Christianity and Nationalism
Greetings and salutations, my fellow Christians and children of God. This is not going to be an easy thing for me to write. I’m not someone who often stands on a soapbox. I try not to be preachy, and I’d be the last person under normal circumstances to tell anyone how to live their life, but I see the state of Christianity in our nation today and feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to speak up. I pray that by the grace of God these words will be true, and that those who need to hear them would receive them and heed them.
There’s a new form of nationalism sweeping through the United States and through many Christian circles. Like all forms of nationalism, it promises to put its people first, to look out for their interests ahead of those of all others. And as with all forms of nationalism, the problem with this is that it is exactly the opposite of what Christians are called to do.
A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to determine God’s purpose in their lives. What is God’s will? What is it he wants us to do? As with all things involving God, one easy place to find answers is in his word. God has made very clear what his ultimate goal for us is, and as Christians, what our ultimate purpose should be. “18Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” (NIV Matthew 28: 18-20) These were likely some of the last words Jesus said on Earth. This was his last command to his disciples, and perhaps his most important. Jesus didn’t say to make disciples of the people of one nation, or of a select few nations, but of all nations.
If anyone still doubts that we as Christians should strive to unite all nations in Christ, there’s the prophesy of Caiaphas and what is written about it in the Gospel of John: “51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.” (NIV John 11: 51-52) Jesus came for all nations and all races, to unite all nations and all races of people in his kingdom. We as Christians should strive to do the same. This should be our number one goal, for it is God’s will and God’s purpose for us as put forward by Jesus in the Bible. If we are nationalists, we are falling far short of this goal.
So how can we know for sure if we are falling into the trap of nationalism? One of the symptoms of nationalism is a fear and distrust of foreigners. This fear and distrust is sinful and goes against God’s will. Remember the parable of the sheep:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
When foreigners seek asylum, a Christian nation will do what it can to assist them. Many use the argument, when dealing with illegal immigrants, that they are breaking the law and should therefore be punished. They are often referring to women and children who are fleeing hostile nations and seeking shelter in a nation that claims to be Christian. In response to this argument of law and order, I say if the laws are unjust, then they should be changed. And any law that dehumanizes those seeking shelter and sends them away is an unjust law according to God’s word. We can weed out true criminals without punishing all those seeking shelter.
We can see whether we are truly a Christian people and a Christian nation by our fruits. “18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (NIV Matthew 7:18-20) The Bible makes it very clear how we can tell an evil person from a righteous person. Matthew gives explanations of both sin and righteousness: “19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (NIV Galatians 5: 19-21) A lot has been said of the first sins mentioned here, so I draw your attention to these: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, and factions. The hatred and division that thrive under nationalism fall into this category of sin. Conversely, there are the fruits of the spirit, the things we should strive for: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (NIV Galatians 5:22-23) These are the fruits a Christian nation will exhibit when dealing with other peoples, other nations, for its ultimate goal should be to unite the world under God.
There are those who say we need to follow our governing authorities, but if these governing authorities are opposed to God, we need to stand up to them. This following authorities argument sounds an awful lot like the “just following orders” excuse used by scores of Nazi soldiers in the aftermath of World War II. In the United States, we the people are the ultimate governing authority under God as put forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our leaders need to listen to us and serve us. If they don’t, we’ll find new leaders. This excuse of submitting to the authorities or just following orders is just that, an excuse. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (NIV Matthew 5:13) If we use these types of excuses, we lose our saltiness as Christians and become sheep who are being drawn away from Christ. We must always put Christ ahead of country, for he is our shepherd, our ultimate leader. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (NIV Matthew 6:24)
All sin comes from Satan, and one of the vilest sins that accompanies nationalism is that of racism. Throughout history, this hatred of the other, the other political party or the other nation or the other group of people, has morphed into hatred of a race, hatred of a skin color or set of cultural and/or religious beliefs. Let’s look at two of the most significant cases of nationalism in recent times, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the Axis forces we were at war with during World War II. Many of the people in those nations wouldn’t have considered themselves racist, but the nationalism exhibited by both countries eventually took the form of devastating racism. In the case of Imperial Japan, they were racist against other Asian peoples, especially those of the Korean race. Their treatment of Koreans helped lead to the revolution and formation of North Korea, one of the most notorious left wing nationalist nations in history. On the far right we have Nazi Germany, and we all know about the Holocaust and their extermination of six million Jews. There were those in Germany who never believed this happened. Some still don’t believe it, and now in the USA, there are many far right alt right extremists who also don’t believe the Holocaust ever happened. This shows how nationalism can become devastatingly brutal without all of the people in the nation even realizing it.
Now in the USA, our form of nationalism also has strong racial undertones. We’ve seen an upswing in racism against Hispanics, people from Muslim countries, Jews, and African Americans. Some fringe extremists are already starting to commit acts of violence in the name of nationalism. We’ve recently seen a rash of shootings where white nationalists killed people of other races. There was also a person who mailed out bombs to various opposing political figures. Nationalism leads to violence. It led to violence in Nazi Germany even before the holocaust, when Adolf Hitler incited fringe groups to commit violent acts against Jews and others they perceived as communists long before the advent of World War II. This violence escalated until six million people were murdered. And nationalism isn’t a partisan thing. We’ve had nationalists on both the right and the left. For every Adolph Hitler, there’s Joseph Stalin, a Pol Pot, or a Kim Il-Sung. Nationalism has never ended well for the country practicing it. All of these nationalist nations were either defeated in wars and destroyed or suffered economically and fell apart. The same will happen in the USA if we chose to continue down that road.
None of us are perfect. I struggle with sin as much as the next man, and I am in constant need of God’s grace and his forgiveness. If we weren’t hopeless sinners we wouldn’t need Christ, and I understand that. However, when we know we are sinning, we need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. If we don’t and continue going down the road of evil, we risk cutting ourselves off from God. When we ignore the rumblings of the Holy Spirit within us, we put our salvation at risk. “28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29)
Nationalism is bad for the USA and it’s bad for Christianity. It draws people away from God and destroys nations. It is a tool Satan uses to divide and conquer Christians. He has used it in this way throughout history and will continue to do so. Nationalism eggs people on to do horrendous, sinful things supposedly in the name of their countries, but in reality, sin can only be done for Satan. As Christians, we must stand against nationalism in all its forms for the good of our country and for the good of our souls. By the grace of God may we be strong and learn to always put love and forgiveness first. I love you all, for you are my brothers and my sisters in Christ, even if we don’t see eye to on all things. Let us remember that we are all children of God.