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Who would YOU vote for? (Part 2)

Who would YOU vote for?

[Written in 1996.]

Elections, elections, everywhere! But who would YOU vote for?

Israel

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has been elected Prime Minister by the narrowest of margins. He has now formed a coalition government (in Israel, there is no other kind!) consisting of his own Likud Party and various right-wing and religious parties. The Labor Party of the assassinated Yitzhak Rabin and his successor Shimon Peres is now out, and along with it (probably) the whole Oslo/PLO peace process.

You are, of course, a believer in peace. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psa 122:6). "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Mat 5:9). So you would have voted for Peres and the Labor Party, who were instrumental in negotiating peace with Yasser Arafat, right?

But you also believe that Jerusalem is to be the eternal capital of Israel. So how could you have voted for a party with plans to cede part of God's Holy City to the Arabs? Instead, you would have voted for the Likud Party, which promised an undivided Jerusalem in Israeli hands, right?

It's all very difficult, isn't it?

Russia

In Russia, Boris Yeltsin has now won a new four-year term as President, with vows to continue economic and political reforms. Making a prudent alliance with the third-highest vote-getter, Yeltsin was able to capture a runoff over the Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov, who had finished a close second in the general election.

You are, of course, a believer in freedom and economic opportunity; you know what terrible atrocities the Communists perpetrated under Stalin. And it would certainly be a good thing if Russia kept its doors open to Western influences. So you would have voted for Yeltsin, right?

On the other hand, the democratic reforms in Russia over the past five years have stimulated the growth of a whole criminal class, a Russian "mafia" which controls a vast system of drugs, pornography, prostitution, and every other vice. The Communists would never have tolerated this. And, for that matter, the Communists had the means -- and the will -- to intervene in the Middle East and to fulfill Bible prophecy (Ezekiel 38?). So they should be in power. And you would have voted for them, right?

Again, very difficult.

The United States

In the US, Democratic President Bill Clinton -- all but written off last year as the "victim" (?) of a whole host of scandals and misadventures -- now looks strong again for the November election. His probable opponent -- Republican Bob Dole -- has seemed, by comparison to Clinton, old and dull and uncertain. Dole has a tendency to grouchiness, while Clinton can be smooth and charming. But it's still a long way to November.

The Democratic Party in America has been, and continues to be, the party dedicated to protecting the rights of minorities -- those shut out for so long from the political process. The Democratic Party has, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, championed the cause of the poor and the disadvantaged. So you will vote the Democratic ticket in '96, right?

On the other hand, the Republican Party has long been the party of Christian conservatism, the opponent of abortionists and homosexual activists, the party of fiscal responsibility and family values and law and order. So you will vote Republican, right?

But on the OTHER other hand, the Republican Party has also long been the party of the wealthy and the special interests -- and is the party most likely to turn its back on Israel. So it's back to the Democrats, right?

But don't forget the OTHER other other hand... the Democratic Party has most often favored the "rights" of gays and pro-abortion advocates. And Bill Clinton has become notorious for his marital infidelities (real? alleged? some of both? whatever).

So you will vote for... whom?

The right choice

How sad it would be if all our hopes rested upon any mortal man, or upon any political party.

But we know that the Almighty rules in the kingdom of men (Dan 4:17,25,32; 5:21), and that He sets up whomsoever He pleases, and that His purposes will prevail. The parties, and the men, to whom He gives temporary power and authority -- whether in Israel, Russia, the United States, or any other nation -- are His choices, for His purposes, whether we understand or not.
"Now [God] commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed" (Acts 17:30,31).
May that man, the Lord Jesus, return soon!

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