THE FORMULA: American Politics + Christianity = The Call to Renew Our Minds

You might be surprised to learn that the greatest hurdle to living and thinking according to God's expectations is culture, and part of any culture includes politics and political agendas. The sad reality is that Christians today in America have lost sight of God and His commandments due to the impact of American politics. I'm saddened and frustrated to say that many of our church and ministry leaders alike are blinded by their political views. My charge to every Christian is to renew our minds to develop a Christian worldview, then reach out to help others who are still struggling to achieve renewal by joining me to challenge that which is clearly broken. The directive from Jesus’ is quite clear that we must be the "salt of the earth," yet the salt has become tasteless, and the light has become faint (Matthew 5:13). 

This page on our site is dedicated to the mission of encouraging and preparing God's people to renew their minds and return to God's true worldview as well as His plan and His mission! There is one powerful caveat that I must call out before the reader proceeds: not everyone can consume and digest what is listed below to achieve mind renewal. If you're not ready today, try praying and thinking over the subject of American politics versus Christian requirements, then come back again at a later date when you're ready. I guarantee that millions of Americans need the changes addressed here. It is absolutely certain that the Christian mindset needs renewal to remove the blindfolds that inhibit God's directives. For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear!  If you’re ready, power on to the next section below! 

Various political parties and factions existed throughout human history, particularly during the life of Jesus. He consistently challenged their views and pointed out the gaps between His mission and mindset in comparison to their thoughts and actions. Likewise, extensive gaps exist today between God's mission and today's political parties. All political parties in America contain some degree of benefits, but in varying areas of life. For example, Democrats fight for ethnic harmony, strive to defend against injustices and implement programs for the poor. Similarly, Republicans bring benefits to the country such has fighting against abortion and maintaining the traditional family structure. However, both parties contain significant degrees of fallacies and wickedness that should never be supported by the Christian community. We can't possibly embrace these parties without also embracing the sinful actions that they contain. This logically concludes that it is impossible to support American political parties without compromising the mission of Jesus Christ. For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear!  If you’re ready, power on to the next section below! 

Multiple studies prove that Biblical knowledge and understanding has slowly diminished over the past two decades in America. Today, very few Christians truly understand what the Bible instructs and how we should live. Therefore, what has replaced the Christian worldview is an altered view that is heavily influenced by American culture, and culture is always among the greatest obstacles to Christian thinking and living. The subtle result is these cultural influences slowly turn into idols over time that dominate our motivations and thoughts - factors that become more important than God and His directives. Once these cultural influences become our priorities, we tend to defend these priorities by way of motivated reasoning. This occurs when the brain deliberately searches, interprets and evaluates information in a manner that conforms to a desired personal conclusion - one that has been altered. The problem is that these conclusions now match the ungodly cultural influences instead of God’s directives.  Instead of thinking and acting fairly, instead of demonstrating humility, instead of seeking to understand, instead of maintaining a mindset that uses the Bible as our filter, we replace God’s word with our political views as the new filter.  This is the disastrous phenomenon that has infiltrated the Church in America, including church and ministry leaders. It is a serious cancer that must be "surgically" removed! For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear!  If you’re ready, power on to the next section below! 

Over time, political influences create confirmation biases, which is the natural tendency to seek out and remember information that fits our political worldviews while completely ignoring or discrediting factual information that clearly contradicts it. When confirmation biases dominate our thinking, we not only discredit facts, be we also discredit God’s directives as well because the political agendas are the new, biased priorities. These political filters create a naïve realism, which is a psychological bias where Christians believe they see the world's economic and social conditions objectively, but anyone who disagrees with them is seen as biased, misinformed or irrational - even when the various decrees from the Bible contradict our political views. This is the root of hypocrisy among American Christians today, and sadly, we even have certain Christian leaders from other countries that have fallen into this mindset as well. 

The political agendas only support certain Biblical positions, but ignore others. Likewise, the Church now does the same. Democrats support certain Godly mandates, while completely ignoring others. Therefore, the logical progression is the Church also picks and executes certain Godly mandates, while ignoring others. Republicans are guilty of the same sins, just relating to different subjects. However, conservatives are significantly more guilty in this area because they boast on their dedication to God and living out their Christian values, yet they ignore a plethora of God’s directives. Our internal research at ETM confirms that their hypocritical approach to politics serves as a top reason why unbelievers refuse Christianity. Many unbelievers disagree with the Christian agenda because they think the actions of Republicans also demonstrate what the Christian life entails - hypocrisy and biased thinking that supports certain groups, but oppresses others. For example, Republicans emphasize abortion, but they ignore other facets that are critical to the faith as well, such as justice, mercy, truth, and the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). Further, “conservative” Christians and Christian leaders alike blatantly ignore the incalculable number of lies from the conservative party (John 8:44)! They fail to see the filth within their chosen party. This is the true definition of hypocrisy. The public witness of Jesus Christ is severely impacted as a result. Likewise, Democrats push for supporting a woman’s choice, but ignore the life that is being destroyed as a result of that choice. For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear!  If you’re ready to proceed, power on to the next section below! 

This is a complex process and requires ongoing introspection, but a quick approach to identify ungodly political and cultural influences is to determine if we reference ourselves as Christian, or do we use other adjectives to describe our political views and positions, such as “evangelical Christian”, “conservative”, “liberal” or some other term. When we place the word “evangelical” in front of Christian, the end result is we are diluting Christianity by blending it with some other set of perspectives. We are adding another mindset to what God has already created for His people. So, we unknowingly place our priorities as being an “evangelical” first, then “Christian” as a second point of focus. Once this happens, we only see Christianity through the filtered lens of an evangelical, conservative, or liberal. If we consider ourselves as one or more of these terms, then we most certainly are embracing views contrary to God’s expectations. The challenge here is we must due our duty to find it, then flush it out! 

Consider this fact: the Church was, is, and always will be a countercultural entity (1 Peter 2:9, Matthew 5:13-16, Romans 12:2). Further, Malachi 3:6 clearly quotes God as stating, “For I, the Lord, do not change.” This means that the Church is also a distinct, countercultural community that lives by God’s Kingdom Values rather than conforming to the surrounding world’s standards. The Church must not change from cultural pressures! Sadly, this subject serves as a prime example of how the surrounding culture has influenced the Church, not the Church impacting the surrounding culture per the Scriptures. When we say, “I am a Republican,” we are inherently embracing a shifting mindset of ideas and ideals that change frequently over time. It is factually proven that the Democratic and Republican culture, temperament, character, belief system, priorities and worldviews change over time - generally in four-year iterations. Therefore, a partisan mindset is an ungodly mindset that flexes and morphs over time. However, a Christian worldview remains true to the Scriptures and does not change.    

For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear!  If you’re ready to proceed, power on to the next section below! 

   First, we must look in the mirror and understand that our identity is in Christ Jesus, not man-made political parties. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus stated clearly that, “No one can serve two masters.” This means we can’t serve both a partisan mindset and a God-ordained mindset, instead we must “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness...” (Matthew 6:33) 

Healing begins by first being intellectually and spiritually honest with ourselves and ask who is leading our lives. We must commit to embracing God's mandates when they supersede our own beliefs, but we can't adhere to God's word if we don't know God's word. This is where the importance of Bible study comes into the equation. We must learn God’s word! Take every opportunity to read and listen to reliable resources to understand the Bible. While immersing ourselves in God's directives, we may also need to remove ourselves from the news, or minimize the amount of news we consume. Next, we need to have a thorough understanding of ourselves. This is where metathinking, or metacognition, becomes an excellent practical tool. 

To utilize metacognition techniques is to “think about how we think.”  It is an  introspective process that leads to an awareness and understanding of our own thought processes. It includes two primary approaches. The first approach is noticing how we process information, recognizing how we react when we do not understand information, and asking why we think in a certain way. We must address the root of our thoughts, then determine if it is of God, self or Satan. Once we understand the root of each thought or perspective, then we must submit every thought to Christ by actively aligning our thoughts with the truth of God's Word – even when it opposes our political views (2 Cor. 10:5)! Once we understand how we think, we will see that we will not only grow and mature spiritually, but also in a plethora of other areas in life - career, family, marriage, education, and a host of other areas. For those who have an ear to hear, let them hear! Still okay? Hang in there! We're almost finished! If you’re ready, power on to the next section below! 

The second approach to metacognition is regulation, where we choose specific strategies to maintain healthy thinking that adheres to God’s Word. We must work on the best paths to solve problems, change our approach when they fail, understand the views of others when they oppose our own, and guide our thoughts in the proper direction when they stray to ungodly thoughts. These steps are necessary in order to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives. Another great source for healing is the Book of Micah. If you understand the culture and setting that Micah spoke against, you will see strong similarities to the setting our country faces today. 

Lastly, it is critically important that we understand that it is impossible to embrace a political party without compromising God’s standards, and God expects us to never compromise His standards (Psalm 119:3-13, James 4:4). Political agendas were not created with God’s purposes in mind, and they do not function with God’s purposes in mind. We must always remember that this country functions under a government system that is a democracy, not a theocracy. God’s word is divinely inspired, not America’s political platforms. There are no divinely inspired political platforms, but we do have a divinely inspired Book that guides us along the way. I pray that this brief journey leads you to a place of understanding, healing, but most of all, a path to carry out God’s mission. Now, go and help someone else power through the same process! If I can be of assistance to anyone or any church on this subject, I'm always ready to help! Blessings!