Do I Expect God to Come Down & Institute a Theocracy?
Do I Expect God to Come Down & Institute a Theocracy?
A Surprise Question, a Spontaneous Utterance — a Satisfying Podcast Dialogue
I’ve done enough podcast interviews to know that each interviewer has his/her own style, interests and rhythm to piloting the discussion. But that doesn’t mean they’re entirely predictable, even after getting into the flow of the conversation.
The biggest surprise of a question I’ve ever received came courtesy of Brian Wilson on his “Now For Something Completely Different” (NFSCD) show for Thursday, June 13, 2024 (available on Spotify and here at Substack). I’ve written about it previously, but didn’t highlight the specific serendipitous segment I’ll feature today.
First, though, the setup. Brian approached my writings from a mostly secular perspective:
He asked whether the religious aspects of my book and blog impeded me reaching freedom-inclined readers.
We got into the nature of government and its inescapably religious aspects.
And since Brian has broached the subject of alternatives to government tactics in his own writings, we talked about the concept of “underthrowing” — a term I learned from Max Borders (another Substacker!) — rather than overthrowing violence-based institutions (a.k.a. governments).
Then came what I thought was a simple circle-back:
BRIAN: Do you anticipate an eventual theocracy?
DOM: Well, as I said before, every government’s a theocracy. So forget about anticipating it; it’s happened!
Brian clarified that he had something different in mind, which was surprising, given the secular approach he had taken the entire interview to that point:
BRIAN: Yeah, but not in the literal sense. Do you expect the Big Guy to actually set up things and take a serious hand in running the affairs of the world?
His pivot to a Christian-Apocalypse-based inquiry startled me enough that I had to restate his question to make sure I understood:
DOM: Do I expect God to come down and institute a theocracy?
Implicit answers, finally made explicit!
I’d never been asked such a question, in any venue. But I must’ve done enough reflecting on the matter in all my years leading up to that moment, because I answered immediately after making sure I understood the question, Do I expect God to come down and institute a theocracy?:
Absolutely not. Because He already did that [coming down into the world]. And when He did, He did not institute a theocracy. When Jesus showed up, what did He do? And maybe that’s a wonderful place to sum up, because I wrote a good book about it.
Always the salesman, heh.
I’d never seriously pondered the question about God materializing explicitly to set up a theocracy. But I have slowly, gradually, long-windedly stumbled through meditative prayer on the social issues of Christianity. And within the past year, I’ve been basically doing it in my public writings.
As readers of my book, Good Neighbor, Bad Citizen (Amazon, B&N, Lulu), and/or this same-named Substack know, the textual evidence from the Gospels is clear: God is no theocrat, the way humans have conceptualized and instituted such things. God leads by example in the person of Jesus, and shows us how to be a good neighbor who undermines — or underthrows — such imposed, hierarchical social orders.
I’d reprint some excerpts from my book to show what I mean … but IT’S THE WHOLE BOOK! REALLY, FOLKS, EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK IS ABOUT THIS ISSUE IN SOME SIGNIFICANT WAY!
No, I never use the words “theocrat/theocracy” in the book, but I don’t have to. All that’s necessary is to contrast the attitudes and actions of Jesus’ opponents with those of Jesus Himself.
The Jesus-modeled expression is politically anarchist/voluntarist, with the added positive substance of human dignity informing all interactions. Those who genuinely strive to live this way, do so as individuals who are both soulfully centered and socially decentralized; a spiritual union without a mental uniformity; good neighbors, but bad citizens.
The God I worship and write about is a lot closer to Brian’s image of the person advancing constructive alternatives for coercive civil authority than the cartoonish “Christian/Biblical nationalism” and its ideological, political kin.
Putting thoughts into words
As surprised as I was by both Brian’s question and my own response, I knew he was being honestly curious rather than accusatory. I was on a podcast, not on trial. And I was promoted, not persecuted, for my views.
Still, the immediate response that emerged from my vocal apparatus made me think of the Gospel passage where Jesus assures folks that “the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
If so, I’m glad the “Big Guy” (as Brian called God) came down, not to establish a theocracy, but to let me answer a great question in the moment, to put years of thoughts into a few dozen spontaneously uttered words.
And with that bit of gratitude expressed, I’m also thankful for all of you who read these weekly articles. If you’d like to share your thoughts — in however many words you feel necessary to use — then the Comments section is the place to be!
Have you ever been surprised by an answer you gave to a question? Was it a good surprise or a bad surprise?
What do you think about some very strongly held beliefs some people have in favor of “Christian” or “Biblical” theocracy? What do you say when those issues arise in conversation or in your media consumption?
Have you ever felt like a Transcendence helped you answer an important question?
Anything else on your mind regarding this article’s topics?
Let me know your thoughts in the Comments …
Very thought-provoking essay, Domenic. I've long believed that Christ will return and will personally reign over the earth for 1,000 years. Yet I've never considered whether His government could be rightly considered a theocracy. Thanks for making me ponder today.
Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4-6 NRSV-CI
Is that not a theocracy where priests rule? I mean He is ruling in conjunction. What say you?