In the Christian worldview, should Christians get involved with politics or the law making process? Or is politics dirty and hence Christians should stay clear of it? Must a Christian who chooses to get involved with politics or governance of any sort divorce his values from his state duties? The answer to this question can be found in the stories of three characters from scripture and how they affected national and international policies of nations and kingdoms. We do not have enough time to consider the lives of these great men but we will touch on their examples in a summary manner and maybe make a few inferences. They are Nehemiah, Daniel and Joseph. We could also add Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah the three friends of Daniel but that would take much more time so we’ll focus on the three. These were all government officials of the highest ranks in their respective governments. From their examples it is clear that Christians can get involved with government, governance and leadership. Sometimes they spoke out against immoral laws and other times they protested by refusing to partake of a negative policies like Daniel’s refusal to obey the policy of bowing down to an image of the king. In Joseph’s case, he just interpreted a dream and it catapulted him into economic policy making role where he crafted God’s policies and preserved the then known world from extinction through famine.
Dan 2:48-49 Then the king made Daniel great and gave him many great gifts, and he made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. (49) And Daniel requested of the king and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained in the gate of the king [at the king’s court].
Jesus Christ called Daniel a prophet in Mat 24:15. This was a bit strange because No he was a government official and never stepped into any church to give any prophecy? He was a government official all His life.
Why then did Jesus call him a prophet? To answer this question, we must first understand that a prophet is not simply someone who speaks of future happenings in churches. On a more practical and basic level, a prophet is simply one who had insight into the mind of God. This person with this insight could be either operative in a church or in government like Daniel or in the artistic industry etc. The five-fold ministry gifts are not only called to operate within the environment of a church building. This is because the church of Christ which is His body operates in different spheres of society and not just within an institutionalized church structure. Hence the five-fold ministry gifts are called to operate in other environments such as in the arts or in business. Daniel, Joseph, Nehemiah, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah etc were all called to serve God in government. In these environments, they are able to serve God by equipping the saints in that environment with what they need to serve in these environments till they come to the full stature of the fullness of Christ.
With that said, outside of special individuals with special callings to national and regional, international and global government/governance regimes, all Christians have a duty to make sure that the righteous rule or at the very least that the laws that govern their nations are moral and in accordance with the spirit of scripture. They can do this through participating in referendums and voting or writing letters to their parliamentary representatives. In the absence of taking responsibility for our nations and continents, a vacuum is created for wicked laws and people to reign.
When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan. –(Pro 29:2)
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the [uncompromisingly] righteous, lest the righteous (God’s people) stretch forth their hands to iniquity and apostasy. –(Psa 125:3)
The earth is God’s but he has given it to us and we are expected to be good stewards of it. We are to be good stewards of our nations, cities, villages, families etc. and we will give account to God for every form of decay we allowed to take place on our watch without praying or acting. We are salt and salt stops the decay unless we have lost our saltiness. We are the light of the world and darkness should not rule on our watch. Atheists and such groups blame God for the chaos on earth but he is not to blame for the wars and decay. If anyone is to blame, it’s those he left in charge of the earth. It is those who are salt and light and refuse to apply their saltiness or light to the problems of their day. If we see a challenge in our society, we can pray about it and ask the Holy Spirit for courage and direction as to how to tackle the problem. He will see our hearts and answer us. Another way to indirectly affect a nation is by engaging in soul saving evangelism. The more the critical mass of the population knows Christ, the more Godly-values will permeate the fabric of a nation and just laws will result. Everybody keeps talking about the emergence of China as an emerging super power. Look at the following quote in a new book by an economic and financial British historian about what a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has to say about the former glory days of Europe and America:
Dominic Lawson’s review in the Sunday Times of Niall Ferguson’s new book, ‘Civilisation: The West and the Rest’, refers to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences twenty year study of western society in an attempt to account for its success. An official of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said:
‘One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system.
But in the past twenty years, we have realised that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West is so powerful.
The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.’
