Several weeks ago I received via email a document titled “Christian Values Survey” published and supported by a wide range of Australian Christian networks.  The contents of this document deeply disturbed me at the time and do even more so now.  The stated aim of the survey was to help believers in Jesus prayerfully discern how they should vote as Christians in the (then) forthcoming election.  This, as it stands, is a noble enterprise.  Here however are the reasons for my alarm and the dangers I perceive lying underneath this communication.

Firstly, the selection of “Christian Values” was totally unrepresentative of the balance of scripture. There is an apparent obsession with sexuality (especially homosexuality), reproduction issues (like abortion) and drugs (about half of the total values listed).  Whilst I, with the supporters of the email, agree with these personal values, I could not but notice the omission of some of the great social issues of scripture.  There was no mention at all of the two dominant sins plaguing the people of God in the Old Testament, idolatry and the treatment of the poor?  To me this prioritization of values is symptomatic of a foundational problem that seems to have escaped the consciousness of most Christians.

I am sure like me you often puzzle as to why Western nations seem so untransformed by the gospel.  One significant answer, I believe, lies deeply embedded in European history.  It has been well said, that “Those who do not learn the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them.” (Santayana).  In considering how to win the West we have forgotten how the West was lost.  In this we may be oblivious to high level spiritual warfare.

There is a process whereby the conscience of a culture adapts to the impact of the gospel presented by the church.  The conscience of the church of “Christianity” (what was called “Christendom”), into which anyone over the age of forty was born – again, operates in a very different way to the church that was created by the apostolic gospel.  The Christianized Western Europe from the time of the conversion of the Roman Empire adopted the framework of “Christianity” as a form of religion without power (2 Tim 3:5).  This happened through submerging the radical nature of the grace of the gospel under what Paul calls the “elemental spirits of the universe” (Gal 4:3, 9;Col 2:8, 20).  (This is the NRSV translation, as I think the NIV “basic principles” is mistaken.)

These “spirits” are discernible by their basically negative character: “Do not…” (Col 2:21).  Christianity became, and still is in the West, associated with what is to be avoided, e.g. sexual immorality and abortion, rather than with the presence of the life of Christ.  The gospel as a “new law” (as the second century Church Father Treutlen put it) became the order of the day.  As an ad in our national newspaper for a legal website summed up this popular perspective, “More judgements than Reverend Nile.”  The church became the conscience of Europe and its emigrant outposts (North America, Australia, N.Z.etc.).  This was a disastrous move.

As some have put it, the church became the chaplain for the state. Instead of challenging the political and social realm in the very deepest and prophetic way, it became part of the European establishment.  The result was a “civil religion” and a “civil righteousness” that not only has not died (yet) but is dangerously re-emerging in our midst. By “civil” I mean a religion that promotes public order and good living.  The consequence of this as a successful strategy was that the church did not bother the state, it prayed for it, and the state did not persecute the church, it protected it.  State and church respected one another but the established church lost its raw biblical power.  This is where my alert comes in.

I see the Holy Spirit trying to transition both church and society in Australia (and other Western countries) to a post- Christendom and post-churched state of affairs.  That is, where the division in society will be perceived as not between those inside and outside the church but those inside and outside of Christ.  The recurring scandalous exposures over sexual abuse in institutional religion are part of the sovereign plan of God to make it self – evident that the great divide or chasm of righteousness is not between church and society but between society (including church) and Jesus.

As I read the situation, the current politicization of the church is unconsciously a “last throw of the dice” by well meaning Christians to resurrect something that was never the desired form of God’s kingdom in the world-the “civil righteousness” of Christendom.  The Christendom model was full of perks were the church was the highly respected as the chaplain or moral guardian of the state.  This is not how God would have it be, the prophets were not preachers of morality but of the sovereign rights of God as King.

To put it bluntly, we are being increasingly exposed to spiritual colonization whereby the values of the Republican Party of the U.S.A.are being identified with the trajectory of the kingdom of God in Australia.  This is a disastrous course for every statistic from America tells us that the spirituality of that nation is increasingly non- Christian.  Let me use a common example between our countries.  Whilst we may applaud in principle the denial by law of what is a spiritual possibility, gay marriage, the prohibition of sin by secular power is a form of the expression of the law that will not open culture up to the radical forgiveness of the gospel.   As the Bible says, “Through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20).  The likelihood is that the more successful the political ambition of Christians become, the less likely we will be able to uphold Jesus as the demand of the law once and for all fulfilled (Rom 10:4).  (The entire message of Hebrews is a rebuke to civil righteousness as it proclaims that every legal demand of God is completed in Christ – this is the gospel.)

Many believers are hopeful of seeing our brother Peter Costello, who promoted to 20,000 people at Hillsong 2004 the Judeo-Christian basis of our society, as the next Prime Minister.  It is not Peter but this level of hopefulness that I perceive to be falling into the deception of the evil one.  Similarly, the rise of the “Family First Party”.  Whilst I personally voted in the lower house for our local FF candidate, (who I know, along with some of the Christian Democratic Party people), the very title “Family First” even if politically neutral is spiritually idolatrous.  (The family is one of the great idols of our country, and this includes amongst Christians.)  If these temptations are not kept constantly in mind the triumphalism and pride associated with the political realm will overwhelm the good will of those Christians who are pushing ahead, itself a noble endeavour, in this sphere.  “Those who dine with the devil must use a very long spoon.” (Faust).

As I read the scene where genuine national transformation is happening in the world (such as Fiji), events like Governors Prayer Breakfasts and a National Day of Thanksgiving are the consequence and not the cause of revival.  If we are forgetful of this then we shall by duped by the intoxicating influence of the palaces of Caesar.  “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Burke)

Most crucially we must ask, “What has happened to the cross”?  Personally, I think it is on its way, but not from the realm we expect.  The aspiringly powerful, such as those who would have a PM open their new mega-church, typically have no place for a gospel whose consequence is suffering.  Perhaps the final dimension of their image of success is not material prosperity, a constant criticism of these movements, but success in the political realm?  (Pre-Reformation Medieval Europe all over again?)  The more influential these Christian leaders become the more they will to be unconsciously tempted to marginalise those of a different and more humble spirituality.  If such dangers are not guarded against that which is already implied within the style of the Pentecostal super churches and the “Australian Christian Churches” stream will become open.  It is for reasons like this that we are so short on true glory, holiness and miracle in the church.  You cannot have, said Jesus, the praise of men and the praise of God (John 12:43).

The great divide that I believe is beginning to open up across the face of the church in Australia is not between liberal and conservative, Pentecostal and Evangelical, Catholic or Protestant, but between a triumphalism that advocates a synthesis of worldly and spiritual power and a humility that wants to know only the broken power of the cross.  This divide can be avoided through prayer and godly obedience.  If these issues are ignored then I fear that whoever allies themselves with the drive for unguarded political power, will, with time, be found to be opposing God.  It is for the reader to judge whether this is a prophetic warning or personal ramblings.