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.
New
King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James
Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
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