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.
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!
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.