These programs run during rush hour, so the time slots have to be the most expensive since that is when most people tune into radio. And every one that I tuned into is about the culture war.

The gospel anyone?

MATTHEW 7:
20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

When Jesus said “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”, I don’t think he meant “so wait until the AK-47 is invented.”

LOL! Did you come up with that?

”

Think so. Leastways, I haven’t heard anyone else say it.

“Absolutely, but I’d argue they didn’t do this through any type of political platform. Remember, they operated under a Theocracy as well. We don’t.”

The prophets also spoke to nations which were not theocracies either. See the books of Jonah and also Amos 1-2, in which Amos takes each of the nations of the Middle East — Aram, Gaza, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah — to task for their actions, most of those political. Similarly, many of the complaints that God had against Ninevah (presumably similar to those given in Nahum 3) were against their military cruelty — and military actions are inherently political.

It doesn’t matter whether people have formally proclaimed themselves to be “God’s people” or not. Fact is, God is judge of all the earth and not only of those who claim his name. And while he will indeed one day judge all the earth, there are things we can do to make him hurry that up and bring judgement here and now. Witness Sodom and Gomorrah.

And first and foremost of those things is the shedding of innocent blood. It is the burning of children to Moloch which excited God’s anger against the Canaanites. It is Manasseh’s practice of burning children in the fire and shedding innocent blood that made the Babylonian captivity inevitable ” For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive. ” (2 Kings 24:4).

It is similar sacrifice, IMO, that resulted in the destruction of Carthage. It was the same human sacrifice that brought upon Mexico a plague of Europeans. And so on and on, throughout history.

It is our duty, if we are truly His servants, to warn against these things when we see them.

Further: If we are in positions of political power, it is our duty to fight against them, if at all possible. Esther was not permitted the excuse that “she can’t get involved in politics”, though Persia wasn’t a theocracy either. She was warned of divine punishment if she turned her back on the innocent in time of their distress. Political action on her part was *required*.

As American citizens, we are all in positions of political power. We are not serfs or slaves. We have been granted the priceless privilege of citizenship in the world’s only superpower. Did God grant us this privilege purely to please ourselves? Of course not. Citizenship is a sacred trust, and if we do not use it to make the world a better place — which is to say, to restrain evil and protect the innocent — we are found negligent stewards, and we will be punished for it.

But that is a duty for individual Christians, and not the Church at large. The Church, being the visible representative of a Kingdom not of this world, should not be getting over-involved in said affairs. I suspect the church’s role should be more like Amos, who despite being a patriotic Isreali was able to step outside of that role to speak against the evils his own people were doing. Someone who had not fallen into the blind worship of a worldly kingdom — or political party — but who gave his first loyalty to God.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Absolutely, but I’d argue they didn’t do this through any type of political platform. Remember, they operated under a Theocracy as well. We don’t. We need to have a better understanding of what a Christian’s relationship should be to government — or possibly more accurately, how government fits into our faith.

When Jesus said “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”, I don’t think he meant “so wait until the AK-47 is invented.”

LOL! Did you come up with that?

This ties in with a selective and revisionist reading of history, in a way. Most of the culture warrior Christians who cite Schaeffer on worldview won’t cite him on environmentalism and most who cite him on the inadequacies of the views of modernist art or music don’t even think about engaging the actual art or music itself. For my part I have and I, unlike, Schaeffer, think that some of Ornette Coleman’s music is a lot of fun.

When we talk about Victory over Satan et al, I will tell you that I *DID* detect a significant amount of spiritual combat taking place during both Presidential elections, and pagan acquaintances of mine did also.

So while I agree with you that we shouldn’t cast Republican v. Democrat a “God vs. the Devil”, I think it’s equally misleading to state that such things are entirely spiritually neutral, and God doesn’t care who wins. He most certainly does. After all, no authority exists save those he institutes. When you’re talking about the most powerful nation in the world, capable of great good and great evil, it’s folly to think that the supenatural world isn’t going to try to influence that if at all possible.

Of course, who God wants to win and who He’s fighting for may not depend at all on party affiliation … and his views as to who he wants doing what may be very different from you or I.

So probably the best thing for a Christian to pray during such an election is for His will to be done. It may be quite, quite different than what our politics would suggest.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

I do not consider myself a spiritually empty Christian, yet I embrace the culture war.

Why?

Because many of the things we fight against in the culture war are evil.

When millions of unborn children are sacrificed on the altar of convenience, that is evil.

When humans exchange healthy sexual relations for a perversion, that is evil.

When human beings in embryo form are deliberately murdered to better the lives of other humans, that is evil.

Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the prophets all tackled the evils of their day and did all they could to persuade the nation they lived in to put these evils behind them, lest judgement fall. Jesus pointed them out in Matthew 5 as the example we should follow — including being hated by all men because we speak against that which is popular, against the evil that men believe is good.

That said, I agree with you on some points:

1) I agree that Christians spend too much time waging carnal political warfare, when the Bible instructs us not to wage war according to the flesh. Rather than using our supernatural powers to war against evil in the world, we depend almost wholly on our own strength, and we lose.

This speaks to a larger issue of the spiritual bankruptcy of the American church, but that’s a talk for another time.

2) I also agree that demonizing Democrats is not helpful. We should be trying to reach out to *both* parties. Making the Republican party “the party of God” is a colossal mistake, as the Republican party is a creature of this world solely concerned with it’s own power. By tying ourselves too closely with it, we compromise our witness.

Yes, there are people in the democratic party who absolutely oppose everything the Bible stands for. But we should be reaching out to draw them to repentence, not declaring war on them as if they were Canaanites.

3) The idea of Christians shooting non-Christians to advance “the Kingdom of God” is, of course, too absurd to discuss. When Jesus said “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”, I don’t think he meant “so wait until the AK-47 is invented”.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

PS. I should add that as a conversative Republican I mouth Rep talking points because I *genuinely believe* many of their answers are better than Democrat ones. But those are my personal beliefs, and not the Oracle of God. — BDP.

Let me take a stab at it.

I think our involvement in politics becomes problematic if it degenerates into an us-against-them mindset. Now “us” are conservative pro-war/pro-caplitalism Republicans regardless of their belief, and “them” are those liberals.

Because the GOP is “us,” nothing that they do except for going soft on abortion and homosexuality bothers us. Go to war on a dubiou pretext? No problem. Bribery scandals, see no evil. Erosion of our civil rights? Not a problem. Why? Because Bush, Delay, and Reed are “our” guys, and taking them to task will only create openings for “them,” and we can’t have that.

We should call for righteousness no matter what. In fact, we should even be harder on our own instead of turning a blind eye. I would hate to imagine what we would have done if Clinton had done one tenth of what Bush has been accused of. Why? Clinton is one of “them.”

Speaking of the civil rights movement, MLK recognized this early on and he knew the movement was doomed if it came down to us against them. So he spent a lot of time courting whites.