Finally, Christian leaders have spoken out against the NAR dominionist political idolatry...

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Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." - Luke 10:36-37 (ESV)

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With two months to go, all of the apostate church media, headed up by Charisma News, is deluging the church with political propaganda thinly disguised as a Christian imperative. Charisma has trotted out one false teacher after another to threaten Christians with literally going to hell if they do not vote for their morally bankrupt candidate. Yesterday however, there was a brief ray of light from the Evangelical world as 300 Evangelical pastors and leaders signed a joint statement of faith regarding the utter bastardization of Christianity that we see underway from the apostate church. The statement is linked above and contains seven points. What is refreshing as you will see is not only the wholesale rejection of the political idolatry gripping the church but a clear scriptural repudiation of what these snake oil salesmen leaders are selling. I pray that you listen intently, as this might be the only source reminding you of what God actually says. So, let us reason once more together beloved.

"ONE: We give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. We affirm that Jesus Christ is God's Son and the only head of the Church (Colossians 1:18). No political ideology or earthly authority can claim the authority that belongs to Christ (Philippians 2:9-11). We reaffirm our dedication to his Gospel which stands apart from any partisan agenda. God is clear that he will not share his glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8). Our worship belongs to him alone (Exodus 20:3-4), because our true hope is not in any party, leader, movement, or nation, but in the promise of Christ's return when he will renew the world and reign over all things (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

We reject the false teaching that anyone other than Jesus Christ has been anointed by God as our Savior, or that a Christian's loyalty should belong to any political party. We reject any message that promotes devotion to a human leader or that wraps divine worship around partisanship." - Evangelical Confession

The first observation is the use of scripture to defend the point. That is sorely lacking from Charisma News and their theological flunkies. What they do, is leverage the bible to try and shoehorn their candidate into scripture. We end up being regaled with fanciful comparisons of Donald Trump to King Cyrus or King Jehu. In the run up to 2020, Charisma floated the notion that Trump had a Deborah anointing and an Elijah mantle, ugh. The point made about wrapping divine worship around partisanship is spot on and describes Charisma perfectly. Steven Strang has platformed absolute theological lunatics like Greg Locke and Mario Murillo, who are on record as saying that people who vote Democratic are hell bound and unredeemable. Even the once respected Jack Hibbs has now lost his biblical mind, writing last week for Charisma that we will answer when we stand before Christ for our voting record. Can you imagine? Being judged on what carnal liar we voted for, based upon promises they made that in all likelihood, they never kept. If that was even remotely true, nobody gets into heaven, except maybe those that do not vote at all. Our loyalty is to the Savior. Neither party cares for the cause of Jesus Christ, but one pretends to, and the church bows down to them.

"TWO: We will lead with love not fear. We affirm that God's saving power revealed in Jesus is motived by his love for the world and not anger (John 3:16). Because God has lavished his love upon us, we can love others (1 John 4:19). We acknowledge that this world is full of injustice and pain, but we are not afraid because Jesus Christ has promised to never abandon us (John 16:33). Unlike the false security promised by political idolatry and its messengers, the perfect love of God drives away all fear (1 John 4:18). Therefore, we do not employ fear, anger, or terror as we engage in our mission, but instead we follow the more excellent way of Jesus which is love (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13).

We reject the stoking of fears and the use of threats as an illegitimate form of godly motivation, and we repudiate the use of violence to achieve political goals as incongruent with the way of Christ." - Evangelical Confession

Amen and hallelujah! Do we even know the Jesus we pretend to serve? I remember debating once with a friend from my old church who was very political and a dominionist. His Jesus was so angry. He was constantly reminiscing about when Jesus whipped the merchandizers and kicked them out of the temple but seemed to never focus on the Sermon on the Mount or the compassion showed to the lost. When we had our last disagreement, I told him that his Jesus was wrapped in barbed wire and would cut anyone to pieces long before they could ever reach Him. We are not called to hate people beloved. We are not called to think certain people are all dangerous, or rapists, and need to be thrown out of a country we just happened to have been blessed enough to be born into. But for the grace of God go I, is something you will never hear on Charisma News. The Democratic Party is not a death cult, as Jack Hibbs so vilified it this past week. Those in church who may vote Democratic are our brothers and sisters, not "demons" as Greg Locke has preached on his way to another gleeful book burning. The old adage is true. If you are selling grievance, anger and hate it because you are bankrupt on ideas. All Charisma does is threaten its readers with the promise of eternal suffering for not voting as they have decided is best. It is unseemly. It is unbiblical. It is unchristian.

"THREE: We submit to the truth of Scripture. We affirm that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, authoritative for faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We commit to interpreting and applying Scripture faithfully, guided by the Holy Spirit, for the building up of Christ's people and the blessing of his world (John 16:13). We believe any true word of prophecy must align with the teachings of Scripture and the character of Jesus (1 John 4:1-3). Likewise, to lie about others, including political opponents, is a sin (Exodus 20:16). Therefore, we commit to speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), knowing deception dishonors God and harms the reputation of his Church.

We reject the misuse of holy Scripture to sanction a single political agenda, provoke hatred, or sow social divisions, and we believe that using God's name to promote misinformation or lies for personal or political gain is bearing his name in vain (Exodus 20:7)." - Evangelical Confession

The first point was Christ alone. The second point was love over fear and now we come to the truth of scripture. THESE are Christian arguments. Not carnal and secular debates. We can believe all day long that our political positions are righteous, but they are not. They are merely our opinions based upon our pre-formed bias. They are in the end, merely our assessment about which evil we have deemed lesser. The cold, hard, biblical reality is that we might be wrong and even if we are not, we should not be caught defending that evil, no matter how "lesser" we have deemed it to be. It is refreshing here to see true Christian leaders reminding us that lying about your political opponent is actually sin. Now, all candidates lie but the one that the apostate church demands we all vote for lies extensively and often viciously. Deception DISHONORS God! The ongoing conferring of righteousness upon carnal political candidates who lie reflexively harms the reputation of the church. Are we getting this? The point about prophecy aligning with scripture and the character of Christ should also not be glossed over. All of the silly, nonsensical "Trump prophecies" are not remotely Christian.

"FOUR: We believe the Gospel heals every worldly division. We affirm the unity of all believers in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:28), and that through his sacrificial death on the cross, he has removed the barriers that divide us (Ephesians 2:14-18), making people from every nation, tribe, people, and language into one new family (Revelation 7:9). We are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and the counter-cultural unity of the Church is to be a sign to the world of God's love and power (John 13:35; 17:20-21).

We reject any attempt to divide the Church, which is the Body of Christ, along partisan, ethnic, or national boundaries, and any message that says it is God's desire for the human family to be perpetually segregated by race, culture, or ethnicity is a rejection of the Gospel." - Evangelical Confession

This fourth confession is simply not discussed anymore. The cross removed the barriers between us beloved. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. That means people beyond our shores and boundaries as well. This includes the people we are being conditioned to hate. The lost. The wretched. The immigrant. What the apostate church and rags like Charisma News does is they sell the notion that we have to be unified politically instead of by Christ. If the world sees how quickly we lie for carnal politics of support candidates that lie professionally, why would they ever believe us about the gospel? Our unity in Christ is supposed to present a counter cultural option for the world. Instead, we are told to find relevance to the world and pursue our politics as a righteous option. Charisma has sent out a plethora of false teachers to tell Christians that unity is in Trump alone and if you dare to vote otherwise, or not at all, you are wrong or in some cases they teach you are going to hell. This confession is absolutely correct because all Charisma sells is division of people who are supposed to be unified in Christ along political ideologies. They smartly point out that this is actually a REJECTION of the gospel and it should always be referenced as such.

"FIVE: We are committed to the prophetic mission of the Church. We affirm that Christ's kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), therefore the Church necessarily stands apart from earthly political powers so that it may speak prophetically to all people, the society, and governing authorities. The Church has been given a divine mission of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). First, we call everyone to be reconciled to God through the proclamation of the Gospel as we teach people everywhere to copy the way of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Second, we seek to reconcile people to one another by addressing issues of justice, righteousness, and peace (Amos 5:24). We accomplish this by loving our neighbors (Mark 12:31), and by engaging our public life with humility, integrity, and a commitment to the common good as defined by our faith in Christ (Romans 12:18).

We reject both the call for the Church to withdraw from societal issues out of fear of political contamination, as well as any attempt to distort the Church into a mere vehicle of political or social power." - Evangelical Confession

Yes! Christ's kingdom is not of this world! Prophecy is supposed to be for all the church and not to be corrupted by the world and carnal political goals. Reconciliation is not accomplished in the voting booth, despite what people like Jack Hibbs and Dr. Michael Brown claim on Charisma News. They address an interesting point here. People of discernment and those tired of being abused are actually withdrawing from societal issues. It is exhausting to continue to watch brothers and sisters being deceived and then deceiving others. I dare you to read the political garbage on Charisma and see if there is a scintilla of humility, integrity, or common good as defined by our faith. The message from the apostate leaders is that we only reconcile people to ourselves if they first agree with our political persuasion. Our neighbors are only those we agree with. It is such a bastardization of our faith.

"SIX: We value every person as created in God's image. We affirm that all people bear God's image and possess inherent and infinite worth (Genesis 1:27). Jesus bestowed dignity upon those his culture devalued, and he taught us that our love, like God's, must extend even to our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Our faith in Christ, therefore, compels us to act with love and mercy toward all from the very beginning of life to the very end, and honor everyone as an image-bearer of God regardless of age, ability, identity, political beliefs, or affiliations (John 13:34-35). We commit ourselves to advocate for the value of everyone our society harms or ignores.

We reject any messages that employ dehumanizing rhetoric, that attempt to restrict who is worthy of God's love, or that impose limitations on the command to "love your neighbor" that Christ himself removed." - Evangelical Confession

Now this is an important point. Jesus bestowed dignity upon those His culture devalued. The perfect example is the Samaritans, who were utterly reviled by the Jewish people as half-breeds. The hatred and vitriol they showed them is akin if not worse than how the church is conditioned today in this country to loathe the immigrant. That is why Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of the Good Samaritan parable, the conclusion of which is the key verses above. Which of these proved to be the neighbor for the man who fell victim to the robbers? The one who showed him mercy. The Samaritan. The one you hate. The one you revile. We are supposed to go and do likewise, not find our own Samaritans that we have convinced ourselves it is righteous to despise. The apostate church is quick to defend pre-birth life but not so much after the fact. When we insist to vote myopically, we willfully ignore all of the other harms our candidate might visit upon other marginalized groups of people as if they somehow do not matter to God. Charisma is now in the business of dehumanizing people based on political disagreement. The candidate they insist is God's choice has made his political living on debasing and dehumanizing anyone who disagrees with him. Are we so blind that we do not realize the lost will see this hypocrisy for what it is?

"SEVEN: We recognize godly leaders by their character. We affirm that the character of both our political and spiritual leaders matter. Within the Church, we seek to follow spiritual leaders those who display evidence of the Holy Spirit"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus warned us to be on guard against false teachers who come as wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). These voices will tempt us with flattery, bad doctrine, and messages we want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). They serve the false idols of power, wealth, and strength rather than the true God. Outside the Church, we will evaluate leaders based on their actions and the fruit of their character and not merely their promises or political success (Matthew 7:15-20). When any leader claims to have God's approval, whether in the Church or in politics, we will not confuse effectiveness for faithfulness, but carefully discern who is truly from God (1 John 4:1).

We reject the lie that a leader's power, popularity, or political effectiveness is confirmation of God's favor, or that Christians are permitted to ignore the teachings of Christ to protect themselves with worldly power." - Evangelical Confession

Amen. In the 1990s the church cried out "character counts" because they clutched their pearls over the morals of Bill Clinton. Two decades later when they had to defend someone morally worse, they said, well, we are not electing a pastor in chief. How absurd and hypocritical. When the world sees us defending the virtue of a man who has been married three times, unfaithful three times and last time with a porn star, bankrupt six times, convicted of sexual assault with 34 other felony convictions, the cause of Christ is irreparably damaged for many. Read the Charisma articles and see if you see a whiff of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, OR self-control. They are angry, demeaning, condemning or they abuse the bible to pretend Trump is the second coming of various righteous biblical characters. They are false teachers. Wolves in sheep's clothing selling thirty pieces of political silver. Despite what Jack Hibbs, Steven Strang, Michael Snyder, Mario Murillo, and Greg Locke teach, Jesus is not waiting for you on judgment day with a copy of your voting record. Those charlatans are feeding their readers exactly what they want to hear. It is spiritual confirmation bias, pure and simple. God uses anyone He raises up, not just those that we support. These 300 leaders are right again. This is all about the consolidation and retention of power. It is about fame. It is about money. It is most certainly not about Jesus Christ.

"Conclusion - We stand united in our confession of faith in Jesus Christ, resolved to uphold the truth of the Gospel in the face of political pressure and cultural shifts. We commit to being a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16), and faithful witnesses to the transforming power of Christ's love. We pray that God's Spirit will revive our Church and strengthen Christ's people to be agents of his presence and blessing in this turbulent age.

To him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy" to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)" - Evangelical Confession

This document focused on Jesus, correctly using scripture, while denouncing things that are ant-Christ. None of that is ever found on Charisma News or from the Evangelical arm of the Republican Party. I do not know these 300 people, but I thank God that they had the courage to say what God has said, not what man desires. In the two months left before the election you will be bombarded by political propaganda disguised as Christianity. You will be encouraged to hate your neighbor. True unity however is found in Christ alone. It is not found in the promises of this world, sold to you by hucksters and charlatans trying to Jesus-fy their bucket of carnality. Keep this devotional and the Evangelical Confession handy for these two months and remind yourself what God actually says. Here is a simple cheat sheet of these truths, in summation:

1. In Christ alone. Our faith is in the Savior, not any political party or candidate.

2. Love over fear. Do not succumb to the temptation to be afraid. God has assured us that He will be on the throne on November 6^th. He will not be surprised. He will not be dismayed. He has not asked for our help, nor does He need it. Love people, do not fear them.

3. The truth of scripture. Do not listen nor trust the words of man. Lying about people, even in support of them is sin.

4. Our unity must be in Christ alone and His finished work on the cross. Anything else is idolatry.

5. Christ's kingdom, of which we are now citizens, is not of this world. We should stop being enamored with this world and obsessed with the carnality it contains.

6. Only the devil wants us hating the very people who need the gospel the most. We need to resist this temptation the false church is constantly trying to lure us in with.

7. The character of people matters. Transactional politics is not Christian. Supporting evil because somehow, we think it will bring some legislative good, is still supporting evil.

Pray beloved and vote as you felt led. Do not be guilted and shamed by leaders who are representing politics and not God or His word. By the way, if you choose to not vote at all, do not be guilted or shamed. The bible says that God raises up all leaders. He sees all time. He knows already what will happen on November 5^th. Stop being used by people who do not care about you or the gospel. The way is narrow and few are those who find it. Stay on the narrow path.

Reverend Anthony Wade - September 11, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.