Loving Your Enemy

Recently, I read the book "Disarming Leviathan," by Caleb E. Campbell.

It was a highly relevant book to read at this time in our country, and it resonated with me personally. It also challenged me. The subtitle of the book, just to give some context, is "Loving your Christian nationalist neighbor." For me, it is not just a neighbor, but multiple family members. I suspect it's the same for many.

The beginning of the book talked about how often those of us who are not part of the Christian nationalist movement will criticize the other side or try to argue them out of their viewpoints. The author knows the futility of such approaches. Arguments and debates only make people defensive or shut down. It is also futile to share facts or research studies or scientific discoveries, because more often than not, they don’t trust any of it. Christian nationalist leaders literally tell them not to trust it. They tell them that the information is corrupt and all lies and they shouldn’t be fooled. Since they trust and believe their leaders, they choose them over truth.

I saw this myself not that long ago when pointing out information about what is happening to immigrants to a friend, and she said, "Well, I don’t trust your news sources." I said, "I know the news lies a lot," (looking at you, Fox) "But I do trust my friends and people I know who work within the immigration field." It still didn't seem to convince her.

How then do we help persuade our Christian nationalist neighbor that they have been deceived by false theology?

That’s what this book talks about. It's not through arguing and debating. It's not through education. It's certainly not through hate and condemnation.

It's through love.

Campbell quotes Jesus in Matthew 24, where Jesus is talking about the end times (pretty much all time from His resurrection until His return), and warns, "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many." 

Campbell calls the teachers and leaders of Christian nationalism false prophets. "Proponents of American Christian nationalism argue that the church should fight to gain worldly power to promote their way of life and protect themselves from their enemies. Jesus, on the other hand, teaches us that power is to be used to self-sacrificially serve others, even our enemies." 

Nationalism is a deceit that has been around for a long time. Look at the Jews in Jesus' day who wanted him to overthrow Rome and reestablish the Israel state. That was about nationalism and establishing their earthly kingdom. They had read the prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah, and they had interpreted them to mean He would establish an earthly present kingdom rather than a spiritual kingdom or a future kingdom to come.

Jesus repeatedly told them that that was not why He had come. He hadn't come to establish a nationalist religion. He came to show us a way of communion with God and love of neighbor. His kingdom is one of compassion and justice, not power and privilege. It's an upside-down kingdom. And they didn’t get that.

The same thing happened to the Christian church in the days of Constantine. They traded the holiness and set apartness of the Church for power and position. It did not turn out well for them.

Our Christian nationalist neighbors have been deceived by the same spirit. Campbell says we have to remember that the Bible says our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits that have deceived them (Ephesians 6:12). There is a spiritual battle going on that we should be focused on. People are not our enemy. Christian nationalists are not our enemy. Rather, Campbell calls them a mission field.

Christian nationalist or MAGA or whatever hat someone might wear, there are still people. There are human beings incredibly loved and cherished by God. And God calls us to love all people. Our friends, our neighbors, our enemies. We are not to see ourselves as above anyone else because He doesn’t see us that way. Many are good-hearted people who truly believe they are walking the right path. They can't see what we see.

So, how do we love our Christian nationalist neighbor? Campbell says it is through trying to find points of connection. It’s through listening. It’s through compassion. It’s through prayer. It’s through patience. The Spirit within us empowers us, giving us the grace and the wisdom to reach out rather than lash out. As Campbell writes, "We live as ambassadors, committed to consistent prayer, pursuing godly justice, proclaiming the gospel of peace, abiding in the truth of Jesus, and resting in his salvation by the strength of his Spirit." Restoration is the goal.

The book is amazing, and I highly recommend it. I'll put the link here (though to be clear, I get nothing from the referral). I hope it challenges you and gives you as much to think about as it did me.

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