“But why is it that ‘truth engenders hatred?’ Why does your man who preaches what is true become to them an enemy (Gal. 4:16) when they love the happy life which is simply joy grounded on truth? The answer must be this: their love for truth takes the form that they love something else and want this object of their love to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be deceived, they do not wish to be persuaded that they are mistaken. And so they hate the truth for the sake of the object which they love instead of the truth, They love truth for the light it sheds, but hate it when it shows them up as being wrong” - St. Augustine (1)
For those that did, thanks for bearing with me in the deep dive into voting. This new topic is one that others have taken on and done so well, but as this forms the backbone of quite a few ills facing our society today I want to address it as well. In fact, this topic was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and provided the impetus for my desire to start this blog. I read about a group near Nashville whose whole shtick is Christian Nationalism. They think it is a good idea, and they are attempting to gain the levers of power to make this a reality. Unfortunately, this line of thinking is increasingly common with many on the right. It is in part a reaction to the increasing liberalization of society, but it is also a logical end-point to the direction the political right has been heading in over the last 50 years. There is a great argument that in society we can go too far towards liberalization. Some of the foundations our society is built on do need to be torn down and rebuilt, but not all things are bad. Not all of our history needs to be changed. I plan to dive into this topic more fully later on. For now, I plan to write about the overcorrection that is advocating for Christian Nationalism because, in my opinion, it is an anti-Christ ideology.
Let’s start at the top. What is Christian Nationalism? Patrick Schreiner lists and describes the three most dominant forms of Christian Nationalism in our society today: 1) A general influence of Christianity in American civil life, in which Christians who are working from their convictions seek to influence the laws and nation to accept certain principles and positions based on those beliefs. 2) A fusion of Christianity and American civil life, in which the political process should be overhauled to serve God but primarily through persuasion and peaceful means. 3) A dominion of Christianity over American civil life, these are those who would advocate for the ideals as described in the second point, but to achieve those ends will commit violence and use any means they deem necessary. I would recommend reading the entire article to further understand this topic, as he provides a great primer and lays out the case for why each of these is flawed, or not. (2) Much as Schreiner, I do not see the first form as a threat. And in fact, I would not even label that as Christian Nationalism, instead that is what I would call an engaged Christian, seeking to apply their faith to their civic life. Much as I myself am attempting to do through these blog posts.
It is the latter two forms that make this ideology so dangerous. Not only because they fly in the face of Christian ideals, but they undercut the very foundation our nation is built on. Insidiously, this ideology has taken hold in the church and right, largely without those affected aware that they are accepting these beliefs. In a fairly recent poll, 59% of professing Christians had never heard the term “Christian Nationalism”. (3) This is troubling because this ideology is a direct threat to the orthodox faith that so many claim to hold, but it has crept in over the years, like a slow moving cancer. It has gained a hold in many who claim to be Christians, and turned their love of God to love of country. It has led to this nation becoming an idol for a large portion of the population, without even understanding that this is happening. It has created a deep seated “us vs. them” (4) mentality. Which is leading to more and more autocratic tendencies, and has emboldened those who view that the ends justify the means. Since these latter two forms are the most dangerous, and antithetical to the way of Christ, my discussion will primarily be towards those.
Alright, hopefully we have a good understanding of what Christian Nationalism is, now I would like to spend some time thinking about what is anti-Christ? What makes a person, or idea anti-Christ? In Mark 13:22-23 Jesus warns us: “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” There have been, are, and will continue to be those who seek to turn our affections away from Christ to the things of this world. We know to be on the lookout for them. Just as we are promised persecutions, we are promised those that warp the words of Christ, who would seek to reign in his place in our lives. In 1 John Chapter 2 of the ESV Bible, verse 18 begins a section titled “Warning Concerning Antichrists.” Now, the subheadings in the Bible are not part of scripture. They are generally added by the translators as a way to help with the organization of the Bible, but I highlight this because it is important to understand, contrary to what was portrayed in a popular Christian book and movie series a few years ago, there is not just one antichrist that we need to be on the lookout for. From my understanding of scripture, there will be one antichrist in the final days, but up to and during that day there will be many who have his spirit. The word for spirit in the original Greek is, pneuma (πνεύμα), which literally translates to wind. However, in context of 1 John, it means breath, life, and the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of anyone. Which is always understood to be invisible, immaterial, and powerful. (5) So the spirit of the antichrist can influence, and govern the actions of others. This can happen through direct rejection of Christ, but I would also argue that people can fall under the influence of this spirit by accepting ideas that form their lives to turn away from Christ. It is up to those of us that are in Christ to test these spirits, people, and ideas and reject those that go against scripture. When not checked against scripture, pruned, and rooted out, we humans have the propensity to accept antichrist ideas without realizing it. This often happens when seemingly innocuous ideas become idols, and anything that turns our worship away from God is anti-Christ.
To define the term more specifically, 1 John 2:18 points out “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22) If this was not clear enough, in chapter 4 John states again: “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:3) In 2 John, he goes further and points out that our commandment is to “love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments, just as we have heard from the beginning… Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 5-9) John writes that those who forsake the teachings of Christ have neither the Father or the Son. Taken together with the words of Christ about the great commandment in the law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) As well as with the description in 2 Thess. 2:3 of the antichrist as the “man of lawlessness”. We can come to this conclusion: a spirit or ideology that denies the divinity of Christ, is anti-love, and anti-law is the spirit of the antichrist. If anything seeks to remove our love from God, if anything seeks to take the place of Christ within our hearts and turn us from his ways, that is antichrist, and detrimental to our souls. Identifying those things that are antichrist is not merely a matter of correcting our political thought, it is a matter of right theology, of right love. It is a matter of eternal importance.
Touching on the etymology of the word antichrist a bit, at first glance we can see easily that it is anything that is anti-Christ. So, all that Christ embodies, the spirit of the antichrist is against. The fruits of the Spirit of God are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that whatever is opposite of these things, are things that the spirit of the antichrist approves of and advocates for. William Bell Dawson goes further and points out that in the New Testament the preposition “anti expresses the functioning of one ruler or governor for another… It is one who claims to take the place of Christ as Head or Ruler.” (6) We can once again suppose that the end goal of the antichrist, the spirit of the antichrist, and the ideas they perpetuate is expressly to replace Christ in our lives. Anything these workers of evil put forward will have as their end goal the dethronement of Jesus Christ as Lord, and the installment of himself in Christ’s place in our lives. Even if we do not identify the antichrist as the one we worship in place of Christ, anytime we place an idol above Christ, it achieves the goals of the antichrist and is therefore anti-Christ.
Today we see a few notable ideas that people have chosen to worship in place of Christ. Namely, money, power, fame, and political success. I believe that Christian Nationalism is an ideology that has at its central worship point “America”. It has cloaked itself in religious talk, religious seeming priorities, but much like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it devours all those who come near and accept it as right and good. As useful tools it allows those who want money, power, and fame to use and abuse the name of Christ for their own personal goals. But at the end of the day, it will only steal, kill, and destroy as all anti-Christ ideologies do. I will go further into this next week laying out specifically why I think Christian Nationalism is anti-Christ, but for now this seems like a good ending point. Thanks for reading!
1) Augustine, S. (2008). The confessions. Oxford Paperbacks. Pg. 200
2) Schreiner, P. (2023, April 26). The good, the bad, and the ugly of Christian nationalism. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/good-bad-ugly-christian-nationalism/?amp
3) Nadeem, R. (2022, November 23). Views of U.S. as a Christian nation, Christian nationalism and its meaning | Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/10/27/views-of-the-u-s-as-a-christian-nation-and-opinions-about-christian-nationalism/
4) Djupe, P. A. (2020, February 5). Christian Nationalism Talks Religion, But Walks Fascism. Religion in Public. https://religioninpublic.blog/2020/02/05/christian-nationalism-talks-religion-but-walks-fascism/
5) Vine, W. E. (1997). Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Thomas Nelson.
6) Dawson, W. (1944). The meaning of “antichrist” in the Greek of the New Testament. In The Evangelical Quarterly (Issue 16.1, pp. 71–73).
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