Should Christians Drop Out of Politics and Stop Fighting Culture Wars?

Below is an excerpt from Dr. Michael Brown’s book Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test?^[1] Dr. Brown is the founder and president of AskDrBrown Ministries and of FIRE School of Ministry; host of the daily, nationally, syndicated talk radio show, the Line of Fire; and host of TV shows on GOD TV, METV (in Israel and the Middle East), and NRBTV. Dr. Brown is a national and international speaker on themes of spiritual renewal and cultural reformation, and he has debated Jewish rabbis, agnostic professors, and gay activists on radio, TV, and college campuses. He is widely considered to be the world’s foremost Messianic Jewish apologist.

Someone might say, “Christians need to drop out of politics and the culture wars. Otherwise, our witness will be tainted, and that’s the biggest issue. Let us be known as being for Jesus instead of being against all these other things.”

For argument’s sake, let’s say we embrace that line of thinking, not talking about the elections, not endorsing candidates, not writing letters to the editor in our local newspaper about divisive issues, not rocking the cultural boat. Instead, we just shared the gospel with people and gave ourselves to works of service.

But what happens when your pastor is preaching through the Bible and he gets to passages that forbid homosexual practice? Does he skip them or give some watered-down explanation? If so, he is sinning against God and the flock. If not, he and the church will be branded bigots and haters, and that is simply for preaching the Word.

And what happens when your local library announces the next drag queen reading hour for toddlers, and your little one wants to know why she can’t go? Or when your five-year-old boy comes home from kindergarten confused about the picture book with two boys kissing? Or when your ten-year-old son is confused about his gender identity, but it is illegal in your state for him to receive professional counseling? Or when your fifteen-year-old daughter comes home crying after having to share the locker room with a teenage male who is now on her softball team? Or when that same daughter, now twenty, gets kicked out of her college program because she could not, in good conscience, support the class’s gay pride agenda?

Do you say, “Well, we don’t get involved in the culture wars? Or do you do what is right for your children, which means speaking up and speaking out and taking action. And what happens when you learn that, in your district, the big problem is an ultra-liberal school board, led by two, anti-Christian, lesbian activists? Along with praying for them and even reaching out to them, do you consider voting for school board members the next time around? Or perhaps you will even feel prompted to run for a seat on the board? And what there be anything fundamentally unchristian about any of this involvement? If it was all done in a right spirit, certainly not. In fact, in many ways, it would be quite Christian.

You see, if we don’t stand up for what is right today, then our culture will deteriorate even more rapidly tomorrow, and with that, our freedoms will quickly deteriorate—and even disappear—as well. And the day will soon come when, as a pastor, you will be required to perform a gay “wedding” under penalty of the law. And as a conservative Christian, you will not be able to get a teaching position at a major, secular university. And as a medical doctor, you will lose your job for telling the truth about unsafe sexual practices. In fact, some of this happened already, and what has not already happened is right at the door.

And what will we tell our kids and grandkids, the ones who will feel the brunt of the cultural collapse? How will we explain to them that this happened on our watch because we didn’t want to rock the boat and be controversial? Can you imagine telling them, “Well, we didn’t want to hurt our public witness,” When, in doing so, we made it much harder for them to be public witnesses?

Not only so, but doesn’t our public witness include preaching against sin? When was that ever popular? Even today, when we are sharing our faith and someone asks us our views on abortion or homosexuality, do we tell them the truth? Or do we avoid the issue or, worse still, change what the Bible says, not wanting to offend them, thereby offending the Lord?

And what happens when we realize that one of the reasons our society is in moral decline is because of bad laws and bad legal precedents and bad government policies? Do we still drop out of politics and quit fighting the culture wars, or do we engage constructively, with our biblical priorities intact?

To be perfectly honest, I have often wondered if the church would do better with a president who was hostile to our values and a society that more deeply opposed us. Would that wake us up more acutely? Would we live more fully in the light of eternity? Would our prayers become more fervent? Would our sacrifices be more enduring? Those are important questions, and we may find answers to them in the years ahead. But I for one would hate to see the nation turn against the church, even viciously so, because we abdicated our responsibilities. Why can’t we be fervent, committed, and fully Christian even with a president who stands with us?

For me, the bottom line is simple. Since I have the opportunity to vote, I use it judiciously, and since I have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the world in which I live, I get involved as the Lord leads and as the needs arise. As long as I put first things first and major on the majors, it’s the biblical thing to do.

Be sure to read the rest of Dr. Brown’s outstanding book, Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test?

Book Description: Some say he is our best president ever. Others say he is the absolute worst. Some look to him as a savior figure, while others compare him to the antichrist. Some say that, as Christians, we must support this pro-life, pro-family, pro-Christian president. Others say that by standing with him, we have destroyed our Christian witness.