Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD.” – 1 Kings 21:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 25, 2016): 1 Kings 21

Just after the video (audio) revelation about Donald Trump’s conversation with Billy Bush was released, a group of influential evangelical leaders had a closed door session. The topic was evident – What do we do now? We have supported Trump and got him this far (mainly because Hillary Rodham Clinton terrifies us), but then this video comes out. I had a conversation recently with a good friend, and his defense of Trump began with the driver and the others who were on the bus. Maybe it was the same discussion that the church leaders had. In the end, the leaders decided that the video was not that big a deal – not big enough to derail their support of “Trump for President.” It was a decision that left some of the women of the church feeling sold out. Trump’s misogynist comments were somehow more important than the practice of treating women with the respect that they deserve.

In the aftermath of the video, I found it quite interesting that Billy Bush could not stay at his current television gig at “Today,” essentially because of the moral corruption revealed in the audio. In contrast, these leaders had no problem with Donald Trump remaining in the race for President. Apparently, television requires a higher moral standard than the President of the United States of America. Who knew?

Ahab and Elijah meet one more time. This time, it is the death of Naboth that hovers in the background of the meeting. It needs to be noted that the murder of Naboth was committed on the orders of Queen Jezebel, not on the orders of King Ahab. The charge of Elijah against Ahab was that Ahab had “sold [himself] to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Even if Ahab had not committed the crime, he did nothing to stop it.

Elijah, on the other hand, did what few religious leaders in his day would have dared. He stood up against the King because the King was in the wrong. Elijah seemed to believe that sin needed to be confronted and called what it is before it could be dealt with. Maybe that is a lesson we need to learn in our current political environment. Whether you blame Bush or Trump for the discussion does not really matter. The conversation was wrong. It was sin. And both men had the ability and the responsibility to stop it, but neither did. We need an Elijah today to stand up against the power of the moment and declare what is “evil in the eyes of the Lord.” This is what I believe that God is saying to our culture.

Having said that, in my opinion (not God’s), we, the church, need to get out of this election. Neither one of the candidates running are worthy of our support. Yes, we need to vote our conscience, but we don’t need to lower our own moral standards to be part of the campaign. This election is not worth the soul of the church.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22