Post Election Ponderings

I am glad the election of 2006 is over. Sometimes the campaigns are interesting to watch but by election day I have usually had such a fill of campaign ads that I am relieved to see it all pass. The election did not go well for the Republican party. President Bush has been left a lame duck President. He will face a hostile Congress for the next two years.

Already the blame game has started. It was the war in Iraq. It was the President's unpopularity. It was this, it was that ... everybody is sure it was someone's fault. Certainly the Democrats offered us nothing of substance. Certainly, a series of scandals among the Republicans close to election day hurt them. But the Republicans built up a voter base of Christians by portraying themselves as common people who share a common set of values and morals with other common people. But, as election time drew close, the Republican Party gave the common people reasons to question whether that was really so.

And let's not forget the nay sayers who have already begun to appear. Now, I will tell you the truth ... when Democrats propose legislation, they always seem to propose things that attack my morals, values, and worldview directly. That is just me. But the naysayers are out there and they are offering us a smattering of what is coming. Homosexual rights/marriage, more pro-abortion legislation, higher taxes, less personal rights and on and on it goes. It is enough to make you want to move to another country. Almost.

I would offer this about the election in retrospect. It is a different world today than it was Monday. Scandals and immorality have rocked the Republican Party and they paid for it. But we have a party rising to power who favor anything goes as long as it breaks new ground in libertarian freedom. People can blame each other, or themselves, or God but how about we look first to the Church.

The Bible says "Judgment begins at the House of God." If the politicians are immoral, if the nation is immoral, if good is being called evil and evil is being called good, is it not the people of God who are to blame first? Where is the prophetic voice? Where are the people of God? I will tell you. By and large, the people of God are just as immoral as they nation around them.

It is time we took this election (and the state of our nation in total) as a wake up call to look hard at ourselves. John MacArthur has said that "worldliness" is not a topic you hear preached about much these days. We are too busy being told that God wants us rich, healthy and prosperous. God has a wonderful plan for your life and it includes being happy and living with a good positive self image. It is time we learned again of sacrifice and commitment. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." We need people willing to give it all up for Jesus ... modern day martyrs. We need people who have counted the cost and who will pray "Lord, search me and try me. Show me if there be any wicked way in me." and then be willing to act when the Lord shows them. We need to learn again of sackcloth and ashes and real repentence and fervent prayer. We need a rebirth of holiness in the Church. And then, and only then, will we be ready to make a difference in the world around us.

If we want to see a more moral America, we need to see a more moral Church first. If we want to find an honest politician, we need to first find an honest Christian. Before we decry the lack of prayer in public schools, we need to repent over the lack of prayer in Christian homes. You see change begins with us, the Church of Jesus Christ. THAT is what I think we need to learn from Election 2006.