to Christ alone is my loyalty given

Vacation Bible School is one of the great forces that impacted my young life growing up. I remember vividly many of the lessons, activities, crafts, and people which made VBS such a great experience for me.

The reason I bring VBS though, is not for the lessons planned by the leaders, but for the lesson taught unintentionally by the VBS processional. The processional, as I am going to call it, is during the first part of the day of VBS. The leaders would find some students to carry the American flag, the Christian flag, and an ancient Bible the size of a coffee table to the front of the sanctuary. We would then pledge our allegiance, in turn, to these three items.

What I began to learn then did not become apparent until recently. I had learned to place my allegiance to country either equal to or above my allegiance to Christ. Now this is not in any way an intended lesson, but it was a lesson I learned. Think about it with me. The three flags come out being led by the American flag. The three pledges are stated, starting with the pledge to the American flag. What we are essentially telling our children is that allegiance to the state is more important than allegiance to Christ. I heard in a sermon a couple weeks ago that when Christians in America are polled about what is most important to them, the church comes fourth. Behind family, country, and work.

I noticed how this message is being portrayed to us in many areas all the time. For example, there is a flag pole here on Milligan campus. It sits at the top of the hill, so it is seen all over campus. At the top of the flag pole is a giant American flag, much to big for the pole itself. It covers over 1/3 of the overall height of the pole. Beneath this flag, and much much smaller, is a Christian flag. The message: Christianity is a of secondary importance.

Jesus has this to say in Matthew 5:33-37:

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And to not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

This passage clearly states that oaths, or pledges, should not be used by Christians at all! The word allegiance actually means "the loyalty of a citizen to his or her government or of a subject to his or her sovereign" (Dictionary.com). When we say that we pledge allegiance to the US, we are saying we are completely and utterly loyal to them. As Christians in this day and age, we should know better. The government is moving more and more radically away from a "Christian" worldview, yet we keep pledging. Shame on us.

Regardless of the attitude of the government, we should not swear an oath to it. We should not allow any symbol of Christianity to be placed subserviently to any political flag.

I pledge no more to the world, or any government. I am a Christian, and I serve Christ alone.