The Mint Press News article wades into confusing waters as
there is some truth in the assertions of racism at work in the narratives of
Christian Nationalism but these realities are vigorously denied by most in that
sector – as is the reality of American imperialism.
There is so much dishonesty at work, the revising and
romanticisation of history and imposed metanarrative that it's very difficult to
get through to the adherents of Christian Nationalism (a variant of
Dominionism) that they have in fact departed from historical truth and
certainly New Testament Christianity.
The author of the Mint Press article probably views Christ as
some kind of Gandhi-like figure – which of course He was not. Nonresistance
rooted in Kingdom eschatology and ethics is quite different from politically
motivated non-violence that some Christians have attempted to associate with
Him. Likewise it is a far cry from the sword and coin affirming values and
agenda of Dominionism – the old Constantinian heresy which continues to plague
the Church, consistently reappearing in new and varied forms but always rooted
in the same error – that the Kingdom of Christ is meant to appropriate and
transform this world and that Christ's followers are meant to reign in wealth
and power during this age. This is to take place during the time before Christ
returns, the Final Judgment and the eternal state. The cross is rejected for
the hope of worldly power and glory.
Through this doctrine, the cross bearing persecuted remnant Church
is transformed into the Church of swords, thrones, crowns and worldly power. It
is a form of functional apostasy and in our day it is fueled by an army of
false teachers – men (and women) who are both deceiving and deceived. Some are
outright opportunists and scammers but many are true believers who have drunk
the nectar of strong delusion. Most are probably some combination of the two.
If Christian Nationalism (or Dominionism) wasn't bad enough,
much of the Evangelical world is also affected by the doctrine of
Dispensationalism which posits a particular view with regard to the Jews in
general and the Zionist state of Israel in particular – the latter is erroneously
viewed as a necessary fulfillment of prophecy. And since the Jews (in the
Dispensational schema) are the primary people of God and play the essential
role in coming end-time events (as defined by Dispensationalism) then it is
incumbent for the Christian Church (and the Christo-nationalist Church that
wields power and the weapons of diplomacy, the coin and war), to aid and assist
the Zionist state. It is a moral and theological imperative as they would have
it. From the New Testament perspective their theology provides carte blanche to engage in evil deeds – a
case of the ends justifying the means.
Christo-Americanism, the hybrid religion that fuses
Christianity with American idealism and nationalism often views ethnic minority
Christian groups throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Asia as political
allies but not so when it comes to the considerable Palestinian Christian
community – most of whom fall within the Eastern Orthodox sphere. Because they
are a force of opposition to Zionist Israel and play a key role in exposing its
brutality – they are dismissed and even hated.
These twin movements of Christian Nationalism and Christian
Zionism are in some respects broad and even nebulous. There's a great deal of latitude
within these systems. There's also a great deal of overlap and yet to add to
the confusion not all Christian Nationalists are Christian Zionists but most of
the latter share some affinity with the former. There are extremists in these
camps and there are others that are barely aware that they belong to them – so
mainstream and assumed are these views in certain quarters.
For Christians the need is to return to the Scriptures and to
read history through their revelatory and inspired eyes. Do the Scriptures
teach any form of nationalism? Do they teach that the Church should affiliate
with a culture or civilisation? Is it right for the Church to appropriate the
sword and coin and form alliance with the world forces associated with them?
The negative answer demanded by a close read of the New
Testament reveals the much gloried-in history of nations like Britain or
America to be exercises in idolatry and the indulgence and glorification of
sin. As a consequence the history can (and ought to) be read through very
different eyes.
On a recent Sunday the confusion was evident during the
closing prayer at the church I attend. The prayer probed the US election and
was quickly lost in pronoun confusion as one moment the 'we' in the prayer was
in reference to the Church but 'we' was also employed with regard to the United
States and the socio-political situation. The prayer became tripped and
confused as the man stumbled over his own words as he caught himself speaking
of the United States in terms that could only be applied to the Church – the
people of God, the eternal hope, and the heavenly home. It was both a doctrinal
and practical disaster and only revealed the kind of theological and ethical
chaos and confusion that reigns in the larger Evangelical sphere.
Nationalism also becomes an excuse for war and violence
committed on other nations. The superior nation has a 'right' and sometimes
even a 'duty' to bring 'freedom' or 'civilisation' to other lands. It has the
right to control their resources and block their aspirations if they don't
happen to coincide with the interests of the powerful. Historically speaking
there has always been a racial element to such policies. It certainly fueled
the colonialism of the post-Renaissance epoch and much of the West's wealth and
much that it glories in was in fact built on the theft, murder, and
exploitation of others. As the Bible would have it, the nationalists glory in
what ought to be their shame. And every war without exception is based on lies
sold to the public.
If that wasn't bad enough, Dispensationalism adds a rather
nasty and bloody element to the story as it has fueled a Middle Eastern policy
that has literally resulted in the deaths of millions of people. The proponents
of the Dispensational school are literally dripping in blood.
Rejecting the New Testament's teaching regarding the Jews – a
point further confused by the unfortunate legacy of Constantinian-Christendom's
persecution of Jews as those who refused to conform to a monolithic societal
structure, the movement self-righteously insists the Jews are God's primary
people and that His special plans regarding them are to soon commence once the
Church is raptured. The latter entity represents a sort of superfluous Plan B to God's plan, a manifestation of
His grace to be sure but in no way a central component to His plan nor the
fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and hope. Though very few advocates of
that system would admit it today under their scheme the cross itself is
essentially a Plan B resulting from
the Jewish rejection of Christ's Kingship. Deny it they will but their whole
theological structure and eschatological system still assumes that aberrant
unscriptural teaching.
The Dispensationalist camp accuses its detractors of
anti-Semitism and blames non-Dispensational eschatological schemes for fueling
pogroms and other historical violence against Jews. The true culprit is
Dominionism which Dispensationalism often sidesteps by its fiction of Judeo-Christian civilisation, a kind of
hybrid-Christendom which usually finds its particular focus on the United
States.
Due to their accusations, one is compelled to address the
additional and horrific anti-Semitism associated with World War II. These
factors have granted their unbiblical theology a degree of credibility and even
urgency – this despite the fact that New Testament repeatedly argues that the
Jewish Old Covenant has been fulfilled and is obsolete. Jews can be reconciled
with God by becoming Christians – Christ being the only way to salvation. The
typology of the Old Testament has been fulfilled and Dispensationalists in
their backward Judaized reading of the Old Testament fail to see that
reconstitution of the typological order is in fact a rather blasphemous denial
of Christ's fulfillment. It seeks the fulfillment of God's promises in land,
buildings and an ethnic people – things apart from Christ and as such the
theology is diametrically opposed to the New Testament's teaching regarding
Christ as the centre of all prophetic fulfillment, the preeminence and finality
of the New Covenant, the nature of eschatology and even ethics.
Christian anti-Semitism is not due to so-called 'replacement
theology' but rather is the result of Dominionism's attempt to create a
monolithic 'Christian' society – itself a form of Judaized theology. Medieval Jews
resisted this and were subjected to persecution. Additionally their role in medieval
society as usurers divorced from the land-feudal system made them at times the
focus of special ire. Christian anti-Semitism is a heresy but so is the
Christian Zionist system of Dispensationalism.
Christian Zionism is eager to use the power of Christian
Nationalism to effect policies in favour of the Zionist state and while the
state agenda of the United States is much bigger than merely the interests of
Israel – the Zionist state is nevertheless a very important factor in the
equation and it has a powerful and effective lobby in the United States
including many officeholders who subscribe to this heretical theology.
The Mint Press author has rightly made connections between
the ethos of Archie Bunker and Trumpism as indeed in many respects the current
situation is akin to Bunker being president – although it must be admitted that
the Bunker character was far more intelligent, moral and compassionate than
Donald Trump. There is a sense of panic and anguish at work in these circles
and when fueled by the Christian and Dispensationalist elements these forces
become powerful, zealous and driven by a sense of urgency.
Both my wife and I continue to reel in something close to
shock over the Christian embrace of Trump. Memories are short as few seem to
reflect on the great shift in values in Evangelical culture that has taken
place. In the 1970's, 1980's or even 1990's, the embrace of someone like Trump
would have been unthinkable. And yet a combination of factors has brought us to
the present moment and these twin theologies have played no small role in it.
Was Trump chosen by God? This question still seems to
generate confusion. In terms of Providence Trump, Obama, Xi, Putin, and Kim
Jong-un were all chosen by God. But this is far different from His sanction and
endorsement of them. Providential selection does not mean they are 'chosen' in
the sense of covenant and redemption. Far from it. And yet Evangelicals are
often slippery on this point as they play fast and loose with these concepts.
Many clearly believe Trump was 'chosen' in some special sense as the United
States is (contrary to the New Testament) a special or 'exceptional' nation
with a singular and unique God-appointed purpose. It's really a heresy that's
at work and yet nuance is required to understand this issue – something most
Americans don't do very well.
The quote from the false teacher Robert Jeffress typifies the
chaos-confusion that reigns. Dominionism produces a counter-ethic. The
Christian is called to turn the other cheek in daily life – something few if
any of these people actually believe in.
But once the Christian is engaged in political office or in
the business world he is burdened by other obligations that effectively cancel
out his New Testament ethics. They accuse people like me who refuse political
involvement and cultural transformation as being 'Sunday only' Christians but
it is in fact they who are guilty of this error and ethical bifurcation. On
Sunday Christian ethics reign. On Monday morning once you step into your
vocational role as a policeman, politician or even businessman you suddenly
must become an 'SOB' (as per Jeffress) who is vicious, territorial and
aggressive. It becomes your duty to pull your gun, threaten, intimidate, and in
the business world use the violence of the courts and the manipulation of the
law and the market to bring to bear your wishes and goals and the interests of your
investors.
The two systems of ethics are incompatible as Paul makes
clear in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 5 and elsewhere. That's why Christians are
called to cross-bearing nonresistance – the ethics of both the Sermon on the
Mount and the apostolic epistles. Jeffress is a corrupt false teacher, morally
compromised and spiritual speaking an idolater and whore. He is lost and
leading tens of thousands of people to Hell. He does not know Christ and while
he reads and quotes from the New Testament it is clear to all that he neither
knows it nor the Christ it reveals. This is why as a lost person he is guided
by his fleshly impulse straight into the arms of one such as Donald Trump.
Under Trump these people have had a real taste of power and
frankly they're drunk on it. They expressed concern of the messianism being
poured out on Obama but this pales in comparison to their own fawnings and
prostrations at the altar of Trump – some of them literally slipping into the
language of adoration and treating him as a messiah-like figure. It is in some
respects surreal and while troubling I am thankful for it. Lines are being
drawn, clear lines that can be appealed to. I used to wonder about people like
Jeffress but I don't anymore.
With regard to the likes of Jeffress, Graham and those like
them there's no need to be polite anymore either. There's no reason to give
them the benefit of the doubt. They are false teachers pure and simple and they
have emerged from this very poisonous matrix of Christian Nationalism and
Dispensationalism.
Hagee's CUFI represents the Dispensationalist extreme – an
extreme beyond the pale of orthodoxy by some Evangelical estimations. Hagee in
addition to being a scam artist and merchandiser is an overt heretic regarding
his soteriology – teaching Jews can be saved apart from Christ. His doctrines
pour fuel on Middle Eastern fires as he whips up support for Likud militarism
and the violent elements of the Israeli Settler movement. His organisation literally
funds their violence and as such he has a great deal of blood on his hands. But
it is in the spiritual realm that this Balaam is doing the most harm – teaching
God's people to sin and strengthening the hands of the evildoers.
A violent man he is not alone in advocating for war with
Iran. His motivations are oriented in the realms of Christian Zionism and
American Nationalism and as such they overlap with other elements within the US
Establishment that seek conflict with Iran for a wider array of geopolitical
concerns. These people are dangerous both in terms of the Church and in terms
of the peace of the world order – a relative peace that we as Christians would
hope for as it allows us to build the Kingdom through worship and gospel
preaching. War will dominate this age and the Christians engaged in
humanitarian politics and attempts to clean up this present evil order have
been deceived and misled on another level. That said, we should never be the
ones agitating for war and violence.
Hagee, Jeffress and many other leaders are literally manifestations
of the lamb with horns speaking like a dragon – false Christianity teaching and
deceiving people to worship the Beast (and as such the Draconic Devil himself).
Don't doubt it for a moment. There are strong spiritual and demonic elements at
work in what is happening right now.
In some respects these events are not new. The same spirit
was at work in the days of Justinian, Charlemagne or the Crusades. We've seen
this before and we've seen these false clerical types before. This is the story
of Church history. But in our present context, we've turned a page. Lines have
been crossed. These evil forces of Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism
have been at work for a long time but the era of Trump marks a watershed. The
evil that's been at work for a few generations is now out in the open. In one
sense I can be thankful for that.
How sad that the pagan (or at best ecumenically compromised) assessment
as represented by the Mint Press News article is more discerning and represents
more acumen than what is available in most Christian circles – even those that
profess to be Biblically inspired and Scripturally based.
In the most of simple of terms it must be understood as a form of Divine Judgment.
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