Although I’m an American Citizen, I was raised in the UK and have also lived in Europe and Asia. I do understand why many Brits and others struggle to understand Trump’s popularity.
I want to explain why people like me will be voting for him on November 8th.
Crossroads
As a Christian and an American Citizen, a number of issues are of great importance to me during this 2016 election cycle. But my primary concern for 2016 is the preservation of the US Constitution and defending our God-given rights to Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech. While both have been under attack for decades, the attacks have accelerated and deepened under the Obama regime.
America is therefore at a crossroads and faces an irrevocable decision between an America based upon the supreme law of the land – the US Constitution – or a shadow of this ideal.
Flawed candidates
While Clinton and Trump are both flawed candidates it’s important to note that neither has been charged with the crimes that they are accused of. Of the two candidates however, only Clinton faces allegations of demonstrating criminal intent at the highest levels of federal government office.
In light of these flaws, reasonable people will switch their consideration to which party will establish the best Executive Branch of Government. For me, this has to be for the Republican Party – and consequently for Trump as President.
First Freedoms
Our ‘First Freedom’ under the US Constitution is the right to Religious Freedom and from this all other rights flow; such as Freedom of Speech. These first freedoms defend us from autocratic tyranny; whether perpetrated on the left or right.
The Bible was the book that the Framers and Founders quoted most when forming both the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Their clear intention was for America to be “One Nation under God” – that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights – as such government can’t take away these rights.
Without our first two freedoms, American democracy can’t function properly and our country will spiral further into decline.
Freedoms trampled
Unfortunately, the Democrats have a long track record of trampling on these freedoms e.g. the 1954 Johnson Amendment unconstitutionally silenced pastors in the pulpit from endorsing political candidates and the Supreme Court has misused the 14th Amendment by legalized both abortion (1973) and Same-sex Marriage (2015).
The consequences (sometimes unintended) of these unconstitutional decisions are a silent and disengaged church – because a silent pulpit leads to silent pews. But also, 58.5 million humans murdered by abortion and many Christians losing their livelihoods after asserting their inalienable right to Religious Freedom. Democrats are also working to replace our First Right with a restricted right to ‘worship’. By ‘worship’ they mean a limited right to express ones faith in private i.e. they wish to exclude religion from the public sphere entirely.
Branches of power
To help preserve our God given liberties, the Framers of the Constitution equally divided Federal Government power between three branches of government: Executive, Judiciary and Legislative (Congress).
Under the constitution only Congress has authority to create law, and the established purpose of the Supreme Court – the judicial branch – is to determine the constitutionality of those laws. The law of the land is the Constitution, not the Supreme Court.
False interpretation
Unfortunately judges appointed by Democrats have a long history of falsely interpreting the constitution in an expansive way as a “living document”, (e.g. Roe v. Wade 1973 & Obergefell v. Hodges 2015). As such they have chosen to falsely interpret the Constitution and thus usurp Congresses constitutional and legal role as lawmakers.
In contrast, Republican-appointed judges have a track record of interpreting cases against the Constitution as a “limited document”, seeking to understand the original intention of the Framers. The next President will have to appoint one or more Supreme Court Justices, which receive lifetime appointments. This decision will impact the court and the nation for decades to come.
Honouring the constitution
I understand why many people don’t like Trump. He has many flaws, but they are not as serious as those of Clinton and the Democratic Party. To protect our God given freedoms and defend our nation, I will be voting for the Republican Party because they vow to appoint Supreme Court Justices with track records of honouring the Constitution. Nothing else is more important in 2016.
Nick Miles lives in California with his wife and children and is a member of an independent evangelical church.
Grace + Truth 
You are painfully misguided. Read this and think again.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2016/02/29/pieper-and-henderson-10-reasons-you-cant-be-a-christian-and-vote-for-donald-trump
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Thanks for sharing this article Tim – its very good
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As a Christian, this is why I will not be voting for Trump (or voting at all).
(I will work my remarks out so that they respond to some of the more important points, as I see them, in the main post.)
I happen to be born an American Citizen, but my real citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), and my American citizenship is merely coincidental and entirely secondary. And if pushed on the issue to the point of death, even torturous death, I only hope that I have the strength and faith to maintain this view. St Paul definitely used the Roman citizenship card to advantage on at least one occasion, but took a beating first! (Acts 16:37), and the advantage was for the gospel everbit as much as for Paul personally.
Contrary to heaven’s citizenship is citizenship in the Tower of Babel (a prototype of every world empire since Egypt at least running notably through Babylon all the way down to the American Empire (or better yet the Global Financial Empire of the West)). I really don’t care if Nimrod is elected to the chief dog in the Tower of Babel or not. Of course I do care about who is elected president of the United States, but still not moved to vote. Rather, I will pray for them, which is hard to do in this case because I really think the two candidates stink! Nevertheless, I am committed to pray for them, and I pray particularly that whoever that is, they take a page from Nelson Mandela’s book and seek peace with the beaten side!
Now, as to the US Constitution. I find no evidence of favor for this blasphemous document anywhere in the Bible that the founding fathers supposedly quoted from. I do find it supported in the civil religion of this nation that frequently co-ops the Bible for its own purposes. That is truly disturbing! Kinda like quoting from Two Corinthians and getting away with it among all the Evangelicals at Liberty University! They wouldn’t let me get away with quoting so sloppily, I am sure. But fortunately the people who hold view supported thusly usually have enough sense not to involve much Bible in their thinking and reasoning, and stick mostly to that Constitution and quote phrases like “God given rights” from it, because you wont find them in the Bible, but you do find them in that document that Thomas Jefferson himself described as a separation of Church and state. Yeah, that is a not-so-subtle way of saying, we are kicking God out of the governing business and taking it over ourselves. And that sounds suspiciously like those people on the Plains of Shinar building a tower so they can make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4).
The whole idea that the founding fathers of the US intended us to be “One nation under God” may have roots in deist theology, but the catch phrase comes from the Pledge of Allegiance which was not penned until the end of the 19th century, long after the founding fathers came and went, and was not adopted by congress as a national pledge until the 1940’s even longer after. Either way, it’s basis is not really as biblical as it sounds, and in fact is quite misleading.
Of course many of my brothers and sisters and fellow citizens will insist that they have a mandate from God to vote. And at the end of the day, I cannot deny them the allowance from silence, but I see no mandate from God or his Word at all. I do not condemn them for voting, but I ask them to reconsider taking up a cross and following their King rather than helping build a false utopia.
I totally agree that the candidates are both flawed. In fact the one truly good thing they both have done, if it can be called good, is to point out just how rotten the other is at the end of the day! I totally sympathize with the change movement, though my sympathy was a lot stronger for the Bernie camp than the Trump camp. I totally get that we are being screwed! I just think the roots of it go back to (and through) the U. S. Constitution, and cannot be blamed on Hillary for doing what comes natural in the Tower of Babel! Yes. She is a crook. Trump is a maniacal narcissist. I personally think he is worse, but it doesn’t matter since I wont be voting.
I totally sympathize with the worries about abortion, gay marriage and most of those loose morality issues, but then I am just as concerned about the death penalty and trigger happy hawks who take us to war so easily! There just aint no choice in the tower that represents either me or Jesus.
Jesus, though, is Lord. And he was Lord when Tiberius sat on the throne, when Caligula sat there and when Nero burned Christians alive for entertainment. I have to live in that reality with a faith that hopefully copes and even more thrives. And I see voting as compromising with the devil at that point.
Just sayin’
Thanx for the exchange…
Agent X
Fat Beggars School of Prophets
Lubbock, Texas (USA)
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What were you thinking putting this on the site? This is conservative dogmatism parading as religion.
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Hi Erin – its a fair question. The reason is that I went to school with Nick and I have been debating with him on facebook about his views. As he so readily refers to his faith when it comes to his political views I asked him to write something for R&R. I don’t expect 95% of the people who read this blog to agree with him but I do find it helpful to try and understand why they are voting for Trump. Not sure where you live but in the UK we can simply think that anyone who votes for Trump is mad – but they clearly are not – but they have a perspective, shaped by their faith and worldview which leads them in that direction. I strongly do not agree with Nick’s article but I think we need to engage and debate with it. I hope that makes sense! Thanks for reading – normal service will be resumed shortly! Jon
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Thanks for posting this, Jon. I find far more value in hearing from people who I disagree with than just having my views reinforced by like-minded people. It shsrpens my thinking (hopefully).
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Jon – you had me worried, first you leave the party …! Off topic, are you going to blog about ‘I, Daniel Blake’? We thought it was brilliant.
Steve
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Hi Steve – don’t lose faith with me! I watched ‘I, Daniel Blake’ last night and am aiming to post something up on it later. I thought it very powerful too. thanks, Jon
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Thanks for posting this. The point of view is very interesting but I’m left wondering where is love? Jesus came to fulfill the law not to abolish it through prophetic acts and, says Paul, the entire law is fulfilled in one commandment: love your neighbour as yourself. But if law (as in the US Constitution) becomes what we worship regardless of the effect it is having (e.g. gun deaths), then where is love? I’d like to hear Nick Miles view!
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I am hitting the “LIKE” button on this response.
*LIKE*
Good question!
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First you dump the Labour Party then give air time for Trump apologetics – interesting! Also a thought for Nick Miles to reflect on – “The Pharisees were concerned about the Law and their ‘Constitution’. How did Jesus react to that? “
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Hi John – sorry to be a disappointment! I like your question – Nick has been extremely busy responding to people on facebook so not sure if he will get round to answering this one! thanks, Jon
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Interesting link with Lizzie Schofields’s article on the Asher’s Bakery Case. In that case socially ‘liberal’ judges have bent the whole concept of equality and human rights to their own warped views, bypassing the legislature, unwritten constitution and the will of the people (not to mention sound jurisprudence). So I completely understand why an American citizen should be concerned about the appointment of judges to the US Supreme Court, when its judges make rulings like Roe v Wade which result in a 50 million baby holocaust. Having said that, Trump seems like an immature, insecure, greedy and lustful opportunist who might do something stupid (or be manipulated in doing something evil) like starting a nuclear Armaggeddon. So for me Hilary is the lesser of two evils. I think Christians ought to take part in the democratic process but sympathise with Americans who, in a two party system, seem to have so little choice.
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I stumbled across this post and was curious how someone of faith could justify voting for a man that stands for hate. Now that we’re almost a year in do you still feel the same way? I read just yesterday that Trump is threatening to take away NBC’s broadcast license bc they share news about him that is unflattering.
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Just ran across this and wondered if Nock would be willing to write a piece on how it turned out? Perhaps wait until after 20 Jan, but it would be interesting to understand his perception of the last 4 years and where he and the US political system is now.
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An addendum to enable notifications!
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