Another Address to the Christians of America

America is not Israel

David not allowed to build the temple due to his having shed much blood and fought many wars (1 Chronicles 22:8), but God did allow him to plan, prepare, gather materials which his son Solomon could then use to build the temple.

2 Chronicles 7:11–22 NLT

11 So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. 12 Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13 At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 16 For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. 17 “As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, 18 then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’ 19 “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, 20 then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. 21 And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’ 22 “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’ ”

2 Chronicles 7:14 is addressed to the nation of Israel.

While there are things in common between the nation of Israel (God’s chosen people) and the church, the church is not Israel. The church’s identity does not lie in human, physical markers of identification (circumcision, a land, a temple, etc.); instead, we are spiritually marked by Calvary. God used physical markers to draw Israel into a closer relationship with him. With the purchase of the sin of the world at the cross, God now calls all humans into a direct, spiritual relationship with him that results in physical markers. Israel and its example was the schoolmaster until Christ came.

Not only is the church not Israel. America is not Israel.

In a blog post dated January 16, 2017 (https://sites.duke.edu/trigger101/2017/01/16/is-america-a-new-israel-or-a-new-babylon-knowing-the-difference-makes-all-of-the-difference/), an author stated the following:

“While I could offer myriad critiques of the ways Christians politick in America, perhaps one of the most significant mistakes made is the most subtle: using the wrong scriptural metaphor to understand the relationship between the Church and the United States.  Bluntly speaking, too many Christians either tacitly or explicitly assume that the U.S. is like a new Israel, a Christian nation, when in reality the better metaphor is America as Babylon.  Operating in the wrong metaphor frustrates Christian expectations and hopes for the land they live in and also leads to us at times harming our neighbors who have different beliefs, values, and perspectives from our own.  Of course, seeing this land as a place for a Christian country is as old as the early European settlers.”

“There is just one problem with the model of the United States as a new Israel or as a Christian nation: America’s founding documents make such a model unintelligible. Plainly stated, nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution does it state the purpose and call of the United States of America as being to recognize and worship Jesus Christ as Lord of the universe....  Nor do these documents reference that the cause of this new government is to proclaim and embody the good news of Jesus Christ and his kingdom on this earth.  Given that Thomas Jefferson was a deist who famously made his own version of the New Testament that cut out all of the miracles and supernatural elements within it, his references to a “Creator” and “Providence,” point more to a generic god than one that resembles the god of Christian faith.  Jefferson aside, having myriad Christians involved in the founding of the country or having a populace that was or still is largely Christian does not make the U.S. government or its interests Christian.  One can argue that Christian-influenced ethics and concerns influences the nation as its beginning and still hold sway, but Christian-influenced and being Christian are not the same thing.  The United States is something else.”

“The better and more accurate metaphor for Christians living in America would be to see their situation as akin to living in Babylon.  For those unfamiliar with the biblical narrative, Babylon was a superpower in the ancient Near East that forcibly made the Kingdom of Judah a client state in the late 7th century BC, and eventually between 597-582 BC deported masses of Judahites out of Judah and into Babylon (and significant to Jewish history, Solomon’s temple was destroyed); historians refer to this as the Babylonian Captivity. Until the Persians conquered the Babylonians and let the Jews return to home in 536 BC, they lived as “strangers in a foreign land.”  Certainly Christians as Christians did not have their homeland destroyed and get dragged off into  captivity in North America; that is not where the comparison lies and I would not want to disrespect the experience that was Israel’s.  Instead the idea is that Christians already have a political and “peopled” identity and it is called the Church.  The Church is a people that is spread all across the world in many nations whose allegiance is to the God of Israel.  This “politic” is more ultimate than any national identity or destiny.  And the Church’s call is to proclaim a King and a Kingdom more determinative than a liberal democracy.  With such a citizenship and allegiance, Christians cannot help but be like strangers in America and any other land in which they live.  Trying to usher in a Christian kingdom via the means, mechanism, and force of a secular state becomes unintelligible, particularly when one worships a crucified God who willingly eschewed and absorbed the violence and domination of the state rather than adopting them as legitimate.”

America is not Israel.

God is not American.

The destiny of the Kingdom of God is in no wise linked to or dependent upon America.

America is not obedient to the Kingdom of God nor has it ever been.

To claim that America is Christian (or ever has been) is to ignore perhaps the greatest sin of America—the enslavement of our fellow human beings.

The Kingdom of God is characterized by love

God does not love America.

God loves the world.

Jesus did not die for America.

Jesus died for the world.

And even when the world rejects him (like the rich young ruler), Jesus still loves the world.

This is not a characteristic or attribute of God. It is his very identity.

John 13:34–35 NLT

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

1 John 4:7–10 NLT

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

A Christian cannot be associated with anything that in any way sully’s the love of God that he has given us through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

A Christian cannot associate themselves with the events of January 6, 2020.

Associate defined: allow oneself to be connected with or seen to be supportive of

Address to the Christians of America (https://newarkupc.info/media/address-to-the-christians-of-america)

Perhaps this is simply a caution to my children who are watching tonight. Maybe it is even direction to Newark United Pentecostal Church and its members whom I pastor. But I feel it is also a prophetic word of warning and correction to the American church and Apostolic Pentecostal church in particular.

My dear brothers and sisters: You have been led astray by politicians and demagogues. They have manipulated your desire for righteousness (even as the serpent manipulated the first humans) and promised you the kingdom of God here on earth. That is simply not possible. No human or human institution can ever give you the kingdom that only comes from God.

If God granted your wish to make America the New Jerusalem what would that say about his love for Russia or China or India or Venezuela or Cuba or Japan or Korea or Indonesia?

1 Peter 2:11–17 NLT

11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. 15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.

A Christian must be known by his or her love

Romans 12:9–21 NLT

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! 17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Romans 14:16 NET

16 Therefore do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil.