(Don’t click away after seeing the length of this! This discussion is broken up into several bite-sized pieces. Don’t try to read all of this at once – just read a section at a time as you find a few minutes throughout the next few days)
Many Christians in America lament the state of our nation. Some may remember growing up when America was a “Christian nation,” where everyone went to church, bars were closed on Sunday, and the country was led by Christian values.
Looking back at that ideal time and comparing it to today, it’s easy to wish things would go back to the way they were. We want America to return to her God and once again become a country filled with followers of Jesus Christ. America seems to be God’s chosen nation, and just like ancient Israel we are living in rejection and rebellion of Him. And as we think about where we went wrong, we can start identifying those enemies who led us astray in the past, and even today are trying to destroy this country and deprive us of ever being a Christian nation again.
This way of thinking reflects a growing belief in the church called “Christian nationalism” that we all need to be wary of because it’s a worldview that’s affecting Christians who aren’t even aware of its influence in their lives. Before we spend our time trying to reclaim America for God, let’s first consider what it meant for America to be a Christian nation, what history has shown us about Christian nations in the past, and why we may be putting our hope in the wrong thing.
Fundamentals of Christian Nationalism
Christian Nationalism in a nutshell
Over time, Christian Nationalism has found varying forms of intensity. I’ll start by defining the big idea of it, then break down how such a belief often shows itself in the lives of many believers in this country.
At its heart, Christian Nationalism believes that America is a Christian nation, and thus the government should fight to protect, promote, and enforce the influence of Christianity above all other belief systems, worldviews, and religions. It doesn’t necessarily believe in a theocracy (where the church is the government), but a good government is one that serves the interests of Christianity, and Christianity has a large influence over the government.
As far as individuals are concerned, the core idea is that patriotism and Christianity are inseparably linked – a patriotic American is going to be a faithful Christian, and a faithful Christian is going to be a patriotic American. These aren’t two separate identities, but a single one.
Confusing patriotism and Christianity
It’s that last point where we so often see nationalism find its way into the church. There’s an assumption, especially within conservative circles, that a genuine follower of Christ will believe in a certain vision for America. They will vote for these candidates, believe in these policies, and view those groups as allies or enemies. Within the church of Christ, we often break fellowship, or at least question someone’s righteousness and love of God, because of how or poorly they line up with our identity as Americans.
Much of the church in America has fallen prey to what I’d call “soft Christian Nationalism.” Many may not be as radical as the core belief would allow, but many of their talking points, news sources, desires, and things they share online are built upon a nationalistic mindset. They may not fly the flag of Christian Nationalism, but many Christians find more of their beliefs in a political movement they weren’t even aware of, and as a result, they compromise the truth of God’s word to fit their identity as an American.
What are some ways we see Christian Nationalism in the church today? This list isn’t exhaustive, nor will everything apply to everyone, but here are some behaviors and beliefs that are frequently seen in American Christianity:
- Treating liberals or Democrats with suspicion, dismissiveness, mockery, or hostility because of their political beliefs (sometimes going so far as sharing photos of unflattering facial expressions or even devil horns to make them look like inhuman villains)
- Making statements like “We need to take back our nation” or “We need to fight to protect our country”
- Spending more time on Fox News or similar news sources than in God’s word
- Likewise, understanding reality through the media rather than the Bible
- Lamenting how far our country has fallen from God or Christian values
- Breaking ties with people over politics, perhaps even making statements like “If you don’t agree with [this political opinion], then just unfollow me”
- Filling online and in-person discussions with politics more than Christ-centered discussions
- Doubting someone’s faithfulness to Christ because of a political stance
- Assuming someone would make a “good Christian” because of their political affiliation
- Willing to go to war, and even kill others, if the government tries to take our guns or property
- Being supportive of someone, especially in politics, because they claim to be a Christian even if their life doesn’t reflect Christ
- Wanting freedom for all, but hoping for preference and favor toward Christianity
It may be surprising to read some of these and think a fellow conservative Christian would find anything wrong with them. Growing up in America, especially those who grew up in a conservative Christian environment, these beliefs seem like natural assumptions. And to question them is, quite frankly, unpatriotic and un-American. More recently, it often also makes someone a socialist.
Anyone who finds themselves in one or more of those statements may be tempted to close this article and never look back. I’d ask that you instead use this discussion to evaluate assumptions and beliefs and make sure that they line up more with an identity found in Christ, rather than one found as a citizen of a particular nation. This discussion may be uncomfortable, but I genuinely believe it’s an important one that we need if we’re to pass the teachings of Christ on to future generations without the burden of beliefs not found in God’s word.
An important note on the end times and the church’s purpose
Before digging further into this topic, it’s important that I clarify my own beliefs about the end times (especially Revelation) and how the church’s function is linked to that. This is an important consideration for every biblical worldview because what we believe about these two issues will often affect other areas of our lives. And when it comes to how we view America, I suspect most Christians don’t realize that the nearness of Christ’s return is at odds with the lifelong pursuit of making America a Christian nation.
There are three main views on how we interpret the book of Revelation. Some believe that the entire world will slowly be converted to Christianity, at which point Christ will carry out the Great White Throne Judgment (called Post-Millennialism). Others believe Revelation is metaphorical, and that we are currently living during Christ’s millennial reign as He sits on the throne of David (called Amillennialism because there isn’t a literal thousand-year reign of Christ). Both of these views can work with any degree of Christian Nationalism because they both believe that the total conversion of nations is the end goal of Christ, thus an inevitable goal of the church.
However, many who hold a nationalistic worldview seem to fall more in line with a Pre-Millienial view of Revelation, where Christ will return and pull His people out of the world before He unleashes judgment upon it and then returns to rule for a thousand years.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. (Matthew 24:36-41)
Those who hold to a Pre-Millenial view believe that the world will be much, much worse before the return of our Lord. None of the prophetic signs of Christ’s imminent return are very good for Christians. Depending on your particular view, you may even believe that Christ will only return to pull out a small fragment of Christians who remain on the Earth, while the rest of the world carries on without any thought to what God’s word has to say about their sin and need for Jesus Christ to save them.
In this belief, the role of the church is completely opposite from other views. The church’s goal isn’t to convert entire nations to “our side,” but rather to focus on the conversion and maturity of individuals. We aren’t called to turn nations into disciples, but rather to make disciples in all nations. Perhaps God will use those people to bring about a sweeping change in their country, but our focus is always at a grassroots level, acting as foreigners in this world and telling people about the King of Kings.
As I discuss Christian Nationalism, I’ll be working with the understanding that it’s not the church’s job to get involved in politics, nor should we expect a government run by enemies of God to truly and accurately stand for things that can only be believed and lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. If your understanding of the end times already assumes all nations will be converted, then this conversation may not make much sense. But since most of my readers hold a Pre-Millenial view, we need to start by realizing that how we interpret Revelation needs to harmonize with how we view the role of the church in this world that hates God.
It’s possible that God can turn an entire nation to Christianity, but that goal isn’t in view as we seek to serve Christ on this earth. When we focus on converting policies and government programs to Christ, we pull in the opposite direction of everything else we believe.
Examples of nationalism
Before getting into the specifics of why individual Christians need to reject a nationalist mindset, it may be helpful to look at the world to see how nationalism has played out in the past and present. This isn’t meant to be a history lesson, but rather an honest look at why the idea of a “Christian nation” won’t end the way we want it to.
Dangers in our current world
We can see a similar, though more extreme, version of nationalism’s power in the world today. Islamic terrorists hold entire Middle Eastern countries in a firm grip, killing anyone who goes against the country’s religious beliefs. Cambodia and Africa have taken part in brutal genocides because certain people don’t match one group’s idea of “true” citizens. China is currently exterminating groups of people who might create political dissent. Voice of the Martyrs is a group dedicated to telling the stories of Christians around the world who are persecuted, even killed, because of their religious beliefs.
What do these stories have in common? People see one “right way” for their country, and those who disagree are bad citizens at best, and less-than-human at worst. People are told to look the other way while the government takes care of the citizens’ enemies, and they’re even encouraged to take up arms and fight those who would destroy their country and/or their religion.
Of course our natural reaction is to say “Yes, but that’s because they don’t worship Christ! There’s no way true Christians would allow things to get that bad.” Yet church history shows us exactly what happens when we try to use Christianity to change the government, only to wake up one day and realize that it’s the government that changes Christianity.
A history of nationalism
We can look at much of the world’s history and see why nationalism in any form doesn’t work without eventually becoming a dictatorship. As followers of Christ, we even have an example of what it looked like when an entire nation becomes Christian.
I’ve written an extensive series on how Catholicism grew out of the apostles and why everything went so very wrong. In Part 2 of the series, I gave a rundown of how the Catholic church first gained its power, and from there became one of the world’s favorite examples for why religion is evil. Here’s a brief rundown of how everything took place:
- As Christianity began to spread, communication between individual churches became increasingly difficult
- Different regions elected bishops, or a “pastor for pastors,” who were essentially put in charge of overseeing a group of churches and making sure they stayed faithful in their teachings
- As they continued to grow, they found it necessary to have a central place of authority; perhaps influenced by Roman rule, they set the bishop of Rome as the primary bishop over all other bishops
- As Rome converted to Christianity, the church and state become entwined
- While this began as “church officials having power in government,” it eventually became “government officials having power in the church”
- Everyone was assumed to be Christian, and to be a non-Christian was a detriment to nearly every area of life
- Thus, we get our story of the Catholic church become a central power, and unbelievers acting in the name of God and carrying out horrible acts while using their “authority” to grant and remove salvation to keep people in line
Although this terrible history began with the best intentions with first and second generation Christians, it was inevitable that future generations would grow up with Christianity being granted to them because they were Roman citizens, and thus they believed that their behaviors were those of a Christian. Those who grew in power could use the church as a tool to control the masses because they didn’t understand what the things of God are truly about.
In other words, one of the darkest parts of our post-New Testament history was possible because of an early form of Christian Nationalism. The government became the enforcer of Christianity, and millions of people who found it beneficial to call themselves “Christians” died with no true understanding of Jesus Christ.
Warnings in American history
If we’re honest, the story of Rome and the church’s fall into heresy and blasphemy is just a bigger version of what we saw in America. Our country has seen some spiritual revivals, and we certainly started with the influence of Christian principles, but the benefit found in anyone calling themselves a Christian is something that still festers in our country today, especially as you move farther south.
Decades ago, it was unthinkable not to be a Christian in America. If you wanted any success in politics, or sometimes if you just wanted to keep your job, you were expected to identify as a Christian. Being a Christian was seen as an act of patriotism, and by extension anyone who wasn’t a Christian was not to be trusted. Thus, it was a tradition to claim the title of “Christian” with no need to truly be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Because of this, the American government was expected to protect the interests of the church. Christians in power were to promote Christian values in every area they could. And while this is only natural, it came with one major problem: the church was likewise expected to protect and promote the interests of the government. To defy the government, or at least the “right people” in the government, was to defy the church.
How did a Christian nation allow slavery or segregation? The same way Christians allowed the horrors of the Crusades – because the majority of people claiming to represent God weren’t covered by the blood of Christ, didn’t have the Holy Spirit sanctifying them, and had no true desire to glorify their Heavenly Father. Instead they were people who were told they were Christian, given a Bible and the church’s blessing, and acted as enemies of God. They were wolves in sheeps clothing. They, like the Pharisees, were nothing more than whitewashed tombs.
Everything about America made people want to be Christians. It was an easy thing to do – all you had to do was go to church, be good, and prayer during the family meal. Parents taught their children to act like Christians, but rarely how to live for Christ. Over the generations, all we did was create a bunch of moral people who were still enemies of God, acting in ways that are natural for sinners to act, yet deeply damaging the true teachings of Christ because genuine Christians saw “Christians” living a certain way and assumed it was good.
When we lament how far America has fallen from being a “Christian nation,” this is what we’re truly lamenting. We’ve never been a country filled with God’s people. We’ve never been a chosen nation as though we’re a new version of Israel.
Instead, what we truly want is a country where it’s easy to be a Christian. We want a country where people don’t challenge the authenticity of the Bible or make us think about the consistency of our beliefs. We want a comfortable life that makes us feel like everyone around us is a Christian, as long as we don’t ask too many hard questions.
Christianity vs. Christendom
All of this boils down to understanding the difference between spreading Christianity and spreading “Christendom.” When I discussed the different views of the end times and role of the church, I mentioned that Christianity is meant to be “grassroots,” starting at the individual level and letting it spread from there. Christendom, by contrast, is how powerful Christianity is within the government, and how much the government is willing to enforce Christianity among its citizens. Christianity looks at people while Christendom looks at numbers.
If it’s not clear by now, Christendom is little more than government-sponsored false conversions. Think of it on a family level – if a father sat his children down and said “If you’re living in this house, I expect you to be Christian,” what are those children going to do? Their level of dependence on their father means that it‘s only in their best interest to say and do things that line up with what’s expected of them, whether they believe it or not. They know the father won’t inspect their personal holiness or genuine repentance from sin – he’s satisfied with the appearance of Christianity in his home.
Many of us know people who grew up in homes like this. Those who grew up around any kind of conservative religion, Christian or otherwise, have heard someone tell the story of how suffocated they were by their parent’s religion, how they secretly found ways to rebel, and after gaining their independence have completely rejected all appearances of their parent’s religion, perhaps even cutting ties with their family altogether.
We, as Christians, have been convinced that we want the same thing for our nation. We want an overwhelming number of people to tick a certain box so that we can have the appearance of nationwide conversion. We, like that father, want the comfort of feeling like we’ve done our job. We want to feel like we’re winning.
But the more we fight for a Christian nation from this direction, the more we’re fighting for more people to ultimately reject the Savior we want them to know.
How Christendom led to rejecting Christ
All societies are ultimately just a reaction to what came before them. When we mourn and lament the current state of our country, we must realize that things like the sexual revolution, increased atheism, emotion-based churches, and even the increase in hopelessness and substance abuse didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Everything we see around us is the result of what came before it.
So how did such a Christian nation fall so far from what it once was? Ultimately, generations of bad theology and minimal Bible knowledge led to enough people not knowing how to answer the big question in life that atheists and other belief systems were willing to answer for them. We see this clearly in the Scopes trial, but even today many parents are overwhelmed because their children are asking them basic questions about their faith that they can’t answer outside of their Christian circles.
The rise of intellectualism, scholasticism, and scientific understanding should have led to a more refined view of our beliefs and the world our God created. Instead, the majority of the country was so spiritually immature that they had no idea how to defend their faith. A generation of teens and young adults started questioning their beliefs, and the only response their parents could muster was “Because the Bible says so… somewhere” or some other way of dismissing their children’s questions instead of engaging with them and showing them why following Christ is the only thing that makes sense.
The ease of being a Christian will ultimately lead to generations who will reject Christ. Following our Savior has a price – if not persecution, then at least the rejection of our self-righteousness and pride as we live out Galatians 2:20 by making Christ central to our lives, rather than an accessory that makes us feel better. Yet that’s exactly what we saw in Rome and in America – Christ was an assumed part of everyday life. People carried on with their lives while paying lip service to God, perhaps without really knowing why they did it beyond “it’s what I’ve always done.”
It should never surprise us when cultural Christianity produces increasingly immature and lazy spirituality.
And again, we must pause and ask ourselves if this is really the America we want. Or, more importantly, is this the Christianity that is true to Christ? Is the county we see today really the result of parents bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), or diligently teaching their children all the things of God (Deuteronomy 6:7)?
Why we must reject Christian Nationalism
Understanding the core of this belief system, and how we’ve seen similar ideas play out in history, what are some specific reasons Christians must draw a very hard line between their citizenship in America and their identity in Christ? I’ve hinted at these, but now let’s really examine why Christian Nationalism, at any level, isn’t compatible with Christianity.
Citizens of Heaven, residents of America
Earlier in this article, I shared some common beliefs held by Christians today. All of them centered around one thing: the worth, value, identity, and sometimes the eternal destiny of a human being is found in how closely they adhere to a particular idea of a “true American.” How we think about the world is filtered through who we are as Americans first, and thus a “true follower” of Christ is expected to believe things about God in a way that promotes a particular vision for America. In other words, how we think as Christians is first defined by how we think as Americans.
When we do this, we allow our cultural and political traditions to define what God says is true, or we allow it to make God say something He hasn’t. Simply put, we are willing to change God and what He says to make Him agree with our American ideas.
For example, recent years have seen a rising popularity in calling America God’s new promised land. We are compared to Israel, and thus we need to fight to recapture God’s land from the forces of Satan. It sounds great, and as Americans it gives us a certain swell of pride to think that our country is, in fact, God’s country.
Yet no where in the Bible can we accurately read anything that would support this. Yes, people have distorted Scripture to make it seem like America may be a sort of promised land, but when we apply good Bible reading methods we’ll see that these interpretations are guilty of interpreting the Bible through American tradition, not a historically-accurate understanding of God’s word.
Another popular one is using Luke 22:35-38 (Christ telling His disciples to take swords with them) as proof of our God-ordained right to own guns. Does the context of Christ’s words, with consideration to the culture He was in when He spoke this, justify this interpretation? Was Christ speaking about the right to bear arms over 2,000 years ago? Did He expect them to kill people who would take their stuff or threaten their rights as citizens? It doesn’t really matter, because the most important thing is that we can read it in a way that allows us to take our rights and beliefs as Americans and justify them in our religion.
The question, of course, is why. Why would people who genuinely want to honor God with our lives be so willing to twist Scripture, perhaps without realizing it? Often, it’s because we are desperate to make our identities as Americans fit with our identity in Christ. We see ourselves as Americans, but we also know that our lives need to fall in line with God’s word. Perhaps it doesn’t even occur to us to compromise or abandon certain American beliefs, so instead we try to find justification through individual verses, or find certain teachers who will affirm what we already want to believe.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20)
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Salvation didn’t just grant us freedom from Hell. Christ also made us strangers in this world by making us citizens of Heaven. We aren’t here to live a good life, be successful, or even be happy. We are here to honor God with our lives, serving Jesus Christ in all we do.
So while we may live in America, that’s not where we’re called to find our identity. We can take part in all the blessings we have in this country, especially since we can love our neighbors by voting for certain laws. However, we must never let the beliefs of a country, or even a political party that seems Christian, come before what God’s word truly tells us. Nor can we ever dishonor our God by taking Bible verses out of context to justify what we want to believe.
The difference between influence and dominance
As any belief system spreads, it’s only natural that it will start to shape the world around it. History has shown that Christianity is no different – as more citizens of an area become children of God, the things they have influence over will naturally follow. Certain businesses will flourish or fail because of what their customers desire. Certain laws will be past or stricken down because of what voters believe to be good and right. Lifestyles and traditions will change as people desire to align their lives with God’s word.
The natural consequence of Christian influence is that a society forms itself around what is or isn’t accepted because of the individuals living in that society.
However, that takes a lot of time. It requires intense, focused, and purposeful discipleship to give people a solid foundation for their faith. It means we have to dedicate ourselves to studying God’s word, then passing our faith on to others. It demands so much more than sacrificing a Sunday morning and a few minutes before we start the rest of our day. Spreading the gospel and helping new Christians grow in their faith requires us to devote our lives to the work of God.
If we’re honest, it’s something few of us feel capable of doing. Perhaps even fewer of us are willing to sacrifice that much of our own lives for such a daunting task. We’re much more comfortable with asking Christ to save us, then spending our lives trying not to feel too guilty about what we do.
It’s much easier, and less personally demanding, to want the work to be done for us. If a country is Christian, then we can live our lives with minimal sacrifice. We don’t have to worry about our children or neighbors because they’re saying all the right words. We don’t need to preach or disciple because someone else will pick up the slack until we feel “ready.” Any laws that are passed must be right because the people passing them go to church. We don’t have to give up much of our lives for God because everyone around us allows us to be content with where we are.
If influence begins at an individual level, then dominance focuses on the group. It worries about putting the right people in power so that they can spread Christian values to others. It desires for people to act right by following a certain tradition, with little need to invest in someone’s spiritual health. It’s our natural desire to feel like we’re “winning” by having dominance at the government or social level, even at the necessary expense of spiritual shallowness in individuals.
Mistaking conversion for salvation
From a Christian perspective, one part of romantic relationships that’s always baffled me is people who say “I’m thinking of converting to my significant other’s religion.” Being a follower of Christ is about conviction – we believe God’s word is true, and thus our lives change as we follow after our Savior. But when someone “converts” to their spouse’s religion, what they truly mean is that they are thinking of abiding by a certain lifestyle, tradition, and set of principles. Conversion like this is about action, not the heart.
This is what Christian nationalism fights for. It wants people to convert to Chrisitanity in the same way a Catholic woman may convert to her husband’s Islam- she’ll follow the dietary laws, do daily or weekly activities, attend gatherings, teach her children a certain way, and generally give an outward appearance that convinces others she is, indeed, a Muslim.
Likewise, it’s tempting to be content if the majority of our country goes to church, prays at meals or before important meetings, and generally says all the right things. We want the polls to show that Christianity, not atheism, is on the rise. We want people to call for tearing down atheism in our schools and homes, instead teaching people to believe the right things about the Bible.
This shows one of the greatest problems Christian Nationalism has with the gospel. Deep down, we just want people to “act Christian” while hoping it eventually touches their hearts. We don’t want them to experience the radical change in worldview that only Jesus Christ can bring. We confuse a lifestyle change from salvation with the behavioral change of conversion.
Of course, we’d ideally like the best of both worlds. We want people in a Christian nation to truly love Jesus Christ. Yet as we’ve seen, it’s one or the other: either we lead people to Jesus Christ and watch Him change their lives, or we set up a government to convert people to a Christian lifestyle that ends with so many people standing before a Christ they’ve never truly known.
A lot has been said about the dangers of Christian Nationalism. It requires us to misinterpret God’s word to fit with our American identities; it makes us lazy and irresponsible with discipleship; it encourages us to get truth from worldly news and policies more than God’s word; and it leads to an “easy peasy” style of Christianity that makes it more costly not to identify as a Christian. It desires, perhaps above all else, power and favor at a government level.
A biblical perspective
So what are we to do? Should we hate our country? Is it better to act like monks and isolate ourselves from the world? How can we balance a worldview that puts God first as we live in America?
Thankfulness for our current dwelling
There’s nothing wrong with patriotism when it’s properly understood. To be patriotic is to simply have a love or pride for our country. This is much different than the fanaticism we’ve discussed.
America isn’t perfect, but there’s a reason people from poor or oppressive countries want to live here. We generally care for those in need, we are generally fair in our laws, and we generally feel safe from both our citizens and our government. Things could be better, but we can also look around the world to see how it could be so much worse. And for that, we can be incredibly thankful to live here.
It’s possible to find a balance between being thankful for where God has placed us without compromising our true identities as followers of Jesus Christ. It’s possible to oppose much of what our country does or has done because it stands against the truth of God’s word, while at the same time appreciating the many blessings we have. We don’t have to excuse evil or suppress good simply because it’s not “in line” with the world’s idea of being a true patriot. We must stand for Christ above all, praising the things He loves while rejecting the things He hates.
Heavenly citizens who vote to love their neighbor
As human beings, we’re often tempted to swing to one extreme or the other. We think if we identify with a certain political party, we have to fight for and defend every aspect of it while simultaneously fighting against or attacking anything having to do with the “other side.” Rather than adopting such a worldly mentality of tribalism, we can instead understand that we can use our privileges in this country to show God’s grace to others.
In America, we have the incredible ability to serve others by how we vote. We have the power to tell our government to protect all life, help those in need, and offer safety and fairness to those around us. Many of us have the “big issues,” like marriage or abortion, that we’ll vote on as followers of Christ. For the rest, however, we tend to vote as Americans who just assume that because our party is the “Christian party,” whatever they vote on must be right.
Unsurprisingly, the key to this is balance. It’s important to remember that we aren’t Republicans who happen to be Christians, but instead Christians who tend to agree with certain parts of the Republican party. We must cast our votes as Christians, regardless of what the (R) next to our name may otherwise demand of us.
We have the ability to love our neighbors by how we vote, but we can only do that when we remember that political parties are based on worldly wisdom. Will our votes lead to the salvation of others? Probably not. But we also know it’s always better to show love to someone than not to.
Focus on people, not programs or policies
As followers of Christ, are we individuals who are called to teach others about the truth of our Savior, or create a system meant to oversee a country and manage the righteous behavior of its citizens? When we have a nationlistic mindset, we focus on Christianizing the government or our society so that it will do the work of evangelism and discipleship for us. We want good behavior to be a product of policy, not changed hearts.
But when we remember that Christianity, at its core, is individuals bearing witness to what they’ve seen and experienced, sharing the reality of sin and salvation with others, then true evangelism can take place. Likewise, even after salvation, the local church becomes integral to the spiritual growth and maturity of those within it. It becomes more difficult to simply “go along to get along” when people are living for more than just good behavior.
For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)
We can’t rely on the government to save us. We can’t create a program or develop a society that will tell others of their need for Jesus Christ, both for salvation and holy living. Christ chooses to do His work on Earth through individuals, and that needs to be what we are always moving toward.
We don’t need a Christian nation. We need Christians to do the difficult work of learning, growing, and making disciples wherever they are. We must focus on our families, neighbors, and those in our local church if we want to see genuine repentance in the lives of others. Policies can produce good behavior, but only Christ can change the hearts of individuals.
Truth from the Bible above all else
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
Nationalism is so dangerous to the church because Christians are easily convinced that America is God’s chosen nation. It presents a false view of the church, the importance of a single country, and the will of God in order to promote a certain political belief.
The idea is easy enough to believe. Those who spread it will use basic biblical concepts and seem to use individual verses to prove their claims of America’s importance and our need to reclaim it for God. We hear countless people use the name of God or Jesus and just assume that what they say must align with the Bible. And when Christians don’t know how to read their Bibles well or let their worldview be fully formed by God’s word, it’s no surprise that we develop a belief system that seems Christian, when it’s ultimately just a secular system with Christian decorations.
Like any false teaching, it starts to fall apart when we start with God’s word as our highest source of truth. With God’s word leading our minds, we are willing to let all other beliefs, no matter how attractive they are to us, fall to the side if they don’t line up with the Bible. Even something that we’ve believed for years won’t have room in our lives if it doesn’t genuinely fall under the authority of the Bible.
However, this can only happen when we spend more time in God’s word than in the news. What we fill our minds with the most is going to impact what we believe about the world. Even if our news sources are Christian-adjacent, they will never be the same as spending time with God in the Bible that He gave us. And the more we treasure God’s word, and especially as we learn to handle it rightly, the less tolerant we will be of any beliefs that abuse it.
(Not sure how to read or understand the Bible well? Check out this article. Or check out this article to see how a biblical worldview protects us from unbiblical ideas.)
Citizens of Heaven, residents of America
Christian Nationalism makes sense from a worldly perspective. It tries to find hope and salvation in both worldly systems and a perfect Savior. It tries to let us be fully American and fully Christian. However, those two identities cannot peacefully coexist. Either we must reject part of our worldly citizenship to stay faithful to Christ, or we must reject part of our heavenly citizenship to remain true to our country.
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. (John 15:18-21)
In the past I’ve discussed that living for Christ will lead to people hating us because they hate Him. It may look more civilized here compared to other countries, but its an inescapable reality that darkness will always hate the light of Jesus Christ.
In America, it’s easy to think that because people argue with us about politics on social media, Christ’s words are being fulfilled. Yet that points to the very heart of our nationalistic mindset – because people disagree with our political views, we assume they’re persecuting us for our faith. If the two are so indistinguishable, it may reveal a great deal to us.
On top of that, we should also expect all people, not just those of a certain political persuasion, to hate us. So why is it that only one side of the political aisle vilifies us while the other pats us on the back and feeds us another article to read and share with others? How can we get along so splendidly with half the country when many of them live as daily enemies of our Savior? Why aren’t they as offended by us as those who voted for a different president?
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:3-4)
It’s important that we always evaluate where we find our citizenship, and thus our identity. If we are so wrapped up in the affairs of this world that our purpose as followers of Christ becomes secondary, we miss out on the true joy of living as citizens of Heaven. There’s nothing wrong with paying attention to the world around us, but never at the expense of our highest calling as sold-out followers of Christ.
Christian Nationalism, in all its forms, takes our eyes of Christ. It places our hope in the spiritual state of a soulless society, rather than the individual souls that live within it. It seeks to gain power and favor that leads to comfortable living. It finds contentment with people acting right, regardless of their motivations. The idea of reclaiming America for Christ sounds good, but it simply doesn’t fit with our calling.
Make no mistake, it’s difficult to live in America and not give in to some form of nationalism. I’ve spent 15 pages writing about the dangers of Christian Nationalism, yet I’d be a fool to believe I don’t continue to find traces of it in my own worldview. A form of nationalism is so baked into our culture that we don’t realize how much we’ve been conditioned to accept a false teaching as truth.
Yet by the grace of God, we can live victorious lives in Jesus Christ. We can have a proper view of the world and our place within it. We can let the Holy Spirit grow our spiritual maturity so that we can find greater joy in fully living for Christ, telling others about Him and passing spiritual wisdom on to newer believers. We can define good and evil, joy and sorrow, right and wrong according to the Bible, not political agendas.
And for many of us, that must start by recognizing just how much of our hope, security, and identities have become wrapped up in our country, rather than our Savior.
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