Jesus Christ is Lord: Jesus and Politics

Chapter 5 – Jesus and Politics

Please excuse the length of this particular blog post. It’s longer than my usual posts because I had more to say about this subject than usual. I hope and pray that it will mean as much to you as it does to me.

I am a firm believer that the Lord cares deeply for two nations in this world today. Israel was selected by God to be His chosen people. The Word of God bears that out in the book of Deuteronomy:
 
Deuteronomy 7:6 (ESV)
⁶“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

God has nurtured, disciplined and fought for the nation of Israel throughout recorded history and still today.

The founders of the United States of America on the other hand, chose Almighty God to be the foundation on which this wonderful country was established! Some factions today strive to undermine that fact, however… we continue to exist as “One nation, Under God, with liberty and justice for all” as our Pledge of Allegiance still declares.

Declaration of Independence: In Congress, July 4, 1776
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

1 Timothy 2:1–8 (ESV)¹First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ²for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Israel is right now embroiled in a battle with Hamas/Iran, for their very existence. They desperately need our prayers! Pray that they will put all their trust in God, and for Him to sovereignly fight for them as He has done before!

What about the United States of America?

This country is currently fighting a Spiritual battle! This is a battle of Good against evil! Like it or not, we are to be combatants in this war! It greaves me that so many Christians and Christian leaders are either unaware of this war, are just unwilling to participate, or are deceived! Whatever the reason, I’m sure that each person can rationalize their position of un-involvement, but is it valid?

Here are some statistics:

• There are approximately 213 million people in the USA who identify as Christians.
• Over 25 million of those Christians do not even vote! Do you understand this? Over one fourth of the Christians in this country are unwilling to even vote in this battle against pure evil!!!
• 25 million votes would put a stop to the evils such as killing babies, child transgenderism and so much more!
• Why are they not voting? There could be a variety of reasons:
  • Maybe they don’t like either person so they just won’t vote or support either one. News flash… Jesus is not on the ballot! None of us are without sin, no not one! Don’t vote for the person, vote for the policies and platform that comes closest to your views! For goodness sake, don’t let the evil side win because you didn’t vote!
  • Perhaps they are not hearing it from the pulpit as being important. Not mentioning any subject on a regular basis is construed as not significant! Don’t believe it? Try mentioning various church events only one time and see how many people show up! If this is truly a Spiritual battle of good vs evil, it should be a regular topic of discussion!
  • Possibly it isn’t mentioned because some people in the congregation might be offended. If they are leaning toward the side with an evil agenda, maybe they need to be offended! Who better to offend… them or God?

Do you remember the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets from a few years ago? So… What would Jesus do today?

Here is what Jesus did when He was ministering physically on earth. He challenged the leaders to do the right thing:

Matthew 23:13–24 (ESV)

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²²And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. ²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Perhaps we all need to be bolder, and challenge the status quo! Here is an article I read recently that meant a lot to me:

One of the immense challenges for every American Christian in the 21st century is the sacred-secular divide. What I mean is that we as a culture have taken the separation of church and state to the extreme. Now, I certainly believe in the separation of church and state. The church and the state serve separate functions. The church suffers when the state tries to do the church’s job, and the state suffers when the church tries to do the state’s job. Therefore, I do not believe that people who hold political offices should be required to pass religious tests, or that churches should be endorsing or funding political candidates, and so on. But I think that many people mean something else when they say “separation of church and state”. They are not simply separating the church from the state, but they are completely segregating and privatizing the church. The private world of faith is not allowed to venture into the public world of facts. The sacred cannot speak to the secular. The spiritual has no claim on the material. And those who refuse to accept the sacred-secular divide are seen as ignorant or bigoted. But it’s not just the secularists who hold to this; many Christians have also been convinced to adopt the sacred-secular divide at face value. Such Christians choose to strictly relegate their faith to church events and personal quiet times, and they refuse to allow it to touch anything else in their lives. It is as if the sacred-secular divide is an untouchable axiom, and not even the truly sacred principles of our faith can approach it. In a sense, this narrative of culture claims more of our allegiance than our Christian faith does. However, this modern version of Christianity is incompatible with being a true follower of Jesus. Leslie Newbigin wrote in The Gospel in a Pluralist Society in 1989

Dear Heavenly Father, as we your children try to navigate this secular world from a Spiritual perspective, please assign to us an extra measure of help from Your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit thank you for your continued, appreciated help! It is in the name of Jesus we ask this. Amen