In our cultural skirmishes, a common tactic is to use a pejorative label to attack or to discredit your enemy. One of those labels attached to believers in Christ is the name "Christian nationalist." It evokes scary images of the Inquisition or the Salem witch trials. If you wear that name badge, you are an object of scorn and derision. So, what is a Christian nationalist, anyway? If we love Jesus and we love our nation, does that make us a threat to democracy? Are nations inherently wrong or should we promote open borders? What does it mean that a nation would be labeled "Christian?" Is that a good thing or something to be feared? So much food for thought in our podcast!

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The Bible declares, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."( Proverbs 1:7) This means we have two choices as a nation. We can seek and follow the wisdom of God as we order our life together or we can reject God and His law and pursue the path of radical autonomy. If we will not be governed by Christ, we must necessarily be governed by someone or something else. Neutrality is a myth. Will it be Christ, or will it be chaos? Will it be the word of God or will we submit to a cadre of self-anointed secular experts? This is the choice we face in America today.

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The Scriptures clearly define the role and scope of government. All those in authority are God's servants. Their authority is not absolute but delegated. They are tasked with the power to punish wicked behavior (Romans 13:1-4). In other words, there is a legitimate form of government coercion and an illegitimate expression as well. As Doug Wilson warns, “Before fining someone, or flogging him, or putting him in jail, or exiling him, or executing him, which pretty much exhausts the options, we had better know that what we are doing is authorized by God." In other words, governments who are unsubmitted to the Word of God will necessarily reject all limiting principles. The result is oppression and injustice.

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While Christians are often attacked for trying to bring our worldview into the public arena, those doing the accusing often hide behind the veil of neutrality. They act as if they are non-biased and without their own agenda. Of course, this is patently false. And as they work to advance their own agenda, they use words to destroy all who disagree with them. Their favorite tactic is to weaponize the word "phobia." Those who disagree with their position are deemed mentally ill and sent off for re-education or worse. Neutrality is a myth. We all have a blueprint for a healthy, flourishing society. It's time for Christians to be bold and unashamed in proclaiming the good news of Jesus in every sphere of life!

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It was Benjamin Franklin who noted, “Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes." And it seems that governments who ignore their constitutional boundaries must levy ever-increasing amounts of revenue, via taxation, to simply maintain the ever-expanding bureaucracy that results. As Christians, we understand the God-given purpose of both government and the taxes necessary to support them. But how much is too much? That is the question we will address in our podcast today.

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For the Christian, life is simple. God's authority outranks that of the king. The king is to do what God says, not the other way around. But for the secularist, what outranks the highest human authority? Herein lies the problem. An autonomous state will , in the end, commit overreach and the rights of the people will be trampled. This overreach is often manifested in the area of taxation. As Doug Wilson so clearly articulates, "When the ruling elites start to opt out of this societal bond—“laws are for the little people”—there is usually a time lag, but the “little people” do catch on. And when they catch on, the whole thing spirals down into chaos." We are living on the edge of that "chaos" today.

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In America today, we are witnessing the epic failure of democratic secularism. Secularism is the false belief that we can function as a nation and society without any reference to God. Whether it's the frightening assassination attempt on our former president or the recent White House leadership coup, we are witnessing the profound loss of justice, order, civility and individual liberty that result when governments reject God. As Doug Wilson writes, "If there is no God above the state, then the state has become god—the point past which there is no appeal." This explains the two-tiered system of justice we are experiencing where those in positions of power use that power for their own private benefit with absolutely no accountability for thier decisions.

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On today's podcast, we discuss some of the high points from the Alliance Defending Freedom conference Pastor Ron recently attended. We also talk about the power of our words to shape the world around us. And we marvel at the way God uses the most unlikely people to accomplish His kingdom purposes. Once again, our Christian worldview helps us make sense of it all!

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