“Shepherds for Sale” and Other Thoughts—Election Day Sermons
Nov 1, 2024 by David Fowler
Megan Basham recently raised an evangelical stink with her book, Shepards for Sale, which documents ministers whose teaching seems to have been influenced by money. But last week, Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey interviewed a different kind of minister after his sermon soundbite—“the Democratic (sic) Party is a demonic death cult under the power and influence of Satan”—went viral. I listened, and I asked the Lord if He might have me contribute something helpful to ministers who, this Sunday, may struggle between not wanting to say something about the election that makes them look politically ignorant and not wanting to look like a cowardly sell-out by remaining silent. I hope what follows helps everybody.
Following the statement previously quoted, this minister said the Democratic party is “building their platform on everything God hates.” “So,” he added, “I don’t see how you could be a Christian and vote for a party that promotes everything that God hates.”
Here is how I would put what I heard him say: “A party that builds its platform on everything God hates is under the power and influence of Satan. So, I don’t see how you could be a Christian and vote for that party.”
If that is accurate, then I think it presents a big problem to the politically-informed conscientious Christian.
“Everything” Rests on a Foundation
What I understood this minister to say applies at least as much, if not more so, to the foundation of a party’s platform as it does to what is built on it. Logically speaking, the “everything” it erects should connect to the foundation it rests on.
But what about the foundation for the planks in the Republican Party’s new platform found in its preamble? I wrote about it in a recent commentary:
Isn’t this “spirit” as a foundation for erecting platform planks one that God hates—an “American Spirit” substituted for the work of the Holy Spirit of God in ordering the affairs of men?
I think so. My commentary, in the context of the Dionysian controversy at the Olympics, continues:
I don’t know what that “spirit” would say about abortion and marriage, and how can I argue with its “revelation”?
But bottom line: When Christians knowingly acquiesce to calling on this spirit or urging others to do so, I think they are effectively sitting at Dionysius’s table.
I hope this pastor, if he were informed about the Republican Party’s foundational precepts, would agree with me about God’s hatred of its foundation.
But if he does, then what would he say to Christian voters? Can a Christian not vote for a Republican either?
What a Preacher Could Say When God Hates Both Platforms’ Foundations
He could say, as he effectively did, that the particular planks of the Republican Party’s platform are not as pro-death as the Democrat Party, which, he says, “promotes everything that God hates” (which is quite a universal claim!) and so that makes it okay to vote for a Republican candidate.
But this gives me pause. Could it not be understood by some, in or outside the church, to look at righteousness through a heart and mind tempered by a legal spirit, a works-based view of the Christian good? In other words, it could create a false impression that righteousness is found only in the outworking of a foundation for thinking that God hates, not in the foundational thinking itself.
I don’t think this minister would want his statement to be taken that way, though I would have interpreted his words that way most of my life. That’s why I think the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask: Is this kind of political advice or commentary the best that ministers can offer under our present circumstances?
I think there is more to offer, and it came to me on Tuesday morning as I read Chapters 1 through 3 of First Corinthians. I think it would be a great text for an election day sermon, which I will end with.
The Text I Think Can Be Preached at an Election Time Such as Ours
I think what the Apostle Paul says in those three chapters can be summed up well by verses 18-20 of Chapter 3:
A strange thing to say and to encourage—no one likes to be thought of as a fool—but he explains why:
Application of the Text to Politics, Pulpits, and Pews
As I consider the platforms of the two parties, I find that both are built on what God would call “foolishness”—a denial of Jesus Christ as presented to us in Scripture.
But what’s ironic to me is that many of today’s evangelical preachers think the following about Jesus is also foolishness:
If that is not true now—if there is no kingdom of God now, no new creation of any kind, and what God created “very good” is apparently so irredeemable that His people must be removed to wholly different, separate, and distinct creation—then everything in this life is up for grabs, everything can “go South,” including one’s salvation “experience.” The Christian’s faith has no anchor for peace in the present. Claims that “God is sovereign” or one’s salvation is “eternally secure” ring hollow if this is not true.
I think that explains why Paul wrote that a wrong understanding of all that is entailed in Christ’s death and resurrection makes Christians “most pitiable.”[i] (I hope at some point you read the footnote.) But the “therefore” that follows what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 and the related “why” soundly reject a gospel that rests on hope deferred.
“Therefore,” Paul writes, “let no one boast in men.” In other words, put no confidence in any human being, politician or preacher. And I pray you don’t find any comfort or assurance about the future based on which party has “control” of a political body after election day.
And here is the “why.” “For all things are yours: whether . . . the world (cosmos) or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's” (1Corinthians 3:21-23, NKJV, emphasis supplied). This, again, is present tense language, and notice the reason all things belong to the Christian is directly related to who they ultimately and presently belong to!
The Concise Election Day Sermon I Would Preach From These Verses
From these verses and consistent with this minister’s theme, I offer the following as my condensed election sermon for a time such as ours when the two major parties are under the “power and influence of Satan”:
That is the mission of the church and its gospel rightly preached changes everything.
Following the statement previously quoted, this minister said the Democratic party is “building their platform on everything God hates.” “So,” he added, “I don’t see how you could be a Christian and vote for a party that promotes everything that God hates.”
Here is how I would put what I heard him say: “A party that builds its platform on everything God hates is under the power and influence of Satan. So, I don’t see how you could be a Christian and vote for that party.”
If that is accurate, then I think it presents a big problem to the politically-informed conscientious Christian.
“Everything” Rests on a Foundation
What I understood this minister to say applies at least as much, if not more so, to the foundation of a party’s platform as it does to what is built on it. Logically speaking, the “everything” it erects should connect to the foundation it rests on.
But what about the foundation for the planks in the Republican Party’s new platform found in its preamble? I wrote about it in a recent commentary:
I am not aware of any Christian policy organization that squawked about the fact the Platform urges people to “call upon” the “American Spirit of Strength, Determination, and Love of Country” that “led us” in the past. Supposedly, that “American Spirit” is what we need “if we are going to lead our Nation to a brighter future.”
Isn’t this “spirit” as a foundation for erecting platform planks one that God hates—an “American Spirit” substituted for the work of the Holy Spirit of God in ordering the affairs of men?
I think so. My commentary, in the context of the Dionysian controversy at the Olympics, continues:
Americans [are] being urged to call on an amorphous, non-objective, gnostic, mystical “spirit” for help. . . . Not only is such a call idolatrous, and, therefore, welcomed at Dionysius’s table, but because it is idolatrous, it can provide no objective legal standard for abortion or marriage.
I don’t know what that “spirit” would say about abortion and marriage, and how can I argue with its “revelation”?
But bottom line: When Christians knowingly acquiesce to calling on this spirit or urging others to do so, I think they are effectively sitting at Dionysius’s table.
I hope this pastor, if he were informed about the Republican Party’s foundational precepts, would agree with me about God’s hatred of its foundation.
But if he does, then what would he say to Christian voters? Can a Christian not vote for a Republican either?
What a Preacher Could Say When God Hates Both Platforms’ Foundations
He could say, as he effectively did, that the particular planks of the Republican Party’s platform are not as pro-death as the Democrat Party, which, he says, “promotes everything that God hates” (which is quite a universal claim!) and so that makes it okay to vote for a Republican candidate.
But this gives me pause. Could it not be understood by some, in or outside the church, to look at righteousness through a heart and mind tempered by a legal spirit, a works-based view of the Christian good? In other words, it could create a false impression that righteousness is found only in the outworking of a foundation for thinking that God hates, not in the foundational thinking itself.
I don’t think this minister would want his statement to be taken that way, though I would have interpreted his words that way most of my life. That’s why I think the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask: Is this kind of political advice or commentary the best that ministers can offer under our present circumstances?
I think there is more to offer, and it came to me on Tuesday morning as I read Chapters 1 through 3 of First Corinthians. I think it would be a great text for an election day sermon, which I will end with.
The Text I Think Can Be Preached at an Election Time Such as Ours
I think what the Apostle Paul says in those three chapters can be summed up well by verses 18-20 of Chapter 3:
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (NKJV)
A strange thing to say and to encourage—no one likes to be thought of as a fool—but he explains why:
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness"; and again, "The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Application of the Text to Politics, Pulpits, and Pews
As I consider the platforms of the two parties, I find that both are built on what God would call “foolishness”—a denial of Jesus Christ as presented to us in Scripture.
But what’s ironic to me is that many of today’s evangelical preachers think the following about Jesus is also foolishness:
That Jesus, at this very moment, is the “last Adam” and the “second Man” (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) and, as such, He is reigning as King over the new creation ushered when He, as the “Son of Man,” was brought “in the clouds” (at his ascension) to the “throne” of “Ancient of Days” who gave (past tense, not future tense) Him “dominion and glory and a kingdom . . . which shall not pass away, and a kingdom which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:9-14, NKJV).
If that is not true now—if there is no kingdom of God now, no new creation of any kind, and what God created “very good” is apparently so irredeemable that His people must be removed to wholly different, separate, and distinct creation—then everything in this life is up for grabs, everything can “go South,” including one’s salvation “experience.” The Christian’s faith has no anchor for peace in the present. Claims that “God is sovereign” or one’s salvation is “eternally secure” ring hollow if this is not true.
I think that explains why Paul wrote that a wrong understanding of all that is entailed in Christ’s death and resurrection makes Christians “most pitiable.”[i] (I hope at some point you read the footnote.) But the “therefore” that follows what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 and the related “why” soundly reject a gospel that rests on hope deferred.
“Therefore,” Paul writes, “let no one boast in men.” In other words, put no confidence in any human being, politician or preacher. And I pray you don’t find any comfort or assurance about the future based on which party has “control” of a political body after election day.
And here is the “why.” “For all things are yours: whether . . . the world (cosmos) or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's” (1Corinthians 3:21-23, NKJV, emphasis supplied). This, again, is present tense language, and notice the reason all things belong to the Christian is directly related to who they ultimately and presently belong to!
The Concise Election Day Sermon I Would Preach From These Verses
From these verses and consistent with this minister’s theme, I offer the following as my condensed election sermon for a time such as ours when the two major parties are under the “power and influence of Satan”:
Christian, do not think well of either of these parties, because both are building platforms on godless premises. And don’t think of one as better than the other because its application of those premises is, at present, approaching futility at a slower pace.
Separating anything from Christ is the product of a death cult, and that is the “party” that those who hate God’s wisdom belong to; they “love death,” Proverbs 8:16.
Rather, think of these parties as yours. They are yours to tame, as the First Adam was to do with everything outside the Garden. And this can be done, if done by faith, because of Christ’s victory over Satan and who Christ is as God.
Did not this same Paul write that Jesus “disarmed”—not will disarm, but past tense, did disarm—"principalities and powers”? He sure did! In fact, on the cross, “He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15, NKJV).
Does your faith believe this Word of God? If not, if your faith today is smaller than that of a mustard seed, earnestly pray that it would grow as one who is born of the imperishable seed of God.
Did not the Apostle John write, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world (cosmos). And this is the victory that has overcome the world (cosmos)—our faith”? (1 John 5:4, NKJV)
Let your faith in relation to the days to come conclude that the Son of God, in the person of Jesus, is now reigning over all things, and therefore, He can bring about a reformation of one or the other of these two parties or He will, in time, bring an end to both and raise up another.
I know it would be easy to say, “David, how in the world could that happen?”
My answer? The same way every “reformation”[ii] has always happened, when the truth of God in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is preached.
The preachers of the Church of Jesus Christ and its saints need to “preach” the risen Christ, and all that entails,[iii] to Democrat and Republican party leaders and representatives alike, remind them of their accountability before God for the exercises of His authority delegated to them, and do so without embarrassment and apology.
And do not let weak faith or what you presently see cause you to say, “What would be the point, David? They won’t listen or care.”
Oh, my Christian friend, learn with me[iv] to heed the example we have in the Word of God and walk by faith. In Corinth, Paul came to a city every bit as corrupt and turned against God as any of our major cities. And what did he do?
He “preach[ed] Christ crucified” even though he knew the religious folks in the city (Jews then, evangelical pharisees today) would want some miraculous sign to authenticate what he preached and the deep thinkers in the city (Greek philosophers then, academicians today) would think it “foolishness.” 1 Corinthians 1:22-23.
So why did he preach what he said would be a “ stumbling block” to some and “foolishness” to others?
“Because,” he said, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men”, and he knew that “to those who are called” “Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25, NKJV). When we know who the whole of Christ is, we will know that “the preaching of the cross is . . . the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV.
Those whom God calls and who will walk by faith in the promises of God in Christ relative to His kingdom and the new creation Christ ushered in will be used by God for reformation. They will learn how to preach Christ and, at the same time, draft legislation and make legal and political arguments that will restore what the locust have eaten. The others will, in time, be undone by the futility of their foolishness. Don’t let them discourage you.
So, respecting your vote on Tuesday, in Christ and with a clean conscience before God, vote for that candidate whose premises and policies you believe most closely align with the premises and precepts of the Kingdom of God, regardless of which godless party label he or she is running under. As for president, my thoughts are in a handout you can pick up.
But above all, we all need to start “preaching” to our elected officials Christ crucified, and all that Christ is. Only a white-hot gospel will bring about reformation.[v]
Separating anything from Christ is the product of a death cult, and that is the “party” that those who hate God’s wisdom belong to; they “love death,” Proverbs 8:16.
Rather, think of these parties as yours. They are yours to tame, as the First Adam was to do with everything outside the Garden. And this can be done, if done by faith, because of Christ’s victory over Satan and who Christ is as God.
Did not this same Paul write that Jesus “disarmed”—not will disarm, but past tense, did disarm—"principalities and powers”? He sure did! In fact, on the cross, “He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15, NKJV).
Does your faith believe this Word of God? If not, if your faith today is smaller than that of a mustard seed, earnestly pray that it would grow as one who is born of the imperishable seed of God.
Did not the Apostle John write, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world (cosmos). And this is the victory that has overcome the world (cosmos)—our faith”? (1 John 5:4, NKJV)
Let your faith in relation to the days to come conclude that the Son of God, in the person of Jesus, is now reigning over all things, and therefore, He can bring about a reformation of one or the other of these two parties or He will, in time, bring an end to both and raise up another.
I know it would be easy to say, “David, how in the world could that happen?”
My answer? The same way every “reformation”[ii] has always happened, when the truth of God in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is preached.
The preachers of the Church of Jesus Christ and its saints need to “preach” the risen Christ, and all that entails,[iii] to Democrat and Republican party leaders and representatives alike, remind them of their accountability before God for the exercises of His authority delegated to them, and do so without embarrassment and apology.
And do not let weak faith or what you presently see cause you to say, “What would be the point, David? They won’t listen or care.”
Oh, my Christian friend, learn with me[iv] to heed the example we have in the Word of God and walk by faith. In Corinth, Paul came to a city every bit as corrupt and turned against God as any of our major cities. And what did he do?
He “preach[ed] Christ crucified” even though he knew the religious folks in the city (Jews then, evangelical pharisees today) would want some miraculous sign to authenticate what he preached and the deep thinkers in the city (Greek philosophers then, academicians today) would think it “foolishness.” 1 Corinthians 1:22-23.
So why did he preach what he said would be a “ stumbling block” to some and “foolishness” to others?
“Because,” he said, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men”, and he knew that “to those who are called” “Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25, NKJV). When we know who the whole of Christ is, we will know that “the preaching of the cross is . . . the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV.
Those whom God calls and who will walk by faith in the promises of God in Christ relative to His kingdom and the new creation Christ ushered in will be used by God for reformation. They will learn how to preach Christ and, at the same time, draft legislation and make legal and political arguments that will restore what the locust have eaten. The others will, in time, be undone by the futility of their foolishness. Don’t let them discourage you.
So, respecting your vote on Tuesday, in Christ and with a clean conscience before God, vote for that candidate whose premises and policies you believe most closely align with the premises and precepts of the Kingdom of God, regardless of which godless party label he or she is running under. As for president, my thoughts are in a handout you can pick up.
But above all, we all need to start “preaching” to our elected officials Christ crucified, and all that Christ is. Only a white-hot gospel will bring about reformation.[v]
That is the mission of the church and its gospel rightly preached changes everything.
[i] 1Corinthians 15:19, NKJV (“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”) (emphasis supplied) I formerly read that verse only with a view to the hope of eternal life, and it does look to that life. But notice, the hope is first “in this life,” and it is this which is related to or carries over to the life that is to come. The latter cannot be divorced from the former. A hopelessness here is not “cured” by a hope that pertains only to the hereafter. Perhaps the greatest theological mind that God ever produced in England, John Owen, wrote, “Every pretense of a desire of heaven, and of the presence of Christ therein, that does not arise from, that is not resolved into, that expectation which we have of the glory of Christ in this world by faith, is mere fancy and imagination.” John Owen, Meditations and Discourse on the Glory of Christ (emphasis supplied). I can’t help wondering what degree of glory today’s preachers of pessimism who seem to preach only a hope for the life to come have seen in the risen Christ. Walking by sight, in our time, and not by faith in the present glories of Christ and the covenantal promises of God that Christians have in Christ, makes hopeless paupers of us all, and “most pitiable.”
[ii] See, e.g., Hebrews 9:9-10, NKJV (Describing the temple with its priests and sacrifices as “symbolic” and “imposed until the time of reformation”).
[iii] In case your discipleship training has left you with not many things to say about all of who Christ and His present mediation over all things, consider the 200 pages of insight in John Owen’s Christologia.
[iv] I am learning, too. For several years, I tried to convince Governor Lee and our Republican state legislative leaders, Jack Johnson, William Lamberth, and Jeremy Faison, to use the Marital Contract Recording Act to defend the primal institution God established for prosperity and length of days, the marital relationship, and they firmly resisted. What I have learned is that if they see no glory of God in that relationship worthy of a constitutionally defensible restorative effort, I should leave them to God who will take into His accounting of them the reproach their apathy and indifference have cast on Him and His holy institution. May God grant them the mercy of repentance. But what I’ve also learned that I need to leave my present employment to better “practice what I’m preaching” and help others do the same.
[v] As with the Protestant Reformation celebrated by some churches last Sunday, “the preaching of the gospel is the lever whereby world history is made to serve the execution of God’s counsel.” Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Unbelief and Revolution, 80.
