God Is Not Socialistic, Capitalistic, Democratic nor a Communist
Mar 12
God is God! And the Kingdom is the Kingdom and no wishy washy, self-serving, man made government can compare!!!! I don’t care how hard they try!
I read a post that sort of instigated this post. It is funny that “liberals” take God and shape Him in their image, the “Conservatives” take God and shape Him in their image. The Republicans take God and shape Him in their image the Democrats do the same and each one of them is reducing and redefining the Triune God for their own political/personal gain. It is really taking the Lord’s name in vain yet way too often we Christians buy into these man made systems of pseudo-religious-political dung and wonder why we give off such a foul odor to the world!
Listen to me very carefully, the God who is Sovereign over Cuba and China is the same God who is Sovereign over America and Great Britain. The same God who is Sovereign over China and Sudan is the same God who is Sovereign over Canada and Mexico. God’s sovereignty (reign) has not been, is not currently and never will be effected by man made institutions, if so He is no longer God by the very definition it takes to be God!
God is about the Kingdom. I really didn’t grasp this fully until I was introduced to Dave Black . I almost got pulled into the Conservative argument then the Social Justice argument and then God graciously let me land on Black’s site about 3 years ago now. At first I thought this guy didn’t know what he was talking about, but then I read and studied and realized he was on to something incredible. See none of the powers to be is like the Kingdom, neither of the are “more like” the Kingdom of God. No matter how hard they try, they are gross imitations of the Kingdom and the problem with that much like any imitation is that it has striking resemblance of the real thing. You see Conservatism often has the right moral perspective and Liberalism often has the right social perspective, but the problem is both are self-serving and they are pushing an agenda but has forged Christ’s signature on the bottom line. Jesus doesn’t approve of Capitalism and He doesn’t disapprove of Socialism, He doesn’t disapprove of Capitalism nor approve of Socialism. Jesus has a totally mutually exclusive Kingdom which has its own set of principles and this Kingdom was, is, and will always be the eternal plans and purposes of God.
Jesus tells us to live independent of these world systems and to live dependent upon Him thus bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. This doesn’t mean that we have to ignore them, but it does mean that we don’t put Jesus in the midst of them, nor do we make one Christian nor the other non-Christian. This would be to reduce the Gospel to something wholly different that what Jesus intended and we have seen the devastating results of such attempts. From Constantine to Manifest Destiny, whenever the people of God attempt to merge the world systems with the Kingdom of God, disaster is inevitable!
There are many problems with that, but the biggest is that we forget our real citizenship and begin to take up residency in this world while actually believing we are doing God’s work. We are not. God’s work is to bring the world under His reign that HE may be all in all. The worship of His creation His desire and no political system can ever do that. Only the Spirit working through the Church can accomplish such a task.
Listen, we have to be careful, I am not saying don’t get involved in politics, what I am saying is that don’t confuse that as Kingdom business, because real Kingdom business can occur in whichever socio-political-religious-economic system we are born in. We are aliens in this world and whenever this world attempts to borrow from the Kingdom to push its own agenda and put God’s stamp of approval on it we have scream in disapproval. Jesus is not into any other politics besides Kingdom politics and it may serve us well to follow in His footsteps.
I had somebody tell me the other day that I’m not an Anabaptist due to teh way I conbduct my life.
I guess he read on my facebook page where I describe my political beliefs as Anabaptist, I never said I was an Anabaptist or that I lived in a cummune type environment with shared assets or that I adhered to a community wide wardrobe/uniform etc. My political perspective and my understanding of a believers relationship to any of the kingdoms of this world is Anabaptist in nature an dyou my brother are right on!
I know God is not a conservative but I’m pretty sure He hates socialists/communists, I think its in the gospels where Jesus said the talent/money squandered by the unproductive citizen is to be taken away from him and given to those who are productive as oppossed to taking away from the productive and giving it to the unproductive. Lol! I’m joking…kinda.
If Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world“, it does make it pretty straightforward to rule out any of the kingdoms of this world from being His!
Amen Daniel. The Kingdom of God is within His children and is expressed through us individually and collectively as His church the Body of Christ.
My last statements above are a joke. Probably a bad joke.
don’t worry Hutch, I could tell you were joking….
I think I just decided that I’m going to start calling myself a “legal alien, living in the united states”…
Lionel,
This is an issue I’ve been thinking about the past 2 days. It’s hard for me to imagine that Jesus died for the “sins” of idolatry, adultery, economic Socialism and Fascism. And it’s hard for me to imagine the apostles preaching the gospel today, “Repent of your idolatry, adultery, lying, Socialism and Fascism, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christ fulfilled and abolished the Old Covenant’s Capitalistic theocracy. The type is 100% finished and fulfilled by Christ’s spiritual kingdom, not earthly kingdoms’ governments and economies.
P.S. If you want to get really controversial (which you seem to excel at
consider writing your next post on “Why Patriotism Is Not a Biblical Virtue.” (Are Christians in N. Korea and Pakistan commanded to love their country? Think about it.)
“…Not a Christian Virtue”
I will do just that Greg, and I agree, I think our theology plays a huge part in this perspective.
There’s only one country that God required His people to love: The Old Covenant theocracy of Israel which has ended. Now that all Christians live in non-Christian countries (some even anti-Christian), patriotism is no longer a godly virtue. Nor is it a sin. It’s an amoral/neutral issue.
In the NT, we don’t find any command, “Thou shalt love your country.” And the fruit of the Spirit is not, “love, joy, patriotism, etc.” Nor do we find, “in the lake of fire are all liars, thieves, non-patriots, etc.”
Patriotism is like a religion. Too often it demands idolatrous, total devotion of men’s hearts, blinding them to ever question the “Patriot Confession of Faith.”
And evil politicians know how to use patriotism to manipulate citizens to support their evil agendas. If you do love your country, beware of loving it beyond rational belief. Keep your eyes open. “Test all things.”
That said, I’m thankful for some of our forefathers who CHOSE to love their country enough to defend our freedom. Without them, I would not be writing this today.
There’s only one country today worthy of ALL our hearts, the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. Whatever love you may have for your earthly country, may it be like hate in comparison.
Lionel, great post and comments. I really relate to this, and what I say may not apply to others, but it certainly did for me. What I found was, being political, conservative and “patriotic” was a distraction, it filled the void. Many might say it was a good thing, for me I found it a sinful distraction. Don’t get me wrong, it is like so many other things that we tend to elevate to the center of our being, I let it fill that void, it consumed me. It was all I thought about for many,many years.
Why? It is easy now to look back and see, but at the time I would have argued about it. I put it place of my relationship with Christ and His church. It was a cheap imitation, it gave me purpose, and cost me little. It did not show me my true self, full of sin and needing to change. I made me feel ,almost, righteous and justified. I could have strong opinions and beliefs, and a porpoise for living. I guess if I boiled it down for me, it was a form of idolatry . I fear this may also be so for so many others.
For me, getting back to my first love was the answer. Putting Christ first, in all of my life, helped me to see the error of my ways. I still see “this” world through a more conservative lens. However, it is so much easier now to keep it all in perspective.
We must guard ourselves against putting anything before our love for Him, anything. Politics is any easy target, others could be harder to see. (ie- having a cause, fighting for something you know is right or just, you know, abortion, the environment,homelessness, you name the good cause you put it at the core of yourself, even if it was inspired by God, and it will do the same thing) This world will pass away, His kingdom will not, seek it first. Lord bless you. John Morris.
Lionel,
Thank you for an excellent article. I agree wholeheartedly, and those of your commenters, especially Greg.
Thanks John and I wholeheartedly agree, I think often times we forget our fighting for causes is a display of our worship and we really begin to worship those causes, Jesus has to be ever before us lest we lose focus.
Greg,
You got some spunk man
I didn’t realize it until these last few comments.
Perhaps its just me…but I think it borders on nothing short of BLASPHEMY whenever people take the Word of God and seek to take either the scriptural commands of the OT or the lifestyle of Jesus and seek to involved Him with a “tug-o-war” struggle regarding His politics/mission and trying to get Him to fit SOLELY into a certain political box we’re for/denouncing all others afterward…as it’s nothing short of self-serving, dishonorable to the Lord and the very thing which occured in His day when people tried to make Him fit into their respective boxes and it wasn’t right (i.e. Some saying He was a Magician, Some saying He should be KING of the world right then, others saying he should overthrow Rome, others saying He was going to support the temple system and all associted with Modern-Day Judaism as it was, etc). The reality of the things would be that Jesus did not line up soley with Capitalism or Socialism, LEFT Wing or RIGHT Wing politics. Even in the original Jewish Culture this was never the issue….and for an excellent read, would encourage people to consider the work by Yoder entitled “The Politics Of Jesus”–in which there’s a systematic EXAMINATION from the original Jewish Perspective concerning who Jesus was clearly and the POLITICS of His day.