American Christianity

Politically Charged, Racially Divided, But Spiritually Undiscerning

American Christianity is in a desperate devastating state.  We seem to be more committed to our cultures than to Christ.  We seem to be more concerned with what the world thinks than what God’s word states.  Politics drives the thought of the day.  Our political affiliations drive our Christianity instead of our Christianity influencing our politics.  We forget that Jesus is neither a democrat nor republican.  Racism is improperly inserted in places and circumstances where it has no grounds.  Our focus on racism and all that it encompasses keeps us divided.  It blinds us to the real facts that affect how things are and how we live.  What is even more disturbing than our political alignments is that we Christians seem to lack the spiritual discernment to make sense of all the things that take place in our society.   Presently, it seems that hatred is rising among Christians based on political affiliation.  The Bible clearly tells us that if we should not be ignorant of satan’s schemes.  It is this writer’s opinion that we are ignorant to satan’s schemes.  One of his schemes is to keep us divided.  Politics and race are plays that he runs often because they work so well.  Those two subjects keep us divided primarily because we lack the spiritual discernment to see through the deception and to look at the facts.  Our God is clearly against racism, homosexuality, transgenderism, murder, inequality, crimes of all kinds, and whatever else defies God’s word.  God is clearly for the nuclear family as He designed it.  He is clearly against same-sex marriage.  He makes it clear that life begins in the womb.  He affirms womanhood but disdains the derogatory use of women’s sexuality.   He made a marriage to be between a man and a woman.  All of this is in the bible that the mass of churches read from each Sunday. We Christians have great instructions from our great God.  The Bible is clear, yet we are a religion divided.  We are divided first and foremost because we’ve discarded God’s clear instructions in the bible.  We are divided politically because of the various positions of a political party. We are divided racially because racism is no longer mainly about the cause of African Americans.   Racism now includes the LGBTQ agenda.  It includes women’s right to choose the life or death of a child.  It includes the embracing or rejection of illegal immigrants.  Inclusion and diversity are the new buzzwords that cause a divide among those in the body of Christ who are sympathetic to these issues.  What we really lack is discernment.  Throughout the bible, governments have been mostly run by sinful people.  God’s people amid government led to the prosperity of the country because their influence within the government affected how the government functioned.  Those who function in pagan governments never became like the pagans.  Their work and their wisdom pointed the kings and other authorities to their great God.  We Christians in America have failed and continue to fail in affecting our government for the good of all people because we are too politically charged and racially divided. What if we followed the examples of those in the Old Testament who made a difference in their government by standing on or holding fast to what God said?  When we do this, then we can be on one accord.  We can view those whom we choose to elect based on how their policies measure up to God’s standard.  Doing so allows us to discern what is good and right, and disregard the rest.  The political party that best aligns itself with the things of God should become the measure by which we conduct our politics.  This way the body of Christ stands together and not divided. I pray that God will give us the spiritual discernment to vote wisely.

Rev. Lawrence Robinson