An Election Has Passed. The Warning Remains.
On November 2, I published an appeal to America entitled America, It Is Time to Turn Around. I asked Americans to reconsider the direction of our nation, to recognize the moral decline taking place around us, and to return to the Way of יהוה.
Now the election is over.
I am mildly frustrated by the outcome, but I cannot say I am surprised. Perhaps I should have expected it. If the entire country had read my article, considered its message, and then gone to the polls, I suspect the results would have been much the same. That is not because the message was unclear. It is because I fear we have become a people who hear warnings but have little inclination to heed them. Our society has no common understanding affirming the Biblical God of Creation.
We Vote With Our Pocketbooks
There is an unfortunate reality about American elections: economic self-interest is frequently the deciding factor. Inflation, grocery prices, housing, taxes, and the cost of living can move voters from one political party to another with remarkable speed.
People want to live comfortably. They want their retirement accounts protected, their bills paid, and their families provided for. There is nothing inherently wrong with those desires. But when material prosperity becomes more important than moral integrity, something has gone terribly wrong.
We seem willing to change political direction when our pocketbooks are hurting, but are we equally willing to change direction when our consciences should be hurting?
We can debate economic policy endlessly. We can argue about which party will manage the economy better, which candidate will lower taxes, and which administration will create more jobs. But what good is a prosperous nation if it loses its moral foundation?
What good is a full refrigerator if we have abandoned the principles that once made our families, communities, and nation worth preserving?
What Have We Chosen to Celebrate? This election has returned or added people to positions of authority who support policies that are fundamentally contrary to the Word of God.
We have elected officials who defend abortion, promote the expansion of gender-transition practices involving children, advocate increasingly permissive immigration policies, and support tax burdens that place additional demands upon working families.
These are not merely political disagreements. Never mind the constitutional violations they advocate. These involve questions of human life, the nature of our Creator’s design, the moral responsibilities of government, the protection of families, and the principles of justice.
I recognize that Americans disagree about these matters. But disagreement does not change what יהוה has declared to be righteous. We have become accustomed to treating morality as something negotiable, something to be determined by popular opinion, cultural trends, or the results of an election. But righteousness is not established by majority vote. A nation may elect its leaders, enact its laws, and determine its public policies. It cannot, however, vote God off His throne.
America Is Not Israel, But Israel’s Warning Is Ours to Consider
I do not suggest that America is Israel. We have not been given Israel’s covenant, and America should not presume to claim the promises made specifically to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants.
But we would be foolish to ignore the lessons of Israel’s history, especially since we have in the past, and some do still, claimed to be a Christian nation.
The northern kingdom of Israel was repeatedly warned by the prophets. They had abandoned the commandments, embraced idolatry, tolerated injustice, and pursued the desires of their own hearts. They trusted in their political alliances, their military strength, and their prosperity.
The prophets called them to turn around. They did not listen. In 722 BC, Assyria conquered the northern kingdom, and its people were taken into exile. Judah had witnessed what happened to Israel. It had received its own warnings through the prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. Yet Judah also turned from righteousness. Its leaders pursued corruption, its people tolerated injustice, and its religious practices became increasingly disconnected from genuine obedience.
They continued to have a temple. They continued to have religious ceremonies. They continued to speak of their relationship with יהוה. But their hearts were far from Him. Jeremiah warned them repeatedly. He pleaded with them to return to the old paths, to practice justice, and to abandon their wickedness.
They refused.
In 586 BC, Jerusalem fell to Babylon. The Temple was destroyed, and Judah was carried into exile. These were not merely political failures. They were spiritual failures that eventually brought national catastrophe. And here is the lesson I believe America should consider: A people can retain its religious language, its national identity, its institutions, and even its prosperity while abandoning the very righteousness upon which a healthy society depends.
The prophets did not warn Israel because it lacked political influence. They warned Israel because it had forgotten its God. They spoke about God, but ignored His ways. They had developed their own ‘godly’ ways.
Why should we assume that we are somehow exempt from the consequences of abandoning righteousness?
A Nation of Faith, Not Merely a Christian Nation
I have never been particularly comfortable with the expression “Christian nation” when it is used to suggest that America possesses some special standing before God simply because of its historical religious heritage.
Our founding history was deeply influenced by the Hebrew Scriptures and the faith of those who believed in the God of Abraham. That heritage deserves recognition. But historical religious identity is not the same thing as genuine faith.
What I would rather see is a nation whose people actually believe in God and demonstrate that faith through how they live.
Imagine a people who genuinely respect human life, honor marriage, protect children, care for the vulnerable, speak truthfully, practice justice, and refuse to make a virtue of wickedness. Imagine families who teach their children the commandments of God, communities that value righteousness over popularity, and leaders who understand that public authority carries moral responsibility. When we were raising our children, they knew the 10 Commandments at four years old. I teach children today who can barely understand what the 10 Commandments are, much less cite them. What if we could reverse that?
Would such a nation necessarily agree on every political question? No. Would every citizen need to belong to the same religious denomination? Absolutely not. But a people who genuinely seek the righteousness of their Creator would have a very different foundation upon which to make their decisions.
That is what I want for America. Not a nation that merely calls itself Christian, but a nation whose people have a genuine desire to walk in the Way of God.
If Texas Turns Away, What Then?
Texas has long represented something distinctive in the American character: independence, personal responsibility, family, faith, and a strong sense of individual liberty. I am concerned about the possibility that Texas will abandon those principles in favor of the same political and cultural direction that has produced so much division elsewhere. If Texas turns fully toward the policies I have described, I fear it will ultimately be to her detriment.
But I would make the same observation about any state, regardless of which political party governs it.
Conservative political labels do not make a people righteous. Republican politicians are not automatically righteous. Neither are Democratic politicians. A politician can invoke God, attend church, quote Scripture, and still practice dishonesty, injustice, and corruption. We must be willing to examine ourselves as well as those with whom we disagree.
The problem is bigger than one election, one party, or one administration. It is a question of what kind of people we have become.
The Warning Has Not Changed
My November 2 article ended with a simple appeal: America, turn around.
That appeal has not changed because of an election. Nor will it change because of the next one. The prophet Jeremiah recorded these words:
“Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls.” — Jeremiah 6:16
The question is not whether America can elect better politicians. It is whether Americans are willing to become better people by returning to the Creator.
We cannot expect political institutions to accomplish what only a change of heart can accomplish. We cannot legislate genuine faith. We cannot manufacture righteousness through government programs. We cannot restore a nation’s moral foundation merely by changing the people who occupy positions of authority.
That transformation must begin with individuals, families, and communities. And it begins with changing one’s way: repentance.
Yeshua the Messiah did not come to affirm our rebellion. He came to reconcile us to His Father and lead us into the light. Genuine faith in Him should produce a changed life. Paul said to believers “Therefore, be transformed…”
So I am disappointed, but not defeated. I am concerned, but not without hope. America may have ignored the warning. But the invitation to turn around remains. And I reiterate that warning.
The question is no longer which political party will lead us. The question is whether we, as a people, will return to the God who gave us life.
Turn around, America.
The Way is still open.