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This is my tenth in the series, highlighting key aspects from each chapter of my new book, While We Were Sleeping: A Wake-up Call For All Christians (2025). (Check out my YouTube channel, where I am posting a reflection on each chapter, to complement this post.)

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The Honourable John Anderson AC is a sixth-generation farmer and grazier from New South Wales, who spent 19 years in the Australian Parliament. This included six years as Leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister. His testimony forms the heart of this chapter. Here are some highlights from his story that he told me last year:

I got married and started a family. Then about three years later, in 1988, the member for Guider, Ralph Hunt, rang me, and said, ‘Are you ready?’ I blurted out, ‘Ready for what?’ I had assumed that as a Christian, God had His purposes, and I could get on as a husband and as a dad.

Ralph said, ‘I am now retiring, and I want you to run in my place.’ I said, ‘I think the time has gone, Ralph. I have a wife and young kid, and I am not sure this is the right move, taking on a seat this size.’

I asked John, should Christians be involved in politics?

I would say with Broughton Knox, former principal of Moore College, ‘You should be asking yourself, why would I not join the political party of my choice?’ He and I see politics as very important. Paul told Timothy to pray that they may live a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity, for the advancement of the gospel.

Christians have a huge stake in democracy, because it is the product of the Christian worldview. It was Christians, who struggled for concepts of dignity, worth, fairness, justice, and how to accord each individual recognition as unique, dignified human beings, made in the image of God, but flawed by sin. It was Christians who came up with democracy, more so, in my view, than the legacy of the Greeks. They have championed the idea of the equality of all souls in the eyes of heaven.

I would say to Christians, ‘Wake up, get behind people who are seeking to serve and are not seeking to be served. You’ve got a responsibility, they need you, so they can be strengthened and emboldened to carry on the battle.’

Here in Australia, the conservative right has moved so far left, there is now only one big uniparty in the middle. It is ineffectively opposed by a plethora of competing right wing conservative parties that mainstream media ignore. This is the perfect case for why good men and women of sound Christian conscience and wisdom are desperately needed in public life.

Christians hold the key. They have a secure hope, and they can point to reality. They can demonstrate the need to love and to sacrifice and to put others first, and to invest in their children. Or they can sit on the fence and hope it all goes away, but one day we will all be called to account.

Western Christians Sitting on the Fence

All Christians are naturally distraught when we look at the society we occupy and feel powerless to change anything. But consider how we got here, a combination of ingredients that we failed to see, While We Were Sleeping, it’s not too late to wake up.

Pastor Mark Durie reminded us that Paul encouraged his disciples in Romans 12:2, not to let the world squeeze them into its mould. A great example of this, by Cory Bernardi, is how many parents (as well as church and other community leaders) are now hesitant to draw a clear distinction between what is right and wrong, as this is deemed judgmental now that society has an excuse for every transgression (Genesis 3:4).

A further argument as to why so many Christians steer clear of politics by the Reverend Eliazar Baba is that the church has been most effective at training its own leadership but singularly lacking in equipping its people for works of service in the wider community, the political realm.

Then there is the misunderstood phrase ‘separation of Church and State’ which some believe came from the American founding documents, but didn’t.

Pastor Gary Hamrick explains that the phrase ‘building a wall of the separation of church and state’ was penned by President Jefferson in 1802 in a letter he wrote to a Baptist Association in Connecticut, assuring them that the First Amendment, regarding religious freedom, ensured that government interference or overreach was kept out of the church. It was never drafted to keep the church out of government. Tragically, many have bought the lie that Christians should keep out of government.

God Has a Lot to Say About Politics

For example, about 600 BC, Daniel and his friends were part of the first deportation of Jews into Babylon, under the pagan rule of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were hauled into court for not serving Nebuchadnezzar’s gods nor worshipping his image. They were threatened with the burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:16-18).

There was no compromise. They were prepared to die for their faith. Do we disciple new converts to count the cost of following Jesus? Unless we do, we set them up for the apparent safety of sitting on the fence.

Later, now under the reign of Darius, the Mede, Daniel is proclaimed third ruler in the land – very political! And because of the excellent spirit within him, Darius was minded to set him over the whole kingdom (Daniel 5:29 – 6:4). A God-fearing, God-worshiping man to be elected to Prime Minister, just under the king. You can imagine the opposition! The trap was set:

All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counsellors, and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. (Daniel 6:7-9)

Daniel’s response:

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. (Daniel 6:10)

We know what happened. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. The mouths of the lions were shut up by an angel sent to Daniel’s aid (Daniel 6:21-22). The outcome was tremendous; Darius, the ancestor of today’s Iranian people, came to worship our God and made this extraordinary proclamation:

I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. (Daniel 6:26-28)

We may be praying for revival to sweep away all the evil in our land, and to rescue multitudes into the Kingdom, but if we are not taking a stand for good over evil, if we are not counting the cost, if we are sitting on the fence, will God heal our land?

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Image courtesy of Adobe.