Constitution – Berean Baptist Church

PUNY PREACHERS AND POLITICS

Berean Baptist on July 29, 2019

Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

This scripture is both appropriate and comforting in these days of political turmoil. Everyday there is a news story of mostly complaints about the activities of the president. In my lifetime, I have never seen the amount of sour scrutiny of every action in negative reporting of everything he does. It is as if the right action is always the opposite action of what he does no matter the subject. You can be the judge of that but notice those who clamored most before the election that we should accept the results of the election when they thought their candidate would win, are the loudest in their protests we should not. Those who live to defend free speech die when the speech does not agree with them. Such is the hypocrisy of America politics.

This political unrest engages many pastors, and I do not want to ride on that bandwagon. As one author said, “I am concerned when I see pastors throw their weight behind causes good Christians might disagree on. There are many reasons one might be cheered by Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, but there is nothing in the Bible that says Christians must be originalists when it comes to the Constitution.” I certainly have my viewpoint on how the Supreme Court should be constructed, but I agree with this author. The pastor’s position is not to be an interpreter of the Constitution. Our calling is to interpret the Word of God. I do not need to inject controversies that have no bearing on the eternal destiny of the soul, nor if they do not speak of the virtues of the Saviour.

I will speak from the pulpit on moral issues that face us because those are addressed in the scriptures. We have an obligation to the people to engage them because they bear on righteousness. Other matters I do not care to address. A few months ago, I steadfastly refused to fight a battle over the Internal Revenue 501(c) 3 issue. It will neither help nor hinder me from preaching the truth from the Berean pulpit.

There is something that seriously irks me about political commentary. It is the strange media concern over Hollywood’s opinions of governmental policies. I tend to believe much less attention is paid to their opinions than they think. Mostly they are insipid people supported by other insipid Hollywood people just like them. I care nothing at all what George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio or Jon Stewart say. How they get to congressional hearings is beyond my capacity to understand. I have never voted for or considered for three seconds whether Robert De Niro supports a candidate. I’ve read he still wants to punch Donald Trump in the face. I wish he would, then we would never hear of Robert De Niro again. These people have no policy expertise that compels any reasonable person to listen to their advice.

Ah, but here is the rub. Neither do preachers have any policy expertise. What makes a preacher any more a reliable guide than a Hollywood starlet? When he strays away from the field he knows, he is dumber than De Niro. At least, he ought to know better. Quite hypocritical, me thinks! Another quote strikes me: “I am concerned when I see pastors making extravagant, unqualified statements on issues that require some level of nuance and expertise.” Seems running the United States government might have a small requirement for that, doesn’t it?

I am content to leave the king’s heart in the hand of the Lord. Nothing he does or does not do will affect the church. The preacher who says it will needs to sit down and shut up. For most of Christian history, the government never favored the true church. It did not stop us then and it will not stop us now. We need to stick to the Lord’s business. On the individual level, go at it with all the vigor and vim you please. This pulpit will stay out of it. Do not expect to be ratified by the Word of God when God does not speak.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Puny Preachers and Politics

Berean Baptist on November 19, 2018

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1)

This scripture is both appropriate and comforting in these days of political turmoil. Everyday there is a news story of mostly complaints about the activities of the president. In my lifetime, I have never seen the amount of sour scrutiny of every action in negative reporting of everything he does. It is as if the right action is always the opposite action of what he does no matter the subject. Those who clamored most that we should accept the results of the election in 2016 are the loudest in their protests we should not. Those who live to defend free speech die when the speech does not agree with them. Such is the hypocrisy of American politics.

This political unrest engages many pastors, and I do not want to ride on that bandwagon. As one author said, “I am concerned when I see pastors throw their weight behind causes good Christians might disagree on. There are many reasons one might be cheered by Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, but there is nothing in the Bible that says Christians must be originalists when it comes to the Constitution.” I certainly have my viewpoint on how the Supreme Court should be constructed, but I agree with this author. The pastor’s position is not to be an interpreter of the Constitution. Our calling is to interpret the Word of God. I do not need to inject controversies that have no bearing on the eternal destiny of the soul, nor if they do not speak of the virtues of the Saviour.

I will speak from the pulpit on moral issues that face us because those are addressed in the scriptures. We have an obligation to the people to engage them because they bear on righteousness. Other matters I do not care to address. Last year, I steadfastly refused to fight a battle over the Internal Revenue 501(c) 3 issue. It will neither help nor hinder me from preaching the truth from the Berean pulpit.

There is something that seriously irks me about political commentary. It is the strange concern over Hollywood’s opinions of governmental policies. I tend to believe much less attention is paid to their opinions than they think. Mostly they are ignorant people supported by other ignorant Hollywood people just like them. I care nothing at all what George Clooney or Leonardo DiCaprio say. How they get to congressional hearings is beyond my capacity to understand. I have never voted for or considered for three seconds whether Robert De Niro supports a candidate. I believe he probably still wants to punch Donald Trump in the face. I wish he would, then we would never hear of Robert De Niro again. These people have no policy expertise that compels any reasonable person to listen to their advice.

Ah, but here is the rub. Neither do preachers have any policy expertise. What makes a preacher any more a reliable guide than a Hollywood star? When he strays away from the field he knows, he is dumber than De Niro. At least, he ought to know better. Quite hypocritical, me thinks! Another quote strikes me: “I am concerned when I see pastors making extravagant, unqualified statements on issues that require some level of nuance and expertise.” Seems running the United States government might have a small requirement for that, doesn’t it?

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Princes and Politics

Berean Baptist on July 30, 2018

Psalm 146:3

“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”

(This article appeared in our bulletin before the 2016 election.)

I cannot think of a more appropriate psalm to read in this time of political unrest than Psalm 146. For too long, evangelical Christians in America have done what this psalm clearly tells us not to do. In the early 1970s, the Christian right formed a political organization named The Moral Majority intended to advance an agenda for the restoration of the Ten Commandments to our public schools and the repeal of abortion rights. We certainly applaud their righteous stands and we are very much aware of how changes in our laws have critically affected our society. We are at the point of complete moral collapse and possibly a Romans 1:28 problem in which God has turned us over to a reprobate mind.

Although the Moral Majority no longer exists as an organized political movement, its impact on fundamental churches is still alive and well. I have no problem with Christians carefully choosing candidates to ensure we vote pro-life and pro-morality, but I do have a problem with the way many Baptists think we will change America. Our hope is in princes instead of the LORD our God. When politics were brought into the church, the focus of the church’s mission began to change. Our aim was to make America great instead of proclaiming the greatness of God’s kingdom to the American populace. In this year’s election, the party in whom many Christians trust has promised to make America great again, but unlike former days God has no part in it.

In 1984, I attended a conference in Washington, D. C. known as Baptist Fundamentalism ’84. I was privileged to hear both President Ronald Reagan and Vice-President George H.W. Bush speak. It was a rousing event with plenty of doses of American pride. The arena was awash in patriotism with enough to make the eyes well up with tears. We thought a political party was America’s savior. It was events like this that gave American Christians an unhealthy attachment to a party in which the church began to focus on men instead of God. In fairness, it was a logical move since it was the other party that was like the northern ten tribes that quickly fell into apostasy.

Pastors of churches jumped on the political bandwagon to motivate congregations to vote and to involve themselves in political processes just like a political action committee seeks to influence legislation. It is not uncommon to have patriotism days in the church or to have church services whose purpose is to applaud public servants. These are manipulative ways to draw crowds which only goes to show these churches have little confidence in the Holy Spirit to draw to Himself those He pleases to save.

I am trying to point out that politics has become the church program. We gather to ourselves those who are politically like us which the New Testament apostles avoided. With each person we draw, there are ten others who are repelled because their politics do not fit ours. We are dependent on changing things with politics rather than gathering all publicans and sinners to hear about Christ. We are reaping the results of our trust in party rather than God. The party leadership is made up of those whose program it is to stay in power, which means compromising Christ will never be a problem for them. The egregious violation of commandments, especially of loving self, has never been more apparent than in this year’s choices.

This year we get the consequences of misplaced trust. We are told to vote for the lesser of two evils. Hopefully, we will delay the worst of the inevitable for at least a little while. Perhaps there is some sense in this reasoning. However, be assured a clean thing will never come from the unclean. I believe the church is better off backing off from the political process. We should preach against the immorality of the culture whenever it intersects our teaching of the word of God. We should seek the salvation of the people of this culture through our dependence on the Almighty God, not on the princes of politics. Let us return to the preaching of Christ instead of the preaching of the Constitution.

Pastor V. Mark Smith