I usually am not into politics and the political rhetoric that surrounds elections because I believe as most do that poilticians are liars by trade. I believe only half of what they say when they are on the campaign trail and seek to dissect their actions by way of prayer and discernment when they are later voted in to office.
But I believe this is the first year that I have been forced to pay attention to what is going on in the political scene more than the previous presidential elections that I have been old enough to vote in. This is the first year that I have realized that my voice as a Christian in this American society has to matter, more than any other. I am not sure why, but I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with the coming of the Kingdom of God, the will of the Father, and the demand for a more public response by the redeemed.
At the beginning of the bids for presidential nominees from both major parties on the political landscape of America back in 2006, I did not have a desire to see Barack Obama or John McCain voted in as president. I looked at Hilary Clinton, primarily because I truly felt that this country needed a woman's leadership (and still does). But when she lost the Democratic nomination and Barack Obama pushed ahead to win that victory, I realized that on many levels I needed to consider what my response should be.
The first response I had to give was my position as a Christian Black woman on the major issues plaguing this country that needs Godly leadership and intervention on: abortion, the war in Iraq, United States militarism, racism, poverty, education, and the economy (to name a few). These things definitely matter to me, and in my heart, I believe they matter to God. These things have affected this country in many negative, self-destructive ways, and we are in need of better leadership than what the Republican and the Democratic parties have presented as viable leaders.
I realized as a second response that I am not privy to either side - to either the Dems or the Repubs. I do not share an affiliation with either point of view. But to be honest, as Shane Claiborne and many in the so-called Emergent Church movement have stood upon and Derek Webb so boldly stated in his song, as a Christian "my first allegiance is not to a flag or to a democracy or blood; it is to a King and a Kingdom." Or as that King stated in His Prayer in John 17:16 (Amplified Version) "They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world."
I stand on these foundations, but the questions I have raised in my mind and heart deal more with the principles I hear represented on some of the Christian talk radio (specifically Bob Duko's show) and in some of the viewpoints of those who share my faith in that King and Kingdom. And I wonder if we have started applying definitions and labels to worldly positions that are inappropriate or unwise or to say the very least, are not God-inspired.
One of the things that I have gathered as I have considered the direction that this country has gone in and the future of this world where I live but do not hold any allegiance to, is that many people think that if you are a Christian you are to be considered part of the "religious right" as we have been labeled or are to boxed in as a "right-wing conservative" which is clearly the position true Republicans hold. If you are truly a Christian then you are truly a Reublican by nature and by virtue of the faith that you uphold. Democrats can be Christian but if they are truly upholding the principles of the Bible there is no way they can stay there and must either be converted to Reublicanism or be identified as Independents in need of conversion.
But what happens if you are indeed a Christian, disagree with pro-choice or the legalization of abortion but also disagree with spending billions of dollars on a war that is simply lining the pockets of some of the Republican elite (i.e. George Bush)? What if the principles on which you stand are not illuminated in the lives and the decisions of those that are supposed to be supporters of that same "religious right"? What if you know in your gut that the people that say they are Christian and are holding political office are not exemplifying the truth of the Kingdom of God as they should be?
How do you vote then?
So...as I have been paying attention to this election more than any other, I have drawn a few conclusions:
(1) I may or may not be Republican, but I am definitely a Christian that believes in the principles of the Kingdom of God and its mandates. God's Kingdom will come, and the kingdoms of this world (including the Empire of the United States of America) will pass away but God's reign will not.
(2) I may or may not support the Democratic agenda of giving a more solid voice to the people of this country in government, but I do support the Kingdom of God infiltrating the government that the voice of God may speak forth a sure Word of change and realignment with the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. (That may mean that the voice of the people is not necessarily saying what God is saying, and we will have to rethink what democracy as a system of a worldly empire truly means.)
(3) Republicanism (myowne word) is not synonymous with Christianity and vice versa. I do not necessarily hold claim to the belief systems of the Republican party because in my lifetime, I have only seen the poor get poorer and the rich get richer under the headship of this party. I have lived in the 'hood (grew up there and my heart for ministry is there), and I see the lives of the marginalized overlooked and unmentioned by this party that says that it stands on the foundation of Christian principles and bylaws. That is not Bible; that is not the Kingdom of God.
(4) There is a battle between the reign and rule of manmade political statues and the reign and rule of God. We have to pick a side to stand on.
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, Amplified Version).
But I believe this is the first year that I have been forced to pay attention to what is going on in the political scene more than the previous presidential elections that I have been old enough to vote in. This is the first year that I have realized that my voice as a Christian in this American society has to matter, more than any other. I am not sure why, but I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with the coming of the Kingdom of God, the will of the Father, and the demand for a more public response by the redeemed.
At the beginning of the bids for presidential nominees from both major parties on the political landscape of America back in 2006, I did not have a desire to see Barack Obama or John McCain voted in as president. I looked at Hilary Clinton, primarily because I truly felt that this country needed a woman's leadership (and still does). But when she lost the Democratic nomination and Barack Obama pushed ahead to win that victory, I realized that on many levels I needed to consider what my response should be.
The first response I had to give was my position as a Christian Black woman on the major issues plaguing this country that needs Godly leadership and intervention on: abortion, the war in Iraq, United States militarism, racism, poverty, education, and the economy (to name a few). These things definitely matter to me, and in my heart, I believe they matter to God. These things have affected this country in many negative, self-destructive ways, and we are in need of better leadership than what the Republican and the Democratic parties have presented as viable leaders.
I realized as a second response that I am not privy to either side - to either the Dems or the Repubs. I do not share an affiliation with either point of view. But to be honest, as Shane Claiborne and many in the so-called Emergent Church movement have stood upon and Derek Webb so boldly stated in his song, as a Christian "my first allegiance is not to a flag or to a democracy or blood; it is to a King and a Kingdom." Or as that King stated in His Prayer in John 17:16 (Amplified Version) "They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world."
I stand on these foundations, but the questions I have raised in my mind and heart deal more with the principles I hear represented on some of the Christian talk radio (specifically Bob Duko's show) and in some of the viewpoints of those who share my faith in that King and Kingdom. And I wonder if we have started applying definitions and labels to worldly positions that are inappropriate or unwise or to say the very least, are not God-inspired.
One of the things that I have gathered as I have considered the direction that this country has gone in and the future of this world where I live but do not hold any allegiance to, is that many people think that if you are a Christian you are to be considered part of the "religious right" as we have been labeled or are to boxed in as a "right-wing conservative" which is clearly the position true Republicans hold. If you are truly a Christian then you are truly a Reublican by nature and by virtue of the faith that you uphold. Democrats can be Christian but if they are truly upholding the principles of the Bible there is no way they can stay there and must either be converted to Reublicanism or be identified as Independents in need of conversion.
But what happens if you are indeed a Christian, disagree with pro-choice or the legalization of abortion but also disagree with spending billions of dollars on a war that is simply lining the pockets of some of the Republican elite (i.e. George Bush)? What if the principles on which you stand are not illuminated in the lives and the decisions of those that are supposed to be supporters of that same "religious right"? What if you know in your gut that the people that say they are Christian and are holding political office are not exemplifying the truth of the Kingdom of God as they should be?
How do you vote then?
So...as I have been paying attention to this election more than any other, I have drawn a few conclusions:
(1) I may or may not be Republican, but I am definitely a Christian that believes in the principles of the Kingdom of God and its mandates. God's Kingdom will come, and the kingdoms of this world (including the Empire of the United States of America) will pass away but God's reign will not.
(2) I may or may not support the Democratic agenda of giving a more solid voice to the people of this country in government, but I do support the Kingdom of God infiltrating the government that the voice of God may speak forth a sure Word of change and realignment with the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. (That may mean that the voice of the people is not necessarily saying what God is saying, and we will have to rethink what democracy as a system of a worldly empire truly means.)
(3) Republicanism (myowne word) is not synonymous with Christianity and vice versa. I do not necessarily hold claim to the belief systems of the Republican party because in my lifetime, I have only seen the poor get poorer and the rich get richer under the headship of this party. I have lived in the 'hood (grew up there and my heart for ministry is there), and I see the lives of the marginalized overlooked and unmentioned by this party that says that it stands on the foundation of Christian principles and bylaws. That is not Bible; that is not the Kingdom of God.
(4) There is a battle between the reign and rule of manmade political statues and the reign and rule of God. We have to pick a side to stand on.
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, Amplified Version).
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