The Case for Patriotism as a Mutually Exclusive Allegiance

On August 15, 2026August 15, 2026 By Tyler BoydIn Christian's Relationship to Government, Kingdom Life, Questions and Responses

This article grows out of my previous articles, “The Case Against Christians Saying the Pledge of Allegiance” and “Why Christians Keep Talking Past Each Other About Politics.” In the latter, I argued that Scripture recognizes two different categories of allegiance.

The first category is the kind of allegiances that can be properly ordered beneath our ultimate allegiance to Christ. A Christian can be loyal to his wife, faithful to his employer, honor his parents, and love his neighbors without compromising his devotion to Christ. As long as these allegiances are properly ordered, they can even be expressions of our loyalty to Christ.

The second category is the kind of allegiance that are inherently rivalrous. Idolatry is not avoided by simply putting God as the highest-ranking among various gods whom we serve. Adultery is not made acceptable by simply loving another woman a little less than your wife. James describes friendship with the world in this second category when he labels it as adultery (James 4:4). Some allegiances cannot be properly ordered, but must be avoided entirely.

The question, then, is where patriotic allegiance belongs. Is allegiance to an earthly kingdom something that can be properly ordered beneath our allegiance to Christ, or is it inherently rivalrous, and thus to be avoided altogether?

In my previous article, I examined the case for the former. Here I want to make the case for the latter. I believe allegiance to an earthly kingdom is fundamentally incompatible with allegiance to Christ. Here’s why:

1 .Because of the Origin, Nature, and Destiny of Earthly Kingdoms

When Paul wrote Romans 13, the Roman Empire was not the first earthly kingdom God’s people had ever encountered, nor would it be the last. Before Rome there had been Greece, Persia, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and the various nations of Canaan. Each of these kingdoms had exercised power over God’s people at various points in history. And each eventually fell. Rome was powerful, but Rome was simply one kingdom in an unbroken chain of successive earthly powers.

The origin of each of these earthly kingdoms reaches all the way back to Genesis 10 -11 and the events surrounding Babel. It was there that mankind was divided and scattered into the nations of the earth. These first nations were formed in the context of, and as the result of, rebellion against God.

But alongside the story of these earthly kingdoms, Scripture also tells the story of God’s kingdom. From the shadow of Babel, God called Abraham. From his family he established the nation of Israel as His own possession. Israel was not just one nation among many. They were God’s holy nation, and as such, they were set apart from the ways of the nations that surrounded them.

Throughout the Old Testament, the pagan nations of Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, and others are continually found to be in conflict with Israel. But the prophets offered hope of a coming kingdom which would triumph over all the other kingdoms of the world. It would be through this coming kingdom that God’s blessings would ultimately be extended even to the Gentiles.

Daniel 2 provides one of the clearest pictures of this expectation. The kingdoms that held, and would soon hold dominion over the world are represented by a great statue. This statue is then crushed in pieces and destroyed by a stone “cut out by no human hand” (Daniel 2:34). Daniel then explains this dream by stating, “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). Notice that the coming Kingdom would not merely stand alongside the statue, or even form the new head for the statue. The coming kingdom would ultimately break in pieces and destroy the other kingdoms.

The contrast becomes even clearer in Daniel 7. The kingdoms of the world are portrayed as beasts, but in contrast to these beasts comes “one like a son of man” who receives an everlasting kingdom that would rule over “all peoples, nations, and languages” (Daniel 7:13-14). The dominion of the beasts is ultimately taken away and destroyed, while the kingdom of the son of man would hold dominion forever (Daniel 7:26-27).

The conflict between these kingdoms and God’s people continues to be apparent throughout the whole New Testament. From Jesus’ birth to the cross, to the persecutions in Acts, to the “beasts” and “Babylon” of the book of Revelation, these earthly kingdoms consistently present themselves as enemies of Christ and kingdom. But just as we see in Daniel, the New Testament likewise speaks of their future destruction at Christ’s return (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24; Revelation 11:15).

The bottom line is this: from Genesis through Revelation, earthly kingdoms are continually portrayed as entities that are inherently rivalrous with Christ’s reign. They were born in rebellion against, exist in conflict with, and are destined for destruction at the hands of God’s Kingdom. This understanding is foundational for understanding what the Bible says about how God’s people relate to earthly kingdoms.

2. Because Israel Was Forbidden From Yoking Itself to Earthly Kingdoms

How, then, were the citizens of God’s holy nation, Israel, commanded to relate to the pagan nations that surrounded them? They were forbidden to form alliances with those nations and their gods.

God told Israel in Exodus 23:32, “You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.” The same warning appears repeatedly throughout the Old Testament (Exodus 34:12-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; Joshua 23:12-13). Their covenant relationship with the LORD prohibited them from allying themselves with rival kingdoms and their gods.

Israel was warned repeatedly against trusting foreign nations for security and deliverance. When Israel looked to Egypt for military protection, Isaiah condemned them:

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!
Isaiah 31:1

The problem was not simply that Israel was trusting Egypt too much and God too little. By the very act of seeking security from Egypt, they were failing to trust the LORD.

The prophets even described Israel’s alliances with pagan nations as adultery, portraying Israel as an unfaithful wife chasing after other men (cf. Ezekiel 16 & 23). This helps explain James 4:4: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” When James warns the church of adultery, he is drawing upon this Old Testament picture of God’s people pursuing alliances with pagan powers.

Israel belonged to God, yet they lived among other kingdoms that did not. The kingdoms of the world were of a different nature, and Israel was forbidden to yoke itself to them.

3. Because Jesus Established a Kingdom

This brings us to the ministry of Jesus. The central message of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, was summarized as: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Likewise, Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Jesus did not come to teach people how to create new and improved versions of the kingdoms that already existed. He was given numerous opportunities to seize earthly political power, but he refused this option each and every time (Luke 4:5-8; John 6:14-15). And He commanded his disciples to do the same (Luke 22:25-26). Instead of working with and through the powers these kingdoms offered, He came announcing the arrival of an entirely new kingdom, the kingdom of God.

And this kingdom had a King. One of Jesus’ favorite ways of referring to Himself was “the Son of Man,” drawing directly from Daniel 7, where the Son of Man receives an everlasting kingdom over “all peoples, nations, and languages.” That’s why He announced at His ascension, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

This is also why “Jesus is Lord” became the central confession of the early church. This was more than simply a statement about Jesus’ divinity. It was a declaration of His reign. Christians were proclaiming that Jesus, not Caesar, was Lord.

This helps explain the accusation made against the Christians in Thessalonica:

They are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.
Acts 17:7

The charge was accurate. Christians were proclaiming another King. And if we have given our allegiance to Jesus as King, we cannot simultaneously give our allegiance to rival kings.

4. Because of the Spiritual Dimension Behind Earthly Kingdoms

Scripture also presents earthly political powers as part of a larger spiritual conflict. Deuteronomy, Daniel, and many of the Psalms associate earthly kingdoms with spiritual powers that stand behind them (cf. Deuteronomy 32:8; Daniel 10; Psalm 82). Paul says that Christians should wrestle against these “rulers,” “authorities,” and “cosmic powers” (Ephesians 6:12). The book of Revelation even says that these earthly kingdoms receive their authority from the “dragon” (Revelation 13:2). These passages reinforce the biblical picture of earthly kingdoms existing within a world in rebellion against God. Recognizing the reality of these rebellious principalities and powers explains why it is appropriate to compare allegiance to these kingdoms to the sin of idolatry.

5. Because of the Early Christian Martyrs

The early Christians understood the importance of refusing allegiance to these earthly kingdoms. As I documented previously, Christians in the early centuries refused to swear allegiance to Caesar, even when doing so cost them their lives. Polycarp’s response perhaps says it best: “How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Polycarp understood that swearing allegiance to Caesar was incompatible with his loyalty to Christ. He could not give Caesar even a lesser allegiance, for he served Christ as King. Because he already belonged to that King, he could not give allegiance to another.

What About Romans 13?

Of course, many will continue to point to Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, 1 Timothy 2, as well as Jesus’ command to “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” And they are right to do so. These are important passages that teach Christians to submit to governing authorities. We are commanded to pay taxes, honor rulers, pray for them, and obey the law, provided that obedience to those authorities does not conflict with our obedience to Christ.

But none of these passages teach allegiance to earthly rulers. Submission is not the same thing as allegiance. Submission is something we do because of our allegiance, but in each of these passages, the allegiance in view is allegiance to God. We submit to earthly rulers, not because we have pledged loyalty to them, but because we have pledged loyalty to God.

Just as Romans 13 teaches, we trust that God is properly ordering earthly kingdoms and using them as His ministers to accomplish His purposes. Paul says that God uses governing authorities to execute wrath on wrongdoers, building on how God used kingdoms such as Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon to accomplish His purposes in the Old Testament.

But God’s ability to use these kingdoms for good is not contingent on those kingdoms willingly and knowingly giving him their submissive obedience (cf. Isaiah 10:5-15; Habakkuk 1:9-11). None of these passages teach that God expects his people to become part of these kingdoms. We can submit to government without belonging to it. We can, and must, submit to these kingdoms, but we cannot pledge our allegiance to them.

We have pledged our allegiance to another king. Jesus is Lord. We should honor earthly rulers, obey their laws, and pray for those in authority. But we must never confuse submission with allegiance to rulers and kingdoms that are inherently rivalrous with Christ and His kingdom. Because we have pledged our allegiance to Christ, and because we recognize these earthly powers as rivals to Christ and His kingdom, we cannot give our allegiance to these rival kingdoms.

How Does Satan Rule America?

On December 26, 2025December 25, 2025 By Tyler BoydIn Uncategorized

In the book of Job, the adversarial spiritual being known as “Satan” tells the Lord that he has been “walking to and fro on the earth” (Job 1:7). Later, Scripture speaks even more plainly as Peter warns that “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Together, these passages teach two important truths. First, Satan is indeed active in the world. But second, he is not omnipresent. Unlike God, who fills heaven and earth, Satan is a created being – limited in power, space, and knowledge.

He cannot be everywhere at once, nor can he focus personally on every individual at all times. So if Satan is neither all-powerful nor omnipresent, how is his influence so widespread?

Scripture gives us the answer: he works through deception and manipulation, operating indirectly through both heavenly powers and earthly rulers.

Satan’s Delegated Powers

The Bible reveals that Satan rules through a network of subservient spiritual beings who carry out his will. Jesus refers to “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41), and Revelation 12:9 says that “his angels were cast out with him.” These angels are real spiritual entities, operating under his command.

Satan also works through the rulers of the kingdoms of men. In Luke 4:5-7, he offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world,” declaring:

To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, worship me, it will all be yours.

That statement reveals that the nations of the world are, to a large degree, under Satan’s sway. When men reject God’s rule, they inevitably come under Satan’s. This is precisely why God warned Israel about seeking a human king.

And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of this people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”
1 Samuel 8:7

Every earthly government that operates apart from God’s law is part of this same pattern of rebellion. This is why Paul wrote:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12

Observe that Paul does not say our battle is simply against Satan himself, but against rulers and authorities – lesser powers, both spiritual and earthly, who derive their authority from him.

From Babel onward, every attempt by man to unite and govern themselves apart from God has been viewed in Scripture as rebellion. Each successive empire that flowed from Babel – Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome – follows that same pattern. Revelation 13:4 makes it clear that the “beast,” representing this kind of human government, receives “his power, throne, and authority” directly from “the dragon,” that is, from Satan.

And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

For this reason, we must learn to view earthly government itself as evidence of Satan’s ongoing rule in the world.

How This Pattern Appears in America

The United States of America is not exempt from this biblical pattern. The same spiritual forces that ruled over Babylon, Persia, and Rome still operate behind the scenes in modern nations.

Scripture teaches that the nations are not merely political realities, but spiritual ones as well. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 describes how, when God divided the nations, He “set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God,” indicating that each nation came under the oversight of its own spiritual being. Daniel 10 pulls back the curtain even further, showing us how the actions of earthly rulers reflect unseen interactions among heavenly “princes.” While Christians may differ on some of the interpretive details of these passages, what remains clear is that the nations operate under the influence of spiritual beings which stand in tension with God’s reign.

While these texts establish the reality of corrupt spiritual influences over the nations, we can also see this reality reflected in the symbols these cultures adopt for themselves. With this in mind, it’s worth noting how much of America’s national imagery draws straight from paganism. For instance, it is well known that the “D.C.” in “Washington D.C.” stands for the District of Columbia. But who is “Columbia”? Most people have never given it a second thought. Columbia was a mythical being created as a feminine personification of the spirit of America – often portrayed as a robed woman bearing a torch. The Statue of Liberty, in fact, was modeled after this image of Columbia.

Interestingly, the function of Columbia as the “spirit of America” closely resembles that of national deities in the ancient world. The Greeks personified their ideals in Athena, and the Romans embodied the power and destiny in the goddess Roma. In a similar way, Columbia was created to symbolize America’s ideals of enlightenment, liberty, and independence.

To be clear, this does not mean that Columbia is necessarily a literal goddess. We cannot identify her with any specific “principality or power” named in Scripture. Much like it would be impossible to prove that Athena and Roma accurately represent the actual spiritual rulers mentioned in Scripture, neither do we know any specific details about the actual spiritual entity that represents America. The image of Columbia can be easily explained as having arisen out of the Enlightenment-era admiration for Greek and Roman art and architecture. Scripture gives no detailed knowledge of the specific spiritual beings associated with modern nations, and it would be speculation to claim otherwise.

The existence of pagan symbols does not itself prove America’s corrupt spiritual allegiance; Scripture already does that. But the symbols arise from a culture’s imagination and reflect how a nation understands itself. In that sense, America’s pagan imagery mirrors what Scripture describes more broadly: every nation possesses a kind of spiritual “personality,” that is shaped by unseen powers that influence its values, priorities, and direction.

So while we cannot know the specific identities or characteristics of the spiritual beings who stand behind the nations, we can know what the Bible plainly teaches – that the nations of the world are ruled by spiritual powers that exist in rebellion to God.

The Rule of Satan

Here is what we know for certain from Scripture:

Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
He exercises his rule indirectly through spiritual and earthly principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12).
These powers exercise regional dominion, ruling over specific nations (Daniel 10:13, 20).

Just as the Sidonians had Ashtoreth, Moab had Chemosh, and Ammon had Molech (1 Kings 11:5-7), so too each modern nation operates under some spiritual power that mirrors what we see happening on earth.

When we see national symbols that mirror pagan forms, we should therefore take notice. The District of Columbia, the Washington Monument shaped like an Egyptian obelisk (a symbol of the sun god Ra), the Capitol city adorned with statues of Mars, the Lincoln Memorial modeled after a Greek temple – these are not insignificant. Even if their creators saw them as mere works of art, they are still pagan in origin and should remind every Christian of the deeper reality Scripture describes: America, like every other earthly nation, is under the rule of Satan and his principalities and powers.

For this reason, it should not surprise us that America is marked by constant warfare, widespread violence and division, deceptive and destructive economic policies, and the slaughter of millions of innocent children through abortion. These are the natural fruits of a kingdom ruled by Satan – the one who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). He steals through inflation and taxation, kills through war and violence, and destroys through corruption of truth and life itself.

The Christian Response

First, Christians must recognize that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Satan works through both the earthly and spiritual rulers of the nations, deceiving them and spreading his lies. Revelation 13:14 and 20:3, 8 describe him as “the deceiver of the nations.”

Therefore, earthly governments – no matter how moral or democratic they may appear – remain part of the same system that rejects Christ’s kingship.

If these things are true – and Scripture insists they are – then uncomfortable questions inevitably follow. Christians must not confuse patriotism with faithfulness to Christ, or loyalty to a nation with allegiance to the kingdom of God.

How can any Christian pledge allegiance to a kingdom ruled by powers in rebellion against Christ? Why would a follower of Jesus devote his life to the service of a government that refuses His kingship? And how would a disciple of the Prince of Peace take up arms in defense of a nation whose authority arises from rejection of God’s rule?

For the time being, Satan continues to deceive the nations. Yet his rule is neither absolute nor enduring. Because of the gospel, his defeat is certain. “Then comes the end,” Paul writes, “when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24).

Christ alone possesses “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Therefore, the hope of every Christian must never be tethered to the doomed authorities of this world, but anchored in “the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15).

Every nation bears the marks of spiritual rebellion, but only one kingdom stands eternal – the kingdom of Christ. America, like all the nations in history, will rise and fall. Its monuments will eventually crumble. But the throne of Christ will never be shaken.

Our task as Christians is not to try to reform the Satanic kingdoms of this world into slightly more Christian versions of themselves, but to bear witness to a greater kingdom – to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Our allegiance belongs to Christ alone.