Many Christians today want to make an impact in the world like Jesus did. However, there seems to be an increasingly pervasive desire among Christians for secular political power as a means to bring change. In this post I want to explore the pitfalls and dangers that Christians face when entering into politics from a theological perspective. I argue the following:

1. Jesus rejected secular political power. Jesus rejected the role as political king. He did not enter into any political controversies or alliances, nor did He gratify the people’s desire for revolution or political liberation. Jesus sets a clear example for what kind of battles the church and Christians should and should not fight—and these battles are not in the field of secular politics or questions of government.
2. Christian values cannot be enforced through legislation. Christ’s mission was to do that which the Old Testament system of law and punishment could not do—to convert the hearts of people to a genuine love for God and for mankind. This is also the church’s mission. Genuine faith in God and voluntary service through love is the spirit and fundament of every Christian value. These cannot be enforced through legislation—only inspired through love. Secular political power was therefore useless to Christ, and is also useless to the mission of the church. The use of force undermines the motive of love and faith. Christians should therefore, like Jesus, firmly reject the use of secular political power in building God’s kingdom.
3. God uses and manipulates worldly powers for His sovereign, benevolent purpose. The murder of Christ by the political authorities of His day emphatically proves that God does not sanction worldly politics, but may allow and manipulate them to fulfill His sovereign purpose of blessing and salvation.
4. When God uses force, it is to vindicate human rights and end oppression. In the Bible, God does not use force as a means to convert unbelievers, but as a retributive response to systemic violence and oppression. The government’s use of force serves God’s purpose only to the extent that they protect and vindicate human rights and ensure equity, freedom and justice for all.
5. Christians are not to enter into alliances with non-Christians. Christians are called to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14-15), and to not “be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). The entering into secular political alliances undermines this special Christian calling to stand apart as an independent, prophetic voice of uncompromised truth.
6. The godly leaders in the Bible never compromised principle. The godly men and women in the Bible who received secular political power (such as Joseph, David, Daniel, and Esther) did not pursue political power. Nor did they compromise for the sake of political unity or gain. Because of their humility and uncompromising integrity, God providentially and miraculously placed them and held them in leadership positions for the protection and welfare of His people in difficult times. Christians today of the same integrity may also be placed in leadership positions in society through God’s special providence and protection—but this in no way sanctions selfish political ambition and lust for power.
7. Politics divides and weakens the church. Secular politics brought into the church causes unnecessary dissension and divisions among Christians on invalid grounds and is detrimental to the Christian cause of reconciliation and unity in Christ.

Jesus and the bad guys. Christians have confessed for two millennia that Jesus is their example for how to live in this world. History shows us, however, that many Christians sadly have failed miserably at following His example.

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:16-17, ESV

The Gospels portray Jesus as a teacher and healer who associated with “bad” people, not because He approved of their behavior, but in order to heal and save them. This was misinterpreted by the religious leaders in His day as His condoning of sin. Jesus did not defend or excuse the sins of people—rather, He affirmed that His friends indeed were sinners. This, He said, was the very reason for His presence. As the Son of God, Jesus was not infected by sin; rather, He had come to heal it.

This beautiful story about Jesus as the friend of sinners has been used by certain Christians as an incentive to bring Jesus into politics. The Netflix series The Family explores the influence of a Christian group called “The Fellowship” or “The Family” on American politics. Should the church be brought into the political sphere in order to heal the nation? Should “bad” politicians who are converted to Christianity be forgiven for their misdeeds and protected by the church? Apparently, this was the morale of “The Family” led by the late Capitol-hill evangelist Doug Coe, whose mission was to recruit politicians to “The Family” as a means of, according to themselves, holding them “morally accountable” to one another. It became evident through investigations, however, that this secretive group in reality was a deeply problematic and undemocratic protection of power driven by evangelical Christians.

Jesus rejected secular political kingship. Many Christians today want to make a positive influence in the world. This is a beautiful and godly motive. However, many seem to think that secular political power is necessary in order to make a real change. Yet, nowhere in the Gospels do we read that Jesus ever entered into the sphere of secular politics or questions of government. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” He taught when the religious leaders interrogated Him about taxes. Jesus was shockingly brief and pragmatic on the most pressing and divisive political issue of His day—the Roman occupation of ancient Palestine. His focus was on teaching the principles of personal faith in God, mercy, unselfishness and accountability. He associated with the poor and sometimes with the powerful. He openly rebuked the moral corruption of the religious leaders. When interrogated, He confessed His divine identity as the king of a kingdom “not of this world” (John 18:36-37). However, Jesus rejected the desire of the people to make Him king by force.

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:14-15, ESV

The history books testify that the church’s use of secular power to establish the kingdom of God in this world has resulted in corruption, injustice and violence against humanity. This happened because sinful, fallible human beings in the church usurped divine authority by setting themselves in the judgment seat that belongs to Christ only.

However, if Jesus was the Son of God and was without sin and was infallible, could He not safely have employed secular power to forward His benevolent cause of justice? If Jesus was born without sin and was not affected by selfish ambition, if He was imbued with divine wisdom by the Holy Spirit, couldn’t He have achieved more good by becoming a political king?

Enforcing love for God? The Gospels tell the story of Jesus being promised all the kingdoms of the world for His cause given that He made one compromise.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’

Matthew 4:8-10, ESV

At first glance this might seem like a banal story. Why would Jesus ever be tempted to worship the Devil! Note that the Bible does not describe the Devil as a horned faun or a repulsive beast, but as an angelic being “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12-19, ESV). Jesus was not met by a sinister-looking figure, but by what appeared as an angel of God.

Secondly, Jesus knew from the prophecies in the Bible that He was the “Son of David” and the “Son of man”—the messianic king that would receive an everlasting kingdom by God (2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16; Daniel 7:13-14). He and other witnesses at His baptism heard the voice of God acknowledging Him as God’s beloved Son. As the Son of David, the Son of man, and the Son of God, Jesus’ mission was to establish God’s kingdom of righteousness and love in the world, as He also taught his disciples to pray in The Lord’s Prayer: “thy kingdom come”. By receiving power over all the kingdoms of the world handed over to Him by the Devil, Jesus could universally enforce God’s law and demand that all of humanity be converted. Obviously, He would have to make a compromise with the Devil by acknowledging him—but would this one compromise destroy His allegiance to God and His benevolent intention? Might not Jesus be able to heal the whole world and bring universal peace if He made the Devil simply hand over world power? This seems to be the temptation in the Devil’s offer.

Jesus knew that His mandate came from God. If He compromised His obedience to God, He would undermine His own mandate as messianic king.

But after Jesus had died and been resurrected and received universal authority by God, why would He not start a political revolution? The people had previously wanted Him to become king—why did He not finally meet their desire? Why did He not command His disciples to establish a universal Christian political empire?

The elementary principles of the world. As previously stated, secular political power is in its essence the power to enforce obedience through legislation. The law uses the threat of sanctions, punishment and violence as an incentive to obey. The people who wanted to make Jesus king were themselves willing to use force. In Christian theology, this paradigm of fear and punishment represents the law of Moses in the Old Testament. The use of fear of punishment as moral incentive to do right (as exemplified in the Mosaic covenant of the Old Testament)—even with perfectly just laws and penalties—is referred to by the apostle Paul as slavery, and represents the “elementary principles of the world”, followed by those who do not know God (Galatians 4:3-9). This kind of moral slavery through fear of punishment/death cannot lead people into perfect, Christ-like love because it is impossible to love perfectly and unselfishly under the constant fear of punishment. Fear is focused on self-protection; love is an unselfish mindset. There cannot be perfect love in a heart driven by selfish fear. It is from this slavery of fear and selfishness that Jesus came to set us free (Galatians 4—5). This is how Jesus saves people from sin, making it possible for people, through their freedom from fear of punishment (the freedom in grace) in Him, to grow into perfect love to God and to mankind. If Jesus accepted secular political kingship—if He employed force, sanctions and violence to forward His message—He would lose His power to save the whole human being. His use of force would not be able to touch, change and heal the human heart.

Jesus’ message was a message of non-violence (“turning the other cheek”), humility and voluntary obedience to God driven by love.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40, ESV

The core principle of God’s law is love to God and love to mankind. How could Jesus enforce such a law? Genuine love can only exist where there is free will. It is impossible to enforce love, because love involves the heart and emotions, which are not externally controlled or forced. If the permeating principle of the law of God had been submission to God rather than love, God’s purpose could indeed be fulfilled through the use of legislation and force. Many people would then submit to God out of fear, not out of love. If the law demanded submission rather than love, Jesus might have employed secular power (militaries, punishment, legislation) to compel people to obey God. But people would serve God out of the slavery of fear, not out of the freedom of love. God’s service would be insincere, selfishly motivated and fundamentally unspiritual and unloving.

If Jesus accepted secular political kingship—if He employed force, sanctions and violence to forward His message—He would lose His power to save the whole human being.

Jesus said: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, ESV). God is a free-will, spiritual being. Humans were created in God’s image as free-will, spiritual beings. God does not want our forced, external worship; He wants our love, which is worship that includes our spirit—our thoughts, feelings, and our free will. God has given us the freedom to choose. Therefore, He will never take away or infringe on this right, forcing people to accept His rule. These fundamental truths are undermined when Christianity takes hold of secular political power and the employment of force.

God’s sovereignty over worldly authorities. Christians holding onto secular political power sometimes justify their course by the following passage written by the apostle Paul to the Christians in ancient Rome:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Romans 13:1-7, ESV

Some Christians argue that their political success and possession of power is proof that they are doing God’s will. “There is no authority except from God”, they say, quoting Paul. However, Paul was speaking of the Roman power, which was the same power that crucified and killed Jesus and later Christians. Were the Roman authorities doing God’s will by killing His Son and killing Christians? Scripture says that Christ’s death indeed did happen according to God’s plan and providence (Isaiah 53:6, 10). It even says that it was God’s will to crush Christ, in order to bring universal salvation (verse 10). So on a larger scale, yes, the Roman authorities were indeed fulfilling God’s plan by killing the Son of God. However, the same people who fulfilled Christ’s mission of dying on a cross, also incurred God’s judgment on themselves for their unbelief and murder (Matthew 27:25; Revelation 1:7). It was not God’s desire that anyone should reject and kill His Son, but that they all should believe in Him!

The murder of Christ by worldly authorities manifests an important and multifaceted truth about how God relates to human governments. While God in His sovereign power and wisdom uses “the powers that be” in order to accomplish His benevolent purpose of salvation, this does in no way mean that He sanctions their politics or actions, or that they are God’s people. God has the divine ability to bring something good out of evil—but this in no way should be interpreted as His approval of what is evil or unjust. God’s own way of building His kingdom is seen in the teachings of Jesus: By voluntary, peaceful service driven by love. If Jesus could not use secular political power to build God’s kingdom, how can Christians claim to do so? This is a denial of the values which Christ and God represent. It is fundamentally anti-Christian.

Violence in the Old Testament. Some might point to the Mosaic law found in the Old Testament as evidence that God employs force to build His kingdom. How is the use of capital punishment under the Mosaic law—not to mention other instances of divinely ordered killings in the Old Testament—reconcilable with a God of non-violence and love preached by Jesus? Doesn’t the Old Testament present a God of force and fear?

It is important to note that the Mosaic law was not imposed on the Hebrew people, but was freely and unanimously accepted by the people itself (Exodus 24:3, 7; 19:5-8). When God had liberated the Hebrew slaves in Egypt by the hand of Moses, those who desired to leave Egypt and enter into a covenant relationship with Yahweh as their God and Moses as their leader did so freely. This included not only the Hebrews; people from other nations willingly joined them, too (Exodus 12:37-38). The Mosaic covenant, with its theocratic rule, divine laws, civic regulations and judicial penalties—including capital punishment—was read aloud to all the people and subsequently affirmed by the people “with one voice” as their form of government (Exodus 24:3, 7). Why did they unanimously accept the Mosaic law? According to the text, the people themselves perceived a wisdom and justice in the Mosaic laws that was superior to the laws of the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 4:6-8). The Mosaic law is therefore firmly built upon the divine principle of freedom to accept or reject God’s rule without coercion.

But then some might ask: Didn’t God violently punish other nations who rejected His rule?

In the Bible, God never employs force or violence over other nations as a means to convert them—only as a retributive act and judgment against systemic violence and oppression. This is a crucial point. Here are some notorious examples:

1. Before the Great Flood, the earth was filled with hamas, which is Hebrew for “violence” or “oppression” (Genesis 6:11-13). The text says that every single motive of people’s hearts was evil. God responds to a violent and oppressive world by letting it undergo a violent and oppressive end.
2. Before God destroyed the city of Sodom and its surrounding cities, we find the story of how all of the men of Sodom gathered in order to sexually abuse Lot’s guests (Genesis 19:4-5). The city is described as being haughty and indifferent to the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49-50). God responds to the systemic violence and oppression of these cities by violently destroying them.
3. When Pharaoh commands the oppression of the Hebrew slaves and the execution of their firstborn male children (Exodus 1:22), God finally responds by killing the firstborn male children of the Egyptians.
4. When God tells the Israelites to expel the Canaanites from ancient Palestine, the Canaanites are described as sacrificing their own children to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:31). God responds to their systemic violence and oppression with a violent and oppressive Israelite invasion.

These stories demonstrate that God’s use of force and violence is not a means to convert people to His kingdom; it is a retributive act of justice that vindicates human rights and freedom. Therefore the scripture says, “whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7, ESV). This is the law of cause and effect.

The purpose of the state as “God’s servant” (Romans 13) is to do the same—to uphold justice and vindicate the human rights and freedom of all citizens, equally. It is in this way that the governing authorities are God’s ministers—as far as they indeed do this just work. However, the Bible shows that when governments systemically fails to do this, God sends judgments and replaces it.

Biblical prophecy found in the book of Daniel and Revelation points forward to a time when in the end-times just before Christ’s return where the world will be violent and oppressive, trampling on basic human rights on a universal and systemic level. It is at this final point, when the world is universally corrupted, that God intervenes and the whole world is judged and God’s eternal kingdom is established through the reign of Jesus Christ.

A people not of this world. What role do Christians then have in our present world? What work has Christ called them to do?

Christians are called to make disciples of all nations and teach the principles of God’s kingdom (Matthew 28:18-19). They are called to share and spread the faith in Christ through love and service. Working for social equity and justice (also in legislation) is indeed a natural and important part of this Christian work. However, is this work best done by allying with non-believers in politicking and partisan activity? Jesus ignored secular politics and questions of government and public policy-making, and yet He accomplished a paradigm shift in human history and thought. This emphatically proves that engaging in politics is not necessary or even the most efficient way to change the world for the better. In order to truly change the world and change people, we must change the hearts of people and reach them personally and spiritually. No legal enactment will save humanity because no legal enactment can transform the heart.

As mentioned earlier, the Bible does indeed give examples of godly men and women who were set in government by God in order to uphold justice, such as Joseph in Egypt, Daniel and his friends in Babylon, or Queen Esther in the Achaemenid empire. However, these people did not ally with non-believers, nor did they pursue political power. Nothing in their stories as recorded in the Bible indicates that they were motivated by political ambition. Rather than calculating and compromising for political gain, they stood out as peculiar and different from the rest, openly acknowledging that their allegiance to God’s word stood above all. And against all odds, God miraculously placed them in strategic positions for the protection of His people.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

2 Corinthians 6:14-15, ESV

Yoking with unbelievers. In this passage, the apostle Paul warned the Christians in Corinth from being “unequally yoked” with non-Christians. Paul is using the metaphor of a yoke—a wooden beam that joins two animals working together in pulling a plow or cart. If two animals of different sizes or strengths are yoked together, they cannot work effectively because their differences pull them in separate directions. There’s no synergy. This truth pertains also to human beings in their work.

A Christian is a person who has accepted Christ’s rule and God’s kingdom in their life. Non-Christians have not done this. Christians and non-Christians will have different purposes, motives and priorities in their work. There simply must be some difference between them in values. Political alliances between Christians and non-Christians opens the door for the compromise of Christian principle for the sake of political unity and power. Christians in political alliances learn to “swallow camels”—to suppress or adjust their own convictions or principles for the sake of political unity and power, thus making power the lead motive rather than truth. Thus, they are easily corrupted or silenced and lose their independence and influence as the voice of Christ in modern society.

The Christian has, by accepting Christ, acknowledged that it is sin (selfishness) that is the root problem in our world, and that Christ is the only solution to this problem (John 15:5; Romans 5:12-21). Christianity teaches that only Christ can cure the sinfulness and selfishness of the human heart that causes us to hurt one another, destroy ourselves and destroy the planet—not political power, political reforms, human legislation, regulations or sanctions. The Christian that believes in the Gospel, believes that the best human efforts cannot save us, and that the problem in our world is fundamentally spiritual and requires a spiritual rather than a political solution: The transformation of the heart and mind through personal faith in Jesus. This is the core of Christianity.

Jesus repeatedly asserted that His kingdom was not of this world and that His followers were not of this world (John 15:18-19; 17:16; 18:36). As the world rejected Jesus, so the world would reject His followers, He said. How so? Because the principles of God’s kingdom are different to the principles of the world.

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25-28, ESV

As the current world operates, with its limited resources, universal decay and death, it is impossible to eradicate selfishness and establish God’s kingdom of love universally. Selfishness through fear is an integral part of our world. Worldly authorities rule by the elementary principles of survival, selfish interest, fear and force under a paradigm of mortality and scarcity of resources. God’s kingdom rules by the higher principles of selflessness, love and service under a paradigm of immortality and abundance. These two systems don’t mix, because in our unsafe world of scarcity and death, one fearful, selfish or corrupt person is enough to destroy the movement of trust and love required for the ecosystem of unselfish service to work on a universal level. Selfish survival and fear of death is the core principle that drives everything in our world, which is why the world is evil and in slavery, according to Scripture. Unselfish care for others from a position of abundance is the motive that runs God’s kingdom. These two systems cannot blend because mortal beings naturally do not think and operate as immortal beings.

That is why Christians are called to be separate from the world—to think and operate differently and independently of the worldly system. Christians have, through faith in Christ and His resurrection and faith in His victory over death, the promise of eternal life and abundance, and are called to live unselfishly from this vantage point. Christians are called to live in this world as people having eternal life, just as Christ lived in this world as one having eternal life.

Protecting the unity of the church. Jesus prayed for the unity of all His followers (John 17:23). However, secular political questions undermine this purpose, bringing division into the church on invalid grounds. It is true that where there are fundamental differences in faith and religious practice, division may be inevitable in the same way as there was division between Jesus and the religious authorities of His day. But Christians who bring secular political strife into the church willfully forget that God is bigger than their political views. They refuse to show solidarity to other Christians who believe in Christ, but have different political views than themselves. They turn “minors into majors”, making smaller, temporal issues out to be more important and definitive than faith in Jesus working through love. Politicking in church on secular matters, and even on matters pertaining to the church organization itself, is the best way to distract Christians and kill Christian unity and their prophetic power and influence in the world.

Jesus devoted His time to heal and preach the message of God’s spiritual kingdom, and the church must follow in His footsteps. Among His disciples were people of radically different political backgrounds—such as Simon the Zealot, a radical nationalist who was part of a group that advocated for violent revolt against the Roman occupation—and Matthew the tax collector, a pragmatist who worked for the Roman government. This shows that Jesus did not take sides in questions of secular politics, but called both people from the left and from the right to follow Him, preach the Gospel and love one another. This must be the work of the church and the calling of every Christian.

The “Catch-22” of Christian political parties. Some Christians argue that since democracy is a Christian principle (built on the equality and dignity of all human beings), Christian political parties are, when elected democratically, in line with the Christian principles. But they ignore a crucial point: State politics pertain to state government; it pertains to everybody in a state, which is a plurality of people who do not share the same faith or values.

If a Christian party receives the majority vote of the public (which naturally is their objective), they will hold legislative power (i.e. the power to enforce policies by use of sanctions) over a minority who have not voted for them and who might not share their faith or values. Thus, Christian parties in government may be accused of forcing people, against their own will and conscience, to observe policies that are based on or informed by Christian beliefs. Policies that relate to LGBTQ people, women, families and immigration are particularly controversial and are, to many, questions of conscience, freedom and faith. The use of secular power to compel people to follow Christian principles and morality is fundamentally unchristian and anti-Christian. Christ taught that God seeks worship that is “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, ESV)—that is, devotion and obedience which comes from the heart and includes the spirit and emotions. This cannot be fabricated through coercion and sanctions—this, in fact, destroys the kind of love and obedience that God seeks from His children.

Another problem is the corruptive influence of power. A powerful Christian political party would create a selfish incentive for insincere, power hungry people to favor Christianity or conveniently convert for the sake of power rather than for the sake of truth and conscience. Thus the church itself would be corrupted with false, power-worshiping Christians, and would soon begin to harass and persecute those who challenge the church. This is exactly what happened in the Middle Ages through the conversion of Constantine the Great when the church received secular power. The persecution of “heretics” was a natural development of a so-called “Christian” majority holding secular power—they began to persecute those who did not conform to the views or practices of the church. In the prophecies of the books of Daniel and Revelation, the blending of secular and religious power, symbolized in Revelation as the seven-headed beast (a secular political institution) and the prostitute (a religious institution) riding the beast, will once again lead to the persecution of conscientious people who want to obey God.

It’s a “Catch-22” for the Christian political party: If they refrain from advocating for and enacting Christian policies in the public sphere, they will be guilty of compromising and suppressing Christian conscience and principles; if they do enforce Christian policies in the public sphere, they may be accused of violating human rights (such as freedom of thought, conscience and religion), which also are Christian principles. In both cases, the Christian political party will inevitably compromise Christian principles.

The Antichrist—a system blending secular and religious power. In Revelation 17, the apostle John shares a prophetic vision of a luxurious, promiscuous woman, a prostitute, riding a seven-headed beast. The book of Revelation is filled with imagery and metaphors taken from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God is often portrayed allegorically as a husband and His people as His wife (Ezekiel 16; Isaiah 54:5-6). John’s metaphor in Revelation of two different women—a luxurious prostitute riding a beast, and a holy woman clothed in the sun and standing on the moon (Revelation 12:1-6)—symbolize two groups of people. The prostitute riding the beast, represents a people or a church that is unfaithful to God. The holy woman is the true church that is faithful to God. The prostitute riding the beast is named Babylon, and is described as committing fornication with the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:2). This means that the unfaithful church compromises its purity and fidelity to God by allying with worldly powers.

As is exemplified in the documentary The Family, there are many Christians and churches in the Western world today that are allying with secular power in order to further so-called “Christian” values. A new wave of conservative power is now increasingly advocating for bringing back Christianity and the church into secular politics, even calling the separation of church and state “a lie”. Political leaders hungry for power, conquest and control are receiving the open approval and blessing of church leaders. However, as the church in the Middle Ages held secular power and began persecuting God’s true people, the prophecies in Revelation warn that the corrupted, end-time church will, once having clasped its hands with secular power once more, again persecute those who will not conform to its teachings or practices.

Christians who seek to “lord it over” others like the Gentiles do by pursuing secular politial power to forward their cause, are doing the exact opposite of what Jesus Himself did and what He required (Matthew 20:25-28, as previously cited). For this and all the previous reasons listed, I believe it is good for Christians to stay clear of secular political strife and rather approach the sufferings and injustice in our world as Jesus did: By doing good to all people, especially the oppressed, defending the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:9) and preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. Jesus didn’t need to enter into any political alliance in order to do good and change the world, and neither do Christians.

This is my testimony. What is yours? Feel free to share in the comment section below!