OK, Obligatory Snipe

Daniel Kirk mentioned this in a recent blog entry, and I did feel the need to comment. Let me give you some background before I show you the quote the frustrated Daniel. For years I've been saying that Evangelicalism™ confused the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven with the Republic of the United States of America (I once even heard a seminar advertised on the radio that was going to answer why America didn't appear to be in the book of Revelation). America is the "good guy" that is spreading the light over the world. In some quarters to challenge that assumption means that you are "not-patriotic" which in turns means that you are "not Christian." Christians, after all, should support the US in it's mission. Yet, whenever I bring up the danger of blurring the line between the Kingdom of Heaven and any worldly power I'm told, "Where have you see that? We don't confuse the two." Then I get a statement like this from the President of Westminster Theological Seminary:

"...Later there was another person by the name Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo Vespucci came along and said this isn’t the Indies. This is a new world. These are unknown continents, and so the credit was given to him and the name has stuck forever. But what I want you to think about is that the name America is a derivative of Amerigo from a French named Emeric, which is a derivative from a German word that is Haimirich.

"Now if any of you have studied German know that Haimirich means "The kingdom of Heaven.” Now think about that for just a moment. Do you realize that America’s name literally means the “Kingdom of Heaven?”...That’s a good description of America isn’t? It’s a place where the Kingdom of God has come and where the corrupting influences of humanity have been powerfully at work."

Oops. Now, I do want to point out that Dr. Peter Lillback did make an effort to nuance his statement to show that there was not an equality between America and the Kingdom of Heaven - he points out that "the corrupting influences of humanity have been powerfully at work." Yet, his nuance isn't enough. Evangelicalism™ doesn't do "nuance," it does black and white and that's it. So, if the Kingdom of Heaven came to America, then the corrupting influences of humanity need to be attacked and destroyed so the Kingdom of Heaven can really thrive - it's in our name after-all.

Sigh, this just makes my trepidation of preaching the "Song of the Sea" even greater - this type of triumphalism makes me wonder what ever happened to the Cross.

Tags: Evangelicalism™, America