The Government We Deserve

Early Tuesday evening, it appeared that a red tsunami was rushing through Florida and threatening to overwhelm the remainder of the nation. Indeed, it seemed that every data point favored the Republicans in this election—so much so that cable news pundits on CNN and MSNBC were openly admitting that Democrats had so greatly failed in their campaign messaging, and had so ignored their constituents, that they were poised to experience a “bloodbath.”^[1][2] Nonetheless, voters awoke this morning to very different election results, which seem to defy explanation. However, before we rush to cry “election fraud!” let us ask if this is truly the message that God may want us to deliver at this time.

How did we get to this point? Last night, Massachusetts elected our nation’s first openly lesbian governor.^[3] Pennsylvania elected a senator that is incapable of accomplishing his job’s most basic and important requirements—the ability to talk and reason on behalf of his constituents.^[4] Michigan voted to amend its state constitution, so as to codify such extreme abortion “rights” that one must look to China and North Korea to find its equivalent.^[5][6] And California re-elected a governor who served as the poster child for attacking religious liberty during COVID-19.^[7][8]

Difficult as it may be to admit it, this is the government we deserve. We simply can’t be silent 364 days of the year on the very moral and social issues that God discusses at length in the Bible and then expect that we will win this spiritual and ideological war at the ballot box. We are fooling ourselves if we believe that our churches can overcome 24/7 cultural brainwashing by making a two-minute public service announcement shortly before an election. And we are fooling ourselves if we believe that we, as God’s people, can virtue signal and dilute our moral message enough to win sufficient respect from society to earn their vote.

Human nature is fundamentally corrupt (Jer. 17:9). Left unchallenged, it will only devolve into greater levels of immorality (Rom. 1:18–32; 3:11–12). The truth of the matter is that we deserve this government because we, as God’s people, have refused to resist the platforms upon which these candidates ran their races. Even when those platforms were clearly immoral, such as the abortion issue, God’s people chose to remain silent, or to prioritize other issues; therefore, it should not be surprising that these candidates won their elections. Unfortunately, this is what we get when we, as God’s people, choose to outsource the resistance effort for moral issues to talk radio hosts and grass roots activists.

“But wait!” you say, “What about election fraud?” Perhaps this isn’t the government we truly elected. Perhaps. But even this cannot absolve us of our responsibility. If we truly question the integrity of our elections, then why haven’t we been fighting for change? Where has the collective effort among God’s people been to inform others that God hates unequal measurements and dishonesty (Prov. 20:23; 6:17–19)? If we have been tasked with representing God in our culture, and if God loves equal measurements, loves justice, and hates robbery, then why have we, as His representatives, been silent about election integrity concerns (Prov. 11:1; Isa. 61:8)? If, indeed, this election was stolen, then this too is something we deserve because we refused to fight for a righteous process.

In short, as God’s people, we have failed to sufficiently resist evil in the world around us, and we have failed to sufficiently uphold righteousness where we have had opportunity. It turns out, most Christians couldn’t even be bothered to cast their vote, let alone persuade others of God’s perspective on the moral issues at the heart of this election. In my county, only 40% of registered voters participated in yesterday’s election. There are probably hundreds of churches in my county—certainly a sufficient number to deliver overwhelming results if they were all concerned enough to resist evil and to uphold God’s righteousness at the ballot box. Once again, we have the government that we deserve. If God’s people can’t even be inconvenienced enough to vote, then should we truly be surprised when immorality wins at the ballot box?

This should be the message that we proclaim above all else in the wake of these midterm elections. By all means, champion election integrity and scrutinize the vote, but don’t become so distracted that we lose sight of the bigger picture. Until we, as God’s people, determine to engage ideas and confront them with the truth of God’s Word in every aspect of our society, we will continue to be oppressed by the government that we deserve (2 Cor. 10:5).

Correction: The original reported the percentage of voters in my county at 28%. The correct number is 40%.