The God-and-country religious belief system is the low-hanging fruit of compromised Christian types.  These types, a branch off of Protestant fundamentalism, are easily identified and frequently lampooned by the cultural elites in this era of deconstruction and ‘woke’ self-loathing.  It is highlighted, aptly, in this picture and the accompanying caption:

Sadly, many of us have an “uncle or aunt” in our lives who non-ironically post things like this on social media… thinking they are doing something good by obliviously spewing compromised civil religion thinking—that it is anywhere close to authentic Christianity.

This, of course, is correct.  Jesus was not an American and civic religion is not the Christianity of the New Testament.  Those of this category are pretty much putting Uncle Sam in equal standing with the son of God or, at the very least, blending two very different things in a way that only lowers the more significant of the two.  It would sort of be like saying “I love my wife, and chocolate chip cookies!”

These are people similar to Peter in this passage and elsewhere:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

(Matthew 16:21‭-‬24 NIV)

Peter, like all of the true disciples, had been oriented towards a worldly kingdom led by Christ.  This is why he swung his sword to defend Jesus from being arrested by the corrupt religious authorities.  He was misguided, yes, but also sincere and truly loyal to Christ despite his vastly incorrect understanding of the Gospel.  Eventually he became the example of self-sacrificial love and led the church before his death as a martyr—crucified upside down on a Roman cross.

It is not my place to question the salvation of anyone.  However, I will say that if anyone puts their faith in their nation for salvation they will be sorely disappointed in the end and many are learning this hard lesson as institutions fail them.  As Scripture says, “put not your faith in princess or mortal men in whom there is no salvation.”  Great leaders come and go, nations rise and fall, but there is one Lord and Savior of all who reigns supreme from everlasting to everlasting.  Amen.

The More Sinister Betrayal of Christ

However, now that we covered the easily ridiculed simpletons, let’s move on to the more sophisticated.  There are many critical of this latter type, who also profess to be Christian, and yet themselves are tools for a form of nationalism.  Indeed, the rulers of our time are not those embarrassing older relatives called out on social media.  No, it is those who reject all religion—Christianity most especially—or at least do until it is useful for manipulation.

Unlike the God-and-country religious types, who wear their cartoonish devotion to consumer Jesus on their sleeves, the subscribers to ‘woke’ nationalism position themselves in opposition to traditional American iconography, recast the stars and stripes as a symbol of oppression, and present love for country as being some form of fascist.  The church of “social justice” being merely a branch of this popular political movement.

The irony being that they themselves, the ‘woke’ nationalist, are more in alignment with corporations and machinery of the national politics than those whom they most frequently condemn.  Nine out of ten times, those using the word “Christian nationalism” act in alignment with the most violent (and excused by elites) elements in our time, have worked for the government in some capacity, and then, with prissy indignation, blast their working poor “blue collar” neighbors.

This ‘woke’ nationalism is the current civil religion of the Democrat party elites and establishment Republicans alike.  The evangelists being the supposedly edgy late night hosts and corporate media.  Their dogmas enforced via Big Tech monopolies with doctrines reinforced by their paid shill fact-checkers.  Those at the top of this hierarchy mock Christianity and find more in common with Karl Marx than they do Jesus Christ.  But they are happy for the help of the religious useful idiots.

Indeed, like Zionism takes eyes off of Christ to the nation-state of Israel, this woke nationalism also takes the eyes off Jesus and places it on those designated victims of oppression.  Sure, they can claim that this as part of their obligation to the Kingdom of God—a fulfillment of the Christian mission prophesied by Isaiah 61:1: “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”  Unfortunately it is anything but that.

No, woke nationalism, along with most of neo-Anabaptism, is the modern-day equivalent of Judas throwing the words of Jesus in his face.  Under the facade of correct language and noble sounding intent, these are a scornful and nasty people who attack those who are actually most vulnerable in this present time.  They, like Judas, use the words of Jesus as a means to attack even the good-faith efforts of others:

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

(John 12:3‭-‬8 NIV)

Judas pitted the words of Jesus against him.  Unlike Peter, who once unwisely rebuked Jesus, the betrayer spoke in arrogance.  He, like Satan twisting Scripture to tempt Jesus, was malicious and a hypocrite (stealing from the collective pursue) under his phony virtue-signaling about the poor.  Sure, Peter was also oriented towards a worldly kingdom, and yet Judas seemingly had a lust for power that he thought would be fulfilled in Jesus.

Who does this today?  

How about the kind who attack those using the expression “thoughts and prayers” in response to tragedy?

Or maybe those who made their wealth at taxpayer expense writing Tweets targeting the projects and achievements of others couching this in concern for the poor?

The word of God is powerful and I believe that there is good reason why we have the detailed account of Judas attacking the worshipful act of this woman.  It is to highlight the toxic mentality of those who can quote the words of Jesus when it is politically (or otherwise useful) and yet have a heart far from God.  We are told that the Pharisees diligently studied Scripture.  But they did it for personal advantage over others and to attain rank in their social or religious circle.

The reason that I have spent far more time trying to expose woke nationalism, as opposed to other forms of civic religion, is because it is both the more dominant force right now and also the most blatantly anti-Christian.  Despite the clever packaging as being opposition to racism or concern for the poor, woke nationalism is all about political power and having absolute control over others.  

These are people who can’t love their own literal neighbors and somehow delude themselves to thinking themselves saviors of the oppressed.  They don’t merely misunderstand and mischaracterize Christ as the God-and-country religious types.  No, they believe that they are essentially His equal and twist His words to their political ends while imagining themselves to be better than everyone else.

They are out saving the world and can’t even save themselves.