“Loving Christian Nationalists”

The “Inside Out” Podcast from Family Life News

What are the best ways to love our Christian nationalist friends? Martha talks with pastor Caleb E. Campbell about the topic Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor

Christian nationalism promises both security at a time when many Americans feel insecure and powerless. But Phoenix Pastor Caleb E. Campbell points out that only Jesus Christ holds real power and offers true security. That means that people who follow the crucified and risen Christ have good news to share with their Christian nationalist friends.

“The means of American Christian Nationalism are in direct conflict with the teachings of Scripture which call us to love our neighbor as our self, to take up our cross, not the sword, to practice the fruit of the Spirit and First Corinthians 13 love,” Campbell says. “And the fruit of that is that we bear witness to the Kingdom of God not as culture warriors, but as ambassadors to the Kingdom.”

“What they claim that they want is a righteous country. They want a place where justice rules. Those are good ends. But the means by which they’re arguing we should pursue those ends is not a cross-centered posture, but a sword-centered posture,” he adds.

This doesn’t make Christian nationalists the enemy, Campbell says. This makes Christian nationalists the mission field. “We are to set the table of hospitality, study the culture, and show the inconsistencies of their currently-held convictions.”

But we must go on mission knowing that loving, listening, and talking with Christian nationalist friends may not change their minds and hearts. “We can’t change anybody. Only God can do that. So my job is not to bear the responsibility of changing someone. Rather, my invitation is to be faithful to Jesus in the conversations that I’m invited into, or that I invite others into.”

Campbell reminds us that at the core of the Christian faith is this hope: change is possible.

“I firmly believe that there are people that the Spirit of the living God will use our words, our relationship or our hospitality to bring about the fruit of repentance in their life,” he says. “The frustrating part is, sometimes it’s going to take a long time, and oftentimes I won’t be there to see it,” Campbell says. “And so I’m going to entrust that to God’s hands not mine.”

Caleb E. Campbell is the author of the new book Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor.