The problem is spiritual death. The disease is godlessness. The symptoms are everywhere. But the cure hasn't changed.
Something is happening inside the Democrat Party, and they're not even trying to hide it anymore. Across Democrat primaries, a new crop of Democratic Socialists is emerging, and there is no shame in their game. They're telling us exactly what they believe. They're laying out their platform openly: redistribution of wealth, government control, hostility toward private property, and a fundamental restructuring of the economic and political order of this country. They're not hiding the revolution. They're campaigning on it.
But here's the clarity we need: politics isn't actually the root problem.
🔎 THE PROBLEM, THE DISEASE AND THE SYMPTOMS
This isn't really about politics. It's about the problem, the disease, the symptoms, and the cure. The problem is spiritual death. The disease is godlessness. One of its symptoms is communism.
When a spiritually dead culture rejects God, something always moves in to occupy His throne. Sometimes it's government. Sometimes it's ideology. Sometimes it's false religion. As Blaise Pascal understood, there is in the human heart a longing that can only be filled by God. When the true God is rejected, something else inevitably moves into the vacuum.
The Hebrew Scriptures reveal this pattern over and over again. Psalm 2 asks, "Why do the nations rage?" The kings of the earth take their stand against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us break Their bonds." That's the disease: We will not be ruled by God. But rejecting God's rule doesn't eliminate rulers. It simply clears the way for somebody else to take His place.
Then look at 1 Samuel 8. Ancient Israel wanted a king so they could be like the nations around them. God warned them exactly what concentrated human power would eventually do. The king would take their sons, take their daughters, take their fields, take their vineyards, and take their wealth. Notice the repeated word: take. When man attempts to occupy God's throne, somebody always starts taking—and everybody else starts losing.
🏛️ THE STATE MAKES A LOUSY GOD
Psalm 146 tells us not to put our trust in princes. Why? Because government cannot solve a spiritual problem. Politicians cannot solve a spiritual problem. The State makes a lousy god, and materialism makes a lousy religion.
That's why communism, socialism, and every worldview that rejects God's authority ultimately disappoint. They promise salvation, but they cannot deliver it. Government becomes provider, protector, and distributor. Man begins looking toward the State to provide what ultimately can never come from the State.
Christians already have a Savior. His name is Jesus Christ.
✝️ ANOTHER KING
That brings us to Rabbi Paul. Sometimes Christians read Paul as though his message was: Keep your head down, stay out of trouble, be nice to everybody, and wait for Jesus to come back.
That wasn't Paul.
As N. T. Wright has emphasized in his work on Paul, Paul deliberately established ekklesiai throughout strategic cities of the Roman world. These weren't communities designed to disappear quietly into Roman culture. Their very existence announced that their ultimate allegiance belonged somewhere other than Rome. Paul walked straight into Caesar's world proclaiming one revolutionary message: Jesus is Lord.
Acts 17 tells us Paul's enemies understood exactly what was happening. They accused the Christians of "acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus." There it is: another King. Caesar claimed lordship. Paul proclaimed Jesus as Lord. Paul knew the cure for a godless world wasn't Caesar. It wasn't Rome. It wasn't politics. It was Jesus Christ.
🌎 THE SAME DISEASE, TWO THOUSAND YEARS LATER
Now bring that forward two thousand years. Marxism exalts the collective. Socialism increasingly looks to the State as provider. Islam rejects Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Lord. Different systems. Different doctrines. Same disease. The cure hasn't changed: Jesus is Lord.
Why is that so important? Because every false worldview promises to fix what's broken in man without first dealing with what's broken inside man. Marxism promises a new economic man. Socialism promises a better society. False religions promise another path to God. But Scripture says the problem isn't first economic, political, or social. The problem is spiritual.
Until the heart is changed through faith in Jesus Christ, no political system, no government, and no human philosophy can produce the righteousness that only God can give.
🥊 SO HOW DO CHRISTIANS FIGHT?
By making a difference. Rabbi Paul tells us in Romans 12, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." Then he says, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That word translated "overcome" is nikao—to conquer, prevail, be victorious. It's where we get the word Nike.
Paul is telling Christians to conquer—but not the way the world conquers. Not with hatred, not with violence, and not by retreating. Christian virtue is NEVER passive. We engage. We push back. We proclaim Christ. We defend what is good and expose what is evil. But how, specifically, do we make a difference? Scripture gives us three things we can do.
📖 MAKE DISCIPLES
Matthew 28:19–20. Jesus commanded His followers to go and make disciples. We proclaim Jesus Christ so that men and women may believe in Him for eternal life. That's where change begins—not in Washington, not at the statehouse, and not at the ballot box. It begins in the human heart.
🛡️ MAKE A DEFENSE
First Peter 3:15 tells believers to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us, with gentleness and respect. Christianity doesn't require us to be afraid of competing ideas. Know what you believe. Know why you believe it. And be prepared to defend it.
🙏 MAKE PETITIONS
First Timothy 2:1–3 tells us to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for kings and all who are in authority so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives. Don't merely complain about political leaders. Pray for them. Pray that government will fulfill its proper function rather than attempting to become our god. Pray for conditions in which truth can be proclaimed freely and people can live peaceful lives.
🎯 THE CLARITY
That's how the ekklesia changes a culture. We make disciples. We make a defense. We make petitions. We proclaim Christ. We make a difference. The ekklesia didn't hide from Caesar, and the ekklesia cannot hide today.
So remember the framework. The problem is spiritual death. The disease is godlessness. The symptoms are all around us. But the cure has never changed: JESUS IS LORD.
This is how we fight. NIKE the evil. Conquer it with good.
Run to win. Be God's friend. Remember…
It pays to serve Jesus!