Theocracy: Government of a state by the immediate direction or administration of God; hence, government or political rule by priests or clergy as representatives of God.
Theocrasy: A fusion of divinities of different religions in the thought of worshipers; a mixture of the worship of different gods.... (Webster's New International Dictionary unabridged. 1957.)
"In those days, Caesar Augustus published a decree ordering a census of the whole Roman world. ... The angel said to [the shepherds] ... Today in David's city, a saviour - the Messiah - as been born to you. Let this be a sign to you: you'll find an infant wrapped in a simple cloth, lying in a manger. Suddenly, there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in high heaven! And on Earth, peace to those on whom God's favour rests." ( Luke 2. Inclusive Bible translation)

Faithful Witness
Christians of every age and generation have long needed to weigh whether the faith to which they bear witness is fundamentally rooted in the Scriptures and is faithful to the discipleship heritage of previous generations, or whether their faith is or has been corrupted by other theologies, cultural ideologies, and unfaithful practices.
In this twentieth century, Christianity and companions of Jesus Christ in Germany were sorely tested by National Socialist (Nazi) government led by Adolf Hitler. The inherited German, predominantly Christian, culture was rapidly undergoing a social and theological transformation driven by Nazi ideas and power.

The Nazi salute of the Third Reich was a sign of this transformation. The Nazi salute, "Sieg Heil!" or "Heil Hitler!" became an imposed cultural practice which more than hinted at theological contamination. "Sieg" is the imperative for verb "to triumph", "heil" translates into English with various words like whole, healed, restored, and salvation or redemption. The association of the name of the dictator with this salute, as in "Heil! Hitler" and the religious-fervour it awakened in Nazi gatherings and in the culture generally went a long way to raise the social custom to a form of idolatrous worship. Just as the Roman emperor of the first Common Era centuries expected subjects to worshipfully bend the knee, so the Nazi state required the raised-arm salute.

History tells us that the salute and the ideology it reflected resulted in nothing like "Heil" but everything like hell.

In the 1930s in Germany, the National Socialists (Nazis) were very aware of the power of religion - the Christian religion - which had for more than a millenium shaped German culture.

The 1933 German Reich Concordat with the Holy See was the attempt to safeguard peace between the Nazi state and Roman Catholics. The Concordat achieved its Nazi goal. By 1937 the state effectively strait-jacketed the hierarchical Church to "religious matters" only.

Protestants, divided as they were in Lutheran, Reformed, and "United" (Evangelische Kirche der Union) church confessions with 28 regional church bodies, were a more complicated challenge. To break through the maze and to gain control of the Protestant churches, the Nazi government decided to "de-confessionalize" and Germanize the Protestant church bodies into one Reich Church. The imposition of Ludwig Mueller as the national Bishop sought to guarantee Nazi control of the Church.

Ecclesiologically and theologically, the Nazis sought to cut off the Protestant Church bodies from their life-giving roots and self-definition in order to transform it into the German Church as a subordinate aspect of the totalitarian Nazi state. The Nazi takeover was perceived to be a fundamental threat to the integrity of the Christian Church in Germany and was therefore fervently resisted by many Protestants.

Barmen 1934
In response, representatives of the various church bodies - pastors, lay members, and theologians - were chosen to come together in an emergency synod in May 1934 in the community of Barmen to shape a "common message for the need and temptation of the Church in our day."

The message created was addressed to Protestant Christians who were encouraged to test the veracity of the Barmen message by the Scriptures and by the witness of the ancestors of faith. "Try the spirits whether they are of God!"

This "Confessional Synod" re-affirmed the theological basis of Articles 1 and 2 (1) of the constitution of the German Evangelical [Protestant] Church ( Evangelische Kirche Deutschlands EKD ) as recognized by the Reich Government on July 14, 1933:

"Article 1: The inviolable foundation of the EKD is the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is attested for us in Holy Scripture and brought to light again in the Confessions of the Reformation. The full powers that the Church needs for its mission are hereby determined and limited.
Article 2 (1). The EKD is divided into member Churches. (Landeskirchen)."

In negating the Nazis' totalitarian intention for the "Reichskirche," the synod birthed a schism.The Church divided those who upheld the primacy of the canonical scriptures and the faith heritage (Confessing Christians), from the alien, heretical, and contaminating doctrines and ecclesiology of "German Christians" wanted to impose.

The Theological Declaration of Barmen (May 1934) contained six key doctrinal principles which the Confessing Church leaders held to be fundamental: ( quoted in part from The Proposed Book of Confessions, Office of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA. 1966. pp. 171-174.)

"In view of the errors of the "German Christians" of the present Reich Church government which are devastating the Church and are also thereby breaking up the unity of the EKD, we confess the following evangelical truths:

"...Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death." (John 14:6; John 10:1,9)
"We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church could and would have to acknowledge as source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation."

"...We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords - areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him." (1 Cor. 1:30)

"....We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political conviction." (Eph. 4:15, 16)

"....We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church, apart from this ministry [of servanthood - Matt.20:25, 26], could or were permitted to give to itself, or allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers."

"....We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church's vocation as well. We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the State."

"....We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans."

The central issue here is the question: to whom is the Church - Christians - ultimately accountable and loyal? Nazi leaders demanded ultimate loyalty to and obedience for their version of the German State personified in its dictator Hitler, for the German Church as they "reformed" it, and for their race-based Aryan interpretation of "truth" and "witness." Especially dangerous and objectionable was the claim of supremacy for people of the Aryan race as a cornerstone of the new faith convictions. This claim would provide the basis for subordinating, demonizing, and exterminating people of other races deemed to be of lesser and sub-human races. The murder of Jews, Roma people, homosexuals, and many others were justified by these teachings propounded in Hitler's Mein Kampf .

Weaving together Aryan mythology and Judaeo-Christian teachings as a nationalist or civil religion enabled people to accept and justify the criminal behaviour of the Nazi state and its leaders. Through the Reichskirche, Hitler was seeking divine validation for his territorial expansionism, his murder of groups of people who did not meet his Aryan race qualifications, and the subjugation and liquidation of any and all who resisted Nazi totalitarianism.

The Barmen witnesses absolutely rejected the notion that the reign of God was being realized in the creation of the German Reich and that the religion the Nazis were seeking to impose had any validity for those who identified themselves as "Christians". The revelation of God in Jesus Christ stood firmly as a fundamental contradiction to the false and evil claims, convictions, and actions propounded by the Nazis and to the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler as the "heil" bringer to the German nation and to the world subjected to the superior Nordic Aryan people.

Barmen's witness was a call for Nazis to root and branch repentance: turning away from the armed violence to bring about the new reality in Germany and beyond, choosing instead peaceful ways of creating a new society; from the murderous racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and discriminatory anthropologies totally contradicting the biblical witness of all women and men created in the image of God; and from the suppression of walking in the Way of Jesus Christ as the divine Word of God. "We are bound together by the confession of the One Lord of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."

The work of the Barmen leaders of the Confessing Church has had longer term impact. It has served as an authoritative resource and inspiration to successive generations of Christians, calling all Christians to faithfulness to Christ's Gospel in the challenging contexts they find themselves.

Other Contexts 

In South Africa, Christians used Barmen as a lens to see clearly the heretical basis of the apartheid system of the Afrikaner state and its religious collaborators in churches like South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church. The Declaration was studied and adapted to the South African context and informed the discernment of the anti-apartheid Christians.

They recognized that the Way of Christ was being contaminated and perverted by dominant racist and xenophobic teachings serving to justify the oppression of the majority Black African and "coloured" Asian racial communities. No amount of heretical "theological" rationalization and casuistry could justify the evil oppression and inhuman subordination of these majorities by the dominant white minority.

With intense international pressure - including ecclesiastical condemnation, coordinated disinvestment, boycotts, and sanctions, along with internal resistance, the regime fell. As a result, structural racism was demolished, and democracy had a chance to evolve and develop freed from the apartheid's fracturing constraints.

It is remarkable that In Canada, the Barmen Declaration appears not to have informed the Churches about their relationships with the Indigenous peoples of Canada. In the latter half of the 20th century, Canadian Christians wrestled with the deeply flawed colonial system to which they had assented and contributed. Sensing that this assent was rooted in a complex weaving of presumed supremacy of Christian theology - especially resurrection theology, European cultural superiority and deeply entrenched racism, Christian leaders began to reconsider the churches' role in this imperialist system. The major churches, excluding the Roman Catholic, were led to express official apologies for this devastating hubris-based domination and pledged commitments to seek new, more just ways of relating with Canada's indigenous peoples.

Why do theocracy and theocrasy merit discussion in our time?

Rise of Populism
The rise of populist leaders in various nations is awakening for many memories of the thirties when National Socialism's teachings and actions wrought their evil. Autocratic leaders like Rodrigo Duterte, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jingpin, Jair Bolsonaro, Nicolas Maduro, Victor Orban, Donald Trump, etc., cast their destructive spell over democratic processes of their lands, too often as they anoint themselves or as they are validated by national religious leaders! All people of faith and especially Christians aware of their theological heritage and history have reason to be concerned.

Nationalist leaders claim higher wisdom, dismiss human rights standards, spew hatred and promote fear, use force, spread falsehoods, fracture cultural communities, demonize groups of people, fail to honour rule of law, oppress "others" and rationalize their incarceration or even murder, threaten Creation, claim supremacy while moving towards totalitarian approaches to government - these are men who take to themselves far more power than is justified either by law or by accepted human understanding. It may not exactly equate with theocracy but it is akin to "playing God."

Christians base their expectations of human leadership on the witness of scripture and on the fruits of the Spirit which result from that leadership. The Luke 2 segment quoted above proclaims that the divine is revealed not by the haughty and the presumed powerful, but by the love-borne child whom the angels proclaimed and the shepherds embraced. This child is the revelation of the heart of God and in the Bethlehem manger lies the stark contradiction and challenge to the presumptions of the oppressive Roman Emperor and his blood-thirsty King Herod .

Christians understand that the way of faithfulness is revealed not in arrogant hubris, but in the strong and gentle humility of the birth and life of Jesus Christ, brother to all in the one human family of God. No one is outside of the grace this Beloved Child of God brought to the world. The self-giving ways of Jesus, his command to love God and neighbour as self, his commitment to the marginalized and the oppressed by seeking justice and wholeness for all, his challenge to the arrogant and those unwilling to love the other, his honouring of women and children, his welcoming of diverse others, his unity with the Holy One - these Spirit-filled qualities and actions are the Way of blessing to which all people of faith are called. "Treat others as you yourself want to be treated!"

Do the current crop of nationalist, populist leaders' actions foster peace, justice, equity? Do they respect the divine image of God which is inherent in each and every human beings? Do they nurture compassion and well-being through their actions? Do they acknowledge their own limitations and their personal need for forgiveness and grace? Do they employ gifts and talents, not for their own interest, but for the well-being of all people? Do they live respectfully in Creation and honour the creatures with whom humans are called to share the earth? Do they foster God's shalom reign on earth?

These and many other questions are appropriately put to all leaders, but especially to leaders entrusted with power to govern over others in the human family. It seems increasingly however that national populations are being duped into supporting populist leaders driven by hubris claiming to have visionary simple and effective, but often immoral or amoral, solutions to the perceived problems of the nations.

Trump and Fundamentalist American Christians
In the United States of America, too many Christian fundamentalists seem ready to baptize Donald Trump as a political leader divinely mandated to save the nation from its alleged evil, progressive ways!

Jim Bakker, a convicted and disgraced tele-evangelist has again taken to the airwaves. This time his pitch supports the current President of the United States as the divinely chosen one to lead the nation through turbulent times to salvation. Bakker and others liken Donald Trump to King Cyrus, the monarch of Persia whom the Hebrew prophet Isaiah foresaw as God's Chosen One endowed with God's Spirit to deliver the Jewish people from exile in Babylon and as restoring the Jerusalem temple foundations. (Is. 44:28; 45:1ff; 48:16)

So Bakker is offering his viewers a solid gold-plated coin, engraved with the overlapping heads of both Cyrus and Trump, as a "point of contact" with God. The coin's purpose is to help believers pray for the continuation and success of the Trump presidency to bring salvation to the United States of America. Only $45 gets you the coin!

No mention is made of the well-documented and increasingly obvious significant failings of the USA's 45th President. Would parents of young children really want to have their children know that they pray to the Holy One for the continuing "success" of a president who allegedly is "endowed with God's Spirit," but radiates fear, hatred, and immorality in his words and deeds?His hate-filled abuse and ferocious attacks on many people - especially people of colour, women, and LGBTQ2 people - have set an unenviable record for the Office of the Presidentand contradict the core of faith the Scriptures reveal about Jesus and the loving heart of God.

The fundamentalist American Christian right appears to have reached an amoral consensus that it is more important to be blind to Trump sins and pathological ways than to forgo the chance to establish their right-wing, mainly white male dominance, especially in social agendas related to sexual orientation, reproductive rights, women's rights, gun control, etc. This version of fostering salvation, viz. "making America great again" has nothing to do with God's purpose of bring healing and wholeness to the world and the human family but everything to do with a distorted nationalist view buttressed by dubious interpretations of scripture.

Fundamentalist American Christians are also focusing on the Servant Songs in the book of the prophet Isaiah (42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; and especially, 52:13-53:12) as a way of interpreting the Trump presidency. Given the strong and persistent critique of the "deal maker" by all but hardcore Republicans and allied right wing sources, some fundamentalists are imagining Trump as a contemporary version of the Suffering Servant:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised , and we esteemed him not. ... He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, ... and with his stripes we are healed. (53:4f. KJV)

What the scriptures witness to is healing and wholeness as a divine gift which comes through the self-giving compassionate humility of the Suffering Servant and Jesus Christ. Confronting evil with truth, compassion, love and justice is the vocation of servants of God.

What Trump is offering his followers is prime example of how to foster fear and hatred by his racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and sexist abuse of others. Trump validates popular attacks on diversity, destroys unity, and demonizes those who refuse his autocratic and pathological demand for loyalty to him. Instead of self-giving for the healing of the people, we have in Trump the spectacle of an arrogant narcissistic national leader stoking within and among his followers fires of fear, hatred, and prejudice - often leading to violence. From his way of being, Trump's followers experience affirmation and comfort for their anti-Christian ways. Trump's fundamental approach is centred on the "eye for an eye" text - which as wise people including Jesus have realized can only result in the blinding of all people.

To claim Christian identity with this false interpretation of the Suffering Servant theme is heretical mockery of scriptures and the Christian Gospel by fundamentalist leaders like Franklin Graham, son of the widely appreciated evangelist of yore, Billy Graham. Trump, notwithstanding what American fundamentalist Christians have no shame to preach, is is no suffering servant endowed with the divine Spirit as lived by Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus' prayer "that all may be one" is forsaken for the claim that only "our" national superior understanding is the way to which all must yield and bend the knee.

This attempt to identify Trump as divinely chosen for the redemption of the USA is heresy which all churches and faithful Christians must challenge, just as the Confessing Christians of Germany challenged and witnessed against the German Christians' attempt to identify Hitler as bearer of salvation for Germany. Such theocrasy easily slides into murderous theocracy.

In the end, it is the Gospel of the child in the manger and the self-giving Way of the Beloved One of God - Jesus Christ - that the faithful are called to accompany, to proclaim, and to live as the Spirit's urgent antidote to fundamentalist American Christians' ill-begotten theocratic claims about the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

"Glory to God in high heaven! And on earth, peace to those on whom God's favour rests."