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

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.

Fit To Be King

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

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

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

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

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

The harvest? It is for the king.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the kind of man I could support.

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

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

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

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

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

---

About the Author

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

Regarding how he came to this stance, he says:

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

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

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

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

More from Ian:

Podcasts:

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

Connect with the author

This article was originally published on Steemit.

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

It’s Time to #Refocus

Folks, it is time to #refocus. We are living through a period of time filled with events that the majority of us have never experienced. It is a time when friends have become foes. It is a time when families have become disconnected. It is a time when employees have been pitted against the employer. It is a time when children have been separated from their friends. It is a time that division has become the norm, and I think it is absolutely intentional by the “powers that be.” 

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that people have been divided on different issues throughout history, but this is different. It feels different. Maybe social media makes it seem more than what it is? But, I don't think so. 

I remember talking with my mom leading up to the Trump/Biden showdown and she made a comment that was interesting to me. She said, as a child, her parents (my sweet Nana and Granddaddy) never discussed politics and if they did it certainly wasn't around the kids. Mom lived through the Civil Rights Movement and, even then, it wasn't as in your face as we see today. I don't say this to discourage parents from talking with their children about politics, rather I want to encourage it, especially from those of us who value freedom for our children. It is certainly a better option than public schools teaching our kids about politics. Folks, it is time to #refocus.

We see so many people scattered right now and who could blame them? It is a confusing time for everyone and folks want guidance. We want someone to make this insanity make sense, and the go-to, it seems, is the State. Since the inception of man-made governments, people have looked to them for guidance no matter despite the countless atrocities they have committed throughout history. But why? It reminds me of a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: 

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”

It is time to #refocus. 

But where does this confusion come from? Confusion is from a lack of understanding and uncertainty. What drives uncertainty? Simply, fear, the unknown. Fear has a way of putting us in handcuffs with no way out. I suffer from extreme claustrophobia and just the thought of covering my face with anything freaks me out to no end, so you can only imagine the battles I have fought through these past few months. Creeping through a parking lot to make sure someone else isn't covering their face so I don't have to explain this very strange phobia that many don't understand. Did God create me with this phobia? I don't know, but I do know it is real. 

I also know that it was never a fear that affect anyone else until all of this started; it was just a thing that I never had to explain. When I think of fear in my life, I think of my baby brother TJ who died last year, something I will never stop talking about. TJ was terrified of this virus and took every precaution the State insisted on. He didn't die from Covid but the fear instilled by corporate media and the State forced him into self-isolation and he drank himself to death. I bring this up because fear needs to be recognized, where it comes from and its power over us. Fear, certainly, isn't from Jesus.

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” 

Psalm 34:4-5

It is time to #refocus

Before I continue, I want to make it clear, I am not only speaking to the reader of this article but to myself as well. I am just as guilty of this. To this day I listen to a lot of politically charged podcasts, and our own podcast could be lumped into that as well, which honestly is what got me to thinking over the last few days before writing this. I will not discourage folks from listening or paying attention to what is happening politically because it absolutely has an effect on each and every one of our lives. It is important to be informed. I say all of the time that “willful ignorance is the worst kind of ignorance”.

Ignorance in itself isn't bad, it just means you don't know. Willful ignorance is intentional. One recurring theme I have noticed while listening to these shows is “we need to work through the system to make this insanity make sense”. 

I’m not down with that, especially as a Christian. People are straining to hear the whisper amongst the screaming. People are seeking some hope while navigating the insanity. We know where that hope is, and it certainly won't be found in the halls of Congress or any Governor's mansion. That hope has and will continue to be found with Jesus. 

“I am the way and the truth and the life”  

John 14:6

Jesus is the most consistent King this world has ever seen, so why do so many Christians revert their faith back to the State? Don't get me wrong, I understand the allure. It is very tempting to work through the State to preserve Liberty but that's all it is, a temptation.

“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve”

Luke 4:5-8

Some of you may be saying, “well that just isn't practical today, lives are at stake!” Yes, I agree, lives are at stake! Liberty is fleeting! But where does life come from? Where does Liberty come from? One of my Bad Roman Project cohorts who has been with us from the jump is Abby Cleckner, and her favorite verse on Liberty is extracted from Galatians:

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." 

Galatians 5:1

One retort I get when mentioning this verse is, “well Paul is clearly talking about sin”, and I reply, “Of course he is. Check out 1 Samuel 8. When Israel demanded a king did God not see that as a rejection of Him? Is it not a sin to reject God? Paul talks about “yoke of bondage” go read 1 Samuel 8 again and God lists everything that will happen when we demand a king”.

 It is time to #refocus.

People are hurting. People are confused and scattered. People are seeking some consistency, and people are seriously seeking some hope. As Christians, we know where that hope is. Live a life that makes people ask you questions about why you aren't worried about government edicts. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” 

Matthew 6:25-27

Our guy Jesus dropped some truth bombs. It is time to #refocus

Love y’all,

Craig Harguess

Jesus Is the Epitome Of Everything a “Bad Roman” Wants to Be

During Jesus’ lifetime, the Jews of the Intertestamental period existed under the occupation of Rome in their ancestral home of Judea. The two things they had going for them were the geographic promises of God in Gen 12:7, that they would possess the land of Canaan and the identity that came with the promise of Gen 12: 2-3 as the means of God’s blessing to the world. These promises became barriers to their recognition of Jesus as the promised blessing.

In the midst of this turmoil between their understanding of the promise, and Jesus as the fulfillment of that promise, Jesus began his public ministry. Jesus would buck repeatedly at the methods of thought, belief, and behavior he found entrenched in the minds of the religious leadership in Jerusalem and the Temple. Jesus’s presence and instruction were turning the Jewish world on its head; undermining systems that had developed through hardship and rational thinking, in favor of the freedom God wanted his children to experience in Christ.     

The Five Controversies

The Apostle Mark describes Jesus’s time in Capernaum by shining a light on five controversies Jesus evoked.

1. Mark 2:1-12

   Jesus forgives a paralyzed man’s sins and then, to prove He had the authority and power to forgive sin, he heals the paralyzed man and tells him to get up, grab his bed, and go home. The Scribes who witnessed Jesus' actions thought to themselves, “only God can forgive sins, ” and they were right, but they were unaware and ignorant of who Jesus was. The Scribes, who knew the Scriptures front to back, had become so concerned with conformity and tradition, instead of compassion and love, that they missed the Messiah sitting right in front of them.                      

2. Mark 2: 13-17

   Jesus upsets the religious leadership again by associating with sinners. The Scribes and the Pharisees question Jesus’ bona fides because no righteous man would associate with sinners for he himself would become soiled. In the established religious leadership minds, Jesus is demonstrating that he is not someone who can be followed. In response to these accusations, Jesus explains he has to be with them (the sinners) if He is going to restore them to fellowship with God. To avoid sinners is actually counter to God’s Law to love one’s neighbor as oneself and lead them to righteousness. The Pharisees and Scribes misunderstood the Law, which allowed them to use it as a weapon against people instead of a means to elevate and restore them to fellowship with God.

3. Mark 2: 18-22

   This time they recruit the disciples of John to join the Pharisees to show how the righteous and faithful of God fast twice weekly while Jesus and his disciples do not fast at all. The point they aimed to make was that Jesus does not follow orthodox faith practices and therefore He should not be followed at all. In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus is a bad Jew who will lead others down a path to destruction. 

   Yet Jesus uses three examples to show them something new and better has arrived if they would just step back and see the reality before them in Mark 2: 19-22. Utilizing three examples Jesus explains that this new system cannot be joined with the old tradition because they are not compatible. The old must be replaced and release its control. Likewise, the new cannot be contained in the same vessels as the old because the new way would burst the old. In other words, people must be born again to fully understand the Law and the Kingdom of God. 

4. Mark 2 23-28

   To truly drive the point home, Mark describes how Jesus upset the Pharisees by not following their hypocritical understanding of the Sabbath in Mark 2 23-28. The Pharisees attempted to show Jesus as an unworthy leader because his followers were violating their rules on the Sabbath, but Jesus responds by showing the Sabbath is for man, not the other way around. Basic human needs must still be met on the Sabbath. However, the Pharisees were using the Sabbath as a hammer against their fellow man when God gave it as a blessing.

5. Mark 3: 1-6

   The fifth controversy, in Mark 3: 1-6, is similar to the fourth.  Jesus is inside a synagogue, surrounded by the enemy. Jesus asks the Pharisees if it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?  The Pharisees did not respond, so Jesus healed a man right in front of them. Jesus did good on the Sabbath and they were not too friendly or happy about it.  The Pharisees proceeded to leave the synagogue,  seek out the Herodians, and plot ways to destroy Jesus. So, in response to the good  Jesus did on the Sabbath they were angry, but they had no problem doing evil on the Sabbath as they sought out people to kill him. In so doing the Pharisees showed the hypocrisy of their Sabbath observance for what it was.

Being “bad” to do good

By being a “bad Jew” Jesus was able, through his action and language, to reveal how limited the Pharisees’ and Scribes’ understanding of the Word of God was. Instead of bringing people closer to God they were driving people away and making it nearly impossible for people to build a relationship with God. This was the same age-old problem of the Abrahamic nation that resulted in their banishment to begin with.

In modern times, Christians are often being good citizens of a nation-state at the expense of being good Christians. Christians have created idols out of the State and all of its bodies, often placing the military, the flag, a political party, or the authority of Government above and before their Christian beliefs. In the United States, Christians have elevated these idols to the status of gods and place hedges around their faith in their Creator if it conflicts with any of their idols. This hypocrisy of faith often becomes a barrier to others believing in Jesus but also keeps Christians from actively living out what God has called us to be in this world.

It is time to be good Christians. If we will be faithful to the Kingdom of God, it will seldom equate to being a faithful patriot to a temporal nation-state.

---

About the Author

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

Regarding how he came to this stance, he says, “God spared me and showed great mercy in opening my eyes to love, and against war and the State. To see the great work God did in me, previously I spent more than seven years as an intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, focused on Counter-Proliferation of WMD material and systems. Prior to that, I spent more than nine years in the infantry and Special Forces (I was a Green Beret). Once I became a believer, I found the biblical expectations of God were in opposition to my profession in the military and my nationalism. God slowly peeled this understanding back and I left the army and nationalism.”

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

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