NOTES ON BEING ‘IN CHRIST’ VS. BEING ‘IN AMERICA:’ TRUE FAITH VS. CULTURAL TRADITION – (WITH VIDEO)

 

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.” – ROMANS 8:1, AMPC

KEY TERMS:

• “IN” CHRIST. ‘En’ [ἐν]: “A preposition – properly, in (inside, within); (figuratively) ‘in the realm (sphere) of,’ as in the condition (state) in which something ‘operates from the inside (within);’ a fixed position in time or place; implies a giving of oneself wholly to [something or someone]; in the very interior of some whole; within the limits of some [boundary or rule]; ‘to be within the person, nature, soul, or thought of anyone.’”

• WHO “WALK.” ‘Peripateó’ [περιπατέω]: “To tread all around, to walk at large; esp. as proof of ability [or authenticity]; to deport oneself [as a true follower of Christ]; to be occupied with how one walks [and lives]; to make one’s way or make progress; to make a due use of opportunities; ‘to fully regulate one’s life [by Christ Jesus].’” DK: Unequivocally implies a total commitment to living out the Covenant one has with Christ, without reservation, unto life or unto death.

QUOTATION. “‘Good men don’t become legends,’ he said quietly. ‘Good men don’t need to become legends.’ She opened her eyes, looking up at him. ‘They just do what’s right anyway.’” ― BRANDON SANDERSON, The Well of Ascension, 2008; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘To them which are in Christ Jesus — Who are ‘United to Christ’ by a lively faith in Him, and in the truths and promises of His Gospel, and so are made members of His Mystical Body. The phrase, ‘To be in Christ,’ saith Le Clerc, is often used by Paul for ‘Being a [true] Christian;’ which observation he borrowed from Castalio, who renders it, ‘Christiani facti;’ [being made Christians;] but if either of them mean only Christians by profession, or by being only members of the Christian Church, this will by no means agree with this place, or any other of like nature; since freedom from condemnation, and other benefits conferred upon us through Christ, will not follow our being Christians in this sense, but ‘Only upon a lively faith in Christ,’ our ‘Union’ to Him by the Spirit, and our being so in Him, as to become new creatures, according to Romans 8:9 : ‘If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His; to 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘If any man be in Christ he is a new creature’ …

‘Who walk not after the flesh’ — ‘Who are not governed,’ as to their dispositions and actions, ‘by those appetites’ which have their seat in the flesh, or by worldly views and interests, or by the dictates and motions of the natural corruption, which in some degree may yet remain in them: ‘But after the Spirit’ — Namely, the Spirit of God; that is, who are not only habitually governed by Reason and Conscience, enlightened and renewed by God’s Spirit, but who follow the drawings, exercise the graces, and bring forth the fruits of that Spirit, Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22-23.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

II. THE REAL FAITH VS. THE FALSE FAITH

Some years ago, before DONALD TRUMP arrived on the American scene when popular Christian Evangelist and “Bishop” JOSEPH MATTERA was corrupted by that Beast, he published “13 Contrasts Between American Christianity and Biblical Christianity” (Charisma, Aug. 8, 2014). They serve us well as sobering reminders about what we followers of The Christ are supposed to be all about, as over against what we have become.

1. American Christianity Focuses on Individual Destiny. The Bible Focuses on Corporate Vision and Destiny. Correct. It’s “the Tribe,” the Community, and less the Individual. American Churchianity is individuated. Note that the Apostle Paul’s use of the pronoun ‘you’ is overwhelmingly plural.
2. American Christianity Focuses on Individual Prosperity. The Bible Focuses on Stewardship. Much American preaching today focuses on “our rights in Christ” [or Constitution] to be blessed. However, in Scripture the emphasis regarding finances has to do with being blessed by God in order to be a blessing by bringing God’s Covenant to the Earth (sic; Read Deut. 8:18; 2 Cor. 9:10-11). Jesus promised material blessing [sufficiency, more accurately; Phil. 4:19], only in the context of seeking first His Kingdom (Matt. 6:33).
3. American Christianity Focuses on Self-Fulfillment and Happiness. The Bible Focuses on Glorifying God and Serving Humanity. In contrast to the Bible much of the focus from the American Pulpit has to do with individual fulfillment and satisfaction.
4. American Christianity Appeals to Using Faith to Attain Stability and Comfort. The Bible Encourages Believers to Risk Life and Limb to Advance the Kingdom. Read Hebrews 11, THE premier Biblical Text on the meaning of “Faith,” the kind of faith that, without which, it is impossible to please God.
5. American Christianity Usually Focuses on Individual Salvation. The Bible Deals with Individual and Systemic Redemption. (That is to say, it focuses on the persons’ regeneration along with Church Holiness).
6. The American Apologetic Focuses on Human Reason. The Bible’s Apologetic Focuses on the [Reason], plus the Power of God and Experience. If the foundation of your faith is [only] human reason, then the first person that has more knowledge than you in science could talk you out of being a Christ-follower. Truly, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” not human reason (Prov. 9:10; 1 Cor. 1:17-23). BTW – Anyone who reads apologists like BILL CRAIG and J.P. MORELAND (and even myself), and thinks our interest in rationally defending our faith is about the primacy of human reason over the God-encounter, has misunderstood us.
7. American Believers Have a Consumerist Mentality Regarding a Home Church. The Biblical Emphasis is Being Equipped for the Ministry. Mattera notes: “Americans shop for a Church today based on what meets their personal and family needs the best. It is almost like a Supermarket Mentality of one-stop shopping.” ‘The Consumer Church, as EUGENE PETERSON  has said, is an Antichrist Church.’
8. American Christianity Promotes a Culture of Entertainment. The Bible Promotes the Pursuit of God. (Recall here DR. NEIL POSTMAN’S brilliant and prescient Amusing Ourselves to Death, 1985. It has nearly completely conquered the mid to Mega-sized American Church today).
9. American Christianity Depends Upon Services Within a Building. The Biblical Model Promotes a Lifestyle of Worship, Community and Christ Following. Mattera writes: “Most of the miracles in the Book of Acts and the Gospels took place outside a building in the context of people’s homes and in the marketplace. In Acts 2 and 4, the churches met house-to-house, not just in the Temple. The man at the gate was healed before he went into the Temple (Acts 3), which caused an even greater Revival to take place.”
10. American Christianity is About Efficiency. The Biblical Model is About Effectiveness. Mattera observes: “Often, the American Church is modeled more after the secular corporate model rather than the Biblical Model. The Church is not an organization, but an organism that should be organized!”
11. In American Christianity the Pastor is Elected. In the Biblical Model God ‘Calls’ the Pastor. (An extension of the Corporate Model, Pastors and all Church leaders are largely selected on the basis, stated or assumed, on getting and keeping butts in the chairs to generate tithe-drive revenue).
12. In American Christianity the Individual Interprets the Bible. In the New Testament the Hermeneutical Community Interprets the Bible. (Sadly, in the Postmodern Trump Nationalism Era, we must become  our own theologians, since ‘The Ruling Hierarchy’ has largely become corrupted).
13. American Christianity Trains its Leaders in Bible Colleges. Biblical Christianity Nurtures Leaders Through Personal Mentoring. “Biblically, leaders were not sent outside of the context of a local church to be trained for the ministry. They were nurtured personally in the context of congregational life by church leaders acting as mentors (as the Apostle Paul did with Timothy; as Aquila and Priscilla did with Apollos in Acts 19). DK: I have lost faith in the big name seminaries (e.g., Dallas Theological, Fuller Theological, Southern Baptist Theological, et al.) that churn out degreed professionals who return to the Pulpits teaching the same old Cultural Christianity we hear every Sunday.

IN SUM. I recall in my graduate study seminars in statistical analysis, we kept hearing warnings about avoiding the dreaded, “Do Loop,” normally defined as: “An instruction that is executed repeatedly depending on the value of a Boolean condition, from which the increasingly erroneous calculations cannot escape until the error is corrected.”

Beloved, it is my studied view that the American Church is caught in an Historic “Do Loop” of repeated and metastasizing Doctrinal Errors that are taking us at nearly light speed now further and further away from the Early Church Canon. The results of which are nothing less than:

• The Great Falling Away. (Heb. 6:4-6; 1 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 24:10-13; 2 Thess. 2:3)

• The Rise of Antichrist. (Dan. 7:24-27; Matt. 24:24; 1 Jn. 2:18-22; 2 Thess. 2:1-4; Rev. 13:1-10)

• The Destruction of the American Order (2 Chron. 7:14; Prob. 14:34; Rom. 1:18-32; Rom. 1:18; Rev. 18:1-5).

• Armageddon! (Isa. 13:9; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 16:16, 19:19-21)

III. Maga Christianity

So has American Christianity become a hideous monster, a Doctrinal Frankenstein if you will, a violent and blasphemous Contradiction of Biblical Christianity most recently via the Infection of Donald Trump’s seditious Christian Nationalism Movement.

I conclude with an evisceration of that Idolatrous Imitation of the Truth that ought to make us spiritually wretch at its presence in our churches. But it does not, beloved. It does not.

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE. Pastor and co-founder of The Crossing, KEITH SIMON published a Blog entitled, “10 Signs You’ve Fallen for Christian Nationalism” (Choose Truth Over Tribe, Oct. 28, 2021).

• You Think America’s Founders Were Evangelical Christians. There is a lot of misinformation surrounding the ‘Faith of America’s Founders.’ While some, like Washington, were more cautious in their public statements, others (like Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin) denied the Trinity, Biblical inspiration, and the Supernatural. This isn’t to say they weren’t ‘religious.’ With few exceptions, the Founders believed in a God who ruled the world and sometimes answered prayers. However, it’s unfair to force them into modern categories. For instance, none of the Founders would have talked about a personal relationship with God through Jesus. It’s dangerous to try to ascertain the religious beliefs of another person, especially those who lived more than 200 years ago. But based on their available public statements, it is clear that ‘the Founding Fathers rejected significant parts of orthodox Christianity’ and wouldn’t be qualified to be leaders in most Christian churches today.

• You Want Your Church to Fly an American Flag in the Sanctuary. Thought experiment: Imagine you’re visiting China and you attend a worship service. In the sanctuary, there is a Chinese flag and, during the service, they pledge allegiance to that flag and sing national songs — their version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, for instance. How are you doing? My guess is that if you’re going along with it at all, you’re doing so reluctantly. And that’s how at least some people from other nations feel when they attend services at our churches in the United States that expect them to Pledge Allegiance to our Flag. The United States Flag is a powerful symbol of national pride and unity. It represents a country most Americans love and many have died for. And that’s the very reason it’s unwise and unchristian to place one in a church’s sanctuary. ‘Jesus’s Church is a worldwide community made up of people from every tongue, tribe, and nation.’ No country has a privileged position in God’s eyes. Our churches should be welcoming to all people, including America’s geopolitical foes.

• You Think America is God’s Chosen Nation. ONLY ISRAEL was God’s chosen nation (Exodus 19:6), but, in Jesus, His Church [also] now has that special status (1 Peter 2:9). If God is on the side of Americans, who is on the side of the Iraqis, Iranians, Russians, and Chinese? When pastors and political leaders swap out ‘Israel’ for ‘America’ in their prayers, they are playing a dangerous game. God no longer has a chosen nation [sic]. He has a chosen people comprising every nation.

• You Call Yourself an Evangelical, But You Don’t Go to Church. RYAN BURGE says that 27 percent of self-identified white Evangelicals don’t attend church. To this group, the term ‘Evangelical’ isn’t describing their Christian convictions but their political convictions. If you think of yourself as an Evangelical but don’t gather with God’s people to worship Him, the word ‘Evangelical’ doesn’t mean what it used to.

• You Think it’s Wrong to Criticize America. Because Christian Nationalists fuse faith and country, they believe criticizing America for its past sins is tantamount to criticizing God.

• You Think Government Zoning Laws Should Allow Churches to be Built, But Not Mosques. Religious freedom is for all Americans of all faiths. 

• You Want Mandatory Christian Prayers in Public Schools. According to rights granted in the First Amendment, Christianity should not be discriminated against, but neither should it be privileged over other religions in the public square.

• You Think Immigrants Aren’t as Good of Americans As Those Who Were Born in the Country. All forms of Nationalism demonize outsiders. Jesus commands Christians to do the opposite!

• You Think Spiritual Revival Will Be Ushered in by a New President. WOODROW WILSON described American soldiers in WWI as bringing about “‘the only thing that is worth living for,’ the spiritual purpose of redemption that rests in the heart of mankind.” RONALD REAGAN called the United States the “Shining City on a hill,” borrowing the phrase from Jesus — except, of course, the President replaced the Church with America. The Kingdom of God only arrives through King Jesus!

• You Believe the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are Divinely Inspired. TED CRUZ’S father, RAFAEL CRUZ, said, “The Framers were seeking Divine Revelation from God, that’s why the Declaration and the Constitution have lasted over 230 years because they were a Divine Revelation from God.” To call America’s founding documents “Divine Revelation from God” diminishes the Bible. DK: For all you who worship the Constitution, did you know that it still provides for Slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment, Article 1? “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ‘except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,’ shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Selah.

CODA. I recently read a devasting, albeit all too true Epitaph for the American Christian Community that I will quote here. It is by the award-winning historian and commentator on religion in American life, Dartmouth Professor RANDALL BALMER, delivered to the University of Florida on October 10, 2019.

His remarks penetrate to the very marrow of today’s Church’s Historic Betrayal of their King, another Trumpet Blast across the flailing bow of the American Evangelical Church in 2024. A politically polluted Church that is astonishingly about to reelect the Beast of Babylon as our President.

What follows is a close paraphrase of his address.

“The Religious Right’s embrace of Donald Trump has fatally transformed American Evangelicalism … For most of American history, Evangelicals called Americans to their better selves. By contrast the ‘Triumph of False Prophets’ – FRANKLIN GRAHAM, ROBERT JEFFRESS, TONY PERKINS, JERRY FALWELL JR. – and their unblinking embrace of a mendacious politician leaves behind a movement utterly devoid of moral conscience or credibility.”

And that is precisely where we are, beloved. ‘Save for a Faithful Remnant,’ Christianity in America is effectively moribund, fulfilling FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE’S Dark Prophecy fired from his cryptic publication of The Gay Science in 1882:

 

“‘God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.’ How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

THE AMERICAN SANHEDRIN. Well done, Church! Well done especially to the Original Executive Board Members  who signed on to the ‘Trump Covenant’ following the June 21, 2016 Meeting in Trump’s Dark Tower.

• MICHELLE BACHMANN – Former Congresswoman
• A.R. Bernard – Senior Pastor and CEO, Christian Cultural Center
• Mark Burns – Pastor, Harvest Praise and Worship Center
• Tim Clinton – President, American Association of Christian Counselors
• KENNETH AND GLORIA COPELAND – Founders, Kenneth Copeland Ministries
• JAMES DOBSON – Author, Psychologist and Host, My Family Talk
• JERRY FALWELL JR. – President, Liberty University
• Ronnie Floyd – Senior Pastor, Cross Church
• Jentezen Franklin – Senior Pastor, Free Chapel
• Jack Graham – Senior Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church
• Harry Jackson – Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church
• ROBERT JEFFRESS – Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas
• DAVID JEREMIAH – Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church
• RICHARD LAND – President, Southern Evangelical Seminary
• James MacDonald – Founder and Senior Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel
• JOHNNIE MOORE – Author, President of The KAIROS Company
• ROBERT MORRIS – Senior Pastor, Gateway Church
• Tom Mullins – Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship­
• RALPH REED – President and Founder,Faith and Freedom Coalition
• JAMES ROBISON –Founder, Life OUTREACH International
• TONY SUAREZ – Executive VicePresident, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
• Jay Strack – President, Student Leadership University
• PAULA WHITE – Senior Pastor, New Destiny Christian Center
• Tom Winters – Attorney, Winters and King, Inc.
• Sealy Yates – Attorney, Yates and Yates

I tell you the Truth of all this, straight from the sacred mouth of JESUS THE CHRIST in one of the most severe teachings He ever uttered toward those who Reject our efforts to Warn them of their impending Judgment.

“Whatever city or village you enter, ask who in it is worthy [who welcomes you and your message], and stay at his house until you leave [that city].As you go into the house, give it your greeting [that is, ‘Peace be to this house’]. If [the family living in] the house is worthy [welcoming you and your message], give it your [blessing of]peace [that is, a blessing of well-being and prosperity, the favor of God]. 

But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not welcome you, nor listen to your message, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust [of it] off your feet [in contempt, breaking all ties]. ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city [since it rejected the Messiah’s messenger]!’” – MATTHEW 10:11-15, AMP

Without Repentance, beloved, this is what will come to all those “Christians” who again shout, “Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! rather than the True Messiah who is about to Return not with tears or tenderness, but with the Sky-splitting Roar of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

THAT JESUS! The Supreme Judge, and not the one conjured up in the basements of the New American Founders of a New American Gospel. No, beloved. ‘This One is The Real Christ, not Antichrist,’ who I now sincerely believe most believers will hardly recognize at His Soon Appearing. Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/F5CziejT68w