Thanks for your thoughtful message and being willing to speak on this topic. I also was pretty concerned when reading the hypothesis of Metaxas' new book, and I'm also increasingly concerned about a zeal that claims to be protecting the church but is actually tearing down its faithful servants of Christ. Watch and be on guard, for this is a far greater danger than liberalism to the future of the church.

Solomon said, “Of the making of many books there is no end…”Ecclesiastics 12:12 Of these many books there is only one Book that promises, if it is obeyed, that there will be a form of godliness with power. There will be worship of God in Spirit and in truth from the heart, and the fruit of the Spirit will be evident. The works of the flesh will be exposed and dealt with.

Much of what we have today in gospel believing and preaching churches is the opposite. Matthew 7:17-20. There is hearing of the Word without obedience, godliness without power, and worship that starts and ends on the lips. It is not a surprise that worldly passions and other things of all kinds begin to fill the vacuum.

That one Book says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” I Chronicles7:14 Discipline, accountability, separation, justice, integrity, purity, and moral responsibility begin in the house of God. II Corinthians 7:10, James 1:2-4, and James 4:8. God will discipline the sinful actions of His people and it is always meant to bring about maturity, conviction, and repentance.

We ARE to go and make disciples.... does this not mean we are to teach (and to live) ALL of Christ for ALL of life?
Does God not rule over ALL? We are to evangelize
... Absolutely!!! Amen to that! But we are to take dominion in the name of Christ as well, to set up Christians as rulers, as leaders, as teachers... what better way to love our neighbor than to share Christ through everything we do.

“A Christian society that is for itself will distrust atheists, decry blasphemy, correct any dishonoring of Christ, orient life around the Sabbath, frown on and suppress moral deviancy, and repudiate neo-Anabaptist attempts to subvert a durable Christian social order. A Christian nation that is true to itself will unashamedly and confidently assert Christian supremacy over the land.”

Stephen Wolfe, A Case for Christian Nationalism, 241

There is no name under heaven by which we must be saved. That statement, preached by Peter--along with Christ is Lord--is an explicitly political/cultural statement. Peter argued, and so must we, that there is a greater king than Caesar; there is a greater lord. As Christians, we cannot divorce the two. As has been stated already, since all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to the risen Lord Jesus, we are to therefore go, in that authority, and disciple the nations. This means teaching them the law of God. This means teaching them the ethics and morality of God. This is inherently a both/and situation. It is both spiritual and cultural. It is both theological and practical. It is both accomplished and applied.

Don't get played? Don't twist the clear meaning and application of Scripture.

Worship on Sundays is so refreshing focusing our eyes on Jesus rather than the things of the world. This world us not our home. Thank you Pastor Dale and elders for keeping this focus!

My dear Wormwood,

Our latest Humanism campaign has been very successful. Don't forget to employ the current "pet political and cultural positions" of our own theology. We should target the r2k camp. They can do much of the preaching for us and many people will fall for it.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape

Your quote(s):  "I’ve had brothers call me a coward for refusing to champion their pet political/cultural issue."

It is truly sad that you are not realizing that every political/cultural issue is a Biblical/spiritual/gospel issue. When these words were spoken, the men gathered who are supposed to be biblically qualified teachers and handlers of the word should have gently corrected, or possibly even rebuked the man for making such an unbiblical dichotomy.

////"He said, “People don’t care about the Sabbath anymore. They really aren’t that concerned about church things in general. They don’t talk about it much. Their time and zeal is devoted to politics and cultural issues....Conservative Christians are increasingly being caught up in the political/cultural issues and less zealous for Biblical ones."

Again, political and cultural issues are biblical issues. There is no getting around it. But let's see what God has to say regarding the Sabbath and church things when there is no Zeal for justice and for loving your neighbor in the Civil Realm.

Isaiah 1:12-17
"When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations - I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct depression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause..."

And in Mark chapter 7 Jesus said that you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. He also said that you have a fine way of making void the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

Making such an unbiblical divide between things that you consider to be part of a common civil kingdom versus God's sacred Kingdom causes a man to be blind to these issues. This is not a part of the reformed tradition. Nor is it a defensible position from the scripture.

The pietistic radical two kingdoms theology, not to be confused with piety, seeks to put our lamp under a bushel. And then it gets left there. When you return to this bushel, will you find that the lampstand has already been removed by the Lord Jesus as he warned the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2? Or will the fruits of repentance cause an urgency to cast off that bushel?

God has made it very clear what needs to be done.

In Matthew 23:23 Jesus has made it very clear that Justice is a weightier matter of the law. And just like Christ is pictured as putting on the Spiritual armor and leading the way in fighting the good fight in Isaiah 59, we too are commanded in Ephesians chapter 6 to put on our Spiritual armor and join in this fight against powers and principalities.

The fruit of this becomes justice, correcting oppression, pleading and tending to the widow's cause, making sure that the fatherless is cared for and not trampled underfoot.

You can see over and over again, that those who either take part directly in this wickedness, those who approve of it, or even those who are indifferent bystanders watching it happen end up having their prayers hindered. Whether it is Isaiah 1, Proverbs 1:28, Micah 3:4, or a host of other passages we see that when those unrepentant men call upon God, He will not answer. They will seek Him diligently but will not find Him. They will cry to the Lord but He will not answer them; He will hide His face from them at that time because they have made their deeds evil. When these men on their Sabbaths spread out their hands in prayer to God, He will hide His eyes from them.

We can see that the word of God does not allow for us to turn a blind eye to gross injustice, oppression, suffering, the bloodshed of the innocent, rampant idolatry, and grievous sexual immorality just to name a few things. And like everyone else, we all have to repent of our apathy towards these things.

It is those who will repent who are going to be blessed by God, have their prayers listen to by God, and who will have Him honor their assemblies. Pastors have a very unique way of responsibility in that they can bring judgment on their entire congregation by promoting a spirit of apathy from the pulpit, or by opposing in maligning those who are seeking to rescue those being led to slaughter, to bring justice to the fatherless, and to oppose those who would frame iniquity by statute and who would continue to shed innocent blood.

We see that God takes the shedding of innocent blood as an example so seriously that he judges entire nations, let alone entire assemblies, based on their indifference and apathy towards that subject. God says that it pollutes the land. He says that it increases violence. It is impossible to love your neighbor and be apathetic towards abortion, to approve of it or uphold it, or even to disapprove of or oppose those who seek to intercede for the fatherless and to rescue those being led to the slaughter. As an example calling abortion a pet political or a pet cultural issue is a grotesque and sinful minimization or dismissal of an evil that God is willing to overthrow entire nations over. He had no problem sending the sons of Israel to their deaths in battle, or to slavery. Don't make the mistake of thinking that God will wink at us dismissing such a wicked and serious issue.

If we're not dismissing the issue, and if we're not apathetic towards it, then our full involvement in full support in opposing it is what is called for. There's not a neutral position. And that is just one solitary issue.

You also said:
"I fully understand the temptation. I’m stunned to see what is happening in our culture."

You shouldn't be stunned. It is the exact pietistic radical two kingdoms theology that is directly responsible for these wicked leaders to be drafted, wicked laws to be implemented, and wicked vein philosophies to be taught or promoted in our institutions of learning. Withdrawing from the civil realm and hunkering down in our bunkers fails to love our neighbor and leaves them to the wolves.

You said: "I’m deeply saddened (and sometimes angered) by the sheer folly and evil coming from our political leaders."

This is one good thing. It shows that you are not completely blinded and oblivious to these issues. The problem is the rest of your article or blog demonstrates that you are ignorant to your culpability in the matter, and that of many of your colleagues. You understand that it's wrong. Now it's time to understand what is required of us to love our neighbor properly, and more importantly to love and obey and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ properly.

On a final note, you said something else that I agree with. You mentioned the need for evangelism. I could not agree more. Just remember that this is not predominantly happening within the four walls of your church. That is for the edification of the Saints and equipping them for the work of the ministry. Any evangelism that happens there is just a bonus. Your evangelism needs to go out to the streets. Inevitably it will bring the word of God to bear not only against the individual sins of any person that you might run into, but ultimately it will bring the word of God to bear against the wicked philosophies mentioned, the wicked laws, and will even call for repentance from wicked rulers.

Your evangelism ultimately will bring you into having a lot more in common with those congregants that are currently being criticized then you currently demonstrate that you have in common with them.

Your flock needs you to shepherd them in the world they are in and through the issues that assault them every time they open their eyes to the world outside the church. They need to know that God has something to see about these issues, not just be told "don't worry about it, we've slapped the 'politics' label on this so it's not your concern." Our neighbors don't know what men and women are, Pastor. They don't know what sex is for and they don't think babies are people. They're slicing themselves up to try find peace and you don't think supporting a civil government that submits to the authority of God to say "stop it" is appropriate?

Your flock needs you to shepherd them in the world they are in and through the issues that assault them every time they open their eyes to the world outside the church. They need to know that God has something to see about these issues, not just be told "don't worry about it, we've slapped the 'politics' label on this so it's not your concern." Our neighbors don't know what men and women are, Pastor. They don't know what sex is for and they don't think babies are people. They're slicing themselves up to try find peace and you don't think supporting a civil government that submits to the authority of God to say "stop it" is appropriate?

The only ones who are getting played are those who are getting sucked into this new, radical two kingdoms theology which separates the sacred from the secular. This is not the historic reformed doctrine of two kingdoms of light and darkness.

In the great commission, does "teaching them to observe ALL that I've commanded" include politics?? Politics=legislated morality.... Legislated Right & Wrong. Christians do indeed have a responsibility to represent Christ (and His standard) in the public square.

Summary of article:

Preach the gospel but do not live it. Abandon the world for Jesus is not Lord of all.

In such evil times the prudent are silent, for they desire comfort, not Christ.

“There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.”

Amos spoke these words to the godless nation of Israel, and demanded that they establish justice at the gate. Are we not called to do the same? My generation has grown up with the “hunker and bunker” gospel. We kept silent and to ourselves. Christ’s kingdom did not advance and the gates of Hell did not come crashing down.

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Christ tells us to teach all things He has commanded us, which would be all of Scripture for all of life, Genesis through Revelation. That would include plenty of political and cultural topics which would be the Reformed tradition. The gospel is far more than the truncated representation this article claims.

So we are to make disciples, evangelize, and as Russ said, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel.

But to what end? Think leaven… it changes everything! Including how those who are discipled vote. And how they think about and relate to civil authorities. And how they evaluate their shepherds. As it turns out the lens of scripture reveals much that is hidden to many.

A different perspective

https://www.tobyjsumpter.com/immortal-combat-a-word-for-pastors/

If we are to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God ... Who determines what belongs to whom?

Just think, if John the Baptist followed yours or Bateman's advice, he would have lived a little longer.

Pastor Dale,
Thank you for highlighting this article. This subject really has hit home for me. In Matthew 28:19-20, Christ left the church with final instructions to make disciples and baptize them and then said He “would be with us always, to the end of the age”. Sadly, many Christians (and their pastors) have forgotten this, especially that last promise. If we truly believe that He would always be with us we wouldn’t have cowardly pastors who are afraid to preach the Gospel but get played as Pastor Bateman stated. The same is true for elders who are tasked with guarding the pulpit. I have yet to tackle the 600+ pages of Metaxas’ book on Bonhoeffer which has been gathering dust on my bookshelf for a few years (maybe there will be a few more inches of dust after this). But, I have read Kevin DeYoung’s book and HIGHLY recommend it for all Christians and especially elders and pastors. We need to be reminded of the mission of the Church. To the pastors of Harvest, you were ordained for a purpose: Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. You pastors and elders are always in our prayers.

AMEN

Very well said, thank you so much

Pastor Dale,

Thanks for this post and pointing the church to this review. My in-laws are pretty well ticketed on the Metaxas hype-train, and as my family is going to live on their property for the foreseeable future, I've been looking for resources to check this impulse. Thank you for guarding the ministry of the Word entrusted to you. Your commendation is from God, but for someone pursuing the ministry and beset with frequent temptation to shift focus to current issues, I hope you know your ministry has healthily shaped whatever God has for mine.

May Christ keep you, the session, and Harvest OPC faithful.

In Christ,
Ben Campbell

Thank you for this timely tweet. This was encouraging to read and think through.