What to Make of Winning Candidates Who Have Lied and the PAC’s That Support Them
Aug 5, 2022 by David Fowler
Political campaigns have always been marked by what I will call “sharp practices,” but over the last four years, the degree of maliciousness and amount of flat out lying by people I once respected seems to have reached a new level. In recent weeks I have alternated between anger, sadness, and discouragement. Today, though, I offer a different perspective that I hope helps you through your election season blues.
Today’s perspective builds on my theme from last week when I wrote:
I suspect many Christians would agree with these statements; it would be hard to take the Bible seriously and disagree.
Yet, I suspect some would say, “But you don’t understand how politics works. That is not how the game is played.” I have had that said to me by fellow Christians, including politicians, and I have thought that same way in the past.
But I was wrong, and they are wrong, too. A change in perspective begins with understanding and believing that the world, including politics, works exactly the way God says it works.
God has said two basic things about how the world works.
Firstly: Those humble before Him will inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5). It is, after all, His to give (see Jeremiah 27:5-6, and note God gave authority to a really “bad guy”).
That inheritance is theirs—it has been “bought and paid for.” It is given to them through the gift of faith by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8) unmingled by any merit or desert on their part (Ephesians 2:9). It is offered to all, and those who by faith see who they really are in relation to God embrace it joyfully and enthusiastically. They are the meek.
Will the meek of today enjoy that inheritance? Absolutely, though they, like the Old Testament heroes listed in “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, may “die in faith,” having seen what still seems “afar off”—an earth that God heavenizes (Hebrews 11:9-16) as Christ “gather[s] together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). And “when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1Corinthians 15:22-28)
I expect God to keep His Word.
Seeing this inheritance and working in this life toward its consummation is what living—and politicking—by faith means. It means you see what’s coming that others can’t see (2 Corinthians 4:15), because they don’t believe the world works the way God says it does, and they only look at the present or the near future.
And that means the Christian politician doesn’t have to lie and cheat and grasp for authority and power because those things belong to God and in His providential working of all things, He allows them to be held by those He intends in order that His purposes be accomplished.[i]
Secondly, God said this about how the world works: “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. … Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate” (Psalm 34: 16, 21).
God is letting those who lie and deceive for the sake of temporal authority “treasur[e] up wrath” for the day of His wrath—a just sentence for those who think they can get enough authority and power to play God and make the world work the way they want it to (Romans 2:5; see 1 Thessalonians 2:16). (Click here to understand how this is a fascist worldview and see how an increasingly number of Republicans think that way.)
At some point, as God determines, evil will come to the politicians whose campaign practices (and governance) smack of lies and deception and to the people behind the PAC’s that lie and deceive others in support of them.
I expect God to keep this part of His Word too.
So, what is my new perspective? It is this: Having peace with God (Romans 5:1) is having peace with the way His world works. There faith can find a resting place, because this is MY Father’s world! That is the perspective I need to hang onto.
[i] Do not assume this means only the Godly will hold authority or have power. God uses the wicked to discipline His people when they foolishly allow something to separate them from Him in whose “presence is fullness of joy and in whose right hand are pleasures ever more” (Psalm 16: ; see also Proverbs 16:4, Jeremiah 22:7-9; Isaiah 45:1-7).
David Fowler served in the Tennessee state Senate for 12 years before joining FACT as President in 2006.
Today’s perspective builds on my theme from last week when I wrote:
For the Christian, God is the source of all authority and power. By His authority and power all things, including the things we do, are providentially used and directed by Him toward fulfillment of His agenda set in eternity before the first act of creation.
Because God has authority over all things and intends to manifest that truth to all, He says the meek—those humble enough to yield to God in all things—will be the ones that will eventually inherit the earth.
Because God delights to manifest His power, He says His power is perfected when we acknowledge our utter weakness apart from Him.
Because God has authority over all things and intends to manifest that truth to all, He says the meek—those humble enough to yield to God in all things—will be the ones that will eventually inherit the earth.
Because God delights to manifest His power, He says His power is perfected when we acknowledge our utter weakness apart from Him.
The Way the World Works
I suspect many Christians would agree with these statements; it would be hard to take the Bible seriously and disagree.
Yet, I suspect some would say, “But you don’t understand how politics works. That is not how the game is played.” I have had that said to me by fellow Christians, including politicians, and I have thought that same way in the past.
But I was wrong, and they are wrong, too. A change in perspective begins with understanding and believing that the world, including politics, works exactly the way God says it works.
What We Can Expect
God has said two basic things about how the world works.
Firstly: Those humble before Him will inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5). It is, after all, His to give (see Jeremiah 27:5-6, and note God gave authority to a really “bad guy”).
That inheritance is theirs—it has been “bought and paid for.” It is given to them through the gift of faith by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8) unmingled by any merit or desert on their part (Ephesians 2:9). It is offered to all, and those who by faith see who they really are in relation to God embrace it joyfully and enthusiastically. They are the meek.
Will the meek of today enjoy that inheritance? Absolutely, though they, like the Old Testament heroes listed in “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, may “die in faith,” having seen what still seems “afar off”—an earth that God heavenizes (Hebrews 11:9-16) as Christ “gather[s] together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). And “when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1Corinthians 15:22-28)
I expect God to keep His Word.
Seeing this inheritance and working in this life toward its consummation is what living—and politicking—by faith means. It means you see what’s coming that others can’t see (2 Corinthians 4:15), because they don’t believe the world works the way God says it does, and they only look at the present or the near future.
And that means the Christian politician doesn’t have to lie and cheat and grasp for authority and power because those things belong to God and in His providential working of all things, He allows them to be held by those He intends in order that His purposes be accomplished.[i]
Secondly, God said this about how the world works: “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. … Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate” (Psalm 34: 16, 21).
God is letting those who lie and deceive for the sake of temporal authority “treasur[e] up wrath” for the day of His wrath—a just sentence for those who think they can get enough authority and power to play God and make the world work the way they want it to (Romans 2:5; see 1 Thessalonians 2:16). (Click here to understand how this is a fascist worldview and see how an increasingly number of Republicans think that way.)
At some point, as God determines, evil will come to the politicians whose campaign practices (and governance) smack of lies and deception and to the people behind the PAC’s that lie and deceive others in support of them.
I expect God to keep this part of His Word too.
My New Perspective
So, what is my new perspective? It is this: Having peace with God (Romans 5:1) is having peace with the way His world works. There faith can find a resting place, because this is MY Father’s world! That is the perspective I need to hang onto.
[i] Do not assume this means only the Godly will hold authority or have power. God uses the wicked to discipline His people when they foolishly allow something to separate them from Him in whose “presence is fullness of joy and in whose right hand are pleasures ever more” (Psalm 16: ; see also Proverbs 16:4, Jeremiah 22:7-9; Isaiah 45:1-7).
David Fowler served in the Tennessee state Senate for 12 years before joining FACT as President in 2006.
