Leaving Egypt Ministries

Those who know the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God—the promise of salvation and security under another Kingdom that is not of the statist systems of the world—will soon find out that they are in a minority position against the masses of professing Christians, most of whom are sadly false converts who have pledged their allegiance to the kingdoms of the world and trust in human rulers as their gods and saviors. It is interestingly not self-called “atheists,” but largely professing Christians, who are the regular and recurring enemies of God’s Kingdom and who attempt to raise every objection they can come up with against the Gospel that Jesus preached of another Kingdom that is not of this world and its institutions, so that they can remain in their idolatry and sin and avoid the repentance that must necessarily precede their ability to see and seek the Kingdom of God. 

In this back and forth, we will demonstrate some common objections to this anarchistic Gospel of God’s Kingdom, which is vehemently opposed by men who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord, Savior, and King, but who at the same time support worldly systems of human civil government that—beyond their discernment—exist as rival kingdoms and rival saviors to the Lord. It represents a good example of the typical arguments that those who seek God’s Kingdom alone (as one must do) will encounter as they preach it to men who claim to be Christians but have not truly seen the light. As much as it may seem surprising to some that people are actually this foolish and lost, to be sure, none of these arguments posed on behalf of the generic “statist” character in this debate-style post are strawmen, as they are all more or less copied verbatim from arguments we have run into online. These arguments have been made by probably a couple dozen different people, but for the consistency of their idolatrous support for the kingdoms of the world, have been easily turned into a single character, “the statist,” who is intended to be contrasted to the Christian position, which seeks the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdoms of man. Only a few of these arguments have been slightly modified to make the article and debate here more readable, or even more entertaining. However, it is not so humorous to find that these are real questions. Much to our dismay and the Lord’s, these are actually the common and average beliefs among probably the majority of people who call themselves Christians, who see no distinction in Christian politics and God’s Kingdom on the one hand, and the statist politics and kingdoms of the world on the other. Many people who call themselves Christians will wholly agree with the statist character; the true Christian position will be entirely foreign to them. 

As such debates usually run, the Christian, as contrasted to the statist, is on the defensive here, answering every question that the reprobate statists of the world make against those who assert that Christians are not to seek the politics or kingdoms of the world; the statist, as contrasted to the Christian, is the one typically posing the questions. This is how things normally go given that statist idolaters have never once considered the anarchistic nature of God’s Kingdom but have bought into all the fallacies and sins of the masses that they never once questioned. This is good for demonstration purposes, for two reasons. For one, it shows just how unfamiliar the average so-called Christian is with these ideas, who for the most part are always running into them for the first time when they encounter such views, and just how boring, typical, and alike are all those men who think they have a unique argument against Christian Anarchism when they’re no different from everyone else who likewise thinks they have come up with a unique objection against the idea of a people living freely under God, with no other human gods ruling over them. Secondly, it shows just how prepared Christian Anarchists are to deal with these objections, and that we are not simply people who have never read Romans 13, as the statists assume, but a people who, unlike them, have actually grappled with all other possibilities and arrived as Christian Anarchism as the only Biblically-consistent political position, whereas these men have never even considered such a possibility, hence why they are dumbstruck when they are first hit with it. Lastly, it will show just how easy it is to combat the typical objections raised up against the Kingdom of God, which is furthered entirely outside of the kingdoms of the world that men, in their sin, still wish to dabble in. The truth is often the exact opposite of the claims being made. All one often needs to do to counter a statist objection to God’s anarchist Kingdom is to turn it on its head. For instance, the statist will claim “you’re supporting evil if you don’t vote.” The truth, of course, is that you’re supporting evil if you do. Only evil people raise up false gods into political office and only evil people rule over their neighbors.

We hope these arguments that we’ve encountered and repurposed here into a debate-style article will not only be edifying for true Christians who need to learn how to navigate the typical and predictable arguments raised by the statist reprobates in this world who claim Christ but defend and seek the kingdoms of the devil, but also that it may lead the latter away from their idolatrous support for the worldly systems of government that are enemies of God’s Kingdom, and that they will repent and seek the Kingdom of God with us. If it seems redundant and annoying, hopefully you will see how exhausting it is at times to deal with the same old repeated objections raised up against God and His Kingdom by the professing Christian masses on a daily basis, which have been going on for centuries.

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The idea that Christians must be involved in worldly politics 

Statist: All Christians need to be political and must be politically involved. Christians cannot avoid having a political position anymore. Christianity is about more than just faith! 

Christian: It is true that all Christians should (or rather do) have a political theory, and that the Gospel of God’s Kingdom is a necessarily political message in that it speaks of another Kingdom. However, this Kingdom is not of the institutions of this world, but is furthered entirely apart from it. The politics of God are anarchist insofar as men and their relationship to other men goes. Christians are not allowed to rule over other men. 

Statist: But God instituted governments! He wishes us to seek the welfare of the cities where we live. Haven’t you ever read Jeremiah 29? This means participating in politics to seek righteousness and justice so that the people rejoice. The current evil is a judgement on the feckless, uninvolved Church.

Christian: The only government that God instituted is the servant government of the Kingdom of Heaven. Every other government is a byproduct of sin and a judgment upon sinners. They were set up by men in their rebellion against God, not in accordance with His will. The current evil is only a judgment on those who take God’s name in vain, like those people who profess to be Christians while partaking in the evil politics of the kingdoms of the world. 

Statist: God instituted government to restrain sin and reward good. It is necessary in a fallen world.

Christian: God didn’t institute government. Man did in his sin. God allows government as a judgment upon the sins that raise up government. But they are not His will. The world isn’t fallen. People alone are reprobate. Because of their idolatry in raising up human rulers. The irony here is that you are advocating for the very sins—the alleged need for human civil government—that you say is needed to combat sin. Moreover, your argument fails to account for the “fallen men” who would have to operate this government. Are they somehow exempt from the fallen condition you apply to all other men? If men are “fallen,” how can some men operate a system of human government? Have you found some non-fallen men who can man the State? Wouldn’t these fallen men need governors, too?

Statist: So you’re a Christian Anarchist then?

Christian: Those are the only Christians. All Christians oppose human archism by definition and believe that Jesus is the only legitimate archist. All those who support human archism are, in turn, non-Christians. If you’re not a Christian Anarchist, then you’re not a Christian. “Christian anarchism” is a redundancy that has only become unfortunately necessary to make in a world of false converts who haven’t understood that the politics of Jesus is opposed to the statist politics of the world. 

Statist: Well I just think Christians have to be involved in public affairs of government. These things are unavoidable and we need to make sure we’re there in these positions rather than someone else. How could you not care who governs you?

Christian: Public religion is sin. Jesus told those with ears to hear to keep their religion pure and undefiled. The early Christians were literally persecuted for choosing to remain “free from things public.” If it’s unavoidable for you, then you confess that you are not a Christian. If you author your own laws, then you are self righteous. If the laws you author are “based” on God’s Law, then you confess that you do not obey God’s Law, but your silly perversion of it. Just like the Pharisees did, which is why they could not recognize Christ. History repeats for those too reprobate to recognize it. Those who are governed by Christ alone need not worry about who the rulers of human government are.

Statist: I think you’re just making all this up. So you’re saying that it’s evil to have Christians in power and trust that they can fix things with our government?

Christian: The Bible says so. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3). 

Statist: I just can’t see why Christians shouldn’t be voting.

Christian: Christians can’t vote because members of one kingdom aren’t eligible to participate in the politics of another. If you’re voting and participating in the politics of man’s kingdoms, then you are not seeking the Kingdom of God. 

Statist: So you think we’re just not allowed to vote as Christians?

Christian: Christians do not even have the ability to vote. Voting is a reward for having already gone into bondage. The early Christians were free from things public because they were kicked out of the socialist security administrations of the Pharisees, Herod, and Rome when they declared themselves to have no king but Jesus.

Statists: Well if you don’t want Christians in power then that means you want non-Christians in power. That means you prefer to have Muslims ruling over you then! If you don’t vote then you’re complicit in allowing Muslims to rule over you and your neighbors! 

Christians: No, a people who repent and seek God’s Kingdom are not ruled by powerful men at all, Muslim or ostensibly Christian men. Human civil government is immoral and everybody knows it. Its existence is owed to your sin and a punishment against your sin. The onus is on you to repent and seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, rather than the kingdoms of false gods and your self righteousness codified into legalism through democracy. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven as preached by Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, and every other prophet in Scripture. The only reason that any man would even have a political apparatus with which to rule over you is because you continue to support these systems in your sin. Everywhere in Scripture, God promises to protect and provide for those who seek His Kingdom. He promises to keep His faithful servants from all their enemies (Psa 81:14), and likewise promises to give all those who seek other kingdoms over to them. Therefore, it is only statists who invite their enemies to rule over them. God’s Kingdom people are not ruled at all. If you’re worried about being dominated by men, then the surest way to achieve this end is to repent from statism and trust in the Lord alone. It is only when you fail to trust in God that you find yourself under judgment in the form of political bondage.

Statist: What do you mean to seek the Kingdom and righteousness? Our righteousness is as filthy rags! There are none righteous! None!

Christian: The filthy rags does not refer to your personal righteousness in accordance with God’s Law. It refers to your self-righteousness codified into legislation through democratically-instituted manmade laws. As in, more manmade laws cannot save you from manmade jurisdiction. Only God can save you, and only after you are working towards His Kingdom instead. You’re precisely seeking to be saved through your own righteousness and through the human rulers of the world.

Statist: I just can’t understand why Christians shouldn’t run for political office. We need Christian politicians if we’re ever going to fix our country. 

Christian: Christians do not run for political office because their Scriptures declare human magistrates to be false gods, their institutions to be idols, and their whole existence to depend solely on the sloth and covetousness of the people who put their faith in them. Those who run for political office are men who run from God, because men who seek God seek to administer His Kingdom only. There is no “fixing the country” or any political system of man. The kingdoms of men are all set up against God and for that reason alone are slated for destruction. Their current failure was not something that was avoidable through more “Christian” participation, as you believe, but something that has to happen for all such institutions of the world, all which exist in opposition to the Kingdom of God. 

Statist: You complain about corrupt governments but you don’t want to do anything to change it? You’re just as guilty as the people who vote for evil rulers! 

Christian: All human governments are corrupt, and their injustices are a judgment for our sin of outsourcing these matters to men who rule over us. You’re only getting what you’ve asked for today. The corruption of your societies and your domination by men is but the result of your own sins of believing they should even exist. This corruption is divine judgment against the wicked works that you still preach. 

Statist: But shouldn’t we appeal to the government to do good for us since it exists? To try and get back to real justice and have it look after our people instead of foreigners?

Christian: Where is God in this picture? Christians do not offer up prayers through voting to false gods and the fathers of the earth for welfare or perverted justice; they pray to their Father in Heaven for daily bread and true justice. If you were actually concerned about injustices, you should stop praying to the false gods of the world for justice and actually begin to seek the Kingdom of God. 

Statist: These are just political opinions of yours though. You’re going outside the bounds of Scripture and talking about salvation in an anarchist society. You should just stick to the gospel. 

Christian: This is what “the Gospel” is all about. The Gospel of Jesus our King liberates man from the bondage created by the sins that justify civil bureaucracy and restores to them the power to maintain their family and equity, and therefore their society in faith, hope, and charity. God, in his wisdom, hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans, who seek to rule over their fellow man in the great snare baited by the social contract. He sent His Son to restore the repentant to a better way, where the ministers serve rather than rule, and depend on the charitable love offerings of the people rather than their forced contributions in covetousness. 

Statist: Well until Jesus comes back we’re stuck with the kingdoms of this world and should try to make them as close to Christian as possible. I know it’s imperfect, but it’s all we’ve got.

Christian: There is nothing Christian about participating in worldly kingdoms that we are told to come out of and have no communion with. We are to seek the Kingdom of God in the here and now. We are not to live by the sword of the ballot box and exercise authority over our neighbor through Benefactors. We must accept the restorative power to obey God under Christ’s sole jurisdiction. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Do not let the deceptive temptations of other kingdoms keep you from it. Jesus Christ Himself did not fall for them (Matt 4). 

The idea that Christians can serve the State

Statist: So your solution is just for all Christians to get out of government and let all the pagans and atheists and satanists take the reins unopposed? If anything, this is the opposite of “loving one’s neighbor.”

Christian: You should take that up with Christ, who tells us that the ways of worldly rulers are not ours to use (Mark 10:42-45). It seems your issue is with His commands, which you make into being our opinions. Human government is satanic, ontologically. If you are subject to it, then it is because of your sin. You should repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Then you won’t have to worry about being ruled by pagans, atheists, and Satanists. It is only those who set up systems of human civil government hate their neighbors, for they not only covet their neighbor’s property to pay for these “public goods,” but they also bring their neighbors into tax bondage to pay for these systems, which are the opposite of pure religion where you serve your neighbors freely and voluntarily. If you were actually serious about serving your neighbors, you would begin to do so on your own, rather than passing it off to human rulers to do for you, which again only means that you don’t care one bit about your neighbors’ liberty.

Statist: It’s baffling how some professing Christians don’t want a Christian nation. How could you even call yourself a Christian if you don’t want to make the American government into a Christian institution?

Christian: No, It’s baffling how some professing Christians don’t know that Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world, ie., not like the Roman-American systems of the world that people like you believe can and should be Christianized. The real question is how you can call yourself a Christian and seek any other Kingdom but God’s?

Statist: Well if God’s Kingdom is not of this world, shouldn’t we be involved with the earthly kingdoms today to make sure they aren’t taken over by godless people?

Christian: “World” does not mean “earth.” The early Christians had their own kingdom. The Israelites had their own kingdom. They were the same kingdom. Jesus tells you to repent, and seek the Kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven. There is no excuse to be involved in the kingdoms of this world and to not seek God’s Kingdom now. And again, all those who rule over other men are ungodly, especially when they profess the Lord’s name on top of it. There is no “meantime” where we need to participate in the kingdoms of man. We must seek the Kingdom of God on earth today, at the exclusion of man’s systems of government. 

Statist: I still just can’t see how it’s not a good idea to try to have Christians in every position in our government. We don’t want to be so Heavenly-minded that we’re of no earthly good.

Christian: “Our government” is socialist rhetoric. True Christians have their own Kingdom on earth, with their own laws, customs, government, system of welfare, and historical continuity. They were kicked out of the social security administration of Rome and kingdoms like Rome. Not only could they not hold public office, as citizens of another kingdom, they could not even vote if they wanted to. And they did not want to. The only way to be of earthly good is to repent and seek God’s Kingdom, in exclusivity to all other kingdoms. The answer to heavenly-mindedness, where one forgets about the earth altogether, is not worldly-mindedness, where men partaking in the politics of man’s kingdoms. It is to seek God’s Kingdom alone, in the here and now. It seems you’re unable to conceive of any action outside of man’s politics, because you have been trained by the world to believe that statist politics is the only means of affecting change.

Statist: So you don’t think Christians should serve in government? Should all the ones in government currently resign? That would just make everything worse.

Christian: Yes, all those who serve Babylonian systems should repent, which would necessarily include resigning from their positions as accomplices to political plunder. All men who hold political office and who believe in this office should “come out of her My people that you be not partakers in her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.” It is not those who seek God’s Kingdom, but those who remain in man’s kingdoms, who get destroyed in history.

Statist: But shouldn’t Christians serve others? 

Christian: Christians must serve others, or be “served” by false benefactors who exercise authority over us. This is why you’re living under a system of human government today, because you failed to further God’s Kingdom order that does not operate on force but rather serves others through freewill charity. The price to pay for not organizing together and serving each other freely is to be ruled by men. But “serving” in systems of human government, which is ruling over your brothers and operating on property that is stolen from them, is the opposite of serving in the sense that Jesus calls us to serve (Mark 10:42-45). It does not make you a servant of your neighbor because you participate in the kingdoms of man. It makes you an enemy of them.

Statist: So Joseph shouldn’t have served Pharaoh?

Christian: Joseph was a judgment on his slothful and covetous brothers. His role was a recompense against the sins of Israel. The slothful will be under tribute (Prov 12:24). Only sin leads to bondage. The story of Joseph is that God will exalt the oppressed over their oppressors and subject them to the futility of taxation and legislative authority for their lifestyles characterized by competition, covetousness, sloth, envy, and strife. 

Statist: So only Joseph was allowed to be involved, or was David an exception as well?

Christian: Joseph wasn’t an exception. All human rulers are a judgment on sinners. David especially.

Statist: So Daniel sinned by serving in a civil office in Babylon and Persia? So Esther and Mordecai sinned by taking positions in Persia? So David sinned by accepting the crown? So Joseph sinned by accepting the position under Pharaoh?

Christian: Daniel didn’t serve in civil office. Daniel specifically abstained from subject citizenship and remained a resident non-citizen. For this, specifically, he was persecuted. Esther was a queen by unwilling marriage, and did not exercise authority over the people. Her influence was out of personal responsibility, not tax-funded office. Mordecai was persecuted for not being a subject citizen of Persia, so he was not even eligible to hold office. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and later became a judgment against them by instituting a 20% income tax. Something Moses and God called bondage.

The false equation of political abstention with apathy

Statist: If Christians aren’t voting and running for office then they’re just sitting on their hands. But we can’t just be neutral and sit on the sidelines as evil takes over. We have to be involved in government or else we’re just apathetic to do the work of God. The question is not if our government and laws will be based upon a religion. The question is which religion will they be based upon. Christians have to be political. 

Christian: True Christians are political for the kingdom of God only. It’s not neutrality, it’s allegiance to the only worthy ruler to have dominion over man. All governments of the world are based on false religion. To abstain from involvement in worldly politics is not akin to “sitting on the sidelines,” since worldly politics does not exhaust the means of serving others and is not even a means at all of doing so. In fact, the truly apathetic acts of men are to check a box for a politician in a voting booth and kid yourself that you have actually lifted one finger for the Lord and your neighbors. In order to even begin serving others, you must repent of worldly politics and begin seeking God’s Kingdom apart from these wicked works. You must take action outside of these institutions, which are the opposite of doing good works for the Lord and your neighbors.

Statist: It’s not one or the other. Jesus said He had authority on heaven and on earth. 

Christian: Nobody said otherwise. This only means that Jesus will be with those who seek His Kingdom on earth, not that we are commanded to set up or participate in worldly institutions. You give here the reverse conclusion of those who conflate world and earth to argue that we shouldn’t seek God’s Kingdom here and now or at all, and you suggest instead that because Jesus has authority on earth that His Kingdom must, therefore, be worldly in the sense of the political institutions. You have it backward. We are indeed to seek God’s Kingdom, but not through the political means. You reject Christ’s authority when you raise up false christs. Jesus says to call no man your civil father.

Statist: But shouldn’t we be trying to get government judges to govern according to God’s law?

Christian: According to God’s law, judges do not have positions of authority.

Statist: Well if you don’t get involved politically and vote for good guys in office then you’re responsible for letting things turn into Sodom.

Christian: Those who vote for human rulers declare themselves to be Sodomites already.

Statist: This is why we need Christian rulers though, so that we aren’t ruled by heathens. 

Christian: No one can be ruled by Christians, because Jesus says that it would not be so. Only heathens rule. This is the definition of heathenism.

Statist: I just still think that if you don’t get involved in politics, then you just don’t even love your neighbors. 

Christian: Jesus defined that love by charity, specifically a network of congregations who keep the weightier matters and work towards a free society. The whole point is that you are to love your neighbor as yourself, and not outsource that care to socialist benefactors who exercise civil authority. That’s literally how Jesus defines love all throughout his ministry. If you really want to love your neighbors, you should seek to form or join an Abolitionist society today and begin serving others freely, to keep them free. 

Statist: We’ve been standing on the sidelines too long under this heavenly thinking that we have no purpose down here on earth. It’s time we stop being afraid of using political power to create a more Christian culture. 

Christian: It is not heavenly-minded thinking to reject the politics of the world as a means of seeking the Kingdom of God. This is just real-world thinking which recognizes that worldly political means are never the way in which God’s Kingdom will be furthered. Again, your idea is worldly-minded, which is hardly any different from the purely heavenly-minded stance. The idea that the Kingdom of God is to be sought through the political mechanism of the world is just as bad, if not worse, than the defeatist’s idea that it is not to be sought at all. You are not doing one better than the heavenly-minded escapist to believe that God’s Kingdom could actually be sought through the politics of the world. You are only answering their sin of slothfulness with the sin of outright idolatry. 

Statist: I just don’t think you’re a Christian unless you are trying to orient the earthly dominion granted to us in a way that honors and foreshadows the heavenly Kingdom to come.

Christian: That’s not what the Bible says. Jesus tells you to seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. Not to establish your own with your self-righteousness. The heavenly kingdom has already come. You are just confessing that you do not belong to it.

Statists: Why would we not want to work through the political kingdoms of the world? Have you never heard of the Lord’s Prayer?

Christian: Yes, it is a competition to the prayers that subject citizens make to the lords of worldly kingdoms in matters like that of applying to them for welfare or protection. It does not mean to work through the pagan systems of the world and their socialist method of providing for people, but to do God’s will by serving others through free and voluntary networks of charity and aid based on love of neighbor and God. It is to trust in God for our daily bread, not the governments of the world that use it to entice people into bondage through their violent systems of welfare. 

Statist: So you just don’t even believe in a Christian nation and you think you’re a Christian still? 

Christian: There’s no such thing as a “Christian State,” which is what you mean when you say “nation.” There is no such thing as a “Christian statist” either. There are only ever Christian non-statists or non-Christian statists. There are no other choices for men to pick from. Choose ye this day which Kingdom and King you will serve. 

American exceptionalism

Statist: Well maybe other governments around the world seem evil. But America is an exception and not fraudulent. We have rights no other nations have. You need to stop taking this for granted. We actually have freedom of religion to protect us from ignorant religious fanatics that want to control us.

Christian: Rights come from God. They are abandoned for the privileges bestowed by false gods in their civil kingdoms. The United States is identical to the kingdom that crucified Christ and persecuted his followers. If you aren’t being persecuted, what does that say about you? It means you aren’t doing anything worthy of persecution, because you aren’t actually seeking the Kingdom of God. Caesars have always been content to have false converts appeal to them to go easy on them, so long as they will not disrupt the kingdoms of the world that they rule over. 

Statist: So you’re a traitor and will sell out the Bill of Rights over religious extremism?

Christian: The Bill of Rights is religious extremism. As is liberty. They are just opposing religions. Besides, we have no allegiance to the kingdoms of this world. So how can we be “traitors” to them? 

Statist: So you just think all governments, even the USA, are Mystery Babylon? Is that the assumption of Leaving Egypt Ministries and Abolish Human Archism?

Christian: All pagan societies with human civil governments are Mystery Babylon. Their civil structures all originate in Rome which itself originates in Babylon. They can all be traced back in the same line of men who originally set up such kingdoms in rebellion to God. Their lineage is unquestionably part of man’s political rebellion against the Kingdom of God, and the “United States” is no exception to the rule. It was specifically modeled after Rome. 

Statist: Well this is why we should use political power to obtain a Christian end. We should work to make our governments less like Rome. 

Christian: There are no Christian ends to be attained by unchristian means. Those who think so are one of the people from the Bible who say, “Let us do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8). All human civil governments are Rome, Egypt, and Babylon. Only the Kingdom of God is a form of godly civil government. You are attempting to mix the two, when you should be deciding which one you will seek at the exclusion of the other. Or rather, all statists have already decided where their allegiance lies, and it is not with God and His Kingdom, but with the worldly governments of the devil instead. 

Statist: Well you know it could get worse. You should just be happy we live in a democratic republic with constitutional rights. You know you could live in China or Russia or something. 

Christians: There’s no such thing as a democratic republic. Democracy requires public funds, public works, and public religion. Republic comes from the phrase libera res publica, meaning “free from things public.” They are incompatible. Republics do not have rulers, but titular leaders who serve the people.

Statist: Well we need constitutions to protect our rights. Could you imagine the evils we might deal with without a constitution to protect our rights?

Christian: If you are subject to a constitution, you have already given up your rights. If you are ruled by men, period, you have already forsaken the protection that God would provide for those who seek His Kingdom, in a vain effort to obtain such a thing under the “care” of false gods, who inevitably fail to secure the liberty, security, law, and rights that they are said to be indispensable for providing. The only way to have these things is to seek the Kingdom of God and repent from the kingdoms of man. 

Statist: Well you’re talking about a government too so why are you even criticizing our American one? You just want another kind of government too. 

Christian: The government of God is wholly contrary to the kingdoms of this world that operate on force, theft, and murder, and which impose men upon others as their “representatives.” The government of God is made up of ministers who are called-out from the Elders of families to redistribute their regular charity in a daily ministration, receiving their charity through freewill offerings from the congregation. 

Statist: I just don’t see this in the Bible. 

Christian: God instructed Moses to organize Israel into an altar of clay (network of Elders) and an altar of stones (network of Levites). Jesus used the same model for His Kingdom. The congregations and the ministers were not the same group. They were two groups forming one Kingdom.

Statist: I just still think we have to be involved in politics. If we don’t have righteous men in power, then evil rulers will take over. This has been the main problem in America. We were founded as a Christian nation and then Christians stopped caring about their civic duties. 

Christian: Power corrupts, the corrupt seek power. There are no righteous men in power; it is the exclusive purview of the wicked. Again, if you were worried about being ruled by men, you would repent and seek the Kingdom of God, as only ungodly men can be ruled.

Statist: I still think you’re just lumping all governments together as bad. This isn’t fair to the good ones. Just because some governments have been bad before doesn’t mean that they all are. The American government is different. 

Christian: All human civil government is bad, ontologically. They are the broad path that leads to destruction and the wicked tree that bears no fruit. You should have seen in the distinction above that all human governments are of the world, and that the only government that is not bad, i.e., the only government that does not exercise authority over other men, is the government of God’s Kingdom, which is operated by servant-ministers who freely serve their people, not by authoritarian rulers who call themselves “representatives.” By supporting human government, you are one of the very bad and evil men who you speak of taking over. 

Statist: I just don’t see how you can be opposed to all rulers? The Bible says God sets up kings and tears them down. 

Christian: God allows kings to be raised up as a punishment against those who raise them up. This is why you pay taxes, because they are attending to this very thing. God calls the raising up of Kings a rejection of Him, and lists what the consequences are. But God himself does not call men to raise up kings; men do this in their sin and God simply permits their sin to get the best of them. When people reject God’s dominion, He gives them over to their corruption under the dominion of false gods. As God said through the prophet Hosea, “I gave them a king in My anger.” Men set up human rulers themselves, and God, who is Sovereign over the Universe, reluctantly allows them to exist as a terror against the wicked works that set them up. All those who support human government, period, deserve to be ruled by evil men. 

Statist: But this is why we need righteous men who are fit to govern. If you don’t seek righteous men in power then you’re just sitting on your hands and letting evil men take over and you’re responsible for all those evil consequences. 

Christian: No, you’re responsible for all these evil consequences merely by believing in the existence of human government, not by failing to seek “righteous rulers” who create a supposedly non-evil government. Righteousness and “fit to govern” are mutually exclusive concepts. Anybody who says otherwise confesses that they don’t know the first thing about a Biblical worldview. You are the one sitting back and letting wicked men rule, because you don’t do the things you would be doing if God were ruling your heart and mind. Plus, God made no distinction between a certain type of ruler in Samuel 8, such that the people better seek a “righteous king” if they don’t want to be plundered, conscripted, or left to die under their rule. He said the king would be a terror to them regardless, for the sins inherent in setting up kings. 

Statist: Well presidents aren’t kings and democratic republics aren’t Egypts. Your hatred for the Western world basically just shows you hate Christianity. Western civilization is based on Christianity. 

Christian: No it isn’t. Nothing about western society looks anything like what the early Christians were doing or believed in. It actually looks like everything that they called sin. “Presidents” and “democracies” are merely modern names for the same political schemes of men as before, made to rope men back into the same ancient Babylonian plunder systems that have always been a judgment to men who chase after them in their worldly whoredom and prostitution with rulers, soldiers, and police. 

Statist: Well I just think being a patriotic citizen is an honorable stance for a Christian. There is nothing sinful about patriotism.

Christian: Patriotism is sin, and Christians are not citizens of worldly kingdoms at all. Our citizenship is in heaven, which means we are to be administering the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, as opposed to the kingdoms of men, which are of the devil. The true Body of Christ is a body politic that functions distinctly from the kingdoms of the world, and does not need them for its existence and indeed depends on not mixing in with them.

Statist: These aren’t mutually-exclusive. We should be good citizens of our country and of heaven. 

Christian: Well Jesus says a man cannot serve two masters. This idea that “Christians have dual citizenship” is a confession of a false conversion. “Believers” of the First Century were not Christians “in addition to” some worldly-political citizenship. They were not even just people who were waiting on heaven. They were political evangelists spreading the message of a juridical community with its own laws, customs, government, and system of welfare. God’s true Kingdom seekers don’t have one foot in the door of the Kingdom and one foot in Egypt; they are seeking to leave Egypt entirely for the Kingdom of God. 

Statist: It sounds like you don’t appreciate your country enough. Loving your country is not idolatry. God gave us America and blessed us greatly with it. 

Christian: It sounds like you are showing where your true allegiance lies. God “gives” people States only as a curse for their sin of idolatry, not as a blessing. The only reason you’re living under man’s government is because you have turned away from the Lord and His Kingdom. If you were doing all the things God commanded you to do and keeping His Law out of personal responsibility, you would not even be living under this system. That you are shows you have failed to do the things God has told you to do. 

Statist: Then you’re never going to have a Christian society. Christian Nationalism is the only path to success for America!

Christian: You need to decide if you serve the Lord or abstractions like “America.” You can’t serve both. From Joshua to Jesus, we are told to choose ye this day whom you will serve and to settle with one master, not two. 

Statist: There’s no conflict here. I can say “Christ is Lord” regardless of my politics. I’m not putting America before Christ, and that’s all that matters. So long as I put Christ first, I can still participate in government. 

Christian: Lord is a political concept. It means Caesar is not. To call Jesus Lord means that you reject the false claims of lordship by men. Unless you’re one of the people from the Bible or says, “We have no king but Caesar?” If you are, that’s fine, but stop pretending you can have two lords. Jesus says you can’t. 

No King but Christ

Statist: Jesus is the “King of kings” though. This means there are other kings that He is above. As long as human kings have Jesus as their head king, there is nothing wrong with them. We should only oppose kings who won’t make Christ their king. 

Christian: These are phrases of competition, not hierarchy. Jesus is not just the top-ranked king on a list of other legitimate kings. This concept is an exclusionary one. The idea that human kings could have Christ as their King is absurd. Jesus does not share His authority with other men. God is a jealous God. All those who rule over other men do so against the will of the Lord. 

Statist: You seem to think that Christ as King is an anarchistic concept. “Christ as King” means there are still kings in the world, just that they now answer to Him. 

Christian: Christ’s kingship does not mean there are other, subordinate kings who now serve Him. His Kingship is exclusionary to all other human kingships. This is a total corruption of the “King of kings” idea.

Statist: No it means we can have both human kings and Christ as our King, just that the human kings need to know their place under Jesus. 

Christian: That’s not what God thought in Samuel 8. He said seeking human kings was a rejection of Him. He’s the only ruler or king that should have dominion over man. That’s what we mean by no king but Christ.

Statist: God’s Kingdom is a hierarchical monarchy actually.

Christian: All evidence to the contrary. Have you ever opened a Bible? The gospel of the Kingdom of God liberates man from the dominion of man and restores to him the right to be ruled by God alone. Jesus forbade socialist benefactors who exercised civil authority in His Kingdom. The early Christians were kicked out of the social security administrations of Herod, the Pharisees, and Caesar to become free souls under God.

Statist: But Jesus is a King, right, so that means he prescribes a monarchist system for us.

Christian: Jesus’ comments and directives about not exercising authority one over the other, and not being like the Benefactors of the world who were rulers, made Him an anarchist. Since He was in agreement with Moses and Elias who sought to set men free from the bondage of Egypt and the rule of oppressive kings, they were all some sort of anarchist.

Statist: Well I do think Christ is King. But that doesn’t mean I have to stop supporting human rulers. 

Christian: If you seek other human kings to rule over you, then you should stop saying “Christ is King.” It is nothing more than a cheap slogan to you. To say that Christ is your King is an anarchist concept that submits that you have no other (human) kings than the Lord Jesus Christ and that you believe all other claims of worldly-human kingship to be false. If you don’t wish to stop supporting human kings, then you should at least stop calling yourself a Christian and admit that you’re a Roman. 

Statist: You call yourself a Christian and yet you tell me to stop calling myself one? 

Christian: There is nothing unchristian about calling others to stop taking the Lord’s name in vain. I am not telling you to stop being a Christian, but to either start actually holding Christ as King in exclusion to all other kinds, or stop falsely professing His name. The choice is yours. 

Statists: How is saying “Christ is King” while believing that governments are still needed to provide for us taking His name in vain? 

Christian: Saying that Jesus Christ is your king is saying that he is your provider, and that antichrists are not. If you’re fishing for hand outs from Caesars, you confess to be living on free bread alone, and not on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Those who believe that human kings are their providers are not Christians, but men who are trusting in false gods for their salvation. 

Statist: Well now you’re just being mean and judging me. Why are you accusing the brethren? You’re not acting like my brother in Christ. 

Christian: Brothers share the same civil father. Adoption into God’s Kingdom requires a washing away of the civil obligations that you have to other kingdoms and their civil fathers. You overestimate yourself in thinking that the context of Scripture applies to you in your unrepentant life. Judgment begins in the house of God. Christ commands his followers to judge. Get over it, or don’t judge people for judging you in your hypocrisy. Just repent and seek the Kingdom of God already. 

Statist: Now you’re just trying to sound like you’re right and know it all. You should just stick to the Gospel and stop with all this political stuff. You’re being prideful and egotistical. 

Christian: There is no “the Gospel.” That phrase is a synecdoche for “the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Every kingdom, every politician, every campaign, has their own gospel. “Gospel” isn’t even a term invented for Christianity. It was used by the Greeks and the Romans long before Christ was born. It’s a political term, referring to political campaign promises. You want to accuse me of judging from my ego because you are convicted in your ignorance and pride. It’s a convenient smear tactic from a gaslighter, but you aren’t even aware of the facts in the first place. You don’t have a case. You don’t have a leg to stand on. You puff yourself up to look big, but we can all see how small you are.

Statist: You’re just being judgy when you should be leaving that to God! The true Christian character does not act the way you are! You are not showing fruits of the Spirit! 

Christian: Jesus says to judge. God says judgement begins in the house of God (and ostensibly does not end there). If you are beyond judgment, then you confess that you do not belong to the house of God. Glad we agree on something. The steps of a man are established by God in accordance with His law. You establish your own steps when you reject that Law. Funny how you have adopted every ungodly political idea in the book, but I’m the bad guy for telling you it is so? Again, why not just repent and seek God’s Kingdom alone if you don’t want to be rebuked and corrected for seeking other kingdoms in addition to His?

The opposition to political power as such

Statist: I’m not seeking other kingdoms than His. I just want the governments we have on earth to be more godly. So you think even having political power at all is evil?

Christian: Political power wouldn’t exist without breaking the commandments of God. Those who keep God’s commands do not find themselves as subject citizens to worldly kingdoms. Only those who turn from God’s commands become ruled by men as they choose to obey men rather than God. Only the Kingdom of God is a Godly form of government. You are seeking in vain to make the governments of the world like the government of God, when it can never be so. 

Statist: But what you’re doing is political to even talk this way. How can you say we should oppose politics when you’re being political, too? 

Christian: It is political to subvert political power, yes. Anarchism is a political science. One that condemns political power. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a political message. It is to preach against the kingdoms of this world. To have a politics is not contradictory to opposing the politics of the world. The politics of Christ is an anarchist politics that rejects worldly politics. Your only problem here is thinking that the only politics is the politics of man’s kingdoms. All Christians must indeed hold a political theory, and it must be decidedly opposed to the statist politics of the world, which is the ideology given to men by the devil. 

Statist: So you’re just saying that politics is different when you do it then? What is wrong with my politics? 

Christian: Yes. Righteousness is different from sin. The Kingdom of Heaven is different from the kingdoms of the world. God is different from pagan gods. Christ is different from false christs. Truth is different from lies. There are no Christians who seek political power, because seeking political power is not Christian. Stop trying to make excuses to remain in your sin by acting like all politics and governments are equal, that anarchist politics is like statist politics, and that the Kingdom of God is like the kingdoms of this world. 

Statist: But you are trying to advance a political agenda yourself by talking about this government of God. So what difference is it when I engage in my version of politics?

Christian: You’re conflating politics with power. Christ created offices to serve, not of power. Men who seek to serve will find offices in the Kingdom of God. To seek the politics of God’s Kingdom is not to practice the power inherent to man’s kingdoms. 

Statist: I still just think that there’s nothing unchristian about political power, and that we just need to make sure we use the sword righteously. 

Christian: Only a non-Christian would say such a thing. Jesus specifically commands His people to not operate on force and authority as do the kingdoms of this world. And He says that all those who live by the sword will die by the sword. You are only confessing that you are not in line with the politics of God, which is antagonistic to the power politics of man. 

Statist: So you think it is sinful even to be a mayor of a small town? A small town police chief? A city councilman?

Christian: Yes, Jesus says it is sinful to be a benefactor who exercises authority. 

Statist: Let me guess, you turn down all promotions at work too? Are you also a socialist who hates their boss?

Christian: This is a silly conflation of work and power that has nothing to do with our objection to the political systems of the world. A job site supervisor is not a socialist benefactor who exercises civil authority, which is explicitly forbidden by the servant-King of freemen.

Statist: But if you think its unchristlike to take positions of power then you must think it’s unchristian to take a managerial position too.

Christian: Again, you’re conflating a job site supervisor with a benefactor who exercises authority — an embarrassing attempt to dodge your sinful support of human rulers. You do this because you are trying to deflect from your shame. You don’t want to confess that your statism is unchristian, and so you make a failed attempt to argue that we’re not Christians if we accept a promotion at our jobs, which are entirely unrelated to the political systems of the world that we are talking about. Maybe just repent instead.

Statist: No, if you seek to be a boss then you’re also seeking social influence! 

Christian: Social influence is not civil influence. You’re conflating the two. Do you have no king but Christ, or do you have no king but Caesar? At this point you’re only complicating things and hoping that making as many conflations as possible will somehow work in your favor and that you will catch us in some contradiction by preaching Christian anarchism while having bosses. All this is doing is exposing you as the one who attempts to have human kings while claiming that Christ is your King, since you’ve already settled for citing lesser roles than human kings in a failed attempt to expose our position. 

Statist: So only civil influence is wrong? Why are you neglecting societal influence? 

Christian: Societal influence is not civil influence. Are you dumb? Not all societies necessitate human civil government. How do you not see that there is a difference?

Statist: Well you’re just being argumentative now and that’s unbiblical. Real Christians are nicer than you. 

Christian: No it isn’t. False Christians always want to be “nicer” than Christ when they get caught contradicting the truth. No doubt it was the people who said “coddle us in our sin” that crucified him when He didn’t do that. Having said that, you’re the one being argumentative. But sinners love their hypocrisy. I see at this point, you are not even concerned with the original argument anymore. Your argument has been reduced to complaining that people aren’t being nice enough to you as you hold on to sinful political positions that any true Christian is commanded to rebuke and call for your repentance. 

Statist: I just feel like you’re being hostile and smooth-brained. Don’t you think you’d win more people over by being nicer?

Christian: Since when is it smooth-brained to preach repentance unto the Kingdom of God? If you knew the Lord Jesus, you would know this was the core of His message: repent and seek the Kingdom of God. The real case here is that Liberty scares those most who love their bondage. Why is it so alluring to call good evil and evil good? Because God gives those who hate His Law over to a reprobate mind to be subject citizens under false gods.

Statist: Well it’s not that we’re talking about just using political power. We need to use it in accordance with God’s law. I believe in righteous political power. 

Christian: Again, “righteous political power” is a contradiction. Righteous men don’t seek political office in the kingdoms of the world that operate on force; they seek the Kingdom of God alone. People who obey God’s law don’t set up or support human government at all, and they don’t live under them as slaves. We’re just going in circles here now. 

Statist: But since we have kings now and Israel rebelled under Samuel, we need to obey them now too. 

Christian: You are responsible for your own sin, not ancient Israel’s. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God liberates man from the dominion of man. The onus is on you to repent and seek that Kingdom so that you may receive its salvation. There is no reason that we must settle on the existence of human civil government today. Jesus died to free us from these kingdoms of men. That you still believe we must seek them tells me you have no idea what the Gospel of Jesus is even about or why Christ, the God-man, came to earth. 

In the world but not of it

Statist: So should christians live amongst other people and interact with others or should christians live in christian communes segregated from other communities? I just think if you live in this country you should pay its taxes and follow its laws.

Christian: No, we don’t have to live in communes because we reject the idea of living in bondage to Romans. Communes are communism. We don’t need to “leave the country” because we disagree with worldly forms of government that are based on power. The early Christians lived among the Romans, but were not subject citizens as Romans. They had their own laws, customs, government, system of welfare, and historical continuity. They were an increasing republic in the heart of the Roman Empire. They were busy evangelizing to get people to repent of their subject citizenship, and to be baptized into God’s Kingdom instead. For this they were persecuted.

Statist: But the people they evangelized, if any of them were government officials, you argue they should resign their post and not just do their duties under the perspective of the Christian worldview and keep their positions? 

Christian: What part of Jesus’s instruction to “have no benefactors who exercise authority” is so hard for you to understand? State systems cannot act Christian even if they wanted to, because they are based on authority and power. They are structurally opposed to God’s Kingdom model, not just staffed by the wrong men. Those who serve their people do so directly, through freewill offerings, and without political power. All you are doing is trying to bend the human systems of civil government into godly civil government, which is not possible. 

Statist: So you think that Jesus telling His disciples to “have no benefactors who exercise authority” means to have nothing to do with political power? 

Christian: Jesus said “it shall not be so among you.” There is no possible way for the kingdoms of this world to act Christian, since they are fundamentally based on a structure that Jesus says we are not to have. There is no reason that Christians must seek the politics of man’s kingdoms because we live on this earth, or that we should delay in seeking the Kingdom of God today. We can seek the Kingdom of God without being involved in the politics of the world, and indeed this is the only way that it could ever be done. 

Challenges to Christian Anarchism specifically

Statist: I just feel like you’re buying into an anarchist political idea and more concerned with that than just being a Christian. Why are you so concerned with political theory? Why not just call yourself a Christian. Why say, “Christian Anarchist”?

Christian: These terms are redundant. Christianity and statism are mutually exclusive. All archists are non-Christians, and all Christians are non-archists. There is no such thing as a separation between politics and religion. To call yourself a Christian is to seek the Kingdom of God, which means to reject the politics of the world. To become a Christian necessarily requires that one become an anarchist as far as the kingdoms of men are concerned, because these kingdoms are antagonistic to God’s. 

Statist: Well I just think you’re idolizing liberty. You worship liberty instead of God. 

Christian: Liberty and idolatry are antonyms. Liberty can’t be worshiped. Worship is service to God, through a network of freewill charity called The Lord’s Table, or service to false gods through taxation unto the tables of rulers. Through the tax-bondage you have gotten yourself into by supporting the kings and kingdoms of the world, you are a state-worshiper, by definition. 

Statist: I think your anarchism is off base. God’s Kingdom is a monarchy with Christ as the head. 

Christian: God’s Kingdom is a “monarchy” only in the sense that Christ is the King. It is not monarchist in the sense that there are other, subordinate human kings of worldly kingdoms who are needed to stand between us and the Lord.

Statist: Every aspect of God’s will for social organisation is hierarchical. I bet you’re opposed to fathers as the heads of their families, too, huh?

Christian: No it isn’t. In fact, none of it is. Fathers have a natural jurisdiction over their families. To equate the fathers of families to civil fathers shows how utterly confused you are. They are the Elders, and they have no jurisdiction over any other Elder. The judges did not possess civil authority either. The kings were judgment upon sinners because it was sin to raise them up.

Statist: Well even your idea seems to be statist too. You’re talking about a Kingdom after all! Any kingdom needs a king! What makes you any different than me?

Christian: It’s Christ’s Kingdom. He is the king. And he makes every man king in his own home. If you don’t seek the Kingdom of God, then you are already installing false gods over pagan kingdoms. You are already doing what you confess that you don’t want to do. Just like Paul says. That you cannot distinguish the Kingdom of God from the kingdoms of the world is all the proof needed that you don’t even know what it means to be a Christian. 

God and rulers

Statist: But God raises up political authorities and we should work with them and make sure they rule in a godly way. 

Christian: You are just endlessly hardheaded, I see. God does not raise up political authorities. He allows them as a judgment against the sinners who raise them up in their sin. Have you never read 1 Samuel 8? All of Scripture follows this same theme. Human government is a judgment upon sinners who set these systems up. This doesn’t change into the New Testament.

Statist: But the Bible says that God raises kings and removes them. Shouldn’t we hope for good, Christian kings?

Christian: It says that God allows kings, just as He allows men to throw away their liberty. All of Scripture intimates that kings are a judgment on those who raise them up in their idolatry. “And this is why you pay taxes,” Paul says.

Statist: No, God has instituted human rulers, both good and bad, and we are to obey the lawful orders of those who have jurisdiction over us. 

Christian: God did no such thing. He allows them as a judgment against the sinners who institute them in their sin. To have benefactors who exercise authority is to confess that you have been unlawful. Are you ready to admit that much?

Statist: You are mistaken. He allows evil governments and evil people to discipline the evil and also the good, but He also institutes righteous men in power such as He did with Joseph, David, Christ, Peter, etc. You seem to be allowing your desire for earthly liberty to color your doctrine. You’re trying to be saved on earth.

Christian: All governments, save one, are evil. Because they all break God’s Law by existing. David and Joseph were both a judgment upon sinners and little else. Jesus explicitly gave up his regal rank and held no position of authority, and even more explicitly forbade Peter from doing so. Salvation, by definition, is about liberty. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God liberates man from the redemption of man. You’ve got a long way to go.

Statists: Governments don’t violate God’s law by existing. It is only when they act evil. Read Romans 13! 

Christian: All human civil government can only exist because the people have broken God’s Law to raise it up. Are you not familiar with God’s Law? It commands that men have no other gods before the Lord. When men raise up human rulers, they are in violation of this Law. 

Statist: But if a government is lawful then we should obey it. It is only when they turn against God that we should stop supporting them. 

Christian: There’s only one lawful government. The rest are legal, but unlawful. Unlawful only becomes legal through contract. U..S citizens do not have unalienable rights because rights come from God. They have privileges because privileges come from false gods after you have squandered your birthrights for a mess of pottage through government provision. In other words, you have rendered unto Caesar that which is God’s, and must repent in order to experience unalienable rights again.

Statist: Well I can admit that some human governments turn tyrannical. But God is a supreme monarch in a hierarchical family. Sure, we don’t have to accept tyranny, but government is still part of God’s way. 

Christian: Not the governments of the world as we know them, who rule over their people and use violence and taxation to provide their so-called goods and services. The government that the early Christians had on the other hand was forbidden from exercising authority, by a King who refused to exercise authority Himself, and publicly dismantled the authority structure over Judea, directly leading to his regicide.

The institutional church 

Statist: With all your rebellious anarchist politics, I bet you don’t even go to church and fellowship with fellow believers, either. 

Christian: Going to church isn’t fellowship, it’s a substitute. The church is the body politic of Christ, referring to the called-out ministers who redistribute the charity of God’s Kingdom as a servant government. The so-called institutional churches of the world are not the Body of Christ, as men call them, but merely houses of vain worship that make the word of God to none effect. 

Statist: But we’re told to gather in Christ’s name. You’re just rebellious all around! You don’t believe in Church or State! 

Christian: Going to church isn’t gathering in Christ’s name, it’s gathering while taking His name in vain. Christ gave clear instructions about gathering, and it has nothing to do with going to church. God is not worshiped by partaking in some vain Sunday rituals, but by actually caring and providing for your neighbors in a network of charity that seeks to keep them free from the welfare offices of the world, whose benefits ensnare men into bondage. The modern church, so-called, is not the least bit concerned about functioning like a government, keeping their people free, and keeping the weightier matters of the Law that Jesus instructed us to uphold. If they were, then people like you would not believe there was any need for human government in addition to the body politic of God’s Kingdom, but would see rather than all these things you say require a State could be provided for in a free society, without making our neighbors into tax slaves to fund the “public goods” that statists claim are “necessary” to a functioning society. 

Statist: No, church is just for fellowship with other believers. We need a government for carrying out the rest of the business of society. Church is where we worship God, and civil government is where we provide for law and justice. 

Christian: Again, the church is a body politic. A government. The Bible does not describe the government as fellowshiping. It describes the people as fellowshiping. Furthermore, it describes what that fellowship is like, and that is nothing like what you do on Sundays. Jesus says his church is supposed to feed his sheep, not preach sermons and sing songs to them. God ordained a “government” to look after His sheep. The true church acts as a government and carries out the daily ministration of needs of those who are congregating together in networks for this purpose, through the means of free will offerings and voluntary assistance, as opposed to worldly kingdoms based on violence and force. 

Statist: So then you’re just arguing for a government too! 

Christian: Church = Ekklesia = body politic = God’s government = a legislative assembly of called out servant ministers or kingdom politicians or government officials. This government is not like the government you advocate, which exercises authority over other men. This was the distinction Jesus made, not with organization and service as such. He was teaching that true servants serve, not rule over other men. 

Statist: So you reject the government and the church! You don’t believe in any form of government at all or even fellowshiping with others! You’re not even a Christian. You’re a heretic! 

Christian: No, we believe in the real government of God, of organizing with believers in a network of charity. The early Christians didn’t “go to church.” They maintained a free society. Fellowship refers to a shared citizenship in a literal kingdom. It didn’t refer to gathering in a building for singalongs and sermons. To think that you’re serving God and your neighbors by taking part in these vain rituals is expected from someone like you, who also thinks that setting up systems of human government over your neighbors is actually serving them, rather than enslaving them. 

Statist: Oh, so these temples just existed for no reason? You’re just trying to keep people away from going to church! You’re a devil! 

Christian: Temples existed as pagan institutions of socialism. Church refers to a network of ministers who distribute the charity for the congregations of people who are part of that network. I’m done with you. Until you repent and seek the Kingdom of God, there is no more need to combat your nonsense. Next time, bring some arguments that we haven’t heard before.