10 Guidelines for Christian Voters

10 14 1984

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Pentecostal Evangel Publication No. 3675

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Substack Generated Transcript
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So this week I was scrolling through Facebook,

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and I'm a part of several different Assemblies of God Facebook groups,

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different various ones specific for ministers,

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some not.

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And there was a couple of times that I'll see posts that get cross-posted between different groups.

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And yesterday was one of those times.

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And I saw an excerpt from an old Assembly of God magazine called the Pentecostal Evangel,

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which I really enjoy going back and looking at several of the older editions.

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But there was this article itself.

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The broader article was called Christian Involvement in the Electoral Process.

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And there was a section of that called 10 Guidelines for the Christian Voter.

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And on Facebook, I didn't see the whole article.

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I saw just the simple box with 10 bullet points of what this author called 10

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Guidelines for Christian Voters.

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And here's the catch.

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This article was published on October 14th, 1994.

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And the writer here, his name is Dennis Huber, W. Dennis Huber, published this piece 40 years ago.

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80 to 2000 would have been 20 plus 24, so 40 years ago now.

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Um, we've seen, um, 10 different election cycles since then.

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And this was an election year.

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I forget if I'm memories correct.

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That would have been after Nixon, I believe.

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Um, so who was 84?

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It was someone in that range.

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Nixon, Reagan is, I don't know.

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I'm like a fact check me on that, but

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I'm assuming it was probably an important election.

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They say at multiple times throughout this specific issue,

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the whole issue,

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30 pages,

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that it seemed obvious that there was stuff going on in the world at that point

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that was pretty contentious.

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I thought it was interesting.

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I thought there was a few points for one of my first videos here on the newly

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called pentaliturgical pastor that I thought would be interesting to go back 40 years.

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and see what the Pentecostals of the 80s were writing.

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And this was so funny that I saw this post and it was so well received because I

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think there is a growing number of people outside of the polar majorities.

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Obviously,

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I think there's the majority of people fall either on one side of the aisle or the

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other side of the political aisle,

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to say the least.

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But I think there's a growing portion of people who understand that American

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politics aren't as simple to the Christian.

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And this is really, I think, a key article because 40 years ago, this is so relevant for today.

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I'm going to read...

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the 10 guidelines for Christian voters first.

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And then I'm going to note a few things from W. Dennis Huber's article.

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It's two pages.

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It's pretty short, but it's called Christian Involvement in the Electoral Process.

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October 14th, almost 40 years ago, next month, October 14th, 1984.

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And this is what it says. 10

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guidelines for Christian voters, specifically Pentecostal Christian voters.

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This is from the Pentecostal Evangel,

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one of the key publications of the Assemblies of God,

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my Pentecostal denomination fellowship.

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This is what it says, 10 guidelines for Christian voters.

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Number one,

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Do not confuse patriotism, national pride, and Western culture with Christian faith and practice.

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Do not confuse patriotism, national pride, and Western culture with Christian faith and practice.

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Number two,

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do not confuse secular political activity with the purpose of the church,

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nor campaigning with witnessing and preaching.

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So I'm going to clarify that probably doesn't need to be clarified,

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but don't confuse secular political activity.

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So political activity, that's not Christian, right?

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which the vast majority should or ought to be, right?

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So don't confuse secular political activity with the purpose of the church,

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so the gospel,

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the mission of the church,

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nor campaigning,

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advocating for political leaders,

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with witnessing or preaching that means advocating for a candidate is not the same

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as evangelistic witnessing or preaching number three do not make slanderous or

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false accusations against your opponents but make maintain your integrity do not

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consider a brother or sister

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who is of like precious faith an adversary if he or she holds a different political view.

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Wow,

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that one I think is incredibly important for this current political moment where

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everything is based out of a slanderous nature.

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I'm sick of the political ads already and we still have two months to go in this election cycle.

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Everything is slander.

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And are there hotly debated points of contention?

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Yes.

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Are there things that we drastically disagree on?

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Yes, absolutely, obviously.

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But slander and personal integrity are seemingly absent from the political sphere.

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And I think I watched a couple of videos a couple of weeks ago where it was the

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2008 election,

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the first election I genuinely remember,

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Mitt Romney,

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or was that John McCain?

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I can't remember.

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No, it was John McCain.

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John McCain and Barack Obama.

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Mitt Romney was the next one.

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So John McCain and Barack Obama.

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John McCain was at a political function, a town hall, something like that.

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And a woman was slandering President Obama, who is about to be elected the president.

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So he wasn't president yet, senator at that time.

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So,

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but John McCain came to his opponent's defense and said,

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no,

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no,

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we agree,

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we disagree on very serious issues about American politics,

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but he wasn't going to allow them to slander his opponent.

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Number three,

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do not make slanderous or false accusations against your opponents,

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but maintain your integrity.

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Remember, this is 10 guidelines for Christian voters.

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We are obviously not going to be able to uphold standards like this to unbelievers

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because they don't have the same moral guidelines or the same belief system as we do.

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But I think really timely.

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Number four,

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at all times,

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endeavor to verify information before accepting it as true or repeating it to others.

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And point of clarification here,

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if you're interested in this document,

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I'll post the two pictures or the PDF to the actual post here from the Pentecostal

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Evangel in the text portion of the video here,

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lower down below the video.

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If you want to take a look at this specifically.

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But number four,

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at all times,

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endeavor to verify information before accepting it as true or repeating it to others.

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How often with social media are we able to share things?

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No time before this was this possible.

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And that's why I think the polarization of the political sphere has evolved the way it has.

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How it's become so polarizing.

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So much animosity exists in conversations

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conversations about politics in our daily conversations with people.

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We can be so hostile,

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so filled with hate and anger towards one another because social media has created

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a world in which you can share something instantly without having really any time

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to think about it,

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any research,

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any investment.

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It doesn't matter because you just post it and move on.

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Whereas before,

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if you were going to have a conversation,

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you probably face-to-face wanted to know what you were talking about.

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Or at least you believed something so strongly that it didn't matter.

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And then second,

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if you were going to write something on something other than social media,

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you were either writing it personally or you were going to be scrutinized because

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it was public.

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And it was going to be something seen rather largely.

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So number four, I thought was incredibly, endeavor to verify all information.

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Number five,

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at all times endeavor to know and understand the candidate's position and evaluate

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him or her on that basis,

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on the basis of his or her ability to perform the duties and functions of the

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office and his or her integrity.

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Just a solid point.

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Number six, at all times endeavor to know and understand the issues.

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Do not excuse yourself from this duty by saying, God will show me whom to vote for.

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Another solid one.

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Number seven,

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at all times,

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compare a candidate's position with Scripture,

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but not only where Scripture addresses the issue.

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Do not force Scripture to do or to address issues that the author did not intend to address.

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So don't look just at the issues that the author is saying in Scripture.

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Look at other exterior issues.

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Sometimes there's not going to be a direct correlation to a modern problem with a biblical truth.

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But looking at other aspects that are jointly connected or running alongside one another, look at those.

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And then don't apply things that Scripture says that aren't directly connected with

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what the candidate says.

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Number eight,

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neither vote nor work for a candidate merely because he or she professes a

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Christian faith.

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Um,

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I mean, that's pretty, I don't know how popular that would be today for people to say.

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Just because someone's a Christian, don't vote for them.

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We're studying through the book of James.

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Faith without works is dead.

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So if someone just says they have faith,

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but their works don't align with that faith,

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I think that point ties in nicely.

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Do not neglect your family, worship, prayer, or Bible study.

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In an election time,

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in a time where our community,

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our nation,

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is going to drastically be impacted,

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it is absolutely essential for us not to neglect the family,

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our own local ministry,

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right?

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The family is the context from which every single person is responsible to minister to.

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Worship,

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to not neglect giving the Lord praise,

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not neglect prayer,

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the most essential aspect,

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the most foundational piece of the Christian life,

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and Bible study,

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to not be well-grounded in the Scripture,

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in the Holy Bible,

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is incredibly important.

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And then 10,

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this is something I think would drastically challenge and not condemn,

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that it would drastically convict us that sometimes our heart is not in the correct position.

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But at all times, uphold your leaders in prayers.

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Critically important.

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Critically important.

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At all times, uphold your leaders in prayer.

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It doesn't matter whether you agree with them or not.

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They need the Lord because there is evil in this world.

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There are dark forces in this world.

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And without the power of prayer,

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we allow those candidates,

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those people in positions of power,

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those leaders—

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We allow them to go through those things,

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those decisions,

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to make decisions,

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and we aren't committing to pray for them and allowing the Lord to work through us

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in our prayers.

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So those are the 10, 10 guidelines for Christian voters, and I think they're so essential for today.

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So timely for today, even though they're written 40 years ago by Dennis Hubert, W. Dennis Hubert.

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Okay, there was one thing that I thought was incredibly important in the main body of this article here.

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And let me read it to you.

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It's near the beginning of the article.

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You know, I'm just going to read the first two paragraphs just to give you the full context.

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The beginning of the article.

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Being a Christian does not automatically make a person more capable or knowledgeable.

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We know that to be true.

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Back into the article.

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Being a Christian does not necessarily give better insight into political issues.

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I know many fine Christians whom I would not like to see in any public office for a variety of reasons.

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A Christian loses effectiveness if he,

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A,

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so now there's a list here,

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A,

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tries to spiritualize every insignificant law.

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B, is a one-issue person.

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Example here, he gives an example, pro-life.

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And knows nothing about other issues.

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Example, nuclear arms, jobs, etc.

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Or C, is prejudiced against other religions or denominations.

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So I guess that was just really the first two paragraphs here is not really the proper term.

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But I think there's an important aspect of this quote here that we should address

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as a penitential liturgical pastor.

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I think it's timely for today.

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And this might upset some people, but...

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You know,

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if it was said 40 years ago from an attorney,

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Dennis Huber is an attorney in New York in a licensed Assembly of God minister.

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I don't know if he's still alive or not.

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But he said this 40 years ago, and I think it's true.

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He says we lose—notice what the word is saying here, what he's saying here.

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We lose effectiveness.

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Not that we are wrong,

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not that we're not intelligent,

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not that we're not good voters,

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not that we're not good Christians.

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We lose effectiveness.

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Effectiveness, witness of the gospel, is the primary thing we are called to do by God.

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At my church, we call it Commission Church for a specific reason.

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We focus and center our lives on the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 19.

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Jesus commanded them,

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go into all the world,

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making disciples of all nations,

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baptizing them in the name of the Father,

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Son,

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and the Holy Spirit,

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teaching them to obey the commandments.

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The key here,

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witness, and effectiveness.

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And Huber here says that we lose our effectiveness if we are a single issue person.

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And I have heard this argument so often,

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and I'm not saying it's not necessarily true,

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because here's the thing.

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I am as pro-life as they get.

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I do not like abortion one bit.

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and that might not be a popular opinion but the reality is i believe that god has

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created each and every individual each and every life specific unique blessed

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beautiful and important and i believe that holistically i believe that from the

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moment you die or from the moment you're conceived to the moment you die and even

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beyond into the life to come right because that's an important part too

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but specifically your earthly life you have value regardless of what um happens to

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you what you do what you are like every aspect of that doesn't matter you have an

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errant value because you are created by god and that's why i'm pro-life i believe

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that abortion's wrong i believe that killing is an evil act right

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I don't necessarily agree that capital punishment is a great idea, right?

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I understand why some people might not agree with that,

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but at the same time,

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I don't think that taking another person's life,

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unless it is the divine providence of God,

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which I don't think anyone can argue is a part of the American legal system,

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It was not something that worked well for Israel when they were experiencing the theocratic rule of God.

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And it's definitely not something I think the American system would venture into wisely.

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And so I'm entirely pro-life, but here's the reality.

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If you're voting for someone specifically,

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and you just say the only reason I'm voting for someone is because of a single issue,

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I don't think that is morally responsible because life is not a single issue.

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And I think the wise words of this Pentecostal writer from the 80s is incredibly helpful.

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And it's not to say that you're not smart.

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It's not to say that you're a bad person.

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It's not to say you're a bad Christian.

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None of those things is what this writer said.

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He says that we lose effectiveness because when we vote on a single issue,

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when that is the swinging principle,

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reality of what we decide to vote on,

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we lose effectiveness in the eyes of people and we lose our witness,

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our Christian effectiveness,

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our Christian witness.

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And the world is bigger than one issue.

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American politics is bigger than one issue.

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And I'm not going to say come here to you and tell you who to vote for.

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I'm not going to tell you who I'm going to vote for because that's not important.

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That's not what this is for.

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The importance is there is a distinct Christian way to go about how we engage in political activity.

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And these guidelines,

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the 10 that I gave you,

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and then that one single thought that I thought was so incredibly powerful is that

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we should not be single issue people.

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We should be for all aspects of life because that's what Jesus was for.

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Jesus spoke to people not only in their spiritual need, but he addressed their physical needs.

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He addressed the needs of those who were hungry.

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He addressed the needs of those who did not have access to healthcare.

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The man who was not able to get into the pool when the waters were stirred up.

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and everyone else beat him to the pool jesus healed that man to the poor who had no

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ability to move up in society he and befriended he allowed them to the social

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outcasts to the religious outcasts um to the widows his commit his command to his

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followers to take care of the orphans the widows all of those have so many

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different aspects in our communal life

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And to say that we're voting on one issue or to abandon these 10 guidelines changes

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our Christian witness.

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So I thought this was a great article.

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If you're interested in reading it, I'll link it below.

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I think it's incredibly helpful and incredibly timely coming 40 years after the fact it was written.

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40 years almost to the day next month.

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So I hope you encourage you with this short little political talk.

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Hopefully I didn't scare you all away.

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I don't think anything I said should be too controversial.

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I think all of these points should be generally accepted.

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I mean, it's Jesus alone is the answer.

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It's not about red or blue.

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It's not about any political affiliation.

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It's simply about the world needs Jesus.

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And to be a follower of Jesus is to view everything through his lens.

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And that's what we're going to try to do.

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That's what this pastoral journey for me and learning how to deal with people of

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all kinds of belief systems,

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all kinds of personal opinions.

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but coming together and acknowledging the simple fact that only Christ,

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the soon-coming King,

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only Jesus the Lord,

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the Savior of all,

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is the lens in which we can make sense of all of these complicated issues.

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So hopefully you enjoyed that, and hopefully next time we'll be able to have more conversations together.