–– Brino Kumwenda
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
2024 was a monumental year for different nations worldwide as citizens took to the polls, casting their votes to bring new governments into power. On the African continent, 2025 will see this critical societal practice continue as countries including Malawi, Cameroon, and Burundi bring out the ballot boxes and hold their national elections. As voting occurs, Africans must remember that there is such a sin as political idolatry. It is the sin of putting politics over God and election season is when it thrives. It is a subtle sin. It is like carbon monoxide from burnt coal in a house. While you enjoy the warmth of the charcoal, the carbon monoxide kills you without your knowledge, because it is odorless, tasteless and colorless. It is usually hard to know that you have inhaled political idolatry. Many Christians are unaware of its lethal existence. Thankfully, armed with Scripture, we can know its symptoms and treat it Biblically.
Here are four symptoms of political idolatry.
1) Supporting a politician or political party at all costs.
You view your favourite politicians as spotless messiahs. As a result, you jump to the politicians’ defence whenever others try to expose the politicians’ dark side. Whoever raises concerns about them is an enemy. You defend them as though you live with them 24/7. One could almost picture the politicians laughing in private over a glass of champagne when they see how much their supporters trust and defend them.
When dealing with politicians, Christians should remember the doctrine of human depravity. The Bible says that we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). No biological descendant of Adam is perfect. We all have a sinful nature, which produces sinful actions. To behave as though your politician can never sin or commit a crime is to mistake them for God.
2) Using political lenses instead of gospel glasses.
You display this when your primary criteria for associating with fellow Christians is their political affiliation. You divide the family of God into political friends and political foes. You fail to relate to some fellow believers just because they belong to a rival party. You even call them evil.
Christians ought to look at one another through the lenses of the Gospel. God has reconciled us with Himself through Jesus. Because of this fellowship with God, all believers are in fellowship with one another. We are in one big family of God. This family is more important than any physical relationship because we are born of God, not of the will of man (John 1:12-13). The blood of Jesus makes our relationship thicker than any physical ties.
This does not mean that one ignores the Biblical realities about political agendas associated with certain parties. Believers supporting Anti-Christian ideologies such as advancing the homosexual agenda and other wicked policies bring about cause for concern. In such cases, one must lovingly and Biblically speak to their brother or sister about their political choices. Remember that the chief motivation behind confronting a brother or sister must be to strengthen Christ’s following rather than that of your favoured party.
3) Looking at nonbelievers as political foes rather than the mission field.
I usually witness this on social media. Some professing believers express their political differences with unbelievers without grace.
I know one professing brother who vomits foul language effortlessly on others just because of political differences. He sandwiches his sinful political conversations with Christian messages, one might imagine, to soothe his conscience. But his Christian messages are saltless because his political speeches are graceless.
Looking at nonbelievers primarily as political foes rather than the mission field is against the Great Commission. Our mandate is to win souls to Christ. To look at nonbelievers primarily as foes is to destroy the mission field. This may cause unbelievers to shun your proclamation of the Gospel because they regard you as an enemy. God commands us to act wisely towards unbelievers, making the best use of the time (Colossians 4:5).
4) Supporting a political party or presidential candidate based on ethnicity.
In 2008, I supported Barack Obama in the US election. Later I learned that my Biblical convictions aligned more with the policies of the Republican Party candidate and sharply contrasted with Obama’s. I supported Obama because he is not only black but also originally from Kenya, a country close to home. I had inhaled the carbon monoxide of political idolatry without realising it.
Most people in Sub-Saharan Africa identify as Christian, but ethnicity rather than Christianity determines their vote. For example, eighty percent of the population in my country claim to be Christian. Yet, since the dawn of the multiparty election in 1994, people have voted on regional lines, not faith. Only once was the country united around one presidential candidate because of his excellent performance in his first term. Behind an ethnic-based vote is a saying, “We know that our son is a thief, but he is our thief. So we will vote for him”.
Conclusion
The Lord commands us not to judge superficially, but with righteous judgment (John 7:24). Christians ought to support a political party or candidate who is closest to the Bible. The candidate or political party does not need to profess the Christian faith, but it has to be closest to the faith in ideologies and policies. Our vote must smell of our loyalty to the Triune God.
If you support a politician or a political party at all costs, look at people primarily as political friends or foes, and vote based on ethnicity, then you need to check the room air quality for carbon monoxide poisoning before irrevocable damage is done. A Christian should remember that human depravity has spared no one, including his favourite politician. Let us strive to view people primarily through the lenses of the Gospel and vote based on ideologies and policies that reflect our Christian faith.