One In Jesus

One of the great ironies of the current church/state battle is the desire of the church to gain worldly power. We want to be able to tell the president what laws to sign and what laws to veto. We want Congressmen and Senators to realize they were elected by the power of the church and so they should enact only Godly laws. We want the very same thing the power companies, the unions, the gay rights movement, the defense contractors, and the AARP want: power. But what does the Bible say?

(2 Cor. 12:9-10) But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul would have made a perfectly awful lobbyist. Continue reading →

My own understanding of the church/state question begins with Romans 1. Paul describes the condition of the world outside the church to demonstrate that we need a Savior.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Continue reading →

A few years ago I got interested in working through the church to influence the political world. I’ve worked in Washington and Montgomery as a lobbyist, and I know just how venal the political system is, how jaded many politicians are, and how the political world views the church. I thought I might add some hard-won practical experience to the fight to redeem politics.

However, Bible study has led me to conclude that you cannot defeat Satan with Satan’s weapons Continue reading →

When the evangelical right considers the issue of illegal immigration, it’s rare for someone to bring up the word of God as somehow relevant. Instead, we conservative, right-wing Christians tend to think very much like conservative, right-wing non-believers. Our views are rarely distinguishable from those of the Republican Party’s National Committee. For example, Jerry Falwell wrote, Continue reading →