PUBLISHED: October 4, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com
Don’t stress over electoral politics. Who wins or loses the November election will not disturb God’s plan for our deliverance.
We end our prayers with “God willing,” knowing that our destiny is in the hands of a supreme being. Whoever occupies the White House, whoever controls the House, and whoever controls the Senate is a featherweight in our lives.
The sun will still rise in the east and set in the west.
The force of gravity will keep us earthbound.
The earth will still revolve around the sun and turn on its axis.
Pikes Peak and Mount Rainier will remain to be climbed.
Our children will continue to attend school and evade chores.
The calendar and the four seasons shall remain the same.
Joyful weddings and birthdays shall remain the same.
School lessons and graduation parties shall remain the same.
Taylor Swift’s extravaganzas shall remain the same.
But above all else, God and the Bible shall continue to be our playbook for peace and prosperity on earth and a seat at the table among angels in heaven.
Start with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), some of the most noble and cherished words ever uttered on the earth:
“Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
America is great because America is good. And America’s goodness comes not from its elected leaders but from its religious convictions and veneration of God. Don’t rely on me. Rely on President George Washington’s Farewell Address. In 1796, he advised that religion and morality were “indispensable supports” of political prosperity and that “national morality” could not exist without religious principles. He further explained that “virtue or morality” was “a necessary spring of popular government.”
The Farewell Address was no aberration. President John Adams similarly admonished, “[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention, amplified his religious convictions: “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental Principles of all sound Religion…”
By law, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November (Nov. 5 this year) is set for completing the voting for president, senate and house members. For a moment, the election results will seem really important for many, including the winners and the losers. Yet, judged in the eye of eternity, there’s no need to worry or bother over the results. Election Day shall pass, and Ecclesiastes will again be affirmed: “What has been will be again; what has been done will be done again — there is nothing new under the sun.”
Be assured. Your ability to climb to heaven does not turn on the outcome of voting on Nov. 5."
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