The Christian & Patriotism
Podcast Transcript (Listen to episode here)
With this rich history of the governmental role of God’s people throughout the Bible as well as New Testament examples of influence, it’s important to trace the history of God in America and address the question of patriotism. Now, if you’re not from America, take the lessons you’ll learn here and apply them there!
Many believers feel that you can’t be patriotic to one’s country and loyal to the kingdom of God. This idea is short-sighted at best because God’s intent it to give the nations to His Son as an inheritance, which is why Jesus gave us authority to disciple nations.
Psalm 2:7–8 ESV
7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
The best way to disciple a nation is with indigenous peoples. One’s loyalty to one’s country should never trump loyalty to God. Even so, loyalty to one’s country a.k.a. patriotism is actually a natural progression of one’s loyal love to God because He loves nations like He does people.
Let me give you an example:
Luke 19:35–40 ESV
35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
This event is extremely significant because it’s tied to Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy.
Daniel 9:24–26 (ESV)
The Seventy Weeks
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
From the decree to the coming of the Prince was fulfilled to the exact day when Jesus role a colt into Jerusalem. Exact. And by riding a colt, He was coming in peace for a king riding a horse was coming to war (Rev 19:11-16). The phrase “an anointed one shall be cut off” is very interesting. It means “to make a covenant,” which is what Jesus did but also is a word used to describe a capital punishment of death--”kill i.e. put to death by any means.” The next event is that the “people of the prince (the counterfeit a.k.a. antichrist) to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Back in Luke 19, we see the people rejoicing and crying out the Messianic praise of, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” The people were recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, and the Pharisees did not like it and demanded that He rebuke His disciples. No one understood that Jesus’ first coming was to destroy the works of the devil and His second destroy the enemies of God, His people, and His city. Jesus response was that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.” I like how the Passion says that the stones would “break forth with praises!”
Luke 19:41–44 (ESV)
Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The word “wept” is UNCONTROLLABLE WEEPING. Jesus could not be consoled. Why? Because the hardness of the religious leaders’ hearts blinded them to the very visitation of the Prince prophesied by Daniel. Because they did not “know the time of your visitation,” Jesus saw the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy that after He was cut off, “the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.” That’s exactly what happened. In 70 AD, General Titus took Jerusalem completely destroying the city and burning the Second Temple down to where not one stone was left.
But here is the main point: Jesus was loyal to God and yet wept uncontrollably over His beloved city and country at the destruction coming. He was patriotic.
Patriotism is defined as “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.” God has been devoted to His nation for millennia but His devotion to Israel did not trump His devotion to mankind whom He loved; therefore, God became man and kicked off the first part of Daniel’s prophecy: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”
Thank God He included us in His work of finishing THE transgression (started with Adam and Eve), putting an end to sin, and atoning for iniquity. He restored righteousness to all who believe. But that work includes His original nation. The problem was that the fallen state of man could not do this work; therefore, God came as sinless man and did it for us creating a covenant with us. And, now, we are citizens of His kingdom.
Judas didn’t understand this epoch. He, like many including the other apostles, thought that Jesus was coming in the role of an earthly king to drive out Israel’s enemies and hearken an age of liberty for Israel that would continue forever. That is coming but not in His first coming. Because Judas ascribed to Jesus a role He was not there to do at that time, he became offended and betrayed Him. But does that mean that there is never a time for conflict to free a nation? Absolutely not. God will ALWAYS exhaust all options before war. War is man’s decision not God’s.
This takes us to the second definition of patriot, which is “a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.” Here’s the deal. Individual rights are not GIVEN TO US by man or even documents no matter how brilliant like our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. These documents were created to protect our INALIENABLE RIGHTS GIVEN TO US BY GOD against unjust government. Our rights come from God; therefore, a patriot is one who is committed to defend individual rights from unjust governments.
The Revolutionary War
Ecclesiastes 3:8 ESV
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
As stated, when the Lord returns a second time He is returning to wage war but He first had to wage war against the enemy and judge him before waging war against His physical enemies. Our job is to recognize the time we are in.
1 Chronicles 12:32 ESV
32 Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.
Fast forward to America. We are British subjects who have established 13 colonies all loyal to the King of England until their loyalty to God created a conflict. You see, the Pilgrims came to America to establish a government that recognized individual inalienable rights. One of those rights was freedom to worship, which was not allowed in England. Even though, they were British subjects, they were establishing liberty over here that would eventually culminate in a stand off with England. How? How did our founding fathers recognize and understand the need to form a new country?
I highly, highly recommend Krisanne Hall’s teachings on all of this at libertyfirstsociety.com. She is America’s constitutional lawyer and has researched it all from ORIGINAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS or “straight from the horses’ mouths.” And one thing she has discovered is that our founding documents were actually formed over 760 years (1016 to be exact) from five original documents--the 1100 Charter of Liberties, the Magna Carta, the Petition of 1628, the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, and the English Bill of Rights.
It was through the progression and mistakes of a totalitarian government from the throne that our founding fathers learned from and formed a Constitutional Republic. We are NOT a democracy nor are we a democratic republic. We are a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. And with the power and wisdom of God, they recognized that our rights don’t come from man or documents but from God; therefore, in the pre-amble of our Declaration of Independence from England, they penned that the purpose of government is “to secure these rights,” our natural rights (God-given). That’s the ONLY purpose. These were then outlined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Even then, some were concerned that any government would mistakenly assume that our rights came from them using our founding documents. In fact, it was this fear that caused the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut to write Thomas Jefferson about their concerns. In his letter, he wrote:
Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.
Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.
The separation of church and state as a phrase is not in the Constitution but as an idea it is in the first amendment, which means that the first amendment was a wall between the church and state meaning that the state could not establish a single religion over another nor interfere in the free exercise of worship. It was NEVER meant to kick God out of government. This topic is too expansive to deal with here but stay tuned to, “We, the Deplorables,” podcast for an episode devoted to this topic specifically.
England, of course, did not agree with our position and after much back and forth decided to wage war against us colonists. From the start, the pilgrims established government in their colonies based on the Bible and self-government. They also learned from their mistakes. For example, Jamestown started off as a socialist town with common gardens, etc. but it didn’t work because the lazy sat at home. In Plymouth, they established a free market capitalist model and prospered in extraordinary ways.
If you look at the formation of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and many more, they were established on Bills of Rights and faith in God. Our final constitution was modeled very closely after Virginia’s Bill of Rights. On top of that, many government leaders were also clergy. And the sermons of the day were overtly political. Not only would they preach the Word against the King’s oppressive control over how American colonists worshiped, many despised slavery, which was British Law. That was one of the 27 grievances listed in our Declaration of Independence. America’s first Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1774.
READ PGS 8-TOP OF 14 CHRISTIANS ROLE IN CIVIL GOV’T.
There’s even more:
READ PGS 15-17 MID; 18-22 MID
And even the most “unreligious” leaders were more favorable toward Christianity than most today.
READ PGS 23-26; 30 BOTTOM-32 MID
One of the most quoted biblical principles by our founding fathers was Proverbs 29:2:
Proverbs 29:2 ESV
2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
They understood a piece of paper called the Constitution was no good in the hands of a wicked ruler. The key to a successful government is not how good our documents or laws are but how good our leaders are. And they also recognized that good leaders lead by Biblical principles.
READ PGS 35-36 TOP
Charles Finney was a great example of recognizing the role Christians have in their government, especially in America.
READ PGS 36-37
With the understanding of the clear Christian nature of our cause of liberty, George Washington sought three times to gather an army to prepare for a coming invasion by the Brits and failed. It wasn’t until he went to the clergy, the same clergy that regularly preached sermons concerning political matters, that he was able to gather an army. I highly recommend you listen to “Black Robe Regiment” on the podcast to learn how integral clergy was in the formation and defense of this nation. In fact, the term “Black Robe Regiment” was meant to be an insult by the British and they would later admit that it was the clergy that sparked the war. We also sparked the abolition of slavery.
The Revolutionary War is an example of a time to war. We as a people are very reluctant to conflict. We are very patient. However, it is time for the “Black Robe Regiment” to quit hiding behind Romans 13 and engage in peaceful non-compliance and turn this nation around before we end up in another war. When you examine the conflict God followers experienced in the Bible, it was always against unjust governments. There is no scripture nor doctrine that supports abdicating our role in voting, government, the marketplace, or any other sphere. The founding fathers knew it, the clergy from that time knew it, and it’s time for us to know it.
Read these: https://christianheritagefellowship.com/christian-quotes-from-the-founding-fathers-2/
Page . Exported from Logos Bible Study, 2:33 PM August 9, 2024.