The believer has been given a mandate

God has intervened to give us a professing and practicing Christian as the PM with the Liberal-National government having the power to legislate to protect free speech, the rights of the unborn, the rights of children to be taught the truth about gender, and to curtail the damage caused by the ideology of climate change. These are political and legal battles to be fought by the elected representatives. Our role is to support them in prayer.

On the other hand, if this victory makes us arrogant and more complacent, it was all in vain. This victory does not place us in a position of power. Believers need to admit the fact that we are still weak and vulnerable, and need God’s help more than ever to reach out with the Gospel and to help make Australia a righteous and just nation.

So what must we do starting now?

Our Primary Responsibility

1. Our role as Christians is to pray for these elected representatives in parliament (1 Tim. 2:1-2) so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is not so that we who are saved and have the truth can live in comfort, but that God’s desire for everyone to be saved and to understand the truth (1 Tim. 2:4) will be accomplished.
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2. We must use the environment of relative safety created by this victory to win more souls for the kingdom. Freedom of speech has no benefit for the Christian unless we exercise it by being bold in proclaiming the truth in love. We need to express our faith in public and in private in a manner not to offend but to point people to the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:21). Of course we will be sometimes misunderstood, as happened to Israel Folau. But, we will have better legal safeguards in place to protect us.
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3. The Body of Christ needs a revival! We need to repent, pray, teach, exhort, and be committed to see a revival first in our own lives and then in the outer circles of our influence.
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Other Areas to Influence

4. We need to teach that God does not approve of premarital sex (fornication), extra-marital sex (adultery) or abortions. We need to find a solution other than abortion for unplanned pregnancies. No contraception is 100% effective and contraception can fail even when used correctly and consistently.¹ As people who value life we need to create the systems, raise the finances and organise the facilities to adopt children who have been preserved from being aborted. Stopping abortion will become an unbearable burden unless we have the means to deal with it. It is estimated that in 2014 over 70,000 babies were aborted in Australia.² What if they were not aborted and allowed to live? Do we have the orphanages and foster parenting support to do that? The church needs to get involved in this.
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5. We need to ensure that at home, schools and church, children are taught the truth about gender. We need to skill up parents, youth leaders, pastors, teachers on the right way to help those who have gender confusion. We need to teach believers to be accepting, tolerant and loving towards those who may be going through difficulties with gender issues. Jesus never condemned those who were condemned by society but loved them and encouraged them to do the right thing. The church must become a refuge and a place of help for those who are struggling with gender issues.
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6. We need to teach in church that it is only God who can control the weather on earth. Whilst we must encourage reduction of waste, and plastic and air pollution, we must show people that God is in charge of the weather: Deut. 11:13-14 says, If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul, then He will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. Even those attending church regularly are being conned into believing the Climate Myth.³ The church needs to get involved in educating their own flock through good teaching, and solicit the support of true climate scientists.
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7. We need to stand against any form of deception by being vocal. Pseudo-science is being used as a political tool. Christian scientists and doctors must stand for the truth without fear, in every area. This includes medicines, the climate, the effects of additives in food, the reasons for the increase in mental health issues, gender identity issues, etc. We need to expose lies and misinformation in every situation whether it is told by those whom we favour or by others. We need to maintain integrity in all what we do. We need to exhort church and government leaders and the media to be accountable. Believers need to be actively involved in this.
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8. Our God shows no partiality (Deut. 10:17-18) and instructed the first nation under Him to look after and give true justice to the widows, orphans and foreigners living amongst them (Deut. 24:17). This places a precedent on our nation, the Southland of the Holy Spirit, to look after the refugees and asylum seekers who are living amongst us. It is high time the Body of Christ stood up for and looked after these people. We need to be the instruments through whom God can create a more compassionate society.

If an organisation like Get Up can peddle half-truths and mobilise millions of people, believers who stand for truth should be able to do much more to ensure that elected representatives in parliament are honourable people with Judeo-Christian values and are people of integrity.

The church needs to work towards unity because not only is there strength in unity but because God is pleased by unity (Psalm 133). Pastors and church leaders have a responsibility to stop theological nitpicking and take serious action to respect what Jesus prayed:

I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me.
— John 17:21-23 NLT

The time for action is now. We cannot afford to wait until the next election to get ready. We may not get another chance.

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