Vote hope!

For millions of Americans reality is not what is, but what they perceive to be true as interpreted by the media pundits on the flat screen. The truth is that America was founded by Christians with a Biblical worldview. That God-centered view is still deeply implanted in the American conscience and with the growth of evangelical Christianity it is spreading its influence.

Pollster George Barna found that the overwhelming majority of Americans want traditional Christian values and symbols to prevail: 79 percent of all adults favor keeping the Ten Commandments on the walls of our government buildings; 84 percent support keeping “One Nation under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance; 84 percent of the people support keeping “In God We Trust” on our nation’s currency; 59 percent even support teaching creationism in our nation’s science classrooms.

Among evangelicals the percentages are higher on all of these issues and 66 percent of believing Christians even support a constitutional amendment to establish Christianity as the official religion of the United States! You won’t hear these statistics on the prime-time news.

If most Americans are with us in desiring to maintain the Judeo-Christian foundations of our civilization, why does it often appear the Christians are out of the mainstream? One reason of course is that the general population is fed at school and by the media a steady diet of lies and half-truths about the stereotypical “bigoted, right-wing pushy Christian church.” Another reason is that most believers have not been taught a Biblical political philosophy and therefore have not been presenting a well-reasoned rationale as to the benefits of a society that voluntarily, through voting and service, not coercion, chooses to honor God.

Then and Now
There is no doubt that the pastors in the colonies in the 18th century were the most powerful intellectual and political, as well as spiritual, influence on the lives of the people. Attorney John Whitehead explains: “In colonial America… the sermon delivered by the local minister was the basic, and many times only, form of communication for the colonists.”

“The New England Sermon,” writes Yale professor and historian Harry S. Stout, “had a topical range and social influence… so powerful in shaping cultural values, meanings, and sense of corporate purpose that even television pales by comparison.” Stout continues to say, “The average weekly churchgoer in New England (and there were far more churchgoers than church members) listened to something like 7000 sermons in a lifetime, totaling somewhere around 15,000 hours of concentrated listening.”

In every election season, every town in early America would have election sermons in which the Christian electorate was trained to prioritize the election of godly rulers. Here are a few of the themes that resounded in these powerful orations. The colonists were taught to obey Christ’s words to “Occupy until I come” in every sphere of life, including civil affairs. They were taught their Christian heritage of liberty and that “to whom much is given much is required,” so they voted with passion as a duty to God.

God’s Ambassadors Arise
These and many other Biblical exhortations inspired our founders to shape our civilization which we still enjoy to this day. It is happening again. The Mayflower Institute and many pastors and leaders are training the believers of our day a balanced Biblical perspective on cultural involvement similar to that taught to our founding generation of Christians. The sleeping giant is awakening.

Imagine! With only a slight percentage shift in Christian voting patterns we can determine any election. It should be remembered that the 2000 presidential election was decided by just over 500 votes in Florida. In like manner, is it not very plausible that 80 million believers could swing the votes needed to elect godly candidates? Of course! With more good senators and congressmen who share a Biblical view of life, we could end the killing of 1.5 million unborn children each year, strengthen marriage, and return to constitutional limited government. If believers are in leadership in our nation we all, including those without faith, will be more safe and prosperous. “When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice.”

This article was adapted from the original published by the Mayflower Institute, (www.mayflowerinstitute.com), a nonprofit, educational foundation whose purpose since 1976 has been to inspire and educate individuals and nations in the forgotten truths of America’s liberty and prosperity.