As God appoints his leaders (Romans 13:1), they cannot be easily discounted or discarded. They may serve the people well or poorly. They may uplift or burden. They will do what they will do while being used by God to accomplish many purposes.

From Trent Ling:

Good question.  So why does this site delve into politics, its players, and its issues?  The answers are endless.  Herein lies but a small sampling to get the juices flowing and the ball rolling.

The Bible makes much of world leaders, government officials, and politicians.  Jesus, Paul, Peter, Moses, David, and all others hacked through the thicket of politics in their respective days.  They did so with understanding, discernment, and power, availing a far superior offering from their God.  Their positions were neither lazy nor ignorant.  They neither threw their hats into the political ring, nor lost sight of their calling from Heaven.  What they had from Heaven infinitely superseded anything that worldly men could produce from political arenas.  In the broader picture, disciples of Jesus live in the world while being not of the world (John 17:14).  Similarly, disciples go about their lives amidst politics, but in heart and mind, having tasted far better, remain far from them.

Jesus claimed that he “came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Luke 19:10.  In that, disciples of Jesus must pay attention to the lost in need of being sought and saved.  School records are not public.  Medical and psychiatric notes are confidential.  Thoughts, ideas, and secrets often escape the light of day.  Motives, hearts, and minds are routinely concealed behind pursed lips.  However, in politics, all of this emerges into the light of the debate.  Longings, perspectives, appeals, and passions come forth to the public square.  Real ministers armed with the actual truth cannot help but notice this exposed and revealing outpour.  In it lie open wounds and gaping deficits needing the salve of the truth.  Though such public grasping and wrangling seek political redress, ministers cannot help but see and acknowledge what is really going on—an expression of great spiritual hunger and thirst.

A real man of God cannot help but take responsibility for hearing the world yearn and vent, stammer and lament.  Real ministers, like Jesus and his disciples, do not minister in a sterilized vacuum.  They minister in the real world with all of its hurdles, pitfalls, confusions, and competing messages.  Since “the spiritual man makes judgments about all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15), evangelists similarly make judgments, yes judgments, about all things.  They are not sheepish, they are not conveniently oblivious, and they are not partial.  They will, like Jesus, be right in their judgments because they stand with the Father (John 8:16).

Nowhere in this process do disciples cast votes for anyone or espouse politics as a solution to the serious wounds that run-of-the-mill Congressmen purport to address.  Rather, throughout the process they hear longings, heed ministerial responsibilities, and make judgments about what is true, false, right, wrong, indifferent, or otherwise.

The political landscape presents as a rainforest of the human condition, which remains completely inaccessible otherwise.  It would be irresponsible for a disciple of Jesus to pay no attention to the bleeding he has been called to heal.  Disciples will not run for office, make empty promises, or offer counterfeit solutions.  Rather, the validity of their message is most readily confirmed in it delivering what trillions of dollars and thousands of years have not even begun to assess, let alone fix or cure.

That’s why the politics.  They represent open doors, ripe fields, and cries for help.

Please feel free to join and further the discussion via the options below. No email or website information is required to post comments (unless you seek the notifications offered).