May 1, 2026
- May 1
- 5 min read
Christians and Government, Part 2
Today I am continuing my discussion of the church’s relationship with government.
When God said to me, “I am going to teach you about government, because I AM government,” it was quite a shock. Like many people, I had a great distaste for politics and government. He then quoted Isaiah 33:22 to me, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.”
Notice, the verse Holy Spirit quoted to me - Isaiah 33:22 - does not say God “endorses” the concept of legislators, judges, and kings (i.e., government); it says He IS these things. Since God is our Lawgiver, Judge, and King, these things, in and of themselves, cannot be bad. And most people are surprised to find that America’s three branches of government are based on this verse in Isaiah: The Legislative Branch (Congress), the Judicial Branch (Supreme Court), and the Executive Branch (Presidency). Our government is patterned after heaven’s!
When truly thought through, it isn’t the concept of government that many of us dislike. We have “government” in our homes, businesses, churches - almost everywhere. The noun, government, is defined as “direction; control; management; rule.” The verb form govern means “to rule over by right of authority; to exercise a directing or restraining influence over; to guide; to have predominating influence.” As these definitions show, the concept of government is essential and created by God. To be without it is to have anarchy and, ultimately, untethered rebellion.
What most of us dislike about government is actually the defilement and perversion of the function by people and systems. This dislike is certainly understandable. They also dislike a political spirit. Although God is governmental, He is NOT political. It was a political spirit that led the efforts to crucify Jesus! A political spirit seeks to gain control of people and promote its own agenda through fear, manipulation, deception, corruption, violence, craftiness, and unscrupulous activities. God opposes these things, and so should we.
If we could get all Christians to differentiate between government (the function), politics (the process of attaining governmental power), and a political spirit (the perversion of the process for gain and control), it would change their perspective. The body of Christ would have no qualms about becoming involved in government and no hesitation in discussing it in our gatherings and circles. We would understand that we can promote righteous government without promoting political parties.
God certainly is not a Republican or Democrat, and we should never blindly support a candidate or cause just because of party affiliation. He does, however, care greatly about who rules. “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn,” (Proverbs 29:2, KJV). The Passion Translation of this verse says, “Everyone rejoices when the lovers of God flourish, but the people groan when the wicked rise to power.” To avoid government simply because some in it are bad, is as foolish as not governing our homes simply because some parents abuse their children.
Since God does care who rules, as His Word clearly states, how can it possibly be wrong for believers to influence the process? How can it possibly be inappropriate for the body of Christ to try to promote righteous individuals for positions of authority? How could it possibly be wrong to encourage church members to support righteous leaders and causes? How can we truly be salt and light without doing this? And how could it possibly be inappropriate to pray about these things when we gather as the church? To neglect doing so is to fall prey to one of the greatest deceptions satan has ever visited on the church.
Kermit Bridges of Southwestern A.G. University says:
“In commanding us to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in the world, Jesus is encouraging us to influence our culture rather than isolate ourselves from our culture. Some well-intentioned believers feel that any efforts to exert pressure on the behavior of non-Christians are wrong.
“Anything beyond evangelism is off-limits. As a result, Christians should definitely not engage in politics. This thinking is characterized by the false assumption: ‘I personally believe in such and such, but I can’t impose my morality on others.’
“Every time a legislature enacts legislation, it is an imposition of morality.
“Laws against thievery impose the morality of the honest over the dishonest. Laws against prostitution impose a sexual morality. Declaring anything legal or illegal is a statement of morality. Legislation is built upon morality, and morality is built upon religion.
“Founding Father, John Adams, our second president, declared:
“‘[Our government is not] ‘capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’
“Even our most irreligious Founding Fathers, Franklin and Jefferson, championed the need for a virtuous and moral people influenced by faith.”(1)
Listen to the counsel of the late Chuck Colson:
“The popular notion that 'you can’t legislate morality’ is a myth. Morality is legislated every day from the vantage point of one value system being chosen over another. The question is not whether we will legislate morality, but whose morality gets legislated.”(2)
It doesn’t require a degree in political science to see that the withdrawal from and/or silence of the church regarding government gives control of America to unbelievers. When that occurs, our only hope for righteous and morally sound laws is for God to sovereignly overrule those who disagree with Him. How’s that been workin’ out? He works on earth through His people, not independently of them.
Yahweh gave Adam and Eve two mandates in the VERY FIRST chapter of the Bible: “Be fruitful and multiply,” or in other words, Give me more kids, and manage/govern the earth.
If we, the church, are to become the ambassadorial representatives God intends us to be, we must shift our paradigms regarding government. We must see it as a God-created function–good, not evil–and accept our God-given calling to extend His influence through it.
Pray with me:
Father, Your Word tells us that when we are ignorant of the way satan thinks and operates, it enables him to take advantage of us (2 Corinthians 2:11). He is a master deceiver. Enlighten and awaken us to our responsibilities from You, and as citizens of a free nation. Break off the church, the hesitancy to involve herself in government activities and influence.
We ask You to remove ungodly and anti-Christian leaders from positions of government in our nation. Give us honest legislators who will honor You and Your Word. Give us judges who honor our Constitution, and who fear and honor You more than all else. We ask You to continue shaking unrighteous strongholds in our nation until the strongholds of humanism, secularism, and socialism are broken off of us.
We ask You for revival to increase and multiply in our schools, with millions of young people coming to You. America needs reformation; please give us this transformative aspect of revival, and please do so quickly. We ask You for all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus, our great and merciful Savior. Amen.
Our decree:
We decree that the church, the Ekklesia, will arise and become the preserving salt and guiding light we are called to be.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Pray for our leadership and those who have been raised up by the Lord to be influencers against evil, against the schemes and plans of the enemy. I have a list that, no matter how tired I am at the end of the day, I lift up their names and pray scripture and plead the blood of Christ over them and their families.
I am disgusted by weak pastors who refuse to guide their flocks. So very few will actually guide them in these matters. They should hold the Bible high above their heads and declare that the Word is their voting guide...their ONLY voting guide. Tell them that you cannot call yourself a Christian and vote for an individual or party that murders babies, pushes perversions, or mutilates kids. But they don't. The most they will say is "You are free to vote for whomever you want." I pray daily that God would wake them up or replace them. They care only about numbers of butts in the pews. Sermons are the same old garbage but no guiding of the flo…
Power is an idol to the wicked and they will seek it to exercize it over you. The fact that many Christians can only afford to take their children to public schools is reason enough for ALL Christians to involve themselves in the process of who will govern our land.