But we should also note that [current] attitudes [held by the frustrated general public] fall far short of the ideas that animated the democratic revolutions. Working people of nineteenth century North America did not plead with their rulers to be more benevolent. Rather, they denied their right to rule.
~ Noam Chomsky
And, once again, this is where those who belong to much of the “Christ transforming Culture” approach (especially as it is presented by H.R. Niebuhr) essentially miss the point. They choose to operate from within the structures of power pleading for a little more morality, a little more social consciousness, a little more benevolence. If we fawn at the feet of the king perhaps he will throw us a bone.
Yet when Christians recognise that Jesus, and only Jesus, is our king and ruler we do not bow and scrape before corrupt powers that try to claim the authority of Christ. Instead we deny their right to rule over us and live within a Church that exists as its own polis. Of course, when we deny the lordship of these “satanic” powers (for these powers also try to claim the throne of heaven as their own) we can be assured that we are on the right track to genuinely transforming culture.