Recently, Billy Graham took out full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other major newspapers, urging citizens to vote “for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles ,” citing support for Israel, sanctity of life, and biblical definition of marriage as indices for making this determination.
This public statement on the election stands in contrast to a lot of us Christians who tend to avoid politics and cultural issues. It seems too divisive, too controversial for us. We fear a stance on the issues of the day could hurt our witness for Christ. But, as demonstrated by the one of the most impactful Christian evangelists of our lifetime, the reticence is misplaced.
In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord calls His people to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7)
The application here, for our day, is clear.
We are to be involved in our land, praying for it, striving for and seeking its prosperity. When we vote according to biblical values or when we take a biblical stand on cultural issues of the day, we are seeking the prosperity of our land. God’s ways are the best ways and in them, Christians and non-Christians alike, find the best way to live.
For his ministry – that spanned well over fifty years – Billy Graham’s undeniable focus has been the promotion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His ads are a natural product of this focus. By taking a stand for biblical values, voting them, and imploring others to do likewise, we don’t do harm to our witness for Christ, we help fulfill it.
Posted by Nate Kellum
