Covenant Presbyterian Church

Conservative radio host and professing Christian, Sean Hannity, was interacting with a caller last Tuesday evening about whom Republicans should support for President in 2008. Hannity has been trumpeting Rudy Giuliani of late, but this humble Christian caller would have none of it. He cited Giuliani’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual stand. Hannity came back with three defenses of Giuliani’s as the Republican’s next great hope: his leadership as the mayor of New York City in the wake of 9/11, his clean up of the city’s rampant drug and prostitution problem, and, I knew what was coming....Giuliani offers the best hope of victory in the 2008 national election. To the credit of the Christian caller, he boldly stated his intention never to vote for a candidate like Giuliani.

It will be interesting to watch the next two years of political maneuvering in conservative circles. They really have two choices. They might slide further into political expediency in order to regain political power. Desperation produces unbelief; it makes men unwilling to live by principle, in biblical terms, to seek help from the Egyptians to escape the Assyrians. The second option is for conservative Christians to become more Bible based, truly Christian, whether or not it is the path of immediate political victory. If this does not occur, however, if the path of political expediency is pursued, this will be the final revelation of the true "heart" of "Republican conservatism." They are just as much committed to power politics and gaining office at all costs as their Democratic counterparts (of course, the Democrats are far more loyal to their stated principles than are the Republicans). If this does occur, I pray it will mark the beginning of a total exodus of Bible-believing Christians from the Republican Party. Let the statists of every stripe fight it out for the worthless fragments of the American political system.

Hannity’s thought process reveals a dangerous inversion of biblical thinking, which exposes the fact that most American conservatives do not think like Christians. The common paradigm is that in order to have their concerns addressed, Christians must involve themselves in the current political structures, seek broad-based inclusiveness, and find whatever allies they can along the way. Principles must be sacrificed if gaining power requires compromise. The inevitable result is that the Christian message becomes garbled, unrecognizable, just another political player. It loses its authority, its uniqueness, its compulsion.

Against this Scripture posits a completely different outlook. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:19-23 that Jesus Christ has been invested with universal dominion and power, by virtue of his resurrection and enthronement at the right hand of the Father. He rules over all things for the sake of the church. This last phrase needs to sink deeply into our consciousness and exert a controlling influence over the totality of our lives, including our political decisions. Among other things, for the sake of the church means that Jesus Christ rules over all things in order to promote and defend the interests of the Bride for whom he died. Christians, therefore, should not think that they must push themselves to the front of the political line, desperately adopting whatever measures are necessary to hold their place. Instead, they must see that the Lord Jesus Christ is already at the front of the line. In fact, he has already dismissed the rest of the line, defeated it, and reigns supreme over it. Hence, how things play out in a given time or place are not absolutely determinative for the fortunes of the church and gospel. They will work out by the power and providence of our Savior to promote the temporal and eternal interests of his people, if they will continue to live by faith in his word and shun the ever-present temptation to adopt political expediency to obtain, ironically, very nebulous and sub-biblical goals.

And here we must define our goal. The goal is not to win office, as desirable as that may seem. The goal is not sit at the table of power. The goal is not to have the Supreme Court finally overturn Roe v. Wade. The goal is for this and every nation to bow in reverence to the Son of God, to kiss his feet, and to live by his word. This will never result through political machination; it never has, and it never will. It results when the Holy Spirit regenerates the hearts of dead sinners, renews them in the image of God through Jesus Christ, and subdues their hearts to teachableness. Only then will men possess the necessary foundation upon which to pursue civic righteousness. Though it seems somewhat backwards, will likely entail political defeat in the short term, and is definitely not glamorous, the only way to "save America," or any nation for that matter, is through the church’s diligence in prosecuting the great commission of our Savior.

Involvement in the spread of the gospel is the single-most important activity in which the believer can engage to move this nation toward godliness. It is also the one thing believers at every level do that confronts the real issue, which is not who happens to be in power at a given moment in history. When the church proclaims a full-orbed gospel, the resurrection is at the heart of its message. The proclamation of a resurrected and enthroned Savior confronts as no political agenda can. It places men at a point of decision; it exposes their true problem. They are rebels against the King. America is a rebel against the King. Christian conservatism, because it clothes itself in merely moral garb and is usually too embarrassed to directly confess the name of Jesus Christ, is politically and morally impotent. The preaching of the resurrected Christ is the unsheathing of the eternal sword of the living God. This is why Paul, whether standing before civil authorities or religious leaders, always preached the same message. There is another King, one Jesus. He has been raised from the dead; he commands all men everywhere to repent. Will men submit to God or live in league with the devil? Will men embrace salvation in Jesus Christ or suffer the consequences of rebellion against him? This is the most powerful message in the world: more powerful than "Stop Abortion Now" or "Defend Traditional Marriage" or "Stop the Spread of Islam." These things will be accomplished only through bottom-up, grass roots, multi-generational submission to the Lord of glory. They are the blessings of Messiah’s reign, and only through personal and national submission to him will we ever enjoy them.

It is the Christian’s privilege to stand somewhat above the fray. He knows that Jesus Christ is ruling over all things for the sake of the church, to build her victorious over the gates of hell. He never places all his political eggs in one basket, for all the baskets of unbelieving men are broken, irreparably broken. He defends one King, Jesus Christ. He calls upon every man to embrace the Savior, to live in terms of his word. He never allows himself to become a bargaining chip in a political movement. His vote is not purchased through the process of political expediency. He does not choose a candidate because he is a lesser devil than his counterpart. The Christian always thinks in terms of the King, always remembers that regardless of how men are furiously seeking to promote themselves and their agenda, there is only one agenda in history: that of the Lord Jesus Christ. His agenda will prevail. Every nation will bow to him; the instrument he will use is the preaching of his Word, person-to-person discipleship in terms of his all-sufficient Word, and committed believers who believe his Word. Faith in our Savior, faith in his power, and faith in his purposes are our insuperable foundations of victory.

But we have to do something now, Christians often think. Hilary Clinton must be stopped at all costs. Think about Ephesians 1:19-23. If stopping Hilary Clinton requires compromising allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Word, we have dishonored our King. Even if she is elected, our Savior is working out his purposes and advancing the cause of his church. God is not honored when we in unbelief adopt a stance of compromise in order to achieve supposed righteous ends. Moreover, we can do something now. Being above the fray does not equal aloofness, disinterest, and passive acceptance of evil. But the devil of statism will not be beaten with the squirt gun of compromised conservatism. Spread the gospel. Raise your families in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord. Make sure your family is in a church where the gospel is soundly and comprehensively preached. Remove your children from government schools so that they are not participants in the worship of Molech. Live in prayer. These are the weapons of our warfare, the banners of our Savior, the morning star of true revival in the church and reformation in society.