There is no greater cause of persecution and martyrdom of the faithful in all the history of Christianity than the use by religion of the coercive organs of the state.

In this, Christian history shows the recurring theme of areas of church practice (which cement an influential relationship with the secular authority) becoming a tool to persecute its reformers and those who call the church back to her purity. Therefore it may be said of this church-state relationship –

this highly symbolic language God damns the corrupting influence which exalts the false 'bride', the great whore, which is so stained with the blood of God's people, concluding –

this relationship between the Christian Church and the government of an empire or a state, the primary problem has been, and still is, ignorance and confusion concerning the essential nature of the Christian Church.

Whether it be in matters of authority, or ordination, or doctrine, this lack has been the infiltration-route to corrupt and to subvert the identity of Christ's Bride to become the Great Whore –

This nature consists in the special quality of personal relationships within the Christian community and not in its ministries, not in its organisation, not in its structure. This is personal relationship with other Christians is not one of common interest, or common commitment. It is one of shared spiritual identity that supercedes every other factor in human experience.

words of the New Testament are to be taken seriously, this relationship between Christians is created in their re-birth by the Holy Spirit which brings them into a new shared-identity which cannot be subdivided by class, race, or gender, for there is only one Holy Spirit.

this had remained true in church practice, slavery would have ended by the exemplary impact of Christian conduct without waiting for legislation to be changed in any country under Christian influence.

the temptation to social influence, to increase the visibility and effect of this Christian identity as expressed in an enhanced moral ethic among a population, has subverted the definition of the Church's unique identity. So, for most of Christian history its relationship with the State has been little more than a social conscience and/or a religious framework of support for the status quo, to the profit of the Church's social standing.

It is fitting that this improper relationship between Church and State should be prefigured in the metaphor of a 'woman sitting upon seven hills' (as was portrayed of Rome by the coin of Emperor Vespasian), for it is preeminently in this particular city that the young Church first fully espoused herself to secular authority. And it was the fruit of this growing liaison that in consequence reaped a bloody harvest of Christian believers in the Parthian empire to the east.

Yet, as understandable as it is that reformers such as Luther should have seen in this metaphor the Roman Catholicism of their day, this sad truth is much larger than the influence a single city or its surrogates.

most centuries of Christian history the organised Church has not believed in the separation of Church and State and instead has used whatever means was available to it to influence the State in order to use its coercive influence to further the Church's religious agenda at that time either through legislation and/or executive action.

European history, the relationship between Church and State developed differently within the two branches of the Roman empire. At one stage the Church came to endorse Caesaropapism, that is, subordination of the Church to the religious claims of the dominant political order (to the advantage of its clergy's status). This pattern was most fully evident in the East of the Empire particularly at the height of Byzantine rule at the end of the 1st millennium of Christian history.

in the West another view, the “two swords” doctrine (spiritual and temporal), was enunciated by Pope Gelasius I. According to this doctrine, the Church and the State are coequal in status. But by the 13th century Pope Innocent III made extreme claims to the effect that the Holy Roman emperor (that is, the State) was subordinate to the pope (that is, the Church) because of the relative significance of the different jurisdictions given the two 'institutions'.

Later, the 16th century conflict in 'Holy Roman Empire within the Germanic Nation' between Lutheranism and Catholicism produced a compromise, primarily for the protection of Lutherans, known as Cuius regio, eius religio, a Latin phrase meaning "Whose realm, his the religion" (Peace of Augsburg 1555 AD), that is – the religion of the ruler would be the religion of his people. This in effect still continued the coercive practices of the past simply with different beneficiaries in different areas.

Christian religious-nonconformists in Europe, known today as Baptists, Mennonites, and others, either fled or were exterminated, for this 1555 'Peace' had stated in Article 17 that –

modern western idea of the separation of Church and State, as a principle of political governance, seems to have originated with John Locke simply concerning liberty of individual conscience in contrast to this corrupting Cuius regio eius religio practice.

Although the phrase 'Separation of Church and State' is sometimes attributed to American President Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, the basic concept really took definition in response to the European persecutions of nonconformist-Christians by State churches such as the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed. The use by these Church bodies of secular authority to crush religious dissent helped define the idea of separation as a worthy ideal.

An important principle to remember here then is that the history of Christian experience should not shape Christian doctrine!

seed of truth which is at the core of the idea of Separation of Church and State pertains to the essential character of the Christian Church, but this understanding of the nature of the Church became quickly lost in Christianity's spread throughout the Roman Empire.

This principle is far beyond simply a separation of politics and religion!

It is the spiritual essence of the character of Christianity which makes Christianity 'Christian', beyond any religious conformity or doctrinal definition.

development of the United States, European Church-abuse of the coercive power of the State was part of the historical background to the development of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

reads in its Bill of Rights: Amendment I –

was spelled out even more clearly in a Supreme Court judgment's judicial comment in 1943 on this Amendment.

judicial comment also has bearing on this –

was born into this history to continue in the restoration of humanity which has been publicly demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ: He who was the sinless restoration of humanity to God's original design! For this reason Jesus is called the "last Adam" (1Cor.15:45) for in Him is our true restoration as it was meant to be in the beginning in God's image.

is the revelation of God in whose image humanity was made in order to exercise dominion; an 'image' of which Jesus could say to His disciples – "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" and "From now on you do know Him and have seen Him".

This was Christ's understanding of His human-role and has nothing to do with Christ's deity. He made this plain in His statement of His authority over the Sabbath day, when He declared that because the Sabbath was made for human benefit and not vice versa, that gave Him authority over the Sabbath –

This representative-image-restored is what continues in the world today in Christ's Church as Christ knows it.

the crucial role of those who truly represent God's character to this world, given to us in the example of Paul the Prisoner being shipped to Rome. God's angel said to him during the terrible storm at sea concerning the approaching sinking of their ship –

later, therefore –

This representative-authority is resident in true Christianity!

It does not need espousal to the state at any level to act authoritatively, least of all through councils, synods, or any other hierarchy of office in any form of deputation or function. This authority lies not in ordination but in the essence of the Christian Church's identity in its ordinary members; who are called in Scripture to follow Paul's example (1 Cor.4:16; 11:1).

The call of the Voice in John's vision on Patmos calls to us today –

Very subtly, the emotive issue of gay/homosexual 'marriage' has become used to slide the Christian Church toward a new compromise of its identity with the organs of state.

registration of marriage does not create a marriage any more than a legal divorce ends a marriage. Cultural confusion on the essential character of marriage (as God sees it) has made many sincere Christians vulnerable to being led astray and to become party to lobby-groups who try to use the power of the state to establish their social morality, with the ultimate destination of this direction being the combination of state and 'church' in the rule of antichrist. Do not associate with such groups in any way no matter what alarmist rhetoric they may use.

"Come out of her, My people..."!

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