Beyond the Political Binary: Restoring the Gospel of the Kingdom
Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED substack article, the only substack newsletter that hates it when elderly people lose their dentures in the couch. That kind of thing can come back to bite you in the butt.
Look, the stuff going down in the USA lately has me thinking back to what’s been unfolding in my country since 2017. And before some of you do that thing where you speed-read and skim this article (which means completely missing the point), let me be clear: this isn’t your typical hot-take post. There’s actual nuance here, which I know is about as popular these days as a wet blanket at a bonfire.
So slow down. Grab a coffee. Actually read this thing. Carefully.
Now most of you who have read my book Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and listen to The Insurgence Podcast will appreciate this article because it will give language to what you’re feeling.
However, for those of you who are new to my work, well, this is going to be a different view.
Here’s what I’ve been contemplating with respect to the spiritual revolution that began in 2017.
WHAT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING HERE
Here’s the thing about perspective shifts: They’re uncomfortable. They mess with your carefully-constructed worldview. The truth is that perspective shifts require real effort and can challenge our deeply-held convictions. So most people dismiss them.
But if you’re still reading, you’re probably not most people.
The reality is, what’s happening now—all of it—connects to something bigger that’s been in motion for years. Understanding requires wrestling with messy paradoxes and uncomfortable truths—being willing to prioritize insight over vindication and “being right.”
So let’s be interested in understanding instead.
THE FALSE CHOICE
Contemporary Christianity has been trapped in a manufactured dichotomy. On one side stands the gospel of Christian Conservatism—a message that often conflates political ideology with divine mandate, wrapping partisan positions in Scriptural language.
On the other side lies the gospel of Progressive Liberalism—equally political in its essence, seeking to baptize social movements with Christian terminology while losing sight of the main narrative of Scripture—which is the Eternal Purpose of God.
Neither of these two choices represents the authentic gospel of the kingdom that Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles proclaimed.
Therefore, the binary option (to join the Political Left or the Political Right) constitutes a false choice.
THE INSURGENCE EMERGES
Since 2017, a profound recovery has been underway. I call it the “Insurgence.” This isn’t a human movement. It’s a genuine move of God that represents nothing less than the reclamation of the titanic, earth-shaking, ground-breaking, jaw-dropping explosive gospel of the kingdom that has been buried beneath layers of political positioning and cultural accommodation.
The Insurgence first gained momentum at the Deeper Christian Life Conference held in Orlando, Florida during the summer of 2017. This was a unique gathering that dared to look beyond the prevailing Christian binary.
At that conference, I delivered eight explosive messages on the gospel of the kingdom. The theme of the conference was “Everlasting Domain,” a phrase based on Daniel 7:14 (ESV).
The conference was followed by the publication of my landmark work, Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and the launch of The Insurgence Podcast in 2018.
These weren’t merely new religious products entering an oversaturated market. They were clarion calls to rediscover what the gospel of Jesus actually is when stripped of its political barnacles.
THE KINGDOM ALTERNATIVE
The gospel of the kingdom refuses to be domesticated by either conservative or progressive agendas. Rather, it is:
Revolutionary without being reactionary - It challenges existing power structures not through political maneuvering or social media outrage, but through the radical reordering of priorities that comes when God’s reign is taken seriously.
Prophetic without being partisan - It speaks truth to power regardless of which party holds office, because its allegiance is to a kingdom that transcends all earthly kingdoms.
Transformational without being tied to temporal movements - It changes individuals, communities, and cultures from the inside out, not through legislative victories, votes, or social media pressure.
Universal without being uniform - It embraces people across the political spectrum while refusing to be reduced to any single political expression. It’s focus and gravity is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Lord of the world. And He transcends human politics.
DROWNING THE KINGDOM VOICE
The tragedy of our current moment is that the gospel of the kingdom of God is being drowned out by the amplified voices of both Conservative and Progressive Christianity.
While pundits and proclaimers on both sides pour tons of resources into social media advertising, conference circuits, podcasts, and publishing platforms, the kingdom message struggles for airtime.
This isn’t merely about marketing budgets or platform algorithms. It reflects a deeper spiritual reality. The kingdom message challenges the very foundations upon which both Conservative and Progressive Christianity have built their identities.
It calls both sides to repentance where appropriate—one side from their idolatry of tradition, nationality, and power—and the other side from their uncritical embrace of cultural trends and moral relativism, elevating contemporary values above timeless truths.
POLITICS AN IDOL
When someone becomes consumed by politics to the point of anger over differing viewpoints, it reveals a deeper spiritual condition. They have elevated the political system to the status of an ultimate solution, transforming it into a functional idol.
This excessive emotional investment suggests that their hope for meaning, security, and the resolution of life’s fundamental problems has been placed in the political system rather than in God and His kingdom.
Politics, while important for ordering society (Romans 13), becomes idolatrous when it assumes the role of Savior—promising to deliver what only Christ through His true ekklesia can provide: identity, community, moral certainty, and hope for the future.
The rage that accompanies political disagreement in such cases isn’t merely passion for justice or policy; it’s the anxiety of someone whose ultimate hope feels threatened, whose idol appears under attack.
This misplaced devotion leaves people perpetually agitated, unable to extend grace to those who see the world differently, because they’ve invested their sense of salvation in winning political battles rather than cultivating the inner spiritual resources that allow for disagreement without despair.
True perspective recognizes politics never to be the ultimate arbiter of human flourishing or the source from which life’s deepest needs are met.
THE SPREADING REVOLUTION
Despite being outspent and out-platformed, the Insurgence is spreading. Like the mustard seed in Jesus’ parable, this move of God grows—not through massive marketing campaigns—but through the quiet, persistent work of individuals who have caught a vision of what God’s ultimate purpose is when freed from political captivity.
The spread happens in:
Small gatherings that I call “Kingdom Cells” where God’s people embody what it means to live under God’s reign rather than under political regimes
Personal transformations as believers discover that their primary citizenship is in another realm, not in any earthly nation and certainly not in expending their time fighting on the Internet
Community formations that embody kingdom realities rather than debating the talking points of the Left or the Right
Worship experiences that lift our gaze above partisan battlefields and vitriolic politics to behold the mighty Eternal Purpose of God and to be completely governed by it
Since it started in 2017, the Insurgence has garnered significant attention from Christians in all tribes and all ages. But it’s grown significantly among Millennials and Gen Z (20s and 30s). And that trend continues.
THE INVESTMENT GAP
One of the most striking aspects of this spiritual revolution is its grassroots nature. Unlike the well-funded machinery of both Conservative and Progressive Christianity, the gospel of the kingdom relies not on social media advertising budgets. Instead, it grows by organic growth through word of mouth, authentic relationships, and the witness of transformed lives.
This creates both challenge and opportunity. The challenge is obvious. In an attention economy dominated by paid promotion, organic messages struggle for visibility.
But the opportunity is profound. A message that spreads through relationships rather than advertisement, through transformation rather than transaction, through people sharing organically rather than paid promotions, may prove more durable than those that rise and fall with marketing cycles and algorithm changes.
Even though the Insurgence will never grab the masses (Jesus and His true servants never have), it will resonate and grow among a remnant.
SITTING AT CAESAR’S TABLE
Don’t miss the point. One could argue which side is better with respect to policy in the natural world. You can read reams of opinions on that subject, along with a lot of virtual bloodshed.
I’m representing a different perspective here.
Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles never sought to leverage political power to effect change in the world. They refused to sit at Caesar’s table and wield his tools. They all came out of the world system, of which the current political system is a part.
The dominion and authority those of us who are in Christ wield is a spiritual dominion. It’s a spiritual power, not an earthly authority.
It’s God’s power to deliver the oppressed, to open the eyes of the blind, to cast out demons, to bring salvation to the lost, and to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the poor (Luke 4:18-20; Acts 10:38; 26:16-18; Colossians 1:13).
I’ve established and elaborated on this point in the book Insurgence and in many episodes of The Insurgence Podcast. Yet it’s like nailing Jell-O to a wall. It proves challenging for many Christians to grasp given the volume of competing voices.
Those other voices are so loud, so consistent, and so self-assured that they drown out the voice of the living God in the New Testament. They also rely on Bible verses taken out of context to win political battles, something my new book, The Untold Story of the New Testament: Revised and Expanded, resolves. (That book also, by the way, demonstrates how the gospel of the kingdom was preached and spread from Nazareth to Patmos chronologically. And where the New Testament letters fit into that drama.)
In short, it’s a monumental mistake to conflate the gospel of the kingdom with Conservative Politics and the Christian Right. It’s also a tragic mistake to conflate it with the Progressive Politics and the Liberal Left.
God has an Eternal Purpose and it’s NOT about trying to make the world a better place by passing laws that reflect Christian values. Nor is it about permitting the outrage machine to capture one’s heart and thus become a puppet of the political system.
Whether or not supporting a certain political platform is a noble goal is an entirely different question. That’s not what this article is about. I’m speaking specifically about what the living God is after, and what He’s been after since the beginning according to the written word of God. He’s still after His Eternal Purpose.
While the church has been given all authority and dominion over the creeping things (satanic powers), we don’t exercise that authority and dominion using human weapons, force, or political power.
Those ingredients belong to the world system. Our warfare takes place in spiritual realms, and our weapons are not natural or carnal (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4).
Our authority and power lies in a different source, and it manifests itself in a different way. A way that looks like the ministries of Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the other apostles.
The cold truth is that if you sit at Caesar’s table long enough and employ his weapons, you’ll eventually become a Roman.
THE CALL FORWARD
The Insurgence represents more than just another Christian “movement.” It’s a return to the original revolutionary message of Jesus. As more believers awaken to the reality that they’ve been offered a false choice between Conservative and Progressive Christianity, the hunger for authentic kingdom experience and life will grow.
The question now is whether this move of God will find the voices, platforms, and yes, even the financial backing necessary to break through the noise of partisan, politically-charged Christianity.
More importantly, will it maintain its prophetic edge as it grows, or will it succumb to the same political pressures that have domesticated both Conservative and Progressive expressions of the faith?
The kingdom of God has always been an insurgent movement, working from the non-celebrity “Christian” world, moving outside the Industrial Religious Complex to reach the hungry and the thirsty for God.
Perhaps it’s precisely from this position—underfunded but uncompromised, marginalized but moving—that it can best fulfill its revolutionary calling in our polarized age.
The Insurgence has begun. The question is not whether it will continue to spread, but whether you who are reading this piece will have eyes to see it and the courage to join it.
SUMMARY AND ACTION
The gospel of Christian Conservatism is not the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of Progressive Liberalism is not the gospel of the kingdom. That’s true regardless of how many out-of-context verses people use to support their side.
Indeed, one can do all things through a verse taken out of context.
Even though the Insurgence – the recovery of the titanic, earth-shaking, ground-breaking, jaw-dropping explosive gospel of the kingdom – has been proclaimed worldwide for some time now, the Christian masses still have no idea what it is.
All they see before them is a binary choice when it comes to where to throw their allegiance. The allegiance is either the Conservative Right and their pundits and proclaimers or the Progressive Left and their pundits and proclaimers. And tragically, the gospel of the kingdom has been largely drowned out by both.
Fact: You cannot legislate surrender to this world’s true King, Jesus the Christ. You cannot legislate the kingdom of God nor can you bring in God’s kingdom by enacting laws or voting in the “right candidates.”
Even if the USA turned red and every person living in the country embraced conservative values, you still wouldn’t have the kingdom of God on earth. And even if you solved the problem of poverty, you still wouldn’t have the kingdom of God on earth.
Certainly, you could argue that Planet Earth would be a nicer place to live. But friend, that’s not God’s kingdom come to earth.
All my life I’ve known both Conservatives and Progressives who didn’t know Jesus Christ. They were NOT surrendered to HIM, even though they embraced and proclaimed positive values (whether decrying crime and immorality or helping the poor and standing against injustice).
The insurgence has begun and it’s spreading, but it’s left to those of us who have joined it to spread the message organically.
For more on this subject, see my article Insurgents Wanted: Joining an Alternative Kingdom in Divided Times. And of course, The Insurgence Podcast which is gratis on all podcast platforms.
Next week I plan to drop another article entitled “Sadducees and Pharisees vs. Jesus.” I wrote it a few weeks ago when in the Dominican Republic. Stay tuned for it.
Your brother in the present Insurgence,
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