The second reason has to do with the nature of Christian ministry. Christians and Christian leaders should speak to all of life as spokesmen from God. We are ambassadors for Christ. However, speaking to a select number of political issues with one voice is not the driving force of gospel ministry nor is it the proper focus or method of kingdom advance. To turn the evangelical world into one massive political action committee is to distort our calling, to blunt our message, and to compromise our position. The present debate is a case in point. We have become political pawns to be pandered to and courted and we have adopted our agenda and adapted our message to be seen as relevant. Christians are under a biblical mandate to speak the truth in love and leave the results to God.

Second, the debate within evangelicalism proves that our allegiance is compromised. We are more culturally and politically influenced than we are biblically influenced. Evangelicals might agree on abortion but disagree on the issue of torture. Why? The answer lies in the fact that too many Christians are more influenced by Jack Bauer and the fantasy that surrounds him than they are the Scriptures. But, perhaps more to the point, the issue of torture is political. Those who are opposed to torture are viewed as soft on war and regarded as critical of the President or the war on terror. By who are we influenced more: Mike Gallagher or Christ? Our position and unity must flow from a thoroughgoing biblical worldview as opposed to culturally iconic individuals or mindsets and/or political posturing.

The sad reality is that we might agree on the sin of homosexuality but we disagree on role of the state in marriage because we will not come to grips with the reality that marriage is instituted by God and not the state. The politics of marriage has usurped the biblical reality of marriage. We might agree on the need for political engagement but we disagree on having political candidates in the pulpit because we refuse to see that the gospel and the worship of Almighty God may not be set aside for a party spirit, a tainted message, or a pandering politician. The political action committee has usurped the business of God. We might agree on religious liberty but we try and separate that from civil liberty. Certain civil liberties are appropriate for Democrats and not Republicans and others are appropriate for Republicans and not Democrats. The real question that evangelicals have missed is this: what saith the Lord?

Third, evangelicals are slow to learn (maybe we should dial back the rhetoric concerning the wilderness generation in the aftermath of the Exodus and their inability to learn). When will we learn that politicians are merely courting our vote? When we will learn that very little has really changed? Roe v. Wade is a case in point. When will we learn that politicians promise much to obtain our vote but once elected, they go with their own political aspirations? When will we learn that there are very few statesmen left who will tell us what they believe up front and live by it regardless of the political fallout? When will we learn that we must cast a principled vote, speak the truth in love, and leave the results to God?