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    Godspeak Pastor Rob McCoy: ‘The Church and Politics’ (Part II)

    By Michael Hernandez

    NEWBURY PARK–”Politics is the way that people living in groups make decisions,” said Godspeak Pastor Rob McCoy during his Saturday evening “Fireside Chat” which was the second part of a two-part lecture challenging pastors to ‘Reopen on Pentecost Sunday.’

    “Politics is about making agreements between people so that they can live together in groups such as tribes, cities, or counties…The study of politics in universities is called political science, political studies or public administration.

    ”Pastors cannot avoid politics—which is about how shall we live together as Francis Schaeffer would say.  The Church needs to engage in the public square so people can see how we can flourish?  How does the Kingdom look on earth?  The church needs to be at the forefront.”

    Pastor McCoy shared two pyramids of government: one going top down (starting with the federal government and ending with the individual) and the other going bottom up (starting with the individual and ending with the federal government).  He also shared the difference between autonomy = self law; theonomy = God’s law; heteronomy = another law.  “What you are filled with is what you are governed by.”

    Pastor McCoy shared scriptures during his lecture:

    • “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward by revealed.  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:23-24) 
    • “God you admonished them, that You might bring them back to Your law.  Yet they acted presumptuously, and did not heed Your commandments, But sinned against Your judgments, ‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’  And they shrugged their shoulders, they became stubborn, and would not hear.’” (Nehemiah 9:29) 
    • “‘And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’” (Ezekiel 20:11)

    “People don’t see the law as a school teacher—a protector of our children until they can be saved.  Don’t forget that the law is to protect us.  It is a guardian that keeps us safe.  We need to contend for people’s lives.  People are being enslaved.”

    Some quotes Pastor McCoy shared:

    • “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”George Orwell
    • “The most important aspect of freedom of speech is freedom to learn.  All education is a continuous dialogue—questions and answers that pursue every problem on the horizon.  That is the essence of academic freedom.”William O. Douglas
    • “By removing the Bible from schools we would be wasting so much time and money in punishing criminals and so little pains to prevent crime.  Take the Bible out of our schools and there would be an explosion in crime.”–Dr. Benjamin Rush

    The gospel “requires conflict.  We have to contend.  Every citizen is worth contending for.  We are in this together.  We all have lost something.  Elected officials don’t have the right to crush.  People are dying.  Let’s reason together.” 

    ‘The Church and Politics’ (Part I) 

    (Editor’s Note:  “The Church and Politics”—Part I is taken from Friday’s “Fireside Chat” Episode 56.) 

    “We are participating in this May 31st Reopening of Churches—this rebellion—because we have been going by the state mandate these past 9-10 weeks; abiding by all the rules of the state avoiding political controversy.”

    But there are some younger pastors impacted by the Gospel Coalition whose mission states:   “The Gospel Coalition exists to equip the next generation of believers, pastors, and church leaders to shape life and ministry around the gospel” that have this idea that pastors should not be involved in politics and not involved in the public square.

    “They don’t want to come across as divisive since there are people of all political (views) in the congregation.   “The reality is that truth is divisive.  A lie is not tolerant of truth and truth never is tolerant of a lie.

    “We can’t avoid politics because we see in Genesis that politics is the highest form of community.   Why did God give (Abraham) us the law?   He wanted us to learn how to live together.”

    Pastor McCoy challenged pastors to look at the roots of the Gospel Coalition and its leadership and see what they are really about?    

    These young “shepherds they want to make peace and don’t like division in the fellowship.   We don’t need to be considered essential.  We just need to preach the gospel and avoid conflict.

    “To what extent are we willing to avoid that conflict?   Was Rosa Parks supposed to go to the back of the bus?  She created a lot of conflict.  Should the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. not have stood in opposition to segregation in the South?  Was he wrong?  He was put in prison.  Was that justified?   Should we accept the state mandate on the killing of unborn children?

    “What is the conclusion of preaching the gospel?  Does it change the culture?   To what extent do we avoid controversy?  Do we avoid politics?

    “California leads the nation in abortion.  Your people are being oppressed.  Liberty is being crushed.   You don’t know it, but you are being played.   God is a God of Justice.  The virus (COVID-19) has 99 percent survivability but businesses are closed.  Depression is high.  Alcohol use is high.  Abortion clinics are still open.

    “We are the ones that God has called to proclaim the truth and truth will set people free.     What is the gospel with no power or ability to drive a culture?  What is freedom if it can’t contend with censorship and imprisonment or enslavement of the communities around us?  What kind of gospel is that?   

    “Your people need you.  They need each other.  They are being told they can’t be together.  When does this end?   I think it will end Nov. 4 (the day after Election 2020).  Let us ‘not forsake the assembling of ourselves together(Hebrews 10:25).

    “I implore you this is fake.  Granted the virus is highly contagious but less than two percent of our population is hospitalized but 100 percent has been devastated financially and emotionally.   Family abuse is up, spousal abuse is up, child abuse is up.  So we have to stand up and declare the truth and set our people free.

    “We need a complete revelation from God—an awakening in our country—a revival.”

    (Editor’s Note:  To hear “The Church and Politics”–Part I and Part II–go to “Fireside Chat” Episodes 56 and 57 on May 15 and 16.   “Fireside Chat” airs every evening at 7 p.m.  Viewers can go to Godspeak’s YouTube channel or access by going to:  http://godspeak.com/.   Those wishing to watch Pastor Rob McCoy’s Sunday livestream can also access the Godspeak website.  During the introduction to the message taken from Acts 3-4, Pastor McCoy said there were 2,000 California churches committed to opening on Pentecost Sunday.   “People who do not go to church are getting excited about the church reopening its doors,” said Pastor McCoy.)

     

    Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].


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