In the name of the one who taught us to love our enemies, we bomb them. In the name of the one who commanded us to turn the other cheek when struck, we make sure that we strike their cheek first. In the name of the one who taught us to bless those who persecute us, we engage in preemptive strikes against those who might threaten us at some point in the future. The crucified Messiah becomes just one more typical tribal warring deity. But when Christians fuse the Kingdom of God with nationalistic tribalism, the result is catastrophic. We should expect this sort of activity from the fallen kingdoms of the world.

“We fight for god and country” has been the battle cry of pretty much every army throughout history. The long and bloody history of war has shown that it’s hard to motivate young people to risk getting killed and to kill others unless you can convince them that their tribal god wants them to do it and that he’s on their side. Instead of simply claiming America should be at war because they think it’s “just” or “in the best interest of our nation,” many Christians, especially Christian leaders, invoke God’s name. We give this culture divine authority by slapping the label “Kingdom of God” or “Christian” on it.Ī classic case of this is seen in the history of America at war. This, I suspect, is why the American church today Christianizes so much of American culture. Since we are all to a large extent products of our culture, what seems obviously true and right to us will be at least influenced, if not determined, by what seems obviously true and right to our culture. We all know what the Kingdom of God is, right? But this is precisely the problem.

Subversive kingdom