For the Christian who decides to enter into the political arena to help candidates or even run as a candidate, the Bible gives some incredibly wise advise: "Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14 (nlt)

Certainly, Christian voters must be involved in the political process. Indeed, they must help elect righteous leaders who can lead the culture into a more sound moral civilization. However, involvement should never be a cause for Christians to compromise the permanency of their faith for the temporacy of electing candidates that will then help to dismantle the very society that Christian voters are seeking to build.

There is perhaps, no better example of why Christians should not help elect anti-christian candidates under the deceptive ploy of choosing the "lesser of two evils," than the recent hiring of Traditional Values Coalition lobbyist Ben Lopez by the California State Republican Party to help with the reelection of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, just one week after hiring Lopez, the California GOP has fired him. There are some rich lessons to be learned the hard way for Christian voters everywhere in the hiring and subsequent firing of Lopez.

Make no mistake about it, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the lesser of two evils when compared to his Democratic opponent Phil Angelides. Angelides is the personification of everything that is wrong with the government in California. As a radical socialist, Angelides represents the worst in big government liberals. In his prostitution to the radical gay agenda, Angelides has already promised to sign a gay marriage bill as soon as he is elected governor. He made that statement at a San Francisco news conference last month that was attended by liberal Senator Hillary Clinton who was campaigning for Angelides. Christian voters must be reminded however, that although Schwarzenegger is the lesser of two evils when compared to the immorality of Angelides, the lesser of two evils is still evil!

During his three years as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law more legislation to empower homosexuality then his predecessor Gray Davis did. Schwarzenegger has placed his signature of approval on eight bills that have strengthened homosexuality, lesbianism and transsexualism, while degrading the meaning of traditional family in California. One of these bills, SB1234, is so anti-Christian in its scope, that it declares all speech against homosexuality, including preaching the Biblical passages against homosexuality, as hate speech. If a gay or lesbian activist wants to have the preacher arrested because they feel threatened by the speech, SB1234 now provides for the arrest. Despite hundreds of thousands of emails and phone calls from Christian voters to veto SB1234, Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has been equally aggressive in his support for the abortion industry. Last year, he signed SB1313, a law that removes all volunteers at abortion clinics from mandatory reporting sex crimes against minor girls who come in for abortions. This freed up Planned Parenthood from reporting rapes and molestations against young 13 and 14 year-old girls, so they could perform abortions without notifying police or parents that the girls have been assaulted. In 2004, Schwarzenegger's push for the passage of Prop. 71, the embryonic stem cell initiative, helped pass the proposition which now forces all taxpayers to pay $6 billion over ten years for the killing of countless embryonic babies for grotesque medical experimentations in a state funded biotech conglomerate. Prop. 71 is the manifestation of Orwell's 1984 coming into full bloom.

Last month, Schwarzenegger helped raise a massive amount of money at a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans, one the most hostile, anti-christian homosexual groups in the United States. In his speech to the group, the liberal Republican governor stated, "I am proud to stand side by side with Log Cabin in their work to offer basic fairness for gay and lesbian citizens.". The Log Cabin Republicans, for their part, describe what their goal is for Christian Conservatives in the GOP: the "radical right" (referring to Christian Conservatives) are the last remaining obstacle to gays and lesbians achieving full equality in America". Schwarzenegger's embracement of the vetriolic Log Cabin gay activism was preceded by his issuance of a proclamation on his official letterhead honoring the pornographic enterprises of Gay Pride Festivals and Parades.

Why the Traditional Values Coalition, which has earned its living (over $6 million in 2004) opposing homosexuality and abortion, would then send its state lobbyist to help reelect one of the most anti-christian governors in American history, truly baffles most churchgoers who have given money to TVC. Lopez's hiring by the GOP to help Schwarzenegger was a black mark on Christian credibilty in the political arena. This is the exact kind of compromise that feeds backroom discussions of Christians being a bunch of hypocritical greedy bible thumpers.

To make matters worse, the GOP has now fired Lopez one week later, after gays and lesbians complained about the hiring. It demonstrates that the California GOP leadership has absolutely no respect for Christians, they just want the Christian vote. It also reveals the hidden motives within the party, that their big tent concept is all about promoting homosexuality under the table to lure in gay and lesbian voters without letting the majority Christians know what is being done behind closed doors. The Lopez hiring and firing unveals that dark plan in its full magnitude.

This is exactly why those who claim to be true Christians cannot break bread with those who have a demonstrated record of fighting those same Christians in policy and ideology. If Christians want to see true political revival and a moral rebirth in California and America, they must not continue down the delusional path of supporting the "lesser of two evils." To dance with political devils, they must realize that the song being played is a funeral dirge for Christianity itself. In the near future, a new generation of Christian activists who will give birth to a reformed government, will only come into being when Christians restrict their votes to candidates who have demonstrated a worthiness for that vote. Candidates who regularly betray the cause of Christ, but then seem to show up at churches only on Christmas, Easter and the day before an election, will no longer feel comfortable in doing so, when Christian voters remove themselves from being political doormats.

James Hartline is the publisher of The James Hartline Report