Okay, today we're going to be talking about Christian nationalism. And I know this is not a charismatic church, but I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to have to raise your hands. That may be a little bit uncomfortable. Just think of this as being at Bush Stadium. and you're cheering the team, and so you're gonna raise your hands, all right? So, how many of you are here this afternoon? You're not in la-la land. You're here, not only physically, but mentally. Are you here? Good, good show of hands, all right. How many, well, Okay, how many of you have been regenerated, born again? Show of hands. Good, good. Okay. How many of you appreciate living in the United States? Meaning, you enjoy going to the grocery store and having to choose 65 different varieties of cereal. You choose one of them. or that you pray for the governing leaders, you appreciate the freedom that we have just in government. Okay? Show of hands. Good. Good. You know what? You could be considered a Christian nationalist. All right? Is that right? It shouldn't. But I will tell you this, you may be a Christian Nationalist or you may not be. It depends upon whom you talk to. Whom you talk to. And I bring this up because that term Christian Nationalist has got a wide variety of definitions. And we'll take a look at that. just keep that in mind as we talk today. Alright? And you know what, Brandon? I may need you to play. Alright, what is Christian nationalism? Let's get that definition. What is Christian nationalism? What is their Eschatology. Their eschatology is important and I would say that right now their eschatology drives their actions and their words. And you may say, what does eschatology have to do with Christian nationalism? Hang on, okay? Are they amillennial, premillennial, or postmillennial? And like I said, what they say and their worldview is driven by eschatology. Okay, and then what we're gonna look at is how should Christians respond to Christian nationalism, all right? So that's basically the outline for this afternoon, and that's what we're going to be going over there. Now, before I get too far down the line, I want to say that this is not a comprehensive discussion on Christian nationalism. I can't do it. Not in the time period that I've been given, I can't do it. There is just too much stuff out there. I have done a lot of reading and a lot of listening to podcasts and all this other stuff. It is such a broad, broad subject that we are not going to cover everything. Also, I am not particularly wanting to to encourage a political party, a person, or even a type of government in this discussion. I'm not into conspiracies or government coups or any of that. My focus this afternoon is just to educate you a little bit on Christian nationalism and what people are saying. This movement is not something outside the church. It's in the church. you won't hear people talk about Christian nationalism that aren't in some way influenced by Christianity. So this is something in the church. This is something in the church and we need to be aware of it. We need to be aware of it. Like I said, I'm not gonna cover this in great detail. In fact, Christian nationalism is a little bit, we're a little bit late to the party on Christian nationalism. Because at the beginning of this year, a new movement has started up. It's called the Woke Right. Now it has part of its tenants as Christian nationalism. That's part of it. But there's some more elements to it than just Christian nationalism. So if you hear the, phrase woke right, not woke left, but woke right, you'll understand that part of it is coming from the Christian nationalism. People like Candace Owens and Kanye West are into that woke right movement, if you will. I'm going to be stating names. I'm not a bashful. I'm going to say names. OK? If you don't like it, well, don't listen. So anyway, but I'm not going to get into the woke right business. That's for another day. Right now we're going to concentrate on Christian nationalism. So first of all, Brandon. Well, what is Christian nationalism? What does that term mean when we say Christian nationalism? Let's define them, okay? Let's define the words that are in Christian nationalism. Christian, I think we can agree that's one that's born again, obeys the teaching of Jesus, the Son of God. You might want to say that they're also spirit controlled. They have a desire to glorify God. You may add that they bear fruit. That's a Christian. Okay? And you may want to add some other things, and that's fine. Okay. What's nationalism? It's loyalty, a devotion to the nation. One is a citizen. That's nationalism. All right, so if you take these two words that we have just defined, and we put them together, it's a Christian nationalist is one that is born again and devoted to a nation in which they are a citizen. That makes sense, right? Yeah, all right. Is this gal a Christian nationalist? She's holding up a picture of Christ, She's at the Capitol. She could be considered a Christian nationalist. I would assume that she believes in Jesus and that she's there in loyalty to our nation. She could be. I don't know. All right? So what are people saying about this? I read an information article from Owens Strand, and he, in his article, One Holy Nation in Christ, now he's not a Christian nationalist, he's just writing about it, he states, it is clear that much regarding Christian nationalism is unclear. That's what's clear, is that it is unclear. Christian nationalism is in fact a necessary, broad conversation, sometimes maddening so. For Christian nationalism can mean many different things to different people. And that's important to grasp hold of, is that when you hear that term, You don't know what in the world that individual is writing about or saying because you need to find out how they define it. That's how messed up this is. I heard this the 16th of July. Chris Murphy is a Connecticut Senator, states that within the President Trump Organization, there are those pushing Christian nationalism. Well, Matt Schlapp, who's the chairman of CPAC, responded, I'm a Christian, I love America, what is Christian nationalism? He's asking the question of the Senator, what does he mean by that? So you can see that there's confusion. There's not a true definition of what Christian nationalism is. So let's take a look at a few definitions that some of the Christian nationalists use in defining Christian nationalism. Because it's vitally important that we see what these definitions are. And then you'll get a sense of what's going on here. Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, they wrote a book called Taking America Back for God. Now you can, right there, the title ought to tell you something. Taking America Back for God. They define it as an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civil life with a particular type of Christian identity and culture. So what they're advocating there is Christian nationalism is a blend of Christian identity, Christian values and culture in and with American life. This makes America a Christian nation. That's what they're advocating. and they're proponents of Christian nationalism. Kristen Dumez, she wrote a book, Jesus and John Wayne, How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. That's the title of the book. She says Christian nationalism is the belief that America is God's chosen nation and must be defended as such. Now, what do you pick up in there? You pick up replacement theology. Replacement theology. America is God's chosen nation. All right? Now, that's not what some of the others are saying, but that's what she's saying. And it's all defining Christian nationalism in their view. Okay, so let's look at a major spokesman for Christian nationalism. It's Steve Wolf. Maybe some of you have heard of him or have read, he's got a book out, A Case for Christian Nationalism. It's a thick one, let me tell you. 478 pages worth. He's a strong advocate for Christian nationalism and the book is probably the go-to book for Christian nationalism. He defines Christian nationalism a totality of national action consisting of civil laws and social customs conducted by a Christian nation as a Christian nation in order to procure for itself both earthly and heavenly good in Christ." Okay? He stated that the nation, that's the U.S. of A., is to operate as a Christian nation. in all its laws, its holidays, its lifestyle, everything. And this is to be done for both earthly and heavenly good. My question is, what do they mean by Christian? How are they defining Christian in all this? Okay. So, Andrew Toba and Andrew Isker, in their book, Christian Nationalism, state that Christians include Protestants, Catholic, Quaker, Orthodox individuals who profess Christ. Not sure that all these people in these categories agree with the gospel, but they're saying that they're all Christian. So now, that even muddies the water even more on Christian nationalism. There are some Christian nationalists that would agree with us as far as what Christians are. But there are also Christian nationalists. They believe that a Christian is one that's regenerated, born again, spirit-led, they show fruit, they're Christians, but they're into Christian nationalism as well. So you can see that there's a wide scope of what Christians mean in that term, Christian nationalism. Okay. So, what are the implications behind this Christian nationalism movement? Well, Christians are the lead government. Some will say that they're all to be Christians. Others will say they don't all have to be, but the majority do. Okay? What other things? Well, laws are to be Bible-based. Laws are to be Bible-based. All businesses closed on Sunday. Some of us more mature people remember when that was happening, that all businesses were closed. They want to go back to it, all right? What else? Holidays are to have a Christian influence. Okay? So what holiday do you think of right off the bat goes out the window? About Halloween. It goes out the window. All right? So these are some of the things, this is some of the effects, the repercussions, or where they're driving to on this Christian nationalism. And we're seeing some of that today. And you may not know it, you may not know it. I tell you what, Randy, why don't you just come forward. How about the Oklahoma State Superintendent directed all public schools to teach Bible, including the Ten Commandments? That's a law in Oklahoma. All right? My question is, by whom? Who is teaching the Bible in those classrooms? Do you want a Catholic or a Mormon teaching Bible? Who is teaching the Bible? Louisiana is going to require 10 commandments displayed in every public school room. That's law. Louisiana. Alright? Do you know what's being debated there? What version of the Bible gets posted? Do you use King James Version? NIB? ESV? I'm a big proponent of putting the Greek up there. Okay? So now, you know, there's some issues as to what they're doing here. Okay, next. We have seen the Supreme Court issue the ruling that abortion and goes back to the states. Okay, it's not on the federal level, it's on the state level. Christian nationalists are very much encouraged by these actions and others. Because what is it doing? It's getting Christianity into the public forum. All right? But I have a few questions on this. One being, what is the biblical mandate for government? What does scripture say government is supposed to do? Do these actions fulfill that mandate? Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm glad that some of this stuff is going on, but I think it's going to end up being more of a problem than a help or a solution. But the Christian Nationalists, charge on. Go for it. We need more of it. OK, next. I mentioned Andrew Torba. He's the CEO of Gab.com. And Andrew Isker, he's a pastor of the Fourth Street Evangelical Church. They wrote a book. that I referred to, Christian Nationalism, which is highly endorsed by Steve Wolf, who wrote that big volume. They state, we can and must reclaim and maintain our townships, school boards, and counties, then our state legislators, then the entire nation. In order to do so, we must exit the beast system completely and build our own parallel Christian society, lying in wait for their system to collapse, which is when the godly infrastructure we had built fill the vacuum. A couple phrases I want you to see there. One, we must exit the beast system. They see the present system that we have today as being a beast. They're creating a parallel Christian society now. And they're saying what they're building is a godly infrastructure. I have some questions about that. What's a godly infrastructure? I'm not sure what they mean by... I know what they mean, but it's not what you think. So there's a political and an economic side to this whole Christian nationalism as well. But there's also a spiritual side. And to me, this is what drives the whole worldview that they have. And that's point number two. Go ahead, next. What is their eschatology? What is their eschatology? What is their view of end times? Next. Torber writes, he says, if we can change our eschatology, we will change the world and take dominion of it for the glory of God. That is the single most important task in all Christendom, second only to spreading the gospel. Okay? He believes in evangelism. but he believes in changing eschatology, what people believe about end times. He supports Christian nationalism because of his eschatology. That's where he's coming from. He has said it publicly that this is not going to happen overnight. He doesn't believe it's going to happen in this next election. He thinks it's gonna be years and years coming on, all right? But he's in it for the long haul, let me tell you. He and many others with this worldview have a post-millennium eschatology. Their theology drives their actions. Okay, what is post-millennium? It is the belief Christ will return after millennium period. And that millennium period is not considered a literal thousand year reign, but that is a period between Christ's first coming and his second coming. Things are going to get better and better and better as a church takes over more of the societal role It will be a golden heir of peace and prosperity and blessings without Christ on earth, and then this will usher in Christ's return. Have you noticed how things are getting better and better in the United States? And the world? Right? Along with this belief is that the church replaces Israel. And as recipients of the covenantal blessings. This replacement took place when the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah at His first coming. They see pre-millennialism eschatology, which is what we believe scripture teaches, as being a defeated theology. It is a defeated mentality in your life. So those that believe in pre-millennialism have a defeated mindset. They say that because we believe there's going to be a seven-year tribulation period. And they see that as being defeated. It's a defeated life. So pre-millenniaism needs to be replaced by one of victory. And post-millenniaism is one of victory. So that's where they go. Alright, next. Mr. Tobin's vision is instead, I envision a thriving parallel Christian society, one that I am actively working to build brick by brick, day by day in my own home and community, local community. I hope to encourage you to do the same. Nothing about priceless conservatism is worth conserving. Let it crumble to ashes. This almost has an essence, a smell of the prosperity gospel in it. Not totally, but some of it is in there with this. Because things are gonna get better and better and better. Okay. Christian nationalism, as I pointed out that Tobit, Andrew, doesn't just talk the walk, he walks the talk. How many of you know about Gab website? Oh boy, you guys need to look into some of this stuff, really do. Don't look at it now. Okay, pay attention. Don't look it up now. He has created alternatives. He's into the alternative, the parallel Christian society, okay? He's got Gab Press. It is a publishing outlet. All right? Secondly, he's got Marketplace. It's an Amazon alternative. Gab Clips, which is a YouTube alternative. Gab AI, which is a chat GPT. Gab, which is a messaging app. for Twitter, Telegram, Whatsapp, Signal, all of those. It's interesting, he has got a lot of flack and he has been investigated by the US FBI concerning this last shooting because the guy, the shooter, was on GAB. Okay? So his philosophy is As long as you're not vulgar or insightful, you can say whatever you want to. You can be against governments. That's why Belgium is after him right now. In fact, Belgium has told him to censor some of the things that are going on in Europe. And he said, hey, here in America, we have free speech. Come get me. So he's pretty adamant about free speech. Then he's got his own payment platform. He's got video for, like, Zoom. See, all those are replacement things for what we have. And his mind is at, I'm building a Christian parallel society. And when all these other things crumble, He's going to be in existence. Why? Because he has got his own internet platforms. He's got his own servers. He doesn't depend upon Amazon for service. He is his own man, and he's developed these things. All right? Okay, let's go on. How should we, third point, how should we at Christ Fellowship Bible Church respond to Christian nationalism? I haven't even scratched the surface on this thing. on this whole topic. And I've stated that there are public individuals out there that are involved in some way, shape, or form in Christian nationalism. Marjorie Taylor Greene has come out vocally in a public forum that she is for Christian nationalism. I don't know what that means. She has said that, that she's for that. Okay. Lauren Bolbert, she's another one. Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA. I don't know if you've heard of him. He's very much into Christian nationalism. To the point that I would say that he is, he leans heavily towards making this a Christian nation. Another less, I would say, you gotta listen to what he says. He won't say that he's a Christian nationalism, but Tucker Carlson is another one. I mention these names so that when you hear these people, listen to what they have to say, and then question what they say. Because what you hear, you may be interpreting one way, and they're not meaning that. They're really not. Okay, so how should we respond to Christian nationalism? There are three applications. First one, make sure when you're discussing this topic that you define terms. A Christian can mean anything. So define that. It can mean someone just going and attending church, and they're a Christian. Or it could be someone that's regenerated. Nationalism can mean anything from love of your country to domination. I would say that Dominion Theology, if you know anything about Dominion Theology, plays right into this Christian nationalism on the end of the spectrum. Okay? So you need to have some clarification of terms here when you're talking to people. How many of you heard the statement, or have read the statement on social media, Christ is King? We know what that means, or I hope that we know what that means. That it means that Jesus, the Messiah, is sovereign over all. For those who support Christian nationalism, it means we need to get the world in order for His return. That is totally different than what we would think, what we would understand it to mean. There's an organization, the American First Foundation, they have used this statement as a rally cry. You can go on their website, not now, Please not now. And see their purpose is not to promote the sovereignty of Christ, but to promote Christian nationalism. Now, the organization sounds good. American First Foundation. Sounds good. I'm all for America. But that foundation is really promoting Christian nationalism. There's been such a hijack of terminology in our day and age. And Christ as King is just one of the terms. I mean, I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. I'm happy, but I'm not gay. Because of that term, gay has been hijacked. Bottom line, make sure there's an understanding of terms and don't assume one understands what you mean and that they understand what you mean. Some have asked me of late if I'm a Christian nationalist. My first response is, what do you mean? What do you mean Christian nationalist? because you need to get that terminology down before you can proceed with any reasonable, healthy discussion. Okay? All right, secondly, read the position of the rapture, the tribulation, the second coming, and the millennium reign on the Christ Fellowship website. They are under the tab what we teach and under the heading of last things. You need to know your doctrine when you talk about Christian nationalism because it affects your eschatology. You need to know your doctrine. I dare say that in the United States, people are biblically illiterate when it comes to doctrine. They will say that they believe such and such, but you go and you ask them, okay, show me a scripture. And I go, well, it's in there somewhere. Somebody told me it was. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. We need to be students of scripture. Okay, thirdly. Do not just read the word, but also study it to be able to discern rightly those things we hear and read on our cell phone, computer, or TV. Reading biographies of Christian men and women are good. They're healthy. They're encouraging. They're uplifting. They're good for the soul to hear about real life. of others. Hearing sermons by great preachers, that's really good stuff too. But we need to do the hard work of Bible study. This means sitting in a chair and studying, research, perform word studies and so on. I'm not saying that we need to spend hours and hours and hours. If we can do it, fine. I'm not saying spending a whole lot of time, but spend a consistent 30 minutes, an hour. Study God's Word. Study it like you are in school. You need to know what the scripture teaches so that we can discern things that we hear or see in the world, and that we don't get sucked into things that come along, like Christian nationalism. I would not, I will say that I would not consider Christian nationalism as a cult by and large. By and large. There is a lot of good Christian people that are for Christian nationalism. They're just wayward on their eschatology and what they're thinking. That's all. They're still born again. They're still believers, all right? There are some, however, such as James Wesley Rawls, who is a Christian nationalist who has an area or a commune in the Northwest called Redoubt. It's geared for Christian conservatives. The word Redoubt means protected place of refuge or of defense. It's a commune. and he's a big proponent and he's hardcore. So he's getting all the Christian conservatives to come to that location and live. That is a cult. That is a cult. Many Christian nationalists have changed their eschatology. In doing so, that has driven how they live. You can see how What you believe drives how you live and what you do. If you believe you are a child of God, guess what? You're gonna live like one. If you believe Jesus is coming back soon, you will live like he's coming back soon. If you believe that the earth will burn up and there will be new heavens and new earth, you will not treasure the things on earth. See how what you believe is fleshed out in how you live. And the same thing here, they believe in eschatology, that is incorrect interpretation of scripture, but they're moving their lives, what they do, what they devote their time to and their energies is towards Christian nationalism because of their eschatology and the fact that they're building a better America for Christ's return. That's a problem. That's a problem. People Those who risked their lives to translate God's Word into our language did not do so so we could carry something to church. They did not do that for that purpose. They translated God's Word into the English language so that we could read it and study it, so that we would know God. that we would know what He wanted of us. We would know His commandments. What are we doing with it? Are we studying it? Or are we just reading it, listening to it? We need to be studying. We need to be studying. All right, so in closing, application, make sure when you hear or talk about the topic Christian nationalism, you clarify terms. Clarify the terms. Read the church position on the great snatch, the tribulation, the second coming, and the millennial reign. Study God's words so that you know that you can discern it, because basically this whole Christian nationalism is a discernment issue. It's a discernment issue. You've got to know the truth so you can see Christian nationalism and the truth and see if it jives. And like I said, this isn't something outside the church. This is something inside the church, which makes it even more dangerous. I think of Peter when he says, hey, be prepared For those that are coming, those teachers, those false teachers, they're coming. Jude says they're here. I'm saying they're here. There are false teachers that are coming. They're not necessarily preaching a prosperity gospel, but they're teaching an eschatology that's changing the way people live, not according to scripture. And then study God's word to know, discern, show others the truth from scripture. Then lastly, Acts chapter 17, verse 11. Now these, and he's referring to Bereans, were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. The word examining that's used here in the Greek doesn't mean that they just read over scripture or heard somebody read it to them. It has the idea of a forensic examination. How many of you, you've seen the forensic files that show, forensic files, what they do, all the methods that they utilize to determine what the cause of death was, who did it and all. They dig down, they drill down to find answers to questions that they have. That's what is meaning here in Acts. We're to do an forensic examination of scripture. That means drilling down, asking questions, doing cross-reference of God's word. Yes, it's hard work. It hurts my brain when I do it, but we need to be doing it. If the Brians could do it without the study helps, what's our excuse? What is our excuse? We have none. Men translated scriptures in English for us. They died in doing so. We have all these study helps, but what we do? We bring our Bibles to church, we listen to good sermons, we read good articles, but we're not able to discern when untruths come in our society because we're not students of God's word. And I would encourage you today to be a student of God's word. Set aside some time and do that hard work. so that we can be good discerners of truth and of evil. Let's pray. Father, I wanna thank you that you have given us your word. You've given us truth. You've given us all that we need for a godly life. that we might live pleasing to you, that we might live in honor of you. And Father, I confess that there are times where I neglect that time of study because it's hard. It's difficult. But Father, you've given us the opportunity to do such, to study your word, and I thank you for that. And it's just a matter of me setting aside the priority and doing it. And I pray for each one of us that we would do the same. And Father, I pray that we would not be judgmental towards those that are caught up and Christian nationalism, but that we would encourage them and that we would show them, if we have opportunities, to where they've erred. And Father, I pray for this church, for the elders of this church. Father, may they be diligent in protecting this flock from error. Father, I pray that they would be proactive in doing so, and that they would be guarding our souls with all diligence. And Father, as sheep of this flock that we'd be praying for our elders, we'd be encouraging them, upholding them, for the job for which they do can be difficult. So I pray that we would be ones that encourage them in the work they do. And I pray these things in your name. Amen. If you have any questions on Christian nationalism, I understand Dorothy is a good source. You need to give him a hug and a kiss from me and everybody in this room, because that's the best teacher. It's not that we don't have distance learning.