POLITICS AND THE PULPIT

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." - 2 Timothy 4:2

I am seeing an alarming trend among churches in America.  During an election cycle, more and more pastors are permitting politicians and politically driven people to occupy their pulpits.  Some would argue that these "guest speakers" are people of faith who are simply giving their testimony.  Some of these men may even be ordained ministers who are political activists.  These men tend to be very vocal on political views and very silent on the Bible.

Am I the only one who finds fault with this?  Politics should be kept out of the pulpit.  The pulpit should be reserved for the preaching of the Word and not the spreading of political dogma.  A pastor should zealously protect his flock and pulpit from being led astray from the Gospel.  We are called to go and make disciples of men, not make Republicans (or Democrats) of men.

The local church should be a sanctuary from the political upheaval of our day, not a facilitator of it.  At church, people should hear the Good News, not political views.

Let me be clear about something, lest I be misunderstood.  Some hot-button issues of our day may be addressed from the pulpit.  It is never wrong to condemn evil in our society.  It is not wrong to preach against sin, even sins that may have political overtones (such as abortion, same-sex marriage and transgender issues).  However, it is wrong for a church to publicly endorse a political candidate. 

The church used to be considered a sacred place.  People used to respect the church.  Now, because of our departure from the Bible, the church has lost her respectability.  The world no longer respects the Church because the Church resembles the world.  We cannot reach the world by acting like the world.

In the Gospels, we read that Jesus cleansed the temple.  I believe that churches need to be cleansed today.  I believe that if Jesus walked to and fro today, He would not be pleased with what He sees in churches.  He would not even be welcome in some churches.  If He were to cleanse the temples in America today, politics would be among the things He would cast out.

Read carefully the Gospels and the book of Acts & you'll find that political opposition and hostility was a regular occurrence.  Despite this, Jesus and His disciples shared the Word with the people, not political opinions.  By the way, political opinions are just that ... opinions.  We have a sure word from the Lord.  That is the Word that is needed desperately today.  Let us not be guilty of feeding the flock pig's slop when they could be nourishing on the meat of the Word.

Although He spoke to specific issues of His day, Jesus refused to get deeply involved in politics.  Instead, He came to meet a greater need --- the spiritual need of precious souls.  Since when has the temporal affairs of this world become more important than the eternal souls of men?

If you play with fire, you will be burned.  Billy Graham learned this the hard way when he aggressively supported Richard Nixon's presidential campaign.  Nixon's private life and political corruption taught Dr. Graham to stay faithful to the Word and stay away from politics.  Today, many preachers are going down a similar path, but the ultimate result will be same.  Let's keep our ministries away from politics and avoid being burned.

The preacher needs to be heard and respected for his preaching ministry.  He needs to keep his ministry clean from worldly influence.  The pulpit is the place where God's Word should be heralded. 

What the world needs desperately today is God's Word, not political rhetoric.