A Pastor’s Reflections on the 2026 Election
As I review the results of the 2026 election, I can honestly say that I am not surprised, but I am saddened. Before midnight on election night, the Associated Press called the United States Senate for the Democrats, and in the early hours of Wednesday morning it called the House as well. When the new Congress is sworn in this January, the party that now controls both chambers will set the agenda in Washington.
Here at home, the Senate race between Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colom is separated by only a few dozen votes, with thousands of affidavit ballots still to be counted. A seat that nearly every forecaster called safe is now the closest Senate race in the nation. Whatever the final count, Mississippi has been reminded that nothing should be taken for granted.
The Enemy of My Enemy
It seems that we have embraced many idioms in this election. The first is this: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Many people made this election about their like or dislike of our President, even though there was a great deal more on the ballot than one man. The voters said as much themselves. About four in ten told the AP’s voter survey that they cast their ballot to express opposition to the President, and NBC’s exit poll put that number at 43 percent, higher than in the 2018 midterm.
Think about what that means. Millions of Americans did not vote for a plan, a principle, or a vision for the country. They voted against a person. When a vote becomes nothing more than a protest, we can end up handing power to people whose convictions we do not share, simply because they stand opposite the one we are angry with. That is a dangerous way to choose leaders.
More Than the Price of Gas
My prayer is that decisions were made on more than “high gas prices.” On election day, the great indicators of our economy told a story worth hearing. The stock market was near record highs, with the S&P 500 up roughly 31 percent from election day 2024. The economy grew at a 3.4 percent rate last quarter. Unemployment held steady at 4.2 percent.
But the number most folks saw was the the sign at the corner station. The national average was about $4.15 a gallon, more than a dollar higher than a year ago. Most people equate gas prices with the cost of living, and I understand why because I feel it too. When it costs more to get to work, to church, and to the grocery store, every family feels it.
Make no mistake, like everyone else I would love for gas prices to come down, and I believe they will. They have already fallen over the past month. But they did not control my vote. A tank of gas is a short-term concern. The direction of a nation is a long-term one, and our children and grandchildren will live with the results long after this year’s prices are forgotten.
What Frightens Me Going Forward
Here are some of the things that frighten me as I look toward the next two years.
I see the BORDERS getting reopened by the actions of the controlling party. We do not have to guess what that looks like, because we have already lived it. During the previous administration, Customs and Border Protection recorded more than ten million encounters nationwide in four years, and roughly two million more known “gotaways” slipped past our agents entirely. Hundreds of those apprehended were on the terrorist watchlist. Many walked across with little or no resistance. The incoming House leadership has already said it will not fund immigration enforcement without major changes, and it plans to put ICE under investigation. A border does not have to be opened by a single law. It can be opened by starving enforcement, tying the hands of those who guard it, and looking the other way.
I see the GENDER issue continuing to grow, with children being given more freedom than a child deserves or can handle. The Democratic Party’s own platform supports so-called gender-affirming care, and I see nothing to suggest that commitment will soften with more power in their hands. A child is not permitted to drive a car, sign a contract, or buy a beer, and for good reason. Yet in too many places we are telling children they are mature enough to make permanent decisions about their own bodies. The Bible is plain: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). Our children need loving parents and clear truth, not confusion dressed up as freedom.
I see more “give away” programs to ILLEGALS that will rob citizens of benefits. Some will say that federal law already bars illegal immigrants from most benefits, and on paper that is true. But what is written and what is practiced are two different things. THINK ABOUT THIS: California reported spending about $9.5 billion in a single year to put Illegal (undocumented) immigrants on its Medicaid program. New York City has been on track to spend around $10 billion over three years on housing, food, and services for Illegal migrants. That money comes from taxpayers, and it competes with the needs of veterans, seniors, and working families who have paid into the system all their lives. I do not believe it is compassionate to reward those who broke the law at the expense of those who kept it.
And beyond these policy matters, I see a party leadership whose first priority after winning is investigating and opposing the President. Leaders in the new majority have already said they “haven’t ruled anything in” and “haven’t ruled anything out” on impeachment. I fear two years of hearings and gridlock instead of serving the people who sent them there. Our country has great needs and that should be our focus.
The Erosion of Faith in the God of Creation
FURTHERMORE, I see genuine belief in the GOD OF CREATION continuing to erode, giving way to humanism. The numbers bear this out. In 2007, 78 percent of Americans called themselves Christians; today Pew Research puts it at 62 percent. Gallup found that belief in God, which stood at 92 percent in 2011, had fallen to 81 percent by 2022, the lowest ever recorded. Among young adults it is lower still. When man becomes the measure of all things, there is no longer a fixed standard of right and wrong, and every question of law and life becomes a matter of opinion and power.
Although modern pundits are fond of saying that Christianity had nothing to do with the founding of this nation, an honest look at history and at the founding fathers shows something different altogether. The Declaration of Independence says we are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” appeals to “the Supreme Judge of the world,” and closes with “a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.” George Washington warned in his Farewell Address that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” of political prosperity. John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Serious scholars agree. Historian Daniel Dreisbach has shown that the Bible was the book most often cited in the political writings of the founding era. Mark David Hall’s work demonstrates that the founders were not the godless deists they are so often made out to be. Our liberty was not an accident. It grew out of a people who believed that rights come from God, not from government, and that what God gives, no government has the right to take away.
My Prayer for America
I pray for our country not to become so liberal in the next years that we lose the uniqueness of our civil liberty as well as our Christian living. Those two have always walked together in America. When faith fades, freedom is not far behind.
One of the great resources for God’s people is an organization named, “Wallbuilders.” Having met Tim Barton several years ago, I trust his work, words, and heart. In today’s podcast, he reminds us of three things: “nothing catches God by surprise, God cares about how we respond to what happens, and God can work even painful events for good.” I would argue that God does His best work in and through the fire. Today, Jesus is still on the Throne, the Cross is still the place for redemption, and the future (for whatever happens here) is still eternal life through HIM.
So I do not write as a man without hope. Our hope was never in Washington, and it was never in one party or one President. Scripture tells us to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). That includes the new majority, whether we voted for them or not. And God has given His people a promise that no election can cancel: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Notice where that promise begins. It does not begin with Congress or the White House. It begins with “my people.” Six years ago, I was invited to speak at our local “National Day of Prayer” and my scripture was this passage. Consider this verse in reverse: Everyone desires for our ‘land to be healed’. For that to happen, we need ‘forgiveness of sins’. For this to be accomplished, we need to be ‘heard in heaven.’ For this to be done – it begins with ‘my people’ in ‘repentance (humble, pray, seek God, and turn). This is God’s great word to us in America.
The healing of America will not start in the Capitol. It will start in the church house, at the family altar, and on our knees. Let us pray, let us stand for truth with grace, and let us be the salt and light our country so desperately needs.
