Not since the Civil War has the United States been this hotly and passionately divided, so says virtually all social commentators and historians and it's hard to argue against that observation. In fact, perhaps the one issue which all sides can agree upon is that the people of the United States are deeply and fundamentally divided, tribalism is now well established and growing more and more entrenched. Harsh bitterness and vitriol being expressed against those in opposing tribes and parties in public has become routine and commonplace, the days where speaking respectfully to those in opposing groups are long gone. We are a people at war, thank God it has not yet erupted into a shooting war, but we are at war. The sides hate each other. This house is profoundly and severely divided by very real consortiums struggling for control and power.
It is (as always) incumbent upon Christians to serve as salt and light in society, to bring clarity and healing where rifts are the most critical. We do, after all, have the solution to what is tearing our country apart into sectarianism, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The answers and corrections and clarifications our nation need are all found in the Bible. It is our calling and duty to announce it with precision, clarity and unwavering consistency. Unfortunately, most evangelical churches have made the decision to stay out of the fray and "not get political", and chaos is now befalling the nation as a result.
Let's be very clear, what we see on the news every night is the result of most churches becoming "politically neutral" for more than 40 years now. By withdrawing from the arena of governing philosophy, by deciding not to advise and give wise guidance politically, the Church has allowed an unstable vacuum to be created. And this vacuum is being filled primarily by secular progressives and Marxists who are only too eager to replace to the voice of God in our government.
This philosophy which separates the "secular" from the "sacred" is a false and unbiblical scheme. It's a truly pagan idea. It must be abandoned by evangelicals and it must be abandoned immediately. Nowhere in the Bible is the Christian Church told to stay out of politics, to stay out of economics and to stay out of policy debates. We are told to do the exact opposite. Christians must be engaged in the culture and to fearlessly serve as a prophetic voice that addresses human governments, political parties and business conduct. God sees all of society and declares, "ALL OF IT IS MINE" …therefore…it is the duty of Biblical Christians to announce the declared will of God in every aspect of it. There should be a separation of church and state, but there is no separation of state and God. God rules over the state (and He rules over everything else as well). The church should never control the state, however, the church must always influence the state...and we're not doing that anymore...not like we once did at least.
The Bible addresses, in great detail, every controversy America is embroiled in right now. Did you know that? It is astonishing how much the Bible has to say about government, politics, economics and culture, yet few churches take any stance at all on almost any of it. Name any current controversy we hear debated on the news each night, name a "political issue" which divides this nation and then look that issue up in the Bible…it's in there, big time…
Immigration (also, see)
The role/scope of Government authority
What am I missing? Name any topic which has this nation so deeply divided and you will find it addressed in the Bible with perfect clarity…so why then are these issues not clearly preached in our "Bible preaching" churches? Stop and think about the answer to that question. If these issues are all addressed in the Bible, then why are the people in our churches kept from hearing about them? Why are they left to figure this stuff out on their own? These issues were never off the table in previous generations and they shouldn't be off the table now. This nation is confused and divided precisely because our churches are not clear. We've given the culture the impression that God doesn't care about these things one way or the other, so we should just hash it out ourselves. We've given people in our pews the impression that it's ok to support politicians, parties and policies which flagrantly defy the expressed will of the Living God for society! The consequences we are seeing as a result are real and will get even more painful unless we get serious about preaching the whole council of God. There would have been no American Revolution had preachers then "stayed out of politics". There would have been no end to slavery had preachers then "stayed out of politics". There will be no avoiding the coming authoritarianism if preachers continue to "stay out of politics" today.
Do you understand that? Authoritarianism is coming straight at us and many of our people are either unaware or hazy about it because the watchmen on the wall are not sounding the alarm!
Wherever the Bible is silent, preachers ought to be silent. Wherever the Bible speaks, preachers ought to speak. We will be hashing out what the Bible teaches on these various "political" issues in the coming installments, my prayer is that you will see how emphatic the Bible is on each of them and be inspired to get in the arena to declare "thus sayeth the Lord" with conviction and authority.
