September-October 2010
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All the powers of darkness tremble at what they've just heard.

            One of the most viscerally expressive contemporary worship songs is He Reigns by the Newsboys. Its verse is about the wide diversity of those across the globe who genuinely lift praises to God, and its chorus is a desire for Him to show His glory and an affirmation that it shines brilliantly nonetheless. Its thrust is simply that no matter what is happening He is always advancing his Kingdom in astounding ways.

            Certainly those who claim some affinity for Christ would concur, but there are quite a few who would push away such a sentiment with any of a number of dismissals.

            One is “How can you worship a God who ___?” Fill in the blank with any unfavorable item, most often it is “allows children to die” or “left my brother in a wheelchair.”

            Another is, “That’s just fine for you. You have your god and others have theirs.”

            I understand why these kinds of things are said, even given such prominent airplay. People are intensely emotional and often speak from broken hearts. The autotheist hurts when his conceptions and expectations of God are not confirmed in reality. The henotheist hurts when faced with the searing logical truth that a very nice person must be very wrong if someone else is right. It is just as rational that these feelings are calcified when one’s purview of truth reaches no further than the boundary of the World System and the teaching of its duly sworn, highly paid operatives.

            I’ve always pondered what God does do in His sovereignty regarding those who could not care less about Him. If we treat the lucid exposition in the fourth chapter of Genesis as the firm establishment of the System outside of the presence of God, if we consider that Christ does have supreme authority over all of the universe, and if we further acknowledge that He indeed executed the most sublime act of devotion by being executed on behalf of all including His executioners, then what does Christ do in ruling those who themselves have nothing to do with Him?

The simple answer is that God has already set forth the law and its enforcement apparatus utilized to govern the affairs of those who refuse to live by His truth and grace. The more complicated answer comes out of the observation that so many claim to be Christian and do so many Christian-like things, yet are so tied to the System. How often do I hear things like, “It doesn’t really matter who’s in charge they’ll still be wretchedly corrupt bastards. But vote anyway.” Or this gem, “We reject all the principles of socialism in which wealth is redistributed and people are forced to comply. But let’s get back to the Constitution where government can force people to be good and wholesome.”

            The Kingdom is abundantly expressed in the hearts and minds of those who love with His love and they have no need for any World System paraphernalia. The equipment of passionate charity has many different forms, but voting is not one of them unless your vote is for Christ every morning you wake up. The flag-draped U.S. Constitution isn’t one either unless it comes with the gracious acknowledgment that the document is the authoritative treatise for sin management of, by, and for Americans who reject Christ.

            Jesus directly reigns over His own through the counsel of the Holy Spirit, the light of Scripture, and the fellowship of the saints. He reigns over those in the World outside of His presence by sustaining the legacy of Cain and his vast enforcement of the civil law.

            How then does Christ reign over World System Christians?

To answer this question I thought I’d draw on a source that may be of interest to those whose pursuit of the most penetrating truth is unquenchable, and their desire to share bountiful grace insatiable.

In the latter part of 2004, Tupper Saussy emailed me a proof of a piece he was planning to post on his website and invited me to share with him my thoughts. It was titled “How Jesus Rules the United States.” I went over it, offered some remarks, and he emailed me back with some changes he’d made. It was never published. I do not plan to publish it here because of his request that it not be, and even though he passed away in March of 2007, I will still respect his wishes. I do wish to address some things from it, however, and will work hard to stay faithful to his intent.

            Saussy said five kinds of Christians live in the United States, classified by their particularly idiosyncratic relationship to the System.

            The first is the one who is given over to submission. This individual “submits to every bureaucratic command as if serving Jesus.” This usually accompanies great dread from temporal authority and is a basis for zealous legalism. Many in incorporated tax-exempt churches cannot fathom ending their 501c3 obligation to the System for this very reason. They’ve been taught extraordinarily well to act appropriately on that anxiety, always tight-lipped and dutifully toeing the line. In a perverse sense, the state is their Christ. The submissionist tends to make an idol of grace, trembling at what a markedly illuminating truth would mean.

            The second is the one seeking domination. Please note this is not quite the same as the dominionist, one who follows dominion theology, although there are similarities. This individual “strives to make government more Christian by electing Christians to public office.” He will also do any number of other things to make the country more “Christian.” Often it is accompanied by platitudes like “We must get our country back to its Christian roots” or “If we can just get enough Christians to the ballot box.” He can make an idol of the truth, sincerely recognizing the evil but shunning any gracious understanding that secular temporal government necessarily requires evil-waging individuals to effectively prosecute evil-doers.

            The third resigns himself to limited separation. He will “abstain from participation in civil government unless compelled by due process.” This is the person who goes about living his life without much thought about political affairs. By striving to keep up a very mainstream composure, he does all that he believes is required for civil order. Often shrugged off as passing nuisances, he will trudge to vote in a presidential election, serve on a jury, and pay taxes without a blink (but sometimes a sigh).

            The fourth is committed to complete separation. He is so exasperated with the growing moral rat hole he sees around him that he responds with some substantive action. In abstaining from any participation and resisting declarations of compulsory behavior from civil authorities, he may go as far as to withdraw to an environment where he feels more comfortable. That may be as innocuous as homeschooling a child; it may be as dramatic as shuffling off to Montana to live in a commune espousing some degree of piety or asceticism.

            The fifth kind of Christian is the one that Saussy later felt should be added after thinking through his classifications, and I’ll share that one with you in a moment. But first, among the four kinds of American Christians identified here so far, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who does not fall into any of those categories. You could make out whole churches, entire religions, full-on spiritual movements associated with each of the categories. Even if not detailed in any standard historical texts, these Christians behave en masse under the seductive power of their respective lords who themselves behave at the command of a single superior officer.

            When Saussy initially elaborated about the four types, he discussed the role that a precise definition of appropriate tax liability, a firm monetary standard, and a strict constructionist view of the law plays in their engagement. Indeed it was these lawful accoutrements, if you will, that he felt encompassed Christ's rule over them. I find it tremendously ironic that the U.S. military is becoming one of the most evangelically provocative forces on the planet—not as much for its dissemination of Americanist doctrine but for spreading the gospel, yes, the gospel—service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan developing a reputation for so brazenly handing out Scripture to the locals!

            Saussy's deft observations highlight significantly greater truths, however, about the striking contrast of the Kingdom and World—truths which I don’t think even Saussy appreciated. Even when he shared his addition of that fifth type he was still concerned about how the Constitution was considered as if it must somehow be a reflection of Christ, neglecting to stay true to the revelatory distinction he so insightfully elucidated in his book Rulers of Evil.

Those first four Christians predictably live and work from the ministry of condemnation, demonstrating their conscription by being absorbed with System involvement, the minutiae of routine reprobate behavior, and the burdensome functions of the law.

The fifth kind is one occupied by reconciliation, as Saussy wrote.

Reconciliation. Very, very different from the other four. When I saw that he’d added this one, I scratched my head. The reconciler isn’t a World inhabitant.

He is a Kingdom dweller.

In his plans to include him among the Christians, Saussy didn’t elaborate much on the reconciliationist, as I will call him.

            But I do know what he meant.

            The reconciliationist is that Christian is so secure in his relationship with his Lord that he accepts the hard truths of life with a deep inner strength and peace. He knows the World has been legitimately set out to do the things it is supposed to do to crack heads of sinners. The United States government, the Roman Catholic Church, the Federal Reserve banking network, all have prominent roles in the oppressively brutal task of merciless law enforcement. What does the reconciliationist do with that knowledge?

Precisely what Scripture asks him to do.

            He prays for those who do it. The reconciliationist knows potentates do as much evil as those they pursue, but that’s what God instituted after Cain established himself as the first in a long line of governors. Government in whatever form works gallantly to restrain the rank wickedness of the sinner, first to provide fertile ground for the realization of one's predicament and the subsequent 180 degree turn to Christ, then secondly to endow Kingdom workers with whatever benefits the temporal entities are already ordained to provide. Yes, that may entail Spirit-led intercession for System leaders.

            He loves them with Christ’s love. No matter how much they operate outside of the Kingdom, Jesus was unequivocal: love your enemies. Don’t pretend they are your friends then fake it. Just confess it yet love them with your life. Christ died for Pilate as much as He died for me. Should Caesar do an unjust thing with me I will do precisely what Paul and his companions did, sing hymns and pray for God’s will to be done however that happens. Caesar may even do a just thing for me, perhaps quite often really. The thirteenth chapter of Romans declares most eloquently “Rulers hold no terror for those who do right.”

            He leaves Caesar and his laborers to do their work and has absolutely no hand in it at all. He does not select their officers, he does not tender taxes, interest, or tithes as tribute to those with whom he is not indebted, and he does not expect them to provide anything in return except that which God has already divinely arranged for the reconciliationist in His task. And that task? Self-sacrificially sowing into the lives of others with everything that is His. When World blinders are removed this is easily seen. People do want real love, real joy, real reality. But all they see is His counterfeits.

If you are a Christian, do they see Him and His robust life in you?

Or when they scratch you a bit do they discover someone who just gulps whatever Caesar says about anything, or who gets a kick out of yelling and hollering at him, or who floats along earning good-deed points for the most proper civic drudgery, or who thoroughly checks out altogether?

            “How can you label people like this?” I hear. “You’ve got all this ‘autotheist’ and “reconciliationist’ stuff. Who are you to say?”

            That’s right, I agree. Labels don’t really matter. I only want to know truth. I only want to understand. I don’t like labeling anymore than name-calling, but I don’t see how one who says “You’re just a labeler” is any less guilty of the crime he censures.

            I am into classifying things as a tool for understanding, though, and if I’m wrong or inaccurate I’d love to ask for your gracious correction.

            But if what I share is the truth, then it means one simple thing.

            Jesus was a classifier too, and he ultimately broke them all down into two.

            The wheat and the tares.

            The sheep and the goats.

            The Kingdom dweller and the World inhabitant.

            The most meaningful part of this simplicity is that you are one of them.

            The World’s classifications are only meaningful to show people how meaningless they are in the long term, indeed the eternal term. Jew or Greek, slave or free, barbarian or Scythian—ehh. Autotheist or henotheist, both bathe in the most fetid folly. Submissionist or Complete Separationist, both trust man in some hopelessly benighted ways.

            If I share these and you still fail to understand how they may in fact authentically portray one’s condition, then yes, I am most pitiful, a clanging cymbal whose clamor vanishes in the distance. I am of no matter here.

All that matters is what are you truly doing with the One with Whom you will have to do.

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