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“It’s your civic duty!”

How often have we been told this in regards to going to the ballot box?

And perhaps it is – depending on what governmental system, i.e., kingdom, we have chosen to uphold.

Each election cycle, millions and millions of Americans file into their local governmental buildings to cast their votes for whomever they think is best suited to lead (or rule) the country. They see it as their duty, in order to maintain what they believe is best for them, or change that which they don’t like.

These are the Americans who have sworn fealty (if not in word, then in deed) to secular government. Many of them will claim to be Christians, and even consider their vote not only a civic duty, but a Christian one.

However, they ignore the outright prophetic proclamation by God Himself regarding Jesus Christ in Psalm 2:6 —

“But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

In Biblical symbolism, a “mountain” indicates a kingdom, or government.

Psalm 2:6 finds fulfillment in the words of Jesus Christ Himself shortly before His ascension –

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’ ” — Matthew 28:18

Let’s take a moment to examine what He said in this brief but impactful statement.

“ALL authority” – this is leaves no authority for anyone else except for those to whom Christ Himself gives it. This includes Biblical authorities such as elders, fathers, and mothers. It is also a direct contradiction to the statement of James Madison,¹ who said: “… the people are the only legitimate fountain of power …” This quote has become a rallying cry for “conservative” Americans, but Madison’s claim and Christs’ claim cannot both be right. We have a choice: To be good ‘Muricans and roll with what Madison asserted, or be loyal Christian soldiers and rely on what Christ said?

“In heaven and on earth” – Most good, churchgoing Christians are quick to point out that Jesus is King somewhere up beyond the blue, but the moment you suggest that he is King over the earth, they’re quick to correct you. They’ll tell us Jesus doesn’t rule on earth, but rather an evil fallen angel. They point you to Matthew 4:8, where the devil promises Jesus the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus will only worship him. As in the case of Adams’ quote above, whom should Christians believe? The word of the Son of God – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – or the word of one whom Christ said has been a liar from the beginning (John 8:44)?

No, there is a Kingdom here on earth today, established by God Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, and any Kingdom established by God far supersedes any government established by mankind.

“Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness”, Christ urges us in Matthew 6:33. This means Christ’s universal Kingdom should be the priority of all Christians.

And yet Christians today relegate the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to some ethereal plane beyond all human sight. They simply hope to one day go there when they die. Their time on earth is spent participating with fanatical eagerness in the rituals of secular human governments. They wave their flags, tout their constitutions, fervently support their military and police, laud their chosen political leaders, and belt out their anthems. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Heaven is a secondary thought, only relevant when they find themselves lying on their deathbeds.

In the first three centuries AD, Christians were persecuted for not worshiping Caesar. All they had to do was toss a handful of incense on an altar. That was it. Little more was required of them beyond that. And yet they refused. Why? Because this seemingly small gesture lent the appearance of legitimacy to Caesar’s claim to divinity. Many Christians died rather than perform this act.

The ballot box is today’s altar to Caesar. The vote is today’s incense.

In Biblical symbolism, the prayers of the saints are represented by incense (Revelation 5:8). If you look up “vote” in Webster’s 1828 dictionary, you’ll find one of the definitions reads, “United voice in public prayer”.

Christians occupy themselves each election cycle engaging in national prayer – not to the one true God, but to the State, the human-created monstrous chimera that feeds on the blood of innocents. They pray to the modern Moloch, all the while piously singing that this world is not their home.

What idolatry! And to further claim that it is the Christian’s God-given duty to do so is nothing short of blasphemy.

God’s perfect Law condemns idolaters and blasphemers to death.

The foolishness of the voting Christian indicates that he knows nothing about the Kingdom of Christ.

Firstly, he assumes that he has some measure of authority to confer on whomever he wills. This is false. A common assertion is that whoever is in power is “God’s anointed”. But consider God’s words through the prophet Hosea:

“Put the trumpet to your lips!
Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
They cry out to Me,
“My God, we of Israel know You!”
Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
That they might be cut off.” — Hosea 8:1-4

A ruler established by man’s election, rather than God’s, is established outside of His authority. A ruler established by man’s election, rather than God’s, is established in spite of God’s rulership. It is a false ruler and thus, a false god. It is preferring the rulership of man over the rulership of Christ. It is a golden calf. No man has the authority to do this. Scripture condemns such an act. In setting up false gods, man in the process makes himself a god, with authority to establish kings.

Secondly, because man does not have any such power, then the rulers which he establishes through the voting process are no rulers at all, but impostors. They are no gods at all, no matter how much two and a half centuries of patriotic American tradition have tried to make them so:

“O LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
And my refuge in the day of distress,
To You the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say
‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood.
Futility and things of no profit.’
Can man make gods for himself?
Yet they are not gods!
Therefore, behold, I am going to make them know –
This time I will make them know
My power and My might;
And they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” — Jeremiah 16:19-21

King Jeroboam told the people in I Kings 12 that it was too much to expect them to worship God all the way down in Jerusalem, so he set up two golden calves. Today, Christians think the way of God is too hard, too unfair, too unequal (Ezekiel 33), and repudiate the very idea of Christ’s rulership on earth as a “theocracy”. They then establish a theocracy of multiple false gods on every hill and under every green tree, so to speak, and burden themselves with a myriad of “laws” and taxes, all through the illusion of having rulers who by right are no rulers at all.

God is not mocked. Our rebellion always comes with a price.

Thirdly, God has made clear that He alone is Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22), and He alone sets up and removes kings (Daniel 2:21). And yet Christians take it upon themselves to vote lawmakers into power. What a delusion, and what a mockery of God! You and I have no power or authority to make laws by which to make other men live, and yet we think we have the power and authority to set up other men to make those laws? Foolishness. Why do we not simply bow to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and recognize that what is good enough for our God is more than good enough for us? Simply, it is the whisper of the serpent continuing to hiss in our ears, “You shall be as gods, knowing good from evil.” It’s our desire to sit in the seat of God, our innate humanist nature striving against our Creator.

All this leads to a final conclusion:

If man has no innate authority to confer on other men, and the rulers he tries to establish over himself are in fact illegitimate, and God alone has the power to set up kings and make laws, then the entire voting process is an utter sham. It is a system founded entirely on deception and delusions of divine grandeur.

Never mind whether the voting system is rigged (as it has been proven to be). Never mind who is running for office, no matter how good you may think that person is. Never mind what authority or power your “founding fathers” have said you possess. The Word of God makes clear that only God has this power.

Furthermore, as Christians, not only do we have Jesus Christ as our King, but He has elected us through the election of grace (Romans 11:5) to be a royal priesthood (Exodus 19:6, I Peter 2:9) to be kings and priests under Him (Revelation 1:6). We should have no desire for any other kingdom or government, but be fully invested in and committed to the Kingdom of (not just in) Heaven. If by God’s own election Christians are kings and priests, surely any election by man means nothing at all.

Our civic duty is not to set up kings outside the authority of God, but rather to promote and uphold the laws and kingship of the one true King, Jesus Christ, in whom alone is the victory.

1James Madison, The Federalist, No. 46, p. 217