American Christian Nationalism?

American Christian Nationalism is coming up in the news a lot lately. But what does the Church have to say about this movement that seems to have its root in the heresy of phyletism and tribalism? Here are the five Orthodox Christian articles that I was able to find on this pertinent subject that address this from the point of view and instruction from the Orthodox Church Fathers and saints. 

For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church published as an official position statement by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Endorsed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the New Rome, and All Holy Athos. 




Nationalism is Not Christian by Father Theodore Bobosh of Saint Paul Orthodox Church in the OCA: Orthodox Christian Church in America & regular contributor at OrthoChristian.com. I see this article has been shared on many sites in the Orthodox online world. 




Christian Nationalism [PART ONE], [PART TWO], & [PART THREE] by Father William Olnhausen, of Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church. This blog post has also shared on many other sites, but as with the above, I wanted to share the link to the original. 




Rejoicing in a Nation’s Saints—Without Nationalism by Mother Cornelia, a Russian Orthodox Christian Nun.




Orthodoxy & Nationalism by Dr. Nicholas Sooy of St. Gregory the Theologian Orthodox Church and regular writer in the Orthodox Christian periodical, Jacob's Well, a journal published by the Diocese of New York and New Jersey of the OCA: Orthodox Church in America. 

What articles have you seen about the Orthodox Church's stand on Christian Nationalism, especially the modern movement in the United States of America? 

More on Some of You Wrongly Trying to Elevate Worldly National Politics to Dogma

Just a few reminders from the Holy Writ, which you should be holding above that of politicians, if you are a Christian, even if only in name. I offer these quotes without commentary, as they should be clear to anyone that this vile gnashing of teeth over politicians as if they were saviours to you, your land, your city, your state, your country, and the world is contrary to the teachings of the Church and thus, Antichrist behaviours which you should repent of. I say this, having once been guilty of this same mortal sin. 

The following quote is from The Orthodox Psalter with Commentary (Psalterion): 

Psalm 145:2 (146:2) Do not have trust in rulers, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. 

The following quote is from The Orthodox Study Bible: 

1st Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 12:19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.” 

The following quotes are taken from The Orthodox New Testament: Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, Volume 2: 

Romans 12:14 Keep on blessing those who persecute you; keep on blessing, and not cursing. 

Romans 13:1-7 Let every soul be subject to authorities which govern. For there is no authority except from God. So that the one who sets himself against the authority hath withstood the ordinance of God; and they who have withstood shall receive judgement to themselves. For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to bad ones. And dost thou wish not to be afraid of the authority? Be doing that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same. For he is a minister of God to thee for the good. But if thou be doing evil, be afraid; for not in vain doth he bear the sword, for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to the one who practiceth that which is bad. Wherefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of the conscience. For on this account ye also pay tributes; for they are public workers of God, persevering for this same thing. Render then to all their dues: to whom the tribute is due, the tribute; to whom the customs duty, the toll; to whom the fear, the fear; to whom the honor, the honor. 

Titus 3:1-2 Be reminding them to submit themselves to rulers and authorities, to obey a superior, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to not be contentious, but equitable, showing forth meekness toward all men. 

Hebrews 13:17 Be obedient to those who lead you, and keep on submitting, for they are watchful for your souls, as those about to render an account, that they may do this with joy, and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable for you. 

Iakovos (James) 1:26-27 If anyone among you seem to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue, but deceivith his heart, the religion of this one is vain. Religion pure and undefiled before the God and Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. 

1 Peter 2:13-25 Therefore be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as being supreme, or to the governors, as being sent by him indeed for punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good; for so is the will of God that by doing good ye may muzzle the ignorance of foolish men— as free, and not as those who are having freedom as a cloak of wickedness, but as slaves of God. Honor all, be loving the brotherhood, be fearing God, be honoring the king. Household slaves, be subject in all fear to your masters, not only to the good and fair, but also to the crooked. For this is a grace if for the sake of conscience toward God anyone endure griefs, suffering unjustly. For what kind of good report is it if, when ye sin and are buffeted, ye shall endure? But if, when ye do good and suffer, ye endure, this is a grace from God. For to this ye were called,  because Christ also suffered for us, leaving behind for you an example, that ye should follow His footsteps: "Who did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth"; "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not in return; when He suffered, He threatened not, but kept on giving Himself over to Him Who judgeth righteously; Who "Himself carried up our sins" in His body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, should live to righteousness—by Whose bruise "ye were healed." For ye were "as sheep being led astray," but were turned about now to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 

Politicians aren't Saviours and Political Parties are NOT the Church!

 

While I have blogged about government before such as in the post titled, "What the Bible says about those who govern us?", there are some essential verses of the Bible that it seems some politically-motivated Christians seem to forget in both the United States of America and other countries. Here is a verse that many seem to be forgetting as of the last decade or so. Here is a quick reminder.

Psalm 145(146):2 Do not have trust in rulers, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.

Verses from The Orthodox Psalter: The Psalterion of The Prophet and King David, According to the Seventy, With the Nine Odes, And Patristic Commentary.

God Hates Flags, Especially False Flag Operations!

What are we to make of the recent decision in America to force all 50 states to issue marriage certificates to homosexuals who want to marry each other?

Is it coincidence that mere days before this decision was handed down that another highly medicated man went on a killing spree and that the Confederate flag was targeted rather than our country's failing mental health system? federal government?A targeting that had the federal government tell Amazon.com and other companies that they could not sell the Virginia Battle Flag, generally known as the Confederate Flag?

Was this timing so that the very states that might rebel against the Federal Government's decision could not use this flag to unite in opposition to our tyrannical politicians in charge?

I think it is very likely not a coincidence. Regardless of what our AntiChrist government has decided, we simply need to focus on the One Thing Needful, so let us remember these verses from the New Testament.

"Or do ye not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Cease being led astray; neither fornicators,  nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor raveners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But ye washed yourselves, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of  the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God." The First Epistle of Saint Paul to the  Corinthians 6:9-11

So while before we Baptized, Chrismated, and Communed, we may have been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetors, drunkards, revilers, and/or raveners, we are called not to partake in these sins anymore, and if we do, we should repent, go to Confession to ask for God's forgiveness and allow our Spiritual Father to help guide us not to fall in these sins again.

We should neither celebrate, allow, or support sinful behaviour, whether in ourselves or in others. We also should not support a government who does the same. We should be aware too though that we can not trust in princes, the sons of men in whom there is no salvation, and that these are simply the birth pangs of the AntiChrist, cleverly covered by deception via False Flag operations. Whatever shall occur, LOVE WINS, because Christ will return, triumphant, and defeat the spirit of the day and worldliness. Let us be vigilant and not fall into the spirit of Worldliness and be ready for the Second Coming.

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Too Lazy to Research a Candidate? (I'm so lazy that I just re-blogged this same post 4 years later!)

Just tell the computer what's important to you. This is a really simple way to find out which candidates share your views....

My Results:

Score	Candidate	Disagreements, Unknowns, Other
45	Paul	Disagreements: (7) Unknowns/Other: (1)
27	Kucinich	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (0)
22	Biden	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (4)
20	Gravel	Disagreements: (7) Unknowns/Other: (6)
17	Obama	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (4)
17	Clinton	Disagreements: (11) Unknowns/Other: (0)
16	Brownback	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (3)
14	Edwards	Disagreements: (11) Unknowns/Other: (2)
13	Dodd	Disagreements: (10) Unknowns/Other: (3)
10	Richardson	Disagreements: (10) Unknowns/Other: (3)
2	Cox	Disagreements: (9) Unknowns/Other: (9)
-4	Huckabee	9/5
-14	Tancredo	13/2
-20	T. Thompson	9/14
-23	McCain	17/1
-25	Romney	14/3
-26	Hunter	14/3
-52	Giuliani	19/3

Try it yourself at http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php

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Do you believe in the Constitution? Do you believe in Freedom?

Do you believe in the American Constitution? Do your believe in the First Amendment? Do you believe in freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of religion? Or do you only believe in your own freedom of speech, expression, association, and religion and will willfully and quickly stomp on the rights of others and on the Constitution of the United States of America?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Maybe you think a mosque will be built on the site of the former Twin Towers World Trade Center in New York City that were destroyed on 9/11? Or do you realize that 2 blocks away there is a proposed Islamic Center with a mosque inside, among other things like a gym? Do you realize that however ill sighted this decision might be, that it is legal and protected by the Constitution? Do you care? Do you realize how many freedoms we have already lost in the post-9/11 world? Do you realize how big of an excuse 9/11 is for freedom haters?

THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

If we allow the government to violate the constitution to discriminate against one religion, how long will it be before they violate the rights of another religion, and what about when it is yours? How could your rightfully complain if you were for violating others' rights?

With the government recently increasing Eminent Domain rights of the government via a controversial Supreme Court decision, will the government start taking churches who give them no taxes and selling the churches and their land to developers? Do you know of this decision that can allow this? Do you want to push us further own this slippery slope?

The Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) affirmed the authority of New London, Connecticut, to take non-blighted private property by eminent domain, and then transfer it for a dollar a year to a private developer solely for the purpose of increasing municipal revenues.

People, we are on a very slippery slope, and if you let one group have their freedoms violated, do not be surprised when yours are violated, and do not complain, as supporting the violation of one's freedoms, you morally void yours too! Even if we do not agree with this Islamic Center being built there, we must support the right for it to be built*, if we truly love America and her Freedoms entrusted to us!

*But first, Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church which was destroyed on 9/11 needs to be rebuilt.

Voting by mail and choosing a POTUS and VEEP from 14 Parties

I just received my mail-in ballot and am surprised at the number of third parties on the ballot. Pleasantly surprised! But I wonder how they decide the order to list them. I think it should be alphabetical order, but I think it is in the numerical vote order for that party in the last election, hence the Republican Party is listed, followed by the Democrat Party, Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, and so on.. I find it interesting that my new county of residence uses the retarded "complete the arrow system" and does not allow a write in candidate for POTUS or Congressman, but does for Senator. For the record, I am actually voting one of the 2 big parties for POTUS but 3rd party for Senate. I have to vote big 2 for Congressman, as no other party has a candidate running. Of course, not knowing the judges here, I am not voting for or against any of them.

While the POTUS race seems to be tightening up between the 2 major parties, it was interesting to hear on NPR last night that Sarah Palin is going rogue and standing up for conservative ideals and no longer staying on McCain's talking points, looking out for herself, supposedly due to her knowing that McCain will lose.

Here are the people on the Colorado ballot for POTUS & VEEP:

• Republican: McCain/Palin
• Democrat: Obama/Biden
• Constitution: Baldwin/Castle
• Libertarian: Barr/Root
• Green: McKinney/Clemente
• HeartQuake '08: Allen/Stath (Never heard of this horribly short-sightedly named party before!)
• Prohibition: Amondson/Pletten
• Socialist Workers: Harris/Kennedy
• Boston Tea: Jay/Sallis
• America's Independent: Keyes/Rohrbough
• Socialism and Liberation: LaRiva/Moses
• US Pacifist: Lyttle/Bassford
• Socialist USA: Moore/Alexander
• Objectivist: Stevens/Link
• Unaffiliated: McEnulty/Mangan
• Unaffiliated: Nader/Gonzalez

I think a couple of these parties could use come consolidation, like the 3 Socialist parties; The Green and Pacifist parties; and the Constitution, Boston Tea, and Independent parties; etc. Interesting to see that neither the Independence nor Reform parties are running any candidates this year!

Imagine how much better the Presidential Candidate Debates, currently monopolized by the big two parties, would be if they allowed at least the Constitution, Libertarian, and Green parties have their candidates debate too!

Of note, for ID, I had to enclose a copy of a utility bill with my address since I am a new residence of this county!

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