This is the last Sunday before the election, and next Lord’s Day we will all know a lot more about what exactly we have done to ourselves. Consider this exhortation a last set of reminders.
First, the church is necessarily a political force, and nothing in governmental restrictions can be done to undo that. We are a polis, created and designed by God to disrupt the unbelieving polis, and disrupt it we shall. But we also believe that we have a responsibility to be political without being partisan. This does not mean that we content ourselves with vague abstractions, but rather that we insist that unbelieving movements, parties, agendas, factions, or candidates do not have the privilege of co-opting the voice of the church, or manipulating it, or buying it. What we say to the world must be grounded in the Word, and not in ungodly compromises. Jehoshaphat was a good king, but he was a good king who had no business in alliance with Ahab.
Second, because the unbelief and petty idolatries of the world have made a pig’s breakfast of the presidential election, many believers—especially in this congregation—will be tempted to stay home. But you may not stay home. You may not ride this one out, whether or not you have anyone to vote for in the presidential election. You have down ballot duties. You have down ballot responsibilities. In the world, the presidential election is an engine that drives turnout for all the other elections. We will know that we have made great progress when we have reversed that—when we recognize that political reformation begins at the county and district levels. Your down ballot duties are your primary duties in this.
And last, Jesus is Lord. He has been crowned by the Ancient of Days and given universal dominion over all the nations of men, including this one. That is not on the ballot, and never will be. Whatever happens will fundamentally be the result of His scepter, and not of our voting. So whatever else you do, when you go into the voting booth, make sure you pray the Kyrie. Κύριε ἐλέησον, Χριστέ ἐλέησον. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
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36 Comments on "Your Down Ballot Duties"
Leaving me wondering if “eleison” and “Elysium/ Elysian” are related? It seems that Mercy Fields would be an appropriate name for heaven.
I find that “eleos” is mercy in Koine. Though I speak neither Koine or Classical Greek.
Probably not — Elysium comes from elusion, which means blessed. So it’s a different vowel in the root, and the classical Greek concept of blessedness didn’t have much to do with mercy. You EARNED your way into Elysium by keeping on the good side of the gods (which wasn’t always about pure virtue, often more about avoiding angering the wrong ones on the wrong days) and doing the right sacrifices.
I’m far from a classical scholar — about as far as it gets. But the connection doesn’t seem strong based on a coincidence of consonants. :-)
If by “down ballot responsibilities” you mean voting for Republicans in down ballot races, I would hasten to remind us all that little Republicans grow up to be big Republicans. And then they betray us.
I’d say that a more urgent “down ballot responsibility”, at this point in the decline of the republic, might be to have no part at all in nourishing or enabling them.
Aha! Indeed, we wouldn’t want to be guilty of pragmatically managing God’s judgment–better to abstain all the way down that there ballot. Thanks for the warning :)
You also have local offices like school boards, city councils, judges, etc.. along with state propositions and the like.
Hot dang, son. You need to learn you some talkin skills. I can’t make nothin of that comment.
Troll me
Gracious. That comment is Yuge, just Yuge :) It’s Russia’s fault…
Signed, Negative, Dark, Divisive, Dangerous, Deplorable, Disturbing, Full of Scary Rhetoric, Basement Dwelling, Everyday Trumpkin.
“So does very half-intelligent voter in this country.” You should’ve stopped there. That was the best sentence in your screed.
Your pedophiliac conjecture regarding Trump is ironic since Bill Clinton took at least 26 trips on the Lolita Express (there are flight logs).
Yes, in my typing haste I dropped the ‘e’ in every. I’m so dumb dumb.
Bill Clinton isn’t running for president.
I actually agree with your premise. He isn’t consistent. He hasn’t presented a non-arbitrary line in the sand in order to differentiate what constitutes “judgement” and what constitutes Christian progress.
For example, I live in an area absolutely dominated by leftists. Every single person in a “nonpartisan” office is leftist.
Nicely written
I wonder whether Doug thinks our temporary alliance with Stalin against Hitler was justified.
Yeah, similar concept. I thought of that as well.
Did you approve of the temporary alliance with Stalin against Hitler’s Nazi Germany? It’s a very real possibility that without that alliance Hitler would have been successful in his domination of Europe, including the UK.
That alliance may have been the worse political mistake of the 20th century. Germany and USSR could have been enemies without our treaty and eliminated each other. Stalin was not trustworthy and only attacked Japan after Germany surrendered.
The alliance may be the cause of continual warfare for the last 70 years.
It’s very doubtful that they would have “destroyed each other.” Russia survived on the back of our lend-lease program and Germany was on the doorstep of invading the UK.
My thoughts entirely… It was our alliances (L/L) that kept USSR alive. Pull that and let them duke it out with Germany. Then, if you still want a war, you can fight the exhausted winner.
A big part of our victory can be attributed to Germany having to fight on two fronts. Letting them finish their war against the USSR would have made our victory doubtful at best.
And that even ignores the fact that we would have had to allow the annihilation of the Jews for even longer.
In what world does anyone “finish” a war against the USSR? Simply look at a map.
The vast majority of the population is in the extreme west of the country. There’s no need to cross the whole thing to “win.”
Wars are won by fighting armies, not populations. Russia embarrassed Napoleon in the war of 1812 by not even trying to stop him from getting into Moscow, but by extending his lines, forcing him to chase, and proving that their soldiers weren’t going to give up no matter what he did. The German army was never going to survive a Russian winter and be able to overcome and submit the Russian army no matter what the Americans did.
We fought on 2 fronts also…
Annihilation of the Jews wasn’t a widespread issue of the time.
We are pretty smart looking back at all this!
We didn’t fight two fronts… We finished up Germany and then took to Japan. Japan, all the while, were dominating the Pacific and China. Germany didn’t have that choice because they didn’t have a massive ocean in between them and the enemy.
VE was May of 1945, and we declared war on Japan Dec ’41. That equals two fronts for 3.5 years.
The USA wouldn’t have lost to Germany or Japan, due to those oceans and our size. We needed motivation which we eventually found.