Gems from the North (15) - No Christian Ayotollahs Please

Here is a quotation that is never used by those who like to cite Gary North as an example of a Christian Ayatollah.

What it means is that the long-term goal of Christians should be the preaching of the comprehensive gospel of salvation, including the supernatural healing of all institutions. Christians should also pray for and expect a huge revival, so that a vast majority of Americans will convert to saving faith in Jesus Christ. If this future postmillennial revival does not take place, then any attempt to establish a national covenant will fail, long-term. It is not our job as Christians to ram religion down everyone’s throat. We must recognize that if postmillennialism is wrong, then the pursuit of the national covenant really is utopian. Worse; it would require massive coercion or deception. We dare not imitate the deceptive strategy of James Madison and his national covenant-breaking accomplices. We also dare not be premature, as Cromwell was.

The first step is to adopt a slogan. Every revolution needs slogans. Here is mine: politics fourth. First comes personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (not just Savior). Second comes Church renewal. There can be no successful reformation of society without first beginning a reformation of the Church. Third comes family renewal. This involves pulling your children out of the public schools. Fourth comes local politics… From there we go to state and national politics. Before national political renewal can begin, we must first do what we can to make it clear to the politicians and the national government that a major religious transformation has already taken place. Without the widespread movement of the Holy Spirit, this cannot happen (Political Polytheism pp.558,559).

As the Christian humanist pendulum is swinging back to the left, I see Christians becoming more and more enthusiastic about using the power of the state to sort out the problems of the world. This is very dangerous. Without a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, social transformation cannot come. We must not make the same mistake as Cromwell and rush ahead of the Holy Spirit. He does not want us shoving our religion down the throat of an unwilling world.