Jul 30, 2015

Is God a Republican or a Democrat?

Tony (not his real name) attended one of the churches that I was a pastor at. Tony had grown up in a Christian home that reflected the love of Christ. He and his siblings attended a very good Christian school. His parents raised him to love God and to follow Jesus with his whole life.
 
Tony had recently started a job working construction and I asked him how it was going. “It’s really hard to work in that environment”; Tony said; “A lot of my coworkers aren’t Christians.” And he proceeded to talk about some of the projects that he was working on.
 
I was curious what “yardstick” Tony was using to discern the coworkers’ spirituality, so I asked Tony; “How do you know that these coworkers aren’t Christian?” “Because they vote for Democrats”, Tony replied.
 
Tony had been raised with the myth that the yardstick he was to use to judge another person’s spirituality (I’m not making this up) is the Bible and “whatever Rush Limbaugh said”. Wow, I thought; I hadn’t realized that God was a Republican!
 
I did something the following Sunday from the pulpit that I am not in a habit of doing. I took up some preaching time to tell the congregation (that included Tony, his siblings, and his parents) that I was pretty sure that God wasn’t a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent NOR is He indifferent. It wasn’t intended to be a shot at Tony’s parents for raising him to believe that myth; just a chance to speak truth.
 
I want to say for the record that I vote conservative; both fiscally and morally. But, I tend to vote the person, not the party; to be honest I think both parties (all parties) have major flaws and faults. One thing I do know is that there are Christians serving in our government that are affiliated with the Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Yes, you can be a Democrat and be a Christian.
 
I have a friend who labels himself as a Christian and he chooses to work within the Democratic Party to be a voice of reason to that party. He is one voice trying to bring the sanctity of life to their platform. God Bless him, I say.
 
The Bible says that:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus...” (Galatians 3:28).
 
And yet, we still act as though we believe the myth that God is either a Republican or a Democrat.
 
The Bibles says;
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.” (Romans 13:1-3)
 
We need to trust Him to guide our government; no matter what party we choose to align ourselves with. We are fighting not against people or parties, but against spiritual forces in ALL political parties:
 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
 
We need to take time to pray for those who govern our society; no matter what party we choose to align ourselves with:
 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:1-4)
 
Instead of trying to prove why God is either a Democrat or a Republican
 
In Jesus Name.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.