January 20, 2025
I recently received a text message from a dear Georgia Baptist pastor friend who indicated that his son who was once an avowed conservative, announced that he was an atheist, embracing a leftist ideology and exclaiming, “I can no longer pretend that I don’t care about something that I do care about. I will no longer be in touch.”
Arthur P. Ricciardi, in his book A Prescription for Progressive Education writes, “Progressive education is producing inedible fruit, and its root is causing a governmental crisis . . . and singlehandedly destroying the American Dream.
Ricciardi insists that since much of our public education and institutions of higher learning no longer embrace and teach a biblical worldview, they have consequently created a vacuum that secular humanism has filled, resulting in a whole host of maladies affecting our educational system, our politics, our unions, our military, our bureaucracies, our law enforcement, and our standards.
The recent presidential election was so denigrated by propaganda and indoctrination that it deepened the breach between the above-mentioned son and his parents because their choice of candidates did not meet with his approval.
The brokenhearted pastor admitted, “And just like that he vanished from our daily lives. No phone calls or texts returned, nothing. We don’t know for sure where he is or how he is. He has blocked all phone calls and social media from family including his siblings and nieces and nephews.
“We have prayed and believed for his heart to be inclined again toward the Lord, but so far nothing. It would be an understatement to say we are devastated. Yet now because of an election he has pronounced the end of our relationship.
“We have resolved to keep the door open to our son, demonstrate unconditional love for him, and go the second mile to resolve the heartbreaking separation we are experiencing.”
In the December 11th issue of World Magazine, Nathanael Blake wrote an article to answer the question: “Why those on the left shun friends and family who voted for Trump.”
Blake reasons, “This division is encouraged and enabled by overstimulated leftists insisting that President-elect Trump is not just a bad man or a bad president with bad policies, but Hitler reincarnate, and his supporters vote for him because of this. This cacophony of catastrophizing excuses the incompetence, failure, and wrongdoing on their side and justifies any tactic against Trump and his supporters.”
Incidentally, there were times when the noise from the Trump camp was no less condemning when referring to Kamala Harris.
Blake reasons, “From the conservative and especially conservative Christian side of the moral divide, those on the left who are most eager to start shunning people tend to be those who might most justly be shunned. Why, for instance, shouldn’t Christian cut ties with those who support the monstrous evils of abortion on demand or the sexual mutilation of children?”
Then Blake adds, “We know that we are sinners who need God’s saving and sanctifying grace as much as our political and cultural foes do. Rather than writing them off, we desire their good, especially their eternal good. And though walking the line of loving sinners without endorsing their sin is often difficult, it is our calling. When we see our own sins and need for our Savior, we will follow His lead and therefore sometimes break bread with tax collectors and sinners – and even those who voted for the other candidate.”
Politics often create tension, animosity, misunderstanding, pain, alienation, hostility, dissention, separation and division. Heated debates, unbridled accusations, intemperate campaign speeches, incessant partisan advertising, unbridled appeals for money, and uninhibited spending all serve to widen the breach and stir up resentment and foster angst in the nation.
The chasm created by politics is nothing new. Heated debates, charges of impropriety and ineptitude are almost commonplace in the political arena. I suppose such shenanigans have been a reality from time immemorial.
However, the Christians divine mandate and surpassing goal is to restore relationships and win the favor of those who may oppose us with “agape” love – the kind of love that characterized the life of the Son of God.
Fifteen years ago, Richard Land, who served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, wrote a book entitled, The Divided States of America. The book’s assertion is that despite all our disputes and disparities we should be able to work together and solve the problems that so often beset us.
But something has happened in this century that is very disturbing. Maybe it started with the 2000 election when George W. Bush narrowly defeated Al Gore for president. Bush won 271 electoral votes, one more than the 270 required to win. Gore won the popular vote by more than half a million votes. It took a month before the Florida vote was recounted and the Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, declared Mr. Bush the winner.
Since then, the tension has mounted, the campaigns have become more antagonistic, and the whole system is now viewed with great skepticism.
Political perspectives and dangerous ideologies have crept into our homes and churches to the detriment of God’s greatest institutions.
Rev. Ben Johnson writing for Acton University illustrates the point by reminding us why Kellyanne Conway left her position as a White House advisor during the first Trump administration. Her husband, George, and daughter, Claudia, so opposed her politics that she chose to salvage her family rather than continue to serve the president. Unfortunately, it may have been too little, too late, because the Conway couple filed for divorce in 2023.
Johnson wrote, “In effect, the teenager (Claudia) substituted her politics for her family. Alas, she is not alone. Nearly one-quarter of people who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 said they stopped talking to a friend or relative over politics.
“Others admit they cut family gatherings short or skipped them altogether to avoid political clashes with their flesh and blood. And 52% of people unfriended real-life friends on social media over politics. Rest assured; this post-election holiday season will offer more of the same.”
Satan knows that the best way to destroy our nation is to destroy the family. God designed the family for our good. Satan knows the value of the family, that it is the fabric of a good, solid society., the foundation of the church, and the heart of the nation. Satan knows if he can disrupt and destroy the family the whole structure of society is in jeopardy.
Lucifer has set his sights on the family and has succeeded in increasing the divorce rate, making common law relationships unexceptional, bombarded us with images of Hollywood immorality, legalized same-sex marriage, and now created a system of politics to serve as his wedge to disrupt and dismantle the homes of America.
We must remember that political parties do not have the answer to our deepest problems. In many cases, the persons running for office and for the presidency are rather underwhelming. Furthermore, winners do not need to gloat over their political conquests and think that salvation comes from the White House or the courthouse; and the losers do not need to take up an offense if their candidate was not elected. In fact, we are wrong when we try to forge our identities around some political party.
Johnson lists three things that militate against good citizenship. “First”, he writes, “secularization has deprived us of our identity and our neighbors of their human dignity. Second, the politicization of all aspects of society inevitably breed animosity. Third, the resurgence of socialism. . . extends the tentacles of government into every area of life and multiples the potential for strife. At the same time, socialism substitutes a temporal paradise and situational ethics for the kingdom of heaven.”
Our identity must be centered upon Christ and His spirit must control our lives and our attitude toward others. Every person is a beautiful creation of God and is precious in His sight. We must view people – all people – the same way. God is not the author of confusion or chaos, but peace (I Corinthians 14:33). Conversely, Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). We must choose which one we will follow.
Our differences are real and often seem insurmountable, but with God as our guide and strength we can still find common ground in our homes and churches if we look to the resurrected Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith and give Him alone the place of preeminence in our lives.
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J. Gerald Harris is a retired pastor and journalist who served as editor of The Christian Index for nearly two decades. You can reach him at gharris@loveliftedmehigher.org.
