Evangelical Political Activism

Please read this post in its entirety before coming to an opinion. I think many will be offended or upset by my opening paragraph and yet agree with the overall thought conveyed by this post. I look forward to reading your responses.

First, America is not a Christian nation. Yes, individuals came to America fleeing religious persecution, the church was very involved in the early American government, and many of America's laws reflect a Christian worldview. America is “one nation under God” in the same way that Iraq and North Korea are nations under God; because God is sovereign and rules the nations (Psalm 22:28). God establishes all governing authorities, from Hitler to George W. Bush (Romans 13:1). America, however, is not a Christian nation; it is a nation founded by Christians. The only "Christian" nation in the history of the world was Israel, a nation set apart by God for His glory. America is a nation in rebellion against God. The people of America follow Satan (Ephesians 2:2) and are literally enemies of God (Romans 8:7, Colossians 1:21). As Christians, we must realize this; we must realize that America, from the day of its discovery, has been a nation at war with God.

Second, the answer to this problem is not legislation, laws, or posting the Ten Commandments, regardless of how historical it may be. Listen to the words of Christ when addressing this issue to the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew 23:27-28).” Christ was rebuking them because their strict outward obedience was not a reflection of their heart. I Timothy 4:8 addresses the same issue that physical restraint yields only temporary benefits, while true godliness is of eternal value.

How do people find peace with God?

They find peace through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not through obedience to American law.
If you stop homosexuals from getting married and having sex, is God going to allow them to enter heaven?

No, and Scripture makes this expressly clear. Which begs the question “if this is of no eternal
benefit why do we invest so much time, energy, and money into such vain efforts?”

Do we, as American Evangelicals, care about homosexuals? Do we feel compassion for those who have had an abortion? Read Matthew 12:9-14. Do you look more like the Pharisees or Christ?

If you want to see America change, then you must change Americans. The Ten Commandments are being taken down, prayer is being banned, and “under God” is being taken out of the pledge because American’s are sinners in rebellion against God. The solution is not that we pass laws to enforce state sanctioned piety, but that we share the Gospel; the key to changing people’s actions is changing their hearts. Christ came to seek and save the lost and we should be about that very same business.

What are you talking about?

The two most frequent comments I receive about my blog are, “I do not read your blog because it is too complicated (or intellectual)” and “What is your blog supposed to be about?” My goal in writing this post is to, as simply as possible, explain what my blog is about and why it is important. I did a long series of posts on this when I began bogging; but this will be far shorter and simpler.

What is the ecumenical monoculture?

As previously defined, the ecumenical monoculture is a single, homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension; a culture unified in thought and purpose. Simply stated it is the inevitable result of the evil system of this world, a global state of pluralistic postmodernism devoid of absolute truth. Now, let me show you why this is true.

First, comes the Biblical understanding that we live amidst an evil world system ruled by Satan (II Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:1-2, Colossians 2:8, and I John 5:19). Secondly, all false teaching originates from Satan and the demonic forces of this world; subsequently submission to such beliefs is tantamount to Satan worship (Matthew 16:23, I Corinthians 10:20, Galatians 1:8-9, I Timothy 4:1, and I John 4:3). Every world religion and philosophical system, other than the one presented in Scripture, originates from Satan, and aims at his praise. We therefore live in a world unified in hostile opposition of God and worship of Satan (Romans 5:10, Philippians 3:18, and Colossians 1:21). There are only two sides to this conflict; there are no neutral parties (Matthew 12:30). This homogeneous system of evil, unified in opposing God, is the ecumenical monoculture.

Secondly, the unity and homogeneity of this evil system will only increase over time. While this evil world system is unified in opposition to God, there is much variety within this system. However, Scripture presents this system as working its way toward unvarying unity. Whether this will take the form of postmodernism or some other life philosophy or religion, we cannot be sure. Nevertheless, we can be sure that we live amongst an evil world system and we must stand, with the Gospel of the glory of Christ, against its unification.

For more on this I would recommend reading the 2000 SBC Resolution On The Threat Of New Age Globalism.

Forget the Black Eyed Peas, Nick C. Asks “Where’s the Theology?”

In response to my previous post What do you Think? Nick, concerned with the church’s apparent disregard for theology, asked the question “Why is the church starting to preach the love of God without his wrath?” Now, I think my response would have been slightly different several weeks ago. However, studying I John in my Greek class has given me a slightly different, and hopefully more insightful, perspective on this subject.

I think love often gets a bad rap, not because there is something inherently wrong with it, but because it is presented in such superficial and trite ways. However, the love of God is not superficial or trite; it is not a foolish infatuation. God, being both infinite and unchanging, possesses a love that is likewise both infinite and unchanging. God’s love knows no bounds; it never fades, and never changes over time. God’s love is constant, unlike the fickle affections of men.

Listen to the words of Paul; “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing (I Corinthians 13:1-4).”

And the words of Christ, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:29-31).”

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” . . . “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:32, 36).

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).”

Clearly, love should have a prominent position in the lives of those who follow Christ and in the life of His church. To answer Nick’s question; the problem is not that they are preaching love absent of God’s wrath; the problem is that they are teaching neither.

It was love that provoked Paul’s spirit, in Acts 17, when he saw Athens filled with idols. It was love that cause Christ to have compassion on the crowds when He saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). God’s abounding love and mercy caused Him to give His only Son so that we might have eternal life. Honestly, I think God’s love, and the effect it has on your lives, should scare you. What drives the martyr to be burned at the stake in hopes that God’s kingdom might be advance through his faithful witness? What is it that drives the missionary to forsake everything and place his family in certain danger if not love? What could have driven Paul to wish himself accursed, and cut off from Christ, that his kinsmen might be redeemed, if not love? When you love Christ, His glory, His holiness, His justice, His mercy, His cross, His mission, and His people your life will look drastically different. This is clearly not the love being preached in most churches; this is a dangerous, a demanding love, and a self-sacrificing love.

If, as Paul says, apart from love we have nothing, are nothing, and gain nothing, then how does the church properly balance love and theology? First, love cannot be abstracted from theology. If theology is the study of God and one of God’s attributes is love, then our theology should drive our love. The Scriptures clearly state that God is love (I John 4:8) and when churches abandon sound doctrine, they are also forsaking their ability to love.

Secondly, throughout I John the Scriptures present a picture of the church as having three essential components, Truth, love, and obedience.

The church is relevant not because it has a popular message, a captivating speaker, or an innovative program; the church is relevant because it has the Truth, namely Christ. When the church ceases to proclaim the Truth, it becomes irrelevant and useless; such churches are merely pagan places of worship engaged in idolatry.

The churches fellowship and witness is proven genuine because of its love. We are not known as Christ’s disciples because of a title we bestow upon ourselves, but because of our love, the love of Christ in us. The Great Commission finds its fulfillment not merely in our proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, to the nations, but in our bearing out of the sufferings of Christ, to the nations. We literally share the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10) and through this the world sees God’s longsuffering and abundant love.

All of this culminates in obedience, “4 Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (I John 2:4-6).” You must not merely know the Truth; you must submit yourself to it (v.4). And by obeying the Truth, the love of God is perfected in you (v.5). That is how Christ’s disciples should live; in submission to the Truth, which perfects their love, so that their life mirrors the life of Christ.

“Prophetic Politics” God and the Prevailing Geopolitical Paradigm

I did not have Greek homework last weekend and was able to read an interesting Foreign Policy article entitled Why God is Winning; you will have to register, with Foreign Policy, to read the article but I think it is worth the read. Below is a brief synopsis of the article and some of my thoughts about it. On a similar note Foreign Policy just began a blog, to which I have provided link in my blog section, incase anyone cares.

The article begins:

Religion was supposed to fade away as globalization and freedom spread. Instead, it’s booming around the world, often deciding who gets elected. And the divine intervention is just beginning. Democracy is giving people a voice, and more and more, they want to talk about God.

The article begins on a somewhat jovial note, which quickly sours.

The spread of democracy, far from checking the power of militant religious activists, will probably only enhance the reach of prophetic political movements, many of which will emerge from democratic processes more organized, more popular, and more legitimate than before—but quite possibly no less violent.

Then, beginning with Time’s April 1966 cover story, “Is God Dead?” they recount “god’s comeback.” To the point where 64% of the world’s population would consider themselves Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, or Hindu, at the dawn of the 21st century; up 14% from the previous century. They go on to note that since 2000, nearly half of all civil wars have been religious in nature and that religion is the motivation for most transnational terrorist attacks.

The article closes with the following statement.

As a framework for explaining and predicting the course of global politics, secularism is increasingly unsound. God is winning in global politics. And modernization, democratization, and globalization have only made him stronger.

What does all of this mean? What is a Biblical response to this article?

Response One

Do not let the statistics above fool you; the world is no more religious now than it was 2000 years ago. Everyone is religious; whether it is one of the four major religions listed above, some obscure cult or religious sect, agnosticism, or postmodernism. What that statistic tells us is that the major world religions are slowly, yet effectively, drawing individuals away from their belief systems and into one of these four categories.

While globalization has served to legitimize, organize, and intensify prophetic political movements, it has also served to expand their realm of influence as never before. We live in a world that is connected as never before; modern means of communication, travel, and mass technological growth, within all spheres of life, have served to diminish boundaries both nationally and trans-nationally (I will return to this later in my post). While this presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to present the Gospel, we must not forget that the same opportunity has been presented to individuals of every ideological viewpoint around the globe. Indeed modern technological advances, while providing this unparalleled opportunity, have in no way made the task of worldwide gospel proclamation any easier.

Response Two

This article makes an obvious, yet easily ignored, statement that Christians would do well to note and that statement is, surprisingly enough, found in the first sentence; “Religion was supposed to fade away as globalization and freedom spread.” Here we find both the reason for the writing of this article and the source of our concern. The article was written because, contrary to popular belief, religion is not fading in proportion to the spread of globalization. This should drive us to two main concerns; what, inherent within globalization, would lead to the conclusion that globalization causes religious decline and is it possible that, contrary to current trends, globalization will eventually lead to religious decline?

First, in order to understand why globalization would cause religious decline we must understand what globalization is and what it does. Globalization is the increasing economic interdependence, between states, resulting from the advent of modern means of communication, travel, and mass technological growth, within all spheres of life; which have diminish boundaries both nationally and trans-nationally. Globalization facilitates the exchange, movement, creation, and implementation of ideologies, material resources, and human resources both nationally and trans-nationally.

Second, the inherent danger within globalization is not that it promises global economic prosperity, but that is represents the global exchange, movement, creation, and implementation of ideologies. The exportation of American culture and thought is frequently referred to as Americanization. America’s ruthless assimilation of other cultures should serve as a prophetic warning; cautioning us against the inevitable aftermath of globalization, a global monoculture. This is clearly heard in the European Union’s slogan, “Europe: many tongues one voice.” The unavoidable result of globalization is a single, homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension; rest assured, when the world has one voice it will be a voice unified in rebellion against God and His Word.

As Christians we live in an age of unparalled Gospel opportunity and must be resolved to live missional Gospel driven lives; knowing that this is but a season and the calm before the coming storm.