Hezekiah, Paul, and Politics

I think Christian Nationalism is a wildly unfortunate perversion of the faith. Christian Nationalists believe that the United States is a Christian nation and that government’s role is to preserve those roots. Elected officials have responsibilities to enact Bible-based laws through which American will fulfill its manifest destiny to be a “city on a hill.”

The icons of CN can be a United States flag draped on a cross or monuments of the Ten Commandments in public spaces. Slogans like “God and country,” are popular. And, for many Christian Nationalists, Donald Trump is a savior-figure often depicted sitting in a chair with Jesus standing behind him.

Their perspective, prophets, and people can be rabid in their beliefs and have become somewhat of a force.

Sadly, Christian Nationalists are way off base and have been deceived into trading higher, far more beautiful things, for far lesser things.

Here is an easy contrast and compare between King Hezekiah and the Apostle Paul that will highlight our Father’s intent and expose Christian Nationalist’s errors.

• “Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chronicles 29:1-2).

• “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God the Father” (Colossians 1:1-2).

Hezekiah was an Old Testament king in Judah, a geo-political nation in the Middle East, from 715-686BC. Paul was an apostle who started in Antioch and ended up in Rome. Hezekiah’s authority was established by his birth-connection to King David and Yahweh’s promise to always have one in David’s lineage on Israel’s throne (2 Samuel 7:16). Paul’s authority was established by our Father’s will in providentially calling him to be an apostle, a sent one, of Jesus the Messiah.

Hezekiah sought to build, protect, and expand the geo-political nation of Judah. He did so by leading people in faithfulness to Yahweh’s ways. He also did so by building and fortifying cities throughout Judah (You can read his full story in 2 Chronicles 29-32. One great summary statement of a part of his story is found in 2 Chronicles 31:20-21). At one point, Hezekiah led Judah to victory against the Assyrian King Sennacherib. Assyria was a much larger and more powerful geo-political nation than Judah. Hezekiah’s faithfulness proved instrumental in victory.

The Apostle Paul was called to build the Kingdom of God by rescuing people, leading them to wholeness, and then establishing them in churches. “For He (our Father) rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). His enemy was not Rome or Egypt. He did not seek to establish a geo-political entity that would overthrow others. His enemies were the world and Satan.

Consider this sample of verses

• “We proclaim Him (Jesus), admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power (the Holy Spirit), which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:28-29).
• “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:20).
• “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:8-10).

With many other passages of Scripture, I can easily demonstrate the difference of King Hezekiah’s work and the Apostle Paul’s work.

I am enamored by the Hezekiah/Paul distinction because many Christians in the United States have simply lost their way. Many of us are way too caught up in a fight to build a geo-political entity rather than advancing our Father’s Kingdom. And the belief that building the United States into a Christian country is advancing our Father’s Kingdom is woefully wrong.  

• Salvation can never be legislated.
• Discipleship can never be legislated.
• Healing hearts can never be legislated.
• Winning against Satan can never be legislated.
• And on and on and on…

The Kingdom of God stands opposed to this world in all its teachings, ways, and gatherings. Our Father has never needed a federal government to reach people, bring glory to His name, or stop evil.  He certainly has chosen, at times, to use geo-political nations and other groups of people as His instruments. However, today He is not trying to establish a nation of His people.

I fear that many of you are wound up in the political culture of the United States. I fear that you get more emotional and passionate about Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris than you do about your own holiness, the condition of your family’s discipleship, the condition of the “forgottens” in your community, or reaching the lost.

That some in the faith would consider Donald Trump to be some kind of Christian savior is absurd. It would be laughable if there were not so many seemingly blurring Trump, Jesus, the Kingdom, and the United States.

Simple question that clarifies the truth – how many disciples are you making? How many men and women do you sit with, listen to, love, counsel, train, and send in the Kingdom? Did not Jesus, your King and Savior tell you to go and make disciples? (Matthew 28:18-20). Is not effective disciple-making your Father’s plan to reach and change the world? Does not the Holy Spirit in you yearn to work through you to love and restore people?

If you are not making disciples, then, please, shut up.

No one in the Kingdom needs your glorious political insight. What they desperately need is your love. What they desperately need is for you to care about them, walk with them, and train them to live in the Kingdom.

You have an incredible opportunity to be a part of an eternal, supernatural, life-saving movement. You can be used by the Creator of the Universe to save souls, to heal souls, and to empower souls to run God’s race.

Paul is not Hezekiah.

Life in the overflow is lived on the frontline of the Kingdom, running God’s race, making disciples.

Or you can watch FoxNews, read the Epoch Times, and feast on Twitter.