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By Chuck
Baldwin
April 4, 2013NewsWithViews.com
April 4, 2013NewsWithViews.com
Is Christ King, Or Is
Caesar King? Christian, Make Up Your Mind
With the
Easter message fresh on my mind, I am again reminded of what the Jewish leaders
said to Pilate when they tried to coerce him to crucify Jesus. They said, “We
have no king but Caesar.” Remember, these were the Jewish Pharisees, scribes,
elders, priests, and high priests. They prided themselves in being scholars of
the Torah. They believed themselves to be the sole interpreters of the Mosaic
Law. Yet, the very First Commandment of the Decalogue handed down to Moses is,
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But in order to stay in the good
graces of the Roman government, they emphatically proclaimed that they
recognized no king but Caesar.
Remember,
Caesar insisted that everyone recognize him to be, not only king, but God. To be
loyal to Rome, one had to acknowledge the deity of Caesar. One could worship any
other god that one wanted to, as long as Caesar was acknowledged as Sovereign.
Historians famously say that there were as many gods in Rome as people. Rome
prided itself in being religiously pluralistic and tolerant. First Century
Christians were not persecuted because they worshipped Jesus; they were
persecuted because they refused to worship Caesar; they refused to acknowledge
the sovereignty of Caesar. It was for this reason that early Christians were fed
to lions and made sport of in the amphitheaters.
In their
desire to use the Roman government to advance their own agenda (crucifying
Christ and later His disciples and apostles), the Jewish leaders were quite
willing to acknowledge the deity and sovereignty of Caesar--even though doing so
was a blatant violation of the First Commandment given by Jehovah to Moses. Is
it a little more than interesting that after conducting a secret, illegal trial
of Jesus and blaspheming God in declaring Caesar king that they immediately
afterward sat down to observe the Passover? No wonder Jesus called them
“Hypocrites.”
“What does all
of this have to do with modern America?” you ask. Everything!
Anytime a
pastor or church uses Romans 13 to teach that Christians should submit to
government “no matter what,” they are joining the First Century Jewish leaders
in saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” Wittingly or unwittingly, they have
made a god out of government. And by doing so, they have violated the First
Commandment and blasphemed the God they claim to serve. They are like the Jewish
leaders who declared unlimited submission to Caesar then sat down to observe the
Passover. These modern pastors and church leaders do the same thing: they
declare unlimited submission to government and then go through the exercise of
conducting a Christian worship service, complete with songs of praise,
recitations of scripture, and collecting tithes and offerings. Are they not as
guilty of blasphemy and hypocrisy as were the First Century Jewish
leaders?
Another
statement that leaped out at me as I rehearsed the Easter story last Sunday was
spoken by the Lord Jesus. When questioned by Pilate, Jesus said, “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 Jews: but now is my kingdom not
from hence.” (John 18:36 KJV)
How many times
have I heard some We-have-no-king-but-Caesar-type preacher say that Jesus’ words
here mean that Christians have no right to resist or fight against evil
government? If government passes a law to register your guns, Christians are
bound to register their guns. If government passes a law outlawing your guns,
Christians are bound to not resist. If government passes a law prohibiting
praying, Christians are bound to not pray. If government passes a law
authorizing the killing of unborn babies, Christians are bound to not interfere.
If government passes a law requiring pastors to conduct marriage ceremonies for
homosexual couples, pastors are bound to conduct marriage ceremonies for
homosexual couples. If the government orders military chaplains to not pray in
Jesus’ name, they must not pray in Jesus’ name. If the President declares a
“national emergency” and asks people to surrender their firearms, Christians are
bound to surrender their firearms. I suppose these same preachers believe that
if the President wanted to pass an Executive Order initiating the ancient law of
Prima Nocta (Right Of The First Night), whereby nobles (governing authorities)
could sleep with a man’s bride on the night of her wedding, Christians are bound
to submit to that order, too?
Yet, the vast
majority of these same Christian leaders who say “don’t resist government” are
the first ones to lead the cheer for foreign wars of aggression. They are the
loudest and most vocal supporters of military action against governments all
over the world. They proudly extol and laud acts of war by our nation’s
military. They brag about the young men of their churches joining the military
and going off to war. And just what is it that military troops do? They commit
acts of violence and resistance against foreign governments.
Am I a
pacifist? Am I promoting pacifism? Absolutely not! I am a staunch believer in
the Natural, God-given right of self-defense. I believe men have an inalienable
right to resist and fight against evil government--even if it sometimes means
using violence--such as when America’s founders fought our country’s War for
Independence. I’m merely trying to point out the hypocrisy of these modern-day
preachers and Christians who try to justify their own refusal to even peacefully
resist evil government at home but who then turn around and blatantly justify
violent acts of resistance against government overseas.
At least the
conscientious pacifist is consistent. A true pacifist would refuse to resist any
and all government--regardless of how evil that government is. Of course, this
would require that such people refuse to join the military, refuse to become a
policeman or sheriff’s deputy, and refuse to defend themselves against any act
of criminality committed against them or their family. I have known a small
handful of such people. And I always encourage them to pray for those of us in
America who are not pacifists--and who believe in defending the liberties of all
Americans--so that they will have the freedom to practice their pacifism.
And
interestingly enough, as the federal government in Washington, D.C., becomes
more and more oppressive, more and more Christian leaders are preaching the
doctrine of nonresistance. And when they do, they almost always justify
themselves by using Jesus’ words referenced above.
However,
Jesus’ words actually teach the opposite of nonresistance. Notice He said, “Then
would my servants FIGHT.” That Jesus refused to resist His arrest and
crucifixion is not to be construed as Him teaching nonresistance as a duty for
Christians of all time.
Remember that
Jesus is God’s only begotten Son who came to give His life a sacrifice for man’s
sin. No other man, before or since, shares Christ’s nature, character, and
mission. There is ONE mediator between God and men: the man Christ Jesus. He was
born to die; He came to be crucified. No man took His life from Him: He gave it.
None of us can claim such a mission or destiny. None of us!
We Christians
might not be “of” this world, but we are most certainly “in” it. And Jesus
prayed to keep us “in” this world. (John 17:15) We go to work in this world; we
pay our bills in this world; we lock our doors at night in this world; we
instruct our children to avoid certain locations and situations in this world;
we sit on juries in this world; our taxes support policemen and sheriff’s
deputies who arrest criminals and protect society in this world; we join
“neighborhood watch” groups in this world; and we install burglar alarms in this
world. Jesus did none of that. He didn’t even own a home. Are all of these
pious-talking non-resistors going to give up their homes and properties because
Jesus didn’t own any? Jesus didn’t marry either. So, should Christians not marry
because Jesus didn’t? Again, Jesus’ life and mission were unique; no Christian
can claim such a duty or purpose.
Furthermore,
Jesus plainly instructed His disciples to buy a sword (Luke 22:36). The Roman
sword was the most effective and efficient self-defense tool in the world at the
time. The Roman sword was the First Century equivalent of the modern-day AR-15
semi-automatic rifle. Realize, too, that when Jesus uttered this command, it was
against the law for Hebrews to possess a sword of this type. Yes, Jesus
commanded His disciples to break the law of man in order to obey the higher
Natural Law of God. So much for the argument that Jesus would endorse Obama’s
universal background check proposal.
For Franklin
Graham and Richard Land--and other evangelical leaders--to support Barack
Obama’s attempt to register and restrict the arms of the American people, is not
only blatantly unconstitutional, it is blatantly unscriptural. Here is my column
regarding the asinine support of universal background checks by Graham and
Land:
Recall, too,
that at the time of His arrest in the garden, Jesus protected Simon Peter’s
right to keep and bear arms when He literally knocked the soldiers off their
feet with the power of His voice, which allowed Simon and the other armed
disciple to leave the garden unmolested and fully armed. Yes, Jesus fully
protected the disciples’ right to keep and bear arms in the Garden of
Gethsemane.
Readers should
also be aware that my new book, co-authored by my constitutional attorney son,
Tim, entitled, “To Keep or Not To Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their
Guns,” is at the printers now and will be delivered in the next few weeks. To
pre-order this very relevant and powerful book, go to:
Remember, too,
that it was Jesus who violently resisted the money changers in the temple,
driving them out with the force of whip and fist. This is hardly an act of
nonresistance. And it is this same Jesus who will come again in power and glory
subduing His enemies with the violence and force of the sword.
Furthermore, if Christ is
divine (and all true Christians believe He is), Jehovah of the Old Testament and
Jesus of the New Testament are One. There is absolutely no doubt that Jehovah
approved of, authorized, and directly ordered the use of violent resistance
against myriads of oppressors, dictators, and despots of all kinds. To preach
the doctrine of nonresistance, one must ignore the entire Old Testament, not to
mention a host of New Testament passages--including Hebrews 11.
At some point,
every person on earth has to determine in his or her own mind who is king. Is
Christ king, or is Caesar king? This is the spiritual battle that is raging in
America’s churches today. And, unfortunately, as did the Jewish leaders at the
crucifixion of Jesus, many pastors and church leaders are saying, “We have no
king but Caesar.”
As for me and
my house, we cast our lots with America’s founders whose battle cry of the
Revolutionary War was “No King but Jesus.”
Christian,
make up your mind.
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