Loving America by Killing the America Idol

The conflation of Christianity with America has become one of the most effective tools of Statists in corralling, co-opting, and controlling the “conservative” masses here in the “land of the free” and the home of the NSA.

I was reminded of this when I recently bumped into a Tea Party advocate manning a small display at the State capitol. The display featured, among other things, a bold print proclamation of the complete harmony between God, the Ten Commandments, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

When, after making a bit of small talk, I kindly asked the woman about the apparent conflict between the first of the Ten Commandments and the First Amendment to the US Constitution, with the former plainly forbidding the worship of any false god, and the latter proclaiming such worship as a “liberty” to be managed as people see fit, it was at first as though I had spoken gibberish. The more I explained the question, the more perplexed the look on her face. Her expression was one of both increasingly intense concern and confusion. She didn’t ever seem to be completely clear as to what I had said, but she was at the same time pretty sure she didn’t like it.

Then, a moment after that, she slipped into a different mode – a “burn the heretic” kind of gear.

She got mad – mad at even the suggestion of the Founding Fathers or anything that they’d touched being worthy of criticism or biblical critique. She leapt to their defense (against such biblical examination) with all the zeal of a dedicated religionist whose god had just been challenged.

Her simple response to the proposition of there being a fundamental conflict between the Ten Commandments and the First Amendment was, “No!”

There was no interest on her part in comparing the simple, clear, purposefully plain language of the (first of the) Ten Commandments with the First Amendment side-by-side where they both touched upon the same subject. Nope. It was clear from the start that she had no desire to go there.

None at all.

Where she did want to go was to the comments and recorded thoughts of various Founding Fathers. That, she insisted, would explain why the First Amendment protection of the freedom to worship any god you like is, actually, somehow and some way, in complete harmony with the explicit biblical prohibition of even allowing the presence of (much less worship of) false gods on God’s earth.

The trouble for her there was that when we went to those comments and records, nothing even slightly altered the crystal clear reality of obvious conflict between the protection of false god worship by the Founders in the First Amendment and the prohibition of the same by God in His Word.

Any time I sought a straight-up, side-by-side testing of the First Amendment in light of the Word of God, she became increasingly agitated and incensed.

The more I suggested we take what the Founders actually, finally, and after much (often recorded) debate wrote in the Bill of Rights, and test that against what God has also clearly stated in His Word on the subject of allowing for false god worship, the more angry she became.

So, after a few minutes, I just let it go, made nice, and moved along. Lord willing, the seed planted in her mind on that day will grow into something good.

I’m sure that normally this particular Tea Party advocate must have come across as a very sweet lady. And, for what it’s worth, I tend to share and enthusiastically support many Tea Party positions and perspectives…insofar as they conform with Scripture and hold up under the scrutinizing light of the Word. This approach has made me far more conservative than most self-identified “conservative Christians” in America who now support everything from State-controlled children’s education and social security to food stamps and medicare.

I don’t believe or say things like “I am far more conservative than most self-identified ‘conservative Christians’ in America” as a means of boasting in myself or expressing my own pride. I say so because it is simply true. And it is simply true because, by the grace of God, I strive to test even the claims and actions of the Founding fathers, Republican Party, and Tea Party in the perfect light of Scripture…and not the other way around. I have believed and defended some of the most flagrantly unbiblical aspects of the America Idol in the past, and I know that, but for the unmerited grace of God in my life, I would still be enslaved to the same oh-so-comfortable concepts today.

Moreover, I’ve come to learn that testing our most cherished extra-biblical ideas, heroes, and traditions in light of Scripture is far more important than testing those with whom we already disagree. Anything and anyone apart from God that we would place above reproach is an idol.

Patriotism, the Founding Fathers, and America itself, when they are allowed to hold that idolatrous position in the hearts of “proud, conservative” Americans (or anyone else), will then be used by the enemy to bring them and all that they love down into ruin.

Could it be that Barack Obama, Islam, and the rapidly culture-transforming homosexual movement are not the root cause of our culture’s impending doom, but merely symptoms of that cause?

Could it not be that the many crushing cultural body blows coming our way now in fast and furious flurries are first and foremost related a result of our sin and rebellion against the God who has, among other things, lovingly and explicitly prohibited us (and everyone else) from allowing for the public presence or worship of false Gods? (See: Judgment begins with the Church…not with the Democrats.)

Would we not best serve that God, ourselves, and our children, by repenting of our past promotion of such overtly anti-Christian concepts as the “right” to worship false gods?

Would that repentance and correction not be an expression of true love for God and for America? (See: How to truly love (and really save) America.)

Lord willing, one day soon we might see many displays, advocates, and even elected officials in State capitols across this nation openly calling us to perpetual repentance and reformation in light of the Word, rather than encouraging us to cling to pride, idolatry, and death.

We are being purposefully suffocated by an enemy who has managed to separate us from Christ in a manner that actually has us believing that we are doing the very will of Christ. Our proud, willful ignorance is killing us…and the culture in which we’ve been placed.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

~ Hosea 4:6

This is where the conflation of America and Christianity has led us. The America Idol would have us all to stop and settle here in our present place of proud ignorance.

May God grace His people with the zeal and opportunity to stand upon His Word, lovingly confronting and correcting a world gone mad through the supernatural power of His Gospel-fueled Great Commission (see: Matthew 28).

May we seize this incredible opportunity to faithfully proclaim and apply the exclusive, divisive, and essential Nature of Christ in every realm of American life…while there is still time…

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

~ Jesus, in Matthew 10:34-39

Click here to continue on to Part II.

Word.

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You can also help support the Fire Breathing Christian mission by checking out these books:

Stupid Elephant Tricks – The Other Progressive Party’s War on Christianity takes a painful but much needed look at how Christ-less “conservatism” has captivated Christians and co-opted them into helping march the culture ever deeper into darkness:

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The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics is an approachable, easy to read introduction to Christ-centered apologetics:

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Apathetic Christianity: The Zombie Religion of American Churchianity explores the tragic true horror story of all-American dead religion masquerading as Christianity:

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On Education is a compilation of some of the most provocative and compelling Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of children’s education:

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There Is No “God-Given Right” To Worship False Gods is a compilation of some of the most provocative Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of America’s embrace of a satanic approach to religious liberty:

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Fire Breathing Christians – The Common Believer’s Call to Reformation, Revival, and Revolution is the book that first presented the FBC mission to apply the Gospel-fueled Great Commission in every realm of God’s creation:

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An alternate white cover version of Fire Breathing Christians is available:

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Finally, here are a few good intro/reminder links for those of you who are new to Fire Breathing Christian and curious about exactly what’s goin’ on ’round here:

What are you, some kind of [insert label here] or something?!

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Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer

When the Bible gets hairy. (Or: Is it right for men to have long hair?)

And especially this one: Never forget that apart from God’s grace you and I are complete morons.