kissing Jesus while betraying him

Declaration of Independence v. Jesus Christ

The Declaration of Independence

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,

and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,

a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.


Adam: notice is the first paragraph of this declaration of independence the foundation of this new government is the assumption of separate but equal powers among the earth. The founders felt it was their right and duty to form a separate but equal government among and as one of the powers of the earth. The list of reasons are brilliant the maturity and integrity of these men seems to be impeccable. The logic and bravery of these men is supremely admirable.

BUT a desire to establish a government among the other powers of the earth is a dangerous thing. A motive and a line of logic that does not jive well with the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of our government and it is not a thing of Jesus Christ. It is a motive with a foundation of of Satan. To pursue power among the powers of the earth is equivalent to budging our way at the table of the wicked principalities and powers in high places talked about in scripture (Eph 3:10, Eph 1:21, Rom 8:38). These men were tired of the persecution of the King of England and decided to violently push their way to the table of power that he was oppressing them from.

I love America I think it has the best form of government yet conceived on earth. Don’t get me wrong with this post, I believe our founding is truly a story of bravery and standing up to tyranny. But I cannot see the motives and logic of our founding when they declared independence and took up arms as something of Jesus Christ. I don’t believe that they were being led of the Holy Spirit as Jesus followers.

I believe they were being led by desire for a seat at the table among the powers of the earth. They wanted to be a peer to the kings of the earth. And their harsh treatment made it much easier to push them over the edge. Would they have if England had treated them well? We will never know.

We’ve seen this before:

  • Israel demanded they be like the other nations when they demanded a king like Saul. (1 Samuel 8:7)
  • The followers of Jesus asked for militant messiah-king to get them out from under the Romans. (John 6:15)
  • Satan tempted Jesus with a kingship over all the world. (Matthew 4:8-10).
  • Many Christians in the 4th century church succumbed to the temptation of political power and favor by embracing Emperor Constantine and his required Christian religion over Rome. (Read the history of Rome from AD 300 to about AD 330.)

Countless governments throughout modern history have embraced the idea of Christendom, the merging of human government with the church.

Its a history of carnage and error.

I write this post to put to rest (perhaps mostly in my own head) the idea that the formation of the American govnermnt was a thing of divine origin.

I know many of the men involved were wonderful well meaning men but I do believe they were deeply mistaken about the nature of human government and the ecclesia of Jesus Christ. They were living and reacting according to the gospel they had embraced which was likely supportive of ideas of Christendom and that the gospel was essentially just a lesson in how to get to heaven.

Had they heard the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, they may not have bothered with a revolution and a war. It may have been thrust upon them anyhow but we can never know that.

Would it not have been better if the king would have freely granted their freedom? Repented of his cruelty and violence and left them alone with motives of Christian love and freedom. And perhaps even helped them to form an even more perfect government and not sustained such a devastating loss of life and wealth in defeat in the process?

The way of Jesus Christ is better. Turning the other cheek is superior. Suffering persecution is better than striking back. Jesus can work out what we think only violence can bring us.

With His Daily Permission

When it comes to serving the Lord I think the key term is permission. We need his permission to do anything and everything that is spiritual. Everything we say or do or write needs to be first with his permission.

We may do nothing for him out of our own zeal and good intentions. Or out of admiration for Christians that we admire who pressure us. Even “preaching the gospel” is subject to his daily permission. Not every Christian has his permission to go and preach the gospel. We saw that with the apostle Paul. He was driven out for a very long time to do nothing at all. Jesus sent none of his disciples until he decided they were ready.

We are called to “let your light shine” we are not called to be the light itself with effort. Not by broadcasting a bubbly personality or, by flattering people then calling it love.

We are obligated to do nothing except what he wants, moment by moment.

It might be nice, but there is no autopilot to go on in serving Christ. There is no blank check we can cash to just do his will and get his approval and pleasure of our ministry pursuits.

We get his permission through the Holy Spirit and not through our own elaborate ministry strategy or visions. We do not get his permission and mandate from other Christians who themselves are not in mutual submission and community.

We get his permission on his timing by every day staying in communion with him and waiting patiently before we do anything. We can get permission by our community of Christians who themselves have proven to be in submission to the Spirit and to one another mutually, not permission some worldly religious hierarchy.

There is no ministry mandate or permission given by apostles or pastors or deacons that is not first and primarily directed through the Holy Spirit. They may affirm a calling and a sending. But they are neither the callers not senders.

A thousand individual independent Christians can scream at us saying “you and we should be doing this … or that, …why aren’t you…?” but without the Spirits permission and his ok we are better off doing absolutely nothing.

It’s very frustrating and difficult to submit to the ‘go and wait command’.

Sit on your hands, gag your mouth, sell your mics if he hasn’t ok’d your ministry first and repeatedly.

The most important thing then becomes how to hear and see and then follow the Holy Spirit. Make that …priority one, nothing else.

And when and if we start to follow him (and no one before him) … it is highly likely he will undermine our personal ministry, things we are doing for him as a favor out of self and out of our own religious zeal and our own definition of good work.

He will demand our top loyalty, and he will painfully break down our ties to others that stand in between us and him.

This is a bond slave, we do only his will unto death.

When it comes to serving Jesus, permission is the key.

Jesus is an exacting Lord, and he is the builder of his church, not us.

Ambition is not the key, not leadership, not preaching, not winning souls. Not prayer, not getting some force to back us that we call the anointing. All those things happen only as we respond to his moment by moment permission.

First and foremost it is permission and learning how to detect the Lord’s permission.

Permission for absolutely everything spiritual that we say, everything we do, everything we refuse to say, and everything we refuse to do.

This permission individually and as a body IS the ministry and we cannot control it or accelerate it. No more than we can control or accelerate the wind. All we can do is cooperate with the wind or resist it.

We cannot go on autopilot and enjoy a mandate to do what we think is good fulfilling our ambitions …then call that “the anointing”. We can’t get away with that and pretend we do the Lords work. It is just our work of ambitious, impatient, and pious religion, like all over the world.

When it comes to serving Jesus, permission is the key. Almost no one talks about this today. Because we assume pastors have all the spiritual permission and that it flows to us through them through their authority. So if a person wants permission to “serve the Lord” they are taught to first give their loyalty to a pastor of their choosing. Then he gives them some of his permission.

But Jesus wants to use and minister through all his children. He really is authorizing us all …directly.

A real pastor will teach us that in detail, he will teach us how to detect and yield to the permission of the Spirit. A real pastor will not insist on and enjoy a permanent position of authority over us.

Jesus is an exacting Lord, and he himself is the builder of his church, not us.

So very often our ambition is our biggest detriment. Unlike the business world our leadership, our preaching, even our winning souls and prayers can even hinder real ministry from the life of Christ. Especially when they grow independent of him, (and often they need to in order to accomplish outwardly impressive things) they hinder real ministry from the Lord.

Also, we often misinterpret money flowing our way as his permission and his pleasure in our ministries.

But the lord takes pleasure in and approves of some of the poorest people in the worl. just as they are, and amazingly he sometimes leaves them just as they are financially.

Preaching, prayer, leadership, winning souls may or may not happen but if so it is only as we respond to his moment by moment permission.

Detecting the Lords permission then submitting to his permission is essential. It is not even ok to preach without his specific permission given inwardly day by day.

Cover your mouth 🤭 …throw away your mic without it. It is done in vain, it becomes offensive, good sounding nonsense without the permission of the Spirit of Jesus.

Boundaries Around Leading Others

To be a great leader does not necessarily mean we are great servants of God.

Knowing when, where, and how to apply leadership skills is far more important than being ABLE to lead others. In Jesus Christ there are boundaries about where and what we can lead others. There are no blank checks to do with God’s people what we want. God’s people are not to be seen as our piggy banks or our experimental sheep.

Great leaders know how to deal with people, loyal followers can be easy to control and even abuse. But they also know hot do deal with their opponents, which usually usually a combination of ignoring them (when they are right) and shredding them in debate, (from a stage) when they are wrong.

The Jesus-follower who is led of the spirit is not a constant and forever leader of other Jesus followers, he or she applies his leadership always and only where the spirit leads him to. His leadership is subject and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. His leadership is not free for his personal use and ambition.

This attitude is very common today. Never raise your kids to have the attitude that THEY are the leader. Most pastors kids are examples of this. Dad trains them from a young age to expect to leader (which is really to dominate) other Christians. To sift your friends to find those who will be subject to your leadership, to drive away those who will not yield. They hit their mid-20’s and need income they think “Maybe dad was right … and I do have to be the leader”.

Sometimes… it’s the dominating ego (that their parents carefully trained them to have) kicks in and they “take a church.”

It is abusive (to the body of Christ as a whole) to teach young Christians that, and to teach older Christians to expect that of certain Christian families.

Instead teach them first and foremost how to be led of the Holy Spirit. Then teach them secondarily how to lead, but only subject to and yielded to the spirit.

Just because a crowd of Christians expects to be led, and wants a great human leader and is offering “tithes”, and you are able to lead, and need an income, does not mean you have permission from the Lord to become what we call a modern day pastor. We are not led by logic and fleecing. We are to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by mom and dad.

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