Is Lonnie out on a limb with his condemnation of Christian Nationalism?

As longtime readers of this blog know, I have been writing extensively over the last few years about the dangers inherent to mixing the Gospel with politics - of combining the Christian religion with our civic one. Of course, this thesis has predictably received a great deal of pushback from many of those who have actively engaged in this behavior. Even so, I am not alone in my perspective on this issue. In short, there are many highly respected theological voices who share my views and believe that Christians who have mixed politics with religion have been drawn into some damnable heresies as a consequence of doing so!

Along those lines, I ran across an excellent article dealing with this very subject from the perspective of the United Kingdom by Dr Eddie Arthur (Wycliffe Bible Translators), Beware of Weaponizing Christianity Against Immigrants and Denying the Reality and Meaning of the Gospel. For the casual reader, I have lifted a couple of pertinent excerpts from that article and have included them here:

The Bible is strangely silent on the notion of “Christian countries”. But there are numerous warnings about trusting “earthly powers” rather than God, and Scripture makes it abundantly clear that it is God who is in control, not nations, presidents, kings, oligarchs, or technocrats.

With that in mind, let’s think about the nature of the church itself. The first miracle of the church age was on the day of Pentecost, where people from across the Middle East were able to hear the message of the Apostles in their own languages. This is a clear indication that God desires the church to be a multicultural, multilingual entity.

Naturally enough, there were plenty of Jewish believers who were not convinced by this; they believed that the Jesus was a Jewish messiah and that the only way to join his movement was effectively to become Jewish. The Apostle Paul, who was himself a Rabi—trained in the best schools—led the charge against these Judaizers (as they were termed).

The battle between those who insisted that new Christians had to follow Jewish laws and Paul is waged on the pages of the Acts of the Apostles and in Paul’s epistles. It is in Revelation chapter 7 that we see Paul’s vision finally worked out:

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."

The church is composed of people from every nation, tribe, people and language. No one nation—not even the Jews—can claim special privilege. Salvation is through faith in Jesus, and this is independent of where you were born, or where your citizenship lies.

Pushing this on a bit further, a Christian’s primary allegiance lies with Christ, not with the nation they hail from. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). The book of Revelation contains a narrative in which the Empires of the world—powerful nations—are shown to be at enmity with God and his kingdom.

The only Christian country is the heavenly one that God’s people are called to.

There is nothing to stop a Christian from being patriotic, from supporting their national football team or having a deep love of the landscape and culture of their homeland. However, we must always be realistic and realize that our first loyalty is to Jesus and the Kingdom of God and that all human systems are fallen. The only Christian country is the heavenly one that God’s people are called to.

To claim that Britain has (or had) some special status as a Christian nation and that we should therefore oppose people from other countries, cultures and faiths coming here is a denial of the very nature of the Christian faith. Be as anti-foreigner and anti-immigrant as you like, but don’t do it in the name of Jesus. And if you are a Christian, you’d better get used to the idea of being around people from other lands, because eternity is going to be full of them!

Hence, we can see that the notion that Christianity and politics should NOT mix is NOT outlandish or irregular. Moreover, just because a bunch of Evangelicals and Armstrongites have jumped into the political arena with enthusiasm, does NOT mean that they are right! Indeed, many of us believe that a rather large number of Christians are deceived on this front and have unwittingly abandoned and/or seriously compromised many of the basic tenets of their faith.

What other nation is like the United States? Who can stand against its military might?

The whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words...It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. --Revelation 13:3-8, ESV

Like the cities of Rome and Babylon before them, Washington D.C. and New York exert a wide-ranging influence on the other cities of the world. The United States thinks of itself as special - the greatest nation on earth! Western democracies (and most other nations) think of the U.S. as the "leader of the free world." The U.S. dollar remains the most important reserve currency for the majority of the other nations on this planet. In terms of the global economy, it is said that "when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold." Since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. has maintained its position as having the most powerful military among the nations of the earth. Indeed, most of the rest of the world stands in awe of (or resents) the economic and military power of the United States of America.

What about the haughty and blasphemous words? I seriously considered offering a few quotes from American statesman about the "greatness" of the United States and the unequaled might of its military; but the more I contemplated that and considered many of the available quotes, the more the exercise seemed unnecessary. After all, anyone reading this who has not heard such statements repeatedly over the course of his/her lifetime would have to have been living under a rock since birth! Moreover, the notion of America as the "Promised Land," "Shining City," "indispensable nation," "Blessed," or the preeminent "Christian Nation" on the face of the earth is both false and sacrilegious.

In past posts on this blog, we have looked at many of the sins which the United States has committed over the course of its long history as a nation (and continues to indulge in up to the present day). Although we will not recount that list here, the fact of those sins make statements like: "In God we trust," "God Bless America," "So help me God," "one nation under God," "God's country," "God shed his grace on thee," "May God thy gold refine," and "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" clearly blasphemous! Take just a moment to consider: Is it a small matter to associate the United States with the favor of Almighty God? Is it respectful and honest to associate a sinful nation, its government, and economic system with a Holy and Righteous God? Don't such statements clearly constitute blasphemy? What do you think?

What about making war on the saints? How has this "Christian" nation done that? Have you ever heard of Christian Nationalism? How many times have we heard the phrase "God and country"? Paul Miller, in an article for Christianity Today wrote: "Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way." Likewise, for the United Methodist Church, the Reverend Ryan Dunn observed that "'Christian nationalism identifies the nation with God's will and action in the world; conflates national and Christian identity; and identifies service of the nation with service of God,' writes Dr. David W. Scott, who is a Methodist historical researcher and the Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. 'Christian nationalism gives moral cover for actions, even unseemly ones, taken in pursuit of national or political goals.'" (What is Christian Nationalism?)

Another article on Christianity.com quotes a number of theologians on the subject, one of which defines the term in this way: "a cultural framework that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life. It contends that America has been and should always be distinctively Christian from top to bottom—in its self-identity, interpretations of its own history, sacred symbols, cherished values, and public policies—and it aims to keep it that way. But, the Christian in Christian Nationalism is more about identity than religion. It carries with it assumptions about nativism, white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy, and militarism." In an attempt to answer the question, "Is Christian Nationalism Biblical?" - the same article informs us that "Jesus said to 'render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s' (Matthew 22:21). When people are so tied up in their ideal of nation-building, their focus moves away from kingdom-building (heavenly kingdom building), becoming a 'my way or the highway' mentality. The nation we serve here on earth is not the still-to-come kingdom of God. Christian Nationalism serves no purpose but to promote one’s misguided motives. This is not the action our Lord Christ commanded us to obey (Matthew 28:19-20; John 13:35, etc.)."

In other words, the Christian religion has been twisted and perverted to support allegiance to the United States of America! Jesus once said that "you cannot serve two masters" simultaneously (Matthew 6:24). What about you? Do you serve the beast? OR Do you serve God and his Kingdom?

Unlike many of the articles which deal with prophecy elsewhere, this article was NOT intended to suggest that the United States of America is THE BEAST of the "end times." It is meant to suggest that the U.S. fits the prophetic mold of the biblical symbols of human governance and its character.