Political campaigns all too often come down to one memorable moment: Nixon’s debate with JFK, Reagan asking if Americans are better off today than four years ago, Bush promising “no new taxes,” or Trump descending a golden escalator. Two rallies — and three events — over the last week presented a series of revelatory moments that should burn themselves into Christians’ minds, culminating with the way two of the most important figures in the election responded to the phrase, “Jesus is Lord.”
Kamala Harris presided over the first event at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse the other week. As she delved into a monologue castigating pro-life protections for the unborn, two university students declared, “Christ is King!” and “Jesus is Lord!”
“Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally,” replied the Democratic Party’s candidate for president of the United States.
The students — Grant Beth and Luke Polaske, two juniors at the university — said Harris singled them out during the speech. “She was actually waving to me. I took this cross off my neck that I wear, and as we were getting asked to leave, I held it up in the air and waved at her and pointed at her, and she looked directly in the eye, kind of gave me an evil smirk,” Polaske told “Fox and Friends Weekend.” Sadly, the liberal university crowd shared Harris’s disrespect for Christians and, allegedly, for Christ.
The New York Post reports: “I was pushed by an elderly woman. We were heckled at, we were cursed at, we were mocked, and that’s the biggest thing for me personally,” Beth said. “In reflection of the event, Jesus was mocked. You know, [H]is disciples were mocked, and that’s OK.”
Contrast that scene with a rally Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance held in Waukesha, Wisconsin. During a lull in his speech, someone in the audience cheered, “Jesus is king!”
“That’s right. Jesus is king,” Vance responded, as the Republican crowd erupted in approval.
One candidate signaled that the Name of Jesus Christ — the Name at which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess His eternal lordship — is unwelcome speech at any of her rallies. And if the Democratic nominee banishes Jesus’s Name from her campaign, when she’s trying to earn the votes of the largest share of U.S. citizens (and, alas, others), how much more will Jesus find disfavor once she’s comfortably ensconced in the Oval Office for the next four years?
On the other hand, J.D. Vance rhetorically affirmed, not merely empty praise for Jesus, but the notion that God’s sovereignty supersedes even his own. The phrase “Jesus is King!” recognizes the view that government, and those to whom it is temporarily entrusted, are subordinate to the will of God. Their will is circumscribed by the rights, priorities, privileges, and kingdom rights of Christ the King. Vance’s words pumped oxygen into the heart of the American experiment, that U.S. citizens enjoy certain unalienable rights which no government can ever take away.
As a Christian, those two images should stand preeminent above all others as you go into the voting booth.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
No comments:
Post a Comment