As our U.S. readers are well aware, the 2026 midterm election cycle in America is approaching its finale. The news headlines are full of candidates and pundit speculation, and the airways full of ads and counter-ads. How the balance of power at numerous levels will be affected by November’s outcome cannot yet be known for certain.

And again, as before, many Seventh-day Adventists wonder what their course of action should be in the political process. For many, to vote or not to vote is again the question. For others, how far to go in publicly expressing their political opinions—especially within the setting of the church—raises other dilemmas.

Political Divisiveness in the Church

Twice this past week I saw regrettable evidence of fellow church members airing blatantly political opinions online, apparently with the belief that these opinions form an integral part of their faith and practice as Seventh-day Adventist Christians. One was an article claiming that the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) was helping to lead a caravan of illegal immigrants to the southern U.S. border. The other was a Facebook post in which someone openly professed himself to be a “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) supporter, listing a cluster of unabashedly political beliefs that he espouses, including opposition to what he calls “indoctrination” in the public education system and the gun lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

What was perhaps even more disturbing about the first of the above postings was the assertion that illegal aliens coming to the United States are, among other reasons, a problem because most are presumed to be sympathetic to one particular political party in America, and will thus—if granted citizenship—give greater strength to that party in future elections. It is one thing to address the issue of how Christians should relate to the stranger—we call them immigrants—among us, or how the orderly acquisition of legal citizenship might or might not be made possible. But to write as if immigration—legal or otherwise—is a problem because one particular political party or ideology is likely to benefit more than others from the presence of such persons in the body politic, is a strictly political viewpoint whose presence on an allegedly Seventh-day Adventist Christian website can fairly be called needlessly divisive within the community of believers.

Seventh-day Adventists and Political Involvement

Three articles in particular, previously published on this website, address in depth the issue of Seventh-day Adventists and political involvement. I believe they merit review within the context of any election cycle. One was written in advance of the 2018 U.S. midterm elections [1], another was written just prior to the U.S. presidential election of 2020 [2], while another was written the following year with a specific focus on how to distinguish the right from the wrong kind of political participation so far as Adventists are concerned [3].

These articles address at length a number of Ellen White statements written on this subject. By way of review, Ellen White never counseled Adventists to refrain from voting under any circumstances. She did warn against voting for those with a track record of promoting Sunday-sacredness [##4|Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 393-394.##], and warned against blind allegiance to political parties [##5|——Gospel Workers, p. 393.##]. But her principal warning relative to politics was against sowing discord in the church over issues not related to the proclamation of the Advent message. Such statements as the following bear this out plainly:

Whatever the opinions you may entertain in regard to casting your vote in political questions, you are not to proclaim it by pen or voice. Our people need to be silent upon questions which have no relation to the third angel’s message [##6|——Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 336.##].

Notice she doesn’t forbid Adventists to have opinions regarding political questions, only to refrain from publicizing such opinions if they have no relation to the message and mission of the church.

Speaking of the behavior of certain Adventists in her day relative to this topic, she wrote elsewhere:

By parading their political belief before the world, just as worldings do, they have created division, strife, and jealousy among themselves. The influence of this course of action is a great offense to God, and He cannot and will not prosper those who follow it [##7|——Manuscript Releases, vol. 9, p. 130.##].

Drawing the Line

Ellen White was clear that such topics as religious liberty [##8|——Gospel Workers, pp. 389-390.##], slavery and racial justice [9], and temperance relative to the prohibition of alcohol [##10|——Ministry of Healing, pp. 337-346.##] were appropriate political subjects for Seventh-day Adventists to be concerned about. At one point she even recommended voting on the Sabbath as a means of promoting temperance candidates [##11|——Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 337.##]. But this is a far cry from giving a carte blanche public endorsement to a political ideology (e.g. MAGA), or arguing against immigration because it might swell the ranks of one political party as opposed to another. (Some may forget that such claims were made in the American past against immigrants from certain backgrounds, with the fear that letting such persons into the United States would aid one political party against their opponents [12]. Like the wise man said, there is really “no new thing under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9.)

Seventh-day Adventists who publicly imply that one of the two major political parties or ideologies in contemporary America reflects God’s will for the country, while viewing their political opponents as allegedly anti-God or anti-Christian, are disobeying the clear counsel of our prophet in their public witness. This theory was being trumpeted in Ellen White’s own time, and she obviously held no sympathy with it. We can’t say it often enough. God is neither a political conservative nor a political liberal, and both the sea of glass and the lake of fire will be filled with Democrats, Republicans, libertarians, capitalists, and socialists. We are entitled to hold whatever beliefs we choose relative to such issues. But we are not entitled, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, to create divisiveness in our ranks along ideological or partisan political lines.

REFERENCES

1. Kevin Paulson, “Why It’s Foolish—Even Dangerous—To Hate Politics,” ADvindicate, Nov. 1, 2018 https://advindicate.com/articles/2018/11/1/why-its-foolish-even-dangerous-to-hate-politics

2. ----“Godly Citizenship,” ADvindicate, Nov. 2, 2020 https://advindicate.com/articles/2019/9/20/paulson-draft-1-s88fl-6mlnf-49y4n-nwhtc

3. ----“Threading the Needle on Political Involvement.” ADvindicate, Aug. 27, 2021 https://advindicate.com/articles/paulson-hdy8e-yzry5-kd4pa-km8ha-rweee

4. Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, pp. 391-392.

5. Ibid, p. 393.

6. ----Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 336.

7. ----Manuscript Releases, vol. 9, p. 130.

8. ----Gospel Workers, pp. 389-390.

9. ----Testimonies, vol. 1, pp. 201-202,533-534.

10. ----Ministry of Healing, pp. 337-346.

11. ----Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 337.