"Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel: for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land... My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you will not be a priest to me: seeing that you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children." (Hos 4:6)The church cannot depend on or complain about the actions of the national government. We have the right to make a vocal protest, a moral objection, and the right to exercise and defend the rest of our Constitutional rights. This means that, to an extent, political and judicial activism do have a place in the church. However, this should not be our main focus; it should not and cannot be the means by which we further and serve the kingdom of God.
America is a (representational) democracy. The government exists at the consent of the governed. This means that the government's actions are necessarily the responsibility of the voting public. For the church to try to shape the nation politically and judicially would be to take action outside of our God-given mandate. Therefore, it cannot operate at the political and judicial levels, but at the source and jurisdiction of their authority: the people. It begins and ends with the people. Bureaucracy is present, no doubt, but the people are the bottom line.
If we don't want unrighteous Presidents, we can't have unrighteous people. If we don't want an unrighteous Supreme Court, we can't have unrighteous Presidents or Senators which means we can't have unrighteous people. The ultimate aid to the political stance and stature of the church is not the ability to lobby or fight in court, but the ability, willingness, and propensity of the church to preach the gospel.
“For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord [Jesus] the church.” (Eph 5:29)
God has the church taken care of. He's looking out for her needs, her destiny. The power and glory of the church will come forth with her obedience to the Lord, an obedience that comes from ardent passion and zeal, from burning lovesickness. It would be an obedience that is captivated by the reality of God, not religiously bound to a distant, impersonal name. If the church would learn to love God and love people, she would be so motivated to preach the gospel that revival would break out in an unprecedented fashion.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." (James 4:8)
Few people understand the love that God has for them. He is waiting and longing for people to grasp what He feels and thinks about them, but He never forces anyone to do anything. He leaves it up to each individual to seek Him, to "draw nigh." He responds to a sincere, hungry heart, which is often lost in the widespread complacency of the modern American church. If the church wants to see revival, if she wants to talk about politics and complain about the ACLU, then she needs to examine herself first.
Repentance is merely changing one's mind. It is making a choice. When the church has the love of God in her, she will shed her immorality and idolatry, her compromise and lack of complete devotion, because she will be crying out for the reality of God, for the Holy Spirit. The Great Commission, to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, is only fulfilled (completely) when the Great Commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, is emphasized and realized first and foremost.
Does the church want to see an end to abortion? An end to the ACLU's attack on Christianity? An end to the radical feminist and homosexual lobbies both ideologically against the concept of marriage? An end to the label as a backwards, ignorant, bigoted, and manipulative institution? The only solution is the gospel of the salvation and lordship of Jesus Christ.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes." (Rom 1:16)
