There Has Only Ever Been One Gospel, & It Ain't in the Halls of Government

People like myself are often, repeatedly, and erroneously told to "keep my religion out of politics" or something of the ilk, but this is just horrible reasoning. There can be no legislation, no public discourse of any kind without religion, because every human being and every moral claim is religious, in that it is founded upon a world-view of chosen beliefs. No moral claim can be made without a belief about what "ought" to be beneath it, and no "ought" can be based upon, say, science, which is simply observed nature. I'll talk more about this another day, as it's a much bigger topic. Point is, it is not a case of whether one's faith ought to be involved, which which faith ought to be. Before anyone says it, no we have never had "separation of church and state." That phrase will never be found in any of the founding documents; it only ever existed in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a specific church, assuring them that the government had no authority to interfere in the operation of their doctrines. America has shifted from a Christian faith to a Humanist faith over the past hundred and fifty years or so, but both are effectively "religions" in the sense most people mean the term; it's simply that only one religion is currently allowed a voice at the public table.

We do not preach Jesus Christ because we want our religion at the table, but because we know well that He is a true King in place of the false ones worshiped in other faiths, most commonly the false gods of Humanism.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." (I Corinthians 1:18-19, KJV)

There is no false gospel more prevalent in America today than politics, nor false gods more enthroned than political leaders, except maybe academics, which are tantamount to the same figures as time goes on, as we've come to believe that credentials equals qualifications, or more frighteningly, trustworthiness.

Even if it did, there is no credential that can offer one the everlasting life of one's soul, nor the healing of it. As every year of the 2020s continues, the imagines stakes of our public political landscape escalates as we cast this perpetual spell over ourselves into believing that our hope of our futures lies in the next vote, in the next celebrity politician, in the next judge appointed, in the next exploit, like an addict believing the next hit will finally satisfy.

There is no legislation, no ruler who can claim supremacy, no power than can be wielded that can give you freedom from the reality of want. We cannot be free of sweat, sorrow, pain, and death, because they are the consequences of our own sin, and can only find liberty from them in subjection to the One who overcame them on Calvary.

There is no psychological analysis, no drug that man can develop, no treatment of any order than will bring the peace that surpasses all understanding than the blessed assurance of security in everlasting life in Jesus Christ. It is not fire insurance for the Hereafter, but a life brought into fullness here and now.

There is no thrill, no sexual experience, no hedonistic embrace that will ever satiate the need for belonging or life or fulfillment when it can only be found in right relationship with the One who formed you in your mother's womb, who knit you fearfully and wonderfully and knew you from before the foundation of the world.

Friends, both brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ and those still wandering outside His grace, all this is simply to say, as the blessed Holy Day of Easter Sunday approaches, and I sit here reflecting on Good Friday—the remembrance of the night He suffered and died for the sins of the world—I invite you to dine at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the table laid out for those who would call out His name and find redemption and salvation. There is no other name given under heaven by which man might be saved. And for all my friends who believe it's simply "free," it isn't. It requires repentance, turning from one's sins, a full surrender to His sovereignty and Lordship, but it comes with new and everlasting life.

There is no hope to be found, for you, me, this nation, this world, or anybody else, to be found in the halls of government, the test tubes of laboratories, or the lecture halls of the academy. It can only be found in the silence of an empty tomb.

Blessed Easter, dear friends. He is risen.