In his well-known book A Christian Manifesto, published in 1981, the great Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer raised the question of when it is right for Christians to take up arms against the government. In his view, Christians should work within the system through legal and political means. If that failed, civil disobedience can be called for. Only then, as a last resort in extreme circumstances with a tyrannical government, he believed, could forceful resistance potentially be justified.

When the book was written, the question of armed rebellion may have seemed more abstract than it does today. But it certainly was not an abstract question in American history. After all, our nation was born out of political violence against British rule with the slogan, “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.”

Is it possible that, once again, we are approaching the time when Christians need to take up arms against the government?

The answer, in my opinion, is absolutely, categorically no.

Making the Most Meaningful Difference

“But how you can be so dogmatic?” you ask. “After all, we have reason to believe that the last election was stolen. And we are concerned that it could happen again.”

For argument’s sake, let’s say those concerns are valid. Let’s say the last elections were, in fact, stolen and there are legitimate reasons to fear this could happen again next month. (That is not my own position, but it is certainly the position of some of our readers, thinking people who have done their research and come to their own conclusions.)

What we do know is that the final polls in 2020 pointed to a very tight finish, and generally speaking, those polls were not inaccurate. The results were nip and tuck.

A colleague of mine with close connections to the inner circles of the Trump administration told me just days before the elections that they were concerned, based on internal polling.

Ultimately, that is how the election was stolen, according to those who believe the final results were fraudulent. It was close and Trump really won, but the scales were tipped, and Biden was handed the presidency.

But herein lies the problem.

The reason the elections were so close, by anyone’s count, is because tens of millions of Christian conservatives chose not to vote. It’s that simple.

Prayerless Nonvoters

Had we turned out in large numbers, we would have seen a Republican landslide and an overwhelming victory for Trump (based on our voting demographics).

So, if Trump lost (or there was election fraud), the biggest culprit was Christian indifference.

It is the same in 2024, assuming that the great majority of Christian conservatives would vote for Trump rather than Harris, despite the former president’s baggage.

In fact, a recent article states that, “The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University study found that approximately 104 million [voters] under the ‘people of faith’ umbrella are not expected to vote this election, including 41 million Christians and 32 million of whom regularly go to church.”

If this is true, then the implications are staggering.

In short, if we can’t bother to exercise our right to vote, we have no business calling for the overthrow of an administration that is only in power because we chose to stay home. This is a far cry from the situation of the colonists who complained of “taxation without representation.”

But there’s another reason why it is entirely inappropriate for us to talk about taking up arms against the government. As Christians, we hardly pray — yet prayer is the greatest single spiritual weapon we have. Failing there, we fail everywhere.

Casting Stones

On September 23, I conducted a poll on X for committed followers of Jesus, asking, “On average, how much time do you spend in quality prayer each day?”

Only 22% said they pray more than 30 minutes daily, with just under half saying they praye less than 10 minutes daily – or don’t even pray at all. And, presumably, this poll represents the more serious among us, based on the demographics of my X followers, who are already more engaged than many Christians in the nation.

Without the slightest hesitation, I can say with absolute confidence that if we simply doubled our daily prayer times, praying for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and our government, America would be radically impacted within a few years (if not sooner). Radically.

I say that we give ourselves to personal repentance, renewed personal devotion to God, sharing the Gospel with our neighbors and colleagues, getting our own houses and families in order, and also voting, before we dare talk about armed resistance to the government.

Would Jesus argue with this approach?

While ministering in Finland in 1995, shortly after hearing arguments about armed resistance to the government from some pro-life leaders in the States, I journaled these thoughts:

The whole problem with the “Christian” call to take up arms is that if we were to be honest, we would have to admit that “we have seen the enemy, and it is us.” America is aborting babies and exporting smut around the world because the “light that is within us is darkness.” To be consistent, the call to violent activism would have to sound like this: “Kill the compromised clergy! Slaughter the sleeping saints! Shoot the sinning shepherds! Nuke the noncommitted! Blow up the bankrupt believers! Wipe out the worldly watchmen!” Would you like to lead the attack? Who among us can throw the first stone — or shoot the first bullet?

I stand by these thoughts today.

For more information about how you can get meaningfully involved between now and Election Day,

follow this link to take the Christians Engaged Pledge.

Dr. Michael Brown is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. He is the author of more than 40 books, including Can You be Gay and Christian?; Our Hands Are Stained With Blood; and Seize the Moment: How to Fuel the Fires of Revival. You can connect with him on Facebook, X, or YouTube.