Political Power

Christians have always been uncertain about what to do with political power.

• The most popular option has been for the church to use political power to impose Christian standards on society. During the middle ages, the Pope was able to impose considerable control over the political leaders of Europe. Because most people believed themselves to be Christian, this was usually accepted. However, when people lost faith, they hated the Catholic church, because they saw it as a controlling organisation, forcing them to do things they did not want to do.

  The same thing happened in the United States, when the Moral Majority gained political influence. Some laws were changed in a Christian direction, but people who did not believe in Jesus started hating the church, because they believed, it was forcing them to behave in a particular way.

  Using political power has not really been a successful option, because it creates hostility to the gospel.

• The other common option has been withdrawal from political power. This leaves the people of the world holding the reins of power. Unrestrained power often leads to evil. In the worst case, Christians are persecuted for their faith.

• These days, most churches have adopted a Goldilocks option: not to hot and not to cold. They get sufficient involvement in political power that they avoid persecution and oppose really bad laws. But they do not get so involved that they can be accused of controlling society, or imposing God’s standards on people who do not believe in him.

  The Goldilocks option tends to produce a slippery slope away from the gospel.

Each of these options tries to answer the question, who should control political power. Should it be the people of the world, or the people of the church?

This is the wrong question. The real problem is not who holds political power. The real problem is with political power itself.

Political power allows one group of people to impose their view on another group of people. That is always wrong, even if the group in control is a majority. God has not given any group of people authority to control other people.

Political power also amplifies the power and control of the spiritual powers of evil that control cities and nations.

Political power is always the problem, not the solution, no matter who exercises it.

In my book, Government of God, I describe a system of government that does not need political power.