Many Christians erroneously believe that they are divinely duty-bound by biblical dictate to pray wholesale rather than retail for President Trump, as well as our presumed President-Elect, Joe Biden. However, such a specious belief doesn’t have a scriptural leg to stand on, or perhaps I should say, a scriptural knee to kneel on.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, the Apostle Paul instructs us to pray for “all men,” but especially for those “that are in authority.” Why does Paul single out “kings and all that are in authority”? Is it because God cares more about the powerful than the populace? Absolutely not! Since God is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), there is no difference in His eyes between potentates and peasants.
The reason the Bible specifically exhorts us to pray for those in authority is because they hold such sway over the quality of life in our society. It is not because they have some special favor with God, but because they have such influence over our way of life.
According to Proverbs 21:1, “The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” If we will clasp our hands in prayer for those in authority, then, God, who holds their hearts in His hand, will sway them to keep our society “quiet and peaceable.” In such a society, Christians can best practice their faith, publicly worship their Lord, and propagate their land with the Gospel. As Paul plainly points out, this is the purpose for praying for those in authority; namely, that our society will be open and free so that all within it will have an opportunity “to come to the knowledge of the truth” and “be saved.”
Contrary to popular opinion, God is not concerned with politics, but with the preaching of the Gospel. Although God cares for political leaders, He cares just as much for their constituency. God wants all men, from the White House to your house, to have an opportunity to hear the Gospel and be saved. Therefore, it is for the salvation of lost souls, not for the blessing of bureaucrats, that the church is instructed to pray for government officials.
In light of this divine edict, contemporary Christians have no obligation to pray wholesale for present-day politicians, not even for presidents. For instance, Democrats, like our presumed President-Elect, Joe Biden, no longer see “religious liberty” as “a cherished freedom,” as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has poignantly pointed out. Instead, as Alito warns, they view religious liberty as “an excuse for bigotry” that can no longer “be tolerated.” Therefore, to pray in your prayer closet or to cast your vote at a polling place for the election of a Democrat is to contravene the clear teaching of Scripture. Rather than praying and voting to keep our society “quiet and peaceable,” so that all within it have an opportunity “to come to the knowledge of the truth” and “be saved,” you are praying and voting for the silencing of the Gospel in America, not to mention the persecution of God’s saints and the imperiling of sinners’ immortal souls.