HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 3, 2026 – Jesus wasn’t a threat the political order of his time, because the Kingdom he was ushering in was, in his own words, “not of this world”. And so the Roman powers-that-be had no interest in Jesus, had no reason to curtail his ministry work, recognizing that he wasn’t fighting against them or trying to rabble-rouse against the Roman forces occupying Judea. Were it not for the machinations of the religious authorities in Jerusalem and elsewhere, Jesus would likely have flown entirely under the radar of the Roman authorities. But to the religious authorities, Jesus was indeed a threat, and one that had to be permanently removed.

The Kingdom is by nature apolitical. From its very founding it’s been apolitical. When Jesus stated that his Kingdom was not of this world, he meant it literally, not metaphorically: Literally. He had no interest in getting involved in politics on any level because politics is a worldly concern, and his Kingdom is not of this world. None of Jesus’ followers should be politically involved or attempt to apply the teachings of the Kingdom to worldly politics, lest they fall into the ‘square peg in a round hole’ trap. The world is the world; the Kingdom is the Kingdom, and the two intersect only in that those who are in the Kingdom must by necessity move through the world during their time on Earth, and they have God’s blessing to do so as long as they remain within God’s guidelines.

Jesus didn’t work against the world. He didn’t preach working against the world. He understood that the way the world is at any given time is the perfect expression of God’s justice. To work against the world or to decry its alleged injustices would be to call into question God’s justice, which is something Jesus would never do (and so is something that we, as his followers, should never do). Still, that doesn’t mean we should actively support the way the world is or laud the corruption and decay. Our job is to see the world for what it is (“watch”), not shy away from seeing it, not hide ourselves away from it.

Jesus came to tell the world about a better place, not to make the world a better place. This distinction is important. You can’t override God’s justice, but you can choose not to make a bad situation worse. You can choose to follow God’s guidance in everything you do, like Jesus did. You can choose to live by Kingdom laws while in the world without imposing those laws on the world. You can choose to move through the world as a walking, talking example of a better way of being that negates the negatives of the world not by fighting against them or, conversely, refusing to see that they exist, but by simply and quietly living simply and quietly. You do this by deferring to God in everything you do. In the realm of chaos and noise, living simply and quietly is revolutionary.

Jesus lived that way during his time here. He didn’t rabble-rouse. He didn’t posture on a soapbox in the middle of the town square, raging against perceived social injustices. He didn’t protest. He didn’t make demands on the powers-that-be. He simply and quietly went through his paces as guided by God. He simply and quietly performed the duties required of him as the Messiah. The only time he raised his voice was against his own followers when they were being thick-headed, or against the religious authorities when they were twisting God’s Word, or against the moneychangers in the temple when their corrupt practices encroached on God’s turf. All of these situations were Kingdom business, not worldly affairs, and Kingdom business needs to be dealt with accordingly, that is, as Jesus dealt with it.

The religious authorities in Jerusalem and elsewhere rightly feared the simple and quiet authority of Jesus far more than the violent rhetoric and acts of Barabbas, because Jesus’ authority was eternal, not temporal, and so superseded theirs, and on some level they knew it. This pattern of religious authorities persecuting genuine prophets of God is not a new phenomenon. It didn’t begin with Jesus and obviously didn’t end with him. Jesus warned his followers that they, too, would be hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted, and so we are. Throughout the millennia, genuine followers of Jesus have suffered far more under religious authorities than under political powers-that-be, with the papacy being by far the worst of our persecutors. America was founded in large part by those trying to flee the clutches of the papacy, with the embedding of the notion of freedom of religion into the American constitution being in direct response to centuries-long papal persecutions in Europe.

Being who we are as bornagain believers simply and quietly poses a threat to religious authorities because we stand as a witness to God’s Truth. Our authority doesn’t come from us or from any worldly power, but from God, and they all know it on some level. And so they want us gone, the way the temple elders wanted Jesus gone, or the way the papal inquisitors wanted Bible-believing Christians gone.

Our existence is an affront to them. It exposes them spiritually for who and what they are – members of the synagogue of Satan. Worldly religion in all its guises is the synagogue of Satan, not just those who trace their heritage back to the temple elders. All the world’s religions are denominations of that one synagogue, and Satan lords over them all. The only spiritual turf he cannot claim is the Kingdom, which is why he’s constantly at war with it.

Christianity is by its very nature apolitical. It is also by nature simple and quiet. It doesn’t need to be ritually complex, loud, or intrusive. It doesn’t impose: It abides. It doesn’t take up material arms to fight a material “enemy”. It doesn’t try to right perceived wrongs. It accepts God’s justice and judgements as absolute but doesn’t work to worsen an already bad situation. (When you take up arms for any reason other than deterrence, you’re worsening an already bad situation.) It rests not on its own authority but on God’s.

We’re a threat to Satan’s synagogue not because of anything we do or say but simply because we are. We were warned it would be this way, and so it is. We were warned we’d be hated and persecuted “without cause”, and so we are. To fight against the persecutions would be to fight against God’s justice. We’re not to fight persecution but to flee it.

We’re not to fight against persecution but to flee it. Jesus told us not to fight but to flee.

You can tell who the real Christians are by how they respond to persecution.