This summer Charlie Kirk hosted another Turning Point USA conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, targeting Christian leaders, especially
MAGA pastors. Although, one would be hard pressed to find anything explicitly Christian about this gathering.
Below is the conference mission statement taken from the conference website:
“Turning Point USA empowers citizens of all ages to Rise Up against the radical Left in defense of freedom, free markets, and limited government. Join millions of patriotic supporters to Save America.”
Aside from the fact that Mr. Kirk would undoubtedly categorize me among “the radical left” he is fighting against, even my wildest imaginations cannot conceive of one Biblical argument requiring me to include free markets, limited government and saving America (from what? from myself?) as goals for Christian discipleship in the kingdom of God.
What does any of this have to do with Christian leadership? I’ll give you a hint: Nothing.
One of Kirk’s favorite speakers is Eric Metaxas.
Since writing his biography about the German pastor/theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Metaxas has doubled down on styling himself as an American prophet following in Bonhoeffer’s footsteps, warning us about the imminent destruction of our nation.
Supposedly, just as Bonhoeffer resisted the Nazis on behalf of Christ, Metaxas (and his followers) are called to combat their political opponents for the sake of God’s kingdom.
In his most recent book, Letter to the American Church (which I reviewed here), Metaxas implicitly encourages Christians to resort to violence, if need be, as they fight to restore a godly America.
Godly, that is, insofar as Eric Metaxas understands godliness.
Furthermore, never in a million years would Bonhoeffer have said that he was resisting Hitler in order to restore a godly Germany. He was far too good a theologian to have deceived himself in that way.
Metaxas tells us that American Christians are now called to engage in spiritual warfare more than ever. Today’s American scene somehow making godliness and truth “many times more important than it was ten years ago.”
Really? Are you telling me that the contemporary relevance of God’s kingdom is determined by the ephemeral phases of human politics?
Are you kidding me?
Below is a clip of Metaxas’ Turning Point address where he exhorts Christians to pick up their weapons for holy war as did Bonhoeffer.
What Metaxas continually fails to tell his listeners, however, is that Bonhoeffer did not die because of his Christian witness.
No. That’s not what caused the Nazis to seal his fate.
Bonhoeffer was arrested and finally executed because he participated in a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer did not die for Christ, though he certainly did live for him — faithfully and unfaithfully, as we all do.
Bonhoeffer died for attempted murder. Something that no Christian should boast about.
Ironically, in valorizing Bonhoeffer as he does; in stirring Christians to “fight” in “spiritual warfare” as he does, Metaxas is encouraging the American church and its MAGA pastors to repeat Bonhoeffer’s final failure.
And I suspect that this is exactly what Metaxas intends to say.
This is leading unthoughtful people to repeat the error of Esau, who gave up his rightful inheritance in exchange for a bowl of soup.
In much the same way, Eric Metaxas is asking us to betray God’s peaceable, eternal kingdom for the inconsequential rumblings of political skulldugery.
Don’t be deceived. Metaxas is a false prophet, a false teacher, who now points people away from the crucified Jesus.
