In the two previous blog posts we covered many of the prooftexts commonly used to legitimize human civil government, both in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament. Because the subject of Romans 13 is uniquely exhaustive and tedious, we have decided to give it its own space here. The relevant scripture is as follows:
“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: or 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 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)
This passage is probably one of the most commonly misunderstood portions of scripture and that is only owed to the treason of translators and the laziness of the vast majority of Christians who are hardly ever concerned with the pursuit of truth, but rather the justification of their own idolatry using twisted scripture to assuage the fact that they take Christ’s name in vain. In context with the rest of the message of Scripture however, this passage is probably one of the strongest in favor of an anarchist political science, and therefore of abolitionism. The initial confusion hinges on the phrase “higher powers,” which is the most accurate translation in all of the english versions of the Koine, while “governing authorities” is the most antonymous because it is not just an oversimplification of the Greek phrase “exousiais hyperechousais,” it is an irresponsible subterfuge expressing the opposite of the intent of the passage.
“Hyperechousais” comes from the word “huperechó” which means “to hold above, to rise above, to be superior,” “to stand out, rise above, overtop,” “to excel, to be superior, better than.” According to Strong’s it is “from huper and echo; to hold oneself above, i.e. (figuratively) to excel; participle (as adjective, or neuter as noun) superior, superiority — better, excellency, higher, pass, supreme.” There is a definition that means “to be above, be superior in rank, authority, power,” but this understanding is only applied in circular logic to Romans 13:1, or to a contradictory reference in 1 Peter 2:17, calling King Christ the “superior in rank, authority, power.” The most common place this word seems to be used in the New Testament is in Philippians, referring to the idea of esteeming others as better than ourselves, or of the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, or the excellence of the knowledge of Christ as one’s Lord. None of the times the word is used does it convey that human civil government is a “higher,” “excellent,” or “supreme” concept. In fact, it is the testament of scripture that authoritarian positions are, and the idea of going under them is, “lower,” “inferior,” and “reprobate,” as can be exampled in the actions of Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the declarations of Gideon, and Samuel.
“Exousiais” comes from the word “exousia” which means “power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases; leave or permission,” “physical and mental power; the ability or strength with which one is endued, which he either possesses or exercises,” “the power of authority (through influence) and of right,” and “the power of rule or government.” Nowhere in scripture is this last definition qualified with the adjective of “higher,” because that concept exclusively refers to the things of God rather than man-made governments. Exousia is a combination of two words: “Ex” meaning “of” or “from”, while “ousia” means “what one has, i.e. property, possessions, estate.” This simple description reveals a simple fact: whoever possesses the dominion retains the right, liberty, or power of choice in how to use it. That will be discussed shortly. There are many words for “power” in the Koine Greek, from Dunamis, dunamai, didomi, arche, ischus, ischuros, kratos, and energes. Many of them could have been used to help convey the notion of human civil government in Romans 13:1, but the nature of the term exousia expresses a competing notion entirely, by both Scripture and history:
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right [exousia] to eat.” (Hebrews 13:10)
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right [exousia] to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:14)
“But take heed lest by any means this liberty [exousia] of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.” (1 Corinthians 8:9)
“After further analysis he defines the citizen as a person who has the right (exousia) to participate in deliberative or judicial office (1275b18–21). In Athens, for example, citizens had the right to attend the assembly, the council, and other bodies, or to sit on juries.” (Miller, Fred. “Aristotle’s Political Theory.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 7 Nov. 2017.)
“Aristotle says that… The right (exousia) to do anything one wishes…” (Paul Bullen: Lawmakers and Ordinary People. 1996.)
“Brancacci notices that the term used by Enomaos to refer to human freedom is not the typical Cynic one ( ἐλευθερία), but ἐξουσία [exousia], which expresses ‘the new concept of freedom in opposition to the already defunct and unhelpful ἐλευθερία [eleutheria]…'” (Boeri, Marcelo. Bryn Mawr Classical Review. 19 Aug. 2001.)
“This is implicit in Socrates’ observation that ‘where there is such an exousia, it is also [the case] that everyone would privately construct his own life for himself in a way that pleases him’ (577b). Shorey and Bloom translate exousia as ‘license,’ a term that seems appropriate in light of Plato’s presumed objections to democratic disorder. Yet exousia is surely one of democracy’s contested symbols, for it can also represent the capricious richness captured in the image of the multihued garment.” (Mara. Gerald M. The Civic Conversations of Thucydides and Plato: Classical Political Philosophy and the Limits of Democracy. State University of New York Press, 2009.)
In Romans 13:3, the word for “rulers” is “archon,” meaning “a ruler, commander, chief, leader…” which could have replaced the phrase “higher powers” if Paul had wanted to intimate “governing authorities” by that phrase. The same word is used by Jesus Christ in the context of appointing the Kingdom of God to his apostles, and barring his followers from holding civil office. “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes [archon] of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant…” (Matthew 20:25-27) Christ did not want the servant-ministers of his adhocratic government to be like the “public servants” and “prime ministers” of the bureaucratic governments of pagan nations because His Kingdom was one bound together in faith, hope, and charity rather than yoked in the unbelief of contracts, entitlements, and taxation. In fact, it was Christ’s purpose to fulfill God’s Law and, by the power of His Gospel, set man free from the dominion of man, making him a free soul under God alone, as is repeated all throughout scripture:
“For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” (Hebrews 8:10-11)
“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” (Leviticus 25:10)
In every case, subjecting ourselves to the higher law of God explicitly means that we retain our original liberty and rights to our property and relationships, because it is only when we have forfeited God’s providential liberties and responsibilities to the arbiters of human civil government that we find ourselves under their lower powers to regulate our lives and bring us under tribute. When we give up our dominion, we deposit it into the centralized hands of rulers who bear dominion over us. God made man upright, in His image, with the natural responsibility to maintain a natural family, work the land, enjoy the fruits of his labor, and to thereby obey the Dominion Mandate. Only when his wealth is his own, without the burdens of legal encumbrance or property and income tax, is he subject to the “more excellent liberty” of God. It is only when his family is his own, without the illusions of legal guardianship and marriage licensing, that he is subject to the “more excellent liberty” of God.
However, God also gives man the liberty to squander his liberty by establishing human civil governments and going under their lower powers, though without impunity. It is not God that institutes rulers, unless it is as a recompense for those who no longer desire to be ruled by Him. Men raise up rulers, which Scripture describes as false gods because they become the providers and protectors, and lawgivers and judges, and saviors and lords over the people who are within their jurisdiction. “The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness…. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.” (Plato, The Republic, bk. 8, sct. 565) As Romans 13:2 declares, the people receive to themselves damnation… because rulers are a terror to the wicked works that reject God in favor of human rulers. Those who do not give up their rights and liberty, and do good works to retain them, will not find themselves subject to human rulers, so their jurisdictions are not a terror to good works. In fact, because only sinners will find themselves trapped into the fleshpots of human rulers, they are a safeguard for the righteous who remain set apart from their encompassing black holes of covetous and slothful singularity that compresses their wicked citizens with their wakes of temptation and imprisoning mass.
Human civil government is an ouroboros of debt, destruction, and damnation for anyone who legitimizes it, and the Bible says that all of the terrors and maladies contingent on man-made governments occur by consent of the people who partake in their citizenship. “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat.” (Proverbs 23:1-3) This temptation to yoke together with unbelievers and eat of their socialist provision makes one a surety for that provision. “Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.” (Psalm 69:22) This is because governments are not ever interested in doing good by their subject slaves, unless of course it is to bait the hooks of temptation to acquire their wealth and rights through citizenship and consent to partake in socialism. “The real destroyers of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations, and benefits.” (Plutarch)
When the Israelites decided to go under the lower powers of Pharaoh, he did not bear his sword against them in vain. They gave up the rights to their property, including land and livestock, and gave up the rights to their labor through a twenty percent income tax. When they petitioned Samuel for a king of their own, they consented to God’s revenge and received the wrath of their “public servant” by having to give up their land and fruits of their labor, concentrating their wealth into the coffers of the king, having their sons drafted into a standing army, becoming employees of the government, and raising up men with legislative and judicial authority to bind them in legal burdens, under heavy administrative yokes. In addition to all of that, their idolatry, paganism, and statism afforded them one more blow of God’s wrath: God would no longer hear their prayers, or their cries of salvation from the just desserts of their rejection of Him. “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.” (Proverbs 15:29) And he gives them over to a reprobate mind to continue in their self-destruction.
Even though Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome is a dissertational proof for the efficacy of the Christian worldview as a redemptive solution to the bondage of human civil government and the sins that lead people into that bondage, it is easy to forget that Paul often employs the first person or second person points of view, not as reflections of personal anecdotes, or as direct descriptions of his actual audience, but as rhetorical devices in technical writing. In the case of Romans 13 (and most of Romans), we are witnessing a second-person imperative mood directed at a hypothetically implied situation that might have applied to some of Paul’s direct audience, and maybe even none of them, but are relevant only if the right conditions are met. Those conditions will be revealed in the following:
At Pentecost, those that followed Christ who previously had political affiliation with the social security administrations of Herod and the Pharisees, were kicked out of the temples and synagogues and were barred from receiving the socialist benefits afforded in subjecting themselves to their legislative authorities. These Jews were then free to bind themselves together in freewill congregations, to keep the weightier matters as free souls within Christ’s Kingdom of Heaven. Instead of being baptized into Herod’s citizenship, they were born again into God’s adoptive society. The early Christians had their own political structure, their own customs, their own laws, their own system of welfare and even their own (servant) government. This means that even though they were “in the world” of the Pax Romana as unregistered inhabitants and unenrolled residents, they were not “of the world” of the Pax Romana as civil citizens and numbered persons. It was Edward Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire who commended “the union and discipline of the Christian republic” which “gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire.”
Although the Christian faith promised civil liberty and delivered that liberty to thousands of Jews at Pentecost, as a sort of second Exodus, many who repented of their worldly civil citizenships after Pentecost, and sought to uphold the pure religion of the Christians and be counted in their networks of charity, still had debts and legal obligations to their former civil masters. In short, they still had political liabilities as consequences for the sins that had initially brought them under bondage. “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.” (Proverbs 12:24) This made the international Christian community an amalgam of freemen and slaves who bore each other’s burdens and had to navigate serving two masters until either they were freed of their debt or their old “marriage contracts” were nullified by the death of their “former husbands,” referring to the collapse of Rome’s civil and social structure, as is the end result of all socialist societies and unrighteous mammon.
So when Paul starts speaking in the second person imperative in Romans 13, from verse five through verse nine, he is talking to a mixed audience. If any of them were still slaves, then they should continue to pay taxes. For it is this wrath that makes human rulers the servants of God in spite of themselves, punishing the wickedness of sloth, covetousness, and idolatry merely by existing and exercising authority. If tribute is owed, those punished should pay it. If custom is owed, those punished should pay it. If fear is owed, those punished should be afraid. If honor (obligations, burdens) is owed, those punished should pay (fulfill, bear) it. He goes on to explain the end result of this arrangement: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8) Paul himself did not have civil obligations and professed himself to be subject to the original, higher liberty given to man by God, and expressed the inopportune and enslaving nature of discarding that liberty and going into bondage: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)
It may still be the recourse of the multitude to appeal to the debate in the same way as most professing christian theologians as they take the conventional approach to dissecting this passage. If that is the case, then there is minimal debate on what this prooftext means, and how it is in favor of a statist interpretation. However, with a little thought, it would show that this is a conflict of interest. 501c3 churches and state-sanctioned seminaries can only ever produce scholars who sympathize with Balaam or the Nicolaitans to justify the worldview that legitimizes their authoritarian organizations. Just like the scholars and Pharisees of Christ’s day appealed to generations of compounded dead tradition and adopted presuppositions through generations of “church history,” so do pharisaical scholars of today. Just like those pharisees said “no King but Caesar“, these pharisees legitimize political office through democracy. Just like those pharisees ruled over the people with religious fervor and political enthusiasm, these pharisees are proud of their government-sponsored degrees and express their self-importance from their pulpits. These are blind guides leading the blind, and so any notion of true liberty, as repeated over and over throughout scripture, must be stricken from churchian dogma. It is necessary for institutionalists to have a conflict of interest that justifies an interpretation of Romans 13 which prescribes institutionalism. Pastors and presidents alike have podiums by which to croon lullabies over the people, making them compliant subjects under their own power. Most people beg for bedtime stories that remind them that they are ruled, because liberty is a fearful responsibility.
It should be expressed that the Koine Greek was developed during a similar time period of Greek history as most languages are established during their respective cultures: as Greece and Rome were moving from a period characterized by free republics to a time of more centralized, authoritarian, and even autocratic empires. Languages change along with those changing social conditions, and those empires were establishing the very same wrath over wicked works as the rulers described in Romans 13 were supposed to conduct: from heavy taxation, to wars, to food shortages, to oppression, to mass murder of their own citizens, to many other atrocities contingent upon Empire. The Pharisees legitimized civil rulers then just like the Pharisees legitimize civil rulers today, under the same conditions. In every era, there will be scholars who presume to have the answers and deny any possibility of being in error. They are educated by the best professors and attend the best bastions of institutional education, and they all belong to an elite fraternity of historical pedigree and intellectual echo-chambers. Even Saul had belonged to this demographic while he was persecuting Christians for refusing to subject themselves under Caesar’s dominion. It was clear that he did not actually know the God he had prided himself on studying. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) It is true that word meanings will change to be palatable to the sensitivities and political correctness that evolve with the “sophistication” of Empire, but God’s plan for humanity never changes. Since creation, man was always meant to be free souls under His sole authority, rather than property of the State as human resources for the Cains, Nimrods, Pharaohs, Caesars, or Constantines of the world. Anybody peddling a different message, usually for greedy gain and puffed up accolades, is invariably preaching a false gospel: “ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7)
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23)
Abolish Human Archism 
Can you expound upon the debts owed that would cause a Christian to remain under obligation of the God ordained power, instead of just walking away? I always assumed the term slave was referring to the person who was sold into slavery to pay off his sin debt (stole- couldn’t pay restitution, damaged or destroyed property- couldn’t replace, etc.)
LikeLike
Yes. The sin into which you were born is one of debt-slavery. Your parents sacrificed you on the typical altars of Baal through birth certification and social security enrollment which made you property of the civil fathers in human civil government to become employed in the bankrupt economy of their empire and pay for, with your taxes, the interest on benefits borrowed from that government by your parents, from social security, to unemployment, to public education, to the roads, to salaries of military, politicians, policing agents, firefighters and whoever else touches government funds. Which, by definition, is everybody. Let me explain.
The wealth of global bankers isn’t currency, because currency is not wealth, but debt. Every debt note in circulation is loaned into our socialist economy with interest attached to it. How can you pay back the interest on the first cent loaned into existence? By borrowing more cents, getting further into debt. The amount of currency you currently possess, including all of the “property” you paid for with it, must eventually be paid back to the lender.
The wealth of global bankers is in human lives. They print and lend debt notes (IOU’s) to governments who entice their citizens with benefits to sell their children as tax slaves to pay for those benefits. Your labor sustains a compartmentalized and interdependent global economy. Just like in every socialist society that has ever existed. Everybody works for everybody else’s benefit. The illusion of wealth through the constant exchange of debt (currency) only gives it the illusion of financial choice and capital. But the true liberty and capital is maintained by those who rule you and their rulers. You are just a participant in their Chuck E. Cheese economy, working for their Chuck E. Cheese tickets. We go into detail about how this kind of society is the Mammon of Unrigteousness and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the antidote to this age-old bondage at ServeTheReserve.com
It should be noted that the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt was characterized by a contractual agreement with Pharaoh for a flat 20% income tax. They agreed to give his government one-fifth of their land, cattle, and possessions in order to receive his daily bread so that they would not starve for a famine. Whenever Scripture talks about going into bondage and sin leading to bondage, it is taking about raising up false gods to rule over you, provide for you, be your lawgivers and judges, and protect you. Even the kings that the Israelites wanted grew in power to tax them and sell them off to other governments as indentured slaves.
http://preparingyou.com/wiki/Bondage
If being punished with a 20% tax rate in Egypt is something God calls slavery, where they could still maintain four-fifths of their private property, then imagine how God describes your current reality under a 30%-50% tax rate with zero private property. This doesn’t even touch on the subjects of inflation or personhood or legal titles and legal guardianship. The Israelites received an Exodus in their repentance to redeem them from the dominion of man. The Christians had another Exodus at Pentecost to do the same in their repentance. Our sins contingent upon civil citizenship have brought us into bondage. We must repent and seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness if we expect to be rewarded with the ability to “just walk away.”
https://abolishhumanarchism.com/2019/03/17/the-gospel-part-i/
LikeLike
Awesome response! Thank you for getting back quickly.
I am familiar with the debt currency and chattle system you described, and that was a succinct explanation btw, but I’m still not sure I’m tracking with you though. What exactly are you implying that it means for a person born into bondage as a US citizen who wants to live as an abolishtionist? They must remain a US citizen and pay all dues and taxes until the US finally, officially implodes?
LikeLike
It’s hard to predict what the future holds for every individual these days. Not everybody in Judea had made enslaving agreements with governments under the Pax Romana at the time Christ began his political campaign for the Kingdom of God. The ones that had no legal obligations could be baptized into that Kingdom without complication. The ones that had sold themselves into bondage, however, were not freemen, but could seek the Kingdom of Heaven by still coming together in adhocratic congregations to be organized in a gregarious network to provide for each other out of charity and freewill association. Even people in bondage can come together to bear each other’s legal and tax burdens to alleviate each other’s debts. This is what God blesses, even supernaturally, like we see at the feeding of the 5000 families who organized themselves into congregations of ten. Those who followed Christ were no longer allowed at the Temple, meaning they could not partake of government benefits or be enrolled as citizens under its administration. At Pentecost, all “dual citizens” so to speak, were kicked out of Herod’s social security program which was backed by Roman bureaucracy. So, we can hope that the same will happen to the repentant of this generation. Maybe it’s a promise of God for all of those who turn from their wicked ways and are called by his name.
In the meantime, however, if we actually come together and love our neighbors as ourselves, God may supplement our mutual charity so much that our current bondage is negligible and titular. We can live like freemen in actuality while being slaves only on paper. Principally, however, there is a sense that, like you say about an imploding civil society, the “old man has to die in order to be married to the new man” like Paul talks about in Romans. Sin has consequences even after repentance. Christ also talks about how the Unrighteous Mammon always fails and how we cannot serve both it and God. So, while we will never deserve salvation from our bondage, and can never literally work for it and earn it, perhaps the grace of God will be eligible for us if we actually keep his commandments and obey Him as children. We must be born again into that kind of spiritual and political citizenship. The phrase “born again” is actually the oldest written word for liberty, in Sumerian Cuneiform (ama-gi), and it refers to being redeemed from debt-slavery into an original liberty without obligation. It is like “returning to the mother’s womb” to become like little children who had no political encumbrances. It was Abraham who preached this Gospel to people in the Indus Valley because they found themselves under the dominion of the Merchants of Men who enticed them into service through lending.
An important principle of making our “yes” yes and our “no” no, is the willingness to keep our word and pay Caesar what we owe because of our foolishness. Because if we don’t keep our word or accept the consequential justice against our foolishness, then why would God trust us with the responsibilities of liberty? What incentive does he have to redeem us if we are not willing to fulfill our contracts, even if those contracts were initially forbidden? That’s why the key is to enlist each other out of faith, hope, and charity to alleviate our burdens that we made out of contracts, entitlements, and taxation. We can’t do it alone. It can only be done together, because that’s how God wills it. Anything else is struggling against the quicksand of our own making. You need another hand to pull you out. With man, this is impossible. With God, all things are possible.
LikeLike
I completely agree that if a man has gone into debt, he should pay it back. But I do not see any obligation that I have to the banksters or the US corporation that prevents me from getting off the bus at the next stop and walking away a free man. How could anyone know that anyway, aside from actual contracts entered into personally like military service, how could one possibly know what their future accrued labor liability is? At that rate, practically everyone born in the western world was consigned into debt slavery upon being born since the 20th century, and they are not freemen until the worldwide bankster’s cartel is destroyed. I’m having a hard time rationalizing that.
LikeLike
And yet, that reality is as old as Cain. Nothing but sin leads to bondage. God himself preserves the righteous. Ignorance of the Law excuses not.
No one is obliged to accept a benefit against his consent. But if he does not dissent he will be considered as assenting. He who derives a benefit from a thing, ought to feel the disadvantages attending it.
‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.’ (Hosea 4:6)
Not keeping God’s commands is a curse on your children. If you’re not seeking God’s Kingdom then you belong to Satan’s kingdoms by default. If you do not belong to Heaven, you will belong to Hell.
‘Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:’ (2 Peter 2:14)
There are no innocent people in slavery. You did not have to benefit from your citizenship. You did not have to receive the marks of beasts through driver’s licenses, marriage certificates, or W-2s. Maybe you didn’t have an alternative kingdom to sustain you, so you felt like you had no other choice but to starve to death. But man does not live by bread alone, but on every word from the mouth of God.
I am sure plenty of people in the first century rejected God’s Kingdom because they would not admit their own sin. They practiced blameshifting and buried their head in the sand and were in denial over their contracts. But denial is only the first stage of the five stages of grief, and salvation will never come without repentance. You have to face your sin, and confess it in order to repent of it. Only then will God hear your prayers. Only then are you eligible for salvation from the bondage of your own making.
‘And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.’ (1 Samuel 8:18)
Liberty is for the righteous only. Only a Biblical worldview can justify and provide for freedom. But a Biblical worldview doesn’t just say “keep yourself unstained from the world” it also says to “visit the orphan and the widow in their affliction.” You are the orphan. Your father abandoned you to the civil fathers of the world. The rest of us are orphans too, for the same reason. In order for Moses to give up on being Pharaoh’s adopted son, he had to be willing to perform the ordinances of His newfound Father from the desert, Yahweh. This means going back to Egypt to teach a better kingdom to the captives. You are in the exact same boat as those captives for the exact same reason. Sin. Without keeping God’s Law, you’re going to find yourself under man’s laws.
https://abolishhumanarchism.com/2018/11/04/the-constitution-of-the-kingdom-of-heaven/
LikeLike
Okay, I get it, there is a depth of repentance that I have not attained due to lack of knowledge, but that brings me back around to my original question, what obligation does a US born, fully papered citizen have to the US and the bansksters? Are you saying that they are to remain in the system and carry on a dual citizenship of sorts paying taxes on their own labor, etc. and network with kingdom folk and try to evangelize? I’m really trying to sort this out.
LikeLike
Yes, you are still bound by your oaths and contacts. The Israelites still had to pay Pharaoh their tale of bricks while they “gleaned the fields at night” to provide for each other out of charity. It was sloth that bought them into bondage. Sloth that created debt. So they had to work double-time to provide for two kingdoms. It is God that harvests both kingdoms, so to speak, and separates the wheat from the chaff, bringing the former into his storehouse when the timing is right, and burning the latter.
God gets just as much glory in the process of repentance and sanctification as he does in the salvation. He wants to see his children learn to come together while they are still in bondage, to take care of each other. He wants to watch you overcome adversity and the obstacles of your own making. He wants you to do your best so he can supplement you when that’s not good enough.
For a repentant man, the bondage is there to teach you how to crawl. For those who still need milk. Then there will be liberty for those who have learned how to run and can chew meat. Use the rubble of Empire to build the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ described this as “making friends of the unrighteous mammon.”
Love your neighbor today. Where two or more are gathered, Christ says, he will be there also. Start gathering in abolitionist societies. Pay off each other’s debts and loans. Go in business with each other. Preach this message of reconciliation in the highways and byways and marketplaces and on street corners. Turn the world upside down with this truth because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Gather to yourself those who would do the word of God and yoke together to free each other and provide a free society for your children. Maybe God will give you the grace you need in order to enter into His literal liberty.
There is an old saying that there is no country as unhappy as one that need heroes. But it’s the duty of every man to be the hero and commit to the self-sacrifice inherent to heroism. We’re here to do a job, and we don’t rattle. Consequences be damned. Duty is ours, results belong to God.
’13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.’ (Matthew 7)
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL THESE THINGS shall be added unto you.
Don’t worry about the end result. Rely on God’s providence to take care of that for you. If you want to be free of your shackles, just keep Christ’s commandments which are an expression of loving God and your neighbor.
In any event, you need a Kingdom to enter into if you’re looking to leave the one you’re in now. God has given you the blueprints, but you’re going to have to help build it. His temple is made up of human hands. That temple will be the ark that keeps you afloat while the rest of the world is drowning in weeping and gnashing of teeth.
LikeLike
I think you’re on a good line here; call it Abolishment,
I call it “come out of her my people…”, I probably won’t put much protest effort into a catch phrase name for a movement as long as His people who have the right heart with eyes to see and ears to hear get evangelized; But there are a few things perhaps you could reexamine and prayerfully consider. Such as:
When the King called Matthew, a Roman hired (contracted??) Tax Collector, and COMMANDED him to follow Him;
*Did Matthew stay and fulfill his oath to Cesar?
*Did he first make sure his till was balanced and deliver it to his master to finalize things?
*Did he follow the King on his days off or at night after his duties while “providing for both kingdoms”?
No. Scripture says:
Luke 5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
You mentioned the Israelites had to complete their tally of bricks before they were delivered. I agree that while Yahweh was working His plan of deliverance, the Israelites were forced to make bricks and then their tally was doubled and then they weren’t given the straw to do it. But when YHWH’s work of deliverance was finished in Egypt…. they left all and walked out of Egypt. There were decades worth of bricks on their tally still needing made in Egypt. Yet they left, not as Egyptian Israelites, but as the children of Israel… God’s people.
I don’t want this to be a mile long reply, and I don’t like proof texts, but in response to:
[Your father abandoned you to the civil fathers of the world. The rest of us are orphans too, for the same reason.]
These are a fair amount of scriptures to show, in context, that I am not bound by my earthly father nor a ficticious, fraudulent, corporate contract that is null and void at inception.
John 1:12 – But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Romans 8:14 – For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Galatians 4:6 – And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Philippians 2:15 – That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
I John 3:1 – Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
I John 3:2 – Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Galatians 4:1-7
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
[2] But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
[3] Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
[4] But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
[5] To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[6] And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
[7] Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
In hopes this is received as it was sent, in grace.
Joe
LikeLike
When the early Christians “came out” of Babylon, it is because there was already another Kingdom that could receive them. Modern Christians today are not correlative to the Christians of Christ’s day. They are correlative to the Jews of Christ’s day. The people who call themselves “God’s People” but did not keep the commands of Moses. They might like the idea of having Christ as their King, but are not doing what it takes to literally seek His Kingdom. When you look at Scripture, it’s important to look at it in this context and to know who you might represent. Paul’s letters were written to many people who already belonged to Christ’s Kingdom, and no longer belonged to the kingdoms of the world.
This is why you never see Christ say “come out” unless it’s to demons to come out of the bodies they possess. It was after His ministry, and after His death, and after His resurrection, and after His ascension even, that we see the repentant be kicked out of their former citizenship so they can continue to seek God’s Kingdom without further encumbrances. All of the epistles, especially Paul’s were written after that event and to people who benefitted from that event. Nobody alive today has experienced an event like that, and very few of “professing Christians” are actually free or saved from bondage. There is a category error in your presuppositions. You or I do not belong to the category exclusively enjoyed by those who are eligible to “come out.” The very first observation you can make that shows that reality is that there is no society to receive us. Because we haven’t made it yet. Are we really God’s children? Because we do not “Defend the poor and fatherless: or do justice to the afflicted and needy. We do not Deliver the poor and needy: and rid them out of the hand of the wicked. We know not, neither will we understand; we walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” (Psalm 82:3) We do not express the good fruits of good trees. We do not love our neighbors as ourselves. Which means we do not truly love God.
The Israelites in bondage had already repented and started taking care of each other as proof of incentive for God to liberate them. This means they already started to act like God’s children before God made it time to adopt them as his children. Salvation comes after repentance. Never before.
Your contracts are not fictitious. They are not fraudulent. Scripture does not describe them as much. In fact, scripture says that:
You have been ensnared by the words of your mouth. (Proverbs 6:2)
You have added to your “yes” and your “no” by swearing oaths. (Matthew 5:33-37)
You have made covenants with Gentiles and their gods (Exodus 23:32-33)
You have been spoiled through rudiments and deceit and therefore subject to ordinances (Colossians 2:8-14)
You are a surety for debt (2 Peter 2:3-19)
You are under tribute (Proverbs 12:24)
Because you have been trapped by your own want of welfare (Psalm 69:22)
And, along with everyone else just like you, are biting one another in socialist citizenship (Micah 3:2-4; Galatians 5:15)
It isn’t some hyperspiritual, theological rhetoric and blind belief that makes you a lost sinner in bondage. It was your practical actions and self-destructive choices. Likewise, being an actual Christian isn’t contingent on some hyperspiritual, theological rhetoric and blind belief. It isn’t reciting “The Sinner’s Prayer.” It isn’t saying “Lord, Lord” without expecting “Depart from me, I never knew you.” It isn’t anything that can be boiled down to wishful thinking. Being an actual Christians means keeping Christ’s commandments, and seeking His literal Kingdom. Only then will SOME of the New Testament rhetoric apply to you. If you are ever to receive an actual mass exodus from civil citizenship, it will only be because your practical, day-to-day lifestyle reflects a very narrow definition of what it means to obey Christ. You don’t have to call it Abolition, but it will look like Abolitionism, and that means repenting of sin and not calling that sin a “ficticious, fraudulent, corporate contract that is null and void at inception.”
The Apostle Matthew was never a subject citizen of Rome or Herodian civil society. None of the apostles were. It is easy to equivocate employment during Jesus’s time with what it takes to be employed during our time, but not everyone was enrolled in a covetous system of social security or birth certification then. The Kingdom of God was originally preached to people who had no other kingdom or civil affiliation. Baptism was not even offered to people who had those things. In fact, the apostles and the ministers, unlike the congregations, had the additional obligation to be completely free in order to fulfill their roles in God’s Kingdom. The apostles were just ambassadors from one Kingdom to another, and the ministers made up the servant government of God to serve the congregations through their redistributed charity. Those congregations were an amalgam of people who were free, and people who were still in bondage but still wanted to seek God’s Kingdom in their repentance, even before their salvation. Like the Levites, the apostles and ministers were wholly consecrated to God, or else they were not eligible to be apostles and ministers, as we especially see with Ananias and Sapphira. But this is why we also see Paul writing to congregations that also contained civil slaves amongst their enrollment, like when he reasons with the stronger brothers not to cause weaker brothers to stumble by wholeheartedly rejecting “food sacrificed to idols” when new converts only had their government benefits to offer to the network of charity. So, to repeat, it’s important to know who in scripture reflects your current characteristics. It’s not the apostles, it’s not the ministers, and it’s not freemen.
Maybe start with some of the parables if you want to see yourself in Scripture. Especially the Parable of the Sower, but also the Prodigal Son, the Parable of the Two Sons (http://preparingyou.com/wiki/Two_sons), the Parable of the Talents, the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor, and maybe the Parable of the Unjust Steward which shows how a repentant man should act while he is still in bondage, and how he is not automatically met with salvation.
What should be required reading for anyone who claims to be a Christian, even before they learn what it actually means to be a Christian is Amos chapter 5. Maybe then they will stop calling themselves God’s people and will realize that they have been taking His name in vain and that it’s time to repent for real. Or they may, like many people hearing Christ’s instructions say, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” and “From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.”
LikeLike
Before I can move on to the rest of your last reply, I’ll have to get you to explain this part:
[When the early Christians “came out” of Babylon, it is because there was already another Kingdom that could receive them.]
LikeLike
The Kingdom of God. All during Christ’s ministry, he was traveling from place to place to preach the Gospel (political campaign) of the Kingdom of Heaven (a free society for free souls under God that took care of each other out of faith, hope, and charity in networked congregations that spanned several continents by the end of the first century.)
The early Christians had their own laws, their own customs, their own (servant) government, their own system of welfare, their own civil citizenship, and their own historical continuity. All of scripture pits this kingdom against every other kingdom. You need an alternative to Babylon to seek or else you will only be in very close danger of belonging to Babylon. Because God doesn’t protect those who merely “come out of Babylon.” He protects those who belong to His Kingdom.
LikeLike
Yes, I know what the kingdom is. It appears we would both describe the kingdom very similarly.
This –
[When the early Christians “came out” of Babylon, it is because there was already another Kingdom that could receive them.]
– sounds like there WAS a kingdom made available to the 1st century Christians that is not available to us today.??
LikeLike
Yes, that’s what we’ve been talking about this whole time. What do you think a Kingdom is, exactly? Is it some hyperspiritual, good feeling, with zero practical application? Or is it a model for a civil society, full of people who share the same ordinances, rites, system of welfare, type of government, and system of law?
Because the whole time that Christ was preaching His Kingdom the repenting people who wanted to be obedient to Christ started congregating together in literal congregations networked together to feed each other out of a systemized daily charity, and hold each other accountable to righteousness. Most of them were already free, but many were not. It was into this society, something that is almost completely absent today, that later Christians (the ones to whom Paul writes) had as an alternative to the Babylon they could vertibly exit.
There is no other kingdom for you to be redeemed unto. It is your job to seek to build that kingdom so that others will have an opportunity to be redeemed unto it. Maybe one day you will be able to tell people to come out of Babylon, but not until you help to build its alternative. It’s time to build a house upon the rock, because this Babylonian one built upon the sand is going to be washed into the sea at any time.
‘There is certainly enough information and quotes about what Jesus directed His people to do. With a little accurate knowledge of history and language it should be rather easy to unravel the plan of Christ. Unfortunately, many people will not be able to hear or understand and therefore can not be counted as Doers of the Word despite what they would like to think or believe.
Part of that is because of preconceived notions; but it is often the result of not being willing to accept the truth about Christ. They want to blame others for their present state or condition rather than take responsibility. This has led to more than 40,000 denominations.
While it is clear that the idea of Christ’s followers coming out is found in the Biblical text, it is only mentioned after repentance, confession, seeking the kingdom, His righteousness and, of course, doing the will of the Father who art in heaven.’
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Come_out
LikeLike
EXACTLY !!! Now we’re talking! I tell ya, the last few replies have been a bit difficult because you’re not aware of what we’re doing. I am in no way trying to toot my own horn here, but I just want to explain what is going on:
Myself, my wife and our teenage son and daughter are selling our possessions and building a tiny home from a school bus. We’ve cast off our ties to our former masters no SS, no driver license, no marriage license, no Babylonian insurance, no income tax, NO voting, etc… With our nimble tiny home on wheels we are free to go wherever ecclesia is, where Christ’s Kingdom is being expressed by Israelites living by the laws of YHWH ALONE. I personally know of a few families in Missouri who are already living ecclesia and are putting things together to make room for more families. Here in central Texas, we are meeting with a few families who want the kingdom and ecclesia, and are learning what it means to live by YHWH’s laws and His provision… not Uncle Sam’s.
I was concerned that you were insinuating that the Kingdom was not accessible today ??? That is why I was prying on you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think you are conflating eccelesia (God’s servant ministers called-out from the congregations) with His Kingdom (a network of congregations who are connected by the ministers and the ministers themselves.)
The Kingdom of God looks like a Kingdom. It is organized, structured, and regularly attendant on a daily ministration of charity, organized by a separate ecclesia. In the first century, this model was so effective that tens of thousands of Christians were networked together across several continents. Like a real Kingdom.
This meant that they had to start congregations where they were and spend the Gospel where God placed them. If there were no Christians in their area, they did not prematurely leave Rome. They did the work to create brothers and sisters to be adopted with them at the appointed time.
It is impossible to have a Kingdom without a system of welfare, and impossible to contribute to that welfare without private property with which to be charitable. A Kingdom can be successful with little, but it cannot be successful with nothing.
https://abolishhumanarchism.com/2018/08/05/the-imago-dei/
The Israelites had to learn to take care of each other God actually allowed them to leave Egypt. The early Christians had to learn to take care of each other before God actually allowed them to leave Rome. Anything else is putting the cart before the horse and putting salvation and sanctification before repentance.
Maybe the transient lifestyle can be a stepping stone for some who are trying to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. But it will never be the end result, because God requires that we obey the Dominion Mandate. Without that, we are not made in God’s Image and we cannot love our neighbors as ourselves.
But, if you do actually want to be a part of God’s ecclesia, then it is true that you will not have private property. But it’s also true that your kids will be grown, you will be old, and that you will have congregations of families to serve and who will tithe to you.
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Ekklesia
So, for there to be a Kingdom today, very narrowly defined requirements must be met. Because not being taxed or legally encumbered is a REWARD for righteousness through salvation. Not something you can earn or work towards. The paper contracts are only the proofs of the sin. The bondage still remains once they are obscured from view. Form follows function in both kingdoms.
http://preparingyou.com/wiki/Fractal_Network
LikeLike