I used to be a news junkie. I admit there have been periods of my life when I’ve been guilty of checking online news sources hourly (perhaps even more). It may have started with a desire to be informed of current events, but it ultimately became an obsession. For some unexplainable reason, even though I felt disgust and incredulity upon reading a lot of the news, I still craved it. I still check the news now and then, but by the grace of God, I no longer feel a compulsion to immerse myself in it constantly. With that said, I still feel a lot of concern and sadness due to what I read, and most of the time, it results in some variation of the prayer “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” News, social media, and the conversations around me have convinced me that the world is headed for a reckoning. And despite what many of my fellow Americans believe, I don’t think the USA is going to be spared. In fact, I won’t be surprised if the USA is the epicenter of that reckoning.

Recently, I’ve noticed that the words and actions of many American Christians suggest that in the eyes of God, the USA has some sort of special status or superiority over other countries. In other words, a sizable contingent of American Christians seem to think God favors the USA above other nations and peoples. While this is a key belief in Mormon theology, and the Book of Mormon suggests that the Americas are a land of promise, nowhere does the Bible say this. Instead, God’s covenant promise to Abraham says that in Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, ESV, emphasis added). Consistent with this promise, Revelation 5:9 tells us that by His blood, Jesus “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation [emphasis added].”

Indeed, the only place and people set aside for God’s special favor were Canaan (aka The Promised Land) and the Hebrew people, to whom the land of Canaan was promised (Genesis 15:18-21; Exodus 19:5-6). In Romans 11:11-24, Paul assures the reader that everyone who is saved by faith in Christ has been “grafted into the olive tree,” with the olive tree representing God’s chosen family (originally the Hebrew people). However, we can be assured that the Bible does not say that God’s favor, originally granted to the Hebrew people, has been transferred solely or primarily to the USA and the American people.

In my opinion, many American Christians have confused political power (or at least political bravado) with divine favor. Sadly, this misguided belief is clearly evident in our treatment of those from other nations, especially nations less wealthy and less politically powerful than our own. While my feelings on national borders are mixed,¹ I firmly believe in the dignity of every human, because every human, regardless of nationality, is made in God’s image. Furthermore, Scripture is very clear that we should treat others with love, including “sojourners” (also translated as “foreigners,” “exiles,” and “aliens”). Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, and Exodus 22:21 all contain God’s explicit instructions that the Israelites should not treat the sojourner with oppression, but they ought to love that person as one of their own, because the Israelites were themselves once sojourners in Egypt. Hopefully I don’t actually need to point out that the ancestors of the vast majority of Americans came from other countries and were “foreigners” and “aliens” when they initially reached North America. Sadly though, our treatment of “sojourners” or “foreigners” in this country as well as our opinions of those still living in other countries often implies that those image-bearers are somehow “less than” when compared to US citizens. Unfortunately, in some cases, the treatment non-US citizens receive at the hands of some US citizens could be considered dehumanizing at best, and demonizing at worst. Yet Scripture leaves no doubt that God calls us to love others (Matthew 22:37-40; Galatians 5:13-15; John 13:34-35).

I work at an elementary school, and an interaction I had with one student illustrates the problem of this idea of American superiority. After the 2026 Super Bowl, during which Bad Bunny was the halftime headliner, I casually asked some of the 5th grade students if they had watched the game. One student said “yeah, but the halftime show sucked…it wasn’t even in English.” I then said something along the lines of “well, even if you don’t like Bad Bunny (I’m not really a fan myself), I think the halftime show did have a good message about accepting and including others, even if they are different from us.” The student’s response was “We don’t have to accept people if they don’t speak English, that’s what my parents said.” Obviously, this student may or may not have represented the parental comments correctly, but the conversation hurt my heart anyway. As Christians, how are we to show the love of Jesus to others if those others think we hate them? 

Furthermore, equating political power or prowess with God’s favor is dangerously misguided. Let’s look at history. At one point, Babylon ruled much of the known world. So did Persia, Greece, and Rome (among others). First-century Roman propaganda even proclaimed that the gods had given Rome the eternal right to rule the universe.² While these rulers and nations certainly served God’s purpose, their political and military success did not equate to being God’s favored people or favored land. Every one of those “world conquerors” (perhaps one might even refer to these nations as historic global superpowers) was, in turn, conquered by someone else. Evidently the Roman propaganda was wrong, only God has the eternal right to rule the universe.

The bottom line is that there is only One who is actually sovereign over our world, and that is God. The human leaders of this world come and they go. And every one of them only rules because God allows them to do so (Romans 13:1; John 19:11). Interestingly, I have noticed that some Christians love to quote verses like Romans 13:1 when their preferred candidate gets elected, yet they are less excited about God’s ordination of leaders in this world when the candidate they don’t like wins the election. However, if we believe that God ordained our preferred candidate’s leadership, we also have to accept that God ordained and can use the leaders we don’t like too. He used Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan Babylonian king, Cyrus, a pagan Persian king, and many others whom He didn’t necessarily “favor.” In fact, if we look at the list of kings over Israel and Judah in the Old Testament, there were a whole lot of “bad” rulers that God ordained/allowed to be in power. If we believe God ordained David, Hezekiah, and Josiah to be kings, we also have to believe that He ordained Ahab, Ahaz, Manasseh, and Athaliah to rule as well. If we believe God ordained (insert the name of your favorite US president or world leader here) to lead, we also have to believe He ordained/allowed horrific leaders such as Nero, Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. For the record, I do NOT believe God approves of the violence and injustice these wicked leaders inflicted upon people, in fact, I’m quite sure He hates it. But, according to Romans 13:1, the authorities of this world have been instituted by God. Unfortunately, as fallen human beings, many of those authorities reflect the fallen nature of the world. My point is this: we cannot assume that God’s ordination of a human leader equates to that person’s actions being godly…even if you voted for that person and you think they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. Only God rules perfectly.

Romans 13:1-2 are also favorite verses to toss out to someone who disagrees with your preferred leader’s actions or policies. After all, in these verses, Paul implies that his readers are to be subject to the governing authorities and not resist these leaders. If, however, Paul’s words mean that we should obey and support our governing authority without question, what do we do with the words of Peter and the apostles in Acts 5:29, the actions of the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1:15-21, Shadrach and friends in Daniel 3, or Daniel himself in Daniel 6? Were the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel correct in worshipping the golden calves Jeroboam placed in Dan and Bethel just because Jeroboam was their king (1 Kings 12:28-29)?

Jeroboam’s idolatry brings me to my next point. If they haven’t already done so, I believe many American Christians are in grave danger of making American politics and politicians into idols. Friends, we are letting our loyalty to our side of the aisle and our preferred politicians set us against each other! Family members are no longer talking to each other. Friendships have broken. Marriages are at risk. People are leaving churches because the pastor won’t take a political stand for a particular candidate or prominent political personality. We have made politics, power, and politicians our idols, and we justify it by prooftexting the biblical narrative to fit our viewpoint. This is not how God wants His people to behave! Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17 emphasizes unity over and over. “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11, emphasis added). “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:22, emphasis added). “That they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23). Don’t we owe more loyalty to God and to our Christian brothers and sisters (even if they vote the other side of the aisle) than we owe to our human leaders? If the words of Jesus in John 17:23 are to be believed, our unity is how the world knows about Jesus and how they know about God’s love for His children! I fear the current divisiveness within God’s family and within society at large is making our God mourn while the enemy just sits back and laughs. One of the ways Satan works is through division, and we are handily doing his work for him.

Perhaps the biggest problem isn’t making our politics and politicians our idols, it’s actually the idolatry of self. We are doing our level best to make God in our image. We have become convinced that God stands with our political beliefs. Dear friends, I hate to break it to you, but God is not an American politician. God cherishes every one of His children, and that includes His American Republican children, His American Democrat children, His children in Mexico, His children in China, in Russia, in the Ukraine, in Nigeria, in Gaza, in Israel, in Iran…yes, there are Christians in every single one of those countries and regions! Once again, let’s look at Revelation 5:9-10. Jesus “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and [he has] made them a kingdom and priests to our God [emphasis added]. My pastor stated it beautifully when he said “you can be assured you have created God in your image when you are convinced that God hates the same people you hate.” It’s worth chewing on that for a while. If we are to obey the commandments Jesus proclaimed as the greatest, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” we need to take an honest, close look at where our loyalties really lie and how we are treating each other.

This has been a long and circuitous route to get to the reason why I think America (and the world in general) is headed for a reckoning. God doesn’t tolerate idolatry. It doesn’t matter whether we idolize our politicians, ourselves, or something else; none of those is appropriate. There is only one God who is actually worthy of our worship, and He made His place on the throne pretty clear with His first commandment to the Israelites during the Exodus: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The nation of Israel tested this commandment over and over. Although God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8), there is a limit to His tolerance of idolatry…just ask the Israelites. Their reckoning arrived with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and a very long exile to Babylon. I fear we are heading toward our own Babylon.

Fortunately, Babylon wasn’t the end of the Israelites’ story. And if we do face our own reckoning and our own Babylon, it won’t be the end of our story either. God didn’t exile the Israelites to Babylon merely to punish them or because He hated them. On the contrary, He did it because He loved them and needed to get their attention. He had already sent numerous prophets to warn the people and beg them to turn away from their idols and back toward Him, but the people didn’t listen to God’s prophets. God wants to abide with His people and have them abide with Him. But we can’t do that if we are going our own way, making our own rules, and ignoring the statutes, commandments, and covenant promises He’s given us in Scripture! It didn’t work for the Old Testament Israelites, and it won’t work for us. If it takes another reckoning to get our attention, the Lord will do what He needs to do. But, He will do it because He loves us and He wants us to follow His way which is the only good and right way. His way tells us to worship only Him, love one another, and seek unity with Him AND amongst our brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, discipline by a loving Father is a good, good thing. “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:19-20).

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¹I recognize the need for countries to have borders due to the fallen nature of our world, but I also believe that all of creation, including “our” nation, ultimately belongs to God, not to His creatures.

²Frank S. Thielman, “Ephesians,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, eds. G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 813.