Should Christians Criticize Their Government?

Christians often justify their political passivity by claiming that Jesus did not criticize his government nor otherwise involve himself in politics. It is true that He did not seek empire or any worldly power, nor did He farm or herd sheep or fix computers. That was not His purpose. But He frequently and vocally rebuked civil leaders of his time, some of whom were likely members of the Sanhedrin¹. If Rome had been a representative democracy the Sanhedrin would have been similar to a provincial judiciary or advisory body. It was “…the city council…employing a staff of clerks and scribes…The Jerusalem Sanhedrin was responsible for the returns of the Roman taxes…an organized body which appears to have combined the functions of High Court of Justice and administrative council.”²

And Jesus was certainly not the only man of God to criticize his government. Nathan accused King David of despising the word of God (2 Samuel 12). Stephen’s strong words against the Sanhedrin are familiar to most Christians: “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him–you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it” (Acts 6). John, Peter, and Paul, among others, also pointed out their errors.

Paul pointed out that government can be a great tool for good, but it can also be a great tool for evil. When the Israelites wanted a king “such as all the other nations have” Samuel told them what a king would be like. The Bible says these were not Samuel’s thoughts, but the words of God. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.” (1 Samuel 8)And the kings to which America has subjected herself are a hundred times worse than the king Samuel described.

Not only have our kings taken our sons and daughters and made them to fight their wars, they have poisoned them, abandoned them on the battlefield, murdered them to cover over their own filth, and even sold them into slavery to foreign kings. They have not taken our daughters to be perfumers, but have raped them instead. They don’t just take a tenth of our grain, they take more than half of it. In the name of the poor our leaders enact minimum wages and price controls that drive the poorest out of work and the price of shelter out of reach.

Should Christians criticize their government? Should Christians involve themselves in government at all? Absolutely! In America, abstention is involvement. It is impossible for an American citizen to not be involved in the government. If you don’t go to the ballot box, you are still voting. And voting is not the only way a Christian could be legitimately involved. God has, does, and will call men to serve Him through government. By discouraging people from voting or activism or seeking office, you may cause someone to spurn a direct command from God.

Do you think that God would never tell one of His children to associate with unbelievers? You may not think that God would ever tell a man to send a woman and her child, alone and on foot, into the dessert where they would almost certainly die, but that is what He did! But He provided for Hagar and made Ishmael into a great nation. Do what is right and God will provide for your needs.

Do you think that God would never tell one of His children to rule a nation? Didn’t God say to King David, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.”

If you are a Christian it is time for you to take a stand. We in America have prostituted ourselves on the altar of government, trusting in the power of guns to enforce righteousness instead of trusting in God. I am not telling you to defy your government. I do not advocate anarchy. I am telling you to defy evil.

America is not meant to be a nation ruled by kings and an aristocracy, but that is what we have made it into. America is meant to be a nation ruled by law. The men and women who occupy the offices created by the law are just cogs in the machine. If they begin to operate outside the law, they cause the machine to cease functioning, and they are the ones in rebellion against their government. Not libertarian Christians who refuse to use violence to force their political or religious ideals onto others.

Don’t make the mistake that so many others have and hide the spiritual incompetence of 99% of Christians behind the government. Laws will not save this country. Only Jesus can. And He will work through you and me, not the DEA, for even if we were to succeed in banishing drugs from America, the only thing we would have really done would be to have create an illusion based on sinful violence and greed. We will have exchanged one form of sin for another. The war on drugs is a distraction from our true mission. It is a destructive tangent invented by nominal Christians who are too cowardly to make a true stand for Jesus. They think that if they force the world to act righteously then they will really be righteous. Nothing could be further from the truth. They bury the true message of Jesus under rules and regulations that God never intended and then pretend that they are doing His will.

Criticize the government? Certainly! Shine a light on evil wherever it hides. But we must also be careful to keep the role of government in perspective. The best that government can ever do is to provide an environment in which the Gospel can be preached freely–without interference. The majority of our civil leaders are corrupt and immoral, but ultimately our problems are of our own making. The drug war is a tool for corrupt politicians to consolidate power in their own hands, but the drug problem in America is not just the fault of sinful law enforcement, but of a sinful Church. The Church has so far failed in its calling and so seeks to put the blame on someone else. Is it the sinner’s fault that he remains in sin? Yes, but it is also your and my fault for not being an effective witness. Use government to strike fear into the hearts of those who would hurt others. But do not use it to force others to conform to your own ideals. You might turn a sinner into a saint, but you will certainly turn yourself, if saint you ever were, into a sinner.

¹ Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary, http://700club.org/bibleresources/theology/easton/bibledictionary/easton-b1-3180.asp
² The Jewish World in the Time of Jesus, by Charles Guignebert, University Books, New York, 1959

Are We Gods?

The Jews gathered around [Jesus], saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, `I have said you are gods’? If he called them `gods,’ to whom the word of God came–and the Scripture cannot be broken–what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, `I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.”

[John 10:24-37]

If you read this story without knowing what the rest of the Bible says, you might think that Jesus was saying that everyone is actually God or at least equal to God. But if you look up the passage that Jesus was quoting (Psalms 82:6), it is evident that this is not what he meant. Psalms 82 makes it clear that, while everyone is divine in the sense that we were all created by God and that we are all children of God, we are nothing in comparison to Him.

Psalms 82:6-8 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

The Hebrew word used here for “gods” can mean “rulers, judges, divine ones, angels, or gods.” It is a form of the same word used to refer to the one God. Since the Psalms were written as songs or poetry, the writer probably specifically chose this word to represent the contrast between the creation and the creator. He was addressing the leaders of mankind. Even though they were great lords among men and even though God himself gave them their power, they are still accountable to Him for their treatment of the poor and needy. It is a warning against undue pride and an admonition to humble, godly rule. Don’t set yourself to be like God because He can take you down as easily as He put you up. The desire to become like God is one of the gravest sins the Bible describes. This was the sin which tempted Eve and caused the fall of mankind. This is also the sin which brought about the fall of the civilization of Babel and the division of all mankind. It is also the sin which caused God to exile Satan and his angels from Heaven.

With obvious sarcasm, God said to Job, “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?…Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.” But we know from Psalm 82 that Job could not do these things. It is God who grants and who rescinds power, not man. Job repented of his presumption. He said, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] `Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. [You said,] `Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” God rewarded Job for his repentance.

When Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6, he was making fools of his questioners. The Psalter called all leaders of men representatives of god. Jesus said that if he lived up to the standards he set by calling himself “the Son of God”, who were they to dispute it? If they objected to him referring so to himself, they had not been paying attention. By referring to Psalm 82, he justified his own claim and challenged them to live up to God’s standards. In effect he was saying, “You claim to be leaders chosen by God, yet you don’t do the minimum that God says his leaders must. I claim to be the Son of God, and I can back up my claim with my actions.” He did not say that everyone was God or could even become like God.

Far too many false doctrines come about by reading our own desires into the Scriptures rather than letting them say what God intends.

Review of the Christ Clone Trilogy

The older I get, the less I enjoy surprises. It isn't so much that I like everything in life to be thoroughly planned and executed, but more that surprises are almost invariably disappointments. The Tribulation Force books surprised me. With all the praise surrounding the series, I expected more than was there. The characters were cookie-cutter heroes and villains and the plot was completely lacking in...well...surprises. It's a good and inspiring story, but its literary quality--or rather its lack of it--disappointed me. And, unfortunately, it's not alone. It is probably a good thing for the genre that there has been an almost unbroken string of apocalyptic films and novels over the last few decades. Without the constant attention, I doubt that many would think twice about the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast. There certainly hasn't been anything memorable about any of these works individually.

Not like other genres such as romance, which has Gone With the Wind, and westerns, which have The Virginian, and fantasy, which has The Hobbit. Over my relatively short lifetime, I have read thousands of books, most of them science fiction and fantasy novels. Out of all those books there are a very few which I remember clearly--perhaps one in a few hundred. Tolkien's The Hobbit and its accompanying Lord of the Rings Trilogy; Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion; Lewis' That Hideous Strength. Jewels of literature that are completely unforgettable.

That's why I really didn't expect very much when James BeauSeigneur first contacted me about his Christ Clone Trilogy. From the title, it was obviously another end-times, antichrist story. I was certain he had read my last review of an end-times novel, and, believe me, it wasn't flattering. When I saw the publisher's name, SelectiveHouse, I was impressed even less. Who is SelectiveHouse? A low budget job, for sure. The cover graphics didn't boost the books' first impression. But you know what they say about covers.

With a sigh of resignation, I sat down to begin the first of the series, In His Image. By page one sixty-seven, I already knew that I could sum up the entire series in a single word: Surprise! Apocalypse fans, here is your Hobbit. Every turn was unexpected. The characters were real. The plot was real. And never have I seen the Seven Seals broken with such clarity and imagination--if you think you know darkness, think again.

In His Image follows the life of Decker Hawthorne through the historical examination of the Shroud of Turin in 1978, three years as the hostage of Lebanese terrorists, the Disaster and the ensuing oscillations of the world through chaos, peace, and to chaos again. But to focus on Hawthorne's life is to see only one of many levels of plot. Several years after the trip to Italy, a scientist discovers live skin cells on a sample taken from the Shroud. Cloning these cells results in discoveries that lead to treatments for cancer, AIDS, and many other diseases. It also leads to Christopher Goodman.

Goodman is one of the few characters that take time to become real. At first he was very two-dimensional. With a few exceptions, his actions and dialogue were predictable. But as you watch him grow up--the first book covers a span of about 33 years--he becomes genuinely likeable. He seems a good man, through and through.

There are several characters I instinctively distrusted. Robert Milner, a New Age mystic and the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Jon Hansen, the Secretary-General, come immediately to mind. But a hallmark of a superior writer is the ability to make you see the good in the bad guys and the bad in the good guys. It's difficult for me to imagine sympathizing with anyone who would promote the United Nations, but by the end of the book I was pleasantly surprised to be thinking of Jon Hansen in the same light as Dag Hammerskjold. How do such good men come to such power in such corrupt organizations?

But the surprises don't end there. In His Image holds surprises in the characters and in their individual stories. The second book, Birth of an Age, holds surprises of a different sort. The fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel, John, and others begin coming at a faster pace, but rarely in the form I expected. The Seventh Sign, The Stand, The Omen, and Rosemary's Baby all stand out for their complete disregard of Biblical prophecy. Tribulation Force tries to remain Biblically true, but fails for lack of depth and imagination. BeauSeigneur has no problem in either department. You can follow along in John's Revelation, but you will still not know what's coming next. Every prophecy is fulfilled in ways I would never have expected, but that, in retrospect, make so much sense. I won't pretend to be a prophecy expert, but if you subscribe to evangelical eschatology--or for that matter, even if you don't believe in prophecy at all--you won't be able to stop reading. I read the first book in about one week. I read the second book in one night, and the third, Acts of God, in another night.

Birth of an Age kept me guessing as to who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Acts of God left no doubt. While a little wordy at times, it was fascinating to watch all the threads come together into this complex tapestry. With vast portions of the planet completely uninhabited after two nuclear wars and a series of astronomical disasters, the Beast is finally revealed.

BeauSeigneur is not a perfect writer. His form and structure isn't perfect. His characterization isn't perfect. But it's so close you might not even notice. These are some of the few books about which I can honestly say, "Wow!"

-jay carper, January 17, 2000

SelectiveHouse Publishers can be found at www.selectivehouse.com or at P.O. Box 10095, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20898, or by calling 1-800-CLONE-99 (orders only, please).