CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

Liberty Under God
IS OPPOSED BY
"The Minister of God"



Congress should
  • acknowledge itself to be "the minister of God."

The State as "Minister"

Romans 13:4 describes the violent, barbaric, sexually depraved Roman Empire as "the minister of God."

The Greek word translated "minister" is diakonos, from which we get our English word "deacon." The word means "servant," "one who serves." Diakonia, the "deaconate," is defined as:

  1. service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others
  2. of those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men
    1. of the office of Moses
    2. of the office of the apostles and its administration
    3. of the office of prophets, evangelists, elders etc.
  3. the ministration of those who render to others the offices of Christian affection esp. those who help meet need by either collecting or distributing of charities
  4. the office of the deacon in the church
  5. the service of those who prepare and present food

When most people hear the word "deacon," they think of a guy passing the offering plate down the row, or distributing to the poor from the church Food Pantry. They don't think of a Roman Centurion torturing Jesus to death. They don't think of a barbaric army killing fathers and sons, raping mothers and sisters, and unleashing a torrent of spears and arrows into the bodies of small children.

But God sends these evil rapists to "serve" His purposes. They are His "ministers."

This does not mean that governments have God's ethical approval. They are righteously condemned and destroyed by the same God Whose purposes they "serve."

Violations of International Law

It is important to remember that Rome (the capital of modern-day Italy) invaded Israel years before Christ was born. Even the United Nations (no friend of Israel) would condemn Italy in the strongest terms if she invaded Israel today and established a military occupation government over the people of Israel. But this is what Rome did. This invasion was morally, politically, and legally unjustifiable, and a clear violation of "International Law." It was unChristian. It was lawless and barbaric. But the Roman Empire "served" God's purposes. It was God's "minister."

The entity we call "the State" is an example of organized crime. Christians should do everything they can -- short of violence -- to rid the world of entities like "the Mafia" and "the government." All "governments" systematically violate God's Commandments against murder and theft -- that's the very reason men create them --  but in these very acts of disobedience, they "serve" God's purposes.

Let's look at a couple of examples in the Bible.

Isaiah 13: Lucifer's Army Self-Destructs

Isaiah begins a sermon against Babylon in chapter 13 which continues through chapter 14. Babylon is going to be judged for her lawlessness, her violations of Biblical Law. Her judgment will come at the hands of the Medes.

God's Sovereignty over the State

We see God's sovereignty in Isaiah 13 verses 3ff.

The soldiers of the Meden army are His "sanctified ones." (v. 3)
The Lord "commands" them.
He calls His "mighty ones." (v. 3)
He musters the armies together. (v. 4)
The armies of the nations
indent.gif (90 bytes)come from the Lord
indent.gif (90 bytes)to destroy the earth. (v. 5)
(Not the whole earth, just the land that pertains to Babylon.)
The destroying armies are "the weapons of His indignation" (v. 5).
This is the day of the Lord's "wrath and fierce anger" (vv. 6-9).
The coming destruction is a terror for these evil doers (v. 11).
God is sending a sword to cut them down (v. 15).

It isn't necessary for you or for me to take vengeance on Babylon; God will see to it; He and His "sanctified ones."

The Shaking of Babylon's Demonic Power

In verses 10 and 13, the effects of this destroying army are spoken of in terms of the "stars," which we have seen are a way of speaking of angelic or demonic forces associated with the State (see "Angels and God's Throne of Government" as well as "Stars and Idolatry"). Isaiah says Babylon's heavenly patrons are going to be shaken (Isaiah 10:13 - not all the heavens, just the "heavens" that pertain to Babylon).

J. Marcellus Kik, in his exposition of Matthew 24, has shown that this cosmic language is not to be interpreted naturally, or astronomically, as though the suns from other galaxies are going to be physically disturbed in the fall of Babylon, Idumea (Isaiah 34:4-5), Egypt (Ezekiel 32:7,8), or Israel (Matthew 24:29-31). Other writers have provided insight into the nature of these "principalities and powers."

So confused have some commentators been over Isaiah's link between the State and demonic forces that they have attributed Isaiah's prophecies against the State of Babylon to Satan himself! (Isaiah 14:12-14)  But it is an understandable case of mistaken identity!

A Kingdom Divided Against Itself

So why does God allow Satan and his henchmen to incite the State to war and oppression? Why does God command His "sanctified ones" to destroy another nation? Why does God use violence?

The answer is clear: Babylon has succumbed to Satan's temptation to be as gods (Genesis 3:5; Isaiah 14:13). They knew they risked God's judgment when they made their decision (Romans 1:18-32). God destroys both men and nations by allowing them to pursue their evil dreams. He advances His Kingdom by using lawless men and nations to judge other lawless men and nations. But this does not mean that lawless nations have God's ethical approval, nor should they have ours. God's "ministers" are evil and horrifying. We must not lose sight of just how evil the state really is.

God's judgment is fierce upon a lawless nation, such as Babylon, and He deals with Babylon in a covenantal way. Not just the king, but his citizens are affected. Not just the fathers, but their wives feel God's wrath. Not just the parents, but their (covenant!) children (all men are members of a covenant; all are either covenant breakers or covenant keepers; the issue is always Theonomy or autonomy). Thus verses 16 and 18 give graphic and upsetting detail of God's judgment on Babylon. The Medes are going to dash the children to pieces right before their mothers' eyes. This may be before, it may be after, they rape the mothers. Young men, who might be potential soldiers (even now 12- and 13-year olds are not uncommonly seen in jihadist uniforms or as members of Latin American "Liberation Fronts"), will likewise be dismembered and killed. One scholar blandly declares that these gruesome atrocities were "common to ancient warfare." 

Friend, these gruesome atrocities are common today; evolution is a myth. Rushdoony has reminded us that Assyria, for example, left the skulls of the massacred children [and others] in a large pile outside the gates of the vanquished city. This in an effort to strike sheer terror and submission in the hearts of enemies. [In the hearts of those enemies who were thus affected and thereafter rallied behind the flag of the Assyrians, such terror is called "patriotism."] These tactics, far from being limited to ancient warfare, are basic to the State itself. Mountains of skulls can be found in modern-day Cambodia, in the wake of Pol Pot. Perhaps the Cambodians learned such techniques from U.S. soldiers, who slaughtered innocents, when whole villages were "destroyed in order that they might be saved." Terrorism is common in the plans of emerging states in the "third world.")

You see, when it comes to the demon-empowered armies of the State, war really is hell!

Satan's kingdom cannot stand; it wars against itself. Satan provokes men to pride, covetousness, competition, and ultimately war (James 4:1-5; Revelation 13:7).  An associations of covetous men, called the "State," unwittingly carries out God's judgments upon another State, by destroying it in fearful war.  The "victorious" State is then face-to-face with God's judgment for their destructive ways, and will soon be judged by yet another State, equally covetous, equally proud, and so it goes, until Christ shall have put down all these "archists" (I Corinthians 15:24-25) by giving them up to self-destruction, when they can be replaced by Spirit-empowered Christian self- government.

Isaiah 10: A Summary of Isaiah 13

We can summarize Isaiah's doctrine of the State by looking at Isaiah 10. This is a prophecy against Israel. God is going to use Assyria in the same way He used the Medes against Babylon.

Verse 5 says the Assyrian army is the rod of the Lord's anger. Their weapons are the Lord's indignation.

Ultimately it is God Who is sending these unGodly barbarians. Their purpose is the judgment of a hypocritical nation, those who have incurred God's wrath. God gives the army "a command" (v. 6a) to steal, confiscate wealth and property, and in general to do the things the Assyrian army does best: to rape and pillage Israelites, treating them like sewage in the street (v. 6b).

Verse 6 is overlooked by most Christians, whose failure to separate from worldly influences has desensitized them to the violence of this verse. God says -- to Israel -- "I give him a command to spoil." Israel deserves this destruction, for in spite of a prophetic warning, they continue emulating the ways of the statists around them.

Israel, an adolescent nation from a conservative, middle-class background, looks enviously upon the lifestyles of "the beautiful people," the partying jet-setters of the nations. Like an air-headed teenager without responsible adult models, Israel twitters at the fashionable violence of the tauntingly rebellious punk-baalim and heavy-Ashtaroth rockers -- just a little worldliness without getting "too far" out of line.

God gives Israel a full dose of what these pagan Humanists really represent.

Assyria is only serving God's purposes unwittingly. Assyria is not doing what they do because they know God wants them to. The Assyrian "does not so intend" (v. 7). The Assyrian soldier is just a big "party animal;" with a couple of six packs under his belt he just isn't satisfied with a bag of loot and a couple of cunts (cf. Judges 5:30). He goes for the gusto (cf. Isaiah 13:16-18). Are you titillated or amused at that language? Then imagine it happening to your wife and daughter. Israel also winked at such prophetic imagery.

This hideous State-sanctioned violence is obviously not sanctioned by God in His Law. It is the antithesis of Godly conduct. And so, not surprisingly, Assyria shall be judged by God for their lawless destruction. The very destruction that "served" God's purposes.

We see then that God is sovereign over the State and its brutal ugliness. God allows Satan to raise up a State and its armies, and uses this gorilla-machine to judge other machines -- covetous, irresponsible, hypocritical nations -- like the United States? -- punishing them -- taking vengeance upon them -- in His wrath. All things -- but especially the State -- serve God's Kingdom purposes.


  • View | Thesis 48: The State Serves God by Sinning
  • View | Thesis 49: The State As Sanctified “Servant”/ “Deacon”/”Minister”
  • View | Thesis 50: The State Does Not Serve God Self-Consciously
    • It is impossible to self-consciously obey God's Law while being "the State," because being "the State" is a violation of God's Law.
  • View | Thesis 51: Only One King Self-Consciously Serves God


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