Political Idolatry

Richard Lemieux is a homeless man in Bremerton, WA. At one time he was an internet business owner with a large house, wife, 2 kids, 2 cars, and a boat. He lost everything during the “dot-com” crash of 2000 and had to live out of an old beat up van he had managed to acquire. He was not a Christian, but knew that churches were probably his best shot at getting some help. One church would let him sleep in his van in their parking lot, the salvation army would feed him breakfast each morning, but when it came to any other meals, money, and a warm place to sleep, he had to search. Word of mouth led him to the pastor of another church in Bremerton. Lemieux sought him out, took a tour of his church, and asked him politely for a little help. The pastor did not appear to listen, instead just started talking politics with him. When they parted ways, the pastor handed Lemieux an envelope. Inside was a “Bush-Cheney” bumper sticker.

I am very concerned about the state of Chrisianity in America today. I see Christians using the name of Jesus not to preach the Gospel, but to instead increase the listeners of their political argument. Jesus is used to preach one party over the next and America over the rest of the world. I once heard a pastor pray “thank you God for making us the greatest country in the world.” This prayer is so close to the parable of the Pharisee in the temple praying “thank you God that I am not like this sinner next to me.” The sinner next to him is praying “God I need you.” Jesus tells us the sinner is the one who walked away justified. It seems Christians are taking Gods blessings and cursing others for not having the same blessings. We are preaching social and political change instead of a need for God that changes hearts.

I grew up a non-believer scared of Christians. I saw Christians as people who wanted to tell me how to live my life. Any time I came in contact with Christians, they were either yelling something against evolution, against liberals, or preaching censorship of my music. Today as a Christian, I am still scared. Scared of what they are doing to the church. Now when I see Christians, they are either yelling against gays, against abortion, against liberals, or preaching anti-Obamaism. The subject matter has changed a little over the years, but still I am not hearing the Jesus of the Gospels preached.

Christians need to be very aware of what is happening to the Gospel in America and how idol worship has reached into the politcal ranks. Tim Keller in his book Counterfeit Gods says it like this:

One of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life. When we center our lives on the idol, we become dependent on it. If our counterfeit god is threatened in any way, our response is complete panic. We do not say, “What a shame, how difficult,” but rather “This is the end! There’s no hope!”

This may be the reason why so many people now respond to U.S. political trends in such an extreme way. When either party wins an election, a certain percentage of the losing side talks openly about leaving the country. They become agitated and fearful for the future. They have put the kind of hope in the their political leaders and policies that once were reserved for God and the work of the gospel. When their political leaders are out of power, they experience a death. They believe that if their policies and people are not in power, everything will fall apart. They refuse to admit how much agreement they actually have with the other party, and instead focus on the points of disagreement. The points of contention overshadow everything else, and a poisonous environment is created.

Another sign of idolatry in our politics is that opponents are not considered to be simply mistaken, but to be evil. The increasing political polarization and bitterness we see in U.S. politics today is a sign that we have made political activism into a form of religion. (Keller, pp. 98-100).

Dick Keyes, in his book Chameleon Christianity furthers the point. In this exerpt, Keyes uses the word “tribal” to refer to the temptation to gravitate to a Christian culture that is surrounded only by other Christians in every area of our lives, (ex: school, work, friends):

Certain tribal scenarios say that things are so far gone and society is so far decayed that we should suspend Jesus’ teaching on love, particularly on love for one’s enemy. To require love at all times is seen as impractical, given the extremity of the battle. If we have located pure and complete evil, we no longer need to treat those who disagree with us with love and humility. Anyone who is unashamed of Christ will join the culture wars with all their energy---and hatred.

It must be said that the rhetoric of holy war can be good for fund-raising within the tribal fortress. But it is not good for those who believe that Jesus’ command to love our enemies still stands, or for those who struggle to put into practice the Christian calling to try to persuade those who disagree---whether the issues be spiritual or political.

Christians have developed a reputation for scorning and ridiculing anyone on the other side of the battle lines of the culture wars, whether they be politicians, academics, or neighbors. This has created an environment of needless hostility where there is already tension aplenty. Too often Christians have walked with all four feet into the secular culture’s stereotype of us as bigoted and unwilling to listen.

The tribal mistake is not that Christians have taken the moral principles into the political arena and fought hard for them. This is our responsibility. Rather the error is that within a tribal attitude of jihad, God’s commandments to love are scorned or forgotten.

In our main forays outside the tribal fortress we are trying to overpower our neighbors politically by fair means and foul, and if we have exempted ourselves from Jesus’ command to love our neighbor and our enemy, what becomes of the mission of the church? How great is our desire to spread the gospel? How believable is our message? (Keyes, p. 48)

As God was continually trying to communicate to Israel through out the Old Testament, when someone comes in contact with God’s people, they should see something attractive and feel blessed. The Israelite’s experience in Egypt should communicate a great deal to us today. They saw the abuse of power in Egypt and the exploitation of people for the purpose of power and profit. It’s Almost as if God was saying: “Now you’ve seen how Egypt (and the world) leads, but I want you to be a different kind of leader in the world. You are to be a nation of compassion, justice, truth, and love. You are to be a blessing to the world.” This is why Israel was geographically located in a place where many people had to pass through it. If we look at America today we see a similar characteristic in that the rest of the world seems to always have an eye on us. The mistake Israel was constantly making was thinking that because they were God’s people, they were superior to all others. Instead of being a blessing to others they became ardent nationalists and looked down upon all who passed through. Christians in America need to be careful of not falling into the same trap.

Today there are a lot of people in the media who claim to be Christians, but speak most loudly a very nationalist and one party agenda. Psalm 35 warns us to watch out for “fierce witnesses.” Fierce witnesses are those who speak very loudly and proudly about the good thing they are, but then in the next breath circulate false reports. Many Christians today get their world view not from a Gospel centered perspective, but from 24 hour news sources. We must be ever cautious of what we hear from organizations whose soul purpose is to spin the news to fit their prescribed narrative.

The Gospel perspective of how we are to see the world and the world of non-believers is well laid out for us by the Apostle Paul. Dick Keyes does a great job of summing it up for us:

To persuade the Gentiles, who did not believe in the Hebrew Scriptures but who worshiped a variety of idols, he (Paul) interacted with their own ideas about nature and human moral and religious experience.

The Apostle Paul had obviously listened carefully to the ideas, fears, and dreams of people with whom he spoke. His strategy of persuasion had a negative aspect, as he sought to disenchant them with the ideas that they might have believed all their lives; but it also had a positive aspect as he showed them that the claims of Christ were true and demanded a response of faith. Paul saw the need and prayed for the work of the Holy Spirit to open people’s eyes, but throughout his life, he still took the trouble to learn about those with whom he was speaking.

Paul did not merely preach a sermon and then go home. Instead he listened to his hearers and interacted with their ideas, beliefs, objections, questions, gripes, doubts, and struggles. He took his hearers seriously, respecting and loving them. (Keyes, pp. 56,57)

Christianity in America has dug itself into a hole. Like the nation of Israel in the book of Exodus, we have escaped powerful empire forces. But also like the nation of Israel, after being given hope and being shown the type of people we are to be, we have tossed it aside and become the next Egypt. In the book of Amos, God judged Israel harshly for becoming like the kingdom of the world. Israel, like Egypt was exploiting and profiting off the poor and the weak. They were developing a large military in order to protect their great wealth. A wealth, that had been acquired through oppressive means. But even in Judgment, God never leaves His people without hope. He promised a King who would one day sit on David’s throne, but his use of power would be becoming of the Kingdom of God. He would be called the Prince of Peace. He would be the all powerful King of the universe, but would be called “servant.” The leaders in America often like to use such Biblical language by calling themselves “public servants,” but when we look at actions, Jesus is the only leader who has ever fit this naming. Like Solomon, others have been given wisdom to rule. But also like Solomon, many have abused their power and have been unfaithful to God. But Jesus will act wisely and as the Prophet Jeremiah tells us, He will “do what is just and right in the land.”(Bell, Golden, p.69)

Though we have dug ourselves into a hole, it should be clear that God never gives up. G.K. Chesterton wrote that as he observed the history of the church, “At least five times the Faith has gone to the dogs. In each of these five cases, it was the dog that died.” Keyes comments: What Chesterton observed here was that throughout its history the church of Christ has shown a moral and spiritual resilience. At times it has sunk to terrible defeat, corruption, and scandal. But the Church has been given the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Where there has been humility and openness to self-criticism there has been repentance and reform, the church has regained its life and the surrounding society has felt the benefit in social transformation. (Keyes, pp. 107,108)

We must be open to self-criticism. Do our words and actions create a darker world for the non-believer, or are we seen as light and good news?

References:

Chameleon Christianity by Dick Keyes, 1999.

Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller, 2009.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell and Don Golden, 2008.