Donald Trump, Christian Nationalism, and the Kingdom of God

“I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose,” Jesus in Luke 4:43.  

“…then comes the end, when He (Jesus) hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power,” wrote Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:24. 

Donald Trump is not Jesus. The United States is not the Savior of the World. Christian Nationalism is wrong. The Kingdom of God does not need the federal government.  

I find the lack of “kingdom consciousness” of Christians to be super problematic. One part of my job is to read doctrinal statements of churches and para-church ministries. Anecdotally, 90+% of what I read says nothing about the kingdom of God and its implications on life. 

Without a clear, sober understanding of our Father’s kingdom one is left to look to federal governments as the real power brokers. After all, no matter how big your church is, it is small compared to the federal government. For that matter, no matter how big your church or your ministry is, they are miniscule compared to companies like Google, Apple, Exxon, and others.  

In “kingdom-less” or “kingdom-light” Christianity inflating the importance of the federal government is easy. And, by extension, inflating the importance of the leaders of that federal government is equally easy. 

But what is the federal government of the United States of America when compared to the kingdom of the living God? 

In kingdom-less or kingdom-light Christianity, followers of Jesus are robbed from living in the awe and wonder of being a part of our Father’s historical, creation-wide movement. A movement that absolutely dwarfs any one nation or collection of all nations. If you are a Christian, then you are an integral part of the kingdom of the living God. His Holy Spirit animates, invigorates, and empowers you to carry on the work of Jesus.   

You are a kingdom son, a kingdom daughter, called by your Triune creator to live a substantive, powerful life on the front lines reaching and building others. 

To be pristinely clear, Jesus came to re-establish the kingdom of His Father on earth. The kingdom was initially given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden complete with the directive from Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Sadly, Adam and Eve failed in their faithfulness to God.  

Genesis 3:1-7 records Satan’s work to deceive the first couple. They gave in and disobeyed. In their disobedience they handed over our Father’s kingdom to their enemy. Luke 4:1-13 records Satan tempting Jesus in three ways. Luke 4:5-6 record a piece of Satan’s second temptation, 

And he led Him (Jesus) up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” 

Huh? When did all the kingdoms of this world get handed over to Satan? In the garden of Eden. What was supposed to be Adam and Eve building out our Father’s kingdom in light, became Satan ruling the world in darkness. Jesus calls Satan the “ruler of the world” (John 14:30).  

That Jesus would declare in Luke 4:43 that His purpose was to preach the kingdom of God is not a surprise. Remember, Jesus is the Son of our Father. The kingdom is not the kingdom of God in some kind of fuzzy, blurred understanding of the Trinity. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of Jesus’s Father. Someone, Satan, “took” the kingdom from His Dad.  

Jesus came to take it back.  

His life and ministry was about re-establishing His Father’s kingdom on earth. His strategy was to preach the Gospel, offering one person at a time to repent, be adopted into His family, be awakened to kingdom-consciousness, and engage in kingdom mission. He recruited a team of disciples, loved them, trained them, and then sent them to make more and more disciples. 

One day Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them to pray. While the disciples had been raised in a culture of prayer, when Jesus prayed, something was categorically different. In what He shared with them, He gave them the passions and priorities of His heart. His prayer revealed what was important to Him. Jesus taught them to pray in Luke 11:2, “Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come…” 

• Prayer is to the Father 
• Prayer is for our Father’s name to be glorified 
• Prayer is for our Father’s kingdom to come!  

Jesus trained His disciples to be kingdom-conscious and kingdom-engaged.  

In the time of Jesus, Rome was the dominant world power. Rome ruled. Rome was led by some peculiar Caesars, not the least of which was Nero. Nevertheless, in all the dominance and power of Rome, Rome could not stop the advancing work of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave barely a mention to local, regional, and federal leaders. He knew who they were. He understood the inter-relationships between the Romans, the Jews, the Herodians, and others.  

But His mission was not to build some geo-political nation that would compete for supremacy with the other nations of the world.  

His mission was to build the kingdom of His Father. And He built the kingdom one person at a time. He expanded His Father’s kingdom territory not in physical land but in the land of people’s hearts. And He trained His disciples in prayer to have His same mind.  

Of course, I know who Joe Biden and Donald Trump are. I can name all nine of the Supreme Court justices and talk at length about various legislation. On occasion I will rail against the erasure of the 10^th amendment to the constitution as a major influence on the current mess of our country.  

But largely, I am indifferent.  

Front line kingdom work is mildly interested in governments and political leaders. Front-line kingdom work is intently reaching people one person, one step, one issue at a time and building them into mature, healed, loved-filled warriors.  

2024 for OVERFLOW is dedicated to working through 2 Chronicles 27 and the example of King Jotham. He was called mighty to the LORD. We have seen that he was called this because he ordered his BE, BUILD, and FIGHT according to God’s leading.  

What is our BUILDing? Our BUILDing is co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to advance our Father’s kingdom by reaching and restoring people one at a time.  

When the time comes for Jesus to return, when He has put all His enemies under His feet, He will hand the kingdom back to His Dad. “Father, Satan took this from You and from Us. Together with the Holy Spirit, we took it back.”  

The kingdom does not need Donald Trump. 

The kingdom does not need Joe Biden. 

The kingdom does not need the federal government.  

The kingdom needs you, full of the Holy Spirit, loving and building people in the truth of Jesus Christ. 

Kingdom-consciousness is LIFE in the OVERFLOW!