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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman The
Political Gospel Paul's letter to the Galatian Christians was penned
to counteract a heretical gospel that promoted obedience to the Law of
Moses for the purpose of salvation.
A serious study of Galatians shows us that obedience to any law,
church laws included, for the purpose of salvation is heretical.
The sad historical fact is that throughout the history of the
church, forms of this heresy
have abounded, and today is no exception to this abuse. It is my belief that much of Evangelical Christianity
today is replacing the true gospel of Jesus with a political gospel in
the hope that it will Christianize a nation.
Beside the fact that you will not find such thing as a Christian
nation being taught in the New Testament, nations cannot be Christian.
Only people can be Christian.
Jesus did not die on the cross to redeem and save nations.
His death was meant to redeem and save individual people. Attempting to Christianize a nation through political
and legislative means is no different than the heresy Paul was fighting
against, as seen in his letter to the Galatians.
One, and especially a nation, cannot be saved through obedience
to law, and that includes government laws.
One is only saved when he hands his life over to Jesus and
receives the Holy Spirit into his life.
A nation has no human life in which the Spirit of God can live. If the Law of Moses, that is, God's temporary law to
the Jews, could not bring salvation to the Jews, our legislative laws
cannot bring salvation to a person, and especially to a nation.
External laws may curb certain abuses and sins but they cannot
change the heart of man. Only
the indwelling Holy Spirit, in conjunction with God's Word, can do that.
If it is your desire to make your nation more
Christian than it is, then lead as many people as you can to Jesus.
Every person who is transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit
places a nation one step towards your desire to see your nation look
Christian. Besides all that I have said, history tells us that
attempts at Christianizing a nation through political decrees will
backfire. It does more harm
than good to the cause of Christ. We
have seen this in the Christianization of the "But
even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the
one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!"
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