Christian Nationalism, Owen Strachan, and G3

Hello, welcome to Reformed Ex Mormon, I am Pastor Brayden, and I hope you're having a wonderful and blessed day today. And if you enjoy the video, please like, share, subscribe, comment, and let's engage in this dialogue together.

Christian Nationalism and the Speaker’s Reformed Baptist Position

And today what we're going to be examining is a quote from Owen Strand at a recent sermon or message that he gave at the G3 2023 conference. Now, before we begin to look at this quote and statement from Brother Owen, I just want to be clear about where I'm coming from on this topic.

I pastor a small Baptist Church who has recently left the SPC because of woke theology, things like critical race theory, so on and so forth, and a lot of their effeminate approach to rebuking such doctrine.

And because that is something that I have just recently came from, I am on high alert about these things.

Being.

Creeping in to the church's doors. Also, I want to be clear on this as well. I am as Reformed Baptist as you possibly can get. I hold to the 1689 London Baptist Confession, and in that regard, I am absolutely against a one-for-one pronomian theonomy type of setup in the world.

I think that it is dangerous. I think it is taking away what the purpose of what the judicial law and the ceremonial law were in the Old Testament, which was to bring about the Christ. And I believe in the transcendent law being the law that all people are going to be judged by, and that is the moral law, the Ten Commandments.

However, on the topic of Christian nationalism, this is something that at first I was against and opposed to, and I had my reason for thinking about it. Just from the outside, hearing it, it sounded like it was something that was getting at that theonomic post-millennial view, which I am amillennial just to be up front with those things.

And so, it took some time after hearing the arguments to actually now say that I believe, and I would hold to, in what my definition of Christian nationalism is, I would hold to those things. And those are the three uses of the law, seen in the three divisions of the law, a very Reformed view of how the law is to be implemented.

And not only that, the whole thing that has convinced me into Christian nationalism is that right now my wife and I, we have three children. One is yet to be born. One is going to be born, hopefully here in the next coming days.

And if you, even myself as their father, these three young boys, I look at them, and I cannot confidently say that any three of them, as a Baptist, has faith in Christ. And therefore, I cannot call them Christian, born again, or a part of God's kingdom.

However, however, my wife and I, who have been born again, who have entered into the kingdom of God through the new birth, and have faith in Jesus Christ, I would hope that my neighbors down the street, when they walk by my house, they would look at that house, and they would say, that is a Christian household.

Even though, even though I have children that might not believe in Christ, that might be unregenerate in these ways. Likewise, with expanding that footprint, when we have Christian schools, there would be a plethora of children in these Christian schools that may not have faith in Christ.

However, why would you call my household a Christian household, and that school a Christian school? It's because the leaders, or the founding principles of what this household and school are, are based in Christian principle and doctrine.

Meaning that we're going to promote the gospel, we're going to be teaching prayer, we're going to be teaching morals that are with God's Word, and in line with God's laws. Because of those things, you would look at something and say that that is a Christian household, that is a Christian school, or a Christian education, even though there's individuals within that that don't actually believe in Christ.

And using that argument, I can rationalize and grasp what the Christian Nationalist is saying, and that's why I've come to this conclusion that it appears that this is a good thing to go for. And it took time for me to come to this conclusion, that if our founding documents, our founding fathers of the United States,.

Were.

Pushing Christian principles and morals, that we as a nation should promote Christians' ideas. And this is a dichotomy, because either a nation is a Christian nation, or it's a pagan nation, and at the end of the day, every Christian ought to say that they want a nation to be a Christian nation.

And that's not saying that everybody in the nation is going to be made a Christian. It's just saying that this is the best principles to lead a nation by, and it's something that should be able to be carried over to every part of the world.

Owen Strachan’s Quote and the Charge of a Straw Man

Knowing this, hearing some of the things, and I myself do not have, I just actually just recently got Twitter, so I can't say I don't have it. I recently just got it. I have one follower. It's a good brother in Christ of mine.

So I am unaware of everything that's going on in the background with Christian nationalism right now. However, I've been informed of some things, and I take offense to what Owen has said, because it seems that he is building up a straw man, and throwing stones at it, destroying the straw man, when no one in the Christian nationalist camp that I know of, and I myself would never say such a statement that he is addressing.

So,.

Let's look at what he has to say right now. So this is what Owen says that's been shared on the G3 Facebook. This is the quote that's under fire right now. God does not love a nearly white church in America.

God loves global people of all backgrounds and tribes. This is under fire today from different corners, but we confess it, and we'll stand here come what may. God loves the global body of Christ. Now if it's not obvious, I do need to mention that I am NOT present, nor was I present at the G3 conference to hear the entirety of this message.

That being said, from what I've been hearing and reported to from others that were present at this message, they are stating that this quote of Owen's is coming out of almost nowhere in regard to the surrounding context of what he was actually preaching on, and as a pastor, that is something that I think Owen would agree with this, that we try to not do.

We don't try to take a theological doctrine that we really like and try to insert it, cram it into whatever we're preaching in, because it sounds, as this appears to sound, as something that is out of left field, something that is not on topic, and it does the text a disservice.

Now, not only that, I do want to read for us what the definition of a straw man is. A straw man is an intentional misrepresentation proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat that than an actual opponent's real argument.

Now,.

It should be said that no Christian nationalist, in fact, no Christian that I know of at all, has ever said that God only loves a white people, ethnic group of Christians, church. I've never heard a Christian say that.

In fact, if a person was saying that, I would not look at that person and call them a Christian, a brother or sister in Christ. I would say that you need to be born again, that you obviously have a wrong view of the gospel in your own mind.

That being said, I'm sure that you could find in extreme cases somebody that is claiming to be a Christian nationalist that would say such a piss-poor thing that God only loves a white church. However, when you look at this quote from Owen, God does not love a merely white church in America.

If you were to look at my church right now with the ethnic groups that I am around, our church is white people that worship God that God does love very, very much. If you were to go to a church in India and there was ethnic people of India that were attending that church, you might not see that many white Christians there worshiping God with the Indian Christians in that way.

And so, of course, God loves all people of all ethnic groups, those that are born again, those that are his children, those that have been covered by the blood of Christ. It is very true. No Christian, however, that I know of is saying such a ridiculous thing like what Owen is attacking.

The Biblical Warnings Against False Witness and Slander

Now, as an outsider looking in, looking in at what Owen has said, how it sounds and appears that it was out of what should have been said in this message, and then not only that, but as the G3 convention, this G3 conference, is now pushing this quote out, it appears to have some woke theology tied to it.

And this is the area where I am.

Very.

Saddened by.

Let us look at a Bible verse and see what it says. Now, before we read, I just have to apologize for the the music in the background. My neighbor is playing some music tonight. Now, as a Christian, as a Reformed Baptist, as a 1689 Federalist, as a New Covenant member, and I would argue that Owen is a New Covenant member.

He's a brother in Christ. We have the law of God written on our heart. And so let us look at what the moral law of God says, the transcendent law of God. Exodus chapter 20 verse 16.

It says this,.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. James chapter 4 verse 11 through 12 says this, do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? It would appear that this quote from Owen bears false witness and is slandering brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pastoral Appeal to Owen and the G3 Conference

Now to Owen, if you by chance are to listen to this or anybody that was there at the conference or anybody that's looking through these ideas, these theological concepts and are wrestling with the Word of God in this way,.

First of all,.

Glory to God over these things. And to Owen's in this quote, as a fellow brother in Christ, if there is somebody that is saying God only loves the ethnic group of white people as his church, brother, I'm right there to lock arms with you.

I'm right there to bear the Word of God and to take it forward and to combat such a things. However, in light of the hot controversial topic of Christian nationalism, what it appears that is being done is that you are taking a bias that you have against Christian nationalism and using that in a message that wasn't even about Christian nationalism to build up a straw man to attack other brothers in Christ.

No Christian nationalist ever has said or built an argument from my knowledge to what you are addressing. Now, that being said, it could be argued that maybe Owen, just like how we all need to be reminded of the Christian principles, which this is a Christian principle that we are all made one in Christ Jesus, that God loves all nations in this way.

It could be said that Owen is just reminding us of these things, which if that is purely the intention of Owen, praise God. However, like I said, in light of what's going on in Twitter, which I am ignorant in, it would appear that you are just taking a crack shot at those that believe in Christian nationalism.

What kind of implications does a statement like such have for.

G3?

Well, as.

I have mentioned already, as a pastor that has just gone with a church through leaving the SBC and is trying to become more and more reformed and refined to what the Word of God says, I am very excited about what G3 is doing, has been doing, has done, has accomplished, and I look at that and I see how they are heralders of the truth and they hold to the 1689 and it's something that I would love for our church to partner with and become a part of their network and go and be edified at these conferences.

These are things that I'm very excited for. However, it takes just a little bit of venom from woke theology, from the women pastor perspective, from the LGBT promoters. It just takes a little bit of that venom to hurt a whole association and a convention and a network and it's something that makes me weary of wanting to join such a network.

Now, again, I am not saying that Owen would promote such things as women pastors or LGBT stuff or woke theology. However, this does not appear good and it's something, like I said, that as a pastor, I think other pastors would find this alarming.

I think other Christians would find this alarming of what he has just stated and I would encourage Owen, I would encourage you as the listener, be careful with what you say. Do not just go and build strawmans against other Christians because that is just slandering your brother.

Look, my beliefs, my doctrinal theological stances that I have are always up for scrutiny and it's always up for study and debate and conversation. However, to stand before people and misrepresent a group of other brothers in Christ whom God loves, that are a part of all sorts of ethnics, to misrepresent them and say that they only think God loves merely white churches is wrong.

So, I think that that is some of the potential application and fallout from such a thing that G3 is doing and especially with promoting it on their Facebook as they have done. Well, I really hope that this video has blessed you.

I hope that it has glorified God. I hope that it has accurately taught what the Word of God has for us in it. I would encourage you again, like I said at the beginning of this video, if you liked it, please like it.

If you enjoyed the content that was in it, share it with your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you want to have dialogue and you object to what I have said, please comment about it, subscribe, and I hope that these kind of videos as we dive into the Word of God and seek to advance the kingdom online and through social medias like these YouTube videos, it would be a real encouragement if you were to subscribe and help aid in those ways.

God bless. Go in peace. Let's tell the world about our mighty King, Priest, and Prophet, Jesus Christ.