Christian Obedience towards God and earthly rulers
Romans Ch13 taken out of context has caused some Germans to stumble during the time of Hitler.
How can they (Germans) as Christians not serve Hitler in his murderous course when the Bible teaches them to be subject to their governing authorities, and that it is from God, instituted by Him. And whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment/punishment such as from God?
In Exodus Moses and Aaron had asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt, contrary to the wishes of Pharaoh ( EX 5).
In Daniel (Dan 4 v27) Daniel asked the king to break away from his sins by doing righteousness. Leaders should be told/advised of sins/mistakes and the need to act righteously; not just to be followed/listened to.
Christ did not followed the will of the chief priests ( Matt 26 v59 ), and did not answered to the high priest ( Matt 26 v63 ) and the ruler Pilate (Matt 27 v12).
Christians are not followers of sins/unrighteousness.
Paul in Titus 3 v1- Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, TO BE READY FOR EVERY GOOD DEED, v2- TO MALIGN NO ONE, TO BE UNCONTENTIOUS, GENTLE, SHOWING EVERY CONSIDERATION FOR ALL MEN .
What appear to be an instruction to obey everything from rulers/leaders has much to follow. Obedience is for doing every good deed and showing every consideration for all men.
Murdering is not. Disobeying God is not. Forsaking the Truth is not. Hating all men is not. Hurting is not. Ruining the environment is not. Being selfish and ill considerate is not.
In one simple line - Sinning is not.
There is no instruction of joining in with evil deeds of anybody.
Obeying leaders for evil violates the instruction to get ready for every good deed.
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Paul also told Christians to act autonomously in certain affairs, and disregard judgment, rebuke and unfavourable words and action from others.
eg: Col 2 vv8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. v16 - let no one act as your judge in regard to..., v18 - Let no one keep defrauding you... taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, v19.
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Rulers do not necessarily act righteously (though they are still doing the will of God)
eg: 1Cor 2 v8 - ...if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
This verse also tells us that the Lord was willing to put up with unrighteous act and suffered prosecution and persecution; but not to work unrighteously with evildoers/sinners.
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Ecclesiastes 12 vv 13, 14 - The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
v14 - For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Fear God first, not fear men first.
His commandments excludes those not abiding in the teaching of Christ ( eg: 2Jn v9 ); for such are void of God.
May all christians follow God rather than Man; and ask God that they may discern His Will and live accordingly.
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After BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher was expelled from Eritrea, he summarized the position of the Eritrean government in this way: "The government seems to have decided that anyone who does not follow a certain standard is an enemy of the people, is an enemy of the state. It is afraid that people who consider their highest allegiance to be God, at some point may not be patriotic and follow the state's instructions."
Unregistered church leaders in the country of Belarus continued to feel the
effects of the toughest religion laws in Europe in late 2004.
In the
December 22 edition of the Persecution and Prayer Alert, we reported that
the church administrator and the pastor of the New Life Church near Minsk
were facing charges for leading an unregistered worship service. Forum 18
reports that, on December 28, the church administrator, Vasily Yurevich, was
fined 3,200,000 rubles ($1800.00 CDN). This is about 150 times the average
monthly wage in Belarus; an exorbitant amount for the father with three
children.
Church leaders in particular have often been targeted by Colombian rebels.
Why I left the party
After almost 15 years as a Liberal MP, and after serious consideration, I concluded last week that I can no longer remain in the party's caucus. My objection to many of the party's new policies, as well as some facts that have emerged recently at the Gomery inquiry into the government's sponsorship program, proved painfully decisive. - National Post, April 2005
D.Lim: We need not worship government or government parties. We need not stick with any secular political group to the end.
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