• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Stephen M. Miller

Award-Winning, Bestselling Christian Author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog Features
  • Bible
  • Contact
Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

How Christian is “America First?”

Stephen M. Miller
America First billboard
AMERICAN JESUS. Would Jesus really be happy with American Christians throughout the past century who have embraced the slogan "America First?" Photo illustration by Stephen M. MIller. Photo of landscape by Agnes Monkelbaan, Wikimedia.

“AMERICA FIRST” isn’t just a slogan for our current political administration. It has been around for at least a century. President Woodrow Wilson pitched it during the 1916 election. It was even the name of an isolationist political party at the end of World War II, the America First Party, and again in 2002.

“America First” isn’t quite “Me First.”

But it is “Us First.”

And what is “Us” if not a bunch of me’s?

So “America First,” it could be argued, is a crowd of “Me First” souls.

Jesus wasn’t a Me First kind of a guy. He was a You First, Me Last kind of a guy.

From time to time, we Christians need to remind ourselves of that – if, for no other reason, to keep from mutating the name of Christ into something secular and selfish. That is not who the Bible teaches he was, or who the Bible teaches his followers should be.

When the apostle Paul wrote a letter to a new group of Christians, he gave them a model to follow. It didn’t look anything like Us First.

“You First” Christianity

“Don’t do anything for reasons that are selfish or conceited. Keep it humble. Think of other folks as more important than you are.

It’s okay to take good care of yourself. But take care of others, too.

Think the way Jesus thought.

He was God in every way

But he didn’t hoard his equality with God.

He gave it up to become a servant.

He traded the image of God for the image of a man.

He humbled himself.

Obeying God, he humbled himself to death—the most shameful death of all: crucifixion.” Philippians 2:3-8 Casual English Bible

Winners of free books

  •  Greg Bullen
  •  Rich Hribar

 I give away free books every week to randomly selected Stateside subscribers to my free blog or my quarterly newsletter.

Winners now get to choose from a stack of titles, including my most recent: A Visual Walk Through Genesis.

Note to the two winners: send me an email and I’ll give you the full list of books from which you can choose.

The deal’s good for a month, or for as long as I have giveaway books available.

Thumbnails of  Philippians maps
Philippians leader’s guide and atlas
Casual English Bible
Bible Gateway

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X

Like this:

Like Loading...
View All Posts - Ordered by Most Recent First
« Previous
Next »

About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve Grisetti

    November 16, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Part of the classic American ideal of self-determination is its dark side — I got mine, you get yours. We’re seeing it now in our debate over universal health care. Why help the poor? If they worked harder, they wouldn’t be poor, right?

    But it is strange to want to build a wall around our country to keep the non-causasians out so that our country — 10% of the world’s population — can continue to use up 90% of the world’s resources, living a standard of living that a large part of the world can’t even comprehend.

    I don’t know if the issue is spiritual or simple ethics, but it can’t be right to want to have it all and then fight to the death anyone who wants to share in it.

    Reply
    • Stephen M. Miller

      November 16, 2017 at 8:42 am

      Sure makes sense to me what you say. The prevailing attitude at the moment seems thoroughly secular to me. I don’t see Jesus behind what’s going on.

      Reply
    • George Stuart

      November 16, 2017 at 9:33 am

      One of the things Jesus knew is you had to go to them to spread the Good News. He knew there simply isn’t enough room for everyone to gather in the Holy Land.

      Reply
    • Linda

      November 19, 2017 at 11:43 am

      I am interested in book give away reading your bible plan phem, I have been taking care of my motherinlaw for 12 years day in and day out and my house my kids 4 and my husband the bible book has been my companion for this I Thankyou linda

      Reply
  2. Linda Arnold

    November 27, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    The slogan “America First” is all about saving our country as one, the United States of America. We can either take back our country or loose it. If we do not defend the good of American citizens and America as a whole first and foremost, we will no longer exist as a Republic with the Constitution our foundation. Yes, we must make our nation number 1. If you are an American, America should be first. It does not stop you from living like Christ. “Israel First” is God’s slogan!!!!! And He hasn’t changed His mind in over 3,500 years!

    Reply
    • Stephen M. Miller

      November 28, 2017 at 2:02 pm

      There are plenty of fairly reasonable arguments for Americans to put “America First.” I just haven’t heard any that are Christian.

      The philosophy of putting America first and everyone else second, with perhaps immigrants last, doesn’t seem to mesh with the teachings of the man on whom Christianity is based. Christians put others first and they welcome orphans, widows, and immigrants (“strangers in the land” as many Bible translations put it).

      I know that a lot of Christians disagree. But so far, I haven’t heard any one of them make a case from the teachings of Jesus. Instead, they make a case from a non-Christian, secular philosophy of life that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the Bible or Christianity. It seems to have more to do with the teachings of talking heads on selected TV and radio programs.

      Our source of information matters. A lot. Garbage in…

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Casual English Bible Website

Featured Book

Complete Guide to the Bible

Complete Guide to the Bible
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Books-A-Million
Buy from Christian Book Distributor
Buy from Google Play

Latest Posts

  • When our faith glitches May 5, 2025
  • Job is the right book for me now April 16, 2025
  • Q for AI: “Do most scholars say Jesus never existed?” April 3, 2025

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog Features
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · Stephen M. Miller · All Rights Reserved

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Reject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
%d