Politics, and what we can do about it.

I dislike politics as much as the next person, the thing is, we good and well know that just talking (or posting) isn't going to accomplish much in the real world. What will? Well... how about making a bid for a position of authority?

We've heard it said before that "If you don't vote, you can't complain", except that one of our complaints is what we have to choose from for leaders, for whatever reason our disapproval may be. So then, perhaps, more of us should be providing a solution. I don't like politics but I'm planning on getting active as soon as possible. Yeah, I've got other things to be doing, things I'd rather be doing, but short of the eternal condition of souls, what's more important than trying to guide your nation in a good direction, or at least in a better one than it's headed in?

Christians, children of God, have to great extent failed in the leadership arena - failed to compete mostly. If we don't fight, we can't win. We may not win, but we aught to try, as unto God and no less.

Your thoughts?

 

@Mexdeaf & others of like persuasion on this subject:

I understand what you were saying and, I must disagree to an extent. This is entirely not about you in particular, you just happened to voice some commonly held ideas that need addressing, frequently.

This may appear to be about semantics but I assure any reader it is not. This is a difference of ideologies, which ways of thinking happen to be evidenced by our use of terms as much as as our actual voicing of them. The reason I'm making point of it is that such ways of thinking are great part of why the children of the most high have lost so much ground in every battlefield.

"...hunker down..." - That's exactly what our old enemy would like us to do and what many, including baptists, have done. Even as we claim to be boldly doing the Lord's work, we continue to retreat from field after field, both physical and ideological alike.
Every form of power is up for grabs to whoever can take and hold it in this world. That means everything from influence by good works, to political power, to media influence, even land possession, anything can be seized, though one must pick which battles to wage with wisdom. What has happened is pretty much what OldRegular said, though there are other reasons to be sure.
A while back I read an article on why the things people think they would or should do in a 'zombie apocalypse' would be really bad ideas. One concept that stuck out was 'fortifying your position and riding it out '. That's what we've tried to do as Christians and it hasn't worked for much the same reasons as the article's author gave. Our enemy's numbers keep growing to his advantage, he doesn't get tired and give up. We holed up in our little fortresses and now we're surrounded. Yes there are times we need to flee to our place of refuge, but hiding out permanently solves nothing. We can't reclaim lost ground by forfeiting the battle.

..."pray"... - Why is prayer only now considered a good idea and sought after? I'm not poking at Mexdeaf here, this goes for all of us. Prayer, as has been said by many a preacher, should be the first resort, not the last. We teach little to children to 'pray every day' when we we should teach them to pray without ceasing, conversing with the Father in every thing.

..."study the Word"... - Ok, this ain't so bad, it's a BIG step up from just "read your Bible" and it's pretty close to what I usually point out on this issue but still not quite there. Remember the children's song "Read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow!" Yeah, bit of a problem there. See, God doesn't command us to read His Word but we should meditate and study, it's even a prerequisite for some blessings. One can do any of the the three without doing the other two simultaneously. I venture to say that the most unobserved is probably the most important: meditate.

..."and evangelize." - Nothing wrong with evangelizing, assuming we're not making false converts with erroneous doctrines like easy-believe-ism or other errors. I'm not going into the nooks and crannies of possible issues surrounding spreading the Gospel, rather, I ask why our to-do list of responses to Satan's steadily growing hold on this world stops there at 'make converts'. For many a Christian, that's all we do, if we do that even. Many are so busy running their 'ministry(s)' they don't take time for anything else. Ehh, that's not quite the issue... Lemme hit the nail on the head (watch your fingers).

THE BIGGEST and most wide spread problem I've seen in American churches (churches of believers, children of God, whatever denomination) is that our religion is Tradition rather than the works and ways our God has instructed us in His Word. Here's what it looks like:

New Testament Only Practices - since the N.T. is all about the church, evangelism, etc., we tend to focus on the few, most prevalent (or pet) issues in the N.T. to the exclusion of everything else including the normal day-to-day lives people live and what God says about life outside religious practices. It's even worse than that though, we actually only practice the parts of the N.T. doctrines that are most traditional and acceptable withing our circles. We leave a whole lot out! Worse though, much of what we do practice isn't even in the Bible, it's a well, it's like a cheap imitation of a real treasure.
A prime example is our scheduled weekly meetings. We come together at a building a few times a week but outside of that, we don't get together to fellowship but rarely (when it's traditionally expected). Compare that to the N.T. church which met together 'daily and from house to house' - they probably didn't have a dedicated meeting hall.
Another example worth naming is churches' ever-growing lists of 'ministries' that aren't explicitly Biblical. While not themselves wrong or bad, a ministry not named or identified in the Scripture is a poor imitation for something that is, for instance, having a 'Bible College' but not regular fellowship of believers (not counting 'official' scheduled 'services'), or having, say, an 'educational ministry' but not teaching the parents of children how to raise them according to Scriptures. A building program instead of ministering to the needs of the people in the congregation (much less outside...)? You get the idea.

I could go on and on with the subject of Traditionalism, which is a more honest name for our chosen religion of practice than anything else but that's not really necessary, nor is it on topic with this thread. The topic was "Politics, and what we can do about it." and the answer is:

We can stop running from every fight, including politics.
We can start conversing with our Heavenly Father over everything, including the direction and leading of our nation.
We can stop doing whatever is expected of us just because it's expected and start living the religion God prescribed - true religion.
We can start seeking first the Kingdom of God His righteousness, not only by increasing the kingdom's population but also :
strengthening it's forces on every front, including politics and office
preparing of our fellow (kingdom) citizens,
reclaiming lost territories and powers of influence (including offices of authority) as well as new ones.
The old enemy may be the prince of this world but he isn't the supreme ruler of it - he's a tyrant, an evil power set up for a reason and a time, and there's no God given law that grants him absolute unfettered control over everythig. This is a battle ground. Yes, we're just passing through it, but we aught to be doing all within our power (and that's alot when your Father is the God with whom nothing is impossible) to free the people of this place enslaved by sin and the tyrants of this world, be they spirit or flesh, whatever power they attempt to wield.
Politics, or the powers of office, are but one realm of influence, and a field we have mostly failed to challenge that Serpent on for many years. There are other fields though that we should be contesting. Why should the enemy's forces be the sole wielders of modern media's influence? I'm sure we could name others as well. It's time we rediscovered the whole armor of God and figured out what we're supposed to do with Father's gifts.

I've said almost enough but here's a last bit for those who may be asking "Yeah but what does that all mean? What are you getting at?" Here's a couple practical applications:

1. Start getting together with your fellow believers every week OUTSIDE of church meetings and regularly scheduled events/activities and ministries. Those are mostly good things but fellowship is essential to the health of a church and to you as believer. My home church's building in Texas is almost a literal 'home', in that some of us all but live there, including eating meals on occasion (and catching naps on occasion). Much of the church gets together so frequently that they are very much a family in spirit, it's not just a show put on Sunday mornings.

2. Take some time off from your regular habits and 'spiritual diet' of teachers books, radio, or whatever else, maybe a month or two, and take a couple hours every day with God in conversation, meditating on His Word (some reading and study may be necessary too :laugh: ). I recommend digging into Proverbs, the Psalms, Job, and Ecclesiastes. John and Matthew's gospels are also good to dig through at the same time. Anywhere is good but wisdom, being of such great value and so needed in these times, I recommend those books especially for meditation. This is also good time to take to heart this verse:

Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

Ask God to shape you according to His will, to MAKE you what He would have you to be.

Oh, ok, one last application. Don't be afraid to ask God for the (in your view) impossible, you can even be specific. You might want to ask Him to shape your thoughts first but don't be afraid to ask for the amazing. NOTHING is impossible with God and that includes turning the hearts of the nation's people back toward Him! This isn't a lost battle. 'Greater is He that is in you...'.


There are alot of ways to influence people. One-on-one evangelism is just one of them. Official authority well administered is certainly a valid form of influence as is simply doing good for you fellow (national) citizens.
If I may illustrate that last point: consider that there was once no federal welfare program. Local churches provided for their regions needy. When the churches stopped doing that good work, governments gladly took the opportunity. Now the needy of my nation look to their politicians instead of their local church for support, and naturally, those politicians have the near unshakeable support of those who benefit from their 'generosity'.