And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. - Luke 24: 19-21 (ESV)
The road to Emmaus. The aftermath of the crucifixion. The disappointment is palpable. The people of Israel were under the heavy hand of oppression from Rome. They had long thought that God would send a Messiah to deliver them from that oppression. That however was an earthly concern. God had bigger plans. He sent them a Messiah to deliver them from their sins and reconcile them to their God. For that they had Him crucified and now we see the aftermath. The downcast way that these two people viewed the events that had just transpired. Jesus walks with them but conceals His identity while He talks with them. What seems to be their primary concern still? Are their eyes fixated on heaven or on earth? How it must have stung Jesus a bit to hear them still say - we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. He redeemed all mankind yet they still were focused on the temporal. They were still focused on this world.
Fast forward to today and we see that as Ecclesiastes says; there is nothing new under the sun. The church is just as enamored with this world as Israel once was. The church is still seeking a deliverance for America as the followers of Jesus sought a deliverance for Israel. Satan is a great deceiver and he is an expert at distracting us from the one mission we have - spread the Gospel. This world does not matter. It is dying and with each passing day of news we can tell the birth pains have started:
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. - Matthew 24: 7-8 (ESV)
Why does Jesus refer to the signs of the end as birth pains? Because they will come closer together. All one has to do is look at the horrific weather scenarios playing out across this country each week to realize that the birth pains have begun. This world is passing away yet some in the church seem more concerned with saving this world than saving lost souls. Politics has always been used by the devil to distract the church. This was once again brilliantly on display this past week at the Watchmen on the Wall National Briefing, an annual event held by the Family Research Council (FRC) and various cosponsoring organizations with the intention of reaching out to pastors. With what are they reaching out to pastors? Encouragement to preach the Gospel so that more people might be saved before Jesus comes? New techniques for spreading the Gospel through social media? No beloved. Just more political distractions. We will focus on a few of the speakers from this event.
Rafael Cruz is better known as the father of Senator Ted Cruz. He is also better known for mixing politics and faith to the point that one has to wonder if he actually reads the Bible at all. Cruz was quoted at this event saying:
"When Judah had a righteous king or Israel had a righteous king, the whole country followed the Lord. When Israel or Judah had a wicked king, the whole country went to idolatry," said Cruz... As the government went, so went the people " I think we cannot separate politics and religion; they are interrelated. They've always been interrelated."
It is almost embarrassing to have to point out this error but Israel was a theocracy, made up entirely of believers in God. Yes they often fell away and worshiped idols and other gods but to compare their structure to the United States is beyond silly. It is infantile. Religion and politics have not always been interrelated and the majority of times they were the outcome was not good. Moving past that however is the major flaw within most christo-political activists. Cruz's assertion here makes it obvious that he views certain potential politicians and presidents as righteous. This is the inherent flaw when one mixes politics and Christianity. The Bible says none of us are righteous - none! The people in Washington do not care about the cause of Christ. Tony Perkins is the President of the FRC and he had this to say:
"Simply put, we believe that the problems we face in our communities and our nation are not just political and cultural, they are spiritual in nature...Consequently, these problems ultimately require a spiritual solution administered by spiritual leadership. That is why we are championing pastors to transform America."
Yes Tony, the problems are spiritual. They are spiritual because the people in our communities and nation are not saved and need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not some political hack pretending to care about Christianity. The problem though is Tony Perkins is just walking down the road to Emmaus with Pastor Cruz. They are wistfully wishing that Jesus would deliver their America like the two in the key verses wished that Jesus had delivered Israel. Look at what Tony Perkins desires! He wants pastors to transform America. No mention of salvation. No mention of the Gospel.
Tony and Rafael are not alone on their road to Emmaus however. They also brought along Franklin Graham, who shed some more light on the problem when he declared that God hates cowards. Graham continued by explaining that any pastor who did not rail against homosexuality and abortion from the pulpit was a coward. Graham must have been referencing the Great Commission when Jesus implored us all to go into all the world and condemn them for their abortions and homosexual practices. Wait a minute...that wasn't it:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28: 19-20 (ESV)
Hmm...no instruction here to rail against the lost. You know why? Because we are not supposed to rail against the lost! We are supposed to present them the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the Good News. If the Pharisees had brought the woman caught in adultery to these three - they would have stoned her to death. Now does this mean we compromise what the Word says? Absolutely not. The cross should always be preached from the perspective of their need to repent of their sins - whatever those sins might be! But if these political operatives got their way and stopped every gay from marrying and every woman from ever having an abortion guess what? They're all still going to hell. That is because their problem is not that they are gay. Their problem is not that they are planning to have an abortion. Their problem is they are separated from God. It is our job to preach the Gospel and let God do the work of conviction through the Holy Spirit.
The problem of course is that Franklin Graham is not concerned about the individual salvation of people because he is too concerned about the overall morality of America. He is walking the road to Emmaus with people like Rafael Cruz and Tony Perkins. They are nostalgically remembering an America they created in their own minds. An America that never existed. A shangri-la where everyone believes like they believe and no one sins anymore. They wish Jesus would deliver that to them but they miss the point of why politics and religion do not mix. They are striving to save a country that never was righteous to begin with. They are striving to save a world that is fading away. They are striving to champion pastors to preach against the very people they are charged with bringing the Gospel to. No one gets saved that way. Maybe someone gets elected; but no one gets saved.
Rev. Anthony.
