First Baptist Church

After two years of tireless campaigning, the 2008 election cycle has reached its end point. As Americans go to the polls on Tuesday November 4th it really comes down to one thing. Who do you believe is the best choice to represent The United States as her President. As with any election cycle there has been much rhetoric and campaign promises which voters know deep down cannot possibly be kept. The dynamics of a presidential election are quite interesting for many reasons. Each party has its faithful core which is made up of approximately 60 percent of the total electorate (approximately 30% Republican and 30% Democrat). These are basically votes the party can count on no matter what. There is also another 10 percent for each party which is very likely to vote the party line. That means approximately 80 percent of Americans are hardly swayable in there decision of who to vote for, while roughly 20% are able to be wooed to vote for one candidate over the other. Do you realize all the television and radio adds, literature, campaigning etc. is directed toward this twenty percent! As election day draws closer, that twenty percent shrinks smaller and smaller to the point that only a handful of voters have not made up their minds by the weekend right before the election. Candidates continue campaigning to try and get those undecided voters in their column, and also to assure that their supporters actually go to the polls on election day.

Did you ever wonder what it was like a hundred years ago before television when people voted based on what they read in newspapers, heard at whistle stop campaign events, or was spread by word of mouth? The media certainly had more trouble manipulating the outcome back then! Interestingly enough, the basic values of candidates were virtually the same. Their differences were minor compared to what they are now. I really believe that if abortion, for instance, had come up as an issue in the 1900 campaign, both candidates would have adamantly opposed it. I am absolutely certain neither candidate would have favored “gay” marriage, or even “civil” unions between homosexuals. Both would have been rock solid on defense, a strong but fiscally responsible economic policy would have been promoted, and there would not have been toleration of one man getting rich off the deceit of another.

Candidates will be candidates, that is for sure! No matter which year or which candidates we are going to have much of the same rhetoric. What I believe we should be more concerned about is party platforms. In this personality driven age, we hear less and less about platforms but I still believe they are important. The Democratic Party supports a woman’s right to abort her unborn baby, whereas the Republican Party supports life and recognizes the unborn baby as a person with certain rights. The Democratic Party wants to preserve the Roe vs. Wade decision of 1973 which has led to the killing of countless numbers of unborn children. Barak Obama has said he will appoint Supreme Court Justices and other Judicial nominees who will uphold this barbaric practice. He has been openly critical of Justice Antonin Scalia and opposed the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the nation’s highest court, both of whom are highly qualified men. We cannot feel confident that the definition of traditional marriage will be protected under a Democratic administration, nor do we have reason to believe America will be kept safe from those who seek to destroy us, which is a large portion of the world, especially in this age of terrorism.

When people vote for a candidate based on their pocketbooks our nation is in trouble. The bottom line is this – no matter who is elected as president this week we are going to be relatively the same financially. Gas prices will be much the same, stocks will continue in the same up and down cycles they have always followed, the housing market will continue to have ups, downs, and periods of adjustment, we will continue to pay taxes, and on and on. The real question is will we continue to move further and further away from what the Bible says is morally right and decent? Will we continue killing unborn babies, and tear away at the foundation of marriage and family? Will we continue to move toward the nations of Europe and our neighbor to the north, Canada, in the slide toward secularism?

I believe that every Christian has a responsibility to pray for our leaders and our country, encourage one another – not with more politically charged talking points but with what God’s Word says, and finally cast your vote. The outcome is in God’s hands, but we need to have made peace in our hearts that we did all we legitimately could do in order to be an active participant in the process, both physically by our efforts, and spiritually through prayer. No matter who wins this election, the fate of our nation and our world is exactly where it has always been – in God’s hands!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor