Those Christians who are so caught up in political activism will ignore that verse and continue to justify themselves and their behavior. Jesus never commanded the church to use the state, Jesus never commanded the church to "change the culture" through politics, Jesus did command loving your enemy, preaching the Gospel, and helping the poor. None of that fits very well with political agendas. The "Christian Right" has made enemies out of the people we are to be reaching with the Gospel and, worse yet, has made them enemies for ALL the wrong reasons. How many sinners will not come to Christ because, thanks to political activism, they think being a Christian means they are a republican? That is a serious question with eternal results. The church, in large part, has become distracted with political activism and that is not how it should be. We should be busy preaching the Gospel and bringing the homosexuals,abortionists, drug dealers, fornicators, murderers, etc, to Christ. Instead we are pushing them away from Christ with our political activism. Jesus NEVER did that! WDJD?? He ate with the tax collectors and the sinners (see Matt 9:10-13, 11:19, etc)! Jesus would not have fit in with the political Christian right wing, like the Pharisee of old, look down their noses at the very people they are to reach with the Gospel! See Matt 23:13-33
Don't get me wrong. I agree with the "Christian Right" on basic doctrine. I agree that abortion, homosexuality, fornication, etc, are sins. I agree that those who practice such things will not enter heaven (1Cor 6:9-10, Gal 5:19-21, Rev 21:8,27). However politics is not the solution to those problems (on large or small scale). The answer is the Gospel. Change peoples hearts via the Gospel and their actions will change as a result. Christian political activism ignores the power of the Gospel in favor of a cheap substitute.
Christians should vote, pay our taxes, honor and pray for our leaders even if we disagree with their politics and policies (Rom 13:7, 1Tim 2:1-2, Titus 3:1-2), and we should call sin what it is...SIN. However we should understand that the Gospel is the ONLY answer to people's problems, and then practice what we understand by preaching the Gospel instead of politics (Lk 24:44-49).
In Christ,
Martin.