What about ungodly leaders?

A great deal of confusion exists over the idea of the separation of church and state. Laws concerning this issue were enacted to protect the church from government interference. That is, the church was not to be a political entity or tool for political manipulation and gave freedom to believe and practice to all.

However, many suppose this means that those who are Christian should have no say in politics, particularly if their religion affects the lives of those without faith. That is, the church should stay out of government and political issues. I’ve heard a few opinions that declare Christians have no business being involved at all because their faith is going to “ruin” things.  (Link to Helpful article)

In the time of the New Testament, Roman rule prevailed, but the Jews were ruled directly by their own high priest and his cohorts in the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. That is, the government took care of one part of life and the high priests ruled religious matters, another part of life. The high priests mentioned are Annas, the high priest emeritus, who was father-in-law to Caiaphas, the ruling high priest at the time of the trial of Christ.

So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. (John 18:12–14)

Their efforts to destroy Jesus Christ and be rid of those who believed in Him failed. After His death and resurrection, the disciples began preaching the Gospel . . .

But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. (Acts 4:4–11)

The boldness of Peter and John convinced these religious leaders that these uneducated, ordinary men had been with Jesus. They saw a man healed and could not refute what was happening, so decided to warn the disciples by charging them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:13–20)

Later, Paul was sharing Christ and the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” He was rebuked for speaking against God’s high priest and respectfully replied, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” (Acts 23:2–5)

It is my observation many think religion is okay if it is kept in that compartment. Christianity creates a problem with compartments. Faith in Christ is not about ‘church on Sunday and do whatever you please the rest of the week.’ It is about a changed life, a renewed mind and attitude that affects every area of life. It is about justice, mercy, treating others with godly love and righteousness without being respecters of persons. Put a person like that into politics, where the biggest concern is often about power, and that person or anyone who speak the truth from God is a threat to those who refuse to listen to God and want their own way.

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Jesus, Your Word tells me to respect and obey those in authority and pray for them. If I am called to speak up, I need the power of the Holy Spirit to do it in a godly manner. Your Word levels humanity and some of the powers that exist do not want that good news to be heard. Grant Your people the grace to relate to authority with a biblical attitude, praying and speaking the truth in love and with great wisdom and courage.

One way church and state must mix

Sometimes the Old Testament prophets seem to speak in riddles. I had to do a little homework to understand the ideas expressed in my devotional reading for today. It is Isaiah 28:16-17 and says:

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.”

In those days, the people of Judah had developed a carelessness in their spiritual lives. The leaders were responsible to guide and keep the people concerned about godliness, but they were not doing their job and instead boasted of several things. One was that they claimed to have made a covenant with death so the scourge (punishment God was going to send via the Assyrians) could not touch them. In their deceived and deceptive state, a lie had become their refuge.

One of my books explains that in this passage, Isaiah was using imagery rich with the symbolism of Semitic mythology. For example, the Ugaritic pantheon personified death as the god of the underworld. The leaders of Judah were trusting such gods to save them from the coming Assyrian invasion. History proves that their faith in these false gods was entirely futile.

In these verses, God speaks of a stone and the sure foundation. Most Bible scholars say that is pointing to Jesus Christ, the only basis for physical and spiritual salvation. (Isaiah may have understood that this cornerstone was the Messiah, or maybe understood it as genuine belief in the Lord, but other passages point to Christ as the Cornerstone, such as Zechariah 10:4, Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Peter 2:6.)

In these verses, the Lord also responds to their boasting. He was not going to let them get away with shoddy leadership. He says their covenant with death would be annulled, their lie swept away, and their defeat was certain.

In today’s world, our political leaders are supposed to be concerned with what is best for the people too. To do that, they must care about justice and they must set a good example. Unfortunately, separation of church and state leaves spiritual care off all political to-do lists, but this rule about separation seems to go even farther and give some leaders an excuse for thinking they are exempt from the laws of God.

I can’t point fingers but I read that a government official in Washington, D.C. once quipped, “We have three parties in this city: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the cocktail party.” The same story (from Willpower’s Not Enough, Harper & Row, 1989; p. 13) says that Washington, D.C. is high on the list of cities noted for alcohol consumption.

This same source says (at that time) alcohol and nicotine kill 450,000 people annually, while illegal drugs kill about 6,000. Of course illegal drugs are unacceptable, but this raises a question: Is there any hope for the leaders of an affluent, pleasure-loving society that gives lip service to religion and ignores the tragic consequences of their own behavior? If God is going to judge us on the basis of our behavior, what will happen to them, and to us?

My devotional book comments on the way God will measure a person’s religion. These verses in Isaiah hint that it will be by the Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the plumb line that determines what is straight and what is crooked. While He was often seen eating and drinking with sinners, His leadership was not marked by alcohol consumption or nicotine. Instead, He was “anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).

Today’s political and religious leaders are bedfellows in one sense; far too many leaders in both realms are more concerned with popularity and power than they are with doing good and opposing evil. I’m wondering if God will deal with both in the same manner that He dealt with His people in Isaiah’s time? Will He annul all false hopes, sweep away all lies? Will He send another nation (even one more evil) to defeat all arrogance and self-confidence?

I hope not. I hope that there are many honest leaders in our land, people of integrity who want to do what is right and want to lead the people with justice, leaders who are without spiritual idolatry, covetousness, presumption, false hopes, and vain props.

For those who are, leading as God desires leadership is not easy. I’m not a leader, just an ordinary person who wants to do what is right and just, and who wants to be personally moral and live a godly life, yet I am in a continual battle to do so. If this is tough for me, those who are on the front lines must struggle even more to do what is right. How can I be an influence for good in all of this? 1 Timothy 2:1-4 gives me the answer:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Christians, even ordinary ones who feel that they don’t know a thing about political or spiritual leadership, can pray for those who are up there, even those who are not doing their job very well or those who are resisting goodness. We must do this, first that they know and live the truth, but also remembering that when God deals with their folly, it will not only affect them, but us as well.

More powerful than the right to vote

While I’ve not taken a poll on it, I’d say most people would vote for separation of church and state. What many do not realize is that the reasons for this separation have changed over the years.

It used to be that the state got involved in religion. One notable example is Constantine who decreed that everyone under his rule must “become a Christian.” In other times and other places, government involved itself in other ways. The king of England, James, was behind the Bible being translated into English, thus we have the King James Bible. Over the years, some of that involvement turned sour, so in order to protect the church, governments passed laws of separation.

Today the reverse reasoning prevails. Rather than government staying out of the church, the church is not to interfere with government. Anyone in political leadership must never allow their religious beliefs to color their decisions, and in many cases, even sharing what they believe is discouraged.

As a Christian, I don’t want the government telling me what to believe or how to practice my faith. My King is Jesus Christ, not the leader of a political party. The shift in “separation of church and state” seems to protect that, at least in this country, but it is not true elsewhere. Some countries do not allow anyone to proclaim or practice Christianity, and in many places and for political reasons, those who do are persecuted and even martyred.

As a Christian, I’ve wondered how a Christian leader (or even a leader with a different faith) can fully obey these rules about separation. If anyone really believes what they say they believe, it affects the way they think, how they talk, and how they live. In fact, in Christianity, if our beliefs don’t affect our actions, the world calls us hypocrites, and rightly so. Because of that, it amazes me that the same people who would charge me of hypocrisy for not practicing what I believe, also demand that Christian politicians be hypocrites!

Mondays I pray for governments and politicians in my country and in other places. I do this for two main reasons. One, it is commanded and exemplified in Scripture. In the Old Testament when Jacob and the Israelites had to go to Egypt to survive a famine in their own land, “Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” (Genesis 47:7)

Here is a deeply religious man blessing a leader who had a religion of another sort. Sure, he was given a place to live and had a sense of obligation, but he did it not once but twice during this meeting. Do we, Christian or otherwise, bless those who are in political authority over us? Most of the time I hear complaining about the government, not blessing.

In the New Testament Paul writes Timothy with these instructions, “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Instead of railing against my government (and freedom of speech in this country allows even that), I’m to pray for our leaders, even bless them like Jacob blessed Pharaoh. While I have the right to protest bad decisions, exercising my rights is not nearly so important as obeying God.

I’ve wondered what differences would prayer make in the way a country is run. What would happen if everyone who lived here offered blessing and prayers for our leadership? In the case of Jacob, his people enjoyed protection and care for several hundred years. My conclusion is that at the polls, my vote may seem politically insignificant, but the Bible affirms that on my knees, my prayers have a great deal of clout!