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"Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation
And never again will they train for war."
Micah 4:3
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and upon His shoulders true government rests (Isaiah 9:6). False government rests on the shoulders of Autonomous Man, the would-be god, the prince of vengeance, hatred, and war. God sets before us life and death, and we have chosen death. 20th century Americans have chosen death each time they have cast their vote for secular politicians. Secular Governments have murdered nearly half a Billion ("B") people in this century. Unimaginable evil has terrorized whole populations; torture and genocide have been sanctioned by State after State. For American church-goers, ignorance is bliss: "personal peace and affluence."
God's Law in the Bible is clear: Our love of God should produce love of neighbor, and even love of enemy. We must be willing to follow the Prince of Peace to the cross (1 Peter 2:21f.). Vengeance belongs to God, not to our "elected representatives." The Bible does not give us the right to hate our neighbor by proxy.
Does all this sound like "pacifism?" Are we a bunch of commie peaceniks?
No viewpoint poses a greater threat to the "New World Order" than a radical, conservative, dominion-oriented commitment to non-violence. Call it "pacifism" if you want, deride it as "unrealistic," but it is clearly the religion of Jesus Christ. And it threatens to unravel any society based on militaristic socialism, such as the United States of America.
Opposition to pacifism is, in reality, a defense of state socialism. It remains to expose the worship of the State.
The Fruit of God's Law is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Under the rule of Christ's Law, social order is maintained, culture expands, and civilization prospers.
The politicians also claim to protect social order, taking credit for "the rule of law." But under their secular rule of law, violence, crime, poverty, and ignorance flourish. Not to mention mass-death. The State cannot obey Christ. Politicians, police, and "peacekeepers" are not allowed to love their enemies. They cannot pray to God, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." The State (we are told) must ever brandish the Sword.
What does the Religious Right have in common with the "New World Order" of Planned Parenthood, the Trilateral Commission, and other components of a vast socialist-lesbian conspiracy? Both believe in the necessity of "the State." Pat Robertson and Bill Clinton (depending on his audience) will agree that the State is a "Divine Institution."
The Bible cannot legitimately be used to support the existence of "the State." "The Sword" is said to be the cornerstone of the State: "he does not bear the sword in vain" (Romans 13). But the Biblical metaphor of "the sword" is not a reference to the modern penological concept of "capital punishment." It refers to war.
The Biblical concept of social organization is Patriarchal, not Political. Social order stems from the Family, not the State, and is based on Love, not Vengeance. Even "capital punishment," which is said to be commanded in Genesis 9, was never given to "the State," but rather to the Family. The origin of the State lies elsewhere.
God never commanded human beings to form a "State." The origin of politics is in the rebellion of Cain, Nimrod, and their descendants. These were the forefathers of "the nations" that surrounded Israel. Their political Towers of Babel were a rebellion against Godly Patriarchy. Against the express warning of God, Israel rejected God's program in favor of Politics (I Samuel 8).
"Love your enemy" was a central teaching of Christ. The State executed Him. Israel's religious leaders cheered Caesar on. Rome eventually fell, but before it died, it tempted the self-appointed leaders of the Christians with political power. The same promise rejected by Jesus (Luke 4:5-8) was accepted by the new Pharisees. The State would conquer its enemies, and the institutional church would receive a tithe. Christ had no pillow for his head (Matthew 8:20); the "vicar of Christ" had a jeweled tiara for his.
How could the church hierarchy justify the violence of the State? How could followers of the executed Christ support the executioners?
Secular opponents of Capital Punishment will never achieve their goal of the abolition of the death penalty, because they believe in "the separation of church and state," a myth and an impossibility. The ACLU refuses to admit that church and state have always been closely united. In the Medieval Age, the Church influenced civil law. Since the fall of Rome, the State has been baptized with Biblical proof-texts. Theologians justified the killing of the State's enemies with texts like Numbers 35:31-33.
A closer look at that text yields surprising results. In the Old Testament, the atoning work of Christ on the Cross was prefigured by various liturgies and blood ceremonies, in which animals would bear the guilt of humans (Leviticus 16:22). We obey these observances today by our faith in Christ's shed blood. It would in fact be disobedient for a Christian to shed the blood of a lamb in any religious ceremony, because Christ is now the Lamb of God (John 1:29). But even in the Old Testament, the blood of animals was inadequate to bring atonement in cases of particularly violent or abominable sins; those who committed such sins would have to bear their own guilt (Leviticus 20:15-16).
"Holy Wars" were simply the same blood liturgies on a national scale.
The church hierarchy is unanimous in its affirmation that we need not shed the blood of an animal in the case of an unsolved homicide (see Deuteronomy 21:1-10); once the homicide is solved, however, they all cry out for human blood. Such a call ignores the work of Christ. All priestly bloodshed belongs to Christ. "Capital Punishment" is a relic of the Levitical priesthood. After the Cross, there is no divine call for the shedding of more blood. "The Sword" is now a force for evil, not a "holy war." "The State" is not a Christian institution. "The State" is the collective institutionalization of our faithless fear to follow Jesus.
The essence of Justice is not coercion and adversarial conquest. Justice is covenantal altruism; service of others in obedience to God's Law.
Those who do not follow Christ reject the economics of humility (Philippians 2). They must save themselves, so "let the buyer beware!"
Often the weak, wearying of continual losses to the strong, band together or seek revenge at the hand of other more powerful rivals to the strong, at the price of political freedom and inner integrity.
Coalitions of the covetous, each calling themselves "the State," battle for the limited reserves of worldly power, and solidify their control over the weak, sometimes violently, sometimes with subtle seduction. We are told that justice and social order can be maintained only by the State, and yet the State is the greatest source of violence and injustice and the greatest threat to social order.
Man's sinful quest for power -- political power, financial power, sexual power, even electrical or mechanical power -- generates political alliances to take up the sword. They seek the glory of "the fatherland," "the flag," "our country," and not the Glory of God. "National Security" and "Peace through Strength" are the slogans of apostasy and rebellion.
That bloody, destructive spectacle known as "war" is possible only in the presence of strong, centralized governments or empires. Such a state is itself present only when individuals are warring against each other, attempting to make reality conform to their covetous dreams (James 4:1-4).
Even while nationalistic military industrialism forges its spears and swords, the myth is perpetuated: "We are the monopoly of justice: bring your case before our bar alone, O ye weak and exploited!" Free commerce and cultural interchange is stifled and restricted; an "us-them" mentality is deliberately fostered.
True Power, as exemplified by Jesus, is sacrificial service, which leads others to the Truth and helps them grow, restoring the Image of God. The peace Christ came to bring (Luke 2:14) comes when men are content to put God's Word into practice, nurture and provide for their families, trust in God's Providence, and as "sellers" bear the "buyer's" burden, informing him and promoting his best interests.
The power to follow Christ and serve others comes only as the claims of pretended autonomy (the quest for vengeance, self-justification, and the desire to "be as god") are surrendered and Christ made King and Lord of our lives.
The Kingdom is decentralized, because all power is in Christ, from Whom, with the Father, proceeds the Spirit of Power, and Who, as the Second Adam, returns our Home to the Garden and us to our original mandate as faithful stewards of the creation (Genesis 1:26-28).
When the lines are drawn between good and evil, rather than between political coalitions, and when God's Word is the standard, then the Spirit will bring Reconciliation, Peace, and Safety.
Patriarchy is the Discipling of the Nations
A Biblical Defense of Peace
Other Resources on the Christmas Conspiracy toward Peace
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