" We look to the White House or any branch of government in any nation more than to God.
" We make a human being into a political savior.
" We equate loyalty to God (which should be unconditional) with loyalty to a party or political leader (which should be conditional).
" Our prayers and our prophecies become politically partisan." - Dr. Michael Brown
In some ways, I almost respect the lunatics like Greg Locke and Mario Murillo more because at least they do not pretend. They are unabashed dominionists who consign half of America to hell based on their voting record. Brown would never condone such a thing publicly but his actions and writing essentially sell the same notions. Just based on his affiliations alone. Read Charisma News on any given day and all you will see is Republican Party marching orders wrapped in the bible. Charisma has deemed that Donald Trump is Christian without any merit or proof. They have said that he is the second coming of King Cyrus with a Deborah anointing and an Elijah mantle. I am not making any of that up either. While that is all horrible at least it is in your face horrible. At least it is not disguised as declaring the candidate you hate as somehow being unfit while ignoring what makes your choice so demonstrably more unfit. This list from Dr. Brown is 100% accurate. It is just a shame that he directly supports, works for and works with those who literally do every single one of the items listed.
"Unfortunately, we tend to go to one extreme or the other. Some Jesus-followers drop out of politics entirely, thinking, "The whole system is corrupt," or "Why bother?" or "This world is not our home." Others become so obsessed with politics that they raise up political leaders as savior figures, find their primary identity in a political party and look to politics to do what only the gospel can do. The fact is that politics does matter, affecting the lives of millions of people. Politics affects laws that are passed. And our standard of living. And health care. And our national security. And our international standing. Politics affects our everyday life. Political leaders, especially our presidents, can do much harm or much good, and if we fail to vote, we deserve whatever we get. Yet, quite tragically, tens of millions of American Christians do not vote at all. This must change." - Dr. Michael Brown
Here is the problem. Dr. Brown and the NAR presents not voting for either of the two evils as not somehow acceptable compared to presenting voting somehow as a Christian imperative. It is not. Beloved, I know that might be hard to swallow but what Brown lists here are all carnal things that have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. International standing, national security, healthcare, and our standard of living are all related solely to this life. Are they important to us? Absolutely. Do they have anything to do with the cause of Christ? Absolutely not. The real problem is that the NAR pretends they are intertwined. So, Brown and the NAR present a laundry list of things that voting affects and then tells you that you have to vote for these things based upon their interpretation of biblical standards. The standards however are just a convenient salad bar. They pretend all God cares about are two key wedge issues which magically all of their candidates check off the box for. Then that is presented as voting according to "biblical values." It is not a tragedy that tens of millions of Christians do not vote. It is reassuring that not all are following the apostate church.
"But by all means, let us keep our heads and guard our hearts, not degenerating into the political madness of the hour, not becoming as carnal as some of our political leaders often become, and not becoming evangelists for our candidate rather than evangelists for our Lord. What America needs more than anything is for followers of Jesus to live as followers of Jesus. That will change our nation more than any election possibly could. So, let's vote. And let's shine." - Dr. Michael Brown
But vote for who Dr. Brown? Beloved the fact is that there are many things in this article that are true especially that list of dangerous tendencies. Much like Joel Osteen discovered today that he is the wrong messenger for things involving the poor, Dr. Brown is the wrong messenger for this pretense of Jesus first and THEN vote. Because his own words and affiliations reveal that he is not objective. Look, if you think Donald Trump is the best choice for the country, knock your socks off and vote for him. If you think he is an abject threat to everything this country was founded on, vote for Biden. Just do not delude yourself into thinking yours is the Christian choice. It is not. You will not be standing before Christ reviewing your voting record. He is never going to say, "sure I'd like to let you in but, Clinton in 96? C'mon, what were you thinking!
The Kingdom of God is not of this world. Period, full stop.
