A Political Sunday

 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.  ¹⁰ And also all that generation was gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.  ¹¹ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:¹² And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. Judges 2:7-12

 The issues facing America are biblical.  Issues such as life, marriage, the family, the economy, the poor, and many others are addressed specifically in scripture.  There was a time in America when a message against the sins of the people and nation were considered scriptural in nature.  But that same sermon today is labeled as political and, as a result, the pastor is sidelined into silence.  It’s not that the church is somehow becoming “political.”  It’s that politics are invading the realm of the church.

The First Amendment prohibits the government from enacting laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion.  A pastor preaching a sermon from the pulpit is one of the core activities of the free exercise of religion.  A law that prohibits pastors from speaking freely from the pulpit violates the free exercise of religion.  How can the exercise of religion be free if our church is subject to fines and penalties for something said from the pulpit?

The voice of America’s pastors led the way through independence, slavery, civil rights, and have even influenced which men and women we put into public office.  But because of the Johnson Amendment, the voice of pastors is unjustly silenced every election cycle.  Some uninformed people believe that the church has no place in the political process crying out, “separation of church and state.”

"Separation of church and state" which is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The phrase has since been repeatedly used by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Our Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." and Article VI specifies that " no religious Test shall ever be required" as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The modern concept of a wholly secular government is sometimes credited to the writings of English philosopher John Locke, but the phrase "separation of church and state" in this context is generally traced to a letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association  and published in a Massachusetts newspaper.  It is in reference to the  founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams —who had written in 1644 of "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world"—Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

 But what has our moving away from the biblical principles of Christianity done for America? There was a time in the American Christian churches when almost every soul in America acknowledged the Ten Commandments as the cornerstone of ethics and morality. Today most Americans can't even name three of the Ten.  If anything, most feel they are only suggestions.  

There was a time when Americans universally disapproved of homosexuality, adultery, and divorce; they believed sexual promiscuity absolutely wrong; they regarded obscene language as inappropriate; they saw abortion as unthinkable; and they held public officials to high moral and ethical standards. Nowadays, most of the behavior society once deemed immoral is defended as an inalienable civil right—the government has invaded the sanctuary of the church by condoning acts of sin and requiring the church to accept sinful practices as a person civil rights.

 How times and the culture have changed! The strong Christian influence and scriptural standards that shaped Western culture and American society through the end of the nineteenth century have given way to practical atheism and moral relativism. The few vestiges of Christianity in our culture are at best weak and compromising, and to an increasingly pagan society they are cultic and bizarre.

In my life time, our nation's political leaders, legislative bodies, and courts have adopted a distinctly anti-Christian attitude and agenda. The country has swept away the Christian worldview and its principles in the name of equal rights, political correctness, tolerance, and strict separation of church and state. Gross immorality-has been sanctioned not only by society in general but in effect by the government as well. A portion of our tax dollars are now used to fund programs and government agencies that actively engage in blatant advocacy of various immoral practices.

This problem facing America today is not political—it is spiritual.  It matters not how many well-meaning organizations lobby, boycott or demonstrate against the moral decline in America—the bottom line is still spiritual and needs a spiritual solution.  But if we do not have a free pulpit to proclaim the message of the Gospel, cry out against the sins of the people and nation, we will have a generation that does not know God.  

Judgment must first start at the house of God.  When Christians start acting like Christians there will be a change in the culture of our country.  The problem right now is it is hard to tell the sheep from the goats.  

The American church will never gain control of the culture by political influence.  What happens so often is the power of evil corrupts those trying to make the right changes without the power of God. 

I am against all the same sins that many of my contemporary evangelical Christians are protesting against.  But all too often they have replaced spiritual power with political action. Paul tells us the time will come when there will be a form of godliness but there will be no power.  We have arrived at that day. When we preach a political solution for the evils of our culture, we are placing the political process above the transformational power of the Gospel. The power of the government is limited in what it can do to stop the spread of sin and evil.  It is only by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that a true transformation takes place.  Regardless how evil a government becomes it cannot stop the plans of God. What we as Christians must remember is that the message of the scripture deals with the nature in which God deals with individuals and nations.  So in spite of our desire to reform society through the political process it is more important that we reform the lives of men through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As Christians we do have an obligation to become involved in civic and political activities to correct the social and cultural wrongs.  Paul in writing to the Church at Galatia says, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”  For Christians to show apathy towards the political process that gave us the opportunity to change the direction of the social and cultural issue that are contrary to the moral law of the Scripture would be wrong.  But to replace the priority of preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ with political correctness and activism will not advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The greatest good through political involvement cannot compare to what the LORD can do through us, God has called the church to be a kingdom of priests, not a kingdom of political activists. The apostle Peter instructs us, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" 1 Pet. 2:9.  

It is our responsibility to proclaim the news of the transforming power of redemption that reconciles the sinner to the Father, by the price paid by the death, burial and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ.  This message will far exceed any political, social, or economic reform that the Church can bring about by our activism. 

Evil has existed from the time in the Garden of Eden when Adam made his choice to disobey the command of God. From that time until now, the creation has been influenced by evil.  Ours is a spiritual battle waged against worldly ideologies and dogmas arrayed against God, and we achieve victory over them only with the weapon of Scripture. The apostle Paul writes: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" 2 Cor. 10:3-5  

We must reject all that is ungodly and false and never compromise God's standards of righteousness. We can do that in part by desiring the improvement of society's moral standards and by approving of measures that would conform government more toward righteousness. We are concerned over the rampant indecency, vulgarity, lack of courtesy and respect for others, deceitfulness, self-indulgent materialism, and violence that is corroding society, but in our efforts to support what is good and wholesome, reject what is evil and corrupt, and make a profoundly positive impact on our culture, we must use God's methods and maintain scriptural priorities. 

God is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our county into "a Christian nation." To devote all, or even most, of our time, energy, money, and strategy to putting a façade of morality on the world or over our governmental and political institutions is to misunderstand our roles as Christians in a spiritually lost world. 

God has above all else called the church to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. Even as the apostle Paul described his mission to unbelievers, so it is the primary task of all Christians to reach out to the lost "to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me [Christ]”.  If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people--no matter how beneficial it seems--is of any eternal consequence. Whether a person is an atheist or a theist, a criminal or a model citizen, sexually promiscuous and perverse or strictly moral and virtuous, a greedy materialist or a gracious philanthropist--if he does not have a saving relationship to Christ, he is going to hell. It makes no difference if an unsaved person is for or against abortion, a political liberal or a conservative, a prostitute or a police officer, he will spend eternity apart from God unless he repents and believes the gospel. 

It is therefore, vital that the pulpits of America remain free to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As Christians we can protect our freedom at the voting booth.  Those individuals running for public office who do not support the freedom of the American pulpit should be voted out of office or not supported in their effort to gain a political position in this election cycle. 

What is hard to understand is that evangelical Christians make up 26% of eligible voters, or 52 million.  Of this number 63% voted, or 33 million.  This made up 26% of the entire votes cast in the election.  There were 10 million evangelical Christian who were eligible to vote but were unregistered, with another 9 million who were registered but did not vote.  When we withhold our influence at the voting booth we are promoting immoral and destructive polices by default. 

In the last election there were 239,405,657 eligible voters in America.  Of this number 197,828,022 were registered to vote but only 126,000,000 actually voted.  Had all evangelical Christians voted they would have been 41% of the total votes cast! 

If you want to make a political impact in America then vote.  If you want to make a spiritual impact then spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you want to keep a free pulpit then support only candidates who support the right of pastors to preach the Word of God.