Recently I was speaking with a pastor whose political views I would describe as “God and Country zealotry.” In the course of our conversation, which had taken its typical political turn, he said, “We must defend Freedom, Democracy and Capitalism in the name of Christ.”

That is quite a claim. But is it true? Must Rousseau freedom, Jeffersonian democracy and Laissez-faire capitalism be defended in the name of Christ? Let’s think about it for a moment.

Freedom. It’s the promise of every empire. It's what Rome and all the rest promise. And it's always what we go to war for. Freedom. Political Freedom. Economic Freedom. Individual Freedom. “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” The vocabulary of patriotic fervor. As if there were no Freedom until Jeffersonian democracy arrived on the scene. So what was Jesus talking about? Jesus and Paul seemed to have a thing or two to say about Liberty and Freedom, but they never breathed a word about political democracy or economic capitalism. Have we been seduced by the blandishments of empire? America may be a kinder, gentler Babylon, maybe the kindest, gentlest Babylon there's ever been (though native Americans and African slaves may beg to differ, not to mention the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Be that as it may, America is still a Babylon. And as such it has nothing to do with the kingdom of Christ…other than to be a rival.

Democracy. I agree with Winston Churchill. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for any other." Where I disagree with Churchill is his assumption that democracy is the way to bring goodness to the world. I disagree with Churchill because I am unwilling to kill on behalf of the state. And in the end democracy requires this. (In the end the beast is always red in tooth and claw.) I realize most post-Constantine Christians are willing to kill on behalf of the state—especially if they are citizens of a currently reigning or aspiring empire. But this has been one of our biggest problems. The early (pre-Constantine) Christians had a different view on the matter. It's interesting how gaga many Christians can be about the early church, but choke on the apostolic and patristic view of empire.

Capitalism. It works. It works because it takes into account the primary motivation of fallen humans: pride and greed. Marx mistakenly thought people would willingly serve the state. They will not. They'll serve themselves and their families. What was missing from Marx's equation was love. And absent the motive  of altruistic love Marxism becomes the cruelest form of totalitarianism. And the missing element in the Marxist equation—self-sacrificing love—comes only from the Holy Spirit. Capitalism works because it taps the energy of fallen man and is preferable because it better diffuses power—and power among fallen man is always best diffused. But capitalism is not the kingdom of Jesus. Jesus did not teach socialist economics or capitalistic economics. Jesus taught love economics. But he made no (zero!) effort to enforce his love economics on the wider culture (Jewish or Roman). And Jesus certainly did not endorse the implementation and protection of political or economic systems through force (i.e. violence). Jesus was content to form an alternative society of those who professed faithful allegiance to the Son of Man.  These would become the true sons and daughters of the kingdom of heaven. The grand paradox is that Jesus won his kingdom by submitting to a state sponsored execution; by laying down his life and trusting God to raise him from the dead.

It should be noted that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the final damning indictment upon the ethics of empire. Rome claimed to stand for freedom, peace and justice—but in the name of their empire they murdered the Son of God. The religious leaders of Jerusalem were co-conspirators in the imperial crime of deicide because they too were “practical men” who had pledged their allegiance to the empire. Witness their allegiance: “We have no king but Caesar.” In that moment they completely  betrayed their WWMD? wristbands (What Would Moses Do?).

Allegiance to empire is the result of the idolatrous worship of pragmatism. “This is just the way the real world works.” But I reject the “real world” and its bloody pragmatism. I know my position is radical. So be it. I believe it to be radically Christian. Dangerously radical. Why, it could get a man crucified. Or if he happens to be a citizen of the empire, perhaps just mercifully beheaded. We must realize that the Roman Empire didn't kill Christians for religious reasons. Rome couldn't care less about personal religious preference. The Roman world had plenty of religious liberty. (It was during medieval Christendom that religious liberty was lost.) The apostles and early Christian martyrs were executed, not for religious reasons, but for political reasons. For confessing that Christ was emperor and not Caesar. For preaching the gospel of the Pax Cristus instead of the Pax Romana. Will we dare to preach the gospel of the Pax Cristus instead of the Pax Americana?

I've got nothing against America. It's a fine empire. I'm a citizen and a beneficiary of its prosperity. And I certainly have enough patriotism to cheer for America in the Olympics. But America is not the agency through which the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ is brought to the nations. The liberation of the nations through the proclamation of the gospel is the mission of the church! God didn't "raise up America." Every empire engages in that kind of propaganda. God raised Christ from the dead and poured out the Holy Spirit upon body of Christ—the church. Nationality doesn’t mean a thing. God’s nationalistic agenda ended with Christ. Now his agenda is advanced through the global church. National identity is utterly insignificant. Oh, I understand that to the nations of the world it's everything. Indeed, they'll kill for it—go “shock and awe” on their enemies with their hand on their heart pledging allegiance. But that's just it, they're the nations of the world and not yet disciples of Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn’t “shock and awe” his enemies. He forgave them and allowed himself to be crucified (when he could have summoned an army of angels). Why? You can't win a war that way! You've got to kill the enemy s.o.b. (to paraphrase General Patton). But as Christians we believe that Jesus did win a war that way. We believe he won the whole world that way. We do believe that, don't we? We do believe that Jesus won, don't we? We do believe that Jesus is Lord, don’t we? We do believe that Jesus currently reigns as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, President of Presidents, Prime Minister of Prime Ministers, don't we?

And since (if) we believe that Jesus is Lord, we're not all that concerned about what Caesar does or what empire claims to rule the world these days. They’re all impostors.

Jesus is Lord.

It's a political statement.

I'm a radical. Or at least I’m trying to be. A dangerous, kingdom of God radical. The empire should be wary of me and my kind. Sure, we are productive, law abiding citizens—harmless as doves. But our ideas are subversive. They are the seeds of the kingdom that grows by night. Our ideas about Jesus and his alternative way are the leaven in the imperial dough. They are the radical Jesus ideas that subvert the false pretense of empire. Caesar doesn't save, Christ does. Caesar isn't Lord, Christ is. The empire doesn't bring peace, justice and freedom, the kingdom of our Lord does.

I am a radical.

I will not adapt the radical kingdom gospel of Jesus Christ to the self-serving values of the empire and  conspire to turn Christianity into a civic religion of the state. That's the whore riding the back of the beast. Which has been ever popular these past seventeen centuries.

I am a radical.

Out of wisdom and a desire to be effective (and perhaps from a sense of self-preservation) I tell it slant. Like Jesus did. Parable, allegory, allusion and story work better than in your face prose (as I am recklessly doing here). I tell it slant, but I tell it. I tell it because of what I have seen. The empires of this world are beastly. All of them. Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, France, Germany, Britain, Russia—America too. But the Lamb has conquered. Worthy is the Lamb.

I am a radical.

I'm not taking the easy road and I'm not playing it safe. My conservative friends think I'm liberal. My liberal friends think I'm conservative. I am neither. I'm totally off the charts. I've opted out of the illusion that politics of either stripe even has the possibility of being faithful to Christ.

This is my confession. It comes from what I have seen. The empires of this world are beasts, but the Lamb—the little lamb as if slain—has conquered. It’s the absurd comedy of God. It’s our gospel. It’s the hope of the world. You can see it too, if you want to. But you have to really want to see. Because it will cost you.

Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur.

Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow him.