You could say politics sort of snuck up on me.
    In January 1963 I was visiting my uncle in Phoenix. His family had been friends with the family of Sen. Barry Goldwater for years, and one evening, when the Goldwater family was over for a visit, the senator revealed that he planned to run for president in 1964.
    He knew I was living in Dallas, and casually asked me if I would "keep an eye on things" for him in Texas. I knew nothing about his political philosophy; but I knew he was an honorable man that I admired, so I agreed. Before this, I had no interest in politics.
    But that meeting began years of furious political activity for me in several different roles, including: a Texas coordinator for Sen. Goldwater's run for the presidency, regional campaign manager for Sen. John Tower of Texas, a member of the executive committee for the Dallas County Republican Party, my own failed candidacy for the Texas Legislature, a volunteer advance man for the Presidential Republican Governor's Conferences during the Nixon administration, campaign executive for Dallas Mayor Wes Wise and a host of other behind-the-scenes positions.
    Even back in the '60s I had noticed that the Republican Party was starting to woo the religious conservatives. At that time, the Democratic Party had been successful in mobilizing the religious liberals and minorities to their base. And whether conservative or liberal, they used the Bible to justify their political positions and demonize their opponents. What fascinated me after I became a believer was that neither Jesus nor the apostles ever took a political position.
    Rome was one of the most oppressive governments that ever existed and not once did Christ ever call for the ousting of the emperor or a "regime change."
    Israel's leaders were often criticized, but that was because Israel was intended to be a living parable of the spiritual Kingdom of God.
    Biblical writers never called for the overthrow of Rome, or any of the other political systems extant at the time. In fact, ancient commentators say Judas, a Zealot, was politically motivated to betray Christ because He didn't call for the expulsion of the Romans from Israel. The closest Jesus ever came to commenting on political power was His statement, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." That has been the Church's only guideline. The persecuted Church in the Soviet Union modified it slightly by saying, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's; but if Caesar demands what is God's, you don't resist, you go quietly into Caesar's prison."
    Jesus' response to Pilate should have settled this for all time. "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."
    Our liberal Christian friends should have learned this lesson. The National Council of Churches' involvement in politics a generation ago didn't hurt the Democratic Party, but it severely crippled the mainstream denominations. The same is true today. Our conservative friends' involvement in the Republican Party will not in the long run hurt the GOP, but it will hinder the witness of the Church.
    It was in the summer of 1972, as a new believer, when I first recognized the dangers of this involvement of the Church in politics. But now my mind and some well meaning friends were telling me that I could be a successful politician for Jesus and really make a difference in the world. The burden of this dilemma of what I had seen spiritually and what I thought I wanted to actually do, was weighing on me. As I had done a few months earlier when I felt that weight, I emptied myself and asked God what He would say.
    Following is the essence of the message I received in response to that prayer (feel free to insert your own Ole of Arcadia joke here):
    "O evil and perverse generation. Have I been so long in your midst and you have perceived me not? You hold meetings in my name and give honor to men but not to me. You boast that you serve me, but in truth you serve your own ego. For that which you do is calculated to enhance your own position, further your own agenda, and advance your own prestige, and yet you give it all a sanctimonious cloak. Sacrifice is My status symbol. Power and acclaim are not evidences of my presence, for I have chosen the base and weak things to confound the world.
    "There is now a famine in your land but not of bread. It is a famine of hearing the true word of God. Yet you say I am with you. But lo, I am not. For I have long since fled the staleness and hypocrisy of your structures and like the wind I blew past your ways and your systems, for I will not be bound by the ideas of the fallen creature. Lose yourself in praying for your enemies, loving your neighbor, feeding the hungry and comforting the downtrodden. My ways are not your ways. Follow me, not some worldly form of a backslidden church or fallen man's political agenda. Learn from this and become wise in the wisdom from above."
    Well, that pretty much ruled out seeking any kind of political position of power, and, really, anything else I might dream up to do in the name of God.
    I thought about the image in the second chapter of Daniel, where the stone "cut without hands" destroys the idol representing all the world kingdoms. Encountering Christ crushes all political entities like chaff.
    After hearing His answer to my burden, I lost all interest in politics except to pray for whomever is in authority.
    May all his people return to rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.

Ole's morning bible study is available here.