“I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” (Jude 1:3-4)

Syncretism: “The blending of different religious beliefs and practices, often resulting in a new or modified religion.”

If you’ve been following the Lord as I have, you’ve no doubt seen a bunch of different syncretic forms of Christianity, hybrids that don’t much resemble the faith “once for all entrusted” to us. Do you remember Christianity with an ounce of New Ageism, a splash of Hinduism, maybe a smidge of Buddhism thrown in for seasoning? How about faith infused with pop psychology, prosperity gospel, or dominionistic theology? Then there’s your ever-popular “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,” otherwise known as the “American Dream Gospel.” While living in San Francisco and frequenting the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood I encountered a new one to me that I call the “Hippie Jesus” version of the faith. You know, the rainbows-and-butterflies brand of spirituality with little to no room for repentance and nary a path to sanctification.  

These and many more have blown in and then out again with each breeze of doctrine. But the one that concerns me most these days is the one that fuses faith with far-right politics, popularly termed “Christian Nationalism.” Before I continue, I’m NOT saying everyone who subscribes to this less than orthodox amalgam is not a true Christian. This is a warning, not a judgment. It’s the heart that God tests, and I don’t know your heart any more than you know mine. But I do genuinely believe that what we’re seeing unfold in real time in our country is poisonous to the faith and to those who hold it dear. Let me give you some examples of what I mean.

Standing beside two members of Congress on the stage, Pastor Steve Holt prayed at a Colorado “revival” in the spring of 2022, “May this state be turned RED with the blood of Jesus… and politically.”  Praying for Jesus’ precious, sacrificial blood shed for the salvation of sinners and conflating that with winning an election? I wonder if this might qualify as blasphemy!  

In a campaign rally, U.S. representative for Colorado’s 4th congressional district Lauren Boebert said, “We are in the last of the last days.” And then she prayed out loud for President Biden’s death! If that weren’t enough, she claimed that Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15 assault rifles to stop the Roman government from killing him!

A longtime member of a local church told his pastor, “I’m afraid we have to leave the church after all these decades, because you’re not interpreting the Bible in light of the Constitution.” So, the Constitution is now the lens through which to interpret the holy Scriptures?

Southern California pastor Ché Ahn is running for governor in 2026. He called the Trump/Vance ticket an “all-star…dream team, and “whoever fights them is really fighting God.” I remember Lincoln’s famous statement: “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

These and many many more are examples I could cite to demonstrate in living color a new syncretic religion, one that I believe threatens to undermine the faith that was entrusted to those who possess it.

Reformer John Calvin said, “The heart is an idol-making factory.” In my opinion, “Christian Nationalism” is a form of idolatry for many of those who subscribe to it. The very conservative political pundit and former member of the “Moral Majority,” Cal Thomas nailed it when he said, “We don’t have statues now; we have political parties and presidential candidates.” I heard someone say, “Just because you slap the name of Yahweh on a golden calf doesn’t make worshipping an idol acceptable… It is nationalism with the veneer of Jesus, which serves it by granting it divine sanction, authority, and the aura of orthodoxy to the cause of the nation.”

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21)

Christian Nationalism is national pride on steroids with a dash of Christianity to give it an air of respectability. It’s what occurs when “God bless America” turns to God has blessed America above all other nations. It’s not just an appreciation of our country more than others; it’s when we claim it is by its very nature and destiny better than all the others. It claims God has chosen us to carry out a special mission on earth. The product is either a Christianized Americanism nor an Americanized Christianism. Neither are sanctioned by the Bible or historic orthodoxy.

It is what someone called “patriotism mixed with Christianity lite.” And when left unchecked, the Christianity component inevitably gets liter and liter. Paul D. Miller said, “Christian nationalism is taking the name of Christ as a fig leaf to cover its political program, treating the message of Jesus as a tool of political propaganda and the church as the handmaiden and cheerleader of the state.”

We’ve all heard stirring speeches and rousing sermons from some of the most verbose advocates of God, Guns and Country. Someone said, “The sermons to watch out for are the ones that are clear, dynamic, funny, vivid, creative, passionately delivered—and wrong.”

“…they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm” (1 Timothy 1:7).

I love Christ and I love America, but of course, in distinct and vastly unequal ways. That is, I love Jesus in an altogether different way than I love my country. It’s important to me to keep these loves separate and in their appropriate priorities.  

It is our Christian duty to be obedient to God and to be good citizens of whatever country we happen to inhabit at the time. It’s the conflation of the two that becomes problematic. It’s dangerous when we assume that the special place we individuals have in the heart of God applies to our relationship with the nation.

If you choose to love America in a particularly patriotic way, cool! But love and serve the Lord with abandon first and always foremost. Sacrificially love and serve your neighbors (wherever they come from and whatever their race, class, or culture). Oh, and your enemies too, even if they don’t vote the way you do. May your citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20) determine how you practice your citizenship on earth and not the other way around.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)