Mark Casto 0:01
Mark. Welcome to the Mark Casto program where we confront culture, challenge broken systems, and call a generation to build their lives on the finished work of Christ. If you're tired of fear based religion, toxic hustle, culture and political idolatry, you're not alone in this podcast is for you now. Today's episode is going to stir some things up, but it needs to be said. That's why I'm calling it. Jesus is not a Republican, a Christ centered. Look at politics, and if you've ever been made to feel like your faith depends on your vote, if you've seen the name of Jesus get hijacked for power or party loyalty, if you've been wondering how to stay grounded in the kingdom while the world around you loses its mind. This one's for you, and I just want to tell you before we get into this, this has been a wrestling match in my mind for years and years, I grew up as a child who didn't have a huge military presence in my family, but my grandfather did serve in the army, but no huge military presence, but a deep love for the United States of America. I was the type of person, whether it was at a football game or graduation, whenever there was the Star Spangled Banner, anybody that sang the national anthem like I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I've always had a deep love and affinity for our military. I've been able to pastor and lead a ton of military veterans and people who are in the military so high amount of honor and value for for what they do and how they serve our country. And so I wanted to start off this program by saying there's a deep love and affection for our country and and for our military that's always been in me, but since 2015 I've been going deeper and deeper into a more orthodox view of Christianity, studying the patristic fathers, the early church fathers, and getting into the theology of that and it when you start going back to Orthodox Christian views, when you start really looking into how the early church interpreted the Words of Jesus, you start feeling a tension between how you've been raised as a Christian in America and being an actual Christian. So this is opening up years and years of contemplation and beginning a conversation and letting you know that I am actually working on a couple of books right now, but one of the books that I'm working on is on this subject of Christian nationalism, and American Christian nationalism in particular. And I have watched people ever since President Trump came into office, even prior to him coming into office, I have noticed a correlation that since he's come into office, there has been a lot of people that started going through what some call deconstruction. I just simply call it repentance. But there's been a a real move in the church of people walking away from the traditional church model, because it's become clear that the American pulpit and the American church has gotten into bed with American politics, and that always produces a dangerous cocktail. So I at least want to jump into the conversation and tell you guys I've wrestled with the subject of materialism. I've wrestled with the subject of militarism and just war. For those of you that are that understand what I mean by that, theologically, and then, of course, one of the biggest challenges that I see when you start comparing the gospel and Americanism is the the contrast of individualism. And I'm realizing that over the years, as I've dive, as I dive deeper into this subject, that to be an actual follower of Jesus, somebody that's led by the lordship of the Holy Spirit, makes you both counter cultural and counter Imperial. And guys, I'm be honest with you, our allegiance to Americanism has compromised our faith. I'm gonna go, go ahead and start off with a bold statement here, but our allegiance to Americanism has compromised our faith and put tension between the way we were raised and the Spirit's leadership. And guys, I'm just going to tell you flat out, if the world is going to be changed by the gospel, it won't be changed by war, and it can't be changed by our vote, but we have to believe that the world is going to be changed by supernatural and. Encounter with Jesus, the one who offered his body and blood to redeem the world. So let's jump in and talk about how politics has become a substitute for the gospel. And to say it plainly, I'll say it again, Jesus is not a Republican. And for those of you that got offended by me by the title and by me saying that, let me also say the other part of it, Jesus is not a Democrat, and Jesus is not American. And guys, we've got churches acting like voting red makes you more righteous. We've got people posting more about candidates than Christ, and we've got pulpits sounding like campaign platforms instead of the gospel we're supposed to proclaim. And hear me, that's not Christianity, the things that I just said, That's idolatry. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is not tethered to a party. It doesn't bow to elephants or donkeys. It doesn't swing left or right. The gospel is a kingdom, and kingdoms don't run on elections. And yet, over the last 40 years in America, especially within white evangelical circles, we've watched a slow, dangerous fusion of faith in politics. We've baptized platforms, we've married Jesus to political ideologies, and we've equated patriotism with godliness. But here's the thing, when you confuse political allegiance with Kingdom allegiance, you end up defending things Jesus never said and ignoring the things that he commanded. So let me give you some context here. So this thing of major Christian nationalism, I would say, found a big shot in the arm in the 1980s was something called the Moral Majority. And the moral majority in the 80s gained huge momentum. It was a political movement led by conservative Christians who wanted to see America return to biblical values, and at first glance, that seems noble, defending the unborn, standing for morality. But over time, the movement began to conflate faith with nationalism, which which means to be a Christian, was to be conservative and pro war and anti immigration and anti welfare and 100% Republican. We stopped asking, What does the kingdom say? And we started asking, What does my party say? And there's actually author Kristen demez In her book Jesus and John Wayne, she outlines how American evange evangelicalism shaped a Jesus who looks more like a patriot warrior than the Lamb of God. And in another book, author by the name of Greg Boyd, he wrote a book called The Myth of a Christian nation. He warns the church that whenever we reach for political power, we trade in our prophetic voice for political influence, and you cannot be both the voice of God and the echo of a political party. And and again, I don't want to just point the finger, but I think in 2020 we realized that we desperately needed a prophetic reset, because our prophets got in bed with political pundits and political parties and begin to prophesy things according to what we desired and what we wanted and they were wrong. And, you know, I could go into that in another podcast, but it's it's really hard to be the both the voice of God
and an echo of a political party. They that's just not how it works. And so what we need to do is go back to what did Jesus actually say about politics? So if you go to the scriptures, you can look at John 1836 when Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate, he says to Jesus, says to him, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were my servants would fight. Now I want you to think about that. Jesus had every opportunity to align with the political movement. He was living under Roman occupation. He had followers that were ready to fight, and instead, he said, I'm not here to fight your war. I'm here to bring a whole new world. See, guys, Jesus refused to play the political game. He didn't endorse Caesar. He didn't try to get better Pharisees and power. He didn't say, Let's make Israel great again. He brought a kingdom, not a campaign. He didn't storm palaces. He transformed people, one person at a time, and the early church understood this. They didn't fight for legislate legislation. They laid down their lives for the gospel and with. In 300 years, they turned an empire upside down without ever voting. Now again, I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying do your civic duty. I'm trying to prove a point that the church didn't do any of those things and turned an empire upside down without ever doing their civic duty for 300 years. Now let's talk about the big elephant in the room, Christian nationalism, and this is the belief that America is God's chosen nation, that the Constitution is somehow divinely inspired, and that to be a good Christian is to be a good American. Now let me tell you something, God doesn't have a favorite country. The United States is not the new Israel. Jesus didn't die to redeem a nation state. He died to redeem humanity. And see Christian nationalism makes an idol out of country party and politics, and anytime you make an idol out of anything, you lose the presence of God in the process. See, I was reading the other day Pew Research found that most Americans, especially young believers, are leaving churches not because they're rejecting Jesus, but because they're tired of a politicized gospel and friend, they're not wrong, because when we preach nationalism instead of the kingdom, when we defend party lines over kingdom values, when we confuse loyalty to Christ with loyalty to a flag, We're not advancing the gospel. We're blaspheming it. So we got to ask ourselves a question, how can we be Kingdom people in a very political world? Now, let me be clear, this doesn't mean we disengage, we vote, we advocate, we steward our influence, but we do it from the kingdom, not for a party. So I want to give you just a few things here so that you can stay Kingdom minded in a political world. The first thing is, you've got to remember, according to Philippians 320 our citizenship is in heaven. So first and foremost, you belong to Christ, and you have to remember your true citizenship before you're a citizen of a nation. You're a citizen of the kingdom. That means our values, our speech, our posture, all come from heaven, not your favorite political news source or and their headlines. Secondly, be prophetic, not partisan. The prophets of the Old Testament didn't endorse kings. They confronted kings. They weren't mouthpieces for power. They were messengers of truth and guys you just as You cannot serve God and money, you cannot serve both God and a political machine. Thirdly, this is a lesson that I wish we could drive home more and more, because there are literal families that can't even sit together for Thanksgiving or Christmas because they've forgotten how to do this. Love your enemies. This is the one both sides. Forget Jesus said, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you. That applies to people that you consider political enemies, to how you speak about the other side reveals what kingdom you're operating from. And I see this happening all the time, that we're the worst when it comes to social media. We get on social media and we become these political Christian and I say that with with great sarcasm, but we become these Christian warriors behind our computers, and we start typing out things, and we really grossly misrepresent the kingdom and the king. And so we got to remember that we as kingdom, men and women, are called to be peacemakers, not political pundits. Okay. Fourthly, we need to vote with conviction, not fear. So vote, advocate, engage, but don't build your life around election cycles. Don't let fear lead your faith. Presidents come and go, policies, they shift, but Jesus and His Kingdom never changes. So we need a better way, guys as Kingdom people, we must say yes to the more excellent way, the Kingdom way. We don't need another Christian political influencer. We need builders who carry the wisdom of God and the presence of Jesus into business, into. Media, into education, and, yes, even into politics, but not with compromise, not with idolatry, with Kingdom. Clarity. Let me say it clearly. Jesus is not running for office. He's already king. The cross is not a campaign slogan. It's it's death. It's a death sentence to self and the entrance into a whole new way of life. And guys, the gospel is not a partisan message. It's the power of God to save people. And if we want to see revival in our generation, it's not going to come from a party platform. It will come from a people who refuse to bow to politics and once again, pledge their allegiance to the lamb and guys, I'm be honest with you. If this episode shook you up, it should. Truth doesn't comfort idols, it smashes them. So this is just the beginning of the conversation. I'm writing a whole book on this, and there's already some amazing books out there, but I'm writing a book on this. And if this resonates with you, tag a friend. Share this episode. And I know I kind of caught you off guard here, because the first two episodes have been just on business and calling the calling you into the age of the builder and all those things. But I told you, this podcast is me bringing my most authentic self. So I'm going to be talking about business. I'm going to be talking about politics. I'm going to be talking about the things that burn in me. However, one of the biggest things in this hour is that if we're going to make change, we've got to say yes to a more excellent way. And so again, I hope this episode shook you, because it should, and for some of you, maybe I hope it's just a breath of fresh air going me too. I've thought of this myself, and I thought I was crazy. I thought I was wrong. I thought I was missing it because I was filling these things too. No, no, no, no, we're just being introduced to a more excellent way. So again, if you've been having this conversation with friends and family, you think that this would be something that would be super helpful, share it with them, and we'll jump back into the business conversation, because I even want to tell you before we get off this podcast today. Hey, look, if you're looking for the more excellent way, there's one way that I'm leading people right now, and that is into a place where you can actually maximize your ability to create income and do it for less time. And that's huge for me, because I know I've got parents and people that right now that are looking for a more excellent way they want to make income so that they can have true Kingdom influence, like we're talking about. But more than more than just that, they want to be present in the life of their children. And I think that I have struck gold when it comes to creating income by taking your own god given wisdom and turning that into a digital product. So if I hope this podcast blessed you, but again, I want to call the entrepreneurs and people that are listening to this. Hey, if you're looking to create more income, build wealth, but also saving time in the process, so you can be present in the life of the people you love, and to give yourself to the things of the kingdom, why don't you click the link below in the show notes of this podcast? Book a call with me. I'd love to share more of that with you. Okay, now I want to reiterate, Jesus is not a Republican, he's not a Democrat, he's king, and his kingdom is here, and this is the Mark Casto program. I'll see you in the next episode. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
