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A Dichotomy for ChurchState?

Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est (“God is Love”) of 2006 teaches that justice is the defining concern of the state and the central concern of politics, and not of the church, which has charity as its central social concern. The laity has the specific responsibility of pursuing social justice in civil society. The church’s active role in social justice should be to inform the debate, using reason and natural law, and also by providing moral and spiritual formation for those involved in politics. (Source: Social Justice, Wikipedia)

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California quotes Martin Luther King Jr. as saying: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.”

I respectfully disagree with them. First off, because Justice (which is attributed to the state) and Charity (which is attributed to the Church) are poles apart. Therefore, in order that there be no compromise on either (justice or love), both should operate in a single system—the ChurchState. In other words, in a single Court officiated by a single Judge, where there will always be a strong tension between both the Defender (charitable) and the Prosecutor (condemning). A church that settles for polemics remains a babe.

This very Court, in the absence of a neutral Judge (being that he is nominated and impeached at will by the state today), is in the hands of Media private enterprise, which can sway any side with money power. We should not give ourselves into such a resignation.

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Open Source Economics – A Sham

The industrial world has much to gain from making Software an Open Source commodity. Open Source licenses allow manufactures to bundle their industrial goods with the Open Source (free) software and sell the final product with a price tag. It is not the legalese that is in question here (because a “Copyleft” license can give the coder some leverage) but it is the very idea of “free software” that subverts software enterprise while also making software sound cheap. In the global economy the laboring states have much to lose from this. For the laboring state the industry is the human machine and this is what generates revenue for it. In other words, countries like India, which have plentiful labor depend on services for economic growth. The planners of India were brilliant in setting up Master of Computer Application (MCA) programs all over the country in the last decade or two. This has churned out plentiful knowledge workers to develop software of all kinds. Applications can be in any area of Services. But somehow the Industrial world within India has stopped the government—it appears—from allowing proper protection for software through patenting.

As someone quipped, “code (software) is poetry” and needs to be acknowledged as such not Open and Free.

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Improving on the present

The following two presentations by a university professor help us understand the reasons for the status quo prevailing in the world-at-large.

The question to ask ourselves is: Are there demerits in the status quo that we can do away with while designing Christocracy?

In the globalized society of Christocracy a homestead program similar to the one that was in the United States may be implemented as a recompense or refuge to flee to for those in the laboring nations of the global economy. Workers can begin to work in leisure as it was in the Garden of Eden and actually enjoy the products, services, farms and the households they build.

With e-governance, Christocracy can obviate the need for a bloated public sector or a huge government bureaucracy, while all the time obtaining global synergistic economy and all the other benefits that come with it.

As to the question: Who governs in Christocracy?
Answer: The organized Bride–Remnant Overcomers (the Chosen) who have a vital relationship with the indwelling Christ.

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An insight into the kingdom

Bill Bradford of Good News magazine wrote in the article “The Real Gospel …”

Entering the Kingdom

When Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God, He said it was “at hand” and commanded people to repent and believe the good news about it (Mark 1:14, 15).

His kingdom is something we must enter (Mark 10:23, 25). Jesus warned of obstacles that can prevent our entrance into the Kingdom (Matthew 5:20; 19:23-25; Mark 9:47; Luke 18:17; John 3:5).

Jesus was at that time inviting people to repent so they could enter the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15). His parables described what the Kingdom is, when it would come and how a person could enter it, and He clarified the requirements for and obstacles to entering it.

When does a person enter the Kingdom of God? Upon conversion, Christians become children of God and heirs of the kingdom (Romans 8:16, 17). But they will not inherit the kingdom until the kingdom comes. Paul explains: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).

Many people stop reading after the first four verses of this chapter, thinking they describe the entirety of the gospel Paul preached. But, by continuing to read the chapter, we see clearly that there is much more to the story. Paul goes on to explain more about the resurrection from the dead and entrance into the Kingdom of God. We “inherit,” or enter, that kingdom “at the last trumpet” (verse 52), the great blast that signals Christ’s return to rule the earth forever (Revelation 11:15).

Salvation through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is indeed a part of the gospel message, but it is not exclusively (as many assume) the gospel message. Jesus Christ died, was buried and was resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) for a reason: so we could have everlasting life in the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5, 16).

We can accept Jesus’ command to repent and believe this gospel message. We can turn to God for forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ and begin to live by the laws of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to live by God’s holy laws will be refused entrance into the Kingdom of God and eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5).

Entering the Kingdom of God is synonymous with salvation. Thus, without understanding what the Kingdom of God is, we don’t understand what salvation is.

That is an awesome insight into the truth. But there is more to it, i believe.

The “last trumpet” that is spoken of i believe, pertains to the voice of any evangelist who finally consummates the new birth of a particular believer, which results in the person following up with a testimony in the waters of Baptism. In other words the last trumpet is perhaps not common to all. As i have written in the Be Born Again! article, baptism is the first resurrection from the dead.

He then actually enters into the kingdom of heaven. Note that i no longer have a mortal body but rather an immortal body. It is a body that is destined for glory as long as i abide in Christ. And since Christ abides in me, it is no longer i who do the living but Christ who lives in me. As Christ works from within me with His love to take full control of me and my environment, the preconditioning in my body to sin begins to recede.

The “tent” that we live in is often mistaken for the”flesh and blood” that Paul talks about, the later of which he says will not inherit the kingdom of God. The flesh and blood refer to anything that is the product of one’s own self-righteousness be it status, knowledge, appearance, goods, services, etc, etc.

Now there is a microcosmic last trumpet and also a macrocosmic last trumpet, the later pertaining to the whole world or the remnant from the whole world. In other words all the nations who will listen to the last macrocosmic trumpet and who will frame laws around the will of God.

In the above quote note the underlined phrase: Those who refuse to live by God’s holy laws will be refused entrance into the Kingdom of God and eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5).

The clear implication in light of what i have said about the trumpets is that the Kingdom of God is NOW!

“Those” meaning… individuals, families, organizations, business as well as nations who “do not live today by God’s holy laws will be refused entrance into the kingdom of God and eternal life!”