Save Now Ministries

BLOG with Dr. Cliff Sims - 

“Election Reflection” – Musings and observances over the last week concerning the USA’s National General Election on November 5, 2024 from a Biblical and personal perspective.

 

I have waited until some of the dust has settled to comment on the election and its repercussions for the present and the future. I beg you to give me a few minutes of your time. I promise I will make it interesting...

 

God is Sovereign This does not mean that God is “in favor” of any particular candidate, but He chooses leaders through the activity of humans to govern us in our states, nations, and principalities.

 

God had warned the Israelites in Deuteronomy that if they did not follow His commands, He would lead a foreign nation to take them into captivity. The prophet Habakkuk questions God’s purposes on this matter in his prophecy. The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others substantiated God’s word as a reminder, but the people continued to take on the beliefs and values of foreign nations and even neglected their own beliefs to their impending demise. Sound familiar?

 

Does this mean that God “chose” Donald Trump to be President? Let’s look at how God “governs” this earth from His perspective and then we can draw a conclusion.

 

First, there is no leader who rises, leads, and even conquers other peoples without God’s authority and notice. (See Romans 13:1) Daniel states in his prophecy, “He (God) changes the times and seasons; he removes kings (rulers) and establishes kings (rulers). He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things...” (Daniel  2:21-22a)

 

Daniel’s prophecy continues as his dreams (which became realities during and after his lifetime) pointed to this very fact; that God does indeed “remove” and “establish” rulers. (See also Psalm 9:15-17; 2:1-6; & Psalm 110:5...there are many other support Scriptures)

 

Benjamin Franklin said, “...the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men! And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”

 

Isaiah’s prophecy (See Chapters 44-45) point to a ruler which would come about 150 years after Isaiah who would be a brutal and dominating ruler who would sweep across the Middle East and conquer nations faster than anyone before him. Only Alexander the Great who came after him conquered quicker. Isaiah even names this person before he came into history. His name is known as Cyrus the Great.

 

However, regardless of his personality, character, and brutality, he did something that many would have thought to be out of character. He released the Jewish exiles and rescued them from captivity from the Babylonians who had destroyed Jerusalem 70 years prior. Not only that, but he allowed them to take back their precious metals, building materials, and gave them the freedom to worship as they pleased. In fact, all of the nations that Cyrus conquered were allowed to practice their own spiritual beliefs.

 

Something else interesting about Isaiah’s prophecy about this man... he calls him “HaMeschiach” which is Hebrew for “anointed one” or as we translate it, “Messiah.” Cyrus is the only person in Scripture besides Jesus who bears this title. He is called that because his leadership saved the Jews during that period of history.

 

Reasons for the outcome of this recent election...

The media, commentators, bloggers, journalists, and a host of other pundits point to the variables which they believe “decided the outcome” of this election. They range from the economy, inflation, border security to the specifics of these general variables such as rising costs of groceries, gasoline, and other consumer items which do not adjust to the stagnant wages and income.

 

The socioeconomic factors also played a part. While America is certainly a diverse country in regard to ethnicity and classes (Poverty, Middle, Wealthy) and lifestyles... even all these variables and conditions were subject to something greater which took place that decided the election.

 

The Power of Genuine Sacrificial prayer...

Several weeks before the election, genuine followers of Jesus called for prayer. While people were praying even before that call was made, a concerted effort for a call to prayer went viral (estimates indicate millions of people were aware of the call) a few days before the election. Of course, the main Scripture passage used was 2 Chronicles 7:14.

 

And while many Christians focus on the last phrase of that verse which states, “...heal their (our) land,” I truly believe most of those concentrated on the entire verse with particular attention to... “humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways...”

 

I believe that took place on Monday, November 4, 2024 at 6 PM (various timezones involved) and I spoke and heard from several who claimed to fast the entire day.  And I’m also sure that many who participated in this effort had been doing so many days and weeks prior to the election. Just as sure as God heard Daniel’s prayer and humility as recorded in Chapter 9, God was answering the prayers of his saints, many of whom were praying from a plight of desperation.

 

While many of my friends who voted differently than me, might disagree, I believe and have lived in the past three decades knowing that America has been held hostage by oppressors and special interest groups.  These were finally united in their effort almost 20 years ago by a spokesman who uttered this phrase, “...fundamentally change America...” Of course, many didn't know exactly what he was inferring.

 

While some (and these were certainly not the majority) were heralding these changes with hope and glee, it was a seething disease armed with outright lies and false hopes. These were unleashed upon America which eventually ruptured the Middle Class and further crumbled the lower classes into utter destitution and reliance upon the very government which put them into this downward spiral.

 

Now that the election is over, we see how God moved His purposes across the hearts of millions of Americans (some who may not even know him...yet!) The opposition is left scratching their heads in confusion and chaos. God allows that to happen for a reason.

 

This is not a time of gloating for those who saw their favorable outcome but rather rejoicing that God has answered heartfelt and necessary prayers from humility and repentance and raised a man not unlike Cyrus of old who has the wherewithal to make America rise again to productivity, but more importantly to be a beacon of hope to the world.

 

(sidenote) Jesus Himself was strongly persecuted and falsely accused. Some have asked, “How could a Christian vote for a ‘convicted felon?’ How soon we forget that Jesus was also a ‘convicted felon.” Perhaps the fault lies with those who believe in the lies...and in an unjust and prejudicial judicial system.

 

The Way Forward...

Remember Abraham Lincoln’s words in his second inaugural address just a few weeks before the Civil War ended and his subsequent assassination. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

 

There are those of us who have “borne the battle” with the cultural affinities which do not “bind up” nor “care for” anyone except selfish notions and lifestyles. If America wants peace, it must have a peacemaker like Abraham Lincoln was. It did cost him his life. Our current President-elect has “borne the battle” of constant hate and false accusations, which many believe to be true and exacerbate the falseness of the claims (not to mention two assassination attempts). Both sides claim “hate” and we cannot live that way. We are a broken nation. This man and his team have made promises to help “bind up the nation’s wounds.” He has already proven in the past that he can do so. When all Americans get over their hate and participate in the healing, then America will know no limits.

 

The remainder of Benjamin Franklin’s words to his speech I quoted above say this: “We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that ‘except the LORD build the house they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and byword down to future ages...”

 

So, what was Ben’s proposal to this issue? Read further...

 

“I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business...”

 

There would be those who would cry, but what about the “separation of church and state?” My answer would be that this phrase is not in any of our documents. It isn’t in the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, nor in the Constitution of the United States. That phrase is found in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association to assure them that the government would not deny the freedoms of worship to any religious body in these United States.

 

The major reason our country has come to this point today, is that many Christians who call themselves “Christians” have allowed and even participated with, fringe groups to “decide” how this country should be operated. They have found “loopholes” in our freedom to alter laws and create “new” laws to support their pagan philosophies. Many of our Ivy league colleges/universities were founded as Christian missionary institutions and were on the cutting edge of knowledge, yet now they are bastions of liberalism who defy the very reasons they exist and set themselves against the soul of America. Freedom of speech does not mean we have the freedom to trample on others and their beliefs. But, we must remember HOW America began and that if it continues to exist, should be operated upon the Judaeo-Christian values. Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Adams, and yes, even Thomas Jefferson among a host of other Founding Fathers point to Christ and His values as a foundation for the operating principles of this country in perpetuity “under God.”

 

Finally...

The opposing candidate in this Presidential election who lost both the electoral and popular vote used a “cliché” phrase from time to time during the campaign. She said, “We are not going back...” That statement is ironic because her followers have already “gone back” likening to nations who do not exist anymore because they were destroyed due to the same philosophies exhibited by her followers today.

 

George Satayana was correct when he stated: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

 

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Cliff