Wrapped in the flag.
Posted by appolus on May 3, 2015
(Matt 5:13)You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty 
again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
So much of American Christianity is wrapped in their flag. Yet there is a wider problem in Christendom that goes well beyond the borders of the United States. It lies at the very heart of the religion of Christianity as opposed to the reality of Christ. True Christianity is indeed about becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. Yet the history of the Christian church from the time of Constantine to now has been about how to merge the church and the state. In order to do that the church has sanctioned wars and called it ” just wars.” This is the preposterous notion that the teachings of Jesus and the life of Christ in us are suspended in times of war and that it is perfectly okay to kill and maim you enemies if sanctioned by the state. Somehow the state over-rules Christ in times it deems to be emergencies.
This is no different from the Jewish leaders sacrificing to Roman gods inside the temple so as to preserve the temple system of worship and in doing so preserved their own place in society. If the visible church had opposed wars over the centuries they would have been driven out of public life and compelled to be an underground church. And therefore the church that we now know would not exist as it would have been an underground persecuted church. It would be a heck of a lot smaller but it would be the most powerful force on the planet as opposed to the weak and anemic world version we now see.If every professing saint in Europe had refused to take up arms in the last several hundred years, there would have been no wars, including the two world wars.
Without the support of the established religious church, war could not exist as we know it in the west. What men have created, what men have forged together is now being dismantled from the inside by outside pressures. The culture is now demanding more and more of the established visible church. If it is to survive it will be forced to capitulate and the price of that capitulation is, as it always has been, truth. Thankfully God has always retained for Himself a remnant. He will have His witness and no force on earth can destroy it not even the gates of hell.
A Call To The Remnant 
Scarlett said
“Thankfully God has always retained for Himself a remnant. He will have His witness and no force on earth can destroy it not even the gates of hell.”
Indeed, the Lord will have a remnant, but I do not believe it will be in the form of the “visible” mainstream organizations we have come to think of as the Church, but rather it will be in the the persecuted underground body of believers, the Lord’s witnesses, His ekklesia, His Bride. Come quickly Lord Jesus.
appolus said
Amen!………………bro Frank
Scarlett said
I loved your testimony bro Frank. I can tell you are one of those saints brought through the fire of many heartaches and firey trials to the place of knowing the Lord Jesus. I thank our God for you..
appolus said
Yes sister, school of hard knocks 😊 The Lord was so faithful through all the fires and my own unfaithfulness . My whole childhood I saw an incredibly powerful and present Lord even in the midst of extreme violence . I also learned as a child what it meant to be hated for Christ’s sake, incurring the hatred of my father. Yet what better training ground? Lessons learned in the fire are forged into your soul forever. Scars for Christ’s sake are badges of honor in the heavenly realms…….bro Frank
backtothemaster said
Hello Brother Frank. Excellent post. I do have to admit the subject of wars and Christians can strike a nerve and be somewhat confusing. I can point to several passages many Christians so quickly use to justify wars. However, they are used more as excuses than anything out of love. But that aside, do you think God does allow for a defensive war? How about WWII and the slaughter of millions of Jews. And how does having a police force differ? I ask out of curiosity and not out of an arguing spirit. Many thanks!
appolus said
No, I appreciate the question. I think the first thing to point out is that we live in a secular country in a secular world. The Lord’s kingdom is not of this world. And so, secular countries will ably defend themselves and have never had a problem doing this. The same with the police-force. People pay taxes to have their lives and properties protected and that would not change if genuine saints decided they did not want to carry a gun. In WW11 we did not fight to defend the Jews, in fact we turned Jews away and sent them back to be killed. The vast majority of wars are over power and money. I am not sure one can name a single war where righteousness was the motivation or even the consideration. Of course we have the teachings of Jesus and how we ( born again Christians, His followers) are to treat our enemies. Genuine saints have always been a tiny majority of any population, Jesus Himself said that many are called but few are chosen and very few find the narrow path that leads to life. When it comes to wars someone inevitably says ” well what would you do if someone broke into your house.” I answer honestly that I would defend my family. Now somehow that is always extrapolated into a reason to support war. I simply just do not buy that logic. Just in the 20th Century alone, 231 million people were killed in wars and conflicts, men, woman and children. That is a heavy price to pay to justify defending your family from an intruder. Of course, as in all things, one must be persuaded in their own minds and hearts on these issues. I am not Lord over any ones faith and we all have the Scriptures. Nationalism and greed seems to me, as a student of history, to have been the cause of most of the recorded wars of history, that and hatred. Lets take WW11 since you raised that as most folks do ( very silent usually on WWI, the ” Great War,” the war that would end all wars) Almost all of Germany was professing Christians as was every country in Europe. If these people were genuine saints and refused to pick up the gun, then how could mad men conduct wars? When all of our identity is found in Christ and Christ alone, I believe that we make very different decisions. When we count ourselves truly as sojourners, pilgrims merely passing through, ambassadors of another Kingdom that is and yet to come, then we make very different decisions. When we are confused with our identity or accept the dual citizenship notion then at the very best, confusion reigns. At its worse, then professing Christians are the ones calling for war and for torture and revenge. We have 2000 years of history where we can see what has been done in the name of Christ by religion. It’s a sore study, but one worth making for it only compels the genuine saint closer to His Lord and further from the entanglements of a very fallen world. I recognize that good saints do not agree on this issue, we each must follow our hearts and the Word of God as it has been revealed to us because we each give an account for our actions and I am fine with that………………………bro Frank
backtothemaster said
Interesting response, Brother. And I mean interesting in a good way. I completely agree that it would be hard to find a war that is “justified.” I do think there might be one in the some of the countries invaded by the Germans during the second world war (i.e. Poland and Finland) However, I do not know the intricate workings of what happened to lead to that.
Your article dealt specifically with how many Christians wrap themselves up in the flag and try to merge church and state. It is a great hinderance in trying to sin others for Christ. As mentioned, Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. it is a completely spiritual realm. Many Christians just don’t see that and that view causes great harm to being salt and light.
Aside from all of that, I think the point of your article is right on target. As Christians we need to stop being so reactionary to what we think is God’s will and begin gravitating to being salt and light in a tasteless world full of darkness. If we were to the things you mentioned then imagine the great impact the kingdom could have in this world.
God bless and keep writing!
backtothemaster said
And pardon the typos! I can’t believe how many I have in that column. Then again it is after midnight and I am way too tired.
Steve said
How honest is our talk about “God,” if we mean “some-thing” that endorses our nationalism, our hatreds,and our filthy human politics ?
— adapted from Shane Claiborne’s “Jesus for President”
appolus said
I agree with that sentiment Steve. It will end up being the issue, I believe, that the enemy uses against the saints. Things will be done for ” the sake of the nation,” and the saints will be its target. I come from a very nationalistic country and I love Scotland, it is the land of my birth, but one of the things that I noticed when I came to Christ was that the nationalism was no longer there. Dont get me wrong, I love the folks but the notion of fighting and dying for a country or hating folks who hated ” us,” was stripped away. I simply discovered that I was a citizen of another country, an ambassador sent to represent the views of Jesus, the King of the Kingdom to which I now belonged, birthed into it by the Spirit which was more real than my physical birth. Would I die for my new Kingdom? Yes, I believe I would. I would not fight for it in the physical sense for that would make no sense, but I would die for the views of my King. ………………..bro Frank
Steve said
AMEN ! “A citizen of another country.”
If patriotism is “love of one’s country,” I’m convinced there’s such a thing as Christian earthly patriotism: wanting the BEST for one’s country, which is absolutely and always Christ’s rule. The prevalent, popular idea of “patriotism,” is always instead pride, especially militaristic pride, manifested especially by war: as if WAR is ever best for one’s country. It’s the enemy’s counterfeit, and counter-logic: that we can do good by doing evil, “just war.”
appolus said
Amen Steve, I agree entirely………………..bro Frank
Patrick Maina said
Amen.
Steve said
Hi, brother:
The picture you used for this blog said it all, and itself sparked many thoughts. Hope you don’t mind I borrowed the picture for posting those thoughts on my blog; which seemed a more appropriate place for them than high-jacking the discussion here.
blessings, Steve
appolus said
Hi Steve, I don’t mind at all, I got it by googling it 🙂 Perhaps you could post a link to your blog here so that brothers and sisters could read what you have to say?………………bro Frank
Steve said
Thanks, brother. It’s always bothered me when people promote their own blogs on someone else’s; so I’m chary of doing anything that looks like that. I appreciate that you’re O.K. with my doing so here.
“Manipulator Alert,” http://cross-purposes.blogspot.com/
blessings, Steve
LAMAD said
Hello Brother. Would you mind if I reposted this on my blog? Great thoughts that need to be heard especially in light of the many things that have just happened. Marc S.
appolus said
Not at all, every post on this site is for sharing…….bro Frank
LAMAD said
Reblogged this on LAMAD and commented:
The following was written by a very insightful and Spirit-led man on a blog called “A Call to the Remnant.” I ask every church leader in the world to read this…no matter what the color of your flag.