A Citizen of Heaven First

Illustration by Ben Jones

IN THE MIDDLE of the night in Iraq, I woke up to my sergeant calling for a medic. I rolled out of bed, grabbing my gun and medic bag. While I was sitting in the tent clinic waiting for my patient to be seen, a soldier leaned over and in a conspiratorial whisper said, “I’m not a conscientious objector, but I love Jesus and there’s no way I would take away another person’s chance at knowing God for eternity. I’m a truck driver, and it’s dangerous out here. I have a wife and kids back home too. But I refuse to load bullets in my weapon.”

His words stung. What am I willing to give my life for? What am I willing to take a life for? My unflinching answer to both of those questions had always been “America.”

Waging war in Iraq forced me to confront that I was trying to serve two masters: Christian nationalism and Christ. Because Jesus requires us to lay down the sword while Christian nationalism calls us to pick it up. Christ commands us to love our enemies while Christian nationalism requires us to conquer them. Christian nationalism divides us from Jesus.

That night I went back to my tent and unloaded the bullets from my gun. With each emptied bullet, I found freedom to give my allegiance to Jesus first and my country second. Obeying Jesus’ command to love my enemies instead of killing them is how I became a citizen of heaven first.

We can’t build a Christian nation marked by God’s mercy, forgiveness, and self-sacrificial love using the tools of death, destruction, and deception.

Waging war cost me everything, but finding my freedom from Christian nationalism is what saved my life on the battlefield of Iraq and will change your life too.

Originally posted at Sojourners https://sojo.net/magazine/septemberoctober-2024/how-christians-counter-christian-nationalism