They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, this is your God…’ Exodus 32:8

The morning after the 2024 elections, approximately half the nation sits in shock and disbelief. The other half revels in a familiar spirit of ‘I told you so!’ This is what America has become.

In the coming days, there will be many postmortem reviews of what went wrong for the Democratic Party and what went right for Republicans. Already, the editorial pages of the major media outlets from the US and across Europe are sounding the alarm about what a new Trump presidency empowered by control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives (not to mention the Supreme Court) will mean for America’s future. The world at large appears baffled that America chose to do this again.

Historically, I suspect the 2024 election will be highlighted as a demonstration of the decay and corruption within American politics. Trump is the only US president ever to be convicted of a felony. He made a career out of lying, cheating, and scamming the system to his personal benefit. As a businessman, he filed for bankruptcy six times, accumulating debt and then reorganizing those debts under bankruptcy protection. That meant other, smaller businesses and their employees did not get paid. This was a tactic, even a game, for Donald Trump the businessman. It was legal under US law, so his worst habits were empowered when he came to the presidency. Excess, dishonesty, and a lack of integrity were his ways of running the country from 2016 to 20, and it did not matter what the costs were as long as Trump won in the end.

The Democratic Party did not produce a solution to this conundrum; they merely played a weaker game of corruption. Although Joe Biden promised to be a bridge to the next generation, he refused to let go of power once in office. His inner circle tried to protect him from the ravaging effects of mortality, but in the end, his diminishing mental powers became clear for the world to see in the dumpster fire that was the presidential debate of June 2024. The Biden team enforced his defacto candidacy throughout the primaries, even moving traditional dates of different state primaries to ensure he won the nomination early. After the debacle at the debates and his subsequent ouster from the ticket, voters never got another choice, candidate, or option. Kamala Harris was coronated the heir apparent without a real vote or option. Party leaders warned democrats of voicing any opposition to these moves lest they sabotage their own political futures.

This is what a corrupt system looks like. It is sometimes full of lies and scandals, as Trump and the Republicans exhibited. At other times, it operates under the façade of legitimacy. An illusory choice is presented, but the real decision-makers are the powers behind the curtains. This was what the Democratic Party presented.

Of course, corruption is always quantified in dollars. The 2024 election was the most expensive election in history. The two candidates spent $3.5 billion combined in their efforts to secure the White House. Harris raised more than Trump, $2.3 billion compared to $1.8 billion. Rather than expressing concerns about potential conflicts of interest or compromised influences within the Harris campaign, the media often cited these sums to validate the candidate’s effectiveness.

On the Trump side, the public and the media expected little more. Donald Trump exalted in his support from Elon Musk, a recent Democrat sponsor who decided to convert to Trump and take his gifts to Palm Beach. For the first time in American history, both parties operated unapologetically as though the White House could be bought. It was not a matter of right, wrong, or ethics. It was a question of ‘my billionaires are better than your billionaires.’

The corruption within the Harris campaign sealed them into their echo chambers, provided by the media and celebrity endorsements. Having never faced voters during the primaries and having never sampled the frustrations of the American public, they came to believe the narratives provided by celebrities, billionaires, and the mainstream media. American voters were motivated by abortion rights! Harris paraded through swing states throughout the last couple of weeks with an entourage of celebrities who touted this message. Exit polls revealed only 11% of American voters cited abortion as a leading issue in their voting decision.

America Chose

The most significant result of last night’s election was that America chose the winner. Donald Trump has never won the popular vote in America. He likes to say he has, but that has never been true until 2024. This time, the choice was clear, and apparently abundantly clear, as there was a definite rejection of Harris in favor of Trump.

Perhaps rejection is too strong a word. Many Americans chose what they saw as the lesser of two evils: a chaotic, dishonest, narcissist or a clueless, arrogant, dilettante.

But that is not the case for American Christians. Among American Christians, “my beautiful Christians,“ as Donald Trump refers to them, this was not about the lesser of two evils. The majority of American Christians have propped up this orange god with their support for more than eight years. Despite the lies, the immorality, the chaos, the profanity, the bullying, and the incompetence, the majority of those who identify as American Christians gave Donald Trump their unwavering devotion and support from 2016 to the present. It was not Donald Trump they worshipped. It was the power he represented.

Like our spiritual ancestors described in ancient Israel, it was never about worshipping a wooden idol (or in our present case an orange man). It was about what stood behind the idol. Stability. Prosperity. National strength.

The prophets of ancient times repeatedly warned the children of God to turn from their wicked ways. Stop giving your heart to false gods. Choose who you will serve: the one true God or these false gods. Demonstrate your obedience to the one true God by disciplining your heart and lifestyle to follow His ways because He simply hates your religious rituals of attending church and feigning worship when your heart is separate from Him.

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Isaiah 29:13

My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. Ezekiel 33:31-21

The corruption of our governing system presented America with an impossible situation on November 5, 2024. There was no right choice, no good choice. The nation is on a course that corruption always leads to. It appears there is no turning back.

But among Christians, those who carry the banner and name of God in their lives and homes, the stakes go beyond our inevitable national decline and convulsion. Now, the wheat is beginning to be separated from the chaff (Matthew 3:12). Scripture teaches that God’s judgment always begins in His own house.

American Christians chose Donald Trump in 2024. They bowed down and gave their sacrifices of devotion once again. But as the coming months and years will show, there is no hope or answer from false gods.