Worldly Authority.

When we were young we read about Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and Napoleon and we were encouraged to admire their achievements.

When we went to Sunday School we were encouraged to emulate Jesus' and the disciples' good works and morality.

We were never told that the Bible calls the great conquerors beasts because of their brutality and cruelty.

Instead we were indoctrinated with the idea that worship of God is equated with respect for authority.

This is an error.

People in positions of worldly authority are more like beasts than God.

The correct position is that Jesus, as God's representative, challenged those in positions of worldly authority and was put to death by them.

After Jesus' death the message from God of unconditional love and forgiveness was usurped by the authorities and modified to become a tool which the establishment used to subjugate the masses.

"'From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.'"  Matthew 11:12 (NRSV)

They made God in their own image.

And it has been that way ever since.


(Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.)

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