Preachers Teaching that Not Voting is a Sin Are Fearmongering Liars

One Evangelical mega-church preacher has spun a lie to his church members that will definitely reach the rest of the Evangelical world. This pastor, Josh Howerton, says that Christians who don’t vote are rebelling against God.

This lie follows the lie once told by prosperity preachers who told their congregations that not tithing was a sin, in order whip them into the obedience of giving more money, so they themselves can get rich. We see how that turned out, seeing many mega church preachers are wealthy beyond necessity and many church members are struggling to pay their bills today.

Fearmongering is a popular pastime for church leaders who have no real understanding of the teachings of Christ or the will of God. This guy, Howerton, “senior pastor of the multi-site Lakepointe Church in Texas, has warned that Christians who choose not to vote will be in “passive rebellion” against God,” 

He goes into how since we live in a Republic instead of a Democracy, the structure of a Republic, which he says is built from the government of Israel. “A republic, on the other hand, is defined as “a system of government which is limited by the individual rights of men. This means that the majority may vote, but only in a strictly limited and defined political sphere, and that the individual rights of men are not subject to majority vote, nor to government legislation.” 

Unfortunately, he references this theory from Ayn Rand, who was a self-proclaimed champion of authoritarianism. 

So, his theory is not only not biblically-based, but it lies in the realm of man’s thinking of worldly government structure. Whether the United States is a Republic or a Democracy, individual believers are under no obligation to the doctrines of men but to the obedience of Christ.

Jesus says, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” St. Matthew 23:4, 13.

The above scriptures Jesus is warning the people that the church leaders will place people under the burdens of the world that God himself does not require and they will mislead them from the road to heaven and salvation to damnation if the people do not do what the leaders want. The problem Is, many times the leader’s instruction is not God’s will.

In another misleading form of false church doctrine by Evangelicals, they are trying to convince Christians that they are needed to help tip the scales in the presidential election. They have run numbers and looked at the data from the last two elections and are convinced that if all Christians were to vote, it would change the outcome.

Their assumption however, is that all Christians are going to vote Republican in hopes that the former 45th president will win again. They have not considered the fact that many did not vote because they do not believe in voting or that many may have voted for the Democrat.

The researcher suggested that “the Evangelical vote [w]as the decisive factor that enabled Trump to win the 2016 election while causing him to lose in 2020.” They are confused because they cannot understand why people did not vote for Trump a second time, not stopping to think that maybe people saw Trump for what he really is and decided against him.

The bottom line is, Christians have free will and are not under any God-given commandment or instruction from Jesus to give their honor to the government above Him first. The disconnect of these Evangelical preachers is so wide that they have left off following Christ and are now in a form of idolatry of this world.