In a recent livestream interview sponsored by the private search engine Startpage, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden offered some poignant words of wisdom.

“If we want a better world, we should not hope for an Obama and we should not fear a Donald Trump. We should build it ourselves.”

Snowden warned against obsessing over political characters, and said we should instead focus more broadly on the powers government claims over us.

“When I see these changes in governments, where we see these candidates who are extremely authoritarian, and they believe that if we have the power to do something, we should do something, we stop thinking about wrong or right. We stop thinking about should or should not, and instead we focus strictly on can or cannot. These, I think, are civic dangers to everyone. And these are the things that we have to focus most on resisting, not individual cases, but broad social cases. And this is the thing that I think we begin to forget when we focus too much on a single candidate.”

Government never relinquishes power. Candidates may promise “hope and change,” but they’re empty promises. Snowden noted that  Obama campaigned on a platform of ending mass surveillance, of investigating torture and ending extrajudicial killings. Not only Americans, but people around the world put a lot of hope in Obama’s promises.

“It was a moment where we believed that because the right person got into office, everything would change. But unfortunately once he took that office, we saw that he didn’t actually fulfill those campaign  promises.”

Trump and Clinton supporters alike should take note.

“We should be cautious about putting too much faith or fear in the work of elected officials. At the end of the day, this is just a president. If we want to build, or live, or enjoy the fruits of a better world…this will never be the work of politicians. This will only be the work of the people.”

This should ring particularly true for Christians. We do not put our faith in human beings, the world, or its systems. We put our faith in Jesus Christ. We certainly should not expect to expand the Kingdom of God, which was built on a foundation of peace, love and mercy, through political means imposed by force, coercion and violence.

Jesus commanded His Church to serve as his hands and feet, but too many Christians have substituted government for the Church. It’s not Donald Trump’s job to advance the Kingdom of God. It’s not the job of Congress, nor the Supreme Court.

It’s the Church’s job.

So, why are we placing our hope and fear in politicians?