Most people are not directly employed in the service of a church assembly. Their business or occupation is the thrust of their ministry, and their God-given talents are used providing some good or service in the marketplace to make others' lives better. It is in that area where they are touching others with gospel.

A critically important aspect of being ungrafted to the World System is that followers of Christ establish businesses that are not tied to that System by incorporation. Accompanying this condition is the freedom of an individual from obligation to a World-chartered body and the commensurate requirement his income be confiscated for tax withholding purposes.

A corporation is itself a legal fiction with its foremost advantage limited liability. This is to protect individual stakeholders in the company from being held liable for any debt collection or liability claims.

Is it not the case, then, that this enables reckless behavior that encourages participants to evade personal responsibility by shifting any liability to a faceless World-sanctioned entity? Does Christ really consent to this condition: that one who claims to be His own veils himself behind a corporation in such a way and as such either (a) shields himself from accountability for his actions or (b) extinguishes the impact he may have to love others?

Another reason a business may feel the need to be incorporated is to raise capital. The question must be asked: Does not the abundance of God's resources provide enough for a business to grow and thrive? Why do so many feel the need to incorporate for the purpose of raising capital? I believe the answer is as simple as this: So many people lie that World-accustomed investors perceive an incorporated entity less likely to lie because of the constraints of the law.

Why does a follower of Christ need those constraints when he should already be fully respecting any stakeholders claim to a business out of the love he has for that individual? I am truly saddened by this potential truth: that there are so few people who would invest their resources in a company that is merely "incorporated" by the Kingdom, made up of owners, investors, managers, and employees who simply love because they are Christ's. That's it.

Does this mean that all the things any organization must accomplish can't be written down in some form? Of course not! Followers of Christ are still human: they need to be reminded of things, they need to learn what is proper for achieving the goals laid out by a group of people, they must know and respect the accepted channels of authority — all of that is still applicable and wholly biblical!

But while as human they are prone to make mistakes, in Christ they do not allow those things to give opportunity to sin. As humans they are always learning, as followers of Christ they are always loving, and full authentic love only requires residency in the Kingdom. To add an incorporation contract to that is like adding a French bread baguette to the transmission of an automobile to help it work.

The upshot of all of this is simple: Can people in an organization do business without lying to anyone involved in any endeavor related to the business? This means anyone, employees and contractors, customers and vendors, even those dastardly competitors and pesky government officials. If the answer is no, exploitive deception is an indispensable part of it all, then that business will want to remain incorporated and continue to serve the god of commerce and of thieves.

But if the answer is, yes, that they all can be truthful and gracious under the bountiful provision of all things by Christ — by all means employing incisive wisdom — then abandoning any association with Caesar is not only perfectly reasonable but precisely what God expects.

Does this mean deftly securing full legal stewardship of all land and resources under the company's control? Yes! In other words, have no licenses, leases, charters, or deeds that would compromise your clear declaration of complete stewardship of your property — have none of those things that the World requests merely to keep you under its thumb. Are the terms of those contracts meaningful? Of course they are! You should be heeding the relevant provisos within them if they are indeed godly to begin with! By all means, put them into your own covenant agreements with God and one another. If you are actually doing those things as a matter of practice anyway, why is there any question about whether or not you'd do what is truly and fully righteous? If there is a question, then are you truly and fully Christ's to begin with?

Does this mean insightfully understanding what your real tax liability is? Yes! If you have full legal stewardship of your property, that means you do not have to pay property taxes you are not required to pay. Should you pay for local police and fire services, and for infrastructure maintenance? Of course you should! Find out how much your contribution is, and give local government officials that, along with some fresh homemade baked goods! Invite them to dinner, share Christ with them, and leave no room for them to question your authentic graciousness and kindness or to doubt your unwavering devotion to the government that is the Holy Spirit residing within you. As the Bible clearly says, they will see your goodness and faithfulness, and commend you.

Does all this make it difficult to do business with others? Of course!... Unless you have in your employ many people who also believe on Christ. Note: "Believe on Christ." This means complete abandonment to Him, His Kingdom, and seeing that Kingdom manifest in the lives of everyone with whom you have to do. I agree that the problem is that there are just not a whole lot of people who do this. In a virulently Catholicized nation there are too many who do believe in their own Jesus.

But should this stop you from assembling, praying, studying Scripture, speaking meaningfully about these things, encouraging one another, and moving on establishing a Kingdom company with all deliberate speed? Can you be doing this right now?

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One final note: I am not so naïve to see that it is practically impossible to avoid providing one's labor in a business world dominated by worship of Mercury. This is why the most important aspect of being ungrafted starts with the worship assembly. If that body genuinely becomes ungrafted to the World, then its expansion would facilitate the principles of business activity identified above, and followers of Christ would be more rapturously free to produce phenomenal abundance in their labor wholly for God, neighbor, and even enemy.

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A Note About Contracts

Being Ungrafted

The Acts 2 Church

The steps to being ungrafted in thumbnail form:

This page was originally posted by David Beck at yourownjesus.net on May 30, 2009