That’s exactly how I felt with just over a month remaining in my insurgent, third-party campaign for Arkansas Governor in 2018. I was celebrating my for-smfing birthday with my wife and kids.
I was beat – mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The prior weekend I made a “southern swing” in my campaign. I met libertarians and interested voters all across the southern counties of the state. Small crowds and tough questions were decimating. My energy was vaporized by the endeavor.
Maybe it was the fatigue, or the feelings of failure, but I was locked in an intense battle. I was questioning the point of running so hard in a race that I knew would lose? Even more, I would be lucky to grab 3 percent of the vote, which is what the Libertarian Party needed for ballot access in the state, regardless of how hard I worked.
My centering time back then was challenging as well.
Christ was telling me, in His Spirit, that His kingdom wasn’t built the way I was trying to build it.
I saw my campaign as a platform, not just for liberty, but for Christ. I enjoyed a plethora of opportunities to share my faith with people I met on the trail. I also saw it as an opportunity to use politics to do God things.
But His gentle whisper was calling me away. His whisper was telling me that my quest was misguided. It was a tough pill to swallow because I love all things political.
What is a Christian?
This is the question that hit at the core of my political being. And answering this question led me toward a unique answer to the question I’ve posed in the title of this article.
Biblically, the term “Christian” arose in Antioch (Acts 11:26). It was used to describe those who followed Jesus Christ in that city during Paul’s missionary era. We’ve adopted the term in America to describe members of the various denominational churches in our nation and around the world.
But, what makes someone a Christian? While the various denominations may each define this a little different, we do have some commonalities.
Faith in Christ. Holy-Spirit-empowered repentant living. Living as Jesus lived. Following Christ’s teaching. All of these work into the definition of what it means to be a Christian.
The simplest way I’ve been able to understand it is by saying that Christians are those people who live the teachings of Christ. I’m not going to get into all of His teachings in this essay, but I want to lay the foundation upon which I’m going to build my answer to the question at hand.
Glorious Kingdoms
One thing that stands out, in Scripture, is that Jesus doesn’t really say a lot about politics. Yet, the few things He does say should serve to at least caution Christians. I’m not going to deal with them all here. Actually, I’m going to limit myself to just one.
I’m certain I could write volumes from the references He does make. Maybe that will be my next book. Not kidding on that one!
Jesus was fasting for 40-days and nights in the “wilderness” near Jerusalem. Textually, it seems that Satan tempted Christ toward the end of the fast, which should theoretically be His weakest point. I think that this text amplifies how Christ viewed the political order.
It should inform how Christians view the political order as well. I’m going to build from Matthew and Luke’s portrayal in tandem to get a full picture of the temptation.
“Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.”
Matthew 4:8 HCSB
“So he took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.”
Luke 4:5 HCSB
Both verses seem parallel. Jesus was taken up, Luke tells us the “up” was a very high mountain. Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor in a moment of time.
I’m thinking like one of those Hollywood-esque flash scenes. Satan swiped right, and all of the palaces, gold, food, people, and lands of the world flashed in front of Him. Satan was trying to entangle Him.
He was appealing to the lust of the eyes.
He wanted Jesus to SEE the kingdoms of the world. He wanted Jesus to SEE the glory. He wanted Jesus to engage the human senses of pride, greed, and indulgence.
Now, I don’t want us to get too caught up defining what kingdoms Jesus saw. Did He see all kingdoms, present, past, and future or just those standing at the time? We don’t know. I believe it was the former, but I can’t back that up from this text.
Our focus for this brief discussion is THAT Jesus saw kingdoms and their glory.
I’ve seen similar. The glory of the kingdoms of this world. Watching the spectacle of our national elections drew me into politics while I was in college. I cast my first Presidential Election vote in 1996. I decided at that point to minor in Political Science while I pursued my degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting.
In 1998, I was A-State TV’s political correspondent. I covered the Senate race in Arkansas. Blanche Lincoln defeated Fay Boozman back when Arkansas was considered a blue state, Democrat stronghold.
The pageantry that surrounded the race was inspiring to a young, impressionable, college guy like myself. That inspiration led me to eventually work campaigns and run several of my own races for office.
I was hooked. Until the home stretch of my race for Governor in 2018. I couldn’t deny what I seemed to see in Scripture any longer.
Undeniable Reality
Studying Jesus’ life has been a transformation for me. It started with what compelled me to pen my first book about the Sermon on the Mount. My political life didn’t align with what Jesus said in that sermon.
I was being drawn away to something different, but I didn’t understand why. I do now, but I didn’t at the time. The clue is in what happened next in Jesus’ temptation.
“And he said to Him, “I will give You all these things if You will fall down and worship me.”
Matthew 4:9 HCSB
“The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”
Luke 4:6-7 HCSB
Satan promises Jesus the glory and authority held by all the kingdoms of the world. His only request is that Jesus bow down and worship him.
Seems like an outlandish request.
In human terms, it is a tremendous temptation. How often do we trade the unseen promises of God for the things we can see right in front of us? We fail to view the world with eyes of faith.
Honestly, I’m afraid there exist times in my own walk when I’ve done a little of both. I’m an expert at reasoning my way out of God’s will. Satan tells me I’m alone, but I try not to believe a word he says.
Aside from that reality, we must address what Satan is staking a claim to here. He claims that he has authority over the kingdoms in our world. They are his property to divvy up at his own prerogative.
Now, I realize Satan is a liar and deceiver. So, my curiosity is aroused. I want to see how Jesus responds to Satan’s claim.
“Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God,and serve only Him.”
Matthew 4:10 HCSB
“And Jesus answered him, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
Luke 4:8 HCSB
Jesus doesn’t confront Satan’s statement. He takes it as truth and reminds Satan that the only being worthy of worship is God. When we apply this to the other temptations the same pattern emerges.
Satan claimed Jesus was the Son of God and could turn stones into bread (Matt. 4:3; Luke 4:3), Jesus didn’t deny the claim, but said our food should be God’s word (Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4). Satan asserted that Jesus was the Son of God and would have divine protection (Matt. 4:6; Luke 4:9-11), Jesus didn’t deny that assertion, but said that we shouldn’t test God (Matt. 4:7; Luke 4:12).
This leaves me with the conclusion that kingdoms of authority, in modern terms this is the political realm, are under the authority of Satan. It’s his to direct outside of the occasional moments of divine intervention.
Satan is masterful at using the half-truth deception and appears to have lobbed three the direction of our King and Savior. It was true, Satan is master of the political kingdoms of our world. But such didn’t require him to be worshiped rather than God.
Well, Is It?
Get to the point, right?!
Although, I think we’ve already answered the question posed in the title.
Is political power devilish? Yes. Indeed it is. I believe that was the point Samuel made to Israel in 1 Samuel 8. Read the whole chapter.
However, political power is no match for divine power.
I’m realizing as I write today that I’m going to need a book to flesh this out. God, at times, intervenes in political affairs. One only needs to read the book of Daniel to understand my point on that topic. I’ll talk about that more in a future post.
But for today, we need to understand that political power is Satanic. Divine power often confronts political power, but never uses political power. Just think of Moses and Pharaoh. Pharaoh fought with political power, Moses with divine power. Do you recall who won?
Political power is the equivalent of the ring from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Everyone believes they have the power to wield it for good, but the ring is cursed and laced with the spiritual DNA of the wicked one bent on destruction.
Satan lures Christians today with the same bait … half-truth.
Sure, any and all power CAN be used for good, but will a system suddenly become good? We must have our individual hearts transformed in order to do the will of God. Why do we expect a system that is imbued with Satanic power to do anything but turn our best intentions into the paving for the path to hell on earth?
I can speak as an authority on this because I was duped by the same half-truth laced promise.
I ran for office for the better part of four years of my life. Time was stolen from my family, my ministry, and anything else in direct contact with me. I was left with spiraling depression and anxiety. Fortunately, I battled anxiety for most of my life, it was easier than the depression.
I’m still struggling and learning coping mechanisms for my depression.
I allowed myself to be duped into believing that if only the right person(s) had political power that it could be used for divine purposes. I would have been better served praying for divine power to intervene while exposing the darkness in our nation.
I also believe that Christians need to become reliant on divine power and stop warring for Satan’s political power. We’re using the wrong power. We’re seeing the fruits of that compromise. It’s possible that all of the turmoil we are seeing is divinely intended to turn us back to His power to shake the nations.
Are we willing to trust Him to shake the nations with divine power or do we believe He can only work through the political paradigms of our day?
Maybe we need to say, as Christ did in the temptation, “Go away, Satan!” (Matt. 4:10 HCSB)
