Election 2016: Reconsidering Donald Trump

There was only one way I could reach the conclusion I've made concerning the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. It had to be through a long circuitous route from disapproval to disbelief to denial to disturbed acceptance. As much as I don't want to admit it, I may have to vote for Donald Trump.

Maybe I should've taken this stance all along. It's a sort of kicking-and-screaming realization that in order to keep Hillary Clinton out of office, I may have to check the name of a filthy-mouthed, womanizing, casino owner that has barely even spoken to the issues during his year-plus campaign. 

Out of the 16 people that ran for the Republican nomination, Trump would've been my very last choice. Literally, anyone else that ran, I would've voted for with no hesitation. Coincidentally, anyone else would likely be running away with this election given the awful prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming president. 

The thought of Hillary Clinton actually becoming president was a prospect I didn't fully appreciate until the final debate on Wednesday night. She masterfully danced around issues displaying her complete inability to tell the truth. She dodged so many difficult questions, she probably would've been better suited to help the Dodgers against the Cubs.

Unfortunately, it was not her dodging that turned this election for me. Hillary seemed quite proud of her pro-choice record and she seemed more than ready to answer a question about her desire to remake the Supreme Court in her own ultra-liberal image. These are not new revelations to anyone who has been paying attention, but there was something extra disappointing about hearing it straight from her mouth.

The key difference between Hillary and Trump is believability. I am fully convinced that Hillary believes in everything she stated during the debate. Her conviction, whether it's based in a lust for power or deeply held belief, comes through quite plainly.

Trump, however, is quite easy to see through. He changed a lot of his stances to win a nomination. He has kowtowed to the Christian crowd in hopes of retaining the Republican-evangelical stranglehold. Trump can't hide his past. He can't be anything other than what he's always been. His only conviction a deep-seated dedication to himself. Yet, here he is, the only viable alternative to the single-worst Democratic politician in history.  And here I am, a hashtag-never-Trump conservative Christian actually considering casting my vote for the man.

Well, let me put it this way, if my state—a traditional red-state is in play come November 8, I expect to hold my nose, check his name, and immediately pray for forgiveness before running home to take a shower. This begrudging reality is only, and I mean only, due to the fact that I can't stomach a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Let me say this loud and clear, I am not afraid of Hillary Clinton. I am not afraid of her policies nor her desire to remake the Supreme Court into a left-wing activist arm of her political machine. If she gets in the White House, let her do her worst. Religious liberty may suffer or even evaporate. Abortion may increase under her militantly pro-choice administration. She may turn America into a socialist nation. Again, not afraid.

I am simply appalled at many of her policy proposals. For that reason alone, I may have to vote for a man whose lack of conviction I find reprehensible. That bothers me. This election bothers me.

Regardless of what happens next month, we must pray for our nation. We must be sober-minded. We cannot put hope in Trump, Mike Pence, or a Christian-friendly Supreme Court. The Church's only hope is in the Kingdom. America's only hope is a Jesus-exalting, sin-renouncing, Holy Ghost revival.

Dear Evangelical: If you support Donald Trump, please don't tell anyone else

If you haven't heard by now, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with a group of prominent evangelical leaders on Tuesday. The meeting was not billed as a wholesale endorsement from those attending, but more of a question and answer session concerning the issues about which conservative Christians care most.

For a candidate that has spent much of the past year demeaning opponents, making fun of crippled reporters, cursing, and flaunting his greed, one would think Trump's candidacy would be a hard sell to the evangelical voting bloc formerly known as the "moral majority." However, since Trump has become the inevitable Republican nominee, many evangelicals have latched onto Trump's lone redeeming quality–he's not Hillary Clinton.

There are still some "Never Trump" holdouts. Trump's campaign demeanor and his track record as a greedy, strip-club/casino-owning, foul-mouthed reality television star deem him unelectable in the eyes of many.

Never has the uncomfortable juxtaposition of Trump and the "religious right" been so captured as in the photo taken on Tuesday featuring Trump's biggest evangelical supporter, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. giving Trump a thumbs-up with a framed Playboy magazine featuring Trump and a porn star on the cover on the wall behind them.

A leader of the same group that raked adulterous President Bill Clinton over the coals for his many indiscretions and that has repeatedly attacked President Obama over his myriad immoral policies posing for a photo-op with a Playboy magazine in the background. Talk about an embarrassing moment for us "values voters."

Trump's mindless rhetoric of the last year and his increasingly repugnant policy proposals should have been enough to expose him as a fraud. But it was Falwell's photo gaffe that has exposed the fraudulence of the "moral majority."

There is nothing morally upstanding about Donald Trump. And before you shoot that comment or email my way calling me judgmental or a Pharisee, you would waste no time calling President Obama and/or Hillary Clinton immoral. In fact, I've seen you post much more egregious words about both of them on your Facebook statuses, so don't even go there.

Given his track record, it's hypocritical for us to issue Trump a free pass while lambasting every immoral liberal that has ever undermined the Judeo-Christian values we say we hold dear.

With all of that said, in the interest of not making all evangelical Christians look hypocritical, please don't tell anyone else if you plan to vote for Trump. Please don't publicly defend him against evil Hillary's attacks in the coming months. After all, he has given her more than enough ammunition to use in the fight.

Resist the urge to put that bumper sticker on the car that your unsaved friends see you driving to church every Sunday. Don't post that clever tweet or Facebook status revealing Trump as the man who'll bring America back to God.

Pastor, please don't even think about comparing Donald Trump to King Cyrus in your Election Sunday sermon. As difficult as it may be to resist, please don't purchase that Trump yard sign.

Go ahead and vote Trump. But please, for the sake of your own testimony, and that of the Church as a whole, don't tell another soul that you did.

Mr. or Mrs. Evangelical, your vote is between you and God. Considering the choice we have before us, it has never been more important that you keep it that way.