Where Do We Go When We Can’t See Light at the End of the Political Tunnel?

Stan Moody:

I once had the privilege of running for and serving two consecutive terms in the Maine State House of Representatives, first as a Republican, winning by a margin of a single vote out of 6500 cast, and the second as a Democrat, winning in a landslide. I once stood up in a Democrat caucus to speak on an upcoming vote with these words, “I come before you as one who was a lousy Republican and I am now an even worse Democrat.” 

Ever since, I have been struggling with the more vital question, “What kind of Christian am I?”. 

That we cannot count on justice, mercy or financial security in this life may be unfolding before our very eyes. Fear of loss and abandonment gnaws at the core of every American who finds himself or herself dependent on our government for survival. Even the sacred Social Security may be at risk, we are warned. 

Making matters worse, the Christian community seems to be buried in denial. We can rightfully ask, “Where are our elected representatives in Congress?”, but the more valid question for the professing Christian might be, “Where is the heart for justice and mercy within the Church?” Are we content to hug each other, sing worship songs, and listen to motivational sermons while Rome burns, or are we ready for sacrificial service as the need arises?

Revival Must First Begin within the Church:

For those of us who are longing for a spiritual renewal in America, my brother-in-Christ, Buddy Spaulding, cries out for his evangelical community to wake up and get ready for action. He says it this way:

If the Church wants revival in America, the place to start is with the sins of the Church – not the sins of folks outside the Church. When we remove the beams from our own eyes, we'll see more clearly to assist with the specks in other’s eyes. Here is my current list of beams that need to be removed from the eyes of the Church:

Anti-intellectualism 

Consumerism 

Nation worship

Sexual abuse

There are far more pressing matters of justice and mercy at stake! Stop fretting over trans-, DEI, WOKE, and evolution. Those biggies are traps to flame our emotions and manipulate us to react defensively instead of acting in faithful obedience. The Church is not really up-to-speed on any of those broad topics that are only serving as a wrecking ball in the Deistic assumption that we can stay the hand of a wrathful God through our good behavior. 

Spiritual revival cannot sustain itself exclusively as an individual choice without the hard work of discipling each other on how truly to live as Christians in an unchristian world. Love of others becomes an act of self-denial rather than an emotional reaction to OPS – “Other People’s Sins.” 

“The Devil Made Me Do It!”:

Remember that old expression from Laugh In, “The Devil made me do it ?" Retreat can be a form of temptation in our discouragement and fear over what is or is not going on around us. Retreat from faith rears its ugly head in our moments of greatest uncertainty and doubt – the very moments that faith is at its highest demand. We tend to cave in when we can’t see light at the end of the tunnel. If “faith is the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), retreat is escape from things not seen but imagined.

Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11) was an act of desperation. “You can avoid all that suffering simply by taking charge and claiming what is rightfully yours!” No big deal, right? We are told that Jesus’ victory over that temptation was His refusal to take dominion: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only!” (Matt 4:10).  He was to earn dominion through obedience. We are told that “…the devil then left Him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him” (v. 11). The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the alternative citizenship to nationhood, turns on daring to trust the unseen God.  

That should be a wake-up call for us Evangelicals who falsely assume that dominion of the Christian community over Creation is a divine call for political dominion over America. God had given modernity’s first parents dominion over the earth with one little exception – the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The result seems to have become our preference for darkness over light. We are naturally drawn to what physically can be seen over patiently waiting for God’s intangible unseen realm incrementally to emerge “…on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Is the Answer to Evil the Ten Commandments Posted in Our Schools?

A number of years ago, there was a mass slaughter of the “Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God” cult in Uganda.1 Cult leaders started killing followers when their prophecies that the world would end January 1, 2000, failed to come true. Over 500 were burned to death when they set their own church building on fire. Later, another 400 bodies were discovered. 

Most Evangelical Christians will point to prayerful intervention behind politics as the answer to building a nation that honors the precepts of the Ten Commandments. Others will scoff at the hands-off approach of “prayer and thoughts.” The best answer comes from the Book of James: 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything (James 1:2-4).

What did Jesus do when He faced temptation to escape political reprisals for His message of love? What did He do when He struggled with the will of His Father? Hebrews 5:7 tells us, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” At Gethsemane, minutes before His trial, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

One minute Jesus is sweating drops of blood and pleading to have the cup of God’s wrath removed from Him. He prays not for a different outcome, but for the ability to accept God’s will; the comfort comes; He gets up to greet those sent to arrest Him. After struggling with God in prayer, His fear of suffering and death had left Him.

What is Our Choice?

As professing Christians, we are faced with a choice between desperate prayer, yielding to the temptation to retreat or trusting political muscle to grab what we think is our due or God’s preference. As we witness our government falling apart with fairly moderate manipulation, we recognize that our ultimate security must be in the hands of God rather than those of mankind. That’s easier said than done, isn’t it?  We fall off the wagon. Then, when others find out that we are not living up to what we pretend to be, we fall even deeper into hypocrisy.

Try this theory on for size. Jesus, in His prophecy that Peter would deny Him 3 times at His trial, had this advice for Peter: “When you have turned back, strengthen the brothers.” Is it possible that God desires to use our falling in weakness as motivation to strengthen His Church? Hmmm!

 1Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God