Our Romans 13 Election?

As the Gipper once said "There you go again". New "shocking" revelations that a man who is notable mostly for being a loud-mouthed buffoon turns out to be a loud-mouthed buffoon who says stuff that would be immature coming from a junior high boy and are vulgar even by the very low standards our society has descended to with a wink and smile. I won't dignify Trump's comments by repeating them, even with the dirty stuff missing letters. Even still. EVEN STILL. There are plenty of pew sitting church-goers who will excuse this. Really, who can blame them when the alternative we have as a nation is a woman who lies like fish swim, a high priestess of the cult of infanticide. Many in the church have placed their practical faith in the world instead of the Savior they claim to follow. As a nation we have backed ourselves into a no-win corner and  have only ourselves to blame. I would like to think that if we could call a do-over and start back with Iowa and New Hampshire again, we would end up with two different candidates.

I like to think that but I know better. 

"Our" candidates are nothing but a reflection of us. For the first time we can't pretend we were fooled. We knew what we were getting. A vulgar blowhard who seems to be running for President as a joke and a power mad harpy who will do anything to achieve her own mad personal quest for power.

Maybe for once we can start to understand what Paul was talking about. Paul who wrote of Caesar as someone the church should not fear but pray for. Caesar was outside of the Kingdom. The church is the Kingdom. Because God is God, we have nothing to fear from Caesar. If Paul cold be imprisoned by Caesar and still pray for the likes of Nero and Caligula what we are worried about? Our loss of "religious liberty"? The church is told to expect persecution and indeed has always thrived in the face of persecution. Do we fear that we will get the wrong Supreme Court justices? "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." That is true of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. It is also true for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy.

Maybe, just maybe we can rely on the power of God, the strength of weakness that is the true might of the believer. Instead of trying to take over and become Caesar we can stand as a clear, contrast to Caesar.

We should strive to do good to everyone and especially the household of faith but we should do it without compromising our calling and becoming unequally yoked with Caesar. In this election we have no real choice that honors God. We can vote for the man who speaks of women like they are all whores. We can vote for a woman who promises to put our infanticide machine on overdrive and is as dishonest as any human being has ever been. We can vote for "principled" candidates who won't win or a long shot who seems more and more stoned as the campaign stumbles tortuously to it's culmination. Or we can turn our focus, our time, talent and treasure to the tasks that God has actually called us to, that have eternal significance.

Our choice has never been more stark. Not a choice between Republican or Democrat, not between liberal or conservative. No, our choice is the power of the world or the power of God and it has never been more clear. Let's not screw this up. The world we are called to serve and love, even people who are hell bound like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, is watching. More importantly so is our Savior.