A Sola the Reformers Missed - "Sola Ecclesia"

And he put all things under his feet and appointed him head over all things through the agency of the ἐκκλησίᾳ (church), which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22-23

I'll begin with a bold assertion:

"Sola Ecclesia" - The assembly of Jesus' people (i.e., the church) is the only legitimate form of human government in existence since the day Jesus ascended to his throne... and it is vastly different from the kingdoms of this world. If that shocks you—or even if you just "don't get it"—you may want to read the article below.

Hoping to persuade you that the reformers missed an important Sola, I'll start with a parable:

Have you ever watched a 3D movie?

As you walk into the theater, an usher hands you a pair of glasses with lenses polarized at different angles. Your left eye sees one image and your right eye another, bringing the movie to life in glorious full color, blowing you away with dramatic real-world depth and dimension.

Imagine now, if you will, that you're a famous movie critic. A rival studio knows you're coming to the theater. To ensure a bad review, they've bribed an usher to watch for your arrival. As you walk in, he hands you a different kind of glasses. They look like the ones everyone else has, but the left lens is blue and the right lens is red.

When the movie starts, instead of a blockbuster in glorious color and realistic depth, you see a flat and rather blurry distortion. Scenes that should leap out at you confuse you instead. Rather than merging, images are split, and you see two different things. At times, the rose-colored optimism of the red lens colors the story, while the mood at other times is falsely darkened by the blue.

We've been reading the bible through the wrong lenses.

In the parable above, the theater is our life. The blockbuster is the bible. Satan operates the rival studio, and the usher is a university-funded bible translation committee. Our understanding of scripture has been distorted by the lenses of several wrong turns in history and theological tradition.

Though they corrected a great deal, the Reformers missed this Sola. They were still seeing scripture through distorting lenses fitted when Constantine "legalized" Christianity. As a result of that sea change, the church got into bed with the kingdoms of Satan, resulting in an adulterous alignment of the church's interests with those of the human state.

My goal today is to give you a better fitting and functioning pair of lenses through which to read the bible. But first, a disclaimer.

What "Sola Ecclesia" is not...

Previous versions of "Sola Ecclesia" are not what I'm championing. Mine is not the "Sola Ecclesia" of the Catholic church. Nor that of Reformation Magazine. Nor that of the OPC. Nor any other "Sola Ecclesia" I'm aware of, or have so far located by searching, though I welcome any references you may offer for my ongoing study.

And I'm not asking you to embrace "Sola Ecclesia"—yet...

...but if you claim an "open mind," or aspire to life-long learning, then you needs must investigate new perspectives, right?

What I am asking is that you make a sincere effort to understand "Sola Ecclesia" and keep this alternate pair of lenses—a different prescription—on hand. As you read the scriptures daily, pick up these "Sola Ecclesia" spectacles from time to time and ask yourself, "How would I understand this passage differently IF this prescription turns out to be better than my old one?"

At this point, you're probably thinking...

"So, give me the lenses, already..."

I already have. The proper lens to view scripture through is the assertion in the preface to this article:

"Sola Ecclesia" - The assembly of Jesus' people (i.e., the church) is the only legitimate form of human government in existence since the day Jesus ascended to his throne.

However, for clarity, I'll restate and expand on that statement in several different ways, beginning with this article, and (God willing) I'll dive deeper in some articles to come.

The assembly (Greek: ἐκκλησίᾳ)—known to you all your life as "the church"—is the only governance structure authorized by Jesus/God at the present time. What most of us have previously thought of as "civil government" is in all truth Satan's kingdom in action. God intends that his assemblies supplant and displace satanic rule, not participate in or attempt to reform it (Luke 22:24-30).

What does this mean for our bible reading?

When in the New Testament you read of rulers, officials, governors, etc., you've been conditioned to assume certain passages are about 'civil government.' However, you may actually be reading about the Assembly of Jesus and his followers, i.e. about the church and its members and officials (e.g. Titus 2:11-3:7).

ONLY—if the context makes it unequivocally clear—should you conclude that an earthly government is being spoken of. And, in some of those cases, you'll find it's quite clear that the rulers are demonic powers (e.g. Ephesians 6:10-13, 1 Corinthians 2:8).

Earthly governments are, of course, in view in historical narratives that explicitly mention, for example, Roman military personnel, named tyrants, or synagogue rulers (e.g. Matthew 27:1-2). Otherwise, please (especially when reading the letters written to the saints by Paul, Peter, James, and Jude, and when reading Hebrews) try to start with the assumption that the governance being discussed or described is that of the assembly (church) itself. See how that change of perspective would change your understanding of the passage.

"But isn't this blatant eisegesis?"

No more than what you're already doing. Be honest with yourself; you're already bringing a systematic theology to your reading of scripture. Besides, your entire life history as a believer, all your social and political experience, has preconditioned you to interpret the bible in a certain way. If nothing else, trying to see scripture through a different lens may help you toward the general goal of better understanding other viewpoints. And, why worry? You're only doing this on a trial basis, right?

So, remove your "standard-issue" spectacles,

at least for a while. Admit they may be causing you to see things that aren't there. Switch glasses momentarily and open your mind just enough to understand this possible alternative.

Stop (for a change) viewing the world as dichotomized into "church" and "state," "heavenly kingdom" and "earthly kingdom," "sacred" and "secular." For just a little while, especially stop thinking in reformed/Calvinist terms of "church government" versus "civil government." Consider the possibility that these constructs may (at least since Calvin’s 16th Century writings) be mere assumptions and traditions.

Equally mind-sapping false dichotomies are those of left versus right, donkey versus elephant, commie versus (your choice) democracy or republic, etc. This kind of thinking serves only to distract you from the real dichotomy, the one magnificently and clearly expressed in Psalm 2. These petty quarrels are the result of Satan whispering in your ear, "Look, over here!... Pay no attention to that truth behind the curtain."

Try on a pair of "Sola Ecclesia" glasses.

With the right pair of glasses, you can relegate all human governance as we've known it to its proper place. You can begin to see all territorial states as endless variations on the satanically controlled kingdoms of this world age. While some "forms of government" (e.g. democracies, monarchies, republics) may be better or worse than others, they are all corrupt and irremediable enemies of truth and righteousness.

Instead, as you read the New Testament, think in terms of God's Kingdom versus Satan's kingdom. Consider the unbridgeable gap between these two kingdoms. Consider leaving Satan and all his minions—human or otherwise—to their own devices. Stop participating in politics and instead focus on creating and building up Godly governance systems as Jesus' beloved people, guided by the Word of God. We can show the world "how it's done," and in the process attract lost humanity to a new and better way of life.

For me, this perspective change has made all the difference.

My global, holographic view of scripture and life has become more sensibly consistent than ever. I'm ready to help create and participate new and Godly governance groups (i.e. the assemblies formerly known as 'churches') that dynamically advance the Kingdom of God in this world. How about you?

Can you begin to see it?

We'll explore more of the meaning of "Sola Ecclesia" in upcoming articles, God willing. How this viewpoint better harmonizes all of scripture, and what it might mean—practically speaking—in our churches and in our day-to-day lives.

---

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.

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The Early Church and the Foundations of Voluntaryism (Christian-Anarchism)

During the course of The Bad Roman project, I have become fascinated by the early church, and when I say early church, I’m talking about the first 300 to 400 years prior to Constantine. I am a full believer that we, as the church, should return to that old-time religion. When I say that, I don’t mean back in the 50’s and 60’s; I mean the true intent of the early church. So what I want to do with this article is show proof of the early church’s Anarchist actions. 

If you have followed our project for any amount of time, then you will be familiar with my stance, but this article isn’t for me, it’s for you to decide on your own. If we are to take the teachings of Christ seriously, then we should lean on the understanding of the folks who were a lot closer to the situation than we'll ever be. Yes, we have the Bible, which is a great resource in regards to following Christ, but what happened, and what was said beyond the Bible? Thankfully we have a wealth of information from those folks who were there. I will include a list of books I have read that helped me put this article together at the end so that you can check them out for yourself. We will look at several writings from those who witnessed  it first-hand and, in the case of Polycarp, endured persecution to the point of death.

We will start with Polycarp (69-156), who by all accounts, was taught directly by the Apostle John, giving him some significant credibility. Polycarp was a No King but Christ, Jesus-centric disciple. The torture of Polycarp by the state is pretty graphic in Arnold’s book, but it is necessary to understand just how devoted he was to Jesus; he knew without a doubt He is his King. Prior to his eventual arrest and torture, Polycarp immediately ordered food to be served to those arresting him, and they still took him to the proconsul.  Polycarp was “cut by scourges until the anatomy of [his] body was visible, even to the veins and arteries, [he] endured everything.” Here is where it gets more interesting. They tried like hell to get him to deny his faith, but he was stoic and did not comply.

I am not willing to do what you advise me.

They pushed him further,

Swear and I will release you! Curse Christ!

This is my favorite part….

Eighty-six years have I served him, and he has never done me any harm. How could I blaspheme my King and Savior?

This is a mic-drop moment for me! He clearly states who his King is, and it dang sure isn’t Caesar! They ended up trying to burn him to death, and when the fire didn’t consume him, they stabbed him to death.

Are you convinced of the Anarchist mentality of the early church yet? No? Let's continue.

Origen (185-254) is very interesting to me. Whenever we quote him on social media, the first pushback we get is “well, he was a universalist”, which is used as a pejorative and has absolutely nothing to do with his Jesus-centric understanding of the state. Origen was a student of Clement of Alexandria (150-215) and widely understood to be the most prolific writer of the pre-Nicene church, dictated around two thousand works. There is some controversy about Origen among modern scholars. They suggest that he did not oppose properly undertaken wars, but if you dig deeper into his writings that just doesn’t seem to be the case. One very important statement by Origen should put all of that to rest. He says, “if all the Romans become Christians, they will not war at all…. Christ forbade the killing of anyone.”

What I want to focus on with this article is the early Christian’s view of the State, and there are a couple of statements by Origen that should be heard loud and clear.

To those who ask us whence we have come or who we have for a leader, we say that we have come in accordance with the counsels of Jesus to cut down our warlike and arrogant swords of argument into ploughshares, and we convert into sickles the spears we formerly used in fighting. For we no longer take sword against a nation, nor do we learn any more to make war, having become sons of peace for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader, instead of following the ancestral customs in which were strangers to the covenants.

There is one key point in this quote that needs to be recognized, which is why I shared it. Origen made it clear who our leader is, and it is without a doubt Jesus. I absolutely love the No King but Christ in this message.

This next statement from Origen comes from his work titled Against Celsus. For context, Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. This statement is so much fun for me.  It really drives home the point of how the early Christians worked on the fringes of society, having no interest in engaging with political processes. 

The Christians form among themselves secret societies that exist outside the system of laws...an obscure and mysterious community founded on revolt and on the advantage that accrues from it.

Now that statement may raise some eyebrows because the word “revolt” is used, but think about what that means. It wasn’t a violent revolt like so many of us are accustomed to understanding; it was a peaceful revolt against the evils of the State. They just did not dirty their hands with these evils.

Now, let me tell you about my guy Tertullian (155-220). His writings have probably had the most influence on how I approach the Bad Roman project. When we started, we understood that we would be in your face about what we believe when it comes to #nokingbutchrist and love you along the way. So, if you want to understand why I approach this project the way I do, then read some Tertullian. No nonsense, and it really is what it is. His approach to the Roman Empire is absolutely fascinating to me and is seriously missing in the church today. 

Bercot’s description of Tertullian is spot on; he writes, “Fiery Christian writer in Carthage, North Africa” 

I love learning about these folks. The older I have gotten, the more interested in history I have become, and the history of the early Church is no exception. I feel like I was probably born in the wrong era, haha, but I’m thankful we have writings to lean on to get a sense of exactly what was going on back then. I said all of that to give a little background on Tertullian.

He was born into a pagan family in the city of Carthage, which was one of the four largest cities of the Roman Empire. He was very well educated in rhetoric, philosophy, law, and medicine. He worked for a time in Rome as a jurist and returned to Carthage. His conversion to Christianity is somewhat of a mystery but boom! He burst onto the scene with his writing Apology, from which the following texts are taken.

“We are charged with being irreligious people and, what is more, irreligious in respect to the emperors since we refuse to pay religious homage to their imperial majesties and to their genius and refuse to swear by them.

High treason is a crime of offense against the Roman religion. It is a crime of open irreligion, a raising of the hand to injure the deity… Christians are considered to be enemies of the State, enemies of the public well-being… In dealing with religious veneration of the second majesty, we Christians are accused of a second sacrilege because we do not celebrate the festivals of the Caesars among you.

We wage a battle when we are challenged to face the tribunals of law. There, in peril of life, we give testimony for the truth. Guards and informers bring up accusations against the Christians as sexual deviants and murderers, blasphemers and traitors, enemies of public life, desecrators of temples, and criminals against the religion of Rome. Look, you do not deal with us in accordance with the formalities of criminal cases even though you consider the Christian guilty of every crime and an enemy of the gods, emperors, laws, morals; yes, of the whole nature. “You do not,” so they tell us, “worship the gods, nor do you make sacrifices to the emperors.” Accordingly, we are charged with sacrilege and high treason. We are publicly accused of being atheists and criminals who are guilty of high treason.

Wow! Does this show you anything like what we see today? Don’t you wish people would call out the state worship that happens in churches today, just like this? Tertullian was well aware of the religion of the State, also known as statism.

In us, all ardor in the pursuit of glory and honor is dead. So we have no pressing inducement to take part in your public meetings. Nor is there anything more entirely foreign to us than affairs of state.

This quote is interesting to me because he makes it clear that the affairs of the state are entirely foreign to him and certainly should be for professing Christians. Let’s move on to more Tertullian…

All the powers and dignities of this world are only alien to, but are enemies of God. Through them, too, penalties prepared for the impious are ignored.

I’m not sure anything else can be said with regard to the state, but there is one more Tertullian quote I would like to share. This one may be my favorite…

I owe no duty to forum, campaign, or senate. I stay awake for no public function. I make no effort to occupy a platform. I am no office seeker. I have no desire to smell out political corruption. I shun the voters booth, the juryman’s bench. I break no laws and push no lawsuits; I will not serve as a magistrate or judge. I refuse to do military service. I desire to rule over no one- I have withdrawn from worldly politics! Now my only politics is spiritual- how that I might be anxious for nothing except to root out all worldly anxieties and care.

If these examples aren’t convincing you of how a Christian ought to relate to the State, then how about the very words of our King? Who outright rejected Satan’s temptation in Matt 4:1-11. Jesus had the biggest mic drop ever regarding this topic, and as Christians, isn’t He our ultimate example?

Were the early church Anarchists? From my understanding, I would conclude that the early church was indeed anarchist, but labels don’t matter much. What is certain, is that they knew exactly who their King is. In the end, that is the only thing that matters. Choose this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15). #nokingbutchrist 

There is so much more I could have put into this article. If you are interested in reading more about the early church and its beliefs, here are some book suggestions:

1. The Early Christians In Their Own Words by Eberhard Arnold

2. The Early Church on Killing by Ronald J. Sider

3. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs by David W. Bercot

4. The Christians As The Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken

5. Liberty in the Things of God by Robert Louis Wilken

Love y’all,

Craig Harguess

The Not So Triumphal Entry

It was the week leading up to Passover and preparations were already well underway. The city of Jerusalem was swarming with people. This was one of three annual feasts where Jews from across the world would come to Jerusalem to remember God’s faithfulness to his people. These feasts were a time of joy, but they were also a time of trepidation.

Many Zealots were among the crowds, violent freedom fighters who sought to overthrow the Romans. They used the feasts to stage political protests, and these would often lead to deadly riots. They reasoned that Passover in particular was supposed to celebrate the liberation of Israel from Egypt, and it was a fitting time to fight for liberation from Rome. In light of this, it is not surprising that tensions were high during Passover. Large contingents of soldiers would be sent in for these days, an ever-present reminder of the terrifying power of the Romans.

The Sunday before Passover was particularly special because this was the day Moses appointed for choosing the lamb that would be slain for the family (Exodus 12.3).

The lamb had to be completely spotless, and so it was that thousands of Jews spent the day searching for the perfect lamb. They knew God would only bless them if they were obedient to his commands.

Just outside Jerusalem, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus and his disciples are preparing to enter the city to choose their lamb. We pick up the story in Luke 19.

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

Luke 19.29-36

In order to fully understand this story it’s important to have an understanding of the cultural context in which it takes place. To begin, Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, and he spent much of his time teaching devout Jews from their Scriptures, which they called Tanakh (we call it the Old Testament). The Jewish people at this time were very religious and they knew their text very well. Many of them had large sections of it memorized and they would often recite the text to make a theological point or teaching.

One of the teaching techniques that was used in this time was called “Remez”, which in Hebrew means “hint” or “clue”. If a teacher wanted to make a point using a passage of Scripture they would allude (hint) to the passage either by performing an action it describes or by quoting a line from it.

The disciples, being dutiful students, would pick up on the clue and they would call to mind the rest of the passage. Often the teacher’s point would be contained in the verse just before or just after his hint. Thus, in order to fully understand the teacher’s message, you need to know the context of the passage they are referencing. Jesus uses this technique much more than we realize. Many times we simply don’t know the Bible well enough to pick up on all the subtle references. Fortunately, the disciples did.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’

Matthew 21.4-5

Matthew points out that Jesus is giving us a clue about what he was doing. By riding into Jerusalem on a colt, Jesus was acting out the text of Zechariah 9. This is significant for a number of reasons. First, Jesus is saying that he is the king of Israel. He is the long-awaited messiah that will bring salvation to the Jewish people.

But there’s something more. Normally one would expect a king to ride into a city on a dazzling warhorse (Jeremiah 17.25). Instead, Jesus chose to enter on a donkey. At first glance, one may be tempted to think that the donkey represented his humility, but this is unlikely because only wealthy people had donkeys in the time of Jesus. However, the donkey is still significant for another reason.

In the ancient near east, there was a custom that kings would ride into town on a horse if they intended to wage war but they would ride on a donkey if they came in peace.

Throughout the Bible, horses are almost exclusively used for military purposes (Exodus 15.19, Psalm 33.17, Psalm 76.6, Psalm 147.10, Proverbs 21.31, Jeremiah 8.6, Jeremiah 51.21, Zechariah 10.3, Revelation 6.4) while donkeys are often used for peaceful travel (Judges 10.4, Judges 12.14, 2 Samuel 17.23, 2 Samuel 19.26).

This practice gave rise to the idea that the donkey was an animal of peace while the horse was an animal of war. Thus, if Jesus had intended to arrive as a conquering king he most certainly would have ridden a horse.

It is also notable that Jesus chose not to wear any royal robes or armor. Surely if he wanted to “look the part” this would have been a good time to show off his magnificence. Instead, Jesus wore his normal clothes and rode on a very normal donkey. Rather than coming to wage war, Jesus alludes to Zechariah to emphasize that his kingdom will be a kingdom of peace. The next verse underscores this idea.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9.10

Interestingly, Zechariah 9 is itself an allusion to 1 Kings 1. In that chapter, we read of Solomon, the son of David, ridding into Gihon on a donkey to be anointed as king (1 Kings 1.38). Solomon (whose name means peace) would go on to establish the most peaceful and prosperous reign Israel had ever experienced, a reign that came to characterize people’s expectations of the messiah.

From these texts, we can get an understanding of Jesus’ message. He enters Jerusalem as the “son of David” who has come to bring peace, not with a warhorse, but with a simple donkey. While he does not shy away from proclaiming himself as their king, he is showing them that his kingdom will not establish peace through violence. It will not be built with horses and bloodshed.

Let’s follow the story a little further.

As he was drawing near – already on the way down the Mount of Olives – the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,

Luke 19.37

The crowd followed because of the works they had seen, as John tells us.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

John 12.17-18

The crowd heard that Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. They figured that this must mean he was the promised messiah. Thus they exclaimed:

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

Luke 19.38

The spreading of cloaks was also an acknowledgment of royalty (2 Kings 9.13). This leads us to an important point. The crowd recognized that Jesus was their king, but only because of his miracles. They completely missed the allusion to Zechariah and the significance of the donkey (John 12.16).

The story continues:

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David”

Matthew 21.9)

The people are shouting the words of Psalm 118.

Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Psalm 118.25

“Save us, please” is the English rendering of the Hebrew phrase “Hosanna”. In Christian circles, it is often assumed that they wanted to be saved from their sin, but that is simply an unfortunate example of us reading our theology into the story. In the context of that day, “Hosanna” very clearly meant “save us from the Romans”.

This gives us an important insight into understanding this story. These people were not simply praising Jesus. They were asking him to save them. Specifically, they were quoting a messianic Psalm that promised God would deliver them from their enemies (Psalm 118.5).

We have to keep in mind that the Jews, and especially the Zealots, had a completely different idea about what the coming messiah would be like. To them, the messiah was to be a conquering king who would use military might to overthrow the Romans.

They imagined a person who would not only endorse the rebellion but would become its leader. “Salvation” for them is to be saved from Rome. “Messiah” for them is a king who would use violence to defeat their oppressors and thus bring liberty and peace.

There’s an important detail in this story that helps to reinforce this understanding.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him.

John 12.13

In the days of Jesus, palm branches had a certain religious symbolism because they were connected to some of the Jewish feasts (Leviticus 23.40). More importantly, however, the Zealots used palm branches as their symbol of Jewish nationalism. Waving the palm branch was the equivalent to waving their country’s national flag.

The palm branch was regularly used on Jewish coins, like a maple leaf on Canadian coins or an eagle on American coins. Palms had also been used during the Maccabean revolt to celebrate their victory over the Syrians (1 Maccabees 13.51, 2 Maccabees 10.7), and that story undoubtedly encouraged their nationalistic fervor.

Thus, palm branches came to represent the patriotism that fueled the fight against the Romans, and it was this patriotism that was on full display that Sunday. The crowds were not interested in welcoming a suffering servant. They went out to welcome a patriot.

With this in mind, we can see why they were so thrilled at Jesus’ miracles. If their king could raise the dead, he could surely deliver them from the Romans.

Further, when we understand the mindset of the Jews we should no longer be surprised that those who hailed him as their king on Sunday would ask for his crucifixion on Friday. The motives of the Jews did not change, only their impression of Jesus. Once they discovered he was not aligned with their cause they had little reason to choose him over Barabbas.

So the stage is set. The city is packed with people and Jesus is riding in on a donkey. Everyone is in an uproar because they think he is the long-awaited messianic king. After all, he had just raised Lazarus from the dead. A revolt is brewing. The Zealots are stirring up the crowd. Finally, the day of deliverance has come. Now is the time to make some noise. The revolution is beginning!

But this is really dangerous. Roman soldiers are everywhere. If this thing turns into a riot it will be a very bloody night. The Pharisees in particular were worried about how the Romans would react (John 11.48).

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

Luke 19.39

In other words, get them to be quiet. Settle them down. This is getting out of hand.

And then we read this.

He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Luke 19.40

The stones would cry out? What a peculiar little phrase. Does he really think the stones would praise him, or is there something we’ve missed? As it turns out, this phrase is taken directly from the Jewish Scriptures, and anyone who was well studied in the text would quickly pick up on the Remez.

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for you house. By cutting off many peoples you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond: “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!”

Habakkuk 2.9-12

The Pharisees had asked Jesus to rebuke his followers for being too loud. But instead of telling them to be quiet, Jesus rebukes them with the words of Habakkuk. Rather than condemn their vigor, Jesus alludes to the message of the stones to condemn their intentions.

Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!

Woe to you, oh Jerusalem, people of God, if you seek to establish the kingdom with violence. Woe to you, oh Zealots, freedom fighters, if you seek to gain your freedom through bloodshed. Woe to you, oh Christian, if you think you can establish God’s kingdom with human strength (Jeremiah 17.5, Zechariah 4.6). Woe to you if you think you can use force and coercion to make people good. Woe to you if you seek to justify war and violence.

If there remains any doubt in your mind as to Jesus’ thoughts about their fervor, take a look at the very next lines of the story.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

Luke 19.41-42

The Greek word translated as “wept” is “klaio”, and it refers to a tearful mourning caused by deep sorrow and grief. This is not the climax of a triumphal entry. This is a painful recognition that his people simply didn’t get it. They did not know the way of peace (Isaiah 59.8).

Jesus continued to meditate on the words of Habakkuk, and they likely called to mind a parallel passage in Micah.

Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mount of the house a wooded height.

Micah 3.9-12

Like Habakkuk, Micah condemned the leaders of Israel who sought to establish Jerusalem with bloodshed and violence. Because of them, Micah prophesied that Jerusalem would become “a heap of ruins”, and that the temple would be reduced to a hill in a forest. Having just made the same indictment as Micah, Jesus now alludes to these verses by making the same prophecy.

For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

Luke 19.43-44

As we know, this prophecy was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.

The historical context of this story is what makes it so shocking. The Romans were crucifying Jews by the thousands. They imprisoned them and taxed them and enslaved them. The Jews had every reason, every right, to overthrow the Romans. The Zealots would today be praised for their willingness to “protect” their people. This was not a fringe group of radicals trying to cause mayhem. These were God-fearing, freedom-loving patriots living under foreign occupation who were fighting to defend themselves and their families.

The Zealot uprising was a just war if there ever was one.

Some would go so far as to say that Jews were morally obligated to fight the injustice of the Romans. But if that is the case then Jesus was a sinner because he refused to join the Zealots. In the eyes of his friends, he had not only betrayed the Jewish cause, but he had actually sinned by failing to fight the Romans. According to them, Jesus simply made the wrong choice. He should have ridden into Jerusalem on a warhorse. I dare say many Christians today would have preferred that.

But Jesus had a different way. Jesus came to Jerusalem on lamb selection day to be the lamb of God (John 1.29), though the Jews wanted to turn him into a ferocious lion. They sought to establish God’s kingdom with violence and bloodshed but this was an approach Jesus consistently rejected. Rather than lead a military conquest, Jesus subjected himself to the Romans (John 18.36).

He did not resist being crucified, even though he had every right to. He taught his followers to pay taxes and turn the other cheek (Matthew 22.21, Matthew 5.39). He instructed us to submit to unjust rulers and go the extra mile (Matthew 5.41). Let them imprison you, let them kill you, and rebuke those who would start a very justified rebellion against them (Matthew 26.52). If that isn’t a radical commitment to non-violence, I don’t know what is.

So how does the story continue? Well, 2000 years go by, and it becomes a tradition in the church to wave palm branches and sing “Hosanna” in remembrance of Palm Sunday. Every year, we sing songs about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we wave the sign of the Zealot and we sing the words of the Zealot.

Fortunately, the ideas these symbols once represented are no longer in the minds of Christians celebrating this occasion. And yet, one has to wonder how it is that many of us are still eager to use violence and state power to conquer our enemies. I sometimes wonder if we have learned anything from Jesus’ radical message of peace. I wonder if Jesus is still weeping over his people.

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About the Author

Patrick Carroll has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is an Editorial Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.

You can follow him on Twitter @PatrickC1995 or on his Facebook page The Prudent Navigator.

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.