Following Judah's Lion

Astonishing

If an entire nation can be redeemed through rallies and speeches, then we do not need Jesus. And when those rallies are pluralistic, with Glenn Beck encouraging people to pray at “peaceful” mosques as well as churches and synagogues, then even a shallow discernment can identify the enormity of the deception. Many of us were warned several decades ago about the coming one world religious system, but instead the enemy is creating a one nation religious system. I believe the Spirit will open hearts to this deception even while many more are swept into it.
Will you not just fast and pray and search the New Testament concerning this issue? Can you not even consider the possibility that nationalism and patriotism are at odds with the kingdom of God, and that the entire concept is western self righteousness? Where is humility when believers claim that this is the greatest nation on earth? And on what basis do they make that claim? It is not the nation that should concern us, it is the church. And with this new nationalistic momentum, fueled in part by a dislike/hatred for President Obama, we as believing followers must lengthen the cords and deepen the stakes of our humble but unwavering faith in Jesus alone.
Those who have consistently, and sometimes harshly and obsessively, sounded the alarm to the dangers of the emergent church and other diluted forms of the true faith, they are blind to the deception that has enveloped them. And in some ways the opportunity for deep deception and compromised fellowship are greater in this new “bring America back” movement than some of the doctrinal movements. Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and agnostic hedonists are joining with professing believers and bowing before a golden calf that has nothing to do with Jesus and His gospel. And at rallies of this kind, when some speaker does give lip service to the gospel, it only increases the deception and blinds people further to the Risen Christ and His exclusive mission.
The western church is a spiritual whore that desires any kind of new and exciting cause. Be it abortion or gay marriage or socialism or national morality or even Islam, the western church gladly leaps into bed with those deny our Lord Jesus Christ and leave the Great Commission. Even the most “orthodox” among us, including the “online discernment ministries” are willing participants, even though some identify Beck as a Mormon. That misses the point altogether. It isn’t just the pluralistic nature of such movements, it is the entire concept of changing a nation without the gospel and through moral causes and a nostalgic call to former and better days.
The whole world lies in the wicked one, and America, just like all nations, was created in spiritual Egypt. To suggest we should return to the “founding fathers” is idolatry and misses the fallen nature of those times. Many discerners will castigate men who do not pray or overtly use the name of Jesus, but they gladly accept the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as divinely inspired without a mention of the Christ. There are 27 grievances outlined in the Declaration of Independence, none of which have to do with Jesus Christ. And if we suggest that God ordains violence when believers are oppressed, including the oppression of taxation, then the New Testament is irrelevant to our faith.
How can believers revel in violence of any kind? And if self defense demands violence then the martyrs were fools. The pursuit of happiness for the believer is the worship and obedience to the Living Christ, not political and economic freedom. No one can take away our spiritual freedom which resides in the chamber of our hearts. Paul and Silas sing praises while imprisoned, but this new Christianity complains, rallies, petitions, and refers back to the Constitution as it basis. We have no basis at all but God’s Eternal Word, and that Word commands us to be clothed with humility and be imitators of Jesus. As a believer there is a vast difference between suggesting that this is “our country” and acknowledging that God’s providence has placed us within this culture to live and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(And to all you "orthodox" believers, men like Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Richard Roberts, and most of the healh and wealth genre are open patriots and teach basically the same things about America as do you. Does that not give you pause?)

How in God’s dear name can believers join hands with darkness and Belial and not even be concerned? It is because nationalism, ingrained into our spirits from our first breath, is a powerful and destructive spiritual force. Wars of all kinds usually have a strong national component. And in a shocking display of spiritual adultery and hubris, believers have taught their children that God is on the side of America and somehow the founding fathers are examples to us all. Of course it is difficult to gain perspective on this issue because even questioning it seems like treason. Like a Roman Catholic convert who has been so indoctrinated that he finds it unthinkable and fearful to contemplate leaving the church of his childhood and youth, so is American nationalism.

Ask your church children “Who is…”

John Huss
William Tyndale
Jonathan Edwards
William Carey
David Livingston
Charles Finney
George Whitefield
D.L. Moody
John Wesley

And then ask them to tell you about George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other historical figures in America. What you may find is that we are training our children to be Americans rather than believers. We pay taxes to Caesar and the wave banners in his name. We have assigned flags, and colors, and birds, and stars, and songs, and many other things to honor and even glorify this nation. And not only have we assigned parts of God’s creation to represent a nation rather than God, we have openly constructed a fictional narrative that suggests that this has been divinely favored from the very beginning. Profound idolatry.
I humbly ask you to seeks God’s face on this matter. Although this may seem radical and out of step with the preponderance of American evangelicalism, it is an indication of just how fare we have strayed from the true faith of Jesus Christ. The discernment blogs are correct in this: We are being spiritually attacked from all sides. But, sadly, they are blind to the attack of which they are so often a part.

Break up the fallow ground and come out from among them. Seek Him and Him alone, and allow His gospel to change you again just as it did on the day you were saved.

The time for compromise is past, and the time for revival is here.