Statism's Encroachment on Academia
Pursuing an education that glorifies Christ rather than Caesar
This was an address I was meant to deliver at the African Christian University’s disputatio in September 2022. After various requests for my speech, I have decided to share it publicly.
Introduction:
The year is 85 AD, and for close to a month, you have been in a prison cell with six of your fellow church members awaiting execution. Six months prior to this, you witnessed the beheading of your father and some of your closest friends being fed to lions. You are not sure when your last day on earth will be or by what means you will be executed when the time comes. As you sit in this cramped, foul-smelling, and dark prison cell, you replay the events that brought you here: After having been enrolled in a prestigious Roman grammar school as a student with immense potential, your parents pulled you out over concerns that you were being indoctrinated in falsehoods. This made the Roman civil authorities suspicious, and one day (in the middle of the night), they forcefully came knocking on the door and took away your father, who was killed a week later. You will never forget the last words he shouted boldly before his head was severed from his body. His words and his willingness to die by them were what God used to bring you to faith in Him. Three and a half weeks ago, you and several church members were arrested during a weekly worship service after a formerly trusted neighbor informed the church to the civil authorities. After being arrested, you were roughly interrogated and commanded to declare that Caesar is lord. After refusing numerous times, you instead shouted as loud as you could, repeating the same last words your father spoke: "Christos Kyrios, Christos Kyrios," which means "Christ is Lord, Christ is Lord." And for this reason, you now sit in a prison cell and face inevitable death but with your head held high and with a heart full of hope and praise for the King of kings and Lord of lords who is worthy of our suffering and martyrdom.
I was prompted to narrate this fictitious story for a couple of reasons: firstly, because it depicts what the early church suffered, and they serve as an example of what it looks like to remain uncompromising in our devotion to God. Many of us think that the early church was persecuted simply because they believed in God. The Romans were pagans who were pluralists; they didn’t mind an additional god to worship. The reason the early church was persecuted was that they worshiped an Authority that was considered to be superior to Caesar. For the most part, Christians were known to be upstanding citizens who respected the authority of the civil government, yet there were some things Christians would be defiant about. There were some things Christians would not submit to. Christians would not speak or act as if Caesar was the benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient lord over all. This was perceived to be a threat to the Roman empire, and Christians were persecuted because they were considered to be atheists (because they wouldn't worship Caesar) and treacherous outlaws intent on destroying the Roman empire.
The second reason I chose to narrate this fictitious narrative is that what we will be doing today is essentially acknowledging that Christ is Lord and King over all. In engaging with this subject today, we will be reordering our worship toward the true and living God. I recognize that our discussion will be uncomfortable for many to hear and unpopular by the secular world’s standards. We won’t be applauded for holding to these convictions, but our Lord is worthy, and we must be willing to do hard things for His glory.
Christ or the State?
Imagine for a moment that your parents owned prime pieces of land and were producing large profits from them. The work your parents did on their land has been a significant blessing to your community and produced abundance for your family. As time passes, you are the one entrusted with managing the family wealth and estate. One day, a group of men from a large local gang kick in the front door and begin to grab things from all your property and put them in a truck until you are left with nothing. In addition, they arrive with armed people who claim that your house and land now belong to them. If they did this to you, would you consider it to be theft? Instead of a gang, if this group was the civil government led by the mayor or president who said that his actions were of utmost importance and a matter of ‘national security’ and everyone’s social well-being, would you still consider it to be theft?
Many people struggle to answer this question because they have been conditioned to believe that the State is an all-encompassing entity that rules over all matters of social life. Many struggle to answer this question because they have been conditioned to believe that the State essentially owns all the resources within a specific country’s borders, including people’s money and property. And because we think the civil government presides over all things, we tend to think they have the authority to regulate how everyone should live. We often remain unaware of this because we have been conditioned to act like the civil government is a deity who can do whatever it pleases; as long as it agrees to do it on our behalf. We have been conditioned to believe a lie and to live idolatrously. This is symptomatic of a much larger problem: we don’t really know who God is.
Who is God?
In order to inoculate ourselves against this false way of thinking, we must have a right understanding of who God is, and I would like to highlight three of His attributes that are essential for us to know in order for us to make sense of our topic for today. Now, some may be wondering why we are about to dive into theology even though we are dealing with a philosophical and cultural issue. We must understand that bad theology contributes to cultural degeneracy. The reason we are susceptible to falling for false ideas is because of our ignorance or unbelief in good theology or in who God truly is. And so, we must first correct our theology in order to live the way we were created to.
God’s Omniscience
God's omniscience is a reference to the fact that He knows all things, but not only does He know all things but He is the Creator of all that can be known. God is not merely someone who knows a lot about everything, rather, He is the One who constructs what can be known, and without Him, knowledge has no basis or importance. Knowledge simply wouldn't exist without God. To put it another way, God has the exclusive when it comes to knowledge. Knowledge begins with Him. The puritan John Bunyan once put it this way: “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and they that lack the beginning have neither middle nor end.” If your knowledge does not begin with the fear of God it will never result in godly outcomes. God isn’t all-knowing because He is well-studied but because knowledge and reality originate from Him. We study Him in order to attain knowledge. Those who do not fear Him, this knowledge is unattainable.
God’s Truthfulness:
God’s truthfulness is a reference to the fact that He Himself is Truth, which means He alone defines reality as it is and as it ought to be as a reflection of His perfect character and being. This means that in order for us to truly attain knowledge of any kind, we can only do so on God’s terms and from His perspective. God is the standard of Truth. He cannot lie. And since Truth is absolute and universal, knowledge must submit itself to God in order for it to be consistent, coherent, and fruitful. The world as we know it today is riddled with the deceit of postmodernism which feeds us the lie that we can construct our own truth and that our subjective truths can be widely propagated by attaining power and influence in society. This is the deceit of the world and though they posture as having the high ground when it comes to truth, their track record is an endless list of tragedy and destruction. God is the originator of Truth and this is why knowledge is tied to the fear of God.
God's Sovereignty
The sovereignty of God is a reference to His all-encompassing rule and dominion over all things. He is the King of Kings and Lord or Lords. It refers to His rule that is active rather than passive. It refers to the fact that He holds all things in His hand and dictates the comings and goings of all His creatures. Our God is in the heavens and does all that He pleases. Nothing escapes or is exempt from His rule. Not a single sparrow or leaf falls without God first decreeing it. Not a single advance from Satan and his minions occurs without God permitting it. He alone is sovereign and nothing can thwart His mighty arm.
God’s sovereignty means that the knowledge He reveals to us exists to serve Him alone. Whatever He enables us to know fits under the umbrella of His rule. For many of us today, the knowledge we have gained is founded from the perspective of secular humanism which dismisses and disregards God as non-existent or irrelevant in the affairs of this world. Unfortunately, Christians have fallen prey to this too, as we often believe that God’s jurisdiction is limited to salvation, the church, and sacraments. Little do we know or believe that economics belongs to God, science belongs to God, history belongs to God, language belongs to God, law belongs to God, academics belongs to God, engineering belongs to God, and business belongs to God. The great Christian philosopher and former prime minister of the Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper, iterated, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” He also iterated that the dominating principle of Christian truth is not merely soteriological but rather cosmological. God's rule and dominion isn't limited to the doctrine of salvation or the four corners of the church but expands across the whole of creation. The only way to understand the entire cosmos is by fearing God.
If we believed these things to be true and real, we would submit to God, recognize that life is about building His kingdom rather than our own. We would recognize that life is about building God’s kingdom and not Caesar’s kingdom. We would also recognize that even Caesar (The State) belongs to God. I’m certain that many of us are aware of the account in the Gospels when the Pharisees and Herodians came to Jesus to inquire whether or not they should pay taxes to Caesar. Christ’s answer was remarkable. First, He asked to be given a denarius and then proceeded to ask whose image and inscription was on the coin. They responded by saying that Caesar's image is on the coin. Christ then declared that they ought to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and render to God what is God’s. This should prompt us to ask two very important questions: What things belong to God and what things belong to Caesar? We have already looked at the answer to the first question in recognizing that all things belong to God, including Caesar. And why including Caesar? Because Caesar was created by God and was made in His image. So, having answered that, let’s seek to answer the second question, what things belong to Caesar? What things belong to the State?
Whenever we hear the word government, we typically think of the State, but there are actually three forms of government that God establishes on earth to rule alongside each other.
God’s Earthly Governments
The Family
The family is God’s government that presides over health, education, and welfare. It is responsible for making sure that those in its jurisdiction are kept healthy and receive medical treatment when needed. It is also responsible for making sure that children are educated in accordance with God’s law, instructing them to fear God in all things. They are also responsible for the welfare of their communities, making sure that the poor are assisted, that orphans have father figures, and that widows are cared for. They are responsible for the economies of their local communities by being industrious and enterprising.
The Church
The church is God’s government of Word and holy ordinances. It is responsible for caring for people's souls through evangelism and discipleship. It is the means through which the tools of our sanctification are employed and the forum through which we are kept accountable in our submission and obedience to God. The church is an entity that reminds us who we are before God and how we can live in humble repentance and obedience to His will. They do this by faithfully preaching the Word of God and teaching from it. They remind families who they ought to be before God, remind the State who they are before God, and remind individuals who they are before God. It plays a critical role in society by being the pillar of God’s truth and the outworking of His redemptive covenant and love toward humanity. Without the church, many are left to worship their own idolatrous constructs on their own subjective terms rather than God’s. The absence of the church in society leaves many chained to the slavery of deceit and without a sense of hope and light.
The State
The State is God’s government of justice. They are responsible for condoning or protecting that which is good and punishing that which is evil. They ought to bear the impartial sword of justice to preserve the wellbeing of those in society and punish those who are intent on doing harm and evil. And so, from this answer, the sword of Justice is exclusively rendered to Caesar?
Civil government is a blessing from God and not a necessary evil as some may be tempted to think. The State is an agent that God uses to restrain our natural proclivity to practice evil. In being God’s ministers of His law and justice, a society is gifted with a means of restraint and order.
Although the State is the protector of that which is good and punisher of that which is evil, it neither defines nor authorizes what good and evil are. It does not define or author what morality and ethics are. God alone defines those things, and the State ought to simply and purposefully uphold righteous laws that are a reflection of God’s moral law. When the State claims responsibility beyond the parameters God has ordained for it, it becomes a tyrant. Even when the State may claim to have ‘good intentions’ in doing so, if it oversteps its boundaries, it becomes a tyrant. And whenever we submit ourselves to tyranny, we become guilty of idolatry because we have behaved like there is an authority on par with or above God. There are things God has not permitted the State to do, and when it does these things, it has defied God, fallen prey to idolatry, and become a tyrant.
Many people live in cultures that are steeped in Statism; in which people believe the civil government to be the all-encompassing authority over all things. This is how Statism is defined: the idea or claim that the civil government is an all-encompassing authority that governs over and regulates all aspects of life. This definition ought to concern us because if the civil government is believed to be the all-encompassing authority over all things, then we are really implying that the civil government is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient. In other words, we are claiming that the civil government is a deity to whom worship must be rendered. This is idolatry.
Why State Run and Regulated Education is a Problem
It defies God’s rules and mandates
When the State presides over education, it is assuming a role God has not given it. The civil government is not tasked or called by God to preside over education. Your children do not belong to the government . They belong to God. And God has charged parents (not the State) with the responsibility of raising and educating their children in the fear of the Lord. Education falls under the responsibility of the family which God recognizes as a form of government. When the State assumes responsibility for education it is really encroaching upon the duty of families and particularly fathers. But more on this in a little bit.
It is atheistic
When the State presumes authority over education, it acts as if God does not exist. Statism is fundamentally atheistic. Statism presupposes God’s non-existence. A totalitarian State does not fear God. And if it does not fear God, it can neither possess nor preside over wisdom and knowledge. Statist governments function in an atheistic manner and will approach education from a godless manner too. I challenge you to find a Statist government that has actually taught from a godly and Christian perspective. You won't find it.
It Instructs students to worship Caesar rather than God
Since education is a form of discipleship, students will be trained to become drones who won’t question anything, who will comply with whatever mandates are imposed on them, who won't be able to think freely and independently, who will be willing to pay exorbitant taxes, who will be okay with the idea that they don't own anything, who will be completely dependent on the civil government for education and jobs, and who will always choose to obey the State rather than God. Ladies and gentlemen, do not be surprised when your children are sent to be educated by Caesar and they come back home as Romans. Don’t be surprised when you decide to have your children educated by pagans who teach from a secular humanist perspective and your children come back spiritually impoverished. Too often parents have the wrong reasons for educating their children. They want their children to gain wealth and affluence, even if it comes at the cost of their children’s souls. We are more committed to raising children who the State will approve than raising children who can truly build God’s kingdom with an eye on eternity.
It teaches a skewed and idolatrous epistemology
People tend to think that the civil government always knows best. Which is why we tend to allow it to regulate even what is taught in private institutions. When we believe that the government is omniscient and think that they know what is best for society we begin to care more about whether the government approves of our curriculum rather than what God thinks of it. This is a description of idolatry and a severe worship disorder. Who do we really fear? Let me tell you something, who you fear is essentially who you worship. And when you fear anything other than God, you have essentially placed your faith in the enemy.
It is emasculating
State education severely compromises and damages the integrity of healthy family structure by undermining the headship and responsibility of fathers to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Statism feeds the false notion that fathers are not essential and that the State ought to play the role of parents. As a consequence, fathers are no longer expected to protect, provide, and lead their homes. These responsibilities get deferred to the State. You will find it interesting to note that in all societies across the world where Statism is prevalent there is a serious deficiency in true masculinity. In these societies men are weak, passive, overly dependent, fruitless, and irresponsible.
Fathers have been tasked to wield the rod as a tool in the noble endeavor of guiding young lives towards a profound reverence for the King of kings in all facets of existence. In stark contrast, the Sword, a potent instrument bestowed upon the State, serves the purpose of redressing public evils but proves to be an inadequate implement for nurturing children in the ways of godliness and moral admonition. The State, in its essence, lacks the inherent capacity to effectively employ the rod, which underscores the imperative principle that it should abstain from meddling in matters that have been Divinely ordained for paternal guidance.
Whenever the State ventures beyond the prescribed boundaries delineated by God, it inadvertently forfeits its legitimacy as the custodian of justice, assuming the dual roles of both architect and arbitrator of discord in defiance of God’s moral law. In the instances where the State assumes the mantle of responsibility in the realm of education, it often finds itself presiding over societies characterized by a disturbing absence of paternal influence, widespread ignorance, and an alarming indifference to matters of moral and spiritual significance. Faithful fathers are the cure to this madness.
Christian Higher Education in Africa
The African Christian University has long affirmed a classical Christian liberal arts approach to learning. This means that it ought to remain committed to training the holistic faculties of students; including mind, heart, body, and soul. This means that it ought to remain committed to producing students who can think in moral and ethical terms; challenging them to embrace virtue and godly character. This means that it ought to equip students with sound and robust theological knowledge because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. This means that it must train students to value, embrace, and apply God’s truth and justice as revealed in His Word. This means it must equip students to think, to delight in beauty, and to live as free people. This means that the African Christian University must oppose the false paradigm that the State is an all-encompassing entity that ought to govern over all matters of life and instead must recognize that the State is a servant of God who has been given a limited but crucial role of protecting the good and punishing the evil.
Today, the African Christian University must be prepared to swim against the currents of secularism and Statism that have penetrated the fabric of our society. It must be ready to be unpopular by the world’s standards and to be called all sorts of names and endure persecution in their pursuit of a higher purpose. The African Christian University must be an entity that exists not only to counter falsehoods that pervade our society but to establish truth where it has been suppressed and to restore beauty where it has been defaced. The African Christian University must be the bastion of Christian Truth and must train students to be vessels of God’s Truth in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred and confused.
In order to do this, it must be willing to defy the false doctrine of State sovereignty, embrace a theocentric theology that begins with the fear of God, and train students to follow suit. It must be a place where students are prepared to live lives that are fruitful, consistent, and coherent. And most importantly, it must be an institution that recognizes that knowledge, justice, morality, and ethics belong to God alone and that it ought to prepare students to fear God, to love His law, and to fulfill their purpose of fearing God in all things.
If the African Christian University is willing to embrace this calling, I believe it will be a beacon of hope and light across Africa, producing individuals who are equipped to be godly culture builders rather than worldly conformists. It will produce students who engage with the world not as those who submit to the false doctrines of our time but as those who fear God and are equipped to provide solutions that bring about shalom.
“In any successful attack on freedom, the State can only be an accomplice. The chief culprit is the citizen who forgets his duty, wastes away his strength in the sleep of sin and sensual pleasure and so loses the power of his own initiative.” -Abraham Kuyper
Conclusion
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
The fictional tyrant of middle-earth, Sauron, possessed an insatiable desire to control everything. He sought to control knowledge by propagating dark speech. He sought to disturb notions of peace and prosperity. He sought to overthrow and poison masculinity and local authority. He sought to ruin distinction by propagating androgyny and ensuring equality of outcomes. He sought to distort beauty and order. He sought to replace freedom with fear. He sought to make everyone and everything dependent on his lacking benevolence. He sought the worship of all.
Those who bowed to his desires as a means of self-preservation were inevitably engulfed in darkness. Those who appeased his demands, ensured their demise. Those who cowered and hid, would be betrayed by what they feared. Those who remained apathetic, guaranteed their own undoing. However, those who resisted, fought, and sought to propagate light ultimately prevailed. The light inevitably overwhelmed the darkness; making the night it's eternal prisoner.
Much darkness will be overcome when the faithful resist tyranny.
Education is a battleground that we cannot afford to concede. If we allow and enable the State to continue to preside over education, we are in fact guilty of an idolatry that must be repented of. We must resist the rot and seek to honor God in all things by propagating that which is true, beautiful, and good. It will be costly, but it will be worth it.
Thank you brother once again for sounding the alarm on this crucially important subject of our day. I believe the subject of education and how we educate Christian children moving forward if the most important project for the church today. I am so blessed to know that men such as yourself, who bold and courageous, are on my side in this fight. I am glad to fight alongside you for the Glory of God alone!
Well-written. I am Blessed by your writing.
To God be the Glory.