M.E. Brines' Blog
"There's
no I in team, but there is an M and an E."
|
|
The free play-by-e-mail game where YOU rule! |
|
Postage paid
You
can enjoy at home |
This could be YOU! The Struggle of Nations play-by-e-mail game
|
The Biblical Response to Progressive Tyranny
There’s a lot of talk currently about insurrection, civil disobedience and patriots arming themselves to prepare for the civil war the current administration seems determined to provoke. The question every Christian should ask is: what would Jesus do?
This is a very easy question to answer, although I doubt many readers will like the answer.
Christ and the apostles lived in a world without human rights or democracy. The Roman Empire was a dictatorship with a sham senate. There were no police and the Emperor ruled effectively through martial law, executing political dissidents without trial. Only Roman citizens could appeal to Caesar for justice (as Paul famously did) but that was no guarantee they’d get it. (As Paul most famously did not.)
The country we live in increasingly resembles the ancient world more than the one in which we grew up. The constitution as written is pretty much gone – not replaced or repealed, just ignored. The President legally has the power –granted by Congress – to detain American citizens without trial indefinitely. He claims the authority to execute American citizens anywhere in the world without trial as long as he deems them to be a threat and as long as he uses a drone. Our national police are being armed with military grade weaponry all the while our own means of self-defense are being stripped away.
There are some calling for Obama’s impeachment, or even execution. Others claim he’s the very Antichrist. They say we ought to arm ourselves and prepare for civil war. But what does the Bible say?
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but
to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good,
and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee
for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the
sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon
him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but
also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are
God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to
all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to
whom fear; honour to whom honour.
(Romans 13:1-7)
Revolt is NOT the biblical response. The powers-that-be are ordained by God. Christ taught we should render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar (Matthew 22:19-21.)
Rebellion is NOT the Christian response to oppression. The Bible doesn’t teach democracy, political freedom or revolution.
The apostles taught slaves should obey their masters. Read it for yourself in Ephesians 6:5-8, Colossians 3:22-24 and Titus 2:9-10.
First Peter chapter two is especially direct on this subject:
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it,
if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if,
when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when
he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
(1 Peter 2:18-25)
The Bible doesn’t urge bloody slave revolts or civil wars. It tells Christians to obey their slave masters. Our current rigged elections, rampant corruption, ridiculous regulations and excessive taxation do not compare to actually being a slave. If slaves were told to suffer patiently then, why should we expect God would support an anti-government insurrection now? Christians aren’t here to right wrongs and create a paradise on Earth. That’s a Leftist-Progressive doctrine.
We need to be about our Father’s business. Our job is to make disciples. (Matthew 28:18-20) We need to be studying our Bibles. If we did we’d know Jesus said:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him
shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a
stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee
sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I
was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and
in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
(Matthew 25:31-46)
Our business is feeding the hungry and healing the sick and clothing the naked, not caching weapons to use to shoot policemen.
Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. (John 18:36) He didn’t set his disciples to overthrowing the Roman Empire. As a matter of fact….
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place:
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
(Matthew 26:52)
Even the Apostle Paul who suffered under the oppression of, and died by the order of the infamous Emperor Nero, did not call for revolution. We are instead told to pray for our enemies. (Matthew 5:44)
Our job is disciple making. And the current administration wouldn’t be in the position of power they currently enjoy if Christians in the last fifty years had been doing that job properly. People with changed hearts don’t vote for antichristian Marxists.
But this nation no longer has a majority Christian culture. We lost the first battle of the Culture War in the 1930s when the people who took God out of our schools in the 60s were in school. We’ve gone in 87 years from arguing whether it’s legal to teach evolution alongside creation in a public school, to establishing that the Bible cannot legally even be mentioned.
But the answer isn’t bloody revolution, unless the question is what’s the best way to kill millions of people and burn half the country.
When Paul urged Christians to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) he meant it for spiritual warfare, not as a preparation for overthrowing Caesar. Read it again. There’s nothing physical involved. Don’t you remember what it says?
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians
6:12)
Jesus told us to go make disciples – that’s the ONLY way to defeat a Godless Communist Demagogue. So go trade that AR-15 in for a KJV.
If you want to know how, read – Revolutionary Discipleship
If you want to understand how the Church went astray and led us to this place read – Spiritual Embezzlement Made Easy
If you want to understand the fundamental difference between Conservatives and Progressives and why political and military solutions will not bridge that gap, read – Conservatives are from Mars and Progressives are from Venus.
And if you want to read something fun that’ll pick up your spirits, read –The Four Horsemen.
Click here to comment on this post or subscribe to future posts
or Visit his Struggle of Nations play by e-mail game
Previous posts:
· The Hunger Games, Batman and the Queen's Martian Rifles
· The True Essence of Steampunk
· Are Steampunk Spacecraft Really Feasible?
· The Origin and Destiny of Tolerance
· Horror and Monster Movies -- What's the Difference?
· The Most Subversive Question
Who is M.E. Brines?
M.E. Brines spent the Cold War assembling atomic artillery shells and preparing to unleash the Apocalypse (and has a medal to prove it.) But when peace broke out, he turned his fevered, paranoid imagination to other pursuits. Designer of more than twenty sci-fi wargames and the Fantasy Nations play-by-e-mail game (all available below) he spends his spare time scribbling yet another steampunk romance occult adventure novel, which despite certain rumors absolutely DOES NOT involve time-traveling Nazi vampires! (Not this time, anyway.)
Cool Links:
Society for Psychical Research
Ghost Hunting Theories (+ Bigfoot)
Gnostalgia (the Esoteric Steampunk Lodge of the Retro-Future)
Steampunk Community blog
Steampunk Writers & Artists Guild
Tales of the Talisman magazine