The earliest Christians refused to agree to kill for the Roman Empire.
The earliest Christians like the Essenes and Nazarenes took no oaths,
and refused to pledge allegiance to any worldly power such as Rome.
The Teachings of Hippolytus seen in The Apostolic Tradition
prove that the earliest followers of Jesus
refused to pledge allegiance to the authority of the Roman Empire,
that the earliest Christians were forbidden to take oaths
to kill for the Empire, to obey their commanding officers or the
state,
oaths such as the "Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of
America,"
and that all lawmakers of Rome were forbidden membership in the
Church,
because they had sworn allegiance to the Empire.
Pledging allegiance to any authority, other than the God within,
or allowing one's self to be drafted, that is conscripted,
into the army of the Empire, in order to kill,
was a sacrilege to the earliest Christians.
The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus is dramatic and irrefutable
proof
Why James named Paul as an Apostate to the original teachings of
Jesus.
For Paul taught his followers to respect all civil and state authority.
The following material from The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus is public domain.
From The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus,
translated into English with Introduction and Notes
by Burton Scott Eason, Archon Books, 1962.
Part II
"New converts to the faith, who are to be admitted as hearers of the word, shall first be brought to the teachers before the people assemble. And they shall be examined as to their reason for embracing the faith, and they who bring them shall testify that they are competent to hear the word....
Inquiry shall likewise
be made about the professions and trades of those who are brought to be
admitted to the faith. If a man is a pander, he must desist or be
rejected. If a man is a sculptor or painter, he must be charged not
to make idols; if he does not desist he must be rejected. If
a man is an actor or pantomimist, he must desist or be rejected.
A teacher of young children had best desist, but if he has no other occupation,
he may be permitted to continue. A charioteer, likewise, who races
or frequents races, must desist or be rejected. A gladiator
or a trainer of gladiators or a huntsman [in the wild-beast shows],
or anyone connected with these shows, or a public official in charge of
gladiatorial exhibitions must desist or be rejected. A soldier of
civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to refuse to do so if
he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath; if he is unwilling to comply,
he must be rejected. A military commander or civic magistrate that
wears the purple must be rejected. If a catechumen or a believer
seeks to become a soldier, they must be rejected, for they have despised
God. A harlot or licentious man or one who has castrated himself, or any
other who does things not to be named, must be rejected, for they are defiled.
A magician must not [even] be brought for examination. An enchanter, an
astrologer, a diviner, a soothsayer, a user of magic verses, a juggler,
a mountebank, an amulet-maker must desist or be rejected. A concubine,
who is a slave and has reared her children and has been faithful to her
master alone, may become a hearer; but if she has failed in these matters,
she must be rejected. If a man has a concubine, he must desist and marry
legally; if he is unwilling, he must be rejected.
If now, we have omitted
anything (any trade?), the facts (as they occur) will instruct your
mind; for we all have the Spirit of God."
Analysis:
Conscription is Slavery.
It is obvious that Hippolytus was following the authority of Jesus,
who said "You cannot serve both God and Mammon," Matthew 6:
24.
rather than the authority of Paul the Apostate
who taught obedience to the State, or Mammon:
"Respect all authority as divinely established."
Now let us look in particular at the passage dealing with being in the military or obeying the authority of the Empire, which was the "civil authority" referred to by Hippolytus.
"A soldier of civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath; if he is unwilling to comply, he must be rejected. A military commander or civic magistrate that wears the purple must be rejected. If a catechumen or a believer seeks to become a soldier, they must be rejected, for they have despised God."Hippolytus says that soldiers are not permitted to kill. Soldiers here refers both to the soldiers of the local governments and soldiers of the Roman empire. Not only must soldiers refuse to kill, but they must also refuse to take an oath to their commander. The true follower of Jesus' teachings takes an oath to obey none but Deity.
Relevance to Today:
The earliest Christians knew, as did people in
all ages, that being conscripted or drafted to serve in the army of the
state, whether of the Roman empire, or any state (such as the United States
of America), was considered a sacrilege. For the followers of Jesus
were dedicated to God alone: "You cannot serve both God and Mammon."
All domains of the Roman Empire were involved with slavery and commerce
bringing in money; therefore all states were Mammon.
Facts Demonstrating that Jesus' Earliest Followers Did Not Obey the State.
1. Those who were lawgivers of the nation or empire, that is, those who wore the purple robe of rulership, were not allowed to become Christians, because they had sworn to defend the nation or empire, and not the will of Deity.
2. Those who were already soldiers had to agree not to kill before they would be admitted as Christians.
3. Those who wished to be soldiers Hippolytus says have despised God, for they choose to kill for the nation or empire. Those who wished to be soldiers were rejected for membership in the Church.
4. All followers of Jesus were forbidden to take oaths or to pledge their allegiance to any power but that of God. The soldier could not take the customary oath to follow strictly the orders of one's commanding officer. In other words, a military comprised of Christian soldiers would be comprised of individuals who would do no killing for the State and would not take oaths to follow their commanding officers.
5. The Church had its militant members, for Simon Zelotes is the
name of Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot was Judas the carrier of a
dagger carried by the militants of the time. Peter cut off the ear of the
Romans. Jesus instructed his disciples to brings swords. And Jesus said:
I bring not peace but a sword. The zealots are on record by Josephus for
killing Roman and Jewish slaveholders, which manifested a militant method
of freeing the captive or slave. Jesus had said: "I came to free
the captive." Josephus tells us also that zealots attacked
Roman arsenals and took weapons from them, and zealots burned down the
Temple of Records in Jerusalem, where the record of debts owed by the poor
to the rich were stored.
6. The earliest followers of Jesus called themselves Ebionites. Ebionite
comes from the Hebrew ebionim, meaning "the poor" and Jesus and his earliest
followers called themselves "the poor" very deliberately to let people
show that they were absolutely on the side of the poor, the people, and
not the wealthy, those who ran Judaism, and those who ran the Roman Empire.
In context of Jesus' statement that there is no authority other than God:
You cannot serve both God and Mammon," Matthew 6: 24,
we have the commandments to serve the State or the Roman Empire
given by the Apostate Paul:
Paul promoted the authoritarianism of the state as well as
the institution of slavery.
Romans 13:1
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established
by God.
Romans 13:2
Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of
God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
Romans 13:3
For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.
Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will
have praise from the same;
Paul's repeated assertions that humans should obey the authority of the state were attempts to subvert the anti-authoritarianism of the early and genuine Church. They were repeated just as Peter's so-called vision to "rise and kill and eat" was repeated, in an attempt to overthrow the egalitarianism taught by Jesus.
Conscription, the Draft, is Slavery.
Even the term Draft tells us so.
(The term drafted originally applied to "draft" horses, showing
that owning or enslaving animals, and owning and enslaving people to serve
in the army, were regarded in the same manner by the authorities.]