“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29)
Have you noticed that political ads for president are already on television, over a year in advance of the Republican and Democratic Party Conventions? There ought to be a law against it!
Interestingly, the Madison Avenue crowd is trying to get a head start on convincing us that the candidate who’s signing their paycheck is the one who should get the ticket to Washington. The irony is those ads will do more to divide us over the next few months than they’ll ever do to convince us who should be president.
I don’t know about you, but it’s difficult for me to tell who’s telling the truth in most of the ads I’ve seen. I guess that’s why the German Philosopher G.C. Lichtenberg once quipped, “The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.”
I visit a lot of churches and often hear pastors speak as if God is a Republican and would never side with the Democrats. They want us to believe that Republicans are more likely to support a particular Christian interest. Yet, Democrats are quick to point out that their party is the party of hope for the poor, the same group for which Jesus said he had been anointed. (Luke 4:19)
The fact is neither side of the aisle has registered a very good record of support for Christian causes. Poverty continues to prosper and the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” grows ever wider. Just what have they done to help the poor, put prayer back into the schools, outlaw abortion, reduce teenage pregnancy, etc.? Remember, Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20)
What disturbs me most about today’s campaign tactics is that it teaches us (and more tragically our children) that the way to win an office is to focus attention on the opponent rather than have the voter look at the principles for which candidate who paid for the ad stands. Most of them profess to be Christians while they take shots at their opponents at every opportunity. The Apostle James sternly warns against such practices: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” (James 3:9-11)
It shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear Republican and Democratic Party leaders lament at how difficult it is to recruit good candidates to run for office, especially state and local offices. Who in the world wants to be subjected to such scrutiny? None of us is perfect, which is what James meant when he said, “We all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2)
While I have never run for office, I have been subjected to the tactics these spin meisters use to tout their candidates. I once bitterly complained to a newspaper publisher in another town as to how he could permit someone to tell only part of the story in an attempt to hide or distort the real truth. “I’m not interested in the truth,” he told me, “just the facts.”
Aren’t you glad you have a God who not only is interested in the truth, but is Truth. Before you decide which presidential candidate you’re going to vote for, study them, look at how they’ve lived their lives, and ask the Lord for his counsel. After all, the Bible says, “Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.” (1 Chronicles 16:11)
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