DO POLITICS AND RELIGION MIX ?

DO politics and religion mix ?
CAN politics and religion mix ?

Yes, politics and religion can mix !
Yes, politics and religion do mix !

Politics influences religion.
Religion influences politics.

Facts of history show both,
unmistakably, for good, for bad (evil).

Say whatever you want about avoiding religion and politics,
not mixing politics and religion.
It is a different story—to observe, talk, apply Christianity and politics.

Christians are called, commissioned to “go into all the world with influence, with the gospel.”
“Light not hidden” is not, cannot be, selective in its involvement, its reach, its impact.
Salt as well—presence is felt wherever it is (except inside the salt shaker).

The Christian church, from its beginning, influenced politics, locally and worldwide.
The people of the city (Thessalonica, in Greece) were extremely concerned that “these who have turned the world upside down have come here.”

In a few centuries, when the momentum, the pendulum, of politics swung with the growing church—in favor of the church—the church had the support of the government—with amazing developments.
Politics and religion not only mixed, they merged.
And that was good.
And that was bad.
And that was ugly.

Good—more people heard the gospel, the good news about Jesus, and joined the church.

Bad—the church grew, and grew powerful, and church leaders gained power, and wanted more power.

Ugly—the church, the church leaders with this power got control, absolute control of the people.

“Power corrupts—absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The church leaders used their power to do anything they wanted to anyone who disagreed with them—ugly—deadly.

The worst, the ugliest, part of this:
This absolute power, this absolute control over the people, included absolute power and control of their spiritual lives.
X – The church prevented the people from reading the Bible in their own language, by limiting it to Latin only, in the church building only.
X – The church made up their own rules about sin and salvation, adding to the Bible, changing the Bible, against the teaching of the Bible.
X – The church made the people poor—deceiving, manipulating, blackmailing them with selling forgiveness for money—and this made the church rich, and the leaders very rich.
X – The church teachings and practices endangered more people’s souls than they saved.

Martin Luther became restless in his soul over the misguided teachings in the church—teachings from the devil, because he could not find peace, until he re-discovered grace alone through faith alone from the Bible alone.
The church does not save anyone.
The church does not set the rules to save anyone.
The church tells what the Bible says to get saved.
The church tells the people to read, study, obey what the Bible says.

Sad to say, much of the dangerous, misguided control over people by the church still runs rampant today.
Teaching and style and ritual and show and emotion and volume and belonging to something big, promise people they are okay with God—outright or implied.

Some churches get it right—they use the Bible for every teaching, every service, every message to their people, in every home, and to the community.
Many churches compromise the Bible—they do not clearly base everything on the Bible, and entertain a little of cultural ideas, and then a little more, until they fit in with the world around them.

So—Politics and Christianity ?

For Christians there is plenty in the Bible to convict us of our sin, for repentance from our sin, to power over our sin, to judging sin around us, to bringing others to Jesus, to “striving against sin” wherever we are, even “resisting to the point of shedding blood.”

“The Christian is to show the prince how to bear the sword.”—–Luther