Believers involved in Politics! Oh My! – Should we be immersed? – only somewhat? – or detach totally and simply vote? What should be the level of our activism and what does Scripture say about this?
Maybe a perspective we have not thought of as it pertains to truth is needed, in order to give other contexts as it applies to Church and State – Separateness? – unholy alliances?, etc. as many of these are cliché arguments that are given to NOT becoming involved.
The question we must all ask before involving ourselves in politics is in first finding out the reason why. If we believe solely it is a great way to serve the people of this nation, I think that ship has sailed to a certain degree. The amount of pressure as it pertains to party affiliation, lobbyists and their funding, promises unable to be kept, AND the belief that it is the government’s job to provide for the people socially, mentally, physically, and economically in almost every way – with no reliance on personal responsibility only displays the amount of corruption we live in and the question then becomes: Can a true Believer work inside the realm of politics and survive the wiles and levels of iniquity that are attached to it? Difficult question – it assumes the worst and we are at our worst point re: our indebtedness as a nation, our spending habits, social programs – and the list goes on.
That is a complex question for a different time and a different day. I am only wanting to address whether or not everyday Believers should be involved politically – it is also hopefully a provocation to answer the question of why up to 40% of Christians in America do not vote, and how we can reconcile the spiritual walk and life of a Believer and any attachment to politics – and if that is a reasonable expectation of and in the Believer’s life.
So I want to address this issue in a small way by talking about two parts as it pertains to Scripture: What is the Body of Messiah’s involvement and what has/is the world done to invade our beliefs? Then allow the reader to draw – hopefully – a better-informed conclusion.
In the Body, we have a few elements to note. Proverbs 14 tells us that Righteousness exalts (or lifts) a nation, but sin brings reproach (curses). How does a nation go from reproach to righteousness? – it has to involve the government to some degree and the populous as well. We also see examples of the Patriarchs of our Faith like Joseph, Daniel, Solomon, David, and Moses – who worked in the very cesspool of politics just by their roles and positions; also having lobbied for righteousness, prosperity, freedom, and posterity. They were all successful in their governance/political work – in fact – they had more foreign policy engagements than most US Presidents. We also understand the peaceful living” precepts in Romans 13 are for societal gain and harmony – not blind adherence in the denying or acting against our faith and its values.
Also, when we look at the life of Yeshua/Jesus, we only get a couple of glimpses into any sort of political interaction. He spoke harshly against the religious (who were also religiously political) leaders of Israel, as they were the “Lobbyists” or representatives for the Jewish people to the Occupier (Rome) to some degree – we see this played out even in the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of our King. We see bribery, deceit, political prowess, secret meetings and policies made, engagements with the government of Rome, etc.
However, Jesus never played earthly politics – EXCEPT to say “My Kingdom is not of THIS world.” … or when he pulled a coin out of a fish to pay the earthly kingdom’s taxes. We see him engage a Roman centurion but only to see his servant healed – yet the respect and political honor he shows Jesus is astounding – as if he knew about the hidden kingdom Jesus spoke about. The single time we need to examine though is when Yeshua and Pontious Pilate had a short discourse in John 18:33-38 –
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
Interesting conversation – all about who is a king, what kingdom is involved, and what truth is… Jesus says of himself that his supporters would have fought to recover His arrest had (basically – that the religious leaders been fighting against the Kingdom of God) Well then – Who in the world were they fighting against? The answer is they were not fighting God’s kingdom, but against themselves and their own destiny, because they denied the truth. Then the other important point here is that Jesus says he came into the world to “testify to the truth”. Testimony is for a jury (hearer) to listen to and decide if it is in fact, truth. So then the question becomes – If Jesus refused earthly political involvement – should we also, even though we see direct examples in the Old Testament?
We can also derive better understanding from the Apostle Paul where on one occasion he used his purchased Roman citizenship to leverage his being able to speak to both Pharisaical leaders and the Sadducees – SO that he might create division amongst them…hilarious! If that’s not political – I don’t know what is.
This discussion really can manifold into several points and discussions, but I want to focus on something that one of the epistles discusses in its entirety: The Book of Jude. The reason this book pf the Bible is so pertinent is because is instructional to the everyday Believer So, let’s look at what Jude is writing about.
Jude starts by drawing analogies with Old Testament events, using the same principles of interpretation found in 2 Peter (and elsewhere in the New Testament). He also draws on Jewish eschatological traditions from extra-biblical literature (he refers to 1 Enoch and the Testament of Moses) in building his case. Thus, as a letter and even further, literature, Jude is another form of Jewish commentary, yet contained within the New Testament
As I said, the format is of a New Testament epistle (letter), with its loose divisions of greeting, body, and closing. But the central unit of the letter (Jude 1:5–16) fits the style of a judgment decree: it has an object of attack, an attack coming from several directions, a harsh tone, and an implied standard on which the attack is being conducted (“the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”; Jude 1:3). The description of those who left the faith (Jude 1:8–16) provides a picture of their character and actions. The use of images and comparisons (e.g., to Sodom and Gomorrah and the archangel Michael) lends this letter to be crafted poetically. So what is the construct and context of the book of Jude? First the construct:
- Believers must defend the doctrines of the faith (Jude 1:3).
- False teachers are identified by their immoral character (Jude 1:4, 8, 10, 12–13, 16, 18–19).
- God will judge false teachers (Jude 1:4, 5–7, 11, 14–15).
- Believers must endure to be saved (Jude 1:17–23).
- Mercy given to us must be given to others (Jude 1:2, 21–23).
- The Father gives the empowerment of grace to endure (Jude 1:1–2, 24–25).
The context of Jude places TRUE Believers in the middle of a proverbial spiritual and social squall. The elements Believers are facing only 30 years after the resurrection are ominously comparable to today. Jude is a Prescriptive passage of Scripture – as opposed to Descriptive – meaning Instructional as to what and how we practice our faith. Descriptive passages only let us know the background to how it was practiced but do not directly instruct us on how to practice in certain ways as described. So read the entire book of Jude below with the mindset of today – the Church – the Government – and let’s look at it from that perspective – same words – same application – different time and different people – but the same humanity and depravity that has existed for millennia.
Greetings from Jude
This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.
The Danger of False Teachers
Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Messiah first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.
In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.) But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.
When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.
Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.
A Call to Remain Faithful
But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.
But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
A Prayer of Praise
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
Pertaining to Jude there are two ideas here – contending and also identifying division amongst the people of God and the heresy that caused it. As we face ongoing explosions from hidden time bombs detonating throughout the American Church over the last year, one cannot be true to themselves without noticing a pattern of heresy, error, and doctrinal deviation from the truth of Scriptural precepts in the held beliefs of many major ministries and personalities – and these things have been going on for years. There are roots to this deception that essentially elevates the personal revelated understanding of God’s Word and interpretation – over the written Scriptures and its inherent truth, so as a result, and because of a severe lack of accountability, incredible heresy ensued and was revealed. Through that theology, the practice of it, and subsequently its doctrine, in conjunction with the element of time; it caused the evolvement of an incredible deviation of truth and a misguided and false view of the Almighty.
Part and parcel to this has been a transition from Christian Identity Theology (more in a later article on this) in the 1930s that morphed into a Christian Nationalism that separated from its intended meaning. Today Christian Nationalism has taught by practice that one’s salvation is inherently tied to the trust and allegiance to the United States as a nation. It was not always that way – but we judge by fruit, not by words alone (Matthew 7:16). When we see that current statistics show that out of self-proclaimed Christians who attend church regularly – only 3% of them actually read the Bible on any regular basis – we must ask ourselves – What has happened? Conservative people are not Christians because they are conservative or have a basic belief in God. A vibrant relationship with God comes through lifestyle change (repentance) prayer, reading the Bible, worship, and the fruit of belief following those actions – not just believing in conservative – or any – social or political ideals that seem moral. It was not this, for example, 200 years ago when many of of early political leaders held seminary degrees and lead from the paradigm of a strong Biblical worldview and the moral context of Scripture. It is not that way any longer and unfortunately, this is where Christian Nationalism has landed today – maybe not as much 40 years ago – but it is today.
It has not been something much overtly communicated, although at times it has been; but it has been an attachment to theology which has been transformed over the years to mix the two – Patriotism and Christianity – and so the label of being a Christian has become connected and subsequent to patriotism, not the other way around. This error has become so pronounced that many people who call themselves a Christian do so because they are a patriot to the United States and a conservative voter – but yet do not yield what the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians in chapter eleven concerning the fruit of righteousness in verses 9-11:
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
The mixture problem with all of this is the fact that our society – and that of the world has degraded profusely. This is not a new thing because it is in line with the Law of Entropy – everything not maintained goes from a state of order to disorder. This has happened so much so that values, beliefs, and tenets of our faith have been hijacked into POLICY and LAW by governments, thereby making it more and more difficult to practice our faith (worldwide) without now even, breaking the law. We have allowed apathy to invade our spiritual space and steal our values – declare them as policy issues, and allow government to inch its way into our moral and spiritual lives.
Amendment 4 in Florida is a prime example – it is carefully worded so ambiguously, that to the average reader, a yes vote can be made probable – although in actuality it would allow unrestricted abortion in a state which has worked tirelessly to protect the most conservative laws on abortion.
In another example – a woman recently simply speaking to mothers-to-be outside an abortion clinic was sentenced to 3 years in jail – here in the USA. There are many other examples. Hey – but Jesus said we would be persecuted in our faith and because of His Name. (Matthew 10:16-23)
On the other hand, we must also look internally at leadership – so, when it comes to false teaching we must call these things out according to Jude – so when it comes to faith leadership, we see Andy Stanley’s new doctrine of unhitching from the Old Testament as a key fundamental to a slippery slope of societal moral collapse – by not making it unbearable for those “seeking Americans” to have an ease to find God. This has created a firestorm of argument – to today, how we just found out three weeks ago that His organization has received millions in funding from the Soros Organization.
We can go on… We are experiencing the Book of Jude today. From modalism in megachurches (God is three expressions – not persons) displaying the shallowness of pastors to teach a nod to New Age beliefs in God as a force, rather than a Person who has a multi-person internal (Echad in Hebrew – and is called Elohim because of that) relationship – and regardless of our personal lives we can manipulate that force for our own good GUESS WHAT??? WITHOUT TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, one is not a Christian. Realize that today we are the most Biblically illiterate generation ever to exist in the United States.
The end result of these types of teachings lands in marketing and business increases related to revenue and the development other exclusive committees of those pastors and ministers. This is so they can publish their self-help teachings instead of the raw truth of the Scriptures.
This is not an indictment of megachurches or large ministries – in fact I know many who are God-fearing Pastors and ministries that truly seek to disciple people – and they do not make their congregants dependent on dopamine-induced principles that promise much and gather no results.
I was just made aware of Pastor John Hannah in Chicago – whose church grew from nothing to 3000 in just nine months. He now ministers to over 10,000 people weekly and guess what? No media ministry – no television contracts or marketed book deals. I watched him weep when pressed to the point of why he has none of these things; and the reason for this in his words was, “I love God and people so much – I don’t want to spend millions on TV contracts – I would use that money for more buses to evangelize and reach souls…”
The current movements in the modern church are dangerous. Media is a powerful tool. In the right hands, it can bring many to Messiah. However, look at it like this… When a ship leaves a port, if it takes one degree off from its final destination which may be 1000 miles away, the opportunity to correct its course is easier the earlier the captain makes that adjustment. However, if they wait until they are almost to their destination they will be 40 miles off course. Has the church gone this direction – misguided into slumber and a lack of activism, uninformed, and giving allowance for their faith practice to be infringed upon?
Yeshua put it this way in Matthew 7:13-20:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
I mentioned this Scripture earlier but now we have placed it into context. Jesus is talking about FALSE PROPHETS! – False ministers…False Teachers…when he is speaking about recognizing good fruit.
So, getting back to our original discussion – what about politics? How do we engage in it? Number one; We VOTE! We encourage others to do so as well. We deal with the issues of stolen tenets of truth and belief in the God of the Bible, His Son Jesus, The Gospel, and our ability to proclaim it and defend these things -we defend the Scriptural moral code from being made into policy issues and legal matters and recapture them in the context of Faith. THIS IS WHAT JUDE WAS TELLING US! EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH(TRUTH) THAT WAS HANDED DOWN TO THE SAINTS (PATRIARCHS BEFORE US). The enemy of our souls would steal every moral aspect of truth from God’s Word and make it a legal and policy decision by unbelieving legislators and judges – and contimues to do so.
So are you a part of the 40% not voting because you cannot stand anybody? Would you consider revisiting that decision to save what we have left in the ability to practice our faith freely? Are you a Christian that does not read your Bible at all? I would encourage you to repent and turn to the Spirit of the Lord again and refresh that loving relationship with Him. Are you simply angry about our nation and not involved spiritually in any degree of your life, yet believe in conservative values? I would plead with you to repent of your sin, Ask Jesus/Yeshua (His actual Hebrew name) to become King and Lord of your life, and begin the fruits of righteousness that He talked about – by following that belief with your life’s actions – morally, spiritually, practically.
Being a conservative does not make you a Christian – just like buying a Big Mac doesn’t give you any shares of McDonald’s stock. Do not saturate yourself in that lie. Stand for righteousness because you walk in the fruits of righteousness due to the blood-atoning work of Jesus and His resurrection in your life – and your relationship with Him. Let us do what we need to contend for the faith in this 2024 election season!
