Bruxy Cavey is a Canadian pastor working with The Meeting House, a church with roots in the Anabaptist movement. He has written a book about having a relationship with Jesus called The End of Religion. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and bruxy.com. 

Satan has always been after Christians and works to seduce them with power, he convinces people they can make their country more Christian through politics. He pushes us to seek religion rather than relationship. Bruxy is here today to teach about a different way to change the world-- the way the Anabaptists follow; the way of love and non-violence; the way of Jesus. Anabaptists believe politics has nothing to do with Jesus. We should ignore what the government is doing and focus on our Kingdom mission, which is to love people and introduce them to Love Himself. You can find more about the anabaptists’ background and beliefs here: Radical Reformation Teaching. 

Timestamps: 

6:00 Political Identity

• Is in Jesus’ Kingdom

• “This is a threatening concept, to say ‘Jesus is inviting us into a whole new way of finding our ethnic and national and political identities in this world: the Good News of the Kingdom.’ That means we've got a king-- that's Jesus. And it also means that we are citizens of a different way of being in this world.” -Bruxy

6:57 Ambassadors 

• Less of an American citizen, and more a citizen of the Jesus Nation 

• “I’m not here to be a good Canadian; I’m here to be an ambassador to Canada” -Bruxy

8:00 A Threat to the Establishment

• “If Christians aren't a threat to the state, then we're probably not living like we're supposed to be.” -Craig

• Jesus threatened:

  • The religious leaders by giving grace and taking away people’s need for sacrifice

  • The political leaders by claiming to be King

    • They mocked him with royal clothes

      • But it was all true

      • “He is being crowned king of the alternative kingdom that doesn't overcome the world through might and power. It overcomes the world through suffering.” 

      • The cross was His coronation ceremony

11:49 Christian Nation

• America has many Christian ideals at its root

  • Therefore people think it is a Christian nation

  • “The whole idea is oxymoronic. I mean, there's no such thing as a Christian nation. The people are Christians or not Christians, but nations are not Christians unless it's the Jesus nation, the alternative Kingdom.” -Bruxy

• “Jesus doesn't teach his followers how to use their power to govern well.” -Craig

  • Our goal is not to elect a Christian politician

    • It is to love others better

    • “coercive power may have its place in a secular state, but not in the kingdom of Christ.” -Bruxy

  • People who want to be seen as good Christian politicians must look to Moses/the Old Testament for Biblical support of their actions

    • Jesus does not offer advice on how to govern

    • We don’t follow Moses; we follow Jesus

16:27 Contradictory Bible?

• The Old Testament seems to say one thing, but the New Testament says the opposite

• Jesus cut a new covenant; things changed

  • “That's why it's a bit of a misuse of the Bible to say, Well, I found this in the Bible… So I guess it's for today.”  -Bruxy

  • The Bible is a story of going from an old religious way to the way of freedom and love

  • “And of course, if we're not Jewish, it never was our covenant in the first place. We enter the story of God's people through Jesus.” -Bruxy

18:50 God is Love

• “If you want to get to know what God is like, just stare at Jesus and you get to know.” -Bruxy

• The universe was birthed because of Love

  • To be in sync with Love is to be in sync with the reason for the universe

•  It’s very simple; follow Jesus. Love.

  • When we make it more complicated, we make it complicated for people to find Him

23:17 The Problem of Power

• Basically, everything that distracts us from love can be boiled down to one thing: power

• We think we're going to solve The World's problems in our own power rather than just being humble and accepting God's gift

• The devil doesn't fret if we believe in God; he offers religion to distract us with power

• That's why every generation has a movement of people who go back to simplicity

25:50 Anabaptists

• Amish, Mennonite, and Anabaptists come from the same root

• “Repent” means to rethink and renew

  • It's a lifelong commitment to be willing to repent anytime you find something isn't right

  • Anabaptist is the renewal movement

  • “You gotta be willing to rethink some of the stuff you’ve assumed is Christian.” -Bruxy

•  The Catholics needed to repent, so some of them started the Protestant church

  •  But their idea was that Christians needed to follow the Bible

    •  The Bible can be used to justify just about anything

    •  They continued to fight wars and be tied to governments

    • Many wars were against the Catholics

    • The Anabaptist movement was born during this time

    • They focused on Jesus and were pacifists

    • They were persecuted by both the Protestants and Catholics for having different views

    • Then, some of them ran to America and hunkered down to try to be invisible

    • They chose not to interact with society

    • Amish & Mennonite

34:08 No Violence

• “It’s ok to die for a cause, but it’s not ok to kill for a cause.”

• Change from coercion, fighting, and laws to Holy Spirit’s guidance and fruit of the Spirit

• People will think you’re nuts for not defending yourself

• Passivists aren’t necessarily hippies in the forest waving flags

• “Peace should not just be the goal that you’re trying to achieve by any means necessary… Peace is the way to achieve the goal.” -Bruxy

  • Practice for the goal as you work toward its achievement

• Peaceful response to violence

  • If they hit you, calmly provide them an opportunity to hit you again

  • If they make you carry something for a mile, choose to carry it for two

    • “That first mile was slavery. The second mile is freedom.” -Bruxy

    • It shows them love

    • It might cause them to realize how cruel they are being to a fellow human

    • Defy their expectations

• “We tend to forget the effect you can have on a person's life by not killing them.” -Craig

• “The only way we can change hearts is through love. Not through the love of power.” -Bruxy 

40:55 Are Anabaptists Anti-State?

• Both Catholics and Protestants were fused with their governments

  • Whenever they found someone guilty of being a heretic, the state would have a trial and kill them for the church

  • This was like the Old Covenant where God was the religious leader of a nation

    • The anabaptists want to follow Jesus in the New Covenant

    • So, they chose to ignore what the state is doing and they separated from it