Even Jesus said the Temple was for GOD. For PRAYER. For taking care of the spiritual needs of the people and for worshiping the Lord. He also indicated that the earthly glories of this world are in no way comparable to the eternal glory of God.
If a politician is doing something despicable and sinful the pastor can use his pulpit to talk about the sin, not about the politics. Once he's out of that building his responsibilities change. He is still a pastor, he still carries weight with his congregation, and he can support or denounce a politician like any other private citizen, but that altar is for GOD, not for his personal stance on who should vote for who.
Using his God given authority as the Shepherd of the Church body to push a particular candidate's earthy political message from the pulpit is borderline blasphemous. In using that pulpit to stump for a human political candidate you are presuming to speak FOR God and claim that God, in His infinite wisdom, totally agrees with YOUR political ideology. You're saying, "Hey, I know I'm here to feed you spiritually and lead you to the Lord, but let's talk about why you should vote for Bob Gunderson and his taxation plans."
In using the Altar of God, which is for God ALONE, to promote a politician you metaphorically make that politician and his agenda equal to God and God's agenda. You indicate that your earthly political preferences are equal to God's eternal plan. Because if the Altar of God is for GOD ALONE, and you use it to promote a temporal politician, you either bring God down to the level of the politician or you have raised that politician up to share God's spotlight.
