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Jesus Is an Anarchist

James Redford

 

1. Jesus’ Very Life Began in an Act of Defiance to Government (And Would Later End in Defiance to Government)

If it were not for Joseph and Mary's intentional act of defying that which they knew to be king Herod the Great's will and escaping with baby Jesus from out of Herod's mid as fugitives to the land of Egypt then Jesus would have been mercilessly killed and needless to say His ministry and the fulfillment of Scripture would have never come about.

Thus in the most fundamental of regards, there is a great antagonism from the very start between Jesus and government (to say the least): Jesus was born into the world as a criminal and would latter be killed as a criminal – a criminal as so regarded by the government, that is. And what was baby Jesus's crime? From Matthew 2:1-6 we find the answer:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.' " (NKJV, as elsewhere unless noted otherwise.)

So here we learn that Herod became troubled at the thought that there might be someone else that people would come to regard as their king other than Herod. Herod regarded Jesus as a threat to his power: was his fear unjustified?

It is my judgement and this document's central thesis that Herod was correct in his assessment of Jesus as being a threat to his power – although not just to Herod as an individual but to all that Herod represents, in a word: government; along with the unholy usurpation, deception and subjugation of people that it necessarily entails. For as I will show, Jesus's Kingdom is to be the functional opposite of any Earth-bound kingdom which has ever existed. And for government, this is the ultimate crime of which Jesus was guilty, and which required His extermination. Here we read of this pivotal act of holy defiance to government, without which there would be no Christ as we know of:

Matthew 2:13-15: Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

As well, so enraged was Herod upon learning that the wise men had disobeyed his order to report back to him on the location of baby Jesus that he ordered the extermination of all the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas from age two and younger, all in the hopes that baby Jesus would be among the slaughtered (Matt. 2:12,16-18). It was only after king Herod the Great had perished that Joseph brought his family out of the land of Egypt, and then only to Nazareth as Herod's son Archelaus was then reigning over Judea (Matt. 2:19-23).

How very considerate indeed Jesus was being when He advised His disciples in Mark 8:15:

Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

At the time Jesus offered the above advice He would have been referring to Herod Antipas. Jesus would later be mocked and ridiculed by Herod Antipas before finally being put to death as a common criminal by the Roman government (Luke 23:8-12). In handling the case of Jesus, Herod Antipas asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus refused to answer any of Herod's questions (Luke 23:9).

Thus, not only did Jesus's very life begin in an act of holy defiance to government but it would also end in holy defiance to government. It was also Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist (Matt. 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9).

The story of Jesus's life can in part be summed up as suffering through this unjust Satanic world system for having preached the Truth, with government being chief among the culprits of this Satanic world system. All one has to do is review the life story of Jesus to plainly see that government – far from being instituted by God – is and has been a demonic tool of Satan used to oppress the righteous.

And I will demonstrate that Jesus and the early Church leaders – as recorded the Bible – knew this to be the case and preached the same. The instrument which Satan used in an attempt to snuff-out that Truth in an act of deicide was government – from the beginning of Jesus's life to the very end, it was government which sought to exterminate this most dangerous threat of all to its power.

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2. The Golden Rule Unavoidably Results in Anarchism