A friend shared with me a moment of conflict between her pastor and a group of church folks. Part of the conversation involved the denomination this church is a part of and the fact (and it is a fact) that the denomination is embracing the 'woke' agenda. If you don't know what 'woke' is, go to search in your computer and type in "what does woke mean in politics" and you will get your answer. Anyway, the pastor angrily responded, "Oh, now you're getting political! There's no politics in the Bible!" And that.....is just stupid.

Politics caused David's sin with Bathsheba and politics just made it worse and worse. Abraham made alliances with local war-lords. Politics. God raised up special people to rule Israel during the time of the Judges and they often made alliances. Politics. Jesus was killed by politics. Paul was captured because he was being political. The anti-Christ is all about politics. You can hardly read the Word and not run into politics. Which may be this pastor's problem; he doesn't read the Word. Their politics were different from ours. We don't have a king. Our president doesn't have absolute power. We elect our 'leaders' while their leaders were appointed. Different, but still politics.

A true anarchist is someone who wants all politics to cease and all order to be erased. These people organize in groups to have more power and they appoint or elect a leader. Which is, of course, politics. Politics is hardwired into our very being and we can't get away from it.

So, what brings these musings about?  

Very recently I heard about someone who said, "If Jesus were here today, He would be a registered Republican!" The political season doesn't begin with the primaries. It begins when we hear people saying Jesus would have been a Republican or a Democrat. The political season really gets underway when we see the politicians start exhibiting Christian-like characteristics that are contrary to what we saw just a couple of weeks before. And the political season goes into full swing when preachers start praising their politicians from the pulpit.

It is our civic responsibility to be involved. I would even go as far as to say it is our Christian obligation to get involved. After all, it was Peter's refusal to buck the political fervor that led to his denial of Christ. BUT, it is also our Christian obligation to go forward into this dark realm acting like Christians. Conducting ourselves as Christ would have us act. Remembering that first and foremost, we owe our undying loyalty to Jesus.

The political season is upon us. We will hear lies and accusations and wild stories. Buckle up. But always remember, if Jesus were here right now, He would not be a Democrat or a Republican. He would be Jesus. The Almighty. The Creator. The Hope.

Blessings.