Miracle Healing and Christian Politics
Miracle Healing and Christian Politics
The basic premise of Christian faith is that God is one and the same, so Christ came to save the human race by raising the dead, body and soul. This is reflected in the Gospels, where a mere 20 to 11% of the accounts describe physical healings and exorcisms. But Jesus’s mission is much larger than that. He came to save mankind from itself. That’s why he commissioned his apostles to do the same.
Many charismatic Christians emphasized evangelism, conversion, and persisting in the faith of those who are saved. This was largely due to the understanding that we are engaged in an epic end-times conflict with the demonic. Satan is real, and so are the satanic powers that rule entire nations and attempt to undermine the evangelization of the world. In addition to fostering a sense of spiritual warfare, charismatic Christians emphasize the importance of evangelism.
This militant evangelical Christian subjectivity poses a serious challenge for modern democracy. Its ideological stances and political praxis are counter to the values of reasoned debate and consensus. In the process of “putting on the whole armour of God,” Christian subjects undergo a process of de-subjectivation and re-subjection, which can result in a militant Christian subject. The role of prayer in Christian politics is vital, and this conflict of interest must be resolved.