Articles
Our Allegiance
There has been as overabundance of discussion on the matter of our nation's Pledge of Allegiance lately, and I have read many of my fellow believers' comments regarding their opinion on the matter. The irony of the ongoing discussion is that some are talking about how we shouldn't publicize the recent controversy so the matter will simply fade away, thereby continuing the controversy by their very words. What I have noticed in all the discussion, though, is that many of my fellow believers are so preoccupied with discussing our allegiance to a flag or to our country that they say little or nothing at all about our allegiance to God and Christ.
Which is more important?
If you are one who claims to believe in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God, isn't your allegiance to Him more important than declaring your allegiance to a flag [which represents a country] or to the country itself? In the end, what will be a matter of judgment: Your loyalty to a nation, or loyalty to the one who died for your sins?
When I look into God's word, I see absolutely nothing that demands I declare my allegiance to any earthly country, but I do read of our God demanding that those who are His live their lives faithfully to Him and are loyal to Him. From the beginning, God commanded, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod. 20:3). Jesus, in fact, stated the greatest commandment to be the one that said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37), leaving no room for a pledge of loyalty to another. Jesus also said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24).
When it comes down to God or country, to whom will we pledge our allegiance, really? I know many are very angry towards those who refuse to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag of the good old USA, but when it comes down to God or country, to whom will we show our allegiance? This is not a rhetorical question!
Will we be loyal to the country that has turned its back on God and has rejected God's ways that they might indulge in selfish, fleshly pleasures without condemnation or any pangs of guilt? Will we uphold the flag of a country that promotes sexual deviancy as 'normal' and uses propaganda disguised as 'education' in order to brainwash our children into thinking such sexual deviancy is to be heralded and honored?
Will we continue waving the flag as a representation of the nation that produces more pornography than any other on earth, all the while calling it 'artistic expression' and 'entertainment,' and is home to a society that simultaneously ridicules those who hold to the old-fashioned ideas that “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4)? Will we pledge allegiance to a society that has no respect for authority and in fact promotes anarchy and rebellion as character traits to be honored and memorialized, while it calls honesty and obedience "outdated" or something to be laughed at?
Will we pledge our allegiance to a nation who is led by men and women who seem to daily seek out ways to quash and silence any public discussion, and forbids even the presence of anything remotely religious, especially if it is about Christ or Christianity, while hypocritically promoting and tolerating the false religion of Islam in the public schools under the guise of 'multiculturalism'? Will we sit idly by while our political leaders take a man to task for actually believing what the Bible teaches [since he calls himself a Christian], and declaring him 'unfit for public office' though our Constitution explicitly forbids religious tests in Article VI, Section 3? Will we turn a blind eye to political leaders who have publicly stated that their aim is to force Christians to give up 'bigoted' ideas [like homosexuality being a sin] by law and by force of punishment? Is that the nation to whom we pledge our allegiance?
Or maybe we pledge our allegiance to the nation who has a long history of inequality in the courts system, one that despite the claims for equal treatment for all, tends to favor those with wealth and privilege over the poor and oppressed — overwhelmingly comprised of men and women of a different ethnic background of the ones in power?
Now, here, we must stop to make some clarifications.
No country is perfect; I know that and so do you, I hope. I don't believe it is even realistic to expect that any nation would be. We are all humans, and humans tend to make poor choices, divide themselves according to whatever seems to be socially-acceptable for the moment, and no society will ever be completely free of bigotry and prejudice. I am not holding an expectation of perfection up to judge our nation by that impossible standard. My point is this: For those of you who are Christians and are reading this, to whom will we pledge our allegiance?
This isn't an either-or problem. A Christian is commanded, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” (Rom. 13:1). Christians are commanded, “submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:13-17). Christians must be obedient to whatever government they happen to live within, and are commanded to show respect and honor to those in positions of authority. We do not have the option of disobedience and disrespect when our government is not the ideal, or even when it stands for the very things we oppose, as people of God. [The previous commands were given to God's people, who were then living under a government who would later kill Christians for sport, and who would try to ban the faith altogether.]
But to whom will we pledge our allegiance? Obedience is one thing; allegiance is another. I can faithfully keep the commands of this nation [as long as they do not contradict the commands of my Lord, cf. Acts 5:29], and still be loyal to my God. Both can happen at the same time! God is not commanding me to overthrow my government when its leaders promote ungodliness, anymore than he asks children to rebel against their parents' authority when Jesus said “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). God also commanded children to “obey your parents” and “Honor your father and mother” (Eph. 6:1). He is not asking children to literally hate their parents in order to come to Him; He seeks our allegiance to Him above even our parents, though, if there should ever be a conflict. The same is true of our nation; yes, I must obey the laws and its leaders, but my allegiance is to Christ.
Will you stand with Christ, and — more importantly — will you kneel before Him as your Lord and King? —— Steven Harper
