To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. - 1Corinthians 12:7-11 (ESV)
"The term "Christian nationalism" refers to a belief that a particular nation's values, culture and laws should respect or reflect biblical ethics and morality. The following are four popular historical views that I have observed related to this subject." - Joseph Mattera
So begins the above linked article from dominionist Joseph Mattera. As with most NAR adherents, Mattera is nearly obsessed with shoehorning Christianity into nationalism and nationalism into Christianity without sounding like the rest of the crazies in the apostate church. He is constantly trying to normalize this heresy. As if God was a respecter of person, let alone nations. As if this country, as good as it ever may have been, was righteous. In order to try and sound like he is not a crazed loon, Mattera, often presents overly massaged statements like above as a premise because he knows the truth damns his cause. There is a large difference between laws respecting religion and laws reflecting religion and therein lies the primary problem with dominionism. This country's laws already respect Christianity as they respect all religions. It is imbedded right in the first amendment to the Constitution.
While our laws do respect religion they most certainly do not reflect religion. Nor should we want them too lest one day that religion not be the one we observe. That however is at odds with NAR dominionist theology. The dominionist wants the United States to essentially become a theocracy with their false god as king. This is expressly stated in the seven mountains mandate, which seeks to conquer the cultural mountain of government by electing believers to crucial governmental offices in order to legislate our beliefs. Mattera is slicker than most however, so he presents this article to try and normalize what remains wholly unbiblical. He presents four variants of dominionism, which he calls Christian nationalism. The purpose of the first three strawman arguments is to make his goal seem more desirable.
The first view he presents is Religious Nationalism, where the church and the state are literally one. Mattera correctly dismisses it by declaring that the gospel should never be subservient to the dictates or politics of any nation. The irony of course is that what Mattera actually supports is the wholesale subservience of Christianity to the politics of the right in this country. In 2012 the political machine on the right put forth a Mormon for president and the NAR dominionist apostate church embraced him regardless of the fact that he belonged to a satanic cult. The Billy Graham Association even removed Mormonism from their list of satanic cults to avoid embarrassing questions. You cannot get more subservient that. The second offering from Mattera in this article he calls Cultural Christian Nationalism. It appears this one is when certain countries associated themselves with certain religions such as Roman Catholics or German Lutherans. Included in this Mattera cites Hitler's use of religion to stir up hatred against the Jewish people. While Mattera presents these as unfathomable so that his desired paradigm may seem more acceptable how far away is today's dominionist apostate church from Cultural Christian Nationalism? The desired outcome is for there to be only the ruling party that the political-Christians have aligned with. They seek the same demented pride that Hitler sought within his people. A direct association between your country and your faith. This way carnal politics become matters of belief. The third offering from Mattera he refers to as Political/Christian Nationalism:
"Political/Christian Nationalism - Since the American Revolution, we have seen some Christians connect the kingdom of God with the United States. Based on their interpretation of Manifest Destiny, some have even called America the "New Israel" because they claim this nation was the only other nation besides Israel that was founded upon a covenant with God (They see this as occurring when men signed the Mayflower Compact and initiated a covenant with God). However, Abraham, the father of Israel, never initiated a covenant with God. God initiated it with Abraham and the nation of Israel (Gen.15:7-20, Heb. 6:13-19). In recent days, some of the so-called prophets and their followers seemed to connect the kingdom of God with the political destiny of America, with some even saying that Donald Trump has been crowned as the only recognized U.S. president in heaven. Connecting any political party, person, or secular movement with the kingdom is unbiblical. The kingdom transcends all nations and systems and never depends upon a top-down political control to prosecute the will of God." - Joseph Mattera
