Political Agendas and Evangelism

"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." 1 Peter 2:13-15, 17 (NIV)

I read an article the other day that was talking about the "Evangelical Christian" movement in politics and its lack of an "issue to rally around." This article, along with my readings and discussions with my very wise husband, got me to thinking about all of this. What does the Bible have to say about "Christians" interjecting themselves into the political movement with their personal agendas? Well...unfortunately for them, there is not very much to support these actions. Throughout the ages, God has revealed himself to men in positions of authority and to the prophets and judges who advised them. Nowhere does it say that Christians should become political activists and stand on street corners with signs about various political issues. Nor should they use money to hire lobbyists to push their agendas through among those in power. Our one command to activism was "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16) So these "evangelicals" that are at the forefront of politics are really not evangelical at all! True evangelism occurs in one's neighborhood or wherever you meet someone who does not know Jesus. Sharing the life, burial and resurrection of Christ with whoever we meet should be our only "agenda." In John 6, it says "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself."(v 15) Jesus told Pilate "my kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36) That should be a sign to us all. Our goal is to present the gospel of Christ to as many people as we can and then they shall avoid condemnation. If someone is a child of God, he or she will make the right decisions in their life. It is not our responsibility to condemn or protect the actions of those who are not in Christ Jesus. In Jude it is written "in the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them..." (17-23a) If we would be less concerned with conforming the politics of this world to our "christian values" and more concerned with bringing the lost of this world to the everlasting life through Christ, more people would live in the ways set forth by Christ of their own volition. "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight." (1 Cor. 3:19) I am not saying that we should not exercise our right to vote or be concerned with the state of our nation. We can even be involved in politics for the interests of our country and show our faith through our opinions and actions, but not to promote a hidden agenda. I believe we should be less concerned with how to force our values on the lost and more concerned with sharing the Good News of Christ that will make the lost WANT to live in the values of true Christianity.