“Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview” [1].
So stated the newly elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, when asked regarding his political philosophy. But it is because the Seventh-day Adventist worldview is also based on the Bible that we are constrained to consider the new Speaker’s ideology most dangerous, and yet another indicator that the Bible/Spirit of Prophecy scenario of end-time events remains very much on track.
We try very hard, not always with success perhaps, to avoid strictly political discourse on this website. But when so prominent a political leader in America talks the way the new House Speaker is talking, it is important that faithful students of the inspired writings in the Seventh-day Adventist Church pay close attention.
A Biblical Perspective
The new Speaker of the House clearly has a Biblical perspective on life, much of which would be hard for anyone—Christians especially—to find fault with. Speaking on the Capitol steps following his election, he stated:
I was reminded of the Scripture that says, “Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.” What we need in this country is more hope [2].
Speaking after the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on October 25th, which left 18 dead and 13 wounded, he declared:
This is a dark time in America, we have a lot of problems and we're really, really hopeful and prayerful. Prayer is appropriate in a time like this, that the evil can end and this senseless violence can stop [3].
One of the new Speaker’s colleagues describes him as “a strong Christian” who’s “not afraid to look at his faith for guidance” [4].
Separation of Church and State
This all sounds wonderful, until we look further into the new Speaker’s stated beliefs. In a podcast recorded in September of 2022, he spoke disparagingly of the “so-called separation of church and state,” saying that “the founders [of this republic] wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around” [5].
The history of the Christian Era tells a very different tale. The centuries of papal supremacy in medieval and early modern Europe, together with the brutal experiments in theocracy on the part of John Calvin’s Geneva, Puritan New England, and elsewhere, demonstrate beyond the possibility of rational objection that the church’s power over civil government has produced a far more ubiquitous peril to religious and civil freedom than the power of secular government over the church. The persecution of religious dissenters by the medieval Inquisition, the slaughter of the Albigenses, the Waldenses, and the Huguenots during those same centuries, the burning of Michael Servetus in Geneva at Calvin’s behest, the exile of Roger Williams from Massachusetts and subsequent “witch trials” in that same territory—all resulted from the church dominating the government, not a secular government dominating the church.
It was this centuries-old, blood-drenched record that prompted the American founders to inscribe in their Constitution the admonition that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The threat posed by secularism to religion, such as it would be, was still largely a future development in human affairs at the time the Bill of Rights was written.
It is deeply troubling for anyone holding such a high office as Speaker of the House in the American government—two heartbeats away from the U.S. presidency—to ignore such an obvious fact of Western religious history. His belief in the legitimacy of ecclesiastical dominance within the civic square is no doubt the basis of his support for criminalizing those consensual choices relative to sexuality and reproduction which clash with his religious faith [6].
“Not of This World”
The new Speaker of the U.S. House claims to base his worldview on the Bible, but he needs to consider certain passages—including some from the lips of Christ Himself—which contradict his thinking regarding the relationship of church and state. When arraigned before Pontius Pilate, Jesus was accused by the Jewish leaders of “saying that He Himself is Christ a King” (Luke 23:1). Pilate proceeded to take Jesus aside in private, asking Him, “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33). Jesus responded:
My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from thence (verse 36),
It helps to remember that the prospect of Christ being a political revolutionary was the only issue that mattered with Pilate. Theological disagreements between Christ and the Jewish leaders made no difference with the Roman authorities. That’s why the Jewish authorities made no reference in Pilate’s judgment hall to issues like Sabbath-breaking, the Corban laws, or similar controversies. But once they accused Jesus of claiming to be a king (Luke 23:1), they instantly had the governor’s attention.
But once Jesus explained to Pilate that His kingdom was not an earthly one, the governor was satisfied, which is why he brought Jesus out to the mob and declared, “I find in Him no fault at all” (John 18:38).
Jesus made a similar reference to the separation of church and state when He was asked about paying tribute to Caesar, to which He replied: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21).
The new U.S. House Speaker has publicly endorsed the Biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is “sinful” [7]. No one who adheres to the doctrines of Holy Scripture can rightly differ with this affirmation. But what the new Speaker seems not to understand is that choices relative to private intimacy are a matter of conscience, beyond the purview of civil government. Regulating such choices is not the responsibility of Caesar, but rather, of God alone.
Conclusion: The Coming American Theocracy
One Congressional colleague has warned that the leadership of the new House Speaker might well demonstrate “what theocracy looks like” [8]. Whether such will happen under the present speakership, we cannot say. But Seventh-day Adventists know, from the inspired writings, that a man-made attempt at theocracy is much in America’s future.
In its warning of Babylon’s fall, the second angel of Revelation 14 declares that the false religious system here described will “[make] all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (verse 8). This fornication is an act Babylon commits with “the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:2), an act defined as fornication because it violates the Lord’s injunction that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Just as physical fornication involves the uniting of elements which cannot rightly unite till the proper time (I Cor. 7:2), spiritual fornication involves the uniting of church and state before Jesus comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16), at which time—according to Isaiah’s prophecy—“the government shall be upon His shoulder” (Isa. 9:6).
In contrast with the infrequent peril of a state-dominated church, which the new House Speaker thinks the Founders of the American Republic feared most, Ellen White under divine inspiration speaks of America’s founders as fearing the exact opposite peril:
The founders of the nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of secular power on the part of the church, with its inevitable result—intolerance and persecution. . . . Only in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation’s liberty, can any religious observance be enforced by civil authority [9].
Just before Jesus comes, the modern prophet is clear this is exactly what is to happen:
Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state, that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured [10].
The new leader of the U.S. House of Representatives may in fact be a genuine Christian. We’ll leave it to God to assess his motives and judge his heart (I Kings 8:39). But his understanding of the relationship of church and state contradicts the teachings of the Savior he claims to worship. As Seventh-day Adventists, we know from the inspired predictions what is coming upon America and the world. Let us continue to watch the signposts and continue to look up, and rejoice, for our redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28).
REFERENCES
1. “Speaker Mike Johnson defends stance on social issues: ‘Go pick up a Bible, that’s my worldview,’” Fox News, Oct. 27, 2023 https://www.foxnews.com/media/speaker-mike-johnson-defends-stance-social-issues-pick-bible-worldview
2. Sarah Beth Henslev, “What role Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious views play in his politics,” ABC News, Oct. 27, 2023 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/role-speaker-mike-johnsons-religious-views-play-politics/story?id=104366347#:~:text=Johnson%20mentioned%20his%20religion%20prominently,All%20of%20us.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Mike and Kelly Johnson, “Episode 26: The Truth about the ‘Separation of Church & State’ and the Rights to Religious Expression in Schools,” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-26-the-truth-about-the-separation-of/id1613637836?i=1000580978398
6. Henslev, “What role Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious views play in his politics,” ABC News, Oct. 27, 2023 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/role-speaker-mike-johnsons-religious-views-play-politics/story?id=104366347#:~:text=Johnson%20mentioned%20his%20religion%20prominently,All%20of%20us.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 442.
10. Ibid, p. 581.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan