There is an interesting definition of the word, “Vice”: “…an abnormal behavior pattern in a domestic animal detrimental to its health or usefulness.” Naturally, Vice President, JD Vance, jumped to my cortex. I refer to his recent theological proposition1, an interesting take on the old adage, “Charity begins at home.”: It eventually drifts outside the US, apparently, if we Christians have enough energy left after all that deep loving!
There’s this old school — and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family and then you love your neighbor and then you love your community and then you love your fellow citizens and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.
A lot of the far left has completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society. And I think the profound difference that Donald Trump brings to the leadership of this country is the simple concept of America First. It doesn’t mean you hate anybody else; it means that you have leadership. And President Trump has been very clear about this — that puts the interests of American citizens first. In the same way that the British prime minister should care about Brits and the French should care about the French, we have an American president who cares primarily about Americans, and that’s a very welcome change.
The Abandoned Gospel of the Kingdom of God:
I have written endlessly concerning the disappearance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in the worship journey of the evangelical Christian Right. It has taken a hundred or more years, but we are at last at the place where the professing Christian seems to have little place to rest between now and the “Rapture” except in the hope of America as God’s anointed “City on a Hill.” “Where else”, it seems to have been concluded, “can His Kingdom be but here in America? How can God send back His Son if we don’t get America ready?”
Have Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount become superfluous? “FIRST you love what is closest to you (the easiest to love); THEN you love the guy next door in your suburban neighborhood (in your social network); THEN you love your town or city (eternal strife?); THEN you love your fellow-citizens and your country (Anglo-Saxon sigh of relief?); THEN, if you have any time or energy left, you take a look at the rest of the world (in the evening news?).
I am reminded of Martin Niemoller’s famous precis on the 3rd Reich2:
FIRST, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
THEN they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
THEN they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
THEN they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
“Focus on the Family”, or focus on Jesus?
We professing Christians were made to believe that Jesus was sent here in charge of righteousness, the very antidote to vice. The rollout from both Jesus and John the Baptist was, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” (Matt 4:17). That later became clarified through Jesus’ teaching of the nuclear family as standing in the way of one’s primary loyalty to God (from Luke 8, 14 & 18). His message was crystal clear: “A man’s enemies will be the members of his household” (Matt 10:36).
The way I see this Western digression from faith to nationalism is this:
Sinner’s Prayer → Kingdom Someday, maybe → “I Pledge Allegiance…” → Sermon on the Mount for after I Die!
In case we miss the nuance, Jesus gives us His Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10. Answering the question that JD poses – “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus makes the point of one’s neighbor being everyone and anyone but especially that person who might be considered one’s “enemy” or who we might have targeted as disposable (deportable?).
To be sure, JD is no theologian and undoubtedly suffers from the incessant demands of the paparazzi, so the Christian thing to do is to cut him some slack. On the other hand, the administration that he represents has been ushered into power by a religious contingency – white American Evangelicalism – that seeks to trade the present, dynamic, victorious Kingdom of God for a shot at a Western version of theocratic ancient Israel. Christians are now being sorted out not by our commitment to God through Christ but by our loyalty to America. What is a garden variety Christian to do but to be nice? “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).
I sometimes refer to this mission of moral legalism as “Christian Sharia Law”.
“All Sin Goes Back to, ‘I Want to be Somebody’”:
It goes something like this: “Republicans are good; Democrats are evil; Christians are entitled to wage war for dominion over America; violence is simply free speech; power builds respect; “Are you saved?” What comes to mind is a definition of sin that a pastor friend once shared with me that was never forgotten: “All sin goes back to, ‘I want to be somebody.’” Think about it!
Whether or not this all falls into the category of VP John Nance Garner’s 1930’s description of the Vice Presidency – “…not worth a bucket of warm spit” – is a matter for debate. JD leaves us, however, with the conviction that if there is to be any secure homeland for the professing believer in Jesus Christ, it has to be God’s Kingdom here, now and finally at its eternal fulfillment!
America, as great as it has been and is, ain’t gonna cut it! Too much hate; too many words without knowledge (Job 38:2)!
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