Gary Hemsely was running for some county political position
I’ve forgotten which one now. What I do remember is that he was
a member of my church at the time.
Sometimes a pastor can get between the Rock of Ages and a
politician without trying too hard. That seemed to be my
predicament with Gary. In all things political, I have
maintained one basic philosophy: Ask not what your country can
do for you, just get out and vote.
I must admit, there are times when it is tempting to throw
caution to the wind, roll up my pant legs and wade into the
political arena. After all, Christians were the first ones in
the arena in the “good ole days.” The problem, as I remember
from the history books, none of those early Christians ever came
out of that arena.
If you think about it, there are some similarities between a
preacher and a politician. Perhaps this is why some preachers
dabble in politics.
The most obvious similarity would be in the area of
communications. Both make their living by giving speeches of
some type. The preacher gives his weekly sermon while the
politician gives his political oration.
The only difference between a sermon and a political speech is
wind velocity. A good politician can change his views on an
issue in mid-sentence. Not many preachers have mastered that
slight-of-tongue technique.
A good sermon has three points, somewhat related to each other,
and progresses toward a conclusion. A good political speech is
pointless and related to a raging Nor’easter.
Another important similarity between the preacher and politician
is in giving promises.
The man of cloth deals primarily with the promises in the Good
Book. Someone has made the claim that the Bible contains more
than 30,000 promises. I cannot verify that number.
I have never stopped to count them. I do know that there are
promises for every aspect of life and these promises are
available to us through the gracious work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The most important thing about the promises in the Bible
is that they are not contingent on the preacher’s ability.
The man of the campaign stump also makes promises.
Unfortunately, nobody has ever tried to count these, as most
count for nothing. These political promises range from anything
to everything.
No politician would ever think of expressing his view on an
issue without first checking the latest poll on the subject. The
politician’s goal is to tell the people what he thinks they want
to hear.
Someone once observed that if all the people who sit through
political speeches were lined up three feet apart, they could at
least stretch and sleep more comfortably.
The successful politician is an expert in foul play. I can sum
up most political promises nicely: A chicken in every pot and a
potshot at every Turkey.
A third similarity between the preacher and the politician
concerns money. Both have a lot to say about the subject.
Behind the pulpit, the preacher talks about tithing.
Unfortunately, tithing is one of those spiritual disciplines
carelessly bantered about and abused.
The truth of the matter is, we present our tithes and offerings
to the Lord, not for a blessing but because we have been blessed
already. Any other take on this subject does not carry biblical
authority. The tithe belongs to God.
Behind the political platform, the politician talks about taxes.
One wants to raise my taxes.
Another wants to cut my taxes. The lips may say, “No new taxes,”
but the heart of every politician says, “expand the old taxes.”
It all depends on what your definition of “is,” is.
It has taken me years but I have finally figured out my income
tax.
First, list as dependents your wife, two children, car and three
goldfish. Now multiply your age by six and seven-eights and
subtract your telephone number. Add those figures, divide by
your social security number and multiply by the number of
electric lights in your house.
Now you have your gross income, which, after dividing by your
chest measurement and subtracting your blood pressure you
finally get the amount owed to the government.
Don’t tell me I don’t listen to those political speeches.
This brings me to my dilemma with Gary Hemsely. He was running
for a political office and wanted my support. What I do in that
voting booth is between me and nobody else.
I smiled at Gary and said, “Gary, I’ll support you as best I
can,” which I thought would be the end of it. Gary took me more
seriously than I thought.
“Pastor,” he said to me, “would you mind if I gave my campaign
speech in church this coming Sunday morning?”
There are those rare times when a preacher must evolve into a
politician and this certainly qualified. I saw two problems to
this.
First, Sunday morning worship is no place for a political
speech. People might confuse their tithing with taxes, which
would be taxing on the collection plate.
More important, Gary could say less in one hour than most people
could say in three minutes, but it usually took him two hours to
say it. He won the National Stuttering Championship four years
in a row, more than anyone to date. There was no way that I
could allow this, but I did not want to hurt Gary’s feelings.
I finally looked him in the eye and said, “I’m sorry Gary but we
just can’t do that. It is a matter of separation of church and
state, and you don’t want to be accused of violating that. It
wouldn’t be good for your political career.”
Gary saw the rationale of my argument and the matter was settled.
Some critics of Jesus once tried to stump Him on the matter of
taxes. He replied, “And Jesus answering said unto them, ‘Render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things
that are God’s.’ And they marveled at him.” (Mark 12:17 KJV.)
A good citizen, no matter what political party affiliation,
knows the difference and does both.
