Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2023

Elections. Even the mere mention of the word may fill you with a set of perspiration-inducing emotions, perhaps ranging from excitement and opportunity, intransigence and helplessness, or dread and foreboding. In the case of the nonpolitical person, a different reaction: a gut-wrenching exasperation that political commercials will almost certainly interrupt your favorite shows for months on end. It would be tempting for followers of Christ, in any of these categories, to throw up their hands in despair. Yet, as the British Prime Minister and statesman Winston Churchill said in 1947, “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe … democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” There is much to praise God for in our day. Political problems abound, there is little doubt, but there is much cause for rejoicing as well. The economic and technological advances in the last few decades alone give us cause for optimism in that we in the United States have plenty of resources scarcely imaginable for previous generations, plus the blessing of being able to disseminate the Gospel literally around the world through social media and other forms of technology. Despite this, there are harrowing scourges of our day, from a divisive ethnic war started by Vladimir Putin, a wretched growth in 11

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