It's more along the lines of what Cotton Mather talks about in his Magnalia Christi Americana, this great

His great classic entitled Magnalia Christi Americana traced the story of the gospel in the early days

governor, Sir William Phipps, to whose exploits Cotton Mather dedicated a lengthy portion of his Magnolia Christi

Cotton Mather in the Magnolia Christi Americana gave examples of remarkable providences of which one

So, I'm thinking, you know, Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasius' Creed, that's what we spell out in the statement on Christian nationalism in the Gospel. And then we add, because we do believe it's a pan -Protestant project, and part of that because we believe that that is the heart of the Gospel, the five solas, but also because that is America's unique founding.

Paul Miller's popular critique of Christian nationalism typifies this approach. In Miller's book The Religion of American Greatness, What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism?, the Georgetown University professor promotes an America not defined by language, ethnicity, religion, or culture, but instead by a set of ideas that are universal.

You know, the fact that America is, and at least always has been, a Christian nation is really undisputable. If you look at all of the evidence, all of the documents from long before our nation was even founded, and then during the founding, what you'll see is that there is just libraries full of evidence proving this.

And I have more objections to one as a Christian, as an American, as a conservative, than I do to the other. The more benign form of what we call civil religion is the affirmation of principles, heroes, experiences that bind us together as an American people.

It's because we found true joy in the kingdom of Christ, true peace in the kingdom of our God. And again, the reason I bring this up to each and every single one of us is because Paul is writing to one of the most patriotic cities, he's writing to the people who were national loyalists, he's writing to the conservatives, the military -loving, God -and -country Merca people, he's writing to the Republicans of his day, he's writing to people who loved their country and who gathered to sing the national anthems, he's writing to the people who would joyfully gather in a backyard barbecue to celebrate the birth of a nation, he's writing to firework people, he's writing to the people who loved their country, and he's writing to people just like us.

But what it argues very convincingly, I think, is that Christendom was established by civil government embracing Christianity, or at least a form of Christianity, and enforcing it in law. Now that's not to say lots of people didn't embrace it, it's not to say a lot of, there were a lot of genuine Christians in Christendom, but the essential definition of Christendom is that it's Christianity enforced in law.

And as much as, as much as America is, um, the land that I love, uh, America is not the church and America is not Israel. And like you said before, we are citizens of the kingdom first, and we're citizens of the United States, uh, secondarily or tertiary early, not, not even in any way since primarily, and, um, you know, if we, any passages that I might cite, if somebody said, well, what passages would address patriotism, I might point to Romans where it says to give honor where honor is due, um, you know, and that's referring to the governing authority.

If this connection is intentional, then the Carmen Christi, the hymn to Christ as to God, has the following force. Do not elevate yourselves on empty glory, but follow the example of Christ, who, though already elevated on God's level, emptied his glory by veiling it in humanity.

And not just America, but Christ to every nation. Jesus said to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe all that he has commanded. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of a holy nation and our true citizenship is in heaven when we understand the text.

America needs to repent and recognize Christ as Lord. Yep, that's all I got to say.

We are addressing, to start off with, the influence of John Calvin on the birth of America, a Lutheran minister's tribute. If you have a question of your own, submit it to chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

You say, oh, they say America was never a Christian nation. Well, the book isn't coming out and saying that America is a Christian nation. It says this is a book about the Christian life and character of the civil institutions of the United States.

Definition. Christian nationalism is a set of governing principles rooted in Scripture teaching that Christ rules the Supreme Lord and King of all creation who has ordained civil magistrates with delegated authority to be under him or the people to ordain their ordained jurisdictions by punishing evil and promoting good for his own glory and the common good of the nations.

It comes in though, in my mind, let's just, let me just assume for the sake of argument that Christianizing nations is a good thing. Let's say that God does some massive work here in America and the hearts of people are changed.

And there are others, first Corinthians eight that are extremely significant as well. But Philippians chapter two is known as the Carmen Christi. The hymn to Christ as to God. And what is fascinating is that verses five through 11, which comprise the hymn, probably six through 11, technically.

These are obviously important for Ignatius. Then to the Smyrnians after the introduction, I give glory to Jesus Christ, the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you. And I think this is probably where some of the arguments come up.