On the Sunday morning before Election Day, the bulletin of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., included a solemn reminder: “We believe that the end of the world is approaching.”
The statement wasn’t an anticipation of the election, but an affirmation of Christian doctrine in the church’s statement of faith: On the last day, God’s work of judgment and salvation will culminate when Christ returns.
An eternal perspective was helpful at the beginning of an election week: Political outcomes are weighty, but not ultimate. Yet for many evangelicals, this election cycle has proven both weighty and divisive. Respectable leaders have disagreed.
Theologian and author John Piper recently wrote about his concerns over moral character in leaders and why he didn’t intend to vote for either major presidential candidate. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler didn’t support President Donald Trump in 2016 because of concerns over Trump’s character, but he recently explained why policy concerns motivated him to vote for Trump’s reelection this year. (Mohler is a member of WORLD’s board of directors.)
But the reasonable arguments of respected men still provoked contention in some quarters: After Piper’s essay about politics appeared online, officials at Liberty University removed a newly posted video of Piper speaking about evangelism and church planting at a recent student convocation.
Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear appeared with Piper during the convocation. He told Religion News Service he was disappointed the school had removed the video: “As followers of Jesus, mobilizing ourselves for the Great Commission is the most important thing for us to do, and our commitment to Jesus and His mission is something we can all be unified around.”
Meanwhile, voters were unified in their expectations for their candidates. A recent poll of Wisconsin voters showed that 80 percent of Trump’s supporters in the state believed he would win. Eighty percent of Democrat Joe Biden’s supporters there believed Biden would prevail.
That means a sizable chunk of American voters are disappointed. And depending on the outcome, at least some portion of evangelicals feel disappointment too—whether they voted for Trump, Biden, or neither candidate.
How can Christians respond? Jonathan Leeman, editorial director of 9Marks ministry and author of How the Nations Rage, offered this counsel when thinking about the election:
If your candidate won: “I think you, as a Christian, need to show empathy and compassion towards those fellow believers whose candidate lost, and who may be feeling a significant degree of apprehension and fear and anxiety. … You cannot lose sight of the fundamental gospel unity that we share, and the call to love those who are genuinely upset.”
If your candidate lost: “We still need to take confidence in the fact that God is on His throne, and that Jesus’ vindication and victory are certain. God is not caught off guard.”
None of this diminishes the importance of the election, Leeman added: “It’s just to say that the gospel itself and the kingdom of Christ is that much more important. So contested outcome or no, civic unrest or no, put not your trust in horses and chariots.”
Adam Mabry, pastor of Aletheia Church in Boston, Mass., wrote about the importance of truth and the anxiety over politics in a chapter of his recently released book Stop Taking Sides. Mabry doesn’t argue for diminishing truth or disengaging from politics, but he does offer a helpful reminder:
“While the world may lose their collective marbles when an election goes ‘wrong,’ may it never be so for the church of Jesus Christ.”
Mabry continues: “When you feel the nagging draw of anxiety … remember your King is on the throne already. While the outcome may change the moment, it changes neither the mission nor eternity. The world is desperate for a people who are secure enough in grace that they can flourish under Caesar, whoever he or she may be.”
Nearly 70 years ago, Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote about a time when it really did seem like the world could come to an end—the dawn of the Atomic Age. Lewis essentially urged his Christian readers to heed the British government’s advice to keep calm and carry on in the face of deep fears and potential harm:
“If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends … not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.”
Lewis added that this kind of fear and unease after a season of national prosperity could actually be a gift if it awakens Christian service and engagement with others about Biblical truth: “We have been waked from a pretty dream, and now we can begin to talk about realities.”
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