I just wrote a piece looking at some of the political and economic fallout of the new Mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani. The gist of the piece was this: ‘What is worse than a Muslim from Africa running America’s largest city? A Communist Muslim running it.’ These are trying times indeed, and we must be aware of what is happening in our world. See that piece here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/11/06/new-york-city-when-all-hell-breaks-lose/
Here I want to focus much more on the biblical and spiritual issues that can be discussed. And bear in mind it was not just some appalling election results in NYC. We also had worrying Democrat wins in New Jersey and Virginia. Of course these are blue states, so the results were to be expected. But the results will be devastating nonetheless.
With radical leftists winning power, not just in America, but in so much of the West, including here in Australia, the believer can get all rather discouraged. And it does not help that there is such weak opposition, as in Australia in general and Victoria in particular. These radical secular Labor rulers look to be staying in power for some time to come – unless God breaks through. And often what is first needed is for God’s people to break through – in repentance and confession of sin.
Even if someone like Mamdani does not last long, we must bear in mind that a whole lotta damage can be done in even a short period of time! There will be a very high price to pay for voting him in. See my earlier piece for more details on this.
The governments we deserve?
Our political condition is often due to our spiritual condition, and Scripture tells us that the judgment of God must first begin with God’s own people (1 Peter 4:17). So while political decisions have very real ramifications for good or evil, behind them lie spiritual decisions.
I want to address two aspects of this. First, the issue of God giving us the leaders we deserve seems to be a legitimate (ie., biblical) position to hold to. John Calvin especially discussed this matter quite a bit. Some years ago I penned several pieces on just what he and others have said on these issues:
That God may well judge a people by allowing them to have wicked rulers – whether asked for or thrust upon them – is a biblical theme that we often find in Scripture. It could come in the form of a pagan empire conquering ancient Israel, as the Assyrians and the Babylonians did.
Or it can be that people simply vote in rulers which will do so much harm. Voters in NYC knew just where Mamdani stood, not just on political and economic issues. They also knew his hard-core anti-Israel position and how the city’s Jewish population (the largest outside of Israel) will have to react.
Many are already speaking about fleeing New York. Many are talking about moving to Israel. Consider just one immediate result of the election in this regard:
Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker handed in his resignation Wednesday morning — just one day after Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor, The Post has learned. Tucker, a proud Jewish philanthropist and businessman, informed Mayor Eric Adams that he would step down from the role he has held for just over 12 months on December 19, according to sources.
Given that texts like Romans 1 speak about how God gives people over to their sinful desires and wants, it certainly is possible that God is allowing NYC and other places to get what they in effect are asking for. If they want to live a sinful and selfish lifestyle with no thought of God, then rulers will come along allowing that very thing.
But it will only end in real disaster. As Romans 1:24 tells us, “For this reason, God handed them over to the desires of their own heart for impurity…” Or as is said of Israel of old in Psalm 106:15: “And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”
So perhaps New Yorkers are getting what they wanted – and what they deserve. The trouble is, many of the people there did NOT want this result, and they will be the main ones to suffer. Just as godly prophets were also taken away into captivity along with others when God sent pagan nations to punish Israel, so too his people today will suffer under a Mamdani or a Newsom or a Macron or a Starmer or an Albanese, etc.
Appalling apathy and indifference
The second point I wish to make is this: Just how much do Christians really care about all this? I too often find that many – perhaps most – believers seem to have no real interest in or concern about what happens in the political, cultural and social arenas. They seem too fixated on their own small little personal world, and outside matters like this mean little or nothing to them.
This ought not to be. All believers should be deeply aware of and care much about the state of the world around them, as well as the state of the church. But so many Christians seem to be living totally self-absorbed lives, only hoping for their ‘best life now.’
It is this complacency and indifference that is behind so many of our problems. And it is this apathy and self-centredness that Scripture repeatedly condemns. Consider just one strong prophetic word about this from Amos 6:1, 6: ‘Woe to those who are at ease in Zion…
Woe to those who are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!’
Do we need to update this a bit?
-Woe to you Christians who do not give a rip about the election of a Communist Muslim as mayor of NYC.
-Woe to you Christians who do not give a rip about African believers being slaughtered by the thousands.
-Woe to you Christians who do not give a rip about millions of babies slaughtered in their mother’s wombs.
-Woe to you Christians who do not give a rip about the utter destruction of marriage and family in the West.
-Woe to you Christians who do not give a rip about the October 7 massacre.
The list goes on and on. Do you care? Does this move you to pray and seek the face of God? Do you care?
One much more recent prophetic voice was of course Keith Green. Let me close with one of his most powerful songs, “Asleep in the Light”. The lyrics are these:
Do you see? Do you see? All the people sinking down? Don’t you care? Don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb? Not to care if they come You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done
“Oh, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord” You know, it’s all I ever hear No one aches, no one hurts No one even sheds one tear But, He cries, He weeps, He bleeds And He cares for your needs And you just lay back and keep soaking it in
Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin? ‘Cause He brings people to your door And you turn them away As you smile and say “God bless you, be at peace” And all Heaven just weeps ‘Cause Jesus came to your door You’ve left Him out on the streets
Open up, open up And give yourself away You see the need, you hear the cries So how can you delay? God’s calling and you’re the one But like Jonah, you run He’s told you to speak but you keep holding it in
Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin? The world is sleeping in the dark That the church just can’t fight ‘Cause it’s asleep in the light How can you be so dead When you’ve been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave And you, you can’t even get out of bed Oh, Jesus rose from the dead Come on, get out of your bed
How can you be so numb Not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done Don’t close your eyes, don’t pretend the job’s done
Come away, come away Come away with me, my love Come away from this mess Come away with me, my love Come away from this mess Come away with me, my love Come away, come away, oh
Come away with me, my love
And then we should get on our faces before God and ask him to melt our hearts and give us a heart of love, of true concern, of compassion, and a zeal for the glory of God.
Barring that, there will be far more Mamdanis being elected in the days ahead.
2 Replies to “The Mamdani Win: Spiritual Reflections”
A church that could be called our sister church (in Manchester, England) has a problem. They have a programme suitable for 30 people, but now they are having to make it suitable for 80 people. Their main hall is full on Sundays so if there is an overflow they will have to use the lounge. The deacons are organising introductory courses for newcomers. So I think God is in some places answering the prayer, “In Your anger remember mercy”
A church that could be called our sister church (in Manchester, England) has a problem. They have a programme suitable for 30 people, but now they are having to make it suitable for 80 people. Their main hall is full on Sundays so if there is an overflow they will have to use the lounge. The deacons are organising introductory courses for newcomers. So I think God is in some places answering the prayer, “In Your anger remember mercy”
Thanks John.