The Minister Ought to Speak As a Prophet for God

I am of the firm opinion that no church should be occupied with politics, literature, philosophy, art.

It is our belief that the church—and that must also mean any local church—should be devoted exclusively to God and things eternal.

The individual Christian may be a student of any or all of these aspects of our life and culture, but when he appears in the assembly of the saints he is not there as a student. He is there to worship the Most High, to think on eternal things, and to listen to the very Word of God.

For a minister to treat his hearers to a weak rehash of current news with a bit of religion appended is to wrong those hearers where it hurts them most.

I have noticed that when a well-known political figure shows up at church, the pastor often feels called to pronounce gravely on world events.

How much wiser to ignore the celebrity and speak for the Lord of Lords, whose name the preacher bears.

By so doing, the speaker would command the respect of the politician and reduce him in his own eyes to what he actually is—a poor lost man in need of a Saviour!

Apart from certain broad spiritual principles, which are applicable to all men everywhere, the minister has nothing of value to tell the politician.

After more than forty years of experience, I am prepared to say that I have never heard or read anything of a political nature, by a preacher, that was any good.

When a man of God speaks as a prophet, his message is freighted with wisdom and power. When he speaks for a party, God withdraws His power and lets His servant speak without wisdom.

As a prophet, he may call to judgment kings and presidents. Let him obey God and stay by his commission, and he will be God’s voice to all men and all parties.

Let him seek to identify his prophetic office with politics, or place his power at the disposal of a party, and he violates his office and confuses his own face. Then he speaks as a discredited prophet, and not all his pretensions to omniscience can disguise the babel in his voice!

Preachers have been known to go all-out for some newly-come politician because he spoke respectfully of God. Later events made them wish they had kept the cover on their Corona and allowed their man to prove his piety before they fastened themselves on his coattail.

Christ is not a member of any political party. He stands outside of and above every party. His kingdom was not of this world.

— A.W. Tozer, #22 The Tozer Pulpit