I have contemplated at various times the virtues and demerits of Christians being involved in politics. Politics is messy, and what reason do Christians have to be involved in it?

One verse that I’ve considered is rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s(Matthew 22:21) . In America, it is the civic duty to vote, not only that, but to make an informed vote. If one avoids baseless personal attacks, and uses the Bible as his compass for all things moral/social/political/spiritual, then he can render service to his voting age fellow believers and further the cause of wisdom and knowledge. Ignorance is not bliss.

Some active believers included King David, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (not to mention whole groups of prophets (like Moses) decrying spiritual/moral wickedness on throne, and calling out for repentance. Many people would place these men above us all saying that they were inspired by God. We have in our possession the word, deeds and actions of both sides. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, then those things which resulted in judgment of kingdoms and nations then, will they still not result in condemnation today?Does the moral positioning and laws of a country matter?

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
(Proverbs 14:34)

God himself says that it is righteousness that exalts a nation, and that its sinful actions will bring it down. But, you say, God is in control, things will happen whether or not we do or say anything. Using that logic, one could refuse to witness, merely saying that, “God will save them whether I do anything or not.” The same could be said of any number of things:

working “God will get it done”

eating “God will feed me”

taking care of your children “God will feed them”

Just as there is a time and a place for us to engage in witnessing, working, eating, and taking care of children (those of us who have them), then surely there is a time and a place to stand up for righteousness in the public square.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:10)

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
(Matthew 5:13-16)

Silence is acceptance, a quiet admission that everything is ok. It is this that permitted slavery to so long stay in America, because godly men said nothing. It was silence that permitted the rise of evil men in Germany and the slaughter of many innocent Jewish people.

God created the principle of reaping and sewing. That which you sew sparingly shall be reaped in abundance. God has set up these laws, He does not always step in to bail us out of the consequences of our own action or inaction. It is not God that will be called to answer for the atrocities of man, but rather 2 groups: those who committed the national sins, and those who knew better, who felt the pressing of the Lord to stand up, who instead dead bolted their jaws shut and sat down.

Apathy is never a Christian virtue. We can be quiet, as sin is forged into the Law of the Land. We can do nothing as the freedoms recognized by the founding fathers as flowing from God are dammed up and their exercise forbidden by decree. Such inaction, compromise and “tolerance” will be commended by the powers that be, but the works of wood, hay and stubble that are based on it will be consumed by the fire at the judgment seat of Christ.

Every action a Christian takes in in love of God and people, messages delivered by the seemingly harsh prophets of old, were designed to bring repentance in the hearts of their recipients, to let them know “thus saith the Lord.”

In fact, Jonah, out of the hardness of his heart, wanted to withhold a harsh, condemning message from the people of Nineveh, because he knew God was a gracious God, and that if the people repented, then God would halt the judgment he intended to bring upon them! Hard messages must always be given for the right reasons, and they must be delivered in a way becoming a servant of God.

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
(Jonah 3:1-10)

Now see Jonah’s response. He did not want to give the message to the people. And here’s why:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
(Jonah 4:1-11)

Is there not a cause? Forsake apathy and rise up in Christian love and truth, and actively seek to restore God’s blessing on this country.