Politics vs. Gospel

Dear X,

You said in your last letter that you were most socially
active in terms of things like the war, racial problems, and other issues that
can be affected by taking political action.

I am sure you realize that John Wesley declared that it is
no Gospel if it is not at the same time a social Gospel. “First as a great
evangelist and then as a zealous reformer, Wesley grappled with such great
social issues as ignorance, education, money, war, poverty, liquor, and
slavery. These problems he tackled with holy zeal.”

J.W. Bready, a Christian historian, said, “If Wesley and
Whitefield spent their careers as social reformers, they would have lived
disillusioned and died heart-broken men. From their efforts, however, emerged
the most profound political and social achievements, thus illustrating history’s central truth that the changing
of the hearts of men is ever the surest road toward lifting the level of
human society.”

I would agree with you in most cases about the great social
need in our society. But I don’t think we should go at it backwards.

In Christ,

Jim Wilson