“This is the House of the Lord – all are welcome here!” We’ve all heard something similar before and when the speech stops there, everything is fine and dandy. But there is a second part that usually follows – a more problematic and reckless statement. “This church is not a place for politics. Christ is not a Republican or a Democrat. There is no need for this body to divide over such things.” It sounds good, right? But is it accurate and true?
It has been my experience that when a church uses the words, “We aren’t political” what they are actually saying is, “We don’t want to rock the boat. We don’t want to offend anyone. And we usually either endorse or remain silent concerning topics which secular culture has passed a ruling on.” That means that the church is either silent or supportive regarding the claim that biological men can be women. The church is either silent or supportive concerning genital mutilation through surgery and drugs – even for children. The church is either silent in relation to the biblical roles of men and women or they are supportive of the modern feminist agenda. The church is either silent on the topic of abortion or they actively support infanticide. I could go on and on. Gay unions, our treatment of Israel, self-defense, raising and educating children – these are all topics which tend to be avoided in church because they are too divisive and too political. But these aren’t political topics - they are moral and spiritual topics which the Bible addresses openly. Secular culture and politics have claimed these topics, but they have only been able to do so because the church allowed them to – the church failed to hold the line.
It will be helpful to start this consideration by establishing the fact that the Lord vehemently disapproves of people who claim to be His servants but walk in cowardice and indecisiveness. Revelation 3:15-16 says that God rejects luke-warm individuals who claim His name:
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelation 21:8 lists cowards as being condemned along with murderers:
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
These strong Biblical statements instruct us that we are to fear God and God alone – not secular culture or the demands of humans. With that in mind, I am going to offer a few guideposts – clues you may use to consider the leadership of the church you choose to attend.
If your church does not have a clear, open, Biblical view on abortion, family structure, and sexual ethics, then your pastor might be a coward. If your church spent the past 5 years leveraging its moral authority for the purposes of masking-up, endorsing the COVID vaccine, speaking out in favor of BLM, enforcing quarantines and lockdowns, and supporting left-wing social justice movements which revolve around an ambiguous definition of ‘love’ but remained silent on the need for repentance to predate salvation, God’s definition of family and sexuality, and the importance of pursuing truth with Biblical wisdom, then your pastor might be a coward. Most importantly, if you approach your pastor with a question about any of the hot-button topics outlined in this writing and his answer is something akin to, “Hey, we just preach the gospel here. We don’t need to dive into that political stuff.” then your pastor is probably a coward.
Let’s tackle two more topics before we close this brief overview of issues plaguing modern Christianity. First, is it true that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat? Well, yes… and no. Let me explain. Does the sovereign God of the universe need to be labeled and brought under the definitional authority of a term like ‘Republican’? No, absolutely not. But – does God represent and demand ethics which are more closely represented (albeit imperfectly) by one side of the political isle and openly rejected and despised by another side of the political isle? Yes – absolutely. We all understand this concept even though pop-culture Christianity has conditioned us to pretend that we don’t. Consider these questions; is God a Nazi? Does God support and endorse the ideals of the Nazi party in a manner which would make it accurate to describe Him as a representative of the Nazi party? No! By no means! We all agree on that, right? But wait – wasn’t that a political statement about God? After all, the Nazi party was first and foremost a political movement – so if God is not a Nazi – if He is, in fact, very much anti-Nazi in His character, then is God… political? Well, yes – in a sense, He is very political. But He is not political for the sake of politics – God Almighty is not driven by politics. But He sure cares about them. You see, politics, like anything else, can either be used to honor or defy God. The topic of politics falls squarely under God’s purview and authority, and thus, while God is not political for the sake of politics, politics are moral and morality flows from God. Do you get the distinction? Do you see how simply saying, “God is not political” is massively oversimplified, lazy, and dangerous? In modern America, everything that matters is political, and labelling things as ‘too political’ is just a convenient and cowardly way to avoid our responsibility to stand for righteousness.
Our final topic is this; ought the church embrace an, “All are welcome here” mentality? Again, yes… and no. The simple modern catchphrases like ‘all are welcome’ and ‘come as you are’ make good bumper stickers, but they are not a full and accurate representation of the gospel. There is one word which is used heavily in the New Testament that I rarely see in church pamphlets and on bumper stickers – that word is repent. When Christ spoke to the woman caught in adultery, he refused to condemn her and then said, “Go and sin no more”. In other words, are all welcome? Yes – come as you are, but don’t stay as you are. We are not doing anyone a favor by leaving that last part out of the equation. The church must welcome all sinners, but it must also go on to speak truth in love, offer guidance and correction, and point it’s members towards God’s righteousness.
I hope you will walk away from this piece with a realization; buzzwords and catchphrases are often built on bad theology, and bad theology is dangerous and destructive. The times we live in are perilous and we must dig deep into the Word of God, follow the guidance of His Spirit, and seek His wisdom with a clear mind. Next time someone says, “The Church shouldn’t be political” ask them, “What do you mean by that? Can you please give me an example of a few political things that the church ought not have a clearly established opinion on?” You’ll likely end up in a valuable conversation!
