Nationalism - Perhaps That is All They Have

*NATIONALISM* 
PERHAPS THAT IS ALL THEY HAVE

One great obstacle in witnessing to a lost person is when that person has one or a few family members that he loved very dearly and who have since passed away. Sometimes the evil one uses the implications of that situation to blind that person’s eyes. He reasons in his mind that if his dear grandmother did not really profess Christ, and if he now does, then he is in essence saying she is now in hell. It is one of the many ways that the devil uses to keep sinners from Christ. Their love for their loved ones is all they really have and they are not willing to relinquish it and allow anything else in that might diminish it, at least in their way of thinking. It may be all they have.
But in the church there are many obstacles that stand in the way of professing believers surrendering completely to Christ and submitting to His absolute Lordship. They are anchored to their beliefs that have been passed down to them and they recoil at even the suggestion that they do a Scriptural investigation. Many times the erroneous beliefs have been taught to them by family members and preachers they love, so just like the lost person for them to admit their beliefs are unscriptural would implicate those they love and respect.
And so it is with the unholy alliance and allegiance some believers have with nationalism. Many are indignant at even the thought that their abject patriotism may be at odds with their commitment to Christ. They see both commitments as working together to the betterment of the culture and society in general. They suggest that politics is part of being salt to the culture. “We are supposed to have an influence” is their reasoning, and that statement is true. But our influence is not to change the morality of a fallen and lost culture. Our calling is to be ambassadors for the gospel and if that has any impact on the culture it is because of changed lives and not legislative manipulation.
The Scriptures are very clear about being unequally yoked with unbelievers. But it seems that principle can be compromised when it comes to nationalism and politics. Do not marry an unbeliever, but we can join hands and hearts with them in matters of morality and politics? Can you not see the open compromise in such thoughts? Sadly, millions cannot.
But as I pondered such things I began to realize that millions of professing believers in America have clung so tightly to their patriotism that after many years it is all they now have. Their faith has been so diluted and compromised that they no longer understand true Christianity, to say nothing of embracing it. Christianity has melted into an amalgam which no longer centers on the cross and redemption, but now is tethered to moralism and a nationalistic spirit. Sadly, that is all millions now have.
Imagine a man buys a car. It is a very nice car with all the accoutrements money can buy. He begins to drive it and loves it. But after a while he begins to use his car to enhance the look of his garage. Then he uses his car for business meetings, and removes the back seats to make room for literature. He removes the tires and sets the car up on blocks. He removes the engine since it drips oil in his garage. Eventually he meets in that car every Sunday morning. He loves his “car”. He no longer drives it, though.
You see what has happened? The man has so modified the car that it no longer even serves as a car. It is nothing more than a shell that is more of a room than a car. Well that man has children and he teaches them that this is what a car is supposed to look like and do. His children embrace their father’s directions and they love this car. But after their father’s death the children change the car’s color and they remove two of the doors. They continue to make their own alterations. Each succeeding generation loves this car but makes their own modifications until the year 2012 reveals little of what was originally supposed to be the car’s design and purpose.
In effect, it is a car in name, but in reality it is no longer a car.
And there it is. The church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost to be a living organism whose purpose was to be redemptive. It was given all the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill that task. God loved His church and so did His disciples. But after a little while men began to change the church. They removed prayer. They made it conform to an earthly organization. They began to idolize men. They constricted the meeting times to accommodate temporal activities. The original design and power of the church soon disappeared. And some invited the secular nation inside.
New generations were born and new believers came into the church. They mostly believed that the structure they inherited was what God desired, after all, their elders taught them as much. But as those elders passed off the scene these new elders made their own alterations and they took license to modify the church in structure, spirit, and in power. The church eventually became a religious organization not unlike the other religions, but they still sprinkled in the name of Jesus. In fact, the church pasted the old design of the church in their statements of faith even though they practiced something quite different.
Now almost anyone can see what has happened. But if the early church could not practice it then it is not of God. There was no America on the Day of Pentecost, and even if you cannot see clearly the teachings of Scripture, you must understand that God’s church transcends all generations. God does not want some of His followers to pledge allegiance to Greece, while others pledge allegiance to Mexico, while still others pledge allegiance to Russia. But so many have thought and taught that America was birthed through an act of God Himself. That is not only nonsense, it is heretical.
One of the reasons that some early believers were persecuted is because they refused to give allegiance to Rome. They had only one King, and although they caused no community disturbance, they would not, and they could not acquiesce to Caesar or Rome. But here we are in modern times and how do believers skirt that issue and still acknowledge the wrongness of the early persecutions? They have concocted a fanciful narrative of the origin of America. They suggest that America has a divine origin and behind that façade they stake their claim. In essence, when they give their allegiance to America they are giving their allegiance to God. Can there be any deeper heresy?
God has no country here on earth. We seek a country which is not of this world and whose builder and maker is God. Our kingdom can never be of this world, and ever single particle of our allegiance must be to God and His kingdom. We must be humble servants who obey our laws and show kindness and love to all, but we must never give our allegiance to anything or anyone but Christ. But when I hear believers defend their right to defend America even through violence, and when I hear them recite untruths about the founding fathers and the nature of this country’s origins, then I realize they have constructed an unholy fort. And that fort is so strong and so entrenched and so fortified that many times…that’s all they have.

But ye have not so learned Christ.