Colorado

Most Pressing Issue – What is the Role of the Church and the Body in the Political Landscape?

Many within our state and our nation recognize we are not headed in the right direction. We need a new vector to guide us to the proper target. What is the target we are trying to hit and what is the “vector” we need to guide us there? If one’s compass is off even a small margin, over time traveling, you can end up in a completely different destination than intended.

Our nation’s compass has been directionally off for decades. Our nation was founded on Godly principles and once we allowed the government to get involved in religion, we lost the original intent and vision of our nation. Where there is no divine vision people cast off restraint, but blessed is the one who keeps Torah (Instruction). Proverbs 29:18 TLV Version. The scripture makes it clear without a Godly vision, the people will become unrestrained. The second part of the Proverbs provides us with an answer to the casting off of restraint. Those who keep God’s instructions will be blessed. The Hebrew word Torah literally means instruction, the root means to shoot like an arrow at a target.

For our nation to be steered back to where we got “off” target, we need to return to the original intent of all the instructional foundational documents including the Separation of Church and State. The founding fathers never intended for the Church not to be involved in government, it was to keep the government out of the Church. Many of the founding fathers believed that government should not interfere with the free exercise of religion. The principle of separation of Church and State comes from the 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

So why are churches walking away from taking a role of influence within the political arena? As many have become aware of the political landscape within our nation, the same people have become aware of the political landscape within the Church buildings. Even if a Church decides “I don’t want to be involved politically,” this mere statement has put them into the political landscape. As believers in the body of Messiah, there are questions presented before us, which seem to be emotionally charged regardless of which side you take from a “political” perspective.

Yet, the question remains, how is the body of Messiah called to respond in such matters? Is there a role for the Church and are the Church and the individual believers fulfilling the “role” to which we were called? Before the Lord ordained Israel into a Nation, He provided her with a “constitution” as well. However, their Constitution wouldn’t be of man, but of Adonai. Israel’s birth was inaugurated on Mount Sinai with the giving of Adonai’s instructions (the Torah). He knew in order for Israel to fulfill her true eternal destination as mentioned in Rev. 21, she would need a “compass” a “vision” of HIM to guide her when darkness and evil would increase. While the Lord didn’t appear to our Nation on a mountain top, no one can deny our founding documents were inspired by God, the Creator of all heaven and earth. The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were to be our beacon of light to guide and direct us in times of darkness.

When Jesus came to the earth as a man, He had to walk and minister during a politically contentious landscape. While the Roman Empire ruled over most of the earth and sought to oppress the Jews and gain financially from their existence, they did allow the Jews their freedom of worship and even their own leadership during this time. Jesus trained His disciples, rebuked the Pharisees, encouraged the broken and taught truth wherever He walked. Jesus stated “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hates you. John 15:18, In Matthew 10 and Matthew 24, Jesus states you will be hated by ALL because of me, we will be handed over to persecution. There are too many scriptures in the gospels referencing our suffering and persecution as believers to even list them here. In John 16:2 Jesus tells the believers, they will be thrown out of the Synagogues, understand the Synagogue was their intimate community and yet they would be thrown out. After Jesus warns the disciples of what is to come, He follows up in the chapter by telling them, they will abandon Him.

The question it leaves both the Church and the individual believer with today is this, will we abandon Him and His call during this hour and the hours ahead? The instructions Adonai provided Israel with before her birth were not general instructions, they were extremely detailed. Why? He intended it to touch every area of their lives. Today, politics also touches every area of our life. It provides instructions on how we are to live. Can we murder? Do parents have the right to raise their children? How do we help the hurting? Are we endowed by THE Creator with our individual rights? If we attempt to avoid conflict by not being involved are we doing what 2 Tim 3:16 tells us? It states that  ^“All Scripture is inspired by God^[a] and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness.” Isn’t this how Jesus walked during a politically charged landscape? Are we not called to walk as Jesus did and to engage and speak the truth regardless of the political climate? How can we fulfill this call if we as the body of Messiah avoid the political challenges?