CHRISTIANS AND POLITICS

I am prompted to write this because of a post I saw on another blog, the subject of which was something I have been thinking about for a long, long time. Politics! …the most sanctimonious, self-centered, self-serving, self-righteous, two-faced, backstabbing, anti-God goings-on in the world (in my opinion). I would hope to raise more questions than ire, but I believe the Bible speaks to this. The aforementioned blog essentially said that we should vote for Mike Huckabee because he is Christian. Now, I want to premise my thoughts by saying if God wanted Mike Huckabee to be President, all the professing “Christians” in the world could stay home on election day and Mike Huckabee WOULD be elected! Does any REAL Christian doubt that?

The Bible indeed says we are to be subject to the higher powers,
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” Rom.13:1; 

and the powers are ordained (to put, as in appoint; arrange) of God. The blogger extrapolates from that verse… “in voting for a candidate, I am essentially being used as an instrument (means) of God to elect a person to whom I intend to submit”. Well, I would like to add, “not necessarily”.

In another part of the Bible is another verse which says almost the same thing as Romans 13:1, 

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God’s” Matt.22:21

What we “render” to government is subjection to its authority, (in matters of temporal government, I might add. You would not renounce God if this government banished Christianity…would you?). What we render to God is submission to His Sovereign Will…IN ALL MATTERS!

I’ll submit, that a problem in general is that we do not give ourselves to dependency on God. I mean totally. For I would ask you, in what area of life do we NOT need the Sovereignty of God. In what area of life do we consider ourselves capable apart from God’s Sovereignty. Are we intelligent enough to gather the necessary information to make the “correct” decision? And then do we conclude that we did so in God’s Will? Is that how God’s Sovereignty works in our lives? A vessel is not employed until the master of the house takes hold of it off the shelf and fills it with whatever that particular vessel was made to hold, and then uses it for what it was intended. Or, said another way, the foot is the foot; and the hand is the hand; the ear hears, the nose smells, the mouth speaks…the Head is the Lord.

I cannot find anywhere in the Bible where it explicitly speaks of  “voting”, but it does speak of “casting lots”. We might interpret that today to mean the same as voting, but I beg to differ. The issue I would have with the blogger’s extrapolation of Romans 13:1 is that one could only be (is) an instrument of God (voluntary) if one is in such intimate fellowship with the Father as to know His mind and will in a matter…to know with certainty what it is that God wants you to do, for Him. The blogger’s conclusion that, “in voting for a candidate, I am essentially being used as an instrument (a tool, a means) of God to elect a person to whom I intend to submit” is not only ambiguous but erroneous (not to mention, arrogant). Nowhere in that verse does it speak about, or address voting such a higher power into office. In fact it clearly says, they are “ordained (appointed) of God”.

So…let God work it out in the world. I do not believe Christians were intended to be a political force in the world. We are not lobbyists for the Lord. The dread for me is what if I act (unknowingly) against His will because I have taken it upon myself to weigh the advantages and disadvantages; or I consider the pros and cons; or I scrutinize the background of one compared to the other; or I analyze the platform of one compared to the other; OR… I compare the Christianity of one to the other.

Obama says he’s a Christian too. And then also, if we conclude God wants us to vote for Huckabee in the primaries because he is Christian (I don’t even know what that means in this election…they all say they are Christians) and then, as it is concluding, he does not get the nomination…how does one defend and explain the Sovereignty of God in a failed attempt??? Huckabee is out! Is that the fault of “Christians” for not voting for him? Perhaps it is. And that speaks to my point. Is that the Will of God in the matter? Apparently WE, like  people who do not know the Lord, prefer to weigh the issues and where the candidates stand and what they propose. Never mind if he (or she in this election) is a Baptist, or Mormon, or Congregationalist, or Jew, or Muslim, or whatever. For Christians, all else but the Will of God is  n o t  criteria for consideration.

Should we propose that all local Christian churches get together to cast lots as they did in the Bible, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD”  Prov.16:33.

It appears that one way the decision was made, was to take broken pieces of pottery or wood, and inscribe them with a name and then “cast” it into a receptacle or garment (or lap), and then it was shaken together. He whose lot first fell out was the chosen one. On whom the lot falls determines how that group of believers votes…whether in the primaries for a candidate or for president.

But then I would have to submit that all candidates names must be considered for the lot, regardless of party affiliation. Why? Well, do you KNOW the mind of God in this matter? Whether He wants a Republican, Democrat or whatever in office? Is that so strange? God has “ordained” a communist atheist in Russia. Do you know where in the timetable of this dispensation we presently are and what God intends to do in the next few days/years? If so speak forth that we may all know. Otherwise leave it to the lot wherein God can truly work without our “expert” opinion getting in the way.