Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 

This should be short… but I am not usually very good at that.  I will try.

Believers… Brethren… Beloved – DO NOT join into any of the riots that may transpire in the coming weeks during the presidential transition.  I want to explain why I make this appeal. This article is not going to deal with a lot of other issues that it could. This is about Christians involving themselves in riots.

I hold no party loyalty beyond the Kingdom.  If a political party sides with the morally right stance, when appropriate… or the wisest stances the rest of the time, then I can vote for them.  When they aren’t, I won’t.  

Morally right when it is a moral issue; pragmatic when it isn’t.

I consider myself a political independent, though I vote in Republican primaries.  Probably the most accurate description of my political stance would be that of a socially conservative libertarian.  

But these, at best, are mere descriptors.  They may describe me, but they do not define me.  What defines me is my relationship with Jesus of Nazareth.  He is not my president; He is my Sovereign King.  He is my Creator and Sustainer. I love my country; I am a patriot, but my citizenship here is secondary to my citizenship in His Kingdom.

I believe that this is the proper stance for ANYONE who calls themselves a Christian.

Beloved, we MUST be Christ-followers first.  Loyal to Him and the teachings of His apostles over the guidance of political leaders.  So, what did His apostles teach about following the political authorities?  Good news.  Two of His top Apostles are pretty clear about it:

1 Peter 2:13-17 (The Apostle Peter)

¹³ Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Romans 13:1-7 (The Apostle Paul)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷ Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

You probably skipped the Bible passages.  Try again.  Go back and read them, please.

To be clear:  No Christian who claims to follow the teachings of scripture riots against the government.  Peaceful protest or demonstrations?  Sure.  

But to Riot?  Break laws?  Harm officials?  Assault police?  Steal things? Absolutely not!  

To do any of these would obviously put you in direct disobedience to these clear teachings of the Apostles and other scripture as well!  If you don’t believe me – go back and reread those passage.

We do not have an argument to dismiss clear, New Testament teaching directed at the Church, whenever we want to.  Waving a Christian flag or imprinting a human’s flag onto a cross does not make you a Christ-follower.

Our founders wrestled through whether they had the biblical right to declare themselves independent of the English crown; enough of them decided that they were justified that they did it.  They may have been wrong, but they were not intending to overthrow the government and take over England and put George Washington on the throne.

I know people are angry and suspicious and confused by the recent election.  Dozens of court cases and hearings now have failed to display the kind of evidence that would and should be required to overturn an election.   Day after day of promises of big revelations that would make large scale fraud evident have come and gone with nothing more than more suspicions.  

If the election was stolen, the evidence to overturn it has not materialized and I, for one, require evidence. I think this is appropriate for Christians. Ours in not an unreasonable faith. It demands and offers evidence. I agree that there is some strange stuff surrounding this election, but that is not the same thing as evidence.

I wanted evidence in the case of Kavanaugh, for example, and I want evidence now.  I have more faith in the rule of law than in the suspicions, accusations and promises of any human or groups.  Now is the time for conservatives to trust once again in one of the main things we seek to conserve – the rule of law.

The illegal, immoral and seditious actions of the extreme right on the day that the state-certified votes were to be counted and acknowledged according to the constitution!! have been roundly and rightly condemned by all kinds of political and religious leaders – including those who are conservative.  I was embarrassed as a social conservative; I was embarrassed as a Christian that some claiming to be part of the “Christian Right” were part of the illegal actions of the riots.

Even President Trump – though guilty of irresponsibly ginning up a crowd, lying to them about being present with them and then failing to lead in the moment – also condemned it clearly when he finally spoke up.  A quick search shows that other Trumps, McCarthy, Cotton, Keller, Kemp, Carlson, Ingraham, Thompson, Cruz, DeSantis, Graham, Mohler, Denison, and Shapiro have all clearly denounced them.  

Some of you may disagree with some of their previous efforts, but they were all legal and constitutional and none were even unique, until the riot.  

So even if you are fallen from the true Faith of following God’s Scripture and now worship at the feet of Republican politics – know that leaders from the right, religious and otherwise, condemn riots and violence.  You will find no help from them.  If you were confused before – if you thought at least Trump would verbalize being proud of your actions, you misjudged.  Now you know for sure.

For the saints – go back and read the words of the Apostles.  

For many years, conservatives have been able to note that when things don’t go the way we want, no one riots, burns things or kills anyone.  Thanks to those evil actions last week (and as more information comes out, the evil is even more clear – I cringe and grieve at people carrying Christian flags, and even worse – beating police officers, carrying zip-ties and explosives!!), that comment is dead.  Apparently, we were wrong.  I am ashamed of the actions of these criminals on the political right.  

I pray that they are caught, tried and punished to the full extent of the law.  I pray that Christians will not put party, politics or even country ahead of scripture. 

I pray that the church will stay involved in the legal application of politics. Vote and vote intelligently. Let’s honor our dedication to law and the constitution. As you do, stop being swayed – tossed to and fro by every wave and every wind. Stay founded on Christ and anchored to Him.

³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36)

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.