SATAN'S DEVICES Part Two

STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  

- II Cor. 2:1  

As I pointed out in part one of this series, I am an old man who has seen a lot. In addition to having raised a family, and in addition to having been the longest serving rector in the history of a Continuing Anglican parish in North Carolina (a parish founded in 1979), I have also survived the wounds and scars of spiritual warfare, and so I can impart some sound and practical wisdom. For purposes of this series of essays, let me say directly to every aspirant and postulant to holy orders, like as my father laid down his life to enlist in the war against Nazi Germany, the fact that he survived the war and came home (wounded, the Purple Heart among his medals) does not alter the fact that he volunteered to, as far as he could predict, die in battle. He once told me that the only way he could carry on in combat was to expect to be killed, and to have as his only goal to never let down his comrades in arms. It was a heavy load for an eighteen-year-old.

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

 - Zechariah 13:7

          If you are presenting yourself for the ordained ministry then beware of this common problem: Among the people you will be called to love and to serve, exercising the kind of authority every parent knows (who must both rule his children as well as serve them in lowly and humble matters before they can feed, clean, or clothe themselves) as responsibility rather than as power, may very well be those who will unexpectedly return hate for your love. The Accuser (Satan) and Slanderer (the devil), one and the same, will attack the local church by attacking you. I do not say that you should be suspicious or paranoid, but rather that if you find yourself among the majority of good and sincere clergy, do not be surprised or shaken by betrayal. Do not be surprised if “the unkindest cut of all” comes from one you trusted, one you thought of as reliable.

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. - Psalm 41:9

For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. Psalm 55:12-14

To those of you who are laity, I issue this warning from my many years and experience: Do not become Satan’s mouthpiece.

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. – I Thessalonians 5:12,13

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation…Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. – Hebrews 13:7,17

Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

- I Timothy 5:19

These things were not written without reason. Remember this attack of the enemy against the people of God in Jerusalem, as written in the Books of the Kings. The messenger of the enemy king attacked the people of Judah by slandering King Hezekiah. The idea, as always, was to “Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.”

Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. – II Kings 18:28-32

          More times than I can count I have seen the pattern. A member of a local church either discovers a flaw, or imagines an offense, or listens to gossip or slander. This leads to that lay person becoming afraid that the pastor or rector (or vicar, whatever the title may be) is somehow going to fail and take down the church with him. I have seen very good and excellent priests subjected to a zealous crusader who takes it upon himself, or herself, to “Save the church” by trying to destroy the very kind of elder (presbyter, i.e. priest) that Saint Paul, as we saw above, commanded the people to “esteem very highly in love for their work’s sake.” It is no mystery why he followed that immediately by adding “And be at peace among yourselves.”

          Have I endured such attacks from Satan through such a zealous crusader or two over the years? Oh yes, I have. For example, I once “learned” that I had “driven away” a couple during my time as a rector. I thought, that’s funny. I distinctly remember them being members of the parish right up to the end, by which I mean that I recall, after her husband died first, taking Communion to the elderly widow every week until the day that I led her family in prayer in the hospital room while she was departing this earthly life. She had been shut-in during her final years, needing an oxygen machine to stay alive. My educated guess is that when this couple could no longer attend Sunday services, someone with a big mouth assumed that they had left the parish, and that, of course, it was my fault. In such cases, the big-mouthed gossip never bothers to ask any questions. Facts are not important: Only the godly crusade against the priest matters!

But, rather than waxing autobiographical, allow me to relay a true story I got from a priest, a rector, whose identity I will withhold. It has elements of a pattern I have seen all too often from both laymen and laywomen.  

          “One person once got it stuck in his head that I was failing to grow the parish, based on some standard he created subjectively in his own mind. I wished at the time that he would say so in front of all the people, because the majority of them had joined the church during my time as rector. I, being myself a sinner who needs to confess like every other member of the Body, enjoyed the thought of watching their reactions. But then again, when people did point out to him that they were happy that I was there, or that they had joined specifically to be in my parish, he seemed able to block out their words. In an email this person said to me, ‘I am never more energetic than when I am fighting for the parish.’ The irony is, fighting against the rector was the most effective way to harm and endanger the parish, of which he did his share because his unpleasant behavior had a negative effect on attendance. My biggest mistake was letting him become a member of the vestry, a conciliatory gesture that backfired.”                                                                                                                                                                        I am not referring to an unhappy discovery of any actual scandal. Indeed, I have seen the worst of such things, including the painful revelation of a curate in Catonsville, Maryland (where I was serving as the organist before I was ordained) who was arrested for sexually abusing boys in the neighborhood. I am not naïve. Wolves in sheep’s clothing deserve to be exposed. As much as I appreciate the courage of Saint Thomas Becket, whose duty to conscience qualifies him as a martyr indeed, I must disagree with the cause that impelled him to that crown. No priest had any moral right to be tried by an Ecclesiastical Court only, when his crime was that he “debauched a virgin,” even back in the Medieval period. The curate in Maryland went to prison, as he deserved. His crimes caused a lot of damage to the parish for several years that followed.

But, for our purposes it serves well to remember that “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue (Proverbs 25:23).” In your own church, if someone comes to you to “share a concern about Father,” I suggest that you would do well to display an angry look. Satan is not attacking only the man upon whose shoulders the burden of responsibility lies, but also the whole church by attacking him. Even churches that survive as a “Going concern” can be damaged spiritually, as salt that has lost its savor, no longer a gathering of joy and light, and no longer a witness.

Make no mistake about it. The word “Satan” means one that accuses, an adversary, a prosecutor. As the word has come to us it means, of course, an evil rather than a righteous prosecutor. The word “Devil” means slanderer. To aspirants, postulants, and those already ordained and serving: Do not be shocked if these things happen to you. Concerning such people who may attack you, remember the example of Christ: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” In all likelihood they really know not what they do. Such people imagine themselves to be “On a mission from God.” They are on a self-appointed crusade to save the very church that they are, in fact, attacking. When Satan takes people captive to do his will (II Timothy 2:26), he induces in them self-deception. He appeals often to someone’s carnal desire to have power. I have never understood why some lay people think that being responsible for a church is some kind of desirable hobby, or why they imagine themselves to be competent to exercise a profession (yes, even more of a profession than law or medicine) for which they have neither the education nor the experience, and certainly not the temperament. There is something about being in control, exercising power, that provides Satan access to the mind and heart of a certain kind of person. Often this appeals to someone who has worldly wealth, and wishes to add power to wealth, or to someone who feels a need to be admired.

            Again, the subject of this series is Satan’s devices. If we are ignorant of those devices, we are at a disadvantage in very real warfare. The scriptures have much to say about our struggle that is not against flesh and blood. The Church is not a vacation cruiser. It is a battleship. Become familiar with your battle station instead of looking for the Shuffleboard. You are called to be a disciple, not a customer (Acts 11:26). The customer is always right; but the disciple is not above his teacher, and the disciple comes in order to learn. You cannot teach a customer, which is why the Church has no need of customers. It is the customers who make demands, who expect service to be anything but reciprocal, and who flash their money around to provide incentive. Do not be a gossip, do not engage in slander, do not be eager to believe evil of anyone, and drive away every backbiting tongue by letting your displeasure be made visible.  

          And, finally, “Know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.”

SATAN'S DEVICES Part One

POLITICAL SEDUCTION: Lowering our Vision

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  II Cor. 2:1 

I am an old man, not far from my allotted threescore and ten, and it is my observation that most of our people, including a number of the clergy, are horrendously ignorant of Satan’s devices. As a result, the devil gets an advantage over our people quite often. We have seen the results: Broken parishes, individuals lost to the fellowship of the church, strife and fighting within congregations, numerous scandals; and the result is that too much salt has lost its savor. Every time the devil gets such an advantage and scores a local victory, the people who appear to have survived the battle blame each other instead of looking into their own hearts and examining themselves. Most seem to have no idea that the only actual enemy in their church was Satan, not the people whom Satan moved them to treat without the mercy and charity commanded by God and demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our churches everywhere should be filled with people, including people new to us regularly coming to faith in Christ, and people of all ages and backgrounds. But our churches that meet this description are few and far between, and those that do meet it have endured many storms and many attacks. 

The first device in this series is POLITICAL SEDUCTION: Lowering our Vision, which means allowing our focus to be on something other than the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. 

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matt. 4:8-11 

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matt. 16:21-26

          By the standards of God’s Kingdom, there has never been a Christian nation at any time in the history of the world. Yes, the kingdoms of Europe had their national churches, and in the fourth century the Roman Empire that had once persecuted Christians to the death, making our profession of faith a capital crime, took on a Christian identity that replaced its several centuries of having been a pagan empire. Modern Americans love to tell themselves that the American “Revolution,” as it is incorrectly labeled (Independence was established, but the British Crown was not overturned), was somehow the birth of a Christian nation. How a Christian nation was established by cutting ties with an officially Christian kingdom that had a state church, is a counter intuitive proposition at the very least. Most recently and absurdly, one Eric Metexas, whose new false historical narrative, Revolution, the Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World, argues that absolutely every Founding Father of the United States was a “born again Christian” committed to establishing a new nation on “the Sinai Covenant.” Well, of course the very title of the book is embarrassing, coming across as a jingoistic sales pitch that would never be taken seriously on any level of academic peer review. The idea of American Christians recommitting to an idea that never actually existed in history is silly enough (cherry-picked quotations out of any reasonable context not withstanding); and the proposition that modern Christians should embrace a new form of the first heresy in Church history, so old it is described in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (chapter fifteen) and is the topic of the entire Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians, is manifestly error (see Hebrews 8:13). And yet, that is not the most dangerous part of this crazy idea among profound delusions. 

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Judean? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Judeans: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. (John 18:33-37) 

          The most dangerous problem with Eric Metexas’ new book is that it does, and for a while will, no doubt, serve as the latest version of one of Satan’s oldest and yet most effective devices: Lowering the vision and aspiration of Christians from announcing the Kingdom of God, evangelizing and making disciples, of building the Church as the living Body of Christ. Instead of the salvation of souls, it distracts believers with the impossible task of creating a “Theocracy.” If one thing is certain, it is that the life you will live, if you believe in Christ, is radically different from the life you will live if you do not believe in Christ. It is not the mission of Christ’s Church to establish some national form of government that uses force to make unbelievers pretend to live - hypocritically – by God’s commandments. That was tried in Europe for centuries, and the Christendom (as opposed to Christianity) that it produced died of a self-inflicted wound, inflicted in 1914 with the beginning of World War I, and succumbing in 1918. Out of the ashes of the “Great War,” also known as “The war to end all wars,” came the very first Atheist Communist empire, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. With the emergence, corruption, and demise of Christendom in Europe, we have seen already that real Christianity cannot be established by the sword. Worldly means produce worldly ends, and those ends always equal the same thing: Death.

          Why, as we see in the above quotation from the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, did Saint Peter so quickly go from being the one so blessed as to confess the revelation given by the Father, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, to hearing Jesus say these words of warning? “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Peter, and the others, were very happy to follow the Messiah as they understood him. Years later, writing to the Corinthians, Paul mentioned what had been the most widespread misunderstanding of what Messiah would be and do:

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Cor. 5:15-17)

          Indeed. The carnal understanding of Messiah (or Christ) was the expectation that he would immediately overthrow the Roman Empire and set up his eternal kingdom. When Jesus spoke about going to the cross and being put to death, his own disciples did not yet understand the Suffering Servant passage (Isaiah 52:13-53:12), that his immediate mission was to die as the priest and sacrifice so that he could destroy death forever for all people (Isaiah 25:7,8). Peter could not hear his way past the mention of crucifixion and death. What was he expecting?

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.  (Luke 22:24-27)

          The most astonishing thing in that passage is that it comes right after the Lord establishes the sacrament of his body and blood foretelling his imminent death. Their understanding of Messiah was yet so carnal that they argued, right after Christ said those things, about “who will be accounted the greatest.” What does that even mean? It means that every word he said about his death had gone through one ear and out the other of each one of them. They could not hear it. To be the greatest probably meant, to them, to sit on his right hand and on his left in his kingdom. They had their sights set on worldly power in a kingdom not at all significantly different from the kingdoms of this fallen world, except that they would also be immortal (perhaps not really unlike pagan gods). Even after the resurrection they were not completely free of this fallacy.

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:6-8  RSV)

          It was another ten days, after nine days of prayer together, on the Day of Pentecost, that they received the power of which the Lord spoke; and it seems that they finally understood something altogether different. They were not called to wield worldly power, but rather to be his Apostles to build his Church among all people everywhere. In addition to these words from the Book of Acts, let us look at another detailed statement of the Great Commission.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."  (Matt. 28:16-20 RSV)

          In the Great Commission you will see nothing about establishing a theocracy. Even the word “nations” as used here simply means making gentiles into disciples of Christ. The Greek word (ἔθνος, ethnos, from which we get the English word, “ethnic) has nothing to do with “nation states” with armies, borders, and governments. It simply means that the Church is called to make disciples among every ethnicity of mankind. A disciple is a learner, a student of a teacher or rabbi. Who is our rabbi? The now risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ. What are the disciples to be taught? “To observe all that I have commanded you.” Who is to be taught what he commanded us? Disciples. There is nothing in this commission about enforcing his commandments on unbelievers. Conversion cannot happen that way.

It a device of Satan to distract us from this mission by using such men as Eric Metexas and others, men who write and speak by demonic subtlety to tempt God’s people to dream of having power over others, of being part of a carnal kingdom. Instead of making disciples of Jesus, they want to establish a Christian version of Sharia Law to enforce upon the infidels – very much the stuff of another religion altogether. And, of course, to subjugate the infidels to God’s law, force is necessary at some point. Just ask any Jihadist; Muslim or “Christian.” And, if subjugating people into some kind of obedience is the goal, then people around us go from being images of God in need of mercy to being enemies. The corruption is obvious. Well, I prefer the power of the Holy Spirit over the power of the sword. Choose this day whom you will serve.

The subtlety of the serpent runs very deep, and when we view human history objectively and honestly, we cannot escape the fact that throughout the worst of it during the Medieval and Modern periods, often the established churches in the West have participated in, or at least supported, some of the worst crimes committed by the various kingdoms, empires and states that were known collectively as Christendom. The result is that our witness as the Church has suffered. We have many stains in the historical record that we cannot simply wish away or ignore. But our witness is not completely destroyed. As long as we acknowledge that much evil has been done blasphemously in the Name of Christ, we are doing as much as we can to meet the demands of honesty before the world. What we must never do is to either try to defend the indefensible, or to accept the past failures and sins of men who called themselves Christians, as normal.

          But we must balance that by resisting the accusation that colonialization, as bad as atrocities undeniably were, was ever an essential part of Christian missionary work. Preaching the Gospel to the people in every nation is not an option, but rather a command from the Risen Lord to his Church. Right here we come to a point where Satan attacks us on two fronts. The temptation is to believe that we must either defend the misguided teachings and endeavors of men who compromised Christian morality so that they could serve kings, emperors, and states as if God’s kingdom was somehow of this world (John 18:36), or to disobey the Great Commission by accepting a new idea that missionary work is inherently colonialist and somehow a crime against non-Christian cultures and religions. If we defend atrocities we participate in past sins and discredit ourselves and our mission; and yet if we retreat from missionary work, we deny the Lord and his Gospel. The way forward is to be honest about what various nominal Christians did wrong, which forces us to act with humility, while continuing to preach Jesus Christ and build his Church – His Church; not a mere part of Western culture as a chaplaincy for any state. Western culture is of this world (or cosmos). It is not Christianity, but rather Christendom, at best a compromised substitute. The Church of Christ is in this world, but not of this world, as we all should know.

          And let this serve as a lesson to keep in mind as we continue this study: Satan’s devices quite often come as a two-front war. Often it seems as if we have only two choices, both of which must be wrong. “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not (Matt. 22:15-22)?” The answer, the solution, always takes us to this simple rule: Render unto God the things that are God’s. On the subject of missionary work that means seeing whose image is on the human being, and out of love for each and every person, always to believe in and seek to obey the Great Commission no matter where we are, as opportunity is given.

Now, looking at the quotations from the Gospel of Matthew (above), and thinking about the seduction of political power that has often tempted the Shepherds of God’s Church to give over their consciences to kings, emperors, and states, it is necessary to understand that power-lust is one of Satan’s devices. I have warned more than one clergyman not to attach his reputation to any political party, any political figure or candidate, or any political ideology. One may as well tie his reputation to a wild horse; the animal will go, uncontrolled and uncontrollable, wherever it chooses. Loyalty to party and to party leaders will, no matter what the party is, cause you to justify and defend crimes and atrocities against human beings made in God’s image. It is a matter of when, not if.

You are not called to become part of a corrupt political machine. You are not called to abandon the Lord’s Great Commission in order to revive “Western civilization” or a thing called Christendom, no matter how profound and seductive the serpent’s subtlety. You are called to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, to be the Body of Christ as his Incarnation is yet manifest in Pentecostal, not carnal, power. You are called to serve by gifts of the Holy Spirit in the mission of making new disciples wherever you are, that they may be baptized and hear the voice of our great Rabbi, and made ready to enter eternal life as partakers with the God the Father and with Jesus Christ His Son. It is a device of Satan to distract you from this glorious calling and fellowship.

RENDER UNTO GOD

What Romans 13 Does NOT Mean

In 2011 I was early into my very happy tenure as the Rector of Saint Benedict’s Anglican Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. That church sits between two major universities, Duke University in Durham, and the University of North Carolina (UNC) in the old town or city limits of Chapel Hill. Technically, the address of the church is within the city limits of Chapel Hill due to annexation of what had been, long ago, farmland with country roads. As a result, there were some annoying extra costs and ordinances that we had to abide by. This became a problem upon the discovery of a dead tree on our property. According to a city ordinance we were required to file a request (and pay a fee to do so) for permission in order to cut it down. And, while we awaited a reply, which could come as a denial for permission, who knows what might have happened? It was a tall tree. Might it fall on our church building thus creating damage or injury or death? Might it fall in another direction and land on a neighbor’s house, as houses were within range, or upon an innocent person taking the family dog for a walk near the church? In such a case the city would not share our liability, but even more importantly, by what right could we stand by and risk injury or death to our neighbors? In such a case we had no difficulty in deciding that “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Leviticus 19:18)” constitutes a higher moral priority than “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers (Romans 13:1),” and “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s (Matthew 22:21).” So, we had it cut down as quickly and as safely as possible. And that was the correct decision in the eyes of God, I have no doubt.

We all know the famous quotation:

Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him [Jesus] in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. (Matthew 22:15-22)

In a recent article on Substack, Mark Ramm wrote:

When Jesus held up the coin and asked whose image was on it, the trap his interrogators had set required him to answer in a way that endorsed either the imperial extraction or the rebellion. He answered with a second clause that was bigger than the trap. The coin is Caesar’s. The human is not. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and render unto God every person who is made in God’s image. 1

How many times have you heard the passage from Matthew 22 used to serve the interests of the state and of those in power? As an American I can see how it may be understood to fit the significance of the date, April 15. In the movie Seargent York, it is used in the scene in which Gary Cooper, Bible in hand, reads those words and decides that he must choose the demands of his country’s government over his own religious conviction that a Christian is required to be a pacifist and a Conscientious Objector to Arms. Whether or not the real Seargent York came to that decision during World War I as simply as Gary Cooper did in the movie, I cannot say.

This is not a pacifist article by the way. My father never questioned the need to fight against the German army when his time came during World War II. He enlisted and put his life on the line because the danger was real, not only to his own country, but to mankind. My father was an exceptionally gentle soul, and it was not an easy thing to spend a long time in combat especially as the machine gunner in his unit. But after the war, he never questioned why he had been there, unlike many veterans in the current generation of solders. The suicide rate among veterans of our recent wars in this century is very high, up to twenty-two a day at the present time. I believe that World War II was one of the very few examples of what can be called a “Just War.” Most wars are nothing of the sort. And not everything the allies did was just, such as the firebombing of Dresden. But the overall war seems to me to have been a just war, mostly because the allies were given no choice about it. To give in on either front, I would argue, would have been morally indefensible. Still, I cannot imagine that a decision as momentous as the decision by Seargent York during the first World War, in real life, came so easily, and so quickly.

What Mark Ramm has drawn out (as in exegesis) from the words of Jesus is something I have preached for years: The emphasis is on the second half of what He said: “…and unto God the things that are God’s.” What is the image and superscription on your neighbor, including a foreigner who may be opposing you on the battlefield? In Mark Ramm’s article he dwelt on the countless millions of human beings subjected to the evils of colonialism and slavery because of the sermon, as he put it, of “the Master’s chaplain.” The Church in Rome had, by the sixteenth century, allowed itself to be corrupted by the European powers into allowing western kings to be become emperors over many native peoples who were deemed worthy only to be enslaved, a far cry from the command of Jesus to “Make disciples among all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)

The Higher Powers

“The higher powers” is how the King James Bible phrases what the Revised Standard Version calls “The governing authorities.” So, I will use that translation for a passage of scripture that is abused every bit as often as the passage we looked at above.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:1-10)

In August 2017, following escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, the TV evangelist Robert Jeffress made the following statement in defense of President Donald Trump’s threat of “fire and fury”:

“God has given President Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-Un. ... It gives the government the authority to do whatever, whether it’s assassination, capital punishment, or evil punishment to quell the actions of evildoers.” [1, 2]

That is a perfect example of the manner in which this passage by Saint Paul is partly quoted, so partly as to be appallingly out of context. According to that interpretation - if it can even be dignified with the word “interpretation” - The Apostle wrote an apologetic for raw power and the use of force, even to use “evil punishment,” which incites the imagination. For the present I will ignore the obvious partisanship of singling out the president he favored by name; that is, did not Barak Obama have the same authority? During his eight years I often condemned the seeming carelessness with which the United States killed many innocent non-combatants with drone strikes, with numbers that grew high beyond any reasonable justification. The very term “Collateral Damage” is a demonic euphemism, a product, no doubt, from “the Tongue of Mordor.” Let us call it what it is: Killing civilians, non-combatants, men, women, and children.

In the closing months of last year, and the opening months of this year, I have also condemned the mass murder of Venezuelans on the high seas by the order of the current administration. Even if some of the boats were carrying illegal drugs, the only acceptable manner in which to stop them would have been by waiting until they were in our own waters and intercepting them by the Coast Guard. If any of those boats had actually tried to smuggle drugs into the United States, the Coast Guard would have had no trouble enforcing the law. As it is, many of the boats that were targeted and destroyed, along with all hands-onboard, were powered by an outboard motor that could never have reached the United States at all. Even if that were not the case, is it right to kill a hundred innocent people in order to stop one or two evildoers? Well, it really does not matter according to preachers like Jeffress. God has given Trump the power to decide who lives and who dies because he has “authority.” That’s what the Bible says!

Except for the problem that it is not at all “what the Bible says.” Paul did not dictate his epistles to be interpreted as a collection of verses. He dictated whole sentences in whole paragraphs in whole passages, that is, according to how we print translations of his letters today. Yes, he did say to be subject to the governing authorities, and even to pay tribute and taxes, much to the disappointment of Libertarians and “Sovereign Citizens.” It is painfully obvious that taxation is not “theft,” but the price of living in a society instead of in the wild. But in what kind of a society were those ancient Roman Christians living? It was not an officially Christian kingdom, such as England in the days when the American colonies sought independence. It was not a Constitutional Republic either, enjoying the reciprocal protection of democracy and the rule of law. No. It was cold-blooded pagan empire in which no one had any real protection from the powerful. Even most of the Ceasars were assassinated because no one was safe in such a power-based empire. Many of the ancient Christians were enslaved, which is the real and only reason why Saint Paul commanded slaves to obey their masters. After all, the Church of Jesus Christ was an unofficial movement with a message of peace and salvation to all people, not the army of Spartacus that existed only for a moment before they all perished by the sword or the cross. The Church was not, and is not, of this cosmos, but is instead the agent of a Kingdom peopled with many new creations in Christ. (II Corinthians 5:17)

Indeed, within a few years, during the reign of Nero beginning in 65 AD and lasting until 313 AD, to be a Christian at all would be to commit a capital crime. Already Christians were suffering persecutions in various places here and there, especially Paul himself and his fellow apostles. The emperor in Rome was a tyrant who received worship as a god, and the local magistrate answered ultimately to him. Paul was not commanding the Christians in Rome to be loyal to the state, and certainly never to obey the state in anything that contradicted the commandments of God. He knew, as a repentant convert who had himself persecuted the Church, when the situation called believers “to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

So, what was Paul really saying in Romans 13?

Let us look again at the concluding words of the passage in question: To put it simply, the meaning of the passage is that even pagan magistrates were God’s servants when the laws that they enforced were laws consistent with the Divine law, to love thy neighbor as thyself. Right now, at this dark time, the United States is oppressed by the rich and powerful. Contrary to our Constitution and everything honorable and right, we have, in effect, two laws. One law is official, and in theory it applies to everybody. The other law is unofficial, and in practice it does not apply to the rich and powerful. We have a man in the presidency who cannot be touched by the law even while he keeps buried the dirt in the Epstein Files. Along with him we have a Secretary of Defense (who calls himself “Secretary of War”) who cannot be touched by the law as long as they he enjoys the protection that comes with the exercise of raw power, and who, for now, will not have to answer for all the murders they have committed on the High Seas. The federal agents who murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and their criminal colleagues who hold innocent people in detention under harsh and illegal conditions, also enjoy unjust and temporary protection. And, indeed, I hope and pray that the times will change.

But none of that gives anyone of us the right to steal, kill, and destroy our neighbor, nor even to covet what is rightly his. Even in the Soviet Union there was law enforcement against rape, robbery, and murder despite the harsh reality that those laws were not enforced equally, certainly not against officials in the Party. In ancient Rome, the Caesars and other powerful men abused slaves, held gladiatorial games of death, worshiped false gods, and in time persecuted the Church without mercy. Christians were not called to take part in such evil nor to cheer it on because the Caesar and his servants were “the governing authorities.” It is simply this: Neither were the Christians called to stir up violence or become criminals who prey on their neighbors. When the magistrates did, in time, command them to offer incense to Caesar as a god, many refused and died as martyrs. At that point the magistrate was not acting as God’s servant, and in that moment he did bear the sword in vain. Had we allowed that tree on the property of Saint Benedict’s to fall on a neighbor, we would have obeyed men rather than God. Yes, there comes a time when a righteous person must technically break the law, as we did by cutting down a potentially dangerous tree. But such decisions are not to be made lightly, neither arbitrarily. The issue is the commandment “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” because “love does no wrong to one’s neighbor.” Had we been discovered and fined for cutting down a tree (on our own property) contrary to a city ordinance, we would have paid the fine; a small price considering the possible alternatives.

The Mark of the Beast

You must render unto God the things that are God’s. You yourself are the image, the icon, of God. Among the things you must never render unto Caesar is your conscience. What is the Mark of the Beast in that enigmatic Book of Revelation?

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six. (Revelation 13:16-18)

At the time that Revelation was composed, Nero Caesar had been long dead. But he remained a person of large symbolic importance, the Caesar who had ordered that every Christian was to be prosecuted for the crime of honoring Jesus as the Lord, and for many to be persecuted to the death for committing this crime. Six-hundred and sixty-six is the numeric value of the name Nero Caesar. That is what is meant, according to many of the best scholars, by “This calls for wisdom. Let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number.” I see no reason to project this into some specific future called “the end times.” Throughout history many have sacrificed their consciences to the authority or to the state, a kind of tyranny and evil of which Nero Caesar is a symbol. The conscience is a gift from God, but it can be killed or even perverted. I saw a documentary in which members of the Ku Klux Klan were holding a hate rally, and among them were their own children wearing the white robes and hoods. Do such innocent lambs have a chance? Will not their consciences be corrupted into believing that hate, as long as one hates the right people, is somehow virtuous? Let us pray for them. The Affirmation of Saint Louis2 calls on Christians to form their consciences according to the word of God.

Throughout history many have chosen the mark of the beast. This includes, for example, every Belgian colonial who cut off the hands and feet of native people, every member of the Seventh Calvary who murdered the elderly, women, and children of Native Americans in the great genocide of the west, everyone who took part in the slave trade, every obedient German who took part in the killing of European Jews, etc. “I was just obeying orders” is the mantra of those with that damnable mark. It includes those who obeyed the orders from Pete Hegseth to kill, and even to “double tap,” people in Venezuelan boats on nothing more than flimsy suspicion.

Even so, with many evil men exercising power, neither you nor I have any right to violate manmade laws, no matter where or when, when those laws are consistent with “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If you choose to break even those manmade laws, the local authority is God’s servant who does not bear the sword in vain. That much honor and obedience to those in authority is perfectly reasonable, it is necessary for a peaceful life, and that is exactly what Saint Paul was telling the Roman Christians; that and no more than that.

1. The Pope Finished the Sentence, from the Substack The Second Sermon, Transparency Cascade Press, by Mark Ramm.

2. The Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977) is the founding document of the Continuing Anglican movement, and is in the constitution of such churches as the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province in America, and the Anglican Province of Christ the King.

TRINITY SUNDAY

Reposted from 2014

Isaiah 6:1-8 * Psalm 29 * Rev. 4:1-11 * John 3:1-17

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Were I to go around asking people what they think these words mean, many would think that to see the kingdom of God is to “go to heaven when you die.” I would not want, in any way, to lessen one’s faith in the gift of eternal life. The truth of God’s promise is certain, that all who are in Christ will live forever in God’s kingdom. But to see the kingdom of God is not simply a future experience to which we look forward; to see the kingdom of God is to see here and now that God’s kingdom has come. The fullness of that coming will be in the future, when Christ returns in glory to rule forever as king of the whole earth and will be glorified in His saints. But the kingdom of God has already come, and that kingdom presents each of us with a daily choice about where we stand, what we do, and how we think.

          On Trinity Sunday you may well expect a doctrinal dissertation on the theological truth that our One God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18,19). In previous years I have presented that to the best of my ability by God’s grace. But today I want to proclaim how that revelation of the Trinity has everything to do with seeing the kingdom of God. The revelation of the Trinity is also the revelation of our salvation. God did not use clever academic theologians to reveal the doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, God entered into His own created world and revealed our salvation and the doctrine of the Trinity by personally bringing His kingdom into the world of human experience.

          The coming of Christ into the world as the Incarnate Word was a real historical event in matter, space and time. As Saint John the Apostle put it:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full (I John 1:1-4).”

And the coming of the Holy Spirit when the day of Pentecost had fully come, about which we read just last week (Acts 2), with visible manifestations and clearly evident supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, was also a real event in the world of matter, space and time. Hence the shocking, downright scandalous words (but for being the truth) of St. Peter:

“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear (Acts 2:32,33).”

Indeed, the Day of Pentecost is part two of the Incarnation. In the Gospels we see the Word made flesh, Jesus the living embodiment of the kingdom of God. We see Him doing good, healing, teaching, casting out demons, showing compassion to those who were sick or tormented, forgiving sins, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (see Acts 10:38). We see His victory over sin and death by His cross and passion, and by His resurrection and glorification. In everything Jesus did or said, recorded in the Gospels, we see the kingdom of God overthrowing the power of darkness and commanding full human allegiance.

“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20,21).”

Indeed, at that point the kingdom of God was a Man, the Incarnate Word Himself, overthrowing the powers of darkness, proclaiming light and revealing truth. Wherever He stepped foot, the kingdom of God was present.

And it clashed violently with the sinful world. It was not a peaceful coming. It met with the full resistance of human sin and of demons. It always came with a demonstration of power. Whether healing, casting out demons or calling Lazarus and others back into the world by overthrowing death itself, the power of God’s kingdom was manifest. It was seen and heard. Nonetheless, the time came when the world was allowed to reward the good Jesus had done with the cross of suffering and death. The kingdom of God was not welcomed by the sinful world. But the greatest demonstration of power followed on the third day, when Christ rose from the dead into a life that never ends.

Do you see how that is mirrored in the experience of the Apostles in the Book of Acts? Once again the kingdom of God came into the world, for “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).” They too went about preaching, and healing and doing good. They too proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God, by proclaiming all that Jesus had done and taught. They too worked miracles, cast out demons, and clashed with the sinful world. They too were given their crosses of suffering and death, as the world persecuted Christ in them. But they were never defeated.

The kingdom of God had come with the power of the Holy Spirit; the Church became the living Body of Christ by His power and several gifts (I Corinthians 12). And in these two great historical manifestations of the kingdom of God, the coming of Christ and then the coming of the Holy Spirit, human salvation was revealed and so was the mysterious truth of the Trinity. For the Father sent the Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. In both of these historical events it was God Who was manifesting His power and his presence, shining a light in the vast darkness of human sin and pain, setting captives free and giving life to the dead.

St. Paul constantly used the simple little phrase, “In Christ.” It is in his epistles. What does that mean? How is that your identity? The answer is, in having been born again you were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son.

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister. (Colossians 1:9-23)”

I could use my time this Sunday to give you a very academic talk about the doctrine of the Trinity and present it in abstract terms. There is a place for theological dissertation. But I have preached to you the gospel of the Kingdom of God, because that is the cue I get from today’s reading of the Gospel of John, chapter three. My great concern now is that you see the kingdom of God, that you see it in history, in the future when Christ returns; but also that you see it now.

Two great forces demand your daily allegiance: "Choose this day whom ye will serve (Joshua 24:15)." One is the kingdom of God and the other is the power of darkness. Or we could say, the Lord Jesus Christ or the world. When I say “the world” I mean it as St. John used the term. He wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not (John 1:10).” The world," as used that way, means the great power that controls whole nations of human beings, that sends them to war against one another, that moves them to exploit the poor, to steal basic necessities of life from whole peoples, and basically to deceive everyone into sin and death. It lures you with “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:15-17).”

But you are not of the world. Christ has chosen you out of the world, “Therefore the world hateth you (John 17:19).” You have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. And, as that kingdom was manifested in power in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, we can learn to depend on that same power. Every minute presents us with a choice between the corrupt thinking of the world, and the truth of God’s word. Every issue, every moral choice, all of your daily actions – we must not live as the world around us lives; we must think not as the world thinks, but as servants of God with renewed minds (Romans 12:1,2).

My message to you all on this Trinity Sunday is this: You have been born again and you are in Christ. Open your eyes now to see the kingdom of God.

AMAZING GRACE!

AMAZING GRACE! In Basic Baltimore Black = Gospel Music Style