For the past generation we have witnessed in our nation the rise of the religious right as a political force. And as we enter another election year the issue of religion has once again been thrown into the mix of issues that the candidates for president must address. We even have one man who was once the pastor of a Baptist church promoting himself as “a Christian leader.” Many of the religious right have flocked to him with the idea that having such a leader in the White House will advance the cause of the church in this world. Others of the religious right have been drawn to a Mormon. Though they disagree with some points of his theology, their desire for a socially conservative leader has made some of them lower their standards for what constitutes the truth and include this man within the fold of Christians in order that they might vote for him with a good conscience.
The sad and dangerous truth in all of this is that those who claim to be a part of the Lord’s church are turning to the power of man in the hope of advancing the cause of God. There can hardly be a more “Beast”-ly and antichristian thing to do! Is it any wonder that the professed church has so little spiritual influence in this world when it turns to the world, itself, for help?
The true enemy of the church is none other than Satan, and he has never feared the power of the state. In one sense, he owns that power. The church alone has the one power able to overthrow him: the blood of the Lamb, and her testimony of the gospel of that blood. It was not with weapons of steel or the authority of the government that the early church overcame the power of Rome, but with the testimony of Jesus Christ. Nor was it with steel and politics that the reformers of the 15th and 16th centuries overcame the re-incarnation of Rome in their day. It was with a courageous and clear declaration of God’s grace in Christ. And the manifestations of wickedness in our day cannot be overcome by the military or political powers, and the church of the Lord Jesus must not look to those powers for aid.
We face troubling issues in our day. It is tempting to seek a solution to them by an appeal to governmental powers or even an attempt to grasp such powers for ourselves. But that is a temptation we must resist. I sincerely hope that God will assign wise and decent men to lead our country so that we may live peaceable lives as we worship God; and to this end I will pray. (1 Timothy 2.1-3) But let us not look to those leaders, but to the God who appoints them. And let us not seek their power, but use the power put in our hands: the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the Lord Jesus.
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