This is an adapted excerpt from Gary Meredith’s recent book “Bibles and Ballots: Ten Biblical Reasons Christians Must Engage in Politics,” released July 11 from Gramercy Press. That’s because government is not a “necessary evil”—another modern error—but rather God’s good design. Just as bad spouses don’t nullify God’s good design for marriage, bad officials don’t nullify his good design for government. Today’s moral decay is tied to Christians shunning politics, letting others choose who governs us. Politics isn’t forbidden territory for Christians to disdain, it’s God’s turf for his people to claim!