In the wake of the shocking headline that tens of millions of Christians are unlikely to vote in the 2024 election, there have been any number of articles urging Christians to vote. The articles’ reasons why they should range from patriotic duty to Christian duty to Biblical reasons. But there's one overlooked reason why Christians absolutely need to turn out to vote: Influence.

Before we get there, let me address the two biggest reasons cited in that study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. Some 68% of respondents said they were uninterested in politics. Plato, who lived in a democracy some 300 years before Christ, said, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” It is as true today as it was then.

But extrapolate that out to the church. “One of the penalties for Christians refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by atheists.”

Christians in particular, but voters in general, fail to remember that elections mean that you are giving someone else legal authority over your life. That includes your family, your business, and even your church.

The Biden-Harris administration started its rule using COVID as the excuse to shut businesses and churches and use social media to shut up anyone who disagreed with their mandates or questioned the science. That was how they started. Throughout their administration they used to FBI and DoJ to spy on school board meetings and arrest Christians who didn't like woke teachers pushing pornography and transgenderism on their children.

By the end, they went even further. Just months ago, they rewrote Title IX to remove protections for women and girls in favor of biological males pretending to be women or girls. Whatever and wherever a female could go and do, the Biden-Harris administration opened to biological males. Participation in sports, locker rooms, bathrooms, showers, dormitories… they were not only open to males, but women also no longer have the right to say no. And it isn't just in education, but those rules will roll over into the business environment. Do you honestly think they won't try to force that on churches as well?

Worse, and in case you think they don't mean it, Biden-Harris and elected Democrats as a whole have adopted an ideology that would physically remove children from parents who won’t agree to mutilating surgeries. In other words, they will take children away from parents who won't let the state tell them how to raise their children and tell them what they ought to believe on gender. This has already happened. Children have already been taken away from parents who said no and stood up to this extreme ideology.

The second-biggest reason cited in that study, at 57%, why Christians don't plan to vote is they dislike the candidates. That's understandable. But it's also illogical. Christians know that there is no such thing as a perfect Christian. So why do Christians expect a perfect candidate?

There is a clear difference between these two candidates. For all the accusations of Trump being Hitler, Trump did not send out the FBI to spy on and arrest parents at school board meetings. And he will certainly not advocate to take children away from parents who don't believe in his ideology.

But it's not about the perfect candidate and whether or not you like them. Like Christians, political candidates are vessels -- tools -- to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. It's not about perfect; it's about better. Which candidate is better for the issues important to you? No candidate will ever be able to give you 100% of what you want; it's about moving the ball in the direction you want it to go. And to build on that with each election.

But Christians absolutely need to vote for one simple reason: Influence. There are two things that anyone who succeeds remembers: who stood in their way and who helped them. Winners remember who helped them across that finish line. And those who could have helped and nearly made them lose when they didn’t.

By staying out of the election Christians remove themselves from being the salt and light in this election and in the administration that follows. Imagine the scenario that Trump ekes out a win -- but the exit polls show he could have won easily if those millions of Christians had voted. Christians not voting could nearly have cost him the election. That lack of support can and will influence his administrative choices. It's simple human nature to remember who your friends were when you needed them the most.

Given that scenario, how favorably will he look at deeply conservative and deeply Christian judges knowing that when Christians had a chance to stand up for him, they instead chose to stab him in the back? Or imagine when Christian leaders come to him with some policy changes or recommendations they'd like -- how hard will he fight for people who refused to fight for him?

Do you really want a situation where non-Christians show greater support for Trump than Christians? Do you really want them to have more influence?

Equally important, Christians in mass numbers won’t just influence the winner but the loser as well. If Christians turn out by the tens of millions and secure a huge popular vote win for Trump and the Republicans, Democrats will get the message that they can no longer continue down the politically destructive path of anti-Christian ideology.

If Christians truly want to influence this next administration, and in big ways, then they need to vote. And in big numbers.

Mark Anderson is the host of the I Spy Radio Show, airing on seven AM radio stations around Oregon, which has become the Wuhan Lab of leftist policies. He holds an MBA and is all but dissertation in his Doctor of Business Administration, which focuses on rebuilding trust once broken.

Image: Library of Congress