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The Kingdom of God is Decentralized
The Kingdom of God is a decentralized network of individuals who seek to be set apart from the world. These people are not bound together by force or fear, but by faith, hope, and charity. It is a voluntary association of believers that is self-governing in nature, where the authority comes from the bottom up with Christ as the master-servant showing us the way. In this way, space is created so that you may live out your service to God in its fullest form, doing works worthy of an eternal reward.
Mat 23:11 "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
Does this describe how we govern ourselves today? Do the governments of our lands act as our servants? Or are we submitting to governments of men that lord it over us by the threat of force? Do these governments resemble the Kingdom of God? Or is the Kingdom of God something completely separate (set apart) from centralized governments? It certainly seems like these governments are nothing more than (g)ods of the people, in the sense that they act as our providers and at the same time lead us into their extortion rackets and wars, herding us along another path. A path of captivity.
Luke 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Mat 20:25 ...Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (servant)
Do the modern churches represent the kingdom of God? They don't exercise lordship over us, right!? They are there to serve us, right!? Perfect then, all set, we got it all figured out… Well, not quite. The good news is the gospel of the Kingdom of God is still “at hand”, right before us. The bad news is our modern assemblies aren't serving as the Kingdom of God. Most assemblies are centralized and ruled by a single teacher or guru dictating our understanding. This isn’t the way iron sharpens iron. Some of these assemblies often create false division with legalistic belief systems using fear and even childish bullying to reinforce their doctrine. But most of them have been led to unite under the wing of the state and not under the character of Christ. The most fundamental foundations of the Kingdom are unknown to modern “Christians”. For example what happened to the weightier matters of the law? How about the tens, the fifties, the hundreds and thousands talked about throughout the scriptures? When have they taught the simplicity of Gospel of the Kingdom of God instead of teaching only part of the Gospel?
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
1 Ti 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Psa 72:12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
How often do you see churches make it a priority to help those in need of food instead of sending them to pray(ask) the government for food stamps? Sadly, most church leaders of today have no problem sending those in need to the princes of the Gentiles, those who exercise authority over them. It's as if we want it both ways. We want our assemblies to be free and self-governing but we miss the mark when it comes down to actually helping and loving our neighbor as our self. The “servants” of our local assemblies send those in need to the centralized power, the kings of this world, those who want to lord it over us. This leads us into a spiral of subsidizing our needs while enslaving us further and further into their captivity.
Thankfully there is a 'higher power' as Romans 13 suggests. A higher liberty. A higher right. The Bible describes this way as the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mar 1:14 … Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
Mat 4:17 … Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; …
Why Decentralized?
- Decentralization is a powerful pattern of creation. Its redundancy and diversification make any system more robust and less prone to failure.
- Centralization of power corrupts. Quite simply this pattern is clear from the scriptures.
- Decentralization allows for the maximum amount of freedom while putting the responsibility on the individual, where it belongs.
- Decentralization can be more responsive and instantly adaptable.
- Throughout the bible the tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands was always the prescribed manner in which we were to organize. This describes a decentralized network that was to be the basis for self-governing.
Examples from Nature
Consider the most complex of all distributed systems, the human body. Our bodies have trillions of cells, each with its own copy of the DNA despite having different roles. The redundancies continue with duplicate organs, like the lungs, ovaries, or livers. The brain is also two almost independent hemispheres.
The tiny ant is great in numbers:
Pro 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Count the Cost
Mat 11:22 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Sometimes the truth is right in front of us. The fear of man, selfishness, and the deceitfulness of our hearts clouds our thinking. Due to traditions and group pressures around us, we become blinded and imagine something that is not there. We live in a world were governments threaten to use violence if we do not conform our lives to their demands. On top of this, our modern assemblies further lead us to bow down to the state and direct us to pray to centralized governments for our needs.
Consider our parents, arguably the most influential people in our lives. Hopefully they encouraged us to ask questions and to think on our own. Hopefully, they lead us to be responsible and guided us to the best of their ability. Though they may have actually acted as an obstacle of truth if we were unwilling to meaningfully test and question what we were taught... so that we may truly be led by His spirit and not by man.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Are you willing to seek out the truth if it is contrary to your government, how about our local assembly? Parents? What if we have already taught our children something we now suspect is inconsistent? Would we have the courage to acknowledge it? Would we be willing to search them out and correct our paths?
Sources:
http://www.hisholychurch.org/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Adhocracy
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/10/31/decentralization-tips-mother-nature/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Anarchism
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Anarchist
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/World
The Kingdom of God is a decentralized network of individuals who seek to be set apart from the world. These people are not bound together by force or fear, but by faith, hope, and charity. It is a voluntary association of believers that is self-governing in nature, where the authority comes from the bottom up with Christ as the master-servant showing us the way. In this way, space is created so that you may live out your service to God in its fullest form, doing works worthy of an eternal reward.
Mat 23:11 "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
Does this describe how we govern ourselves today? Do the governments of our lands act as our servants? Or are we submitting to governments of men that lord it over us by the threat of force? Do these governments resemble the Kingdom of God? Or is the Kingdom of God something completely separate (set apart) from centralized governments? It certainly seems like these governments are nothing more than (g)ods of the people, in the sense that they act as our providers and at the same time lead us into their extortion rackets and wars, herding us along another path. A path of captivity.
Luke 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Mat 20:25 ...Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (servant)
Do the modern churches represent the kingdom of God? They don't exercise lordship over us, right!? They are there to serve us, right!? Perfect then, all set, we got it all figured out… Well, not quite. The good news is the gospel of the Kingdom of God is still “at hand”, right before us. The bad news is our modern assemblies aren't serving as the Kingdom of God. Most assemblies are centralized and ruled by a single teacher or guru dictating our understanding. This isn’t the way iron sharpens iron. Some of these assemblies often create false division with legalistic belief systems using fear and even childish bullying to reinforce their doctrine. But most of them have been led to unite under the wing of the state and not under the character of Christ. The most fundamental foundations of the Kingdom are unknown to modern “Christians”. For example what happened to the weightier matters of the law? How about the tens, the fifties, the hundreds and thousands talked about throughout the scriptures? When have they taught the simplicity of Gospel of the Kingdom of God instead of teaching only part of the Gospel?
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
1 Ti 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Psa 72:12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
How often do you see churches make it a priority to help those in need of food instead of sending them to pray(ask) the government for food stamps? Sadly, most church leaders of today have no problem sending those in need to the princes of the Gentiles, those who exercise authority over them. It's as if we want it both ways. We want our assemblies to be free and self-governing but we miss the mark when it comes down to actually helping and loving our neighbor as our self. The “servants” of our local assemblies send those in need to the centralized power, the kings of this world, those who want to lord it over us. This leads us into a spiral of subsidizing our needs while enslaving us further and further into their captivity.
Thankfully there is a 'higher power' as Romans 13 suggests. A higher liberty. A higher right. The Bible describes this way as the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mar 1:14 … Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
Mat 4:17 … Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; …
Why Decentralized?
- Decentralization is a powerful pattern of creation. Its redundancy and diversification make any system more robust and less prone to failure.
- Centralization of power corrupts. Quite simply this pattern is clear from the scriptures.
- Decentralization allows for the maximum amount of freedom while putting the responsibility on the individual, where it belongs.
- Decentralization can be more responsive and instantly adaptable.
- Throughout the bible the tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands was always the prescribed manner in which we were to organize. This describes a decentralized network that was to be the basis for self-governing.
Examples from Nature
Consider the most complex of all distributed systems, the human body. Our bodies have trillions of cells, each with its own copy of the DNA despite having different roles. The redundancies continue with duplicate organs, like the lungs, ovaries, or livers. The brain is also two almost independent hemispheres.
The tiny ant is great in numbers:
Pro 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Count the Cost
Mat 11:22 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Sometimes the truth is right in front of us. The fear of man, selfishness, and the deceitfulness of our hearts clouds our thinking. Due to traditions and group pressures around us, we become blinded and imagine something that is not there. We live in a world were governments threaten to use violence if we do not conform our lives to their demands. On top of this, our modern assemblies further lead us to bow down to the state and direct us to pray to centralized governments for our needs.
Consider our parents, arguably the most influential people in our lives. Hopefully they encouraged us to ask questions and to think on our own. Hopefully, they lead us to be responsible and guided us to the best of their ability. Though they may have actually acted as an obstacle of truth if we were unwilling to meaningfully test and question what we were taught... so that we may truly be led by His spirit and not by man.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Are you willing to seek out the truth if it is contrary to your government, how about our local assembly? Parents? What if we have already taught our children something we now suspect is inconsistent? Would we have the courage to acknowledge it? Would we be willing to search them out and correct our paths?
Sources:
http://www.hisholychurch.org/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Adhocracy
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/10/31/decentralization-tips-mother-nature/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Anarchism
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Anarchist
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/World
