July 22, 2016 @ 12:30 PM
According to Jesus, when we lose our saltiness—willingness to stand uncompromisingly for the truth—as the salt of the earth—the preserver of society—we become good for nothing and will be trodden under foot of men (Matthew 5:13). A recently released survey from the Pew Research Center verifies this teaching of our Lord. According to the survey, faithful churchgoers in America are now lining up to support Donald Trump for the presidency. At the same time, the American people are seeing the church in America as increasingly irrelevant in our society.
I wish my fellow evangelicals would wake-up to the fact that the last letter in GOP is a “P,” not a “D.” Our God is not the GOP, but Jesus Christ. Our mission in this world is not to be used by Republicans for their political ends, regardless of how much their political ends are couched in a feigned patriotism. Instead, our mission in this world is to be used by our Redeemer for His spiritual ends, which is the saving of souls and the preserving of society, which can only be done when we refuse to surrender our saltiness; that is, when we refuse to compromise the truth of the Christian message, as well as our Christian convictions.
It’s déjà vu in America this morning. Just as America’s evangelicals became spiritual molls for Mitt in 2012 and turned spiritual tricks for their john (John McCain) in 2008, they’re now becoming spiritual trollops for Trump in 2016. Once again the bride of Christ is climbing into bed to prostitute herself to a political party that has repeatedly shown its utter contempt and disdain for American evangelicals who voluntarily serve as its spiritual strumpets.
Politics has become an alternative universe for American Christians. American Christians lay down their crosses outside political convention halls and polling booths. Christian convictions are suspended in the political realm, where the only thing that matters is defeating a greater evil with a lesser evil. This, despite the fact that the greater evil often prevails in present-day America and the church’s influence in our society is further eroded by its failure to effect any change in our country with all of its compromise. It’s truly beyond me how Christians in America can be so blinded to the obvious fact that the more we compromise ourselves the more corrupt our country becomes.
In the last presidential election, Christians in America attempted to vote into the White House someone the Bible teaches shouldn’t be invited into our houses. As a Mormon, Mitt Romney is a cultist preaching a false gospel that imperils men’s immortal souls. For this reason, the Bible teaches that you should “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed,” lest you become “a partaker of his evil deed” (2 John 1:9-11).
Showing hospitality at your house and bidding “God speed” to a cultist not only encourages him to continue his propagation of a false gospel, but also gives credence to the false gospel he preaches. If this is so, as the Bible says, then how much more credence did Mormonism receive and how much more encouragement did its propagators receive when evangelical Christians went to the polls in 2012 in a vain attempt to vote Mitt Romney into our White House? Is there any wonder that Mormonism today is not only more popular than it has ever been in American history, but also seen by a majority of Americans as synonymous with Christianity, since so many Christians went to the polls in 2012 to vote for Mitt Romney? Oh yeah; let’s not forget that it was all for naught, since President Obama easily won reelection.
Just as American evangelicals suspended their obligation to obey the oracles of God in order to oppose President Obama’s election to a second term in the Oval Office, they are now suspending their obligation to obey the oracles of God in order to oppose the occupation of the Oval Office by Hillary Clinton. I can assure you that I’m no less horrified than any evangelical at the prospect of a Hillary presidency. Still, my God-given mission in this life is not to defeat the Democratic candidate for the presidency in November’s election. Instead, my God-given mission in life is to honor my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It is Christ, not some political candidate or some political party that has my undivided loyalty.
Jesus said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Here’s a question that every American Christian needs to ask themselves: “What am I willing to lose for Christ’s and the Gospel’s sake?” According to Jesus, whatever we’re unwilling to lose for His sake and the Gospel’s will be lost. However, if we are willing to lose everything, even our country and ourselves, for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s we’ll be saved!
For years now, American evangelicals have refused to let go of their country in order to wholeheartedly commit themselves to Christ. As a result, we’ve lost our country. By prostituting ourselves to corrupt politicians we’ve actually perpetuated a corrupt political system and become partakers in the corrupting of our own government. By compromising our Christian convictions in order to opt for political activism over the preaching of an uncompromised Gospel we’ve actually lessened the impact of the Gospel upon our society. Indeed, in our present politically correct society the Gospel is now being discarded and trampled under foot of men who see it as the great impediment to American progress.
When you boil it all down, the driving force behind the American Christian’s alternative political universe, within which sound doctrine and Christian convictions are suspended for the sake of political expediency, is the opposition of evangelicals to the more unsavory of unsavory political candidates. It’s not that evangelicals are so supportive of Donald Trumps, but that they are so opposed to Hillary Clintons, so much so that they are willing to lay down their cross and cease to faithfully follow Christ in a vain attempt to save a spiritually reprobate nation from the destructive consequences of a Clinton presidency, despite the fact that they have no guarantee that a Trump presidency will prove any less disastrous to America. While I can't speak for my fellow evangelicals, I can say for myself that I won't lay down my cross for anything, nor will I compromise the cause of Christ for any other!