right like those granted directly by God. However, it is within our lifetime, as long as our constitution prevails in our country, a temporal stewardship, civic privilege provided by our form of government. So if we are going to be a good citizen from that perspective, we will consider well the votes we cast for those who serve us. We will become engaged in what things are done and how we become involved because in our nation under our constitution, the people theoretically, in reality, it’s not really that case too much, but we are theoretically the government and those who serve are representative of, therefore we have a stewardship responsibility. And that would be why I’m saying it’s a difference.
Stewardship, absolutely. Commanded creation level right from God, no. Take it seriously. We absolutely should.
Isaac Crockett:
Wow, this is so helpful seeing this, that we have this privilege to do this and also remembering that our elections, our choices have consequences and we must be careful to walk wisely in these days redeeming the time because of the deception around us. That’s exactly what we want to do right here today on Stand in the Gap today. All right. Welcome back to the program. We’re looking at how can I glorify God with everything I do in my life right now, particularly how do I glorify God in how I vote? We have this midterm election coming up. Every election is important. Every position is important, not just a big federal position or a state position. Local community positions are very important. And with that, I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett. I’m talking with the honorable Sam Rohrer, the regular host of this program. And we are talking about how we vote with a biblical worldview.
So let’s turn to the qualifications or responsibilities of those that we are electing, those who are to govern us. And Sam, as you mentioned, this is a civic privilege. When we say render unto Caesar, we get to have a part in electing our own Caesar, so to speak, our government in America. And one of the things that you have talked about a lot is the character and conduct of those who will be serving. And you often go to Exodus 18, and that is a really good passage for this because this is when Moses is getting godly advice from his father-in-law. And I would love to have you just go through and describe what the leaders are supposed to do, what the emphasis is here, and if you want to include any other references, but then applying that to how we can evaluate are those same things present in our leaders today.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, Isaac, let me say this again to emphasize what we’re saying. The word of God speaks to all issues of life, including the matter of what we’re talking about now, voting, making decisions, that involving those who would be over us. We are unique. Most of the world in the past didn’t elect their people. That’s why the Bible does not say about voting. However, it does share an awful lot about how we qualify people and select them. This example in Exodus 18:21 is where Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, recognizes that the civic duties of the leader of the Israelites now having come out of Israel was too much for one man and said, “You’ve got to do something.” And from that, he came to Moses and he said in verse 19 of that, “Harken unto my voice, I will give you counsel and God shall be with you.” And then he goes on, he lays out a couple of things.
“In this reality, Isaac, Jethro was communicating God’s plan early on to Moses, God’s chosen leader of his people from which God said he would establish Israel as a light to the world, as an example to the Gentile nation. “So what we have, and as believers, we go here because this is what God was laying out as a model. If you want to be blessed, if you want to get God’s blessing, you’re going to follow this. And this is what Jethro was saying. And what’s noteworthy here is that all of these things, I’m going to identify them, that Jethro laid out, and I’ll read it, centered on the matters, as you said, of character and competence. We must consider both when we think about those of whom we have any input about who may serve in positions of authority. And it’s not limited to civil government.
It could be if we’re electing a manager of an office or something of that type. It’s any position of authority, but we’re thinking civil because it’s very visible. None of them, I’m going to note here, center with considerations of how rich they were, how much wealth they had or their level of education or anything of a worldly measurement system. So, all right, what did he say? Well, what he said was here, moreover, provide from out of the people, means you have to have a selection process, able men, that’s competence, able men. Then he goes on such as fear, God, character, men of truth character, hating covetousness, that selfishness among other things, character. And it said, place them over the people. And then he lays out leaders of tens and thousands. And that’s where we get in our government, the aspect of representative government. That’s where it came from right out of this passage.
So Isaac, so that’s where it went. So it’s a matter of competence and it’s a matter of character. And by the fact that this was done, it means that we are in fact able to qualify people and we should always think in terms of is he even qualified and competent? And then how has he been living in his own life? Okay. If I can, I’ll go on one other place. This passage is then referred to many places in scripture and looked back to. Moses in Deuteronomy 1:13 looks back and he says how he implemented Jethro’s advice. And he said, “Choose wise, understanding and knowledgeable men from among your tribes and I will make them heads over you.” All right, it was referenced there. Deuteronomy 16, 18, and 19 it was. It was referenced in two Samuel 23: three, two Chronicles 19: six and seven. And it goes all the way up through even to the New Testament where the same thing applies to the early church leadership where it talks about selecting qualified men, where in Acts six: three says, “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, character, full of the Holy Spirit, character, wisdom, character, whom we may appoint over the business.” And then there are other passages as well.
And they also go and say that this passage was referred to and embraced by our founders. And John Adams talks about, and people have heard this many, he said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. A general virtue is necessary to support a Republican government.” And he goes on to say, “Our government’s only made for a moral and religious people.
Other things go on and talk about electing people and putting people over us who meet these criteria.” So that could go on and on. The early preachers, the early preachers in the days of the pure early country cited this passage and made very, very clear that if God were so to lift up this country and allowed the people to choose their leaders, they needed to choose leaders with these characters, competent and with character so that God could bless. And if they put into office people who failed in that area, God would bring judgment. So I’ll just stop there, but it’s so clear without, we’re not picking something out of scripture. It’s there. It was followed throughout the history of scripture. It was put into place and recognized by those who founded this country, both in the civil position and by the pastors who preached the word.
It has not changed. What I think is the problem, Isaac, is that we don’t hear this kind of thing anymore and we think that we’ve got it all figured out and don’t have to go back and compare what we do and the people that we select in light of what God said was the way to do it.
Isaac Crockett:
So Sam, this is not some obscure passage then in Exodus 18, Jethro is talking to Moses about representing the people ultimately he says before God and God hears the cases so to speak. And then as you pointed out throughout scripture, Old and New Testament and throughout the founding of our country. Well, there’s another passage I want to talk about that Paul wrote, Romans 13, and this is one that we go to very often for a biblical understanding of authorities as servants of God over us. What responsibility does that passage give civil government and could you just kind of explain how that should work into our expectations when we vote?
Sam Rohrer:
Yes, I can. In Romans 13, Isaac, God lays out there in the verse one of chapter 13 that God sanctioned, ordained, it says, literally ranked in order all of authority. That’s where we get a biblical worldview of authority, not preached hardly at all today, but it’s essential because unless a person in a position of authority understands that God is ultimate authority and judge of the earth as our founders did and they called the judge of the earth, they hear the rectitude of our cause, unless that happens, there’s no sense of accountability. Unless a person recognizes that God established it all, he is the one who laid down the rules and he is the one to whom we’re going to be accountable. No one in a position of authority from civil authority to an employer to frankly parents in the home will exercise and do what God says and therefore be blessed.
Now what is said in that passage in Romans 13? Well, it refers to any position of authority, any, but including civil government, certainly ministers of God. Well, that’s the word diochanos, which we get deacons. So those in positions of authority in God’s plan are the deacons who serve God. They’re servants of God. Well, what does that mean? They need to know what God says in order to execute and carry it out. Then there’s another piece right there. It talks about effectively that those in office are servants of the people. So when we use that word, we’re servants of the people. Oh, well, where’d that concept come right there? So they’re diacanos, servants of God vertically, and then they are servants to the people horizontally. And then in verse six of Romans 13, he uses another word minister of God. It’s a Greek word like Torgos.
It’s not Dioganos as a deacon. It’s like Torgos, literally leader in worship. So if you want to know a person and evaluate a person on whether or not they fear God and are doing the things that God will bless, they will not lead you to think about them. They will lead people to think and direct them to God. Leader in worship, literally leading people to God. Why? Because they’re the servant of God. And if they get it upside down and they’re a proud and arrogant individual, they will call people to look to themselves, not the God you know they are not a person who fears God. There’s a lot more that we could say, Isaac, but that’s the framework and therein lays I think the framework to judge and determine people, their policies and their character. And I’m going to say character precedes conduct, not vice versa.
Isaac Crockett:
Sam, we are covering a lot of ground. We still have a lot more to go. We’re going to take a quick time out to hear from our partners. When we come back, you don’t want to miss this. Sam is going to give us a nine point voting checklist, a biblical worldview to approach and evaluate what we’re voting for. All right. Well, welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett talking with the honorable Sam Rohrer, a regular host here. And we are talking about a biblical worldview when it comes to voting. And as Sam, as you’ve pointed out in Bible times, this idea of a representative republic that we have, it didn’t exist like we know it in our day and age. And yet the Bible does have a lot to talk about when it comes to voting and those who govern over us because ultimately this goes back to the first question, which you said is the most important thing to ask.
How do I glorify God? Does doing this glorify God? Does voting in this election glorify God? Does voting for this candidate glorify God? And we’re looking at this civic opportunity and responsibility as stewardship as Christians. And so Sam, this has been very helpful, covered a lot of ground, but I want to get into a very, very helpful checklist that you have come up with. You were in the legislator for decades and when you were serving in that way, you had to vote on a lot of different things. And so you with some other Christians came up with a checklist, a biblical worldview approach to evaluating policy and people. And so I just want to leave you the time to take as much time as you need in this segment to go through your checklist. If there’s time left over, I always have lots of questions for you, but could you kind of walk us through this checklist for evaluating legislation or in our case, as we evaluate who we should elect to make our legislation?
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Absolutely, Isaac. And just a hair of background here. I went into office in 1992. I went in as a believer. I knew a lot of scripture. However, when I got into that setting, I was not able to actually have in an orderly form what I say would be a comprehensive evaluation to help me in my votes. Now when you’re in the legislature, you’re in Congress, however level it is, all you do are make votes and you make thousands of them. And I made thousands of votes over my time in office. Well, it’s easy to think that, well, nobody’s going to remember what you vote, so it doesn’t make any difference. Well, in reality, when you’re in the legislature of Congress, your votes are recorded. So I can go in and find out how Benjamin Franklin voted when he was the speaker of the house in Pennsylvania.
It’s all there to take some digging, but it’s all recorded by law. But most people don’t remember, so most people in office say, “Well, who cares how I vote? And I can explain it this way or that way.” But a believer in office, a minister of God who is in office, cannot approach his votes that way because we know that God does not forget and God does record. And though I may fool people, I will never fool God. And I’m going to give an account to God when I stand before him, which we all will. It was that thinking, that worldview application of principles, Isaac, that led me to say, “You know what? We got to do more than just say, well, I think I’m voting biblically and I think I’m voting constitutionally. We take an oath to vote to support the constitution. So are we?
Are we not? Well, that was the motivation and the genesis that then caused me to align with a few other believers that were there to say, you know what? We ought to take and put something of this into a model, a checklist, which is what it became. And it was to help us to determine when we needed to vote no and when we could vote yes. And that was a big deal. So here’s where we went. So we called this, and I still call it this, it’s a biblical worldview aligned approach to casting a vote. And there’s a whole aspect of scripture that talks about why we ought to be more concerned about our yes votes than our no. No, we say no to those things that are wrong. Yes, we say those things yes to what God says is right. Very much like Joseph, when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he said yes to God.
No, I cannot do what you’re asking. Why? Because I would sin against God. That’s the thinking in a biblical worldview would cause all people to think that way. So here’s the first one. First question, first priority should be, is it moral as we’re dealing with law? Is it moral, what we’re even talking about? Does it strictly align with God’s moral law or does it promote or endorse sin? So that’s the first place. God’s at the top. Is it moral? Secondly, is it constitutional? We went there because everybody in office in America take an oath to support the constitution. They better be asking themselves that. Does it respect the oath of office and stay within jurisdictional limits? We hear many, many people say, “Well, we’re in office. We can do it.” Well, you can do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. So you constrain yourself morally.
First, what does God say? And then secondly, constitutional. Third is, does it preserve freedom? All right. Many things happen and it’s kind of like, well, wait a minute. If I pass this, if I vote for this, does freedom as defined by God, the constitution, is it enhanced or not? Does it protect individual responsibility or does it expand government control? That was the third question. Does it preserve freedom? Fourth, does it strengthen the family? Well, because of the importance of the family and God’s word, and we say the family is the bedrock of society. The question is, does it protect and support the traditional family? We intentionally worded that way, father, mother, children, or does it undermine God’s design? Well, we see that happening all the time, right? Number five, is it for the general public good? And this is where we see it being abridged all the time right now.
And that is, does it serve all citizens impartially or does it bow to special interest? This is happening all the time, Isaac, where lobbyists get their way and certain people are favored over another. That is wrong constitutionally. It’s wrong biblically. Number six, is it necessary? There are a lot of things that come before people to vote in office and it’s okay, but is it necessary? Is it a essential function of government? The only reason the federal government’s involved in welfare and food stamps and all of that was because it wasn’t there. They said, “Well, they didn’t ask that question. That’s a function of the church. It’s not a function of government. Okay. Number seven, is it at the proper level of government?” Well, because we are a constitutional frame to government, states, and then the federal government was supposed to be weak and the state’s supposed to be big.
The question is, “All right, if I’m going to pass a law, what does it do? Does it hand over state authority, what should be done at that level or the local level and give it to the federal government?” Those kind of questions, okay, I think people can get the idea of that. Number eight, is it efficient and effective? There are things that are proposed and some of them may actually deal with a good issue, but the question we ask was, is it a wise, responsible, and workable solution? Now, it may not be immoral. The thing may not be immoral. It may not be unconstitutional, but discernment means being able to choose between that which is okay. So is it a wise, responsible, and workable? Plan it out. What happens when you implement this law? What takes place two years down the road, five years down the road?
You have to think those things. And then number nine, is it fiscally responsible? And not only takes you back to this, do we have the money to pay for it? Can it be paid for without placing an unjustified, unrighteous debt burden on future generations? Why are we having $40 trillion in debt? Because these things were never followed and those who voted for them never cared about asking these basic questions. And so what happens? Theft. Inflation happens. Talked about it in a program yesterday. When these things happen by votes of those in Congress and presidents who support it, well, what happens? We end up going in debt and when we go in debt, we become the servant, the borrower becomes servant to the lender. Our nation is now in debt, so are our people. And it’s only because the right biblical questions and the things we laid out were never considered and just shoved it off.
Who cares? Let the next generation care for it.
Anyways, you get the idea. I’m going to stop right there. Those are the nine, but you can also, we used it to evaluate our votes. And if a vote did not meet all of those criteria, we voted no. And we told our leadership, you’re not going to get a yes vote out of us unless all of these things are met. And Isaac, we can evaluate people by whether or not they’re willing to support these things and we can evoke policies and votes that are made by whether or not they did. We didn’t come up with these. These are universal, but come right off the pages of scripture and constitution.
Isaac Crockett:
We have a very helpful list. Sam, in the little bit of time we have left in this segment, how can a regular voter, a normal citizen use these questions when evaluating ballot measure or a candidate or something, especially when campaigns maybe don’t give all of the information that we want to hear?
Sam Rohrer:
Well, what we did was we ran on it. We had people who ran them. We’d say, look, if you elect us, this is how we’re going to cast our votes. And therefore you held yourself accountable. And so as voters, we told people, go to those that you’re going to vote for. It’s easier to do it on a local level, but you can do it to congressmen and senators and just say, “Hey look, will you commit to making your votes according to these criteria?” And if they say, “Oh no, I can’t do that,” well then don’t vote for them. They’re not worthy of a vote because they will not reflect the fear of God or God’s standard and the practice for what ought to be in office. That’s one way to do it. And then if somebody’s already in, well then just say, “Well, how do they measure up against these things?” I would measure them by character according to how Jethro laid it out.
I mean, do they fear God? And then do their votes, and you can get their votes, how do they line up with these things? Take some work, but it can be done.
Anyways, the more we align with God’s word, the more blessings that God will give.
Isaac Crockett:
Amen to that. We’re going to take another quick time out to hear from our partners when we come back to wrap things up. We want to talk about some of these difficult choices, but ultimately we want to talk about keeping our confidence in God. That’s what it’s all about. We’ll be right back on Stand in the Gap today. Welcome back as we wrap things up. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett talking with Sam Rohr, and we’ve been talking about a biblical worldview when it comes to voting. Sam, after we went through that checklist you gave us, as you know, I always have questions. Now I have lots of questions for you. So I’m going to try to focus this in, but before I get into questions for you, I’m just going to repeat that checklist that you gave us that you came up with when you were a legislator.
Number one, is it moral? Number two, is it constitutional? Number three, does it preserve freedom? Number four, does it strengthen the family, biblical traditional family there? Number five, is it for the general public good? Number six, is it necessary? I wonder how many of our laws would never go into place if they could just say it’s necessary. Number seven, is it at the proper level of government? Number eight, is it efficient and effective? And number nine, is it fiscally responsible? Now Sam, you talked about that in the last segment, but one of the things you talked about as you explain that, how it works for us as we’re evaluating candidates, it kind of made me think of this question. What happens when we feel like we have to choose the lesser of two evils? How do you distinguish between, hey, everybody that I vote for is a sinner before God, we’ve all fallen short and come short of the glory of God.
That versus maybe there are two people who really are opposed to biblical, this checklist that you’re talking about. So what happens when both candidates, maybe there’s just two candidates to vote for, both of them seem to be endorsing something that scripture condemns. What should a Christian do when they feel that none of their choices will really meet these standards that have been outlined?
Sam Rohrer:
I think I would go back and say, again, as we started, what is the question that we should ask in all decisions? Will this decision, this choice, votes are choices? So it’s a universal biblical principle that applies to everything that we choose to do. And that is this, all right, does it glorify God? All right. Now, as we’ve just gone through, God’s word takes and lays out the competency standard, the able men recognized throughout scripture, the character traits, and we’ve looked quickly at those, some of them. So then based on that, if that is what God says is required for him to bless, because all through the Old Testament it says that God will bless those who fear God and the nations who fear God and keep his commandments. Well, commandments are also principles of what God’s word says. So if a nation says, “We don’t care what God says, we don’t fear God, we think we’re God.
We don’t think that God is the author of truth. We think technology and AI is truth or whatever it may be.” You get the point. When people begin to say government is God, government tells you what to do, does not point people to God’s eternal truth, well, then that person would fail the test. Jethro would have never recommended the principles. And as Moses said later in Deuteronomy, he went and he did what Moses said and they chose among those people. So anyway, so here’s the bottom line. That’s the question. Does it meet God’s criteria? No, it doesn’t. None of those people, anybody on this earth, on this side of eternity are perfect, obviously, but that’s not the question. When that thing comes up the lesser of two evils, I’ve often battled with that as a mentality because, well, evil is not the same thing as being a sinner.
And I think it is wrong to say, “Well, here are two sinners and both of them are evil.” That’s not true. All of those that we would select and put over would be sinners, but where do they stand before God? They’re character. Okay. So does it glorify God? Does it meet God’s standards? And that’s where I would start. And to that extent, if I were then to, because the Bible tells us, Isaac, when the righteous, those who meet God’s criteria, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. “Okay, what is that? Well, that’s because people there who recognize they fear God, they make choices according to God’s word, righteous. And then particularly if they know Jesus Christ by putting their faith and trust in him and become a true understanding disciple of Christ, a minister of God in the truest word who knows who God is, well, then they would qualify for a vote.
But I don’t find anywhere in scripture that if you actually have two evil people, I put it this way, a Hitler and a Stalin. If those were my choices, would God expect me to vote for one of them because one’s slightly better than the other? No, Isaac, I think we have been fooled into this false thinking that if by pragmatistic or pragmatic thought we can convince ourselves or tell somebody that I am better than so-and-so. Well, based on what? Because I’m a Republican, he’s a Democrat or because I’m an independent or I’m a libertarian, whatever it may be. What’s the basis for I’m better? It’s God’s word. It’s God’s word that determines if anyone is actually better. So that’s where I start. That’s how I believe a believer ought to look. God’s given us a standard and if no one meets those qualifications, it is not a sin to not vote.
No, as a believer, should we just not vote? No. We covered at the beginning. We should be a good steward. We should be engaged. We should be checking as to those who are qualified or not. But I think in America, Isaac, the church has lost its saltiness by buying into this line that, well, just think if this person didn’t get in, just think of the alternative. Well, that’s deceptive thinking. That’s not the choice. What does God say is qualified and a qualified person that he can then bless as he said he would as Jethro told Moses? I think it’s a whole different way of thinking about it and it’s thinking biblically, not pragmatically.
Isaac Crockett:
Well, Sam, we are almost to the end of this program. You started out by talking about this idea that our vote is part of our stewardship as Christians. And again, so many questions we didn’t have time to get into today, but I just want to give you a chance to follow up with any words of encouragement you want to say in summarizing that, about putting our confidence in the Lord through that stewardship that you’re talking about or anything else you want to say. And if there’s time, maybe even closing us in prayer. I know we’re coming to the last few moments here.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Well, one of the things I would throw out here is that in all aspects of a believer’s life, Isaac, we are told we either walk by faith or we walk by sight. The tendency is to walk by sight where we can control something, not by faith. Walking by obedience to God’s word when we don’t understand all that he may have there is walking by faith, not by sight. The world is a walking by sight location. The world always and the world’s system is in opposition to the God of heaven. We are in this world, but we are not of this world. We are ultimately citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And one day that kingdom will be here on earth when Jesus Christ returns with us as the church at the end of the tribulation period. Then that time is when we will see for the very first time, righteous kingdom.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Until now, we fear God, we follow his commands and we trust him to carry out the results because ultimately at the end, he raises up nations, he puts them down, he raises up leaders and he puts them down.
Isaac Crockett:
Well, thank you so much, Sam. Thank you for listening to us today. Please share this program with somebody else. Pray for us at the American Pastors Network, stand in the gap today. And until next time, stand in the gap for truth wherever you are.
Recent Comments