Conquest through Service

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Ps. 33:12; Gal. 3:8)

"An empire is necessarily threatened by the gospel. The gospel challenges the theology of man as divine, a theology that always undergirds every empire. But to stamp out their Christian enemies, the bureaucrats must take great risks. The bureaucrats who run the ecnomony always want to meet their production quotas and earn their bonuses. If they persecute Christians, they threaten their organizations' output. Time and again, the most productive citizens of any empire are the hated Christians. They are the ones who are not addicted to alcohol, or absenteeism, or other forms of passive resistance. The biblical idea of service serves Christianity well. The failing productivity of the empire makes the bureaucratic functionaries increasingly dependent on Christians in order to meet the assigned production quotas. Like Jacob in Laban's household, like Joseph in Potiphar's household and in the Egyptian prison, competent service to others creates dependency on the servant. Dominion is by service. 'But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant' (Matt. 23:11).

Satan believes that dominion is by power. He seeks to control others. Their resistance slows his ability to bring others under his power. There is built-in resistance to expansion in every empire. Territory and people once captured cannot be held captive indefinitely. They find ways of thwarting the bureaucratic system.

Empires do not survive for long. Their masters must work very fast and take high risks in order to extend the power of their empires. In contrast, Christians have plenty of time. Slow growth multiplies over many generations. This is God's promise: 'For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands [of generations], of them that love me, and keep my commandments' (Ex. 20:5-6). 'Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hateth him, he will repay him to his face.' (Deut. 7:9-10).

Pagan empires are invariably cut off in the midst of history. They try to achieve world dominion, but there are always new empires rising up to challenge them (Dan. 8). God will not permit any nation to achieve total world dominion in history. The one-State world is a denial of God's universal sovereignty over man, and also a denial of Christ's progressive kingdom in history. The pagan empire cannot tolerate rivals. It cannot be content with federation. It cannot share the glory of power. It therefore cannot succeed in history.

The kingdom of Christ imposes the requirement of modesty on the nations that compose it. No Christian nation can hope to impose its will by force on the whole world. Such pride is recognized as being evil, as well as self-destructive. Dominion is by service. Thus, the decentralized earthly kingdom of Christ can grow over time to fill the earth [Dan. 2:34-35], but without becoming an empire. No one nation can hope to achieve dominance, though one or two may achieve primary influence temporarily, through adherence to the principle of service. Long-term cooperation among nations is possible only if all of them realize the inherent, God-imposed limitations on the power wielded by any one nation. The Christian nation faces the same warning that Christian individuals face: 'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall' (Prov. 16:18).

The residents of each nation must regard their own nation as mortal, just as men regard themselves. The more closely a nation conforms to biblical ethical standards, the longer it will survive as a separate entity. This the biblical principle of inheritance. The heirs of any national group will retain their separate character only so long as God continues to grant the nation His grace. Rebellion against Him brings destruction and national obliteration. As always, dominion is by covenant.

'LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us. O LORD our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name. They are dead, they will not live; they are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. You have increased the nation, O LORD, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have expanded all the borders of the land.' (Isa. 26:12-15, New King James Version)

Christians have good reasons to be confident about the earthly future of Christ's kingdom. Pagans do not have much of anything to be confident about. Time is against them. So is God."

--Gary North, from Millennialism and Social Theory (Institute for Christian Economics, 1990, pp.333-335)

broken pottery from an archaeological dig

Dominion Is the Real Point of Tension

"Education is not the primary issue. DOMINION is the real point of tension. If Christians are allowed to educate their children the way God commands, then they will dominate society. Let's get this clear from the beginning. Christianity is invincible, superior to every other system of religion. Allowed to run its course, nothing can stop it. Why do you think secular educators desperately want control of Christian children? Why do you think the State runs all the schools in Communist countries? It's a matter of indoctrinating the children of the State's enemies with a FOREIGN WORLD AND LIFE VIEW. A world and life view is a GRID THROUGH WHICH EVERYTHING IS UNDERSTOOD. The power to form a young person's worldview is the heart of education. This has been understood since John Dewey, one of the founders of public [statist-GD] education, first signed and advocated the first Human Manifesto. It's time Christians learned this as well." --Ray Sutton, from "Who Owns The Family: God or the State?" Dr. Gary North, General Editor (Dominion Press, 1986, p. 89)

In Praise of Dr. Gary North

I thank God for Dr. Gary North, and I wish to give Dr. North some well-deserved praise in this post. He is so often the object of criticism, so often undeserved, that I wanted to take this opportunity of having a blog to publicly praise this brother. I was honored to hear him speak in person at an American Vision conference a few years ago, and I wish I had not let the chance go by to speak to him personally.

• He is a true Christian brother who is a sinner saved by grace and does not allow the fact that he's a sinner paralyze him or prevent him from making effort to take dominion for his Head, Jesus Christ.
• He loves the gospel of Christ and understands how this frees us (Christians) to love the law of God.
• He has devoted his life to the cause of Christ and advancing the kingdom of Christ.
• He is brilliant, well-read, and savvy.
• He asks insightful questions, even the tough ones, and causes people to think.
• He is a diligent hard-worker and productive of valuable books, articles, newsletters, and speeches.
• He is a husband and father.
• He has taken criticism and shown moral courage in carrying on in his work for the sake of Christ.
• He has brought the writings of Christian Reconstructionists into mass circulation when it is likely they otherwise would not have been published.
• He has been apt to teach and mentor younger men and allowed them to stand on his shoulders to carry on with kingdom-building work when he is gone (point 5 of Ray Sutton's 5-point covenant model ;-) )
• He has a great sense of humor and "tweaks the noses" of those who need their noses tweaked.
• He is a ground-breaker who is willing to confront entrenched establishment systems for the sake of Christ and Christendom.

I wish I had the time to write and post reviews of all his books I've read. There are so many more which I have yet to read (though I plan to do so, Lord willing). These are Dr. North's books I've read:

Backward, Christian Soldiers?
Christian Reconstruction: What It Is and What It Isn't (co-authored with Gary DeMar)
Conspiracy: A Biblical View
Crossed Fingers: How Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church
Dominion and Common Grace: The Biblical Basis of Progress
Healer of the Nations (Biblical Blueprints Series, Vol. 9)
Marx's Religion of Revolution: Regeneration through Chaos
Millennialism and Social Theory
Political Polytheism
Tactics of Christian Resistance (editor and contributor, Christianity & Civilization Series, Vol. 3)
Theonomy: An Informed Response (editor and contributor)
Unconditional Surrender: God's Program for Victory
Unholy Spirits
Unknown History of the 20th Century (lectures on DVD)
Westminster's Confession: The Abandonment of Van Til's Legacy

Thank you, Dr. Gary North!