Get your own Free Home PageMany object to Christian political involvement, citing 2 Timothy 2:4, "No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs -- he wants to please his commanding officer." They say that passage means that "Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We should not waste our time messing around with worldly affairs. We need to spend all of our time preaching the gospel, getting people saved."
If the entire Bible contained only this passage, that idea would be the logical result. However, there are other passages that put the above passage in proper perspective.
Most importantly, the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) comes into the picture. The Master gave three servants ten, five, and one talents of silver. The first two put to use what they had, and produced another ten and another five talents. The third one left his talent sitting idle, thinking the Master would be pleased that he held onto it. The Master, of course, was very displeased, fired the servant, and gave the talent to one who did well with his assignment.
This is the basis of the saying, "The greatest responsibility one can have is great ability." It's also the basis of the saying, "Your ability is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God." These sayings are true, because they say the same thing the Scripture says.
Each individual is obligated to God to make the most of his resources. Your money, your property, your abilities, your position, your influence, whatever access you may have to people or authority, all of these were given to you by God. It makes no difference by what means these things came to you. Their ultimate source and giver is God.
We are all required to use everything at our disposal to serve him. If you have the ability and opportunity to do good, you also have the obligation to do it! "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17)
Some say that, since we see little in the New Testament about Christian political involvement, we should have little involvement. The reason we see so little is, the church was in its infancy. It had not yet grown to where it had the ability (and therefore, the responsibility) to influence politics.
We see in Luke 3:14 John the Immerser's commands for soldiers (who in that time also did law enforcement in addition to fighting wars). We see in Acts 16:37 Paul asserting his rights as a Roman citizen. We see in Romans 16:23 a high public official mentioned among the believers.
We see in 1 Corinthians 7:21 the command for slaves to gain their freedom if they can. These last two examples expose the fallacy of the mentality found in many churches that "Christians should not seek positions of authority. We should be humble servants of everyone."
Some may argue that verses 20 and 24 ("Each one should remain in the situation he was in when God called him.") prohibit Christians from seeking advancement. Taken out of context, they would. But the overall context of chapter 7 is marriage! Verses 20 and 24 should be considered in that context! All it's saying is, "Don't ditch your family when you're converted!" It they ditch you, that's another thing! But you don't ditch them!
"Remaining in one's situation" does NOT mean stopping your life's natural progression! It means, "Don't make drastic changes in your life FOR NO REASON when you become a Christian!" If you've been practicing sin, you need to change that! But don't make any other major changes unless you have a clear reason for it!
If you acquire the knowledge and ability to serve God in a new capacity, you are REQUIRED to make whatever changes are needed to serve God! Just don't make any POINTLESS changes in your life! Don't go changing your life just to be making changes!
It is true that we are to be servants. We are to be servants of God first, then of others. But one who serves in a position of authority is still a servant. A manager in a corporation serves society by organizing the work of the employees so they will be productive, providing goods and services to the corporation's customers (whoever buys the goods and services) and the end users (the consumers, the general public, the people who ultimately benefit from the corporation's products.)
Serving in a position of authority is still service. Some quote Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves" saying that Christians should not seek positions of authority. The passage does not condemn the seeking of authority, but the seeking of it for the wrong reasons. Seeking a high position so you can feel superior to others IS wrong! But seeking it so you can do greater service for God and humanity is not only not wrong, it is commanded! We are all to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way! Not for our glory, but for God's glory and service!
Not everyone is called to hold public office, but everyone IS called to promote righteous candidates. Everyone IS called to tell others (when you have opportunity) about the benefits of righteous government. It is a testimony to the wisdom of God. The benefits from righteous government show that God knows best how to conduct ALL human affairs, both public and private!
The Bible has a lot to say about government. The Law that God gave through Moses is the best model legislation that has ever been given. (In fact, the first act of the legislature of the State of Vermont in 1791 was to adopt the entire Bible to be the law of the state!)
God is the creator. He knows how everything works, all the way down to the smallest particle! It only makes sense that his directions would be the best for the most beneficial use of creation!
The Law that God gave through Moses is the best example for all governments to follow for the benefit of all people. The principles embodied in the Law should be the principles embodied in the laws of any state. (A "nation" is a people. A "state" is a government. The United States has fifty states to keep power divided, so that no one state (government) has a monopoly on power, which always leads to abuse. The 17th Amendment subverted that, leading to the abusive, centralized "state" in D.C. that violates all our God-given rights.)
The Law that God gave to ancient Israel (plus the further enlightenment he gave us through the prophets and the New Testament) shows us an example of a libertarian society. Everyone is free to do as they want, as long as they don't violate anyone else's rights. Most of God's commands are to not violate others' rights! (That's where we get the whole concept of people having rights! God commands us to not violate them!) Everyone is free to do as they wish. They are also responsible to live with the consequences of their choices. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
The Old Testament also has laws concerning sanitation and diet (still good advice to follow, if you want to be healthy.) It also has ceremonial laws about sacrifices to God. These are forerunners to illustrate various qualities of the One True Sacrifice that counts: the sacrifice of Christ to pay for our sins.
To re-institute the Old Testament sacrifices would be an insult to Christ. It would be blasphemy! It would be saying, "THESE are the sacrifices that remit our sins. The sacrifice of Christ is of no value!"
Here is a good place to mention the value of religious freedom. Society must recognize everyone's right to believe and practice the religion of their choice (as long as the practices do not violate anyone else's rights!) because everyone is individually accountable for the choices they make! "You go ahead and believe what you want! You're the one who has to answer to God for it!"
We should proclaim the availability of the one true religion, and its benefits to all who choose to follow it. But in the end, it is every one's individual choice. Each one is responsible for their choice. "Forced conversions" only confuse issues, making it hard to see who is truly obeying God, and who is only obeying men.
In this respect, "separation of church and state" is valid concept. The power of the state should not be used to enforce membership in or the doctrines of any church. All of history has shown that when too much power is concentrated in one institution, the institution abuses its power (and it's people!)
Separation of church and state is valid in this respect: no one church organization should have control over the power of the state, and no government should interfere in the internal affairs of a church.
Many people these days extend the idea of "separation of church and state" to claim that churches have no right to speak about public issues. This concept VIOLATES the First Amendment!
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
This is not, as it may appear at first glance, a "basket of stuff." It's an entire philosophy! It recognizes people's right (No government can grant or withdraw rights! Only God can do that! Government can only uphold or violate people's rights!) to practice their religion, to say and print what their concience dictates, to assemble and discuss public affairs, and to call for the government to justify its actions!
These rights are inherent in the people, both as individuals, and as groups (churches, etc.)! Claiming that churches have no right to speak on public issues violates the First Amendment!
The IRS commits this violation regularly! It requires churches (above a certain income level) to apply for tax-exempt status (treating the practice of religion as a privilege, not a right) and requires churches to "not criticize public policy." This IRS regulation violates the entire concept of the First Amendment! It denies churches' right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This alone is a pretty big grievance!
The founding fathers wrote this into the Constitution to recognize the church's role as the conscience of society. They all knew that Jesus told his followers, "You are the salt of the earth ... You are the light of the world." They recognized the people's right to obey God's commands!
You cannot be the "salt of the earth" (preservative, killer of disease) without being involved in its activities! Salt PERMEATES everything it is put into! It changes the character of EVERYTHING everywhere it goes! You cannot be "the light of the world" without speaking words that expose works of darkness! (John 3:19 "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light becaust their deeds were evil." Ephesians 5:11 "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
The Bible tells us to be conscience of society! The Bible tells us to use all available resources to promote righteousness! (Today's church seems to be more interested in being the SUGAR of the earth! Of course, when sugar is added to anything, it tends to make it MORE susceptible to decay!)
If Christians had not practiced stewardship as I have outlined above four hundred years ago, there would never have been a United States of America! The whole reason the early settlers came to America was to establish a society according to the Laws of God! The whole reason our ancestors fought for independence was to eliminate government that violates people's God-given rights!
Everything our founding fathers did was directed toward one purpose: the advancement of God's kingdom on earth! The Lord commanded us to pray, "... your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) That's like the command for us to "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:37,38 He's telling US to become harvesters! He's telling US to do God's will on earth!
The USA is a natural result of the Reformation, with its "Reconstructionist" belief that all of life is to be "reconstructed" according to the Laws of God. Not just your private, personal life! ALL of life! In fact, most of the Bible discusses affairs of state!
Yahweh is God not just in the church building, or just in your home; he is God everywhere! All of creation owes obedience to him! All of humanity is to obey him! Including government!
America's founding fathers understood all this very clearly! That's why they did what they did! And the results have been spectacular! Obedience to God's commands to work diligently has brought the greatest prosperity the world has ever known!
(Government's disobedience of God's commands to not steal has begun doing serious damage to our prosperity in recent years. All the burglars in the world can't come close to the amount of theft our government commits in its normal operations! All together, government is taking more than half of our income! Federal, state, and local taxes, as well as hidden taxes that are included in the prices of the products we buy, all add up to more than half of our income!)
Part of this prosperity has been used to take the gospel to the world far more than it's ever been done before! Over half of the Christian missionaries around the world, AND OVER 85% OF THEIR FINANCIAL SUPPORT have come from the USA!
If something were to happen to the USA, that would eliminate most of the preaching of the gospel throughout the world! "Just preach the gospel"? It is absolutely essential that we preserve (and restore) our base of operation that has made it possible to preach the gospel around the world!
America's founding fathers have set a great example for us. They understood fully that the Revolution wasn't about a tax on tea, or any other tax. It was about the principles behind the tax! Our founding fathers did not allow a small encroachment based on a false principle to let the principle get a foot in the door. They did not allow a false principle to get us tangled up in bad precedent, allowing gross tyranny to creep in a little at a time! (Like we have done in this century!) Our founding fathers did not compromise on principle! They rejected bad principles before they could get a foothold!
The most fundamental principle they rejected was the rule of man as opposed to the rule of the Law of God! Samuel Adams said on the day he signed the Declaration of Independence: "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let his kingdom come!"
Every soldier in the Revolution knew that this is what he was fighting for. The battle cry was, "No king but Jesus!"
The American Revolution was not about a tax on tea, or any other tax. It was about restoring the rightful Lord to his throne! It was a reversal of the rejection of the same Lord nearly 3000 years earlier.
In 1 Samuel chapter 8, the people of Israel went to Samuel and demanded that he appoint for them a king. The Lord told Samuel, "It is not you they have rejected, it is me they have rejected as their king!"
The Lord also told Samuel to tell the people how harsh the rule of men will be on the people; how the king will plunder them and send them to die in senseless wars, just like our government has been doing in our century!
Our founding fathers restored The Great Lawgiver to his rightful throne, and submitted to rule of law instead of rule of men. This century has seen the reversal of that giant leap forward. In the name of "progress" our government has taken us back to the dark ages, with powerful men passing oppressive laws with no restraint.
Some people complain about the Bible being "too restrictive", but call for even more government! Consider: the Bible, including law, history, songs, etc., comes to a total of about a thousand pages. Our government puts about that many NEW burdens on us EVERY DAY! And people say the Bible is too restrictive?
These powerful men, calling the Constitution a "living document" have KILLED it by reinterpreting it, twisting it, and perverting it! Much has changed in the past 200 years, but right and wrong NEVER change! Fundamental principles never change! Human nature does not change! All humans are still subject to lust, greed, and pride (1 John 2:16) which must be restrained! As Thomas Jefferson said about anyone who governs, "let us bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."
We need this protection MORE now than we ever did! Technology now exists to enable government to be even MORE totalitarian than Stalin, Mao, or Castro! Government now has the ability to be far more repressive than it has ever been in history! And it is certainly moving in that direction!
Our lawful republic (rule of law) has been replaced with a lawless democracy (mob rule). Our Constitution once protected us with many "government shall nots," including the big one, the Tenth Amendment, which says that governent shall not do anything other than the things this Constitution says it may.
Almost all of the activities of today's government are nowhere authorized in the Constitution! Powerful men, wanting to build agencies whose true function is to serve as a monument to the men's egos, build these expensive agencies at our expense!
Most of the "needs" met by these agencies were better met a hundred years ago by private, voluntary activities, at much lower cost! The ruling elite expects us to believe that, instead of us taking care of our own needs, we're better off with them taxing us to hire us to take care of our own needs, with them raking off a hefty share of the money to administer the program! It's still us doing the same work! The only difference is, they take a big chunk of the money giving themselves cushy jobs "managing" us!
This is the very thing God warned against in 1 Samuel chapter 8! The people wanted government to "take care of us" and "fight our battles for us." They refused to acknowledge that it will still be them doing the same work! Only now, they'll be doing it with the king's sword hanging over them! Plus, they'll be doing a lot of other "work" that really doesn't need to be done!
That is the practical reason Christians need to take charge of politics. Mercy demands it! Mercy demands that we come to the rescue of the oppressed! Mercy demands that we RE-take the levers of power that godly men created, and use them to relieve the suffering our government is now causing!
Many claim, "You can't legislate morality." So what are you supposed to legislate? Immorality? Of course we're supposed to legislate morality! That's the entire purpose of having legislation! That's the entire reason our government exists!
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ..."
Government exists to protect people's rights, and nothing else! Rights come from God. Therefore government exists only to serve God! It will serve God ONLY if godly people take control of it! If we refuse to be the conscience of society, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, if we ignore these commands that God gave us (as we have for the last hundred years!) wicked people will gladly move into the space!
Greedy and arrogant people have unlawfully plundered and oppressed us, abusing the power of government for far too long! It is long overdue for the churches to get re-involved!
The warning in 2 Timothy 2:4 against "Christian soldiers" getting involved in "civilian affairs" does NOT mean we should stay away from politics! It means we should not get wrapped up in trivial matters (personal agendas, silly causes, etc.) that have nothing to do with God's kingdom! It's talking about hobbies and activities that are "nice to do," but do nothing toward building up God's kingdom!
Government has a HUGE impact on God's kingdom! It creates the climate that enables (or disables) the prosperity needed to support God's work! And it serves (or wars against) God directly by punishing (or rewarding) evil. In Acts 5:29, Peter said to the government, "We must obey God rather than men!"
We have been so irresponsible for so long, most of us don't even know where to begin learning about godly government! Hopefully, the articles I'll be posting on this website will help, as well as articles posted on other websites whose links I'll be posting here.
We all have a lot to learn. In the last several years, I've also had to unlearn some things I thought were true. Check it out in the Bible! Don't just loaf along believing what your parents believe, or what your schoolteachers said, or even what your preacher says! If it contradicts what's in the Bible, it's not true!
I've had to educate my preacher on a few things. You need to realize, his knowledge is limited, just like everyone else's! Even the best of them need help, sometimes! Some of them have gotten too comfortable. Some preachers have slipped into a mode of constantly soothing their flock with the same comfortable messages they've always heard, instead of "preparing God's people for works of service" (Ephesians 4:12) and raising up new shepherds; "entrusting (the word) to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2)
The main thing you need to remember from this article is STEWARDSHIP! Our founding fathers came to a vast continent, with little but hand tools, and built a mighty country that has done much for God. Don't let it slip away!
Remember the parable of the talents: just holding on is not enough! We must do more than hold on to what we have! We must restore what has already slipped away, and build on it to even greater heights! For a very long time, we've fallen far short of even the bad example in the parable! Let alone the good example!
Even the "wicked, lazy servant" in the parable did better than the churches have been doing for the last century! At least he held on to what God had given him! We haven't even done that!
Don't give up because you can't see any progress. God will not judge you for what other people do. If they drop the ball, you still need to be faithful! Whether or not we succeed on earth is not the most important measure. God will judge you according to whether or not you stay with the task, even if everyone else is unfaithful!
For all I've said about the importance of God's will being done on earth, the most important thing still is your salvation. But remember, your salvation depends partly on whether or not you are faithful in doing God's will on earth! "... he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22)
Good works will not save you (only Christ's sacrifice can do that) but lack of works will lose you! James 2:14-25 makes it clear: lack of works shows lack of faith!
So be faithful! Do God's will! "God's will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!"
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