John Piper Weighs in on Voting - AD Responds

All right, well let's talk about this Desiring God article by John Piper about how to vote for the upcoming election. Now, I did a video about this already, but unfortunately the audio capture broke halfway through, and so I have to do it again.

I was hoping to just do kind of like a live reaction, because that's the first time around, I hadn't read it yet. Now I've read it, so we'll see how this goes, because I'm sure that I'll have some different thoughts and all that kind of thing.

John Piper’s Article and the Problem of Moral Reasoning

But what I wanted to start off with is, you know, there are a lot of things that John Piper is well above average at. He's an above average preacher. He's an above average author. I think that nobody kind of just gives you sort of a glimpse in a very poetic kind of a way at the glory of God and the sovereignty of God.

I don't think anyone does it better than John Piper, so he's really good at a lot of things. One thing that I think he's absolutely terrible at is any kind of moral reasoning that is slightly complex.

To be honest, like I've thought this ever since I read his article about guns. Do you remember the article where he said that he wouldn't shoot someone that was attacking his wife because image of God or something like that?

Like that's just really, that's a really pathetic take. It doesn't understand things at any more complex a level than a three-year-old would understand it. Like I would, I would fully try to, like I would expect my five-year-old at this point to be able to morally reason in a more complex way than that.

It's just he's not good at it. He's not good at it. So let's talk about this article and take, I mean, who to vote for is way more complex than whether or not to defend your wife with a gun if she's being attacked.

But so I don't have a high hopes for this. Let's just continue to read it and, you know, let's go from there. So here we go. So we've got this article is probably as close as you will get to an answer on how I will vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Probably? Right. Only God knows what may happen in the next days. Nothing I say here is intended to dictate how anyone else should vote, but rather to point to a perspective that seems to be neglected.

Yes, this perspective sways my vote, but you need not be sinning if you weigh matters differently. Actually, this is a long overdue article attempting to explain why I remain baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality, unrepentant boastfulness, unrepentant vulgarity, unrepentant factiousness.

I don't know how to pronounce that word and the like to only be toxic, to only be toxic for our nations, while policies that endorse baby killing, sex switching, freedom limiting and socialist overreach are viewed as deadly.

And so, you know, honestly. All right, let's get started here. Let's get started here. Big Eva is notorious for writing a lot of words, but actually saying nothing. And you can tell at the outset, you know, I had a buddy that said, oh, this is Matt Williams.

Matt Williams said this. He read the first paragraph and then he stopped reading instantly because he knew exactly what this was going to be. And he was right, because he, John Piper starts off just trying to lower your expectations as much as possible.

Like, I know you're expecting me to tell you some clear words, clarity about, you know, voting in the election upcoming, but don't expect that. You know what I mean? Like, this is just going to be an exercise in futility.

If you're looking for any kind of clarity here, if you're looking to understand who he's planning on voting for, you are not going to be able to figure it out. You have an idea. See, this is the thing.

Like, you'll probably kind of know, but he doesn't have the guts to actually tell you. So you're like, you think you know what he's saying, but you really don't. And he confuses the heck out of you in the process.

And all of this is because of fear of man. Because if he just comes out and says it, look, I'm not voting for Trump, I'm voting for Biden. Or I'm not voting for Biden, I'm voting for Trump. Or I'm not voting for either one, I'm going to write in a candidate.

Like, if he just comes out and says it, he might make you a little bit angry. And that's what he desperately wants to avoid. He wants everyone in his congregation to feel totally comfortable, no matter how immoral their choice is.

That's what he wants more than anything. And that's really kind of pathetic. Big Eva has been doing this all day, every day for the last few weeks. So get a nice seat in the saddle, because this is going to be a long, long, long, long ride.

And there is no destination. So let's check this out. The reason I put those Greek words in parentheses is to give a graphic reminder that these are sins mentioned in the New Testament. To be more specific, they are sins that destroy people.

They are not just deadly, they are deadly forever. They lead to eternal destruction. They destroy persons and through persons, they destroy nations. So you see the idea here, like the hidden framing, the hidden assumption here is that there's a gaggle of people out there that just don't even really believe that these things are actually sins.

Like, it's no problem. Yeah, you know, I know Trump is sexually immoral, but it's not that big of a deal, right? Like, who cares? It's not going to send you to hell. And that's the idea. And it's just a false idea.

Like, this is one of those things that Piper is good at. He's good at very basic theology. So you read these first few paragraphs, you know for a fact that all of these sins will condemn you to hell for an eternity.

Basic theology, Piper's got that in spades. And so, but the thing is, like, he's trying to frame this as like, there's a bunch of people that are voting for Trump that, you know, they don't really have a problem with the fact that, you know, he's vulgar and he's sexually immoral and stuff like that.

And frankly, I've just talked to too many Trump supporters to know that that's false. That's a complete fabrication. This is a fantasy world that he's created in his own mind. You talk to people about Trump's infidelity and they'll be like, yeah, yeah, that's he's not an ideal candidate.

No question about it. In fact, that's the reason most people didn't vote. When you ask someone why they didn't vote for Trump the first time around, when he went up against Hillary, like the demon woman herself, like they say that, they say, well, it's because of his character.

That's why I didn't vote for him, because of his character. I didn't think I could trust him. Look, you betray your wife, you'll betray anybody. So like, I know this is a fantasy, but you know, John Piper's created this fantasy and expects you to believe it.

Now, obviously there's no receipts here because there's never receipts in any Big Eva article. They never actually prove anything. They just talk and talk and talk and say nothing. This article is no different.

So let's continue reading this nonsense. I need a sip. I definitely needed that. Persons, forgiveness through Christ is always possible where there is repentance and childlike trust in Jesus. But where humble repentance is absent, the sins condemned.

The New Testament teaches that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God and that those who practice such things deserve to die. To which you may say, so what? Serenity now. Who would say that?

Who would say that? So what? I don't know. I don't know. But here we go. Rejecting Jesus as Lord also leads to death, but you're willing to vote for a non-Christian, aren't you? I am, assuming there's enough overlap between biblical uprightness and the visible outworking of his character and convictions.

My point so far is simply to raise the stakes of what is outwardly modeled in leadership so that Christians are given pause. It is not a small thing to treat lightly a pattern of public behaviors that lead to death.

So here's the thing. So what he's trying to say is that, look, the behavior, even if the policies are really good, the behavior is really bad, so it might counterbalance it. And so you can't necessarily vote for behavior that leads to death as well.

That's the idea here. Okay, let's see how he sets this up. He says nations. In fact, I think it is a drastic mistake to think that the deadly influences of a leader only come through his policies and not also through his person.

I mean, again, like, where are the receipts? Who's actually saying this? Who's saying that the character doesn't matter of a person? Like a nation can't be destroyed by somebody's character. Again, I've talked to too Trump supporters to know that this is exactly their problem in 2016.

But you see, the thing is, it's not the same situation as in 2016. Now we've got four years worth of receipts, right? So in 2016, a lot of people didn't vote for him for this exact reason. But now we've got four years of receipts.

So we're in a different situation. But then again, you know, maybe he's talked to some people that he just refuses to give us evidence and receipts for that said that say this, oh yeah, person's character doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. Can't kill a nation. No, no character doesn't doesn't kill a nation. Nope. Nope. Yeah, I'm sure there is john piper. I'm sure there is this is probably not a fantasy like it obviously is.

He continues. He says this is not true. This is true not only because flagrant boastfulness, vulgarity, immorality and factiousness are self incriminating, but also because they are nation corrupting.

They move out from centers of influence to infect whole cultures. The last five years bear vivid witness to this infection at almost every level of society. So this is a propaganda piece as well. So not only is he spinning a fantasy, but it's also a propaganda piece.

Basically, everything that's going on right now, every all the problems in our nation right now, they're all Trump's fault. They're all Trump's fault. Never mind the fact that, you know, we've had decades and decades and decades that have all led up to this not never mind the fact that we've been corrupted over time.

Clearly, Obama has an influence on what's gone on today. Clearly, George W has had an influence on what's gone on today. Clearly, Bill Clinton has had an in but not not don't even worry about that. Not to mention the fact that in our nation, we elect our leaders.

And so the people who get elected are actually a reflection of the people, not as much or vice versa, though, of course, a leader can set the tone and can have an impact, no question about it. But then again, I have to refer you to the people who elected Donald Trump, and the people who elected Donald Trump weren't sitting under President Donald Trump's leadership, they were actually sitting under President Barack Obama's leadership, and George W and Bill Clinton and go on and on and on and on.

So So in our country, this is this is not only is this propaganda, but it's it's still a fantasy because he's trying to say, Well, yeah, all the problems that we see with the discourse in our nation is all Trump's fault.

Obviously, it's Trump, orange man, he's the bad one. Even though all of the other presidents before that have led up to this point, even though we elect our presidents. And so therefore, they're a reflection of us.

This is just don't even know what to say. I don't even know. I literally can't even, guys, I literally can't even. There's just so much naivete here. Like, like, think about it to think that that the last five years bear vivid witness to this infection.

And it's Trump, he's the infection. And you can see our behavior. It's Trump's fault. Even though we elected Trump, that's thinking like a child because a child is very good at analyzing that the now but they're not so much good at looking at to the future and projecting what might happen in the future.

They're not so much good at looking at the past and seeing how the past has affected the present. They're really in the now right and john piper. As I said in the beginning of this, he's very terrible at like complex moral reasoning and it's not even complex.

It's just slightly complex moral reasoning. And he really does it like a child. He's looking at the now and maybe this is maybe this is him or maybe he just bought the propaganda so completely and so obviously that it's just all it's orange man.

You see it's orange man. It can't be anything else. It's orange man who's done this. That's a very, very naive, very childish as well. Let's continue before I say something that'll get me in trouble. This truth is not uniquely Christian, a little leaven leavens a whole lump, bad company ruins good morals.

Whether you embrace that company in your house or in social media, it corrupts. There are sins that lead people more and more into into more and more ungodliness as their talk as their talk spreads like a gangrene.

There is a character connection between rulers and subjects when the Bible describes a king saying he sinned and made Israel to sin. It does not mean he twisted their arm. It means his influence shaped the people.

That's the calling of a leader to take the lead in giving shape to the character of your people. So it happens for good or for ill. Yeah, there's some truth there for sure. But in this country, it's a little different because we don't have a king that is kind of like thrusted upon us.

We actually choose the king. And so it's very naive to say, well, it's orange man is the one he's the one would not look at the past, not look at Obama's influence, not look at George W's influence and not look at the facts that we've elected.

So and so and so and whoever and all of that kind of thing. It's just a very naive kind of childish way to look at things. Let's continue policies in persons. Is it not baffling then that so many he's so baffled.

John John Piper is very baffled. He said baffled a number of times in this article. If you're so baffled, maybe don't don't write the article. There's lots of things that I'm baffled about. And I tend to just not even talk about them.

Well, I talk about them, but not publicly because I'm in no position if I'm so baffled to be an authority figure on this. So I don't know. Is it not baffling then that so many Christians seem to be so sure that they are saving human lives and freedoms by treating as minimal the destructive effects of the spreading gangrene of high profile, high handed and culture shaping sin.

This point has special relevance for Christians. Freedom and life are precious. We all want to live and be free to pursue happiness. But if our freedoms and even if our lives are threatened or taken, the essence of our identity in Christ, the certain of our everlasting joy with Christ and the holiness and love for which we have been saved by Christ, none of these is lost with the loss of life and freedom.

Therefore, Christians communicate a falsehood to unbelievers who are also baffled. You know, John, if you're baffled in the same way that unbelievers are baffled like that's a problem, buddy. That's a big problem.

When we act as if policies and laws that protect life and freedom are more precious than being a certain kind of person, the church is paying dearly and will continue to pay for our communicating this falsehood year after year.

The justifications for ranking the destructive effects of persons below the destructive effects of policies ring hollow. Can I ask you, I mean, let's just take a moment to just breathe in this reality.

Like, he said a number of times that Christians are putting character below the policies again and again and again and again. He said it. Has he shown any receipts on this, right? Has he shown any receipts on this?

Now, let's say there were receipts, right? Let's say there were receipts. Has he shown any of the moral reasoning behind that and why it's wrong and why it might be mistaken and stuff like that? Or has he just said, well, it's just wrong because this is also deadly?

Has that happened? Likewise, this is a very big problem for me because, especially in this election, right? He hasn't actually said anything of any substance. He said nothing of value that we can actually use in our actual vote that we've got coming up in a couple of weeks, right?

Cause at this point you get the idea that he's not voting for Trump, but he hasn't said that. And the problem is a lot of like the character flaws that he's saying Trump has, because I speak big Eva. He's talking about orange man, right?

Obviously. Um, but a lot of the character flaws, like the arrogance and the, uh, the boastfulness and the factiousness, you know, creating factions, I would argue that these things actually fit Biden more.

Right? So, so, so here's the thing. Like he's creating this fantasy where we've got one guy who's that his policies are bad, but he's got a decent character. And then we've got this other guy who has policies are good, but he's got a terrible character.

That's a fantasy. That's actually not what we have. We actually have two guys that both have almost equally destructive characters. And, but we actually have, uh, uh, four years of receipts of what one guy is like when he's ruling, right?

One, what one guy is like when he's president. And then the, the, the one guy, he has a list of policies, a list of, of evil policies that he's going to enact. And he's got the evil character as well.

And he's like, okay, well, we can see that. And then we got the other guy who's like, well, yeah, you know, decent policies, but he's got the evil character, which for some reason, I guess, hasn't bleeded over into his policies over the last four years.

But we're still supposed to say it's the same thing though. It's like the same thing. One cancels out the other. That's just not the case. That's not the case at all. How, how would that make sense? We've got, again, we've got four years of receipts here.

Like this would have been a decent article and I probably would have agreed with most of it in 2016. Right. I would have still been frustrated that it's not clear. I mean, I just wish he would just say what he means to say like John Piper is a good author.

I said that in the beginning, he's a good author. So if you read an article of his and you have no idea what he's saying, that's gotta be intentional. Or maybe he laid an egg. I don't know. Maybe she, maybe he just laid an egg.

That's possible. But the thing is like, like, so, so, so this would have been a decent article in 2016, but now we've got four years of receipts and we've seen what he's done for four years. And we've seen, has he gone back on his word in the last four years in a, in a very bombastic kind of way has, has those character flaws, has it bled over into actually what he said he was going to do?

Or did he prove himself somewhat trustworthy? And I would say very trustworthy. I thought Trump was going to be a terrible president. Terrible. He has not been as terrible as I thought he would be not even close.

And the thing is, there's a lot of Trump supporters out there that think the same thing. And so that's the question that we need to ask ourselves. So how is any of this relevant in the real world? That's the question, because we actually have a real choice, a real election coming up with real people.

And we know, and we have the receipts here. None of those receipts are in this article, but we actually have the receipts in reality. And so this article, we've got to like connect it to reality at some point.

I mean, you would think anyway, you would think let's continue. He says the justifications for ranking the destructive effects of a person below the destructive effects of policies ring hollow. Okay, what are they?

What are they? Where are the receipts that you've said they ring hollow, but you haven't even mentioned what they even are. So we just have to take your word for it, John, because you're the Christian hedonism guy.

I guess because you're the hedonism guy, we just have to assume, yeah, you've thoroughly checked out all the justifications. You're not going to mention what they are. I've checked them out and I've thought about them.

I've mulled them over in my head and I meditated about them and they ring hollow. Don't even do this, the common courtesy to like mention them. It's just very, very bizarre. When someone writes in this way where they're telling you something, but they're really not telling you, it's like so degrading to your audience.

Is it not? Is it not? Like I kind of know what he's saying, but he's kind of making me guess as well because he doesn't really want to say it because he doesn't have the cojones to say it, but he is saying it, but not really.

Like it's really degrading. I just hate, I hate that. I really do hate that. I find it bewildering that Christians can be so sure that greater damage will be done by bad judges, bad laws, and bad policies that is being done by the culture infecting spread of the gangrene of sinful self-exaltation and boasting and strife stirring.

Again, who's he talking about there? Certainly seems to fit Joe to me. He's probably talking about Trump. Maybe he's talking about both, but he hasn't done you the courtesy. He doesn't respect his readers enough to actually just come out and say it.

John, you gotta just come out and say it. It's just very disrespectful to write in a way like this. I really hate that. How do they know this? Seriously, where do they get the sure knowledge that judges, laws, and policies are less destructive than boastful, factiousness in high places?

What about abortion? Where does the wickedness of defending child killing come from? It comes from the hearts of self-absorbed arrogance and boasting. It comes from hearts that are insubordinate to God.

In other words, it comes from the very character that so many Christian leaders are treating as comparatively innocuous because they think Roe and Ascotus and Planned Parenthood are more pivotal, more decisive battlegrounds.

How muddled is this thinking? How muddled is this thinking? He's like acting like we don't have receipts. Again, in 2016, this would have made a probably a pretty good case because Trump was an unknown.

He's no longer an unknown. So what in the world is he saying? And the reality is he's creating this fantasy where one side has bad policies but good character, but the other side has bad character and good policies.

But that doesn't make sense given what he's saying. Because given our four years of receipts, we can see that, let's just say I assume he's got the worst character of all time, it somehow has not led over to how he's ruled.

He's actually ruled in a very Christian way, dare I say. Not perfect, but very good. And then the other side is promising chaos, promising to turn everything upside down, promising to overturn the law of God in every one of their policies, and also has the bad character.

So you can see the bad character has bled over into the way they act, right? They're demonstrating their faith by their works. They've got the bad faith and they've got the bad works. Now Trump, I don't say he's a Christian, but he's definitely pandering to Christians, which is way better, because that means he actually fears something.

He fears God in such a way that he knows he's got to pander to Christians, right? So the reality is it's like, again, he's creating this fantasy world where we don't have the four years worth of receipts that we actually do have.

We actually do have them. It's just absolutely boggles my mind how muddled this thinking is. Oh my goodness gracious. I think Roe is an evil decision. I think Planned Parenthood is a codename for baby killing, at least historically, it's ethnic cleansing.

And I think it is baffling and presumptuous to assume that pro-abortion policies kill more people than a culture saturating pro-self pride, because Joe Biden doesn't have the pride. You know what I mean?

So I guess it's all the same thing then, because he doesn't have the pride. That's culture killing and kills people. So it balances it out, and so we shouldn't really be too aggressive here. Maybe we should just vote third party or not vote.

I don't know. Who knows what he's saying? Because I don't even know if he knows. See, the thing is, once you start writing in such a vague way so often, you start to think in these vague terms. Maybe John doesn't even know what he's talking about.

Who knows? Who knows? When a leader models self-absorbed, self-exalting boastfulness, he models the most deadly behavior in the world. He points his nation to destruction, destruction of more kinds than we can imagine.

It is naive to think that a man can be effectively pro-life and manifest consistently the character traits that lead to death, temporal and eternal. Again, we have the receipts, right? This was my favorite section of the article.

Christians, Politics, and the Call to Suffer for Christ

Let me just read it. He says, may I suggest to pastor, this is where John's strength is, because he's like preaching here. This is John's strength. He's good at this. May I suggest to pastors that in the quietness of your study, you do this.

Imagine that America collapses, first anarchy, then tyranny from the right or the left. Imagine that religious freedom is gone. What remains for Christians is fines, prison, exile, and martyrdom. Then ask yourself this, has my preaching been developing real radical Christians, Christians who can sing on the scaffold, let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God's truth abideth still, his kingdom is forever.

Christians who will act like the believers in Hebrews 10, you will joyfully accept the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had better possession and an abiding one. Christians who will face hate and reviling and exclusion for Christ's sake, and yet rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, their reward is great in heaven.

Have you been cultivating real Christians who see the beauty and the worth of the son of God? Have you been faithfully unfolded and heralded the unsearchable riches of Christ? Are you raising up generations of those who say with Paul, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Have you shown them that they are sojourners and exiles and that their citizenship is in heaven from which they await thy savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Do they feel in their bones that to live is Christ and to die is gain?

Or have you neglected these greatest of all realities and repeatedly diverted their attention onto the strategies of politics? Have you inadvertently created the mindset that is the greatest issue in life is saving America and its earthly benefits?

Or have you shown your people that the greatest issue is exalting Christ with or without America? Have you shown them that the people who do the most good for the greatest number for the longest time, including America, are people who have the aroma of another world with another king?

That's good. That is really, really good. And this is what I'm saying. There are many things that John Piper is good at, and this is one of them. And he was preaching there. He was preaching there. But might I make a suggestion?

Might I make a suggestion here? A humble suggestion. I'm a young man. I'm almost 40. You can say the most eloquent words possible about savoring Christ and loving Christ and preaching Christ crucified and presenting the glory of Christ and all of this stuff, and you can declare with so much oomph the fact that you would die for Christ and you would be on the gallows, on the scaffold, ready to get hanged, and you're singing hymns to the Lord, especially a great hymn like this one from Martin Luther, right?

You can say all that stuff, and it sounds good and it's beautiful, but what does Christ require of you? Does he require you to die for him? Well, he might. He might. He might require you to go to the scaffold for him, but more often than not, he requires you to live for him.

And what does he say? If you're going to savor Christ, if you're going to be a true Christian hedonist, right, what do you do? What does Christ say? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And so I might go to the scaffold, but that's not what's really being presented to me in this election. It's like you're going to the scaffold, but also everybody else, also the defenseless, also the preborn, also your children, also your neighbor.

And God requires me, if I'm going to love him, if I'm going to love and savor Christ in such an eloquent way, and my words are not as eloquent as John Piper's, right? But use all his flowery language, all his rhetoric, right?

If that's what you're going to do for Christ, then you have to love him. And if you're going to love him, you must love your neighbor because that's the commandments of God. Like you have to obey your commandments.

And so defend the rights and the cause of the oppressed, defend the rights and the cause, speak up for people who have no voice. And so this all sounds really good, and it's okay to be, you know, beholding Christ in the heavens, but you have to be here on the earth as well.

He's not only king of kings in heaven, he's king of kings on the earth as well. He's king now, he's here, he rules and reigns here as well. We can't just have our heads in the clouds. We've got to act now.

We've got to love our Christ while we're living. Yes, if you have to go to the scaffold for Christ, great, go to the scaffold for Christ. But that's again, that's a false choice. We don't have to lead everyone to the slaughter just because we're willing to die for Christ.

How about living for Christ? This is why I knew this article would be garbage because only a man who doesn't, who has his head so far in the clouds that he would say, yeah, you know, image of God. And so I'm not going to defend my wife from an attacker with a gun.

Like that's how I knew this would be trash because you have to be so, let me calm down before I say something I'm going to regret. You have to be so lost with your head in the clouds that you could just deny the reality in front of you.

Like you can't love Christ by ignoring him in life. You say you would die for Christ, prove it by living for Christ and doing the things he commands and protecting the people he asks you to protect and all of that kind of thing.

It's no good to have your head in heaven, but here on earth, you're just completely, you're absent. It's no good. You want to see how we've gotten to the point where we're at, where our choices for president are both, you know, their character is very questionable.

Look no further than the pulpits who have preached to Christ that yeah, he's got commandments and he rules and reigns in heaven, but on earth, you know, who knows what he wants from us? Who knows? That's what I'll, that's where I'll end on that.

But that gets me very fired up because it's just, it's just so, it's so ridiculous to think, well, yeah, you need, you must get them all, get everyone all riled up. You must die for Christ. You shouldn't, you shouldn't be demanding your rights and your liberties, but it's not just your liberties.

It's your neighbor. You have to love your neighbor. You see what I'm saying? Like, like, like you say you'd die for Christ, live for Christ. Love your neighbor now. Let me finish the article because I'm getting a little heated and I don't want to say something I'm going to regret.

The False Choice in the Election and the Need for Clearer Counsel

So there we go. Election day. Where does that leave me as I face a civic duty on November 3rd? Here's my answer. I do not require anyone to follow me as if I could, not my wife, not my friends, not my colleagues.

I will not develop some calculus to determine which path of destruction I will support. That is not my duty. My calling is to lead people to see Jesus Christ, trust his forgiveness for sins, treasure him above everything in this world, live in a way that shows his all satisfying value and help them make it to heaven with love and holiness.

That calling is contradicted by supporting either pathway to cultural corruption and eternal ruin. Again, he's got this false dichotomy. It's death this way, choose death this way. We've got four years of receipts.

We know what we're going to buy now. Maybe in the past when the iPhone first came out, we didn't know what it was going to be, but now there's been many generations of iPhones. We know essentially what it does.

It's not, this is a false choice that you're being presented. This article would have been really good in 2016. It's 2020. It's time to speak truth. It's time to speak reality. It's time to show some receipts.

You may believe that there are kinds of support for such pathways that do not involve such a contradiction, such an undermining of authentic Christian witness. You must act on what you see. I can't see it.

That is why I said my way need not be yours. Like he can't even try to convince you in a way that's like, that's like convicted. Like I'll tell you, you should vote for Donald Trump. That's what I'll just tell you.

You should. Was that so hard? And if you want to, you want me to explain myself, I've done that in other videos, I'll do it again in a further video. Most likely I'll explain myself in a way that doesn't leave you being like, well, well, what are you going to do?

Like, that's just so pathetic. That's so pathetic. I really hate that. When I consider the remote possibility that I might do any good by endorsing the devastation already evident in the two choices before me, I am loathed to undermine my calling and the church's mission to stand for Christ, exalting faith and hope and love.

You see, if you vote for one of these other guys, that's what you're doing. You're low. You're undermining your calling, but he won't actually tell you that. So he's like, I'm not saying that you have to follow me, but you're undermining your calling for Christ.

I will be asked to give an account of my devotion to this life giving calling. The world will ask the Lord of heaven will ask, and my conscience will ask, what will I say with a cheerful smile? I will explain to my unbelieving neighbor.