What is our end goal?

I heard about a book that came out late last year and knowing I would be soon leading WRW, thought it would be good to dig into.  “Prophets, Politics & the Nation” by Emma Stark, put a perspective on our battle in America that I had not seen before.

For full disclosure, Emma is considered a prophet in Pentecostal circles and has had her share of controversy.  I had heard her story of growing up in Ireland, a pastor’s kid, and what is known now as “The Troubles,” but didn’t realize there was so many similarities with what America was and is going through currently.  It is a very good study on the subject.

In her introduction, she says “I grew up in Northern Ireland during the time of ‘The Troubles,’ a civil war that ran from the late 1960’s until Good Friday 1998.  Car bombs, violent kneecappings, terrorism, fear, and hatred were almost inescapable.  The deafening sound of the bomb that was planted near my father’s church, and which decimated our town center, will always live with me.  The more gravesides that we each stood beside, the harder it became for the nation to forget-or to find peaceful, forward movement. “

Emma goes on to describe the differences between the Protestant, unionist tradition and the Catholic, nationalists.   “Religion, faith, and politics were never separated.  You went to church to show which political side you were on.  We never questioned it.  You ‘saved’ the nation by voting, and for many it was literally a matter of life and death.”

In America, we have never been closer to a nationalist movement than we are now. 

As Christians, our first responsibility is given in Matthew 28:18-19 by Jesus telling his disciples, and us as followers “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We are to build the church, the body of Christ.  Then, as conservatives, take the love of God and his principles into the marketplace, which includes the government.   Christians running for office and influencing legislation with biblical principles is a good thing. 

Proverbs 29:2 tells us “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”  We have seen that firsthand in recent years.  There are many scriptures speaking of ruling in righteousness and the benefits of having godly kings, or in our situation, godly leaders.  But if we take godly principles into the government and leave out the bottom line of love, salvation and discipleship, we become tyrannical by nature.

Further on in the book, Emma Stark says “to the extreme nationalist, political, righteous leaders are the saviors, and the end goal is a great nation with God’s righteous laws at its heart.  In this you can and will guarantee that one day you will be disappointed, because nations rise and fall (Job 12:23).  In biblical theology, Jesus is the (ONLY) Savior, and the end-time goal is His return and the ultimate fullness of His Kingdom, Heaven and earth reunited.”

Personally, I am seeing a ‘holier than thou’ spirit rise up in political arenas that is very concerning.  Language that insinuates that pastors and leaders are not doing their job if they don’t allow a particular class on citizenship taught.  If you vote for one over another, you are not really a Christian.  Even if both candidates attend and are actively involved in very strong, Jesus and Bible centered churches.

In 2019 we were all sickened by the Democratic Convention and its allegiance and worship of abortion and evil.  Now we have a spiritual line drawn where our church and values are strongly aligned with our political views.   Christian churches that have allowed 'choice' and ordained openly gay, trans, or other views as pastors, embracing the extreme liberalism and denying the Bible as their standard, have divided those who have remained on the conservative side of spiritual belief and have aligned with that evil political platform.  While pastors and churches who stand strongly on biblical truths are very much aligned with the Republican party.

Recently headlines were rampant with the news that the IRS had changed its stance allowing churches to endorse political candidates.  Texas Monthly on July 18th wrote, “Earlier this month, the new, Trump-appointed head of the IRS wrote in a court filing that the agency would not revoke the churches’ nonprofit status. The filing does not end the prohibition—and has already sparked at least one legal challenge—but some churches are celebrating what they see as a major victory that ends 71 years of religious persecution.”

Many churches today, however, were already endorsing.  One of the biggest issues with this is that churches are endorsing 1 candidate, when there may be many other good candidates running on the same platform during the primary.  This is done, falling in line with a big move by Texas money to take over and get candidates that are extreme, many are TEXIT candidates, and have an agenda that is directly set to divide.

Are we going the way of Ireland in the 60’s?  Possibly. 

Are we truly fulfilling Jesus Great Commission on our way?  Not even close.

Recently, while, sitting in a room full of Christian leaders, I had a sick feeling in my stomach when I realized that their agenda wasn’t about changing hearts and lives, but about pushing their religious/political ideology onto a particularly vulnerable group.   While the effort did not appear to be bad or wrong, it shifts closer to the divide.

While the term Christian Nationalism carries many definitions, what concerns me is when our nationalism takes precedence over our devotion to Jesus and our call as Christians.  And let me be clear, I love our nation.  

Our end goal should be “a great nation with God’s righteous laws at its heart” as Emma Stark states in her book.  As such our very first responsibility is to build the church, the body of Christ, and change hearts and lives, the eternity of everyone we meet.  Then secondarily take biblical principles into the world. 

On a side note, Emma Stark, was expelled by a group of ‘prophets’ for a prophetic word she gave at the time of the election last year.  So far, her prophecy has proven to be correct.  The end of it is yet to be seen but wouldn’t surprise me at all.  She has received a lot of negative backlash over her warnings that America may be going the way of Ireland, but she ain’t wrong!