Save America Ministries

Chuck Crismier: Is it possible that we have actually missed the whole purpose of patriotism? Is it possibly that we have so minimized the purpose of patriotism that, in fact, many have looked at patriotism as something very negative? In fact, calling it Christian nationalism, for instance. Many are calling patriotism Christian nationalism because who of the younger generations today feels patriotic toward their country?

It appears that patriotism has long since lost the bright shininess of the silver and gold and so on that once graced our nation's patriotism. Today, we're not here to flag wave, but we are here to take a look at the purpose of patriotism and why this is very important. In fact, if you look at it from the actual, the average person's viewpoint, the average person's viewpoint does not look at the Constitution as a means for organizing the government, but actually looks at the Constitution as a means of protecting the rights of the people.

The rights of the people are actually in the form of 10 amendments to the Constitution that were ratified on December 15, 1791. They were added to protect individual liberties, to limit government power, even beyond that which was limited in the body of the Constitution itself, and to secure civil rights. So, we're going to take a look at that here today on Viewpoint, but we're going to take a look at it in the context of the assaults on that civil liberty.

To take a look at the assaults on the basic freedoms because if we're not willing to take a serious look at those assaults, then in reality, we would be hard-pressed to call ourselves patriots. And so, I welcome you to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms, and I trust that today will be perhaps transforming for some folk as we take a deeper look. Some people would call it a deeper dive concerning the matter or purpose of patriotism.

In order to take a look at this, perhaps we should take a look at some of the things that are happening in the realm of, shall we say, the abuse of the Bill of Rights, the abuse of constitutional privileges, and so on that are taking place not only in America, but around the world. And so, we do that very quickly. We'll start with China. Chinese President Xi Jinping has used digital surveillance and harsh prison sentences to silence activists, lawyers, and business leaders who speak out against government policies to a degree many observers would have considered impossible when he took power more than a decade ago.

But Xi has struggled to fully control Christians who number in the tens of millions in China. The Wall Street Journal came out with this piece discussing this serious issue. While China permits Christianity when practiced in state-approved churches that align with the Communist Party ideology and submit to government surveillance, not so much any other church. But the period just before Xi's rise to power was a moment of rapid growth for Christianity in China as more people sought spirituality to balance their lives amid the nation's economic upswing.

Many in China turned to evangelical house churches, small congregations that operated outside the system of official churches, but were often tolerated so long as they didn't create trouble. By the way, did you know that when our country first started here, the United States of America, there were official churches? Did you know that? The Anglican Church was deemed to be the official church. The official church. And so, if you were a Baptist, for instance, in Virginia, you were subject to imprisonment.

Oh, yes, you were subject to imprisonment. And if you went up to Maryland, you were in deep trouble if you didn't toe the line to Anglicanism. And then went up to Pennsylvania, you might face the same problems. So, Anglicanism was, whether announced formally, was actually the official religion in America. Well, it's hard for us to believe that this problem in China could relate actually to what happened here in America.

But the Danbury Baptists in 1803 were very concerned about this issue of a national, declared national denomination. Not so much a declared national religion, but a declared national denomination because they were Baptists. And so, in Danbury, Connecticut, they decided to write a letter to Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson, our third president. And in there, they decided to actually make a request or an inquiry whether or not there was an intent to make Anglicanism the official religion or Christian denomination of the colonies.

He wrote back in his letter to the Danbury Baptists and therein included the sentence or line about the wall of separation between the government and the church. That was not in the Constitution. But Thomas Jefferson said that by reason of the freedoms that are promised to the country, to the citizens of the country in the Bill of Rights, there was, in effect, a wall of division or separation between the church and the state such that the state could not control or demand what the church would do, its doctrines and practices.

But the church would be able to have the effect of affecting the government. In other words, because of the nature of the very people that were in the church, even though the government could not control the church and Christians, the Christians could actually have impact and import upon the government. In other words, there was a handle that was a door between the government and the church, but there was no handle on the side of the government to enter the church realm. But there was a handle on the church realm because of We the People to speak into the life of the government.

That having been said, we take a further look at what was happening in China. Many over the past decade turned to evangelical house churches, small congregations that operated outside the system of official churches sponsored by the government, but were often tolerated so long as they didn't create trouble. Well, after Xi took power, crackdowns intensified on churches. Authorities interrogated churchgoers, threatened them with job losses, pressured landlords who rented space to congregations.

The issue returned to the spotlight after Donald Trump became president and said he would raise the case of imprisoned Pastor Ezra Jin, head of Zion Church, during his state visit to China. Trump later said Xi Jinping was seriously considering releasing the pastor, who has been jailed since last October. Jin's daughter, Grace, has rallied support in Congress and said Trump bringing up the case with Xi Jinping is an important step in winning her father's release.

But a difficult road lies ahead, according to the Wall Street Journal. China's foreign ministry said the country handles judicial cases and religious affairs in accordance with its laws and it opposes the US using religious issues as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs. China does not have religious freedom, although it may say so, only according to government strictures. In other words, the government is in control.

Many believers insist that the more Beijing authorities seek to suppress Christianity in China, the more the faith will spread and grow stronger. "It's the highest honor for a Christian for people like Pastor Jin being put in prison," said Sean Long, another pastor at Zion. "That's exactly the mark of following Jesus." Well, indeed, it may be. So, we see in China this problem.

The problem that the freedoms that we enjoy are not there. In fact, so much not there that there are untold thousands, indeed, millions of people in prison, in slave labor camps, and actually having had their lives taken by, shall we say, illicit surgeries to take out their organs and who knows how many other kinds of means that Christians, followers of Christianity, or perhaps the Falun Gong and so on are experiencing there in China.

In Iran, a Christian woman persecuted by Iranian regime sentenced to nine years in prison. It just came out. A Christian convert in Iran has been sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison on trumped-up charges linked to state security and anti-government activity after her Bible and Christian literature were seized during a January raid this year on her home. She's a Catholic convert and former prisoner of conscience was sentenced on charges including propaganda against the state because anything that has to do with Christianity is by definition in Iran against the state.

The sentence was issued by the Revolutionary Court, which recently sanctioned the European Union and has issued harsh sentences against political prisoners, including Christians. Maryam Marsband was re-arrested in January at her home in Tehran. Her Bible and other Christian books were confiscated and she was taken to an undisclosed location without an explanation for the arrest.

Two hours after the arrest, she called her husband and said she was being held at the Ministry of Intelligence detention center. She then had no contact with her family for the next month. She was left incommunicado from her family and her husband. During interrogation, Marsband was pressed to admit that her Bible and Christian literature had been used for evangelizing.

She spent two months in Evin Prison in 2024 after being convicted of propaganda against the regime. She was arrested again in November of 2024 after protesting against harassment that followed her conversion to Catholicism seven years earlier. After her conversion, Marsband, who had been an Islamic law graduate, was barred from taking her bar examination and pressured to leave Iran.

Her husband, also a convert to Christianity, had been unable to obtain medication needed to manage his Parkinson's disease. The story goes on and on. You can see where this is heading. Both spouses basically received a sentence because now Marsband, the wife, is unable to care for her husband who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, and he is now prevented from getting his medication.

The arrest came days after thousands of protesters were killed, including at least 22 Christians during a crackdown on anti-government protests, according to a previous report here on this program. Iranian authorities restrict religious freedom and impose arrests, long-term prison terms, and harsh treatment on Christians, especially converts from Islam because officials treat their faith activity as a state security threat. In other words, in Iran, religion has no protection unless, of course, you are Muslim. In other words, there was a state religion, in fact, a state religion in effect, contrary to what we have in the United States of America.

When you think about this and you take it to heart, if we take it to heart, we will realize what a precious thing we have in the Bill of Rights. You say, what does the Bill of Rights have to do with that? Well, here's the interesting thing. Whether you realize it or not, the First Amendment is the most important of the 10 amendments, that is the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment contains five specific provisions.

The very first provision considered by our founders as the most important of all was freedom of religion. Freedom of religion then is America's first freedom. Now, the National Rifle Association says the Second Amendment is America's first freedom. No, it is not. They think, and they have reasoned, that without the Second Amendment, the First Amendment would have no teeth to it. Well, I understand their argument, but the truth is from a principled standpoint, America's first freedom is the freedom of religion.

From their perspective as founders, religion referred primarily to the Christian faith because Mohammedanism, as they called it, was actually greatly feared and hated by the founders. Now, that may come as a surprise to you, but it's true. So when they talked about religion, they were talking either about Judaism or Christianity, primarily Christianity, because that was at the foundation of the country going all the way back to 1607, 1620, and 1630.

That having been said, then, patriotism from the founders' viewpoint was deeply rooted in the principles of the Christian faith. Therefore, freedom of religion was actually the foremost of all America's freedom from the viewpoint of the founders. Now, you may not think that today, but that's what they thought and that's what they protected. And we take it rather cavalierly today.

Today, the thinking generally is all religions should be free to practice in America because of the First Amendment. Theoretically, that is true, but that's not how the founders actually looked at it. They looked at the religion of the country as the Christian faith, regardless of what denomination you were part of. So in Maryland, they adopted the Roman Catholic version of the Christian faith. Baptists were picked up in a variety of different places, always having to fight for freedom to practice as Baptists. Anglicans were given a, shall we say, always a pass because they were at the very root of the founders' religion or denomination, so to speak.

Then you go up to William Penn in Pennsylvania and you go up to other areas up there in the northeast and you find that religious freedom was broadened into other aspects of the Christian faith. Not other faiths, the Christian faith. So if we want to look at the purpose of patriotism, the purpose of patriotism begins to be rooted in the incredible protection value that is placed upon our practice of our faith.

Next came the freedom of speech. Next came the freedom of the press. Next came the right to peaceful assembly. And finally, the right to petition the government. Those were the five elements of the very first of the 10 amendments constituting the Bill of Rights. They couldn't get the Constitution passed without the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was absolutely essential in the minds and hearts of many of the founders in order to validate and protect the very existence and practice of the Constitution, the body of the Constitution itself.

Then came the Second Amendment that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It doesn't say the right of the people to keep and bear arms for the purpose of forming a militia. It says the right of the people to keep and bear arms for whatever purpose they have. The Third Amendment prohibits the government from forcing citizens to quarter or house soldiers in their private homes during peacetime.

In other words, the government cannot treat your house as the government's house, which, by the way, brings up a whole new issue that is just now being dealt with politically in our country. And that is the matter of property taxes. You see, what happens with property taxes is, in effect, the government owns your house because if you don't pay the tax, the government takes your house. Therefore, you owe your soul to the company store of the government and the government owns your house for all practical purposes.

It is unrighteous. It's contrary to the spirit of the Bill of Rights, contrary to the spirit of patriotism, and needs to be changed all over the country in every state of the union. Find another way to support the government. We'll be right back.

Guest (Female): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals. Saveus.org: marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, saveus.org, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcasts live and archived at Save America Ministries website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Again, I welcome you back to Viewpoint. We're talking about the purpose of patriotism today on the program. Patriotism is not just a feeling that we have about our government. It's about the substance behind it that actually generates the reason for the feeling. Because the feelings are fickle. If you cannot have faith in your government to protect your basic freedoms as a person, as a citizen, then why indeed would you have patriotism toward your government and your country? Why would you have that?

Your patriotism is going to be severely tested unless you want to just tie your patriotism to the fact that you were born in a particular country or that your family was raised in a particular country for generations. And then I understand how you would have the attachment there to the country. But with every freedom that is eroded by the government, your patriotism is put at risk because patriotism is not just a feeling.

It actually involves a kind of legitimate faith that you put in the government to live out the purposes for which the country was formed. In other words, the Constitution. It doesn't supersede your faith in God, but it relies upon God's purposes for government. If we were to go back to Romans Chapter 13 and also one of the epistles, we would find that the Apostle Paul, in fact, I think the Apostle Peter also, talks about the purposes of government.

The purposes of government is not to provide all your needs. In fact, it's not to provide any of your needs. That's God's purpose. The purpose of government is to protect the citizens from enemies foreign and domestic. That is the sole purpose of government from a biblical viewpoint: to protect the citizens from enemies foreign and domestic. Then, to reward those who do good and to punish those who do evil. You can read about that very specifically laid out in Romans Chapter 13 and also I believe it's in Second Peter or First Peter.

So, this understanding of government is rooted in the scriptures. Our founders knew that. They understood these principles and for that reason gave us a government, a republic, not a democracy, a republic if we could keep it. And that's why Benjamin Franklin, after the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked him coming out from Philadelphia Hall, Independence Hall, "What kind of government have you given us, sir?" And he said, "A republic, ma'am, if you can keep it."

Well, keeping it depends upon the patriotism of the people. It depends upon the purpose that the people understand for the foundation of the government that becomes rooted deeply in their minds and their hearts so that they can look upon their government to fulfill God's purposes on the planet, on earth, for government. And that is to protect the people from enemies foreign and domestic. In other words, from evil coming from without and evil coming from within.

So if you have people that are robbing banks, that's an enemy domestic. If you have rockets coming in from Lebanon or from Iran or Russia, that's an enemy foreign. If you have spies coming in from foreign lands, that's an enemy foreign. We need to protect ourselves against those. If you have parents who abuse their children, that's an enemy domestic.

One of the interesting things about our laws is that there is protection, for instance, in the Fourth Amendment, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants based upon probable cause. The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process, protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy, requires grand juries and demands just compensation for seized private property. Perhaps the only type of criminal behavior today, or behavior however you want to describe it, that seems to escape the constitutional protection of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment is accusations of child molestation.

As a former trial attorney practicing in California, the largest family court of the nation, the Los Angeles Superior Court system, I cannot tell you how many times I witnessed the government taking people, charging them with offenses such as child abuse, child molestation, and they are presumed guilty until proven innocent. And it's almost impossible to prove yourself innocent because even if you do, the court will come back and say, "Well, we're going to err on the side of caution."

How many times have I seen that happen? So, it's very hard to get justice and truth and protection in the civil court system and in the criminal system when it comes to issues of so-called child molestation or abuse. Almost impossible. Very difficult. It's unfortunate. But as the feeling base of our country has shifted from truth to feelings, that has caused the practice of law and so-called justice in areas of the family to be twisted and to be morphed in ways other than had previously been understood and practiced.

I'm just sharing from the inside out how these things work. So much so that the supervising judge of the Pasadena Superior Court in Los Angeles County, California, actually wrote a letter to the editor of the Pasadena Star News pleading with the citizens of Los Angeles County to stop filing these illegitimate abuse and molestation charges because they were being used to try to gain dominion in child custody cases.

He says this is not right. We're seeing this as a habit pattern that people are doing, particularly women that are using this against their husbands, against the fathers of their children. And he said, please, stop this practice. It is not lawful. All right. That having been said, you may have a situation where you know of a truly true molestation or so on. I'm not talking about that, but I'm talking about a practice across the country, maybe it started in California, but across the country where women use abuse and molestation charges to try to gain an upper hand for custody of the kids.

That's just a straight-out statement and it is true. All right. Now, we're talking about the purpose of patriotism. The purpose of patriotism is to secure the rights to us and to our posterity of the very provisions of the Constitution and its protections. So if you go to the very preamble of the Constitution, it begins with "We the People." It's not "We the Government." It's "We the People."

In order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, to promote domestic tranquility, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. All of that is at risk. It's always been at risk because as We the People became more and more sinful, we put at risk the very foundations of freedom as we understand them.

In other words, the purpose of patriotism should be to secure the legitimate purposes of government from God's viewpoint as secured to us in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights or the rest of the amendments. I urge you to get a copy of my book, "Renewing the Soul of America: One Person at a Time Beginning with You," because it'll help get a much more personal look at our lives, at our history, at how our founders looked at life, what happened in our country to undo much of the purpose of patriotism.

Why patriotism has been at risk seriously since 1990 when Patterson and Kim wrote the book, an amazing book, "The Day America Told the Truth." "The Day America Told the Truth." But get a copy of my book, "Renewing the Soul of America," and it'll help you to understand I incorporate a lot of the things that Patterson and Kim included in their book, but a lot more to help us to understand in a more Christian viewpoint a way of looking at life so that we can really see what has happened and what to do about it.

That's why 38 national Christian leaders endorsed that book because it really did provide the answers. If, as Pat Robertson once said, we had the courage to implement them. If. Always the big if. Get a copy of the book. $15. We'll put it in your hands. It's on our website, saveus.org. "Renewing the Soul of America." On the website, saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA. That's 1-800-SAVE-USA.

Write to us at Save America Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255, writing a check, add $6 for postage and handling. I don't think you're going to be disappointed. And when you get to the final third of the book, oh my, it's going to open up not only our heritage but our future. Our future hope is all set forth there in clear, almost painted in technicolor for us to see, if, as Pat Robertson said, we have the courage to implement it.

All right. Now, we move forward again taking a further look at the purpose of patriotism and for that we come to the United States. Today, thousands were expected at Gracie Mansion there in New York. Why? For a rally organized by anti-Jew hatred to protect rising extremist antisemitism and intimidation. Leaders of multiple faiths to speak at 7:00 tonight. Wow. Religion is stayed by.

Guest (Male): And you're concerned with what the early church was like. Maybe you're developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our kind of life as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the backdoor of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century?

Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church frequently together and broke bread from house to house. They were family. It was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about the body, not a building. That's saveus.org, click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: The new Mayor of New York is a dedicated fundamentalist Muslim. Not just any old Muslim, a dedicated fundamentalist Muslim, much like those who carry on terrorist attacks in various areas of the world, including in the United States of America. But he was elected. He was elected by young people in this country who had lost the purpose of patriotism. They no longer had any sense of patriotism. They had no sense of love of country, not really. It was all about them. They had the "gimme God" blues, entitlement. Give me what I want.

And so, they were able to elect a radical Muslim 31-year-old, 32-year-old to be mayor of the largest city in America that set the tone for America worldwide. And was it a threat? The First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment. In fact, most of the amendments in the Bill of Rights are at risk under Mandami. And so, this evening, there's a rally scheduled outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan in order to rise up against what is perceived today, Islamist radical mobs that have flooded the streets and attacked houses of worship. Get at it while we can, otherwise intimidation, antisemitism, extreme violence is going to become normalized in the city.

You think we don't need the Bill of Rights today? It's under attack. Big time. In addition to that, in Texas, who of you would believe this was happening in Texas? A Texas school that allowed Muslim groups to pass out a Quran on campus is warning parents now about Bible distribution on the same campus. A Dallas area podcaster and radio host says he is planning to distribute copies of the Bible to a local high school where a Muslim group was allowed to pass out the Quran to students earlier this year.

He was inspired by listeners and followers who have been asking me to pass out Bibles instead of Qurans, he said. So, why would the government and the school district be seeking to prohibit passing out of Bibles which were at the foundation of this country and Congress actually printed the first official Bibles in this country? Did you know that? Why then would there be a rising up in government and the school district against the distribution of Bibles?

In other words, the First Amendment is under stress, yes, even in Texas, the great Republic of Texas. Yes, it's everywhere, friends. It's not just in California. It's not just in Massachusetts and Vermont, in New York. It's in Oregon, Washington, Texas, Virginia, everywhere.

The purpose of patriotism, friends, is to secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that were designed to fulfill and carry out insofar as possible God's purposes for government. That's what our founders had in mind. They looked around the world and history and they saw what happened when so-called democracies rose up in Greece or in Rome and they said this doesn't work. It's not durable. They looked at the so-called French Revolution and they looked at what happened there and how violence coursed through the streets of Paris, blood flowing like water down the streets of Paris as hundreds, thousands of heads fell off Madame Guillotine into the tumbrels as they roared down the streets of Paris.

They said this isn't the government we want. And yet in Paris and in France, their government was based upon despising the Christian faith, rejecting the Christian faith, making it an outlaw, essentially, to practice the Christian faith to such vigorous standards as to actually change the days of the week, to change the number of days in a week from seven to 10 so it would not even look anything like the Bible. That's how vigorous the spirit of anti-God patriotism was in France.

And it couldn't endure. Even Robespierre, the attorney that was at fomenting all of this stuff, eventually was called Messiah and a day or two after he was declared Messiah, he himself lost his head to the raging mobs. Our government, our founders saw all of this and they said no. We're going to base our Constitution and the Bill of Rights upon what will most likely achieve the biblical purposes for government: to protect our citizens from enemies foreign and domestic. Not to provide them welfare. Not to provide them free stuff. Not to seduce them with political giveaways.

That's what's happened and developed over time as men rejected God's purposes for the country and true patriotism and was not patriotic from the viewpoint of the founders of this country. The 10th Amendment states that any powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or to the people. That's why they call them states' rights. All right. In other words, to keep the federal government from having too much dictatorial power.

The purpose was to unify the states around the basic purposes of the Constitution but not to allow the federal government to be a dictator. That provision is being tested all the time, over and over and over again. And so the courts then are looked to to protect the states and the people from the overarching dictatorial rule of a federal government.

Then again, the states, many of them are seeking to unpatriotically, actually, prepare their people for ungodly lifestyles that put at risk the union of the states. And so, that is what we see, for instance, with regard to such states as Colorado, constantly, constantly, constantly seeking to undo the protections of religious freedom, speech, press, and so on for Christians. This may be a bit of an unusual way of taking a look at the issue or the matter of patriotism, but I think a very important one.

Now if we were to go to India, for instance, which is the largest population country in the world, that Mr. Modi heading up the nation of India has declared India to be a Hindu state. So is he promoting Hindu nationalism? Absolutely. From his viewpoint, it's not that India is to be a Hindu state just in general. It's that he intends for India to be completely dominated by Hinduism and therein lies the difference.

There's no protection for religious freedom there, even though the Indian government there says there is. Just ask practicing Christians in India whether they have such protections. It doesn't work out that way. Neither does it work out that way in northern Nigeria where persecution of Christians is happening in such amazing numbers as to sicken the soul.

Friends, we have an amazing precious gift in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It's for We the People if we can keep it. Thanks for joining us. Get a copy of the book "Renewing the Soul of America." You won't be disappointed. $15 on our website, saveus.org. God bless and let's be a true Christian patriot.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. We urge you to become a part of what Chuck is doing, as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Trust us next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.