Donald Trump is My President...

No, I didn’t vote for Donald Trump.  These days, it seems the assumption is that if you are a white conservative pastor, you vote Republican no matter what.  I don’t believe a party should define us, as believers – Republican or Democrat.  We should be defined by Biblical values.  That is a higher calling than any political party.  So no, I didn’t vote for Donald Trump and I spelled out why in previous blogs during the primaries and general election campaign.   But that no longer matters.
 
For the record, I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton either.  It’s odd that when you say you didn’t vote for the Republican candidate, folks gasp at the thought that you’d dare vote for Hillary.  That whole attitude proves we’ve been sold a lie in this country.  That lie that we’ve taken hook, line and sinker is the reason a more balanced 3rd party option has had difficulty garnering support.  Oh I know, this past election is “the biggest one ever”.  It was different.  Make a note that I said this – the next one will be said to be the same thing…and the next…and the next (that is, if the Lord sustains us as a people).  They’re always “the biggest election ever”.  That no longer matters either.
 
Since President Trump’s inauguration, many on the left have declared that he is not their president.  The right is outraged…and apparently shocked.  Though, you must wonder why since for the past 8 years I’ve seen more “Nobama” bumper stickers than I can count.  I have seen people on the right post repeatedly that “Obama is not my president – I didn’t vote for him”.  What a day of hypocrisy we live in.  People are watching far too much of the news channels. 
 
I get the world acting this way.  I really do.  The lost are acting lost – it’s what they are.  They aren’t committed to Scripture and they don’t have the Holy Spirit leading them every moment of every day.  They are simply acting out their nature.  It’s to be expected. 
 
But, believers on both sides of the aisle (we’ll just play along with the game that there is an aisle with two sides only) are attacking their political leaders.  Yes, there are believers who have been convinced the Republican Party is the Christian party and, therefore must be defended at all costs.  This included opposing everything Obama did for 8 years.  This included sharing every news story that claimed anything about him we wanted to be true – whether true or not.  This ultimately resulted in “Nobama” bumper stickers and continual social media posts declaring, “Obama is not my president”.  Now the tide has turned and amnesia stretching back 8 years has set in. 
 
Yes, there are believers who are convinced that there is more to voting for a president than his views on abortion and gay marriage.  For the record, I believe those two issues are the two biggest issues in politics – that’s the reason I couldn’t vote for Donald Trump.  Nonetheless, believers who vote Democrat believe the Dems are more for the poor and helpless – a thing which the Bible is pretty clear on.  The most helpless of us all – a child in his mother’s womb – they aren’t for.  But I digress.  Some believers are convinced that to support the weak and helpless (unborn children excepted), they must oppose all things Republican.  Now, Donald Trump is not their president.  Do you see a pattern?  And if a Democrat is elected in the next election cycle, they’ll have the same amnesia some Christian Republicans are suffering from today. 
 
Like it or not, President Barack Obama has been our president for the past 8 years.  I haven’t agreed with many of his policies.  But, he had my respect as commander in chief.   This isn’t a game.  This isn’t Alabama vs. Auburn or Michigan vs. Ohio State.  Perhaps a better comparison would be Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair.   People seem to root for their party the way they root for their team.  Sports aren’t real, people.  Politics are.  And, as believers, we aren’t given the option of declaring somebody isn’t our president just because we didn’t vote for them.  Do you believe for a moment that the Apostle Paul supported Nero’s policies?  If history serves us correctly, Nero was a twice “married” homosexual who blamed Christians for much of what went wrong in his empire and delivered many believers to a martyr’s death including Paul himself!  I think we can have quite a bit of confidence that Paul disagreed with his policies.  Yet oddly, when writing to the Roman saints (that’s right, the capital city), Paul said, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:1-7). 
 
Paul declared that he was subject to Nero – just like we were the past 8 years to President Obama and currently are now to President Trump.  Nero received his authority from God – just like President Obama and now President Trump.  Daniel said God “removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21).  That includes both President Obama, President Trump and every other president that has ever or will ever sit in the Oval Office.  When we resist the authorities that God has raised up, we resist God’s actions.  To declare that either President Obama or President Trump is not your president is to say you refuse to accept what God has done in His sovereignty.  It’s not the President you are opposing with such a declaration, it is God Himself.  This doesn’t mean you have to agree with the policies of the President.  Honestly, I doubt any of us who think Biblically will ever agree with many of the policies of any sitting president.  But, we must accept that God raised them up and they are over us by His sovereign purpose and plan. 
 
More than that, there is a proper attitude that we are to have towards our leaders.  “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior…” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).  Let us pray for our leaders.  If they are unsaved (as the fruit of many leaders often leads us to believe), let us pray that God would save their soul.  Nothing would be better than for a godly leader to live in the White House.  Let us pray for his or her decision-making.  Are we so prideful to think that our position actually could be wrong on some things?  How many times in our own personal lives have we made decisions that turned out to be bad for us?  Surely we can hope the decisions we oppose on a political level work out for the betterment of our nation. 
 
Let us thank God that we still live in a free society where we have some freedoms – freedom to worship, freedom to enjoy God’s blessing.  Let us even be thankful that we live in a country where the free exercise of opposition to government policies can be carried out in peaceful protest.  Now I am not suggesting Christians should be part of that protest at all.  That’s another question altogether.  But I am suggesting that we can be thankful for such a freedom. 
 
Ultimately, let us be thankful that we have the freedom to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way”.  As I log onto social media daily, that doesn’t seem to be much of a goal of Christians as far as politics go.  Peaceful and quiet are far from the traits of many on both sides of the aisle (again, just playing along). 
 
Since day one of the election process, I have not believed Donald Trump was the type of person we needed as president.  I still hold that view.  The same could be said about Hillary but since she wasn’t elected, it’s a moot point.  My views on Donald Trump as a candidate, however, don’t affect my responsibility to respect his authority as our God ordained leader.  Whether I think he has the moral makeup to be a president…whether I agree with his policies or not…whether I think he is what we need for our nation…he is the man God raised up.  Sometimes God raises up wicked leaders to judge a people and sometimes He raises up leaders to deliver them.  I have my views on that.  But that’s another subject too.  Today, all we know for sure is that God raised up President Donald Trump.  He sovereignly placed him in the White House just as He did with President Obama.  Donald Trump is my president and yours, if you live in the United States.  My prayer is that God will save his soul (if need be) and lead him to make decisions that benefit the whole of our country.  This is the Biblical requirement.  And honestly, if we love our neighbor, it’s the loving thing to do.