Political Or Not?
We had the first presidential debate between former President Trump and President Biden, and the November elections are approaching. Now more than ever, many voices will try to influence us. This means that many will have questions, and answers are needed.
The biggest question for those of us who are Christians/Believers is whether an issue is political or not. Hot topics like abortion, LGBTQ, marriage, and our children’s education, to name a few, seem to blur the line between politics and religion.
There are many Christians who accuse other Christians of being political when many of those issues are biblical. I believe this is often done out of ignorance of what God says in His Word. Unfortunately, this has become normative for many Christians.
When we don’t know what’s important to God, those things are not essential to us, leading to confusion and emphasizing the wrong things. Unfortunately, this leads too many Christians to abstain from any involvement in government.
Naturally, for Christians, we must take a side. There is a clear line, and we must choose.
Which side should we take? Which side is political, and which side is what matters to God? I hope, by God’s Holy Spirit, to help answer these critical questions and provide guidance on navigating this season.
For an in-depth look at not getting pulled into political education, read Dr. Michael L. Brown’s book:
The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions Of American Christians Have Confused Politics with the Gospel
Finding Out What Really Matters To God:
The most obvious place for us to start is to see what matters to God. After all, as Christians, what matters to God should matter to us. In fact, that should drive the entirety of our lives.
Except that far too many proclaimed Christians in America are ignorant of what God says to us, which leads to mass confusion of many things, not the least of whether an issue is political or not.
The place we need to look to discern whether an issue is political or not rightly isn’t CNN or Fox News; it’s God's written Word.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Psalm 119:105 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
If an issue matters to God, it will be mentioned multiple times in His written Word. Throughout this collection of books, written over thousands of years, God will say and reiterate things that should matter to all of us.
For example, God tells us what marriage is right from the beginning, throughout the Old Testament, and reiterates this throughout the New Testament. The same applies to the importance of children and how we treat them, our identity as male and female, how we treat our neighbors, and more.
To do this, we must emphasize how essential God’s written Word is for our lives. Spending daily time studying the Bible is a must for us.
Watch here for more on the importance of God’s Word in our lives:
Jesus Himself emphasized how essential the Word of God is for us:
Matthew 4:4
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
If Jesus, being perfect in every way, who witnessed satan fall from heaven, uttered these words as satan tempted Him, how much more important are they to us now?
I fully believe ignorance of what the Bible says played a big part in why Roe v Wade happened. For decades, millions of babies were murdered, and then Obergefell v. Hodges (2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide) happened, and now same-sex unions abound.
Of course, sexual immorality, along with murdering babies in the womb, are the most significant contributing factors in the decline of the birthrate:
A healthy birth rate, which any nation’s continued prosperity is tied to, must be above 2%, and when that birth rate falls below that threshold, that nation is in serious trouble.
The point isn’t for me to point out anything economically; I am nowhere near qualified to do so, but to point out what happens when we dismiss what’s essential to God, intentionally or out of ignorance. The end results are always the same: the downfall of a nation.
Psalm 9:17
The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol;
this is the destiny of all the nations that ignore God,
When our pulpits are also largely silent on such essential issues as abortion and sexual immorality, the people will follow. God sternly warns that not many should be teachers for a good reason.
James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly.
I shudder to even think of the judgment so many pastors have experienced and will experience because they were silent about abortion. They were too cowardly to take a stance on what God says about marriage, sex, and identity.
Therefore, it is, without question, essential that we study what God says, and living out what He tells us is crucial. Otherwise, we will be the ones who have engineered the downfall of whatever nation we are a part of.
I also fully believe that the overturning of Roe v Wade was because many Christians woke up to the fact that the topic of abortion and sexual immorality is anything but political.
The Lack of The Fear of The Lord
America is dying right now because the church began dying many years ago. Why did the church start dying? We lost how essential the Word of God is because the fear of the Lord is absent across most churches in America, and it shows.
Of course, I could point out the innumerable church leaders who have been exposed for all sorts of sins, from sexual immorality to embezzlement and more. However, the “big” sinful behavior doesn’t happen in a vacuum or overnight. It occurs over a lengthy period.
I have been to several churches in America and Germany throughout my 47 years on this Earth. I have seen, and been part of too many times, irreverence. An example of this is women allowed in the house of God dressing immodestly in a very definitive way. I have even seen a woman, “Pastor,” speaking in front of the church dressed immodestly. Another example is lightly treating the Lord’s supper.
Read what Paul said:
1 Corinthians 11:28-30
28 A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead.
Read that again slowly. Paul said many of them were sick and even died because they took communion in an unworthy manner. People died! Yet, in so many churches, pastors allow anyone and everyone to receive communion, including women dressed in such a way as to show off their bodies.
Look around at the church you attend or a church you attended in the past, and you will see people on their phones, having conversations, and drinking coffee during a church service!
We come to church for one reason and one reason alone: Jesus. But we don’t fear Him. Instead, we do what we like without considering whether Jesus would approve. I can guarantee that Jesus disapproves of our attention not being on Him when we gather for church.
If we don’t restore the fear of the Lord in our churches, they will be dead before we know it.
What Is Important to God?
It would be impossible to cover everything important to God in a single article or book. However, I want to highlight some of the most important things.
God never intended and never changed His mind regarding the what and why of sex. Namely, it is a sacred act between one man and one woman, whereby the two become one in marriage for life.
Marriage and Sexual Immortality:
Genesis 2:24
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become one family.
Matthew 19:5-6
and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
As we see, God Himself instituted this most sacred covenant between two people from the very beginning, and when God dwelt among us in the person of Jesus, He reiterated this.
If we read Leviticus chapters 18 and 20, we see that God punishes the Canaanites for two major sins, one of them being all sorts of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is so grievous in God’s eyes because it is a perversion of what He instituted for all humanity in the very beginning.
God never intended and never changed His mind regarding the what and why of sex. Namely, it is a sacred act between one man and one woman, whereby the two become one in marriage for life. Anything sexual act outside of that design is an abomination in God’s eyes.
We now see an entire generation of Americans living in utter confusion about their sexuality, and I believe it is in large part due to many pulpits in America being silent on this issue.
When God shouts about an issue in His Word, and Christians whisper about it, it leads to numerous problems. God shouts over and over from Genesis to Revelation about what will happen to those who are sexually immoral.
Genesis 1:27-28
God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
What exactly is sexual immorality? Any act of sex outside of God’s specific design for it. God is the author of marriage and sex, which is only between one man and one woman in the confines of the marriage covenant for life.
We see that sexual immorality is a direct perversion of God’s design.
This includes watching pornography.
Matthew 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
This is also why God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). It breaks a covenant God instituted from the beginning. Marriage was always supposed to be the covenant between one and one woman for life, with sex consummating this most sacred and holy covenant.
Therefore, the idea of marriage and sex is far from political; it is biblical and has been biblical long before there was such a thing as politics.
For more on God’s view on sexuality:
Abortion:
Exodus 20:13
“You shall not murder.
Leviticus 18:3
3 I myself will set my face against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.
Job 10:11
You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
Leviticus 24:17
“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.”
There could never be enough said about the sanctity of life. Volumes of books and articles have been written on the subject, and movies, documentaries, and news segments have been made about it.
Let’s face it: abortion is nothing less than the murder of innocent babies. Innocent babies are sacrificed on the altar of selfishness.
Whether abortion is done at a clinic, by a pill, or any other means for any reason whatsoever, it is still murder and the shedding of innocent blood. It is, along with sexual immorality, the sin that will cause God to judge a nation.
Any nation that, in every conceivable way, removes or doesn’t have God will eventually shed innocent blood. We can look back through thousands of years of history to see this. Whether the Canaanites we see mentioned in Leviticus 18 and 20, the Babylonians, the Aztecs, or Nazi Germany. This always includes the most innocent of us, babies.
Of course, this ties directly to the subject of sexual immorality. When the sacred act of sex that most certainly includes having children is made profane, then, of course, children will be sacrificed on the altar of pleasure.
This isn’t to say that every abortion is done because a woman doesn’t care about raising children, but every pregnancy is due to an act of sex. Most times, abortions are done as a result of some form of sexual immorality.
It has gotten much worse with the abortion pill mifepristone. Now, a woman can murder her baby without ever leaving her house.
For decades, the murder of babies has been monetized.
Read this quote:
More specifically, it proposes $400 million for the Title X family planning program, $653 million for international family planning…
Like President Biden’s fiscal year 2022 proposal, it does not include the racist and discriminatory Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment and all abortion coverage bans disproportionately deny abortion access to people of color, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and people living in low- and middle-income countries — communities that already face insidious barriers to health care and economic advancement.
Yes, the above quote is taken directly from the Planned Parenthood website. This quote on abortion and the funding received from the Biden administration is straight from the horse’s mouth. A billion dollars in fiscal year 2023 towards murdering babies!
Oh, how far America has fallen away from God when the government gives billions of dollars so babies can be murdered.
The Destruction Of The Nuclear Family
The murder of babies and the American government's attempt to redefine marriage are part of the aim to destroy the nuclear family. Which by definition is a father and mother plus children. To reiterate the earlier point, God created this in the beginning.
Genesis 1:28
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it!
This command is impossible to fulfill when marriage is redefined, and babies are murdered in the womb when anyone can have sex with anyone for any reason. If a woman falls pregnant because of it, no problem! She can go to a clinic or stay at home and pop a pill to get rid of the life inside her!
This is, of course, all part of satan’s plan to distort and destroy God’s design and creation. Which in turn leads to a nation being subjugated under satan’s rule.
Proverbs 14:34
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people.Proverbs 29:2
2 When the righteous become numerous, the people rejoice;
when the wicked rule, the people groan.
I wonder how many in America groan over sin the sin in America? Is the destruction and perversion of God’s creation disgraceful anymore?
Divorce is, of course, another huge factor in the destruction of the nuclear family.
Here is a quote from an article in Forbes regarding divorce statistics:
So, what about the famous statistic that half of all marriages end in divorce? That’s a bit of an exaggeration when it comes to first marriages, only 43% of which are dissolved.[2] Second and third marriages actually fail at a far higher rate, though, with 60% of second marriages and 73% of third marriages ending in divorce.[3]
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/divorce/divorce-statistics/
It should alarm that they say, “only 43% of which are dissolved.” We should never treat the destruction of families so flippantly, regardless of the percentage. The fact that the number climbs quite significantly with each divorce and remarriage should also alarm us.
When children are involved, the damage is quite staggering.
Research published by sociologist Lisa Strohschein showed that, even before marital breakup, children whose parents later divorce exhibit higher levels of anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior than peers whose parents remain married. There is a further increase in anxiety and depression in children when parents do divorce. U.S.-based psychologist Sharlene Wolchik and colleagues found that parental divorce is associated with significant risks for children and adolescents, including substance abuse and addictions, mental and physical health problems, and poor educational outcomes.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/21st-century-childhood/202208/the-impact-divorce-children
The quote above shows how divorce negatively affects all areas of children’s lives.
There is even a phenomenon known as gray divorce, where couples 50 and older divorce.
Late-life divorce, also known as gray divorce, is a growing trend among couples aged 50 and above, not just in the US but also in other industrialized societies. This significant societal shift is not without its challenges. While there is considerable focus on the impact of divorce on young children, adult children of divorcing parents (ACDP) also face unique hurdles. They may grapple with shifting family dynamics, feelings of betrayal, or concerns about their parents' well-being.
We see that regardless of the age of children, divorce or the destruction of a family adversely affects them. Something that is often overlooked. Yet, God does not overlook this.
Let’s read how the Lord views divorce at any age:
Malachi 2:13-16
13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. 14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.
16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”
God here tells us in verse 15 that no one who has even a tiny portion of Him divorces. This is by no means a cover-all answer to anyone to remain in an abusive marriage. We could even extrapolate from the text that the one who is abusive or adulterous is the one at fault for a divorce.
God warns us to be attentive so we don’t become disloyal to our spouse.
I want to highlight something to you that I’ve never heard taught: the connection in verse 16.
“I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
See here how God sees divorce and violence as one and the same. I believe it’s because divorce causes such widespread destruction of a sacrament put in place by God Himself, of a sacred unity between a husband and wife, of the children’s lives that could last for generations.
God warns us, “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.” Our conscience should bother us if we even consider an action that could destroy our family.
A Lot Of Biblical Issues To Consider At The Ballot Box
As you can see, the issues facing American citizens this coming November are far from just political. This article isn’t meant to encompass every issue facing us; however, it is meant to get the Christian American citizen to think biblically.
I’m not even here to tell you who to vote for or even if you should vote. I do ask you to take the issue of voting before God and be obedient to what He tells you.
I hope I’ve been able to highlight how essential our involvement is as Christians. Jesus commanded us to be salt and light. That means we absolutely must be involved.
We can’t simply label an issue political because our government is involved. God will hold us accountable if we refuse to be involved in the issues He considers essential.
I challenge you to do some things then.
Compare the numerous issues facing us to what the Bible says. If you are reading this, you clearly have access to the internet. You can type any issue into a search bar and see what the Bible says.
Pray. Take these issues to God in prayer and be willing to hear from Him for yourself. Then, obey whatever it is He commands you. Trust me, the Lord loves speaking to His children, especially when it concerns something that greatly concerns Him.
We can’t afford to be lukewarm anymore. Lives are quite literally depending on us to be involved—especially the lives of those who don’t yet have a voice, the voice of the unborn.