The Evangelical Solution to the Western Political Crisis

Yes, everyone is singing the world is on fire. Even whilst the GOP took back the White House in 2024, this has not ushered in peace on earth and good will toward all men.

I typically refrain from offering much political commentary, but I think it can be safely said that so much of the conservative revolution in the West has been a reaction against a vacuous high-mindedness that dominated the right until 2016. A reaction, because conservative leaders of the previous era failed to govern in accordance with their purported Judeo-Christian values and seemingly held the door open for the hollowing out of America’s soul.

Please permit me to avoid getting too specific; we all have our disagreements with various policies, disputing to some extent what is Christian and what is not. Suffice it to say that conservatives, namely Christian conservatives, have desired leaders who are willing to maintain that Judeo-Christian values are in fact the values of America. Because the politicians of supposedly high ideals failed to stand for these values in various respects, conservative voters turned to men and women lacking high ideals but willing to stand. 

We are now learning the limits of that compromise. Even while one door closes on certain evils, another opens, and another, and another. We are learning the weakness of any political solution. I am a firm believer in Romans 13 and that the governing authorities serve a necessary role as servants of God. Yes, the American government could be improved and yes, Christians should have a direct hand in that. However, the endless pursuit of political improvement in the belief that we should fix every problem by such means only whets an appetite for increasing power, which swiftly begets other problems. The realities facing this nation and the West generally are too great for the US government or any Western government to tackle.

You see, while governments can and should institute law and order, they cannot cure the soul. Brothers and sisters, what I have seen in these recent months is so much soul sickness. Incidents of Leftist violence and the broader nonchalance and even warm feelings toward such violence is deeply alarming; the emerging flirtation on the right with white supremacy tells us we are running a fever; the rising tide of Islam in the West tells us our foundations are crumbling.

The most foolhardy thing we could imagine is that the real solution for this sickness is governmental. Our deep problems are spiritual, our true trouble is sin. Who can change the man or woman who fantasizes about killing political opponents? Who can create love in a heart presently hateful towards other ethnicities? Who can break the totalizing grip of Islam? It is only Jesus Christ. It is only the Gospel.

Governments can medicate the symptoms, but only Jesus provides the cure for what ails us. You are concerned by what you see? Preach the Gospel. The greater power is evangelical, not political. It is often lamented that evangelicals have been captured by  politics. At the very least, such grief is warranted when we have stopped fishing for men because we have become preoccupied with fishing for votes (and usually we’re just watching the politicians fish for votes). 

I’m not saying evangelism will resolve all our problems in the immediate - only Christ’s return will make all well. Even so, if we think our society is collapsing because of the loss of Judeo-Christian values, it doesn’t take a genius to imagine it would be fundamentally helpful if more people became Christians.

It greatly concerns me to see so many Christians fearful and grasping for the political when now, more than ever, they should be gathering up evangelical strength. Imagine if to be evangelical actually meant we were consumed with a passion for evangelizing - it would be a tad fitting, wouldn’t it?

Imagine if in the face of such opposition, we licked our lips because we understand the Gates of Hell will not prevail against us, come what may. Now is the time, as much as ever, to don the armor of God, and to lace up our feet with the Gospel of peace. I see opportunity before us, fields white with harvest, and Christ pleading, “Pray that the Lord would send more workers into his fields.” Yes, the political is necessary, but the better hope for us now is to be evangelical. 

Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.