Governed By Christ: I’m A Christocrat

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

Tags

Benjamin Rush, Christian conservative, Constitutional conservatism, Democrat, euaggelion, evangelical Christocrat, evangelical Republican, good news Gospel, liberal, right-wing extremists, traditional conservatism

Benjamin Rush . . . I am a Christocrat.

I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me. By saying these things I am not going against God’s grace. Just the opposite, if the law could make us right with God, then Christ’s death would be useless. ~ Galatians 2:20-21, NCV

No, I am not a right-wing “extremist,” nor am I an evangelical Republican. Consequently, I also am not a “Christian conservative.”

I am a Christocrat, because I consistently advocate the principles of God’s Word and God’s Government. I am a Christocrat, because my obedience to God is more important than my loyalty to any political party’s ideology. I am a Christocrat, because I have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. Lastly, I am a Christocrat, because ONLY Jesus Christ could save me, so ONLY Jesus Christ should govern me.

Put differently, a Christocrat is EVERY Bible believing, God regenerated (born again), saved (justified), and sanctified individual who lives the kind of lifestyle that reflects the teachings and the character of Jesus the Christ. Now, certainly, I am not the first American Christian believer to call myself a Christocrat. According to David Ramsay, a patriot, physician, and historian, Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a devout Christian, is one of America’s first Christians to describe himself the same way. In a 1798 letter, Dr. Rush writes:

I have alternately been called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat. …He alone Who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him. ~ as quoted in Ramsay (1813), An Eulogium Upon Benjamin Rush, M.D., p. 103; free eBook

Concerning most of today’s so-called Evangelical Christocrats, because the term, evangelical, comes from the Greek word transliterated as euaggelion, which means “gospel” or the “good news,” it should be obvious that ANYBODY who is a genuine believer in the Gospel of Christ is an Evangelical, regardless if he or she is either white, or black, brown, red, or yellow, or whether he or she is either a Republican or a Democrat. Furthermore, even though not all Evangelicals are Evangelical Christocrats who are indeed Bible believing, God regenerated, saved, and sanctified individuals who live the kind of lifestyle that reflects the teachings and the character of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, contrary to popular opinion, there exists more Evangelical Christocrats than “white” Evangelicals (“white,” religious right, “Christian conservatives”).

Still, the unpleasant truth is that, other than the few individuals who, based on above paragraphs two and four’s definitions, identify themselves as a Christocrat, there aren’t many more believers who realize how sad it is that so many so-called Evangelical Christocrats, and their so-called religious critics, actually think that an Evangelical Christocrat is a “white,” religious right, “Christian conservative.” After all, one of the lies of omission that is perpetuated by the Republican Party’s religious right-wing extremists is their cunning suggestion that only Republican “Christian conservatives” (whites) believe in Jesus the Christ, believe in traditional values, and believe that the sole authority for “Christians’” religious beliefs and practices is the Holy Bible (both the Old Testament’s original Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament’s original Greek Scriptures)!

It also is so sad that so many so-called Evangelical Christocrats, and their so-called religious critics, think that by making a distinction between traditional conservatism and Constitutional conservatism they also will be distancing themselves from traditional conservatism’s ideology. Why? Well because, for these Evangelical Christocrats, Constitutional conservatism means they promote the need for Americans to return back to the so-called “perfect” system of government that is described in the Founding Fathers’ U.S. Constitution. Once again, by doing so, the Republican “Christian Constitutional conservatives” believe they can distance themselves from the people they think have endangered their inalienable rights, which the Founding Fathers’ based on biblical principles.

Be that as it may. The real truth of the matter is that America’s Republican Evangelical Christocrats also are lying to the world by candidly “suggesting” that, by returning to America’s basic Constitutional values, Americans will be following Jesus Christ’s biblical conservatism, which these Republican Evangelical Christocrats believe is the true paradigm for their Constitutional conservatism.

Regardless of their “religious” beliefs, according to Norm Franz, Republican Evangelical Christocrats’ Constitutional conservatism is secular in nature, and as such it is nothing like biblical conservatism. Norm Franz is a biblical economist, as well as a former monetary economist and investment company president, who also is an ordained minister and an international Bible teacher. As a biblical economist, he interprets what is going on in the world’s financial systems based on what the Holy Bible says. Concerning Constitutional conservatism vs. biblical conservatism, Franz says:

We must understand, and I try to tell people, you know, that Jesus was not a Republican. He was a Torah Observant High Priest Jew, and if you want to see conservatism, that is biblical conservatism. The conservatism we have today is a secular U.S. Constitutional conservatism, but it is not biblical conservatism. So everybody’s a progressive, and everybody, in the end, is moving toward a New World Order. Some are just going—the left is going…100 miles an hour, and the right’s just going 50. ~ Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis, televised on July 17, 2011

The point here is that there doesn’t seem to be any way to avoid the biblically prophesied bleak end times. According to Norm Franz, everybody in America is moving toward the New World Order of one-world government, one-world currency, and one-world religion. Moreover, the prophetic Word of God leaves no doubt that, globally, everyone is transitioning to the time of Mystery Babylon (cf. Revelation chapter 17 and chapter 18). For these reasons, those American Evangelical Christocrats who are endorsing Constitutional conservatism, or the need for Americans to return back to the Founders’ fundamental Constitutional values, should instead focus on living the principles of God’s Word and God’s Government—they need to model the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The bottom line: What currently is developing in this world is the Perfect Storm, a RARE combination of a number of circumstances (negative unpredictable factors) that radically will worsen a significantly critical situation (e.g., humans nonexistent, or ineffectual, relationship with God). When this Perfect Storm starts, there is going to be some great shaking going on in this world (cf. Haggai 2:6-9; Hebrews 12:26), especially some frightening shaking where this world’s economic systems, governmental and political systems, and religious systems are concerned. The Good News, however, is that the Lord’s Bride will not have to weather this coming “storm,” for by the time that this “storm” is drenching this Earth the Bride of Christ will have been Raptured (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

That’s why, for those Evangelical Christocrats Jesus Christ governs (for those Evangelical Christocrats who are allowing Jesus Christ’s divine life inside of them to rule and reign in and over them, by giving the Lord their total cooperation), the Gospel never is going to be about being a Republican (Constitutional or traditional conservative) or a Democrat (progressive and liberal). Put differently, for those Evangelical Christocrats who are allowing the Lord’s teachings to rule and reign in and over their lives, the Gospel ALWAYS is going to be about believers successfully living a holy and righteous Christ-like life.

In contrast, for those Evangelical Christocrats’ lives whom Jesus Christ does not govern, they will need to find a new freedom in Christ. They will need to surrender their own will so that they might truly follow the Lord’s teachings (the Gospel or Word of God), and so that their obedience to God becomes more important than their loyalty to any political party’s ideology! If they don’t, they surely will be unprepared for the coming Perfect Storm, which is the time of Mystery Babylon (cf. Revelation chapter 17 and chapter 18)!

For additional information, please read my blog entries: Perfect Storm and Mystery Babylon

Both A Little Learning And A Little Truth ARE Dangerous

13 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alexander Pope, celebrities, church pastors, education without morality, free speech, Hollywood, little learning, mean-spirited, racist, republican, right-wing extremists, tea party evangelicals

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. …They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned. ~ 2 Timothy 3:5, 8b, AMP

Just like “a little learning is a dangerous thing” (Alexander Pope), so is a little TRUTH! Not everyone on the Internet can be cited as a godly spiritual, knowledgeable and trustworthy source. For sure, both a small amount of knowledge and a small amount of TRUTH can mislead people into thinking that the people who spoke it, blogged it, or published it in major publications are more expert than they really are!

The truth is this kind of ignorance (a little learning or a little truth . . . education without morality) is not always bliss. Sometimes this kind of ignorance (a lack of understanding or a misunderstanding about the REAL truth) can be downright mean-spirited, slanderous, libelous, derogatory, demeaning, and yes, even racist!

Such is the case with so many of the Facebook statuses and Twitter tweets by so-called Christian people who not only believe but also repeat the same pure hatred and loony-tune conspiracy theories that are expressed by popular bloggers, well-known Hollywood celebrities and church pastors, right-wing extremists, and every other person who is trying to make a name for him or herself. Indeed, the Internet is saturated with people who claim to be Christians who know the truth, but they usually are just misinformed, power hungry, fame and fortune seekers who have mixed a little knowledge and a little truth with their own personal biases. As a result, their stinking thinking has impregnated their thought-life, producing bigoted bullies and spiritless cowards whose ONLY reply to any criticism about their behaviors is that they have a right to free speech.

For sure, these so-called Christian individuals hide behind their right to freedom of speech while they propagate their “hate speech.” They use their right to free and open debate as a way to spit, figuratively speaking, on the souls of gay service men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice; and they use their right to free and open debate as a way to wage war, literally speaking, via their vicious and verbal assaults on President Obama, his policies, and the Office of the President; or on all Muslims; the Islamic religion; and every other person who is not a republican or tea party evangelical.

Let there be no doubt about it, Jesus is NOT represented by any so-called Christians whose warped thinking has become pure hatred. For example, all that the ugly, disrespectful and ungodly comments, either made or shared about President Obama and, by extension the Office of the President, have done is to serve as fuel for (to stimulate the unpredictable behaviors of) this world’s mentally imbalanced individuals. Certainly, something is very wrong in a person if he could think that it is okay to ask in public: Who is going to shoot Obama? The sad truth is that there are many who have asked themselves this same question, but they are not so crazy as to ask it in public!

Similarly, something is very wrong in a person if he thinks that it is okay to stand behind a pulpit and declare that it is his God-given responsibility to pray for President Obama’s death. Something also is very wrong in a person if he teaches that it is Christians’ duty to kill Muslims or Muslims’ duty to kill Christians. Something also is very wrong in a person if he preaches that all White people, or all Black people, are evil. Lastly, something is very wrong with the American justice system when 8 of the 9 Supreme Court justices can rule that the First Amendment protects members of a church who hold provocative, anti-gay protests at military funerals.

The enormous capacity for doing evil deeds and speaking hateful words is the abhorrent way of life that the so-called Christians mentioned in this article follow. In the name of the God they claim to worship, these so-called Christians have taken a little knowledge and a little truth and created their own perception of reality that absolutely vehemently opposes the reality of the Cross. Since the Cross of Jesus the Christ is the sign of His victory over sin and evil, and the sign of God’s unconditional love for all human beings, then there is NOTHING more dangerous than anyone who, or anything that, opposes this reality.