Postcards from Babylon: The Church In American Exile

by Brian Zahnd

The attempt to simultaneously serve the gods of nationalism and the Lord Jesus Christ has its most public origin with the Emperor Constantine. But how Constantine lived his Christianity is quite revealing. In delaying his baptism for twenty-five years—until he was nearing death—what was Constantine saying? Wasn’t he saying that he couldn’t really be a Christian until he was dead? Wasn’t he saying that ultimately his Christian faith was for the afterlife and not for this present life? And wouldn’t Jesus and the Apostles call that an enormous falseness?

This election, while certainly unique and unprecedented in American history, is also the latest manifestation of a long-standing evangelical approach to public life. This political playbook was written in the 1970s and drew heavily from an even longer history of white evangelical fear. It is a playbook characterized by attempts to “win back” or “restore culture.” It is a playbook grounded in a highly problematic interpretation of the relationship between Christianity and the American founding. It is a playbook that too often gravitates toward nativism, xenophobia, racism, intolerance, and an unbiblical view of American exceptionalism.

When authentic Christian faith is trumped by white evangelical fear, we have a problem.

I too think that’s the feeling of a lot of evangelicals. And that’s a problem. They don’t want a peaceable leader—a peaceable leader is denigrated as a Casper Milquetoast. Do they not want Jesus Christ as their leader as well? After all, Jesus is the Prince of Peace who teaches us to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek.

Again, if we’re simply talking about a purely political preference, I don’t have much to say about it in the context of this book. But that’s not what I see. And it sure does bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets! I see charismatics—people I know well and love—scrounging around in the Old Testament and making preposterous claims about Donald Trump being some kind of modern-day Cyrus. Please. Do these people not have a New Testament? Don’t they know that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and exalted him to his right hand? Don’t they know that God has given dominion over the nations to his exalted Son? Don’t they know that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to King Jesus? God may have occasionally worked his will through pagan kings in the world before Christ, but we’re now living in Anno Domini—the year of our Lord. If you’re looking for God to work his will through a pagan king (who will always coincidently belong to your political party!), I’m thinking you haven’t spent much time seriously reading and digesting the New Testament epistles. God is no longer raising up pagan kings to enact his purposes, God has raised Jesus from the dead, and the fullness of God’s purposes are accomplished through him!