The disturbing
treatment of Canadian Polish Pastor, Artur
Pawlowski can happen here. [Canadian authorities arrested him
for holding church gatherings.] Biden tweeted: The rule is now simple: “Get
vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.” Only it is not a rule. Time for
clarity from the Bible on submission to government.
The sad truth is that Democrats have declared war.
They are demanding unconditional surrender. No only from the church but from
innocent citizens. Their war compels believers to look again at what the Bible
says about evil laws and evil leaders.
Doesn't the Bible tell us to obey them no matter what?
Absolutely not. And it is shocking how many believers do not know their Bible
or have been given false teaching. There is no verse in the Bible that
tells you to obey evil government or laws.
Many, including onlookers in the video capturing the arrest
shouted, “Shame on you guys, this is not Communist China. Don’t you have
family and kids? Whatever happened to ‘Canada, God keep our land glorious and
free’?”
If we don’t realize this now, we will sit back and let
our nation be destroyed.
Christians during the American Revolution understood that
the Bible does not teach us to obey evil laws or leaders. There would be no
America if Christian Colonists believed they should obey the evil laws of
England.
Let me prove to you beyond any doubt that the Bible tells
us what we must do in the face of wicked government and laws.
First, I will expose a pathetic heresy that many
believers commonly accept as truth. This is a widespread excuse for submitting
when we should disobey.
Here is an example of someone who wrote me while under
the influence of this false teaching:
“Out of curiosity, how do you justify your argument
against obeying the government when you read Romans 13:1-7. The government Paul
was talking about was even more oppressive than anything we can imagine. You
could truly be martyred for your faith under the Roman government. And, what
was Paul’s response? Did he call for governmental reform? Did he call for us to
protest the government? Did he demand his rights and call on the government to
recognize his rights? None of the above, he said, in the face of a brutal
government, to obey. He didn’t say obey if your rights are recognized, he said
obey. The church of today has to realize that the government is not our arena
as Christians. Never, in the history of the church, has God used the government
to bring about change.”
This defense of submission to evil government is
riddled with error and falsehoods. Here are my responses to selected quotes:
1.“You could truly be martyred for your faith under the Roman
government.” First the writer tells us to obey evil laws, but then
mentions martyrs. They never would have been martyred had they not broken the
law by being Christians.
2. Then he asks, “Did (Paul) call for governmental reform? Did he call for us to protest
the government? Did he demand his rights and call on the government to
recognize his rights? None of the above…” The truth is, Paul did
all of the above. “Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly,
uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison.
And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and
get us out” (Acts 16:37).
3. And finally, the zinger—the heresy that
has sidelined the Body of Christ in the hour when we are most needed: “The church of today has to realize that the government is
not our arena as Christians. Never, in the history of the church, has God used
the government to bring about change.” Totally untrue. William
Wilberforce was a Christian who used his faith in Jesus to abolish slavery in
England. In fact, believers throughout history have created child labor laws,
health regulations, and have exposed injustice, and corruption. It is safe to
say that Christians are more responsible for influencing government, bringing
about reform by forcing laws to be changed, and standing up for justice, than
any other group in history.
So how did this writer get it so wrong? By doing what
so many do. Isolating one set of verses, taking them out of context, and arriving
at a conclusion that looks holy, but is in fact, pure and
simple fear.
Let’s look at the verses that have been violated:
“Let every soul be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities
that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the
authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment
on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do
you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will
have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But
if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is
God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices
evil. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of
wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this
you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this
very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom
taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to
whom honor (Romans 13:1-7).
It seems to say that we are to honor government in
every form, right? Wrong. To demonstrate what Paul is saying I offer
this example. Say some parents leave the house, and leave the oldest child in
charge. The child is given strict instructions not to open the door for anyone,
except for a postal messenger whom they are expecting to deliver an important
package that day.
The parents tell the child, “He will have blonde hair.
He is wearing blue jeans and a white shirt. Don’t let anyone else in.” So
later, a man with black hair, a blue shirt, and black slacks knocks on the door
claiming to be the messenger with the package. Do they let him in? Of course
not.
Lost in all the quoting of this verse on submission to
government is the most important part: The description of the ruling authority.
The Bible tells us what they are wearing! Look at the description:
1.They are not a terror to good works. Any
government that terrorizes the innocent is not of God. How can you say that
Hitler was God’s will for Germany? Hitler and other tyrants are in fact the
ones being warned that there were God appointed governments who would
destroy them: “But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear
the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger
to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” That is why the
just powers of the world rose up and destroyed the Nazis.
2. They praise good works. Authorities that
are endorsed by God do not hate or oppose Christian activity. They are the ones
who—even if they are not Christian themselves—do not insult soul winning or
fight the work of God. They are the cops, teachers, politicians who are glad
that children are getting out of gangs and off of drugs.
3. You must be subject for the sake of conscience. When
it becomes tricky, is when government is a mixture of right and wrong. Jesus
said of the Pharisees, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that
observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, but
do not do” (Matthew 23:3).
Do what they say, but don’t partake of their hypocrisy.
Watch them for that moment when they cross the line and come between you and
your God. Just as our conscience should drive us to obey the law, we
should also know when our conscience tells us not to obey an evil law.
Here’s when Peter reached that tipping point, speaking
to those very same Pharisees: “So they called them and commanded them
not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered
and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to
you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:18-20).
And again, in Acts 5:29, “Peter and
the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God
rather than men.””
God not only does not endorse evil government: He will
have no part in it. “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship
with You—they who frame and hide their unrighteous doings under [the sacred
name of] law?” (Psalm 94:20). There is your answer. A corrupt throne
(government) cannot be allied with God. He cannot have fellowship with
it.
When a government creates evil laws God cannot be
allied it—because evil laws are the worst form of wickedness.
They are damnable because they give legitimacy
to evil. Matthew Henry said, “Iniquity is daring enough even when
human laws are against it, which often prove too weak to give an effectual
check to it; but how insolent, how mischievous, is it when it is backed by a
law! Iniquity is not the better, but much the worse, for being enacted by law;
nor will it excuse those that practice it to say that they did but do as they
were bidden.”
Notice how at the end, Henry says we can’t use the
excuse that we were just obeying the law. That is why Dietrich
Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to
act.”
The laws being created by Democrats, using the
coronavirus as an excuse, are far worse than the virus itself because, unlike
the virus, those new laws become permanent. It is time for the church to
wake up and take action, beginning with voting the evildoers out of office and
quit calling our submission a godly thing, when it is just a cowardly thing.
“WHO WILL RISE UP FOR ME AGAINST THE EVILDOERS? WHO
WILL STAND UP FOR ME AGAINST THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY?” (Psalm 94:16).
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