There may be a lot of good that conservative politics can offer America. Unfortunately for the Church, it can muddy the waters and make the Gospel message less clear.
I came across a fantastic small post written by author Nancy Guthrie over at The Gospel Coalition Blog. I wanted to share some of it here for your benefit. She writes it in the form of an open letter to her pastors.
…what prompts me to write to you. What prompts me to write is a statement Beck made on August 30 in an appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s show, when he cheerfully celebrated that “240 pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams on stage all locked arms saying the principles of America need to be taught from the pulpit.”
As I’ve continued to think about this statement, I’m moved to write today and say “thank you” for not being one of them. Thank you for your faithfulness in preaching Christ from the pulpit, not “the principles of America.” Thank you for leaving that to others and reserving the sacred desk at our church for preaching, in the last few weeks, about the once-for-all sufficient sacrifice of Christ, about the privilege we have to approach God in prayer as Father, about Christ as the Wisdom of God, about Christ as the most valuable Treasure in the universe, worth trading everything to have.
I love my country and certainly I have concerns about where it is headed. But I also know that “this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). I know””as you quote it week-by-week””that “all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever” (1 Pet. 1:24-25; cf. Is. 40:6-8).
So thank you for continuing to preach the word of the Lord and present the beauty of Christ, and for not being so short-sighted to preach the “principles of America.” You keep calling me to love Christ more than my country, more than anything, and this is the word I need most to hear.
I encourage you to read the whole thing over at TGC and to check out Nancy’s bio. What do you think of her main premise?
Bob: This is an excellent and much-needed exhortation to our pastors! I too am a political conservative and I agree with much of what Mr. Beck says, but I wince every time he invokes God on his show. The reason I wince is that he is, implicitly I’m sure, co-opting God for the American Cause.
I too love my country and am greatly concerned about the direction it’s headed, but like every other nation in the history of the world, America is “accounted as the dust on the scales.”
Guthrie gets a hearty “Amen!” from me. Since Beck came to FNC, I watched enough of his program to realize that his level of alarmism is likely to prove unreliable in a variety of ways. While I’m glad so many more people are shaken to pay closer attention to current events in the political realm, their understanding of what’s going on is in some ways hindered by his often inaccurate, or sensationalistic approach to dealing with the issues. I think his influence is more of a hinderance than a help to the current political reawakening.
To get to his religious dabbling, I see him as yet another step closer to the acceptance of Mormonism among the broadly evangelical (and possibly Roman Catholic) as genuine Christians. I was first alerted to this danger back in ’93 or so with the Evangelical and Catholics Together document. Evangelicals will allow their political co-belligerence with Roman Catholics to motivate them to view Roman Catholics as brothers-in-Christ, neglecting the article on which the church stands and the Roman Catholic Church fell, justification by faith alone. I won’t be surprised when the day comes that formal statements such as this will appear between nationally prominent evangelicals and Mormons. And I believe Glenn Beck will be partly to blame for that.
Good thoughts, both of you. And yes, I’m applauding Guthrie big time on this!
Hello Mr. Hayton. Thank you for sharing. I agree with the article but . . .
I think we need to go further. Why must Christians be American? Should not Americans be Christian? I’m not sure I’m ready to take the leap to saying Christian principles should be put forth from every public podium but I don’t think it would be bad.
If more Christians would be Christian we could logically see vast changes for the better in our society. The more we are in line with Christ the less we will be dealing with many of the political hot button issues of today.
Let’s not settle for being Americans. Let’s run the race with endurance to obtain the prize of God himself and may we along the way turn many on to the track.
In Christ,
Matt
I couldn’t agree more, Matt. I’m very skeptical of Beck’s general outlook on life, the whole “us vs. them” dynamic and the extreme emotive connection to all things politics. I’d much rather be about my Father’s business.
Good stuff, Bob. I once heard Steve Camp say at a men’s retreat, “Take the flag out of the church!”
and
“If a man stepped down as a Pastor of a Christ-honoring, Bible teaching church, to become the President of the United States, he would be taking a demotion.”
The civil magistrate has it’s place, but yes – Christ and His kingdom is what we should seek
Grace to you!
paul