Andrew Sandlin responds to John Macarthur in his latest article Lordship Salvation is Not Enough:
But the fact is, the state must never be about the Gospel or redemption, only about justice (Rom. 13:1–7). We have a name for political systems that profess to offer redemption: totalitarianisms. The old Soviet Union, for example, tried to reengineer humanity, fashioning “The New Man,” purged of greed and the profit motive and bowing to all things political. That tyrannical government resorted to obloquy, abuse, intimidation, torture, murder and genocide to accomplish its goal of the humanity’s salvation. When individuals abandon the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, they do not abandon the quest for salvation; they simply transfer it to some other entity. In the 20th century, that entity was the omnicompetent state. It is just this sort of religiously interventionist state in the United States that the MD fears may attempt to silence distinctively Christian vocal opposition to the prevalent anti-life and anti-family climate — just as it has in numerous governments around the world.
