Many conservatives and Christians are sick and tired of the left distorting the Gospel to promote its left-wing, big government agenda. Unfortunately, liberals aren’t the only ones doing it.

Earlier this week, Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Asked to explain his support for Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, Kasich said:

Do you know how many people are yelling at me? I go out to events where people yell at me. You know what I tell them? . . . I say, there’s a book. It’s got a new part and an old part; they put it together, it’s a remarkable book. If you don’t have one, I’ll buy you one. It talks about how we treat the poor.

I find his interpretation of the Bible a bit odd. The Bible is quite clear about how God defines marriage. Yet on that issue Kasich has surrendered, saying, “Well, I’m not fighting it. . . We’ve moved on from that.”

But Kasich evidently sees something in the Bible that I don’t — something that empowers big government, using all of its authority and force, to take resources from one person and give them to another.

At no point in the Bible does Jesus lecture Rome or Jewish leaders about the benefits of the welfare state. His commands to help the poor are aimed at us individually and at the church collectively.

It is disturbing to see a leading Republican like John Kasich using the same strategy as the left to justify confiscation of wealth, more spending and bigger, more powerful government. Those are policies closer to the philosophy of Karl Marx than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gary L. Bauer served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration for eight years, as Under Secretary of Education and as President Reagan’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.