‘God, Trump, and the 2020 Election’ Author Stephen E. Strang Writes About the Urgency of Christians’ Actions on So Many Aspects of Culture
(Stephen E. Strang is an award-winning journalist, Charisma founder and author of the best-seller “God and Donald Trump.” This content was excerpted from his new book, “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election.”)
By Stephen E. Strang
As the pause button is pressed on aspects of American life today, what does this mean for November’s election?
Regardless, it seems our nation has been divided into voting blocs, and Christians, especially Evangelicals, are an influential one. But our strength is in our numbers, and too many conservative Christians are tempted to disengage on Election Day. The fact is, whether liberal or conservative, not all Christians vote, and even conservative Christians who do go to the polls don’t always vote based on biblical principles.
Historian David Barton watches Christian voting trends with interest and says no one can know precisely what the actual numbers are; they are based only on generally identified percentages in the United States. There will be regions where these numbers will be higher or lower, but they all combine to form a national general picture.
- The current U.S. population is 329.4 million.
- The number of eligible voters (those at least 18 years old) is 255.7 million (which is 77.6% of the total population).
- Professing Christians are 70.6% of the population, or 180.8 million eligible voters.
- 33.1% of eligible voters are not registered to vote, including 59.8 million Christians.
- 36% of professing Christians are considered Evangelical, so 21.5 million Evangelicals are unregistered.
Short story: about 59.8 million professing Christians are not registered to vote, of whom about 21.5 million are professing Evangelicals also not registered to vote. In my book, “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election,” I discuss how both Republicans and Democrats are trying to get more people to register who they believe will vote for their candidates. If we are concerned, as I am, that people “vote biblically,” the situation becomes more complicated.
“Getting church people to register to vote will not necessarily result in improved candidates,” Barton said. For example, despite efforts to get Christians to register and vote in the 2016 presidential election, 57% of all first-time voters supported Hillary Clinton. “That is one of the highest levels of support she received from any group,” Barton said. “Thus, just because church people get registered to vote does not mean they will vote in a biblical or conservative manner.”
Barton points to statistics that show only a small percentage of Christians have a biblical worldview, a fraction read the Bible on a daily basis, and many American pastors are unwilling to preach on issues they deem too political. So if Christians are not taught to view current issues through a biblical worldview, we should not be surprised if they do not necessarily vote according to Christian values. Barton told me, however, Christians do get involved in political activities if their pastors are talking about what the Bible says about current moral and cultural issues.
Likewise, prayer network organizer, Pastor Frank Amedia, told me God is doing mighty things in the nation right now, but he believes the church must again become aware of the power of God. He tells the story of a well-known Korean pastor who visited the U.S. at the request of one of the biggest denominations. When the pastor came to America, he was disheartened at the lack of zeal for the Lord. Just before he left to return to Korea, he told the pastors who invited him that the American church has a form of godliness but no power.
“I think we need to be a voice calling the body of Christ to get hot, to get on fire and not to be complacent or live on the laurels of an election that was won a couple years ago when we’re losing so many battles day by day in the earth today,” Amedia said.
Charismatic prayer leader and Bible teacher Dutch Sheets believe there will be a revival around the world. Dutch believes this revival will be “like the Jesus movement of the late 1960s-70s, except on steroids.” He’s been traveling the country announcing that God is “birthing the future,” adding, “we’ve been having some of the most powerful, significant gatherings I have ever participated in. And it’s not because there is a great explosion of power; it’s because there is such incredible depth that has come to the remnant church—the praying church. In the past 25 years, millions have prayed and fasted, and we are seeing those prayers answered. It’s been encouraging.”
But at the same time, Dutch, like other leaders, is aware of the vitriolic hate and the attacks against Trump, which are exposing the Left for who they really are and what they really believe.
“I believe it’s all demonically motivated because I believe the powers of darkness are so angry to be seeing the momentum they had gained for the last 40 to 50 years being reversed,” Dutch said. “Because if America becomes weak and loses these markers and loses our strength, we can no longer be the basis for [spreading] the gospel around the world that we need to be. The awakening that’s coming in is going to impact America, but it’s going to be around the world.”
One of the most articulate spokesmen for Christian values is Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas. He’s a regular on Lou Dobbs’ show on the Fox Business Network, and Dobbs asked him almost two years before the election to prognosticate on the political situation in this country.
“The Left has been doing everything they can to try to delegitimize this president since day one,” Jeffress said. “First it was the ‘collusion illusion.’ That hasn’t worked out. And now they created what I call the myth of the midterm massacre—this idea that somehow the GOP lost massive amounts because of Trump’s unpopularity. That is complete fiction. First of all, President Trump did not have the shellacking that Obama did in losing sixty House seats and six Senate seats. Instead he had minimal losses in the House and picked up three Senate seats.”
Let me pause to say I agree with Jeffress, and I believe the president came out ahead in the midterms because the senators from swing states who opposed him about Kavanaugh are gone. I can’t say that surprises me. The debacle surrounding Kavanaugh was one of the most despicable things in Congress I’ve ever seen.
Jeffress continued: “I’m going to make this prediction … that the House flipping and being under the leadership of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi is going to give President Trump an even larger reelection majority win in 2020. This is all going to work for good … I believe there is great momentum and support behind this president because he’s focusing on results, and we are seeing those results every day of every week.”
Lou asked him who will win in 2020, and Jeffress answered loud and clear: “Donald J. Trump.”
What happens if Jeffress is wrong and Trump loses? What is at stake? Everything. That’s why people must pray. There’s an old axiom that says we need to pray as if everything depends upon God and act as if everything depends upon us—because it does! Never has this been truer than at this critical hour when our nation’s future hangs in the balance. Because we know this is a spiritual battle, prayer is absolutely critical in winning the fight. But it won’t mean much if you don’t vote. If any of the current Democratic presidential candidates wins the election this November, America as we know it is certain to pass away in our lifetime.
As Christian Americans, you and I have enjoyed the traditions of freedom and religious liberty that we’ve inherited from generations before us—values that have defined the United States from its inception. President Trump has vowed that under his watch, we will continue to reap these blessings in our nation. He has vowed that America will never become a socialist country. He has vowed that we will be a nation that believes in the power of prayer. And he has vowed that we will remain one nation under God.
As people of faith, we cannot stand by and allow these rights and privileges to be erased. We must stand up and be counted, casting votes that protect the values we hold most dear. It is the only way we will preserve those rights and freedoms for the generations that follow.