The author of the message below titled, “Out of this World” is Pastor Ed Wheeler. He is the Pastor at the Valley Bible Church of East Middlebury, Vermont. We think his perspective is particularly timely and that attendees of Restoring our Faith Summit will appreciate his courageous stance. Indeed, they might want to ask their own church leaders to remind their congregants that voting matters. Pastor Wheeler can be reached at ednannewheeler@aol.com.
“Out of this World”
I was recently contacted by a very respectable conservative political leader regarding a problem that I have been grappling with for many years. It is something that I address thoroughly in my seminar on Marxism and Americanism. If this problem could be solved quickly the future of America would be just as quickly changed from uncertainty and possible destruction to restoration and unprecedented greatness.
The problem is the observable fact that a large percentage (40%?) of conservative religious people avoid political involvement even to the point that they do not register to vote. Many are even proud of their disengagement with “politics”. They do not even agree to register voters or encourage voting in their places of worship. If the founders of America had subscribed to such a view there never would have been an America, Land of the Free. To our great good fortune those founders discovered the key to American greatness by studying the Bible. To their actual surprise they discovered the “Hebrew Republic” based on divine revelation to Moses and established by Joshua. For 400 years Israel existed as a nation with no earthly king. Only the people under God were needed for national success by the people, of the people and for the people. This is recorded in a sketchy way in the book of Judges. There are other Rabbinic histories of the period that help to explain how it all worked. (see the excellent book, The Hebrew Republic by Eric Nelson). The Hebrew Republic is the model on which the United States was intentionally founded. This was a stunning departure from the almost universal regard throughout Christian western civilization of the divine right of kings and their kingdoms as the best model for government.
In contrast to the true history above, most Americans believe that the founders were guided by secular principles of the Enlightenment and an abandonment of the Bible. This misconception which has been actively promoted for over 150 years has led to two devastating mistakes: 1. Religious people think that they can live safely and freely under the rule of “ungodly” people. 2. They do not recognize any need for their own involvement in government.
As to the situation today: Many evangelicals – the group I am most familiar with – are even proud of the fact that they do not get involved in “politics”. They view any such involvement as cooperation with “ungodly” people and a threat to their sanctification. They feel that any such involvement will compromise their witness to the eternal offers of the Gospel. They also will claim that such involvement is a waste of time anyway in light of the soon Return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the end of history as we have known it. On top of these serious mistakes some will even claim that it is illegal to speak out on non-partisan issues or to aid in voter registration efforts because of their tax exempt status. A change in these attitudes could bring as many as 50 million voters into play- enough to completely change the country.
To rescue the USA out of the descent into socialist hell that faces us it is necessary for a major change to take place in the faith communities. Seminaries and Bible schools need to train faith leaders to train their congregations in the non-partisan principles of Americanism as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Just as faith leaders are needed to train good parents and honest participants in the economy it is also necessary to train good citizens of the United States. There is a dual citizenship that American believers possess: as Citizens of Heaven AND Citizens of the USA. Both come with enormous benefits and substantial responsibilities. Both are important and both deserve engagement.
