On Tuesday, Nov. 3, tens of millions of people will head to the polls to elect the next president of the United States. Ballots will be cast to either reelect Republican Donald J. Trump or select former vice president and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
This year’s election is a critical referendum on two vastly divergent visions for the future of our country. Our vote will have lasting and perhaps devastating effects for decades to come—morally, fiscally and socially.
The Democratic platform appears now to fully represent the progressive left, whose liberal agenda seeks to dramatically remake our nation in their own radical image. It is unapologetically pro-abortion, it staunchly advocates LGBTQ rights and it is hostile toward the Biblical view of marriage as between one man and one woman.
While we see new examples daily of the anarchy that has spilled into the streets of major U.S. cities with looting and rioting, radical elements are demanding to defund the police. The left envisions a drastic turn toward socialism, which as we know from countries like Russia and Cuba, is a step toward persecution of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, the Republican platform is pro-life, protects religious liberty and is a strong advocate for law and order.
These two visions for America are clashing bitterly in the confirmation process of Amy Coney Barrett, the federal appellate judge President Trump has nominated to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
I was invited to the White House when President Trump nominated Judge Barrett. I am impressed. She is a person of faith and a mother of seven children, including two adopted from Haiti. She would be the first mother of school-age children ever to serve on the Supreme Court. And she is a strict originalist when it comes to interpretation of the Constitution. She is exactly the kind of justice the Supreme Court needs.
There are also numerous state and local elections where voters will need to decide what best aligns with Biblical values.
However, my hope lies not in the Republican party or the Democratic party. My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ and His transforming power to change hearts and lives through the Gospel. God alone is truly the only hope for America.
America is the greatest nation on earth, and it was founded on Christian principles, but many no longer recognize that foundation. We’re the ones who’ve moved, not God. We’ve taken Him out of our classrooms and universities. We’ve turned our backs on Him, and now look what we have—a land filled with violence, hatred, immorality and greed. Far too many of our leaders despise the Name of Jesus and are openly hostile to Christianity.
That’s why I went to our nation’s capital in September to lead Prayer March 2020. Tens of thousands of believers came from across the country to join with us as we walked down the National Mall and paused for prayer near our historic monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Archives and the Capitol. Millions more joined the livestream broadcast hosted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and my daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch.
We came for one purpose only—to lift up our voices in prayer to Almighty God. The Bible says clearly that if we want to see the Lord’s hand of blessing on our nation, we need to start with humility, confession and repentance. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
We prayed for those in leadership as the Bible commands us—for the president, for Congress, for Democrats, for Republicans and Independents. We asked God to protect our military, law enforcement personnel and medical workers. We prayed for racial harmony, for the unborn, for those who are suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic and especially for the lost souls across our nation.
Vice President Mike Pence was there along with his wife, Karen. He led in prayer from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and he reminded us of what Abraham Lincoln said about the power of prayer: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” My son Edward, my sister Anne Graham Lotz and many others also led in intercession for our troubled nation. Thousands and thousands simply broke up into small groups and cried out to the Lord.
I hope followers of Christ will spend a concentrated time in prayer in these next few days as well, calling on God for His hand of mercy, and for Him to stay His hand of judgment against America for the sins of our land.
I don’t know what the results of the election will be. That’s in God’s sovereign hand. But I do know we are responsible to pray and ask Him to move in our land once again so that we can say, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).
The Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.
Photo: Paul Zambrana/©2020 BGEA