You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
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 (Galatians 5:1)
From 1562 to
1598 in France, the "wars of religion" took place because the
Catholic French were offended by the growing influence of the Huguenots, French
Calvinists. This was a time of civil war in Europe that is usually attributed
to religion. Catholics and Protestants regularly fought for supremacy within a
given country. It's considered one of the proofs about how terrible religion is
for society.
About a
hundred and twenty years before these wars began, a young woman in France
responded to her visions and led the people she called "Frenchmen" in
a war to free France from the British. French nationalism was born with Joan of
Arc, and grew to adulthood in the 1790s with French Revolution. It gained its greatest
power under the reign of Napoleon.
It is not unusual for a nation to seek and
find its identity in a unified vision. That was the goal of the Italians, the
Japanese and the Germans in World War II. It's the goal of the Daesh today. In
each of these, there was the sense that one was French, Italian, Japanese or
German first, and anything else only in-so-far as it supported the sense of
nationality. The French Catholics were not Catholics who happened to be
Frenchmen, but Frenchmen who happened to be Catholics, and anyone who
threatened the solidarity of that vision, like Frenchmen who considered their
Calvinist faith to have a higher place in their lives, were traitors or enemies.
It was French nationalism that placed the yoke of Catholicism on the French. The
Edict of Nantes broke that yoke, but nationalism continued to grow until 1798
when the French Revolution firmly strapped the yoke of secularism on that
nation. It is estimated that 3-5 million people died in wars whose goal was to
establish French identity.[1]
This nationalistic trend didn't die
with the end of World War II. There are people today who consider anyone who
puts God first as un-American. They insist that America is a secular nation and
there is no room for a Christian identity. There are others who insist that
America is a Christian nation, but it doesn't matter what the Bible says. If
anyone says anything against America, it's time to pull out the guns.
I love my nation. I believe God brought
Christians to this land and that the nation was founded on Christian
principles. When we have worked within those principles, we have prospered.
When we have put them aside, even in the name of "America" we have
suffered. God has used this nation to bless the world because we followed those
principles. When "America" demands that we turn away from those
principles, whether in worship of diversity or patriotism then I believe
Christians must be Christians (not Americans) and speak, stand and suffer for
God rather than for country, not in order to force America to do our bidding,
but because we will have no other god before God, not even America.
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On the Calendar:
Huguenot Day - anniversary of the signing of the Edict of Nantes
Birthday of
Thomas Jefferson,
John Hanson (first pres. Of Congress of Confederation)
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