What Should Christians Do in This Contested Election?

“Pursue righteousness [and] godliness … Fight the good fight of the faith.” ~1 Timothy 6:11–12

Pastor Gary Hamrick warned in the days preceding the 2020 election that the devil is prowling around looking for a nation to devour.^[1] Indeed, our elections are a pivotal battlefield in our spiritual war. It is through our election process that we set the course for our country as we choose our new leaders.

Leadership matters to God. Leaders set our national direction, our national standards, and our national pace. Laws and leadership may not have the heart-transforming power of the gospel, but they certainly have a major impact on what the people of our nation view as moral.^[2] Already we see evidence of this in the 2020 election.

Despite having secured no more than 259 uncontested electoral votes, according to Real Clear Politics, Joe Biden is already preparing executive orders for his first day in office.^[3] Biden’s actions signal the beginning of a longer effort to reverse Trump policies. Among these is the Mexico City Policy—something he has promised to repeal—which restricts international funding for organizations that promote abortion.^[4] Indeed, the Biden/Harris administration promises to be the most pro-abortion administration in history.^[5][6] In contrast, the Trump/Pence administration has been the most pro-life administration in history and has openly admitted its goal of seeing Roe v. Wade reversed.^[7][8]

The lives of untold innocent children are literally hanging in the balance of the outcome of this election. As such, the fight over the integrity of the election is a moral fight. Not only is it a fight for truth—a defining attribute of God—but it is also literally a fight for preserving the life of the innocent in our country. Unfortunately, these souls cannot fight for themselves. Instead, they must rely upon our stamina and determination to be their voices.

Some may feel that we should accept the news media’s declared victor based solely upon their modelled projections. There is a rush to rally around Joe Biden despite the fact that six battleground states are still counting votes and are nowhere near being able to certify those votes. Moreover, as I addressed in my last article, there are serious allegations of voter fraud in these states. By no means am I interested in needlessly fanning flames of doubt and discontent. Furthermore, I am keenly aware that, given time, many of the allegations of voter fraud are likely to be reasonably explained away or eventually disproven. Nevertheless, it troubles me how many Americans are so eager for a return to normalcy that they are willing to permit news media election models to replace our Constitutional procedures and to turn a blind eye to serious allegations of voter fraud.

These are the same news organizations that over-estimated Joe Biden by about 17 points in Wisconsin,^[9] six points in Arizona,^[10] six points in Florida,^[11] eight points in Michigan,^[12] and so forth. And these abysmally inaccurate polls were not limited to the presidential race. Senator Susan Collins easily won her re-election by nine points, despite not leading in a single poll throughout the last several months.^[13] Likewise, these are the same news organizations that assured us over 100 million Americans would test positive for COVID-19 by this point, based upon modelled projections. Perhaps most importantly, these are the same news organizations that have been openly hostile toward President Trump, assuring us for years that President Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.

I wrote an entire book on the rising epidemic of fake news dominating our nation’s most trusted news media outlets. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I have a healthy skepticism toward the reliability of our nation’s news outlets when it comes to politically charged issues. Fortunately, our founding fathers did not entrust the media with verifying election results. Instead, they designed a process replete with checks and balances, demands for transparency, and the opportunity for grieved parties to seek resolution in our nation’s courts. Moreover, they expected the American public to maintain a reasonable level of distrust toward those in power, believing it would motivate the public to demand accountability.

There is nothing uncommon about allegations of voter fraud in presidential elections. Nor is there anything uncommon about demanding recounts. Hillary Clinton supported recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania four weeks after the election was called for President Trump in 2016.^[14][15] Can we all please slow down, take a breath, and admit that it is not inappropriate or unusual for President Trump to refuse to concede while there remain so many states in question?

Having said all of this, the scale of the alleged fraud in this election is unprecedented. Take Pennsylvania, for example, where numerous irregularities have occurred. It appears that Pennsylvania defied a U.S. Supreme Court order requiring that, at a minimum, ballots arriving after 8:00 p.m. November 3 be separated from the other votes. A second order was issued three days after the election by Justice Samuel Alito demanding that the first order be followed for any remaining ballots.^[16][17] And now 10 state attorney generals have filed an amicus curiae brief in support of two lawsuits challenging the Constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s three-day extension to receive mail-in ballots.^[18] They are charging Pennsylvania with an egregious abuse of the separation of powers which sets a precedent that can affect the outcome of elections, not only in Pennsylvania but nationally.^[19] Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter told the press, “The actions taken by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are one of the most breathtaking abuses of judicial authority that I’ve seen in my four-plus years as attorney general.”^[20]

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Sean Hannity that the Trump campaign has secured 234 pages of sworn affidavits of election irregularities in Michigan.^[21][22] Likewise, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel spoke of receiving 11,000 incident reports alleging election irregularities.^[23][24] To dismiss these and charge the campaign with a complete lack of evidence is ignorance of how the legal process works and of how campaigns are permitted to investigate charges of voter fraud.^[25] Moreover, one must ask why our news media is exhibiting so little interest in investigating these claims themselves. After all, the media has spent the last four years chasing every anonymous claim and telling the American public that every allegation must be treated with the utmost level of concern.

Moreover, a number of statistically improbable events are occurring simultaneously in the 2020 election. Differentials between votes for president and votes for senators of the same party are considerably off for Democrats. In Georgia the Republican differential is 818 votes, while the Democrat differential is a whopping 69,093 votes.^[26] Statistically impossible ballot dumps for Joe Biden occurred in the middle of the night in multiple states.^[27][28] Mail-in ballots have been accepted in Pennsylvania at a rate of 30 times the rate predicted by historical rejection numbers. Only 951 of 2,614,011 mail-in ballots have been rejected this year which is a rejection rate of only 0.03%.^[29] President Trump won nine of the top 10 most historically accurate bellwether counties this election, yet he is said to be losing to Joe Biden.^[30] Moreover, President Trump won both Florida and Ohio, yet he is said to be losing to Joe Biden. Historically, the candidate that has won both Florida and Ohio has won the election 26 out of the last 27 times. The only exception is 1960 when John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon–a result widely believed to be due to voter fraud.^[31]

Another statistical anomaly is Benford’s Law, although its accuracy in predicting the 2020 election has been called into question by some.^[32] Benford’s Law which is a tool used by the State Department and forensic accountants to detect probable voter fraud. The IRS uses it to identify irregularities meriting a financial audit, and Benford’s Law was used to determine voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004 U.S. elections. This statistical tool provides reason to believe voter fraud has occurred in the 2020 election. Any score below 0.05 is a statistically significant indicator of fraud. Incredibly, Joe Biden has received a score of 0.00000017 in Michigan, compared to President Trump’s score of 0.58.^[33] Moreover, Benford’s Law indicates that voter fraud favoring Joe Biden has likely also occurred in Chicago, Pittsburg, and Milwaukee.^[34][35]

Not surprisingly, the Gateway Pundit reports that Michigan Poll watchers in Wayne County have filed a lawsuit^[36] alleging that:

Elections officials assigned random ballots to people who had not voted yet, accepted ballots after the deadline, failed to verify signatures and identification of voters, thousands of unsealed and unsecured ballots arrived and were all marked for Biden, officials instructed people to vote for democrats, challenges to ballots were not recorded, and poll watchers were eventually kicked out. These allegations are backed up by sworn affidavits from multiple individuals who witnessed this rampant disregard for the laws and standards.^[37]

There is also disturbing audio from election work training classes in Detroit exposing what appears to be a deliberate and pre-meditated effort to prevent poll watchers from observing the count.^[38]

Fortunately, our election system has built into it a number of checks and balances—several of which involve the courts. Those who trust our system ought to be willing to allow it to run its course. States need not certify their election results until December 6, and electoral representatives need not be appointed until December 12. In the interim time, President Trump has every legal right—and even expectation—to demand transparency and accountability. After all, “This is supposed to be a transparent process because it’s not just who wins, it is getting people to agree that someone won,” according to George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley.^[39]

So, what does this mean for us Christians? Simply put, the fight is ongoing. We must guard our minds from despairing and from blindly accepting the projections and demands of the news media. The deck is certainly stacked against President Trump, but he still has a significant chance of legitimately winning this election according to the rules of our Constitution. As long as this is the case, we must remain fully engaged in this spiritual battle.

Remember, the election is one of our nation’s greatest spiritual battlefields. Moreover, we know that Joe Biden has promised to immediately reverse President Trump’s policies to reinstitute—and even expand—Obama/Biden-era LGBTQ policies, pro-abortion policies, and challenges to religious liberty. These are moral issues discussed at length in the Bible which hang in the balance of this contested election. Given the stakes, why wouldn’t we as the people of God fall to our knees in prayer? Until this election is certified, we have a moral obligation to blanket this election in prayer and to plead with God that He will protect our nation from a leadership that actively seeks to oppose His will and ways.

Let us pray for an election result that honors God. If corruption is occurring, then let us pray that it will be exposed. If Joe Biden won the election fairly, then let us pray that it too will be revealed. We need not protect the truth from scrutiny. Let us pray that this election will be scrutinized to such a level that we the American people are compelled to accept the results—whatever they may be. Let us pray that our system of checks and balances will be permitted to run its course as designed. And let us pray that the uncertainty and insecurity we are all feeling in this process will drive us to seek refuge in the Lord rather than political figures.