When voting in the next election, What’s the Big Deal about God’s Word being True?: Part 6

by Buddy Hanson

Grace and Law Resource Center

posts in this series (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7)

As we have discovered during the past few decades, electing Christian legislators, as well intentioned as that is, will not produce the God-honoring results we would expect UNLESS they also have a developed Christian worldview. If not, they will merely be conservatives who use Republican talking points, which for the most part are man-centered, instead of God-centered. The following POLICY Guide may be a good resource for you in determining whether a candidate or incumbent is going to legislate as a conservative, or as a Christian.

The Christian Civil Ruler’s POLICY Guide

As a Christian Civil Ruler (legislator/judge) I pledge to conform my actions at the local, state, or federal level to God’s will as explained in Scripture. I understand that each Civil Ruler is placed in his position by God, with obedient ones bringing blessings to their constituents, and disobedient ones bringing curses. It is my intention to faithfully serve my Lord, Savior and King and be a fount of blessing to my constituents. The following acronym summarizes the approach to fulfilling my role as a Civil Ruler and by signing it I am merely making public what I have already vowed to God as His servant.

P – To advocate and promote God’s principles, for by not doing so would be to live as if His Word is meaningless for day-to-day activities, and would also infer that man’s wisdom is superior to God’s. Jesus cannot be Lord of our individual lives without at the same time being Lord of our culture.

O – My role is to obey His revealed instructions; God’s role is to bring about the desired results. Therefore I will strive to unhesitatingly do the right thing, even IF from my perspective it might appear that I would lose votes, committee assignments, or even election to office. I so act because I firmly place my faith and trust in God’s sovereign control of all situations and circumstances.

L – I will legislate (and/or make judicial decisions) according to the principles in Scripture, being mindful that no legislation should infringe on the other four self-governing spheres of Individual, Family, and Church. Truly, the Lord is “our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King.” (Isaiah 33.22)  While every American is free to hold their own beliefs, we must never let tolerance toward others interfere with enacting legislation that is founded solely on the truth.

I – The Bible is inerrant, infallible, and absolutely true, which means that any legislation, or judicial decision that does not conform to its principles is false and represents society’s problems, not its solutions. Since ungodly legislation only deals with the “fruit,” and not the “root” of a societal problem, any positive results brought about can only be expected to be temporary.

C – The Church and State spheres are both accountable to God and should be in harmony as they carry out God’s revealed will. There should neither be a union, nor an absolute separation of these two God-appointed spheres. A Christian civilization does not have anything separated from God, for separation from Him is death (Proverbs 8.36; Psalm 10.4).  

Y – You’ve [God] called me out of darkness into Your marvelous light so that I can do my part to subdue and rule over Your creation. Christianity is life-transforming and results in a new lifestyle (bringing glory and honor to You). It is not merely a lifeboat (or something we “add-on” to our current lifestyle).

Signed  _______________________________________   
Date     __________________

* Taken from The Christian Civil Ruler's Handbook, Buddy Hanson (Hanson Group, 2004)

In Part Seven we’ll propose a Biblically-based Legislative Checklist.