The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
The REAL and FAKE Study
“Literacy and the WORD”
Four Governing Bodies
and the Authority of God's rule
"God has four basic covenants, four mechanisms through which He has chosen to rule. These are the individual, family, church, and civil covenants. We might also call these four forms of government self-government, family government, church government, and civil government. I am using the word government in the biblical sense of a jurisdiction, a specific realm of authority that has been delegated to us to accomplish a given task."
As I have been studying and observing these “mechanisms through which God rules”, I visualize a tiered system of spheres, each one submitting to the authority of the one outside itself while lifting up the one inside. an individual is to honor everyone outside himself while loving and lifting up his brother.
This House
My illustration of a “house” represents each of the four governing bodies, and the idea came from scripture. First, in the many parables that reference the kingdom of heaven such as the Parable of the Weeds (Mat.13:24-30) and the Parable of the Tenants (Mat. 21:33-46). In Psalm 127:1, Solomon sings “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” In Matthew 12:25, “Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.'” and v.29, “Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” Then in John 14:2-3, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
SELF Government
A Human Institution under God
The first sphere of government sits at the very center of God’s system of authority – SELF. Your body, mind and soul become a government with authority when you “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37-40). Then, when you love your neighbor as yourself, you open up your heart (house) and allow Jesus room to build His Temple. All other authority builds off of the foundational corner stone that is Jesus.
“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
If you are like me, you may have a hard time thinking of yourself as the first and central body of God’s government. There is a difference between making a god of yourself and making God the authority of your life. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then to put yourself first IS TO PUT YOURSELF FIRST. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then to put yourself first IS TO PUT YOURSELF LAST, as Mark 9:35 says in the quote above. The moment you accepted Jesus Christ as the ruler of your life is the moment Jesus took up residence in your heart and built in you His governing body.
The way I understand it, YOU are the only human institution that Jesus lives inside. Through you He has authority over all the other human institutions.
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! I cannot stress enough how IMPORTANT this is to the Empire vs. Kingdom discussion. Jesus lives within YOU. If you refuse to put yourself at center, then you deny the voice of Jesus to speak into all other human institutions, including education, transportation, healthcare, welfare and the right to life. Don’t do that.
Give Jesus room in your heart to become CENTRAL in your life, and allow Him space inside your “house” to move!
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
TO NAME IS TO HAVE AUTHORITY :
In Genesis 2:19-20, God brought “every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens” to Adam to be named (SELF). Adam also named Eve. This may relate somehow to the woman taking the last name of the man she marries, I am not sure.
Parents are to give their child a first name (FAMILY), but sometimes God establishes his authority over FAMILY government by naming (or renaming) some of the most pivotal characters in the Bible (Abraham, Israel, John the Baptist, Jesus, Matthew, Peter, Paul, etc).
I cannot think of the authority a CHURCH has in giving names, but I am sure there is something … Jesus “names” his apostles. That is one. (Send me a message or write in the comments below if you have insight on this.)
For CIVIL government, I can think of MANY names this human institution exercises authority over (cities, roads, buildings, etc.), but a nation is not given authority to name people, and that is a critical piece to understanding God’s four governing bodies. This abuse of authority is happening today, and it will be discussed more in the final layer of governance, Civil.
FAMILY Government
A Human Institution under God
The government of FAMILY (Genesis 1:28) is the SECOND sphere of government. It existed thousands of years before Jesus defeated death on the cross, therefore making FAMILY the longest standing institution under God.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
What is the function of Government?
Since so many of us think of government only in terms of the state, let’s begin there. As I list the responsibilities of the national government, think about how FAMILY government is responsible for these very same jobs, but on a personal and loving level.
- Our American government is set up to PROTECT from internal and external attack. It establishes laws and an order of justice. It maintains military, public safety, and emergency services (ie. police, fire and ambulance).
- Our American government is set up to PROVIDE for essential needs. It builds and maintains roadways, bridges, public transportation, education, healthcare, welfare, and public utilities (ie. water, electric, sanitation).
- Our American government is set up to act as a COLLECTIVE BODY for park services, museums, national defense, fair practice, consumer protection, poverty, inequality and environment etc.
- Our American government is set up to determine the appropriate FISCAL and MONETARY expenses incurred for all their services. It sets taxes and budgets to fund public services, infrastructure, and promote economic growth.
- Our American government is set up to REPRESENT us when communicating. It speaks to foreign governments on our behalf regarding treaty and trade negotiations, and it sets up civic engagement within sectors of healthcare, education and finance.
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
Consider the order in which God chose the nation of Israel. First he chose an individual (Abraham) who grew into a family (the Tribe of Israelite), who became a nation (Israel), who finally expanded to includ the entire world through Jesus Christ : One kingdom under God for those who do believe.
Four governing bodies, each with a form of its own.
CHURCH Government
A Human Institution under God
The government of CHURCH (Matthew 28:18-20) is the Body of Christ and the THIRD sphere of authority under God. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,'” The bride and the bridegroom are committed to each other in the most divine and beautiful way. Two bodies join as one in the marriage covenant between Christ and his bride. I placed Church government inside Civil Government because the human institution of Church pays taxes to their state and nations government, not the other way around.
"EVERY Human Institution" means more than one
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
If you attended church in the months leading up to election day, 1 Peter 2 was probably at the heart of one of those sermons. Many of our churches have been framing election season around a biblical framework, and since I was writing this article, I wanted to know how different churches approached “every human institution” under God. I watched many different church services (in person and online) across Washington County and even Scottsdale Arizona (See works cited).
When we read these words of Peter telling us “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution” (1 Peter 2:13) though, we simply jump to the conclusion that civil government is the ONLY human institution God ever established, but this is not accurate. Bible scholars point out FOUR human institutions of government God has ordained through the covenants, and the first two were practiced thousands of years prior to God establishing the last two.
This lesson in “government” goes so much deeper when we take a step back to see the Bible as ONE story. Two verses later, Peter reminds us that SELF, FAMILY, and CHURCH come before CIVIL government. (I say they come before because of the order Peter lists them).
Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
Now, I am not an expert, but I count four. There are four commands here, and they seem to line up perfectly with the four human institutions. Placed in its proper order, we are to submit to the first three SO THAT by the time we get to the fourth, we elect officials who love God and neighbor (SELF), honor father and mother (FAMILY), and grow the Kingdom of God (CHURCH). There is such beautiful depth to the Word of God, and we need to make sure that our church teaches culture through the lens of the Bible (and not vice versa). This is so important because if we allow ourselves to be shepherded by church leaders who speak in quarter truths for the sake of friendly political sermons, then we are at risk of reading 1 Peter 2:13-14 as a worldly Christian, and mistakenly bowing a knee to the Emperor rather than the King.
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
THE CULTURE OF “WORLD”
says CIVIL and CHURCH do not belong together. “Separation of church and state!” they cry out. This is a lie. Not only does God institute this pairing with Israel, but the Prince of this world will also institute a system of CIVIL and CHURCH government in the end that will persecute, torture and kill the people of God. In this way, the UN-holy trinity will mimic the Holy Trinity by agent of a political leader (the Antichrist) and a religious leader (the False Prophet). See Matthew 11:27 and Rev. 13:4 for the Christ/Antichrist comparison. See John 16:14 and Rev.13:12 for the Holy Spirit/False Prophet comparison. (Bible references from The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah, Part 5).
THE ENEMY OF GOD IS THE ENEMY OF NATION, CHURCH, FAMILY, and SELF. His goal is to occupy your “house”.
Jesus builds his Temple inside YOU, and in your fellowship with other believers you form the body of Christ (aka the Church). Jesus will work inside YOU if you allow Him to fill your “house” with His truth and love. He sets up His system of good governance in YOU, and when you allow this to happen, the other three governments fall into correct alignment … but the enemy ALSO knows scripture and the authority of God. That is why he works so hard to destroy your house by tempting you from within. If you are in Jesus Christ, the enemy cannot own you, but He CAN enter your “house” and fill it with lies (Driscoll).
Civil Government
A Human Institution
The final sphere of government is CIVIL (Romans 13:3-4; 1 Peter 2:13-14). This government under God represents every person on the face of the earth, no matter their religion. We are to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) Civil rules over even the church because the church does not require the world to tithe, and yet all churches are subject to the governing body of their state and nation.
Julius Caesar was the originator of the name Caesar that the Roman emperors adopted. After his death in 44 B.C. Augustus ruled while Jesus was a boy, and Tiberius ruled while Jesus was a man. All three rulers would have had the same denarius coin featuring the word “Caesar” with his portrait because both Augustus and Tiberius took the name Caesar as a political tactic giving him the power of Julius Caesar as an adopted son.
When you send a child to the empire for an education, who do you expect will return home?
I grew up with a distrust for all things “government”. Some might say this is a characteristic of my generation, Gen X, but there is more to it than that. As a product of the public school system, I learned about the EMPIRE’s truth through the emperor’s education system. My government school only taught me about ONE governing body – their own – and so it makes sense that I have grown up to associate the government of “nation” as the ONLY human government there is.
The majority of American youth are educated by the emperor, just like I was, just like my kids were for ten years, and just like many of you. Not only that, but the majority of American CHRISTIANS are educated by Empire politics more than by Kingdom values.
I admit that I have a hard time trusting man made institutions. After all, it seems that our Nebuchadnezzar President (Biden) and our Pilot Governor (Walz) would crucify Jesus all over again if given the chance. When we see the lying, cheating and steeling that goes on in Washington (and even at the local level) it may be easier to believe that if God is good, then government must be bad.
The Bible says nothing of the sort though. In fact, just the opposite. Christians are not only to submit to the human institutions of SELF, FAMILY and CHURCH, they are to see the CIVIL elect as those chosen by God to carry out his will. God established CHURCH governance to make disciples of all nations, and he established CIVIL governance for the good of all people regardless of religious affiliation. Civil government is to encourage good conduct and discourage doing wrong (Romans 13:3-4), to protect individual rights and to enforce the law among criminals (1 Peter 2:14).
Without any form of CIVIL government, our nation would fall into chaos. In fact some even argue that a tyrannical civil government is better than nothing, or else we resemble the chaos of Lord of the Flies by William Golding or Leviathan by Thomas Hobbs.
Lesson Learned from Scripture:
MISUSE OF THE AUTHORITY TO NAME :
We see in Daniel 1:7, King Nebuchadnezzar (CIVIL) exercise his authority over the enslaved young men of Israel who serve at his court. In his vanity to become Israel’s new god, he renamed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariahby after Babylonian gods: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Mishael and Abednego. It is important to recognize, and call out by name, the counterfeit prince of this world who attempts to take God’s place : Satan, aka the dragon, the worm, the snake.
The reason this is so important is because Satan is not very creative. His tactics are the same today as they were back then in Babylon. As the Minnesota state-run education system attempts to lord over our children their “rights” and “privileges” to rename themselves while at school – using preferred pronouns that sound an awful lot like the Gerasenes man who goes by “they” and “many” and “Legion” in the Gospel of Mark 5:1-20 – it is critical for parents to understand that the enemy you are dealing with is not man. He is Satan playing our elected officials like puppets on a string … and though he may not be very creative, Satan is pretty darn good at his job.
Retain the integrity of your body
In summary, God established four spheres of government in the Bible – Self, Family, Church and Civil. By government, that is not to say those forms we think of today (Democracy, Dictatorship, Republic, Aristocracy, Monarchy, Anarchy), but rather the separate spheres of delegated authority under which God has chosen to rule.
THE CULTURE OF “WORLD” says all tiers of government are to follow that of the state, but as Christians we know that God’s plan is not for us to homogenize into the world’s culture. The Law of God actually looks nothing like a democracy when it comes to SELF, FAMILY, or CHURCH governance.
By working together with civil government, we as individuals, families and churches are not to morph into one homogeneous mixture with the state. We are to retain the integrity of each body God has ordained we govern.
In conclusion
There is no rule book that covers the countless competing social expectations a public official or candidate will face. Conflict which arises from outside our network of support is to be expected, but conflict which arises from within is devastating, disarming and confusing. It is important to recognize the human institutions God ordains, and understand them in their proper order. When we are knowledgible and wise to God’s order of governance, then we recognize immediately the evil forces which try to enter our house and destroy our right relationship with Jesus.
The second time I ran for school board in 2023, I experienced many more attacks from the enemy than I did the first time. I attribute that to the growth in my relationship with Jesus. After all, it was in the Gospel of Mark 5:1-20 – when Jesus commands the unclean spirits, named Legion, to come out of the Gerasenes man – that I made the decision to run again. I ran for school board to save the childhood innocence that I saw my government sacrificing on the alter of a demonic party named the “DFL”. This is a party that uses biblical SOUNDING words to fight for the same kind of people Jesus champions his followers to fight for – the poor, widowed, hungry and oppressed – while simultaneously using legislative ACTION to destroy all four governing bodies of their God, including the individual body, the family body, the church body and the civil body.
Nothing can prepare a Christian candidate for the test they will endure when choosing to run for public office. For those of you so brave and so bold to run, while also speaking out of the conviction of your faith, may the Lord bless you! I personally have come to recognize and appreciate certain public officials who currently DO serve in the Spirit of Jesus, and though I won’t name names, if you have followed my journal since 2021, you know exactly who I speak of right now. Some are servant Christians, and some I still pray will become.
By talking through these ideas I hope to recognize patterns in government that we may not see on the surface. My inspiration and curiosity flow from all the books I read, sermons I watch, and prayers I pray. Please make comment at the bottom of this article if you have more perspective on God’s government or if you see a discrepancy in my research and discovery.
Blessings, Jaime
Four Governing Bodies
Works Cited for
I learned about the four governing bodies of God at …
- Thompson, Gerrald R. A Biblical Worldview Primer: Part 4B – Bible as Government: Four Great Commands: God’s Laws of Authority. LONANG Institute, Accessed 01/15/24. https://lonang.com/commentaries/foundation/law-and-religion/bible-as-government-four-great-commands/ .
- Tony Evans. Four Forms of Government. The Urban Alternative, Accessed 01/15/24. https://go.tonyevans.org/blog/four-forms-of-government .
The church sermons I gained information from while writing this article include …
- Lilly, Pastor Brett. The King and The Kingdom/ Policy: Education. New Life Church, sermon given and accessed 10/13/24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8h5lDVSJrM
- Pfotenhauer, Pastor Tom. Kingdom Over Empire. Woodbury Lutheran Church, sermon given and accessed 10/27/24. https://woodburylutheran.churchcenter.com/episodes/394339
- Fruits, Pastor Roy. EDIT JESUS The Source of Living Water.
Rockpoint Church, sermon given and accessed 10/27/24 (Idea: those who view Bible through
lens of culture versus culture through lens of Bible).
https://rockpoint.church/sermons/ - Driscoll, Pastor Mark. Jesus’ Miracles: Does Jesus Deliver People From Demons Today? Part 1, sermon given 10/26/24 and accessed 10/28/24. Trinity Lutheran Church. https://thetrinitychurch.subspla.sh/9fk9s33
- Lilly, Pastor Brett. The King and The Kingdom/ Policy: Foreign Policy/Trade. New Life Church, sermon given 10/27/24 and accessed 10/31/24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgmJFtXbGWs
The governing bodies as heterogeneous mixtures was inspired by
- Jordan Peterson’s Exodus Series, Episode 12, Dailywire+
Like this article?
The REAL or FAKE Series
The Real or Fake Series sets the stage for 2024 and will be the foundation for future articles. It builds off of the Christmas Gift poem written and published on December 15th, 2023 titled “The Maker IS”
Everything that “IS”, has been made, and all things made have a MAKER. Therefore, everything made has a purpose. This series distinguishes between the superficial and the substantive things we choose to surround ourselves with. Generation after generation passes by, and pretty soon fakeness become so embedded in a culture that reality is forgotten altogether.
The characteristic traits of REAL are defined here, and FAKE is called out for the counterfeit it is. Follow along as Jaime looks at all parts of the K-12 education system, from tangible to complex, literature to curriculum, public to non-public, and the real and fake players within the Minnesota election process.
REAL or FAKE
Beginning With Real
JOURNEY TO THE END
JOURNEY of Two Mountains
When You Vote Fake …
JOURNEY With Eyes That Don’t See
Literacy and The WORD
Game of Complimentary Opposites
THE BIBLE IS: A Message for us
