Read 2 Chronicles 34-22-33.
“Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites …. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 34:33.
What Does This Scripture Mean for Us?
As a Christian living in the United States of America, I sometimes get very, VERY exasperated at all of my well-meaning fellow believers who walk down the path to civil religion, i.e., following a form of Christianity that’s really a mixture of true faith and sort of cultural/historical/political idolatry. Let me put this question to you:
Is America a Christian nation? Was America ever a Christian nation in the past?
How you answer that question has everything to do with how you look at your Christian faith, whether you understand Christ’s and the apostles’ teachings about the Body of Christ and true believers or you follow that mixed blend of political “civil religion” that’s taken over way, way, WAY too many churches and Christian fellowships in America.
My answer to the question about America as a Christian nation would be a firm “no.”
Nations are NEVER Christian or un-Christian. People are Christians or not Christians.
Some of the individuals and groups of people who founded America were Christians and some were not. Some of the principles and ethics embodied in our Constitution and our government overall are “Judeo-Christian” and some are not.
This civil religion comes about as Christians in their zeal blend moral values and biblical teaching with political positions or teaching, and insist wrongly that “God’s people” in Scripture somehow is the same, or very similar, to God’s plan for America today.
Such teachings even have a name in conservative circles. It’s called “American exceptionalism,” the concept that America occupies a special position of leadership, example, and purpose among all the nations of the world.
Regardless of your political and religious views, adherence to such teachings has nothing to do with biblical Christianity. In Scripture, only one nation ever occupied a special or “chosen” role in God’s plan — ancient Israel. They were chosen as the tool or “vessel” which God used to bring revelation of himself to the rest of the world.
And today? Is there not some nation equivalent to Israel? Some sort of “true Israel” of God — and wouldn’t that nation be America?
In fact, there IS an identifiable, true “Israel” of God in today’s world: It is made up of all individuals who come to God by faith through Christ, becoming part of the Church, the Body of Christ. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is filled with this theme. In Galatians, he goes to great lengths to say that God’s people are from every nation, from every social status, men and women, and that those who try to confine God’s chosen people to any single nation or culture are wrong.
Finally, Hebrews 10-12 are filled with the message that believers now come into God’s presence by faith through Christ’s atonement — no longer relying on religious ceremony or rituals given under the Law to Israel — and this journey of faith will lead us to our heavenly home.
