Lesson 7
Democracy or Theocracy
If we view democracy and statism as merely steps in man's struggle to be free; if we accept the fact that democratic statism is not the final answer, an acceptable answer, or even a rational one; what can we put in its place? The answer is: nothing. We, fallible creatures that we are, can not devise a system of government that can dispense liberty and justice. They all suffer from the same fault, one man or a group takes dominion over others. Servitude is guaranteed. Liberty and justice, and human government are not compatible. As you have already learned the pursuit of happiness means pursuing a life without human government. A practical alternative suggests itself.
We must abandon the idea of humanly contrived government. We must stop imposing on each new generation the concept and ideology of statism. It is an antiquated idea, superstitious nonsense contrived by our neolithic ancestors. Statism has been around for a very long time, perhaps as long as five thousand years; the notion of the modern state, nearly four thousand years. A long-standing evil is nonetheless an evil. Girls, I am convinced that rejecting all human governments and returning to God as mankind's King is the only sane and viable alternative.
Many years ago, before the Wizards of America was even started, an American named William Penn said:
If we will not be governed by God, we will be governed by tyrants.
Remember that Plato said theocracy is the best form of government and democracy degenerates into tyranny. Today people have been taught to believe that the spectrum of government goes from total power (tyranny) to chaos (anarchy), like this:
| Man's Rule (Tyranny) | No Rule (Anarchy) |
| Man's Rule (Tyranny) | God's Rule (Freedom) |
As men we have God for our King, and under the law of reason; as Christians, we have Jesus the Messiah for our King, and are under the law revealed by Him in the Gospel.
Can you find where John Locke stood on the last spectrum of government?
Grown-ups do not like being ruled by God. They think it is a bad idea for several reasons. First, theocracy requires a belief in God and a belief that all the world is a theocracy in which God, or His Messiah, is the ruling sovereign. How can we adopt a form of government which is founded on belief? Actually we have no choice. Every form of government requires belief, and lots of it!
Statism and democracy are both based on belief. Lesson 4 shows you this is true, although hardly ever realized. Statism is a product of human imagination. It is part of the inner world of the mind, not part of the outer world of reality. Democracy, as well, demands belief in the wisdom and authority of the majority. Theocracy merely requires a change in belief from the immortal, invisible, sovereign state to the immortal, invisible, sovereign God. Belief in the state has lead us steadily down the road to mutually assured destruction. New Covenant theocracy is the very opposite of statism. It leads down the road to mutually assured affection because we are commanded to love, not only our neighbor, but our enemy, as well.
In America this change presents less of a problem than one might think. Christianity is already the dominant religion. The doctrine of the Kingdom of God under the Lordship of the Messiah is central in the Bible. Many denominations already believe in the present reality of that Kingdom. When belief in the pagan ideas of democracy and statism are rejected, there is a void to be filled. Christians should automatically turn to theocracy. Indeed, the gospel of the Messiah commands them to do so: Repent (change your mind), for the Kingdom of God is upon you!In fact, Christians are supposed to turn from the domain of darkness to the Kingdom of God even before the domain of darkness is abolished. (See Lesson 12). Which will you choose when you are grown up? Find your choice on the spectrum of government:
| Man's Rule (Mutual destruction) | God's Rule (Mutual affection) |
Religion is defined as the recognition on the part of man of a controlling superhuman power entitled to obedience, reverence and worship. Reverence means the feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe. Worship means reverent honor and homage paid to a god. The term god is defined as a superhuman person who is the object of worship, one whom men call upon or invoke,
That's a lot of definitions, but try to hold them in your mind as we look at the modern state. Is it a god? Is statism a religion? Statism recognizes an incorporeal, all-powerful, immortal super-human person, the state. Deep respect and awe for the state are called patriotism. Reverent honor and homage to the state are rendered with the pledge of true faith and allegiance, the national anthem, and other patriotic observances, but most especially by the sacrifice of one's life on the command of the state. Men invoke the name and power of the state on a daily basis: as they make and enforce enactments that establish the standards of right and wrong for the community and as they begin all judicial proceedings, for example.
In America we have a remarkable pantheon of ruling gods. At the top is the United States. At the next level is found fifty lesser gods, the several states. Then some three thousand counties and numberless municipalities. Somewhere in there is the great god, Demos, the people. The prophets of this religion who think and speak and act in the name of the gods they serve are called congressmen, governors, and judges.
In every kingdom the king ruled by divine right. In every empire the emperor was the son of a god or god himself. In statism the state becomes a god. In democracy the majority (Demos) become deified, infallible and all-powerful. Man's very nature cries out to be ruled by a being superior to himself. The separation of religion and government is an impossibility. Even the separation of church a nd state, both human institutions, was never attempted until the colonists tried it. But even this isn't possible. If there is any doubt that churches support the state in America, call a minister at random and ask him if he supports a belief in the state and teaches the religious duty of obedience to state laws. I bet he does!
Lesson 8
Seeds of the Kingdom
Now, my little nieces,here is something very important. In the religious teaching of obedience to human laws lies buried the seed of the Kingdom! Very few churches mandate complete obedience to the state. They do not teach that Christ has completely abdicated His throne to another superhuman person. They all leave a tiny area of life under the sovereignty of God's law and His Messiah. Many do not require their members to murder other humans in obedience to laws of the state, while some do not require pledging allegiance to the flag. And many preachers would go to prison rather than obey a law which bans preaching their statist version of the gospel; although it's difficult to imagine why such a law would be passed. God's law is already regarded as binding on believers and of a higher moral power than human law if only in certain extreme cases. It is the principle that is so tremendously important: There is a law higher than human law! This is the seed of God's Kingdom.
There are two ways this seed of the Kingdom can grow to maturity. First, instead of focusing on individual laws, think in terms of law systems. We become very confused if we try to live part of our life under one law system and part under another. God's law and man's law are mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed. Neutrality is not possible, nor can both be chosen. They are complete and independent systems of law. Many grown-ups have been tricked into believing that the laws of the United States are founded on the laws of God and consistent with them. That was true for the majority two hundred years ago in America, but those men are long dead and it is definitely not true now.
The laws of the United States are founded on the will of the majority, not the will of God. If the majority happens to reverence the law of God, then the laws of the state could be the same as the laws of God. But they don't have to be the same. For someone who embraces no other religion than statism, the state is the source of all law (sovereign). His world looks like this:
Most churches teach that the world looks like this:
Human law is of primary importance in this scheme. It is the for real system, the one people believe in enough to enforce even if it means inflicting bodily harm. In this scheme God's law is in an entirely different category. Some churches teach that God's law must be obeyed rather than man's. These churches ignore the First Commandment which requires us to confess God alone as our Lord and His Anointed as our King. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign. The Biblical world view is like this:
Men are free to make ordinances, but to be valid they can be no more than restatements of God's law as applied to changing circumstances.
Wizards flatly reject any thought of God or His law as being for real when they play Wizards of America. Nor will the majority vote for men who believe God's law is above man's law, because God's law is at times contrary to the law the majority would like to live under. A friend of mine has been threatened with five years in prison for giving jurors literature about the law of God on the courthouse steps. Wizards are very hostile toward God's law. If there is a God and He has already declared what the law is, then human law which goes beyond God's law is rebellion.
The necessity to choose is presented clearly in A Preface To Morals by Walter Lippmann. The word modernity means the same as secular humanism, the abandonment of the supreme ideal of service to God; man becomes central in all areas of life, the measure of all things. I have taken the liberty to insert a few comments.
The upshot of the discussion to this point is that modernity (humanism) destroys the disposition to believe that behind the visible world of physical objects and human institutions (fantasy) there is a supernatural kingdom from which ultimately all laws, all judgments, all rewards, all punishments, and all compensations are derived. To those who believe that this kingdom exists (Christians) the modern spirit is nothing less than treason to God.
The popular religion (Christianity) rests on the belief that the Kingdom is an objective fact, as certain, as definite, and as real, in spite of its invisibility, as the British Empire (itself invisible; in fact, its gone now); it holds that this faith is justified by over-whelming evidence supplied by revelation,unimpeachable testimony, and incontrovertible signs. To the modern spirit (atheistic, man-centered), on the other hand, the belief in this kingdom must necessarily seem a grandiose fiction projected by human needs and desires. The humanistic view is that the popular faith does not prove the existence of its objects, but only the presence of a desire that such objects should exist (equally true for nation-states). The popular religion, in short, rests on a theory which, if true, is an extension of physics and of history; the humanistic view rests on human psychology and an interpretation of human experience.
It follows, then, that in exploring the modern problem it is necessary consciously and clearly to make a choice between these diametrically opposite points of view. The choice is fundamental and exclusive, and it determines all the conclusions which follow. For obviously to one who believes that the world is a theocracy, the problem is how to bring the strayed and rebellious masses of mankind back to their obedience, how to restore the lost provinces of God the invisible King (lost to the invisible god, the state). But to one who takes the humanistic view the problem is how mankind, deprived (by professional indoctrination of children) of the great fictions (no, great truths), is to come to terms with the needs which created those fictions. pgs. 143-144
Walter Lippman was a well known man during his life-time. He understood just what is going on in the world today much better than most Christians do. We are living in an era of dramatic change in what is called Western Civilization. Christianity is being set aside for a belief system which makes man the measure of all things. There is no place in this new scheme for men and women who have chosen Jesus as their King.
Lippmann, having the same right to choose that you and I do, rejected theocracy in favor of statism. The choice is between belief in God and belief in the state. Which makes better sense, a God who created us and now rules his creation, or a state which rules its creators? Which is better: Mutually assured destruction or mutually assured affection? Which is better: pursuit of sadness or pursuit of happiness? Find Lippman's position on the spectrum of government:
| Man's Rule (Humanism) | God's Rule (Christianity) |
The second way in which the seed of the Kingdom can grow to maturity is similar to the first. Simply recognize that the entire world system of nation-states is a matter of belief and stop believing. Because of years of indoctrination and generations of tradition the state seems very real. The Creator has endowed us with absolute freedom of mind and spirit. When you stop believing the state seems like a dream, while the Kingdom of God assumes a solidity never thought possible. It oc cupies in our hearts and minds the position formally filled by humanly contrived government. It is no longer regarded as pie in the sky by and by. All the love of country and submission to authority, all the intellectual and emotional attachment lavished on the flag and the state, are now available to be invested in God and His government.
It is universally taught in Christianity that believers must submit to all government by command of God. This is a fundamental doctrine of statism, not of Christianity. Only with the advent of humanism during the past hundred years has this divine right to rule doctrine regained ascendance. The colonists called that doctrine absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind and meant to end it forever with their revolution. That's what they meant by all men are created equal. This self-evident truth is what makes absurd the belief that King George's birth gave him the right to rule his fellow men. It is equally absurd and slavish to believe that the majority rules by divine right.
American government was founded on the consent of the governed, not the will of God. The obvious truth is that God did not appoint legislators, governors and all the rest, men elected them. Not every group of men that calls itself a government is worthy of our obedience. Not even all the so-called government set up by the ancient Israelites were recognized by God. We read in Hosea 8:4 that they make kings, but not by my will; they set up officers, but without my knowledge...When humbugs rule over their equals it is because ignorance and superstition are as prevalent today as at any time in history, not because God wills it. Democracy requires submission to the majority; theocracy requires submission to God. Both require considerable belief. One leads to destruction, the other to affection. A choice must be made between the two; domain of darkness or the kingdom of light, take your pick.
Here is the third way that the doctrine of obedience to human law contains the seed of God's Kingdom. The Constitution is one of the organic documents of the United States. But the first and foremost organic documents of the United States is the Declaration of Independence. If you accept and conform your life to the fundamental presuppositions and self-evident truth found in the Declaration you can not avoid ending up in the Kingdom of God.
In the very first paragraph of the Declaration the law of nature and of nature's God is cited as the legal justification for America's independence from Britain. A little further down it says we can be governed only with our consent.Then is says we have the right and the duty to throw off despotic government. If we accept the Declaration and the United States as legitimate, then we must accept the law of God as being higher than human law and man's law as non-binding. We must reject the idea that God has appointed men like King George to rule us. Otherwise, in God's eyes Americans are still rightfully subjects of the British Empire, which is odd because it's no longer in existence. If God's law is higher than human law, then we are really under God's law. If we are under God's law then we are living under God's rule. In another words, God is America's King; the Kingdom of God is here now!
It was a Christian society that penned the Constitution, including the words establish justice found in the Preamble. They were referring to the justice mandated in the Bible, the justice that comes from administering the law of God. All lawyers and judges in America today reject the Biblical legal philosophy which is based upon the pursuit of justice and justice alone. Instead, they have been trained in the legal philosophy called legal positivism which is utterly indifferent to the establishment of justice. Their commitment is to support the sovereignty of the state. Even so every official takes a solemn oath to support the Constitution and thus to establish justice, which they have not the slightest intention of doing. If officials were honorable and honest men who devoted themselves to the establishment of justice rather than liars who only say they will, we would be living under God's law, the perfect law of liberty. That is the closest sinful men can come to the Kingdom of God in this life.
Here is an interesting final thought. Assume the British monarchy and all the British laws were approved by God as most Christians would contend. Assume, also, that the American democracy and its law were, too. Without a revolution the United States would have been impossible. By the doctrine of divine right, God must have approved the American Revolution. But revolutions are always in disobedience of human law. It would seem that disobeying human law is approved of by God. Therefore, the doctrine of divine right governments as currently taught has a fatal flaw. It has an internal inconsistency which leads to illogical conclusions. In other words, it's nonsense.
God does not ordain just any group of thugs that presumes to call itself a government. God ordains the rule of only those men who constitute a truly Biblical government as defined in Romans 13; only those who administer right and justice according to the law of God, tempered by mercy. All the rest are unauthorized.
Most important of all to realize: a human government administering God's law is only a stop-gap, a half measure, no more than second best. God's first choice is to be our King, Himself. The suffix -dom at the end of a word indicates a general condition. Freedom means the condition of being free. The kingdom of God means both His domain and His condition of being King. No matter how right and just a human government may be, it is still a rejection of God as King. The most distinguishing characteristic of true Christians is that they do not reject God as King. The Kingdom of God is the only divine right government, there is no other.
Lesson 9
Is Human Law Binding?
The question arises: If we reject human government and return to God's government, the reverse of what the Israelites did at the time of Samuel, what becomes of the United States? There will be a transition period, which has already begun, during which more and more people will throw off their indoctrination in statism and democracy in favor of theocracy.During this period of transition those who still reject God by recognizing the sovereignty of the state can continue to believe themselves governed by the United States. There very likely will be some few who are not able to free their minds of this indoctrination and superstition at all. They may be doomed to spend their entire lives outside of theocracy. For this reason and in order to deal with the strayed and rebellious masses of mankind who have created other nation-states, it may be necessary to maintain the fiction of the United States for the foreseeable future, but on a voluntary, not a compulsory, basis. It may not be necessary. No one really knows the details.
When the United States is viewed as a voluntary association of free men who are ruled by God, there is no longer a conflict between democracy and theocracy. In fact, this was originally the concept. From the preamble of the Constitution of Massachusetts:
The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact...that all shall be governed by certain laws...
Here we see that the original idea in America was that government was to be voluntary; no fraud, violence or surprise. No conflict with the idea that God is the sovereign and the great Legislator of the Universe. Not only that, but the laws enacted by democratic processes, which were well known to be incompatible with personal security and the rights of property, were naturally voluntary as well. No conflict with the idea of God as the only law giver. James Wilson, setting on the first supreme court, said as much in a famous decision:
"The only reason, I believe, that a free man is bound by human law, is, that he binds himself. Upon the same principles, upon which he becomes bound by the laws, he becomes amenable to the courts of justice, which are formed and authorized by those laws." Chishom v. Georgia, 2 US(Dall) 419, 455.Find the original idea of government in America. Find James Wilson's position on the spectrum:
| Man's Rule (Man's Law) | God's Rule (God's Law) |
What about people who violate God's laws? Some people will do very bad things. But, the existence of wrong-doing is no excuse to flee from God into a world of fantasy ruled by wolf-men and wizards, invisible or otherwise. No matter how dreadful reality may be, it is better to confront it with clear minds than to fall into the superstition and delusions of human government and legislation.
God's law doesn't depend upon consent. The essence of His law is man's relationship with man as found in the revealed law and the law of nature, both of which are referred to in the Declaration as the legal basis for America's independence. The revealed law commands us to love our neighbor as ourself; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Murder is expressly against the Ten Commandments. The first law of nature is self-preservation. If someone endangers your life, liberty or pursuit of happiness, the law of nature, whose source is God, permits you to act in proportion to the threat or injury. The revealed law describes the principle of proportionate response, the essence of justice, very graphically: An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The law invented by men in America is grossly disproportionate. For example, if someone forgets to signal a turn at the corner he could be put in jail for six months and fined three hundred dollars. Or a multiple murderer might be put in prison for life. Both of these punishments are unjust.
The victim's relatives or anyone in the community for that matter, in defense against a lawless man, may act proportionately. But won't this lead to anarchy and chaos? No. As shown in Lesson 1, society does not collapse with the abolition of human government. The laws of reason, morality and religion rise up to bind us together. These laws tell us that we must be certain we have the right man before acting against him. He must be brought before a neutral third party who will decide his guilt or innocence. Under theocracy this neutral third party is not elected or appointed by men, he is raised up by God to make just judgements.
It seems strange to grown-ups because of their great faith in the state, but little faith in God, that judges were routinely raised up during the three hundred years of the Old Covenant theocracy and can be again. In theocracy judges are simply men whose belief in God's laws, commitment to right and justice, and wisdom are well known in the community. At this very moment these men exist in every community, their emergence prevented by the demand for human government. They work for free, not as a public service, but as a service to God. Maybe your dad could be one of these men.
We know that in Arab countries statism is only now gaining a toe-hold. There, justice has been administered without the state idea for hundreds of years. In some cases an educated man is asked to judge. Sometimes elders from two families meet and reach an agreement. In a recent case among the Bedouins of Jordan, a man was killed by electrocution accidentally. After a family negotiation his father was offered a settlement of $45,000. The amount was accepted, then given back in an act of forgiveness. Both justice and mercy are taught by their religion. If Moslems are capable of such fairness and moral rightness without the state, we as followers of Christ must have that ability too. America's judicial system in concerned about the sovereignty of the state, not with the justice of God. Any attorney will tell you this.
Back to the case of murder. At least two witnesses are required. The sentence is carried out the day after the trial by the witnesses themselves. This acts as a check against injustice, because if the witnesses are not certain beyond a reasonable doubt they would be reluctant to kill the accused. Also, any extenuating circumstances which tend to mitigate guilt and the natural reluctance to shed blood of another would weigh heavily on their conscience, if not on the judge's, staying their hand in doubtful cases.
To grown-ups this sounds like what they call taking the law into your own hands. They think the state must handle the punishment of crimes. They forget the state is only a fantasy and that is really men who have the law in their hands, anyway. Their belief in the state is very strong, indeed. Such people could use the courts of the United States if it makes them feel better. The services rendered by judges and so forth would have to be paid for somehow since wizards do not act in service to God.
In the case of theft or damage to property the offender must make restitution. If not financially able to do so, he may be allowed to work it off. If he refues to make restitution as decided by the judge, the penalty is death. But mercy and the laws of religion tell us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies. More violence will solve nothing. Besides, which of us is without sin? It might be prudent to warn others by printing his name and picture in the paper, for example.
Sure, it takes faith to believe God rules the world, but it takes even more faith to believe that nation-states rule the world. In order for the United States to rule people, they must first pledge true faith and allegiance as you learned in Lesson 3.
Every nation-state can be traced to its origin. In each case we find that it was men who fashioned with their imaginations an invisible, immortal, all-powerful being and set it to rule over them. It is a tremendous example of raw faith to believe that a creature can rule its creator especially when its creator conjured it out of thin air. If millions can have faith in an invisible, sovereign state, faith in the invisible, sovereign King of the World should be no trouble at all.
Christians already profess to have just this belief. Tens of thousands of missionaries are spreading the good news of God's Kingdom on earth, the Lordship of Christ, all over the world. If these missionaries will tell their converts the whole truth and help them stop living in a fantasy world filled with wizards who conjure up invisible, immortal entities, then they will be able to see the New Covenant theocracy as it really is and live under it.
Grown-ups like to divide life into two areas. The spiritual realm in which God rules; and the temporal realm in which man rules. The idea of two realms comes from the ancient Greeks who believed that Demos rules on earth and Zeus rules in heaven. But the Bible teachs that the Messiah, to whom all power was committed in heaven and earth, rules all areas of life through the hearts and minds of individual men. His law is written on each heart and mind. Now, girls, here is something important:
Government, divine or human, can be establis hed nowhere, but the hearts and minds of men.
If we had a lever to pull causing everyone to forget about the United States it would be completely gone because it exists only in the thoughts of men and woman. This is true for any human government. But God's government is different. It does not depend on imagination, memory, and ability to read and write. God's government is part of our natural being. It is as natural as our sense of right and wrong. (Remember the Golden Rule?) Since grown-ups have filled their hearts and minds with human government there is almost no room for God's government in them. Christians are taught that God's government is inside them while man's government is outside. This is a strong delusion. All governments exist inside the hearts and minds of people. All governments are spiritual; some are the wrong spirit.
The first rule under theocracy is love and duty towards God. The second rule is love and duty towards man. This is called the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This government has always been in full force and effect. Much of the time it has been ignored and obscured by human government. Even so men have relied heavily on it to maintain their shadowy institutions. If men had no conscience and were determined to do evil to one another, no human government could cope with the crime wave. Not only would the general population be uncontrollable but the officials, who are only human themselves, would add their crimes to the mayhem. Without the nautural sense of right and wrong given to almost all men by God, we really would see anarchy and chaos!
Lesson 10
Salvation and the Kingdom, Too?
Many grown-ups know that God has a Kingdom on earth and that the Messiah is King. But they have been tricked into thinking that if Christ is not physically present on earth, then He can't be ruling. Some think that the good news about God's reign on earth is meant only for the Jews. Some believe that even though Jesus was given all power on heaven and earth, He has, to a great degree, abdicated His throne to human rulers in disobedience to the will of God. Believing these things means that grown-ups can go on playing wizards until the King returns. This is not true.We know from the Bible that God ruled the Israelites for three hundred years and He was never physically present.We know that the Kingdom is now open for everybody, naturalized Israelites as well as native-born Israelites. We also know that grown-ups believe that the State of Alaska and the United States are able to rule them, yet these fictions are never physically present. In fact, they are only make-believe! So, just because the Messiah is not here on earth does not mean he can't be ruling on earth. He can and He does. But men are free to reject Him as King until He returns. In the end bad things happen to those who reject God as King (Luke 19:27).At the very least rejecting God means living in a terrible fantasy world created by men - where mutually assured destruction is the end.
Grown-ups may try to teach you that God's kingdom is not very important. That is because a man named Paul wrote some letters in which salvation seemed to be more important than the Kingdom of God. Salvation means to be delivered from the power and penalty of sin. Sin means breaking the laws of God's Kingdom. When the Messiah was on earth He taught His followers mainly about the Kingdom. He didn't teach them about salvation separately because the two are really the same. God can save us if we have not rejected His government. We know this because of Isaiah 33:22. There we learn that the Lord is our law-giver, our judge and our King, and it is He that will save us. Save us from sin which is rebellion to God's law and Kingdom. That's what it means to repent and take Christ for your Lord.
All three branches of government, legislative, judicial and executive, are linked with salvation. What need is there for human government? Teaching about salvation and teaching about the Kingdom are really the same thing. Grown-ups try to limit God's salvation to the spiritual realm, but it can not be done. Salvation includes the temporal realm, too. Acrtually, there is only one realm: God's Creation.
Grown-ups may try to teach you that the churches they have made are the same as the Kingdom of God. These churches are only more invisible great wizards that grown-ups use to help them gain control over the minds of children so they will play Wizards of America. Churches have human wizards, too. They are called popes, priests, ministers, preachers, pastors, workers and many other names. They are all humbugs. They will tell you some true things, but they will also want you to believe that the Messiah has abdicated His throne to men and that He speaks mainly through church wizards and government wolf-men. This is not true. If God wants to speak to you He will speak directly to you, not to somebody else. In the new Covenant theocracy all are priests.
Girls, grown-ups will try to trick you about what a church is. The word church is a translation of the Greek word ecclesia which means town-meeting, the popular assembly of ancient Athens. It is a group of people that gather together for purposes of government, not religion:
The institutions by which this body of citizen-members undertook to transact its political business can be illustrated by taking Athens as the best-known type of the democratic constitution. The whole body of male citizens formed the Asembly or Ecclesia, a town-meeting which every Athenian was entitled to attend after he had reached the age of twenty years. The Assembly met regularly ten times in the year and in extraordinary sessions at the call of the Council. A History of Political Theory, George H. Sabine, Pg. 6.
You may have heard the Bible story of how the vacancy left by the death of Judas was filled by lot. This, too, was a feature of Greek government:
The system was a combination of election and lot. The demes elected candidates, roughly in proportion to their size, and the actual holders of office were chosen by lot from the panel thus formed by election.Ibid., pg.7.
For the ancient Greeks the church was a part of their democracy. For the Christians, who had rejected Caesar and the roman Empire which they called the domain of darkness, it was part of theocracy. It was very natural for Christians to borrow this idea from the Greeks because many were already familiar with its operation. Today, after two thousand years, grown-ups have forgotten what the word church means. Today grown-ups think it means a religious assembly. Not true; it is a governmental institution established by the Messiah as part of the Kingdom of God and diametrically opposed to institutions of the state.
They also think the Bible teaches us only about religion. It does not. The word religion or religious is found only five times in the whole Bible. The Bible teaches about government. It tells us how good God's government is and how bad man's government is. If you go to church you will be taught a lot about theology, but little about theocracy, a lot about salvation, but little about the full power of the Lord on earth. Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God; wizards teach about Jesus and leave out the Kingdom.
I belonged to several churches before I realized what they were doing. Their main purpose is to make good citizens for the sovereign state, rather than for the sovereign God. They want us to be a willing part of the body politic. If they were real churches they would want to be part of the body of Christ, and not part of the body politic; part of a theocracy, not part of a democracy. Some churches will even teach you can be part of both bodies. That is being luke-warm and serving two master. Can two cats share the same tail? No, it must be part of one cat or the other. See if you can find the earliest Christians on the spectrum:
| Man's Rule (Body politic) |
God's Rule (Body of Christ) |
Church humbugs will also want to baptize you. They will tell you this is a sign that you have become a church member, that you have turned to the Messiah for salvation. If you change churches you'll probably have to be baptized again. Grown-ups have forgoten what the purpose of baptism really is.
Salvation depends on giving allegiance to God as Law-giver, Judge and King. In other words, becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Just as someone can renounce allegiance to all other governments and become a citizen of the United States by the process of naturalization, so, too, can someone become a naturalized citizen of the commonwealth of Israel, an Israelite. Baptism is merely part of the ancient Israelite naturalization ceremony. C.K. Barrett tells us that about two thousand years ago many non-Israelites were tempted but could not bring themselves to take the final step of circumcision, by which they would have cut themselves off from their own people and race. There were actuall three steps required to become and Israelite: circumcision, baptism and (before the destruction of the temple) sacrifice. First, there was a period of instruction and examination concerning the law, then the question:
'Know thou that the world to come was made only for the righteous, but Israel at this present time may not experience very great good or very great afflictions.'
If he accept, he is to be circumcised immediately and received. In case of the discovery of any defect as to [a previous] circumcision, he is to be circumcised over again, and when healed brought to baptism immediately.
Two men learned in the Law shall stand near him and instruct him as to some of the lighter and some of the weightier commandments. He immerses himself and when he comes up he is in all respects and Israelite. (Yebamoth 47a,b.; as found in The New Testament Background; Selected Documents, pgs. 164-166).
When John was urging baptism on people who were supposedly already Israelites by birth, with circumcision and sacrifices at eight days, he was telling them they were so far from being citizens of God's Kingdom that they needed to be naturalized. That's what born again means, being spiritually reborn into the theocracy. After our natural birth grown-ups took us into the world they made up because they don't believe there is any other. After living in the fantasy world invented by men, we all get a fresh start by being born again into the real world. There is a new beginning of the world with each rebirth. Everyone enters the Kingdom like a child who must learn all over again. If you still cling to the old fantasy world of wizards, if you have not died to it, then you can not be born again into the new world. You can not drag the world of wizards into the world of reality, although many grown-ups think they can.
Many think that the first Christians very definitely were telling people about a government at odds with the Roman Empire. Reading in Acts 17:6 & 7 we learn:
Those that have turned the world upside down have come here, too; the ones Jason received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Ceasar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus.
Turning the world upside down is a revolution. It means the same as the last shall be first, and the first last. Roman law did not permit any King but Ceasar. Christians not only had a different King, but a completely different government with its own town-meeting. Ceasar, who was on top, was now on the bottow with everyone else; no more than equal to other men. Find where Ceasar and the Romans stood:
| Man's Rule (A man on top) | God's Rule (All men Equal) |
Church wizards will try to explain away this direct conflict with the Wizards of Rome, because they want to play Wizards of America. They will tell you to Render unto Ceasar. But remember Ceasar was only a common man and a humbug. The only thing owned to Ceasar is the same respect you would render to any other man, unless you have rejected God as ruler and live in a fantasy world. On the spectrum above find the place of people who render unto Ceasar. A man named Paul wrote a letter to his friends at the time of Ceasar and told them they had been chose to overthrow the existing order (Cor 1:28, NEB), which meant the Roman Empire. Find Paul's position on the spectrum. Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Find His position on the spectrum. God did not want the ancient Israelites to have a human king. Find God's position on the spectrum. Now the existing order is the nation-state world system.
If church wizards ever confuse you about who is actually ruling on earth just read Matthew 28:18, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Find Matthew's position on the spectrum. Jesus has not abdicated His throne. No power was given to wizards and humbugs. When men rule it is by force, not by power. Although many hate the thought, men have been given no power over each other. A man who is a citizen of the Kingdom is not subject to judgment by his fellow men (I Cor 2:15).
One final thing to be careful of . If you decide to become a Christian and to read and believe the Bible and go to church, you will meet many others who are doing the same. Every church group will tell you that they simply read the plain meaning of the words in the Bible without any interpretation. Yet each group may tell you the same words mean different things. Each claims to be right, but people often make mistakes. I have decided to figure out what the Bible means myself as best I can. This is the most anyone can do. I use other people's beliefs and interpretations only to help me find the truth.
Lesson 11
The Kingdom Begins Small
Now, girls, I want to tell you a very important but little know fact about the governments of America. If they follow all their own rules, they are unable to enforce their ordiances. Those who violate laws made by wizards must agree to be tried and punished. They alone can bind themselves by human laws. They alone can make themselves amenable to human courts. Violators usually give their agreement by failing to claim their rights out of ignorance. This is why the Declaration of Independence says that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Here is what I mean. Suppose a man was charged with a crime. In America every man accused of a crime has a right to the adminstration of right and justice without sale or prejudice: A fair trial by an unbiased jury conducted by an unbiased judge. He also has a right to be represented by counsel. But, the present judicial systems of the United States and of every state are unable to secure these important rights.
Criminal charges are always brought in the name of the state. For example, The State of Alaska vs George Washington. In this situation any juror would be biased because he has pledged allegiance to the state and because he is required to take an oath to support the law of the state. Since the state is the plantiff each juror is biased in favor of the plaintiff. Jurors also receive a small amount of money from the plaintiff. That means a fair jury trial is impossible.
In the same way any judge is biased because to become a judge he must take a solemn oath to support the state, or its constitution, which means the same thing. Judges, too, are biased for the plaintiff because of their oath and because they receive large amounts of money from the plaintiff for executing its laws, making a fair trial impossible.
The right to counsel means the right to be represented by someone who is free to effectively plead your cause for you. But, the only men who are allowed to be counselors are men who have taken a solemn oath to support the state. All of them are biased in favor of the plaintiff just like jurors and judges. So it is impossible to find effective counsel. Without representaion you can't be sent to jail.
When these embarrassing facts are pointed out and the accused refuses to wave his rights there can be no trial. There are other fatal conflicts in the system of human law. The freedom of thought has always been held to be absolute in America. Since the state is a fiction, no one can be forced to submit to judicial proceedings in which the plaintiff is the state. We have only to stop believing to abolish human government. The Declaration says this is our right and duty when government goes bad.
The freedom of thought include the freedom of religious belief. New Covenant theocracy teaches that we must love our enemies. But, all state judicial proceedings are adversary in nature. One party is struggling against another. That means Christians can not participate in criminal or civil trials. Christians must solve their problems in fraternal proceedings, treating one another as brothers and enemies as loved ones. Compelled adversarial proceedings compel Christians to act contrary to their religious beliefs.
Every trial presupposes the existence of the state and its sovereignty and the court and its authority. But no one can be forced to believe in the state and the court. Nor can anyone be forced to believe that he is in the state and in court. Everyone is free to believe that God's Kingdom is a present reality and that all human governments have been done away with. Christians are free to believe that all men are created equal and that the only authority one man has over another is in the administration of right and justice according to the law of God, tempered by mercy. We may also believe that God owns the entire world and us, too; that the things we have are not our own, but only entrusted to us.
In April of this year (1987) I was charged with contempt of court for not paying a fine after being found guilty of driving my truck without license plates. I didn't file any papers in the case. At the trial I told the judge I was incompetent to represent myself and badly in need of counsel. The judge tried for ten minutes to induce me to wave my right to counsel or to accept someone who had sworn allegiance to the plaintiff, but I would do neither.
Then I took the stand to give my testimony. I stated that we were all in the Kingdom of God and without authority over one another unless we were administering right and justice according to God's law. To determine if I had the ability to pay the fine, I was aked many questions about what property I owned. I explained that God owns everything by right of creation, including our persons and that any assets held by me were in trust from God. At that point we took recess. That was the last ever said about a trial for contempt of court. I was found neither guilty nor not-guilty. There was never a judgement entered. The judge did take most of the appearance bond to cover the fine. Yet on that day freedom to believe in the Kingdom was partly secured in a grudging, left-handed manner.
I fully expected to go to jail that day in April, but I didn't! While this is a very small beginning, I believe it proves that the Kingdom is possible right now. Men, women and children really are free to live in the Kingdom of God if they choose. No one is actually forced to live in the fantasy world created by humans. There is a way out! Much work is yet to be done, but I am sure we can do it. You're welcome to help, if you like.