Every Tribe, One Christ: Why Kinism Cannot Be Reformed

👑✝️Article 5 for The Age of Counterfeit Kingdoms, Kinism: A Counterfeit Christian Nationalism

Refuting Corey Mahler’s Gospel of Partiality

> “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”

— Acts 17:26–27

> “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

— Galatians 3:28

---

When Kinship Becomes an Idol

“If Christian nationalism doesn’t welcome every tribe to Christ’s throne, it isn’t Christian.”

That is the line we must draw clearly. In recent years, a dangerous distortion has emerged within Reformed circles under the banner of kinism. One of its most vocal advocates, Corey Mahler, has consistently twisted Reformed categories into an ethnocentric heresy. He uses the language of “nation” and “order” but empties it of the gospel, replacing Christ’s covenant with the idol of blood and soil.

Kinism is not Christian nationalism. It is not Kuyperian sphere sovereignty. It is not Calvin’s teaching on nations under God’s providence. It is a counterfeit kingdom, and Mahler’s own words prove it.

---

Mahler’s Claims, Scripture’s Answer

Mahler writes:

“Nations are defined by blood, not creed. Christianity must be embodied in distinct peoples, or it ceases to be true.”

This is a direct denial of Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3:7–9: “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” Covenant identity is never traced through bloodlines. To make Christianity “kin-bound” is to nullify grace and rebuild the very wall Christ tore down.

“Kin loyalty is God-given and must be preserved; mixing peoples is rebellion against Him.”

Yet Paul proclaims in Ephesians 2:14–16 that Christ “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.” Mahler preaches division where Christ has made unity. He calls peace “rebellion.”

“Christian nationalism cannot be multiethnic; it must be kin-based or it is doomed.”

But heaven’s throne room tells another story: “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9–10). If Mahler’s vision cannot exist in heaven, it is not the Kingdom of God.

---

A Corruption of Reformed Theology

Kinism dresses itself in Reformed clothes, but its theology is alien to the Reformation.

Calvin, commenting on Acts 17, affirmed that all nations come from one blood under God’s providence.

Kuyper’s vision of sphere sovereignty embraced Christ’s lordship over all nations, not the supremacy of one.

The Westminster Confession speaks of the catholic (universal) Church, not a kin-bound remnant.

Mahler’s distortion is not Reformed; it is reactionary. By making ethnicity central, he hands ammunition to critics who equate all Christian nationalism with racism. He poisons the well of covenantal political thought.

---

The True Shape of Christian Nationalism

The gospel calls nations to bow before Christ, but it does not sanctify ethnocentrism.

True Christian nationalism is covenantal, not racial. It acknowledges Christ as King over all peoples, bringing His law and gospel to bear on every sphere of life.

It recognizes nations as providential realities, but never as covenantal identities. The covenant is in Christ alone.

It longs for the vision of Isaiah 49:6: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

To confuse this with Mahler’s kinism is to confuse light with darkness.

---

A Pastoral Plea

Beloved, we must name wolves when they threaten the flock. Corey Mahler’s gospel of partiality is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. It replaces faith with flesh, covenant with clan, and the Kingdom with kinship.

Do not be swayed by rhetoric that flatters the flesh. Do not mistake the bitterness of online ideologues for the boldness of true prophets. The gospel is bigger than bloodlines, deeper than heritage, and broader than any tribe.

---

Closing Vision

Corey Mahler calls his vision Christian—but Christ calls it sin.

The Kingdom of God is not kin-bound; it is cross-bound. And on that final day, every tribe, tongue, and nation will gather before the Lamb—not divided by blood, but united by His.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post