Reject Christian Nationalism
Real authentic Christians must reject Christian Nationalism. We are called to be servants and to serve others not be their masters and lord over them. We are held to a different standard.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” Those words written by Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:3 are just one of the many reasons that Christian Nationalism fails as a valid Christian theology.
Christian Nationalism ignores the teachings of Jesus. Christian Nationalism preaches that the United States was founded by God to be a White Anglo Saxon Protestant nation. That it is the right and duty of all Christians to rule over all others. While some apologists for the movement say they do not want a theocracy, they admit that they want Christianity to enjoy a privileged position in the public square. This is political not spiritual.
It means that you don’t have to respect other viewpoints, and you can in fact discriminate against those who disagree or who do not practice your brand of belief. After all, if you have a pure Christian nation, you do not have to respect adherents of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or any other religion. Their wishes mean nothing because a Christian Nationalist believes they are superior to all others. In the past this manifested itself in what historians call Manifest Destiny, which became the mantra of politicians after John Sullivan in 1845, wrote, “…the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions”. That call of divine privilege was used to justify the elimination of the indigenous people and to support the right to own slaves. It was all done in the name of Christianity, even though there is no biblical justification for it. Modern politicians and sadly many religious leaders have once again called for it to be the primary guiding rule in America.
You see this in today’s politics, where people are more concerned about showing their moral superiority than they are about following the teachings of Jesus. There is more to life than the here and now, and Jesus was emphatic about what he considered most important for His followers. It was not the most powerful army. It was not about being loud and flamboyant. It was not about making others bend to some arbitrary code. It IS about taking care of others.
In the earliest days of Christianity, before Constantine made the church a political organization and turned it from a heavenly focused practice to a worldly focused business, Christians actually behaved as Christians were taught. According to Pliny the Younger in a letter to the Emperor Trajan around 119 AD, “They [the Christians] also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this; they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately among themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath.”
Jesus could not have been plainer about what He wants Christians to do, when in Matthew 25:34-45, He specifically told the disciples how to act and how we would be judged once we stand face to face with the father in our final judgement. People will be divided into two groups, one that actually practices what Jesus taught and the other those that practice what the greed and avarice of the world teaches.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’”
Some people, some Christians will then ask.
37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’
How many of us will recognize ourselves in that scripture? Have we reached out to help someone less fortunate than ourselves? Have we encouraged our government to help those in need> Since this scripture is not often taught in many of the modern ‘bible’ base churches, this might confuse some Christians today, who instead of pretending to be Many who preach Christian Nationalism will find themselves in this next group. These are the people who put politics over people.
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
There will be a final reckoning for each of us and while it is true that once we accept Jesus as our savior we are essentially saved, the reality is we still have to actually behave as Christ taught us.
In 1 Peter 2:21, we find, “For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps,” I defy any preacher calling for Christians to seek worldly power to show me, one place where Jesus taught that was what we are supposed to do. Just one! You can’t, because He never did and the false prophets who claim to be preaching his words know that, but they don’t care, because they are seduced by power. They have fallen for the temptations that Satan put before our Lord,
These politicians are preaching a false doctrine that flies in the face of the teaching of ALL of the Apostolic fathers. Many of them have given in to the temptations that Satan tried to seduce Jesus with. We read in Matthew 4, Remember Jesus had been fasting and praying the desert for 40 days. Now that’s a long, long time to go without food and to spend your time praying. So of course, as a human He was tired and hungry and of course that’s when Satan tried to temp him, because that’s when we’re all weakest
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Here we go, a perfect example of the world tempting us with comfort. The we can have it now, just ask and it’ll be given to you, you deserve to be taken care of.
But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil *took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and he *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written:
‘He will give His angels orders concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will lift You up, So that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil *took Him along to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus *said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4, “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
Christian Nationalism is not about taking care of our brothers and sisters. It is about political and economic power. These are things that the early church fathers never had, they were persecuted, they were ridiculed and in many cases they were put to death.
Those who are supporting Christian Nationalism are being deceived. They aren’t preaching anything that Jesus taught, NOTHING, and need to study the Gospels and history of the church, especially the 1st 300 years. They will discover that Christianity grows best when Christians behave as Christians. So please don’t just call yourself a Christian, be a Christian,