Pence, Sessions, Pompeo Illustrate: To Heal our Land Make Disciples of Jesus Christ
President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments of strong, godly men to key national leadership positions hammer home a biblical tenet that propels Capitol Ministries’ mission: that prayer alone will not heal our land.
What will heal a nation is to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the political arena, as Scripture directs, so leaders with changed hearts will reflect God’s precepts in the decisions that they make and the course that they set for the nation.
President-elect Trump has named U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo as CIA director, has offered U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions the position of U.S. Attorney General, and picked Mike Pence as vice-president-elect.
All three men are long-time sponsors of the Members Bible Studies that Ralph Drollinger, President of Capitol Ministries, teaches to U.S. Congressmen on the Hill in Washington, D.C.
“Are Pence, Sessions, and Pompeo, who are all strong followers of Jesus Christ, illustrative of God answering the prayers of His people? Yes. But they serve to illustrate much more,” Drollinger said of the appointments.
“I hear this all the time, “If…my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
“But that is an Old Testament promise for Israel. Obviously, that is a principle for today, but you don’t see a didactic reiteration of the 2Chronicles formula in the New Testament.”
Drollinger explained that this is a very important distinction to make.
God does not promise to the Church today that if we humble ourselves and pray, He will heal our land. The closest parallel passage in the Bible for the days in which we live is 1Timothy 2:1-4, which involves something more than humbling ourselves and praying. The passage says:
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God or Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
“We are to pray and evangelize kings and those who are in authority in order that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in the here and now — in our land, in our day in time,” Drollinger said.
“Note the word this in the above passage. It is a pronoun and its antecedent is the main verb be made,” Drollinger explained. “When the passage is read with that in mind, it clearly reveals a formula of evangelistic prayers and evangelistic activity for those who are in authority. This passage promises that if we evangelize political leaders that there will be benefits in the here and now.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4 has promises for how to cure a culture today that is ailing, Drollinger said.
The formula for restoring a nation in the New Testament is different than the formula for restoring a nation in the Old Testament. The NT formula contains more than just praying in humility for the nation in order to heal the land.
Drollinger stressed that it is critically important that believers understand this.
“It follows then that the sudden rise of Pence, Sessions, and Pompeo — all men who are disciples of Jesus Christ — serve to vividly illustrate the truth of 1 Timothy 2:1-4!” he said.
“Suddenly these men who have been discipled by the Church are in prominent positions of authority to change the course of America in ways that are biblical. If they were not mature in Christ it is doubtful that that would happen.”
In America’s history, most of the civic leaders were pastors, which serves to illustrate the point that godly leaders make for a godly nation. But all that changed about 120 years ago when theological liberalism infiltrated main-line churches and seminaries and replaced the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the social gospel that watered down main Church tenets, Drollinger explained. Instead of a Savior, theological liberals viewed Jesus as a good man.
At that time, many Evangelical fundamentalists involved in the political arena were superseded by social gospellers, he added.
“We lost our discipleship engine among the political leaders and we’ve not gone back with any cogent doctrinal effort of national proportions to make disciples except for the last 20 years with Capitol Ministries,” Drollinger said.
“We have not had our best men on the campuses of political leaders over the last 100 years as we did in the foundation of America, accordingly, we are reaping what we have no longer sown.
“Pence, Sessions, and Pompeo serve to illustrate that things are now turning around! It is a very exciting day!
“Evangelicals are betting the whole American future on praying humbly, but in the New Testament, praying humbly is better understood as evangelizing and discipling political leaders, starting with prayer. I don’t think the Church gets that.”
“This week, illustrated before our very eyes by the appointment of these men of God is the clear New Testament formula as to how to restore a nation.”
This year marks Capitol Ministries’ 20th Anniversary. From the beginning, Capitol Ministries has shunned the tactics of many in the religious right who lobby Lawmakers demanding legislative change.
Capitol Ministries believes that a Legislator who rejects the Author of Scripture cannot be expected to accept the precepts of His book, and so the ministry takes the Gospel, not complaints about bad government, to Legislators.
We found our mandate in God’s commission to Paul in Acts 9:15: “. . . bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.”
Following his Acts 9:15 calling, Paul traveled almost exclusively to capital cities, the cities of greatest influence, on his three missionary journeys. He ministered to large groups of Jews and Gentiles, but he also led many of the political leaders of his day to the soul-saving message of Jesus Christ.
For 20 years, Capitol Ministries mission has been: Making disciples of Jesus Christ in the political arena throughout the world.