Bill, you quoted my post above, which is not a vid. It was a link to my relevant Romans 13 post, which was found here -->
Is God in control of the government?
No, because it's an all-or-none thing. While Satan does much good in his overall plan of evil, such will never justify our allegiance to him - ANY allegiance.
No, he did not; in fact, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar was one of the accusations against Jesus:
And they began to accuse [Jesus], saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. Luke 23:2).
Rather, they were captives.
Daniel was another captive.
Acts 5:29, "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to
obey God rather than men."
The reason the apostles were arrested and most eventually executed was because they "all do
contrary to the decrees of
Caesar, saying that there is
another king, one Jesus" (Acts 17:7). Our brother Paul said,
1 Corinthians 2:5, "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of
men, but in the power of
God."
The apostles disobeyed their governing authorities because, "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24), and we are not to be "the servants of men" (1 Corinthians 7:23). We can only serve one lord, one Messiah, and no other lord. As Jesus asked in Luke 6:46, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" We are to do the things
Jesus says to do, not the things
Caesar says to do.
Do you remember when people used to call their government officials, like the police, our "
public servants"? Why? Because they were supposed to
serve people (Matthew 20:27, Mark 10:42, Luke 22:26). Now,
those servants have become the masters, and they are feared more than they fear God (Matthew 10:28, Proverbs 29:25). However, true servants of God do not fear the king’s commandments (Hebrews 11:23). We are not to fear man (Psalm 56:4; 118:6, Isaiah 51:7, Matthew 10:28, Hebrews 13:6).
The earthly government is to sit on Christ’s shoulder (Isaiah 9:6), and there is no end to His government (Isaiah 9:7, Psalms 145:13). Those in government are instructed to follow God's Law and serve Him (Psalm 2:10-12). And we are to obey the ordinances of man as long as they do God’s Will; through punishing evildoers and praising them that do well (Romans 13:3, 1 Peter 2:13-17).
What did Jesus teach about the governments of men? Let us examine three parallel Gospel accounts. He himself explained:
Matthew 20:25, "...Ye know that the
princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. "
Mark 10:42, "...they which are accounted to
rule over the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them."
Luke 22:25, "...The
kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them; and they that exercise
authority upon them are called benefactors."
By comparing these three parallel verses, Jesus stated the fact that the governing authorities (princes, rulers, kings) exercise authority over the Gentiles (those who do not believe in God). Note that the term "Gentiles" here cannot mean "Gentile Christians", because Jesus had not yet died to confirm the New Testament, and "Christianity" was not yet in existence. All the apostles were Jews, and Jesus commanded them not to preach to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-6). The Gentiles were the enemy of Christ at this point (Matthew 20:19; Mark 10:33, Luke 18:32). The Gospel was not preached to the Gentiles until at least 10 years after the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 9:15; 10:45; 11:1,18; 13:42,46-48).
Notice what Jesus says next. Does he say that His people will have other men rule over them? Most definitely not!
Matthew 20:26, "But it shall
not be so among you:"
Mark 10:43, "But so shall it
not be among you:"
Luke 22:26, "But ye shall
not be so:"
Jesus said we shall not have leaders exercise authority over us like they do over the gentiles. We shall not be subject to governing authorities unless those in "power" are servants of God and His people. Read what Jesus said after he told his disciples that earthly princes, rulers, and kings will not have authority over His chosen:
Matthew 20:26-27, "…but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:"
Mark 10:43-44, "…but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."
Luke 22:26, "...but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve."
As we see, Jesus does not want man to have authority over man! He commanded that whoever is the chiefest and greatest among men, will be the
servant of all. Unlike human governments which make their chief ruler the
dictator of all.
Man was not created to rule other men, but was given dominion over the creatures of the earth. This is confirmed in the very first chapter of the Bible, when God created the earth. When our Father created the earth. When he first created man, He commanded, "...let them have
dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26,28).
Only God has dominion over man. Man is not subject to any other man.
Man is ruled by Law, not by the will of man.
Now, Jesus was not condemning all authority, as is clear from the fact that Jesus himself exercised authority over his disciples and others (Matthew 11:27; 23:10; 28:18, John 13:13), and expected his disciples to exercise authority as leaders of his congregation (Matthew 16:19; 18:17; 24:45-47; 25: 21,23, Luke 19:17,19). What sort of authority then was Jesus condemning in this passage? What difference was there between the authority of the gentile ruler and that of himself and his apostles? Surely this, that the latter rested on spiritual ascendancy and was exercised only over those who willingly submitted to it, whereas the former was exercised over all men indiscriminately whether they liked it or not, and for this reason involved the use of the sanctions of physical force and penalties. There can be no doubt that it was this fact that caused Jesus to tell his disciples: "It is not so among you."
When an earthly government believes it is "god walking on the earth," it has no true dominion (authority) but only force, and has fallen from the Grace of Almighty God. Dominion and force are opposed to one another. Force is false power.
Matthew 23:10, "Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ."
Remember, the reason Jesus Christ was crucified was because the governing "authorities" at that time were afraid that they were going to lose their "place and nation," their political power, if the people believed on Jesus (John 11:47-48).
Rather, "The law of God and the law of the land are all one; and both preserve and favor the common good of the land."
Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), "Maxim," p. 2142.
A conversation I had on my way to the Iron Bar Hotel:
Officer: We all must obey the laws of the land.
Bondservant: Yes, that is true. But the law of the land is not man's law, it is God's Law.
Officer: There is such a thing as separation of Church and State.
Bondservant: Well, anybody that believes that the Law of God and the law of the land are separate, they've deluded themselves. That's not living in the truth, that's living in an image of someone else's idea. Is there any law that man can create which sets the bounds of God's Law?
Officer: I'm afraid that I must arrest you now.
Bondservant: There is no law that compels an officer to violate God’s Law, which is the Supreme Law of the land, and the basis of all law in America.
The purpose of government is clearly defined in our Father's Word. That is, to punish evil and to praise those that do well. From this, the
protection of life, liberty, and property (being gifts from God) follows in accordance with His Order.
But when a government falls into idolatry, it collects information from you because it must know where everyone and everything is, in order to tax or seize it.
Why is government prone to idolatry? Because governments only exist through law, and law is
inherently religious. Behind every law is a judgment, and ones values are based upon their theology or religion. It’s the nature of government to perpetuate itself. Have you ever seen a politician who didn’t want to be re-elected, or a political party that did not want to stay in power? Every one of them are willing to do anything to keep themselves in power (John 11:47-48).
Government is power. Government is authority. And corrupt, depraved men, instead of exercising dominion over God’s creation for His sake, desire dominion over men for their own sake. What did the crafty serpent say to Adam and Eve? "Ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5). Who is it that has control over men? God does! If man believes he is his own god, or if he believes he is some kind of god, then he will exercise control over men in order to prove it.
A king rules by his law. Likewise, God rules by His Law, and His Law is the Word of God. Jews obeyed their king, Caesar, and killed those who did not obey their king (John 19:15).
True servants of Christ honor Him by obeying Him (Luke 6:46, John 14:15),
not by substituting man-made requirements in place of his.
Thus, in law, the human lawmaker becomes a god by determining for himself which of the many
theories at his disposal he will apply to his next act on behalf of "the people." Of course, this means that every other law-maker has an equal "right" to apply
his theories to the acts he does, and the only answer to the resulting
chaos that comes out of the
compromise between theories is that one man must impose his will on all others so that one "coherent" view will control the end result. This means, clearly, a dictatorship and nothing less will do.