America suffers no shortage of really evil mayors. Even so, I’d say New York City’s Bill “Comrade” de Blasio is in a league by himself. But that doesn’t seem to bother my fellow congregants at church. Almost every Sunday, one or the other prays God’s blessings on this perverted tyrant, presumably on the basis of the badly mistranslated and misunderstood Romans 13.

If you’ve experienced similar offenses against Holy Writ, you may appreciate a new publication from Mark Carroll. He suggested a few weeks ago that he collect a series of “conversations” that the novelist, Lela Markham, and I conducted on her blog about anarcho-capitalism, political government, and the Bible. Lela is far more knowledgeable about and open-minded on these topics than most Christians; still, Mark’s compilation of our discussions may help you convince your siblings in the Lord that far from authorizing the utterly Satanic State, Scripture vehemently condemns it. Among other issues, Lela and I explore Jotham’s Fable (Judges 9), the implications of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule against government, the allure and abuse of political power, and what Christ’s temptation in the wilderness and His crucifixion reveal about the State.

For instance, speaking of the last, I remarked:

My gracious, if the State falsely accused our child, our parent, or our spouse and then electrocuted him (a quick and merciful death, compared to crucifixion), we would loathe the politicians and bureaucrats responsible, would we not? Would we ever trust government again, let alone pledge it our allegiance? Yet we prattle about God’s “ordaining” government and our “Christian” duty to “honor” the State when it fiendishly tortured our Savior to death. Where is our loyalty? Where is our decency? Where is the love, let alone worship, we owe our God? What unspeakable ingrates most Christians are as they cede the adoration and obedience due Christ to the very entity that crucified Him.

Toss that one out there in Sunday School and see what sort of reactions you receive!

Mark Carroll has compiled and edited these blogs, making them conveniently available in pdf format. I’m deeply grateful to him and to Lela and pray God will use this effort to His glory. If you’d like some ammo to lob at devout but tragically mistaken Christians this Sunday, write me for a copy of this pdf.

Thanks again, Mark.

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