Gospel Coalition Test - Am I a Political Idolater?

In this video, A .D. is going to definitively find out if he's a political idolater, at least according to Joe Carter and the

Gospel Coalition. Well, I saw an article here on my favorite of all websites,

Gospel Coalition. Did you know that Gordon Sanchez is the new editor of the Gospel Coalition? You should check out his

YouTube channel, Gordon Sanchez. Check him out. He's very insightful. But this is an article by Joe Carter called

How to Know if You've Made an Idol out of Politics. Now, I don't click Gospel Coalition links too often.

I'm kind of scared of them, to be perfectly honest with you. But I clicked this one because it had a cool graphic of a bunch of brown people worshiping a false idol.

This is actually kind of a racist picture now that I think about it. But anyway, the question, the article starts off,

Have you considered you might have made an idol out of politics? Now, I thought to myself, no,

I've not considered that ever. And he kind of has a response for me. Here's what it says.

It says, Here we go again, I thought I wasn't surprised by the question. Idol hunting, after all, is a favorite pastime of my fellow evangelicals.

But I was caught off guard by the candidate for the potential idol. It is certainly possible that I've made an idol out of money, and I reluctantly confess

I've often made an idol out of comfort or security. My wife might say I made an idol out of my smartphone since I always seem to be staring at it in adoration.

And obviously, I don't know that word. But again, I went to public school and I'm Puerto Rican, so you can't hold it against me.

But I actually definitely don't make an idol out of my smartphone. If you want to see what my phone looks like, it is most certainly a slide phone, not a smartphone.

But anyway, so he goes on talking about how he never considered that he made an idol out of politics. And so he created a list of questions to ask himself just to see.

And so I thought, you know what? I'm I like idol hunting as well. I'm trying to live life on the on the right path.

This is the way, not the left, not the right. I want to stay on the way. You know what I mean? So let's do this diagnostic together, shall we?

Here's the first question. Have you heard the name of a political figure more today than you have heard the name of Jesus?

I don't know. I haven't really thought about it that much. I don't watch too much news, to be perfectly honest with you.

A lot of people think I watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh and, you know, Hannity and stuff like that. I really don't do that very often.

But I don't know. I mean, does the amount of times you hear someone's name have anything to do with what you worship and what you idolize?

I don't really understand the point of that question. So I'm going to have to check that one off as an unknown in tabs here on my handy dandy notebook.

So that's one checkmark for unknown. All right. Number two, have you spent more time today thinking about the president or another politician than you have thinking about the creator of the universe?

That's a definite no. I don't think about Trump too often, to be honest. I do enjoy

Trump's tweets from time to time. I think they're quite hilarious and spicy. And, you know, in periods of a lot of activity, sometimes

I'll quite often think about Trump and what he's up to, but not today. All right. Have you spent more time listening to talk of politics on social media, talk radio, cable news, and you spent the word of God or listening to gospel oriented media?

The answer to that is no. But I think that that's kind of a weird question because it's it's certainly possible for you to have gospel oriented media about politics or about Trump.

And so this is kind of making like this dichotomy, like this spiritual versus material dichotomy that I don't really buy into.

You can certainly consider politics or cable news or talk radio in a framework that includes the word of God or gospel oriented media.

So I don't really buy into this, but the answer is still no. Now, for when I discover that a fellow believer disagrees with my political preferences, do

I make assumptions about their level of sanctification and commitment to Jesus based on their political affiliation?

It's a big yes for me, because this is not like so. So there are some things that are easy and some things that are hard, right?

Like it all depends on why they're disagreeing and what they're disagreeing about. Not every political preference is equal.

Like if you have a political preference and you say that that that that rich people should have a 20 % tax rate and I say they should have an 18 % tax rate, which

I don't say they should have a 0 % tax rate. But if that was the argument, it's like, well, I'm not going to say one has more sanctification over the other.

I mean, these are difficult questions, right? If you say that there should be no police force and someone says there should be a police force. These are difficult questions.

I can understand why someone would read the Bible and come to different conclusions. But that's not really what we're talking about a lot of times in the

United States, because one party wants to make it a fundamental human right to kill your children if you see fit.

One party wants to make it a fundamental human right that in the Constitution, it's part of health care, it's part of women's rights, it's part of humanity to slaughter innocent children in the womb.

Like that's not something we can agree to disagree on. So yes, if you support the Democratic Party, I absolutely make assumptions about your level of sanctification.

How well you understand the Bible, how well you understand God's rule, his authority, his kingship, and all of that kind of stuff.

So the answer is a big yes on that one. But again, I don't really see what that has to do with making an idol out of politics.

That has nothing to do with politics. That has to do with God's justice. Number five, do I continually make excuses for why

I support certain policies or politicians, even though I know they undermine my gospel witness? No, I definitely don't.

I definitely don't because I don't really care about how things undermine my gospel witness, according to the pagans.

See, this is the whole thing. Like someone might say, if I support Trump's wall, that undermines my gospel witness, according to the pagans.

Well, I don't care what they have to say. You know what my support of promotion of regular marriage, you know, marriage between a woman and a man, that also in their eyes undermines my gospel witness.

I think it's unacceptable, unacceptable to promote LGBT and transgenders and homosexuality and sodomy and all.

I think that's unacceptable. And yes, to certain people that undermines my gospel witness, but I don't care about that.

So no, I don't make excuses for, I just don't care. Jimmy cracked corn and I don't care.

Number six, I think I'm doing pretty well here so far, guys. Really? I got three no's, one unknown and one yes.

Number six, do I judge myself as having noble motives when it comes to politics yet assume the worst about people on the other side of the political divide?

Um, do I judge myself as having noble motives? I definitely do do that. I'm going to give myself a yes here, but that is, again, we're not talking about like the difference between a few percentage points, like how, what the interest rates should be, the federal reserve.

We're not talking about like trivial stuff like that, which I don't think those are trivial by the way, but, but, but we're not talking about complicated issues like that.

Oftentimes we're talking about simple things like should we promote sodomy or should we promote killing babies?

Like, yes, I absolutely, if you think that it should be a fundamental human right for a woman to kill a baby, I certainly make assumptions about your motives.

That's evil. There you go. Uh, all right. So, you know, I got two yeses here, but I'm going to put an

Asterix nest to both of these because both of these are pretty kind of stupid when you think about it. Number seven, do I look for excuses to judge my ungodly behavior when it comes to politics rather than asking forgiveness from God?

Nope. Number eight, I have, I become more obsessed with achieving a certain political outcome than I am about leading people to Christ.

No. And I think this is a slippery question. These are weasel words here because the reality is the law is appropriate to bring to bear on a pagan nation.

When you're giving the gospel to people, people need to see what they've become. And so sometimes a sledgehammer, especially in our culture today, when people are so kind of a desensitized to things, sometimes you need a sledgehammer to show someone their depravity.

Because if you use euphemisms, uh, like adultery or not, not adultery, if you use euphemisms, like a fair, instead of the word adultery, or if you use euphemisms like, um, like a gay instead of sodomy, you know, and you don't really kind of abortion instead of murder.

Like people don't, they're desensitized to that stuff. What you got to do is you got to say, look, dude, you think it's a fundamental human right to slaughter children, pull them limb from limb, rip out their hearts, crush their skulls, and stuff like that's not achieving a political end over leading people to Christ.

It's a both and here, I want you to repent of your sin. And also, I want it to be illegal to kill your children.

I mean, we can do both. So no, that's not I don't do that. All right.

Well, I don't do that because I reject the premise of the question. It's not about more obsessed, I'd want to do both things.

I want to establish justice and I want people to come to Christ. And actually, this is a biblical thing. Because what the Bible says is that people will see how well

God's law works, how holy and good it is. And they're going to be so impressed by it. And that's and this is this is why the

Great Commission includes, you know, you baptize them, but then you also teach them to obey everything Christ commands.

It has to be both. All right. Number nine, am I more willing to allow injustice to occur than to suffer injustice myself?

Man? No, but man, that's a tough one for Democrats. Joe Carter just dropped the hammer on you social justice warriors who plan on voting for Peter booty geek in the upcoming election or Bernie or whoever.

Yeah, yeah. It's better for someone to be have racist policies than it is for them to have break baby murdering policies.

That's a good one. Joseph Carter, and I would definitely be willing to suffer injustice myself. If we could end abortion.

Number 10. Can I truly say that my political choices and preferences are informed by and consistent with the biblical standard of ethics?

Yes. But this is so this is kind of, this is kind of weird, because the yeses in the nose don't line up.

So it's not going to be fair. I'm going to put that in the no category. That means I'm not an idolater. Because the way he's worded these, it would be better if all the yeses meant you were an idol or all the nose meant you weren't.

That's not how it is. I know what he's going for. So I'm gonna put that in the no category. Yeah, I can truly.

Oh, wait. Yeah, I can truly say that my political choices are not motivated by my political party.

I mean, my political party is all about income tax, they claim to be about lower income tax, but I'm, I'm anti income tax.

I'm anti war, I want to make abortion, a crime, I want to do those things.

I think that, you know, there's so many ways that I disagree with the people that I would typically vote for.

So yeah, my political choices. They're definitely driven by the Bible and not the other way around. I would stand against the

Republican Party in many ways. It's just that the alternative here is way crazy land.

You know what I mean? So anyway, let's move on. 11 Do I attempt to justify my politics based on the realism of General Revelation?

eg that sometimes you Nope, that answer is no there. When I reluctantly pray for politicians with whom

I disagree, do I primarily pray they will lose the next election or otherwise fail to gain political power?

No, actually, I don't. Joe Carter, when I pray for politicians with whom I disagree, do I I don't primarily play that they will lose the election,

I pray that they will perish in disgrace. Because the politicians that I pray against are killing babies at phenomenal rates.

They're murderers, liars, deceivers, they're like the worst of the worst. And so I want God to remove them from power.

I want I pray for God to mash the teeth of the wicked. That's what I pray for them. I pray for them to perish in disgrace.

I want them to repent as well. But barring that I want them to be removed immediately. So no,

I don't. But I think I'll put that in the yes category because you'll probably say that that means I've got political idolatry.

So I'll put that in the yes category. So we're even there. We're even there. Hold on one second. I've got a phone call here.

All right. Am I more likely to be shaped by the political views and acquaintance on faces that I am by the inspired words of scripture?

Definitely not. Number 14. Would I find it easier to recite the names of 12 presidential candidates than I would the 12th?

Definitely not. If you need evidence of that one, just watching my last video two days ago, where I talked about Peter Moody and I was trying to I was desperately trying to come up with the names of the other people that are in play with the

Democrats. I couldn't think of them. All right. Number 15. Have more of my conversations today been about politics and about the gospel?

Again, the answer is no. But again, this is Weasley, because politics and on this kind of thing, the gospel is a political message.

When you say Christ is king, that's a political statement. And so this is I know what he's trying to do.

He's trying to make this dichotomy between spiritual things and and things here in the flesh and blood. But you can't make that distinction.

I don't I don't make that distinction. I think that politics are part and parcel of the gospel God. Again, Christ is king, unless you mean some kind of weird spiritual floaty, you know, effervescent kind of kingship.

I mean, what I mean is I mean a real king, like the king of kings, like the king of the kings that are here. And so that's all part of the gospel message saying

Christ is king. So the answer is no. And I don't really understand that one. Number 16. Do my words and actions reveal that I am more concerned about the way

Christians will vote than I am with whether or not they are enjoying God? I think that that some people would say that about me.

But I think that the way Christians vote is very important as far as how you know if they're enjoying

God or not, because there's a politics of envy and fear and anger. And then there's a politics of victory in Christ, that kind of thing.

So I'm going to put an unknown there. I don't really understand the question so much. And so I'm going to put an unknown based on my thoughts and actions.

Oh, okay. Based on my thoughts at number 17, based on my thoughts and actions today, does it seem as if I'm more concerned about the next four years than I am with eternity?

I don't think so. I definitely don't think so. I mean, I talked about how slavery is not a sin.

And, and, and, and the end of income tax and the end of property tax, it's not really has nothing to do with the next four years, because there's no candidate that believes the things

I believe should happen in the next four years. I'm thinking more long term when the kingdom of God is fully, you know, all that kind of stuff.

And God is ruling on his throne, the new heavens and the new earth is fully established. And it's going to be glorious.

That's what I think about. So no. All right. What have I been willing to overlook when politicians on my side say they are

Christian and yet act in ways that bring dishonor to Christ? No, absolutely not. Not absolutely not.

No, I talk about this all the time. I say, Trump, he's I don't believe that he's a Christian. He's a professed

Christian. But he doesn't act like one. He certainly doesn't seem to understand. Although I will say much more.

He does much more than the Democrats that say they're Christians like Peter booty geek. You know, like,

I'm not they're not equivalent. I know that you're setting us up, Joe Carter, that Pete booty geek and his husband and their sodomy marriage is equivalent to Trump and his, you know, border wall,

I guess. But but they're not equivalence. They're not equivalence. We're not stupid. Anyway, so the answer is no.

Am I more concerned with political pragmatism than I am with obeying every? No, definitely not. All I gotta do is look at my

Twitter feed for a few minutes to know that's not the case. 20 Do my concerns about possible political outcomes show that I may not truly trust that God is sovereign over all the nations?

No, absolutely not. That's what this no despair 2020 is all about, baby. That's what the no despair 2020 is all about doesn't matter about the big things so much.

So long as you are going to follow Christ, because there are blessings and curses for our nation. Of course, there are definitely blessings and curses for the individual as well.

So no matter what happens out there, as for me in my house, you follow the Lord. That's why there's no despair, baby.

That's it. That's it. So the answer is no there. Number 21. Final question. I think

I'm doing pretty good guys. I really do. Final question. Am I more offended by these questions and my honest answers than I am and how they reveal my idolatry?

This is an assumption, my friend. Very tricky. The answer is no, but I think

I'm doing pretty good. Check this out. Got three yeses, two unknowns. Let's give the unknowns to the yes category.

So I got five unknowns or five yeses. And the majority knows I think I'm doing pretty good.

That's pretty good for someone who engages in political commentary. And I think that the reason why this is not because I think

I'm awesome. But for so long, I was I was in like the libertarian sort of like, you know,

I have no home mindset. You know what I mean? And so like, I feel very comfortable being against politicians, even as I vote for policies.

So I'm very comfortable in the place where Trump is. A lot of people say that I'm just a normal Trump cult member.

I'm definitely not. I didn't vote for Trump. I plan to this time. But I clearly see Trump's faults.

I clearly mock when Trump does something stupid, or unconstitutional or evil, even. He's even done some evil things.

I just don't buy into the propaganda about how the border wall is evil or how immigration policy is racist and stupid, idiotic stuff like that, that smart people understand is actually not the case.

But thanks, Joe Carr. This, this article is a feel good article for me. It really is.

It really is. And sorry to say that I guess Joe thinks he's an idolater.

He's also a racist, apparently, because look at this. I mean, is it just me or all these idolaters, these evil folks?

Brown. That's pretty racist, man. That's problematic. Then again, to a lot of doofuses, the

Bible is problematic. Anyway, I hope this video was helpful. God bless.