How Christians Can Be Politically Involved without Being Politically Seduced

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Again, number to call, 866-34-TRUTH. So a very hot topic, a critically important topic, the topic of the church and politics. Are we too involved? Is the church too involved in politics in America? Have we mixed politics with the gospel? Is the church not involved enough? Have we said, well, that's just of the world. We're people of another kingdom.

Is there a healthy balance? I wrote a book that came out in 2020 on the political seduction of the church, discussing how, 2021, I'm sorry, discussing how millions of Americans had confused politics with the gospel. I was on the air with my dear friend James Robison, and James said, Michael, the greatest political seduction of the church is to not get involved at all. And I agree that it's critically important that we make our mark, that we vote our conscience, that we hold candidates accountable. But I'm also utterly convinced that politics is downstream from culture and culture is downstream from the church. In other words, the key is for our light to shine. The key is for our voice to be heard.

The key is for us to live out something different than the world and to show that God's ways are good and to advocate for them in the midst of our democratic republic. So I want to be really, really practical today. I want to be brass tacks. I want to be honest. I want to be candid. I want to cover things as best as I can. And I'd love to hear from you as well.

866-34-TRUTH. Do you think that the church, speaking of truly born-again believers, people who really know the Lord, not just churchgoers or people who are nominally Christian, do you think we're too involved politically? Do you think we're not involved enough?

What does righteous Godly involvement look like? All right. I did a poll on Twitter, April 28th is when I started it, for 24 hours, asking the question, generally speaking, do you think conservative Christians are too involved with politics in America or not involved enough? I gave four choices. The one that got the lowest response was, it's about right. So only 6.6% thought, yeah, we've got this down well.

We're doing a good job in America. Then, not sure, that was the next one, 11.1%, we're not sure. Number two, got the second most votes with 30.6%, so this is a big jump, says we're too involved. So almost one in three that responded to the polls, almost 1,000 responded, 965 people responded on Twitter.

30.6% said too involved and 51.7%, so the biggest of all, over half, not involved enough, not involved enough. Now look, we do not live in ancient Rome. We do not live in ancient Rome as the writers of the New Testament did in the Roman Empire, I should say. We didn't live in that period of time.

There was no voting to be had. There was no democracy that we were living in, etc., democratic republic. So Christians then had different responsibilities and different abilities to participate. The same with ancient Israel. There was not a voting system, it was a theocracy.

And then with earthly rulers that were supposed to be appointed by God or honoring God, many times Israel won its own way. But we live in a different setting, so we have to take biblical principles and apply them. The question is, how do we apply them? How do we live them out?

What do they look like? What should the church in America look like when it comes to politics? Why did I write The Political Seduction of the Church? Because I saw many Christians lose their way. Should we be involved?

Yes, we want to talk about how to be involved in a right way. And on this broadcast, again, if you're just tuning in or if you're new to us, listen to our great new station in Phoenix, KPXQ, or our new stations we just took on in California as we're expanding across the nation rapidly by God's grace. It's been on the air daily since 2008, but just in the midst of a rapid national expansion, and thanks to those praying and giving and helping us do that. But, many of us lost our way. Many have looked to a man. Remember when President Obama was the chosen one? Remember that? Remember when President Trump, only Trump can save America? No, no, no. There's only one chosen one. And there's only one name that belongs in that sentence. Only blank can save America. That's Jesus.

But so many times we get so worked up about the political leader and so worked up about the elections that our social media pages are just as ugly as the pages of the world. They're just as nasty. They're just as mean-spirited. There's no grace. There's no sharing of the gospel with love. There's no praying for our enemies. I'd never pray for that one.

Never pray for that one. What happened to us? And then all the false prophecies, and the people that got caught up with QAnon conspiracies. Do you know that when I called out the failed prophecies, this was after it was clear that Donald Trump would not be reinstated during the Biden presidency?

That Biden would be inaugurated, shouting out in advance, but then as it unfolded? And then we began to call out some of the QAnon conspiracies and the false predictions and things like that. Do you know overnight we lost about 10,000 people on Facebook? What I felt bad about was I'm trying to help, and if you're following me on social media, hopefully we're helping you. And I felt bad. Well, I obviously wasn't able to help them because they didn't hear truth from me.

They rejected it. I'm not grieved that we had 10,000 less social media followers. This isn't about numbers. It's about honoring the Lord. And you can honor Jesus in private and be unknown and change the whole world through your prayers, right? Or you can die in obscurity and your testimony starts a ripple effect of revival.

It's not about popularity. I grieve because so many were offended and so many were deceived. So we got a lot of things wrong, but the solution is not just drop out. The solution is not, well, just the world's going to hell and it's all getting worse till Jesus comes. I've heard that for over 50 years since I got saved.

I've heard Jesus was coming to any minute for over 51 years now in the Lord. All right. I did another poll just before radio. I started this one. So we only got our first 335 votes.

I asked this. Would you like your pastor to endorse political candidates publicly or just address the key issues so you can be informed when you vote? Or just stick with preaching the Bible without mentioning political or cultural issues? So I gave four choices.

One, just to include certain people. I put down I don't have a pastor, right? So that was, out of the people responding to me on Twitter, that was less than 3%, at present 2.7%. Then the next lowest position was those wanting their pastors to publicly endorse candidates. That was only 8.1%. Again, it's early in the polling, just the first 335 votes.

It's only a couple hours in. But 8.1% said endorse candidates. 26%, so about one in four, said only teach the Bible. Now this may shift as more people vote or you may go over to Twitter. It's at drmichaellbrown.

There's two L's in the middle, Michael L. At drmichaellbrown on Twitter. You can join in the poll there. But about one in four, 26%, said only teach the Bible. In other words, don't even talk about abortion. Don't talk about gay activism. Don't talk about immigration issues. Don't talk about economy. Don't talk about international security. Don't talk about any of these issues.

Don't talk about racial equality. So just preach through the Bible and let the Bible speak for itself. Because others would say if you preach through the Bible, of course you're going to end up talking about cultural political issues.

I believe you will. Not all of them, but many of them. So it was about one in four said only teach the Bible.

But almost two out of three so far, 63.6%. Almost two out of three said speak on the issues. So in other words, thus far, those in the churches who are writing back are saying what we'd like our pastor or pastor leadership to do is speak on the issues so we can vote responsibly. And that's what I would say the majority of the churches do that do address things. They don't endorse particular candidates as much as they say, all right, here's what the Bible teaches on abortion. Here's what the Bible teaches on homosexuality. Here's what the Bible teaches on marriage. Here's what the Bible teaches on justice. Here's what the Bible teaches on racial harmony.

Here's what the Bible teaches on these various subjects. Now we're gonna give you a voter's guide and we'll let you know where the different candidates and parties stand on these subjects so you can vote responsibly. Do I put my trust in a party? No. I vote one way in my voting because of my conservative principles, but do I put my trust in a party?

No. I put my trust in God and the gospel to bring about change, but politics has its place. So how do we do it the right way, right? How do we do it involved making a positive impact without getting seduced?

That is the question. 866-34-TRUTH and check out this word from our co-sponsor TriVita. I highly recommend these wellness products.

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May you live with greater wellness. It's the Line of Fire with your host Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

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Or you go to TriVita.com and use the code BROWN25. Gets you 25% discount and then again a hundred percent of your first order is donated to our Line of Fire outreach. Alright 866-34-TRUTH. This is the church in America to involve politically or not politically involved enough.

I'm going to take some calls in a moment but in some books that I've written on this subject in the last few years I came up with with a list of things to do and not to do if we're gonna get this right. Because look if we just drop out well we're heavenly people we're just passing through this world. The world's only getting worse. We can't mingle with the world. Politics is fleshly. It's corrupt. It's bad.

It's power plays and all that. If we don't get involved we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do to our kids and our grandkids. If we don't get involved we're gonna have to talk to a whole lot of people and explain why our essential liberties were taken away. Why things that others fought for in the past in terms of freedoms in America were taken away.

Why now our voices were being censored and canceled and there was nothing we could do about it. Why we could not fight for the lives of the unborn. Hey think of this for a minute.

Think of living in the days of slavery in America. Well I don't want to get involved politically and things are only gonna get worse until Jesus returns and you know and after all politics is dirty. Would that be justifiable?

Would anyone look at us today and say yeah I get it. Look we're just gonna share Jesus with people. You're gonna share Jesus with people and not love your neighbors yourself. You're gonna share Jesus with people and neglect righteousness and justice. You're gonna share Jesus with people and and allow one of the ugliest things in our history to just go on unchecked unnoticed. Really?

Seriously? Same with abortion today. Same with other things happening in the world around us. That as followers of Jesus we pursue righteousness. As followers of Jesus we love our neighbors ourself. So of course we get involved but it's how we get involved because we are not, let me say this plainly, the church is not the arm of a political party. We are God's people on the earth and just as we live in America we are only passing through this world.

We are a kingdom of God people first and Americans second. So whatever party we vote for whatever candidate we we we back we understand that this is only part of the solution. It's just it's a human element in a bigger situation that only the gospel can ultimately change.

So just like we there there might be a famine in a land a certain country so we come with aid for that country but now we try to work with them to find as there are other sources of water there are other ways that we could help to avoid long-term famine. So there's a temporary fix of things but now long term what can we do? Long-term change will come to America through the gospel. Long-term change will come by the church being the church. As I said at the beginning that the number one need in America is for the church to be the church not be religious hypocrites not be trying to force our ways down other people's throats but as followers of Jesus shining the light as followers of Jesus being the salt I've said for decades my biggest issue is not so much the presence of darkness but the absence of life. So here's some principles for you that I'll give you seven points from my book not Donald Trump is not my Savior an evangelical evangelical leader speaks his mind about the man he supports as president. So I voted for Donald Trump as president and shouted to the world he's not my Savior it's only one Savior only one who died for me to whom I owe my life my heart my soul my blood. I said these five these seven things if we are going to be God's people rightly in the world one we must rise above the political fray to regardless of party affiliation we must remain independent that we we give account to God and and vote his way not just based on party affiliation three we must stay involved four God uses unlikely vessels the character still matters five we must stand for the issues near and dear to the Lord's heart six sometimes we must function as the president's loyal opposition seven our calling goes beyond patriotism then in my book Evangelicals at the Crossroads will be passed the Trump test I gave a list of ten things that we needed to do in order to not get politically seduced but to stay politically involved our involvement is important for the good of the nation America America's health is important for the good of the whole world all right these are very very important things to remember that America has a world impact for better or for worse so our involvement is important for the good of America our involvement is important for future generations if Jesus does not come in our lifetimes but we must get involved like getting seduced all right that's what I want to help you with and through the political season we're not just this is not a gossip radio show where here's this here's one and this is not one where we attack people by name we're going to glorify Jesus and speak the truth in love all right let's grab a couple of calls let's start with Jason in Johnson City Tennessee what's your take on Christians and political involvement so thanks for having me on this is the pastor who was feeling a cop just calling back in another topic dear to my heart and you know I feel like the church is unilaterally disarmed since maybe the 70s on this and it's why we're in mess we're in you know we have all these mega churches in California in California is only going darker and darker and darker because no one engages in politics you know we are Caesar here as we are see we can't blame a tyrant you know 2,000 miles away from the decisions that are being made where Caesar Chicago which is hell on earth right now continues I guess under judgment to elect more and more stay insane representatives that make their life worse same thing in California same thing in New York City and you know the church just seems so many times you know to be unwilling to weigh in on this which is part of our daily life I don't know any part of my life that class doesn't want and the politics of today are the laws of tomorrow and we sacrificed millions and millions of babies because of the law and now I think as we see transgenderism and thankful the good Lord Jesus I am in Tennessee where we don't mutilate children anymore and we don't kill babies anymore but that's something I'd like to see everywhere what people can devote godly and godless occasionally we're seeing more of that Jason I appreciate you weighing in and for your candor thank God for those who are involved thank God for those who are active and I do Jason to encourage you like I can think of some mega churches in Texas that I've worked with and that because of me but I just I just know them and they have they've said hey we've got to impact the school boards that we don't like junk in the school libraries we don't like some of that the radical left activism that does not reflect the values of the larger community so we'll we'll get our own people to run for school board and we'll vote for those that we think have better ethics and and more care for the kids and and they're transforming school boards it's not a matter of now everyone's gonna have to read the Bible in the school they're gonna enforce that every kid has to memorize scripture or pray to Jesus no not at all but they're getting rid of some of their the crazy stuff by making an impact but yes in many many many cases we don't speak what we need to speak we we do not say what we're supposed to say from the pulpit we we do not raise the issues that we are supposed to raise we're often more concerned with offending people or losing a tithing member or getting unliked or unfriended on social media or things like that whereas what we have we have here's where we have to start Jason my life for the gospel like you said he owns every part of us my life for the gospel Jesus died for me and now he owns me entirely and by his grace I want to make an impact for some of us it's just a matter of voting for others it's a matter of informing for others it's a matter of lobbying we each have our different callings but let us do what we can but I want to spend the rest of the show talking about how to do it with the right perspective I will take some more calls as well and I am this is not a partisan political show this is a kingdom based show please hear that we are kingdom based not partisan politically based eight six six three four truth we'll be right back hey friends this is dr. Michael Brown I want to invite you to join our support team make an investment of one dollar a day that will absolutely last forever you know the Lord has given us a holy mandate to blanket America with the line of fire broadcast and on a regular basis we hear from folks writing in dr. 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Brown dot org click on donate monthly support it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire and a shout out to all of our torchbearers our monthly supporters you are the financial backbone that helps us do so much of what we do in America and around the world our ministry by God's grace goes around the world and you go with us you help fuel our fires and enable us to do what we're doing so thank you for standing with us and thank you to each of you that is a brand new torchbearer it's been a joy to welcome you in recent days it's six six three four truth before I go back to the phones let me give you ten principles that I put forward in evangelicals at the crossroads which came out in 2020 and I said this these ten principles if we want to be politically involved without getting politically seduced one we must clearly and emphatically put the cross before the flag this there's no competition some of you are veterans and you've you've given your yourself for the country and lost friends for the country I we're indebted to we're all deeply indebted to you my mom and dad were both World War two veterans so of course deeply indebted to to each of you and I treasure the freedom we have in America but in terms of ultimate allegiance there's a massive difference between the cross and the flag and we must clearly in our preaching and our living and our priorities put the cross before the flag to we must proclaim that Donald Trump or whoever it is is our president not our Savior if you voted for Joe Biden that Joe Biden is our president not our Savior we must put greater emphasis on spiritual activity than on political activity yes political activity is important but prayer and fasting are more important yeah I put them in order like that absolutely and preaching the gospel is more important and and benevolent deeds to our neighbor that's more important but it's not it's not either or you could pray and fast you fast one day a week you could pray seven days a week and you vote every couple years right this there's no competition between the two you share the gospel with your friends and co-workers do all that all the time and and also vote why is it one of the why must it be one of the other for we must not get caught up with election fever by God's grace I am NOT going to be focusing on polls it's getting closer what's good and you're wringing your hands it's like a year in advance and so we don't know who's running for certain things yet and everybody's getting all worked up let's not go to get caught up with election fever we must not justify carnality and unchristian behavior whoever these you support why can't you say I voted for that candidate but I don't like that when they act like this right I think it's detrimental I think it's divisive whatever side of the aisle you're on what why do we have to support a candidate everything I do why do we have to become apologist for that candidate I'm an apologist for the gospel I'm an apologist for the Lord I'm an apologist for scripture right for a perfect God the perfect Bible and perfect gospel I'm not an apologist for a person because no person is perfect and many times to get to the top in politics you got to do things nasty ways I'm talking about the world system and I'm I'm not going to cheer that part on we must regain our prophetic voice oh yeah it's critically important of course we're mocked for somebody to the failed Trump prophecies and the nonsense well he's really president now and Joe Biden's a shape-shifting and I mean crazy stuff and some of these people are still on TV and preaching it still on radio or still on putting our stuff out to the masses online and they haven't missed a beat and thinking what did we just want to be deceived and go on with delusion is there no one cousin no prophetic accountability I'm a charismatic is there no prophetic accountability in our midst really by the way go to go to prophetic standards calm to see what some of us have tried to do to address that prophetic standards dot-com if you're leader add your signature if you agree with it but our prophetic voice is not so much prophesying about who's going to be president but speaking words of truth speaking speaking what the Spirit is saying to the society taking the Word of God and applying it to the world around us we must be holistic Christians truly pursuing justice and righteousness for all we don't just have one issue and we neglect others you know righteousness is important but not justice or pro-life is important but but not once the kids out of the womb and no we've got to be holistic we must walk in love towards those who vilify us and oppose us I would dare say because of my public calling and the subjects God's called me to it to address that I get more hate mail more vitriol more death wishes death threats and just around anybody listening to me right now it might be somebody out there with more but not all not a whole lot not a whole lot okay I'm not complaining it's my calling and I love doing what God's called me to do but I know for me it's not a personal thing it's because of the Lord that I get attacked if it's because of my foolishness let me get on my face and repent but if it's because I'm quoting scripture I'm representing what the Lord's heart is on something or standing for him I'm hated for him that's a cause of rejoicing in terms of why we're hated but then grieving for the people I'm gonna respond with love because I want to win them I want to change their hearts I'm not out to curse those who curse me but to bless them and pray for them so we must walk in love towards those who vilify us and oppose us we must unite around Jesus rather than divide over a political candidate oh can we learn that kick even if we vote differently and we have passionate differences can we still put our unity around Jesus first and then sit down and have a candid conversation I don't get it I don't see how you could vote this way I don't say if you do it vote this way and you have an honest discussion we must lead the nation in repentance knowing that repentance prepares the way of the Lord opening a path for revival visitation and awakening in other words let the repentance start with us yeah I got problems with this party I get problems with this candidate yeah I got problems with this law yeah I got big problems with lots of stuff happening in America but the repentance has to start with us now I'm gonna give three simple words if we can hold on to these we can stay politically involved without getting politically seduced we can be God's voice rather than an appendage to a political party we cannot mingle the gospel with the flag or confuse eternal life with patriotism all right so I'm gonna give you three simple words and they they are these and it's it's in the last chapter of my book the political seduction of the church three simple words are these number one emphasis number two priorities number three trajectory number one emphasis number two priorities number three trajectory I'm gonna open those up first back to the phones we go to Monique in North Carolina welcome to the line of fire thanks for calling thank you for having me dear brother and I'm gonna try to rabbit fires and no people are waiting but you really you everything you said the context the whole thing really is just I can only hear hear it as far as my take on this political I think in a nutshell the problem is that those of us who are involved are it's carnal I don't like you've already gone through and said this is how we need to look at it this is how we need to come at it like you said you're not an apologist for any one person so perfectly because no person is perfect and even saying that I have to praise God for you because though I've not heard every word you've uttered I have never heard you being carnal I have never heard speaking anything out of the context of the word itself and and and very clearly not being partisan so all that to say my take on it and it's so greasy I will throw this in because I won't mention the name of the person but this is a person on the radio Christian radio and I don't say that this person is not safe but my gosh that person the host and a caller the issue was transgender and and somebody be and the end the caller was calling the people weirdos and we don't want the on the Christian station and and and number one there's no fruit in calling somebody a weirdo but my point is those of us who and I think mainly mean well for the most part are involved I only hear the carnal the carnality the carnal part of it the anger the irritation with it in and I don't hear anyone speaking love to it I only hear this is wrong and this is evil and it is evil but I don't hear the love and let me qualify that because people say that and they cop out and and what they really mean is you're watering it down saying well you're okay everything's okay and that is absolutely not what I'm saying at all but I just want to praise God for you because this particular reference that I'm talking about is an embodiment of what I'm talking about I think that a lot of us are well sincere about it possibly but the response is totally yeah carnal yeah first yeah thank first thank you for the very kind words I appreciate that and and here's the thing we we are supposed to be different than the world that's the whole thing so yes yeah we we stand for issues that affect everybody we are involved in this world but but we are of a different spirit you know when when Saul gave David his armor he couldn't fight Goliath with Saul's armor because it's not who he was so we must fight with the spiritual weapons and the wisdom we have and that also means overcoming evil with good overcoming hatred with love that there's a different spirit about it so we'll stand we'll stand boldly we'll speak clearly but you know what it reminds me of my wife Nancy and I we were literally in tears in the 2020 elections we were we were in tears and I voted I told people I voted for I was I was involved right whether I should tell people who I vote for or not you know people are asking and okay I thought I'd explain things but I made clear where my hope is where my emphasis is but I remember this and I literally in tears as we were looking at social media pages of friends of ours people we've known for years I mean solid followers of Jesus and the pages had degenerated into petty partisan political pages what here's what I mean by it so here's a beautiful scripture right it's it's brother Smith's page right a beautiful scripture he posts every day you know the beginning of days favorite verse and and now later in the day all I just I got this YouTube video and worship I love this worship song I just want to share it with you today and and here's a thought the Lord gave me in prayer all this good stuff and then the next thing here's some meme making fun of one of the political candidates maybe it's it was a candidate Biden making fun of his apparent senility or you know is sounds of speak well okay that that concerns me in terms of his capability does he have the mental acuity the mental sharpness to function as as the president effective there are others who attack Donald Trump in that way and he doesn't have the mental acuity etc so I understand the concerns but it was like ha ha ha the old man mock him is like what what just happened you you're posting scripture one minute and and and a beautiful him the next minute and a great spiritual insights the next and now you sound like some political hatchet job and what what is this is it was the mixture of things that was so grievous so let's address issues let's be clear let's be involved but let's do it with a right spirit friends all right Monique thanks for the call pastor Benjamin in Kentucky you're next on the line and I want to open up those three points for you again that the the matter of emphasis of priorities and of trajectory 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Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown thanks friends for joining us today yeah by all means visit triveda.com myo health something part of my daily supplements that have really been a blessing to me as well all right so oh I've got to tell you about something we've just put together for you this month that I think you'd be really interested in I'll get to that in a moment but get to pastor Benjamin in a moment but the three words three key words if you could keep these in mind we can be politically involved without being politically seduced let me say it again our involvement is critically important if we sir if we would vote certain ways and hold our candidates accountable to do what we voted them in for America could look very different in very positive ways all right but the first word is the word emphasis all right the word emphasis we we must put the proper emphasis on politics meaning it for your average believer for your average church I'm not talking about those call to be actively politically involved the lobbyists a candidate or something like that right I'm talking about your average believer your average mom dad single person your average person involved in local church and working a job politics is not the top of our list and it should not be at the top of our priorities our own relationship with God is at the top of the list walking with him loving God loving our neighbor is at the top of the list being a godly husband wife child single person honoring the Lord in the workplace seeking his face to make to see him move reaching out sharing the gospel with the lost that that's at the top of our list those things at the top of our list politics is down the way but we get so caught up with it so it's just it's everywhere in the news and it's it gets you upset it let me say it again you'll hear it endlessly for me I will not get your blood boiling on this broadcast let's also get your faith rising all right so we're not gonna get you worked up you listen regularly you're gonna get infused with faith and truth and courage you're not gonna get worked up into a fleshly frenzy so priorities number one number number two excuse me emphasis number one priorities so as I wrote in political seduction in many cases this is how we got off track we place too much emphasis on the elections and on the president thereby getting our priorities out of line come on some of us were better known as supporters of a candidate than as followers of Jesus some of us wrapped up our identity more with our allegiance to a candidate then then our allegiance to Jesus you say no I was no confusion in my life I'm saying the way many of us presented ourselves the way we got in the flesh what we announced anybody driving by our house would know where we stood about a political candidate but they know us for a year didn't know where we stood on Jesus about Jesus something's wrong there all right so we place too much emphasis on the elections all right now for those who are uninvolved swinging the other way recognize our non vote has hurt things recognize our non vote has cost lives that recognize our non vote has has has taken away liberties all right the other hand some of us put too much emphasis on the elections in the president we got our priorities out of line as a result of which we got on a dangerous trajectory where some of us crashed and burned so let's fix those things let's put the right emphasis on the gospel the right emphasis on our role in society politics has its place so in in my list of top 10 things for your average Christian to do to change America voting and being politically involved is on my top 10 list but it's not number one or number two or number three or even four or five all right those things begin with our own repentance before the Lord our own godly living before the Lord our own evangelistic efforts our own humanitarian efforts in our communities etc etc so politics is important they just put in the right place and then prioritize life around those things so you want to be informed you want to vote you want to be involved but put it in the right place and then the trajectory will be one that puts revival in the church first and then recognizes that it's through a revived church that the culture can be changed and the political scene can be changed so rather than trying to get dead Christians to vote let's get Christians alive let's get Christians mobilized let's get Christians vitalized full of vitality and have them vote also right let's get the priorities right awakening in the church revival in the church is going to lead to awakening in society and if we stay involved with positive change in society as well all right let us go take one more call here pastor Benjamin in Kentucky what's your take sir sure um first of all I appreciate you taking my call and okay I'm a pastor of a small but growing congregation and I guess I I wanted to hear from you directly and what I guess you would encourage the role of the pastor being and I think also you know I've struggled some with perhaps some of our leaders that would maybe feel stronger about politics I guess and you know while in one way I don't want to say we we shouldn't talk about politics from the pulpit but at the same time I kind of want to say that and you know not that we're not afraid of issues at all we're absolutely unapologetically pro-life we are faithful to the Word of God when it comes to marriage sexual orientation things like that but just would love to hear from you on your encouragement to a local church pastor sir that not afraid of being involved but at the same time I you know things like big sweeping statements you know Chris I'm 43 so the those kind of things bother me you know yeah you can't be part of this party be a Christian Benjamin right I heard people on both sides of the 2020 elections say you cannot be a Christian if you don't vote for Trump you cannot be a Christian if you do vote for Trump and I remember telling people I thought when you stand before God he's gonna ask you where you stood about Jesus not where you stood about Trump so yeah the sweeping statement so several things and I'll be as concise as I can and thank you thank you for calling in and for for caring for the flock so number one we should not be known as a Republican or a Democrat Church we should be known as a Church of Jesus right that's that's number number one number two we should not be seen as an appendage to a political party number three we should not even be seen primarily as conservative or liberal but as biblical so we are biblically based Jesus followers number four of course we shouldn't be involved it should be involved addressing the cultural issues because we live in this world pastor you know kids going to school even a conservative area they're still gonna get bombarded with all kinds of worldly ideologies they're getting bombarded on social media parents need to know how to deal with things these are real-life issues so we can't just not talk about them we have to as pastors as I was as I was urging one mega church pastor I was really frustrated with his his refusal to give me a clear answer on basic questions that any pastor should be able to answer and I said to him man this is pastor not political it's not a political issues this is an issue of of being a pastor caring for the flock so of course we address these issues and just as we could not excuse a pastor during the days of slavery for not rebuking and calling out the evil of slavery the same way I don't see how a pastor could not rebuke and call out the evil of abortion so we call these things out we address them when there's major news that's shaking the nation be it a Supreme Court hearing be it the the killing of George Floyd that we as shepherds we should now say hey let's let's take a Jesus look at this let's talk about this as followers of the Lord and how can the church model racial equality how can the church model values of life how can the church model what marriage and family and sexuality are about so we address these things but we address them in a practical way of applying the gospel to the society around us and then when it comes time for the elections we have to do this all the time make sure that we understand okay here's where the church stands on some of these key issues and and here's a voter's guide they're readily available so when you vote you just know where the candidates stand and that's it that's it I think if we do that encourage people to cast their vote we don't we need to do and as you know all the other things come first in terms of our own relationship with God hey thank you sir for the call just want to tell you briefly we've put together an amazing resource package for you this month it is my book Jezebel's war with America maybe the best-selling book I've written in years right outline how the same demonic spirits that operated through Queen Jezebel to destroy Israel and the prophets almost 3,000 years ago are operating big time in America I mean manifest on many many many different fronts many different fronts for the rise of pornography to witchcraft to radical feminism to gender confusion to the silencing of Christian voices when you order the book it's a beautiful hard cover I want to give you absolutely free a 12-hour teaching series I did called spiritual warfare I began teaching on this in depth in the late 80s dove into the word put this whole thing together on audio used to be in cassette tapes remember those and it became the standard that we used I thought that's the best I taught it so just like a book I wrote in the late 80s the same with this teaching series I want to give you the audio series 100% free when you order the book Jezebel's war with America so you'll find 12 hours of teaching it's free and your purchase of these materials helps us reach more people around the world with the good news of Jesus so here's a number to call this is an exclusive offer through our ministry 800-538-5275 that's 800-538-5275 order your copy of Jezebel's war with America you'll find it eye-opening really eye-opening and then you get the teaching series spiritual warfare 12 hours 8 sessions absolutely free 800-538-5275 all right back with you tomorrow we're going to talk about what you need to know about predestination another program powered by the Truth Network