Posted on 09/07/2022 9:50:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
My newest book, The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions of American Christians Have Confused Politics with the Gospel, has just been released. But what, exactly, do I mean by “political seduction”?
Do I mean that Christians who are involved in politics have been seduced? Certainly not. I believe Christians should be involved in politics, as I have stated repeatedly for years.
Am I critiquing those who supported Donald Trump, as if they were seduced into voting for him? Not at all. I voted for him myself, both in 2016 and 2020. And my book is about the church more than it is about President Trump (or any other political leader, for that matter).
Then what do I mean by political seduction?
I’m referring to the unhealthy marriage of politics and the Gospel. I’m speaking about the Church becoming an appendage to a political party. I’m talking about God’s people getting consumed with election fever. I’m referring to believers putting their hope in a political leader in a way that becomes unhealthy and even idolatrous.
That is what I mean by political seduction.
Unfortunately, seduction is very seducing. It comes in subtly, not overtly, through the side window, not the front door. And it looks so good at the outset, so justifiable, so right. It is only over time that it begins to show its fangs. (For a graphic picture of seduction and its consequences, read Proverbs 7.)
That’s why I have a whole chapter in the book titled, “The Subtlety of Seduction.”
That’s also why I devote two chapters to the false prophecies about Trump’s re-election in 2020, titled, “When the Prophets Prophesied Falsely,” and, “The Genesis of False Prophecy.”
That’s why the last chapter of the book is titled, “How We Failed the Test: Retracing Our Steps and Learning the Big Lessons.”
I am convinced that, as the people of God, we can do better. In fact, we must do better. Otherwise, without our light shining brightly, the nation will collapse.
But, to repeat, seduction is very subtle, and in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to understand why so many of us got so caught up in politics to the point of obsession.
After all, didn’t the fate of the nation hang in the balance? Weren’t our very freedoms at stake? Didn’t the radical left want to bring dangerous, existential changes to our country, changes that would affect us for generations to come?
The answer to all these questions was and is yes — yes in 2020; yes in 2022; and yes in 2024. These have been and will be absolutely pivotal elections.
The problem is when we merge the Gospel with the elections as if a political party was the key to advancing God’s kingdom on the earth. The problem is when we put our trust in the political system more than in the power of the Gospel. The problem is when we try to fight spiritual battles with earthly weapons.
This is the political seduction of the church, and this is what happened to millions of us in recent years.
The question is: Did it happen to you? Did it happen to me?
Here are some telltale signs that we have been politically seduced:
These are all signs that we have been politically seduced, even if only one or two of them apply to us.
With all respect, I suggest that if the shoe fits, we wear it, own it, acknowledge it, learn from it, and move forward without feeling condemned.
We need to take our place on the front lines, putting first things first — and that means the Gospel before politics.
If we keep our priorities straight, the nation can be shaken.
Dr. Michael Brown(www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Revival Or We Die: A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope.
It is about Trump.
Otherwise he would not have brought it up.
Professional soother Michael Brown is once again slyly sticking a knife in your back while assuring you it is really all your own fault.
Boy oh boy is this article mixed up.
He is a political hack, Christians just want to be left alone to love and worship God. It’s the Democrats that won’t let us be, President Trump is a focus to restore what we use to have.
Prayers for peace in our country 🙏.
You are a brave soul...
And I agree with his observations, even while he admits to being just as seduced as the Christians he is critiquing.
Jesus and politics are an awful combination. Soiling the light of the world with the garbage narcissists that end up in government and politics is beyond vile.
“The problem is when we try to fight spiritual battles with earthly weapons.”
Well, whether the spiritual weapons work or not is up to God. Whether your earthly weapons work or not is something you have a little more control over. And these aren’t ONLY spiritual battles we are talking about here. When political prisoners are being locked up, they are locked in earthly prisons, behind earthly bars. When communists riot, burn down cities, and murder people, they are throwing earthly molotov cocktails and shooting earthly bullets.
I wish that everyone with a good heart forming a prayer circle would stop these things, and I believe that eventually God will stop them, but in the meantime, if we decide just to wait on God to intervene, we’ll probably all be dead or in the gulag before that happens.
I was never going to vote for The Whore of Babylon. And Joe Biden? Spit.
Most mainstream churches have become community orginizer centers under the “banner” of religion in my opinion.
I don’t know why this nitwit continues to be confused about the populist Trump movement.
He talks about seduction being subtle. He says he voted for Trump BUT — always that BUT, which means he thinks he has Trump, and populism, on a short leash. Such not-so-subtle arrogance!
There are two things the left, marxists, progressives, liberals, socialists, communists, utopians, atheists, want to vanquish from the face of the earth: 1) The Bible (with its God, Jewishness, Christ, the Gospel, Christianity, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, etc.), and 2) the U.S. Constitution (with its limits to government).
The two elements are very separate and distinct. Yet they are related in that the Constitution definitely stands on Biblical principles and was written by men who valued the precepts of the Bible. The people Brown wants to impugn and accuse of conflating the two know the distinction very well. It’s just that the people Brown accuses of having been seduced weigh in behind the one man who has championed the values expressed by the Bible and the Constitution more assiduously than any other political figure has in living memory.
Ergo, to the RINOesque mind, it might APPEAR Trump supporters are intertwining him with the Gospel; but it isn’t true. We’re much smarter than he thinks. It’s all in RINO Brown’s head.
Dr. Brown: Go to Hell.
BTW, watch “Flashpoint” on the Victory Channel to hear the truth.
I have a liberal friend who wanted to know how could I as a Christian vote for such a vile man as Trump. I replied I am voting for a president, not a pastor. Trump attempted to implement conservative policies and was a populist in many ways, I didn’t agree with everything he did and I expect that of any president. What expected from Trump and my pastor were two different things. She was not placated and is a “woke Christian” whatever that means.
I will agree to the extent that many people fell into the trap of worshipping a man rather than the One who put him in office. And it was Mr. Trump’s fault that he was not prepared for the steal that everyone knew was coming. Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Detroit and Phoenix should have been flooded with loyal poll watchers and witnesses, with cell phones out and rolling the whole night.
What happened in 2020 is going to happen again in 2022 unless we are vigilant.
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