One of the most thought-provoking conversations an American Christian can hope to hear occurred recently when an Iowa talk radio host, Steve Deace, confronted a major honcho of the Christian Right. Because the honcho thought it was an “ambush interview,” and hence unfair, his name shall not be mentioned here. Besides which, his position and his attitude are shared by many. He need not be embarrassed for their sake.

I sympathize with the honcho squirming on the griddle. How do you respond when someone tells you that your whole life's work has been a waste of time and effort?

At issue was the Christian Right's political support of ersatz “conservatives” like Mitt Romney and John McCain. The honcho's position was that politics being what it is, Christians and Christian organizations who get involved in politics must learn to compromise—to support a candidate who is a little less than perfect, or even a lot less than perfect, so as to prevent the election of someone who's a great deal worse.

But Deace argued that continually accepting the lesser of two evils, politically, has boiled down the good in American politics until it's virtually undetectable. Christians, he said, should stand up for God-given principles and never compromise. If you keep on giving away half the loaf, you end up with nothing but a crumb.

Worldly wisdom answers, “But what about the ocean of prayer that laps in vain against God's throne?” God isn't answering our prayers: therefore we must climb into the political horse-trading arena and get the best deal we can. We have to make some compromises just to get a place at the table; for without a place at the table, we won't get anything at all.

The only thing wrong with this wise strategy is that it doesn't work. In fact, it's never worked and there's no reason to believe it ever will.

I plead guilty to succumbing to it myself. If the honcho has been wrong, then I've been wrong, too. If he has been seduced by worldly wisdom, then so have I.

Our reasoning runs something like this. We pray and pray, but God doesn't give us what we ask for, God doesn't follow our advice, and meanwhile the bad guys are turning our country into a sewer—so we've gotta do something! We raise a ton of money, we organize, and we try to win elections. The leaders we manage to elect may not be all that righteous, but at least we've kept certain parties out of office who would've been infinitely worse.

But when we open our eyes and look around, do we see our country getting cleaner, freer, godlier? If that's what you see, brother, you've got problems.

Yes, yes, we know—“Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” But how good is our good? Our only boast is that maybe, just maybe, we have very slightly slowed down our country's deterioration. Was it worth it? Is this a strategy that ought to be pursued right up to the point where the pagans chase us back to the catacombs?

Honcho, my lad, we were wrong: as wrong as Esau when he sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup.

As for our ocean of prayer—well, we haven't been praying right, either. We haven't trusted God. We keep telling Him what to do, because we trust our own knowledge and perceptions which, from the moment we venture a few yards beyond our doorsteps, grow incomplete and faulty. Do we really know much more about what happens in the world than our assorted media tell us? Don't tell me we trust them!

We don't see what God sees. We don't know what God knows. If we say that God is God, then we ought to treat Him as God and render Him what is His due—solid obedience, reverent fear, and heartfelt love. Which means we ought to trust Him to get it right without our kibitzing, and certainly without our compromising the laws and principles that He's laid down for us.

Does that mean we are to butt out of politics, and cower in our churches until they come for us? R.J. Rushdoony had the best answer to that question: “We cannot surrender God's creation to evil men or to Satan without sin.”

But we can surrender a strategy that isn't working.

How would it be, for instance, if all the money raised for all the national ministries and pro-family groups since the 1970s—millions and millions of dollars, if not billions—and all the incalculable man-hours of work, had been devoted to the establishment of a comprehensive system of Christian education, coast to coast? How would it be if, instead of pouring all that money and labor into the bottomless pit of politics as usual, we'd used it to set up Christian schools and Christian colleges, Christian scholarships, Christian tutoring and homeschooling programs—and taken tens of millions of Christian children out of anti-Christian public schools?

Those millions of Christian-educated children would be grown up by now. They'd be voting, they'd be holding public office. Think they might've elected different leaders instead of the gang of thieves, liars, tax-cheats, tinhorn socialist big shots, and snake-oil salesmen who afflict us now?

What might all that time, sweat, and money have accomplished for America, if only we hadn't wasted it on partisan politics? And what is to keep us from redirecting all those resources, starting now?

We are taught by Scripture that we are to walk in faith.

Isn't it about time we actually tried it?

Copyright by Lee Duigon