7 Rules for Politics

1.  A Biblical World View of Political Realms

The first thing you need to understand when it comes to how you as a Christian are to respond to candidates in the political realm is that you need to have a biblical world view on what constitutes a  political realm – a view that remains the same regardless in what city, state, or nation you find yourself in. This may seem too simple of an issue to start with, but most Christians in our society are not gauging contemporary strategies using eternal principles, especially in the realm of politics.

According to Scripture, the political realm of civil government is not a realm unto itself: it is a subset of God's Sovereign Realm.  After Noah and his extended family stepped off the Ark on Mount Ararat, it was God that formulated the principles of civil government for mankind and it was God that introduced them.  Civil government is not evil in and of itself but rather it was given by God as a response to the existence of evil.  However, we prod civil government towards an evil predisposition when we forget that it exists under God.  We forget that government exists under God when we act as though the biblical rules we profess to live by in other areas of our lives cease to exist when it comes to politics and political campaigns. 

Science has never shown us what is right and wrong.  There is no formula or experiment that can hint at what the difference is between good and evil because those concepts originate from the realm of the non-physical; their habitat resides in the invisible world of concepts and they spring forth from the very heart of true religion.  Because of this, atheists and postmodern men have no foundation to object to something as being evil or wrong.  When scoffers imply that civilization has a meaningful purpose, they unwittingly point to the invisible Creator that gave both mankind and the kingdoms of men a design to emulate.  In desperation, they may point to society as being the source of knowing what is good, but this begs the question, “If physics is all there is and all there is resulted from a series of accidents, then who can say that society is a good thing in the first place or that it has a transcendent designed purpose to fulfill?”  Society is indeed a physical phenomenon, but to say that a society is a good thing requires an edict from outside society and outside the physical world – otherwise, society proclaiming justice becomes nothing more than a whimsical charade and what is justice today may not be considered justice tomorrow.  In reality, because civil government is asked to legislate and enforce law for the good of society, and because the concepts of good, evil and justice are all eternally religious in origin, a society may separate sectarian and civil governments, but it will never be able to separate religion from government regardless of how loudly it claims to be secular or pluralistic.

Because the world is more oriented to fight within a paradigm of wrestling against flesh and blood (the seen) than they are upon the power of principles (the unseen), a biblical world view of political realms will elicit a different approach than what the world will offer.  However, when Christians respond in the same manner as the world, even though their rhetoric may sound different, what they do ends up being no different than the world.  Jesus pointed out this contrast between rhetoric and action that is highlighted when your actions are no different than those who do not know God.  Christ pointed out in disdain that when you act like the world acts, the reward is the same: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same (Mat 5:46).

To illustrate how a two-faced dichotomy lacks the power and consistency that a true biblical world view on politics has to offer, let me give you a situation that I faced.  In 1989, Pat Robertson launched a new organization he claimed was to speak out against anti-Christian bigotry we see in the news coverage and in political debates (His words, not mine).  Robertson said that he wanted to make sure Christians and pro-family Americans gained a voice in our government.  This pledge was included in every congressional scorecard bulletin that I saw during the 1990's.   Then, one day, while reading the Times-Picayune, the major newspaper in the New Orleans area, I learned that a conservative Christian was running for president.  I was stunned because the Christian Coalition made no mention of him in its newspapers, scorecards, and fund raising newsletters, even though its stated purpose and Pat Robertson’s hope was that it would help Christians gain a voice in our government.  I subsequently had lunch with that candidate, Howard Phillips, and learned that he had a better grasp of biblical principles of civil government than any of the establishment’s candidates and had served on presidential appointed positions in the Executive Branch.  I also learned that this instance was his second attempt to run under the Tax Payer’s Party, later called the Constitution Party.  I wrote to the Christian Coalition and to Ralph Reed to find out why I had to be told by an allegedly anti-Christian newspaper that a Christian was running while the Christian Coalition was silent regarding his existence.

Their reply, dated April 3, 1997, stated that the Christian Coalition is dedicated to making people aware of various family and moral issues that are affecting the nation.  Unlike the rhetoric used for raising funds, there is no mention about overcoming anti-Christian bigotry we see in news coverage.  How could it since I learned from the media and not them of a Christian candidate?  Also unlike their fund raising letters, this letter did not mention making sure Christians and pro-family Americans gained a voice in our government.   Instead, when confronted, they said that their guides include only those candidates considered viable according to Federal Election Commission guidelines. 

When the facade was peeled back and their rhetoric taken to task, the soul of their coalition was really no different than most other political groups.  They certainly did nothing different than other groups using the world’s guidelines, except their objective was to motivate naive Christians to join the world’s political process, which, in theory, could give their coalition more clout.  As Jesus might say, “even the publicans,” or in this case, the re-publicans, “do the same.”

I am not so naïve anymore.  I wish they were the only group like this, but I think most Christians would be surprised to find out just how many of their national leaders are cut from the same mold.  Even some of the causes for which their leaders muster support under are just as barren of good fruit.  Consider the misnamed “partial birth abortion ban.”  Major pro-life groups, in their own documents, declared that it was a strategy that was proven to gain financial support – in the millions of dollars.  I said misnamed because the legislation did not ban partial birth abortion because it allows the baby to be born all the way to its belly button before being murdered and allows a text book partial birth abortion under certain conditions.  During the campaign drives to rake in financial support, faithful Christians confronted these leaders regarding their duplicity but to no avail.  Only after full page ads were placed in major newspapers across the country decrying the partial birth abortion movement as being a scam did organizations, such as Focus on the Family, admit that the cause that they used to raise money had never saved and will never save one child from being murdered.  No refunds were made.   

When the masses want you to tone down your religious rhetoric or compromise your moral position to achieve some perceived political benefit, realize that they are asking you to alter the style of your argument at the expense of the vital substance of your argument.  Psalm 11:3 points out that if biblical foundations are compromised and thus destroyed, what good can you really do?  For decades, mainstream Christian political activity has been guided under assumptions that violate a biblical world view and now we can see what type of fruit such an approach has produced over the long term.  When it comes to Christian values in politics, are we any better off now in America than we were in 1973 or even 1989?  Has morality and Christian liberty grown or decayed in America over the past 40 years?   Remember, when Christians respond in the same manner as the world, even though their rhetoric may sound different, what they do ends up being no different than the world.  This lack of difference means that even when our candidates are in office, we help the opposing team to move the football down the field against godly values to score their touch down against us.  If you do not want to undercut your own position, then you need to have a biblical world view on things, including in the realm of politics.

2.  God is Sovereign

The  second thing you need to understand when it comes to how you as a Christian are to respond to candidates in the political realm is that after God instituted the reality of civil government, He did not simply step back and take a hands off approach to what we as the human race do with their civil governments.  He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords that rules in the affairs of the kingdoms of men.  It is He, not ourselves that makes us a nation.  It is He, not a political campaign that establishes the leaders of the land.  It is the LORD, not heads of states or voters that determine the boundary and times of the nations, even though it may look to us as though we are the ones that come up with where our boarders are and how long our country will last.  In fact, history reveals that citizenry voting is not the norm and that principles for Christian living are the same whether you live in a communist country, a monarchy, a republic, or a democracy.  Psalm 146 echoes a teaching found throughout the Scripture, that when it comes to politics and civil government, we are to place our faith in God, not in the princes of the land or our own strength.  In contrast, modern Christians have danced to the tune that if we elect this particular candidate or appoint this particular judge that blessing will flow in our country once more and sinfulness will be abated.  We strategize as if we can bend just about any rule or compromise for the lesser of two evils because we think the outcome is completely in our hands.  We remove a Sovereign God from the equation and claim that we are merely traveling down the road of hard decisions and that accepting such an imperfect solution is a sacrifice we must make for the so-called greater good.  However, God is sovereign and the LORD God Jehovah does reign.  Our King of kings asks us to merely take a stand for righteousness instead of trusting in princes and political processes of the land.   

Scripture mentions a king that committed the same exact error that modern Christians make today: he thought the future of his kingdom rested upon himself and his abilities.  In other words, he trusted that the outcome of politics was based solely upon his political prowess and sophistication.    This political leader said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty (Daniel 4:30)?  In one sense, this king was saying, “Look at all the good my administration has done for our country,” but God took him, changed his heart and he spent the next seven years living in a open pasture and eating grass like an dumb ox.  If there was ever anyone that would be unlikely to make it back into political office, it was that man.  To abdicate being the head of state for seven years was political suicide under any reason, let alone because he thought he was just another head of cattle.  But God flexed his muscles and not only restored him, but made him a greater king than before his seven year stint of impersonating wild beasts of the field.  After God was finished with this king, the monarch changed his tune to say of God, "All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What do you think you are doing? Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”  The prophet Daniel later retold the story and said that Nebuchadnezzar lost his sanity until he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that Jehovah appoints civil leadership to whomsoever he will.  Whenever we Christians are acting crazy during election season thinking in our own pride that we are the last best hope for our country, we need to sober up and come to our senses like Nebuchadnezzar.   

Nobody likes to lose, especially when the stakes are high.  But Bible heroes of old knew that because God is sovereign, He is the one that raises up leaders and nations, that we are not to put our trust in the princes of the land, but in the God that has the kings heart in his hand (regardless of political ideology) and that it is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game that makes the ultimate difference (or is this concept merely something we use as filler when telling children Bible stories but we really don't believe it because we are all grown up adults living in the real world).  When we that claim to follow God are disobedient and do not play by righteous rules of engagement, God is inclined to give us what we deserve instead of what we need as a nation.  Why?  Because, whatever is not of faith is sin. 

So, what does it mean to live as though God is Sovereign instead of only professing it?  It means that we are not to bend on God’s standard even when we think it would mean a better outcome for us.  It also means that we understand that God can have his way regardless of who gains political power and that He often gives us what we deserve instead of what we need when we trust in our own strength instead of His.  And finally, it means that if those that call themselves Christians would humble themselves, and pray, and seek God’s righteousness and turn from their wicked ways; only then will God hear from heaven and forgive their sin, and will heal their land and country, making what would otherwise be politically impossible without divine intervention to become a reality through His Sovereign will.

3.  Absolute Morality

The third thing you need to understand when it comes to how you as a Christian are to respond to candidates in the political realm is that absolute moral values exist and those values do not bend to circumstances: that's why they are called absolute - they don't change.  Absolute morality is based upon God's character in which there is no shadow or turning or variableness.    There is no conflict among absolute moral values nor are the graduated by levels.  They are the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Regardless of the changes the Son of God has experienced, such as becoming flesh and rising from the dead, His moral character remains unchanged.  When we examine issues that God expects us to never compromise upon, those issues are determined by God’s absolute moral values. 

One problem today is that we hear preachers talk about absolute morality, but they have forgotten exactly what an absolute is and what is not; what we cannot negotiate and compromise over and what we can.  In fact, we have learned from our society to turn these values upside-down, flip flopping them to become rigid upon issues that God allows flexibility and to become flexible on things God's character takes an immovable stand upon.

To further complicate things, the different types of laws in the bible seem confusing to Christians and non-believers alike because they do not know how to tell the difference between laws that are based upon absolute morality and those that are not.  It is this kind of confused ignorance that provided the stage upon which Senator Barack Obama mockingly questioned, “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy?”

 ...... the video link for the entire training will be posted here, including what you can do when there isn't a candidate worthy of your time (things we've done in the past that made an impact).