Christian Nationalism: A Dangerous Dogma

 There are no people in the world in any country that God loves more than others. God's gift to man through Calvary is available to any man, woman, or child anywhere at any time. I have noticed that Christian Nationalists seem to think they have some kind of special favor merited from God. (A dangerous dogma because if you think God is on your side anyone in your way will have major trouble or hurt). The idea, like Christian Nationalism, is delusional. It's vain and lofty imaginations at work in peoples minds and imaginations that need to be "cast down"  as Paul mentioned in II Corinthians. In Christian Nationalism, it shows itself as a quest for power, and in most cases, at any cost (racism, anti-semitism, lies, etc), and on and on as imaginations have no boundary.                                           

I struggled for awhile with the idea that a person could be a Christian Nationalist without realizing it as I came across lots of CNs  who adamantly deny it. (Though some are embracing CN now). 

In honest evaluation though, I realized that I pushed many Christian Nationalist ideas for many years. In a country that has "In God We Trust" on our money (among other things) it becomes an almost common theme in Church Americana. I can look at things and events in USA history that seemed to reinforce those ideas until suddenly people like David Barton are preaching about how America has Christ in it's history and since He is a part of history...God will do great things for us 'To further His Kingdom). Waiting on God becomes long and tedious so efforts become political and the imaginations take off. The frustration eventually creates toxic Christian Nationalist ideologies. It is then that the time is ripe for a leader to step up and  use that frustration for their own personal advantage. Donald Trump and Michael Flynn are exploiting that now. We are where Germany was in the 1930s when at that time a relatively unknown but charismatic person established the Third Reich in 1933. 

Christian Nationalism has always had a bad end. Unfortunately the Third Reich lasted about 12 years ending in 1945 but with unimaginable cost.

The Vain Imaginations of Christian Nationalists

 

One foundation of Christian Nationalism is found in Romans 1:21-22: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became ->>vain in their imaginations,<-- and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."

There are a lot of Christians who are pushing Christian Nationalism but do not know they are. Not knowing they are does not make them any less innocent. Paul points out to Timothy:  "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (II Tim 2:3-4). Vain imaginations and desires for power are Christian Nationalist compatible.

Imagination is a very powerful force. Offhand I would count it as one of the most powerful forces in the universe outside of God & His Spirit. In fact, very early in our Creation story we find the Genesis author stating that in "GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen 6:5). That is man. Jeremiah added “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (17:9). I cant even imagine what the world would have been by now had God not sent us His Son for our redemption.

A major part of spiritual warfare is "casting down imaginations" and that applies to what I hear and what I think. I must deal with my own imaginations..while addressing the info I take in. This takes the power of the word to aid in fortifying ourselves from it and even addressing in others. Build your spiritual foundation on a rock and not sand. The next wave..which might be CN..will come your way and wipe out everything you had spiritually. And there is no guarantee you will want it back when you finally discover how far away from reality the wave took you.

For me, right now, one of the major themes I address in my reading and writing is Christian Nationalism. As I stated earlier there are many people pushing Christian Nationalism but dont know they are doing it. I can attest, but not proudly, that I spent many years pushing Christian Nationalist ideas. My ideology followed many American church teachings that suggest America has some sort of special place in creation and, from reading authors like David Barton, were convinced that God played a major part in establishing America. Granted God was there and knows what was going on but He really did not have the hand on Americas foundation that most CNs think. (and I am not saying God abdicated anything...He allowed man to do what he was doing. And in contemporary society there is absolutely no calling from God to anyone to throw out the Constitution and establish America as a theocracy. Particularly since I understand the idea is to establish the Ten Commandments as the foundation. America has a rich Christian foundation and many blessings with Jesus as king and not some theocratic political leader. 

Christian Nationalism as a movement is a power play. They have a sense that they have no power and then when some apostate comes along and playa the Jesus card, they are all in. God, of course, nor Jesus ever issued those kinds of commands. There are self proclaimed prophets as we speak pushing what they claim are prophetic words from God...but they are not. They get themselves attention...and they can find ways through the internet to monetize themselves...and as long as the money keeps coming they will keep preaching whatever the donators want.

Adolf Hitler pushed Christian Nationalism in the 1930s as he rose to power. He understood the need for power many Christians have...particularly when enticed via the avenue of their own vain imaginations.

The "god" of the Christian Nationalists isn't very bright.

 

  The "god" of the Christian Nationalists isn't very bright. This "god" created a whole country that is "Christian" and he forgot to put the word "Christian" in any of the founding documents. Then this "god" also was rather unconcerned about that "separation of church and state" part and made that a cornerstone of Americas founding. Maybe "god" was sleeping that day and we all know what a trickster Ben Franklin was.

     Then there's slavery. A pretty big whoopse that this Christian Nationalist  "god" let that go in it's foundation. LOTS of things were ignored by the Christian Nationalist  "god" but now in order to fix those whoopses the American Christian Nationalists want to do God and everybody a favor and create a theocratic government. I guess Lindsey Graham could be the first "handmaid" if they go that route and create that "tale."

     13 colonies belonging to the British Empire, whose king presided over an imperial church means that the original British citizens residing in those colonies were living under Christian rule. But they seemed to have not wanted it so they threw some tea in the water and broke away from any resemblance of any official religion. (but still provided protections for "religions". They even used muskets and bayonets to attack those British theocrats and called themselves "Patriots." (and, no, Mel Gibson was not there....and Debbie Gibson hadn't recorded her first album yet).
    

    Betsy Ross' husband Gasden Ross created the "Dont Tread on Me Flag" cuz he just liked snakes and Betsy was busy making flags for friends in the colony. (some of this might be made up...but so is "Christian Nationalism.")
In 1956 the US adopted "In God We Trust" as the US motto. In 1955 Eisenhower had approved it to be on US coins. I guess they were trying to fix all those hundred years plus of not remembering to trust God...since the Christian Nationalist "god" overlooked it back in 1776.

     Now if you ask a David Barton-Like Christian Nationalist, he will tell you that some of the guys who signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution were Christian and they outranked all the non-christians and deists because David Barton-like people wrote books about it...and if someone took the time to write about it in a book...how could it be wrong??? Especially if you add the words "God" and "Jesus" to it.  I think they knew that the Christian Nationalist "god" left stuff out but they will tell you clearly that "god" revealed it to them. Christian nationalists like it when people "tell them stuff about God in US history" cuz it "fills in the blanks" for them.
   

 And turns out that the Christian Nationalist "god" was waiting until 2016 to begin establishing His Christian theocracy because the Christian Nationalist "god" was just too busy for the last 250 years or so and decided he needed to seal the deal "he" started way back then and was looking for someone who was morally bankrupt, unrepentant, orange, threw ketchup, hung out with both of the Corinthians, and married a porn star.  Hence "Donald Trump," or as he called himself, Barron. ("Barron" would call newspapers to brag about "this wonderful guy named Donald Trump. " "Barron" was so real to Donald Trump that he named one of his sons after his real "fake" personality. )
Christian Nationalism is a fake gospel which, historically, has only one goal: To get power. For more information read about Germany in the 1930s.

The Christian Nationalist top 20 offenders

 The Christian Nationalist top 20 offenders, according to Faithful America, are:

Greg Abbott, governor of Texas
Steve Bannon, political strategist, Catholic activist and former aide to Donald Trump
David Barton, pseudo-historian, activist and founder of WallBuilders
Lauren Boebert, U.S. representative from Colorado
Ted Budd, U.S. representative from North Carolina
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida
Sean Feucht, activist and worship leader
Mayra Flores, U.S. representative from Texas
Michael Flynn, retired general, conspiracy theorist and megachurch speaker
Franklin Graham, evangelist and president of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse
Marjorie Taylor Greene, U.S. representative from Georgia
Josh Hawley, U.S. senator from Missouri
Kristina Karamo, Secretary of state candidate in Michigan
Kari Lake, gubernatorial candidate in Arizona
Blake Masters, U.S. senate candidate in Arizona
Doug Mastriano, gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania
Mary Miller, U.S. representative from Illinois
Tony Perkins, pastor and president of Family Research Council
Joseph Strickland, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler, Texas
J.D. Vance, author and U.S. senate candidate from Ohio​