Baptist Woman Designs American Christian Flag
What America needs is a new Christian flag. At least that’s what Marcia Thompson Eldreth thought in April 2003, when her Southern Baptist pastor preached that every believer should fly the Christian flag, even if someone had to make a new one.
The idea stuck with Eldreth, a trained artist and member of Pleasant View Baptist Church in Port Deposit, Md., who had done several drawings and paintings over the years.
According to a testimony on her Web site, Eldreth wondered why people aren’t flying the existing Christian flag, a white banner with a blue canton and a red cross, which is a staple in many church sanctuaries. “It is crisp and dignified, but politely cold,” she concluded. “I knew there was a need for an additional flag.”
Dubbed “Beauty and Bands,” after Zechariah 11:7, her flag design features an eagle carrying a wooden cross, representing American Christians taking the gospel around the world. A band of purple represents Christ’s royalty, a white field his purity, a red ring his shed blood and a blue circle his bruises.
Fifty stars create the border of the flag. They represent “all the Christians of the United States banding together to protect our right to preach the gospel and to protect our Christian heritage.”
“Our nation was built on Christian principles,” she said on her Web site. “We believe this is why God has blessed us with bounty and strength.”
Scriptures on the flag are Matthew 24:4, “Take heed lest no man deceive you,” and Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world ... and then shall the end come.”
The site also carries a pledge to the new flag: “I pledge allegiance, to the Christian Flag of the United States of America, and to the Lord, who made us great and free. I purpose, to band together, with all believers, to protect the truth and liberty of God.”...
