As a disclaimer, I am a conservative and wholeheartedly reject the liberal progressive movements in this nation and around the world. Further, I am a supporter of the Constitution of the United States and believe that in its original form, it has served this nation well and stood the test of time. I believe that we should defend the Constitution, it should be taught in schools, and that Christians should know and understand its history and value as a founding document of this nation.

That being said, the U.S. Constitution is not the Word of God—and the pulpit is reserved for preaching the Word of God.

You may remember General Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor for Donald Trump, who spent time in prison on bogus charges of a “Russian collusion” involving himself, the former president, and the Russian government. I won’t go into the details here. However, since Flynn has been released from prison and pardoned by Trump, as well as the evidence clearing him of any wrongdoing, he has become an icon in the conservative speaking circuit. Flynn now travels around from rally to rally largely with groups like Turning Point USA and American Faith to preach an American Gospel devoid of any actual biblical content.

To be clear, the Bible is conservative. In fact, it could be better said that conservatism comes from the Bible. One cannot read the Bible, believe it, and come away with a progressive ideology. It is not possible to be a Christian and not be conservative—however, it is very possible to be a conservative and not be a Christian.

It appears that this is where a lot of the right-wing political figureheads like Michael Flynn happen to be. While much of their conservative ideology is in alignment with biblical principles, it is obvious and clear that their theology is not. Such is the case with a recent message preached by Flynn.

At an American Faith rally, Flynn says that pastors and churches should be preaching the Constitution as much as they do the Bible.

“75, 80 percent of our Constitution, of our way of life in this country, is based on biblical principles,” Flynn preached.

“That’s what pastors need to be doing,” he continued, “that’s what a pastor does when they’re leading their flock.”

He then went on to admit that he doesn’t know a lot of the Bible. “And not standing there pretending that they know a lot of verses in the Bible,” he said, “which I don’t. All I know is that they can’t preach that without that thing called the United States Constitution.”

So if that’s true, that pastors can’t preach the Bible “without that thing called the United States Constitution,” then that begs the question: how has the Church ever survived throughout history? How did the Church survive the Roman persecution? How did the Church survive the Protestant Reformation as thousands were killed and burned at the stake for standing up for their faith?

I submit to you that the religion of the religious right that includes men like Michael Flynn—while he’s well-intentioned and has a heart for this nation—is not Christianity, is not biblical, and is nothing more than a conservative political movement disguised as Christianity.

This isn’t to say that politics or political ideology should never be discussed from the pulpit or that Christians shouldn’t engage, even heavily at times, in politics. But to suggest that political ideology or that the U.S. Constitution is on equal grounds with the Word of God is simply nonsense and should be rejected by any Christian who actually believes the Word of God and stands on it as the sole authority and the gospel as the sole power to save.