“Jesus is Lord”, is the most political statement available in the Bible.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:9-11
The Old Testament is filled with the ministry of the prophets speaking truth to power from outside and within government. One of Paul's ultimate ministry goal's was to preach the gospel in Rome and his appeal to Caesar most certainly contained the hope preaching to the emperor. Revelations, the last book of the Bible is a deeply subversive message against empire, powers and principalities written by a prisoner of Rome.
A faithful biblical ministry will contain a bi-partisan critique of cultural issues and speak to how people are living out their lives. The Gospel isn't just for the soul and eternity but also calls for God's people to work for God's will to be done and His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. That witness isn't about a political party but about justice, truth and prophetic accountability in all spheres of life. Love calls us to engage law, because people's lives are impacted by government, to do less, is to fail to be relevant to the times in which we live.
Lynn, on Facebook said:
If Eric Bauer finds this to be legitimate justification, he needs to leave the USA and move to Iran or Israel or … When the Old Testament is justification for the actions of my political leaders we are all in big trouble. I have nothing against speaking truth to power.
Lynn, as a conservative leaning libertarian, I do not endorse any shades of political dominion or theocracy. My point was to argue that the OT and the NT clearly are political. E whole earth is the Lord’s already and His people live under His rule in Iran, Israel or the USA, irrespective of who is in power. God chose Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh and Cyrus as His instruments purpose, He isn’t dependent on some form of Christian dominionism or Sharia like fundamentalism to see His kingdom come and His will be done. My point was the pulpit is prophetic to power and place be it in the church or the public square.
Eric, isn’t it interesting that no one commented on my fairly strong statement about preaching on politics, yet you got a very confrontational response. I thought we were saying much the same thing, just using different Biblical examples…
It was interesting, I guess being a bearded man means I’m probably more needful of being told I need to “leave the country and move to Iran”.