One Nation Under God

Without Works

Episode Notes

Not Necessarily the Good News

Just a few months ago former national security advisor Michael Flynn made this statement: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”

He did this at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio Texas, the bully pulpit of Evangelical misogynist, anti-semite, and homophobe John Hagee, best known for creating the idiotic, “Blood Moon Prophecy,” an apocalyptic prediction inspired by the cycles of the moon.

This was part of the, “Reawaken America,” tour, a call to revival under the banner of Christian Nationalism. We should point out that Christian Nationalism is a contradiction; two north end magnets repelling each other.

Theocracy is a very old idea, and never applied anywhere with any degree of success. God, who sets planets in orbit, appears to be indifferent to human governing. The great danger to a Theocracy is that lacking God’s constant intervention on sanitation issues and infrastructure, is that it must be administered by people. People who know what God intends and use scriptures to interpret it.

Michael Flynn, currently under investigation by the House Select Committee for his part in the deadly and badly botched January 6th coup d’ etat, endorses the kind of apocalyptic prophecies that made John Hagge so popular.

We have covered, in recent episodes, how the idea of how the United States has been depicted as a Chrisitian nation despite the overwhelming lack evidence. A Christian nation does not practice genocide. A Christian nation does not practice slavery. A Christian nation does not use unjust laws to oppress people based on the color of their skin.

This is one of those occasions where the appeal to a prepared audience gets the expected reaction. An appeal to the religious minded who do not trust government authority. God will establish a kingdom on earth. In this appeal it would an earthly kingdom, not a spiritual kingdom as Jesus wanted. Who would administer their kingdom? The likes of Hagee, Alex Jones, or Michael Flynn.

The Old Testament describes an attempt at Theocracy. Not a full theocracy, mind you, but a group of wandering judges who heard grievances and made decisions based on the laws of Moses. This was a limited period of Bible history, covered in the Biblical book oF Judges. There are a dozen judges described, and to the credit of Biblical authors and editors, no one attempts to cover their moral failures and shortcomings. There were virtuous judges like Deborah, who we visited in an earlier episode, warrior judges like Gideon, and a few with superhuman abilities like Samson. Eventually this period gave way to a kingship, and that started the tradition of a centralized formal government led by a political leader rather than a prophet like Moses, or a guerilla fighter like Samson.

One of the things we can say that the United States managed to do right is to create a new kind of government, one that is not ruled by a person claiming divine leadership. It's odd that the new conservative movement is trying to bring back a failed system of governance.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/11/19/michael-flynn-alex-jones-feucht/?fbclid=IwAR2Euhv4QlNKmpT1mQkMu-ctN_oDRGz9vsAk9gKQSTv1qVwMtXmPYxjK0rw

https://gbcbowie.org/blog/how-jesus-calls-us-to-submit-to-human-government/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/10-things-know-bible-teaches-god-human-government/

https://www.learnreligions.com/bible-on-paying-taxes-700647

Your Own Personal Jesus

In, “Your Own Personal Jesus,” we try to think about modern problems in the words of Jesus or the ideas he expressed. Conservative forces often appropriate Jesus' words' or more often, conservative writers like Saint Paul, to validate their viewpoint.

So, following Michael Flynn’s statement on establishing theocracy, we thought it would be a good opportunity to look at Jesus’ thinking on the subject. There is a comment, very famous, that can be applied:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

The fact is Jesus seems impatient with even being asked the question.

Here is something you don’t hear much: Jesus had a temper, and was often cross with the constant attempts to trip him up with words. Jesus did not appreciate being drawn, with flattering words, into answering this questions.

I have read several conservative religious opinions on this, and it is interesting how this scripture is most often turned into a citation strictly on paying taxes and nothing else. We have included samples here to show how Jesus’ word are not given and primacy among Old Testament scriptures, and the ever present croakings of Saint Paul:

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” ROMANS 13: 1

Ignoring the words of Paul, we can see that Jesus’ words can be applied to Michael Flynn’s preposterous assertion.

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