Tag: Christian Nationalism

Grieving the Corruption of Christianity

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness

Like many followers of Christ, I was shocked in 2016 to see the overwhelming support Donald Trump received from Christians and people who claim to be Christians. The fact that this group again voted for him in 2020 and 2024 makes it very clear that Christianity has been corrupted.

Trump did not corrupt Christianity on his own. False teachers have been putting their desire for political power above the truths of the gospel for decades. Fox News and other far-right media spread disinformation and the fear of others that is central to the MAGA movement.

Today, as I walk through what feels like the valley of the shadow of death, I grieve the damage done to Christianity. There are four primary reasons for my grief.

1. The Church’s witness to unbelievers has been severely damaged.

This one hits close to home. Although my husband is agnostic, he used to come to church with me on Christmas Eve and Easter. He was beginning to soften his heart towards Christianity. Then, in 2016, 80% of Christians voted for a man who was and is the antithesis of Christ. When I started going to my current church in 2020, I made the mistake of telling my husband that I saw someone in church wearing a MAGA hat. Now, he absolutely refuses to attend services there. (Since then, we have seen one of the church elders wearing a MAGA hat at a local sports lounge).

Even people who do not believe in God know that Trump’s heart is far from God. He does not bear any of the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. To be fair, he is kind to sycophants.

Christ’s followers are supposed to be a light in this dark world (Matthew 5:13-16). We’re supposed to be the salt of the earth. Sadly, today, we are not.

2.  Christians have been deceived and led astray.

Jesus warned that even the elect (chosen) will be deceived (Mark 16:22 and Matthew 24:24). Jesus warned his followers to watch out for false prophets. “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Jesus also warned the disciples to “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6).” Pharisees were legalists, believing that a person can be saved by following the law. Yet, not one of us can obey God’s law perfectly. Legalism is not compatible with the gospel of grace. Ironically, even though Trump is a man of lawlessness, he has won the support of legalists.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul appealed to them to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.” But today, there is a deep division in mind and thought within Christianity that can not be bridged. You are either with Christ or you are against him. And Donald Trump is against everything Christ teaches his followers.

3. Believers are leaving the Church.

Many churches have been so damaged by the politicization of Christianity that faithful believers leave. If you leave your church, you lose your sense of fellowship and community.

Even if your church has not been politicized, chances are, many of the congregants have been discipled by people outside the church who have a political agenda. There may be an unspoken assumption that all Christians support Trump’s agenda. When the people sitting in the pew next to you support Trump and his antichrist agenda, you must keep silent to maintain the peace.

For now, I’ve chosen to stay in church because my pastor preaches the truth of the gospel. He does not get into politics other than to acknowledge the divisions. He tries to shepherd us in the right direction, in the way of Christ.

Before the election, my pastor preached a sermon from the book of Daniel about the Israelites living in exile in Babylon. The sermon was specifically about Daniel’s friends ignoring the sounds of horns, harps, lyres, and other instruments that signaled that it was time to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. They refused to bow down and were thrown into a fiery furnace. After hearing that sermon, I now think of myself as an exile from American Evangelicalism.

4. The morality of the country has been damaged.

Trump empowers Christian nationalists and white supremacists. Christian nationalism is a perversion of the Christian faith. White supremacy is a perversion of humanity.

Donald Trump reminds me of the man of lawlessness mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. He lies constantly. He is unrepentant. He spreads hate and gives people permission to be vile and mean. He thinks he is above the law, and his supporters agree.

The fruit of Trump’s wickedness includes the dehumanization of immigrants and stripping the LGBTQ+ community of civil rights. His rotten fruit includes defaming his many enemies and seeking revenge against them. His economic policies that put corporations above individuals and the wealthy above the lower classes stink to high heaven. His betrayal of our allies and disregard for the environment are rotten.

He is corrupt to the core and many “Christians” don’t care.

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I remind myself that the Lord is with me. Jesus warned us about dark times so we would be prepared. He has a job for me to do: speak out and stand firm in his truth until the end. Be strong and courageous.

Speaking out against MAGA

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness

I tried really hard the past four years to avoid posting anything political on Facebook. What good did my silence do? I avoided arguments, but did I make a difference? Did I stand up for what’s right?

A few days ago, several strangers – MAGA trolls – attacked me on Facebook (calling me retarded, questioning my sanity, and other things too vulgar to repeat) all because I posted, on a Biden page, that what I will miss about his presidency is human decency.

I am not a Biden fan, but I do not dislike him. I wish that he had not run for reelection. But he is a decent human being.

What motivates people to troll the page of a person with whom they disagree? Hatred is my guess.

Americans have been fed a steady diet of lies by MAGA. The trollers are doing exactly what their leader has trained them to do. Hate your enemies. Live in fear of others, especially immigrants and LGBTQ.

Christians, including loved ones and those who sit in the pew with me, are being led astray. Their faith has become transactional.

When did it become wrong to value basic human decency? When did dehumanizing immigrants, sexually assaulting women, hating your enemies, and lying pathologically become acceptable to Christians?

My mother didn’t go to church, but she taught me to be a decent human being, to treat other people with dignity and respect. She taught me to accept people for who they are.

Earlier this year, my Christian sister  demanded that I stop speaking when I criticized Trump in response to her criticism of Harris. Later, she said that she does not pass judgment on Trump. (She does pass judgment on others, however).

My mother taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But today, silence feels like complicity.

In the last few days, I found a couple of channels on YouTube that encouraged me and gave me hope. One of them is Culture, Faith, and Politics, hosted by a retired pastor named Pat Kahnke. He encouraged his listeners to find your channel of resistance.

This page is my channel. I pay for it. I will use it to speak out!

God, give me the courage to speak out against the MAGA movement and Christian Nationalism. Thank you for showing me that it is not only right to resist. It’s my Christian duty.

What’s happening to Christianity in America?

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness

What’s happening to Christianity in America? I’ve been trying to figure this out for years. My first clue that something was wrong was hearing the leader of my Bible study claim that Barack Obama was an antichrist because he is a liberal. As she and other members of the group fretted about impending socialism, I concluded that they were being discipled by right-wing media. I dropped out of the group.

The next group was no different. At times, listening to my sisters in Christ was like listening to Fox News. I tried my best to keep my mouth shut when one of them brought up hot-button issues like immigration and homosexuality. When one member said, “They say he [Trump] is a Christian,” I had to speak up. Trump’s  words and conduct prove otherwise.

Pew Research Center reports that “[t]he percentage of American adults who identify as Christian has been declining each year.” Evangelical Christians see the increasingly secular culture as a reason to use government to force religion on the “nones” (people with no religious affililiation). In contrast, I believe that Christianity has become unattractive to non-believers because so many Christians have abandoned Christ’s teaching in exchange for political power.

God has not changed. The Bible has not changed. Unfortunately, the meanings of the words “Christian” and “evangelical” have been damaged, which in turn damages Christian witness. I am still Christ’s disciple. I still believe in evangelism, but today, Evangelical Christians are not evangelizing, i.e., spreading the Good News.

The best antidote to bad religion is good religion.

Tim Alberta quoting Miroslav Volf, the head of Yale University’s Center for Faith and Culture)

These are troubling times for faithful followers of Christ. We see a man of lawlessness who clearly has no interest in the word of God, hawking ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles for $59.99. Too many Evangelicals see nothing wrong with this.

The best cure for bad religion is good religion, religion that is based on the morality of Christ.

Patriotism gone amok

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness, Word Prompts

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

It makes me sad when a good word is co-opted by misguided people.  The word patriotic describes a person who is devoted to their country.  The word patriotic used to evoke feelings of pride in my country, the sweet land of liberty. Now, it brings to mind people who are devoted to a man with autocratic tendencies and people who conflate faith with nationism.

The man who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in the United States of America in 2021 described the insurrectionists he summoned to the US Capitol as ‘patriots.’ 

Were these rioters demonstrating devotion to the United States of America when they stormed the Capitol? No, they were demonstrating devotion to a man. They came to protest in D.C. on January 6th because a demagogue told them to be there.

The Capitol rioters aren’t the only ones who have soured me on the word patriotic. Christian Nationalists might well be described as patriotic; they are certainly devoted to the good old USA. Not only are they devoted to a misguided vision of our country, but they also idolize nationalism.

Let’s put truth over tribe and play a game called “America or Jesus?”

Patriotic Christians recognize they are citizens of heaven first and citizens of America second (Philippians 3:20).

Keith Simon, Truth Over Tribe

I am a Christian, and I love my country, but I am a citizen of heaven first. I am devoted to God.

My Father God to Thee, Author of Liberty, to Thee I sing.

My country, ’tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing:
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring!

A Disciple of Jesus Christ Rejecting and Resisting Christian Nationalism

by Innermost Being, posted in Man of Lawlessness

Something has been bothering me and I have to get it off my chest. A couple of days before the Presidential election, a member of my old church shared a post from a former pastor in which he wrote, “This week I will be voting for the sanctity of life, for religious liberty as understood by our founders, for the sanctity of marriage, for our constitutional order and original intent, and against the growing influence of socialism and cultural Marxism in our nation.” This statement disturbed me because it is a clear example of Christian nationalism and a Christian endorsement of Donald Trump, a man who is the antithesis of Jesus Christ.

I can’t believe that after four years, I am still asking myself, how can Christians support a man whose behavior is the complete opposite of Jesus Christ? How can they accept his racism, xenophobia, hatred and cruelty? While many Christians complain that our culture has taken Christ out of Christmas, sadly many Christians have taken Christ out of Christianity.

The man who made the Christian nationalist endorsement of Trump is now the president of a Christian university with the ability to influence thousands of young minds. For years, I looked up to the woman who shared his post and admired her for her caring ministry. Now I see her as just another Christian who conflates religion with politics. It is disappointing and disheartening but I should not have been surprised.

Conflating religious authority with political authority is idolatrous and often leads to oppression of minority and other marginalized groups as well as the spiritual impoverishment of religion.

Christians Against Christian Nationalism

I just read Drew Straits’ review of the book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, by Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry. The authors describe four orientations to Christian nationalism – Rejecters, Resisters, Accommodators, and Ambassadors – and confirm what I have observed in too many of my Christian friends: it’s all about power and not about true religion. As Strait wrote in his review, Christian nationalism is about acquiring and using political power to influence “issues like Islam, immigration, abortion/patriarchy, militarism, gun control and sacrificial allegiance to the flag…”

Obsession with power explains why Ambassadors and Accommodators overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election while overlooking the many ways that Trump’s personal life is at odds with Christian ethics. Again, Trump’s personal religious piety is of little significance—what matters is that he pulls the right ideological levers to shape America into the image of Christian nationalism, to reclaim a mythical past. 

Drew J. Strait

I knew after the 2016 election that I was in the minority of Christians who oppose and resist the wickedness of Donald Trump. Since then, I have been encouraged to hear from other followers of Jesus Christ who believe that political ambition is not more important than being true to our Savior and sharing his inclusive message of love and redemption.

In What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey wrote, “Like fine wine poured into a jug of water, Jesus’ wondrous message of grace gets diluted in the vessel of the church.” Yancey quoted David Seamands, who noted that many evangelical Christians fail “to understand, receive, and live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness” and fail “to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people…”

I believe in the sanctity of life and I believe in the sanctity of marriage. And yet I know that Christians and non-Christians alike, fall short of the glory of God. No law and no government can change the hearts of people; only God can do that. I do not live in fear of socialism and cultural Marxism.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)

I will not be dismayed by Christian Nationalism. I reject it and I resist it.

I want people to see the love of Jesus reflected in me.

I want to live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness.

I want to give out God’s unconditional love, grace and forgiveness to others.

With all of this in mind, I will be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people and for those who have not seen the love of God in the church.

I will put on the full armor of God so I can take a stand against the devil’s schemes.*

I will stand firm, with the belt of truth buckled around my waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with my feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 

In addition to all this, I take up the shield of faith, with which I can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. In this stand against Christian Nationalism, I will take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

*Ephesians 6:10-18