Not a Political Post

The title of this post is my disclaimer. So before you read the post and want to leave a comment that rants on and on about your opposition to a creative article that has Satan addressing a couple of prominent Republicans reminding them of his methods and madness; understand that the points that I want to focus on are the points the we, as Christians, should be focusing on.

It's a long article, but you need to read it before you continue reading here. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I know that I might be asking for a lot here, but I'm going to ask you to get past the "war on religion/trampling religious rights/using personal faith as a political tool" sort of thing. I don't want to address your (or any politician's) ideas about social issues, health issues, ethical issues or matters of faith from a political point of view. I don't want to know how Catholics, Evangelicals, Muslims, Mormons or atheists feel about birth control or abortion. I don't want to debate who is feeding the poor or paying the most in taxes.

I want to look at and examine the one part of the article that really hit me. If you want to address something else, get your own blog and rant to your heart's content.

Here's the quote that hit me...hard:

You got it all wrong, pal. I don't attack countries or institutions. I go after people. I take 'em down the same way the Competition lifts 'em up: One soul at a time. And I don't work through ethnic groups or countries or religions you don't like. I just burrow my way into a single mind, rent some space there, and go to work.

In case you didn't read the article to that point (and I know some of you didn't), Satan is speaking and the Competition he refers to is Jesus.

Did you get that? The battle is not for countries or institutions. It is not about cultures or ideologies. It is about people. The battle is over souls--one soul at a time. One soul at a time is the way that souls are saved, and the way that souls are lost.

I realize that the article is not a sound treatise of theological doctrine, but this is good stuff. Our real fights are not to be carried out in the halls of Congress or in the courtrooms across the country. The battle for souls is not to be fought in town hall meetings or in public schools and universities. Souls will be won by building relationships and sharing the love of God and the Truth of the Bible one person at a time.

I certainly believe that we need to live out our faith in all aspects of our lives. But that does not give us the right to expect others to live by the doctrines of our faith when they are followers of another faith or follow no particular faith. Somehow, we have come to the place where we believe that we have more of a right to practice what we believe than others have to practice what they believe and the battle has become a political contest to validate our religion in a country that allows for all religions and we have forgotten what Jesus commanded us to do -- Go and make disciples!

Look, I believe that Rick Santorum genuinely believes that he is doing the right thing in trying to get non-Catholics and non-Christians to live by the rules of the Vatican or follow the teachings of the Bible. But it is a futile thing to get non-Christians to act like Christians are supposed to act. Many might say that it is difficult enough to get Christians to act like they are supposed to act.

Christian brothers and sisters, when it comes to politics, vote as you feel led to vote. When it comes to changing the culture of our society, remember that the battle is won by leading one soul at a time to the throne of Grace. We can be agents of our God or tools of the devil. The battle is for souls.

Just because we want to be good, doesn't mean that we are. Just because we are militant about our beliefs doesn't mean that we don't sometimes drive people away from God. Though we would never intentionally bring shame to our Savior, even Christians can be used by Satan to keep others from coming to faith in Jesus.
My greatest fear is that one day I will stand before my Lord and Savior and be faced with the souls that I bear some responsibility for their decision to walk through life alone; without my Jesus.

I possess no goodness of own. My goodness is in Jesus, alone. Without Him, I am as lost as anybody.

The closing statements from the above article are as powerful as any:

I know, I know. You grew up working class. If you've said it once you've said it a thousand times: You used to be a regular guy. So what? I used to be an angel.

Look at us now.

John <><