Idolatry for the Christian is the worship of anything other than the trinitarian God. My point is simple. Some Christians and churches in the United States are guilty of the sin of idolatry by worshiping the United States of America. This nationalistic idolatry becomes obvious in several ways. First, Churches bear the banner of the United States on their stages. Architecture is theology. Generally, whatever is highest on the stage is the most important. As well, whatever is closest to the front of the stage is of higher importance. Where is the flag usually found? Towards the front of the stage to the right or left of the stage. Across from the U.S. flag is usually the Christian flag, to serve as an excuse to raise the U.S. flag. Has it not occurred to anyone that raising both of these flags is dualism? Both represent the allegiance to a nation/kingdom. On one side, the nation of the United States of America, on the other, the kingdom of God. Churches are supporting the notion that people can serve both the United States and the kingdom of God. This is Dualistic in nature and thus idolatry. As Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters." (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13). To which those guilty respond, "Jesus was talking about money." False. Jesus used wealth as an example of idolatry. Others will respond, "the U.S. and the kingdom of God are different. The first is physical and the second is spiritual." Again, false. Jesus did not come to establish a "spiritual" kingdom. When Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God in Luke 4 from the scroll of Isaiah, this is what he said:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Jesus proclamation is in no way purely spiritual. He came to establish a physical kingdom in which the gospel is preached to the poor and captives are set free. The blind will see and the oppressed will be freed. If you don't believe me, read the Gospels again and look at Jesus' kingdom proclamation and what he spent his time doing. Or looking at Matt. 25, Jesus claims that he will separate the sheep from the goats based on how well they physically did the work of God (If you don't think that your salvation is affected by works, then read Matt 25). Jesus' kingdom is not something in our hearts. It is a present but not yet reality of God working in the world through those who love him. How can you say that the U.S. and the kingdom of God are different? They both require full allegiance. Was not Jesus killed by the Romans for his threat against the government of Rome? Obviously, Rome and the kingdom of God collided. Christians were martyred because they preached the kingdom of God, which subverts the kingdom of Rome.
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
Second, We sing the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance in our churches from the very pews which we claim to praise God Almighty! Are you kidding me? This eerie worship of the nation is direct idolatry, even within the very building we come to worship God. Some will cry, "We aren't worshipping!" Are you kidding me? Since when did people standing out of some emotional draw and shouting the the words to a nation not count as worship! I watched as the entire congregation, out of some misplaced leading of their heart, sat for all of the actual worship songs, yet stand only for the National Anthem! IDOLATRY! Those who don't see it are ignorant.
Third, we always mention a prayer for the troops of the U.S. I'm not against praying for people. But here are the connotations of this demanded prayer in our churches. First, it shows that the church is aligning itself with a particular government. Never in the early church do we find Christians aligning with any governments. They simply aligned themselves with the kingdom of God. Also, Christians have killed Christians for centuries because of allegiances to worldly nations rather than the kingdom of heaven! Since when do we put this nation before our Kingdom? Why is the church killing the church in order to adequately serve a pagan nation? Furthermore, praying for our troops often carries the hope of victory against the enemy. This contradicts the kingdom proclamation of Jesus to: "Love your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you" (Matt 5:44). The kingdom of God commands complete allegiance and obedience, which includes this command. You cannot follow this command and support the war of the nation.
The worship of the United States in our churches needs to end now! We cannot sit aside while the nationalistic propaganda is fed to Christians. Its time for churches to draw away from support and serving the U.S. "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). Submitting to the governments (whether that be U.S. or China or Hitler) does not mean that we support them. It means we follow the Law so that the only thing people can hold against us is our faith in Jesus Christ. If our faith in Jesus calls us to something different than what the government is demanding, then let us forsake this country for the kingdom of God. As Joshua said, "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15).
