WHY CANADIAN CHRISTIANS VOTE ON JUNE 28th, 2004
June 28th tomorrow is decision time in Canada. I wonder who will be in power. Given the tight race between the Liberals and the Conservatives, as experts inform us, it seems we may have a minority government. But I will boldly predict this… There will be a majority government! How do I know? Do I have a crystal ball? Can I tell the future? No! Then, how can I predict this? Because of the majority of ONE! GOD! No matter what happens, what the results are, God RULES! He will be the One calling the shots, looking after the earth even before there was a Kyoto Accord, He is the One who will be in power.
The Bible says:
“…Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power… After all, they are God’s servants, and it is their duty to help you.” Romans 13:1-4 (CEV)
Remember this word was written in a time when the governing authorities were Romans. Just watched on CBC the other day the movie called “Spartacus.” It gave me a picture of how cruel those ruling Romans were. The slaves that dare to rebel against them were crucified on their highways, for everyone to see. Each rebel was tortured slowly to death, hung on a cross and no mercy was shown. Yet it is to these same Romans, that the Bible says it is God who gave them the power to rule, and they are “God’s servants.” To think that way in those days must be quite a mind-blowing thing. Romans as the servants of God, yeah, right! One political commentator noted this “Politicians may not know it, but they are on a divine mission to create a bit of heaven on Earth, which is why the best churches in our land give public prayers from the pulpit for our government.” Their God-ordained duty is really to “HELP YOU”
When the Apostle Peter wrote “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men…” (1 Peter 2:13,NIV) it was in the context of the brutal rule of the Emperor Nero who persecuted Christians. Yet the word of God does not say, go and organize a bloody coup, rebelled, and go kill off those God-haters. Instead, Peter tells them to do this “Show respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17). Remember it was God who put Joseph to govern Egypt to help Israel continue to exist. It was God who put Esther in place as an influential Queen to ensure God’s people did not go through a planned genocide. It was God who put folks like Deborah (Judges 5:1-7), Gideon (Judges 6:11-14), Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1-19), David (1 Samuel 16:1-13), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1-11), and Daniel (Daniel 1:4-6; 18-21)(5) in places of political power to help God’s people.
Given the fact that God rules that He places people He chooses to be in power, what’s the use of us casting a vote? Did not God’s word tell us this to submit ourselves to every authority?” What does the authorities want people in Canada to do on June 28th, 2004? Shall we heed the call to vote? Granted, that God did not say we have to vote in a democracy, but does not God’s word say for us to do good.
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be ready to do whatever is good” (Titus 3:1, NIV)
Are we ready to do good, make our vote count, to elect a responsible government, who will be God’s servants, to help us live better lives. If past elections are a trend, there will not be a whole lot of people in Canada who think their vote can do any good.
61%! That’s the percentage of registered voters who actually voted in the Canadian Federal elections in 2000. If Larry LeDuc, a University of Toronto political science professor is right, there will be a low voter turnout for this June 28 elections. He says we will slip to 58 per cent, an all-time low. Is he right? His numbers reflect what he sees as voter apathy especially among those under age 25 years. Apparently, according to a June 20, 2004 CTV report, LeDuc says "Politics is simply not part of their world. They’re not being pulled into it as previous generations were. The same CTV news report says “Like a dripping faucet, Canada is losing its electorate.” Carleton University professor Jon Pammett, agreed with stating that young voters are ignoring politics in greater numbers than ever before.
Yet according to Elections Canada as reported on last Wednesday (June 23), it seems there is an increase of 60% voter turnout in the advanced polls compared to the figures of advanced polls of 2000. More than 1.2 million Canadians had already cast a ballot! Will this mean a higher voter turnout tomorrow? No one knows but I know what we, as Christians must do. The Bible says:
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be ready to do whatever is good” (Titus 3:1, NIV)
1. We need to heed the call to election. Let us then elect a good government for Canada. Get to know what the issues, what your candidate stands for in the areas of concerns, e.g. their positions on gay-marriage, abortion, health-care, child pornography, taxation.
2. We need to be ready to DO whatever is good. The good thing we can do as Canadian Christians is to cast a vote for a good responsible gov’t that will good for all who live here whether they Christian or not.
There is no need to pray about this. We need to DO the good thing! The Bible is clear that we should not stand idly by and become a people known by their complaints or because they are busybodies.
Listen to this Bible passage:
“We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, NEVER TIRE OF DOING RIGHT.” 2 Thess.3:11-13 (NIV).
Paul the apostle was deeply concerned with the attitudes of people in the church in Thessalonica. Some were thinking if Jesus is going to come back soon, why work, why do good, why not just chill and do spiritual stuff… “whatever” attitude of apathy, “what’s the use” statements were widespread. In other words, they were idling around, like a car stuck in the gridlock of our famous Vancouver traffic jams, contributing to poor air quality and pollution.
We must NEVER resign ourselves to “whatever” or “what’s the use” apathetic attitude. “Never tire of doing right”, God’s Word says! Don’t just sit around complaining about a corrupt government that seems to covering illegal activities, now that you can, with your vote, help change things.
June 11, 2004 in the Globe and mail Lorna Dueck commented:
“Canada is a highly spiritualized country. Multiple millions believe in God, listen for God to speak, and talk to God. To deny that is to ignore current polls, weekend church gatherings that outdraw any entertainment or sport events, and the $5.8-billion that Canadians give annually to charities. Two-thirds of the population identified itself as Christian in recent Ipsos-Reid polling; the company also reported that 44 per cent of adult Canadians understand "Christian" to mean they have committed their lives to Christ -- Canadians whose faith is integrated into their lives and the way they cast their ballot.”
Is Dueck here right that 44% of adult Canadians are Christians? Wow, can you imagine then this scenario, what if every Christian were to turn to vote for the candidates that will actually do good things for Canada, and represent what is good and godly!
In February, the movie the Passion of the Christ, smashed box-offices all across the North American continent. It was bigger than Harry Potter and Spiderman movies. An impact was made. Why? Because Christians voted, with their money at the box-office, that is. We heard stories of churches buying blocks of tickets, Christians making the effort to go to the movies even for an R rated flick when they normally avoid such gory movies. Non-Christians whether they want to or not are talking about Christ. This tells me that the same Christians who voted at the box-office for a Mel Gibson movie, if they are not apathetic, can actually make an impact in our day. The success of this movie is saying something to us. Christians can still make a difference in a landscape that is anti-God.
Charles Colson in a recent Breakpoint commentary (June 23, 2004) speaking on the issue of gay marriage said:
I understand the need to be realistic about the odds we are facing—yes, it’s a tough fight. But it’s quite another thing to believe that because we don’t have the votes today, there’s no reason to fight.
I worked in the U.S. Senate between 1956 and 1960. We fought hard for civil rights bills—against entrenched segregation. Every year the bills were blocked by filibusters. But we kept fighting year after year. So did leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. By 1964 the voting rights act was passed.
And what about Ronald Reagan, whom we honored just weeks ago—the man who led us to victory in the Cold War? He dared to demand that the Berlin Wall be torn down when almost no one else thought it possible. It took years, but it happened.
Remember, too, Wilberforce and his campaigns against slavery. He had only a handful of votes when he started, but he trusted in God. He battled year after year in the Parliament, and twenty years later, an overwhelming majority voted to end that horrible villainy.
Yes, I for one, believe that Christians, today, can still make a difference! As one preacher noted: “Ultimately, genuine change comes through changed hearts, which only occurs as people respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, we do still live in a fallen, sinful world, and as we will see, God has ordained the system of civil government to protect the innocent, and to maintain proper order. The Christian life carries a prophetic voice that calls us to shine light into dark places. Jesus’ call for His people to be salt and light to a dying world covers every aspect of life (Matthew 5:13-14,) including how we vote and relate to our government. Christians are to be peaceful, law abiding citizens, (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15.) We are to pray for and honor our government leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-3,) faithfully pay our taxes (Matthew 22:21,) and to work for the highest good of all people (Proverbs 3:27; Galatians 6:10.) This includes working to promote Godly principles in politics and government (Proverbs 29:2.)
I like what Dueck says to not underestimate the value of faith, as she has, in the Globe and Mail piece, noted “It has the strength to upset the current election.”
According to Dueck, it was “Christian convictions launched our health care (under Rev. Tommy Douglas) and public schools (Egerton Ryerson); they crafted our first immigration policy, and were the root of five of the six Western reform movements. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau drew on his Jesuit education on the dignity of the person when he championed our Charter of Rights. Bible prayers are etched into the stones of our Parliament and universities. This is our heritage.”
Will we be able to preserve this heritage? That depends on how we will follow through on what the Bible says “to be ready to do what is good” as we submit ourselves to cast a vote that our country says we need to do. Fulfilling the duty to vote is really an extension of our love to neighbour. When Christians get involved and vote for a good change in society, they are putting Christian words back into the public mindset, such as hope, such as care, such as justice, peace etc.
As Dueck noted “The biblical directive to love your neighbour is at the very heart of why Christians vote.”
If we are to be salt and light to the world, we must vote responsibly, to influence our society for positive tasty change. God, I believe, has given us the privilege of voting, to salt our world, preserving it and spicing up life. Let us not waste this opportunity or take it for granted. I am not telling how to vote, but we need to be wise. Here are some Biblically mandated issues as one pastor summarized for us and they include:
Speaking out for innocent life (Proverbs 31:8.) This includes unborn children (Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 44:2, 24; 49:1-5; Jeremiah 1:5)
Confronting sin and moral decay (Proverbs 14:34; Isaiah 5:20; Jonah 1:2)
Defending the poor and oppressed (Psalm 10:2; Isaiah 10:1-2; Amos 2:6-7)
Working toward the peace and blessing of the people of faith (Genesis 12:3; 27:29; Psalm 122:6)
Meed more help? Focus on the family website (fotf.ca) has helpful tools. Click on election 2004. Use it if u are on line.
Another thing I want to say from the word of God is that Character DOES count when choosing our leaders. When Moses was stressed running low on energy as a leader (running a customer service booth, hearing complaints), he was given some wise advice to choose wise leaders to help out. We hear this in Exodus 18:21-22 (MSG) “And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men--men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible--and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. 22They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people.”
And according to the record, people were very well served this way. Does this bit give us some food for thought in how to choose wisely?
Even if Canada gets a good change, we got to remember lasting change that will bring peace, justice and true social change is when people put God first, as Jesus said:
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Let us NOT worry about tomorrow, June 28, or the day after tomorrow! Let’s do our duty, let’s start hearing God’s Word, apply it, seek Him today, get down to His priorities! #1 to Him is that we love Him, and know that He is out to look after us in a relationship of love and to love people even with our votes to make a difference. Let us pray for a God ordained government that will make Canada stronger so that the good news of Christ can be made known throughout this land safely. As we make our votes count as salting influence, doing good so, others, by God’s grace, will have the chance to know the love of God who ordained governments to help us all.
