The Christian and Politics
“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
2 Timothy 2:4
You would think that after reading a verse like that, no further commentary would be necessary concerning politics or many other matters. However, in light of increasing involvement of professing Christians in politics it has become necessary to expound more specifically this and other texts related to our subject.
First of all, every true Christian is a soldier and servant of the Lord, and like it or not, is engaged in warfare. And one reason why so many don’t even show up in the fight, or wage an ineffective spiritual warfare, being unable to “fight the good fight of faith,” is their entanglements. This world system, (gr. kosmos), organized and headed by the devil, dedicated to the purpose of keeping men happy without God, dangles before Christians various lures of entanglement. Politics is simply one of those allurements and entanglements. John Walvoord wrote in his book THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM,
The Protestant movement, however, was not able to extricate itself completely from Roman influence... the tendency to organization and attempts to enter the political arena early were in evidence (pages 96-97).
Satan, the prince of this world, is surely happy to entangle a Christian, because that means one less effective soldier and witness for the Lord. But the Lord, who called us as soldiers to fight the good fight of faith, is never pleased with any such situations. Our text speaks of pleasing the Lord. Clearly, if we desire to please the Lord we must avoid entanglements with the affairs of this life. Why, then, would a Christian involve himself in something as worldly and corrupt as politics?
Putting the best possible construction on the situation, we must say first of all that there are those who entangle themselves because in their heart they really believe that they are doing good and that God does not object, but rather approves. As our text insists, they are sadly, but honestly mistaken and entangled. Of course there’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be better, or being against injustice and the like. To all who feel thus, we say that we share their desire. But politics is tricky business, rife with corruption and run by “men of the world, which have their portion in this life” (Psa. 17:14). The chief politician, of course, is Satan, whose program is to bring his “man of sin” (2 Thess. 2:3-12) to the forefront, the Beast or Antichrist. This is where politics is headed, to one world government under the Beast, the vicar of the Dragon, the master political scientist. The unholy trinity of Revelation 13 will be the crowning achievement of God’s adversaries. Is it any wonder that when the prophet Daniel describes the world empires between his time and the end, they are said to be beasts?
We quote from THE APOCALYPSE, by J.A. Seiss, pages 273-274 concerning Revelation 11:15,
All earthly governments, principalities, and powers, from the beginning until now, are uniformly represented in the Scriptures as wild beasts, having no lawful owner, and full of destructive savageness and offensive uncleanness. A lion with eagle’s wings, a bear crunching bones and flesh, a four-winged and four-headed leopard, a nondescript with many horns, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, having great iron teeth to devour and break in pieces; these are the prophetic symbols of the greatest and most lauded of them. Even the premiership of Daniel himself in one of them does not alter its general character. It is but folly and fanaticism for men to talk of Christian states and governments in this world...earthly states and governments themselves are not Christian, and in the nature of things cannot be. They are all the products of devastated nature’s wilds, and full of savage nature’s passions and ungodliness. Fix it as we may, such is the result. The best-planned institutions and the wisest laws are ever disappointing their framers... To this hour there is nothing so great a desideratum among men as good and just government, nor another department in which the native evilness and God-antagonizing passions of men are so potent and defiant. True, the kingdom is by right the Lord’s. All authority and power originates with Him and belongs to Him. Government is His own ordinance. But since the apostasy of the race to Satan’s standard, usurpation, falsehood, and other powers than the rightful sovereign of men and nations, have held and directed the sway in this world. Many revolutions have been wrought, and men have laboured, and sacrificed, and bled, and died to achieve them, believing that now they would secure the precious boon for which the race has sighed and cried for ages; but it was only the turning of the sick man on his bed, who keeps his pain however he may change his place... Dream, and prate, and preach, and glory as men may, the devil is de facto the god and king of this world. His mantle may be often changed, and every day may exhibit a new garb, but the presiding genius within is still and always the devil, with all his pride, and malice, and spoliating falsities. And so it will go on, “wicked men and seducers waxing worse and worse,” till the last trumpet sounds.
But then shall come another order; not developed from below, but enforced with sudden and resistless power from above... God is king, and the sovereignty hath He given to His Son, Jesus Christ. And having given the world six thousand years in which to choose and settle upon its proper allegiance, and finding after all only an intenser and more malignant apostasy, He causes the final trump to sound, and breaks in with His Almightiness, and enforces His rightful dominion. A kingdom comes which breaks in pieces, and consumes all other kingdoms, and stands forever. Laws are given to be changed no more. And the true Anointed reigns on earth in an empire of sinless, deathless life and peace, to the ages of the ages. The government is changed.
Politics is earthly, not heavenly. It is full of and controlled by people with motives such as fame, money/benefits, power, and self-aggrandizement. Of course, in nations where leaders are chosen by so-called “free elections,” the only way to achieve those things is to be voted in, and to be voted in you must, among other things, be popular with people. This presents several problems.
First of all, most people are not Christians nor are they interested in “Christian values.” In fact, 2 Timothy 3:13 foretells that in the last days “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” In Matthew 24:37-38 our Lord says that the time before His second coming will be like “the days of Noah,” which was a time of extreme worldwide wickedness that ended in the judgment of the flood. 2 Timothy 4:3 says that even among professing Christians the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but will turn away from the truth. The point is, the future has arrived, and this is the world that we live in. To be popular in a world of godless people, you must present a platform agreeable to them, agreeable to the godless since they are the majority, and this means spiritual compromise and double standards.
Secondly, a candidate must convince people that he is interested in helping and serving them, which in many cases is not entirely true, since the main interest is fame, power and money/benefits. So at best there remain serious questions about the purity of motives and the depth of true, untarnished, humanitarian interest in all politicians. Those who deny it are either incredibly ignorant, naive or just plain dishonest. Politics offers not only what it tells you – improvements – but also power, fame and money/benefits! Politicians raise and spend incredibly huge amounts of money on their campaigns and themselves. And once elected, they have perhaps the only job on earth where the employees decide for themselves what their salary and benefits will be and when they will get raises! How could such be considered “public servants”?
Those who sincerely enter for “good” motives, as some have, soon find themselves in a large tree where many other birds of a different feather can and do roost, or to put it biblically, they find themselves entangled. But this involves the campaign committees and voters, too, and not just those who run for office. Think of the long, sacrificial hours spent campaigning and listening to campaigns. How many of those people would spend the same kind of time in Bible study, witnessing and fellowship in a local church? Think also of the huge amounts of money spent even in the most modest campaigns, and ask yourself if this time and money would be better invested in the kingdom of God, the progress of the gospel? But alas, the Lord’s work doesn’t get contributions like those! Of course we realize that political parties will not spend money on the gospel, neither should they, for their funds are unsanctified. The Lord’s servants go out “for his name’s sake...taking nothing of the Gentiles” (3 Jn. 7). Since this is true, the question is all the more relevant, “What is a Christian doing entangled with them, devoting time and money to people and things that are not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?” (Matt. 6:33).
Consider the following extract from a letter from the godly John Newton to a preacher friend who expressed interest in politics.
Dear friend,
Allow me to say, that it excites both my wonder and concern, that a Christian minister such as yourself, should think it worth his while to attempt political reforms. When I look around upon the present state of the nation, such an attempt appears to me, to be no less vain and foolish, than it would be to paint the cabin–while the ship is sinking! Or to decorate the parlor–while the house is on fire!
When our Lord Jesus was upon earth, He refused to get involved in disputes or politics, “Friend, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Luke 12:14. “My kingdom is not of this world! If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight!” John 18:36. God’s children belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their Scriptural character is, that they are the “quiet in the land.” Psalm 35:20.
Satan has many contrivances to amuse people, and to divert their thoughts from their real danger!
My dear sir, my prayer to God for you is–that He may induce you to employ the talents He has given you, in pointing out sin as the great cause and source of every existing evil; and to engage those who love and fear Him, (instead of wasting time in political speculations, for which very few of them are competent,) to sigh and cry for our abounding abominations, and to stand in the breach, by prayer, that God’s wrath may yet be averted, and our national mercies prolonged! This, I think, is true patriotism–the best way in which people in private life may serve their country.”
