A Freedom Message-2020

 

Text: Judges 2:7-12

Disclaimer:  This message in violation of the IRS code and is subject to the loss of tax exemption and fines.  Since 1954, the Johnson Amendment has prohibited religious leaders from supporting or opposing political candidates in the pulpit.  The idea that religious leaders cannot, in their capacity as religious leaders, speak on political matters or instruct their parishioners on how to think about ballot issues is not just at odds with most American history; it's also clearly unconstitutional.

 

In May 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, which, among other things, called for the federal government to stop enforcing the Johnson Amendment.  

 

"In particular, the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure, to the extent permitted by law, that the Department of the Treasury does not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization on the basis that such individual or organization speaks or has spoken about moral or political issues from a religious perspective," stated Section 2 of the executive order.

 

This order did not repeal the Johnson Amendment. The repeal of the Amendment was removed from a Bill that would have ended this violation of free speech from the pulpit.

 

 The issues facing America are biblical. Issues such as life, marriage, the family, the economy, the poor, and many others are explicitly addressed in Scripture. There was a time in America when a message against the people and nation's sins were considered scriptural. 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.  Governors have forgotten the part of the phrase in the Constitution “free exercise.”

 

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 religion's free exercise. A law that prohibits pastors from speaking freely from the pulpit violates the free exercise of religion. How can the practice of religion be free if our Church is subject to fines and penalties for something said from the pulpit?

 

America's pastors' voice 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 ." 

 

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. Still, 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 Church's sanctuary by condoning acts of sin and requiring the Church to accept sinful practices as a person's 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.

 

Our nation's political leaders, legislative bodies, and courts have adopted a distinctly anti-Christian attitude and agenda in my lifetime. 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 is now used to fund programs and government agencies that actively engage in blatant advocacy of various immoral practices.

 

This week Joe Biden told Philadelphia Gay News that President Donald Trump has given "hate" a "safe harbor" by protecting religious freedom and enabling what Biden condemned as discrimination."

 

Throughout his interview, Biden condemned as "discrimination" the idea that faith-based homeless shelters, adoption agencies, and other charities would refuse to endorse same-sex marriage, transgender identity, and experimental cross-sex drugs and surgeries. He acted as though any desire to follow a traditional Christian, Jewish, or Muslim view of sexuality and gender must be rank "discrimination." 

 

Biden pledges may sound positive and inclusive — he wants "protections" for people, and he wants to fight "discrimination," right? — but this rhetoric is deceptive.  Biden has twisted the notion of discrimination to force Christians to violate their beliefs.  Biden said, "I believe every transgender or non-binary person should have the option of selecting 'X' as their gender marker on government identifications, passports, and other documentation. I will support state and federal efforts to allow for this accurate representation," he said.

 

In other words, Biden claims that transgender identity, not biological sex, is an "accurate" representation, even though biological males do not become female and vice versa. In one particularly tragic case, a pregnant mother identified as transgender arrived at the hospital in labor. Because her documents falsely listed her as male, the doctors assumed her issue was not pregnancy, and her baby died.

 

Yet, Joe Biden endorsed transgender identity as "accurate" and intended to force that ideology throughout the federal government. Let me ask, who is following the science? If you are born male, you will be a male no matter what drugs you take to look like a female. And women, if you are born a female, you will always be a female.

 

This problem facing America today is not Joe Biden or Donald Trump—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 God's power. 

 

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 on that day. When we preach a political solution for our culture's evils, we place the political process above the Gospel's transformational power. The government's ability 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 an actual transformation takes place. Regardless of how evil a government becomes; it cannot stop the plans of God. As Christians, we must remember that the message of the Scripture deals with the nature in which God deals with individuals and nations. So, despite our desire to reform society through the political process, it is more critical that we reform men's lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

As Christians, we must become involved in civic and political activities to correct social and cultural wrongs. In writing to the Church at Galatia, Paul says, Therefore, as we have an 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 allowed us to change the direction of the social and cultural issues contrary to the Scripture's moral law 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 domain of political activists. The apostle Peter instructs us, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His 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 decided to disobey God's command. 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. In part, we can do that by desiring the improvement of society's moral standards and approving measures that would conform to the 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 corrupting society. Still, in our efforts to support what is right 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. 

 

Above all else, God has called the Church to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. Even as the apostle Paul described his mission to unbelievers, it is the primary task of all Christians to reach out to the lost "to open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Why do we do this? So, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in 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, they are the enemy of God and are 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. They will spend eternity apart from God unless they repent and believes the Gospel. 

 

Therefore, the pulpits of America must 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 American pulpit's freedom should be voted out of the office or not supported in their effort to gain a political position in this election cycle. 

 

There are 30 million non-registered Christians who could bring significant change to this country. Polls show that white, non-Hispanic self-described evangelical Protestants account for about one-quarter of all registered voters in the USA. White Christians from all faith branches accounted for nearly 6 in 10 registered voters in 2008 but less than half today,   

 

When we withhold our influence at the voting booth, we promote immoral and destructive policies by default.  If you want to make a political impact in America, then vote. If you're going 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 pastors' right to preach the Word of God.