3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” II Chronicles 19:3 English Standard Version
In this series on political alliances, we’re examining the hazards and pitfalls of throwing our hat in with a particular political party. Our current cultural norm encourages joining, especially in the realm of politics. Whether officially through registering or unofficially through stated support, joining a political party creates various problems for a Christian. Last week we looked at how joining a political party effects our personal identity, shaping how the world sees us. This week, I want to examine how political affiliation hampers our prophetic voice.
For the purposes of this essay and video, I’m defining prophetic voice as our ability to speak truth to power, to call out sin in the power centers of our culture. It includes speaking up for the weakest members of society. I do not equate modern prophetic voice with scripture; however, I do believe that as Christians we are called to engage our culture agitating for those issues that are close to the heart of God. We’ve been looking at the actions of Jehoshaphat, king of Juda as it relates to this issue. Please indulge me while I summarize again.
Jehoshaphat ruled Juda. He did good things and turned his people back to the Lord. He ruled during the same time that King Ahab and Queen Jezabel ruled in Israel. Ahab and Jezabel were extremely far from the heart of God. They brought idolatry and many other evils into Israel. Despite this, Jehoshaphat formed a marriage alliance with Ahab, having his son marry Ahab’s daughter. Eventually, Ahab induced Jehoshaphat into going to war with him against a mutual enemy, Ramoth-Gilead. The battle went poorly; Ahab was killed and a wounded Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem. And this is where the story gets pertinent to us today.
A seer, or prophet, came to Jehoshaphat and said, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.” II Chronicles 19:2b
Jehoshaphat had joined Ahab in what he felt was a politically expedient move. After all, they shared an enemy. After the dust settled, he found out how mistaken he was. In a like manner, we will find that our politically expedient actions incur a much higher cost than we expected, especially in the arena of prophetic voice.
Old Testament prophets used their “office” to speak truth to power. Much of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament focuses on calling out the political-religious leaders of their day. Yes, they did speak of future events; but, they did so much more in the realm of calling God’s people to a more holy life. Though the vast majority of us today do not enjoy a future revelation, we all are called to speak truth to power.
8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9
— And —
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Ephesians 5:11
These are but two of the numerous passages that call for believers to speak truth to those who enjoy places of privilege and power. This voice is an essential part of our Christian witness and joining a political party mutes that voice. While it may be true that some few work inside an organization, laboring to bend it in a better direction, most of us best serve outside a party, preserving our ability to speak and, perhaps more importantly, our ability to be heard. For large sectors of the population a donkey or elephant in our yards or on our cars stifles our witness.
We must work to preserve our witness. Political affiliation by its nature inhibits our witness. When I embrace a political party, I embrace all its positions. Perhaps there was a time when I could pick and choose my positions within a party; but, today we’ve embraced party-purity as normal. For us as Christians, this poses a significant challenge. No human organization is perfect. None of them totally align themselves with scripture. Also, many leaders gladly say one thing while doing something completely different, and at times abhorrent. As Christian, we must protect our ability to speak up when our leaders enact policies that abuse, or as scripture says, crush the poor, see Proverbs 22. We must raise our voices to protect those who are weak.
God’s people enjoy a long history of working to protect the weak and in this time in which so many people suffer at the hands of powerful, thoughtless, and often cruel forces, we must join this long parade of those who spoke truth to power. Party affiliation, no matter which one, dilutes our voice. Those of the other party simply tune us out as party hacks. Instead, let our identity be that of Christ and let our issues be those things that He would support. When we join a party, we let them decide what we support and how we support it. When we let others choose our issues, we risk finding ourselves supporting things that the Lord would not, and like Jehoshaphat, returning home wounded and in disgrace. Instead let us preserve our prophetic voice.
I enjoy living in an age of amazing communications abilities. My cellphone fits in my pocket and with it I stay in touch with friends across the globe. I make videos which others as far away as Pakistan view. This unprecedented technical capability enables me to exercise my prophetic voice in ways that previous generations never imagined. Should I join any political party, I water down and for some audiences extinguish my voice. Instead of frittering away this capability, I need to prayerfully use it to speak truth to power and help those less fortunate. That is what Jesus did.
Thought Questions:
- How important is speaking the truth to power to you?
- Why do you think we seek to “join” political parties?
- How do you speak truth to power?
- What political issues are most important to you and why?
- Do you ground your political issues in scripture?
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