David Platt To Church: If You Can’t Live with Other Members Voting and Campaigning for Democrats, You Should Leave
David Platt gave an earnestly couched ultimatum to church members who were upset and contemplating breaking fellowship with other congregants who were promoting, working for, or voting for the pro-baby-killing Democratic party: maybe you should leave.
Platt made the comments during his October 25th sermon, where he used 2 Peter 2 to teach his congregation what sort of things ought to be considered when voting. In this, Platt made the same mistake John Piper recently did by contrasting the evil of the Democrat party’s bloodthirsty appetite for abortion and perverted destruction of the family through the promotion and normalization of sodomy and “transgenderism,” with Trump’s vices. First he acknowledges how bad abortion is:
We exalt Jesus by taking seriously the life of a child in a mother’s womb. We abhor abortion. We hate what is happening to children across our country. And it is not an option for followers of Jesus to say that abortion is ok or not a big deal. Abortion is an extremely serious deal of genocidal proportions…we take seriously the evil practice of abortion in an election in our country.
Then he contrasts with the personal character flaws of President Trump, highlighting his name-calling, boasting, sexual immorality, and dishonesty, effectively flattening them out as equally egregious and worthy of rebuke, saying that we likewise must take them seriously.
Platt stresses the importance of the unity of the Church, saying that peoples’ eternity is dependent on seeing unity in the church, which is why, “We exalt Jesus by not letting tension and division from politics creep into the church.” He unironically says that the church must “take evil seriously and avoid it. I see temptations in an election to treat evil lightly, to minimize, overlook, cover-over or even engage in it,” and then explains to members:
Do not divide the church over political positions, convictions, or calculations that are not clear and direct in God’s word… We will not tell people to vote for this candidate or that party…I fear calling you to do something that I can not show you clearly and directly in God’s word he has called you to do…
I have full confidence calling you to oppose abortion and to defend the lives of children in the womb because God makes his work in the womb clear in Psalm 139. You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and advocate for abortion. (Editor’s note. This is more than we can say for JD Greear’s church, who does not abide by this maxim.)
I have full confidence to call you to promote a biblical understanding of sexuality and marriage because God makes his definitions of male and female and marriage clear in Genesis 1 and 2 and throughout the rest of the bible. You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and disregard God’s word in these ways.
I have full confidence in calling you to care for the oppressed, the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner, because God says these things multitudes of times to his people in his word You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and be calloused to the oppressed, poor, orphan, the widow, or the sojourner.And I have full confidence calling you to never affirm or overlook sexual immorality, boastful pride, vulgarity, dishonestly, name-calling, and strife -stirring in your life or others’ lives, because God has said all over his word that all of those things are deadly.
So then how do you vote? For this candidate? For that candidate? For third candidate? For no candidate? And I don’t have a verse that answers that question for you. Different, genuine followers of Jesus will therefore come to different conclusions on the answer to that question. And assuming you are applying God’s word as prayerfully and as wisely and as faithfully as you know how to your political decision, then we will not break fellowship in Christ over that decision.
Now as soon as I saw that, I realize some people think we should break fellowship in Christ over the vote. Some people think, ‘I cannot be in the same church with someone who votes for Biden.’ Other people think, ‘I cannot be in the same church with someone who votes for Trump.’
And if you think either of these things, and I say this as thoughtfully and compassionately as I know how, Mclean Bible Church may not be the right church for you. Because we are not going to divide over the vote here. And if you think we should, if you think I or other pastors in this church should promote a political candidate or party, and you think this is worth dividing the church over, then I’m sincerely sad about that, because I treasure our fellowship together in Jesus, but at the same time I’m truly happy for you to be in another church as long as that church is preaching the gospel.
Platt says that people in his church are allowed and encouraged to have strong political views and share them, explaining:
Individually we will all steward our vote and our voice according to our convictions, as men and women who are accountable to God and his word. And some of us will even campaign or work for political parties, or candidates according to our convictions, which is right and good. But let us be clear about the banner that brings us together as a church.
Platt’s position, of course, is terminal. He states that, “You cannot follow Jesus as a member of this church and advocate for abortion,” and yet you can promote, campaign for, vote for, and ostensibly run for office for the party that does all it can to advocate for, protect, expand, entrench and promote it.
He says you can’t follow Jesus as a member of his church and advocate for abortion, but you can do all you can as a member of his church to see the party that wants to paint the town red with the slurry of chopped up baby viscera emerge victorious and win the House, Senate, and Presidency, and then enact a rule of terror for the unborn that will be unmatched in the history of the country.
Mclean Bible Church won’t say anything about it or condemn it, as long as the Democrat-promoter in question is “personally pro-life. In fact, you could promote a party that openly calls for the enslavement of black people and reinstating the notion of persons of color as the property of white folk, and the elders of Platt’s church would be supportive of that, letting you wallow in the tension.
But if you as a fellow member don’t want to fellowship with that man or woman seeking to achieve this foul and polluted end – the one voting for the party of scrambled baby skulls – then you’re part of the problem, the meddler and troubler seeking to cause disunity, and you can feel free to leave.
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Why would any true Christian want to be under his pastorate and be a member of his church or any of these other woke pastors who are nothing but wolves? You can’t let friendships or family tradition get in the way.
For a supposed Christian minister to engage in such double speak and be ignorant of what happens to Christianity and Christians when communism is installed in a country Is inexcusable.
He is exactly what Vladimir Lenin referred to as a useful idiot, but our country seems to have plenty of those. The sad truth is we’re already well down the road to a communist state anyway and have been for a good while.
Do a Google search or whatever browser you use for the “top 10 planks of The Communist Manifesto“ and you will see they are all already in place in the USA to some extent or another.
Should the Democrats prevail next week or eventually (which is likely), they will tip us over the edge. Problem is, the Republicans don’t seem to do much to turn the onslaught back.
One major thing that Trump and the Republicans could do is to eliminate the federal tax brackets, which happens to be the second plank of the “Manifesto” by Marx and make it a flat tax like all the other taxes we pay. Can’t even put a number on how many we pay because there are so many.
The Department of Education along with other departments in the federal government need to be eliminated as it’s not the governments business to educate, or should I say indoctrinate our children because we all know now what that means.
Well said!
Anyone who has not already left this blind guide’s church is an idio…ah…undiscerning.
I agree 100%. However, lets be firm without being mean.
Thanks for pointing out that only the goats will be left leaving the blind leading the blind.
amen!
A vote for an abortion promoting candidate is a vote for abortion, and makes you guilty of aiding murder. Legalized murder is the single biggest issue in any election in the modern time we live in. We are fighting against all sorts of sins, but the legal premeditated murder of the innocent is the most immediate and pressing of them all. How anyone who is a Christian cannot see this boggles my mind.
Just Pure and Simple… goats are goats sheep are sheep… the Lord knows His own… all sheep will depart from the iniquity of this world including that of the evil democrats… GOATS are goats!!!!!!!
I meant demon coats
demon crats evil how the computer changes the words i need to pay more attention
Well, if he thinks righteous people should separate from them, so be it.
Numbers 16:23-35 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants. Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing: If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!” And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
2 Cor. 6:17 Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.
It amazes me how many so-called pastors are so deceiving and dangerous to the Church. I forget who said it or where I read it, but it goes something like this, “False teachers will not come out and scream, “Hey, I’m a wolf!” They will say just enough right things to sound biblical, that way when they say questionable things, people will shrug it off or ignore it because of the right things they say.” That’s deception at its best. Beware false teachers!
Exactly
This type of ‘nice guy, non-offensive, play both sides, ‘can’t we just get along’ approach is the typical stuff that we hear from so so many of the preacher boy pulpits today. Is this what Paul preached or Peter, or the Lord Himself ? Standing for truth, righteousness and Holy God is often offensive to the world. We don’t need invertebrate preaching…we need the clear, bold, light of the Scriptures preached without sugar-coating. We need pastors that aren’t worried about their retirement nest egg, the sale of their next book or losing wealthy friends in their church if they rightly divide the Word of God. We need leaders that will unabashedly preach the Word…in season and out. Sinners in need of a Saviour…NOT fairly good people that need to say nice things to one another.
All this so called leaders are leading the immature Christian down the wrong path and tickling the ears of the lost. Pratt thinks just because he had a couple books published that we must listen to him. I for one would leave that church!
As a former member of his church in AL, he has definitely gone way far left. He is not the same or what he appeared to be in the early 2000’s. I would walk right out the door of his church and never return. Thank God he is not my pastor. I’ve already ditched his books.
It is soothing to the soul to denounce our President as the sinner he is and dismiss our sin of infanticide and homicide.
Political matters are highly divisive, so was the Lord Jesus in His days. If a church leader wants to please everyone, woe to him, says the Lord (Luke 6:26 “Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.”). I truly think that David Platt is a true follower of Christ, but he was misled over political issues due to lack of discernment, similar to many young Christians, who are unable to discern which issues are more important and which are less important. Since no candidate or party is perfect, they end up emphasizing the minor issues, often out of their own likes or dislikes instead of what’re are more important in God’s sight. Let’s pray that the Lord will open the eyes of all Christian leaders and grant them discernment and courage to fight for the Truth. Amen.