“When Preachers Become Politicians”, by Rev. Scott Russell

In over 20 years of ministry, one thing has become so apparent to me: people create “gods” to suit their own purpose or desire. Maybe that is the reason there are so many flavors of churches in the Christian faith today.

It is very disturbing to see people follow their self-created “god” while under the delusion they are following Jesus. Some people follow a church instead of following Jesus. Some follow a man, i.e., the preacher. Others follow a set of ideals. Some gives their lives over to the god of having a good time. Let’s see what Jesus says about those who follow these gods in Luke 7:7,8
“They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Please notice it says, “…the commands of God…”. It doesn’t say “…suggestions of God…”!

Over time, many preachers are caught up in this atmosphere of “It’s time for a change”. They also get caught up in being popular, and the good times they are having. Slowly but surely, they teach man’s ways instead of as God’s Way, i.e., Jesus. This deception creeps into their own convictions and life like a slow-spreading cancer. Little by little they value the acceptance of people more than the commands of God. You see, God values holiness, but people look for how close they can live like the rest of the people in the world and still claim to be a “Christian”. They are deluded. Virtue and purity becomes a thing of the past. Proverbs tells us not to associate with those who want to change the fundamentals of the faith in God.

Proverbs 24:21, 22 says:

My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those given to change; For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

Proverbs 24: 23-26 These things also belong to the wise:
It is not good to show partiality in judgment. He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous”, Him the people will curse; Nations will abhor him. But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, And a good blessing will come upon them. He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.

John Wesley founded the Methodist church on absolutes taught in the Bible. A Divine move of God was at its forefront. How is it that today the Methodist church has strayed so far from its foundation of those absolutes? It has embraced the idea of ordaining homosexual ministers. This is clearly against the teachings of the Bible. Little by little corrupted leaders changed things to be more politically correct. The cancer begins to spread. One generation builds upon the depravity of the previous generation and looks for acceptance of people rather than the Divine move of God. This continues until all absolutes from the Word of God no longer taught. These depraved preachers say “God loves everybody and accepts them just as they are”. They fail to understand this: God loves everyone, but hates what we do. God plainly lays out His unchangeable commands in the Bible.

I’ll give you one good example of this found in Australia. I was born in Australia, but have lived abroad for about 11 years now. However, I read their news nearly everyday. I have watched the Australian society slowly fall apart, largely due to the use of alcohol. They have a self-created god of having a good time. Leading the charge is a large part of the Australian church. The true God of the Bible has brought conviction upon them. Now they say that you are religious if you do not consume alcohol. Pastors are quietly being removed from ministry due to the fact they are alcoholics. The modern church of change says alcohol is OK, but the Bible clearly speaks against church leaders drinking alcohol and people getting drunk. Of course as we have already described, people build a god to suit their own purposes. They forget this: What you have to justify is always wrong.

So many preachers have become politicians. Sure, all politicians have their own personal moral convictions which they state privately. However, when it comes to living those same convictions in public, they fail miserably. In private, politicians do not want their daughters to have abortions or their sons to turn homosexual. In public on TV, however, you just try and get them to say that!

We have ministered to some people with political backgrounds and political ambitions. Many are privately opinionated, but in public are slippery. They step over the real issues they know are hot buttons and potentially would give them bad press. Instead, they have a politically correct message of their own. It’s a message of “Please like me, vote for me”. Can we all agree that the world does not need another weak politician?

They tickle our ears with whatever they think pleases us. The Bible says: “… in the last days men will seek out teachers who will tickle their ears”. Maybe we could say: People will seek to find preachers who are really politicians. When asked difficult questions some preachers who really should be called politicians dance around the truth to avoid being unpopular.

Listen to 2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

You may say, “Scott, this is just YOUR opinion.” OK, if it’s my opinion, just ignore me. If, however, I’m giving you the “opinion” of Jesus, can you afford to ignore that? I really don’t want people following me because I am just a man. However, the apostle Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ”. IF my life consistently shows that Jesus in the One that I follow, the kudos show go to Jesus, not to me. If you want to be a real Christian and you profess to believe the Bible is God’s Word, then follow what the Bible teaches. You won’t go wrong doing that! If you don’t want to follow the Bible, that is your choice, but please don’t call yourself a Christian. There are a host of other religions you could join if you don’t agree with the Bible and Jesus. Of course, you will not have the life and peace with God that comes through a relationship with Jesus. If fact, no person will get to heaven following that way. Which path to walk on is a choice we all must make. So, really the problem is not with the writer of this article.

If people stopped creating a god to suit their own purposes and desires and kept the absolutes given in the true Christian faith, life would be so much better for them. Jesus could then touch their life in a special way. Maybe when you get touched in that special way, you will want to share what Jesus has done for you. You might become a preacher of the gospel! Hear what Romans 10:14 says:
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

When you talk about Jesus or preach for Him, friend, use every means open to you. Bring the life of Jesus to your hearers through the ways of true love that is protected by truth: 1 Corinthians 13:5 “love rejoices in the truth”. They may not want to hear the Truth, but the message given in love liberates people. They will be set free! To be a preachers of the gospel is a wonderful privilege. However, this awesome position carries great responsibility, and the Bible says: “to whom much is given, much is required”. The Bible also talks about evil shepherds who make the water murky for the sheep.

Some preachers claim that their pulpit is only in the church and hide from preaching the Truth in public. Just like politicians, they have their views at home and hide them in public. What these preachers are really saying is, “God called me to preach, but and I really care more about what people think of me, than what God thinks of me.” THEY HAVE BECOME POLITICIANS. Many of their followers foolishly feed on their words and believe that it’s God’s Word that they are hearing. They trust these men with their family and lives at their own potential peril. How sad!

As we know, the press loves to twist our words. When you have an industry based on gossip, that will happen. My suggestion to you preachers in the media is this: Let’s crucify our pride. The world does not want to hear YOUR gospel, but it wants the gospel of Jesus Christ instead. Let’s share only that! If they don’t want you back on the air, then be happy that you are like Jesus. In Matthew 10:22, it says, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

In conclusion, I have been amazed as we got our gospel TV program on a commercial network we will call Network A in Boston. You see, we tried to put programming on another large network and were told they would not allow the name of Jesus on their network. So we contacted the largest Christian legal organization in America who deals with this sort of thing. They told us there is NO commercial TV network in the USA that will play Christian content and there is nothing we can do about it. When I called them, they were in the process of preparing a brief to the Federal Government about that. They went on to say that Network A is the worst and would never allow us on the network. In fact, if we got on, it would be a real miracle. Well to make a long story short, Network A, one of the largest in the world, agreed to play our material on their Boston station. Why, you ask? Yes, it was and remains a miracle, but I believe part of this relates to the fact we share absolute Truth in love. Not only to we talk about sin and the need to repent, but also we do it while removing man’s religion from the message. We do not ask for money, but offer to bless viewers instead. We believe that it is not the viewers’ responsibility to pay for the program, but it is our responsibility to share with them. Are we rich? Of course NOT! We believe that Jesus will provide for these needs, and He never fails!.

To summarize, lets require accountability from our leaders. Let’s encourage them to be preachers, and not politicians. Let them share only the Truth with us in love. For our souls’ sake, let’s make sure we are under a ministry that tells it like it is in love not self righteousness or pride. “Teaching the Truth in love. Telling it like it is while holding pure motives and showing that we care.”

* All Scripture references from the NASB