Church bulletin:
I assume we have seen footage of people pulled over by the police due to a traffic infringement and then they claim to be sovereign citizens. They do not acknowledge the authority of the police, the need to produce their license, the laws of the land, etc. While I know they are crazy, their behaviour cringeworthy and pointless, I somehow have a degree of sympathy for them. I have heard too many stories of the long arm of the law extending with a heavy hand – not on camera, of course. So often negligible infringements receive heavy fines. Ridiculous and ungodly laws are enforced while serious issues are not addressed. I saw on the news the other day a woman was fined over $800 because she stood on her dog lead instead of holding it in her hand. She did so for a few minutes while ordering coffee. Completely unfair and arbitrary. As I watched this, I could feel the sovereign citizen rising within and politely telling the council ranger what he could do with his fine.
It is not difficult to find yourself in the corner of so-called sovereign citizens cheering them on in their futile attempt to usurp authority. Of course, reality kicks in and has a quiet word in your ear – there is no such thing as a sovereign citizen. No citizen is able to live in autonomy to the ruling body. There also comes the quiet voice of conscience whispering Rom 13:1-7.
While none of us, I hope, would actually behave like these people, do we behave like them in another way? As Christians we are to be subject to God’s law from the heart. If we are honest, this does not always suit us and we resist. The sovereign citizen is alive within every person including Christians. Biblically, it is called the flesh. The flesh demands autonomy and seeks to please itself. When someone defiantly calls themself a sovereign citizen, we know they are being ridiculous. We know it will end badly for them. But how often do we behave the same way when it comes to the authority of God in our lives?
> We make decisions with our own wisdom not God’s wisdom.
> We nurture ungodly desires and attitudes – lust, hatred, bitterness, pride, envy.
> We lack grace and humility in the way we treat others.
> We go through the motions of religiosity with no heart for the Lord.
When we fall into this kind of behaviour (and we all do) we have inadvertently succumbed to the myth and madness of the sovereign citizen. We are charting our own course as though God has no rights over us. If we don’t repent and sinful living becomes a pattern, His hand of discipline may come upon us. Even worse, He could just allow us to continue on in our folly from which we will not return. Christians are to live as subjects of the sovereign king, not sovereign citizens. This means living by God’s rule not ours. And thankfully, He is a gracious, loving and merciful king. When we live under His authority, He saves us from the damage we would otherwise inflict upon ourselves.
May God enable us to see sin for the madness that it is – rebellion against the Almighty. If it is foolish to declare sovereign citizenship before a police officer, how much more so for us to behave like that before God.