A couple of folks have asked why we said the pledge of allegiance on the 3^rd of July. I would like to take this opportunity to answer that question. If we were worshipping the flag, I would be all for taking it out of our sanctuary. But a proper treatment of our nation’s flag is not the same as a worship of it. We have a flag displayed in our sanctuary with pride, but we do not worship it. If the presence of the flag denotes worship, then we must remove all symbols, chairs, communion table, piano, etc.

If you have been with us any length of time you know that the stance of the leadership of Niemonds is that the Lord be glorified and that His Word receive the central place in worship. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with thanking Him for the country we are blessed to live in. I have never equated being an American with being a Christian, just like you can’t equate a church-goer with automatically being a believer. However, there is nothing wrong with displaying the flag and having gratitude to the Lord for those who froze to death, fought in ungodly terrains, hours, temperatures and other conditions in order for me to be free to worship.

Up until the 1960s, most states required Bible reading and prayer in the public schools. Almost all Americans (over 90%) believed that our law was rooted, as John Adams said, ‘in a common, moral and religious tradition stretching back to Moses on Mount Sinai.’

The problem was that it was very easy to confuse patriotism with Christianity. Vibrant faith often found itself degenerating into mere civic responsibility. In the United States, Christians have taken a stand in one of two camps. They are either ‘wrap the flag around the cross’ people, which makes every Christian a patriot and every patriot a Christian (very unbiblical), or they are non-conformists who say that their loyalty is to the Heavenly Kingdom alone and to no other and they will not mix the two (also very unbiblical).

I believe that the biblical position is that we do not make our country, its flag, or anything about it, God. We recognize that our ultimate and profound citizenship is heaven and that is where our allegiance should lie.

But we should also know that scripture teaches us that the loyalties to the great commission and to all of the ‘one another’s’ in scripture are bound in relationships – relationships like the family, church, community and nation.

I do not see a problem with a church, dedicated to the centrality of God’s Word and focused on that truth, thanking God that the relationship place He has allowed us to be His representatives in, is this land of liberty. Ps. 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”

It is a joy to be your pastor.