Election – Landslide Victory?

John_Cormack

John Cormack

A series of polls suggest that in the coming general election, there will be a landslide. Scotland is set to return Nationalist MPs from most of its 59 constituencies. It seems that the development arises from the unsuccessful campaign to secure a ‘Yes’ vote in the Scottish independence referendum last year, harnessing enthusiasm and activism across the country. The result has been tremendous energy and momentum behind the SNP election campaign, dwarfing the efforts of the other parties. The respected pollster Lord Ashcroft has found that even prominent local MPs of other parties, with many years of service, look set to lose their seats.

In my own native constituency, Ross, Skye & Lochaber, which, with small boundary changes, Charles Kennedy has represented since 1983, the SNP leads by fifteen points in the Ashcroft poll. Mr Kennedy has not helped his re-election chances with a stumbling performance on Question Time, where the self-confessed alcoholic appeared to be under the influence of drink.

From having won just six seats in 2010, the SNP are now predicted – by the aggregate pollster May2015 – to win 55 of the 59 Scottish constituencies, with a 46% share of the vote across Scotland. This would be a political earthquake of epic proportions, the first occasion since 1955 in which the Labour party has not won a majority of Scottish MPs.

From a Christian perspective, there are few of the current 59 MPs who would be mourned. Not one is a consistent Evangelical Christian, and most are thoroughly politically correct, and wholly supportive of the aggressive gay rights agenda. However, the SNP leadership is of exactly the same outlook on these issues, with Nicola Sturgeon posing proudly for photos at Scotland’s first same sex marriage at the end of last year. Just 2 of the 69 Nationalist MSPs elected in 2011 are clear Evangelicals.

Furthermore, the strength of the SNP would build powerful momentum to hold a second referendum in the near future. With such an electoral stature behind the new ‘Yes’ campaign, the modest 5% swing needed to secure independence would be a very feasible possibility. This election result could well herald the breakup of the United Kingdom. Whatever your view on that issue, we live in dramatic times.

I have been disappointed to see that there will be few Christian candidates this time around, due to the costs involved in standing. The Scottish Christian Party is fielding my father-in-law Donald Boyd in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, and John Cormack in our own constituency, Na h-Eileanan an Iar.

The latter is probably the only Scottish constituency with a significant concentration of Evangelical voters. An independent candidate, Murdo Murray, standing on a Christian platform in 2010, retained his deposit, coming third behind Labour and the SNP with 9.6% of the vote. This time around, the Scottish Christian Party will contest the constituency, but disappointingly, was unable to recruit a local candidate. Therefore its nominee, John Cormack, is a Reformed Baptist from Glasgow. While our sitting SNP MP Angus MacNeil will be virtually certain of re-election – indeed his majority is predicted to be as high as 47% by the pollsters at May2015 – the Christian Party will hope for a strong protest vote to be polled in the constituency.

All this said, there is a more important election coming, and it is good for us to remember the comparative unimportance of worldly politics. All can change in five years, even independence could eventually be reversed if circumstances changed, but there is an election coming that will have truly permanent effect. That election will be for the everlasting King, and the result is already known: not predicted but promised. God Himself has assured us “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:10-11).

This is the landslide victory that really matters! Are you prepared for that landslide – have you trusted in Jesus Christ as Saviour? Only in Him is there true safety, only is His Kingdom is eternal rest.

Jesus says to each one of us: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isa 45:22)

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