Telling people that they cannot pledge allegiance to their flag/ country and still love and serve the Lord is ludicrous! I am a Christian. I love my Lord and serve Him as faithfully as I am able in my human form. I also love my country. Pledging allegiance is not a form of worship, it a declaration of respect and faithfulness. Dear Me!!! I guess in your eyes, I also can’t love my husband and pledge faithfulness to him. I truly believe that people will have to answer to God for misleading His flock. After browsing your website, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes come judgment day. S____

Hi S____,
Thank you for taking the time to express your concern for my teachings regarding Christians pledging their allegiance to the kingdoms of this world. 
I don’t think you will find a word on iswasandwillbe. com that singles out the United States as God’s enemy. I think that if you read the letters on the site dealing with the subject of military service you will have to admit that I have expressed my love and admiration for all who do what they do with good conscience.

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [ he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [ is] not of faith is sin.

That verse applies to me and to my conscience, just as much as it applies to you. None of us can put men ahead of God and please God at the same time.
It is that definition of what is sin, “whatever is not of faith is sin,” that gives us the understanding of how “the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” It takes great spiritual maturity to stand with Christ and die with Him instead of fighting for Him as Peter and all orthodox Christians want us all to do. But what does Christ say to Peter and to all who side with Peter before Peter’s conversion?

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

It is not a physical sword that slew Peter for doing what he did. We all must die to the desire to fight to preserve our lives, just as Peter had to die to that desire.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Here is where Peter’s unconverted actions led him:

Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

Every time we disobey Christ’s doctrines we are blaspheming His name, and in our own time we will all “weep bitterly” in repentance.
Much of my adult life was in complete accord with my own feelings. I literally despised the ‘peaceniks’ of the Vietnam era. But as I grew in the knowledge of Christ, I noticed that He never once advocated that His followers resist the power of the Roman empire or the power of the Jewish leaders, except where the words of those powers conflicted with His doctrine. Now here is Christ’s doctrine:

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Orthodox Christianity, on the other hand, teaches that you should resist and demonstrate and vote against all evils in this age. Not only should you demonstrate and vote against evil, but according to orthodox Christian ministers, it is a sin if you do not vote and if you do not fight with and kill the enemies of your country. In contrast to such false ministers, Christ refused to be made a leader in this world and died as a result of that conviction. Christ went so far as to state this only five verses after telling His true disciples ‘resist not evil but turn the other cheek:’

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48  Be [ Greek, become] ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Your orthodox minister agrees with our political parties that those words should actually read, ‘Love your enemy, unless he means you and your country and your family real bodily harm, in which case you should “step on him like a cockroach”, to quote one very well known Baptist minister.
Contrast such words with those of Christ and His apostles, who knew they were to “be subject unto the powers that be,” but who also realized that they had to “resist not evil” and they had to “love their enemies,” and would rather die than to disobey Christ. What did all of Christ’s apostles teach when it came to obeying their political leaders when the commandments of those leaders contradicted the doctrines of Christ?

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

If Christ or any of His many martyrs who witnessed to their faith with their lives, had taken the stance of “the seven churches of Asia,” who all forsook God’s apostles over this very issue of being obedient to God rather than men; if Christ or His faithful had taken the stance of the historical orthodox Christian church, typified in scripture by those “seven churches of Asia”, then Christ would have called down those 12 legions of angels and would have set up a physical kingdom in His day and you and I would have no sacrifice for our sins.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53  Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54  But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

But Christ and His apostles actually taught and died for what Christ taught, and reminded those who God had placed in their charge, and those who were given ears to hear, that their true citizenship was not on this earth, but it was in heaven:

Php 3:18  I often warned you that many people are living as enemies of the cross of Christ. And now with tears in my eyes, I warn you again
Php 3:19  that they are headed for hell! They worship their stomachs and brag about the disgusting things they do. All they can think about are the things of this world.
Php 3:20  But we are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Savior to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ
Php 3:21  has power over everything, and he will make these poor bodies of ours like his own glorious body. (CEV)

As “citizens of heaven” we are “ambassadors for Christ” on this earth:

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [ you] by us: we pray [ you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

No ambassador can participate in the political and military affairs of his host country without facing a conflict of interest. Neither you nor I can serve Christ who says “Love you enemies and do good to them” while we are more concerned with what this world thinks of us for refusing to kill our enemies. What Christ did, what His apostles did and what all of his true witnesses do, is far more challenging and far more loving of both God and their fellow man, than all the supposed and sincere but misguided so- called love of all the patriots of all the countries of all the world of all time. Laying down one’s life to obey God is the only true Biblical definition of the word ‘Love’ that exists or that matters. Here is God’s definition of what is love. And this is the only way you can truly love any one and that includes loving and being faithful to your husband. Do you believe these words? I have no interest in winning an argument, but I will gladly suffer your reproaches and the reproaches of this world, and hopefully be willing even to die for the words of Christ and His apostles, and I will let all men be liars.

You state:
“I am a Christian. I love my Lord and serve Him as faithfully as I am able in my human form. I also love my country.”

Here now is the only definition of love and faithfulness, whether for your husband or your brothers in Christ or even your enemies, that exists so far as God and Christ are concerned:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For t his is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Nothing else is Biblical love. Everything else is a false love which will lead to spiritual death. Christ commands us to love our enemies and to stay uninvolved in the affairs of this age.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

“Her iniquities” are claiming to love God while ignoring what God says:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

It is not easy to stand for “the things Christ says. Here is what Christ said would happen after his death:

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

‘Many’ means the majority, so ask yourself, whose doctrine do you think holds sway over the majority? Christ’s doctrine of “resist not evil,” or man’s and the orthodox Christian churches doctrine which declares “all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to fail to resist?” I think we both know that the doctrine of Christ cost Him his life 2000 years ago and it is still costing Him the lives of those who are faithful and true witnesses to His doctrine.

Luk 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Christ told us that we cannot serve two masters. That means we cannot serve two kingdoms, and here is the only kingdom to which Christ would have us to pledge our allegiance. If you or your husband are loyal to this kingdom you will have no trouble being loyal to one another.
Christ also told us this:

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is  not of this world:  if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.  

Can you say those words with Christ? “If my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight.” I feel very comfortable repeating those words along with our Savior. I do not want to hear Him ask me “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?”

I will close with your own words:

“I truly believe that people will have to answer to God for misleading His flock,”

I am also aware that “God is working all things after the counsel of His own will,” and in His time we will all put our allegiance to Him ahead of our allegiance to any of “the kingdoms of this world.”
Your brother in Christ,
Mike