Since the Obama years, pastors and church leaders have felt emboldened to promote Liberal/Leftist/Statist political points-of-view. Conservative Christians, on the other hand, have tended to assiduously stay in the lane of “Jesus only”. Don’t comment on culture. Don’t comment on politics.

When it comes to the duties and responsibilities of governing bodies (at all levels) there is a limited number of things that they absolutely must do. They should keep the public safe, maintain stability within their defined purview, and maintain adequate infrastructure. They should also protect the individual liberties of the citizens therein. Those are the absolute essential roles of government. Everything else is extra.

But with the help of activists and anti-American oligarchs, politicians and bureaucrats nationwide have destabilized their cities, counties, states, and even the nation. They have done it because they are ideologues, because they thirst for power, and because they are greedy. Many do not protect individual rights, and do not keep their citizens safe. They can’t even maintain infrastructure—and the level of corruption and incompetence is breathtaking.

President Trump is already positively affecting our nation’s stability and is rooting out waste and corruption, but only time will tell how much good he can accomplish.

The question is, how should Christians respond when the government encroaches upon the rights of the individual? That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Every policy, every statute, every law affects the individual, so individual rights should be a first order consideration as we contemplate how we should interact with government and politics.

When considering our response to governmental authorities and the world of politics, evangelical Christians typically turn to one Bible passage — specifically, the book of Romans, chapter 13, which states that believers are to a) submit to governing authorities, and b) not to rebel against them.

The standard evangelical Christian teaching is that we should do both of those, period. This world-view promotes passivity. The implication is, we as believers do our thing and governmental authorities do their thing, and since we seek spiritual purity only, then we must passively obey and passively stand by and watch, whether politicians and bureaucrats run things well, or they are corrupt and oppressive.

A little-known historical figure had a profound impact on the people who would lead the American Revolution, a pastor named Jonathan Mayhew. Mayhew isn’t well-known now because we’ve secularized our history (a shameful blunder), but at the time, he was considered heroic for his teachings.

Mayhew wrote a book titled A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers where he considered Christian submission to the king, and whether that obedience should be absolute, or if there are times when Christians should defy governing authorities.

Mayhew argued that it is absolutely the duty of the believer to obey governing authorities — if those authorities rule for the good of society.

According to Mayhew’s interpretation of Scripture, though, tyrants and oppressors are exempt from the Christian injunction to obey. He specifically said that tyrants and oppressors are not entitled to the obedience of their subjects. In fact, we have a moral duty to resist them. And not just tyrants, but all governing authorities who are corrupt and who bring ruin and misery as well. It is our civic duty to hold them accountable.

That makes significantly more sense than the passive teaching that essentially says that we are to make ourselves nothing, a non-entity, for the sake of Christ. In the passive understanding of obedience, there is no impetus to help ourselves, and there is really no motivation to help our friends and neighbors if their rights are infringed upon either.

Mayhew was a passionate believer in freedom, who wrote books and pamphlets, and spoke boldly, urging the colonists to actively resist tyranny. In turn, the leaders of the American Revolution were energized by his words. They understood, after hearing and reading Mayhew, that they were to resist England as forcefully as necessary to break away from its tyrannical behavior and to procure for themselves the freedom and liberty that God had granted them.

To clarify, the oppression that Mayhew talked about is not the “oppression” about which leftists complain. Liberals/Leftists/Statists claim oppression, when what they really mean is that they hate the status quo and authority, and are resentful and envious. They are also vindictive. They do not want equality; their goal is to continually punish their “enemies” (i.e., anyone who opposes them) and to accrue absolute power. These are not Christian values. They are opposite of the values to which Christians hold, which is why leftists hate Christianity.

The correct understanding of oppression is prolonged unjust treatment or control, imposed on a people by their government.

If Mayhew’s view is correct, then it means that we, too, have a moral imperative to resist tyranny and oppressors, as well as those who are corrupt and destabilize our nation. And since the revolutionaries were successful, and we live in the functioning Republic that they created, then we too have a duty to maintain and protect the freedoms that God has given us.

Barack Obama recognized that his greatest impediment to remaking America was Christians. That’s why he cynically lambasted us for being “bitter clingers.” He hated the fact that Americans hold tightly to their guns and their (Christian) religion. Guns, because it is difficult to subjugate an armed people. And the Christian religion, because Christians hold dear the values of human life and individual freedoms.

Christians would do well to re-embrace this sense of political activism. As a group, we need to reject passivity and work to protect our rights. Non-Christian Conservatives would do well to re-embrace Christianity and the Bible. Religion, in general, provides community stability, and Christianity, specifically, the values and principles that built our great nation.

Mark “Train” McClure is a born and bred Texan, where the rights of the individual are sacrosanct.

Image: Public domain.