What Scripture Says About Believers Running for Public Office
Christian beliefs and the daily political cycle appear to be running closer together than ever before.
Turning Point USA Founder, Charlie Kirk, and president of Amerisearch, William Federer, explain why the notion that “just caring about the gospel and not government and politics is misguided.”
During a recent Turning Point USA, Kirk asked the question, “What is the biblical reason we should care about America?” A topic that many Christians are divided on, Federer explains the answer is clear throughout Scripture.
Federer dubbed Numbers 30 as the chapter that highlights “silence equals consent.” In verse 3-5, the Bible talks about a woman making a vow to the Lord and she binds herself to an agreement. If her father hears the vow and says nothing, then she is bound to that law. If the father overrules the vow, the daughter is discharged and the Lord does not hold her accountable.
“Like at wedding ceremonies, your silence gives consent to the vow,” Federer says.
During the conversation between Kirk and Federer, the point was made that, in our present day, if the church members know people are killing babies willfully and they are silent, they are held accountable for that sin.
Some non-believers espouse the ideology that if you’re really a Christian, then you will let them teach your children about transgender rights—out of love.
“Yeah, if you’re really Christian you’ll tolerate the LBGTQ agenda being taught to the kids. Question, would Jesus teach that to the kids?” Federer asked.
Federer also quoted Matthew 18:6, which reads: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Federer went on to say that, “Jesus taught them that in the beginning God made them male and female.”
The two speakers urged their audience to read the living Word of God and to see for themselves what Jesus said on these hot topics broiling in our culture today.
Federer asked, “Who are you going to believe?”
Taking a look down the pages of history, we can learn a fascinating truth from the brothers Peter and Frederick Muhlenberg. Peter was a preacher who encouraged the men in the congregation that “There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray; but there is also a time to fight, and that time has now come.”
The preacher removed his clerical robes, displaying his militia uniform and gathered 300 men from his congregation for what became the Eighth Virginia Regiment. Peter’s brother Frederick told him “You are getting involved in things which as a preacher you have nothing whatsoever to do.”
Kirk and Federer debunked a point many Christians bring up today that Frederick also told his impassioned brother, “I just can’t serve two masters.”
When the British invaded New York they burned Frederick’s church to the ground, it became a moment when politics and the church collided a little too close to home, so he decided it was time to get involved.
Frederick joined his brother in the political fight and voters elected him to congress as the first speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the same seat held by Speaker Nancy Pelosi today.
Federer finished his conversation on the topic with Kirk by noting that when Frederick decided to get involved in the politics of the day, he was used to change the course of history. He helped to pass the First Amendment to the Constitution and put “handcuffs placed by the state on the federal government.”
Because of his pursuit of this ideal, Congress can make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, the freedom of speech and assembly.
When political agendas hit a little too close to home, those are the very laws that Christians stand on today to proclaim their governmental right to join together in their churches and worship Jesus. {eoa}
Shelby Lindsay is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
