Now there's courage through faith in practice!"When I go in, even though we are in a two-party system, I am not obligated to vote for one of those two candidates, and I'm not throwing my vote away when I vote for righteousness. ...
The two-party system is not ingrained in our Constitution, and given two alternatives is not ingrained in wisdom, when both of the alternatives are less than God's best. And what needs to happen is there needs to be an increased articulation as to why we might need a third way."
Referencing Jeremiah 29:7, Wagner says, "We shouldn't get less engaged in our public world; we should get engaged as believers, because we ought to seek the welfare of the city which we are in. So, it's not our sworn enemy, politics isn't, it is the servant of God."
Wagner also points out how "God's at work." (Daniel 2:21) "Part of the way God's at work sometimes is he lets people get what they want." (Psalm 106:15)...
"If we want murderers, liars, immoral, inconsistent, self-concerned, power-hungry people to be our leaders, we're gonna get that, and it's gonna cost us. And so I don't think that we need to be people who think we're throwing away a vote when we vote for righteousness. We need to make a case, if nothing else, that, 'Hey, there's some people out there doing that!'"Also, Wagner says not to fall for the 'spiral of silence':
"Where everybody kind of agrees that what is held as the prevailing public opinion by the cultural elite and people in power is wrong, but because they're either intimidated by what will happen to them if they speak up, or because they think it's not gonna make a difference, or that no one else must believe it because no one else is speaking up; therefore we just continue to have what everybody knows is wrong be the standard that is out there. That's why you've gotta speak up! And don't think you're throwing away your life or throwing away your vote when you do. We have a responsibility to stand for RIGHT-ness...to be good citizens, to make sure we govern well. And we don't endorse evil." (Romans 1:32)Lastly, not voting is NOT an option:
"You still vote. You CANNOT not vote. You're not wasting your vote when you say, 'I think there's a better candidate out there,' even if you have to write'em in. We recently had a senator elected in Alaska who was a write-in candidate. It can happen. But even if it can't happen, in terms of what we think logistically, it's still the right thing to do. Now, you've gotta determine if either one of the candidates that are up there are tolerable for you, if their candidacy is not below this certain limit of evil that you can't defend. You might go, 'I feel comfortable voting for that candidate.' That's what you've gotta do with a clean conscience before God. But I don't think we ever have the ability to just say 'I'm not gonna vote.' We have to not become less involved in the system, but as good citizens, more involved."
I can't even imagine the temptation Christ resisted to simply walk away, to escape death at the hands of mere mortal, corrupted men, instead accepting a fate that would overcome death itself to save ALL of humanity. If Christ can do that for me, for you, for ALL OF US, then choosing righteousness over evil in an election cycle shouldn't be a difficult task at all, right?
Related links: Ascension Day Couldn’t Be More Timely
Dear Christians, If You Vote For A Godless Man, You Are Asking For Tyranny
Regarding Ted Cruz, you ain't seen nothing yet
ADDENDUM: In addition, here's a great article similarly expressing how every decision we make should be evaluated in the light of good vs evil...
