PARENTS
God in Holy Scripture gives authority to parents, both husband and wife over their children that it does not grant the state. Colossians 3:20 (KJV) says: “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” This parental authority is ordained of God. Does this mean parents have no limits on their God-ordained power and authority? The answer of course is “No!” For example, parents do not have any God-given authority to command one sibling to murder or otherwise injure another. Any demand by a parent for obedience to commit an act contrary to the Word of God is outside the scope of God-ordained parental authority.
HUSBANDS
Scripture also grants power and authority to husbands over their wives. God has ordained husbands to have power and authority over their wives in marriage. Ephesians 5:24 (KJV) tells us: “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”
Does this mean husbands have no limits on their authority over their wives? The answer, of course is “No!”. For example, a husband does not have any God-ordained authority to demand his wife submit to his physical beatings, or to demand his wife steal a car, or to rob a liquor store for him. Such commands again, are outside the scope of the God-ordained power and authority given husbands.
PASTORS
Scripture grants authority to pastors, as well. God has ordained the pastoral authority of the pastor over his flock. Hebrews 13:17 (KJV) commands the flock: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
Does this mean a pastor can demand unlimited obedience, or that there is no limit on his authority over the members of the church he serves? The answer, of course, is “No!” Your pastor has no authority to come into your home and begin ordering about you and your children. Nor can he rightly demand you believe just anything he teaches if it conflicts with God’s Word. To do so, is again outside the scope of God-ordained pastoral authority.
TEMPORAL GOVERNMENT
Scripture also ordains and grants power and authority to our United States temporal government and its agents through the people. Temporal government everywhere is, in fact, ordained of God for the good of its citizens. Governments are instituted to exercise righteous justice and honest judgment and to punish evil doers. The Bible exhorts us to pray for all those in authority, that we might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
[1 Timothy 2:2 (KJV)]
According to Scripture, the God-ordained power and authority of the government is given: to do judgment and justice. This includes:
1. Protecting the Innocent (2 Kings 24:3,4)
2. Protecting the freedoms and rights of The People (Jeremiah 7:6,7)
3. Providing justice (Jeremiah 22:3)
4. Assuring fair trails to all those accused. ( Deuteronomy 19:18,19)
5. Providing due process and fair, honest judging (Deuteronomy 25:1,2 and Psalm 58:1)
6. Punishing evil doers (Genesis 9:6), and
7. Protecting the nation’s borders (Acts 17:6)
That God has ordained the authority of government is clear from Romans 13:1-2 (KJV) where we read: “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. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. ”
Let us note, it does not say the higher powers necessarily equate to the power and authority of God who is the Highest Power. Civil government is not the highest power/authority! Nor does it say everything the government does is an ordinance of God. A government that supports and promotes abortion and sodomite ‘marriage’ is, in fact, itself resisting the ordinance of God.
For, God Himself has set the standard of justice and judging for all civil magistrates. In Psalm 58:1 (KJV) we read about God’s questions (standards) for all those in authority: “Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?” That is to say: “Do you who are in authority tell the truth and do you judge honestly?” In Isaiah 19 and in Proverbs 30:1,2 (KJV) God refers to the oppressor, he that is ruling by arbitrary discretion, and those who counsel the ruler to ignore natural law and the rule of law, as “brutish”. When those in authority act not according to law and the Biblical principles of government, but according to the brutish tenet, “Might makes Right”, they have themselves become brutes, they are become as beasts and they ought to be resisted for conscience sake.
There are those apparently lacking instruction and a proper understanding, that insist we are to understand Romans 13:1-2 (KJV) to mean the government can violate Scripture and the Constitution for the United States with impunity. Has God not placed limits on the scope of power and authority given to our government in both Scripture [See Romans 13:3-4 (KJV)] and in our Constitution for the United States? God-ordained civil governments are not to be “ a terror to good works.” They are, rather, to be God’s ministers to the people for good. Moreover, our Constitution was established and ordained by God prior to any elected government official being granted governmental authority by and through The People to discharge his office. The power and authority to govern in the United States is an extension of the power and authority given by God through the American victory against the British crown in the American Revolutionary War to The People of the United States to govern themselves. Thus, the God-ordained power to govern in the Unite States flows from The People. It was not ordained by God to work as a terror against them.
There is no divine right of kings to which we must submit ourselves presently here in the United States. For the United States was established by God under a republican form of government. God ordained it thusly. We are ruled by and according to law, not by men.
Martin Luther writes in his ‘Of Constrained Defence’, The Table Talk of Martin Luther: “If the emperor proceed to war upon us, he intends either to destroy our preaching, and our religion, or to invade and confound public policy and economy, that is to say, the temporal government and administration. In either case, `tis no longer as emperor of the Romans, legally elected we are to regard him but as a tyrant; `tis, therefore, futile to ask whether we may combat for the upright, pure doctrine, and for religion; `tis for us a law and a duty to combat for wife, for children, servants, and subjects; we are bound to defend them against maleficent power.”
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Do these aforementioned also maintain St. Paul in Romans 13 asserts we are to submit to any and all power greater (higher) than our own?
If so, let them be consistent!
If we, or our children, are afflicted by the power of sickness, certainly a power higher than our own, they would presumably have us simply submit to it and welcome death. For to be consistent, they must also assert we are not permitted by God to resist the higher power of that sickness by actively seeking out medical attention to resist that higher power and live! What unmitigated gall! What legalism!
Furthermore, Would any Christian deny God also gives Satan’s power to him and that Satan is inarguably a ‘higher power’ than we? Indeed, St. Paul refers to Satan as being a magistrate when he calls him “the prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2 (KJV).
To be consistent, these legalistic brutes must insist we are to submit ourselves to the power of Satan, as a “higher power” magistrate!
Of course, this we cannot and will not! Our resistance to Satan is justified, is it not? So, then, if our resistance to the higher power of Satan is justified, why is not our resistance to Satan’s minions, “the children of disobedience” also justified? Simply because God allows wicked men to ascend into the higher power of a particular government to rule, and that perhaps wickedly, does this prove it is God’s will or that they have God’s approval that they should so rule? May I submit: “They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.” Hosea 8:4 (KJV)
If we have not the right to resist the evil of the higher powers, but must submit to it, will those that maintain Romans 13:1-2 means government agents, such as the police, can rightly demand that we obey their every command, no matter how wicked, and without resistance, lest we bring God’s wrath and condemnation down upon us, also agree to the following?
Will they offer absolutely no resistance, but allow a government militarized police agency to force warrant-less intrusions into their homes to forcibly vaccinate their children? Will they offer no resistance, should government agents forcible break into their homes, rob them of their property, physically beat them, or worse yet, rape or kidnap their wives and daughters, simply because these wicked men are wearing badges indicating they are government agents?
I would not, for the government or government agent that condones, orders, or commits such wicked acts, though their actions may be backed by even more government men with guns, are acting outside the limited scope of their God–ordained governmental power and authority. In such a case, these governments and their agents are in fact themselves resisting the ordinance of God, just as are those citizens who fail to resist such evil. For, does not God command us in Psalm 82:3&4 (KJV): "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." and in Proverbs 24:10-12 (KJV): "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Both of these bring the wrath and condemnation of God upon themselves when they disobey God’s Word, and are become brutes in violating natural law or the Constitution for these United States.
God does not grant to any earthly authority absolute power and authority to demand unlimited submission to it. When an earthly government mandates obedience to precepts contrary to the Word of God, it is the earthly authority which is resisting the ordinance of God, not the governed. There are, indeed, three types of government mentioned in Scripture we are to resist. The first is the duplicitous ruler (Job 34:29-30). The second is the conspirator (Micah 2:1) and the third is the deceitful governor (Matthew 2:8). We are not required to obey these, but we are to rather resist and rebuke such wickedness in high places! [Titus 1:13 (KJV)] For, we ought to obey God rather than men, Acts 5:29 (KJV).
God has ordained no earthly authority with unlimited power and authority. Every higher power must submit itself to the highest power, Almighty God.
No earthly authority, neither parents, teachers, pastors, law enforcement officers, nor our federal or state governments possess unlimited authority. Nor can any earthly authority rightly demand unlimited submission or obedience to anything that is contrary to God’s Word. When any earthly authority acts thusly outside of its God-ordained limited scope of authority, it is acting against God-ordained authority and power. Hence it is illegitimate, tyrannical and should be resisted, just as we resist the higher power of the Devil! God most certainly does not condone brutish governmental tyranny anymore than He condones or approves of a common citizen violently rising up in armed vengeful anarchy, for both act outside of natural law and their jurisdictions! Might does NOT make right! That is the way of animals and brutes. It inevitably results in chaos. Scripture reveals our God is not the author of tyranny and chaos, but of order and liberty. Psalm 35 is a prayer of resistance against such chaos and tyranny. I believe it would behoove us all to read and study it diligently.
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