Men of faith should be involved in politics -- Moses is proof

By Bryan Fischer

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Moses is a figure who towers over biblical history and world history, widely recognized, even by secular sources, as the greatest lawgiver of all time.

His writings were frequently cited by the founders of Christianity, beginning with Christ himself. He is described as a "man of God," and had the rare distinction of speaking with God face to face, "as a man speaks with a man."

Here's the kicker: when God called this man of faith, this giant of faith, he called him into politics.

God did not call him to start a church, or an evangelistic endeavor, or a soup kitchen. He called him to build and lead a nation. He called him to speak truth to political power and lead his people from political bondage to political freedom.

God called Moses to free his people from the heavy and oppressive hand of a tyrannical government which was taxing the labor of people beyond their ability to bear. (Note: do we need another Moses today or what?)

It's time to get over this silliness we hear from many Christians, even Christian leaders, that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics.

This view is foolish on its face, since it means that these folk actually seem to believe we should just turn over the running of the entire country, at every level, to atheists, pagans and secular fundamentalists.

Now this even can be a convenience for certain preachers, because they can continue to use the inevitable results of such godless leadership as sermon illustrations of just how bad things are, while at the same time condemning any people of faith who want to wade in and actually do something about cleaning up the mess.

Not only is this view foolish, it is dangerously unbiblical. To say that men of faith should not be involved in politics is to accuse God of malfeasance, since the biblical record shows he sent more people into politics than anybody.

Joseph, Moses, Joshua, all the judges, David, Solomon, all the kings of Judah, Nehemiah, Daniel, etc. etc., all of them were destined by God himself to make their impact in the world of public policy.

If the principle is that godly men shouldn't be involved in politics, then God is history's biggest offender. If Christian preachers are looking for someone to criticize for mixing faith and politics, they had best start with God. Good luck with that.

You can't even get away from this truth by taking refuge in the prophets of old, since much of their messaging was addressed to kings and others in political power. And they not only had the cheek, as preachers, to publicly rebuke politicians, they even had the temerity to rebuke the politicians of other countries.

They knew that every bit of political power exercised by kings had been given to them by God, and that it was entirely appropriate to evaluate these politicians according to one simple set of criteria: were they using their political power to do what was good or what was evil in the sight of God?

And you can't even escape this truth by turning to the pages of the New Testament. John the Baptist publicly rebuked Herod for his personal sexual and marital foibles. Jesus called Herod a "fox," which was a metaphor for someone who is sly, sneaky and devious. He did not mean it as a compliment.

And Jesus openly clashed with the politicians of his day, the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and the whole Sanhedrin. And make no mistake, they were politicians one and all. They passed laws that affected the details of everyday life, and they had the power of arrest, incarceration, trial and punishment. The only reason they went to Pilate with regard to Jesus is that they wanted him dead and the death penalty was the one punishment they could only inflict with Roman authorization.

We know from Romans 13 that all political power comes from God. Who should have a greater interest in how the power of God is used, or misused, than the people of God?

So let's be done with this naive and simplistic idea that men of God should not be involved in politics. To borrow phraseology from C.S. Lewis, God has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)

© Bryan Fischer