Christians urged to pray and vote their values

Christians should pray before giving a mandate to a party and then they should vote — not out of fear, but in accordance with their values, said ACDP MP Steve Swart in Port Elizabeth this week.

“Make sure that you know the policies of those parties that are mainly secular humanist — are you supporting abortion, same sex marriage or other issues that are an abomination in God’s sight [if you vote for them]? Look at the biblical voters’ guide and vote your values.

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“There is no such thing as a wasted vote. All the votes are put together and allocated to the parties so we will have representation. You will then be able to sleep well at night and feel that you have adhered well to what Father God has called us to do,” he said in an interview after a public meeting that felt more like a worship gathering than an election meeting.

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Presence of God
After Swart had spoken for about an hour — mostly testifying about how God has been using the small ACDP presence in government in significant ways to uphold Christian values in the country and bring key intercessors into the heart of parliament at critical times — local pastor and author Afrika Mhlophe stood up and expressed what others sensed. “I have never been to a political meeting where the presence of God was so strong throughout,” he exclaimed.

Mhlophe’s words seemed to trigger even more awareness of God’s manifest presence among the small group of ACDP supporters and ACDP Nelson Mandela Bay ward candidates as the meeting concluded with heartfelt prayers for the party and the nation, and the candidates and Steve Swart and his wife, Louise, were anointed with oil.

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Questioned about the charged spiritual atmosphere at the meeting, Swart said: “Well it was wonderful, we started in prayer and invited the Holy Spirit to be present in the meeting and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would speak through me and I had a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit being here and just being able to share a message of hope to our nation and a call to arise. A call for the church to arise.

Window of opportunity
“We have a window of opportunity where we can make a difference in this election and so it was a wonderful experience for me just to also give testimony how Father God is shaking the nation but that he gives us the keys of the kingdom. He shakes the nation to bring it to repentance and we are excited about the prayer movements that are growing and the number of people that are rallying around the ACDP at this time.

“We don’t have great visibility but we serve a God who is a consuming fire, a mighty God that loves us and has a wonderful plan and purpose for this nation and we can make a difference in this election on the third of August.”

Appealing to voters whose values align with the ACDP, Swart who has been a member of parliament since 199 and serves on both the Finance Committee and Judicial Committees of parliament, said: “Stand with us as the ACDP, stand for our Christian values that will bring hope to this nation.

“The future of this nation is in the hands of the Christians. Do not vote out of fear and realise that every vote counts.

“In Exodus it teaches us to vote and select capable men and woman, God fearing men who hate dishonest gain and who are trustworthy. Just think if we applied those basic principles from Exodus 18:21 where our nation would be.

“God has got a wonderful plan for this nation but He is shaking the nation at the moment for the Church to arise and elect God-fearing men and women in this nation.”