About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

Who Is The Prophetic Voice?  

History provides us with examples of how the church has attempted to form an alliance with the state.  In some instances the church has created its own so-called Christian state, something that was unheard of in the first couple of hundred years of its history.  Back then the church viewed the state in opposition to all things Biblical, and for good reason.  That all changed in the fourth century when the Roman Empire compelled its citizens to be Christians by making Christianity its one and only legal religion.  One of many results of this fusion of church and state was the idea that government leaders are a prophetic voice to a nation, meaning, God speaks to the people through government.     

In a backlash to such thinking much of the Evangelical Christian world in which I was raised believed that Christian involvement in politics was an ungodly endeavor.  That was my frame of reference until the late 1970's when I was influenced by the American political movement known as the Christian Conservative Right.  Adherents to this movement maintained that the lack of Biblical influence in culture was due to the lack of Christian involvement in politics.       

Over the decades I have noticed that some Christians tend to get overly caught up in issues and movements that result in a pendulum swing away from a balanced Biblical mindset.  I believe this unbalanced mindset is seen among many American and Canadian Evangelical Christians today who are blurring the distinction between the kingdoms of men and the Kingdom of God.  Biblically speaking, kingdoms and nations have always been opposed to the will of God to one degree or another.  I agree that Canada, America, and the West, have been influenced by Biblical thought, but being influenced by the Bible makes no one and no nation Christian.         

Those who keep up with the news of the day will realize that our western world media now views Evangelicals in terms of political conservatism, not in terms of Christian conservatism, as was once the case.  In other words, we as Evangelicals are being seen as a political movement instead of a religious movement.  

As Evangelicals have become more politically active, it is my opinion that they have become more Biblically illiterate.  In the process of political involvement, which by its very nature demands compromise, we have weakened the foundations of our faith.  If the Apostle Paul was alive today he might call the gospel we preach "another gospel," a term he coined in Galatians 1:6.  In many respects the Biblical view of repentance, faith, and the reception of the Holy Spirit into one's life, which is the foundation of our faith, is no longer seen in what the church teaches.    

There is no doubt about it.  God does install and uninstall governments to accomplish His will (Daniel 2:21, 4:24).  That being said, the Bible does not support the idea that government leaders are God's spokesmen or His prophetic voice to a nation, as is falsely claimed by some today.  There is only one prophetic voice to a nation and that is the unified voice of Christians. 

Keeping the kingdoms of men and the Kingdom of God in Biblical balance seems difficult for us to do at times.  They are two separate and distinct identities.  They will be separate and distinct until the day Jesus, not us, causes the kingdoms of men to become the kingdom of our Lord (Revelation 11:15).  Until then, it is our God-given responsibility, both as individuals and as the church, to be His prophetic voice as we maintain a proper Biblical balance between the kingdoms of men and the Kingdom of God.