It’s important to go back and examine the ground on which we stand. Divine truth is always contextual — contextual to you and your faith and calling. Ultimate truth cannot be stated in words or ideas; it is Person to person.
One of the fundamental flaws in Western mythology is the assumption of an impersonal institutional ownership of the individual. This is a lie from Hell. First and foremost is that every standard formulation of institutional concepts is a flat lie about claiming to confer liberty on the individual. It does no such thing; the underlying and unspoken assumption is that you submit to the ownership of the system. In most cases, that works out to be ownership of the State.
You cannot relate to an institution; it’s not a person. Instead, you are subject to the whims of those who gain official authority within the system. In other words, it is always persons, with only a thin fiction of objectivity. The institution demands your allegiance and gives damned little in return. There’s no covenant.
Strictly speaking, you should not put your hand on your heart and swear allegiance to the US flag. That little ceremony renders the flag as a pagan deity, an idol. But it’s a very dehumanizing idol that claims ownership of your soul while denying that you have one. There is this utterly false notion that religion should not be the basis for government, when the US government re-institutes every aspect of religious devotion in the ceremonies and theology of the State.
But keep in mind the testimony of Joseph, who was obliged to feign a pagan religious observance of Pharaoh’s religion based on the mission and calling of God in his life. The whole point is that you not adopt a false conscience and false guilt about something God requires of you, just because it makes other folks unhappy. You are serving God; this is a personal feudal loyalty, and no mere man can define for you what that means.
The most anyone can justly do is disassociate, to refuse fellowship. They would never have standing to declare you a sinner, only a transgressor of the community covenant. That’s the full extent of human authority on this earth.
By definition, the State is an anti-covenant entity. It denies the existence of a God who works directly in human affairs, who calls individuals to serve Him and makes demands that constitute a literal government. You belong to Christ or you belong to the Devil. End of discussion. People who belong to Satan might not know it, might not have made any conscious choice about it, but that doesn’t change the moral truth of the situation. You can never be sure of their loyalties, but you can be sure of whether they share a covenant with you.
This is why God makes so much of ANE covenant feudalism and the tribal social structure. There is an inherent loyalty and honesty required for those who share a covenant. Your are under no such obligation for those outside the covenant, though there is a broad presumption you would prefer conditional honesty and loyalty as part of your witness to those outside the covenant. But let them see there is a difference in how you deal with those outside the covenant. You want them inside; you want them obedient to your Master. You want to grow His domain. But He may tell you that such a good divine longing is pointless in certain contexts, and with certain people.
That has nothing to do with whether He intends to claim them at some point later. The point is what He requires of you in dealing with that person. They are a pagan outsider unless they share enough of your covenant commitment to warrant treatment as a brother/sister, or as a safe ally. Keep in mind that in the household of God, He recognizes children, hired servants, and slaves. You need to keep that in your mind when dealing with every human on this planet: Is this family, ally or enemy? Don’t deny just privileges, nor grant them, to anyone in the wrong category.
The secular State cannot declare for you whom you shall consider family, ally or enemy. The State itself is an enemy in the first place. As long as the laws of the land do not permit you to live in a feudal tribal covenant community, and hinders your obedience to Biblical Law, it is not even an ally of God. It is an oppressive idolatrous regime. The only question, then, is how God wants you to interact and live under such an idolatrous regime.
Don’t presume to tell your covenant brother how he must live with the laws of the land. Tell him what you can tolerate from a covenant brother, and set the boundaries to fellowship accordingly. Without boundaries, Satan reigns. This bullshit about inclusivity is a lie from Hell.
Make sure you understand the boundaries and who has what kind of dominion in this life.
