TS&TT: How To Think Christianly In Politically Unstable Times

Today on The Sword & The Trowel podcast, Tom Ascol and Graham Gunden talk about politics. They discuss the presidential debate, the competency of President Biden, the issues with Donald Trump, the GOP platforms, Abortion, wielding power in politics, and how to think through all these things as Christian Americans.
SHOW NOTES:
2025 National Founders Conference - REVIVE US O LORD: founders.org/conference
Join the FAM: press.founders.org/fam/
Family Life in The Negative World - 2024 Regional Founders Conference : founders.org/familylife/
Support Founders Ministries: founders.org/give
Find out more about The Institute of Public Theology: www.instituteofpublictheology...
Founders Church Search: church.founders.org
Founders Sermon Podcast Stream: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Follow Founders Ministries:
Website: founders.org
Facebook: / foundersmin
Twitter: / foundersmin
Instagram: / foundersministries
All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

[@andrewbrowne5557]

When asked what was wrong with the world, G K Chesterton replied, “I am”…National repentance begins at home…with ME!

[@kate60]

Well Done. Thank you, Sirs.

[@tazlizard]

That was a very awesome conversation! Thank you gentlemen!!

[@DanielParvin1]

Greetings from Westwood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee! Thank you for sharing this thought-provoking conversation. Calvin wrote, "We need not labor to prove that an impious king is a mark of the Lord's anger... But let us insist at greater length in proving what does not so easily fall in with the views of men, that even an individual of the worst character, one most unworthy of all honor, if invested with public authority, receives that illustrious divine power which the Lord by his word devolved on the ministers of his justice and judgment, and that, accordingly, insofar as public obedience is concerned, he is to be held in the same honor and reverence as the best of kings" (Institutes Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 25). Thank you for your similar encouragement to grow in obedience to the fifth commandment. Thanks also for the reminder that local elections are more significant than national ones.

[@shawngillogly6873]

I can accept people voting for the lesser of two evils, given choosing Trump is choosing Colon Cancer over Biden's brain cancer. What I cannot accept is people who when asked, "When does the lesser evil become too evil?" They answer with crickets. For me, any candidate who endorses this GOP platform is too evil. We have let the lesser evil argument drive us in one direction, toward greater evil, for 40yrs. IMHO, the only solution is to let the GOP go the way of the Whigs, and build a new conservative party.

[@tomberry2437]

ON SACRIFICING CHRISTIAN ETHICS FOR POLITICAL GAIN Christ gave the church the mission, the motivation and the method to preach the gospel and bring the Kingdom of God to the heart of every man and woman that will believe. But sadly, too many American Christians - confusing their politics for their faith - either refuse to acknowledge or do not understand that Christ’s method for fulfilling his will does not revolve around the ballot box - in America or anywhere else. Too many Christians - if Christians they are - tragically continue to sell out Biblical values for partisan political gain - conservative and liberal - primarily by supporting candidates and policies that do not exemplify those values. As Christians, we must not only exemplify those values in our own lives, but also strive to require them in those we support with our public trust. It is tragic that so many do not see that the compromise we make to achieve what we want politically has too often led to supporting those that do not exemplify our Christian faith, which is nothing more than operating on the assumption that the end justifies the means - willfully compromising our faith for our politics. It would be better that we left our politics behind and sought only Christ’s way of changing the world around us through his word, our personal testimony and clear example than tragically rely upon the ballot box. Our example is far more important than our vote. We all, as Christians, must recognize this error, turn away from it and support only those candidates and policies that exemplify those values. My fellow Christians remember, it is never right to do wrong in order to do right - the end does not always justify the means. In the elections that lie before us, I pray that we - as Christians - will not be so willfully blinded by our carnality, leading us to participate in the rancor, the selfishness, the hypocrisy, the lies, the bile, the animosity and the hate of engaging in worldly politics in a manner that is not Christ-like. We must avoid the temptation that leads us to forsake the Lord's way of establishing his kingdom for tragic reliance on the ballot box without considering the consequences of our actions. For "...the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Too many of us, sad to say, are wrong - not in what we are trying to do - but in the way that we choose to do it and we find ourselves without God's leading or power in accomplishing our goal. We, as Christians, must be aware that both partisan conservatives and liberals - and any variation of the same - create a "Jesus" that seems to fit their political agenda very well - but is not the Jesus of the Bible. Does that mean you should not vote or participate in politics? No. But it does mean that efforts to express and promote the Christian faith through worldly politics must be restrained or we will do far more harm than good and shame our Lord by the sellout of Christian values to immoral and partisan political candidates and policies that shame us - and him. (Tom Berry, Fancy Farm, KY. 2016)

[@tomberry2437]

CHRISTIANS AND POLITICS: "We learn of a growing desire for a Christian 'party,' a Christian 'front,' or a Christian 'platform' in politics. Whatever it calls itself, it will represent, not Christendom, but a part of Christendom. The principle which unites it to its political allies will not be theological. There will be a real and most disastrous novelty. It will be not simply a part of Christendom, but a part claiming to be the whole. By the mere act of calling itself the Christian Party it implicitly accuses all Christians who do not join it of apostasy and betrayal. It will be exposed, in an aggravated degree, to that temptation which the Devil spares none of us at any time - the temptation of claiming for our favorite opinions that kind and degree of certainty and authority which really belongs only to our faith." -- C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock

[@ftk-forthekingdomministrie7439]

Rom. 13.