I try very deliberately to be careful
about what I say in public regarding specific political leaders, candidates,
and elections. This is not because I believe in an arena of moral neutrality or
that the concerns of Church and State should never overlap. It is not because I
choose not to engage with substantive issues online. And it is not because I do
not have strong opinions about politics. It is because as a Minister of the Gospel
I not only represent myself and my family; I also represent Christ and his Church,
and I never want to appear to misrepresent them in unbiblical or undiscerning
ways. So I do not publicly endorse candidates as a minister—though I might
sometimes be willing to do so as a private citizen—and generally I am careful
about how I discuss political footballs in the public square. But
readers should not infer from this that I do not think politics matter.
Politics do matter, and the political leadership and policies of a nation are
important issues. They are just not always important in the way or for the
reasons or to the degree many people think.
It appears that barring an unforeseen
(but much hoped for) change to the ballot, our next President will be an
arrogant, godless, immoral, and violent human being, a vile and impenitent
person without the fear of God who is foolish, incompetent, and completely
disqualified for the office of dog catcher, much less higher office. If you
think I am describing a particular candidate, you are mistaken. The above
description fits both of the major party candidates, and to think otherwise is naïve,
at best, and dangerously undiscerning, at worst. Of course, once elected to
office, she or he will be worthy of the respect that corresponds to that office
(Rom. 13:1-7) and rightly the subject of public prayers in pulpits across the
nation every Lord’s Day (1Tim. 2:1-7). Until then, we can hope and pray that
God may yet save us from the miserable choices he has given to us, the moral
and political disaster which we have created for ourselves. God rules over the
nations. He raises up rulers and brings judgment upon them (Exod. 9:13-17; Prov.
21:1; Dan. 4:17, 34-37). It cannot be denied by anyone with a biblically
informed worldview that the present state of our Presidential election is proof
of God’s wrath against our nation’s sin. He has given us the leaders we
desired, and we can expect that we will continue to reap what we have sown.
Our next President will almost
certainly not be a God-fearing person. But neither is our current President.
The faith of the 43rd President of the United States might be
debated—I accept his profession prima facia but would quibble with his Methodist
theology more than a little. But the simple fact is that God-fearing Presidents
have been few and far between in this American experiment, and even those that
might have been often governed much as they might have if they were not. We did
not live in a “Christian nation” prior to the ascendancy of Barak Obama, and there
is no candidate or future election that could make us one. We are governed
largely by secularists and have been for a long time. Those who think otherwise
would do well to put down David Barton and start reading legitimate history.
Having said all of that, I come to the
point of today’s post, that there is good news. There were faithful churches of
the Lord Jesus Christ in both Corinth and Rome in the first century. Think
about that for a moment before you lightly dismiss it. Both cities were
cesspools of immorality and vice. The Roman emperors were pedophiles and
profligates. Nero’s perversity makes today’s transgendered, pansexual, (im)moral
revolution look almost tame. Going to worship in first century Corinth
sometimes involved fornicating with a temple worker appointed for that purpose.
(I wonder how long it will be until the evangelical-ish Church Growth Movement
packages and markets that one.) Yet in the midst of rampant depravity and
perversity, the Gospel was being preached, received, believed, and obeyed. Yes,
there were problems in those churches. Yes, Paul had to correct the Corinthians
for adopting carnality learned from their culture. But in the same letter he
expresses confidence in their faith and fellowship with the Lord (1Cor. 1:2-9)
and leaves them with a benediction of grace and love (1Cor. 16:23-24).
What is the Church to do in these
terrible times for our nation? Take a moment, step back, obtain some historical
objectivity, repent of trusting in a “Christian heritage” more imagined than
real, repent of trusting in politicians and policies more than the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and accept that we are and have been in a situation much like the
global Church throughout her history. We are strangers in a strange land. We
are pilgrims and sojourners. We do not truly belong here. Our citizenship is in
heaven. Presidents come and go, and so will the United States of America. But
Christ’s kingdom will stand forever. Soli Deo Gloria! –JME
