This has to be one of the most bizarre news articles I’ve read in awhile. It’s about a radical right sect called “sovereign citizens,” which, as it happens, does not recognize the United States as legitimate and only answers to the authority of heaven. Which is, itself unfortunate, for them, since heaven has been silent for at least 2,000 years. But, no matter. These folks persist in their delusions:

His name is Craig Douglas Fleshman, though he won’t answer to that, just as he no longer carries a driver’s license or pays taxes. Pastor Paul Revere doesn’t recognize the authority of the State of Oregon, the United States of America, or anyone else that presumes to have some command over him. He answers only to God.

“We believe there’s only one sovereign,” Revere told The Daily Beast. “And it isn’t us. Jesus said to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and render to God that which is God’s.”

Revere and his “Embassy of Heaven” church in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains are more seasoned examples of a growing movement of Americans who wish to wipe their hands of their government—not by secession, via those petitions filed in several states since President Obama’s reelection—but by declaring the whole system null and void. …

Of course, what Revere is missing here is that Jesus actually recognized the authority of the existing government — the carnal government — when he said to render unto Caesar that which was Caesar’s. He was saying, in essence, to obey the laws of the land; God’s supposed law is a separate matter altogether.