Christian politics deals not only with earthly kings and presidents, but with heavenly principalities and cosmic powers. Our political theology is incomplete if it only deals with earthly rulers and earthly realities. A true politics embraces the politics of heaven as well. The principalities and powers are political actors as well. We must contend not only with what happens in the ballot box and the halls of the capitol building, but with what happens in the heavenly realm. Indeed, the heavenly realm is where the *real* political action is found. Just read a passage like Daniel 10 or 2 Kings 6 or Ephesians 6, and you come to the inescapable conclusion that what happens in heaven impacts what happens on earth. The problem with so much of the current “Christian nationalism” movement is that it is a demythologized politics. It’s an earthbound politics. It’s only engaging with half of reality, and the lesser half at that. It’s focused on nature and ignores the supernatural. The reality is that our politics will be either haunted or enchanted – haunted with demonic powers or enchanted with the power of Christ and his Spirt. A naturalized politics – including a politics that brings in grace in a dualistic fashion – is sub-biblical. It is not adequate to the task at hand. A Christian nationalism that fails to account for and engage with the principalities and powers will come up short and leave us disappointed. There is a great emphasis on a return to nature among some Christian nationalists. And that makes sense — the Apostle Paul appeals to nature, and in an era when the culture at large is rebelling against nature, calls to recover God’s creational design are appropriate. But a return to nature is incomplete — at least in part because it is no match for the principalities and powers.
Is there a political solution to what ails us? If our politics is entirely earthbound, then no, there is not a political solution. Earthly politics cannot fight demonic hosts. The ballot box and Oval Office are no match for the schemes of the devil. The reality is that we are not contending merely with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces of darkness in heavenly places. Biden, Trump, and AOC are far from the most important players in the political game. There are higher forces at work. A politics that only engages with nature, with the natural order we can perceive, with powers that we can see with our eyes, is inadequate. But if our politics embraces the heavenly order – especially Christ who is enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords at the Father’s right hand, and believers who are seated with him in heavenly places – then, yes, there *is* a political solution. The true politics includes not just the culture war on earth but spiritual warfare in the heavenly realm. A fully biblical politics does not reduce to liturgy but it most certainly includes liturgy, because the only way we can fight the spiritual forces of darkness that have infected our politics is with Spiritual weapons – including prayer, preaching, and psalms. We have to see the church, the royal priesthood, as a key political actor.
Our political theology needs less Aristotle and more Ephesians. So many of the political questions we obsess over miss the deeper point, the deeper reality, the deeper warfare. Screwtape would be pleased. The lone bulwark against demonic darkness, and therefore moral and political insanity, in our land is the faithful, praying, worshipping church. Only the politics of God’s kingdom can exorcise our earthly politics – and it is precisely an exorcism we need. I fear many of us have underestimated our enemy and therefore underestimated what it will take to actually win. Our political vision is too small so we are not fighting on the most important battlefronts. We cannot and must not do politics as if Satan does not exist. We must not demythologize the principalities and powers as if Paul were merely describing human rulers and human institutions. We are contending with the very forces of hell. We must use the right weapons and fight on the right plane. It’s not an either/or. I am not suggesting we substitute prayer for ordinary political engagement. What I am saying is that ordinary political engagement will not get us the cultural victories we desire because we are not merely in a culture war; we are in a spiritual war.
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