Romans 13. It's the "submission to government" chapter, quite famous as well as quite misconstrued and taken out of context.
I think a lot of people have been wondering about this topic lately. A family friend of ours said to me a couple months ago that he saw something on television where a man quoted a verse from Romans 13 to give Christians the notion that they should always submit to the current occupying governing authority in their land. My friend wanted to know whether the bible really taught that, because he questions a lot of what the government does and says we should do.
Then a dear sister in Christ asked me yesterday about Romans 13, because a friend of hers was struggling with confusion over the matter. Must we submit to the governing authority no matter what?
Rather than isolate a verse or two from one chapter in the bible, let's do three different things:
1. Examine scripture's teaching as a whole.
2. Look at real examples in the scriptures of Godly people's dealings with the governing authorities.
3. Pray and meditate on this subject to make sure that we're both using good logic and being led by the Spirit of God.
The physical nation of Israel was to be an example nation to the rest of the world. They were ONE NATION UNDER GOD. They were FREE. They were given a written law made up of commandments, statutes, ordinances, and judgments. They had a priesthood, and there was supposed to be elders as judges. But the nation wanted a man king like the other nations had. The Eternal viewed this as evil, because in asking for a man king to reign over them, they rejected His reign. You can turn in your bible to I Samuel 12:17-24 and read that it was evil that they did that, but they should still "Only fear the Eternal and serve him in truth with all your heart..." (vs. 24a). To get the background of Israel wanting a man king, you can turn back to chapter 8 and read.
All throughout the scriptures you will find that man should obey God. If man's government conflicts with God's, then man should disobey man. Let's look at some biblical examples real quickly. On your own you can study it more in depth by reading the references I give. These examples are not all inclusive, but this is a good list I have compiled for you:
*The Hebrew midwives disobeying the Egyptian pharaoh and deceiving him to protect the lives of the male infants. Make note that the sixth commandment ranks above the ninth (Ex. 1:17-19).
*Rahab the harlot hiding the Israelite spies and lying to her government officials, because she believed God (Joshua ch. 2).
*Elijah fleeing from Jezebel (certainly not submitting or handing himself over to the authorities) after killing the prophets of Baal (I Kings 19:1-4).
*David avoiding death by Saul (I Sam. chs. 19-24).
*Esther entering the king's court without being called, which was illegal and could end up reaping the death penalty, to risk her life to save her people (Esther 4:10-11).
*Shadrach and friends disobeying Babylon's law to bow to the image (Dan. 3:8-18).
*Daniel praying to the Eternal God, despite the new Persian law demanding that all prayers go only to King Darius (Dan. 6:11-13).
*Our Lord Salvation calling Herod a fox when told Herod wanted to kill him (Luke 13:31-32) and many recorded instances of disobeying Pharasaic man-made laws, sprinkled throughout the gospel narratives.
*After his arrest, the Lord answered the high priest's question sarcastically and received a slap for it (John 18:19-23).
*The apostles disobeyed the mandate given to them to not spread the Good News, saying we should OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MAN (Acts 5:27-29).
*After his arrest Paul spoke before the high priest and was slapped, and afterward he cursed him and then spoke sarcastically to those who objected (Acts 23:1-5; see also Acts 21:27-28 to see what got him in trouble).
The previous examples I laid out in order as the books go in a KJV bible, so it should be easy to look up the references, read the context, and be able to pray and meditate on them. Now let's look at Romans 13 itself:
The first verse is "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers [governing authorities]. For there is no power [authority] but of God: the powers that be are ordained [appointed by] God."
At this point, you can go and review Daniel 2:44.
Continuing on to verse 2, it says that whoever resists the authority resists God and therefore shall receive damnation. So if one stops at these two verses and do not look at the rest of the bible, like the scriptures saying that we should obey God rather than man, that we should only fear the Eternal and obey Him, and all the examples of Godly people resisting the governing authorities, we could falsely teach that we should not resist ANY government's authority for ANY reason. But let's continue on.
Verse 3: "For rulers are NOT A TERROR TO GOOD WORKS, BUT TO THE EVIL..." and "...do that which is good, and you shall receive praise [from the governing authority]."
Verse 4 says that the governing authority is the minister of God to thee for good.
STOP! Let's meditate on what we've read so far. Was the Egyptian pharaoh ministering to the Israelites for their good? Was the Babylonian king who wanted to throw Shadrach and friends into the fire for not bowing down to the image (which breaks the second commandment of Eternal) ministering on behalf of God for their good? Were the Jewish leaders ministering on God's behalf for the good of Salvation (Jesus/Yeshua) and of Paul? Was Hitler a minister of God for the good of the people? Is the United States government serving the people on God's behalf by starting wars, allowing abortion, allowing multiple divorces for any reason, allowing homosexual marriage and homosexual adoption, pushing harmful synthetic drugs and requiring toxic vaccinations while outlawing good God-made drugs, approving GM foods and unhealthful meats like pork and lobster and shrimp, attacking organic foods, etc.?
Is the U.S. or any other government on this earth God's servant for our good? WELL, to a point, yes. When someone is murdering people or robbing others or raping women or doing some other evil, and the government punishes that person, then YES, THAT GOVERNMENT IS SERVING GOD'S PURPOSE FOR A GOVERNING AUTHORITY.
Skip down to verse 10: Love works no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
This is worth repeating: LOVE is the fulfilling of the law. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Is something loving? Do not resist it. It's for our good. It serves God's purpose, and we should feel no fear unless we're doing something wrong (verse 3). If it's not loving and contradicts God's law, THEN IT'S NOT FOR OUR GOOD, AND IT'S TO BE RESISTED.
This is important to thoroughly understand, because a TIME OF GREAT DECEPTION IS COMING. It will be the time when the last resurrection of the "Holy Roman Empire" reigns over the western world. Most people think of Antichrist to be secular in nature, but that is what's most deceptive. It will be a FALSE CHRISTIAN system. Those who obey in thought and deed (symbolized in bible by forehead and hand) the false system will be resisting God. Those who obey in thought and deed God's Ten Commandments will be resisting the false system. For the latter group there will be two options: FLEE to the wild or be a martyr.
There's the true Church pictured in Revelation 12 and the false church pictured in Rev. 17 and 18. You NEED to know the difference. You NEED to know what's coming. You NEED to be STUDYING (not just reading) the bible. You NEED to be paying attention to world events. I have an article on the "mark of the beast" on my website. It can be found here: http://www.endtimecog.net/articles/markofthebeast.html
I also recommend my book (you don't have to buy it but can find it in ebook format free of charge on my website) God's Law of Love, the Perfect Law of Liberty: Jehovah's Ten Commandments Still Apply Today and also Keith Hunt's book The Biblical Prophets for Today. You can find his book in website article form on his website keithhunt.com under the prophets section. Both books are available in hard copy on Amazon.com.
For what is coming, the true Christian MUST NOT submit to the governing authority, because to do so will be to resist the Governing Authority. It will be a choice as to WHICH governing authority to which you wish to submit: God's or man's.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Choosing an Evil
Tomorrow many of my fellow United States citizens will go to the polls to cast their votes in the quadrennial presidential election. I will not be among them. I voted in one presidential election, back in the year 2000, which was prior to my true conversion. Toward the end of a time I had been drifting and getting caught up in a lot of the wrong ideas (due to lack of reading the Word and praying as I should) I voted in a primary election, February of 2008, for Congressman Ron Paul. He's certainly vastly different than the rest of them, but he's still not representing God's government. Besides that time I have not voted for anyone, for anything, during my time being a citizen of God's spiritual nation, nor do I plan to ever do so again.
So why not, you may ask. Do I not think it's important to try to vote in the "lesser evil?" No, I don't. I don't think it's important to vote for any evil. Admitting both sides are evil should be enough. End of discussion. If you admit that both sides are evil, how do you then determine which is less evil, and how do you even know that? I think a lot of the time those who think they're voting for the lesser evil are voting for the more evil. Only God knows, really.
Concerning the two main presidential candidates (since most of my fellow U.S. citizens continue to be so foolish as to ignore anyone but the two main guys), both support different evils. Some of the evils they both support. And besides what they openly say they support or oppose, how do you know they're not just lying?
Obama supports human fetus murder. Romney says he's against that, but he's a big hypocrite when he says he's pro-life (as opposed to anti-abortion), because he's the bigger supporter of war between the two. More innocent people are murdered and otherwise harmed in war than any evil people they claim they're after. And all the so-called Christian right-wing extremists who tune into the Catholic-owned Fox News base their vote on two main issues--abortion and homosexuality. Whichever candidate is against those two things (especially the former) is their pick. Ironically, the right-wingers are the pro-war side. I guess it's fine for countless Arab in-utero babies to prematurely abort or be born terribly deformed due to all the chemical warfare to which they and their mothers are exposed. I guess it's okay to them that some pregnant mothers and children of all ages are killed by U.S. forces. Or maybe they're just too brainwashed and sadly ignorant to even consider that these things happen, because the news they watch doesn't bother telling them this happens, and they live in la-la land.
These same people don't bother to get on the Internet and look into these things. They don't bother to sit and simply meditate on what must happen over there in the Middle East. They also apparently don't bother to read what the real Christ taught about war. True Christians do not engage in war, they do not support war, and they do not vote in the elections in the governments of men.
This is what God's servant Samuel said to the people of Israel when they desired a man to rule over them (taken from KJV):
Now pay attention carefully to what Samuel said to the people after this:
Only reverently obey the Eternal. He's our Father, and we are to obey him as did Father's Glory Firstborn, our Lord Salvation, did so. Did Salvation (Jesus/Yeshua) get into Roman politics or even Jewish politics when he tabernacled among us in the flesh? He clearly did not. The Jews of his day (and still to this day) thought he was coming to establish God's Kingdom on the earth (and he will, but that is not what he came to accomplish during his first coming). The religious and political leaders of his day thought he and his supporters were going to rebel against the Roman government. The Lord made clear, though, that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), and if it was then his servants would fight (which definitely puts an end to any notion that Christians should engage in warfare).
The Church, made up of a spiritual priesthood, the begotten children of God--destined to be born as spirit-bodied Sons of God at the beginning of the next age, upon Christ's return--is a spiritual nation that has no physical national boundaries on this earth. We are a people scattered all over the earth, and we live as secondary citizens in various man-ruled governments. To participate in these unGodly governments (there is no government on this planet that truly teaches a nation under God to abide only by the Ten Commandments with Christ as the Judge) is treason against the Government of God, because you are working against the principles of that spiritual nation. If you CHOOSE (vote) anyone to rule over you but Christ, you are rejecting his rule and rather choosing the other. We ARE God's government. We are to represent it. We are not representing the coming Government of God if we are choosing the flaw-filled men and U.S. government principles to have rule over us. We are an EXAMPLE nation, a holy nation.
We are to pray God's Kingdom come and for Father's will to be done. We can't in good conscience do that while we are seeking for the world to become Godly by the hands of man. It's NOT going to happen. Why should we who are spiritual be choosing the unspiritual to rule over us? How insane is that? Stop a few minutes and seriously meditate on this.
There is much scripture on this subject, and if you do not yet understand the truth about God's government and how his elect are going to become Sons of God and reign over mankind to show them the way of Peace, then you should open your bible and get to work studying it now. May the Spirit of Truth guide you and open your eyes to His awesome way.
So why not, you may ask. Do I not think it's important to try to vote in the "lesser evil?" No, I don't. I don't think it's important to vote for any evil. Admitting both sides are evil should be enough. End of discussion. If you admit that both sides are evil, how do you then determine which is less evil, and how do you even know that? I think a lot of the time those who think they're voting for the lesser evil are voting for the more evil. Only God knows, really.
Concerning the two main presidential candidates (since most of my fellow U.S. citizens continue to be so foolish as to ignore anyone but the two main guys), both support different evils. Some of the evils they both support. And besides what they openly say they support or oppose, how do you know they're not just lying?
Obama supports human fetus murder. Romney says he's against that, but he's a big hypocrite when he says he's pro-life (as opposed to anti-abortion), because he's the bigger supporter of war between the two. More innocent people are murdered and otherwise harmed in war than any evil people they claim they're after. And all the so-called Christian right-wing extremists who tune into the Catholic-owned Fox News base their vote on two main issues--abortion and homosexuality. Whichever candidate is against those two things (especially the former) is their pick. Ironically, the right-wingers are the pro-war side. I guess it's fine for countless Arab in-utero babies to prematurely abort or be born terribly deformed due to all the chemical warfare to which they and their mothers are exposed. I guess it's okay to them that some pregnant mothers and children of all ages are killed by U.S. forces. Or maybe they're just too brainwashed and sadly ignorant to even consider that these things happen, because the news they watch doesn't bother telling them this happens, and they live in la-la land.
These same people don't bother to get on the Internet and look into these things. They don't bother to sit and simply meditate on what must happen over there in the Middle East. They also apparently don't bother to read what the real Christ taught about war. True Christians do not engage in war, they do not support war, and they do not vote in the elections in the governments of men.
This is what God's servant Samuel said to the people of Israel when they desired a man to rule over them (taken from KJV):
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Now the scriptures spell out the reasons why the Eternal says it's evil to ask for a king (or president or any other name for a leader). You can read it all for yourself, all the details about being taxed heavily and having your children go to war, etc. Sound familiar?
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The Church, made up of a spiritual priesthood, the begotten children of God--destined to be born as spirit-bodied Sons of God at the beginning of the next age, upon Christ's return--is a spiritual nation that has no physical national boundaries on this earth. We are a people scattered all over the earth, and we live as secondary citizens in various man-ruled governments. To participate in these unGodly governments (there is no government on this planet that truly teaches a nation under God to abide only by the Ten Commandments with Christ as the Judge) is treason against the Government of God, because you are working against the principles of that spiritual nation. If you CHOOSE (vote) anyone to rule over you but Christ, you are rejecting his rule and rather choosing the other. We ARE God's government. We are to represent it. We are not representing the coming Government of God if we are choosing the flaw-filled men and U.S. government principles to have rule over us. We are an EXAMPLE nation, a holy nation.
We are to pray God's Kingdom come and for Father's will to be done. We can't in good conscience do that while we are seeking for the world to become Godly by the hands of man. It's NOT going to happen. Why should we who are spiritual be choosing the unspiritual to rule over us? How insane is that? Stop a few minutes and seriously meditate on this.
There is much scripture on this subject, and if you do not yet understand the truth about God's government and how his elect are going to become Sons of God and reign over mankind to show them the way of Peace, then you should open your bible and get to work studying it now. May the Spirit of Truth guide you and open your eyes to His awesome way.
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