The Church of Power Returns

 

Christianity was infected by imperialism when Constantine made it the official religion of the Roman Empire. Quickly forgotten was Jesus’ words, “Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36), “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world,” (John 17:14), “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19), “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26), and “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21). In place of a faith that looked to the heavenly as home, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself,” (Philippians 3:20-21), and that we are pilgrims, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,” (1 Peter 2:11), Constantine warped the church into Christian Nationalism, mixing elements of the faith with political and martial power. The Emperor became head of both church and state, appointing bishops and commanding the armies of Rome. In the West this would happen with Popes becoming increasingly secular in power, even conquering and leading armies like Pope Julius II. For a far stretch of the Late Middle Ages, Popes behaved more like cesars than vicars of Christ. In Russia the Metropolitans bowed the power of the Tsars, and later the Communist Rulers. In England King Henry VII achieved Henry II Plantagnet’s dream of becoming Supreme Head of the Church, essentially an Anglicized Byzantine Ruler. In America an attempt was to keep the church and state separate, Thomas Jefferson and the other founders no doubt seeing pitfalls of Imperial Christianity in history, tried to keep these two seperate worlds, The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of the Temporal seperate, because as Lord Acton said, “power tends to corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Jesus had not come to create a earthly kingdom, but bring The Kingdom of God to people through faith in Him, He hung on a cross, He did not brandish a sword but said to sword rattling disciple, “Then Jesus saith to him: Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” (Matthew 26:52) and “Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.” (Revelation 13:10). Jesus wasn’t rebuking Peter over self defense and armies fighting to protect their realms, He told a Centurion to remain a soldier, “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay,” (Luke 3:14), and told His disocples to buy swords, “He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:36). What Jesus was objecting to was Peter was resisting His purpose to suffer and make a sacrifice for the sin of all humans, “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.). But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?” (John 18:10-11). I believe a undercurrent of Christ’s rebuke of Peter was over militant-imperial Christianity, Peter was holding on to the idea a messiah who would save the Jewish Nation from the Romans and become a Jewish King, a Neo Juda Maccabeus, but Jesus shirked this attempt by people to make Him an eathly kimg, “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (John 6:15).  

America is is about to join Byzantines, The Popes of the Late Middle Ages, and King Henry VII. The sect known as Evangelicalism had been turned into a seat of Christian Imperialism. The Evangelicals has changed from voting block into blend of political power and faith, like the Emperors of Byzantium they are putting their hands to the plow of faith and the sword of worldly power. They are blind to this repeat of history, that now the Protestants are returning to a Christianity in name only seeking power like Oliver Cromwell and The Puritans in The English Civil War. The allure of Imperial Christianity is old, it has been around 1699yrs, and it is blight on the church. Jesus did not call us to make political kingdom of the earth, but to make disciples of heaven (Matthew 28:19). The apostles are emphatic that the world and its power is corrupting, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever,” (1 John 2:17), “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world,” (1 John 2:16), “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith,” (1 John 5:4), 

 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God,” (James 4:4), “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” (Romans 12:2), “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ,” (Colossians 2:8), and “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2). We ate not called to be Preterists and Christian Soldiers seeking worldly thrones. A day will come when Jesus will reign on the earth in the flesh, but that is His doing and timing, and after a bitter period of the antichrist ruling and great death on the earth! I sigh as I see Christians drunk with power as The Evangelicals take their place in a long line of failed fusion of Christianity and Political Power that always ends, Byzantium fell to the The Ottomans, The Renaissance Popes lost their powers to Vatican II, The English Puritans and Lord Protector Cromwell’s eventually lost power and the line of Kings restored. The model does not work, and it keeps being used because men want power and they use piety to justify their deeds and cloak their ambition in holy cause, and purpose, but their fruit is evident as Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20). 

The Lust for power & money is an infection in the church that needs to be cut out, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). There is nothing wrong with a ruler being pious and a Christian, the issue is a militant hybrid of religion and politics, because is pollutes the purity of the faith. There is a separation of the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms / nations of this world. For do not forget who the prince of the world is, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” (1 John 5:19), “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the prince of thus world has no place in Jesus, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” (John 14:30). He then should have no place in us! And yet people are content to commit the folly of placing The Prince of Peace’s approval on the prince of the world’s schemes; that is essentially bridging Jesus and Satan into a partnership! Which is insane and impossible! Jesus and Satan are enemies, Jesus even saying the devil has no place in Him (John 14:30) and it was Jesus who caste Satan out of heaven (Ezekiel 28:12-28), and shall burn the devil in everlasting fire (Revelation 20:10). 

Removing the church from the imperial taint will not be an easy task. The toxin circulates in veins of church history, and many traditions. And I am not saying The Quaker Pacifism is the answer either. The problem isn’t Christian rulers or people in power, it is weaponizing Christianity as political tool and means to achieve power, using the spiritual for worldly ambition, twisting the Scriptures and shouting “Deus Vult! God Wills It!” When you politicize christianity you get the drunk with power popes, enigmatic emperors of Byzantium, and persecutory Puritans who banned Christmas! Jesus is Kingdom is Not of this World, we are called to be likewise, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect..”” (Romans 12:2), and “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). A day will come when The Kingdom of Heaven will come to earth, and Jesus will make a new heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1-53). But that will be the God Man, The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords initiating it! God will bring the kingdom to earth! Not man! While it is good to elect rulers who share our Christian valued and uphold them, it is bad to turn our faith into a circus to drum up support for avaricious and ambitious people to use to seize power when their fruit is obviously rotten and proves they are not disciples of Christ! Our faith keeps getting user a smoke screen (a cloud of smoke created to conceal military operations) and Trojan horse for wicked men and women to take power; I watch as people in a frenzy of ecstasy shout in the name of God for people of bad character and who a CINOs (Christians In Name Only) who appeal to sheep with wool over their wolf hides and face through pious rhetoric and promises. Our faith becomes a joke when user thus, bankrupt religion that impresses no one.  Rodney Stark spoke of two camps in the Church, “The church of piety and the church of power.” (God’s Battalions: The Case For The Crusades). The church of piety holds to the truths of Scripture, to remain unstained “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world,” (James 1:27), to not love this world, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them,” (1 John 2:15) while fixing their eyes on Jesus, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). The Church of Power in contrast uses the trappings, props, rhetoric, and “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.” (2 Timothy 3:5). The Church of Power wants the thrones of the world, the Church of Piety wants only to come to throne of God, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16). The Church of Power is an unholy blending of Prince of Peace’s teachings with the promises of the prince of this world, while the Church of Piety rejects this unholy fusion, and knows, “ No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matt 6:24). The time has come O church to decide which church you are going to be apart of, Jesus’ Church that is not of this world or the False church of this world which wants the kingdoms Satan offered, “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve,” (Matthew 4:8-10), and eternal life of Jesus (John 3:16), but these Nicolaitians will not get their cale and eat it too, for Jesus warns, ““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness..” (Matthew 7:21-23). Amen.