Vol. 2, Issue 4

Autumn 2008

by Paul Lytle

I prayed a long time about writing this, and I prayed more as I continued to write it. It probably will offend you, especially if you are interested in politics. I decided to write it anyway because, while we should strive to not offend each other, we also must, respectfully, point out sin when we see it amongst our brothers and sisters. I approached this in prayer, and I hope you will do the same. Seriously. Pray before you read this. If you are not willing to do that and be open to the Spirit, I would rather you just not read it. I'm not joking.

I was a political science major, and a rather good one, if you allow me to say so. While others in my classes just scratched the surface of policy, I dug deep into the theory behind it, reading Plato and Locke in my free time.

Quit pretending to be shocked; you always knew I was a nerd.

When Primum Mobile began, many of you will remember, I was the primary force behind the "politics" part of the publication. Back then, we were rather broad in our interests, and while others spoke of history, religion, and literature, I typically wrote about politics.

And then that changed.

Looking back, I see that it was gradual at first. I started throwing in an article on Christianity occasionally, and then more frequently. And then, suddenly, I didn't write on politics anymore, and I haven't since.

And some people have wondered why.

I recently was online, looking at a rather liberal newspaper's discussion board about a Christian pastor. This pastor has generally orthodox views, and the people at this paper were not happy about it. What began as a plan to protest against this man's views on women (views that were quite frankly misunderstood by this group) quickly escalated. One person who appeared to be supporting the pastor was literally cursed by the crowd with the most terrible language. Strangely, the person was not supporting the pastor at all, but merely saying that everyone should hear what the pastor said before judging. For that, he was cursed.

Then, one person suggested killing the pastor.

There were two who immediately stepped up and gave full-voiced support of the idea, and not one person suggested that they had gone too far. Not one. Zero.

It wasn't the first time I had experienced such irrationality by those who were supposedly supporting tolerance and peace. In a class once I was nearly lynched when I suggested that it's not a good thing if a parent abandons his children in order to "find himself." That seemed rather obvious to me, but the class did not think so. No one stood by me.

In more times than I can count, I have been called racist or sexist because I lean more Conservative politically, even though I had not said anything at all to suggest either racism or sexism.

My belief that God created the world has caused such hatred and ridicule toward me that I have simply been dumbfounded by it.

In the meantime, the Church wasn't doing much better. Either we walled ourselves away in expensive buildings and just didn't deal with the unsaved people while blaming them for all the problems, or we abandoned God to go join the world in its complaining about everything.

I was on a Christian blog recently, and the author was ranting about the problems in society, problems seemingly without solution. I pointed out, taking care to be kind, that it was fine to point out our problems, but is all there is? Or should we be pointing to a solution, namely, Jesus? The amount of hatred I received from that comment made me wonder what difference the world sees in Christians at all.

More times than I can count, I have heard more about the President in a church service than Jesus. Once, before I was a Christian, I wanted churches to be more involved in politics. I wanted them to speak more about abortion and voting.

But shouldn't there be a difference? When we get into politics, shouldn't it be for more than self interest and power?

Lately, I have astonished at the way Conservative Christians have rallied behind President Bush, defending policies that they would have scorn had they come from another person. It is a political fact that Bush has been much more liberal than Clinton ever was, yet Conservatives still hate Clinton and kiss Bush's feet. I have been amazed as these people abandoned every principle they claimed to have had simply to keep power.

And that's what it's about: power. For Christians, it is about power. It makes me sick. If you don't believe me, just ask a Conservative Christian why they are going to vote Republican this election, and you will probably hear something about "the lesser of two evils."

That is satanic.

It is satanic because it is not about God at all, but in power. The whole idea is that "our team" needs to keep power so my will will be done in this nation. Well, I believe that following Christ is more about loving God and each other, about humility, about submission, about faith. It is not my job to compromise my beliefs to better my political position. My job is to follow Christ, completely and without apology, wherever that takes me. Whether that lands me in public office or hanged at the gallows, that is my job.

And then some of us go the other way. We just criticize those in power. I am guilty completely of this one. I am guilty, and confess the sin.

Because it is a sin. We are not to "curse a ruler of your people" (Exodus 22:28). Meaning that we can disagree, we can debate, we can vote, but at the end of the day we are respect the person in charge, because he's there because God put him there, and we are to submit (Romans 13:1-4).

And I haven't talked much about Jesus yet. Does anyone else think that is a problem? Or have you been so riled up by what I've said so far that you didn't notice? Isn't that the problem? We're so caught up in what we want that we forget about Him.

I'm going to ask you to be honest with yourself. If I described you in the last section, what was your reaction? I'm willing to bet a lot of you thought something like this: "How could he say that? Doesn't he realize how important this election is? Doesn't he know how critical this vote is? Doesn't he realize that this country needs my opinion, my vote, my ideas?"

I'm guessing that you didn't really notice the lack of Jesus so far in this article because you were so wrapped up in you.

I assume that because that's exactly where I was, constantly seeking to convince, to debate, to explain, to teach, and I found that I was only teaching me, and there was nothing of Christ in it.

That image of myself is too horrible for words.

Here's the truth. You can stop abortions worldwide. You can feed all the children. You can clean up the environment. You can solve the economic problems. You can have everyone live to a ripe old age and die in his sleep. And all of us will still die, and we will all still face God on Judgment Day. Any life saved through politics will still pass away; any life won in Christ will last forever.

This world does not need me. It does not need you. It needs Jesus.

Tell me something. When you go into the ballot box, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about who needs to win so that your team can keep power? Are you thinking about your agenda or your pet issue? Or are you praying to figure out who Jesus wants you to vote for, even if it's someone in the other party?

Do you check your candidate to see whether he is a real Christian, or do you only look the issues? Right now a lot of you are disgusted at the very question, thinking, "What does a candidate's faith have to do with how well he leads the country?"

But again, you have to ask yourself what you are looking for when you vote. Are you looking for the people who are going to promote your agenda, or are you looking for someone who is going to earnestly pray and seek God's direction with every decision?

1 Corinthians 6:1-7 warns us not to go to unbelievers as judges for lawsuits. Do you think it is any better to pick them as leaders of the country?

God warned us against all of this. When the Israelites wanted a king, God told them what would happen if they got a government that they wanted:

He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

-1 Samuel 8:11-20

This is exactly what happened to a people who sought their own will rather than the will of God. This is exactly the problems we face now. And you want to solve them with politics? What God is saying here is that politics are the problem; He is the solution.

And yet still we chase after our own will. God help us!

Am I saying that we should not vote? That we should not be involved? Certainly not. But I am saying that we need to seek Christ first, and in all things, and that means that we should be approaching politics in a different way than the world does. We should be seeking justice rather than power, prayer before a picket line, and humility rather than national pride.

Focusing on Him means rising above the system when you need to. If you know that neither candidate is going to seek Christ first, then perhaps you just shouldn't vote.

"Then we'll lose!" Maybe. "The other party will win!" Maybe. But who do you trust more? Your party or God? If it's God, then you need to cast your votes to please Him, not yourself.

For me, this election, I'm going to stay home. I'm going to stay home and pray. I've sinned against God too much for the sake of politics, and this year I'm going to be sure my priorities are right. And you know what? In prayer I'm going to do more good on election day than I ever have before, because I'm putting it in God's hands rather than my own.

I'm going to pray that God fixes the problems in our world like He is fixing them in me. We cannot redeem America, but Christ can, just like He can redeem every person reading this. Like America, we have fallen into greed, lust, pride, and ambition.

Jesus never did. He never sinned, never fell. He died an undeserved death, and in it He is able to take on the sins that we have committed and wash us clean of them.

How can America turn around and become better? But repenting of her sins and starting over. It is the same with us. Jesus gives us a chance to repent and start over.

He gives us the chance to get right with God. Not for today, but for all days. Not just until death, but to where death will be no more.

My hope is no longer in politics, but in this. My vote will not change anything, my efforts very little. At best, by worldly means, I can postpone death for a few people. Through Christ, though, death can be no more.

That sounds so much better than anything either Republicans or Democrats promise.

Have a comment about this article or one of the others in this month's issue? Use the below form or our Respondere page to write to our editors.

BACK TO TOP