Have you ever accused someone of being political? Or, have you ever been accused of being political? If so, you are probably not alone, in this polarized jittery culture.
From slick politicians telling the masses what they want to hear, to innocent farmers just having an opinion on moral issues, it seems that accusations of partisanship are flying around like polarized projectiles!
To help us cut through the fluff, I have put together a simple article to help you know if you are being political or not, and what your punishment should be if you are.
What Does it Mean to be Political?
When most people want to talk politics, they often want to lecture others on their views and have those people agree with them. These people are not good listeners.
Being political sometimes means that people look at a problem or situation and ask “How can I profit off of this? Or how can I make myself look good through this problem? It is notoriously self-centered. A more noble way to approach problems is to ask “How can we fix it?” or “What is God calling us to do together?”
Politicization is the last refuge of the scoundrel. To “politicize” something — hurricanes, intelligence, science, football, gun violence — is to render it political in a way that distorts its true meaning. That, at least, seems to be the reasoning of those who use the term as an insult: We adhere to pristine, unadulterated facts and call for unity; they politicize those facts for partisan gain and divide us even more.
An issue is "politicized" when it's used in an opportunistic way rather than a principled way.
For some, being political means they see this world as their only home and thus they want to control it. They don’t believe Jesus is coming again, and their long-range plan does not include heaven or eternal rewards for right and wrong. This world is all they have, with a hole in the ground their final destination.
Being political means you seek human solutions, where only a divine one exists.
Being political means you turn government administration into some sort of sport or popularity contest, rooting for your side and condemning the opponents as vile creatures. It leads to hating the other side more than you love your own, the very definition of a cult.
The Political Mob
The rise of political mobs or cults is intertwined with the decline of religion. The political cults aren't necessarily attracting atheists or agnostics, though there are plenty of both, rather they're drawing a growing number of people who may be formally religious, but who aren't finding inspiration in faith. What do you do when salvation, the Bible, and the Advent Movement don't move you? You find something that does.
American politicization is religion for the irreligious. Politics can be used to suppress or protect religion, but it's not a religious experience in itself. It is a management tool, and we should pray for good managers.
Power is the deity of the political mob. Its messianic vision longs for the seizure of power. Like most cults, its ‘theology’ is the right side of history. Its scripture is rhetoric. And its hope is shadowed in hatred. It curses the darkness of its opposition and lights no candles.
The desire for power in a political mob is really a desire for power over others. The despair at the root of political mobs is fed by an apathy that eventually sickens even its perpetrators, destroys their souls, and siphons away their energies into the black hole of hostility. As the sanctuary on earth was patterned after the one in heaven, political mobs are a pattern of Satan’s revolt in heaven, who sought to be ‘elected’ by a majority of angels.
Political mobs turn politics into an end whereas America originally intended that they were a means.
To the political mob, politics is all that matters. Politics takes on an outsized dimension encompassing human history and overshadowing theology and religion. Only politics can save or destroy us, is the cult's message. In a hyper-politicized culture it is a compelling message. It's also false.
Politics is not redemptive. It does not save us. It has no cross, and no Savior.
Observations
Observe problems in our culture from a biblical worldview. Keep one foot on the Bible at all times, that will keep you from falling into the black hole of political mobbery (my word).
How do we fix the culture? We can’t. Listen up, social justice warriors. We can’t fix society because it is ruled by the god of this world. We will do what we can to relieve suffering, but we cannot fix society.
Light a candle rather than curse the darkness. How do we do that? Recommend a saving relationship with Jesus and greater dependence on the Bible. That alone will bring peace into our lives.
The tagline for Fulcrum7 is “Your Scriptural Pivot Point.”
Notice it doesn’t say political pivot point.
Events that prompt us to do some soul searching or do something you would not ordinarily do are pivot points. Our goal as Christians is to motivate people to a greater dependence on the Word of God—and to find their pivot point in Scripture.
Politics does not encourage people, or motivate them to a greater faith in the Word of God. It is looking for a human solution to a spiritual problem. There are none.
Political correctness is salvation by works, if there ever was one. It is always political and rarely correct.
Sometimes political zealots in the church (of which we have a heavy infestation in RL departments and NAD leadership, in general) will accuse you of being political because your biblical perspective on moral issues disagrees with theirs. That’s nonsense. Ignore them, and cling to your Bible.
Don’t be political, friends, be ethical. Biblically ethical. Be an observer of the culture around you from a biblical perspective. If we observe a problem in the world and suggest an ethical solution for it, we aren’t necessarily being political.
If you say “I think killing children in the womb is wrong” that isn’t being political. It’s being moral. If you say “I believe drag queen story hour for children is wrong and it is child abuse” that doesn’t mean you are political. It usually means you have a brain.
We don’t need the bread and circuses of the political elites. What we do need is the Bread of Life.
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“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying all power is given unto Me in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18).
“Who has the heart? With whom are our thoughts? Of whom do we love to converse? Who has our warmest affections and our best energies? If we are Christ's, our thoughts are with Him, and our sweetest thoughts are of Him. All we have and are is consecrated to Him” (SC 58.2).