Mixing Politics and Religion

The past few months of primary elections haven’t felt like politics as usual. They weren’t simply Republicans and Democrats slugging it out. They seemed more like purity tests. Far Right versus moderates. Far Left versus centrists.

And in too many Pentecostal and Evangelical pews, it was framed as something far more troubling, even dangerous: Christian versus apostate.

When did casting a ballot become a sacrament? Politics should never serve as a litmus test for Christian orthodoxy or godly character.

America does not need MAGA. It does not need Democratic Socialism either. Both begin with a legitimate critique of where we are, and then offer a sweeping ideological cure that only widens the divide.

What it needs is not another revolution.

It needs healing.

Unity.

And the people best positioned to lead that change are Jesus’s followers. Rather than continuing to cast aspersions and judge one another, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19 | NIV)

The MAGA Vision

The MAGA movement rests on the belief that America has declined from a former era of greatness, an era more imagined than experienced. It attributes this decline to domestic and global forces, including immigration, multiculturalism, and globalization.

Its solution is a return to “America First” policies: economic protectionism, stricter immigration controls (especially from developing nations), and a renewed emphasis on traditional (read: white Christian) American values. In essence, MAGA seeks to restore what never really was.

It looks backward to an idealized past to move forward toward a utopian future.

The Democratic Socialist Vision

Democratic Socialism offers a very different perspective. It argues that capitalism itself is the root problem, inherently exploiting workers for the benefit of an entrepreneurial class. The massive political power Citizens United has placed in the hands of the very rich tends to support that contention.

Its proposed remedies include the people collectively owning major industries and implementing sweeping social programs. These are framed not as endpoints, but as steps toward a broader economic and political transformation grounded in equality and solidarity.

Frankly, those who call Democratic Socialism “communist” are close, since the government would own the means of production.

Both movements claim to offer a path forward. Both are fueled by dissatisfaction with the status quo, and both propose large-scale systemic change.

What Came Before: Social Democracy

Social democracy emerged from a fierce debate within 19th- and early 20th-century socialist movements. Marxists argued that capitalism wasn’t working for all citizens. Their goal was to eliminate private ownership of the means of production entirely, leaving the management of national production in the hands of the government. That is a definition of communism.

Social democracy is neither socialism in the traditional sense nor communism in any sense. Key figures in the movement included Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932), who argued that democratic institutions could be used to reform capitalism from within.

Rather than taking over the factories, democratic governments could tax corporate profits, empower workers through legislation, and use state revenue to guarantee a baseline quality of life for every citizen.

Social democracy, as practiced in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, France, the UK, and elsewhere, is built on a capitalist market economy. It runs on private property, private enterprise, and competitive markets, which are combined with:

• High taxation funding universal healthcare, education, and strong welfare programs

• Strong labor protections and often powerful unions with a role in wage-setting

• Significant income redistribution to reduce inequality

• Regulated markets rather than state-controlled ones

There is no place for oligarchy in a social democracy.

FDR and Truman

The United States made a concerted move toward social democracy about 100 years ago. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Democrats held the presidency, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and Harry S. Truman.

Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, was one of the most transformative presidents in our nation’s history. He was elected to an unprecedented four terms from 1933 to 1945 and guided the nation through two of its most defining crises: the Great Depression and World War II.

His greatest accomplishments included:

• The Tennessee Valley Authority

• The Social Security Act

• The Securities and Exchange Commission

• The Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage)

• Preparation for and leadership through WWII

He also helped establish:

• The National Labor Relations Board

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Harry S. Truman’s Fair Deal, essentially a moderate social democracy, reflected a belief in government’s role in improving all citizens’ lives. Calling it a period of social progress that set America on the road to greatness would be an understatement.

His accomplishments included:

• An end to the war with Japan

• Implementation of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe following WWII

• Helping to found the United Nations and NATO

• Integrating the armed forces

• Raising the minimum wage and expanding Social Security

• Proposing national healthcare (which Congress opposed)

Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican, continued their legacy. He believed that

“In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative.”

Imagine today’s GOP supporting a platform like the one from 1956.

Social Progress and Economic Security for All Americans.

To ensure America’s greatness, every citizen should enjoy the benefits of a free society rooted in successful business, fair treatment of workers, and social and legal justice, funded by taxing the rich and businesses at the same rate as the middle class.

Blueprint for Democratic Restoration

1. Judicial Ethics Reform

Codify enforceable ethics rules, term limits, and retirement standards.

2. Media Accountability (FCC)

The FCC must remain free from political influence. Ensure objective reporting and eliminate propaganda masquerading as news.

3. Depoliticize Justice

Apply the rule of law equally, with no exceptions. Hold those accountable for corruption and abuse of power criminally liable. The phrase, “No one is above the law,” must become the rule rather than the exception.

4. Focus on Policy, Not Personality

Expose and address systemic policy failures rather than scapegoating.

5. Rebalance Federal Immigration Enforcement

Establish a comprehensive immigration program that offers a path to citizenship for immigrants already here. Ensure equal opportunities to immigrate to the United States, especially for those fleeing gang violence and political or religious persecution. Reduce DHS funding and staffing to pre-Trump levels and redirect resources to education and social programs.

6. Restore Global Leadership

Reinvest in USAID and support non-governmental aid organizations working to improve health and eliminate food insecurity in developing nations. Rebuild international alliances.

7. Living Wage & Housing

Ensure economic security for all working Americans. Tie the minimum wage to the cost of living and expand access to affordable housing.

8. Universal Healthcare

Implement a single-payer system for all Americans, including elected officials.

9. Support Families & Children

Provide safe learning environments, free school breakfast and lunch, and expand public health programs in economically disadvantaged communities.

10. A Modern Fair Deal

Eliminate Citizens United and implement policies aimed at improving the quality of life for all citizens, commensurate with our nation’s economic capabilities.

Conclusion

America has been here before. She has faced ruin and division, and we didn’t recover by chasing an imagined past or by tearing down the system wholesale.

We recovered because leaders like Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Obama, and Biden guided a government that took its obligation to all citizens seriously, rather than emulating MAGA’s nostalgia for a fictional greatness that excludes millions or a socialist rewrite of the American experience.

A Modern Fair Deal asks for something simpler yet harder: that we treat the immigrant, the poor, and the stranger as Scripture (e.g., Matthew 25) commands, and that we build an economy and a government worthy of the most prosperous nation.

If you consider yourself a Christian and a patriot, this isn’t a partisan ask. It’s a call to live out your calling. The question isn’t whether America can be great again. It’s whether we’re willing to be good again and let greatness follow.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 | ESV)

Andy Rooney is credited with saying,

“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

A Different Sort of Walk

My human and I walked in the woods today, as we do most days. The woods were the same: cool, fresh air, tall trees, the soft crunch of fir needles beneath our feet, but something felt… off. He seemed preoccupied.

And he said something today that made my ears perk up. It was a word I’d never heard him use before: ‘sucks.’

“Getting old in America sucks.”

It didn’t sound like it came from anger.

No. It sounded like resignation.
The words came out slow and heavy, as if they were painful to even say.

He had just come from the adult family care facility where his 94-year-old mother now lives.

And he brought something painful home with him.

She sits in an overstuffed leather chair, parked in front of a television the size of a picture window. Two other women sit nearby.

Together, they watch whatever the screen offers.

Day after day.
Same room.
Same chairs.
Same shows.

They don’t want to be there.

But they need more care than their families can provide.

The Weight He Can No Longer Carry

My human has tried. She can’t stand on her own, and he can’t lift her from the bed to her wheelchair or from the wheelchair to an easy chair.

She may be small and frail, but she is still too much for him.

What my human is carrying is heavier than her weight alone.

Failure.
Disappointment.
A quiet, aching grief.

A Shrinking World

Because her world is smaller now. It has shrunk to a tiny, suburban residence shared with three strangers.

If he can’t get her into his car, he can’t take her to the places that made her come alive; pancake breakfasts, Sunday Mexican brunch, the sparkle in her eyes when someone said michelada.

Those days didn’t fade.

They disappeared.

Now her journeys are measured in feet—bed to wheelchair to easy chair, easy chair to wheelchair to bed. Except for doctor visits, the only places she really goes are those she and her visitors revisit together in memory.

They are all holding on to what was in the ache of what is.

No Longer Valued

The other day, she told him that if she were younger, she’d become an advocate for “old people.”

That hurt. He thought that was what he was, so he took her comment as criticism.

She feels loved.

But not valued.

Like she has nothing left to offer. The children she once cared for now see her as helpless.

My human shows her he loves her, but doesn’t know how to make her feel seen, heard, and understood.

He tries but can’t make her feel valued.

She’s miserable where she is, yet healthier than she was before she arrived.

Twice, she fell and couldn’t get up.

Ambulances.

Hospitals.

Worry.

Fear.

Living alone is no longer safe for her.

My human knows this is better.

Yet the heartache is hard to shake.

He wonders if her days have become a Groundhog Day cycle of loneliness, pain, and fear.

Rinse and repeat.

He prays she’ll stay strong until she finally goes “home.”

The Fight to Live

She says she wants to die. In fact, she dreams of standing at heaven’s gate almost nightly.

But when breathing grows hard, and swallowing becomes a struggle, she fights.

Fear grips her when help is slow to arrive.

Humans are complicated.

Not dogs.

We don’t pretend.

We fight because we know we want to live.

And deep down, my human thinks she does, too.

Mounting Losses and Accompanying Grief

“Getting old in America sucks,” he said again.

This time, he didn’t just mean her. He sounded angry.

He meant the system.

The one built by people who will never sit in that chair, people who will never feel the quiet terror of outliving their savings.

She started working at fourteen, waiting tables at a Greyhound bus station café to help her family survive.

Eighty years of work. A happy, successful life built, yet her earthly possessions would now fit in a single suitcase.

First, she had to give up the home she shared with her late husband.

Then their car.

Next, the small apartment she and her dog called home.

And finally, her beloved dog.

Loss followed loss until now. Each loss carried its share of grief.

A System that Doesn’t Care

A small shared home.
Three other women.
Three caregivers.
Living on Social Security and the equity from the sale of her home.

When the money runs out, she’ll apply for Medicaid.

If she qualifies.
If it’s still there.

She has heard talk that the government plans to cut both Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Social Security.

If that happens, my human becomes her safety net.

He and his wife planned ahead. They bought long-term care insurance for themselves decades ago.

But the premiums seem to rise with every birthday, leaving him to wonder whether he can afford to keep paying long enough to use what he has paid for.

Then he said something I don’t fully understand, but I know it matters:

“Socialism is wanting everyone to have health insurance. Capitalism is profiting by denying their claims.”

This is what I think he meant:

The people making the rules don’t seem to be walking alongside those carrying the weight. His experience is making him reconsider a lifelong belief in free-market capitalism.

For many old people in America:

If they aren’t struggling, they’re invisible.

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When Profit Replaces People

My human has seen this before.

Until recently, he pastored a small congregation at a senior, independent living facility. For the residents, it is their world. But to corporate shareholders who would likely never walk its halls, it is just an investment.

When corporate decided to remodel, the chapel was the first to go.

A sacred space became a sterile “multi-use room.”

Three days’ notice to clear it out.

Chairs.
Sound system.
Artwork.

Gone.

Even the handmade cross, built by the husband of the pianist who died during COVID, was taken down and returned to its maker.

Only the piano survived.

Loss of Dignity

Services resumed, but dignity didn’t. Quiet Sundays became a hectic game of hide-and-seek, searching for microphones and loudspeakers. Eventually, the residents had to buy equipment to replace what they had been forced to surrender.

Bible studies were pushed aside for whatever activity had higher priority.

The residents’ feelings were never considered.

No appreciation was shown for the toll these disruptions took on them.

They were treated like inanimate objects, movable and replaceable.

Those who couldn’t afford to move were forced to endure the corporate, callous disregard for the disruption to their lives.

Their sense of permanence at their last earthly stop was gone.

They weren’t valued. Instead, they were viewed as impediments to progress.

In the way.

The Pattern is Practice

The same thing happened where my human’s mom used to live.

It began as a true senior independent-living community, offering transportation, activities, and a sense of community with others at the same stage of life.

Then it was sold.

Almost overnight, everything that made it home disappeared.

No bus.
No events.
No safety.

Just apartments. Small children leaving toys and other obstacles in the hallways, strange visitors trying their doors at night.

The ones able to leave did.

The ones who weren’t?

Stayed behind.

Fearful. Forgotten in plain sight.

The government didn’t care.
The corporation didn’t care.

When the Church Leaves Too

And then came the part that hurt him most.

The response from the Body of Christ, the church.

Many of those seniors had spent decades building and supporting one of our town’s largest churches.

They spent their lives showing up.

Through every change in style, schedule, and preference.
They gave. They served. They stayed.

And when they could no longer walk through the doors?

Too many were treated as if they no longer mattered.

When my human, who called that church home for decades, asked for help, whether it was an occasional guest preacher to give him a Sunday off or rides for those who couldn’t drive so they could worship in his absence, the answer was always the same:

“We don’t have the bandwidth.”

The church plant they gave most of their audio-visual equipment to promised to send their youth group to a Sunday morning service to sing. When my human contacted the pastor to set a date, his calls were not returned.

Even the church that received their furniture refused a request for assistance.

My human said all three of those churches reminded him of the Pharisees, who “religiously” neglected their aging parents.

Who Actually Shows Up

Last month, my human stepped away from the volunteer pastor role he had held for nearly a decade after retiring from two prior careers.

Age and health made the decision for him.

The residents who could still drive returned to their old churches.

But the ones who couldn’t?

They were left behind.

Almost. But they were not forgotten.

One small, struggling church, mostly seniors, just down the street, stepped in.

No budget.
No bus.

Just people.

Driving their own cars.
Picking up their neighbors.
Showing up.

They demonstrated the Christlike love my human admires in his mother’s former pastor.

He visits her and the other residents every week, bringing communion, a song, a prayer, and a brief homily.

That’s what love looks like.

Bandwidth isn’t a problem when you love as Jesus loves.

What Faithfulness Looks Like

I’m just a dog.

But I’ve listened to enough of my human’s sermons to know this:

Jesus pays attention to those the world and the churches forget.

And I don’t think Jesus is impressed by governments, corporations, or churches that do the opposite.

I don’t think my human’s experience is unique. It likely happens everywhere.

The elderly aren’t a burden.

They should be respected, even honored, not warehoused and forgotten.

The Truth We Don’t Want to See

Getting old in America doesn’t just expose a broken system.

It reveals something deeper.

It spotlights who truly loves their neighbor.

Likewise, it spotlights those who love only when it’s easy or convenient.

How many “good Christians” or good folks in general make a point of visiting nursing homes or other senior living facilities just to spend time with people others have forgotten?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

My human told me that when he was a boy, his dad taught him to stand when an elder entered the room.

Later, in the Army, he learned that standing for a superior officer wasn’t just a rule; it was a sign of respect.

It is also something God expects.

“Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:32 | NLT)

This is not a suggestion. It isn’t a longing for a bygone era. It is a command rooted in the very character of God.

Honoring the elderly is honoring Him through our obedience.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped standing up, not just physically, but also morally, culturally, and spiritually.

Our world moves too quickly to notice the slow, prioritizes productivity over presence, and quietly sidelines those who were once central to families and communities.

Many even fought for the freedoms we now enjoy.

Have we become so preoccupied, so self-absorbed, that we no longer see them?

Our elderly are not a burden but a valuable treasure to protect. They hold stories we need, wisdom we lack, and faith tested in ways many of us have yet to face.

Neglecting them is not simply a social failure; it is a spiritual one.

And the reality we often avoid acknowledging is this: if God gives us more years, we will eventually walk in the footsteps of those we’ve neglected. Every policy we overlook, every shortcut we take, and every act of indifference shapes the world we will rely on in the future.

Stand Up!

This isn’t charity; it’s discipleship.

It is the Great Commandment in shoe leather, loving God by loving those who came before us.

It requires more than feelings; seniors need advocates, voices that speak out when cries for help are ignored, and hands that serve when they seem forgotten.

They need people willing to stand up in hospitals, care facilities, churches, and in public policy, loudly proclaiming that their lives matter.

My human says that for those who follow Jesus, this is no more optional than sharing the gospel is.

It’s foundational.

It should be who we are.

It’s time to stand up.

Stand up in respect.
Stand up in protection.
Stand up in love.

Stand up for the generation that spent their lives standing up for us.

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Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, and restacks. You’re the reason I write. My hope is that these essays are worth the time you give them. As long as the Lord keeps food on our table, they’ll remain free. My aim is simple: to help us follow Jesus faithfully in this unique spiritual and political moment.

Fear and hate don’t disappear. They just adopt different uniforms.

Scroll through social media today, and you’ll see it instantly: the left despising the right and the right despising the left, each side convinced the other poses the greatest threat to the country.

To the Left, Republicans are racist fascists. To the Right, the term increasingly used is communist. But the vast majority of Americans sit squarely in the middle, wondering where it will lead and whether it will end.

As a recent convert to Independent political status, I’ve had a front-row seat to this divide. One thing has become unmistakably clear: fear and hate almost always go hand in hand.

On the Right, this president has repeatedly stated that he hates Democrats. This week, he posted a social media message that many interpreted as a call for Democrats to be killed. That is an extreme fear response. Fear has always been a motivator, especially among Evangelicals, beginning with a healthy fear of hell.

We Have Been Here Before

For decades, Americans feared the Soviet Union’s military might and criticized its political and communist economic system. On June 12, 1987, President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and delivered the words that would outlast the Cold War: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

The wall fell. The fear faded. For a brief moment, it felt as if we had moved on as a nation. But the wheels of hate and mistrust were already turning. Among Evangelicals, abortion replaced communism as the criterion for deciding who was a genuine Christian and who wasn’t.

Fear and hate don’t retire. They regroup.

They don’t need old enemies. They find new ones.

Old Fear, New Uniform

Suddenly, former communists were acceptable. Some argue that we’ve swung so far from fearing Russia that we’ve drifted dangerously close to it.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made that case in August 2025, calling Donald Trump a “Russian asset” and arguing that Trump’s policies have “strategically favored” Moscow even without a formal alliance.

The Right seems to have accepted, if not embraced, both Russia and Putin, a former communist KGB agent, as allies, while accusing Democrats of being communists, thereby resurrecting a different fear from the past.

Ironically, this president shook down Intel for a 10% stake in the company. Government ownership of the means of production is one definition of communism.

Threats Always Precede Action

In a speech at Mount Rushmore on July 4th, Donald Trump claimed that the Democratic Party was composed of communists and promised that they would be sent into exile. He then outlined a plan he maintained would ensure that Republicans “will not lose an election for a hundred years.”

He continued,

“Yet, as we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack a generation after we fought and won the Cold War against the menace of communism. There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”

The president imagines a communist threat and adds a touch of xenophobia and racism for effect.

He opined, “Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 911.”

McCarthyism Rears Its Ugly Head

Communism might be a “mortal threat,” but not Democrats. They are not communists. Like most of their GOP counterparts, they are mostly reasonable Americans who simply prefer different solutions to the nation’s challenges.

If communism is so threatening, why hasn’t he put China and North Korea on notice instead of the Democrats?

That question is rhetorical, of course. We know why. His allegations against Democrats are political alarmism that once worked.

It is xenophobic, racist McCarthyism, plain and simple: unfounded anti-communist rhetoric intended to alarm and alienate neighbors.

And it’s not just rhetoric anymore.

Add A Pinch of Racism and Xenophobia

Racists have stepped out of the shadows and into the bright sunlight of our nation’s capital.

To “celebrate” our founding, the white supremacist group Patriot Front marched through Washington, D.C., on Independence Day, carrying Confederate flags and spreading anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Decades pass. Old fears fade. New ones rise to take their place.

They might be wearing khakis, baseball caps, and masks rather than white hoods, but they are doing the same old hateful work.

I regularly ask those who post hate-filled messages about “illegal” immigrants how undocumented people have impacted them personally. So far, crickets.

If fear and hate can be restrained but never fully erased, then their defeat doesn’t come from doing the same thing over and over again.

It's Time For A Change

Politics, power, or persuasion alone always fail. Good intentions, apart from divine intervention, will never lead to lasting change. It calls for something stronger.

Humankind’s worst angels always return, causing fear to raise its ugly head. Where fear shows up, hate is bound to follow.

Only love will defeat it.

Scripture is unflinching about this. “Perfect love casts out fear.” Not managing it. Not negotiating with it. It casts it out.

Hate Is Not A Christian Value

The love of Christ does what fear cannot. It refuses to demonize, dehumanize, or turn neighbors into enemies.

Where fear builds walls, love tears them down. Where hate divides, love reconciles. Where suspicion fuels outrage, love tells the truth without losing compassion.

The Apostle Paul, in a passage often misused in wedding ceremonies, wrote this:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6 | ESV)

This is not sentimental. It is subversive. It is God’s upside-down kingdom on full display. The kingdom is what Jesus spoke more about than heaven or hell.

Christianity is nothing if not subversive.

If fear and hate are always seeking new enemies, Christian love insists on something far more difficult: seeing even those we distrust, perhaps especially them, as people made in God’s image.

Not projects. Not threats. Not talking points. People. People whom God loves as much as he loves anyone.

A Radical Act

That is what I cannot wrap my mind around when it comes to Republican Christians reveling in the cruelty inflicted on undocumented people, especially the 80% or so who are Christians.

We are called to help them, not celebrate their mistreatment.

In a world addicted to outrage, Christ-like love may be the most radical act of all. Here’s the irony: even those without faith in Jesus agree that a nation that behaves like Jesus is worth having.

A System Paradigm Shift

Communism isn’t the right word for this vision, and although democratic socialism comes closer, most versions call for eliminating capitalism altogether. That’s throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Capitalist nations are, by and large, more prosperous. The engine matters. The problem was never that people could build wealth. The problem is what happens after they do. And how much is too much?

There’s an old line: socialists want you to have health insurance; capitalists want the right to deny your claim. A society based on the teachings of Jesus would ensure quality medical coverage for all citizens.

Entrepreneurs and CEOs should absolutely profit from what they build, but not without limits. No one. I repeat, no one needs billions or trillions of dollars while others go without the basics. There should not be a single yacht in any American harbor as long as American kids go to bed hungry.

Only A Christ-like Nation Is A Christian Nation

It’s more than semantics. The answer isn’t a “Christian nation.” It’s a Christ-like one, defined by love and secure enough to know we’re stronger together, regardless of our beliefs, who we vote for, how we worship, or where we come from.

A Christ-like kingdom would be the kingdom of God on earth, the one we request in the Lord’s Prayer, the one Jesus taught his disciples to pray for.

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Use Your Imagination

A Christ-like nation spends only what’s necessary to defend the homeland. Congress doesn’t fund foreign adventurism based on fabricated threats or outright lies.

It ensures that housing is safe and affordable and that no child goes to school or to bed hungry. Breakfast and lunch become as fundamental to the school day as reading, writing, and arithmetic.

The reasoning isn’t complicated: The Apostle Paul exhorted us to esteem others above ourselves.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3=4 | NIV)

Jesus and John the Baptist warned Christians against hoarding while others are in need. It isn’t communism to ensure that everyone who wants one has a decent life.

Talking Points

• Anyone working full-time earns enough to cover a family’s basic needs where they live.

• Child care is free and available to every working family.

• Single-payer health care covers everyone, including members of Congress.

• Presidents, cabinet officials, members of Congress, and Supreme Court justices are barred from trading stocks and must file annual financial disclosures. Any personal wealth growth beyond a certain point is heavily taxed. The purpose of public service was never to do well. It was always to do good.

• Citizens United will be eliminated, returning government to the people rather than to oligarchs.

• Term limits extend to Congress and the courts, including the Supreme Court.

• Federal officials, up to and including the president, convicted of crimes are sentenced to federal prisons, and those institutions previously considered “Club Fed” are closed. All federal prisoners are treated similarly and humanely.

• ICE is scaled back to a force sufficient only to focus on removing undocumented individuals who are actually dangerous, not on terrorizing and deporting hardworking, family-rooted people to countries they’ve never even visited.

• Corporations finally pay their fair share of taxes.

• USAID is fully restored and funded. Caring for our neighbors, including those in need or at risk in other countries, finally “trickles down.”

The Blueprint

The uniforms of fear and hate will undoubtedly change again, and the political theater will always find new walls to build and new enemies to vilify. But we need not remain trapped in that cycle.

The blueprint for a truly just society arrived with Jesus. It calls us to reject the empty promise of a “Christian nation” that weaponizes faith for power and instead to demand a “Christ-like” nation grounded in love for God and others and committed to putting that love into action for the common good.

By building a system in which dignity outlaws destitution, public service eclipses private greed, and our policies finally reflect our stated values, we do something far more radical than winning an election or being the mightiest military on earth.

We break the cycle of fear and hate.

In a world addicted to outrage, daring to genuinely and systematically care for one another isn’t just a political alternative; it is the ultimate act of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is our only real path to becoming the “shining city on a hill” Ronald Reagan described. When the world sees Christ in us, we will become the genuine Christian nation many believe we have been blessed to be.

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Please accept my sincere gratitude to those of you who read, share, and restack these reflections. Your engagement tells me something that matters deeply: you are trying honestly and earnestly to follow Jesus in a political moment that often feels confusing, even disorienting.

That’s why I write.

My aim is simple: to encourage Christians who feel the strain between the faith we profess and the chaos we’re living through. Many of us are asking the same uneasy question: How do we reconcile the words and actions of fellow believers with the life and teachings of Jesus?

More pointedly, how do we understand the continued support among some Christians for a president and an administration whose conduct seems so at odds with the humility, integrity, and compassion Christ embodied while claiming to be working toward a “Christian nation?”

This is not, at its core, a partisan question. It is a discipleship question. It reaches into the heart of our witness: our integrity, our credibility, and the way the watching world understands the gospel we proclaim.

If you feel that tension, you are not alone.

And you are not wrong to ask.

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The Founders’ Intent

The Founding Fathers were not trying to build a Christian nation.

They were trying to prevent one.

They were shaped by Enlightenment rationalism and a healthy dose of Deism. Although many valued religion, it is historically inaccurate to claim that they established the United States as a Christian nation.

The Establishment Clause

Having witnessed how the English crown manipulated the clergy and corrupted both church and state, the Framers drafted a constitutional firewall:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Keeping Politics Out of the Pulpit

This dual mandate ensures that the government neither favors a particular faith nor infringes on personal belief. The Framers gave us both freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

Thomas Jefferson later called it a “wall of separation.” Not because faith is unimportant, but because it is too important to be co-opted by the state. The wall protects both the pulpit and public policy.

For decades, the Johnson Amendment reinforced this separation by prohibiting 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, from endorsing political candidates. Although recent legal shifts have eased some restrictions, Christian nationalists now demand far more: a merger of church authority and state power.

The New Push for Religious Rule

Look at what’s happening in places like Texas: mandated displays of the Ten Commandments in public schools, and required student engagement with biblical texts.

This is not a revival.
It is coercion dressed in religious language.

This aggressive push to expand religion in public education feels like a Western attempt to impose a Christian version of Sharia law. They hope to force a diverse populace to obey a rigid set of their religious rules.

It is the attempt to take a faith that must be freely chosen and make it publicly enforced.

And here is the deeper irony, one that should grieve the Church:

Many of the loudest voices demanding “biblical values” in society routinely excuse behavior that contradicts the teachings of Jesus.

Character is minimized.

Power is maximized.

Cruelty is celebrated.

And Jesus becomes a slogan rather than a standard.

The irony is painful: many politicians championing these laws routinely violate the very morality they claim to uphold. They support candidates whose personal conduct contradicts the teachings of Jesus while dismissing rivals who actually try to live by them.

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The Church’s Historic Role

Christianity has undeniably shaped American life, founding universities, hospitals, and orphanages. But these were church-led initiatives, not government-mandated religious programs. They were the fruit of transformed lives.

The Church has always been at its best when it serves, not when it controls.

Whenever church dogma has dictated public policy, the results have been disastrous: Prohibition, the elimination of abortion access, and other measures celebrated by a zealous minority but rejected by the broader public.

The kingdom of God does not advance by majority vote. Christianity is caught, not taught or legislated. The kingdom advances by following all of the teachings of Jesus and demonstrating them in our daily lives.

Who Really Wants a Christian Nation?

If the advocates of Christian Nationalism want America to be a truly Christian nation, they should look at how the Bible defines the early Church.

The Book of Acts describes the foundational Christian community this way:

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44-45 | ESV)

This was voluntary communal living.

Not enforced redistribution.
Voluntary, radical generosity.

Not nationalism. Not socialism. Not communism.
Community.

Not power, but sacrifice.

If we took that seriously, the results would unsettle every political tribe:

• Wealth would be held loosely, not hoarded.

• Poverty would be addressed as a shared responsibility.

• Simplicity would replace excess.

• Violence would be a last resort, not a first instinct.

In other words, a genuinely “Christian nation” would differ significantly from what we see today and from what Christian Nationalists aim to establish.

Today, anyone advocating for a robust social safety net is labeled a “communist” by those who forget that the first Christians lived in ways that sound remarkably like Karl Marx’s later phrase: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

The Problem of Selective Obedience

Christian nationalists often cite the Sixth Commandment (“do not murder”) to justify outlawing abortion. But what about the Fourth Commandment (keeping the Sabbath holy)?

If we enforced Sabbath observance with equal seriousness, entire sectors of American life would shut down every Sunday—commerce, travel, entertainment, even much of healthcare.

Most don’t want that.

And that exposes the deeper truth.
This is not about biblical faithfulness.
It is about selective enforcement.

Who decides which biblical laws are binding and which are optional? Obviously, that question is rhetorical. The truth is simple:

The “Christian” government decides.

Most Christians, however, do not want to live under biblical law.

Christian Nationalism thrives on selective Christianity. It allows adherents to choose which teachings of Jesus to follow and which to ignore.

Churches become political clubs.

Sermons become pep talks.

It allows people to tell their neighbors how to live while tuning out any sermon that makes them look too closely at themselves.

“A La Carte” Christianity

Christian nationalism is a counterfeit faith.

Jesus is invoked, but not followed.

Scripture is quoted, but not obeyed.

Faith becomes a tool that is used on others, but rarely applied to ourselves.

The danger is not just political.
It is spiritual.

Because Jesus was unambiguous:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

And John leaves no room for self-deception:

“Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar.” (1 John 2:4)

That is not harshness.
That is clarity. His greatest commandment is to love God and love others.

Those pushing for a “Christian” nation ignore the parts about feeding the poor, healing the sick, welcoming the stranger, and using resources to benefit others.

To claim the name of Christ while rejecting his way is not just inconsistency; it is taking his name in vain. And that would be a violation of the Third Commandment.

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What America Really Needs

America does not need to become a Christian nation.

That was never the mission of those who profess to be followers of Jesus.

The mission was, and still is, far more demanding:

We are expected to become more like Christ. To live lives that draw others to him.

Less power.
More love.
Less coercion.
More witness.
Less outrage.
More obedience.

Less hoarding. More sharing.

The world will not be transformed by laws that mention God.

It will be transformed by lives that reflect Him.

America does not need to become a Christian nation.

In short, Christians simply need to become more like Christ.

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A Retirement, and More Walks

Hi! Jake here. You know me. I’m an eight-month-old black puppy, four big paws, even bigger feelings, and a human who talks a lot during our walks.

Big news in our house: my human preached his final weekly sermon on Sunday. He says he’s “retired” now. I’ve been tired plenty of times, especially on daycare days when I hang with my puppy friends until my paws give out. But “retired” sounds like it involves serious nap discipline.

All I really know is this: we’re spending more time together. Frankly, that’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

He says it felt right to end on Pentecost Sunday. He says that’s the day the Church was born. Between you and me, I don’t think he was actually there for that one. But it’s a very big deal to him.

The Question at the End of the Driveway

We still take our walks.
I still do my sniffing.
He still does his talking.

And today? He didn’t even make it to the end of the driveway.

He looked down at me and asked:

What happened to the Acts 2 church?

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44–45, ESV)

Now I’m a dog. I don’t own anything. My human mistakenly considers me a possession. Please don’t tell him, but he’s confused about who belongs to whom.

All humor aside, I could tell this mattered.

He wasn’t fixated on communal living. What moved him was simpler and harder:

Seeing a need.
Responding to it.
Giving until it costs something.

“That’s the heartbeat,” he said.
“Christianity isn’t a belief you hold. It’s a love you practice.”

(Here is where you should know that my human began volunteering as a pastor eight years ago, after retiring from two secular careers.)

Not a Bandwidth Problem—A Love Problem

I thought we were heading into one of our usual Matthew 25 conversations. You know, the ones about “the least of these.” But today felt different.

More tender.
More personal.
As if something or someone had actually hurt him.

His congregation meets in a senior independent living facility. The people are in their eighties and nineties. For the most part, they are folks who have loved their churches for decades. They are the ones who have given, served, prayed, taught, and shown up.

Church as a Small Business

For much of those eight years, my human reached out to their former churches.

One in particular, a large local Evangelical church, had been home to many of them for most of their lives.

These weren’t strangers.
These were their people.

He asked simple things:

• Could someone lead a Bible lesson on a Sunday morning while my human was away?

• Could someone offer a couple of people a ride to church on Sunday mornings?

The answer, again and again:

We don’t have the bandwidth.

A church with over a thousand members and a 15-passenger van.

Not one layperson was available to teach a dozen or two 80- and 90-year-olds, people who may have taught them in Sunday School decades earlier. And no one had room in their vehicle to take seniors to a Sunday church service.

Pastors were reluctant to let anyone miss a service to take the love of Jesus beyond the walls of the church.

My human couldn’t help but wonder where the Church would be if those who watched Jesus ascend into heaven had remained in the upper room rather than sharing the love of God through the gospel and service to others.

The message from those pastors, however unintended, landed like this:

Thank you for your years of faithfulness.
Now that you can’t come to us without imposing on us, we don’t have time for you.

That’s not Acts 2.
That’s not even close.

Even worse, a pastor from my human’s denomination told him he needed permission before asking friends from that church to help.

The responses from most churches contacted suggested that pastors viewed their congregations as small businesses rather than as an extension of the kingdom of God.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)

A Quiet Yes

Then something beautiful happened.

A pastor from a small church down the street said yes.

Yes to rides.
Yes to welcome.
Yes to showing up.

No talk of bandwidth.
Just willingness.

My human’s eyes softened as he told me that part.

My tail wagged, but he wasn’t finished.

That ‘yes’ has yet to be put into practice. My human says we will trust but verify.

If You Build It, They Will Come

He calls churches that don’t minister locally, beyond their walls, Field of Dreams churches.

He says too many congregations have drifted into religious entertainment centers. They are comfortable, polished, carefully choreographed, complete with light shows and smoke machines.

The experience becomes the product.
The kingdom becomes the backdrop.

And the call of Jesus to love and serve sacrificially gets softened just enough that no one has to rearrange their life.

Discipleship is little more than getting your ticket punched for giving, sitting, and listening for an hour on a Sunday morning.

Love That Moves

Christianity, at its core, is not a performance you attend.

It is people learning to love as Jesus loved:

Inconveniently

Sacrificially

Intentionally, especially toward those pushed to the margins.

The Acts 2 church didn’t run a cost-benefit analysis.
They didn’t check the calendar.

They didn’t prefer posteriors in pews over member absences to serve others.

They saw a need…
and moved toward it.

Lukewarm Faith

My human worries.

He worries that too many churches, at least here in America, haven’t grown hostile to Jesus’ teaching so much as they have grown comfortable without it.

He thinks that might have led to the number of Christian nationalist congregations.

He fears people are leaving churches over political, rather than doctrinal, differences.

They are lukewarm.
Like the church in Laodicea.

Not cold.
Not on fire.
Just… fine. Okay.

And “okay” has never changed the world.

The Question That Lingers

By the time we turned back toward home, he asked again:

Where is that church now?

The one where love isn’t a feeling but a verb.
Where service isn’t a program but a posture.

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10)

Walking It Out

I didn’t have an answer.

I’m a dog.

But I stayed beside him.
Step for step.

And I think that helped a little.

Accepting Jesus’s call to “Follow me” is a call to service. So, I want to leave you with this:

What are you doing to show God’s love by ministering to others with the gifts God has given you?

— Jake 🐾

Jake here.
Jacob, when I’m in trouble, which is usually not my fault.

I’m a Labrottie. Half Labrador Retriever, half Rottweiler.
Which means I am equal parts cuddle and catastrophe.

At six months, I weigh sixty-seven pounds. My dad, Tank, weighed twice that. My feet look like snowshoes, so everyone agrees:

I am not done becoming.

My human is Shawn.

He is older than dirt. That is very old in dog years. Don’t tell him I said that. He’s sensitive.

He calls himself my owner. Adorable.
I own him.

I allow him to hold the leash, but we both understand the arrangement.

We walk the woods nearly every day.

The forest smells like truth; rabbits, squirrels, deer, and whatever passed through two hours ago. If I chose to chase it, I could pull Shawn through those woods like a tin can tied to a honeymooner’s car.

But I don’t.

I walk beside him.

This is called loyalty. We Labrotties invented it. Also, we occasionally weaponize it.

If you meet us on the trail, you might notice me subtly positioning my considerable frame between you and my human.

That’s not aggression.
That’s loyalty in action.

On Thursdays, Shawn starts talking out loud to himself. Long sentences. Big words. Strategic pauses.

This is called a sermon.

Apparently, other humans will sit still and listen to this on Sundays, as long as he finishes before lunch. I don’t fully understand that arrangement, but I support it.

Especially the lunch part.

I listen, too. I do not interrupt.

I am, by all accounts, an excellent theologian.

Here is some of what I’ve worked out:

God made noses before man made maps.
You don’t need to know the whole trail.
You just need to smell the next ten feet.

Shawn calls this faith.
I call it Tuesday.

I’ve also noticed that the best things in life come from staying close to the one who loves you.

The leash isn’t a prison.
It’s a conversation.

I know where he is.
He knows where I am.

Church people call that fellowship. I call it security.

And I’ve heard Shawn say that Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd.

I am not a sheep. I want to be very clear about that.

But I understand the principle.

The Shepherd walks with you.
He doesn’t point from a distance.
He gets mud on His sandals.

That checks out to me.

I can’t spell, but Shawn told me God gave dogs the letters of His name for ours, and that feels right.

I’ve also heard that all dogs go to heaven, which confirms my instincts about God’s character.

Something had been off with him since I joined his family.

Shawn’s shoulders were wrong.

A Labrottie reads shoulders the way humans read Scripture. Shoulders tell the truth. And his said this:

Something was heavy.
And he didn’t know where to set it down.

He talked while we walked.
I helped him process.

From what I gathered with my quick mind and very good ears was that the institution he had given years of his life to had disappointed him. Deeply.

He says some famous Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders he trusted traded Jesus for a “golden calf” of secular power.

I know calves, but I don’t know what a golden calf is. Still, I understand the meaning.

It’s choosing something shiny over something true.

I once abandoned a favorite squeaky toy for a tennis ball.

There is no comfort in a tennis ball.

I carried it all the way home, set it down, and just looked at it.

That’s what disappointment looks like:
a thing you chased that can’t love you back.

He also talks about politics.

This part is harder to follow, but I understand enough: a man he cannot respect has been elevated, and things that matter to Shawn have been treated lightly.

People are being treated badly.

Poor people are not being fed. Sick people are not being healed. And immigrants are not being welcomed. He is wondering how God could bless a nation that starts wars and ignores the teachings of Jesus.

He isn’t just angry.

He’s grieving.

There’s a difference.

Anger barks. It passes.
Grief lingers.

It means something you trusted has died.

I know grief.

I lost a beloved sock behind the bed. Mom found it and threw it away.

I mourned for three days.

We do not need to discuss this further.

But here is what I know about grief, from a theological standpoint:

All loss carries grief.
It is the proof that something mattered.

You should mourn those things you loved and lost.
You cannot mourn a thing you never loved.

Shawn is mourning because he loved the Church and his political party.
He loved what they were supposed to be.

That love is not wrong.

That love is, in fact, exactly right.

He says he’s calling himself an Independent Jesus-follower now.

When he said it, his shoulders lifted just a little.

So I wagged my tail and nudged his leg with my nose.

He is concerned about what his friends will think.

That part confuses me.

I have never once considered whether other dogs approve of the smell of my south side.

He knows personal integrity is not a committee decision.

Sniff the thing out for yourself.
Walk accordingly. Stand up and speak up for what is right.

He says the “other side” has good people, but talks too much about things that don’t fill a bowl.

He calls himself “meat and potatoes.”

I respect this deeply.

If I could vote, I would vote meat.
And sweet potatoes.

Especially sweet potatoes.

Here is what I know about my human:

He is not lost.

Lost dogs panic. They bark and run in circles.

He is walking in a straight line and asking hard questions.

That is not lost.

That is seeking.

His conscience is working.

His grief means his values are intact.

A man without values feels nothing when things break.

Shawn feels the loss of what was deeply.

That is not weakness.

That is strength.

And I’ll add this—one more bit of Labrottie theology, free of charge:

Every single morning, no matter what happened yesterday, I meet Shawn at the door like it is the best day of my life.

Because it is.

It always is.

Shawn calls this grace.

The capacity to start again.
To wag before you’ve seen the evidence.
To trust the goodness of the one holding the leash, even when the trail is unfamiliar.

So I stay close.

I didn’t learn that from a book.

I learned it because I am, at my core, a creature made for devotion.

I think that’s what humans were made for, too.

If he asked and I could talk, this is what I’d say to Shawn:

Let Jesus hold the leash.
Keep walking.
Keep talking to Jesus and to me.

We’ll both be here. Every day.

All the way to the end of whatever trail this is.

I will keep smiling.
I will keep wagging my tail.

That is my job.

And Labrotties do not quit their jobs.

— Jake, The Big One

Four Root Causes of Dysfunctional Christianity

This week, the president verbally attacked the Pope, calling him “weak” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy. He continued, “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do...”

Before continuing, we need to examine that paragraph more closely because it contains one of the many lies he has repeatedly told, expecting people to believe it if he repeats it often enough.

And MAGA does.

He did not win by a landslide. He won 312 of 538 electoral votes and the plurality of the popular vote (49.9 percent). His popular vote share is among the lowest on record.

In 1972, Richard Nixon won all but one state, securing 520 of 538 electoral votes and a 60.7 percent share of the popular vote, an 18-million-vote margin. Reagan won both the 1980 and 1984 contests, averaging 507 electoral votes out of 538.

On Sunday, April 12, the president posted on Truth Social, “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

In what world does an anti-Christ tell the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics what to do?

The Pope is doing and saying what every pastor in America ought to be doing and saying. Yet from the Pharisaical, evangelical pastors who often surround him in a prayer circle, crickets.

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The president then posted an image of himself, dressed as we imagine Jesus might be, apparently healing a sick person who looked uncannily like Jeffrey Epstein.

He followed his blasphemy with a lie, claiming it was meant to depict him as a doctor healing the nation.

I don’t know about him, but my doctor wears a white coat and carries a stethoscope. The only thing worse than blasphemy is committing it and then lying about it.

The post was subsequently deleted.

Roman Catholics are speaking out, but Evangelicals and Pentecostals have largely remained silent. What do you expect? They defended ignoring the teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 25 through creative eisegesis, so why should an AI image bother them?

His greatest success, so far, is being the divider-in-chief. The rift between Left and Right, and between Jesus-followers and fake Christian nationalist idolaters, has never been so apparent.

To date, he has demeaned the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, Christians, Muslims, and Democrats. He has isolated us by alienating our traditional allies while emboldening our enemies and wasting money on a war that did not have to be fought. All of which has been defended, even enthusiastically endorsed, by his “Christian” supporters.

What we are witnessing did not happen by chance or overnight. It is the result of four deeply rooted problems in some non-denominational and many American Evangelical and Pentecostal faith communities. They are: cheap grace, cheap discipleship, cheap security, and cheap gospel

1. Cheap Grace

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Cost of Discipleship (1937), defined cheap grace as:

“. . . the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

True conversion produces observable changes in a believer. Unfortunately, too many professed believers are what John MacArthur called “carnal Christians.”

The Bible is clear. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But too often, the difference between being saved and being lost is about 12 inches, the distance between the head and the heart. The necessary regeneration into Christlikeness fails to occur.

Not-quite-Christians fall into two categories that Jesus described in his parable of the sower.

“The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:20-22 | NIV)

The first are believers who know the stories, speak the language, and are typically found in a pew at least on Christmas and Easter. Yet the “seed” of Christianity failed to take root in their hearts.

The second group comprises MAGA “Christians.” They also know the story and speak the words, and they regularly warm a church pew, but their trust is in the government rather than in God.

Cheap grace can stem from what is known as “The Sinner’s Prayer.” It is a confession and acceptance of God’s grace, presented as the doorway to salvation.

The Sinner’s Prayer

“Lord Jesus, I confess I am a sinner. I believe You died on the cross for my sins and rose again. I ask You to forgive me, come into my life, and be my Lord and Savior. Help me turn away from sin and follow You all my days. Amen.”

While rooted in Scripture, it can foster a false sense of security.

People are told they are saved. Jesus becomes their “Savior,” but not their Lord. Faith becomes a transaction that fails to produce transformation. Instead, they fall back into their worldly ways, like the seed in Christ’s parable.

The Apostle Paul cautioned the Roman church:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 | ESV)

An excellent example of this is a letter dated October 15, 2025, from Franklin Graham, which the president posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. It addresses the president’s concern about whether he would go to heaven.

In it, Graham emphasized the need for repentance and faith in Jesus, noting that Jesus came, died for our sins, and rose from the grave.

He summarized, “If you accept that by faith and invite Him to come into your heart, you ARE heaven bound, I promise you.”

Apparently, America’s pastor’s son has forgotten the parable of the seeds.

He closed by quoting Romans 10:9 “… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Unfortunately, he stopped before telling him the rest of the story. Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 | ESV)

Of course, that would have involved explaining what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount and in Matthew 25 about loving enemies, telling the truth, feeding the poor, healing the sick, and welcoming the stranger.

For MAGA self-professed Christians and some of their pastors, the fruit does not match the confession. Too many are focused on the “do-nots” and neglecting the things Jesus commanded.

And that highlights the second cause: cheap discipleship.

2. Cheap Discipleship

The church does not exist to entertain. It exists to make disciples.

Yet in many places, worship has become production. Spiritual formation has been replaced by emotional experience, and spiritual growth is expected to occur in a single 60-90-minute weekly gathering.

The result?

A church full of half-baked converts, lacking maturity.

They believe they are “saved,” but their lives show little evidence of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Love, especially love for the “other,” is missing.

Some estimates place the share of undocumented immigrant Christians at 80% to 90%, yet American “Christians” cheer the deportation of those whose only crime is a misdemeanor illegal entry violation.

Yet they elected and excused a convicted felon, self-professed sexual predator and rapist, who uses religion and religious people for anti-Christian policies and monetary gain.

John writes, If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20 | ESV)

Cheering a brother or sister’s deportation to a country they have never visited or incarcerating them inhumanely is not love.

Discipleship Vacuum

In many American churches today, if you want to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus, you won’t find it there. Discipleship is a high priority in theory, but in practice, it is largely absent from intentional, measurable planning.

An Internet search revealed studies indicating that only about 5% of churches have a robust, reproducing disciple-making culture. Ninety-three percent of pastors view discipleship as a priority, yet only 28% have a clear, intentional plan for it.

3. Cheap Security

Fear has long been a tool of religious persuasion, from the hellfire sermons of Jonathan Edwards to the Cold War anxieties of figures like Bob Jones and Jerry Falwell, Sr.

Over time, that fear has simply shifted targets:

• Communism

• Government overreach

• Abortion

• LGBTQ+ communities

• Immigrants

• Religious minorities (read Muslims)

Ironically, those who once feared religious oppression are now advocates for restricting others’ freedoms.

If your vote is driven by fear, you’ve missed the core teaching of the faith you profess.

Love of God and fear cannot coexist.

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 | NIV)

When fear drives faith, the gospel is no longer the gospel.

I have heard pastors say, “If you don’t vote Republican, you are not a Christian.”

That is not theology. It is idolatry. Either your trust is in God or in the government. Fear indicates misplaced trust.

Your vote may reflect your character. It does not determine your salvation.

Governments fail. Jesus wins, now and at the end.

4. Cheap Gospel

If you were to ask most MAGA-supporting, self-proclaimed “Christians” what is meant by “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven” in the Gospels, I would guess most would say it refers to a destination in the sky where those who die believing in Jesus eventually end up.

Jesus referenced the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ or ‘Kingdom of God’ roughly three times more than he spoke about hell.

The Kingdom of God/Heaven is at the heart of the Lord’s Gospel message. For all practical purposes, they refer to the same thing, and that “thing” is not a place.

Heaven typically refers to God’s dwelling.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a phrase that represents God’s earthly rule and reign, and it carries essentially the same meaning as “Kingdom of God.”

It is described as “already, but not yet.” It began during the ministry of Jesus and will be consummated at his return.

The Kingdom is God’s reign breaking into the world; not someday, but now.

We get a glimpse of it in the Lord’s Prayer. He prayed:

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Kingdom is not about escaping earth. It’s about living on earth as we will in heaven, with Jesus as our king.

Socialist Behavior

When we realize and internalize that, we can see how those whose goal is heaven rather than kingdom living can miss the point altogether. It also helps us understand how they can ignore Jesus’s expectation that we love, even our enemies, feed the poor, heal the sick, and welcome the stranger.

A serious reading of the Gospels and Acts portrays Jesus, John the Baptist, and early Christians as socialist because true faith is rooted in love, not in profit or prestige.

Instead of starting wars over oil and threatening other nations, if we truly want to call ourselves a Christian nation, we must be one that cares for the less fortunate, no matter who or where they are.

That means health insurance, affordable housing, a living wage, and food security for all Americans, along with comprehensive immigration laws and closing our borders while assimilating the non-criminal undocumented immigrants already here.

Immigration

James Talarico, a Senate candidate from Texas, has best articulated a novel view of immigration policy. He compared the southern border to a front porch with “a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.”

He argues that the US can be welcoming to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers (the “welcome mat”) while maintaining secure, orderly, and enforced entry points (the “lock”) to ensure public safety.

Prophets not Pharisees

Partisan politics have no place in the pulpit.

However, pastors, in particular, should follow the Pope’s lead, condemn government actions that contradict Scripture, and refrain from worshiping the golden calf of secular power, as the Pharisees did, whom Jesus harshly condemned.

Prophecy, speaking truth to power, remains a pastor’s responsibility. The Apostle Paul showed us how. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21), ”Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”(Romans 12:9), and, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ”(Ephesians 5:11)

When faith becomes a political weapon, it ceases to be faith.

We owe obedience to the government’s lawful and moral actions. However, obedience, even as described in Romans 13, is not absolute. It is conditional on the government’s justice and righteousness.

Examples of people in the Bible who disobeyed authorities include: Jochebed, the mother of Moses; Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; John the Baptist; the Apostle Paul; and, most obviously, Jesus.

Pastors are not called to serve political parties. We are called to speak the truth to our congregations, even if it causes people to leave.

I would rather folks leave because they don’t want to hear the truth (which has happened) than for them to die lost because I was afraid to preach it.

A Selective Morality

God hates all sin.

Yet in practice, certain sins, especially those associated with the powerless, are magnified by Donald Trump and his supporters, while others are ignored or excused.

Jesus preached against divorce, the rate of which is roughly equal among Christians and non-Christians. When did your preacher last compare divorce to adultery or remind you that liars are hell-bound?

Dishonesty, cruelty, exploitation of the vulnerable, greed, gossip, and drunkenness are downplayed. Meanwhile, certain groups are singled out and marginalized for condemnation. They preach against abortion, homosexuality, and transgender athletes, or they avoid preaching against sin altogether by preaching life “hacks.”

Jesus said nothing about homosexuals or transgender people, but he did say we are to love God and others, including our enemies, without stipulation.

In biblical Christianity, there is no room for judging unbelievers. The Apostle Paul wrote, It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. (1 Corinthians 5:12 | NLT)

Instead of condemning others, preachers should be making disciples who look, think, talk, and act like Jesus.

We ought to be loving non-believers toward faith in Jesus.

What Christianity Is—And Is Not

If your pastor:

• preaches against Matthew 25: Christ’s expectation that believers welcome immigrants, feed the hungry, and heal the sick, regardless of their citizenship status,

• condemns the “murder” of the unborn but celebrates killing alleged drug traffickers without a trial or tearing families apart by deporting people to countries from which they didn’t originate,

• excuses this president’s words, immoral lifestyle, and the cruelty and chaos of this administration while citing Paul’s warning to obey our government, especially Romans 13,

• focuses more on heaven rather than on the kingdom,

yours is a fake religion.

Where is the Love?

The Apostle Paul summed up the importance of love with these words:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:1-7 | NIV)

This is not a wedding passage.

It is a warning.

Without love, everything else: doctrine, prophecy, and sacrifice, is empty.

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A Call to Repentance

Christians have been given three primary tasks:

• Love God

• Love others

• Make disciples

We are falling short in all three.

The question is no longer whether the church has influence.

The question is whether it still has integrity.

A heartfelt thank you to all my free subscribers. My purpose is simple: to remind my Christian brothers and sisters that we are citizens of God’s kingdom, servants of a risen King, and merely passing through an empire whose end is already written.

From Moral Majority to Moral Collapse

I voted for Richard Nixon before Watergate, back when scandal could still end a political career.

Today, it fuels one.

Now we are led by a twice-divorced, convicted felon, admitted sexual predator, likely war criminal, and suspected pedophile.

We can’t know for certain about the latter because he will not release the files that would remove all doubt.

The Republican Party I once supported stood for fiscal conservatism, family values, and law and order. Those weren’t just talking points; they were moral expectations.

Today, those expectations have not merely eroded. They’ve been replaced.

We now see behavior once considered disqualifying defended, minimized, or even celebrated. The shift is not subtle. It is foundational.

But this is not only a political transformation.

Anti-Christ Spiritual Transformation

It is a spiritual one, too.

Something has changed. Not just in politics, but in the soul of a segment of American Christianity.

A not insignificant share of the evangelical/Pentecostal faith community has traded kingdom for empire and king for emperor. Big-name pastors are acting more like Pharisees than prophets.

Culture war has replaced spiritual warfare. The enemy is no longer sin.

It is the political opposition.

And in the space where the living God once stood, a golden political calf has been erected.

Paula White, the president’s personal “spiritual advisor,” has compared him to Jesus, claiming that “to oppose Trump is to oppose God.”

Others have called him God’s “anointed.” Franklin Graham invoked Queen Esther in comparison. Others have likened him to Elijah. On at least one occasion, the president looked to the sky and said, simply, “I am the chosen one.”

The President is Not the Messiah

Consider what is actually being claimed. Jesus was born in poverty to a refugee family that fled political persecution. Trump was born into inherited wealth and has never fled anything but accountability. Yet, he, a convicted felon, has initiated a cruel policy targeting those whose only crime is entering illegally, typically a misdemeanor.

Jesus spent his ministry among the sick, the poor, the outcast, and the foreigner. Trump has spent his presidency cutting aid to the sick, the poor, the outcast, and the foreigner.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” This president has launched a war, without congressional approval, without informing our allies, and without seeking intelligence beforehand.

He recently posted this on Truth Social, “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”

Jesus was silent before his accusers. This president cannot be silent before his admirers.

Jesus touched lepers. This president mocks the disabled.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

This president golfs as his war kills innocent civilians and American service personnel. So far, golf for a billionaire, at taxpayer expense, has exceeded $100 million. Jesus said, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

The contrast is not subtle. It is total. And yet the comparisons persist, repeated from pulpits and platforms by people who claim to know their Bibles. It has been suggested that pastors who support him read his Easter Truth Social post aloud from the pulpit.

His post was so vulgar, offensive, and outrageous that only sanitized copies could be posted in mainstream media. Yet, from GOP Christian politicians and pastors, crickets.

Failure in Biblical Literacy

This is not a failure of politics. It is a failure of basic literacy in the faith they profess. More on that in part 2.

The Israelites did not create the golden calf because they had forgotten God. They built it because they wanted a god they could see, touch, and control; one who would not demand anything uncomfortable of them.

The golden calf did not call them to repentance. It reflected them back to themselves.

Sound familiar?

The Turning Point: Faith Enters the Political Arena

The seeds were planted decades ago with Jerry Falwell Sr. and the Moral Majority, which started what became a long-lasting culture war that is still ongoing.

Over time, the focus shifted from shaping moral character to gaining political power, the very thing that Jesus rejected when Satan offered it.

Throughout the 1990s, Falwell attacked Bill Clinton’s credibility and character. In 1994, he marketed a video called the Clinton Chronicles, alleging sexual misconduct and murder, admitting, however, that he had no proof and was basing his comments on what others had said.

And that was before social media. Since then, conspiracy theories have become a MAGA hallmark.

Later, Jerry Falwell Jr. went in a different direction. He lowered the moral bar, arguing we were not electing a “pastor-in-chief.” Character became negotiable.

Such logic would have been foreign to Billy Graham, who learned a bitter lesson in mixing faith with politics.

During the scandal surrounding Bill Clinton, Graham extended grace, but never abandoned standards. He made it clear that leadership requires integrity in both private and public life.

No Firewall Separating Morals from Public Service

In an article for the Times, Graham stated that people “entrusted with leadership — whatever their field — bear a special responsibility to uphold the highest standards of moral and ethical conduct, both publicly and privately.”

When asked if personal character should be ignored as long as a leader is doing his job, the evangelist replied, “No, and followed with this:

“because the stakes are too high and the impact on society too far-reaching. . . A leader’s moral character, first of all, influences the way he or she does his or her job. There simply is no such thing as an impenetrable firewall between what we do privately and what we do publicly. . . Can someone who consistently lies or deceives or cheats in his personal life be trusted in a business deal or a courtroom or a political agreement? — Of course not… A leader’s moral character also influences those who look up to him or her — particularly young people. The moral meltdown in our country in part results from a failure of leadership.”

Character, he argued, shapes both leadership and the moral direction of a nation.

A Profound Shift

The Charlotte Observer recently reported that Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, said conservatives nationwide must unite ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to “elect candidates who share the same values as President Donald Trump.”

Somewhere between two generations of Falwells and Grahams, a profound shift occurred. The teachings of Jesus have, in many circles, been transformed into something unrecognizable.

What Are These “Values”?

Graham encourages Christians to support Trump’s “values.”

Consider the values being commended. One could begin with the Access Hollywood tape, or the civil conviction for sexual abuse — an act a judge described as rape — or the tens of thousands of documented falsehoods during his first term, including apparent lies, even now, about negotiations with Iran.

He justified this war through a carousel of shifting explanations: preventing attacks on Israel, regime change, and protecting civilians, even as American strikes killed 169 schoolgirls and their teachers.

He claimed Iran’s nuclear capability was already “obliterated,” confirmed by his own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and Joe Kent, another high-ranking intelligence official. Regardless, he used Iran’s nuclear development as one of his pretexts for war anyway.

He has cut funding for USAID, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and education. He rolled back environmental protections and pursued immigration policies that separate families, cage children, and deport people to countries they’ve never visited. Recently, he floated additional cuts to domestic programs to fund the unpopular war.

Abroad, he has wavered on Ukraine despite commitments under the Budapest Memorandum, unnecessarily prolonging that war to Russia’s advantage.

He eased sanctions in ways that benefit Russia, a country European leaders have called his patron, and blockaded Cuba into darkness and starvation before quietly allowing a Russian tanker in for “humanitarian reasons.”

Coming Next Week

Today, we talked about what has occurred within a segment of American Christianity. We examined the “what” and “who.” The next post will explore “how” and “why.”

I used to think I understood grief. I have sat with others in it as a chaplain, written about it, and researched it as a scholar. I have even taught it. But nothing in my doctoral work prepared me for the hollow space a single dog could leave behind, or the strange, tender way that space can open again when a new life clumsily pads into the house.

My doctoral work centered on the theory and theology of grief. At one point, I thought about narrowing that focus to something more specific—the loss of a companion animal. I even consulted a pastor, who also works as a mental health counselor, for his perspective. He told me he wouldn’t spend any time with a patient grieving a pet.

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Needless to say, he won’t be on my referral list. Pet loss hurts. If losing an animal doesn’t cause pain, you shouldn’t be trusted with one.

It has been just over a year since Samson, the original Black Mutt, died. February 17th, the same day, but 17 years after my dad died. The pain was the same.

Rarely does a day go by that I don’t think of them both. With Sam, it is usually something ridiculous he did that made me laugh.

That kind of remembering is its own quiet grief.

In my early research, I discovered two findings that have stayed with me. First, losing a companion animal can be as painful as losing a child, due to the strong bond of care that develops between owner and pet.

The good news is that the pain tends to be shorter.

Second, and this one surprised me, getting another animal when you’re ready actually helps lessen the pain of loss.

With that in mind, meet Jacob. Jake, for short.

The Hebrew name Jacob has two main meanings: “he shall follow” and “supplanter,” meaning someone who takes the place of another. Jake has taken Samson’s place in our home. Whether he will ever take his place in my heart remains to be seen.

Samson was all business, a protector and a woods dog who lived for our walks on the trail. If I had named him from Scripture, he would have been Esau.

Jake, on the other hand, although still a puppy, prefers the warmth of a fire and the comfort of home. Not exactly the traits you’d expect from a Rottweiler-Labrador mix whose father weighs 105 pounds. But at 52 pounds and five months old, he is gentle, laid-back, and sweet. I am genuinely curious about what kind of dog he’ll become.

Grief tends to circle back to us, not as a theory or a chapter heading, but as paws on the floor, a wet nose, and a bittersweet memory. Samson showed me that. We were a team. Jake is teaching me something different. And somewhere between the two, I’ve learned a lot about love and loss.

I’ll say more about both black mutts as time passes. But for now, if you’re grieving the loss of a pet, I want you to hear this:

Your grief is real, it is legitimate, and it deserves to be taken seriously.

And when you are ready, not before, but when you are, don’t be afraid to open that door, and your heart, again.

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The Church on Life Support

What if your church is not what you think it is? Worse yet, what if you know it is following a dangerous course, but you are reluctant to take a stand or leave?

The message of Revelation 3 is that the most dangerous church is not the one under persecution, but the one that thinks everything is fine, but isn’t.

What if a church can be full every Sunday, patriotic, influential, and culturally respected, yet still be spiritually dead?

Two thousand years ago, Jesus warned two congregations about being dead or deluded.

And his warning may describe many churches in America today.

Jesus is speaking to three of the seven churches of Asia. And when he does, he is also speaking to us.

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Listen to what Jesus said to the church in Sardis:

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” (Revelation 3:1–2)

Jesus is giving them an opportunity to repent, to choose life over death.

Sardis, along with Laodicea, receives no commendation from the Lord. Of the seven churches addressed, he had nothing positive to say about either one. Instead, Jesus warns them that they are near death. His words reveal a sobering truth.

A church can appear vibrant and successful while being spiritually lifeless.

Trading a Cross for a Sword

That is the danger confronting many evangelical and Pentecostal churches in America today. They have traded the cross of God’s kingdom for the sword of empire. Instead of forming disciples who follow Jesus, they have become institutions focused on preserving cultural influence and political power.

Sardis had become a monument to what once was. In many ways, it had turned into a church of zombies—the walking dead. Religious routines persisted, but the life of Christ was fading, and his teachings were being ignored.

Those inside the church didn’t see it. But those outside could sense it.

When the Cross Is Replaced by the Flag

This is where the warning to Sardis speaks directly to the rise of Christian Nationalism.

A church can loudly proclaim the name of Christ while quietly replacing his teachings.

It can display crosses and flags side by side, speak passionately about saving the nation, and pursue political influence in the name of God all while neglecting the primary commands Jesus gave his followers. Christians have been called to love God, love our neighbors, care for the poor, and model a kingdom that is not of this world.

Followers of Jesus inhabit an upside-down kingdom that should avoid worldly power at all costs. God’s kingdom is characterized by humble service, not by a judgmental culture-warrior superiority.

Like Sardis, such churches gain a reputation for being alive. They may be large, loud, patriotic, and politically active.

But secular reputation is not the same as sound, spiritual life.

When allegiance to political power replaces allegiance to Christ, the soul of the church begins to wither.

Jesus’ command to Sardis is blunt:

Wake up!

“Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief.” (Revelation 3:3)

This warning carried special weight in Sardis because of its history.

The city sat on a nearly impregnable plateau and was considered impossible to conquer. Yet it fell twice because its watchmen failed to stay alert. In 549 BC, Cyrus captured it, and in 218 BC, Antiochus III did the same.

The defenders believed they were secure. Their complacency led to their downfall.

The same danger exists today when churches place their trust in cultural dominance or political power. The kingdom of God has never been protected by the sword of empire. It is sustained by faithfulness to Christ and loving service to others.

A Faith That No Longer Challenges the World

One striking detail: there is no indication that the church in Sardis faced persecution.

Why would it?

A church that has made peace with the world rarely provokes opposition. As the old saying goes, “If you have found your place in the world, the world has found a place in you.”

James warned that friendship with the world makes one an enemy of God. But they weren’t all bad apples.

Fortunately, in Sardis, some faithful believers remained.

“Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments.” (Revelation 3:4)

In every congregation, there are always a few who choose the way of Jesus rather than following the crowd. Sardis’s only hope was to strengthen what remained.

And that is Christ’s call to many believers today.

Instead of pandering to power, we must speak truth to power. Ungodly means do not justify godly ends. A wrong can never be a right. Ignoring anti-Christian public policy implies approval.

God was willing to give the church another chance because of those who still trusted Him. Today, such believers are typically older. Younger ones are deconstructing their faith.

Why Younger Generations Are Walking Away

The tragedy is that the people of Sardis believed their church was alive when Jesus declared it nearly dead. One difference between Sardis and some of today’s churches is that the people of that city viewed them as harmless.

In the eyes of many of our unchurched neighbors, Christianity represents a threat to freedom and Constitutional protections.

Just this week, there have been multiple reports that military commanders told service members that the war in Iran is an attempt to hasten Christ’s return. To young unbelievers, that is just “crazy talk.” Just because you place immoral actions into a biblical context does not make them godly. Jesus said:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23 | ESV)

I wonder how many people who believe that we are at war in an attempt to “help God” go to church every Sunday without sensing His presence or questioning why. The music excites them, but they leave feeling entertained, threatened or angry, rather than refreshed.

Many younger Americans are hungry for something real, a faith that changes people. They are not rejecting Christ. They are rejecting a version of Christianity that seems more devoted to maintaining a racist and economic elitist status quo than the world-shaking, life-changing teachings of Jesus.

And so they walk away.

They walk away from churches where the cross has been overshadowed by the flag, where love of neighbor is replaced by fear of outsiders, and where political identity matters more than Christlike character.

It’s a Fiction

A lot has been written recently about young people returning to religion. But the data tells a different story.

In his recent book, The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us (Why the Culture Wars Led to Polarization and What We Can Do About It), Ryan Burge, a sociologist of religion and former Baptist pastor, describes the situation bluntly:

“The past is a foreign country.”

In other words, Americans often misunderstand how dramatically the religious landscape has changed in just a few decades.

Despite headlines about a religious revival, the underlying numbers show little evidence that Christianity is rebounding.

The trends are stark:

• 44% of Generation Z claim no religious affiliation

• Only 40% say they believe in God without doubt

• Millennials are only about 40% religious

Despite the president’s claims to the contrary, we are rapidly becoming a post-Christian nation. And much of the problem is dead or deluded churches.

Baby Boomers remain the most religious generation alive today. They currently make up between 40% and 50% of many congregations. However, many are being misled by Fox News, which was fined for knowingly broadcasting lies. Tucker Carlson called Fox a propaganda machine that manipulates elderly viewers.

That news outlet often frames politics using religious language, presented by women who prominently wear silver or gold cross necklaces.

Unless we wake up, when the Boomer generation passes away, the number of religious “nones” will rise dramatically, and we may see more church buildings turned into commercial space.

In the 1970s, most evangelicals identified as Democrats. By the 1990s, their political views had become more diverse. Fox News was launched in 1996 and may have influenced a shift in evangelical party affiliation. Today, white evangelicalism and Republican identity have effectively merged.

This political shift and cable news propaganda have transformed many churches into echo chambers of ideology. Political tolerance within congregations has decreased significantly. Churches now mainly serve a horizontal role, building social and political identities, rather than a vertical one centered on God.

I read a social media post the other day that read, “If your God hates the same people that you do, you are in a cult.”

Homogenized Congregations

Someone smarter than me observed that the most segregated place in America is the evangelical Sunday morning church service. Today, it is both politically and racially segregated.

And that is not God’s Kingdom on earth.

Burge argues that what is disappearing is not Christianity itself, but moderate Christianity. Churches have become politically homogeneous, mirroring the polarization of American communities.

Instead of encountering spiritual, political, and racial diversity, people now choose churches the way they choose cable news. They look for places where everyone already agrees with them. There is no room for discussion, much less debate or disagreement.

When rigid “us versus them” boundaries dominate church life, evangelism becomes nearly impossible. Faith becomes a tribal identity rather than a spiritual commitment. There is no room for the imago dei when we all look alike and look down our noses at those who are different.

It is easy to demonize people you never truly know, especially when our news sources and even some pastors reinforce the message that the church is under threat. It may be because of our politics, rather than our gospel.

Homogeneous congregations form, suspicion of outsiders increases, and faith becomes a tribal marker rather than a spiritual commitment.

The average American, Burge notes, does not hold a coherent or deeply thought-out view of either politics or religion. He found that people who leave the church do not cite a clear theological reason for doing so.

People dismiss what they don’t want to hear by “voting with their feet,” regardless of whether what they heard was grounded in Scripture or not.

Turning on Their Own

Probably one of the most visible recent examples of politics becoming a test of faith occurred when John Piper quoted Leviticus 19:34.

“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (NIV)

Suddenly, he was “woke.” The movement he helped found turned on him because their brand of “Christianity” has no room for Scripture that warns against the political message that has replaced Christ’s love with fear and “culture war” intolerance.

I can only imagine what might have happened if he had quoted Jesus from Matthew 25 about feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned.

From Evangelicalism to Fundamentalism

Burge’s most sobering observation is that modern evangelicalism has begun to resemble the very thing it was originally created to oppose: fundamentalism.

According to him, its defining characteristics are familiar:

• absolute certainty

• no room for doubt

• homogeneous congregations

• pressure to agree on everything

• hostility toward compromise

• suspicion of outsiders

Ironically, evangelicalism originally arose to resist this kind of rigid thinking.

Yet today, many churches operate in the same way. Some argue that evangelicals and Pentecostals are prone to authoritarianism because of the paternalistic leadership in their congregations.

Laodicea and the Illusion of Strength

If Sardis was the dying church, Laodicea was the deluded one.

Laodicea believed it was thriving. Jesus said the opposite.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have prospered, and I need nothing,’ not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17)

The city itself was wealthy and proud of its independence. But that prosperity created a spiritual illusion. Their wealth had made them self-sufficient. They really didn’t see a need for God’s involvement in their daily lives. They believed their success proved their strength.

They no longer modeled life in the kingdom of God, including reliance on Him.

This is where Laodicea speaks powerfully to the American church.

Religious pride has replaced humility in some American congregations. They have become modern-day, culture-war Pharisees. Many self-professed Christians today are no longer learning to walk in the servant footsteps of Jesus. Instead, they have adopted the swagger of an imperial soldier imposing their beliefs on others.

They criticize the violence of abortion but cheer as we send our military into sovereign nations without clear justification. They celebrate deporting people whose only crime is misdemeanor illegal entry, working people seeking a safer, better life.

The Great Replacement is discussed openly. It is no longer a whispered, racist “dog whistle” conspiracy theory. Some are even hearing it preached from the pulpit.

They do their own judging. They don’t need God.

The teachings of Jesus are too “woke” for modern America.

Christian nationalism assumes the health of Christianity is measured by cultural power, political influence, and national prominence.

But the message of Laodicea reveals something unsettling.

Prosperity and Influence Can Mask Spiritual Decline

A church can be culturally powerful and spiritually bankrupt at the same time. And the same may be said about influential “Christian” leaders.

Many have wagged their moral fingers at prior presidents, yet excused the criminality and moral misconduct of this one. They do it because, so far, he is willing to protect their white privilege.

In his book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, Tim Alberta shows that compromised religious figures are not new. And they often resort to eisegesis, twisting Scripture, to sell their message.

Crusades and Inquisition, the slave trade and sexual abuse scandals—the common denominator has been a willingness on the part of Christian authority figures to distort scripture for what they perceive to be some greater good. (p.231)

I have been amazed by the interpretive razzle-dazzle some influential religious leaders have employed to explain away the passages from Leviticus and Matthew on the treatment of undocumented and marginalized people.

The Church That Left Jesus Outside

Jesus then offers one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:20)

This verse is often used to invite non-believers to accept Christ. But in context, Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea and America.

He is standing outside.

The church bears Christ’s name but has pushed him outside the door.

And yet there is still grace. It is not too late.

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)

God is not finished with them yet.

The Warning for the American Church

The greatest threat to the church today is not persecution.

It is self-deception.

Christian nationalism tells believers that Christianity is strong because it is visible in politics, dominant in culture, and defended with national pride.

It calls itself rich while actually being poor.

It claims clear vision while actually being blind.

It clothes itself in patriotism while standing spiritually naked before God.

The greatest danger isn't hostility toward Christianity. It's churches that fail to see they've traded Jesus for the golden calf of secular power. In doing so, they've abandoned the Great Commission and Great Commandment: to make disciples and to love God and love others.

It's a church that thinks it already has everything it needs but doesn’t realize that Jesus is missing. He's standing outside its ornate doors, patiently knocking and seeking readmission.

So, What Do We Do?

The solution for churches that have lost their way is found in the church in Philadelphia, one of the two churches Jesus did not criticize.

That body realized that it had little power, making it dependent on God. And that is exactly where we, his children, are supposed to be. He told Paul, “My power is sufficient.”

Jesus told the congregation in Philadelphia:

“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

Your life is your testimony.

You have been given an open door to share the Good News.

No one expects you to stand on the street corner, pounding your Bible and preaching a “turn or burn” gospel message.

But when you have the opportunity to share your story, do it. You don’t need to quote Scripture. The unbeliever doesn’t care what the Bible says, but they are all ears when you talk about how Jesus walked with you through a tough time and provided hope in your darkest moments.

Don’t Give Up

Jesus ends with an exhortation to persevere and a promise for those who do. To quote the immortal words of that famous theologian, Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” Jesus tells us the same thing. It is not the fastest or flashiest.

It is the one who holds to Christ’s teaching and does not compromise with the world. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:13 | ESV)

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Thank You

This is the final installment in this short series. Thank you for supporting me. I will never charge for what I post and only ask that you like and share those essays that resonate with you. If you are not a free subscriber, please consider becoming one.

I’ll end with an Old Testament blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26 | ESV)

Reading Revelation Before We Apply It

As we continue examining how White Christian nationalism has infiltrated American evangelical and Pentecostal communities through the lens of the seven churches in Revelation, it helps to pause to consider something essential about John’s book: There has never been universal agreement on how to read it, and most of us have been exposed to only one or two interpretations.

For two thousand years, Bible scholars have approached Revelation through four major interpretive lenses—each offering a distinct way of understanding what John saw and what it means for the church today. And most use Revelation 1:19 as their starting point. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. (ESV)

Four Ways Christians Have Read Revelation

1. Preterism

Preterists understand most of Revelation as having been fulfilled in the first century. In this view, the book is primarily a theological interpretation of events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the destruction of the Temple by Rome. Revelation is therefore considered history, rather than prophecy.

2. Historicism

Historicists read Revelation as a symbolic outline of church history from the apostolic age to the return of Jesus. The seven churches are understood as representing successive eras of the Church. This approach has largely fallen out of favor in modern scholarship.

3. Idealism

Idealists—also called symbolic, allegorical, or non-literal interpreters—view Revelation as a poetic portrayal of dualism, the timeless struggle between good and evil. Rather than mapping the book onto specific historical events, they emphasize enduring spiritual truths that apply to believers in every age. Revelation, in this view, is not primarily about when things happen, but about what is always happening beneath the surface of history.

4. Futurism

Futurists generally interpret Revelation literally and believe most of its events have not yet occurred. Futurism entered mainstream Protestantism in the early nineteenth century.

This view dominates popular evangelical teaching today and is associated with figures such as J. N. Darby, C. I. Scofield, John Walvoord, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, and David Jeremiah, as well as with many Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches.

Appealing to Revelation 1:19, futurists divide the book into three sections:

• Chapter 1: what John saw

• Chapters 2–3: the things which are—the present church age

• Chapters 4–22: future events leading up to Christ’s return

The Lens We Use

Most contemporary scholars adopt a hybrid approach, often blending Idealism with a restrained form of Preterism. This allows Revelation to speak both to its original audience and to the Church across time, without forcing the text into speculative timelines or political blueprints.

That is the approach I will use here.

The seven churches were real congregations, facing real pressures, temptations, and compromises. Yet their stories echo forward. They expose recurring patterns of faithfulness and failure—patterns that are particularly relevant as we examine how political power, national identity, and religious language are being fused in the modern American church.

Those who truly understand their faith recognize that white Christian nationalism is heresy. If we act now, we may still halt our swift slide into authoritarianism. I hope these essays will inspire us to take that crucial step using non-violent means.

Many evangelicals, Pentecostals and “Christmas” Christians have been seduced by the heresy, and our president is using their support to fuel the chaos and cruelty of this administration.

The three congregations we will examine here are Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira from Revelation 2:8-29. I will summarize, but encourage you to read it for yourself.

Smyrna: Poor, but Rich

Smyrna was an economically distressed congregation that was rich in faith. Jesus found no fault in that church and encouraged them with, “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” From Smyrna, we learn the importance remaining faithful.

Pergamum: A Compromising Church

But that was not the case with Pergamum. He commended them for holding fast to his name and not denying their faith. But some among them had fallen into a stumbling block of sin, compromise, and sexual immorality. He threatened them with war if they did not repent. For those who remained true, conquerors, he promised a reward.

Sexual sin remains a significant issue in many churches. It runs the gamut from moral failures among leaders to slow responses to allegations of sexual misconduct1 against leaders. As an example, the inaction of the Southern Baptist Convention in releasing the names of pastors convicted or civilly judged for sexual misconduct, has re-traumatized victims by church authorities.2

Some of those, like Franklin Graham, you would expect to stand against the president’s conduct, are inexplicably defending him. Sure, he criticized the president’s “salty language” yet overlooks his lies, immorality, and criminal behavior.

He said this following the public revelation of Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct with a young woman in the White House when asked, “Should personal character be ignored as long as a leader is doing his job?”

No, Graham said, “because the stakes are too high and the impact on society too far-reaching. “A leader’s moral character, first of all, influences the way he or she does his or her job. There simply is no such thing as an impenetrable fire wall between what we do privately and what we do publicly,”

Graham wrote. “Can someone who consistently lies or deceives or cheats in his personal life be trusted in a business deal or a courtroom or a political agreement? — Of course not.

“A leader’s moral character also influences those who look up to him or her — particularly young people. The moral meltdown in our country in part results from a failure of leadership.”3

If we ignore this president’s moral misconduct, mishandling of foreign and economic policy, alleged piracy, and possible murder through the extrajudicial execution of alleged drug traffickers, while focusing solely on his lies and deceptions, it would seem Graham argues that this president is unsuited for the office he occupies. Still, Graham remains one of his strongest supporters.

It has been reported that the president told over 30,000 lies during his first term, yet despite record-breaking falsehoods, Graham supported him again in 2024. He and the other members of the President’s Religious Liberty Commission are inextricably, yet unequally yoked with an unbeliever. I wrote about how evangelical advisors to the president have failed to be a moral voice. Here is a link to that essay:

Trump gets a pass from Graham and others for delivering on a Christian nationalist agenda. But it initiated the move toward authoritarianism we are witnessing today. At the end of Trump’s first term, Graham was compared to German Protestant theologian Paul Althaus, who helped bring Adolph Hitler to power.4

MAGA Christianity is not biblical; it is transactional.

Thyatira: Corrupt and Tolerant of Sin

Thyatira was the least significant church, but it received the longest letter. Jesus commended them on their love, faith, service, and patient endurance. He further observed that their most recent works exceeded their previous accomplishments. They walked their talk, but there were some rotten apples in the bushel that threatened them all. Like Pergamum, compromise with the world was an issue here as well.

Thyatira was known for its guilds, or trade unions, which practiced idolatrous rites during their meetings. Unless you were a guild member, you could not work in the trades. For family men, that could pose a problem when it came to supporting their families.

The pressure to compromise was immense. The reasons for compromise have changed, but the temptation remains. Christian nationalists have traded the teachings of Jesus for political power. Yet the letter to Thyatira reminds us that Christians who do not compromise are rewarded, while those who do are punished.

Jesus criticized them for tolerating “that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.”

John does not have sexual activity in mind here. He is concerned with worship and fidelity to God, because worshiping God alone is one of his big concerns. The way he conveys this is to point out that if you are worshiping other gods or kings, including eating meat sacrificed to them, you are cheating on God. You are religiously promiscuous.5

In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul left the decision of whether to eat meat sacrificed to idols to each believer. Conversely, John compared it to sexual immorality, cheating on God by worshipping those gods.

We have no shortage of idols in America today. Career success, social acceptance, and politics are among the greatest inducements to compromise for sincere believers. Since the 1970s, the one that has done the most damage to our relationships and our faith has been politics, especially when it is preached from the pulpit, or even worse, when anti-Christ governmental actions or policies are ignored rather than prophetically confronted.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” And four people are credited with originating this saying or something like it, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

It may have been the desire to avoid the economic and social disempowerment occurring in Smyrna and nearby Philadelphia that led many to follow “Jezebel.” For people in the workforce today, the temptation is always present to bend the rules or to go along to get along in the face of questionable practices. We want to succeed and fit in. And pastors are no exception.

Jesus wanted all churches to know that he is the one “who searches mind and heart” and will reward according to their works.

But there were those in Thyatira who were willing to listen to a false prophetess, Jezebel, and compromise their faith to achieve their goals. How many Christians said that they held their nose to vote for this president because of his promise to end abortion, even though abortion was not even a plank on his party’s platform? And they are still doing it by excusing the chaos and cruelty of this administration.

Pick a word that fits: hypocrisy or compromise.

Compromising for political reasons is an issue reported by many pastors. Americans, including evangelicals, increasingly look to their churches to affirm their political views. Some have begun attending evangelical churches more for their partisan leanings than their theological views.

During the COVID pandemic, my wife and I visited a church in a town we were visiting that was the first in the nation to implement and enforce a county-wide mask mandate. We obeyed the law and wore a mask, but discovered we were the only ones who did. Ours were the only two masks in the place. We were made to feel unwelcome, receiving the “cold shoulder of Christian nationalism” rather than the “right hand of Christian fellowship.” No one spoke a word to us.

I doubt Jesus would have been welcomed there either.

People want their political views validated from the pulpit. Increasingly, politics takes precedence over discipleship.

Lack of proper discipleship is the underlying problem. Their people are worshipping the golden calf and don’t recognize it. Their eyes are on politicians, rather than Jesus. And many pastors are not only failing to redirect their gaze, but they are also actually pointing them toward the calf to keep them in pews.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote: This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5 | NLT)

And here is what the Psalmist said on the topic.

Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.

4

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever. (Psalm 146:3-6 | NIV)

After preaching from the Sermon on the Mount, one pastor was asked by a parishioner where he got such “woke” ideas.

Pastors who recognize compromise with sinful acts are remiss if they fail to call it out. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:11 | NIV)

And the hole they are digging gets even deeper when they recognize what they should be doing, but fail to do it. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:7 | ESV)

Conscientious pastors know that the ends do not justify un-Christian means. Still, they refuse to address the compromise. Yet, the message from Jesus to the church in Thyatira is that compromising Christ’s commands to achieve any goal carries a high cost.

The apostle Paul encourages all believers as he did Titus, “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,” (Titus 2:7 | ESV)

A Commission and a Commandment

As professed Christians, we have been given two responsibilities. The first is the Great Commission, to make disciples. The second is the Great Commandment, to love God and love others.

Let’s go back to the Great Commission. It’s hard to talk about Jesus to people when politics is a stumbling block. In fact, it has become more difficult to evangelize because some believers’ political views have been perceived as anti-Christian.

Their walk does not support their talk. They openly support authoritarianism and the cruelty of this administration. The term many unbelievers have started calling Christians is christofascists. Once a political position is staked out, many people stop listening. Our politics are impacting our ability to share the gospel.

When Christian love is absent, unbelievers see that and judge us for it. I saw a man wearing a T-shirt the other day that said, “I am an atheist and a better person than most Christians.” He may be right, but he is still lost, and if we have let our politics alienate him, his soul may be on us.

Echo Chamber Christianity

Part of the problem is that we inhabit two realities, created by echo-chambered news sources and algorithms. When Walter Cronkite said, “And that’s the way it is,” that was the way it was. Not so much anymore. Many media sources are adding their own political spin, and some outright lie.

Tucker Carlson, who worked there, said Fox News is a “propaganda hose” that manipulates elderly viewers.6 In a legal deposition, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox, admitted that his people told lies on the air. He knew it, and Fox was fined for it. Apparently, viewership trumps journalistic integrity.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20 | ESV) And that goes double for American media.

George Orwell made this observation. “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” And when we limit our news to the same sources, we fall into that trap.

I rely on Ground News, which highlights each party's blind spots across various news stories. It is amazing what we miss when we limit our news media sources to a single political perspective.

As I wrap this up, I want to leave you with two questions:

1. How do you accept or even justify the cruelty of this administration in light of the teachings of Jesus?

2. How does the idea of Christians dominating politics align with Jesus saying, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and Paul saying, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2 Timothy 2:4 | ESV)

If you would like to read a deeper study into Christian nationalist idolotry. I have re-posted something I wrote in 2023. It is called Golden Calf Christianity. Here’s a link.

This is an update of an essay I posted on a website two or three years ago. Its purpose is not to judge other believers. It is intended to encourage anyone who claims to be a Christian to examine themselves and their political engagement in light of Scripture.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5 | NIV)

If you are a regular reader of my stuff, you know I oppose two heresies of orthodox Christianity. The first is the so-called prosperity gospel, and the second is White Christian Nationalism. White Christian Nationalism poses a grave threat to the Church and the country.

According to Jamar Tisby, “White Christian Nationalism is the most urgent threat to democracy and the witness of the Church in the United States today.”1 He also posits that “White Christian Nationalism is an ethnocultural ideology that uses Christian symbolism to create a permission structure for the acquisition of political power and social control.”2

Antichrist Means

Christian nationalists are using tactics contrary to Christ’s teaching to gain and wield political power. Apparently, the thinking is that “the ends justify the means.”

Barry Goldwater observed, “Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.”

That is not to say religion should not influence our vote, but only that politics must not define our faith.

PRRI/Brookings Survey

I am revisiting White Christian Nationalism because the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), in cooperation with the Brookings Institution, published the results of a November-December 2022 survey of more than 6,000 participants titled “A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture.”3

Although they are a couple of years old, the findings are intriguing. It should prompt Jesus-followers to remember that our citizenship loyalties are owed to the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), not to the United States of America. My hope is that it leads us to reconsider the level of our engagement in partisan politics. We are ambassadors to this world (2 Corinthians 5:20), not citizens of it.

When our political opinions and objectives affect our relationships and places of worship, politics becomes an idol. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and our focus should be on taking as many folks with us as we can (Matthew 28:19-20). Frankly, we should be no more engaged in American politics than in the politics of any of the other 195 nations on earth.

According to Kristen Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Christian nationalism is not new.

“From seventeenth-century Puritans to early-twentieth-century liberal Protestants to Black civil rights activists, what it means for America to be a Christian nation has taken dramatically different forms. Since the 1970s, the dominant expression of Christian nationalism is that of the Christian Right, and this is the form of Christian nationalism reflected in the new PRRI/Brookings survey.”

All participants were queried regarding their level of agreement with the following five questions.

• The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.

• U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.

• If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.

• Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.

• God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

Once the responses were compiled, five identifiable groups emerged: All Americans, Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics, and Rejecters. Adherents overwhelmingly or completely agreed with all five. Sympathizers agreed, but not completely. Skeptics disagreed with many or most but did not reject them outright. Finally, as the name implies, the Rejecters completely disagreed with all five.

Here are some of the survey findings that should be alarming to anyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus.

Most white evangelical Protestants supported Christian nationalism, while most non-Christian religious Americans, Jewish Americans, and religiously unaffiliated respondents were either skeptics or rejecters. Not surprisingly, there was also a strong correlation between support for Donald Trump and Christian nationalism.

Echo Chamber News Sources

As we might also have suspected, there was a strong correlation between Christian nationalism and trust in certain news sources.

Seventy-nine percent of those who trust far-right news sources (OAN and Newsmax) leaned toward Christian nationalism, as did 54% of those who trust Fox News. Those who trust mainstream news (74%) were either skeptics or rejecters.

As educational attainment increased, people were less likely to be adherents or sympathizers.

So far, for those of us who have been warning about the dangers of Christian nationalism to the Church and nation, the data simply supports what we have long suspected, most notably that its strongest proponents are white, evangelical Republicans.

Republicans are about four times as likely as Democrats to be adherents of Christian nationalism. A surprising finding for me was that 38% of adherents and 47% of sympathizers either had not heard the term, did not know, or skipped the question altogether.

To ensure we begin on common ground, here is how Robert P. Jones, President and Founder of PRRI, described Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism is a new term for a worldview that has been with us since the founding of our country — the idea that America is destined to be a promised land for European Christians. While most Americans today embrace pluralism and reject this anti-democratic claim, two thirds of white evangelical Protestants and most Republicans remain animated by this vision of a white Christian America.4

Racism, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

“Christian Nationalism is linked to prejudice toward numerous minority groups.” This assertion was substantiated by the survey. Two-thirds of white nationalism sympathizers and adherents, who are white, disagree that white supremacy is still a major problem in the U.S. today.

And 66% of sympathizers, along with 81% of adherents, believe in the replacement theory, which holds that immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.” Only 39% of all Americans believe Muslim values are at odds with American values, while 58% of sympathizers and 69% of adherents believe they are.

Violence

The survey also found that Christian nationalists are more prone to resort to violence under the right circumstances and are nearly seven times as likely as rejecters to support political violence. Jesus taught that there is no place for violence or retribution in the life of a disciple (Matthew 5:39). He certainly had the power to resist the Roman authorities, but chose instead to do the will of God (Matthew 26:53). Finally, regarding political violence, the apostle Paul taught that even that was wrong (Romans 13:1-2).

Warrior Jesus is a myth.

An Unholy Exchange

When the Israelites were in the Desert of Sinai, God spoke to them, and they were terrified (Exodus 20:19). They begged Moses to speak to them for God rather than hear from God directly. From that point on, they moved further away from the covenant they had made with God (Exodus 19:8, 24:3). Their distancing from a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6) led to idolatry (Exodus 32). They turned their backs on the God who saved them and placed their trust in a golden calf.

Too many Christians listen to pastors preaching an anti-Christ message. Many were single-issue voters focused on ending abortion. Trump was supported by people opposed to abortion who were willing to compromise their values in selecting him. (Ironically, abortion was not even a plank in the Republican platform in 2024, yet most of the same people voted for him again.)

Although I have never preached on the topic, I have lost congregants because of my honest responses to questions about abortion, so I realize how important it is to some people. However, their candidate eliminated food and medical aid for infants abroad, along with other assistance provided through USAID, resulting in a significant loss of life.

SNAP benefits were withheld here at home because the president demanded that his party refuse to continue healthcare subsidies. Yet there was no public outcry. Apparently, those anti-abortion Christians are pro-birth, not pro-life.

Jesus, No Longer the Main Thing

And so it is with Christians who have taken their eyes off Jesus and placed them on politicians and political objectives. They have stopped listening to the voice of God and instead trust what is delivered through unholy sources, such as pastors preaching politics or politicians preaching religious heresy.

Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. ⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. ⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 146 3-5 | NIV)

Only recently have American Christians begun to self-identify as Christian nationalists—not only prominent figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Gab founder and CEO Andrew Torba, but also certain conservative evangelical pastors and leaders.5 Some have even used conservative politics and Christian nationalism as a litmus test of faith.

Jonny Ardavanis, told his congregation, “The Democratic party is a demonic death cult under the power and influence of Satan. . . .To vote for the Democrats is to vote for a platform that is building their platform on everything God hates . . . I don’t see how you could be a Christian and vote for a party that promotes everything that God hates.”6

Greg Locke, a Tennessee pastor, said, “If you vote Democrat, I don’t even want you around this church. You can get out. You can get out, you demon. . . . You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation.”7 Sadly, Locke is not alone in using political affiliation to judge other believers, though some took the long way around.

Robert Jeffress, a Texas megachurch pastor and Donald Trump’s point man since the disgrace of Jerry Falwell, Jr., said this in 2016. “Every Christian has the right to his own opinion about a presidential candidate, but no Christian has the right to impose his preference as a litmus test for someone else’s Christianity or spirituality.”8 He should have stopped there. But he has since flip-flopped, embracing Christian nationalism and the imposition of Christian values on all Americans.

On July 3, 2022, Jeffress told his congregation he was not a Christian nationalist. But just four months later, he reversed course, saying Christian nationalists had a right to impose their values on everyone else.

“If that’s Christian Nationalism, count me in, because that’s what we have to do. And what’s so hypocritical about this is the left don’t mind at all imposing their values on our country through the election process. They don’t mind forcing their pro-abortion, pro-transgender, pro-open borders policy upon our nation.”9

It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in political science to conclude that Jeffress is willing to sacrifice the moral principles that define Christianity, along with the will and voice of the people, the bedrock of democracy, to achieve a political agenda. And that is exactly what the survey found. Christian nationalists tend to support obedience to authority and the idea of authoritarian leaders who are willing to break the rules.

While half of all Americans agree that society is in trouble because people do not obey authority, the number rises to 69% among sympathizers and 74% among adherents.

This is where actions defy logic. They voted him back into office despite the fact that this president was convicted of 34 felonies, is an admitted sexual predator, and, despite promising to release the Epstein files if reelected, has so far failed to comply with the law requiring their release.

Only about three in ten Americans (28%) agree that “because things have gotten so far off track in this country, we need a leader who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right.” However, nearly four in ten White Christian Nationalism sympathizers (38%) and half of adherents (50%) support an authoritarian leader.

An American Authoritarian

Since taking office, he has attacked seven countries and invaded Venezuela, and apprehended (kidnapped) their president and first lady for drug trafficking. He did it without Congressional approval. It has since become apparent that the raid on Venezuela was about oil, not drugs. He has also threatened Mexico, Greenland, Colombia, and Cuba.

With respect to Greenland, although it appears Trump is attempting to use the same rationale Putin used to invade Ukraine, the comparison may be more appropriate to Hitler and the Sudetenland.

Some have compared his actions to a prelude to a mob-like division of the world into three spheres of influence: China, Russia, and the United States.10 He has even coined a phrase for his ambitions, the “Donroe Doctrine.”

But let’s not move from the drug hypocrisy too quickly. In January 2025, he pardoned Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road), who was serving a life sentence, and, in late November 2025, issued a “full and complete pardon” for former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years for conspiring to import hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States.

Coupled with the cruelty and chaos caused by ICE, including killing an unarmed mother in Minneapolis and then gaslighting the nation to the cheers of his supporters, it appears they have gotten the authoritarianism they desired.

Back to the Future

In my view, there is a clear parallel between the words and actions of White Christian Nationalists and what happened in Germany during the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s. The church played a role in the devastation and cruelty that resulted. Trump has Franklin Graham. Hitler had Paul Althaus.11

By the mid-1930s, the Nazis controlled the German church. Today, White Christian Nationalists seek to control the government. They call it “dominion over politics.” We saw it raise its ugly head on January 6, 2021. Fortunately, our representative democracy survived its first assault.

Perhaps we can learn from history, but by all indications, that is not the case. Right-wing media has gaslighted its listeners into believing January 6, 2021, was a “day of love.” I have read reports that Germans are watching us in horror.

Making Germany Great Again

This is a quick and dirty summary of what happened in Germany.

Following her loss in World War I and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to accept responsibility for the war and pay heavy reparations, all while facing threats from the Communists. To make matters worse, many Christians found intolerable a robust homosexual enclave that had taken root in Berlin.

The legacy of a failed Weimar Republic left the people hungry for change. The Nazis promised voters they would turn back the clock to a time of national prominence—essentially, to make Germany great again. Many feared the church was losing power and that non-Germans were diluting Aryan purity. The Nazis stoked these fears and promised to protect the church and the national bloodline.

The publication of the 1920 Nazi Party Platform12, Article 4 marginalized the Jews, while Article 24 guaranteed religious freedom. Less than one percent of Germans were Jews living in a nation whose church founder, Martin Luther, was known for his anti-Semitism. In the 1930s, antisemitic signs in train stations and public places were common, long before soldiers began arresting Jews.

The primary tactic of White Christian Nationalists is fear of the other and religious persecution. On February 6, 2025, the president issued Executive Order 14202, Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.13

Nearly all Germans considered themselves Christians, much like the majority (75%) of American adults do today. The Nazis used what they called “positive Christianity” to prey on Germans’ faith, promising to strengthen and revitalize the church.

By 1934, Germany had a state church, and pastors were state employees required to swear allegiance to Hitler. Roman Catholics quietly opposed the Nazis, although some bishops openly opposed party membership.

Most German Protestants belonged to the German Evangelical Church (GEC). As the Nazis gained power, the GEC gave rise to the German Christians (Deutsche Christen), who supported the party. In 1933, Hitler and the Nazi Party became the governing power. Nazi leadership urged Protestants to unite all regional churches into a national church.

In a national referendum, two-thirds of GEC voters supported the German Christians, and Ludwig Müller won the national election to lead them. He was appointed Reich bishop. At least two German pastors, Hermann Gruner and Julius Leutheuser, have been reported as telling their congregations: “Christ has come to us through Adolph Hitler.”14

However, not all members of the GEC agreed with them. An offshoot, calling itself the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche), opposed Hitler, his party, and his church.

In 1934, many of Germany’s most prominent religious leaders met in Barmen to draft what became known as the Barmen Declaration. The Confessing Church was founded on the Barmen Declaration. Its primary author was Karl Barth, one of the most respected theologians of the twentieth century and one of the most formidable academics in German history.

The Confessing Church viewed the Nazis as a threat to both Germany and orthodox Christianity. Its slogan was “Church must remain Church,” and it opposed the German Christian movement’s changes to the Bible.

Two other well-known members of the Confessing Church were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller. Because of their vocal opposition to Hitler, Niemöller was imprisoned for seven years. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and executed in April 1945.

Now, Here We Are

Rev. William Barber II summarized Christian nationalism this way. “Christian nationalism attempts to sanctify oppression, not liberation. It attempts to sanctify lies, not truth. At best, it’s a form of theological malpractice. At worst, it’s a form of heresy.”15

The chilling words of George Orwell have never seemed so close to reality, especially in light of the murder of a Minnesota mom by an ICE agent and the subsequent gaslighting attempts by the president, vice president, and the homeland security director. Orwell observed, “Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

Not only does it attempt to sanctify lies, but it also worships and platforms liars. Fortunately, along with Barber, many other pastors see White Christian Nationalism for what it is, Golden Calf Christianity, especially since January 6, 2021.

After the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a coalition of more than 100 pastors and other faith leaders wrote an open letter condemning the role of radical Christian nationalism in fueling the political extremism that led to the violent insurrection. Part of that letter reads, quote,

‘We recognize that evangelicalism and white evangelicalism in particular has been susceptible to the heresy of Christian nationalism because of a long history of faith leaders accommodating white supremacy. We choose to speak out now because we do not want to be quiet accomplices in this ongoing sin.’”16

In another open letter, a coalition of 500 pastors in response to the insurrection called Christian nationalism “heretical.” The letter included the following:

“We recognize the damage done by radicalized Christian Nationalism in the world, the church, and in the lives of individuals and communities. We know from experts on radicalization that one of the key elements is a belief that your actions are ‘blessed by God’ and ordained by your faith. This is what allows so many people who hold to a Christian Nationalism view to be radicalized. While we come from varied backgrounds and political stances, we stand together against the perversion of the Christian faith as we saw on January 6, 2021. We also stand against the theology and the conditions that led to the insurrection.”17

The survey did not, and could not, adequately define what constitutes a Christian. The best it could do was examine church attendance. But that is like concluding that anyone who drives a Toyota is Japanese. A proper definition is critical, since the term is used to characterize beliefs generally accepted as White Christian Nationalism.

It doesn’t take long to see that, when you look at Christian tradition and theology, “Christian” and “nationalism” are mutually exclusive terms. At best, it should be called religious nationalism.18 Genuine Christianity is characterized by a dynamic relationship with a living Jesus. Without Jesus as both Lord and Savior, what people call Christianity is only religion.

The term “Christian” was first used to describe a disciple of Jesus (Acts 11:26), who set at least seven conditions for one to be called his disciple.

1. They must give up everything. (Luke 14:23, 26, and 33) That doesn’t mean disciples must take a vow of poverty or walk out on their families, although early Christians lived communally, sharing everything in common. (Acts 4:32) It does mean, however, that nothing can be more important than the disciple’s relationship with Jesus.

2. They must deny themselves. (Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, and 14:26)

3. They must surrender every aspect of their lives to Jesus. Discipleship requires total commitment to seeking and following God’s will.

4. They must do what he says and obey his commands. (Luke 6:46 and John 8:31)

5. They must love one another. (John 13:34-35)

6. They must bear fruit. (John 15:8)

7. They must be like Jesus. (Luke 6:40)

Christianity teaches that genuine followers of Jesus exhibit humble servitude rather than hurtful superiority. Regardless of race, religion, or gender, all humankind has been created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).

If you don’t love others, you do not really love God (1 John 4:20). There is no difference between Jews, Gentiles, men, or women who believe in Jesus (Galatians 3:28). Christian nationalists might argue that they do not dislike Black Christians or Messianic Jews, but that doesn’t go far enough.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:36-39 | NIV)

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches that everyone is our neighbor. We are also expected to love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us (Matthew 5:44). I am calling on sincere brothers and sisters in Christ to wake up, stand up, and speak up. We are on the cusp of losing the faith once delivered to the saints.

If you like this type of academic/theological analysis and would like to see more in the future, please like, share, and subscribe.

A farmer planted two trees at the edge of his field. He placed a sign on one that read, “Good Tree.” He did not label the second tree.

Season after season, the first tree produced fruit that was bitter, hard, easily bruised, and barely edible. Yet the farmer’s neighbors ignored their experience and judged its fruit by the sign alone. The second tree quietly fed the hungry who passed by.

One day, a traveler asked, “Which tree is good?”

The farmer replied, “The sign can lie. The fruit never does.”

Before we continue our examination of American Christian nationalism through the lens of the Seven Churches of Revelation, I have to ask the obvious question, one that cannot be dodged with “whaddaboutism,” slogans, or sanctified spin.

How can you reconcile faith with facts?

To my brothers and sisters in Christ who support our president’s military aggression in South America:

We were told our intervention in Venezuela was a mission of mercy,1 a righteous strike against narcotics and a liberation from the “criminal enterprise” of Nicolás Maduro. But the smoke had barely cleared from the arrests and the tragic loss of innocent life before the mask slipped.

It Was All About Oil

The president now admits the actual objective was oil, not justice or mercy. In fact, he admitted running his plan past the oil companies before the attack and then provided them with an after-action report once Maduro was in custody. Think about that. The oil companies were briefed before Congress was. But given that Congress is largely a rubber stamp for his criminality, I doubt he expected any pushback.

He has since signaled that similar “liberations” may soon come to Greenland, Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, and Iran.

If you seek to return America to the (largely fictitious) Christian nation we once were, support the president’s expansionist actions, and/or if you are pushing to install the Ten Commandments in our public schools, I’ll ask again:

How can you reconcile faith with facts? How do we reconcile this imperial ambition with the very Decalogue we claim to revere?

The Fruit Doesn’t Lie

Only God knows a person’s heart or eternal destiny. That judgment is not ours to make. But Jesus is clear about this much: “You will recognize them by their fruits.” The fruit of a life shaped by Christ is love, humility, mercy, truth, and self-giving sacrifice.

Measured by that standard, we must pause, honestly and prayerfully, before blessing what so plainly contradicts the way of Jesus. Words that celebrate cruelty, boast of hatred, or call for the destruction of enemies are not morally neutral.

They stand in direct opposition to the one who commanded us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and put down the sword. Hatred is not a Christian virtue; it is a spiritual warning sign.

This is not about declaring who is or is not a Christian. It is about whether we, as followers of Christ, are willing to excuse behavior we would never accept in our own pulpits, churches, or homes, simply because we are told it will produce good fruit.

Move Beyond Symbols and Slogans

And if we truly desire a nation shaped by Christian values, that commitment must reach far beyond symbols and slogans. A “Christian nation” would be recognized not by commandments posted on walls, but by commandments lived out in public policy and personal conduct.

We would feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger, protect the vulnerable, and tell the truth even when it comes at a cost. We would honor the Ten Commandments not as decoration, but as discipline.

The question before us is not whether God can redeem any individual. We believe that He can. The question is whether we are willing to trade the gospel of Jesus Christ for a gospel of fear, domination, and hate.

The fruit we defend today will shape the witness we leave tomorrow.

The Crisis of Conscience

Let’s take a minute to hold our foreign policy up to the mirror of God’s law:

• The Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill.

How do we justify the “collateral” deaths of civilians—children, elders, and the innocent for the sake of strategic resources? Preliminary reports indicate at least 80 people, including civilians, were killed in the attack.2 Cuba reported 32 of its citizens were also killed.3

• The Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.

Is the seizure of another nation’s oil not theft on a global scale? The oil has always belonged to Venezuela. They had the right to nationalize the oil industry, which they did under President Gerald Ford in 1976 through a process generally accepted by all parties involved.4

• The Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness.

The incursion into Venezuela was about resources, not about curtailing illegal drug activities.

If the president was serious about holding drug traffickers accountable, why did he pardon Ross Ulbricht and Juan Orlando Hernandez?5 Furthermore, he granted clemency to 100 others accused of drug-related crimes, according to the Washington Post.

If the true motive was oil, what do we call the narcotics narrative? A lie disguised in fake morality or complicit, criminal patriotism?

• The Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not covet.

When we map out our neighbors’ resources as our own, are we not the very embodiment of covetousness?

End the Hypocrisy

We cannot demand the Law be plastered on our school walls while we allow it to be trampled in our foreign policy.

We cannot preach Christ crucified while practicing Caesar glorified.

Christianity is an all or nothing proposition. We can either do what Jesus taught, and obey the moral laws of the Old Testament or defend the lies of this administration.

My prayer is that those who claim this is a diversion from the Epstein files and his domestic policy failures are wrong. Because if they’re right, then another generation of young people may be trading blood for oil in response to a fiction.

Now is not the time to keep our heads down. As followers of Jesus, we must raise our voices. If we remain silent, we are complicit, perhaps even apostate.

If you’re interested in fostering a thoughtful discussion or supporting this effort, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing. It’s free, and I intend to keep it that way. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance… But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:2–4 |ESV)

The seven letters written to the churches in Revelation contained Christ’s warnings to five of the seven. Each letter was to be read in order by all the churches, conveying a message to all of them and to those who followed.

Let’s look at Ephesus, the first of the seven to receive John’s Revelation of Jesus, and examine American Christian nationalism in light of that congregation.

Jesus commends the church for its labor, perseverance, doctrinal vigilance, and ability to recognize, expose, and reject false apostles. They worked hard. They endured faithfully. They defended orthodoxy. Yet all of this was overshadowed by a devastating rebuke:

“You have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Love is not peripheral to Christianity. It is its heart. Love is the reason God sent his son, Jesus, who taught that the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled by loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:37-40).

John echoes this truth plainly: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… (1 John 4:8 | NIV)

Love Grown Cold

We are not told whether the Ephesian church’s love for God or neighbor had diminished. Given their continued endurance “for my name’s sake” (v. 3), it seems unlikely they had abandoned belief or stopped loving God. More plausibly, they had replaced love for others with duty and self-righteous service, and compassion with a cold religiosity.

This is precisely where the church in Ephesus aligns with Christian nationalism today.

When Zeal Replaces Love

I struggle to understand how anyone who genuinely follows Jesus can reconcile his teachings with the policies and rhetoric of the Trump administration.

How can those claiming devotion to Jesus accept, even embrace, the criminality and cruelty that have become commonplace?

January 6th was the worst attack on American democracy since Fort Sumter. Political violence is rising, and the Right bears significant responsibility.1

Three areas stand out in light of Jesus’s rebuke of the Ephesian congregation:

1. The treatment of undocumented immigrants

2. The bombing of small boats allegedly involved in drug trafficking as a pretense and prelude to regime change in Venezuela

3. The president’s deliberate cultivation of division and political violence

(The handling of the Epstein files will be addressed in a future essay on the Church at Pergamum.)

Immigrants are God’s Image-bearers, too

The day I began drafting this piece, the president, described by some as a Christian and by others as divinely anointed, referred to Somalia as “stinking” and Somali immigrants as “garbage.”

And he did not stop with generalities. He made a point of criticizing Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and her friends as “garbage.”

Charlie Kirk, likewise, singled out Ilhan Omar, along with Omar Fateh, Rashida Tlaib, and Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York, who immigrated here legally and are US citizens, as “less than” Americans, claiming “if America is just a passport, then America is dead.”2

In the 1970s, there was a saying: “God don’t make no junk.”

Nor does God create “garbage” image-bearers from Somalia or anywhere else.

There is no justification for followers of Jesus to ignore such hateful speech and celebrate the mistreatment of non-criminal, undocumented immigrants.

This president has not made people racist. He has just made it safe for racists to publicly be what they have always been in private.

Charlie Kirk said racist things and was a proponent of the “Great Replacement” scare tactic. It was that fear that resulted in white Americans shouting “You will not replace us” during the deadly march in Charlottesville, VA, during Trump’s first term.3

This needs to be said. If you are afraid that someone who is poorly educated and can barely speak English will take your job, undocumented immigrants are not your biggest problem.

On Christmas, we celebrated the arrival of a savior who, if the angel had sent his parents to the US instead of Egypt, would have been murdered by Herod when his parents were deported back to Judea.

Faith Without Compassion Is Fake

Most Christian nationalists also support deporting immigrants without due process and ignoring mitigating factors such as decades of law-abiding behavior, hard work, and paying taxes.

Few of them distinguish between criminals and those guilty only of the misdemeanor offense of illegal entry. Even worse, they fail to differentiate between Christians and non-Christians.

Approximately 80% of immigrants at risk of deportation under current policy are Christians, according to One Part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families.4

Scripture could not be more explicit:

“‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:33–34 | NIV)

That command is not limited to the Old Testament. The writer of Hebrews repeated it with a twist. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2 | NIV)

I wonder how many angels we have deported—and where they were sent.

Jesus leaves no room for ambiguity and attached a penalty for failing to care for the stranger, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, and the poor:

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:45-46 | ESV)

Silence is Complicity

Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) agents brutalize families while many believers look away.

Law enforcement need not be lawless. Borders can be secured without cruelty, but genuine Christians must reject Christian nationalism and take a non-violent stand against cruel, authoritarian actions by our government.

Pope Leo said:

“I believe we must seek ways of treating people with humanity, with the dignity that is theirs. If someone is in the United States illegally, there are ways to address this. There are courts. There is a judicial system. I believe there are many problems in the system. No one has said that the United States should have open borders. . . I think every country has the right to determine who enters, how, and when. . . [W]hen people have lived good lives—many of them for 10, 15, 20 years—treating them in a way that is, to say the least, extremely disrespectful, and with instances of violence, is troubling.”5

This government is using religion and religious people to destroy democracy and the unity we have always been respected for throughout the world.

Barry Goldwater observed,

Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.6

Murder and Piracy on the High Seas

As of this writing, the U.S. military had conducted targeted strikes on at least 33 small vessels in waters off South America since early September, killing at least 115 people. So far, the administration has offered no proof that those killed were smuggling drugs.7

Coupled with a second strike on two survivors of a prior attack, and lacking evidence to the contrary, what the administration is doing must be seen for what it is: murder.8

If the boats had been interdicted and the crews legally interrogated, people from both parties would not harbor suspicions that this is more about regime change and oil in Venezuela than about narcoterrorism.

We have also impounded a sanctioned oil tanker in the open ocean. When asked about the disposition of the oil in the ship, the president responded, “I guess we’ll keep it,” or words to that effect.

As I prepared to upload this, the president announced military action in Venezuela, resulting in the capture of its president and his wife under a 2020 US arrest warrant. We must wait to see what happens, but the president indicated we will “run” the country until a suitable replacement is found.

And American oil companies will repair and operate drilling operations there.

On the surface, this seems to support the concerns I and others have previously raised about attacks on Venezuela and Nigeria, both oil-rich nations.

He promised his supporters “no regime change.” I wonder what they are feeling today.

Division as a False Gospel

The president governs by division. Dissenters are not merely wrong; to him, they are enemies. Violence committed by allies is ignored or rewarded, while opposition is criminalized.

He is building walls between our traditional allies while embracing our traditional enemies.

Senator John McCain, who saw clearly what many refused to confront, warned:

“The political tactics of division and slander are corrupting influences on religion and politics… Those who practice them shame our faith, our party, and our country.”9

MAGA Christianity is not the Faith Jesus Left Us

Genuine believers lift others. We do not call those who disagree with us names or tolerate hatred or racism.

Furthermore, we heed the apostle Paul’s warning. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14 | ESV)

And if that is not specific enough, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33 | ESV)

By supporting an amoral president, Christian nationalists risk being dragged down to his antichrist level. It is not too late to realize they have been misled.

Here is what selling your soul for money and power looks like.

Last week, I read that a room full of businessmen who voted for this president said, although they had done business with him in the past, they would not do so again. Yet, they would vote for him again.

Help me make sense of that rationale.

The Warning to Ephesus and Us

Jesus warned the church in Ephesus:

“Repent… or I will remove your lampstand from its place. (And, as an aside, that church ceased to exist.)

Jesus could have used violence against Rome, but didn’t because neither his kingdom nor his methods are of this world. And they should not be ours either.

Nothing in Christ’s teachings promotes or commends racism, hatred, cruelty, division, or violence. The church does not overcome the world with the sword.

The overcomers of Revelation bear the cross of Christ, not the sword or flag of Caesar.

I will end with this warning to Christian nationalist congregations. “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17 | ESV).

We are almost at the point where what I have written so far may be applied directly to Christian nationalist congregations in the United States of America.

Beginning with Part 6, we will examine what is occurring in that segment of Christianity through the lens of Jesus’s teachings and five of the seven churches described in John’s Book of the Revelation of Jesus.

A Crisis in the American Church

The rapid rise of this heresy signals a crisis within the American church. Yet many sincere believers do not realize that their faith is being exploited by those whose words and actions contradict Jesus’s teachings.

Worse yet, those using them are profiting by spreading fear, not only of religious persecution, long a staple of evangelicalism, but also hatred and fear of the “other.”

If you have been reading this series from the beginning, you have already been introduced to some of the so-called “Christian” organizations and personalities leading believers and entire congregations into an idolatrous mix of patriotism on steroids and Christianity without Christ.

Racism By Another Name

One of the most egregious examples is Turning Point USA, which recently held a very profitable gathering, AmericaFest, at the Phoenix, AZ, Convention Center.

At that gathering, the vice president declared:

“In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”

I am white. While I have apologized for racist acts committed by white people, I have never felt led to apologize to anyone for the skin I was born in. I imagine few, if any, other white people have felt led to do so either.

Vance’s assertion is simply a variation on the familiar “Merry Christmas” trope, designed to push emotional hot buttons. It has never been wrong to say those words—even to unbelievers.

In light of other faith traditions represented in this country and in this season, “Happy Holidays” reflects the heart of Jesus.

What sets Christianity apart is the resurrection of Jesus.

Indeed, he is God in the flesh, but it is Good Friday, followed by Easter, that opened the door to reconciliation with a holy God and offers hope of life after life for believers.

What is problematic about a smug “Merry Christmas” is the false narrative it conceals.

That rhetoric reinforces a cultivated sense of victimization and pride among white Christians, a narrative nurtured for decades.

It also exposes something we must finally acknowledge:

What is often called Christian nationalism is, in reality, white Christian nationalism. It is racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia disguised as religion.

Rather than viewing the “other” as God’s image-bearer, Christian nationalists see them as a threat.

Not the Long Way Around

It may have felt tedious at times, but everything I have covered so far serves these three purposes:

• Bringing the message of Jesus back to the church

• Erecting a doctrinal wall between church and state

• Offering scriptural evidence to counter the power grab inherent in Christian nationalism

This is precisely what Jesus meant when he said:

“My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)

The sole purpose of the next essay, and the ones that follow, is to urge my Christian brothers and sisters to recognize this antichrist movement for what it is, to avoid believing a lie, and to keep from missing the very heart of Christianity.

“We Have Met the Enemy…”

Ironically, a line from Walt Kelly’s possum, Pogo—originally written for Earth Day in 1970—aptly describes the current assault on Christianity by professed believers:

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

The attack on “the faith once delivered to the saints” does not come from the secular humanist Left. It comes from within a faction of the church, one seduced by power and deceived by false prophets who practice eisegesis (misreading Scripture).

They present themselves as authorities, even superseding the canon of Scripture.

In the process, Jesus is pushed out of the sanctuary, and the unchurched recoil from the gospel.

Jesus Standing Outside the Church

If you’ve walked with Jesus for any length of time, you’ve likely heard the phrase:

“The Bible wasn’t written to you, but it was written for you.”

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Book of Revelation. Consider this:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20 | NIV)

This verse is often used as an invitation to unbelievers. But in context, it depicts Jesus standing outside the church, knocking, waiting to be invited back to his rightful place.

Revelation: A Letter to Real Churches

Revelation was originally a circular letter sent to seven real churches in Asia Minor. It was meant to be read in order, from Ephesus to Laodicea.

Imagine each congregation hearing Jesus’s assessment of itself and its neighboring churches.

It would be like your boss conducting performance reviews in front of coworkers, or your pastor calling you out by name from the pulpit.

Jesus speaks to these churches with unmatched authority, appealing to both heart and mind. His words serve as a warning to five of them, but the overarching message to all seven, along with those of us who call ourselves Jesus’s followers, is the same:

Remain faithful. Do not be compromised by the world.

Those Spirit-inspired letters still speak with striking clarity to American Christianity, especially to churches influenced by Christian nationalism.

Victory Through Faithfulness, Not Power

The central message of Revelation is not domination, fear, or control.

It is this:

God wins! Jesus triumphs!

And in him, we are victorious not by using the world’s means or compromising Christian values, but by remaining faithful.

No ends ever justify setting aside the teachings of Jesus, which include our love for God and others.

We are judged by the company we keep, including the leaders and their policies that we support.

³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” ³⁴ Be sober-minded [be sensible, wake up from your spiritual stupor] as you ought, and stop sinning; for some [of you] have no knowledge of God [you are disgracefully ignorant of Him, and ignore His truths]. I say this to your shame. (1 Corinthians 15:33-34 | AMP)

Before dismissing those words, remember the apostle Paul was writing to church people.

The pursuit of dominion, which I covered in an earlier essay, reveals a profound lack of faith.

If your God needs your help, he is no god at all. God does not need our assistance to accomplish his will.

Revelation is fundamentally about discipleship and perseverance. Ignoring this truth distorts the text and fuels irresponsible interpretations.1 Such misinterpretations have become the diseased root of Christianity, white Christian nationalism.

Dispensationalism and White Christian Nationalism

One of the primary theological engines behind Christian nationalism is dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism divides history into distinct periods—or dispensations—during which God relates to humanity in different ways. It emphasizes a literal reading of Scripture, especially prophecy, and draws a sharp distinction between Israel and the Church.

Popularized in the 19th century by figures like John Nelson Darby and C. I. Scofield, dispensationalism has profoundly shaped American evangelicalism—especially through voices like Hal Lindsey in The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

The Scofield Reference Bible claims:

“Most conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church, and in this precise order.”2

They view Revelation as a historical text that describes each church “age” and maintain that we are in the final stage of church history.

While dispensationalists often associate the present church age with the church in Laodicea, the failures Jesus identified in five of the seven churches are clearly evident in congregations that promote or tolerate Christian nationalism.

A Word to Carry Forward

I will close, for now, with a quote from C.S. Lewis:

“I think almost all the crimes which Christians have perpetrated against each other arise from this, that religion is confused with politics.”—Letter to Don Giovanni Calabria, 8/10/1953 (The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III)

With Lewis’s warning in mind, next time we will examine Ephesus—a church that continued doing many good things, yet earned Christ’s rebuke for abandoning its first love.

A church without love for God and love for others easily slips into racism, fear, hatred, selfishness, and even justification of murder.

What Comes Next

In Part 6, we begin comparing white Christian nationalism with five of the seven churches described in Revelation.

Closing Note

Please forgive this shameful plug.

This essay is the fifth installment in a ten-part series examining the significant theological error known as white Christian nationalism.

I have intentionally kept this work freely available. There will be no paywalls or subscription fees.

This is a labor of love, but I can tell you this. If I wrote for the money, I would be advancing, not opposing, Christian nationalism. Folks are getting rich from the hate and fear they are spreading.

For those of us who are serious about following Jesus and concerned about our Christian brothers and sisters, these conversations are too meaningful not to have.

I am concerned that time is running out for sincere believers to recognize that they may have taken a detour. There may be fewer opportunities to do what I can to gently bring them back to Jesus and his teachings.

I hope it is not my pride showing, but I need to know if this labor is bearing fruit.

My immediate goal is simple: 1,000 subscribers (I’m already well over halfway there). If each reader shared this with a single friend or family member and encouraged them to subscribe, we could reach that goal.

When the series concludes, I will return to writing about current events through a distinctly Christian lens, one that seeks faithfulness over fear, clarity over outrage, and truth over tribalism.

Finally, let’s talk.

I won’t argue with anyone, but I welcome thoughtful, logical discussion, even debate. I write from conviction, but I remain open to being sharpened by those wiser than I am.

If this series is broadening your awareness of Christian nationalism, helping you think more clearly, believe more faithfully, or speak more carefully, I invite you to stand with me by subscribing, sharing, or simply continuing to read.

Your participation tells me this work matters.

Thank you for walking this road with me as we await the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. God bless you.

Flags in the Sanctuary: The Blurred Line Between Faith and Nation

When I was a boy, the church we attended resembled many small-town Protestant churches. Wooden pews filled the space, and a piano sat in the corner. A simple table in front of the pulpit bore the words, “In remembrance of me.”

Often, a flower arrangement rested there, honoring the memory of a loved one. The pulpit itself was elevated, flanked by a pair of fancy chairs that emphasized the pastor’s spiritual authority.

Yet what stands out most vividly in my memory are the flags. Two of them, one at each end of the platform: the Stars and Stripes, and the white banner marked with a red cross on a blue square in its corner—the Christian flag.

A Cancer in the Church

It appeared to suggest a shared allegiance between the nation and the kingdom of God, with the pastor standing between them. Looking back, I wonder if anyone sensed tension in that pairing, a pastor authoritatively speaking for the kingdom while honoring the nation.

I know that idea didn’t cross my mind before the rise of Christian nationalism.

Did the American flag symbolize patriotism, or was its presence in the sanctuary a nod to the cancerous movement silently growing within American evangelicalism?

Today, it seems that people judge our political views solely by whether we display the national flag. And what does that say about our faith if we claim to be Christians?

It is precisely this question, the mixing of faith with national identity, that is central to Christian nationalism and is the primary focus of this series.

Beginning with Part 5, we will evaluate Christian nationalism against Scripture, specifically the Book of Revelation. To understand how pervasive and dangerous Christian nationalism is, we must first conclude our brief historical overview.

A Quick Recap

In a prior essay (Part 2), I discussed the Johnson Amendment and how its restrictions have changed under this president. The Johnson Amendment is a section of the U.S. tax code that prevents 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, such as charities and churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

In 2017, the first Trump Administration issued an executive order that effectively nullified it.

In the last essay (Part 3), we discussed two religious organizations that influence the political engagement of predominantly evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal congregations: the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and the 7 Mountain Mandate (7MM).

This essay focuses on Turning Point USA and Faith Wins, organizations that have become a significant influence on evangelicals and conservative politics.

It is an unholy merger that has reshaped the landscape of faith, creating ‘Christians’ who hold tightly to political ideology but have drifted far from the person and principles of Jesus.

MAGA Christianity does not reflect the teachings of Jesus.

Charlie Kirk: Voice of Faith and Purveyor of Fear

Before September 10, 2025, the day of his murder, I don’t recall ever hearing about Charlie Kirk or his organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA). And I certainly had no concept of the influence he had on American evangelicalism and the 7MM.

Fear of persecution has fueled Christian nationalism since the mid-20th century. However, the idea that Christians face persecution in America is a myth used to motivate primarily Pentecostals, charismatics, and evangelicals.

Admittedly, if you stand on the street corner pounding your Bible and shouting, “Turn or burn,” people will respond negatively, but that’s hardly persecution.

Before Kirk’s murder, Matthew Boedy, the author of a book on the 7MM, about to be published, wrote this about him in the book’s preface. “Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, has continued to inflame the fear of anti-Christian persecution that gave birth to the seven mountains mandate.”1

Charlie Kirk’s killing was a political act.

As I watched the evening news the day of his horrific murder, my heart broke thinking about the devastating impact his violent and untimely death would have on his family and loved ones, as well as its implications for American politics.

It wasn’t long before the finger-pointing began, driven by the kind of fear that empowers Christian nationalism.

Kirk’s Confrontational Agenda

Charlie Kirk, a self-identified evangelical, was one of the most recognizable and controversial conservative Christian activists of his generation. “But Kirk is much more than a leading voice in conservative politics. He has made Turning Point into the indispensable organization for the seven mountains movement.”2

Some saw him as a fearless truth-teller willing to challenge the “woke,” “politically correct” Left. For others, he represented the dangers of absolute rhetoric that portrayed opponents as enemies rather than fellow citizens. “Kirk’s actions already have begun to erase much of what makes America great.”3

He probably didn’t realize he was prophesying his own manner of death when, in 2023, while defending Second Amendment rights, he said protecting them was worth some gun deaths every year to uphold our “God-given rights.”

America, Love it or Leave it

He was equally passionate in his opposition to public education, abortion, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). People more familiar with him and his work than I have concluded that he was a talented public speaker who expressed racist and misogynistic views and often bullied those who attempted to debate him.

One of the most outrageous statements he made was, “America is the only country where even those who hate it refuse to leave. That’s how you know you live in a great country.” Those words conflict with his actions and ignore every American citizen’s right, protected by the Constitution, to effect change by peacefully advocating for it.

Many of his quotations and views are readily available online. However, my experience is that when someone publicly questions anything that reflects poorly on him, his followers dismiss them as “out of context.” Ironically, the most vocal defenders of his “Christian witness” use words that I wouldn’t repeat.

A particular form of Christianity drives his calls for a return to America’s religious roots. It includes a very narrow segment of the faith whose actions and support for harsh public policies are anything but Christ-like.

TPUSA: From Campus Club to Political Powerhouse

Charlie may be gone, but the movement he inspired is well-funded and remains a potent political force.

His memorial included speeches from the nation’s top Republican and conservative figures, including the president, the vice president, his widow, Erika, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump Jr.4

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, was an early Turning Point advisory board member. . . Since 2018, Turning Point has hosted Trump fourteen times.5

Turning Point USA, a 501(c) nonprofit, was founded by Kirk when he was 18 to educate students about fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. Notice, there is no mention of politics, faith, or religion. But that changed. It has since become a significant figure in conservative politics, with a primary focus on evangelical voters.

Trump attended several TPUSA events across the country throughout 2024, and several of his nominees have ties to the organization. Turning Point Action, the group’s sister 501(c)(4) organization, led Trump’s 2024 campaign efforts in key battleground states and played a vital role in the election of far-right candidates in Arizona, while TPUSA participated on the advisory board of Project 2025, a blueprint to radically reshape the federal government.6

The emphasis on Christianity has expanded alongside its financial growth.

Turning Point USA raised $389 million from its founding in 2012 through mid-2023.

The organization’s public tax returns omit donor names, but they include some very influential businessmen and politicians.7 Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick publicly committed $1 million to expand TPUSA chapters in Texas.8

“Reporting shows TPUSA’s funding is a mix of private family foundations, donor‑advised funds, and wealthy individual donors rather than transparent single corporate sponsorships.”9

TPUSA has gained acceptance more readily by politically conservative, evangelical networks, but it has been challenging to determine the level of support it receives from specific denominations.10

Its website hosts a “Professor Watchlist” tool that allows students to report professors and administrators for holding “radical left” views. Its similar watchlist for school boards is described as a tool to find and expose leadership supporting “anti-American, radical, hateful, immoral, and racist teachings in their districts.”11

Christian nationalism is evil. It uses religion as a means to a political end, rather than as a roadmap to God and a guide to moral behavior. The Bible directs our response to such abuse of its precepts. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. (Ephesians 5:11 | ESV)

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

That quotation, attributed initially to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and ironically posted at the bottom of the Turning Point Academy homepage, inspired me to write this series of essays.

Direct Attack on the Constitution and Our Democracy

The government that Kirk and TPUSA helped establish is turning the fears once used to motivate and empower evangelicals into an authoritarian reality.

In addition to weaponizing the Justice Department against political enemies and Homeland Security against undocumented immigrants, the Trump administration is suggesting that foreign visitors provide five years of their social media history as a condition of entry.12

That will undoubtedly limit visits to this country by the best and brightest young minds, whose politics do not align with those of the administration. One is left to wonder how soon it will be required of U.S. citizens returning from foreign travel.

Those and other outrageous actions threaten freedom of expression and the freedom of those outside their version of “Christianity” to worship or not, constituting a direct attack on the First Amendment.

Faith Wins, Secret Meetings, and the Church’s Drift

Do you remember the two flags mentioned in the introduction to this essay?

Faith Wins (FW), a similar organization to TPUSA, was founded by Chad Connelly. He was the original Republican National Committee’s National Director of Faith Engagement. FW, according to its website, is “dedicated to educating, activating and mobilizing faith leaders, helping them leverage their influence and impact within the governmental and political arena.”

It makes this bold statement on its website.

We are so encouraged at Faith Wins that the church is finding its voice, because we’ve seen it first hand – pastors and church leaders all over the country getting engaged and involved, holding voter registration drives, and sharing what The Word says about the issues we face in America. Since our founding, we have hosted more than 20,000 pastors at virtual and face-to-face events, offering encouragement from folks like Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Rand Paul, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Speaker Mike Johnson and Gov. Mike Huckabee; and a focus on engaging their churches to vote Biblical values. That is the Essence of The Church Finding Its Voice. We are committed to make a Kingdom Difference across America. WILL YOU DO YOUR PART?13

While appearing on Christian Nationalist Jason Rupert’s program, Connelly reported that FW has coordinated dozens of secret meetings between top Republican presidential candidates and right-wing pastors, allowing pastors to question the candidates on political issues and to pray over them.14

Do you remember the flags and chants of the crowd on January 6, 2021?

We increasingly find ourselves at the unholy intersection of behind-the-scenes politics and Christianity. The “faithful” have completely succumbed to the lure of political power and have demonstrated a willingness to use unchristian methods to achieve it.

Connelly is affiliated with TPUSA and spoke at a pastors’ summit in 2023 hosted by Turning Point at the Omni Hotel in Nashville, TN.

This is what one author wrote about that summit.

It was the first-ever “Pastors Summit” put on by Charlie Kirk—the activist who described Trump as “the most moral president on record”—and his organization, Turning Point USA. Connelly had gone all in. Partnering with Barton was bad enough. There was something especially foul about allying with Kirk, a serial liar and professional political arsonist, in a campaign to advance Christian virtue.15

The Barton referred to in that quote is David Barton, a self-proclaimed historian described as a “political hustler “ masquerading as a scholar . . .”16 who believes the separation of church and state is a myth.

It wouldn’t matter that Barton’s 2012 book on Thomas Jefferson was recalled by Thomas Nelson, the world’s largest Christian publisher, for its countless inaccuracies, or that a panel of ten conservative Christian academics who reviewed Barton’s body of work in the aftermath of that affair ripped the entirety of his scholarship to shreds.17

The Ugly Head of Racism

Racism is also reemerging beyond Kirk’s public comments. It has been widely reported that TPUSA is offering an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show because it features Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican entertainer.

The political right in the U.S., whose party infrastructure is dominated by the Republican Party but includes the current Libertarian Party and is flanked to the right by the Constitution Party, has embraced aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy. Turning Point USA and its growing influence on conservative politics is emblematic of this current state.18

The Great Replacement Narrative Enters the Sanctuary

Several weeks after the 2024 presidential election, Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), proudly embraced a white nationalist conspiracy theory while celebrating then-President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation. Kirk accused Democrats of embracing immigration as part of their plot to secure voters, permit crime and enact the “great replacement.” He warned his hundreds of thousands of listeners, “We native born Americans are being replaced by foreigners.” He then promised Trump will “liberate” the country from “the enemy occupation of the foreigner hordes.”19

Heaping on the Fear

TPUSA’s main strategy is creating and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under threat by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and civil rights activists. . . . TPUSA manipulates complex feelings of insecurity and anxiety to generate anger and rally support to preserve a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order. 20

Fear has been the president’s stock-in-trade from the start of his candidacy. He often fabricated unfounded reports of Haitians eating pets during his second presidential campaign, and more recently, he has targeted Somalis.21

Flashpoints between TPUSA and communities lead to spillover political and reputational consequences for churches that host or affiliate with TPUSA,22 resulting in only tepid support from church leadership who are reluctantly caught between MAGA parishioners and the Kirk organizations.

In the Aftermath of the Kirk Assassination

While monitoring social media after Kirk’s murder, I was struck by the division and anger expressed by supporters and detractors. In fact, those observations led me to post this on social media:

“Charlie Kirk is dead. That should sadden us all. The fact that his anger and hatred remain should call us to reconsider what Jesus, not Charlie, said.”

You can’t imagine the number of angry responses I received from people who admired him for his “Christian” faith and took, often unrepeatable, offense at me pointing out the hateful comments those who praised his faith had posted.

Soon after his death, the attacks on the First Amendment freedom of speech began.

Within days of his passing, calls to fire anyone who made comments belittling or supporting his death led to people losing their jobs for expressing their opinions. Celebrating someone’s murder is reprehensible, but protected by the Constitution.

Ironically, many of those who ignore the president’s repeated statements suggesting his political enemies be killed were among the first to call for serious consequences for anyone posting negative comments about Kirk’s death.

And it wasn’t just backlash over social media posts. Soon, Kirk was being celebrated as a national, some would say religious, icon. Streets were named after him, and statues were erected in his honor. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 14, 2025, his birthday.

The Epstein Files and the Convenient Shift in Focus

Just before his murder, Charlie had requested the release of the unredacted Trump/Epstein files.

On December 1, 2025, it was confirmed that the FBI spent nearly $1 million on overtime for staff to redact files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The files are expected to be released within a week of this post, following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. It remains unclear whether the agents redacted the President’s name from those documents.

To many, it looked like Kirk’s murder had been taken over by the president and his party as a distraction from the Trump/Epstein files. At least for a while, Kirk’s untimely passing successfully diverted the nation’s attention away from them.

Authoritative Sources

To further explore the roots of this attack on America, here are some sources I recommend:

Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism (Harper Collins, 2023), Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted Faith and Fractured a Nation by historian Kristen Kobes Du Mez (LiveRight, 2021), American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, by Andrew Whitehead (Brazos Press, 2023), and Matthew Boedy, The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy.

Coming Next: The Seven Churches of Revelation

The following essay (Part 5) will examine how the churches advocating Christian Nationalism may fit within John’s description of the seven churches in Revelation.

If this piece resonated with you, don’t let it end here. Please consider liking and subscribing. But most importantly, share it thoughtfully and intentionally. Use it to spark respectful, informed conversations with those who may be unaware of the growing threat to their faith and nation.

Honest, heartfelt conversations change minds.

Footnotes

Christian nationalism is no longer a fringe ideology whispered at the margins of American evangelicalism; it has become a movement with organized structures, charismatic leaders, and rapidly expanding influence.

At the center of this surge are the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and the Seven Mountains Mandate (7MM), which are interconnected, predominantly charismatic and Pentecostal networks united by a doctrine of dominion that seeks cultural and political control over American society.

But the danger is not merely political. It is profoundly theological.

The NAR and 7MM promote a distorted vision of Christian mission, replacing Christ’s message of love and non-violent self-sacrifice with ambitions of worldly power and claiming new revelation from self-appointed apostles as authoritative truth.

Their reinterpretation of Scripture transforms Revelation’s message of hope amid suffering into a mandate for conquest and cultural warfare, confusing spiritual faithfulness with political militancy. That point will be fully addressed in future posts, Lord willing.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19 | ESV)

These movements advance a counterfeit gospel whose momentum now threatens both the integrity of the church and the stability of American democracy.

What Is the New Apostolic Reformation?

The New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, is an unbiblical religious movement that emphasizes experience over Scripture, mysticism over doctrine, and modern-day “apostles” over the plain text of the Bible. Of particular distinction in the New Apostolic Reformation are the role and power of spiritual leaders and miracle-workers, the reception of “new” revelations from God, an overemphasis on spiritual warfare, and a pursuit of cultural and political control in society. The seeking of signs and wonders in the NAR is always accompanied by blatantly false doctrine.1

Jipson reported that Vance Boelter, the man who killed Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounded two others, studied at Christ for the Nations Institute, CNI, which is linked to the NAR.

After the shooting, CNI denounced all forms of violence and extremism.2

Yet, it has been reported that the NAR played a key role in the Capitol insurrection.

Among the NAR apostles who called on their millions of followers to reject the results of the 2020 election are Lance Wallnau, Dutch Sheets, and Cindy Jacobs. Paula White—a popular televangelist, spiritual advisor to Donald Trump, and NAR apostle—led the actual mob in prayer just before the attack on the US Capitol. As was widely reported, evangelicals carrying crosses and the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, marched next to Oath Keepers, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis, with a gallows in the background.3

In an article for Mother Jones, National Correspondent Kiera Butler repeated something she had written in an earlier article.

They believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States. In the vanguard of an ascendant Christian nationalist movement, they are seeking an explicitly Christian command of public schools, social policy, and all levels of the government, including the courts. Some scholars claim NAR is the fastest-growing spiritual movement in the United States. Evangelical writer C. Peter Wagner described it as the most significant shake-up in Protestantism since the Reformation. Its laser focus on starting a spiritual war to Christianize America has led the Southern Poverty Law Center to call NAR “the greatest threat to US democracy that you have never heard of.”4

The Scriptural Distortion Behind the Movement

The NAR is the soil from which the toxic 7MM sprouted. It bases its actions on, among other Scriptures, the misinterpretation of Revelation 17, describing a “spiritual battle waged through all history until Christ returns. It was meant to give Christians hope amid their suffering and cultural loss.”5 We will see that it was never intended as a call to arms for Christians.

The doctrine espoused by the NAR is false. Rather than offer my own scriptural refutation at this time, I will point you to two fairly comprehensive analyses.6

As we delve further into the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse, a Jezebel will emerge, but we will draw a different conclusion from how it was used to devalue Kamala Harris.7 We will also find that the victorious warrior from the tribe of Judah is not a sword-wielding soldier or a gun-toting congregation, but the sacrificed lamb—the crucified Christ.

If you want to understand how this all unfolds in the end, you’ll need to stay with me through a few more essays.

Poythress concluded, “Evangelicals increasingly run the risk of being seen as sore losers in the culture war. Our inability to let go, to relinquish positions of public prominence and power, reveals a misplaced faith.”8

Understanding the Seven Mountains Mandate

The 7 Mountain Mandate, a central teaching within the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), is based on the belief that specially anointed “apostles” are called by God to gain control over seven spheres or mountains of societal influence: government, media, education, economy, religion, family, and arts/entertainment. The ultimate goal is to establish dominion over these sectors, thereby transforming society according to what is perceived as God’s will.9

Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as Cru), initially proposed the concept that would become the NAR in the mid-1970s, and Francis Schaeffer, an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor, popularized it.10

C. Peter Wagner organized it and is considered the group’s theological architect.11 He published his thoughts on “dominion theology,” a call to spiritual warfare, in his 2008 book, Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World.

Jipson maintains, “Adherents believe that Christians are called to reclaim these areas through leadership and, if necessary, the use of force and to confront demonic political forces as religion scholar Matthew Taylor demonstrates in his book The Violent Take It By Force.”12

The title, obviously, is either a misinterpretation of Jesus’ words quoted in my part one essay and repeated here, or it is prophecy being fulfilled in real time. “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12 | ESV)

The Influence of Lance Wallnau

As reported by Ladner, above, one of its current leaders is Lance Wallnau, a self-proclaimed “apostle” with ties to Vice President J.D. Vance.

Lance Wallnau, a former businessman who hails from Texas, has been an influential leader in NAR circles for some time. He popularized one of its most popular concepts, the idea that there are seven “mountains” that Christians must conquer: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government. That last one has become a centerpiece of his mission. He has said he believes that the political left is possessed by demons, that there is “witchcraft” controlling the presidential election, and that Vice President Kamala Harris is a Jezebel—a reference to a prostitute in the Bible. As he put it in a recent broadcast, “When you’ve got somebody operating in manipulation, intimidation, and domination—especially when it’s in a female role trying to emasculate a man who is standing up for truth—you’re dealing with the Jezebel spirit.”13

How Widespread is 7MM?

According to Religion News, about 3 million people in the U.S. attend churches that openly follow those who teach the 7MM.14

According to “Paul Djupe, director of the Data for Political Research program at Denison University, 41 percent of American Christians, 55 percent of evangelicals, agreed with the mandate in January 2024. This is a dramatic increase from the 30 percent who agreed just a little under a year earlier in March 2023.”15

If you wish to review the study for yourself, here is the link.

The name is new, but the concept embodied by 7MM has been around since the 1880s when it surfaced as a proposed constitutional amendment that would declare the U.S. a “Christian nation.” It didn’t stop there, but it has since been defeated each time it has surfaced.

For an in-depth look at the movement and its agenda, you might consider The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy, by Matthew Boedy. (Westminster Knox Press, 2025)

Turning Point USA, TPUSA, the nation’s largest and most influential conservative youth organization and Charlie Kirk were vocal supporters of 7MM, making it, according to Boedy, “the central organizing element of the Trump era.” Placing us on “the precipice of the destruction of our democracy.”

We will return to TPUSA and Charlie Kirk later in another essay.

The 7MM has since become more aggressive, political, and spiritually militant, pushing an us-versus-them mindset among adherents. They often perceive those who disagree with them politically as “demonic” and satanically influenced.

And, although leaders of the movement prefer political engagement over violence, it is evident that some adherents take the notion of “spiritual warfare” to justify violence, as evidenced by the Minnesota shootings and the Capitol riot.

The NAR in Public Life Today

An awareness of the NAR and those connected with the 7MM might explain the behavior and scrutiny of some in the public eye.16

“The NAR has been most recently in the news regarding its close associations with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, among others. Nevertheless, there are still some who will claim that it doesn’t even exist. Others may deny or downplay the movement’s significance.”17

Coming Up Next

Next time, we will explore the role of Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA in shaping Christian nationalism, especially White Christian nationalism among young people. We’ll stop here for now. If this resonates with you, please like, subscribe, and most importantly, share this series to start a conversation with those you care about.

Jesus warned his listeners, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12 | ESV) That scripture passage, admittedly a difficult translation from Greek, is being dangerously distorted by people claiming to be Christians in a covert attack on our government, using force if necessary.

A better translation would be, “And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.” (NLT)

This essay aims to reveal the subversion of Christianity and our form of government, not from anti-Christian or foreign elements, but from people professing to be Jesus’ followers, many of whom are affiliated with the fastest-growing segment of Christianity in America.

The Johnson Amendment and a Shift in Church-State Boundaries

On July 7, 2025, by exploiting freedom of religion to bypass the Johnson Amendment, the IRS effectively allowed houses of worship to keep their tax-exempt status while endorsing specific candidates. But it only legalized a practice that began during President Trump’s first term.

In 2017, the first Trump Administration issued an executive order that effectively nullified the enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, which had been in effect for 70 years. It instructed the Treasury Department to be more lenient in its enforcement. For many, it seems the barrier between church and state has been compromised.1

The Johnson Amendment is a section of the U.S. tax code that prevents 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, such as charities and churches, from supporting or opposing political candidates. This rule was introduced by, and named for, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954.

Here is a sample of what that change in enforcement produced even before the recent IRS decision. In May 2021, Pastor Brandon Burden said this to a congregation located in a Dallas, TX, suburb. “I got a candidate that God wants to win. I got a mayor that God wants to unseat. God wants to undo. God wants to shift the balance of power in our city. And I have jurisdiction over that this morning.”2

Echoes of History

America is heading toward a Christian-led government, enabled by a man whose life bears little resemblance to Christ, yet some on the Right believe he is the messiah, the “anointed One” or, as he has called himself, the “chosen One,” on more than one occasion over a span of years.”3

If you're a history student, that probably reminds you of Germany, as Adolf Hitler was shaping German Christianity in his own image.

The dean of the Magdeburg Cathedral exulted in the Nazi flags prominently displayed in his church. “Whoever reviles this symbol of ours is reviling our Germany,” he declared. “The swastika flags around the altar radiate hope—hope that the day is at last about to dawn.” And Pastor Julius Leutheuser observed, “Christ has come to us through Adolf Hitler.”4

A Complicated Relationship Between Faith and State

I’m not exactly sure when this started. Some argue this country was founded as a Christian nation and seem determined to restore America to its original glory.

The Establishment Clause expresses a vague goal of keeping the pulpit separate from government and politics.

Yet, according to James Hutson, religion has played a role in American government since the nation’s founding.

A major reason for public approval of multifaceted government support of religion was a broadly based concurrence in the ancient conviction that religion served the public good. By the third decade of the nineteenth century, more Americans than ever were prepared to acknowledge openly that this was so. . . . During the debates on general assessment in Massachusetts in the 1780s, Isaac Backus had more than once declared that “piety, religion, and morality are essentially necessary to the good order of civil society.”5

What was once relevant has become less so in modern America, possibly due to increased diversity. National unity is threatened by bold evangelicalism, which has created a divide between many who claim to be Christians and believers who support the separation of church and state, along with those who are irreligious or follow non-Christian religions.

The Religious Right has strategically legitimized a Christian nationalist identity that seeks to mandate religious dogma through governmental policy, fundamentally challenging the separation of church and state.

That relationship is best described as a deep syncretism, the merging and confluence of two distinct traditions resulting in a “civil religion.” The deliberate blending of sacred Christian principles with secular, conservative political agendas has created an idolatrous distortion of Christianity.

The Rise of Syncretism in Modern America

The line between Christian faith and American politics has traditionally been unclear, but the effort to completely erase it became especially evident in the second half of the 20th century.

For many, this shift was driven by influential figures like Jerry Falwell, Sr., whose mobilization of the “Religious Right” fundamentally changed the evangelical political landscape. However, this only added momentum to a movement that was already well established.

His uncompromising declaration that “The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country,” served as a powerful mandate, urging millions of Christian voters toward conservative causes and candidates.

This political awakening achieved a new layer of symbolic legitimacy when it intersected with national leadership. President Ronald Reagan’s 1989 farewell address included his famous description of the United States as a “shining city on a hill.”

While Reagan attributed the phrase to Puritan leader John Winthrop, its spiritual significance was even more compelling to those familiar with its roots in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14 | ESV)

That phrase in that speech by that president perfectly captured the syncretism that was quietly taking hold: the sacred language of the Scripture was being seamlessly woven into the secular rhetoric of the state.

What started as a political movement was reinforced through shared cultural and religious metaphors, showing that the blending of Christianity and politics was not just an alliance but a deep, core fusion aimed at reshaping the American political experience.

Looking Ahead: The Seven Mountains Mandate

To fully understand that transformation, I plan to write several future essays.

This piece provided an overview of a fundamental movement central to American Christian nationalism. Recognizing that this is not a recent development prepares us for our next discussion, beginning with the Seven Mountains Mandate (7MM), also known as the Seven Mountains Prophecy, which is underpinned by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point, USA.

I hope you plan to return for the next essay, where we will start examining the current state of Christian nationalism and its links to this Antichrist administration. If you find these posts helpful, please like, subscribe, and share.

The feeling I have as I write is rooted in the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11 | ESV) I believe many of my believing friends are participating in antichrist activities without realizing it. This is intended as a warning to them to pause and consider the consequences of their actions.

Practically any American Evangelical can confidently tell you that the Book of Revelation is about “the End of the World”—the final confrontation where “God wins.” And that’s the two-word summary most would give.

There are several ways to interpret Revelation and understand concepts like the “Rapture,” millennium, and antichrist. We will explore them throughout. However, our main focus will be on an aspect of the book that is often overlooked but could be eternally significant.

Only God knows who is “in” and who is “out.” But what many don’t realize is that, by clinging to a distorted, wishful-thinking interpretation of Christianity, especially the Book of Revelation, they, too, may wind up on the losing side when that day comes. And tragically, far too many pastors have unwittingly contributed to this blindness.

It is an understatement to say Americans are probably more angry and divided than at any time since the Civil War. It has become increasingly easy to point fingers rather than seek agreement or a way to resolve our differences. A sense of hopelessness is spreading like COVID.

The answer, of course, is the one school-age children learn in Sunday School—Jesus.

If you follow Jesus as a disciple, this might be familiar to you. If not, don’t dismiss what I am about to say until you’ve read all the way through.

What if we are blaming each other, but we’re not the real problem? What if there is a supernatural reason behind our division? What if Flip Wilson, the comedian known for “The devil made me do it,” was right? He was, and there is.

We are engaged in a battle, but not the sort we often imagine. The Apostle Paul wrote, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 | ESV)

The foundation of Christianity is a dualism between good and evil, God and Satan. It is central to Evangelicalism. Our hope is in Christ’s return and his final victory over Satan. And, knowing how the story ends, we want to be prepared when it happens.

Many Christians, at least, give lip service to the idea that Jesus established an upside-down kingdom during his brief ministry. He teaches that dying to self is life, and living for oneself leads to death. It recognizes that we are not God, but we are created to worship and trust Him.

The mark of a true disciple is obedience and faithfulness to Him. We embody His kingdom values: love, not hate; inclusion, not separation; peace, not war; giving, not receiving.

Jesus came as a vulnerable baby and showed obedience to God, not through force or violence, but by dying as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” according to John the Baptist.

However, many Christians believe his character changes as his story reaches its climax in Revelation. That is the misinterpretation of Revelation I want to clarify in this essay series.

At his trial, Jesus told Pilate he could call up an army of angels or followers to fight against Roman authority, but his kingdom “is not of this world.” The word he omitted, but Revelation highlights, is “yet.” Revelation shows how he will return to rule on earth.

The message of the kingdom is to counter hate and violence with love and self-sacrifice, to include loving our enemies and those who mistreat us. Jesus modeled it when he forgave those who drove nails into his hands and feet.

And nothing has changed.

The Romans did not crucify him against his will. He willingly surrendered his life in obedience to God, the Father. “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” (John 10:18 | NLT)

This is not the behavior of a secular warrior, yet many churches today portray Jesus as precisely that.

Yes, he is a warrior, but not in the way he’s often depicted. His example of obedience and faithfulness applies equally to those who call him Lord. Scripture reminds us to remain worthy of our calling. We do not fight back; we prayerfully endure. “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13 | ESV).

Revelation has been called “resistance literature.”

And that, according to Gorman, “is appropriate because one of the primary prophetic purposes of Revelation is to remind the church, both then and now, not to give in to the demands or practices of a system that is already judged by God and is about to come to its demise. (p. 43, Kindle)

Revelation calls us to stand against the dilution of the Gospel with nationalism, and to do so at the risk of friendship, status, or our lives.

God’s earthly kingdom has been described as “already” and “not yet.” He rules in the hearts and lives of genuine believers today, but one day He will rule over all creation.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 | ESV)

For now, Satan is the prince of this world—his “empire.” Followers of Jesus are living in it, but are not supposed to participate in anything that detracts from their worship of God.

Christian nationalism does that. We will explore how in a later essay.

In an article in the theological journal, “Interpretation,” as part of the theme, “Revelation as a Critique of Empire,” Craig Koester, in an article entitled, “Revelation’s Visionary Challenge,” notes:

. . . the empire addressed in Revelation consists of three inseparable components, all of which are challenged by the book: political domination, religion in which the political order is identified with the divine, and economic networks that favored the elite and permitted human exploitation. Revelation is therefore a “visionary critique” of “the beastly side of empire,” the “deification of human power,” and “the seamy side of commerce.” (Gorman, p. 150)

Today, simply displaying the American flag can be seen as a sign of political loyalty. Many who display the flag also identify as followers of Jesus, even though the flag is often a symbol of the enemy’s empire, as witnessed on the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

This series of essays aims to highlight this issue. American Christians might be confusing the line between the secular and the divine, making us susceptible to the sin of “civil religion.” It’s a subtle danger. Here’s a recent example of what appears, at first glance, to be a patriotic gesture.

I am an army veteran who honors the sacrifices of America’s fighting men and women, and I respect anyone willing to serve their country in uniform. Purposely, I wrote this on Veterans Day. But this year, I am viewing this celebration and most other national holidays through a different lens.

During our Sunday worship service, a couple of days before the actual holiday, veterans were asked to stand and be recognized. I have proudly stood with other veterans in church sanctuaries for many years. But this time, it was different.

For the first time, I felt a combination of pride and shame as I briefly stood.

Standing to be recognized, I realized that, for me, it was an act of rebellion against God. It was a celebration of, and by, those of us who were willing to kill for our flag and country. In that moment, I experienced what I had begun to see was the very thing John’s Apocalypse cautions the church against.

It was underscored by the Scripture passage that often accompanies this recognition of veterans in the church sanctuary. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 | ESV) Jesus was speaking of himself, not dying for flag or country.

Writing this series is an act of remorse and repentance.

I suddenly realized that what seemed like a simple act of appreciation actually showed a rejection of God’s kingdom on earth. I am fine with recognizing veterans’ service anywhere, except in church. Too often, veterans’ sacrifices are celebrated as if they are done for “God and country.”

Early Christ-followers were pacifists.

Similarly, I will likely refrain from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. How can a Christian in good conscience pledge loyalty to both God’s kingdom and a secular empire? It constitutes civil religion, a rejection of God’s kingdom on earth.

Coinciding with a Book of Revelation sermon series I plan to begin next month, Lord willing, I came across Reading Revelation Responsibly, Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation by Michael J. Gorman (Cascade Books, 2011), which I highly recommend. This was his description of the fallacy of “civil religion.”

According to Revelation, in the church’s worship we should remember and honor prophets and martyrs, not veterans and fallen warriors; faithful witnesses, not loyal patriots; the One who was slain to secure our true freedom, not the ones who killed and were killed to preserve (so it is claimed) our freedom. (Gorman, p. 254 (Kindle))

Seminary taught me that a text without context is a pretext. We are in a battle, but not one we can win without the power of the Holy Spirit. I started with a passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, and I encourage you to read the entire fifth chapter of Ephesians. When you do, ask yourself how what you see around you today differs from what you are reading.

The most successful lie the enemy of our soul tells followers of Jesus is that anything beyond believing in Jesus for our salvation is “works righteousness.” Like everything that comes out of his mouth, it’s a lie.

Revelation proves this with the letter to the church in Laodicea. So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16 | NIV) We must be all in with Jesus, or we are completely out. Jesus asked a question that puts that in perspective: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 | ESV)

To help his disciples understand what that looks like, he described it this way: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40 | ESV).

And what did Jesus do that makes Him Savior? He was faithful even unto death. That is the purpose of the Book of Revelation—Christians’ faithfulness, with no compromises to societal pressure, even under the guise of patriotism.

Gorman suggests that Revelation is a message for the church today, but not in the way portrayed in the popular Left Behind series. Instead, he sees the church transforming into a form of civil religion through syncretistic civil worship.

“The Christian church is easily seduced by empire’s idolatry and immorality because these claims and practices are often invested with religious meaning and authority; they become a civil religion.” (Gorman, p. 107, (Kindle))

He opposes the relatively new dispensationalist theology adopted by many evangelicals since it was popularized most notably by the Plymouth Brethren teacher J. N. D. Darby (1808–82), and highlighted by the Scofield Bible.

We’ll explore dispensationalist theology in depth in the next one or two essays, but take a moment to consider this: the dominant evangelical view of the end times is a relatively recent development, just over two hundred years old.

Much of the modern Western Church resembles lukewarm Laodicea. Most dispensational churches agree that this comparison is accurate. However, what they don’t realize—and what I want to emphasize in this writing—is that they might unknowingly be part of that comparison.

We will explore John’s Apocalypse more deeply in later essays, but for now, I want you to meditate on this one thing: the difference between what John sees and what he hears in chapter 5.

John hears, “Weep no more; behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. . . ” (Revelation 5:5b | ESV) Those words, no doubt, evoked the military successes of King David, the giant killer who “killed his ten thousands.” But when he looks, he sees a slaughtered lamb

.

The Lamb whose sacrificial death redeemed people from every tribe and nation and reconciled them to a holy God. His victory was achieved not through conquest or bloody battles, but through his shed blood on a Roman cross in obedience to God’s will. Why a lamb and not a warrior?

The lamb shares in God’s identity and reign, making him worthy of worship as God, not as a warrior but as a worthy sacrifice.

Even seemingly faithful Christians long for a mighty warrior who will free the world from Satan’s control with power, ideally on their terms and using force when needed. Just as Israel demanded a king, many believers today expect the same warrior Messiah Israel anticipated at the time of the incarnation.

But instead of a warrior, their savior is a slaughtered lamb.

So, they create a god in their own image and confuse their lord (little “l”) with the government, leading to a syncretic, civil religion. However, when correctly read and understood, Revelation clearly refutes that mistaken belief.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4 | NIV)

This is the first part of a series exploring this topic. I usually try not to write more than one or two essays each month and generally have something I want to share, hoping you’ll read it. But this time is different. I have something I feel compelled to share, and I not only want you to read it, like it, and pass it along.

Although I sincerely pray this doesn’t directly relate to you, you probably know someone who should read it.

The letter I received from Downey Draft Board #114 would forever change my life. Over half a century ago, that document transformed me from a carefree civilian into an Army recruit. It marked the beginning of a life-changing metamorphosis about far more than a short haircut or dressing like everyone else.

We stood shoulder-to-shoulder—young men, dazed, confused, and silent—waiting to take our first step into the unknown. Herded into a room before the dark, long bus ride to Fort Ord, California, we hadn’t yet grasped that we were crossing a threshold that would define us forever.

An Army officer entered, his expression as crisp as his uniform. Without pleasantries, he delivered a solemn warning:

“Before you raise your right hand, make sure you understand what you are swearing or attesting to. The military oath of enlistment should not be taken lightly. You will be bound by it.”

Then came the moment. We raised our hands and repeated the Oath of Enlistment, pledging ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves.

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

At that moment, my high school Civics lessons became more than abstract knowledge. On that January evening, I was committing to defend the Constitution—not just revere it as an important, but largely irrelevant (to me), historical document.

A Nation in Turmoil

The America I swore to defend was deeply divided—much like today.

A war was raging in Southeast Asia. Just months earlier, the Ohio National Guard had opened fire at Kent State, killing four and wounding nine. The nation split between the chants of “Hell no, we won’t go” and “America—love it or leave it.”

The Watergate scandal was still months away, but its shadow already loomed. The “imperial presidency” would eventually fall, and yet, in hindsight, Nixon’s moral boundaries seem quaint compared to what we see today.

I was okay with “killin’ commies,” in some remote place, but not kids on college campuses or my neighbors on American city streets. It was nearly 30 years before my time in uniform ended, during which I took an officer’s oath. Here is the one I swore as a young lieutenant:

“I, ______, having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; athat I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.”

Notice what’s missing: “obey the orders of the President.”

The emphasis is solely on defending the Constitution.

A Dividing Commander in Chief

That distinction haunts me today. When a president holds campaign rallies before hand-picked troops on a U.S. military installation or refers to “the enemy within,” while speaking to America’s senior military officer corps, the echoes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Ohio ring in my mind—“Four dead in Ohio.”

The sky feels darker now. What was once an ideological divide has been weaponized into a culture war fueled by white Christian nationalism. And this time, the enemy isn’t “over there.” According to this president, it’s within. It is us, those of us who recognize what is happening and are willing to peacefully oppose it.

Recent talk of invoking the Insurrection Act—as Vice President J.D. Vance openly hinted—should alarm every patriot. This 1807 law allows a president to deploy federal troops on U.S. soil, suspending the Posse Comitatus Act that prevents the military from acting as domestic law enforcement.

It’s a dangerous power—one that could, in theory, be twisted to suppress dissent, restrict voting, or even cling to power beyond a lawful term.

Our freedoms may hinge on the integrity of the military chain of command—and the courage of those who still stand by their oath. Some senior officers have already resigned on principle. But what happens if all the good ones leave?

Will this generation of soldiers and officers place fidelity to the Constitution above loyalty to a man?

Faith, Allegiance, and the Kingdom of God

What about those who don’t wear a uniform—or a judicial robe?

You may never have sworn an oath to the nation, but if you follow Jesus, you’ve pledged allegiance to a different kind of kingdom—God’s Kingdom—one that’s upside-down, not red or blue—beholden to no party.

Jesus prayed for God’s kingdom to reign on earth as in heaven. Yet he wouldn’t call down angels or armies to make it happen. He didn’t need politics, parties, preachers like Jerry Falwell, Sr., and Franklin Graham, or podcasters like Charlie Kirk to advance His cause.

I saw a sign the other day that encapsulated what I am trying to say in a single sentence. “There are three branches of government, and your church isn’t one of them.”

Jesus called us to make disciples, not culture warriors. He defined us by love—love for God, love for neighbor, even love for our enemies. When the church fights culture wars, it serves two masters.

Ask yourself honestly:

“Does what I see around me look like heaven?”

According to Jesus, two commandments govern kingdom behavior:

Love God. Love others.

Ignoring the hungry, denying medical care to the sick, or mistreating immigrants isn’t love—it’s sin.

These aren’t “invaders.” They’re people, God’s image-bearers. Many are fellow believers fleeing religious persecution and seeking safety and security for their families. Wicked people have deluded those who cheer deporting them into believing they pose a threat.

What they don’t realize is that the undocumented contribute far more to our nation than they’re given credit for. In 2022 alone, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes—more than many of the wealthiest corporations or individuals, including Donald Trump.

Yet we deport them, exploit them, and vilify them—all while calling ourselves a “Christian nation.”

No Kings—Just Conscience

Where is the faith community?

Why are we silent while the mistreatment of the undocumented continues?

Why aren’t we standing shoulder-to-shoulder against cruelty and deceit?

If we don’t act now, if we don’t stand together for truth and justice, our chance to make a difference may slip away forever.

This No Kings Day, I won’t be watching from the couch. I’ll be in the streets—sign in hand—because the time has come to choose between democracy and oligarchy, between fear and faith, between complacency and conscience.

This isn’t the work of some “radical fringe,” as the Speaker of the House claims. It’s ordinary Americans—teachers, veterans, students, pastors, and parents—standing up for our shared ideals: racial equality, freedom of worship, and liberty for all.

If he were walking among us today, a brown-skinned Jesus would be standing with the oppressed, not the powerful.

For me, this moment is not a choice—it’s a duty.

A final opportunity to reaffirm my oath:

to defend the Constitution, to love my neighbor, and to stand against what I see as an assault on both America and the Gospel.

“So help me God.”