The Political Christian - Stalwart And Righteous
By Al Cronkrite The Covenant News ~ October 30, 2009
“We live in a world captured, rooted and upturned by the titanic economic and techno-scientific process of the development of capitalism, which has dominated for the past two or three centuries. We know that it cannot go on ad infinitum. The future cannot be a continuation of the past, and there are signs that we have reached a point of historic crisis. The forces generated by the techno-scientific economy are enough to destroy the environment, that is to say, the material foundations of human life... Our world risks both explosion and implosion. It must change... If humanity is to have a recognizable future, it cannot be by prolonging the past or present... The price of failure, the alternative to a changed society, is darkness”. Eric Hobsbawm
Hobsbawm is a Marxist but his observation is more accurate than most church sermons. A similar assessment should be on the lips of every Christian and blaring from the pulpit of every Christian church. It should be fleshed out with accurate information and clear Godly alternatives.
Communists promote a humanistic religious outlook bent on creating revolution through pitting one class against another. They have succeeded in enslaving vast portions of the world and murdering millions. Christians have allowed secular Communists to attain great power by failing to preach and teach a full Gospel.
Unlike Communists, Christians are working to bring freedom, peace and prosperity to everyone; the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat. The formula for these blessings is clearly outlined in God’s Word and it is the duty of every Christian to seek to bring it to the world by learning, teaching and supporting it.
When we speak of a Christian worldview we are making a political statement. If Christians would stop seeking power for themselves and allow God and His Law-Word to provide loving restraint to the evil forces of the world, Christian politics would bring freedom, peace, and prosperity to God’s creation.
Every Christian should be a politician but none should embrace the label Republican or Democrat. Partisan politics is double-minded, secular and evil. Christians need to understand what is meant by Christian government and what God seeks for His people.
There is only one true King and he has only one immutable Law, the only standard for a free, orderly and properly nourished culture. Christians are to eschew pragmatism standing instead on the unchanging truth of God and His Word. Bi-partisan politics and negotiations with the Devil should have no place in the agenda of ambassadors for Christ.
The Gospel has always involved obedience; not the spooky pietistic obedience of those who claim to have conversed with the Savior but a disciplined adherence to God’s Commandments. There is no other way to win the world for Christ!
Our God should be our King. When His creatures sought human oversight they did so in rejection of their creator and to the detriment of their own freedom. "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations...And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them." Some of the Old Testament Kings pleased God by following His Commandments, most did not. In spite of the fact that some human Kings pleased God, their presence was not God’s first choice.
God’s Law is indispensible to righteous government. Human law is sinful. God’s Law is righteous. Without righteous immutable standards the arbitrary evils of mankind will exacerbate the secular barbarities responsible for the slaying of millions during the past century.
What seems right to the human mind is often an abomination to God. There can be no compromise with human reason. The goal must be to properly interpret and apply God’s Word.
Christianity seeks individual freedom for every citizen, sound family structures, clear and understandable legal standards and judicious, merciful enforcement. Marxists seek tyrannical human control through revolution and fear. Marxist rebellion has not only become popular but is the main instrument behind world government.
God’s Christian Churches are to be His instruments of instruction. They are not ordained to govern, but are vested with the responsibility of critiquing righteousness. Government is not an arm of the church, but an agent of the Creator that is expected to function under His Laws.
In our time Orthodox Christianity has been virtually wiped out by the minions of Dispensationalism. Obedience has been replaced with a flaccid emotionalism. This flawed theology will not support an offense and is responsible for a noisy but ineffective defense.
Humanism is a totality; it addresses the entire social order. Humanist laws are the product of secular power centers where they are imposed on the weak at the whims of the powerful. The goal is hegemony and those seeking it are the gods of the society. Humanism has won the battle in the United States which is now a secular nation governed by secular law. Little by little every vestige of God’s Law is being removed from the culture.
Islam has Sharia law. Much to the chagrin of the secular humanists, Dispensationalism has not robbed Muslims of their legal system. Sharia law is the target of Western hordes who seek to impose an arbitrary secular tyranny over the Middle East. Their aim is to wipe out Sharia law and replace it with the tyrannical secular codes of the West.
Without God’s Law Christians are helpless to redeem the culture. Every law should be tested against His commands. If it does not conform it should be discarded.
The success of the heresy of Dispensationalism is not the sole responsibility of its promoters. Western Christians embraced an emotional spiritualism that neutered their religion. The Pilgrims and Puritans lived under Godly legal standards but Unitarianism offered an easier religion more compatible with man’s sinful quest for power. The New World offered asylum to heretics from Europe and Arminianism thrived. When Darby, Scofield, and Moody came offering a lawless Christian theology, Americans jumped at the chance to accept the Christian label without commensurate responsibility. Orthodox Reformed Christian scholars who thought through and rendered the platform for Christian theology were thrown aside in the rush to embrace a more popular religion. The Seventeenth Century Synod of Dort and the Westminster Assembly would have rejected Darby, Scofield, and Moody as quickly as they would have diagnosed and condemned the willingness of our ancestors to encroach on God’s dominion.
Dispensationalist doctrines have found their way into the theology of several major seminaries and the ministry of most of our major leaders. Christian Zionism is so pervasive that U. S. Christians are as detached from real Christianity as they are from reality.
The political involvement of Christian leaders like Dobson, Robertson, Graham, and the late Jerry Falwell has been nothing short of disastrous. They have consistently supported evil regimes and failed to support candidates that promised to advance righteousness. They have been unable to present specific plans for change because the difference between secularism and righteousness is wrapped in law. When they fail to support God’s Law these men are double minded and unstable. They are critical of secular law but because they are bereft of a replacement they are unable to provide a cogent solution.
Preachers evade confronting the impending disaster by using expository or topical formats. Determining whether the message should be expository from a particular text or topical is a useless determination. Preaching that is not related to action is not only useless but quickly forgotten. Whatever text is used it should be related to the entire Bible and every sermon should provide specific actions that would fulfill God’s Will as it relates to the subject being taught.
Recently, I received an email describing a vision. In the vision, Christians walked in "holiness, righteousness, obedience, brokenness and utter submission" to God’s Will. I responded with this question: Exactly what behavior would constitute "holiness", how about "righteousness", "obedience", "brokenness", and "submission"? I did not receive a reply.
The use of religious verbiage that is not properly defined may provide an aura of holiness but is useless in effecting the behavior of listeners. When preachers are critical of homosexuality or abortion they are using God’s Law as a basis for their critique. When they are Arminian and Dispensational they are mixing God’s Law with the heresy of their theology putting the critique on an unstable platform and failing to provide a convincing solution.
The ultimate goal of every Christian should be to create a righteous culture where God’s Commandments are widely known and obeyed. The sermons coming from every pulpit should be in support of that goal; teaching the specific actions needed to return the culture to God’s dominion.
Individual Christian maturity is important but obedience should always be the dominate issue. Every Christian should understand exactly what it means to be obedient. This should be the goal of every Christian leader.
When and if our church leaders begin to do their job properly, every Christian will become a politician seeking a government that protects the family, enforces the Law and functions within the boundaries set forth in the Bible.
The perennial battle is to prevent God’s creatures from usurping God’s power. All power must remain in the hands of the Creator and His Law. Obedience is the primary duty of every Christian. Obedience will provide righteousness and God will provide blessings.
Al Cronkrite is a free-lance writer from Florida. He can be reached at fmsinfla@hotmail.com