Voting - Why Bother?

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. We've been up and down in so many different ways. We're seeing so many things that we have never seen before, and it looks like the year is going to end that way. In that, our presidential election, the 2020 presidential election, as of today, November the 4th, when we're recording this message, there is no winner. The outcome is still yet to be determined, and there are things out there being said.

It could take days or it could take even weeks before we know. And so, again, things are wild and crazy right now when it comes to the election. But we are going to talk today about, when it comes to Christians again, what the perspective should be. My name is Brian Thomas, and I am so honored and delighted that you are joining me today. I'm being joined by my lovely wife and co-host.

Hello, I'm Denita Thomas. And so, again, we're going to talk about the election, the aftermath of the election. And we're focusing, of course, a lot of people on the presidential election, but there are so many other offices that are being determined right now. And some still, again, the calls have not been made, but a lot of people are focusing on the presidential election. And even though, as of today, we don't know the outcome of the presidential election, by the time this show airs, you're hearing it over the radio on November the 7th, there may be an outcome at this point.

But either way it goes, there are going to be about half the people who are going to say they're happy, they're satisfied, they're pleased, and then about half of the country is going to be disappointed and upset. So you may be asking yourself the question, if you're on that side that it did not go the way, or if it does not go the way you want it, you may be saying, why bother? What's the point in even voting?

Because you say it never goes the way I want it to go. So Denita, is there a need to even bother with voting? Well, of course it is, because even as Christians, you know, that's our way of exemplifying the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's our way of sharing the gospel and making sure that we put the word of God and put God out front by expressing our faith through how we vote.

So it is very, very important. So we as Christians, we should bother. Every year though, through surveys, they find that there are millions of self-professing Christians who do not bother to vote. They do not get involved with the elections. They say politics is not of the kingdom of God, and they feel like they just don't need to get into it.

And then there are those who do, maybe reluctantly, but they say, well, it doesn't go the Christian's way anyway. But we're going to talk today about why Christians should bother because of the fact that we as believers in Christ, we are supposed to be what the Bible calls watchmen. Back in the Bible days, the cities were fortified. They had walls around them. And on these walls, there was a person who was assigned to stand watch. And the reason he did so was because he was looking out for enemies from the attack of enemies. And if he saw something out there, he was to warn the people. So and these were these were huge walls. I mean, some of these cities had walls that were big enough to actually ride a horse, horse and chariot on it.

So these were were huge walls. And there was, again, someone who was assigned to be a watchman. And the Bible gives texts or it talks about the nature of this watchman and how we as believers are also supposed to be watchmen in a metaphorical sense. Now, today, in our society, we've advanced where we have radars. So radars are our watchmen. When we are thinking about an enemy attack or for that matter, they always watching. So if they detect something on the horizon, radar will pick it up.

But in those days, they did not have radar. So we as Christians are to be like the watchmen that they had in the Bible days. So I want to draw your attention to Ezekiel Chapter 33.

Let's look at verse one through nine. Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, when I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman. When he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not worn and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

So let me start right there. So what the Bible is telling us here is that we are to be watchmen. So how this relates to voting is that when we go to vote, that is the same way as being a watchman.

Right. When we when we go to cast that vote, we are standing for biblical values. So what that means is we are making the determination that we are casting this vote for the same purpose of saying we are standing for biblical values when it comes to the word of God. And if things do not go the way we want it to go, our hands are not going to be guilty. We've done our part.

Right. So so what do you say to the person out there, though, that says, well, you know, it seems like even though I do my part, still, you know, nothing nothing goes the way in which I want it to go. It doesn't seem to be going the way of the Christian. Well, as ambassadors, I know in Second Corinthians five verse 20, we're called Christ's ambassadors. And so we are making an appeal to people that they need to come back to God. And through our policies and things that are in place or that a legislator or someone may want to take a policy or something like that, we want to make sure that those things are biblical, that they're godly. We are making an appeal to people, you know, so that they can have things in place that are godly. And so we speak for Christ when we make that appeal. And we plead his word by going and acting and voting for things that would be as closely related to the Bible as possible. And, you know, we are obligated to warn unbelievers, not just not just going and doing our vote, but also encouraging people to vote according to the word of God. And so that's our way of warning or sounding the alarm about certain policies that may not be right or or, you know, trying to help them to do their due diligence and really filter things through the word of God.

And so we have a lot of ways to act as ambassadors through voting so that people can. Can make sure that they do things in a way that are godly. So let me go back to Ezekiel 33 and let's look at verse seven. So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me when I say to the wicked, oh, wicked man, you shall surely die and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul. So that is why we should bother. Because, again, there are some people the Bible says they're not going to turn to God.

They're going to stay in their wicked ways. But at least you have delivered your soul. You can say I made an attempt.

I tried. And I was talking to a friend of mine and he was saying that he he knew of a man that did not trust any of the political parties. He says the New World Order is coming anyway.

So why bother? Now, we know the Bible says the New World Order is coming. That we know that for certain.

The Bible tells us by way of the Antichrist, the day is coming in which there will be a one world system that we also refer to as the New World Order. So we know what's coming. But what I share with him, I said, well, imagine that you are an engineer for a dam company, you know, a dam safety engineer, and your boss have told you this this dam that is used to to to hold back water for the sake of energy. You've been told that there's an earthquake that has taken place. The dam has suffered great damage and it's going to breach at some point. The dam is going to break.

He says he doesn't know if it's going to be next week, maybe even be next month, maybe five years from now, 10 years from now. But it's going to happen. So as an engineer, do you take the approach that, well, is going to burst anyway? Why bother? No, you don't do that.

No. It's like it's almost like you're saying you're throwing in a towel. You don't really care about how that outcome, whenever it does happen, impacts the people who are, you know, there at the time who could be harmed by it. And then and that's one thing that I think about is that when we go to vote, what we do as Christians and the decisions that we make impact other people.

Right. And so if we're going to allow certain things to or policies to be put in place that are harmful to our Christian brothers and sisters and even to unbelievers, then we're not doing our part. We're not doing what we're supposed to be doing because we're supposed to be as ambassadors. We're supposed to be helping to build the kingdom of God. So it is our responsibility to let people know about things, to use the gifts that we have, because God has gifted us with the Holy Spirit that indwells us. And so our Holy Spirit that is in us has a certain role that he plays.

He restrains evil. He guides people into truth. And, you know, people need truth. And we have to share it and we are able to exemplify it through how we approach things. And if we just go and say, well, whatever, or don't bother or there's no need to say anything, it's almost like you're you're hopeless. And as Christians, we are to have a hopeful tone about everything. And what you're describing that doesn't exemplify that at all.

Right. Because, you know, as this engineer that downstream there lives two million people. And your approach is going to be if you're going to be a concerned person, that you're going to get the word out to warn those people downstream.

This dam is going to break at some point. You need to get the higher ground. And you want to be feverishly, feverishly trying to get people to to get out of the way to escape. But if you take the approach, well, it's going to happen anyway. So why bother?

No. If you see that dam leaking, you're going to go and patch it up to try to hold back. You're trying to hold back that dam from bursting as long as you can. And so when we as Christians go to vote, that is what we're doing.

When we cast the vote, we're trying to hold back that dam as long as possible. And it's not so that people can't escape a flood that's going to come by a dam breach, but it's so that people can come to Jesus Christ to get to know him. Because, again, we do know the Bible says a new world order is coming. The Antichrist is coming.

Jesus Christ is coming again. And we want as many people as possible to be saved before that time comes. And the longer we can hold back the dam, the wickedness that is trying to go forward, the better it's going to be for those out there who don't yet know Christ.

And that is why it is so important that we keep fighting, keep pushing again. Just keep that in your mind that you're trying to keep that dam from breaking until all those people downstream, all two million people will go to safety. And, you know, there are going to be some hard heads out there. Yes. There are going to be some to say, no, that dam has been there all my life.

It's not going to break and they're not going anywhere. But for those who will, it is your job to try to do what you can to get those people saved. And that is why as we go back to Ezekiel in which he said that if you go ahead and do your part, God is not going to hold you responsible. But if you just like that dam engineer, if you decide not to try to warn the people, if you decide not to try to repair it, God is going to hold you responsible for those people's deaths.

Right. And just like the engineer was given a certain amount of knowledge, you're responsible for the knowledge that you have, just like you're responsible for the knowledge you have about the word of God. You have a responsibility to share it. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, it says, And we have received God's Spirit, not the world's Spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. And so what it's talking about here is that God has shared his knowledge and an eternal gift with us through the Holy Spirit.

He shares things. He gives us wisdom through his word. So we have this knowledge of him as we grow in Christ and we get to know him. And we are responsible for sharing that with people.

And just like that engineer, if he holds that knowledge to himself, he's accountable for all those lives that may be impacted when that dam does break. And so just like that engineer, we have the knowledge of the wonderful things that God has given us. So it's our responsibility to make sure that this wisdom that we get from the Holy Word is shared with everyone. And we can do that through voting, through evangelizing, through counsel and all of those things. And so we are responsible for doing that because what we do is we impact lives.

And hopefully we use that to guide people to Jesus Christ. So if you're just now joining us, we are discussing the wild and wacky roller coaster of the 2020 election that has taken place. And we're discussing why it's so important that as Christians, you do vote regardless of the outcome.

We're going to take a short break. Don't go away. You are tuned in to the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.

Just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's message. Welcome back to God First. My name is Brian Thomas, joined by my wife, Danita.

And we are discussing elections and why it is important that we as Christians vote, why we should bother voting. If you want to listen to this message again in its entirety or any other messages, you can visit our Web site, Godfirst.org. That's G.O.D. the number one S.T.O.R.G. You can also write us at God First Bible Fellowship P.O.

Box 266 Knightdale, North Carolina 27545. All right. Now, before the break, as you were talking about the fact that when we have the knowledge that God has given us, we are to share it, not just keep it to ourselves. And it had me thinking about I hear accusations from people who say those of us who believe in a pre tribulation rapture, that we say Jesus Christ is going to come and take us out the church before the tribulation. They say that we have this attitude that, well, Christ is coming back again. So there's no need to bother doing anything.

Everything is going to be going downhill and we're going to be taken away. So so why bother? So it ties right into voting because I have the urgency when I know that Jesus Christ could come at any moment. I'm not going to just sit on my hands and say, well, he's coming back, so I'm not going to vote. I'm not going to evangelize. I'm not going to help anybody. I'm going to be out here.

I'm good. No, I want to help others because I want as many as possible to go to be away with Jesus Christ. Right. And as you were reading from Ezekiel 33 before, I was thinking about as we're voting and we're voting for certain policies. I look at it as these are like not just policies, but they're also ideologies. And a lot of the ideologies out there today, they applaud sin. They may cause people to sin or they make may keep people from God. A lot of them are anti-God. And so when we are voting, you know, it's hard.

And I've heard Christians say, I'm apolitical. Oh, we are. We are political. We are part of this thing. We're on this earth. And these policies that are anti-God cause us to have to be involved.

We have to be involved in politics. And I think about 2 Corinthians 10 verses four through five. And it reads, We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. So these ungodly things or these anti-God policies and ideologies and philosophies or whatever. Those are those are the obstacles that are keeping people from knowing God. They're they're causing people to turn away from God.

They're causing people to be kind of aggressive towards Christians and everything. And so these are things that we're going and voting about. So these and it's our responsibility. It says we capture their rebellious thoughts and we teach them to obey Christ. We can teach people about the word of God and how we live. How we live includes how we vote. And so those are things. And so the word of God is telling us, because in Ezekiel 33, verse seven is giving us the command or the assignment to sound the alarm. So the question is, are you being obedient and sounding the alarm and helping to capture these rebellious thoughts and teaching them about Christ through how you live, which includes how you vote? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You're supposed to sound the alarm.

We are to want to help our fellow brothers and sisters. And one thing that makes me think about a lot of people have an attitude of when it comes to Roe versus Wade that we cannot defeat it. I haven't lost courage or I haven't haven't lost the the idea or the goal that that it can happen. And imagine that you go and vote and let's say that your vote is the deciding vote that led to a certain Supreme Court justice being appointed. And that led to the overturn of Roe versus Wade. And imagine if there was a child that was scheduled to be aborted.

But before it could happen, the law was overturned. And then the time comes when you die, you go to heaven and Jesus presents to you the person's life that you saved. Imagine how that would feel because of the fact that you took the approach of I am going to go out and vote. I'm going to do my part. I'm going to do what I can in order to to help the unborn out there. And that is why it is so important that, like you say, you sound the alarm.

You want to do everything you can so that you won't be held guiltless or so that you so that you will be guiltless. And, you know, when we think about the watchmen on the wall, there were watchmen that actually would fall asleep. And there were times in which cities got attacked because the watchmen, he got bored. He got tired.

He said, well, nothing is going to happen. I can, you know, just relax. And he would fall asleep. There are people today as Christians that are falling asleep and need to wake up. Yes. And when I say wake up, I'm not talking about the woke gospel. I'm not talking about being woke. That social gospel movement, social justice gospel movement. No, I'm talking about we need to wake up and stop sitting on our hands and get involved because your vote can make a difference.

Yes. And I like what you were saying a little while ago about how people will say, well, you use the example of when you get to heaven. And I think that's the problem with people. They're not eternal minded. They're not looking forward to eternity. How, you know, this is not our home. We're foreigners on this earth.

You know, our eternal home is in heaven or, you know, with Jesus. And I think when they when you think about your life just on this level on on earth, I think that limits you to understand your power, the power you've been given as a Christian, the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to work through you. And I think you limit you is almost like you're given a limit limitation to what God is able to do, because God can do anything.

He's still ruler overall. And I think people actually bind themselves and try to bind God by being so short minded and not being eternal minded. Because when you're not eternal minded, you you shorten yourself of having the power to thwart any kind of evil, an evil doer, their plans. You don't you have that hopeless attitude. And and how can someone else look at you and say, oh, you know, that whole Christian thing?

You know, if they if they're hopeless and all despondent like me, then why am I going to even go, you know, join them and, you know, believe in what they believe in? Right. So it's important for us to to show the power of Jesus Christ.

He puts it in you. The Holy Spirit is what's holding back the enemy and all of his authorities. And you have the power to thwart any of these evil plans and ideologies and policies. And I just think a lot of people just are short sighted and don't realize how much power they have through Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

You're exactly right. Because, again, the things that are going on in the heavenly realms and the spiritual realm that we cannot see, there's so much there and there's so much power. And imagine I want to use another analogy or another illustration about getting to heaven. Imagine you get to heaven and Jesus points to a child and he says this was the one that would have had the cure for cancer. But but this baby was aborted. But had you voted and overturned abortion, this child would have came into the world and so many people lives would have been saved. Or imagine that you're single and you desire a spouse in all your life.

You've been living and you don't have a spouse and you feel lonely, you feel empty as a result of it. You have that craving and imagine getting to heaven. And Jesus says this is the one right here that would have been your spouse had they been allowed to come into the world, but were taken out through abortion. That is why people it is so important that, again, you vote you. We are supposed to, again, not just look at him and say the dam is going to break anyway and everything is going to come to pass. We are to hold it back as long as we can to make a difference in people's lives. So, Danita, for the last minute, can you just wrap up why it is that, again, as Christians, why why people should should bother to vote?

What final words do you have? I just say that God commands us. So if he's commanding, we need to do so. He commands us to be watchmen. He commands us to to reach out and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And part of that is hope, having hope. And also part of that is understanding that he has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome anything here on this earth. And you need to tap into that power and you tap into that power by going and casting your ballot, according to the Bible. And God is waiting as long as possible before he sends his son to get his bride so that as many people can be saved as possible. So we need to use the gifts that God has given us to help build the kingdom of God as long as we are here on this earth. And I think people need to make sure that they focus on who God is and his great power. Like I said, he is still ruler overall, no matter what happens, no matter what these results are. And I think that's the great thing about it is that we know we are victorious through Jesus Christ, no matter who is in the White House. So don't be despondent and in despair, just like in Jeremiah and Lamentations.

He was depressed and recalling all the terrible things. Don't sit back recalling all the bad things of 2020 and all of those things. But what he did in Lamentations 3 verses 21 through 22, he said, Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope because of the Lord's faithful love. We do not perish for his mercies never end.

They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Focus on your hope and the power through Jesus Christ that you have and God's abilities and his wonders and how he is orchestrating the future.

We should be excited. We got a front row seat to see God playing out everything that needs to play out with prophecies and the word of God. And so we can look at his truth and his faithfulness and keeping his promises. So stand strong.

Everything will be all right. Amen. Well said. And I just want to also say, people, we tend to focus on the presidential election. But remember, there are so many levels of authority.

We have so many offices out there, even if the president is not the one that you desire. There are senators there. There's the House of Representatives. There's Congress. There's the Senate.

It's there's so many levels in which your influence can be made. So so again, get out and vote. Don't be discouraged just because something did or did not go your way. So on that note, we want to thank you for joining us this week.

Please come back again and join us next week. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God first reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our Web site, God first dot org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.