The era of muzzled pastors is OVER: Why your church may get political soon



If you’ve ever wondered why your pastor has never endorsed a political candidate, it’s likely because until last week, it wasn’t allowed. In 1954, Lyndon B. Johnson, who was a senator at the time, sponsored legislation dubbed the Johnson Amendment, which prohibited tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

But after 71 years, the Trump administration has reversed that. On July 7, the IRS issued a new interpretation of the Johnson Amendment, declaring churches can endorse political candidates during services without losing tax-exempt status.

It’s a small change that will likely go unnoticed by many, but “the ramifications of this are going to be so far-reaching," says Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

  

We live in an age when theology is on the ballot — especially when it comes to topics like abortion and gender ideology, which are “verifiably, demonstrably wrong” according to Christian doctrine, says Sara. “Churches not preaching about politics or anything related to it has been very destructive in this country.”

“This is part of the moral decline of the United States of America,” adds BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden.

Perhaps, however, we will see a return to traditional values and morals if pastors can boldly delve into politics and lead their congregations through the murky waters of how policy engages with scripture without fear of losing their tax-exempt status.

“I don't think people understand how far-reaching it can be if the pastors in America take their balls back,” says Sara frankly.

“They absolutely need to,” says Rippaverse Comics founder Eric July. “Churches — all denominations — have been so compromised, man, and they skirt around a lot of issues.”

Interestingly, the pastors who have been cannonballing into politics without regard to potential repercussions are typically “witches that are masquerading as pastors,” who are nearly always “left-leaning,” July adds, reiterating Marsden’s point that “the moral decay” of the entire world has risen in tandem with the church “[becoming] less involved” in the things that impact society.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above.

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Christo-fascism! Left panics after IRS says churches can endorse politicians



Do you need a reminder that the American left continues to barrel down its deeply delusional path? This random sampling of reactions to Monday's IRS ruling should do the trick:
  • “This is full on Christo-Fascism. There is no pretense anymore. Capitalism and Christianity have joined forces once more to do unimaginable harm to EVERYBODY. This is fascism, add Western Chauvinism and you have got the trifecta of EVIL that WILL DESTROY HUMANITY IF WE CANNOT DEFEAT THEM!”

So what finally turned us into Gilead? A new ruling allowing churches to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status.

But the church itself would do well to avoid endorsing any humans, for a myriad of reasons.

Technically, prior to Monday’s ruling, churches could not make endorsements due to the Johnson Amendment, which took effect in 1954 and barred tax-exempt nonprofit organizations from political speech.

I say technically, because left-leaning churches have never let that stop them, as journalist Megan Basham noted in response to a tweet decrying the new rule.

Quite a few on the left are also making evidence-free accusations that “right-wing” churches have been endorsing candidates for years. That’s definitely the pot calling the kettle black, since even Pew Research showed where the politicizing of church is happening. And this is all without fear of the IRS cracking down, apparently.

That’s why this rule, practically speaking, isn’t really changing much.

While conservative-leaning churches did speak out in 2024 about the evils being advanced by the Democrat ticket, in general, they are not nearly as likely to be involved in electioneering as liberal churches. So Megan Basham is likely on point in diagnosing leftist outrage as all about the newly leveled playing field.

What church is supposed to be

Having spent plenty of decades attending Bible-following Christian churches that were likely pretty Republican, I can personally attest that I’ve never heard a sermon that endorsed a candidate or even endorsed a particular political viewpoint.

I have heard sermons that addressed issues in the context of the biblical passage being preached, as they should.

If your pastor is teaching from Psalm 139, for example, and gets to verses 13-16, he better point out that this passage helps us understand how to think about abortion. (Here’s the passage if you’re not familiar.)

So here’s what should stay the same. Solid Christian churches should teach the Bible. Sunday sermons should work their way through scripture, helping us understand what it tells us about God, what it tells us about how to think about life, what it tells us about ourselves.

If, as in the example above, the scripture in question addresses a political issue, the pastor should absolutely be free to say so.

If, using the same example, there’s actually a current ballot issue for or against abortion, the pastor should absolutely be free to encourage his flock to vote with God’s Word — and the new rule should remove any fear of doing that last part.

I cannot conceive, however, of any instances where the focus of a sermon should move away from God’s Word and into which individuals to endorse.

Even in situations where a church member might be the one running for office, this kind of discussion from the pulpit would take the focus off the One we are there to worship.

I hope no pastors will do that.

There already is nothing preventing groups of church members from discussing who to vote for in a non-worship service setting, of course. Let’s keep doing that.

But the church itself would do well to avoid endorsing any humans, for a myriad of reasons — including the fact that tying the church’s name to a politician is far more likely to end up sullying the church’s name (and God’s) than the politician’s name.

RELATED: Patriotic heresy: 4 examples of tangling faith with the flag

  Tom Williams/Getty Images

It’s all about the money, or not

A lot of the left-wing angst over this issue seems to revolve around this idea, expressed by the American Humanist Association (unsurprisingly).

Theoretically a billionaire is limited in how much he/she can donate to a politician, but not to a church. So yeah, someone could give a boatload of money to a church.

But they could have done that before this rule change! And I think it’s highly likely that wealthy leftists have supported the kind of churches where people have been rallied to vote for Democrats. I recall photos of Tyler Perry doing a get-out-the-vote event for Barack Obama in a lovely church with stained glass windows.

So what the left is really afraid of is that conservative billionaires will somehow “buy” influence at conservative churches. Give them enough money, and the pastor will have to endorse Trump (or JD Vance, or whoever).

And there may be a few churches where that would work. It might appeal to the small, pathetic, and power-hungry Christian nationalists (the only “Christians” actually advocating some Gilead-like ideas).

Their goal is to take over America anyway. But they don’t have enough power or influence to draw big money, with their revolting takes on women, Jews, and a host of other issues.

As for most conservative-oriented Christian churches — why would our elusive right-wing billionaire spend money getting them to vote for someone they’ll probably already vote for? And that applies on the left, too, despite the political emphases in left-leaning churches. If a group of people is already in your pocket, you don’t need to buy them.

So I don’t think the humanists have a case for this being any more of a problem than it always was. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for caution here.

Resist the temptation

Some conservative churches have flown a little too close to the political fire, conflating faith with patriotism. I think those churches might be a bit more at risk of taking their focus off the Lord and succumbing to this new temptation to delve into the political.

But as mentioned, church exists for us to worship God and learn how to follow Him. Anything that takes away from that does not glorify Him. Churches — and perhaps especially pastors — should resist the urge to share opinions that are not relevant to whatever they’re teaching.

Make no mistake — philosophically, this is a free-speech victory. But just because we can — does not mean we should. And pastors/churches should not be endorsing candidates from the pulpit or in an official church capacity.

Our proceeding with restraint in this area might also provide a counter to the left’s call, now, to remove tax-exempt status from churches entirely. I would hate to see this status revoked; I don’t think churches should be taxed at all.

Let’s get real

For the most part, we’ve usually known who our pastor might be voting for, because a church is a family of people who live life together and talk about important things. But if he had endorsed someone from the pulpit or in some official capacity, that would have been bringing things into church that distract from worship of a holy God. And that would be a shame. And a sin.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:28-29

Sometimes the most Christian thing to do is shut up



I didn’t want to write this. I still don’t.

The push notification lit up my phone while I was working out — campers swept away as the Guadalupe River surged dozens of feet in under an hour. I walked out of the gym and teared up in my truck.

Now I’m stuffing sunscreen and swimsuits into two trunks. My older two kids head off to sleepaway camp next week. How do I tell them the adventure they’re so giddy about just turned fatal for other families? What can a keyboard jockey like me offer when other parents are living a nightmare? My first instinct was to close the laptop, whisper a prayer, and stay quiet.

But silence isn’t always the faithful response.

Entire campsites — from Kerr County to the back roads of Texas Hill Country — have been wiped away. Parents who expected mosquito bites and ghost stories are now scanning riverbanks for anything recognizable. They don’t need punditry. They need the rest of us to witness their grief without turning it into the next battleground in the culture war.

That’s the part I dread most.

Within hours of the first siren, the internet erupted in blame. Was it climate change? Outdated flood maps? Local negligence? Federal failure? Pick your camp, rack up your retweets, move the score marker. The bodies weren’t even identified before the hashtags started trending. It’s as if we’ve forgotten how to mourn without also trying to win.

'Where was God?' feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology.

Then there’s that phrase believers lean on — “thoughts and prayers.” “Ts and Ps,” as Gen Z sneers. If I lost one of my kids, those words would feel like a whispered lullaby in a room suddenly emptied of breath — tender, well-meaning, and painfully inadequate.

Not because prayer is pointless. Because the cliché is.

When calamity struck, Job’s friends “sat with him on the ground seven days … and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” No carbon emissions debate. No X threads. Just presence. Silence. Solidarity.

Maybe that’s the posture we need now — especially along a river whose name, Guadalupe, traces back to “river of the wolf.” Creation still has teeth. Even waters we picnic beside can turn predator in a single thunderstorm. Wolves hunt in packs. They also protect their own. Maybe that’s the symbolism: The same river that devoured so many calls the rest of us to move as a pack — toward the survivors, not away.

Real faith doesn’t show up as a hashtag. It comes in the form of casseroles and chain saws, spare bedrooms and Venmo links. It hauls soggy photo albums into the sun. It listens more than it lectures. When Jesus met Mary and Martha at the tomb, He wept before He preached. Maybe that’s the order we’ve lost.

RELATED: Liberal women quickly learn what happens when you say vile things about little girls killed in the floods

  Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

So what can we do from a distance?

Give until it pinches — money, blood, bottled water, even unused PTO if your workplace allows donations. Relief crews will need support for months, not days.

Go if you can. Student ministries, church groups, skilled contractors — this work doesn’t end when the cameras leave.

Guard these families’ dignity. Share verified donation links, not drone footage of recovered bodies. If you wouldn’t show the image to your child, don’t post it.

Grieve aloud. Let your kids see adults who don’t numb tragedy with mindless scrolling.

And yes, pray— not as a substitute for action, but as its source. Prayer is oxygen for those on their feet. When the apostle James said, “Faith without works is dead,” he might as well have been looking out the window of a rescue chopper.

I get the temptation to shake a fist at heaven. “Where was God?” feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology. Scripture calls Him a refuge and redeemer, not a puppet master yanking strings to break hearts. Turning away from God now is like fleeing the only lighthouse in a gale.

If grief makes prayer sound hollow, answer the hollowness with action — and with the stubborn belief that the Creator remains good, even when creation feels cruel.

I still don’t want to write this. I’d rather tuck my kids in tonight and pretend rivers respect property lines and holiday weekends. But if this piece offers anything, let it give permission to mourn without politicizing. For one day — one hour even — let grief be grief. Let dads hold their kids tighter. Let moms remind us that safety doesn’t come with a zip code. Let the church prove it’s more than a Sunday address.

With the sparklers of Independence Day barely cooled, maybe the most patriotic thing we can do is recover the lost art of compassionate presence. No monologue — including this one — can fill a bunk bed left empty. But through gifts, sweat, silence, and prayer, maybe we can shoulder a sliver of the weight.

If you’re reading this in a dry living room, remember the families whose furniture is floating somewhere downriver.

Before you post, pause.

Before you debate, donate.

If “thoughts and prayers” still feel hollow, add two more words: “Here’s how.”

Then go do it.

Watch: Pistol-whipping carjacker picks wrong car — and has instant regrets when pastor gives him shock of his life



New video shows a teen attempting an armed carjacking in crime-ridden Baltimore, but the intended victim — a prominent pastor — fought back and turned the tables on the crook.

Rev. Kenneth Moales Jr. — pastor of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bridgeport, Connecticut — was in Baltimore for a funeral in late June.

'I knew my life was at stake.'

Moales parked his car outside a seafood restaurant in the city's Upper Fells Point neighborhood just before 9 p.m. June 29, WBAL-TV reported.

A teen wearing a ski mask approached Moales' vehicle while the pastor was still inside it, the station said, adding that the teenager allegedly asked the pastor for help regarding his dead cell phone.

The teen — armed with a gun — ordered the pastor to exit his vehicle, WBAL said.

"When I looked at him, I knew like something about this wasn't right. I was looking to kind of drive away, and he immediately pulls up his ski mask," Moales told WBFF-TV. "Puts it up over his face, whips out the Glock, points it at the car, like, 'Get out the car.'"

Moales added to WJZ-TV, "He's placed materialism over my life, and unfortunate[ly] for him, he picked the wrong car."

The pastor made a split-second decision to fight back against the young carjacker.

"I immediately got into a fight. So I just punched him in the face. I reach out for the gun," Moales recalled to WBFF.

Surveillance video shows Moales tackling the teen and slamming him on the wet pavement for approximately 20 seconds.

Moales also told WBFF, "I really believe I was fighting for my life and, more importantly, trying to get home to my wife and children."

Citing charging documents, WBAL reported that the carjacker pistol-whipped the pastor in the head.

RELATED: Watch a California family unleash a paintball barrage to thwart thieves from stealing catalytic converters from cars in their driveway

 

During the melee, Moales recounted to WJZ that he was able to wrestle the gun away from the teenager.

What's more, the pastor offered the teen an opportunity to get away.

Moales recalled to WBFF, "I realize how young he is, and that's when I tell him, 'Hey, I'm a pastor. Relax, calm down. I'm a pastor. I'm not going to press charges. You know, I'm going to let you go, but you’ve got to get out of here.'"

However, the carjacker didn't accept the offer — and proceeded to steal the pastor's vehicle.

"I told him, 'I'm a father, a husband, and a pastor, and you can just go now, and I won't press charges,'" Moales recounted to WVIT-TV. "But even after all of that — after I had let him go and given him a chance to not face charges — he still drove off in my car."

He added to WBFF, "You would think once I let him know I was a pastor that there would be, in one way or another, some level of remorse, and there was neither, none at all. He [couldn't] care less. And that’s what’s left me hurt — I’m not going to say broken — [but] hurt, concerned, and knowing what my new mission is."

The pastor suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to a statement from his congregation.

WJZ reported that within hours of the carjacking, officers with the Baltimore Police Department located the pastor's vehicle with three suspects inside — ages 15, 16, and 19.

All three teenagers were arrested and charged with auto theft, WBAL said.

The two minors were not identified because they are underage, but WBAL identified the 19-year-old suspect as Mehkai Tindal, according to charging documents. It isn't clear which of the three attacked Moales.

RELATED: Alabama churchgoer in his 70s hailed as a hero for bludgeoning, apprehending gunman in deadly church shooting

  

The harrowing experience provided the pastor with an eye-opening perspective — and a new mission.

Moales told WVIT, "I have forgiven the young man — but this violent crime just shows me that I need to work even harder to help young people right here in Bridgeport, because a lot of these kids are hopeless and this problem is not unique to Baltimore."

The pastor added to WBFF, "If we don't commit to educating this generation in a significant way, what happened to me is just a beginning. If they'll, if they'll pistol-whip a pastor, you about know what they'll do to my members."

Moales noted to WBAL, "My prayer today is, 'God, thank you for covering me. Thank you for my life.'"

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Death of 9-year-old girl in Texas floods breaks hearts of Kansas City Chiefs ownership: 'I assure you God is near'



The Hunt family, the owners of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, confirmed that they have lost a young family member to the recent Kerr County, Texas, floods.

At least 104 people died as a result of the floods, recent reporting from ABC News showed, including 30 children in Kerr County.

One of the hardest areas hit also included a Christian girls' camp called Camp Mystic, where, as of Tuesday afternoon, five campers and one counselor were still deemed missing. The camp was wrecked by flooded waters from the Guadalupe River that also ravaged the nearby communities before dawn on Friday morning.

Lost in the fray of the disaster have been the personal stories, and the Hunt family's recent revelation is just as sad as any other.

'If your heart is broken, I assure you God is near. He is gentle with your wounds.'

Tavia Hunt, wife of Chiefs owner, Clark Hunt, confirmed the death of their 9-year-old cousin Janie Hunt in a social media post on Sunday.

According to Fox 4, Tavia Hunt explained that their cousin and several of her friends had their lives taken by the storm.

"Our hearts are broken by the devastation from the floods in Wimberley and the tragic loss of many lives — including a precious little Hunt cousin, along with several friend's little girls."

Tavia Hunt's message was even more heartbreaking as she talked about her faith.

RELATED: Brian Stelter suggests media partly to blame for 'warning fatigue' amid tragic flood deaths

  The sun sets over the Guadalupe River on July 6, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Guadalupe River in Central Texas. Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

 

"If your heart is broken, I assure you God is near. He is gentle with your wounds," Hunt wrote on Instagram. "And He is still worthy — even when your soul is struggling to believe it."

With her message, Hunt expressed the sentiment that even though bad things happen, trusting in God does not mean one has to be "over the pain" but rather handling it in a way that is near and dear to their heart.

She concluded, "For we do not grieve as those without hope."

RELATED: Texas Rep. Chip Roy DEBUNKS Camp Mystic Texas flood myths

  A search and rescue volunteer holds a T-shirt and backpack with the words Camp Mystic on them in Comfort, Texas, on July 6, 2025. Photo by Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Hunt family also opened their wallets to flood victims seemingly just hours prior to losing one of their family members. According to Us Weekly, Tavia Hunt had announced a donation of hundreds of thousands of dollars to emergency services for flood relief just an hour before the post about her deceased cousin.

Noting the "devastation and loss of life" caused by the floods, Tavia said the family was donating "$500,000 to provide immediate resources for rescue, relief, and long-term recovery efforts."

Clark Hunt has been the chairman of the Chiefs since 2005 and the co-owner since 2006. The team has won three Super Bowls during his reign.

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Trump IRS realizes the president's years-old promise to churches



Church leaders have long been limited in what they can say to their congregations about political candidates and political matters as a result of an amendment introduced in 1954 by then-Democratic Senator Lyndon Johnson, who was supposedly keen on hamstringing his political opponents.

President Donald Trump, making good on a 2016 campaign promise, took action against the so-called Johnson Amendment in his first term, signing an executive order directing his Treasury Department to effectively halt its enforcement.

"Faith is deeply embedded into the history of our country, the spirit of our founding, and the soul of our nation," Trump said at the time. "We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied, or silenced anymore."

Despite numerous attempts, Republicans have been unable in the years since to go the distance and pass legislation repealing the amendment, leaving its enforcement up in the air.

This proved to be an issue for organizations such as Grace Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and New Way Church in Palm Coast, Florida, which were investigated by the IRS during the Biden years for alleged violations of the Johnson Amendment.

The Internal Revenue Service agreed in federal court Monday, however, that church leaders are now free not only to speak to their congregations about electoral politics but to endorse political candidates without worrying about losing their tax-exempt statuses.

The ban

The Internal Revenue Code prohibits churches and other tax-exempt nonprofit organizations "from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office."

RELATED: Wake-up call: This is what happens when Christians are afraid to offend

 Blaze Media Illustration

According to a 2007 IRS publication clarifying how churches could avoid violating the ban and possibly losing tax-exempt status, church leaders can speak for themselves, as individuals, freely on political matters as well as address issues of public policy.

They cannot, however, "make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official functions of the organization."

'First Amendment rights don't end when a pastor, church member, or even a political candidate steps on the platform of a church.'

Progressives have long championed this ban. After all, it serves to attenuate the influence of religious leaders in American politics.

Conservatives, alternatively, have argued that the so-called Johnson Amendment stifles free speech; limits the ability of religious leaders, acting in their official capacities, to become more fully involved in the political process; and creates a legal environment ripe for abuse and biased enforcement.

The win

The National Religious Broadcasters and a pair of Texas-based churches sued the IRS in August, claiming that "churches are placed in a unique and discriminatory status by the IRC" and that the agency "operates in a manner that disfavors conservative organizations and conservative, religious organizations in its enforcement of § 501(c)(3)."

The religious coalition's complaint — which alleged that the Johnson Amendment violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — stressed that churches should have the same freedom of speech as the hundreds of newspapers organized under § 501(c)(3) that are permitted to openly endorse political candidates.

In a joint court filing intended to settle the lawsuit on Monday, the IRS confirmed that endorsing candidates does not qualify as taking part or intervening in a political campaign.

"When a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither 'participate[s]' nor 'intervene[s]' in a 'political campaign,' within the ordinary meaning of those words," the filing says.

"Bona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services, do neither of those things, any more than does a family discussion concerning candidates," the filing continues. "Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted."

The agency indicated that this interpretation of the Johnson Amendment is "in keeping with the IRS's treatment of the Johnson Amendment in practice," citing Trump's 2017 executive order.

Blaze News reached out to the White House and to the IRS for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

"First Amendment rights don't end when a pastor, church member, or even a political candidate steps on the platform of a church," First Liberty Institute, the legal outfit that represented Grace Church and New Way Church in their battles with the IRS, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News. "The IRS weaponized the Johnson Amendment to silence churches and pastors for decades. This is great news for religious organizations, churches, and religious liberty."

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the New York Times that this outcome "basically tells churches of all denominations and sects that you’re free to support candidates from the pulpit."

"It also says to all candidates and parties, 'Hey, time to recruit some churches,'" added Mayer.

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No, The Texas Floods Are Not Some Mysterious Part Of God’s Plan

Christians are permitted to hate sin and death without explaining how they fit into some inscrutable providence of Almighty God.

As Texas Christians Walk Through The Valley, Fear Not The Shadow Of Death

'The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Let us not, therefore, be afraid.'

Patriotic heresy: 4 examples of tangling faith with the flag



Many of us just celebrated Independence Day, that most American of holidays, with fireworks, parades, picnics, and backyard cookouts.

Although patriotism is apparently declining in the U.S., even the haters likely enjoyed their hot dogs and day off from work. (See this thoughtful piece about why there’s still much to celebrate despite the downturn in patriotism.)

There's also the limited-edition "President Donald J. Trump Signature Edition" Bible, which will run you a cool $1,000.

As we take down our stars-and-stripes decor, it seems a good time to review how patriotism and Christianity should not be conflated — and how when that happens, it harms the cause of Christ.

Here are a few examples of that confusion.

Recasting worship service as 'Freedom Sunday'

In my general neck of the woods, we have a big church that goes all out for July Fourth, so much that celebrating America takes over the entire worship service the week before.

Dr. Robert Jeffress and First Baptist Dallas are no doubt very patriotic, and "Freedom Sunday" looks like a heck of a show, but this isn't what church is about.

I believe this church — and others that do a “Freedom Sunday” — usually preach Christ, but why take the focus off Him for even one Sunday? It’s glorifying America; is it glorifying God?

Let’s say I’m visiting Canada and I’ve found what I believe to be a solid church that I can attend while visiting. But the Sunday I’m there is right before Canada Day, and instead of worship focused on God, Canadian Mounties ride their horses through the building as the choir sings “O Canada” and sprays everyone with red and white paper maple leaves. It’s glorifying Canada; is it glorifying God?

(Hint: The answer is no, both times.)

Promoting 'Christian nationalism'

Since every secular media outlet now labels all Christians in America Christian nationalists, we need to understand what real Christian nationalists are after.

Misunderstanding the Great Commission, they seek to impose a Christian government, from the top down — in effect “Christianizing” America. Here’s a brief clip from Christian nationalist Joel Webbon's podcast, in which he and his co-hosts discuss how great it would be for the government to forcibly redistribute property from bad churches to “good” churches.

Note their glee at the thought of Big Brother sending soldiers into the street to raid churches.

And lest you be tempted to think any part of that is a good idea, consider that a proudly self-identifying Christian nationalist recently told me I’m going straight to hell because I appreciate John MacArthur’s teaching. So apparently his church would also be forcibly raided, along with most others, since (thankfully) there are not a lot of churches on board with this nonsense.

RELATED: 9 reasons we (still) love America — and you should too

  GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

Critiquing the whole movement is beyond our scope today; it’s enough for now to point out the obvious upside-down thinking that leads these men to think Christianity in any way benefits from forcing it on a population. This is the opposite of how we are to approach our neighbors, and this wrongheaded movement is now actively driving people away from Christianity. It’s utterly antithetical to the faith.

Say it with me, louder for the ones in back: This is not what followers of Jesus are here to do.

Wrapping the Bible in Stars and Stripes

Other bad ideas are less Stalin-esque but equally damaging to the faith, and here’s an especially egregious example. Meet the "God Bless the USA Bible."

For just $99.99, you can have your very own "Patriot Edition" of the King James Version Bible, its cover "custom embossed" with the statement: "We are one people united by a common destiny and a shared purpose to love one another and the United States of America," followed by "God Bless the USA" and an image of a billowing American flag.

This is a Bible, but it’s not for everyone, is it? It’s for Americans who love the U.S.

Hey, I’m an American who loves the U.S., but this Bible is a bad idea. Why would we ever tamper with the word of God this way?

And speaking of tampering, according to the product description, this Bible also includes:

  • a handwritten chorus to “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood;
  • the U.S. Constitution;
  • the Bill of Rights;
  • the Declaration of Independence; and
  • the Pledge of Allegiance.

With the exception of Greenwood’s contribution, these are all important, worthy documents.

But they don’t belong in the Bible. Putting them there implies that they are somehow equivalent with the word of God. That’s not just wrong; it’s heretical.

But wait — there's more!

Other editions on offer include the "Presidential Edition," the "First Lady Edition," and the "Vice Presidential Edition," each embossed with the respective office's seal.

I think these folks are a great improvement over the last administration, but are any of them actually Bible-believing Christians? What are they doing on the cover of a Bible?

There's also the limited edition "President Donald J. Trump Signature Edition," which will run you a cool $1,000.

Someone is making bank.

Did it just get a little “den of thieves-ish” in here? Might be time for some table-flippin’ again.

Interpreting scripture as being about America

I’ve no intention of buying one of those Bibles to find out, but I suspect they might feature the kind of biblical-patriotic imagery that litters our social media feeds in the days leading up to July 4.

For example, a picture of an American flag overlaid with the passage from 2 Chronicles 7:14: "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."

The Christian nationalist guys like this verse, I’m sure, but "my people" here refers to Israel. This is not a promise for America or any other nation.

So it is with another popular meme, which puts Psalm 33:12 over Old Glory: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage."

Nope, Israel again. The psalmist was talking about Israel.

The Christian nationalists think they can create a theocracy where this would apply, but they can’t because that is not what God has ordained for us. We can only win people to Jesus, loving them one at a time.

Then there's the image of a stern bald eagle (posing in front of the Stars and Stripes) glowering at us to do our duty as citizens and ponder the accompanying verse from Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Do not submit to sin. The slavery referred to here is to sin. Hardly the message the eagle with an attitude is giving off, though. And our freedom in Christ has literally nothing to do with our freedom as American citizens.

Ditto for another meme that splashes Galatians 5:13-14 across an American flag: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Ditto. You were called to be free — from sin. See above. I love this particular passage so much, and I hate to see it “USA-ized.”

Almost 10 years ago, writer Michelle Lesley wrote about this conflation of American imagery with Bible verses, and I can’t sum it up any better:

It is good to thank God for the blessing of liberty. It is right to be patriotic and celebrate our nation’s founding. It is evangelistic to use Independence Day as a springboard for explaining to people how they can find real freedom in Christ. And with that freedom — our freedom in Christ and our freedom as American citizens — comes great responsibility. Namely, the responsibility not to throw all of those things into the Cuisinart at once and turn them into an Americhristian smoothie with red, white, and blue sprinkles.

Yes, let’s skip that smoothie. While we should be thankful for our blessings as American citizens — which, let's face it, are always under threat — we should be even more thankful for true freedom, which is forever and found only in Christ.

And let’s not diminish Him or His word by conflating the two.

The BLT that broke my brain (and exposed a bigger problem)



When the system can’t make a sandwich, what else is it failing to do?

My wife had just come out of her 98th surgery. It was 10:30 p.m. She hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours — and all she wanted was a BLT.

Something simple. Familiar. A sandwich she’s ordered many times before from the patient menu when things ran on schedule.

But this time, the kitchen had closed.

She’d been NPO for nearly 24 hours. (That’s short for nil per os — Latin for “y’all don’t eat or drink nothin’.”)

No food. No coffee. No comfort. Just waiting around with dry lips and an empty stomach until anesthesia wears off and the all-clear is given.

So she turned to me and asked, “Can you go down to the grill and get me one?”

I went downstairs to the hospital’s after-hours grill — the one that stays open for staff and visitors — and asked the cook, “Hey, could I get a BLT?”

Fixing this begins by teaching people that they’re allowed to see the person in front of them.

Let me paint the picture for you.

There was a giant pan of cooked bacon right in front of me. Tomatoes. Lettuce. Bread. All present. All visible. All just sitting there.

But instead of a sandwich, I got a blank stare — followed by: “That’s not on our menu. We don’t have a way to charge for that.”

I even tried to explain: “I’ve got money. Please. Just make the sandwich and charge me whatever you want.”

Nothing. Just more blank stares and quiet helplessness — as if I had asked them to get Prince Harry back into the will.

That was the moment bureaucracy made me want to walk into the sea.

And I was in Colorado!

A little humanity, please

I wasn’t trying to be difficult. I wasn’t asking for seared ahi tuna with a drizzle of truffle oil. I was just trying to bring a woman — who had just survived her 98th surgery — the comfort of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich at the end of a long, painful day.

They had the bacon.

They had the bread.

They had the hands.

But because there wasn’t a billing code for it, it could not be done.

I didn’t argue — much. I didn’t throw a fit. I just didn’t have it in me.

Sure, I could have ordered the bacon cheeseburger and said, “Hold the burger and cheese.”

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But I was tired — besmirched by 13 hours of hospital noise and fluorescent lights. I wasn’t thinking like a work-around guy. I was feeling like a husband who had just watched his wife survive another operation — and who just wanted to bring her comfort food before midnight.

The manager on duty saw me trying to explain — saw the look on my face, probably — and graciously had mercy on me.

No forms. No debate. Just a sandwich.

I left with a BLT, deep gratitude for that manager — and a sigh. One person made it right, but the system still made it harder than it should have been.

If we can’t make a sandwich for a post-op patient, what else aren’t we doing?

The bigger problem

That moment wasn’t just about a sandwich. It was a snapshot of the country we’re living in — where solutions exist, but systems won’t allow them.

  • You want to fix a clerical error with the IRS? Good luck.
  • You want to talk to a live representative? You might have better odds getting RFK Jr. to share an Uber with Anthony Fauci.

America was built by people who hated “we can’t” — and yet we now tolerate “that’s not how we do it.” And somehow, we’ve come to accept this as normal.

There’s something spiritually corrosive about a system that erases people to elevate process.

We see it everywhere — health care, government, schools, even churches.

But what if “good enough for government work” isn’t good enough any more?

Where reform begins

Systems don’t change just because we complain. They change when people remember how to care.

The problem isn’t just that the forms are too long (which they usually are).

It’s that no one feels responsible.

Of course, deflection of responsibility goes all the way back to the garden — where Adam and Eve tried to pass the blame instead of owning their failure.

Fixing this doesn’t begin with a new workflow diagram or a subcommittee hearing.

It begins by teaching people that they’re allowed to see the person in front of them. See the need. See the moment. See the opportunity.

When Jesus saw people, He didn’t ask if they had a referral or a code. He didn’t ask what department handled the lepers.

He stopped. He touched. He healed. He saw the person, not the system.

If we want to model that — whether we’re surgeons, pastors, nurses, cashiers, representatives, senators, or grill cooks — we start by doing the simplest, most human thing: We see the person in front of us. And we make the sandwich.

Even if it’s not on the menu.