When politics starts to appropriate scripture to defend its cause, danger is close.
One of the joys of reading through the Bible is that I run into scripture passages that trigger all sorts of thoughts. These are passages that I might not have thought to consider under normal circumstances.
This is what happened on August 14 – just a few weeks ago.
My reading in the Psalms was the 2nd half of Psalm 33. The section opened up
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…”
As I read it, I thought it sounded really familiar. I couldn’t figure out where I had come across it recently.
Then it hit me. This is an election year, and I must have seen it in some kind of political advertisement. It’s a way of claiming “divine approval” over a candidate or a political party and its platform.
In short… If you elect me, I’ll do things that God approves and then we can all claim the blessings of Psalm 33:12. Blessed nation and all that jazz.
I have two major issues with this.
First, it’s poor handling of scripture. The psalmist does say those words, but he goes on in the same thought to provide more clarity about what he means:
“…the people whom He has chosen as His heritage.”
The only people/nation God chose was the nation of Israel. This isn’t a generally applicable spiritual principle. It’s a very specific principle that has a very narrow application.
If you’ve read Study the Bible – Six Easy Steps, you know that I go into a fair amount of detail on how to apply scripture. And this is a classic scenario of not following the rules for how to make an application.
The psalmist is NOT saying “Make God the ruler of your nation and you will be blessed.” He is saying “God has chosen Israel and is their God, therefore they are blessed.”
Do you see the difference?
It’s big. And in a political season, It’s critical that we have clear eyes to understand what God has said.
My second issue is the fact that politicians have started to view Christians as a “demographic group” and try to appeal to them through pseudo spiritual speak. This consumerization makes for a very dangerous situation for believers.
We do not find salvation in human institutions. They are all temporary and will be destroyed when Jesus comes again. Yes, they are important parts of how we manage the affairs of life around us, but we need to remember that they are also fallen and subject to the influence of the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Instead we also need to remember that we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20) and all our hope is in Jesus. This is an important distinction. We are just getting by until Jesus comes again to make things right.
I’m not saying we should avoid politics. I’m not advocating for a specific party. I am absolutely saying that we need to maintain a Biblical perspective.
So back to the email subject line. When political organizations start to wield scripture as a way of garnering votes, it’s a terrible mix. A Toxic Brew. Their purpose is not edification, it’s winning and accumulating power. And if the purpose is off, then everything that follows will be wrong as well.
I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the political ads. If you’re outside of the US, maybe that’s a blessing for you. But I would encourage you to be like the Bereans: “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
Do your research daily to ensure that what you are hearing is indeed the water of life.
Dennis
