About this Episode
Jay Newman from Catacomb Podcasts joins Craig to discuss voting and Christian nationalism. Jay’s day job is pitmaster at Shotgun Willie’s Barbecue in Nashville, and he also runs his own barbecue catering service, Newman Family Barbecue. When he’s not transforming meat into award-winning tasty goodness, Jay bravely ventures into the culture wars on Twitter. While debating Christian nationalists and exposing their beliefs, he’s been accused of “reading too much evangelical pop theology” from those caught up in the military mindset of taking the reigns of power to expand the physical territories of the gospel.
Although George Bush was blasted for using the term “crusade” in the early 2000s, Christians are arming themselves for the new crusades and crying out for “jihads for Jesus”. This is the natural progression of Christian nationalism and does not look like what Jesus wants from His followers. Jesus was a pacifist and not interested in using the mechanics of state power to achieve the bringing of His Kingdom. When He came to earth, Jesus rejected the opportunity to reign over earthly kingdoms and allowed His enemies to kill Him.
The early church understood this and were also anti-state pacifists. Even after the church and state became friends with Constantine, attempting to grab state power has never worked well for Christians. Jay would prefer Christians leave state control to non-Christians. In truth, any Christian who tries to exercise power antithetical to the Kingdom will have to deal with their inherent hypocrisy.
Connect with Jay:
Instagram: Newman Family BBQ
Podcast: Catacomb Podcasts
Episode Timestamps:
2:48 – Who is Jay Newman?
BBQ Pit Manager
Transforming meat into beautiful goodness
Thinker and Writer
Contrarian
Doubting and testing new ideas
Multi-cultural ties
Brazilian and French family members
Pastor’s kid
Parents appalled by the merging of church and state
No party loyalty
Felt lied to by Bush after 9/11
Learnt what politics does to people watching Mike Hukabee
He drastically changed
Became more Republican than Christian
He sold out
Ron Paul 2012
Realized the whole thing is rigged
13:50 - Are you morally culpable for who you vote for?
People sanitize their favourite candidates
Society seems to have accepted that you are morally culpable for the actions of your candidates
No nuance in liking some, but not all of a candidate’s policies
All politicians commit atrocities
Drones
Aiding the rich and oppressing the poor
None are consistent with Jesus
Then who can we vote for?
What power is there in voting?
Maybe its time that all Christians stopped being a voting block
Politicians would stop quoting scripture
Politicians would stop pretending to care about Christian things
Anarchy and Christian anarchy are separate issues
16:50 – Is voting a sin?
Craig says yes
If rejecting God is not a sin, then what is?
The early church’s response to the Roman Empire
Jay won’t judge others
Sin comes from an individual’s intentions
One can vote with a clean conscience
Through being detached from outcomes
Daniel was not removed from the state where he lived
Christians should have a loud opinion on the state’s injustices
Life in society means you have some influence
Political influence is a part of that
Jay leaves room for those who believe that working in the state is where God wants them
It will probably corrupt them
Historically it typically goes bad
Why risk it?
Perhaps people need to figure it out on their own
Craig can’t force people into believing the same as himself
People become more entrenched in their places if forced
We’ve been electing Christians since the founding of the US
Things are still getting progressively worse
The country is an Idiocracy
The upside of Trump being elected is it exposes the cultural Christians
Baptist church choir “Make America Great Again”
Nationalism was a sin of Israel
Christians advocate repeating Israel’s folly
Christians call themselves “Christian Nationalists”
Christians should repent of putting people in power
America has killed a holocaust of people
Killed children in Yemen
32:41 – Are we Americans or Christians first?
Who is the biggest enemy of Americans?
The biggest threat is the American government
The largest church growth is happening in Iran, China and Russia
The interests of the American state are opposed to the Kingdom
Christians are thriving in places of persecution
Christians should be more loyal to the church family than their national goals
The US is sanctioning them, making life harder for Christians
The populations of those nations are not our enemies
We should be pro Christians in other states more than our national borders
36:06 – Jesus was not a statist
Jesus was a snark
All anarchists are snarks
The leaders tried to trap Him
Everything belongs to God
Pay your taxes to be a good citizen
Trust God for financial provision
It’s good for the gospel
Don’t make decisions out of fear of lack of resources
When you need money, He will give it to you
When you put your trust in Him
Jesus was passive-aggressive towards the state
He turned down ruling the state when the devil offered it
Why would Christians want to try it?
44:13 – Twitter conversations
A pastor once said: “Start taking hills for Christ”
Military terminology
Jay’s response: “You take hills by dying; that’s what Jesus did”
Jesus came to bring peace to the world
The opposite of military actions
Christians seem nervous about what would happen if Christians wielded power
More than infidels, pagans and demons having political power
Defending the crusades and name calling
The early church were all pacifists and anti-state
55:39 – Spiritual warfare versus worldly warfare
Jay sang on hills in India that had never heard the praises of God
That’s how to take hills for Christ in the spiritual realm
Not with military might, not physical territory
Nations are a group of people with a common cause
Christian nationalists want control of the state for Christians
This has never worked before
People agree with “jihad for Jesus”
People want to take physical territory for Christ
And enemy nations
Christians arming themselves for the next crusades
This is the logical conclusion for Christian nationalism
We should be considering ourselves exiles rather than citizens
The political system doesn’t give us a real say
If Jesus was alive today, who would he vote for?
Kings don’t vote
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