All societies are theocratic. All of them! The only thing that distinguishes them is how the reigning ‘theos’ or ‘god’ of each society is defined.
In a lecture delivered at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, Doug Wilson explained that the reigning theos of any society can be identified by locating that society’s highest authority. The highest authority is the point at which no further appeals can be made.
A Christian society recognises the highest authority as Jesus Christ. That is what Christians mean when we say Jesus is Lord or Jesus is King. Jesus is the supreme authority and the final court of appeals.
After he rose from the dead, Jesus told his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). He did not say all spiritual authority. He did not say all Church authority. Jesus said all authority.
By doing so, Jesus placed himself above every other authority in existence, inside the church and outside the church. That is why Jesus is elsewhere referred to as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). Every king, president, dictator and authority on earth has a King in heaven to whom they are accountable.
Just consider the threats God issues upon ungodly rulers who refuse to recognise their place as subjects under his heavenly throne:
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psa. 2:10-12)
In a Christian society, politicians and authorities must operate within the bounds of the perfect law of God. The problem is, society has been convinced (willfully), that Jesus has no place limiting the power and influence of the government in our lives.
We now like to think a democracy is a fairer system, where the highest authority is the 51 per cent. In Australia, for instance, the government recently redefined the God-ordained institution of marriage after a majority voted in favour of legalising same-sex weddings.
That moment was a nation-wide declaration that the reigning theos, or god of Australia, was not King Jesus, but demos, ‘the people.’ In other words, your freedoms, your rights, and your liberties now essentially rest upon the arbitrary and ever-changing opinion of the majority.
This is favourable for corrupt politicians who don’t want to serve the highest authority, but be the highest authority. As a result, we’ve “democratically” handed more power and authority to corrupt politicians and aspiring tyrants than they were ever entitled to.
The refusal to acknowledge that Jesus is King has had devastating consequences. Not only have we seen a moral breakdown in society, but the blood-thirsty god of secularism has approved of the slaughter of more human life in the past century than we could possibly comprehend.
In the end, theocracy is inescapable. All societies are theocratic. The question is, would you rather kneel before the state or have the state kneel before King Jesus?
