Can you be a “Christian Patriot”?
Persecution, Equality, Freedom and Salvation in America (Or any other Country)
Before we start, keep in mind that about 99% of everyone that claims to believe in Jesus are lukewarm and will end up in the eternal lake of Fire (click here for that teaching).
Before we start, this post is not at all encouraging anyone to disobey civil government as commanded in Romans 13. Please see our complete study on that by clicking here.
ONE VERSE COULD SOLVE THIS DEBATE: Isaiah 40:15 “Behold, the NATIONS are as a DROP OF A BUCKET, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 ALL NATIONS BEFORE HIM ARE NOTHING; and they are counted to him LESS THAN NOTHING, AND VANITY.”
Persecution Increasing
There is no doubt that persecution of Christians is on the rise in America, although in comparison to what Christians in other countries experience, we should admit we still have it easy.
The headlines warn us: Christian-owned businesses are under attack. Bow down to the governmental beast, or your buying and selling will be hindered. People who don’t want to fund abortion or contribute to the LGBT lifestyle because of personal and biblical convictions are being fined and threatened. I just saw that a Christian dating site has been told it must allow homosexuals to create accounts looking for same-sex partners. These are all signs that biblical truth has been rejected by the majority in this country, and sin is being protected–even promoted–by law. The foundations have been destroyed, and the righteous are headed for serious trouble–
For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:2-3)
The Pursuit of Equality (It’s Not Fair!)
The true equality God has given to men is that each individual has equal opportunity to turn from evil and do good to the glory of God. The redemption in Jesus’ blood was offered to one and all, rich or poor, white or black, male or female.
The world has its own idea of what equality looks like. As unbelievers embrace the devil’s doctrine, first we see abominations (according to God) being considered equal in moral value to righteousness. Fornication is “normal,” homosexuality or gender-bending is “an option,” killing a baby in cold blood is a “choice,” and drone-bombing civilians in other countries is “heroism.” The person who disregards God’s law is considered equal in morality to the person who doesn’t. There is no right or wrong; every man does what is right in his own eyes. That’s the devil’s brand of equality. And it has sold quite well in this country for decades.
It wasn’t long before this moral relativism gave birth to a greater evil yet–now good is called evil, and evil is called good. The murderer of the innocent is protected by law, and the one who rebukes him is ordered to step off the grass or go to jail. The immoral person is celebrated and paraded down the street naked with police protection, while the person who rebukes this wickedness is put on the terrorist-watch list.
These are the times we live in. They are very dark times. And under pressure, some Christians are saying things like this–
“Why is the government picking on Christians, but not Muslims or atheists? Isn’t that hypocrisy? No fair!” And a chorus of disgruntled voices answers, “Amen, this isn’t fair. We need to fight for our rights.”
The Promise of God to Christians: You Will Suffer Injustice
I truly believe the “Christian right” news is toxic to the spiritual health of American Christians. We are constantly warned that we are victims losing our rights–rights that are nowhere promised us in Scripture. We are urged to fight back, to take our nation back (as if we aren’t pilgrims), etc. There is an underlying culture of fear and anger that works like a poison in our hearts, and sets us up to fight the wrong battle with the wrong weapons for the wrong prize. We fight flesh and blood with carnal weapons for the prize of earthly stuff that is vanishing away, and vainly imagine that we are spiritual warriors.
So why are Christians persecuted, while Muslims and atheists and others are allowed to get away with what they do? Why the hypocrisy? It’s really simple–Because of Jesus. The world hated Him, and the world will hate His disciples. Nowhere did Jesus say that the world will persecute unbelievers, those who are deeply involved in false religions, or lukewarm name-only “Christians.” He said the world will hate disciples of Jesus, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) The world accepts all those who are following a false way. The world will not accept the True Way, because the god of this world (satan) is at war with Him.
If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. (John 15:18-21)
Notice Jesus did NOT say, “Be outraged at the injustice! Get into a panic-induced hysteria and form a militia and protect your turf! Elect officials who will give you what you deserve!” Instead He spoke often of the other-worldly peace and joy His people would have while suffering. Rather than responding to pain with “This isn’t fair,” the early Christians responded with rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). Of course this does not discount our needing to vote for the lesser of 2 evils as explained in this this teaching I mentioned above.
I understand when the heathen seek “equality;” they are trying to appease their guilty conscience which condemns them loudly before a holy God. But it troubles me to hear Christians complaining about unequal treatment. As much as I agree that persecution of Christians is evil and wrong, it is the very life we are called to. It is exactly what we have been promised. Funny how we like to stand on the promises that sound cheerful and fun, but side-step the promises that we must through tribulation enter the kingdom of God.
The world is always going to do what is evil and wrong, in accordance with its master’s will. And we disciples of Jesus need to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3), knowing that our current troubles will be eclipsed by the great joy that is coming. Let’s call off the pity-party and get suited up for battle–not a battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12) Let’s quit allowing the “Christian right” to direct our hearts into angry and fearful reaction, and let the witnesses in Scripture direct our hearts into faith and patient overcoming.
Are we prepared to go the extra mile, not just theoretically, but in actual practice? Are we prepared to endure hardness and injustice, or are we chafing at the unfairness of it all? Many will fall away in the furnace of affliction.
The Pursuit of Freedom
Beware of the pursuit of “freedom,” which unbelievers idolize, because if you seek that first, it will take you far away from God’s kingdom.
Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. (I Cor. 7:20-22)
The more you pursue earthly freedoms, the more bondage you will enter into. You will live in constant terror of what you might lose. You will fear and despise the very people God sends you to with His good news, perceiving them as a threat to your freedoms. You will be self-protecting instead of self-denying. You will be carnally minded and abiding in death. And you might even learn to defend your faithless life by twisting Jesus’ words, as so many do. Beware!
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn. 8:31-32, 36)
Remember that Jesus spoke these words to Jews who claimed they had never been in bondage to anyone due to their parentage. Jesus insisted they were slaves–not of Rome–but of their own sin! Jesus isn’t impressed with the “freedom” Americans sing about and idolize either. He knows that all but the small remnant is still under complete bondage to sin, from the lowly average working man to the elite politician making false promises to heal what he cannot heal.
Jesus isn’t carrying our silly flags and working for our domination over other people so we can pursue happiness. Jesus isn’t celebrating the bombs bursting in air (what a sick thing to celebrate), or one country’s independence from another. He knows what is in men’s hearts–a desire not only to be free from other people’s control, but also to be free from God’s control. He raises up and He pulls down kingdoms, all with one underlying goal–to turn the hearts of individuals to repentance and faith in Him.
Jesus is actively tearing down all the idols we trusted in, that we may see that He alone gives true freedom. Like the idol Dagon fell again and again, breaking up into pieces, the idol of earthly freedom is being destroyed that we may see the folly of trusting it. The Christian/religious right (part of the apostasy) keeps setting the idol back up and urging Christians to find their hope in it, rather than in Christ. Do not be led astray by them.
Many False Saviors
Some who profess Christ are so deceived and blinded by their attachment to this world, that they imagine a wicked idolater like Donald Trump can be some type of savior. Savior of what, I must ask?–this pile of ruin our collective sin has brought about? And savior from what?–can this slave of sin Trump save us from judgment? Do not be deceived by the many false prophets telling us to support this wicked person as a Christian, but, be sure true Christians must vote for such a man as he, similar to King Jehu in the Bible (in spite of his personal wickedness) has carried out dozens of righteous executive orders that are in line with the cause of Christianity.
The false teachers expose their own apostasy and blindness if they think President Trump is a Christian, but, this is irrelevant for what we are supposed to do and uphold. If they had stood in the counsel of the Lord, they would turn you from sin to righteousness, rather than from righteousness to sin.
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” (Jer. 17:5)
Sadly this kingdom called America is wicked and although it reaches far and wide like the Roman kingdom of old, it does so with unceasing pride and sooner ot later, it will come crashing down like all the rest. And so God humbles all the mighty and the proud.
It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished. (Isa. 24:21-22)
The kings of the earth cannot save you. They can’t even save themselves. They too are slaves, ensnared by their own lusts. There is only one who saves–
Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (Isa. 45:22)
Still think you can be a Christian and a Patriot??
Patriotism is the ideology of attachment to a homeland. This attachment can be a combination of many different features relating to one’s own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects. It encompasses a set of concepts closely related to those of nationalism.[1][2][3] An excess of patriotism in the defense of a nation is called chauvinism; another related term is jingoism.
The English term patriot is first attested in the Elizabethan era, via Middle French from Late Latin (6th century) patriota, meaning “countryman”, ultimately from Greek πατριώτης (patriōtēs), meaning ‘from the same country’, from πατρίς (patris), meaning ‘fatherland’.[4] The abstract noun patriotism appears in the early 18th century.[5] (Wikipedia)
1. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” This one’s pretty easy. Our Constitution establishes no state or national religion, and actually goes out of its way to distance itself from being affiliated with any one religious perspective. The idea here is that the first commandment is not only rendered moot by the Constitution, but anyone trying to enforce it in these United States might very well find themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit or jail!
2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.” Again, the First Amendment overrules this godly command! There is nothing that suggests that being a good patriotic American means you have to acknowledge or embrace any one god.
3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” Again, freedom of speech, First Amendment, you know the drill by now. You can totally choose to respect this commandment if you like and you’d still be a “good American” in “right-standing” with the law of this wicked land, but breaking it has nothing to do with your patriotism. In fact, it’s an absolutely protected right. Should not a true Christian nation OBEY HIS COMMANDS and outlaw such blasphemy?!? Still think we’re a Christian nation?
4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and
do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” The Sabbath was fulfilled in Jesus but I will still make a point as we should observe the Lord’s Day on Sunday. For years, not working on Sundays was the law of the land, generally referred to as blue laws. These days, good luck finding a business that closes on Sundays. They’re there, but only as the exception rather than the rule. In the tug-of-war between our religion and our need to provide for our families, religion took a back seat. Of course, we don’t want the hospitals and fire departments to be close, ever. It’s fine if the doctors and nurses, the supermarket checkout girls, the cops and the firefighters take time off, as long as there’s someone around to cover their shifts. I don’t want to face the prospect of watching my house burn down on the “Sabbath(Lords’s Day)” because the law forbids anyone from helping me put the fire out.
5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” American children are not being brought up in the Lord these days at all! Homosexuality, gender “equality”, homosexauality, and so much more wickedness is being taught in the public schools and beyond in this wicked forsaken country! This commandment is not enforced at all, in fact it’s the opposite as children now EXPECT an inheritance from their parents!
6. “You shall not murder.” HEY WHAT DO YA KNOW. FIRST ONE… BUT WAIT… NOT TRUE!!! ABORTION IS MURDER AND 3,500++ BABIES ARE murdered daily in the wicked us!!! Let’s use this as a pretext to abolish ABORTION, unjust war, ETC. No? So much for “America is a Christian nation” then, I suppose.
7. “You shall not commit adultery.” Fact check: “evangelical Christians”, the ones always yammering about how America is a “Christian nation” have the highest divorce rates. Enough said, right? RIGHT?!
8. “You shall not steal.” WELL, ALMOST but try telling that to the bankers, Wall Street, and the IRS!
9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” AGAIN CLOSE but the country allows “freedom of the press”. The problem is the press are a bunch of liars and 100% political now. SO much for this commandment! Can you imagine a world where the American media was forbidden to lie?
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” YIKES! America crushes this commandment quite well as it does all the others! The desire to “keep up with the Jones’” (The American Dream) is the cornerstone of our Country. Do you really NEED all that materialistic junk you buy as 21,000 children and 9,000 adults die DAILY because YOU don’t give as the bible commands? No, but Americans do it anyway. We buy to reinforce our social standing with shinier cars, bigger homes, big TV’s, fancy iPhone & other high-end cell phones, and expensive clothing. Can you imagine how quickly our economy/country would tank if we took coveting out of the equation? This filthy country called the “land of the free and home of the brave” spent over ONE TRILLION just for the wicked abomination of x-mass in 2017. TO HELL IT GOES!
Bottom line is this: America is a WICKED, MASS MURDERING, OPPRESSING, HOMOSEXUAL(LGBTQQIAAP) LOVING, MONEY HUNGRY, PROUD, WAR MONGERING, BABY KILLING, SIN LOVING, GOD HATING, SECULAR nation. The next time someone tries to cram the “Christian Nation” and PATRIOT argument down your throat, remind them that only two of the ten commandments are actually pseudo law here in America as they are not enforced at all according to the Holy Bible, in fact, they are trampled & blasphemed: not stealing, and not lying under oath(we debunked them above). Everything else is fair game, and some of the commandments, if truly enforced, would end America as we know it. I pray you wake up if you are under this deception! Be about the FATHER’S business Christian, not the wicked world’s (James 4:4).
Ephesians 5:11-13
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.