Trump: Should a Christian Vote for the “Lesser Evil”?

By Doug Newman – email me here.
Here I am on Facebook.
If you would like to publish this elsewhere, please just link to this URL as I update my articles somewhat frequently. Thanks!

Posted at A Call to Paul and Freedom4um.



“Pretend with me that you’re an old German on your deathbed today. Would you rather tell your grandchildren, ‘I voted for the Nazis because they seemed better than the Communists and no other party could win’? Wouldn’t you rather be able to rise up and say, ‘I publicly denounced the Nazis and the Communists? We were a minority – 1 or 2 percent – but we stood up for the truth and we were right! We proved not all Germans were mindless torchbearers for tyranny! We were ridiculed, we were beaten and jailed, but we saved this nation’s soul. Now children, go and live your lives in a way to make me proud’?” – Vin Suprynowicz

“When Christians entangle themselves with the kingdoms of the world, they become worldly in the very worst way.” — Pastor Gregory Boyd

“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” – Galatians 4:16

spurgeon 2 evils

In every election, American Christians are told that they have a duty to vote for the lesser of two electable evils. The election of 2016 is no different.

There is nothing Christian whatsoever about this way of thinking.

Christians are not to choose between evils:

  • “Abhor that which is evil” – Romans 12:9
  • “Abstain from all appearance of evil” – I Thessalonians 5:22
  • “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity” – Psalm 141:4
  • “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” – Proverbs 8:13
  • “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” – Ephesians 5:11
  • “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God.” – III John 2

But what if the only electable candidates are evil? Christians are not to do things just because the majority of the secular world does them.

  • “Be not conformed to this world” – Romans 12:2
  • “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil” – Exodus 23:2
  • “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” – Revelation 18:4

A few historical thoughts:

  • In Germany, in 1933, the two most “electable” parties were the Nazis and the Communists. For which of these did German Christians have a “duty” to vote?
  • In its first few centuries, Christianity was an outlaw religion and Christians were ruthlessly persecuted. Did they take sides in Rome’s politics? Did they get their undies in a bunch over every last secular political squabble? Did they hire attorneys from the Roman Center for Law and Justice every time some petty functionary said they couldn’t pray? No! They forged ahead and lived out their faith in defiance of Roman law. And by relentlessly exhibiting the “fruit of the Spirit”, they spread the Gospel far and wide and Rome eventually fell.
  • While not all of the Founders were Christians, many were. Instead of taking sides in British politics, they appealed again and again for King George III to cease and desist from evil.  And when they had finally had enough, they said, far more eloquently than I ever will, “We don’t think so.” They then separated from Britain.

voting for lesser evil

Jesus said that we shall know people “by their fruits“. Donald Trump’s spiritual condition is ultimately, as always, between him and God. However, the fruit on the Trump tree is that of a full frontal moral reprobate. Christians are supposed to be salt in a world of decay. How do you expect to fight moral rot by electing someone who:

As this one blogger so eloquently puts it: “By saying the irresponsible, mean-spirited, ignorant things you say so freely and so frequently, you’ve given other like-minded people license to do the same. You’ve opened up the floodgates for our corporate sewage to flow fully. People no longer conceal their vile mess, they now revel in it, they broadcast it and retweet it.”

Yes, I know that God often uses imperfect people as part of His Plan. He let Obama become president and He just may well let Hillary become president. However, he does not require that Christians support such people.

However, over 75 percent of white evangelical Christians plan on voting for Donald Trump for president.

trump when they came

As if his personal history weren’t vile enough, here are several of his political positions over time:

trump-obama mashable

And then there was Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in which he said, among other things:

  • “I am not going to let companies move to other countries … without consequences.” What would that look like in real life other than a whole new level of economic nanomanagement?
  • “The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.” How’s that going to happen. Martial law, perhaps? Fighting crime – which, by the way, has fallen in half since 1995 – has always been the duty of state and local authorities. Your local cops cannot prevent someone from holding up a liquor store, so how can one man in one office keep 320 million of us safe?
  • “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” This is not the language of a president of a constitutional republic, but rather of an aspiring dictator.

trump NotElectingPastor fbc

It has been said that supporting Trump because you are angry at the political status quo is like sleeping with a crack whore because you are angry at your wife. It is an exercise in total recklessness.

If you think that the future of this country hinges on putting one person in one office, or keeping another person from holding that office, you are not thinking like an American and you are certainly not thinking like a Christian. If anything, you are thinking like a North Korean.

trump-sanders-kimjongun

But he’s not Hillary. Is it humanly possible to set the moral bar any lower? Indeed, this is not a moral standard whatsoever, but rather a total rejection of morality that deems anything permissible as long as “he’s not Hillary”. In 1980, it was “he’s not Jimmy Carter.” In 2016, it is “he’s not Hillary”. In the future it will be “he’s not ______”, with ______ being worse than Hillary.

And if you still don’t get it – and I don’t say this for the wrong reason – go back and read this article again. If you can’t see beyond Trump vs. Hillary, you have absolutely zero discernment. You are being played like a piano. You are not required to choose between arsenic and cyanide when numerous alternatives exist.

Being in total denial about your candidate’s past is not just a liberal’s disease.

If Charles Manson were the GOP nominee, I have zero doubt that millions of professing Christians would rationalize away their support for him  by pointing out the Clinton body count and saying things like “but he was only responsible for seven murders”.

In Acts 1:6-8, the Apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” They wanted Him to restore Israel as a political state and throw off the shackles of Roman oppression. Instead Jesus called on them to preach the Gospel throughout the world. He knew that people needed a Savior far more than they needed a change in political regimes.

The Bible contains the word “king” almost 2000 times. Hence, Christians are to be mindful of worldly political matters. However, our ultimate call as Christians is to build Christ’s Kingdom. When we yoke ourselves unequally with a party or candidate because we are so frantic and desperate to put someone in political office or to keep someone else out of office, we exhibit the worst form of worldliness.

Source: KingJamesBibleOnline.org

Source: KingJamesBibleOnline.org

If you like the “lesser evil” why don’t you love the greater evil? If you vote for evil again and again, you have zero business complaining about the evil that is so rampant in our world. If you vote for evil again and again – and call it good – you only enable the greater evil. If you vote for evil again and again, you just scream from the mountain tops that evil is what you want. Why wouldn’t God give you evil, and give it to you good and hard?

Is evil what Christians should promote? Is promoting evil Christlike? Can promoting evil bring about good? Does promoting evil reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Shall we trade our birthright for so much political pottage? What shall it profit us if we gain the White House and lose our souls?

As Christians, our call is to serve from the bottom up rather than rule from the top down. We need to remember that our citizenship is in heaven and that our True King rules over a Kingdom that is “not of this world.” More than anything else, we need to look long and hard in the mirror, examine our own sins and hit our knees in repentance – I need to do this more than anybody.

We Christians need to place our faith in God, not politicians. And we need to fear God’s Judgment far more than we fear Hillary.


PRESIDENTIAL ALTERNATIVES EXIST:

And look outside the duopoly at the state and local level as well! There are many great candidates. And if you do nothing else, vote “yay” or “nay” on any ballot initiatives.


Still not convinced?

Also, is Trump a child rapist, or an accessory to a child rape?

evil snowden

trump different

trump hillary lesser evil 5th column

i'm going to eat you

Gotta love New Yorker cartoons.

About Food for the Thinkers

My name is Doug Newman. I live in Aurora, Colorado, just outside Denver. Food for the Thinkers is mostly about the connection between Christianity and libertarianism. Most Christians do not understand libertarianism. And most libertarians do not understand Christianity. Hopefully, this blog helps clear up those misunderstanding. Check out my old page at www.thefot.us And remember: When you let people do whatever they want, you get Woodstock. But when you let governments do whatever they want, you get Auschwitz.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

11 Responses to Trump: Should a Christian Vote for the “Lesser Evil”?

  1. Rosemary S says:

    Rand Paul is also on the Ballot in all states. And he has not endorsed Trump to my knowledge. Go Rand.

  2. Pingback: From Foodforthethinkers’ Blog | For God and Free Trade

  3. Penni B says:

    I agree entirely on Hillary and Trump. As for Gary Johnson, I could not vote for him in good conscience either, after his ‘force bakeries to bake wedding cakes for gays’ comment. thefederalist.com/2016/05/19/think-twice-before-voting-for-gary-johnson-as-a-trump-protest-vote/ (my comments are here, as well: http://www.acalltopaul.com/node/2492 and http://www.acalltopaul.com/comment/7081#comment-7081 . So I’m respectfully suggesting that one might reconsider Johnson as a Christian, especially since this would not likely just apply to the Christian bakery, but to Jewish bakeries and Muslims as well.

  4. Penni B says:

    The quote above :”When you let people do whatever they want, you get Woodstock. But when you let governments do whatever they want, you get Auschwitz.”, couldn’t be more appropriate. Paul appealed to the highest branch of Roman government, but still died in the end for his faith. As far as voting goes, I couldn’t agree more. This applies to Clinton, Trump and Johnson as well, though . http://www.thefederalist.com/2016/05/19/think-twice-before-voting-for-gary-johnson-as-a-trump-protest-vote/

    After having watched both parts of the Libertarian debate, I honestly could have voted for Mc Afee or Petersen. I cannot in good conscience vote for Gary Johnson.

  5. For Liberty says:

    I’ve heard a good number of things on Trump, but this is by FAR the best article I have read about Trump and the truths of voting for evil. I will bookmark and share. Thank you!!

  6. Pingback: Trump Hasn’t Had a Chance to Commit These Crimes | Foodforthethinkers's Blog

  7. Pingback: Freedoms Americans Have Given Away Since I Joined the Navy | Foodforthethinkers's Blog

  8. Pingback: Donald Trump and the Death of Discernment | Foodforthethinkers's Blog

  9. We live in Northern Ireland and we agree with you that voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil. We are of the opinion that Donald Trump is not “less evil” than Hillary Clinton, he is as evil as she and they are like mirror images of each other. One is on the pagan Right and one is on the pagan Left. If we lived in America we would not have voted for Trump or Clinton.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s