Just the other day, I got into my car (covered with Christian bumper stickers) and drove down to the Christian bookstore.  Once there, I briefly stopped at the Christian music section to check out the latest Christian CD’s (after all, you can’t find the good ones at the secular record store!), and then went past the section which had all the latest Christian best-sellers.  I purchased a Christian birthday card to send to my kid’s teacher at the Christian day school, and also a new WWJD thing-a-ma-jig.  With the local Christian radio station blaring in my car, I drove past the campaign headquarters for the local Christian political candidate and on to the Jammin’ Jerusalem Java coffee shop.  On the way home, I nearly spilled my fresh cup of Gospel-latte because some %@&#! cut me off in traffic (it didn’t matter that his car had as many Christian bumper stickers as mine—I was ticked!).  Once I got home I put on some worship music (it keeps my mind stayed on Him) and munched on some Tasty Scripture cookies while I dusted off one of my decorative family Bibles.  I spent a moment standing on my Promise Carpet praying against the cultists down the street, and then sat down at my computer and looked up some of my favorite Christian bloggers before I got into a Christian chat room with some really cool and trendy-minded brothers.  What a blessed day I had!

The theocratic fusion

           One normal aspect of life in just about all the developed cultures in the ancient world until and including the middle ages was that the worship life of the nation’s citizens was dictated by the ruler of that nation; and quite often the worship was to be directed toward that ruler.  Throughout most of recorded history, rulers of nations were convinced that either they were descended from gods, or specially appointed by the gods, or unique spokesmen for the gods, or whatever other reason that their tradition would justify in saying that their authority had a divine origin.  In the same manner the Jews, the lone major monotheistic voice of ancient times, placed great emphasis upon the calling of God on the dynasty of David.

           When Christianity first came on the scene, it did not appear that this would be much of an issue.  Even though many Jews had expected the Messiah to be a political figure, Christianity insisted that He first had to establish a spiritual kingdom, and that political leadership would have to wait.  But later, when the papacy grew to become the centralized force behind Christianity, it then seemed reasonable that the primary mission for the Church’s work in a new country must strive toward an attempt to convert the king of that country.  Even if the king would not convert, it was considered a victory for the Church if he granted the freedom to preach the Gospel there.  It was also taken for granted that if the king did become a Christian, he would willingly make all his military might available to the pope at any time to follow the Church’s bidding. 

           Eventually papal power reached its zenith in 1302 when Pope Boniface VIII issued a document entitled Unam Sanctam, which declared that “the spiritual power excels any earthly one in dignity and nobility,” thus saying that the God-given authority of the church trumps any earthly power or government.  Surprisingly few national rulers actually put up any serious resistance, undoubtedly because many were weak and needed the pope’s support, but also because of the build-up of the many firmly held traditions which allowed for the intermingling of religion with the government in previous cultures.  Few stopped to question the legitimacy of such alliances; but if anyone did, it was usually a question of a specific situation rather than the principle of the thing.

           In many of the world’s cultures even to this day, some form of a civic-religious connection remains firmly in place.  In a recent Christianity Today article by Philip Yancey (The Lure of Theocracy, July 2006, p. 64), he quotes a Muslim who once told him, “I find no guidance in the Qur’an on how Muslims should live as a minority in a society and no guidance in the New Testament on how Christians should live as a majority.”  It is true that there are precious few directions to Jesus’ followers concerning the civic realm.  Their general summation can be found in Jesus’ statement to “render unto Caesar,” plus scattered references in the epistles concerning general obedience to rulers and the paying of taxes.  Yet it did not seem to enter the church’s thinking in the medieval environment that Christianity should be an exception to the prevailing mindset of the link between God and government. 

           The concepts of freedom of religion and of the secular state, with a few notable exceptions such as the Greeks and their republic, were relatively recent developments.  Later, under the influence of the Renaissance mindset, popularly elected parliaments began to replace the royally appointed advisors to the King, and the new catch-phrase that started to gain ground was “government by consent of the governed.”  Several subsequent experiments in theocracy came and went, some Christian and some not.  But eventually democracy began to dominate the civic thinking in the West, and the relationship between the state and religion grew more and more to be one of association rather than dictation.

“Sure I’m a Christian; I’m an American, ain’t I?”

           The American founding fathers no doubt understood the Christian roots of a large percentage of the population of their new nation.  They also understood that even within the very room in which they held the constitutional convention were representatives of several differing denominations of Christianity as well as many from various other faiths and philosophies, prominently including deism.  If some sort of theocracy were put forward, which sort would it be?  And what would be the reaction of the others?  And what about the response of those from non-Christian traditions, such as the Native Americans they had encountered? 

           The answer was to create an environment in which any citizen’s faith could be freely maintained and propagated without interference, restriction, assistance, or official endorsement by the government.  Consistent with the concept of the free-enterprise economic system which they also were establishing, as well as the many other aspects of this new civic concept such as freedom of speech and of the press, what they came up with was a market-place of ideas—a nation where the fate of a church lay in God’s and its own hands, not in the hands of its national leaders.  And although this concept was not unheard of in Europe and elsewhere, the success of the American experiment resonated throughout the eighteenth- and nineteenth- century world to the point that today in Western culture the idea of freedom of religion is considered one of the most basic of human rights. 

The holy rabbit-hole effect 

           There seems to be something in the human will which drives us all to attempt to control as much of our personal environment as possible.  So now for Christians in a pluralistic and religiously unregulated society, we cannot count on our national leaders to provide a Christian environment for us; they are obligated to allow the market-place of ideas to operate unhindered.  This allows un-Christian and even anti-Christian ideas to have free range of the open square of society, as long as common laws are not broken and the individual’s freedom of conscience is not violated.  Promulgation of any faith or worldview may be done through persuasion but without cruelty, through demonstration but without force, and through discourse but without coercion. 

           Our society was content for a while to allow the United States to be associated with Christianity.  But the last two or three generations have been a more diverse group, and have been much more vocal and willing to confront the status quo of society.  This has increasingly led them to take full advantage of the opportunities that go along with the free expression of such diversity.  Even the once generally understood sense of morality and of what things are or are not socially acceptable has broken down; those who reassert them, or even try to quietly live by them on their own, are castigated as prudish, intolerant, or archaic.  Now we see before us a challenge that we have not been accustomed to; many of the barriers against assaults on our faith are simply no longer there.  And so we long for a “safe” place. 

           We once had a taste of the easy Christian life; and if the government will not (or can not) provide it for us any longer, we’ll just create a place for a little, private one for ourselves within the larger, public sphere.  Since we do not control our culture, we’ll just create a sub-culture within the culture at large, complete with all the trimmings. 

           So nowadays, anything the world can do, the Church can do better, or thinks it can do better—or at least come up with a reasonable facsimile.  We have the full range of Christian media in print, in the airwaves and in cyberspace.  There is Christian music available in every conceivable style, a glut of Christian art and literature, and Christian entertainment in every genre.  There are Christian schools for every age, Christian clothing lines, Christian software and electronics, Christian jewelry, and Christian business directories so that you can perform your transactions with someone in practically any field who is a Christian.  In fact, it is possible, even easy, to find a Christian alternative to just about anything in America; so that we can insulate ourselves from “secular” influence—and as a result be fully isolated from those who need us most. 

More than conquerors

           There are healthy, spiritual ways to deal with negative influences which come our way without going into hiding or beating a hasty retreat.  The most obvious one is to deliberately strengthen our faith through a healthy personal devotional life so that when an attack comes we are well able to resist its influence.  This is exactly what Peter was referring to when he counseled us to “gird up the loins of your mind.” in I Peter 1:13.  Resting in the knowledge of who we are and what we believe can ease our minds at such times as when a confrontation comes at us from an ungodly source.  I must admit that I am occasionally dismayed by those who become so highly distraught and offended by a chance encounter with the tiniest reminder of the world’s decadence that they want to hide away until they feel they have fully rebuked the problem.  Such people need to be reminded that, according to one old proverb, if you don’t come out of the cocoon, you can never be the beautiful butterfly that you were intended to be. 

           On the other hand, the fact that we have overcome worldly influence does not give us permission to go looking for trouble.  There are obviously bad influences which we can avoid simply by keeping our distance whenever feasible.  Only under the most clear and confirmable guidance of the Holy Spirit should we attempt any foray into a place or situation where there probably could be temptation, and only then when there is a plain route of escape, as evidenced in I Cor. 10:13.  Also, such bold invasions into temptation’s territory should not be attempted alone, but with the accompaniment of other like-minded believers who can strengthen and encourage one another during the process.

           All in all, once we know who the real enemy is, where the real battlefield lies, and what the real tactics of warfare are, the fear tends to dissipate and is replaced by a holy confidence in the face of adversity.  To illustrate: I am a terrible person to have around if you’re trying to watch a horror movie.  They tend to bore me because I know too much about the behind-the-scenes activity.  So I go into lengthy explanations about how fake blood is made, or I comment on the use of lighting and background music, or on how the use of computerized graphics plays a part in the production, or on how the screenplay writers craft story lines to gain the maximum effect out of their audience’s fears and imaginations.  At times I express amazement at how an actor can keep a straight face while participating in something so silly, and at how expensive some of the props and special effects must have been.  I know too much about what is really going on to be frightened by what I see on the screen; for me, the thrill is gone.

           It is not my purpose here to go into a pithy discussion on topics such as spiritual warfare, deliverance, or horror movies, but rather to echo the advice found in Proverbs 1:33—“whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”  Suffice it to say that knowledge, prayer, and fellowship go a long way to dispel fear, and once fear is gone it may then be replaced with calm confidence in God, as evidenced by “power, love, and a sound mind.” (II Tim. 1:7)

Another blessed day