If You Think Christians Shouldn’t Be Involved in Politics, Please Consult Your Bible

Written by Paul Hurst

The Bible is filled with reasons for Christians to be involved in politics. This is especially true in America, where unlike many places around the globe, we still have a say in who leads our nation.

I found myself in 2 Kings, Chapter 23 recently. If you read it, you’ll see that a government official, with support of the grassroots, showed great leadership, as he called for a return to a foundation of honoring God, human dignity, and morality. He used godly law-making to support life, and to remove evil from their institutions. He followed up his words with proactive and aggressive action and rolled out his platform with transparency, doing exactly what he promised to do. What did God say about that government official? It’s in verse 25:

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might…nor did any like him arise after him.”

The people followed this great leader, who was honest with them, kept his promises, and was committed to doing what was right. Because of his actions, he inspired people to become better people themselves and he supported good and opposed evil with great conviction. And God took notice.

In the United States, we can’t duplicate this situation if Christians sit on the sidelines. In fact, we’ll get what we currently have which is the exact opposite: Government at odds with the people, lacking in leadership and morality, lying to us, openly opposing God, tearing down our foundations, mis-educating our children, squandering our resources, causing hate and division, even opposing life itself. De-population, doomsday fear mongering, abortion, sterilizing minors, gender deconstruction, policies leading to addiction and suicide, breaking down of the family and on and on the list grows as too many Christians watch from their couches.

Christians, if you want to sit on the couch, you do so at your own peril, but don’t dare say God calls you to it. You’re lying to yourself and God takes note of that.

We need to tell candidates what we expect and demand honesty and transparency, or become leaders ourselves and then follow through without compromise. Our votes, time and treasure should go to those with a commitment to proactively fight evil and support what is good. If not, we invite judgement upon our nation and our children’s children. You don’t have to look hard in Scripture to find either.

Prayerfully consider how you can get involved and contact organizations like Illinois Family Action for help. Research the candidates and get behind the best ones from the available choices for the races you’ll be able to vote in. Consider “adopting” an out-of-district candidate as well, finding someone worthy of your support. They’ll be grateful for your help. That’s the path to better government but remember, Jesus isn’t running, so there will not be a perfect candidate. But that’s no excuse to be unfaithful stewards of the freedoms God has given us. IFA will do our best to help you make good, informed decisions, by vetting candidates and providing resources, research and education on the issues.

Find a Bible and read 2 Kings 23:1-25. I hope it will inspire you and motivate you to action. We desperately need more leaders whose actions bless instead of curse, and inspire instead of enslave. The bottom line is: America needs more Christians obediently getting involved in politics.

2 Kings 23:1-25 (ESV)

Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.  And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.  And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

Paul Hurst is an Illinois Family Action Board Member, a political consultant and digital marketing professional. A husband and father of four, he has been a long time grassroots activist and resides in Lake County, Illinois.