Truth is the Revolution

A conflict has developed between religious truth and scientific truth. It’s a false conflict. Religious truths are not less than scientific truths at all, they are a part of the same class, and this is easy to prove. See below.

In the west, in modern society, religious truth is a second-class citizen. Scientific truths are trustworthy. Scientific truths are solid. Scientific truths are the only acceptable truths. The problem with this is one of scope. A scientific truth does not inform us about the larger questions in life. It only answers specific things like, “what is air made of” or “what makes a fire burn”. Science does not answer the bigger questions in life. For example, science does not answer the question, “How do we get organized to overcome the cabal of evil people who have gained total control of the world, who have enslaved most of mankind, who are actively destroying the ecosystem of the planet, and who threaten the world with total nuclear annihilation?”.

This is the truth: There is a network of people who have amassed incredible earthly power. These people have been ruling the world for many years. It’s hard to know definitively how long they have held power, but it seems to have been a long time. These people are absolutely heartless. They wage wars for profits, they steal from their fellow man, they kill their fellow man, and they lie whenever it suits them. They have maintained their hold of power largely because of their facility for deception. They have essentially cast a spell over the minds of mankind, to the extent that many (probably most) people are convinced these people are the good guys.

The above-mentioned truth is a religious truth. We have been told that there is an evil being, called the father of lies, who recruits people to serve him. He rewards his servants with incredible material wealth, and in exchange, they do his bidding on earth. We are told he seeks to enslave us, that those who serve him seek to enslave us. His goal, we are told, is to steal, kill, and destroy, and this is precisely what he does through his servants. This phenomenon is precisely what we see going on in the world.

So this is exhibit A, entered as evidence that religious truths are the highest truths. If we as a people are to have any hope of overcoming this situation we find ourselves in, we first must be aware of this truth, (that we are enslaved by an evil group). It doesn’t matter how thorough an understanding we have of the principles of physics if we don’t realize that we are enslaved! And this truth is a religious one that has been expressed for thousands of years by countless prophets and religious mystics all over the world.

Now consider another bit of truth, a solution to the situation we find ourselves in: If we work together we can overcome our oppressors. In order to succeed in this, we require dedication. We will need to be willing to sacrifice a great deal, perhaps even our own lives, in order to overcome the evil that confronts us. We will need to join together like a family, we will need to dedicate ourselves to taking care of each other. If someone is hungry, we will need to provide him with food. If someone is cold or without shelter, we must give them shelter. If someone is sick, we will need to take care of them. We will need to be united in love, but being united in love, we will overcome all the evils we face. By organizing ourselves into a self-sustaining community, one which does not rely on the system put in place by the oppressors, we will starve that system of support and we will starve that system of its source of power - Us.

Again the above-mentioned truth is also a religious truth. This one is sometimes known as the Gospel of Truth which was brought to us by Jesus Christ. He taught his followers that in order to overcome the devil who rules in this world they would have to forsake money and material wealth and that, instead, they would need to become the servants of one another. He taught them to love one another. He taught them to take care of each other. He taught them to forgive one another. He taught them to become a community, like a family, where everyone takes care of each other. He taught them to give everything they had, all their possessions, all their wealth, all their lands, all their time, and all their skills to supporting and growing this community. He taught them to be a community that lives in the world, but is not of the world. This, he taught them, was the key to bringing the kingdom of heaven on earth.

And this is exhibit B, entered as evidence that religious truths are the highest truths. Two thousand years ago we were already given an answer to this problem that we now face. This problem that threatens our very existence already has an answer, and we have had it all along. What truth is more valuable than this? What could be higher? What could be more relevant?

Thus my point is proved. Religious truths are the highest most relevant truths. There is nothing now, nor has there ever been anything higher or more relevant. This is our path to freedom. This is the path to peace on the earth. If only we had been listening.

I would like to go on and on in this vein, describing the ways that religious truths are the highest truths. I want to point out that even many of the little things people argue about as being unnecessary, actually are necessary - that it is only a matter of perspective. If it turns out that we actually are under attack. If, as it appears is and always has been the case, there truly is a class of people seeking to enslave us, then we should be ever on our guard. If there are people scheming to capture us, to bewilder us and capture us, then we should be careful to avoid their traps. If it is true that these people will use any form of weakness to enslave us, then we should be even more concerned and watchful over ourselves and our actions.

If people will tempt us into drunkenness or folly to catch us unawares, then we should avoid drunkenness and folly. If people will lead us into laziness or foolishness to catch us, then we should avoid laziness. If people will use sex to ensnare us, then we should turn our eyes away from the sexually impure. To remain safe, and to help others stay safe too, we should guard ourselves against all these things. We should recognize we are under attack, and we should remain focused on what matters, (that we are being enslaved! That we are under attack!). These too are religious truths, which we have all taken so lightly of late, but they were never any laughing matter.

The people who fight against us are not laughing, they are cold and calculating. They are carefully working, generation after generation to ensnare us and tighten their grip over us. We, on the other hand, have become careless. As a result, we have fallen into their hands.

But we need not despair because we have also been given the antidote. We have been given the antidote to the problem we face, that of the evil which rules the world, and it is the greatest truth. We have already been told the answer.

We join together in love and take care of each other. This is all we have to do. We put our lives into God’s hands, and we dedicate ourselves to following the advice God gave us. He told us, through his many messengers, time and time again, to take care of each other. To join together, to be one people, dedicated to each other, dedicated to peace, founded in love, and most of all, dedicated to God.

This is what I am talking about when I suggest that now, as things turn dark, we need this more than ever. As the forces of evil work to enslave us all, more than ever we need to come together. More than ever we need to follow the advice we have been given. More than all we need the help of God. These are the things we need most of all right now, and I am suggesting it is time for us to fall in line and follow the highest truths. Let us join together and follow as servants and follow God.

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About the author

This article was originally published on Steemit.

You can find more writings by Edison Flame and follow his work using the handle @eddisonflame on Steemit.

Tyrants Be Gone: Say Hello to the New Boss

The Church is misunderstood. Like many traditional religious concepts these days, our ideas about what the church is are very far away from what the church was actually meant to be.

GOOD NEWS! Tyrants are so OVER.

That's right, there's a new boss in town.

Actually, he's been in charge for thousands of years already... But, unfortunately, his press agents got sidetracked and dropped the ball. They've done a marginal job of informing the public of the change at city hall...

I'll caution you right off the bat; if you haven't already, you might quickly catch on to where I'm going with this.

Why should that be a problem?

Well, once you catch on, you're likely to stop reading. And if you stop reading now, you'll miss out on something truly novel * and spectacularly good. Even if you stick with me and read this all—if you don't clear your mind and really listen carefully—you're still likely to miss the point.

And, my friend, that would be a crying shame.

A couple of millennia ago, something utterly unprecedented happened. The Creator of the universe and all it contains—Jesus/God himself—entered creation as an infant.

He spent a lifetime on our planet, demonstrating what a real man ought to be.

When the PTSB (Powers That Shouldn't Be) violently ended his life, Jesus' death served as a necessary sacrifice, one that would make complete amends for all the shortcomings of all who would believe.

After three days in a stone-cold tomb, Jesus proved himself to be God Almighty by rising spectacularly from death, never to die again.

But you've heard it all before, right?

If you're a Christian, probably even if you're not, you've likely heard some form of this message, perhaps tagged as "The Gospel” (i.e. the good news). That message is correct, as far as it goes, unfortunately, it doesn't go far enough. There's more to the message; more strikingly good news that seems to have fallen by the wayside.

There's an important component of this good news about Jesus that hasn't been reported, either sufficiently or accurately. The missing part is the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Aren't you sick and tired of tyrants?

I've been trampled on all of my life (if you have the interest, time, and patience, you can read an autobiographical account of the highlights here). Beginning in the year 2020, the Covid debacle has opened the eyes of many to the inherent tyranny of the human state at all levels—local, county, state, and national.

And so, here's the really good news for anyone who's feeling oppressed:

None of those self-appointed tyrants have any moral, God-given authority to command you to do or not to do anything.

Despite what you've been taught (and may have believed all your life), the currently existing governments, a.k.a. states, that claim the right to run everything, to rule over you, are nothing more than illegitimate gangs of thugs.

The only power they have at all is the utterly unjust, raw power to rob, hurt, and enslave you. Everything you may have been told suggesting that either God has or "the people" have authorized the state to do that dirty work is a lie from the deepest, darkest pit of hell.

Here is the crux of the matter.

Drop all your preconceptions.

Pause.

FULL STOP...

What I'm about to present is perhaps the most important, possibly even novel * assertion I make in this article:

The manifest purpose of Jesus/God's people is to form self-governing assemblies/communities constructed upon the biblical principles of a purely voluntary, cooperative society. These assemblies are to show the world, by both instruction and example, how to thrive.

We are not to support or substantively participate in the failed kingdoms of this world, which are based upon satanic principles.

Instead, we are to be and become a decentralized, distributed, replacement governance system that acknowledges only the sovereign authority of King Jesus, denying allegiance to any other jurisdiction, territorial or otherwise.

Did you get that?

All existing states/human governments as we have known them are illegitimate, ungodly, and corrupt beyond redemption. None of them are "authorized" by Jesus/God; they merely exist in his providence and sovereign will, in most cases as disciplinary agents that he uses to refine his people...

Theological theories such as "Two Kingdoms" with its notion of "dual citizenship," and a dichotomy between civil and ecclesiastical spheres of authority, are based on false (or wrongly applied) distinctions and are utterly unworkable by their very nature.

We need to focus on biblical distinctions instead. Christians are, with respect to all earthly kingdoms, "strangers" and "foreigners" while simultaneously being "fellow citizens with the saints."

Implementing God's Kingdom

To enter God's Kingdom demands that we leave the kingdoms of this world in the dust of history by establishing something utterly superior to and independent of them all, leaving them manifestly obsolete. Only as we begin to do this, as we begin to "seek first the Kingdom of God," will the masses of humanity—now oppressed by the “beast” kingdoms—begin to see and be drawn to the true King and his people.

This is not your father's theonomy or a theocracy. It is a movement toward an authentic thearchy.

God willing, in the days to come, I will continue to write essays and articles in support of this core assertion (you'll find them here). I believe that the preponderance of scripture—given proper translation and exegesis—supports this thesis. I also hope to lay bare some of the fundamental, unspoken assumptions that have created a very shaky and questionable foundation for "the way things are."

King Jesus - the New Boss

So, say hello to the new boss, He's actually been The King for almost two thousand years, though the church has largely dropped the ball on manifesting that truth. And the really good news is that he's a benevolent King. He's tendered a very generous offer, one that (as of this writing) is still available to you, dear reader. Listen to what the One, True King says:

I, Jesus, have sent My messenger to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost.

Jesus

If you've actually read (and considered) my essay thus far, you undoubtedly have comments and questions.

Bring 'em!

The Kingdom arrived two thousand years ago...

Isn't it time we started living like it?

*In the above article, I assert that I'm presenting something truly novel. The particular idea I believe to be novel is my conviction that God intends the church ( i.e., the local gatherings of Jesus/God's people) not to merely influence but to literally supplant all levels of the human state as we have known it; to replace all the "kingdoms of this world." I will truly welcome any evidence to the contrary (i.e. evidence that this is not a novel idea) from any quarter, as I long to coordinate and collaborate with any and everyone else who may see these truths in scripture!

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About the author

Duncan has been haunting libraries since the age of two, and is a habitual science
fiction reader. His innate drive to know what makes things tick has driven him to
dismantle and decipher both technological artifacts and systematic theologies.

A Jack of all trades, Duncan has been a carpenter, technical writer, engineer, and political pundit, though he has since abandoned politics for pure crypto-thearchy. His current passion is reading through the New Testament in Greek and attempting to persuade fellow Christians of the incredibly Good News that the Kingdom of God can be a here and now reality if only we would begin to realize and live for it.

To discuss the Kingdom of Heaven with Duncan, you can reach him on his blog or by email at creator@sidefire.com.

Our Church

The Church is misunderstood. Like many traditional religious concepts these days, our ideas about what the church is are very far away from what the church was actually meant to be.

Most people these days think about the church as a place, but the church is not a place. The church is a people. The church is more than a people, it is a blessed family. The church is the family of God. The church is the people of God. The spirit of God lives in the church, which is inside the hearts of His people.

Lucas Thompson recently wrote,

Jesus says that we should not only go to church and put something in the collection plate, but also that we should LIVE in the church, seven days a week, and give everything that we have to the work of the church.

Someone commented,

I agree with most of what you say but I disagree with the part about living in the church and giving all your worldly possessions to the church.

And of course, why wouldn’t she say this? To her, even thinking about living in the church sounds crazy. It would be terribly cramped and uncomfortable for all of us to live inside that one building together. There aren’t showers or beds or rooms there. Clearly, it would be unfit accommodations for a large group of us.

But what if the church isn’t a mere building but a group of people? What if instead the church is a group of devoted and loving believers in God? What if it was a group of people who worked and lived in a community together? What if the church was a group of people who took care of each other and helped each other? What if the Church was a group of people who worked to spread the love of God throughout the world everywhere they went?

What if giving money to the church meant pooling everyone’s money together to provide for the common good? What if the church money was used to take care of everyone in the church? What if the needs of the people of the church were all considered and everyone worked together to take care of everyone else in the church?

How much stronger would we be if we were all working together? It is well known that people united are stronger than people divided.

How much happier would we be if we were part of a community? We are social beings, this is well known, and this sense of community is something we sorely miss these days.

These days families are far apart. Neighbors fence off their houses and lands, and they hardly know each other. There is so little love among us! It is sad to see how isolated we have become as a people. How much better would it be to be a part of a close knit and loving community of believers? Imagine how wonderful it would be to be a part of a great family — a family of God.

The True Church of Jesus Christ

Remember what Jesus said when his mother and brothers came to speak to him? He motioned to the believers around him and said, “Here are my mother and brothers!”

He was starting the Church even back then. He was starting a fellowship of believers, dedicated to each other, dedicated to taking care of each other, and dedicated to God. He taught people to be united in peace and love. He taught people to love one another, and to take care of each other. He taught people to live peacefully together, and to be servants of one-another; this was the foundation for the Church. This is the true church of Jesus Christ.

The question I have is, where is the church now? I am crying out for it, wishing I could find it. Every day I am praying to God, I am pleading with him to bring the church back together. I am pleading for God to breathe life back into us, that we might join together in a spirit of Love. I am praying that God might bring together a beautiful people, humble and dedicated to each other.

I am praying to have more people to pray with. I want to find those shining diamonds, the good-hearted people who also love God and who also love others. I want to find those people who are deeply grateful for this beautiful life we have been given. I want to find those people who are amazed and awestruck by the beauty of this world we live in. I want to find those people who care so deeply about God’s creation, that with all their might they want to take care of it - they want to care for this planet and everything on it. I want to find the people of God, who are filled with love and kindness, and I want to join together with them in a holy body, a body filled with the spirit of God, a true fellowship of the people of God, the true Church of God.

I pray that the Lord will lead us together, that we might find each other, and that the Church of God might once again be established on earth. That we might all be united together on earth.

The price of heaven

Now I ask you, when this is the kind of Church we have, what would you give to be a part of it? Would you not give everything to be a part of it?

What could be worth more than to be a part of the true Church of God?

What greater blessing than to be a part of such a family of believers?

What greater blessing than to have a family of believers around you?

What greater blessing than to live with the Church, if this is the kind of church we have?

This is what I pray for, and I hope you will join me in praying for these things.

I long to find my people, my family, my Church of God. I miss it. I feel we live in a dark world. Many people are mean and angry and they don’t have love in their hearts. I am mostly surrounded by these types of people in my daily life, I don’t feel the love, but I long to be surrounded by the good hearted and loving believers in God.

I hope you will pray with me oh people of God. If we are lucky, the Lord will hear our prayers and He will bring us together. I hope He will. I hope and pray for this more than anything.

God bless you and peace be with. I am praying, please pray with me.

Amen.

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About the author

This article was originally published on Steemit.

You can find more writings by Edison Flame and follow his work using the handle @eddisonflame on Steemit.

A Message to Warriors

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage

Henry V, Shakespeare

No one has to teach us to defend our families. We are born with an instinct that seems to be an unstoppable force! Nothing is more dangerous than a parent whose young are in danger.

It is also natural to preserve and defend the things that we have worked hard to build or acquire. The warrior holds a highly regarded place in society because they stand between the enemy and everything that we love and value. They are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the lives and property of their tribe or nation-state.

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:11

As part of the family of God, committed to living by the principles of the Gospel of Christ and by the law of the Kingdom of God, there is work for us warriors to do!

We are the line of defense that keeps our family safe from the enemy. Our family includes our spouses and children, and also a New Nation made up of every tribe, nation, language, and race all over the world. 

There is no longer division between races, genders, social classes- we are brothers and sisters with one Father in common, who loves everyone more than we love our own children!

In order to create this Family and to reconcile each one of us to Himself, Our Father has gone to great lengths to rescue us, to forgive us, to liberate us from our bondage to sin and death and hell and the curse.

His desire is to accomplish this purpose for all people -- to reconcile all things and all people to Himself. He is not willing that anyone should be destroyed, but that all should come to repentance.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Ephesians 1

The mystery of His will, His purpose, and His plan for the fullness of time is to unite ALL things in heaven and on earth, thereby healing everything and everyone. We understand that Jesus' incarnation, death, and resurrection were the ways in which God brought his plan into reality.

His plan to create a new family, a new nation, a new kingdom, and a redeemed people who belong to him was initiated through Christ. Nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. Not even death.

In his resurrection, we can see the Reality of our own New Life.

If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We are invited to join our Lord and Master in bringing His purpose to full fruition. We are invited to cooperate with His Spirit in bringing His family together- in uniting all things under His Lordship. Through our words and actions, other people should be able to clearly see that they are loved and that they are welcome.

Why is there so much division? Turmoil? Destruction? Falsehood? Suffering? If a loving and all-powerful Creator wants Unity and Harmony, Fellowship and Peace, why do we not see that Reality in our world? 

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God". 

2 Corinthians 4:4

Hatred is the product of our enemy. 

Our enemy does not want humans to see the Truth revealed through Christ, that God loves them and has done everything he can to bring them into his family. 

Satan uses all the power at his disposal to keep people in delusion, believing falsehoods and maintaining division. If we are weak in our faith and do not maintain our spiritual armor, he will do the same to us. We will stop seeing the glory of God and his plan of redemption and start seeing other humans as our enemy.

Condemnation and hatred are products of our enemy. Another name for Satan is "the accuser." When we think of our enemies, opponents, or people different from us as being beneath us, deserving of damnation and punishment, or beyond hope, we place them in a category that Jesus does not place anyone in, even though he has every right to. 

We do not have the right to judge.

The standard of measurement we use against others is the standard that will be used against us. What we plant is what we harvest. That is why we pray, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." When we condemn others we serve the deceiver, the father of lies.

Jesus (the embodiment of the Revelation of God as Love) tells us, "I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved." He knew that the world was in deep trouble. He knew how deceived humanity had become, and His GOAL was, and is, to liberate humanity from bondage and curse.

Our goal is the same as his, our message the same, our passion the same, so our actions should be the same too, we should strive to be like Him. Yet, we are not capable of this without being empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The only way humans have ever handled a threat to survival is to be an even bigger threat. At this point, we could annihilate every living thing with the technology at our disposal, and the ever-escalating competition for who can be the biggest military and economic threat in order to maintain "peace and safety".

By contrast, consider the most powerful being in the universe becoming human, taking on the form of a servant, obedient even unto death by crucifixion. No one took his life from him, he laid it down of his own volition. One of his last words was to forgive the ones who brutally murdered him.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:16

How should we prepare?

In the face of hardship, suffering, famine, economic depressions, and civil unrest amid vast political corruption, according to our master, we should be prepared to invite our oppressors to a massive barbeque, with all the fixins’.

If we are abused, forgive and bless, do not curse and take revenge, or treat those who want to kill us and take all our liberty as if they are not the beloved children of God…because they are!

If you are experiencing fear in regards to a perceived dangerous group, (be they racists, communists, fascists, or even terrorists) please know that it is a result of careful programming. I refer to this as a program for a reason. There are people who work, very successfully I might add, to keep everyone afraid of each other. 

The "us versus them" mentality has pushed us to the brink of disaster. We must be reprogrammed by the Holy Spirit, brainwashed (if you will) with the agenda of God's Kingdom, saturating ourselves in the Good News of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Reprogramming

All authority on Earth and in Heaven has been given to me.

Matthew 28:18

Please consider turning off all forms of media and entertainment and dedicating yourselves to prayer and fasting. The result might save our nation from destruction but more importantly, the people of God will have their hearts aligned with His and begin again to look, sound, think, and feel more like Christ.

Jesus wants to be king not only of our soul but of our bodies, of our minds, our families, and our neighborhoods.

If you are stockpiling weapons and ammunition in order to defend your property, food, or cash from marauders, you are preparing to disobey our true King, Jesus Christ. Murder begins in one’s heart.

If you are reading this as a warrior who has already taken human life, or done grave harm to an enemy on the battlefield, and your heart is hurting because of it, I have it on the word of the King that you can be forgiven. You can be healed and you can be made new. 

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is no transgression so horrible that our loving Father will not forgive.

If you have never heard of the Way of the Spiritual Warrior, the Eternal Rule of Jehovah, or the commandment to surrender our lives to the One who judges rightly and it sounds like something you want to be a part of, pray this prayer out loud often:

I want to know Christ

and the power of his resurrection,

the fellowship of sharing in his suffering,

becoming like him in his death,

so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead

Hold the line

The King is soon returning to set the world right, to unify Heaven and Earth under one rule. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. We will be like Him when we see Him as He is.

Do not fall into deception or give yourself to any dark falsehoods. Let us not engage in ill-fated and misguided attempts to solve the brokenness in the world by force, the power of humans, but through

Christ’s love. Set the captives free, bind up the wounds of the hurting, bring them into Our Family. We will never die, so do not fear those who kill the body, remember they cannot kill the soul.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus Christ, Matthew 5

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About the Author

Jonathan Cannone studied Constitutional Law and History before hitch-hiking around the American Southeast a while.

He settled down in the Allegheny Mountains, to the West of the Shenandoah Valley, where he is a husband, father of four, homesteader, and carpenter.

Fit To Be King

This morning I was reading Deuteronomy 17 and by the time I finished the chapter I realized Paul’s words to Timothy in 3: 10-17 had come true for me again. Paul explains to Timothy how Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. After multiple seminary degrees and six years in the pastorate, I still fall far short of the glory of God and stand corrected again by the Word of God. 

I have avoided voting for many years now because of 1 Sam 8 where Israel demands a king because Samuel’s sons are corrupt and Israel is weak, disorganized, and unified in their disbelief and non-reliance upon God. God tells Samuel not to be disheartened because it is not Samuel Israel is rejecting, but God himself.

To make it more clear, the conditions within Israel were a direct reflection of their lack of faith in God. This can be read much more explicitly in Deuteronomy 28 where Moses outlines the blessings and the curses for obedience and disobedience. I wish this chapter was stuck to every refrigerator in the world.

Israel demanded a king in 1 Sam 8 that would be like the surrounding kings; a king who would raise armies, provide central and consolidated leadership, and judge Israel. God’s response to this is to describe the kind of king they wanted.

This kind of king would take their sons for his army and put them to work for him. They would not be free.

The harvest? It is for the king.

The ore and wood gathered every year? Those would be for the king and his instruments of war.

Private property? That would become the king’s property, which he will give to his favored men.

The king would take his own tax, which would be separate from the Lord’s tithe, as the men, women, and servants become laborers and servants of the king and his ruling class.

The description of the king Israel demanded is terrible. Reading these words drove me from voting years ago because the words of God, for the unfit king, describe every ruler in the world today.

Why would any Christian throw their support behind men and women who clamor to do all the things God says kings should not do?

The rulers of today clamor to build armies and send them abroad. They claim the first fruits of everyone’s labor and have laid claim to all possessions, making the residents of each nation-state serfs who work for the political class on large plantations.

The modern king’s demand far more than 10%. The modern kings demand 50% and more for their coffers when you add up the mass of taxes being levied and it continues to be increased every year.

This is why I stopped voting. There were no viable Godly kings I could support. This is still the case, so I will continue not voting, however, this does not mean we should not have a king, which brings us back to Deuteronomy 17: 14-20. Here we find the qualifications of a Godly king with authority to lead.

In a literal and spiritual sense, this King is Jesus. Jesus is the only man fit to be king over all men and He sits on His throne right now and leads for all who believe in Him.

But, is there a “normal” kind of person fit to be king? How would we pick them if there was?

This is a decision that takes extreme caution and awareness, it cannot be decided based on who can generate the most financial support, win pseudo-debates, or make the grandest promises to the widest swath of people. 

The Godly king of Deuteronomy 17 is chosen by God. So we must spend time in prayer seeking God’s will to identify this man.

1. Israel had to select an Israelite for king; they could not select a foreigner to rule them.

2. This king could not multiply his forces, his wealth, or take multiple wives for himself.

3. This king must be a one-woman man without desires for empire, concubines, or wealth gathering.

4. There is one other necessary component for this king. When he takes the throne he must handwrite the Pentateuch and spend time every day committed to its study and the application of God’s law.

This is the kind of man I could support.

Frankly, I do not think it is possible in the modern welfare/warfare State to select a Godly king. I think good leader selection is impossible in the modern nation-state.

Our cultures are no longer uniform. We have become a hodgepodge of people with different thoughts and different beliefs and different desires. How can disorganized people seek the will of God when they do not have the same beliefs and cannot even communicate these beliefs due to political and religious hatreds? It simply cannot happen.

In the current circumstances, only the worst selections can rise to the top and this has been proven with every election cycle. Only the worst win.

The options for leadership today are shrewd, empire-seeking, and wealth-gathering people who cannot be trusted. They lie with every breath, seek empire and power, and want to use their power to stand on the necks of their enemies while enriching their friends.

The politician is not a Godly king and they are unfit to rule. Christians should not support them because we should know better! The single issue we have for unity in elections is Scripture and God’s description of what it takes to be King. There is only one man fit for this crown. I vote for Jesus and will accept no other.

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About the Author

Ian Minielly is a full-time vocational pastor. He considers himself an “oddball” in ministry for his peaceful understanding of the Kingdom of God and how limited of a role Christians should have with the State.

Regarding how he came to this stance, he says:

God spared me and showed great mercy in opening my eyes to love, and against war and the State. To see the great work God did in me, previously I spent more than seven years as an intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, focused on Counter-Proliferation of WMD material and systems.

Prior to that, I spent more than nine years in the infantry and Special Forces (I was a Green Beret). Once I became a believer, I found the biblical expectations of God were in opposition to my profession in the military and my nationalism. God slowly peeled this understanding back and I left the army and nationalism.

Ian has published three books, Emily's Tears, Revoked Consent, and The Genetic God, which are available on Amazon.

He also has a YouTube channel if you would like to see him in action!

More from Ian:

Podcasts:

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love

Do you know about the Brotherhood of Eternal Love? Maybe you do not, but you should. The Brotherhood of Eternal Love is a group of people who came together like a family. They were dedicated to one another, and they were united in their love for one another. These were people who believed in and were dedicated to principles of peace and love and mutual respect for each other.

If you have not heard of the Brotherhood, it's because the Brotherhood was crushed. The people of the Brotherhood left their homes, and they moved out into the wilderness, where they set up their own camps and communities. They lived and worked together, and they began to build a whole system and society based on these principles of love and peace and mutual respect, which they all agreed upon. They lived altruistically, and took care of each other. They were united in love and peace.

The Brotherhood was growing. It was growing fast. As more and more people heard about it, they visited. As more and more people visited, they stayed. As more and more and more people visited and stayed, they talked about it. As more and more people heard about it, the cycle continued, and the Brotherhood grew. It was beautiful, but it was crushed.

This is as it has always been, of course. The brotherhood was the manifestation, once again, of an ancient message. A message of peace and love. A message of unity, and peace among the peoples. A message about working together and taking care of each other. An ancient message.

There have, over the years, been many people who brought a message like this. There have been great leaders, spiritual men, prophets and messengers in every time and place who brought this kind of message. There have been many many people over the years bringing a message like that of the Brotherhood. It is always the same message, it is always a message of peace and love. Always, these people and their followers are persecuted and crushed. They are always beaten back. They must be beaten back.

If this kind of idea escaped, if enough people learned about it, if enough people truly understood it, it would be the end of the powers that be. The forces that rule the world have a lot to gain by keeping these kinds of ideas under wraps. They maintain control by keeping people poor, divided, and distracted. They maintain control by keeping people weak and dependent. They maintain control by keeping people uneducated and uninformed.

They divide the world up into manageable parts. They keep people from one area separated from people in other areas. They demonize the other. They divide up families into smaller and smaller units, and they crush any attempt that people make to unite. They want people divided and distracted and weak. This makes them easy to control.

But the Brotherhood of Eternal Love was uniting people together. The principles of Love and Peace unite people. Forgiveness unites people. Principles of selflessness unites people. If we are all taking care of each other, we are strong. So when these ideas arise among men, when people begin to unite together under a banner of peace and love, they get crushed.

Not any more. Not this time. Not forever. The time is now, oh people of earth, for us to wake up. It is time to wake up to the truth that we are all in this together. It is time to wake up to the truth that there are actual evil people who are ruling over us and controlling us. They are controlling us with fear and lies and distractions. They are keeping us locked in our minds. All we need to do is wake up to the truth.

There is an amazing truth that we have been missing. There is an amazing truth that has been trying to get out for thousands of years. If we will unite in love, if we are dedicated to peace, if we respect each other and care for each other, if we work hard to help each other, if we sacrifice to take care of each other, if we become a family, we become strong. Love is the truth. Peace is the truth. Love Unites and Peace Unites. United we stand, and divided we fall.

There is more. How can I say all these things, without bringing up the most important thing. These truths, they are the ultimate enlightenment. When enough of us understand these truths, then the world will be transformed from a place of darkness and violence, into a place of light and peace. This is the great journey of mankind. It is a journey from selfishness, violence, and foolishness, into selflessness, love, and wisdom.

Many thousands of years ago mankind was entirely selfish and violent. In those days people ruled over others entirely by violence. The strong ruled over the weak by force and threats of force. Men stole what they could. They tricked and lied and cheated whoever they could. There was no peace.

Then something beautiful began to happen. Some people appeared who taught about a better way to live. A way of cooperation and peace was introduced. They introduced rules that people could follow to live more happily and peacefully. They told people not to kill or steal or lie or cheat. They told people to be honest and upright. They told people to be fair and caring. They told people to love each other and forgive each other. They told people to take care of the sick and the poor. They told people to seek justice for widows and orphans. They told people that all this advice was given to them from God, and that they should be thankful to God. They told people that they should praise and worship God, above all else, because God had created them and God had given them life and children and friends and families.

This is the highest truth of all, so how can I leave it out? It is true, we can have peace on earth if we dedicate ourselves to principles of peace and love, but there is an even higher truth. We were taught about this by God, our amazing creator who made us and the whole world! How many years has God spent trying to get through to us? How patient has God been waiting for us to understand? God has been incredibly patient with us, and we owe him so much, more than words can even describe. He has slowly and carefully been sending us messengers and prophets and holy men over the centuries, renewing his message over and over and over again.

He sent one person here and another person there. To each people, to all the peoples on the planet, he has slowly been bringing people into a greater and greater understanding. He has been bringing light into the darkness. As light is to the eyes, so is wisdom to the mind. As light allows us to see the physical world more clearly, so that we can move about without falling, so wisdom allows us to understand the world more clearly, so that we can interact without falling. This is the light of God, which so many have preached, it is the wisdom that enlightens our minds. It is the wisdom of peace, the wisdom of love, the wisdom of truth.

So, those of us who see this truth, we are the lights of the earth. We are reflecting the light of truth and wisdom into the world. We are shining the holy light of God into the world, that the world may come out of darkness and into the light.

Thus, we are the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. We are the people of God. We are united in love. We love each other. We love the planet. We love peace. We are a great fellowship, a great family. And here's the best part, we are about to finally have our amazing moment. We are about to finally come together as a people. We are about to take our places on the earth, shining the way for all to see.

Oh how I look forward to finally meeting you. Please hear my call, and please join with me in these difficult times. More than ever we need unity and peace. More than ever the world is being divided by hatred and strife. Let us prepare to work together, to come together, that we might find some comfort and safety during these difficult times ahead.

These times will require you to do many things you haven't done before. Take a leap of faith. Pray to God and trust in God. God may be a new concept to you, but believe me, if you put your faith in God, and follow the principles of peace and love, an amazing peace unlike anything you have ever known will descend upon you. Your heart will be calm, and your thoughts will become still. If you listen carefully, if you listen to your heart, you will sense the Spirit leading you. You will know what to do, because God does not abandon his people. God is amazing and powerful. He will protect you. He will protect us.

God bless you, oh people of God. God bless you and help you during these difficult times. I look forward to meeting you. May peace be with you always. Amen.

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Connect with the author

This article was originally published on Steemit.

You can find more writings by Edison Flame and follow his work using the handle @eddisonflame on Steemit.

The Dream of the City to Come: Do you not trust God?

Image from Great Bible Stories for Children (Regency Publishing House 1974)

When I was a toddler, my parents read me bedtime stories from a vividly illustrated Bible storybook called Great Bible Stories for Children (Regency Publishing House 1974). For some reason, my favorite, most requested Bible story was the one I referred to as "Bad Dream"— a nightmare of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon recorded in the book of Daniel, chapter 2.

Daniel delivers the interpretation of the dream to the king: 

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock-cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces.

The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.

Even though Daniel is a captive slave and his life is in jeopardy every time he talks to the ruler of the known world, he speaks from the perspective of a man who is in constant contact with Yahweh, the God of his youth and home culture. Daniel was able to spread the message of his God to the most powerful man on earth, and the message was this: human empires will come and go built on force and violence, coercion and oppression, but the Kingdom of Peace that God creates will destroy all the empires that came before it, and once it is established, it will last forever.

There are a few passages that are repeatedly used in defense of tyranny and oppression, and blaming God for it, but if one looks at the overarching narrative of scripture we see a distinct anti-empire message throughout.

The prophets of Israel spoke of a future liberator that God would send to free humanity from all forms of oppression, both spiritual and material. The Messiah, or Christ, was a promise the Hebrews took literally and awaited with fervent expectation the initiator of a new world order of peace. Isaiah writes of Christ:

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea."

Isaiah 11:1-9

When Mary is told that she has been chosen to give birth to the Messiah, she is so excited she praises God for the liberation that she is being allowed to participate in. She prays:

My soul magnifies the Lord

And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid;

For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;

Because He who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is His name;

And His mercy is from generation to generation

on those who fear Him.

He has shown might with His arm,

He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has given help to Israel, his servant, mindful of His mercy

Even as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.

Luke 1:46-55

The hope that she placed in the God of her forefathers called for the end of oppression and tyranny on planet earth—a freedom that includes liberation from sin, death, hell, satan, and the empires of humankind. She read the prophets as a little girl and made their visions one with her mind and heart. Maybe this love for the promise of liberation and the Messiah is the reason God chose her to be Christ's mother?

Morgan Weistling - Kissing the Face of God

When Jesus was 30 years old, he spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting on water. At the end of it, the Devil appears to him in an attempt to recruit Jesus to Satan's side in rebellion against Jehovah. Satan takes Jesus to a high place where he can see all the kingdoms of the world and makes this offer: "All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." (Mark 4:9-10)

Satan's ability to offer all the riches and power in the world could only mean one thing: that they belonged to him. In other places in scripture, Satan is referred to as "the God of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), and that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). The knowledge of who Satan is makes the promise of a savior all the more appealing; if we are all born as serfs to an evil lord who wants to see us suffer and lies to us constantly, filling his domain with pain and violence, destruction, and rot, chaos, and confusion, who wouldn't want to be liberated? Jesus knew that he had come to bring the Good News of the Eternal Kingdom to the suffering, slavery, and misery of earthly kingdoms. He knew the Kingdom of God would one day have dominion over the whole Earth and all her people not by the idolatry of political power or devil-worship, but through the spirit of the Gospel.

When he was on trial to be crucified, Jesus told the Roman Governor of Jerusalem: "You say rightly that I am a King. For this reason I came into the world.... My Kingdom is not of this World. If it were, my servants would fight". To a Roman soldier/politician, getting crucified was the furthest thing from victory. Jesus saw the bigger picture- a spiritual reality that could not be defeated by death, nor could it be brought to reality through violent political and military force.

The Apostles state throughout their writings that God has exalted Jesus Christ above everyone and everything, giving him the title of "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" so that every living thing will recognize it and declare it. In Ephesians 1, Hebrews 2, and 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that God has subjected everything under Christ's feet. in the Corinthians passage he points to the time prophesied by Daniel and Isaiah and others;

"Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For those of you who still think of God as "Sovereign," by which you mean everything is his fault, and for those of you who are angry at God for the pain and injustice in the world, I'm not sure you're paying attention to the power of the Gospel. All of our wars and illnesses, slavery and addiction, and even death itself are due to the rebellion of Satan against God's plan. His deception campaign to bring humanity down with him will continue until destruction of all life on earth is a real possibility, then God will intervene and put a stop to it. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul describes that point of intervention: 

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming". 

Human beings and their political leaders will choose deception, destruction, and death instead of peace and life, but God works patiently to save them, redeem them, free them, so that he might reconcile them to Himself and restore humanity, and all creation, to what He intended us to be.

People of every tribe and nation, speaking every language, will worship the One True God together. The current situation where other races and nations and languages are to be hated, feared, fought, and subjugated will not exist. This is a result of man's rebellion against God's plan-- a rejection of Christ's Kingdom.

From "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. Sholastic Inc.

If we identify ourselves by nation-state or race or political party, pledging our allegiance to a nation and its flag, holding its military in worshipful regard, etc., we are telling Jesus that His Kingdom of Peace is not what we want. We do not want to be his family, the sheep of his pasture, his loyal servants. Instead, the message He receives is that we want war and oppression and for our little tribe to be top of the heap.

Nowhere does Jesus say: "I will establish a nation that will exceed all the other nations, they will be my people and I will make them powerful. They will crush all their enemies and get all the riches and I will bless them because they are the superior form of government". What He does say is he will destroy ALL human government and establish his own. If that is not exciting to you, do you know my Lord? If your god is the god of political empires, who is your god? Which side are you on?

"Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" Hebrews 13:14

Not of This World Part 6: Upside Down (Series Conclusion)

Upside Down

Throughout the Book of Acts (a chronicle of the early ministries) we see civil unrest in the wake of early evangelism and how the disciples demonstrate what they learned from Jesus’ example. Here’s one instance of many demonstrating the power of the message:

“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ‘These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.’ And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.”

Acts 17:1

Word spread quickly how “threatening” the Apostle’s message of Jesus was. They were those who “turned the world upside down.” The church in that area—ekklesia—had gained a reputation for challenging societal norms of the day. Ideas like “servant leadership” and having “all things common” stood in direct contrast to the affluent, Imperialist culture of their day. The message of Jesus’ resurrection was especially controversial but also intriguing to the philosophers and ever-antagonistic Jewish leaders. The legitimacy of Caesar in general, the pagan religion, and Pharisee’s order was being called to question all at once. One fantastic instance is recorded just two chapters later:

“And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, ‘Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.’ And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians’.” 

Acts 19:23

What’s remarkable about this scene is everything at stake for the Ephesians. Not only is the legitimacy of their religion called into question but also their economy. Demetrius, a craftsman, earned a living making silver shrines and idols. The rhetoric of the early evangelists had “set at nought” the profitably of the craft itself and also maligned the reputation and legitimacy of the deity and temple of worship. Such a challenge was met with an angry mob. As we’ll see, this legacy continued from the time of the earliest churches through the Dark Ages. 

Anabaptist Iconoclasm/ Host Desecration

As peaceful as they were, Anabaptists certainly didn’t shy away from issuing stern rebukes to heads of state and church, nor were they restrained when it came to destroying what they deemed idols and superstitions in the land. Like John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles before them, they understood their “civic duty” very well: obey God rather than men.

Examples of this are given throughout Gary K. Waite’s book Eradicating the Devil’s Minions: Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe. Waite’s book examines the witch hunts and Anabaptist persecutions of the time in different regions of Europe and seeks to understand the religious and political reasons for such. Waite is careful to remind the reader that while the Anabaptists themselves were skeptical of the “superstitions” of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, they were being identified as the agents of a Satanic conspiracy and were blamed for other-worldly phenomena sometimes attributed to witches and sorcerers. In his book, we learn Anabaptist skepticism was aimed directly at two primary Catholic (and sometimes Protestant) dogmas: the Eucharist and infant baptism.

Student’s of Church history, namely Anabaptism, know these pious folk were notorious for refusing to have their infants baptized (which was considered infanticide by the state-churches), and they also were known to disrupt Mass and stomp on supposedly consecrated “Hosts.” All of these protests are Anarchist tactics aimed at cutting directly to the heart of the established institutions—for the Anabaptists of the Dark Ages, it was the most effective way to disrupt the status quo, both state and church. It was very performative.

Waite tells of one Jacob Gasser. This brave Anarchist “ran up to the altar, grabbed the plate of wafers out of the priest’s hands, threw it onto the floor, and trampled upon the bread. He then tossed the chalice with the consecrated wine against the church door.” Of course, we know Gasser wasn’t alone in his sentiments or actions, as Waite relates: “This disturbing act…had followed close on the heels of the iconoclastic actions of Tirol’s rebellious peasants. It was also performed in consideration of magical beliefs and a long history of eucharistic miracle legends.” Gasser’s, and others’, willingness—obligation rather—to cause such upheaval in one of the most important and powerful societal institutions of that day only testifies to the fact that Anabaptism is fundamentally Anarchism. Anabaptists were actively striking at an insidious root: the institutional Church’s reliance on the State to substantiate tenuous, superstitious dogmas. It can’t be denied that they learned these tactics, and gained boldness, from Jesus’ and the Apostles’ examples.

Series Conclusion

A logical and plain reading of the Gospels and basic understanding of non-conformist movements throughout Church history leads an honest student to the conclusion that Gospel and Christ-centered discipleship is Anarchism in its purest form. While I believe this shouldn’t be a topic of debate among Christians, I understand the traditions of the State-Church systems have prevented serious consideration of this topic even to this day. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Kingdom of God and Heaven is a powerful alternative to the Devil’s kingdoms of darkness where Mammon and The State are gods. 

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About the Author

Nathan Moon is a house-painter because he “has a useless English degree”. More importantly, he’s a student of Jesus, which is the theme of his blog.

He hopes to one day have a small photography/movie-production company. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and four daughters.

You can learn more about him and see his work at his website is www.anabaptistapologist.com.

Not of This World Part 5: Authority & Property Destruction

Authority and the ekklesia

If you search in the New Oxford American Dictionary for the term “Anarchism,” you’ll find the origin of the term is the Greek word anarkhos meaning “without a chief.” Jesus’ model of authority, or leadership in general, is Anarchical, meaning he never gave any one man complete power over another like the tyrannical systems of this world do. Jesus’ model for leadership in churches is often termed “servant leadership” and was intended to be horizontal rather than vertical.

I’ve heard some AnarchoChristians oppose the idea of a “horizontal” relationship, admittedly only assuming they’re understanding that this means men are ruling over others. But what I mean by “horizontal relationship” is simply that we’re men among men, and we have relationships with other people; these relationships, especially in ekklesia, should be voluntary and loving. Once we begin to dominate others and “lord over the flock,” we assume a vertical relationship over fellow men and seek to usurp God’s position. I’ll take the time to make this distinction and hopefully add clarity because these definitions of these relationships need to be clear in order to understand the rest of this section. 

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see he divests himself of power over others whenever he can. In one word, he’s unobtrusive. One passage gives a clear profile of his ministry:

But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; And charged them that they should not make him known: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

According to prophecy, the Messiah would be a servant, meaning he’d be beneath someone in authority (the Father). This servant, the Messiah, would “not strive” nor “cry.” Nobody would hear his voice “in the streets.” But didn’t Jesus teach and heal publicly? When the prophecy says he wouldn’t strive, cry, or that his voice wouldn’t be heard in the street, it means he wouldn’t go around in a pompous, political way and campaign for himself. Neither would he bruise a reed or quench “smoking flax.” This is taken by some to mean that he wouldn’t militaristically topple the oppressive governments of that time but that he’d wait to “send forth judgment unto victory” at his Second Coming. This meek man intended to lead by example: do good, heal the sick, help the poor and hungry, preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, and speak to the many other social injustices around him.

Aside from what Jesus related about prophecies concerning himself, we see him directly teaching his disciples who, what, and how with regards to his Father’s kingdom. Take for instance this scene in Matthew: 

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

In Jesus’ model, the “great” and “chief” one among the brethren is an unselfish, self-sacrificing “minister” or “servant.” He says this model is markedly different than the “princes of the Gentiles” who “exercise dominion over them.” Van Steenwyk puts it quite eloquently in his observation of “servant-leadership” in the New Testament:

[And] it is assumed that there are some who are wiser about discerning the Spirit–who have deeper practices in the way of Jesus. These folks are often considered elders and they can mentor folks just starting out in the way of Jesus. This is what discipleship is all about. Is it hierarchical? Perhaps, but if it is, it is a dynamic hierarchy rather than a static one. The goal of discipleship should never be to have permanent leaders. Rather, it should be to recognize wisdom where it is found, and to learn from that wisdom. Most anarchists do that.

Van Steenwyk’s understanding of New Testament church authority as a dynamic mentorship as opposed to a rigid, “static” one is refreshing, to say the least. It sheds much needed light on forgotten guidelines given by the Apostles themselves. Take for example 1 Peter 5:1-5 where Peter says the leaders are to willingly serve, and not for profit. The elders aren’t to domineer the flock, but lead by example. He even says, “all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” We see, then, Anarchism—really, true New Testament kingdom living—offers a more equitable way to distribute authority and order, not abolish it. This is Jesus’  and the Apostle’s vision for the ekklesia. This is the process of Anarchy. This is pure “horizontal” relationship. But there’s one more place in the Gospels that stands out and is worth including in our analysis.

In Luke 12:13-15 we have a short but interesting dialogue: 

“And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

It’s easy to read too far into this exchange and conclude that Jesus was completely against owning any property—we saw why this is a hurtful conclusion in our previous chapter. Here, Jesus is making a remarkable point: he isn’t a ruler over other men.

This man’s covetousness prompted Jesus to give a parable about a rich man who increases his wealth, builds a larger barn to store it in, and takes such comfort in his storehouse of riches, saying, “take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry.” In other words, the rich man grew proud and forgetful that nothing on earth lasts forever. Jesus’ conclusion was, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” The larger lesson to be learned from this dialogue and parable is that our focus shouldn’t be to amass great wealth, especially by dominating our neighbors. Rather, our treasures should be stored in Heaven.

If we “Christo-Anarchists” are going to advance our unique message to our Fundamentalist and secular-Anarchist friends, we’re going to have to be honest with the reality of hierarchy in the New Testament and general trend toward patriarchy. We need to be ready to rebuke the Fundamentalists who place a premium on rigid male-centric leadership, acceptance of class distinction as a “necessary evil,” and the driveling calls to be ever-more patriotic; we also need to be ready to rebuke the secular-Anarchist whose end-goal is a seemingly complete annulling of distinctions altogether and rejection of any power. We owe it to our neighbors to strike that balance.

I suggest that, for the Christo-Anarchist, the solution is a return to that authority structure outlined in the Gospels and Epistles. We need to teach and show that in the community, otherwise known as “assembly” or ekklesia, there exists the potential for a group of people to function without hurtful distinctions and hierarchies.

Property Destruction/ Iconoclasm

Anarchism strikes at the root of human evil because it seeks to expose the human tendency to place equal, sometimes greater, value on goods—sentiments that tend toward use of force in order to protect. The dialogue in Luke 12 is a great insight to this. When it comes to striking at these roots, we must lament human casualties that result from otherwise legitimate demonstrations of frustration—often expressions of hatred toward the “system” rather than the people. If we understand Anarchism through a purely New Testament lens, we see it’s possible, and even godly, to disregard the “value” of property and still preserve human life. Yes, this is to suggest Jesus isn’t always against destroying “private property.”

Perhaps no other striking example can be given to prove Jesus and his disciples were “destructive” Anarchists than to look at what took place at the Temple. First, we’ll look at Matthew’s account, then John’s:

• And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

• And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

In this Temple scene, Jesus is a zealous Iconoclast, an Anarchist, whose disdain is directed towards the abuse of private property being used for profit at the expense of human/ spiritual dignity. Remember: the property isn’t “the Jews’,” nor is it the religious leaders’—the property belongs to Jesus’ Father! The “changers of money” had turned something sacred into something common (worldly/ ungodly). They usurped what belonged to God and perverted it. This was a bondage to people who came to worship. Jesus’ actions with the scourge were violent, yes, but they were targeted at property not people. Jesus did, however, give stern rebuke to those present. In either sense—physical or verbal—there’s a destructive message being communicated to an apostate religious institution. This is Anarchism on full display.

To be sure, “Iconoclasm” can be defined as “the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices; the rejection or destruction of religious images as heretical; the doctrine of iconoclasts.” A skepticism of the legitimacy of these beliefs, values, insinuation, and even objects, can be expressed in verbal condemnation or physical destruction. To reiterate, “Anarchism” was defined earlier as “the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion.” These two are hand-in-glove because they’re both defined by the destruction or abolition of something that’s been deemed “illegitimate” or “heretical.” In the case of Iconoclasm, the target is singularly religious, whereas Anarchism can target both religious and secular institutions. Jesus gave us a holy example.

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About the Author

Nathan Moon is a house-painter because he “has a useless English degree”. More importantly, he’s a student of Jesus, which is the theme of his blog.

He hopes to one day have a small photography/movie-production company. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and four daughters.

You can learn more about him and see his work at his website is www.anabaptistapologist.com.

Not of This World Part 4: Volunteerism & Private Property

Volunteerism/Community of Goods

There’s a secret to successfully starting down the path toward God’s ideal. Peeter Hoover investigates the “secret” to the Anabaptist way at length in his book The Secret of the Strength: What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation? He suggests it was a true love for the teachings and model Jesus gave and “yieldedness” to the Spirit of God. He writes concerning community of goods and “voluntary organization.” Hoover says that, 

The words of Paul in Philippians 3:10 stated distinctly the goal of the Anabaptists: “I want to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” The Greek word koinonia, translated “fellowship” in this verse, was always translated into the German word Gemeinschaft. To the Anabaptists, this beautiful word meant both spiritual communion and community of goods. It was the word used in Acts 2:44 and 4:32 for “all things common” (alle Dinge gemein ...es war ihnen alles gemein). It was the word they found in 1 John 1:7: “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have Gemeinschaft one with another and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” It was the word they used instead of “church.” 

Hoover’s conclusion is that the idea of sharing out of love was very common amongst the Anabaptists, who saw it as the truest test of genuine conversion. Especially amazing in their preference for the word “gemeinschaft”—a very specific and descriptive word—to that of “church,” which  has become shallow. This divorce of understanding in our modern churches of what fellowship is, might be a root cause for our neglect of answering the question, “What would Jesus do?”

Hoover himself seems to expect a community of goods demonstrated in a radical way, agreeing with Jakob Hutter, which is a conclusion far different from other Mennonites and Amish who don’t take gemeinschaft so radically. To demonstrate a slightly less radical understanding, we’ll quote extensively from the page titled “Community of Goods” available on the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (gameo.org): 

The history of this idea through the ages cannot be told here. Its practice occurred mainly on the fringe of the general church development…Anabaptists who followed the idea of discipleship and of restitution of the primitive church also developed some ideas regarding the economic side of life. Their principle of nonconformity lent itself very naturally to a nonmaterialistic, puritanical concept of life in which man is but a steward of his worldly possessions which he must be ready to share at any time with others. The emphasis upon discipleship likewise brought forth the idea of caring for others and of sharing wherever a brother is in need (liebeskommunismus). Only with the Hutterites did it also lead to a complete and nearly monastic establishment of community of goods, unique indeed within the entire history of the Christian churches on that point.

Certainly there were differences among the various Anabaptist groups throughout Europe in their understanding of “community”; yet, the ubiquitous sense of gemeinschaft flows entirely from the fount of charity and volunteerism, not coercion. No matter the expression, “community of goods” was practiced on a volunteer basis—after all, brother Paul wrote “God loveth a cheerful giver.” The Anabaptists were derided and maligned for this by their enemies who clearly worked from the top down and amassed great riches and property through their conquests. 

It’s curious as to why Christoyannopolous didn’t detail more about the medieval groups in his section “Examples, Past and Present” (groups like the Hutterites, or the more recent Bruderhof). Steenwyk does a good job presenting some of the groups in some detail, giving the reader more to research for themselves. But the examples of Anabaptist groups are certainly welcome in this conversation, and more effort should be made to include their history. Again, we quote from the gameo: 

Very different from the interpretation of Christian community of things temporal as expressed in the first section of this article is the position of the Hutterite brotherhoods who have been practicing full community of goods most successfully for more than 400 years (established in 1528)…

The Hutterites have a 400 year example for many who may be curious about what alternatives there might be in a world full of tyranny and inequality. Perhaps to the dismay of Evangelical Conservative voters, or Liberal Democrat activists, or even secular Anarchists, there’s another way—a truly Christ-like alternative—if you have eyes to see and ears to hear it.

Community of Goods/ Private Property

There’s still the issue of taking things to extremes. One extreme would be the “Forsake All” principle, which is the idea that when called to follow Jesus, one must abandon everything, which could mean total poverty. The other extreme, of course, is over-indulgence. It seems most Anabaptist groups of the Middle Ages understood there could be a balance, and they were taught this by Jesus. Here is what the New Testament has to say, as a whole, on private property:

• Jesus called His disciples, who followed him from their boats into Capernaum. They went with Jesus to the synagogue, but then they went to the house of Simon Peter where He healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15). POINT: Peter retained his property and family ties, even when he answered the Messiah’s call to follow him.

• Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, and then went to Levi’s house for a meal (Luke 5:27-29). POINT: Levi retained his property.

• Jesus often visited Mary, Martha and Lazarus in their house (Luke 10:37-38; John 11:20). POINT: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus remained in contact with each other and retained property.

• The early Jerusalem believers were “...continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house.” POINT: They kept their homes, their family relationships, and their jobs (Acts 2:46). They were, however, zealous about meeting together for fellowship. Their new friendships replaced their old, worldly ones.

• Paul wrote to the Corinthians the following: “The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19). See also, Acts 8:3; 16:40; 21:8; Romans 16:6-5; Colossians 4:15, 1 Timothy 5:14; 2 Timothy 1:16, Philemon 1:2; 1 Corinthians 11:34. POINT: Aquila and Prisca were deemed faithful disciples while also owning property. The emphasis wasn’t on a special “church building.” It was placed on the people...a church or assembly of believers who just-so-happened to meet in a house. The house was “common” amongst them.

• Paul is our example: “For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us; for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought, but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). POINT: Paul had a job—he was occupied in work besides Gospel preaching and ministry. Paul taught that men in churches should work to sustain their families. Paul did not see the ministry as a career to retire from. He seems to value self-reliance as much as community. 

• Paul’s blueprint for “mutual aide”: “Let him who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” (Ephesians 4:28). POINT: Men need to labor with their own hands with the goal of being able to help others. 

In essence, the truth is that we’re to live a balanced life. Whatever we think we possess is a gift from God to be used for service in furthering his Kingdom. Our homes and business spaces should be readily available for evangelists who’re passing through, or a family who finds themselves down-and-out. Our food should be prepared in such a way that company or the needy can be nourished. Literally everything we have should be viewed in this way: a means of loving God and loving our neighbor. This requires no State approval. You simply do it out of love for your God and neighbor.

The newly called disciples Levi, Peter, Mary/ Martha/ Lazarus, and the couple Aquila and Prisca, were great examples of hospitable, giving, unselfish Kingdom-focused believers who knew that what they were blessed with in this life is intended to be used as a way to bless others and serve the Lord. 

Private property it seems, in a Christo-Anarchist sense is merely a tool. Anabaptists would say, therefore, that the “community of goods” is a principle and position of humility we assume in our hearts that prepares us for action in almost any-given circumstance. How connected are we to the material possessions we’ve been given? Are we willing to depart from everything if we had to, or would we turn back like Lot’s wife, longing after the materials we left behind? These are questions the Anabaptists saw unanswered by their Protestant contemporaries.

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About the Author

Nathan Moon is a house-painter because he “has a useless English degree”. More importantly, he’s a student of Jesus, which is the theme of his blog.

He hopes to one day have a small photography/movie-production company. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and four daughters.

You can learn more about him and see his work at his website is www.anabaptistapologist.com.

Not of This World Part 3: The Kingdom of God & Tribalism

Overview of the Kingdom of God

Jesus’ ideal—the Anarchist’s ideal—is subversion through submission and patience, remembering of course that Anarchy is a process and not a goal itself. It’s frustrating because many assume this means complete isolation. It’s true that many in the Anabaptist tradition have slipped into the shadows and quieted down—“The quiet in the land.” But their own history testifies against them! Anabaptist history is filled with tales of heroic men, women, and children who openly protested the mainstream institutions. Thus, the Christo-Anarchist must be able to live “in” societies opposed to their “utopian ideal” while remaining distinct from them. You might’ve heard Christians say “in the world, not of the world.” While they can articulate it, this is the reality of a Kingdom that many Christians aren’t prepared to accept.

In the days of the Roman empire, John the Baptist and Jesus came preaching that sinners should repent for the Kingdom of Heaven and of God was “at hand.” The phrase “at hand” means something is within easy reach; near; close by. Put another way, Jesus himself said, “the time is fulfilled.” Thus, the days of the Roman empire were present and the promised Kingdom of God was within easy reach—manifested, present. Truly, this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel, which was that “…the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom…” Therefore, a disciple of Jesus doesn’t use the popular political routes of the day to enforce morality or “Judeo-Christian values” on the larger populace (i.e., they don’t legislate morality). They’re content with going about their lives in the Kingdom, living as shining lights and examples in the middle of a darkened world system, even “protesting” at times. Yet never joining in the circus. 

But not everyone is prepared to give such an example, and this is because they haven’t received the Messiah portrayed in the Gospels. Christoyannopolous cites Vernard Eller, who makes this astonishing conclusion regarding the real Christ and the false: “So we tend to treat Christ as our idol, someone we’d like to be like, but know we never will be like; rather than our model, someone we’d like to be like, and do our best to be sure we are like.” For Eller and Christoyannoplous, Jesus’ example can be followed. This is also the Anabaptists’ conclusion in the Reformation era. The Protestants, Anabaptists charged, lived just as ungodly as the Catholics, who saw Jesus as someone to be worshiped (as an idol)—someone who set an impossible standard…someone who gave commands he never expected us poor sinners to follow. This idea paints Christ as a cruel master who expects far too much of his followers. The truth, however, is that the secret to Anarchism, as it’s demonstrated by a true disciple of Christ, would be submission to the Father’s will and leading of the Holy Spirit. This means that true voluntary service and obedience in this Kingdom is possible, and it manifests to those outside of it.

Tribalism

Of course, we must consider the Old Testament when discussing Scripture, especially if we’re going to make the claim that true New Testament Biblicists are Anarchistic. After all, the Old and New Testaments form one composite religious text. The Old Testament is “troublesome” for secular anarchists because it seems to support hegemony, especially patriarchy. After all, Joshua leads militaristic campaigns and conquers nearly all of Canaan with permission from Yahweh. Moses is God’s prophet who must deliver commandments detailing a male-centric priesthood. Saul is Israel’s first king—one who descends into paranoia and relentlessly tries to kill David, his successor. We could go on, but this is sufficient evidence to at least imply that the Bible is by no means an Anarchist’s handbook. But Mark Van Steenwyk disagrees and offers compelling reasons to the contrary.

If I understand him correctly, Steenwyk would argue we need to understand that Scripture gives us an ideal blueprint for humanity and at the same time reveals the consequences from straying from the only legitimate authority that exists. In other words: God is the only legitimate ruler over mankind; when we wander from that authority, we descend into wickedness, and human governance is merely a symptom of the sin problem! The Old Testament therefore doesn’t condone the kingship of men, it reveals the problems with it. We get this sense from two passages in Steenwyk’s book. For instance, he reminds the reader that the Hebrews once existed as confederate tribes before they were a monarchy. 

While it is true that the patriarchs had many possessions, it is a stretch to infer from their wealth modern notions of property rights. Pre-agricultural nomadic peoples were tribal. While the patriarchs were hardly egalitarian, their understanding of ownership was much more communal than modern Western notions. The wealth of the tribe or clan or family was for the benefit of all.

While Steenwyk seems personally uncomfortable with the fact that the Bible is patriarchal, the reality is that, in general, the idea of wealth and property was “communal,” or for the benefit of the “tribe or clan or family.” This isn’t complete Anarchism, obviously. It doesn’t have to be. The point is that the Old Testament seems to highlight a more humane, God-prescribed structure as an alternative to a monarchy or centralized government: family.

When we skip forward in the Hebrew history, we’re confronted with the perversions associated with governments of men. Steenwyk makes an astute observation of the conflict between prophets of God and kings of men:

As we read through the prophets, when God speaks, it is usually through a prophet who challenges the king’s power and who stands outside of the machines of the monarchy. So much could be said here. The emphases of the kings are very different than those of the prophets. It is astonishing how much the prophets link idolatry and exploitation of the poor. The kings often centralize wealth and power. The prophets challenge that trend. The prophets, it would seem, still hold God’s Jubilee vision in their imaginations.

The prophets were quick to rebuke wayward kings for deviating from God’s pattern, which outlined a communal/ tribal form of governance that took poverty, widowhood, war, injustice, justice, etc. into much more humane and thoughtful consideration than the selfish, imperialistic kings had. Undoubtedly, Jesus, being a Jew, knew of his nation’s history; the Apostles, too, understood this as well. So it comes as no surprise then that we see a careful distinction between the “Old” Israel (one ruled by corrupt kings) and a “New” Israel (one ruled by a prince of peace) in the New Testament writings. The early church, and the Anabaptist descendants especially, was an expression of this “New” Israel of God and practiced this in their daily lives.

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About the Author

Nathan Moon is a house-painter because he “has a useless English degree”. More importantly, he’s a student of Jesus, which is the theme of his blog.

He hopes to one day have a small photography/movie-production company. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and four daughters.

You can learn more about him and see his work at his website is www.anabaptistapologist.com.