Americans are not God’s chosen people, and America is not the New Israel, or the “city on a hill.” That distinction belongs exclusively to the Body of Christ in every nation. Neither the task nor the label fits any certain national entity. We have a great country and our system of governance is as good as it gets, but it’s the Church worldwide that emits divine light.
Every time in history the Church has tried to sanitize a national identity and raise the Christian flag over a nation, a people group, or a political party it’s always turned out poorly! The late Billy Graham knew this when he said: “It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” Nonetheless the wedding did take place and the children that came of the union have not had been the best influence on our culture.
This is not to say that the political left has any more right to wed the Body of Christ. When it does, it does no less damage to both the state and the Church.
If we’re to be the salt and light that Jesus imagined we must revel only in our marriage to our Heavenly Bridegroom and be faithful to him.
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
barney wiget 