Ten Reasons Why the Church is Silent
This message is by Pastor Glenn Holland on the topic of faith in politics at the First Annual South Texas Conservative Conference in Corpus Christi, Texas.
This article was adopted from a message given on November 3, 2024 by Pastor Glenn Holland
at The Net Fellowship Church, Corpus Christi, Texas
I trust the Lord will speak to us this morning as I go through 10 reasons that churches remain silent.
We're going to go through a number of biblical principles and I'm going to lay out a framework that will establish why the church has an obligation and a responsibility to speak out.
I had a conversation with a young lady, she is married and has kids now, who moved to another state some time back. In their search for a church in their new community they attended many churches. I spent an hour with her on the phone the other day discussing her options. She pointed out in the midst of the political turmoil today that this is a really great season to be visiting churches because you get to find out if they stand for anything as far as culture and government and politics are concerned.
Are we willing to speak and address the pressing issues of our day in our churches? Many of the churches that they visited, and I know that this is a fact because I've had this reported to me on multiple occasions, they would tell me “You would not even know that there's an election taking place in the church that I'm attending.” I mean, really? I worked to help her find a salty, spicy church that even believes in the charismatic persuasion. However, it turns out that these churches are hard to come by.
To get it all in one bundle is pretty important. We need to understand that there is a philosophical belief that drives church leadership. I see it on a regular basis. I’m in a Facebook group with about 2500 Assembly of God senior pastors from all over the country. I will often hear them debate and discuss and argue about this very topic. How vocal? How do we do it? What do we do? Can we have a prayer meeting for the elections? Dare we pray for a certain candidate? This kind of thing. They really stress over this. I think there's nothing to stress over if you stand for the right thing. One of the pastors posted recently with a really long, drawn out exposition. His view was so emblematic of the problem we have today among pastors. He was giving all of the reasons that he believes that the virtue of every pastor is to be completely and totally neutral. Really? I wonder if that's how Jesus thought.
This philosophical belief is very ingrained in many pastors and among many affiliations, certainly not just mine. I should say that among the 2500 pastors in my group a lot of them are pretty salty and quite outspoken. Nonetheless, even in my conservative affiliation so many have this belief that they must come across as completely neutral. They must not address anything that pertains to elections, government, politics, or even some aspects of cultural morality. If you were to attend their church, it would seem that there's not even an election happening.
A common stat that is thrown around is that 50% of Evangelical Christians will not be voting in the Presidential election. Will 50% of evangelical Christian really be sitting out the next election? Fortunately, this stat is actually fake news. One of the most respected polling scientists that I follow and that I like and I believe has integrity is Rasmussen polling. Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen polling said that this 50% stat is totally fake news. He says, according to their recent polling concerning this last election, that eight percent of evangelical Christians are sitting this one out. Eight percent. Meaning that nearly 80 percent of evangelical Christians are actually totally engaged. And then there's another small percentage that are saying, “Yeah, I'm going to vote, but maybe not with the ferocity as the others.” His conclusion is that eight percent have voiced that they plan to sit this one out, not 40 percent, not 50 percent, eight percent. To me, that's really good news. Somehow, I think that we're improving. We are improving despite the fact that so many pastors and church leaders remain silent.
I believe there's been a separation in our country that began during the covid period.
We witnessed a realignment concerning Christianity, the church, and the evangelical church in particular. I know that our own church went through a very significant realignment in 2020.
It has been happening ever since and it’s a remarkable thing. I wouldn't have predicted it.
I wouldn't have known when we were facing the covid shutdowns that this would occur. I thought, man, we just started getting a little bit of traction in our church at the end of 2019. And then this happens. I'm thinking now we are never going to be able to get some traction as a church. But things have really changed and I would say for the better. I am basically speaking the same message and taking the same stand that I have always taken but I see people are hungry for clarity and are more ready for a plain, straight up, bold message than they were before 2020. This was our experience and it is refreshing.
Nevertheless, what you find on the general landscape is the church in America is in general decline. The beginning of 2026 may be showing the beginning of a reversal in this longer-term decline. We especially see the decline among the mainline denominations and the Catholic church. With notable exceptions, even the evangelical churches have experienced a long-term decline. They're holding their own and are doing OK. In the middle of all this, there are some churches that continue to thrive and they're growing and they're moving forward. And those churches tend to be ones that have not compromised or drank the woke Kool-Aid.
I want to be very clear as I go into this, political parties are not where our core loyalties should lie. They are not where my core loyalties are, in case anybody here wondered. Our loyalties lie with those values that are consistent with biblical truth. Affiliating with a party or voting with a party is not about which football team you are cheering for. It is about which organization best represents those biblical values that we cherish. The Republican and Democrat parties of today represent values that are diametrically opposed to each other. It is a very clear choice if you are a Biblically minded Christian.
These parties are just made up of people like you and I. They have flaws and imperfections, but nonetheless, there has been a tremendous, very aggressive realignment between the two parties. The contrast is stark and the stakes have never been higher.
Were we as a people to get this (2024) election wrong, it would be devastating to the basic fabric of the Constitutional Republic that has undergirded the virtues of the United States. One of the parties, as a party of death, the democrat party, advocates, even celebrates the unrestricted slaughter of unborn children. If you didn't know that, then I would just tell you, wake up and smell the coffee. They also want to dismantle the First and Second Amendments and undo the common-sense precautions historically in place to protect the integrity of our elections, like voter ID. They have repeatedly stated their intention to reconstitute the Supreme Court, thus it will no longer provide a balance of power. They espouse perverse agendas in education that are sexualizing and confusing children. Further, they support the unconscionable practice of providing transgender surgery for minors. They promote allowing men in girls' locker roomsand encourage men to compete in women's sports. They want to redefine what a woman is. They do not support marriage between only one man and one woman. They have facilitated chaos and mayhem by opening our border to many millions, bringing the cartels into our country, all the while funding the entire border intrusion with our tax dollars. They have created a humanitarian crisis on the border by illegally refusing to enforce existing law. They undermine law and order when they can by refusing to prosecute criminals in various jurisdictions and defunding police departments around the country, leading to more mayhem. They advocate socialism and redistribution policies, which amount to government theft. This is no time for we as believers, pastors, and church leaders to be silent, and yet so many are.
Every one of those points I made are easily verifiable. The price we may pay because of the passivity of the American church leadership today is yet to be seen entirely. The pro-life movement took 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade. 50 years. Abortion only persists because we the people have allowed it to persist by our silent consent.
Looking at the gamut of human history, it is mostly characterized by brutality, oppression, cruelty, and darkness. The exception is found in the rise of Western civilization, which has experienced unparalleled freedom and prosperity. This was demonstrated most profoundly in the United States, Canada, and Northern Europe, the places which were most affected by the post-Reformation influence of Christianity.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French statesman stated in his 1835 writings, “Democracy in America”,
“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.”
The church, like no other institution, has the potential to bring about tremendous good, healing, and transformation to a broken world because we possess the most powerful antidote of God's word. Why do so many churches and church leaders, in light of everything I just stated, remain silent in the face of all of that? Why? I'm going to give you 10 reasons why.
After I gave this same message recently, I was surrounded in the hallway by individuals who are asking me, “what do I do with my church?” And these were activists in churches that are compromised and have drunk the woke Kool-Aid. They're in a dilemma because they're saying, “what do we do now?” And in two or three of their cases, I said, “why are you still there?” You have to realize; these are people that share my values.
These are the 10 Reasons that many Churches fail to speak up. These are the ideas that influence their thinking and thus they fail to address the moral, cultural and political realities that are destroying our country.
1. Failure to see Christianity as a worldview
The first reason that the church remains silent and cowers in the corner is because they fail to see Christianity as a worldview.
A worldview is a comprehensive explanation of how we see and explain reality. It is how we make sense of things. When we fail to see Christianity as a worldview, we also fail to understand how it's interconnected with the real world around us.
The Bible is not just a theoretical book of beliefs. It is a worldview. The Bible has something to say about everything. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. That means that God has something to say about everything: Medicine, law, government, education, ethics, science, the military, and law enforcement. All of these are addressed in the scriptures. There is no division between the sacred and the secular. There is no religious compartment that we function in on Sunday morning and then we revert to a secular compartment on Monday morning when you go to work. That's not the case, and that is not how we should be thinking from a Christian worldview standpoint.
There are two approaches to this tension. Many believe that we should wait passively for spiritual awakening, and the politics will automatically self-resolve. Alternatively, there are those that believe that we should actively oppose evil. I believe from a Christian worldview perspective that we should actively oppose evil where it exists and work to transform the political landscape in faith. Meanwhile, we yearn for spiritual awakening. I don't believe in just being hands-off saying, “well, we're waiting for revival”, and somehow that will magically save America. I believe that we do need revival, I believe we need awakening desperately, and the spirit of repentance needs to sweep across our country.
Matthew 5:13, Jesus talking, he says, you are the salt of the earth, referring to his followers. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
I love what this scholar said, his name is Andrew Wilson.
“Salt was the ancient equivalent of refrigeration. If you wanted to stop meat or fish from decaying, you could rub it in salt and make it edible for longer. This was the main reason salt was so valuable. Disciples of Jesus, in this sense, are sent into the world to keep it from decay, preserving its goodness and preventing it from becoming corrupted or ruined.”
That is the role of the church, salt and light. Salt is the preservative, while the light guides us. Remove them from the culture, and the culture will rot.
2. Cowardice: Fear of losing church members
Number two is cowardice. The fear of losing church members. The leadership and the pastor know what is right, but they still nonetheless remain silent because they're concerned that they're going to lose church members if they were to take a stand.
The scripture says in Revelation 21:8 …but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
So when you look at that, you realize how strenuously the scripture is warning against cowardice. Pastors have no excuse. There is no cover story where a pastor can say, “I'm afraid I'll lose church members and therefore will go soft.”
Eric Metaxas, from his book, Letter to the American Church (page 52), refers to the spiral of silence:
“It says, it refers to the idea that when people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. And as the price of speaking rises, still fewer will speak out. Which further causes the price of speaking to rise so that fewer people yet will speak out until a whole culture or nation is silenced.”
We are at a pivotal point in the United States, where we can still speak out very freely and very boldly with very little fear of repercussions. If you are an Elon Musk or a Donald Trump, then they may come after you with lawfare because you are a big target. You understand, there are certain people that are going to be the targets. But you and I, as ordinary people, by and large can speak very freely without fear of being a target of lawfare.
Look at these parallel statements from the scripture, Jeremiah 12:5b. It says, “if you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” Jesus' words, he says, a similar reference. “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
In other words, what they're saying is that if you're struggling, afraid, and cowardly when things are going really well, then what are you going to do when things get tough?
Martin Luther had an interesting quote. He says, “it is the truth which is assailed”. This is a bit of old English, because he wrote this a long time ago.
“It is the truth which is assailed in any age which tests our fidelity. If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth, except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. However boldly I may be professing Christianity, where the battle rages, where the loyalty of the soldier is proven, and to be steady on all the battlefronts besides is mere flight and disgrace if one flinches at that point.”
In other words, you can have all kinds of placations, all kinds of Bible stories, all kinds of Bible teaching. You can do it week after week after week and never address the real battle that we're all facing from a day to day. He says, “they address every portion of the truth of God, except, precisely that point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it like this. “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.” Of course, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is well known for his stand against Nazi fascism in World War II.
As a church, we have a responsibility to confront evil where it exists.
3. The belief that it takes a majority to bring change
This belief comes with the idea that there aren't enough of us to stop evil.
So, what's the point? Why try? In the Revolutionary War, how did an undisciplined, unprepared, divided American nation prevail over the world's largest and most powerful empire? There's a lot of speculation as far as what percentage of Americans were all in, but it was not the majority.
“Against all odds”. You see it demonstrated not only throughout history but throughout the scripture. Proverbs 24:12 The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor.
Gideon, David's army of misfits, Jonathan and the armor bearer. Over and over there are these scenarios where there are such overwhelming odds against them, yet faith was able to overcome. Jonathan said, “the Lord is not constrained by many or few”.
We must get rid of the whole idea that says, “I'm just one vote”, or “I'm just one voice”, or “I'm just one person”. You see the obscurity of Christianity in the first century, and how they were seen as more or less a side cult or a spinoff of Judaism. Yet in 315AD, you had Constantine declare that Christianity is no longer illegal in the Roman Empire and by 380AD it was declared the official religion of Rome.
Christianity declared the official state religion of Rome was not necessarily a positive thing. But the point is that you had a really obscure cult-like spinoff of Judaism that began to be the dominant force of the entire Roman Empire. This is really a remarkable fact of history.
4. Fear of losing 501c3 tax exempt status
I don't really need to spend a lot of time on this unless you want to research it on your own, but many legal experts believe that the Johnson Amendment will not stand a constitutional test. It is a straw man, and it has had for many years a chilling effect on pastors and leaders keeps them held back from taking a stand on cultural, political, and moral issues.
5. Politics is dirty – I won’t stoop so low
“I'm not going to stoop so low”. Some would say that they want nothing to do with anything that involves the government, bureaucracy, and politics. They would like to remain above the fray.
Maybe it's dirty because we're not involved. Aren't we salt and light? Are there people that run for office that can't be bought and that have real core convictions? I believe there are. I believe we have people in office (even here in Corpus Christi and Nueces County) that have genuine core beliefs, are Christians and believers, and can’t be bought.
If anyone should run, shouldn't it be us? Have you considered? Those believers that have integrity and fear God, shouldn’t they be the very ones occupying the helm of leadership in our communities, in our counties, in our states, in our government? I love what Edmund Burke said. I'm sure this is a very familiar quote to most of you. He's an 18th century British statesman. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
6. An errant view of “separation of church and state”
This errant view is often used to get us to sit down and shut up. After all, we must stay in our box. What we have to remember is the First Amendment was designed to restrain government from infringing on our liberty. It was not intended to restrain the church. Here's how it reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
It was never the intention of the founders to create a purely secular society free from religion. It was their intention to create a society with freedom of religion. Nor was their intent to separate the government from the influence of the church, nor from the influence of the biblical moral code. But that's the idea that you get today, that the government should be purely secular.
The first point of the Bill of Rights deals with the role of religion and government. The founders believed this to be of extreme importance. We’re not to have a state religion, yes, their experience with state religion and its persecution of competing ideas and monopoly was unfair to the freedom of religion.
The government is forbidden from restricting our freedom to practice our faith publicly or privately. We have a constitution. It protects us as believers.
The First Amendment does not mean that our faith is stripped of its voice in the public square, it is actually just the opposite. It means that our voice is protected.
7. It is not “Christlike” to take a stand
I was on a conference call a while back (2024?) with a very prominent, mover and shaker Christian leader, and if I said his name, you'd all know it. But he was confiding with a circle of Pastors and church leaders in this conference call that one of the major megachurch leaders in the United States was chastising him because he was telling him that what he was doing was not Christlike. It's not Christlike to take a stand as you are doing. (It was Charlie Kirk being addressed by Rick Warren as per my recollection of Charlie’s account. Understanding that it was Charlie Kirk will give context because we all know how much of an activist he was).
It seems then that sometimes Jesus was not very Christlike. I'm going to give you just one example. I could do a whole message on how Jesus was not “Christlike”. Matthew chapter 23 is an example of Jesus not being very “Christlike”. I am being facetious. And partly the reason it works is because we often have ideas about Jesus and who he is that are not really true to his word. Often people develop a kind of a Precious Moments Jesus.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Mat. 23:27-28
Was Jesus passive? Many think that he did not get involved in politics. I've had this discussion multiple times with people. Notice how he was constantly at odds with the local Jewish authorities. The Jewish authorities were a provisional government subject to the Romans. And he was constantly at odds with them. So were the leaders of the early church. The Roman government was not in itself a huge threat until the time of Nero. The biggest threat to the early church at that time, in the earliest decades, was the Jewish authorities who at times would render lethal judgments and persecution. Jesus was constantly at odds with them. Look in the New Testament at the Roman centurions, tribunes and governors. They were nearly always treated either in a favorable light by the New Testament writers or they were presented with a sympathetic leaning. Even Pilate was presented with a somewhat sympathetic leaning.
Jesus did not shy back from confronting the corruption of their local Jewish leadership regarding their hypocrisy and their misuse of the law, the law of Moses to oppress the people. John the Baptist lost his head because he was facing off with Herod. And what was it that really put John in jeopardy with Herod? “For John had been saying”, meaning that he was saying it over and over again. He was persisting with this thing. He says, “for John had been saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have her.”
Remember, there was no vote in the early church era. There was no way to petition the government for grievances. But I want you to understand that it's not like they were benign when it comes to their interactions with the government.
8. Misguided view of Romans 13
People have gotten the idea that whatever government is in place must be valid and that whatever people are occupying the government must therefore be valid. So therefore, we must be blindly submissive to those governments. And this is where they got the false teaching of many, many years ago, called “the divine right of the king”. Fortunately, this idea of was eventually rejected.
Samuel Rutherford was one of the theologians that began challenging this false idea. He wrote Lex Rex and then later John Locke and others also began rejecting “the divine right of the king” as a false teaching.
The text often cited from Romans 13:1 to support this idea is:
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
I'm going to go through this quickly. If you need a more thorough exposition of Rom. 13 reference my teaching on YouTube, it's called “The Biblical Role of Government”.
By reading further on to verse 4 you will notice that the government’s role is to serve God first and to serve us for good.
Romans 13: 4, …for it (the government authority) is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
Did you catch that in the text? “For it”, referring to the government authority, is a servant of God to you for good.
Paul is explaining God's order and mandate for government. And when the government is no longerfulfilling this role, it begins to move toward illegitimacy. Paul never meant to say that we are to acquiesce to an evil, oppressive government.
And here's a scripture in Acts that proves the point of Paul's willingness to push back with government officials.
Acts 16:37 Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No, let them come themselves and escort us out.
Paul was using whatever leverage he had on a legal basis to push back against governing authorities who were unjust.
9. Embracing theological ideas that can lead to passivity
a. Apocalyptic Inevitability
There have been seasons and periods in history where people have been absolutely sure that Jesus is going to return in their lifetime. I think that's a mistake and I don't think that's the attitude of the New Testament.
Yes, in the New Testament there is the teaching of the imminent return of Jesus, meaning that he could come at any time, and so therefore we need to be ready. Our lamps need to be full of oil, and we need to be ready for the arrival of the groom. But the Bible also teaches us that in the case of a delay, if the Lord were to tarry, or there was going to be an extended long haul where we've got to work this thing out on earth, then what is our posture to be?
Luke 19:12-14 He said, a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then to return. And he called 10 of his own slaves and gave them 10 minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with this money until I come back.’ But the citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us’
Jesus is saying that you need to do business (or occupy) until he comes back. This is the only time this Greek verb occurs in the entire New Testament. It means to carry on the business, trade, to be occupied.
In World War II, things looked really bad as we saw the Axis powers of fascism to taking over large sections of the world and it looked like the end. There was a period there where it was very dark and looked very looming. You had the war in the Pacific, the war in Europe, and the war in southern Europe and Italy. It was just overwhelming. The amount of setbacks and defeats the Allies were facing at the hands of the Axis powers was daunting. If at that time you were alive it would be tempting to line things up with Bible prophecy and think that this has got to be the beast and the Antichrist spoken of in the book or Revelations. It truly was the spirit of the beast and the Antichrist that was let loose in the earth but it was not the end of the world. People at that time could have easily begun to develop a theology, of apocalyptic fatalism saying “this is the end! There's nothing we can do”. And then just acquiesce to what's happening. After all, it is all meant to be.
You see what I mean by fatalism? It's a good thing that this idea did not influence our war policy at that time, or we would all be speaking German today. I prefer English, honestly. But it all looked really bad.
The idea at that time was that this was evil. It was diabolical. And we must strenuously do whatever it takes to stop this continued spread of this evil around the world. Fortunately, we did not adopt a view of inevitability in our war policies.
b. Que Sera, Sera. Whatever will be, will be…
Fatalism causes people to be passive. “Well, you know, God will put in office whoever he wants. He'll do whatever he wants.” “After all, he is in control”. I really do not like those words. I rarely would ever say it, maybe in some rare context, but to just step back and go, “Well, after all, God's in control.” No.
Is that biblical anyway? “Well yes, but brother, God is sovereign.” Well, yes, of course he's sovereign. Does that mean that he controls everything? I mean, really, does it mean that God controls everything? I know somebody's probably going to shout out at me, but it does not.
You can observe from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible where God is repeatedly grieved. He even expresses disappointment. He is bringing judgment because things are happening that he is not in league with, he is not in agreement with, and is often in strong opposition to. You would have to step back and go, well, obviously God is not happy with the way things are unfolding. Genesis 6, when he judged the entire world, says he was grieved in his heart and says he was sorry that he ever made man in the first place.
What do you do with that? I would step back and think, it doesn't look to me that God has taken responsibility for everything that's happening, that somehow everything that happens is somehow ultimately a part of God's perfect plan would be more of a Calvinist perspective. If that were true, why would we have the Lord's Prayer where Jesus says fundamentally, basically, this is how you pray?
Father… “your will be done on earth as it's being done in heaven”, meaning that the will of God, the prayer is invalidated unless the will of God is fundamentally not being done on earth. Probably everybody here has that prayer memorized.
Doris Day – Que Sera Sera
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here's what she said to me. Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be.
When I grew up and fell in love, I asked my sweetheart, what lies ahead? Will we have rainbows day after day? Here's what my sweetheart said. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be.
Those are the dumbest lyrics I've ever heard. This whole idea that the outcome of all things is inevitable and that nothing we do can make a difference a very fatalistic viewpoint. Or, on the contrary, could it be that the outcome is sometimes hanging in a balance and is yet to be determined?
1 Kings 18:21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
Look at Nineveh. Look at Jerusalem. You look at these entire city-states hanging in a balance. And they had a collective decision to make. The decision that they are making determines the outcome.
And Jesus wept over Jerusalem saying “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Mat. 23:37) There's no question Biblically that God is able to experience grief, broken heartedness, and that some outcomes are not necessarily inevitable.
Winston Churchill gave a speech in 1940. It's referred to often as “this was our finest hour”. England was about to face the Germans in the Battle of Britain and they didn't know how bad it could be, but they knew it was going to be rough. The survival of England was at stake. They had to mobilize their own country to survive as The United States was not in the war yet. They were on their own.
What General Vagon has called the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit upland. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty. So bear ourselves that if the British empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour.
What you sense in this quote is real suspense. They knew the stakes were high and that this was going to be strenuous for them as a people.
10. Politics is a sideshow
Many believe that we just need to focus on evangelizing the lost and preaching the gospel - period. Politics is a sideshow.
For the Christian, Evangelism is of paramount importance. There's no question about it. It's one of the heartbeats of our ministry. The DNA of our ministry is discipleship, evangelism, having conversations and reaching people for Christ. But can't we do both? Can't we be engaged in our culture and self-governance while at the same time engaging people on an individual basis as to their duty to live for Christ, and to be right with God? Don't the two really go hand in hand? Consider, how well is evangelization going in North Korea? Historically, freedom has always been the best environment for the proliferation of the gospel. By securing freedom, we are providing for the furtherance of the gospel.
Paul understood this. What was the desired result when we look at this passage? Remember when he's writing this, that they had no vote, they held no elections. They had no way to petition the government.
The amount of liberty and freedom that we have to affect the outcome of our way of life is incredible as American people.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
In other words, there's a relationship between praying for those in authority and our desire that those authorities to leave us free to carry on our duty and mission before God in an unrestricted way. The objective of such prayer is that we can live our lives out in peace, not being hassled and pursued by the government because we are the enemies of the state. We want there to be peace so that what? He says at the very end that it is because God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul is saying that our effectiveness in evangelism is directly linked to a government that is at peace with his church where we are consequently free to carry on our mission.
Paul understood that it is in an environment of freedom and peace where the church can best flourish. It is a misnomer that people think the more persecution we experience, the stronger the church will be. That can be true to a point, but totalitarian governments can become extremely difficult to live under.
The church, like no other institution, has the potential to bring about tremendous good, healing and transformation to a broken world because we possess the most powerful antidote of God's word.