Must We Vote the Lesser of 2 Evils?

With the field of presidential candidates narrowed considerably, many committed Christians find themselves with the difficult prospect of either voting for a candidate they feel doesn’t represent their core values, or not voting at all.

Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network and host of the daily one-hour radio program “Stand in the Gap Today,” has addressed that issue. Jesus, he noted, is not going to be on the ballot in November.

“We are always faced with the real challenge of voting among two or three ‘imperfect’ people,” he said. “Jesus is not on the ballot; in Him, we would have a perfect candidate. Everyone on the ballot is imperfect.”

To further illustrate his point, Rohrer noted that an election between Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin would be considered a choice between two evil candidates. That is because, beyond being just imperfect, both men were truly evil.

“When it comes to voting, evil equates to a candidate who is clearly anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Israel, and anti-Bible,” he said. “For instance, does that candidate reject God-defined moral absolutes such as life, marriage and God-established human sexuality or does that candidate embrace and pursue the killing of the unborn and marriage between any combination of people other than man and woman? Does that candidate support bribery and corruption and the subversion of justice for all?”

Civil government is a creation of God, Rohrer added. Pastors have a responsibility from the pulpit to uphold the godly ideals of what leaders should be and educate their churches about God’s expectations for leaders.

“As Christians, we should support and vote for the candidate whose principles most closely align with what we believe, what the Word of God teaches, and what God’s expectations of a leader are,” he said. “Pastors must preach biblical principles about all aspects of life—at home and in parenting, in the workplace, as we reach out to our neighbors, in how a church should be run, and yes, in the principles we should hold close when we head to the polls.”