I Pledge Allegiance to North Korea

What was Hitler’s deceptive allurement? What was Stalin’s deceptive allurement? What was Mao’s deceptive allurement? What was the deceptive allurement for all the empires of past history?

It was nationalism. It is still alive and well today including millions of recruits from within God’s kingdom. It begins with an inaccurate and inflated narrative of the country in which you live, and it is accompanied by many patriotic enhancements including songs, speeches, pledges, parades, colors, and a general appeal to the emotions.

And when successful, it creates an amalgam of people that are as eclectic as one can imagine. From atheists to Muslims, from rich to poor, from Jew to Gentile, from uneducated to PHDs, from felon to policeman, and from Christ hater to Christ follower. All these different genres of humanity are brought together, not just in a loosely fitted group, but as people who will give their very lives for this human collection who happen to exist on a piece of the earth whose geography is in the same vicinity and who have lent their allegiance to the same governmental structure.

Then you give it a name, a bird, a seal, a flag, and voilà, you have created an earthly kingdom born out of violence and with violence real and threatened as a means to protect and defend such a kingdom. And in many cases the people deem their kingdom as superior and preferable to all the rest, and some even suggest a divine favor rests upon their earthly kingdom. It is more than a compromise, it is a blatant abrogation of the very first commandment.

Imagine a person is born in Anytown, USA. He grows up as a patriotic child with his parents and relatives all dedicated Americans. They salute the flag, they line the streets to support the 4th of July parade, some have proudly served in the military, some of them have given their lives in defense of America, their schools are patriotic and that principle is drummed into them since birth. The child grows up and serves for 3 years in the military and then comes home to begin a new life.

Now when the young man arrives at home he begins to see things differently. Yes, he still loves America and he is still dedicated to defend her, but he is now beginning to see something else. He has begun to see North Korea in a different light, and eventually he seeks dual citizenship. He desires to be a citizen of America and North Korea and he believes his allegiance should go to both. But his parents loudly object and question both his sanity and his love for America. They strongly suggest that the two countries are actually enemies and have nothing in common.

Well their son does not see it that way. In fact, he has studied North Korean history and he knows that Korea was not always communist. And their son desires for North Korea to return to the ways of the “founding fathers” and he is committed to that end. He loves America, but he also loves North Korea. He salutes their flag, he pledges allegiance to that nation, he sings their anthem, and he is ready to die to defend North Korea. Besides irritating his entire family and ostracizing all of his friends, he is openly called a traitor.

Wow, you say. Who would do such a thing? Who could pledge allegiance to two nations that are so different and have such diametrically opposed values and purposes? What kind of deception could make a man behave in such a confused and compromised way?

We are called to give unequivocal and unquestioned allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom. All earthly kingdoms are frauds, however well intentioned in the natural, and will one day fall under the weight of the coming kingdom of Christ. We should not hate people or their temporary kingdoms, but we should not be swept away with their temporal allurements either. We have only one kingdom and one King.

All the nations and their chest beating boasts have never been a part of the kingdom of God. God is no respecter of persons, and He did not create one nation of ease and prosperity for one small group and create other nations of burden and oppression for other people. The earthly constructs of nations and their governments have men and women as their creators, not God. You as a believer may choose to lend your allegiance to a nation, and that does not mean you are not a Christian.

But it does mean you are deceived in that area, and that particular deception seeps into many other areas. Perhaps you could begin again, shed your preconceive notions, and take a fresh look at New Testament Christianity and how it pertains to nationalism. We who have come out of that deception do not cliam spiritual superiority, however we do feel an urgency to share our experience with our precious brothers and sisters.