Pardon the hackneyed metaphor, but am I the only one who thinks this “frog in the kettle” chapter of American history is heating up faster than any of us anticipated? Seriously, the speed at which America today is beginning to resemble the earth beast of Revelation 13 is stunning!
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he . . . causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship” (Rev. 13:11, 12).
He forces the world to worship—really?[1]
There is a national movement afoot that threatens the liberty most Americans grew up with—freedom of worship—the familiar guarantee of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”[2]
Clearly some Americans are tired of waiting, and now believe that the way to advance their religious preference is to persuade the government to enforce their religious practice. We must “make America Christian again.”
The sad reality of Christian nationalism is that it seeks to do what Jesus and His followers refused to do: engage in political warfare!
Christian nationalists, generally considered conservative American evangelicals, ostensibly have abandoned their evangelistic effort to win America to Jesus—and instead are turning to state and national lawmakers, even the president himself, to legislate religious practice. Their ill-conceived efforts to hang the Ten Commandments in every classroom (Louisiana),[3] to mandate the Bible to be taught in public schools (Oklahoma),[4] to call for a “uniform day of rest” (the Heritage Foundation),[5] thus far have been turned aside. But their intent is clear.
What did Jesus mean when, in answer to Pilate’s query, He replied: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight . . . ; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36)?
The sad reality of Christian nationalism is that it seeks to do what Jesus and His followers refused to do: engage in political warfare! Never mind the rough-and-tumble commotion of political campaigning, never mind the moral imbroglios of its political leaders, its win-at-any-cost strategy compromises not only Jesus’ rejection of political counterattack but also His Sermon on the Mount’s radical counter call: “But I say to you, love your [political] enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
The painful truth for Christian nationalists is that they fail to take seriously Jesus’ strategic call to win this cosmic conflict, not by force, nor by ballot box, but by the radical template of His own self-sacrificing love: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
Lewis Smedes writes: “God weeps when people think they can love only Him. . . . People need people as surely as they need God. Because God knows this, His redemptive love creates a company of love-sharers.”[6]
What if you and I became that “company of love-sharers”? Not by hanging the Ten Commandments in our classrooms, but by living out those same commandments toward “the immigrant who is living with you” (Ex. 20:10, CEB)?[7]
[1] My next column will carefully examine internal evidence America is the earth beast of Revelation 13.
[2] https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/#:~:text=First%20Amendment%20Explained,for%20a%20redress%20of%20grievances.
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/louisiana-law-ten-commandments-schools
[4] https://oklahomavoice.com/briefs/oklahoma-supreme-court-tosses-bible-lawsuit-after-education-leader-declines-to-enforce-mandate/
[5] “A uniform day of rest that limits commercial activity can provide temporal boundaries that help communities to set aside time for religious observance, family gatherings, outdoor activities, and rest” (https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/SR323.pdf).
[6] Lewis B. Smedes, Love Within Limits (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1978), p. 26.
[7] Scripture quotations credited to CEB are from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
