I’m putting this in bullet points to help you make a decision on the candidates when voting. This can be used no matter the country where you reside but there is a section that will be specific to the USA.
This ministry will never tell you who to vote for this is a decision you need to make on your own with the Lord. There are Christians and Catholics on both sides of the fence.
Mistakes Christians and Catholics make when voting:
1. We can all agree that in your household growing up your parents were heavily swayed in the direction of one party. As a result if all you heard growing up is that the other party is bad, then you enter voting at 18 years old completely skewed by your childhood.
As a result you can make a decision based on your upbringing and not one that you actually researched and came to a decision on your own.
Question: Are you still voting for the party that your parents voted for? Yes/No
The purpose of this is to make sure that you don’t have biases that you never researched on your own.
Following the same line, if you are an immigrant in the country where you’re currently voting I would venture to say you were told which party you should vote for and you too could be making a decision without any research.
2. You are voting based on selfishness not in the best interest of everyone. If you’re 50 years old and you have no children it is very easy to skip over the amendments on the ballot that has to do with children. Many people don’t pay attention to things that don’t directly concern or hurt them. This is not good because we are called to be our brothers keeper, so you should put yourself in someone else’s shoes and make a decision that will benefit everyone.
3. Shortsightedness. Following the same line of #2, at 18 years old you believe the amendments and concerns about social security or retirement has nothing to do with you. Not realizing that one day you will retire and the decisions you make now are the ones that are setting up your own future. Think long term, even if it doesn’t affect you today it is going to affect you tomorrow. It was a 6 to 1 decision in 1962 when the Supreme Court removed prayer from public schools. All these people were voted into their positions, so while the amendments on who’s in the district courts, and the your state supreme courts seem tedious to research, remember that every time you skip that you missed the opportunity to create change.
4. Revenge voting. This is the thought that I’m voting for this candidate because I don’t want the other candidate to win. Why don’t you just say that you want to vote for the person you’re voting for? If they don’t have enough for you to want to vote for them outright, using a ballot to get back at the other side is very immature. In the end if the one you did vote for wins, and then things go south rapidly, now you are left with the burden of knowing you voted for them. You’re better off not voting than voting for someone you never wanted to vote for in the first place.
5 Identity Politics and Trauma Bonding. Identity politics is when you vote for a candidate because they’re the same sex as you, race as you, gender as you and you neglected to research if this person had the same values as you. Trauma bonding is when your past hurt and pain sways your voting choices. While you may have had trauma in your past, letting it sway you in one direction or the other shows that you haven’t healed. The Bible tells us (2 Corinthians 5:17) that we are a new Creation in Christ, old things have passed away and all things have been made new, your IDENTITY is now wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Your identity is now Christ, not what happened to you in the past.
What is worse is when the politician has identified the trauma and when they need you to respond they just flip the switch and you line up exactly as they want you to. Then they go away for 4 years, do absolutely nothing for you, you make vows never to do that again, then they come back flip the switch again and you fall right back in line. What is that? They are using your trauma…and it’s working so why would they stop? You are the one that has to exit the merry go round.
6. It is not a personality competition. You don’t even have to like the person, you just need to know what the policies are and if they will actually get things done. What are the policies? What are they for? What are they against? The policies, this is what you are voting for.
Selecting the right candidate
If you took care of the previous 6 points, then you can make a very clear decision on who gets your vote because what you’ll pick up from this is voting is not an emotional decision. If you take yourself out of it and just look clearly at each candidate and the party, it is not that hard to make a decision.
The data shows that as the years roll on more and more people are registered independent. These people came from either one side of the fence or the other. What I think is happening is that when you examine the 6 points above and you become honest with yourself, you may find that the thing you held on to for years is just not true. So you start to look at it more objectively and you change, by putting yourself into the middle box (independent) and then each cycle you look at each side and make the decision.
1. When the mudslinging begins, research everything before you believe it. Make sure you don’t watch clips of things, watch everything in its context so you know why something was said, how it was said and what was the intention behind it. RESEARCH.
2 Vote the Bible. Because this is not an emotional decision only the policies that line up with the Bible matter. Period. The End. If the policies that they are backing are sins, anti biblical, then by voting for them you are cosigning on a sin. A Christian/Catholic vote and a vote from someone in the world is not the same. You vote Bible, that is what makes you different.
3. Does it matter if the candidate is a Christian or non Christian? Yes and No. Sigh. The Bible says by their fruit you shall know them (Matthew 7:15-20). So how they act and how they speak tells you who they are. What you are going to notice is that even when they say they are a Christian, most of them are not. Just look at the policies they back and that tells you all you need to know. << this is the fruit you should be looking at. Growing up in a Christian household and being a born again believer in Christ is not the same thing.
With that said, in the Bible there were many times when God used non believers for the benefit of His people. So then, the most important thing will be the policies that the person endorses. You are not voting for your pastor, you are voting for the person that will uphold the biblical values and principles.
4. After you’ve looked at everything, pray. Before voting pray, say Lord, this is the person I am going to vote for I believe I am making the right decision based on your word, please give me some confirmation on this, in Jesus name, Amen. You must pray to know if you made the right decision.
This step will allow you not to have voters remorse (regretting your decision afterwards). No candidate is perfect so yes they will do things that you may not agree with later. However, if you prayed, and voted the Bible, God will clearly show you if you made the right decision or not. At that point you can adjust your thinking the next go around.
Since being saved in 2002, the Lord would tell me who was going to win the election. Sometimes He would even tell me ahead of time if they will have 2 terms or not. Later I started to notice that He never once told me He was putting this person in place. No, He would just say who would win. In examining how He would say it I decided to ask Him how these candidates were selected and He told me VOTES. You can pray all you want but if you don’t vote, then you are not a part of it. Your vote matters, even if you think it is just one, it matters.
Faith without works is dead so you have to be willing to back up your prayers with actions. Back in the Bible days, it was not a democracy. It was the reign of kings, a monarchy is not a democracy, God was the one who selected the leader, and He would send prophets to anoint the leaders. Today our leaders are selected by VOTES. You can pray, but if you don’t vote, you have zero!
5. I think this one may only be in the USA —-Vote early and research everything on the ballot. When you vote early you don’t have to worry about things popping up at the last minute that would cause you not to vote. This happened to me one year., I came down with a bad flu and couldn’t get out of bed. This also gives you a chance to ask to vote by mail where you can sit at home and research everything on the ballot so that you know you are making the correct decision based on your research. I am convinced that they write those amendment questions in a very confusing manner on purpose. If I am not looking them up and reading them, I have no clue if I should vote yes or no. It give you a chance to look up the record of all the judges and see who appointed them their role so you have an idea of the decisions they will make in the future. Research, research, research. If you vote by mail, you don’t have to put it in the mail, right there on the ballot is the address, you can literally drive it over to the location – BOOM! nothing gets lost in the mail because you hand delivered it and you’re not standing in a line. Plus, you can go online in a day or two and see if your ballot was accepted or not. If there was an error, you just show up in person on Election Day with ID and vote.
In conclusion, If anyone asks you why you chose the candidate that you did you should be able to give me a clear and concise BIBLICAL answer. You should also have a clear and concise BIBLICAL answer on why you are not voting for the other party.
We are in the end days we need to be mature and vote BIBLE.
Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
Blessings
