Gary North

In contrast to the Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson era, evangelicals are now showing moral leadership in the fight against global poverty, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and sustainability of God's earth -- Jim Wallis, God's Politics (2005), p. 17

I have a question: How many evangelicals?

I have yet to hear a sermon on any of these topics -- not on TV, not in my church.

In politics, to exercise leadership, you must be able to deliver the votes. Social Gospel evangelicals are a tiny sect in a much larger political church, made up mainly up of anti-evangelicals, New Agers, and precinct workers of the Democratic Party.

To exercise leadership, you must also have a plan. You have no plans. Yes, you have meetings. You have newsletters. You have websites. You go out on book-signings. But you have no plans. You have no books that outline in detail exactly what you would do if you had political power and money. You have nothing in print that shows in a detailed, systematic way that you have a uniquely Christian, fundamentally new way of solving any of these problems.

These problems are international. Where would you get the power to implement your plans if you had any? When I say "implement," I mean enforce at gun-point, which is what these plans would involve: regulation and taxation, the traditional solutions offered by Social Gospel statists, mimicking their Keynesian and Marxist university instructors.

Yes, there are some evangelicals who are concerned with such issues. These evangelicals could all meet together in Joel Osteen's Houston church, and have empty seats to share.

The fundamental rule of a political activist is this: Be realistic. You are not realistic.