Pastor Urging Churches Across Nation to Join Him in Placing Christian Flag Above American Flag: ‘We Serve God Before Government’

A North Carolina pastor is urging people of faith across the nation to raise a Christian flag above the American flag to demonstrate that God, and not the U.S. government, is the ultimate authority.

According to a report from WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, pastor Rit Varriale first installed a prominent flag pole outside Elizabeth Baptist Church last week, placing the Christian flag at the top and the American flag below it.

“Our typical flag etiquette is to have the American flag above the Christian flag. But when you stop and think about it, it should be our commitment to God first, then our commitment to country,” he told WBTV.

“We should be flying the Christian flag above the American flag as a demonstration that Christians will respect and obey the federal government up to the point that the government asks something that is inconsistent with what God has called His people to do,” Pastor Varriale told the Baptist Press, explaining that he got the idea from another church in Shelby, Focus Missionary Baptist Church, who raised the Christian flag several months ago.

“In large part we started going wrong when we stopped standing up for things that are inherently part of the Christian life, like prayer,” the pastor said. “The admonition from the government to stop praying in the public school system was packaged under the notion of rights — the rights of the individual.” The minority didn’t want to pray and felt they should not be asked to pray in a government institution, Varriale said. However, the public school is not only a government institution, he said, but a place that serves the people of the community. “Any institution should be able to reflect the values of the people who live there,” he said. (Read more from “Pastor Urging Churches Across Nation to Join Him in Placing Christian Flag Above American Flag: ‘We Serve God Before Government'” HERE)

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