“… Israel assumed that the messianic king would be a political ruler and world conqueror, so that it equated the Kingdom of God with an historical state, a greater and world-wide Rome, as it were. The idea of government was equated with the state. This equation was radically pagan. In pagan antiquity as today, the state was seen as a divine-human order, and as the over-all lord and sovereign. In such a view, all things have their being within the jurisdiction and only with the approval of the sovereign state. Religion, art, family, school, and all things else are departments of the state and cannot be allowed to exist in independence of it. The state thus usurps the over-lordship of God and becomes God on earth. No area of freedom can exist outside the state: freedom becomes a privilege granted by the state and subject to its conditions.
Christianity, by asserting the supreme lordship of Christ over Caesar and all other human institutions, reduced the state to its Biblical dimensions, as a ministry of justice (Rom. 13:1-6).”
R.J. Rushdoony; pg 70, IBL II.
I am writing this out of frustration in seeing many people view Donald Trump as the president that will make America great again. In truth, as per the quote above, we will not be able to reform or make America great again (if it ever was great) through the civil realm. In point of fact, when we look to that area of government to create reform and to restructure areas where they do not belong, we are engaging in not only a pagan thought, but a Talmudic pagan thought. I will call people’s attention to where Jesus told Peter, after he had struck the ear off the high priest’s servant, “those who live by the sword, die by the sword.” If Rushdoony is correct in the above passage, which I believe is obvious, then a proper understanding of this passage would be that those who look to the state, die by the state, as the state’s administrative role has always been the sword. If Peter was faulted for expecting our Lord Jesus Christ to be a political savior (for lack of a better term), how much more are Christians to be faulted for expecting reform to come from someone who believes or would use the civil realm to dominate every other sphere. Therefore, as Christians, we are not allowed, per God’s law and Christ’s command, to advocate, vote, or participate in any function that furthers the state being used or seen as political savior, for that would be burning incense to Caesar.
So what must we do then, as there is no candidate and will be no candidate that is running on a platform of removing civil government intrusion? Should we not participate in the civil government functions at all? Certainly not. I believe we should do as God has commanded and not only obey Him by tithing to a faithful repository of the Church, but tithing to a faithful repository of the civil government. And by this, I do not mean the taxes we pay to the usurpers in the civil government. (The method you used to prevent that thievery is something I will leave up to conscience.) However, we as God’s people are still required to tithe to a faithful civil government. If none is in existence, then we should set the money aside as sacred and holy to the Lord until the time we can form or find one. Yes, I am suggesting to do as God commands and, like Gideon, send all the hosts away so that there are only three hundred men remaining. It is not the horse or the strength of men that win the battle, but it is the strength of God, and He has given us set rules and commands, though they may seem small or insignificant, they are much more powerful than any false vote for a king. God is the omnipotent ruler, and if we look for reform, we must look to Him and His laws, and first apply them in our lives so that people may say who is this and what God do they serve?
If the Scripture is not enough, we can look to history and see what the early Christians did by setting up their own courts, and their own judgment halls, and abiding by them, so in the end the political savior had to accept their dominance of that sphere or face internal destruction.
In summary, we should not let our emotions become entangled with any political savior who seeks to rescue us through the use of civil government. We should not consider the money stolen from us in taxes to be the tithe that the Lord has commanded us to give to the state. If we engage in either of these practices, we run the danger of facing the Deuteronomic curses. We should set aside money to a faithful civil government so that the Lord’s commands might be obeyed, and His promised blessings received. For God is the omnipotent sovereign, and though the nations conspire against Him and His people, He will laugh at them in scorn and run the threshing wheel over them, causing them to be chaff in the wind. As He has promised, so it will be.
Anthony McAtee
Boy if he is not a chip off the old block.
Great post! I love the concept of what Rushdoony spoke about regarding starting our own courts, etc. We need to build Christian communities.