OBEY THE GOVERNMENT
Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Every soul is included in this…Christians…even JW’s. This teaches that: 1) Every government whether good or evil is ordained by God; or, 2) Government as an institution is ordained by God. God judges nations by giving them evil leaders sometimes. If you choose to fight the government (like not paying taxes, etc) you will be condemned for it (damnation). In general, if you resist the government, you are actually resisting God. Don’t just obey because of fear of their wrath, but also because it is the right thing to do (conscience sake).
Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Preachers are suppose to remind you (put you in mind) to obey your government. What should be done with a church member who is outspokenly ‘against government’?….
1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
You don’t have to obey because they are so deserving, but rather obey for the Lord’s sake. He placed them there afterall.
Should you always obey the government? What if you were a German with Hitler as your leader?
Acts 4:18-20 And 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 unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
There is a limit to how far you should be obedient to the government. When they tell us that we can not witness to people anymore, or that we can not preach certain things at church, we ought to obey God rather than men. Thus, we shouldn’t always obey the government. We need to make sure that we don’t err on either side of this issue: obeying when it is sin, and not obeying when it is not sin.
PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT
Rom 13:3,4 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
1 Peter 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Ti 2:2-4 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
The main purpose of government is to be a terror to evil; to keep it under control; so that the people can live a peaceable life; and so Christians can be free to do the work of the Lord (mainly, sharing the gospel). We shouldn’t be afraid of the government (if it is operating righteously), unless we are involved with evil. The government has been ordained by God to punish evildoers; this punishment includes the use of the sword (i.e. capital punishment).
Prov 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
PAY YOUR TAXES
Rom 13:6,7 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Mt 22:18 …Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto
them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Money is man’s invention and belongs to man…not God. God’s economy is outside of our money-based economy. Did Jesus ever use money? The only time was when he was paying taxes (tribute). But, man’s money can be used to help with the things of God. It can be used to buy food for a needy member; it can be used to buy bibles to give to those without. However, God should be given control over your monies. Some Christians believe that since their money is God’s money, that they shouldn’t give God’s money to the government. This is a wrong interpretation. The image and superscription on your money is that of the government’s, not God’s (yes, even though it says “In God We Trust”).
The clear teaching in the above passages is that the citizens of a government must give what the government demands. Thus, if taxes were 90% of your income, then by scriptural admonition you are to pay it…or move to another country. God doesn’t need our money; The Government does…
HONOUR THE KING?
If your king (president) was Vladimir Puten, or the leader of Iraq, or the leader of North Korea, and they came up to you when you were at a store shopping, what should you do? Rebuke them? Ignore them? Bow before them and kiss their ring? Treat them like you would treat anyone else?
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
Acts 23:5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.
We are to show honor to our goverrnmental officials, especially the president; even if they are wicked. It is reasonable to apply the Jewish law of ‘not speaking evil of any ruler’ to today. If an evil king is in office, we need to pray for him and not speak evil of him personally. We can hate the laws, etc. , but not the king himself. He is God’s ordained man.
WAS AMERICA FOUNDED AS A CHRISTIAN NATION?
As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world’s law givers, and each one is facing towards someone in the middle, who is facing forward with a full frontal view …who is it?…it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!
As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.
As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments!
There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.
Does this support that America was founded as a Christian nation?
Does this speak of separation of church and state? Does this support a government being involved with Christianity? Does this support Christianity being involved with the government?
Over a hundred years prior to America’s independency, England, America’s mother, ‘commissioned’ her to propagate the ‘Christian Religion’ to their new found land:
The First Charter of Virginia (granted by King James I, on April 10, 1606) stated:
“We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…”
This official commissioning by the King was subsequently obeyed. The Mayflower Compact (authored by William Bradford, 1620) stated:
“Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together…”
It is blatantly obvious that the beginnings of America and her government were religious in nature. And, yes, beyond religion, in that they were appointed to evangelize Christianity to the lost peoples of this new land….which eventually evangelized you and me!
There was definitely a function of ‘Christianity’ working with the government then. The government didn’t necessarily ‘sponsor’ religion, but they surely paved the way so that this religion could peaceably spread. It was government promoted; government should promote Christianity…evangelism…the Bible; Our government should promote one ‘religion’ over the others…that is, the Christian religion!
In Benjamin Franklin’s 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach “the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.”
George Washington stated: “ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” “What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”
52 of the 55 signers of The Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians. The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention.
Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the first act of the Continental Congress was to authorize the printing of 20,000 copies of scripture for the indiginous people of this nation (Indians).
It is this same congress that formed the American Bible Society.
Our earlier government was so heavily influenced by Christianity that prior to 1789, most of the states still had constitutional requirements that a man must be a Christian in order to hold public office!
SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE
Let’s look at our First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Only a lawyer could claim not to understand the plain meaning of those words.
The 1st Amendment’s purpose: There would be no established, national church for the united thirteen states. To say it another way: there would be no “Church of the United States.”
The First Amendment was a safe-guard so that the State can have no jurisdiction over the Church. Its purpose was to protect the Church, not to disestablish it. Thus, the 1st Ammendment was not designed to protect the government from the church, but, rather, to protect the church from the government! But, oh how that has gotten turned totally around today!!
Anytime religion is mentioned within the confines of government today people cry, “Separation of Church and State”. Many people think this statement appears in the U.S. Constitution and therefore must be strictly enforced. However, the words: “separation”, “church”, and “state” do not even appear in the U.S. Constitution. This phrase “Separation of Church and State” has been so indiscriminately thrown around for such a long time that 67% of all Americans believe that the phrase is actually in the Constitution, and thus is the law of the land. It is far from being a law; it is simply a legal concept that has been implemented by the various courts primarily over the last fifty years.
The statement of “separation between church and state” originated in the public sector in a letter on January 1, 1802, by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. The congregation heard a widespread rumor that the Congregationalists, a large, powerful denomination, were to possibly become the official religion of the nation.
This alarmed these fundamental Baptists greatly for they were all very familiar with their Baptist predecessors in England who were for many years persecuted by the state Church of England. These Danbury Baptists were not begging for freedom ‘from’ religion, but freedom ‘of’ religion. A freedom to practice their relgion privately without governmental intrusion.
Jefferson wrote: “I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” It was for the benefit of the Baptists, not the government, that he made this statement. But, today, the liberal lawmakers have twisted this the other direction and have the wall facing the church…and telling it to stay separated from the government…don’t try and influence government…protect the government from the evils of ‘the church’
There is an assault going on — and the liberal social engineers (media, politicians, educators, activists, etc) have declared that Bible believing Christians are the enemy. These liberals cry for liberalism in our thinking; they demand diversity and tolerance of all groups. However, this liberal ‘tolerance’ abruptly stops when it reaches Christians and their rigid stance on the Bible.
These anti-Christian liberals want to achieve a new, eutopian America where all will be protected from any form of divisive, hate-mongering religious belief, especially Christianity. They want a society that has freedom ‘from’ religion, not freedom ‘of’ religion… They will continually whine and bemoan that churches (religion, Christians, the Bible, prayer, etc) be separate from the government (anything in the public sector). They have hoodwinked most of society into thinking their way, and now look at the mess we have: no prayer or Bible reference in the public schools, trying to remove 10 commandments and all Bible references from governmental buildings, trying to prevent churches from preaching against homosexuality…etc., etc.! This separation of church and state issue is very far reaching….
The liberals have used the ‘separation of church and state’ issue to their advantage.
Should you only vote for a Christian politician? Should our government be only run by Christians?….
The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said: “Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers.”
We definitely should ‘prefer’ Christians for public office; and especially for the office of ‘king’. But, it is not mandated in scripture that we must vote for a Christian.
Just so you are informed, according to the current law, churches do not have to pay taxes. They do not have to ‘apply’ for tax exemption. In Section 508 the IRS code states that churches are a mandatory exception to the 501c3 code. Churches are non-taxable.