In light of the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, Christians are faced with a stark reality: there is a dark evil all around us. There are people who hate Christians and everything they stand for. In the words of Jeremiah 17:9, hearts are desperately wicked. What should we do? Here are 5 crucial steps you can take to help your country right now.
Listen to this article
This is an excerpt from the book, “12 Ways You Can Make a Difference in This Crazy, Mixed-up World” by Gordon A. Dickson
Why Your Country Needs True Christians
In a recent opinion piece, Shawn Carney wrote,
Anti-Christian sentiment has existed for some time but has been amplified in recent years by a culture that seeks to undermine traditional values and beliefs. The crusade against Christianity is fueled by a radical Left that refuses to engage in respectful discourse, opting instead for hateful rhetoric and dehumanizing tactics.[1]
The author made these comments in the aftermath of media mockery after a shooter killed three nine-year-old students and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. When we hear this kind of mockery, it’s important to remember a simple principle: your country needs true Christians.
Exercise Good Stewardship of Your God-given Citizenship
A constitutional republic such as the United States desperately needs Christians to be involved. They make a difference in this crazy, mixed-up society by the way they choose legislators and judges and the way they vote on ballot issues. This is the twelfth way you can make a difference in this crazy, mixed-up country. When Christians fail to exercise good stewardship of their God-given citizenship, the results are often disastrous.
Remember How Quickly Your Society Can Slide into Savagery
As Richard Land wrote,
Reflecting on the unprecedented freedoms granted the citizenry by the new Constitution, John Adams insightfully commented, “Our Constitution was
made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Adams understood that this noble American experiment in unprecedented liberty would not work unless most of the populace acknowledged a higher power than the state to whom they were responsible and accountable.[2]
Land’s point is that Christians, who are like salt and light, are essential to preserve our nation’s liberties. Today, this position is sometimes misrepresented as Christian nationalism, but Jesus described it as being salt and light. Without these believers, our society would become like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you doubt it? Consider the way that the prophet Ezekiel described Jerusalem, the capital of Judah:
Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.[3]
Let that sink in. God’s chosen people, who had received so much of God’s revelation, had become like Sodom. Aren’t we like Jerusalem in that respect? Our nation has been blessed with the abundant preaching and teaching of God’s Word. But, in the words of Robert Bork, we are “slouching towards Gomorrah.”[4] Note how the prophet described the moral decline of Sodom. He used words that we can easily recognize in our culture: “pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness.” Our culture is like the jaded culture of Jerusalem. Our country now features the pride movement, gluttony, and “quiet quitting.”[5]
Ezekiel described what’s next: a self-centered culture that refuses to care for the poor and needy and proudly descends into abominations. May God help us! These verses could have been taken from today’s headlines. By and large, the people of our nation are living for their nerve endings rather than what is never-ending. The Lord warned through Ezekiel, “Therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” But let’s step back for a moment to look at the bigger picture.
Remember Why Nations Exist
Believers are essential for any nation to accomplish its God-given purpose. Why do nations exist? Why did God bring them into existence? The apostle Paul answered this question when he addressed the philosophers at Athens. Speaking of “God, who made the world and everything in it,” who “gives to all life, breath, and all things,”[6] the apostle said,
Why do nations exist? Why did God bring them into existence?
He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.[7]
In a few words, the apostle set aside racism (because all men are of one blood), and he explained why nations exist. With all their ethnic varieties, the nations were predetermined by God, along with their geographical boundaries.
And what was God’s purpose in designing and appointing the nations? “That they should seek the Lord” in the hope that they might find Him. This Christian worldview about why nations exist is often condemned as Christian nationalism. But God’s purpose for creating nations does not apply exclusively to the United States.
In a few words, the apostle set aside racism (because all men are of one blood), and he explained why nations exist.
This is why your country (and every other country) needs true Christians. God designed nations so that men would seek the Lord. True Christians share the good news of Jesus Christ to show their countrymen how to find the Lord. These believers shine as lights in the world by holding forth the Word of life.[8] They testify to their fellow men about how they themselves came to see God’s light. Here is the way that Paul described this realization:
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.[9]
Nations were designed to help men seek God. Bible-believing churches and families were designed by God to help point the way.
Make Your Voice Heard
When possible, God’s people should make their voices heard in politics and government. Why? To the congregation at Rome, Paul wrote, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”[10] Or, as the King James Version renders it: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”
Shall we disdain what God ordained? No! If we lived under a monarchy (as Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Esther did), we would give ourselves over to prayerful submission. But, even though they were under a monarchy, each one of those people still exerted great influence on the national government. Would you be willing to have the same influence on your local government?
Frankly, you have even more reasons to get involved if you live in a constitutional republic like the United States. This is because your government was designed to be “of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.” Getting involved is a way of serving your neighbors. We do so with the firm confidence that “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”[11]
Christians have every reason to get involved. They know why nations exist. They know that the Most High God, who hears their prayers, rules in the kingdom of men. They know that He will give authority to the leaders whom He chooses. It only remains for them to give themselves as living sacrifices to Him.[12]
Make The Commitment
Would you be willing to “present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God”?[13] You could be influential in this arena simply because you study your Bible. Earnestly pray over upcoming elections and ballot issues. Register to vote in those elections. Study the issues carefully. Listen to the candidates as they present their positions on the issues. Remember that many elected officials will be responsible to appoint unelected officials. So ask yourself the question: Do I trust these people to use good judgment? Use your biblical discernment. Vote with your values.
It’s important to remember that your country needs true Christians. America desperately needs the salty, light-bearing influence of blessed believers at this moment in our history. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their crazy, mixed-up country by being salt and light in their cities and states. This is the twelfth way that you can make a difference.
[1] Shawn Carney, “Acceptable Hate: Assaults on Christianity Go Overlooked,” Opinion, Newsweek, April 4, 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/acceptable-hate-assaults-christianity-go-overlooked-opinion-1791866.
[2] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, vol. 9, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), quoted in Richard Land, “Being Salt and Light in an Unsavory and Dark Age: The Christian and Politics,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 11, no. 4 (Winter 2007): 84.
[3] Ezekiel 16:49–50.
[4] Robert Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah (New York: HarperCollins, 1996).
[5] “Quiet Quitting” describes a culture where employees do only the minimum amount of work to keep their jobs.
[6] Acts 17:24–25.
[7] Acts 17:26–27.
[8] Philippians 2:14–16.
[9] 2 Corinthians 4:6.
[10] Romans 13:1.
[11] Daniel 4:25, 34–37. See also Daniel 5:20–22.
[12] Romans 12:1–2.
[13] Romans 6:13.