Writing in response to a call for evangelicals to vote in protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Southern Evangelical Seminary President Dr. Richard Land wrote the November election is an “excruciating choice,” but ultimately Christians have just one option.
Acknowledging that many Christians feel the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is “intolerable,” he laid out some basic guidelines before announcing how he intends to vote on Nov. 8. They were:
- Christians have a moral obligation to vote.
- Each person has to prayerfully seek the Lord’s guidance as to how he or she should cast his or her vote.
- When one casts a ballot, he or she should consider what the consequences his or her actions will be.
“[M]any millennials I have talked with have said, ‘Your generation urged Christians to get involved and make a difference and what real difference has it made?’ Such questions contain a fatal flaw—comparing the way things are with what they were rather than comparing the way things would have been if millions of Christians had not gone forth as salt and light in the last three decades,” he wrote. “Did these Christians accomplish all they desired to do? No, they did not. However, most of them knew that the change America really needed was a Christian revival and awakening, which, alas, has not yet come to our nation.
“Real American revival will come from a spiritual awakening, not from Washington D.C. Government is a caboose, not a locomotive. When America’s heart is spiritually renewed (the locomotive), then, and only then, will the government (the caboose) truly change.
“However, Christian involvement in the political process has made a significant difference. Without that involvement, for example, President Carter would have had a second term, Ronald Regan would never have been president, and the Soviet Union (the evil empire) might still be tottering on, systematically abusing the rights and crushing the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people.”
Land said casting a protest vote against Trump was the “Pontius Pilate option”—a reference to a comment he made earlier about not voting, equating it the Roman governor’s washing his hands of the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. The left a choice between Trump and Clinton.
On that subject, he wrote:
Let me be as transparent as possible. I know several of the Republican presidential primary candidates personally, and they all were far preferable to Mr. Trump. Out of the 17 Republican primary candidates, Mr. Trump was my 18th choice.
However, I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton under any circumstances. Why? First, she is the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever nominated by a major party …
Second, Mrs. Clinton and her husband are morally and financially corrupt on a scale previously not experienced in American presidential life. They both seem either unwilling, or incapable, of telling the truth …
Furthermore, the financial corruption of the Clintons is a truly lethal threat to American democratic government. The Clinton Foundation is the chief conduit of “Clinton Corruption, Inc.” The level of financial corruption, “pay to play,” and influence peddling is so massive that it may have the capacity to simply overload our entire federal government to the point that it simply collapses …
So, in a fallen world, faced with the painful choice of choosing between the lesser evil (Donald Trump) vs. the greater evil (Hillary Clinton), I believe I have a moral obligation to vote for the lesser evil. Otherwise, I become morally culpable for the greater evil prevailing …
Mr. Trump will in all probability not be a good president, and he will do many things with which I profoundly disagree. However, I fear Hillary Clinton may be a terminal president who will destroy this venerable republic.
Consequently, with sadness of heart, I will cast my vote for Donald Trump and pray that God will have mercy on him and on my beloved country.
And I shall pray for you as you wrestle with what God would have you do on Election Day.
