>>799522
He never said he wasn't going to be powerful on earth. He was telling Pilate that he or his followers didn't need to kill in order to be heard. It doesn't mean lacking power or authority. It means his methods are different.
And there's more to this after the Crucifixion. Before his Ascension he also said: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
He could only say this after he conquered death and ransacked hell of it's prisoners and bound the spiritual powers that held sway over the world. First things first. Only then could the Gospel have power on the Earth. There's a reason why the power of false gods crumbled when the Gospel spread, enough to topple the whole Roman empire and it's other pagan satellites among the Middle East, the Celts, and Gauls. Because Jesus bound these demons from causing that influence any longer. That's more power than you can imagine, working right here on earth. It wasn't coincidence or happened by accident or some "trend" in anthropology. It's because of the POWER of Christ… working right here as well as in heaven. Once you realize this, you'll want to rejoice when you see the hand of God in events. Instead of having some loser mentality who thinks nothing ever happens except in the future. This is premillenialist poison.
That aside, what does this have to do with lands and states? The Bible itself shows you it was customary to name church areas after their lands. "Epistle to Rome/Corinthians/Ephesians/etc". And the Seven Churches of Asia, as in Revelation. He didn't tell us to name churches after the evangelical slogans they like using ("Full Tilt Pinball Community Church" or whatever you guys use). None of them abstract labels. They're all named by region - a very tangible thing rather than abstract. Further, Paul specifically distinguishes between "bishops"/overseers and ministers. Ministers ran the individual worship groups within a city, but an overseer was the wider authority with apostolic authority. Each region from the earliest times carried on this tradition of Bishops and they were always known by it. Already within the 1st century you have Ignatius writing as the "Bishop of Antioch" and Clement as "Bishop of Rome".
As for earthly authorities. That's just the icing on the cake. If churches are separated by regional domains, then it's preferable if the secular authorities become believers. One can only hope and pray. Somehow in your imagination, this is wrong and you'd rather have no happy relationship between the church and the authorities in the regions they are in.
Jesus also never said to promote democracy either. He is also called King of Kings and Lord and Lords. But apparently, Protestants prefer just killing kings and propping up individualism. The only one who ever promoted individualism was Satan. The only rebel was Satan. And the Jews also chose a rebel (Barabbas) over their rightful King.