This election is not like other elections. In ‘08 and ‘12, both major political parties had candidates that fit. They were representatives of their party, had won the primaries because of this, and were viable options. In ‘16, we had two people that both sucked. Very few people were happy to cast a vote in either direction.

And so we have Trump.

The last four years have not been good. They’ve been marked by conflict, controversy, and regression. The call to Make America Great Again! is a call backward. But humans don’t regress, we go forward.

If you are someone that has no higher moral code, a vote for Trump is fine. I have no other expectation for someone that puts their own interest (as our President has done) first. I do, however, have expectations for people that claim Christ.

Jesus says, in Matthew 22:40, that the Law and Prophets are boil down to these two commands:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. (Mt. 22:37)

2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt. 22:39)

Donald J. Trump does neither.

He claims God, but his words and actions are not Godly. (For a longer read, click here). Jesus had something to say about this as well. “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them (Mt. 7:15b-16).” He then explains that bad people do not do good things, and vice versa. Bad trees do not bear good fruit. This is very, very clear.

Voting for Trump is voting for a bad man. Voting for Trump is voting to give power to a man that uses God’s name for his own purposes. It is voting for a man that goes against the values I, and many other followers of Jesus attempt to live by. (In the process, he has turned people away from God. Ask yourselves this, this, or this.)

People love to say, or argue, that we only have two options and that by exercising a right for a different option, you’re “throwing away a vote”. But, to vote for Trump is to actively bring a man like him to power. In doing so, you are turning people away from God. You are casting a ballot for division. You are causing people to associate belief in Jesus with supporting Trump. Those things do not align.

If you wonder what else you can do, here you go:

If you wonder why it matters, here you go:

If you wonder why it matters, Biblically, here you go:

And if your #1 issue is abortion, and you call you call yourself “Pro Life”, here you go:

If you’re reading this far, you know I’m on to something. So I’ll leave you with this:

• God does not ask us to choose between the lesser of two evils. (If anything, he says: Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect; Mt. 5:48)

• God commands us to look out for the foreigner residing among us, not to lock them in cages. (“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges…leave them for the poor and foreigner residing among you” Leviticus 23:22)

And I’ll end with this:

The Prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the coming Messiah a lot (even echoed in Jesus’s birth story in Matthew), shows us very clearly, in the first chapter of his book, who God directs us to care for.:

Isaiah 1:17 read, “Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.