I observed the ‘No Kings’ protest from the road, blocked by their demonstration. These are people from my own community. I can see their faces as they wave flags from both the USA and Mexico—many of them deeply concerned about recent immigration crackdowns by ICE. They declare that there is no king that rules our country.
I appreciate the exercise of their right to protest. They were well organized by various entities that funded them. And I agree that we are not subject to a king that runs our government.
The phrase ‘No Kings’ has deep roots in American history, most notably with Thomas Paine, a British-born revolutionary who saw the dangers of monarchical rule. He coined the phrase, ‘No kings’, toward the end of the 18th century. He saw the struggles of the colonies being ruled by a king without their best interest in mind from across the ocean. He knew there was a better way.
But Thomas Paine also recognized that humanity was ruled by something bigger than a government. Our king was divine—our king was God. Hence the correct and full use of his phrase is, “No king, but God.” He knew that Americans were Trinitarians (belief in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Hence, my interpretation (and others) that he understood that to mean, “No king, but Jesus.”
As the ‘No Kings’ protests continue, it’s important to ask ourselves, who rules our world? It definitely shouldn’t be a president. It shouldn’t be a cause or a community organizer. It shouldn’t be a political party or any candidate.
Should we even have a ruler? Why not just rule ourselves? We become the decider of right and wrong. Of good and bad. Perhaps we compromise and determine some aggregate threshold of agreement to achieve such answers.
When it comes down to it, what I’m really asking is, in order to rule, how do we know the truth?
The Truth Will Set You Free
Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” In other words, without any truth, we are without freedom and are captive. In effect, we are ruled by lies. But the truth seems harder and harder to find. And, anyway, “what is truth?”
Think of the truth as a 500 piece puzzle without having a photo of the finished puzzle. If you were to grab one puzzle piece, you would not have any accurate sense as to what you are building. You need more pieces to connect to get a better perspective.
A hundred years ago, newspapers, for the most part, found the pieces and put them together to provide that picture. If the news media didn’t do this, we were in the dark. One example of this happening is The New York Times and their coverage of the Jewish Holocaust.
During World War II, the Holocaust was on the home page of the New York Times 26 times out of 24,000. This is according to Laurel Leff, associate professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University and author of Buried by The Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper published by Cambridge University Press.
Only six of those 26 stories even mentioned Jews. And those stories were not placed in the prominent area of the front page.
The New York Times did this for various reasons. But they failed to provide a full picture of what was going on and provide the truth. Later on, Americans were horrified when learning of the Jewish Holocaust.
Today, the news media rarely presents a full and thorough account of a story. Rather than being motivated to provide the truth, they are creating their own puzzle to create their own picture.
But the news media has competition today. There are blogs, podcasts and videos everywhere about everything. The deluge of information has increased the puzzle pieces to millions.
Where does that leave us, the individual? It is just as important for us to stay informed. To know what our government is doing and the activities taking place in our local city. If we operate under different versions of the truth, we lose connection with each other. Instead, we are isolated rulers of ourselves—our own king.
Part of the problem is that we are no longer taught history about our country. The good and the bad together comprise the truth. We must know what our founders did and why they did it. We should all understand natural law, republicanism, capitalism and the important role that religion has played and continues to play. At the same time, we should learn the competing ideas and theories and why those have worked or failed. All of it is part of the puzzle.
If we don’t have common ground, it’s harder to understand one another. Even those that don’t vote the same way. Even those that fear people that others admire. If we don’t realize the historical foundations underneath each citizen, we are just a ruler of a deserted island.
I find it harder to relate to fellow citizens. Increasingly, my prayers are general requests for peace and understanding. I don’t remember the picture of the puzzle any longer. The pieces are flying everywhere and I don’t know what they are supposed to create.
In order to live in our communities peacefully, we should do our part to build the foundation of truth and connect to one another at a higher level:
When a Jewish couple is killed for being Jewish, mourn and pray.
When a child is taken from their parent, pray for their reunion and safety.
When people protest peacefully, don’t dismiss them, listen and discern.
When people protest, burn cars and throw things at the police, pray for the protesters to experience peace, the police to get home to their families and the citizens to have a safe city.
No King, But Jesus
For peace, there must be one truth again. God created the puzzle and only He should be our guide to put the pieces back together. Traditional media often creates its own picture, while modern alternative media overwhelms us with information. Instead of getting lost in these fragments, let us connect at a higher level. The only way to see the same picture once more is to stand on the same foundation that Thomas Paine laid out over two hundred years ago: We have no king, but Jesus.
Peace.
P.S. Here is a beautiful violin rendition of Viva La Vida, the song by Cold Play for which the lyrics inspired some of my thoughts on this post. Watch the amazing video from David Garrett (and watch until the end!).