The False Gospel of America
I grew up in a very patriotic home. God and country were also like hand in glove for our German immigrant settlement. Every family was from somewhere else. It was only a matter of how long one’s family had been present in America. Every American immigrant comes with the hope of salvation from some socialist dictator or oppressive system of political and social failure.
For many, the United States has been the land of opportunity, which holds a measure of freedom, albeit over-rated. The melting pot of the world celebrates its birthday, July 4 each year. 245 years ago an experiment began that has been repeatedly tweaked.
Prosperity has come to many in America, and yet, poverty has not been vanquished. The prosperous, of course, wish for things to remain as they are, “Why reinvent the wheel?” they query.
Nationalism, with its patriotism, is no better than the lie of globalism. Christians must not be party to either scheme of man. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20), where Christ is seated on the throne of God, and where He reigns over all (Rev 19:6).
The manifest destiny of nationalism is a particular stench in the nostrils of the One who declares, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He is not talking about the U.S.A. The kingdom of God is spiritual. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). The magnificent obsession and occupation of every Christian is to bear witness of a better country, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of our God (Heb 12:22).
The American patriotic Christian, who believes the United States is, “one nation under God,” is grossly deceived. Ripping Scripture out of context to justify American Exceptionalism is unwarranted, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance (Ps 33:12).” This Scripture preceded the United States by two thousand years. It did not prophesy of America, nor does it call the United States to repentance and obedience for God’s blessing.
No nation in the history of the world has been blessed by the Lord for its being obedient, or even the object of His grace and blessing…except one. The one nation under God, who can claim to be His own inheritance, chosen of God is the holy nation (1 Pet 2:9), the church (Mt 16:18; Eph 5:25), the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).
The people of God’s own possession, elect in every generation, called out from the nations of the world, is the body of Christ. God’s chosen people are in Christ, who is their inheritance. They are the sons of God, no longer slaves to nationalism, globalism, or any other “-ism” designed by men, for men, for the consolidation of money and power.
Christian, you must live with a war time mentality. Your resources are God’s resources. There is nothing lacking, yet nothing wasted in God’s economy. We give because He first gave to us, that we might be owners of everything, yet having nothing to call our own. There is no mantra of independence, for we are slaves of Christ, fully dependent on the One who bought us with His precious blood.
God’s people have been set free by the truth, and the truth is that our allegiance is to Christ, our King, alone. We must not love the world, the country we reside in as ambassadors for Christ, nor the things of the world because the world is passing away. Today, and every day, let us celebrate our better country, the Zion of God, our eternal homeland.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 8, 2021
