The Unelectable Candidate with an Unpopular Platform
President George Bush of the Republican Party and John Kerry of the Democratic Party receive the most attention because they represent the major political parties and are the only candidates with a realistic chance of being elected. While a few people realize that Ralph Nader of the Reform Party is also a candidate, fewer still know that David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party are also running for president. These candidates are relatively unknown and therefore unelectable. But there are many more unknown unelectables! For a quick lesson on just how many check out http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm.
Since we are in this political season of divergent views, let me share with you a portion of the political platform of a candidate that most definitely won't be elected. The family values plank of this platform includes a strong belief in biblical instruction and a conviction to make these principles the law of the land. I suspect that you can already see the problem. Too many Americans today don't like or follow biblical instructions.
Take the biblical command not to commit fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18). Since approximately half of young people today engage in sexual relations prior to marriage and even live together prior to marriage, many would be incensed at a government that tried to control or guide personal conduct in this area. These individuals would not like anyone telling them that they are sinning.
Of course biblical instructions aren't limited to premarital sex; they also forbid extramarital sex and homosexuality. The seventh commandment says, "You shall not commit adultery [have an affair or fraudulently divorce your mate so as to marry another]" (Exodus 20:14). Homosexuality is also described as an abomination—something particularly loathsome and detestable—to God (Leviticus 18:22). God considers both adultery and homosexuality abominably sinful behaviors.
Adding these values to the premarital one above is guaranteed to make this family values plank one that would generate massive howls of protest. I can already hear the hateful, visceral retorts. "Get the government out of people's bedrooms! We don't want Big Brother controlling our love life!"
And what about abortion—that hot topic that crosses many party lines and pretty evenly divides Americans today? Upon implementation of the preceding platform, abortion would basically disappear. The main reason for abortion today—a means of birth control—would no longer be necessary if there was no premarital sex or adultery. If everyone would implement God's sexual standards and treat each other with respect, everyone could be both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. Everyone could be Pro-Life in agreeing that no life should be snuffed out once it has begun at conception. And everyone could be Pro-Choice in the sense that married couples should decide prior to having sex whether they want to have a child.
Such a family values plank sounds simple, logical, and practical. And it is! So who is this unelectable candidate with this unpopular platform? Jesus Christ!
Jesus is the Candidate who most definitely wouldn't be elected. Given the majority of opinions today on family values as well as many other issues, it would be impossible for Him to be popularly elected to office! Yet the Bible reveals that God the Father will install Jesus as the Head of a new government called the Kingdom of God.
The Bible has long predicted this kingdom and its installation when Jesus returns. Jesus will rule over the United States and all the other nations of the world via a mandatory regime change (Revelation 11:15, Zechariah 14:1-4). Jerusalem will be His capital city and from it will emanate policies that will impact the conduct of every citizen in every aspect of life including what one does in the privacy of his or her bedroom (Isaiah 2:2-4).
And as strange as it may sound today, public opinion is going to change. The belief that church and state must remain separate will disappear as people come to understand and agree with the policies coming from the "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16). As these winds of change sweep the earth, people will finally realize that "Righteousness [obeying God's laws] exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).