The Leftist Straw Man of Christian Nationalism
“You err because you don’t know the Scriptures (Mt 22:29; Mk 12:24)” is one of Jesus’ sharpest rebukes. As querulous Democrats continue their summer gun spree, death counts will once again challenge annual records. The crime fest under the impotent district attorneys in Democrat cities has made a mockery of any sense of justice. With U.S. Supreme Court decisions liberating babies and people who wish to pray, lawless Democrats are once again rampaging through city streets — fire-bombing churches, pregnancy help centers, and historical monuments. What are the street terrorists afraid of this time? Answer: Christian Nationalism.
Christians love God, and they love their neighbors as themselves albeit imperfectly. Christians in America are typically patriotic toward the United States. There is a very rich history of Christian influence upon American society and culture. Christians believe God has blessed America with some correlation to the laws of the land being aligned with the Law of God.
Leftists love and trust big government. Christians do not. Christians love and trust Jesus Christ. Leftists do not. History proves that the tension between church and state has been raging from the beginning of time. European history warns us that neither King nor Pope is trustworthy; therefore, American founding fathers separated the realms ideologically, and later in various practical ways.
The tension between church and state has not been lessened, however, and it increases when issues divide Christians and Leftists. Both sides claim to be champions of freedom, but the freedoms look very different. The problem in much of the debate is language. Words have meaning but the same word may have two or more meanings.
The term “Christian” and the term “Nationalism” carry any number of meanings by themselves. When combined for derogatory purposes by Leftists, the objective is to demonize all patriotic Americans who happen to be Christians. Leftists burn American flags and profane national holidays, especially when the tide of perceived direction by the nation moves toward a more Christian ideal.
“Thou shalt not murder” (Ex 20:13) is a Christian ideal, so the death culture is abhorrent to Christians whether it is the war between nations, cities in murderous strife, or babies tortured to death in their mothers’ wombs. Leftists trust government to be the savior in these cases, while Christians recognize Jesus is the only Savior (Titus 1:3; 2:13; 3:6). The notorious performance of governments to fix problems adds to the tension. The problems are not going away, nor is the rampant corruption of the problem solvers.
The debate over the idea of a Christian nation is perverted from both sides. The United States had a beginning. In the beginning there were ideas. Ideas became practices. When sinners grabbed land and enslaved people, laws had to be enacted. Freedom never includes the idea that we are free to sin.
It is the nature of government to imagine that sinners will obey laws, but the Bible rejects that idea (Rom 5:20). Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4) and sinners are guilty of breaking laws (Rom 3:23; 5:12). There is also a disparity between the holy, righteous, and good Law of God and the laws of governments. Unfortunately, human governments can legislate sin (lawlessness) to be the law of the land.
When sin is the law of the land, the people groan because criminals have the advantage over those who endeavor to obey the righteous Law of God. The unchecked theft of retail and grocery stores means that the community is subsidizing thieves who walk out the door with lots of free stuff. “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex 20:15) is another Christian ideal, again derived from the Law of God.
Obviously, this leads to the issue of policing. The nature of policing communities is to capture and punish criminal lawbreakers, which benefits law-abiding citizens. The reason is that sinners (victims) escalate criminal behavior when they exact their own revenge against initial perpetrators. The criminal justice system varies from place to place. Leftist terrorists roam Portland, Oregon, doing damage at will, while right-wing terrorists are shut down and arrested even before they do anything in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Ironically, “Defund the Police” is popular in Portland but not in Coeur d’Alene. If that is confusing for you for some reason…welcome!
The author of confusion is Satan, the original liar and murderer. As the ruler of this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), his law is sinning of every kind. The result is chaos. Chaos is the reality for those who prefer godlessness. Godliness is countercultural to chaos and confusion. We know what godliness is by the revelation of the Law of God (Ex 20; Dt 5), and this is the desire of true Christian Nationalists.
Christian Nationalists actually make up a very small percentage of Christians in America because of their delusional belief that sinners will or could be forced to comply with the Law of God. It is true that Americans would benefit from America adopting the moral Law of God, but sinners are in rebellion against God, who they hate with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength (Jn 7:7; 15:18–25; Rom 1:30).
So, when the Leftists promote Christian Nationalism as the bogeyman, it is a strawman argument because Christians know from the Bible that all the nations are in a rage against God and His anointed, Jesus Messiah (Ps 2:1–2). There is only one holy nation that is truly under God (1 Pet 2:9), and that is God’s chosen people who serve Him as royal priests — obviously not the United States of America — but it is Christ’s church, the Israel of God (Is 49:1–6; Gal 6:16), who have His Spirit guiding them into all truth, as it is in Jesus (Jn 16:13; Eph 4:21).
The kingdom of God will become the kingdom of this world after this world has been judged by the just Judge of all the earth — King Jesus Christ (Gen 18:25; 1 Tim 6:15; Rev 11:15). His kingdom is here and now, only in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). Therefore, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven are only ambassadors for Christ in this world of darkness (2 Cor 5:20; Phil 3:20). America…this world…is not the Christian pilgrim’s home (Jn 18:36). We have a better country, elsewhere (Heb 11:16).
For Leftists to understand the real mission of Christians, whose national allegiance has New Jerusalem as its capitol city (Rev 3:12; 21:2, 10), we redirect them to the biblical idea of the Holy Spirit gathering in the elect people of God to Christ’s church (1 Cor 12:13). God’s chosen people actually reside in every nation, tribe, and language group in the world (Rev 5:9; 7:9). Some of God’s elect people remain oblivious to their true identity as citizens of heaven, and it is the Spirit of God working through Christ’s church that calls these lost, elect people to turn from their rebellion against God (2 Cor 5:18–20). They do, at some point, by the irresistible grace of our sovereign God (Jn 6:29, 37, 44, 65).
In conclusion, we say to the Christian Nationalists, “Stop confusing Americans with your misplaced desire to produce heaven on earth, in discord with God’s revealed plan in the Bible. Your misinterpretation of the Bible brings the wrath of the Leftists upon the church unnecessarily.”
We say to the Leftists, “The hell you are producing in American cities is only a preparatory exercise for the eternal utopia of godless hades, where God no longer restrains the evil you crave. Therefore, there should be no fear of ‘Christian Nationalism’ because that is not the agenda of Christ’s church. It is true that righteousness exalts a nation, but America is not a righteous nation, nor will it ever be.”
Thus, we have seen that both the handful of Christian Nationalists and the Leftists are both in error because neither of them knows Holy Scripture. My dear reader, if you are an American, you must repent of your sins (lawlessness) against Yahweh, by turning to and trusting Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30–31; 17:30), who alone can pardon and forgive you of your lawless rebellion.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 11, 2022
