The world is full of suffering pain and poverty that is estimated at around ten percent of the global population, on the low end, depending on what poverty line is used. This low poverty line alone estimates that well over 831 million people live in extreme poverty. Add to that, all the parts of the world which are at war, corruption and oppressive authoritarianism and you begin to see a picture generally very different compared to the life of the typical American.
Here in the United States the poverty rate matches that of the world at around 10.6%. Nearly 800,000 are experiencing homelessness, 1.9 million incarcerations and 16.8 percent, that's over 48.4 million Americans age 12 and over are struggling with drug addiction. Add to all this, the broken homes, the loneliness, the abandonment by family and the strife among neighbors, friends and family. The list of examples of how people are suffering as you read this is endless.
The fact is, the world can be a dark place for many. And while others are well off, so well off they forget or even pretend the suffering is not there, it really is still there. This darkness and suffering is unfortunately a reality of the world we live in. If there is a silver lining to of all this it's that suffering and darkness is not new. In fact, it's been happening since the beginning of time and as far back as human history is recorded. For this reason, solutions to human sufferings have also been around a long time!
This darkness and suffering is the reason Jesus said, “you are the light of the world”. The only correction, fix or medicine for darkness is light. Light is something that gives sight, lights up the way and offers the necessary lighting to maneuver to a better place. All of this then raises the perspective, offers hope, gladness, optimism and encouragement about what is happening and what's coming.
The practice of true Christianity is intended as a light for the world with the same intended end result. As Christians we are to be different from the world because we are not of this world, and we're to be that beacon of light, hope, optimism and encouragement to those suffering in darkness.
Jesus laid out the signature character of a true Christian in the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7) including the Beatitudes. This signature character outlined by Jesus was designed as a guideline for identifying true Christians. It doesn't mean we won't fall very short of these guidelines (I certainly do) but they are real guidelines and we should all agree that striving for achievement of this character threshold should be the focus of every true Christian in order to fulfill the light-bearing role we were all intended to provide to the world.
With this very important foundational introductory issue laid out, let's turn our attention to the growing Christian Nationalist ideology very prevalent particularly in so-called White Evangelical churches (80% prevalence) in the U.S. today.
I bring up this topic, not for political or even cultural reasons but for Christians to carefully consider for themselves how Christian Nationalism matches to what the Bible tells us and what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. I also want to note that for years, I myself espoused or supported the ideologies of Christian Nationalism until slowly, as years went by, I observed with my own eyes how different it was from what I was reading (with my own eyes) in the Bible! Because of this revelation, today I feel obligated to share what I came to see for myself about this political movement and how it compares to what the Bible says.
I want to pose 4 major problems, which all start with 'D', so let's call it the “4 Ds” of Christian Nationalism that I feel everyone should beware of:
1- Disconnect
2- Dangers
3- Damage
4- Deception
Before expanding on these four factors let's define Christian Nationalism as per many generally accepted definitions available today via various sources:
A political ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American identity, often distorting both the Christian faith and the principles of democracy. It promotes the belief that the United States should be recognized as a Christian nation and that government policies should reflect Christian values.
Now let's address the four D's of Christian Nationalism and highlight a few examples of each
As you can see in the definition above, Christian Nationalism (CN) is about disconnecting the original identity of the Christian from the intended source (Jesus through the character He laid out – as discussed above) and connecting it to an unintended source (national identity).
Do not be deceived. In Mathew 6:24 Jesus said:
No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Christian Nationalism seeks to admittedly serve two masters. We've all seen the signs saying things like “Jesus is my Lord, Trump is my President” mentioning Jesus in the SAME sentence with a politician, a corrupt politician at that. This reallocation and or merging of identity, for a true Christian looking to be the light of the world as Jesus commanded, is entirely dangerous and unbiblical.
The many dangers of CN become clear once you see the clear disconnect from what Jesus said, to what this movement believes. One danger is to the church itself. It (CN) creates the pretext for many people who are suffering to misconstrue the intended message of the Gospel of Jesus. Once this happens the hope and the light that Jesus intended for us to shine is no longer shining. Instead it comes across as a divisive (and in the case of MAGA, a polarizing, cruel and chaotic) ultimatum which tells the listener, “join us or you are bad and deserve to suffer and die”. In this scenario the church sounds like a exclusionary club and opens itself up to litigation, contention or even physical violence.
The dangers (physical, verbal or otherwise) extend to the individual professed Christian who is now perhaps unknowingly tied to this perceived divisive ideology thus undermining their possible intended goal of reaching others.
The damage done to the: gospel, the church as a whole, the individual Christian and to the surrounding society in need of love and hope, is incalculable and spreads in all directions. For many who suffer and need love, compassion and hope, they are left with nothing.
The reputation of the church gets destroyed. Doubt, contention, hatred and animosity becomes deeply seeded in the hearts of those who don't believe in the ideologies of CN and whose views of the gospel are now distorted. The church now loses it's purpose in society. It's no longer that politically unbiased, nonjudgmental, open-arms, loving, compassionate and caring apparatus to the culture and those hurting. Instead it acts as an arm of the government and of politicians who seek power. Nothing is more opposed to how Jesus said Christians are to be!
That brings us to the final 'D' and that is the deception being sown by CN into the church.
Like many other false theologies and doctrines, CN opens up a channel by which cruelty, divisiveness and hatred is now acceptable within the church! This deception flips the church into a channel for Satan to use in recruiting people away from God instead of to Him! Think of the implications of this level of deception! Christians partaking in an ideology that distances the lost away from the cross. But all that aside, what about as it pertains to last days deception?
The Bible says that in later times there would be apostasy potentiated by “influential” people (politicians) who lie and seem to have a microphone to do it.
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. - 1 Timothy 4:1-2
Also, we're told in the scriptures that in later days there would be a rise of someone (again, sounding like a politician) who is able to convince others he is very very “special” and better than everyone else:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God – 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
Christian Nationalism provides the perfect stage for Christians to be deluded and deceived by the very leader who they are attaching their identity to (sound familiar?), the very identity they distort (national identity) with their Christian identity. By distorting this identity they risk becoming the very soldiers in the front line FOR an evil global agenda (now unfolding).
It is not the specific purpose of this article to imply that MAGA (today's American Christian Nationalism movement dangerously and deceptively projecting their identity onto Trump) is ushering in the Antichrist (though I personally believe it is). The greater point here is, whether it is or not, the mechanism by which the Antichrist will be introduced fits very nicely with the deep deception we're seeing (in this case the MAGA movement) through the vehicle of Christian Nationalism, and this level of deception should concern you!
This is just a brief summary addressing some points on the otherwise big topic of Christian Nationalism. It is not the purpose of this article or the author to imply in any way that anyone supporting the MAGA movement is “knowingly deceiving” or “deliberately damaging the church”. The goal is to provide objective scriptural context on the issue and compel the reader to think through this topic on their own, so as to cause a change in perspective and thus behavior.
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Thanks for reading.
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