If Christian Nationalism Misrepresents Jesus, What About All Other Institutions We Call Christian?

Michigan’s largest newspaper just disproved Stephen Colbert’s claim against Republican candidate for Michigan Governor, Tudor Dixon, according to reporting by Ryan Saavedra for The Daily Wire. Despite Colbert claiming on ‘The Late Show’ that Dixon made up the story, a certain former Democrat voter and candidate from Dearborn has indeed left the Democratic party in favor of Republicans over concerns about curriculum promoting graphic sexual immorality in the public schools. Moreover, this Muslim American man says he did approach Dixon at a campaign event she held in the run-up to this week’s election, informing her that he and his friends and family will be voting Republican now.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, a Democrat whistleblower in Florida has come forward claiming they have evidence that of illegal ballot harvesting and tampering operations which the Democrat party has been engaged in for over two decades near Orlando, per Harris Rigby at Not the Bee. What legal consequences will come of investigation into these allegations, only time can tell. However, even just the mere fact of their being brought to public attention – and by a Democrat, no less – is reason to cheer.

But speaking of corruption being brought to light, or not, NBC News just quietly retracted a report about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home within hours of having published it, according to Joseph A. Wulfsohn at Fox News. As Daniel Payne at Not the Bee points out, someone needs to explain why the NBC scoop contradicts the statements by both San Francisco’s District Attorney and the FBI. In the meantime, Carlos Garcia at The Blaze is documenting how NBC News is getting torched for giving vague rationale after pulling report with bizarre details on Paul Pelosi attack, saying only that the piece “did not meet their journalistic standards.” By that, I think they mean that the piece made Democrats look bad going into a critical mid-term election in which they are already expecting to get shellacked in short order.

But all of this actually brings us back again to considering Johnathan Leeman’s October 31st article at 9Marks, which I began discussing at some length in our last episode. Picking up where we left off, I note that Leeman expresses concern about the risk of creeping nominalism within Christian nationalism. Therefore, I can only assume this makes up a large part of his reason for opposing the term and movement. And again, whatever reason there is too worry about nominalism in Christian nationalism, I say we will get less of that than we have now with Christians trying to rationalize our currently secular humanist, godless, and pluralistic political philosophy.

Yet aside from this, I will say again that all the same reasons Leeman gives for why we would abandon Christian nationalism are reasons we might abandon any and all institutions which call themselves Christian. For that matter, had the early Church thought like Leeman does, they might have rejected the term ‘Christian’ itself. That too was a pejorative originally, mockingly deriding followers of The Way as ‘Little Christs.’ 

Some do indeed suppose we are a poor reflection on Christ’s character, imperfect as we are. Yet we who belong to Christ do not conclude, therefore, that we should not call ourselves, our families, our homes, our schools, or our churches ‘Christian.’ Instead, by God’s grace, we trust in God’s mercies even as we endeavor to embody greater faithfulness in serving God and one another. Only thereby do we better enjoy personally the blessings of Heaven.

Leeman, meanwhile, seems to argue that previous generations of Americans being godlier and more Christian in their national identity was worthless, or even actually sent people to Hell, if subsequent generations of Americans turned away from the Lord, even as our generation clearly has. But this seems to me not so much pro-new covenant as ignoring of the Old Testament entirely.

Like the most fatalistic parts of Ecclesiastes, all the obedience and faithfulness of those generations of Israelites God blessed was for naught if the generations that followed them did not all likewise keep the faith and enjoy those blessings. Vanity of vanity, Leeman says. Yet I simply cannot agree with either that conclusion or the premises on which it rests. God does bless nations, and not for no reason.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

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