Back in 2012, I preached a message with this same title.

At that time, we were $16T in debt; now the debt is about $36T. At that time, we were not talking about the “woke” agenda. Same-sex marriage was not legal across the US. Very few were talking about gender transition, AI, BLM, or DEI. Donald Trump was a TV personality, and not many people had heard of Kamala Harris. Things have changed drastically in the last dozen years.

Our emphasis as a church is not on politics or current events. The primary message of the NT is the good news about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Our main message is not political; ours is a religious and moral message.

However, the Bible talks about the government and our responsibilities as citizens. The Bible lays down a moral code that we can apply to our political decisions. Christianity has political consequences/implications. Christians should vote, and they should vote in a certain way—in a way that is consistent with biblical, moral values.

The election is just two days away—this Tuesday, Nov 5. If you’ve been paying attention at all for the last few months, you know that the candidates for president differ from each other in significant ways. I’m not going to tell you whom to vote for, but I would like to talk about the biblical values and Christian principles that should influence how we vote.

I am mostly concerned with moral issues in the election. Other issues are important, but from my perspective as a pastor, I’m concerned mostly about biblical morality and how the candidates will either support or undercut biblical values.

How do we, as Christians, evaluate the options, issues, and candidates as we cast our vote? What moral issues/principles should we focus on when considering which candidates to vote for?

(I am indebted to Kevin Bauder for some of these ideas.)[1]

[1] Consult the three-part podcast “Let Me Tell You How to Vote” at https://centralseminary.edu/the-central-seminary-podcast/. Also consult Kevin Bauder’s essay of the same name, In the Nick of Time, 13 January 2012.