“Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV).
Now, whenever I teach on obedience to human authority I generally focus the attention on the exceptions to the rule. Why do I do this? Well, the Scriptures themselves make clear God’s commands that we obey those in authority over us, but not all of them make clear that there are exceptions, which are critical that we understand. Why must we understand this? Because there is so much deception and so many who are teaching blind loyalty and devotion to people in authority who are leading people astray.
So, let’s look at Revelation 13, as an example. There it speaks of two different beasts, one of them “the false prophet,” I believe. This first beast is allowed to exercise authority over the people for forty-two months (not sure that the 42 months are literal months). So, this person or this group of people, or this conglomerate of people in positions of power and authority over the people of the world are like the “New World Order,” comprised of the elite of this world who are the ones presently running the world.
Now this beast is allowed to make war against the saints of God, i.e. God’s holy people who are believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. So, are we, as the saints of God, to obey this beast? Not if this beast requires that we disobey God. Not if this beast requires that we deny Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and that we worship him, instead. Not if this beast tries to get us to compromise our faith and convictions in order to unify in heart and mind and deed with the ungodly of the world.
But do you know that is what is going on today? For this “beast” is not initially going to be obvious that is what he/they/it is/are. For he is of Satan, and his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. For this beast is antichrist (against and opposed to Christ and to his gospel). And so he/they/it will send their messengers into the gatherings of “the church” in order to deceive those who profess the name of Jesus into believing lies. For this is one of the many ways he makes war against the saints, via deception.
So, the second beast, the false prophet, I believe, makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast. Okay, so what does this word “worship” mean? It means “adoration, reverence, devotion, commitment, religious zeal, loyalty, fidelity, and support. And who are Christians, at least here in America, being shamed into giving their undying loyalty, devotion, fidelity, support, trust, reverence, and religious zeal to? To the government of the USA? Yes! To our military? Yes! To the Jewish nation? Yes! And to “pastors” of “churches”? Yes! But any of these may be or are presently of this beast.
And what does it mean to be marked on the right hand or the forehead with this mark of the beast? If and before it ever becomes a physical mark it is a sign or an indication or characteristic of loyalty and devotion and fidelity to this beast (conglomerate). For this is a heart issue, not a body tattoo issue. We first of all surrender our hearts and minds and devotion to this “beast,” i.e. to these liars and deceivers and antichrist groupings of people or else we would never take a physical mark identifying ourselves with them.
And this calls for wisdom, why? Because this is all about deception! And what does the forehead symbolize? Our thinking and our believing. And what does the right hand symbolize? Our deeds, our handiwork. So this is about giving our worship to a conglomerate of antichrist groupings via our believing in them without question, giving them our trust, our devotion, our undying loyalty, our fidelity, our support, and our religious zeal. And many professing Christians are doing this because they are blinded to the truth.
But this should not be! Our worship, loyalty, devotion, adoration, praise, fidelity, support, reverence, and religious zeal should be given to God and to God alone, and to no other. So, please understand this. And we are not to obey any authority if that authority is leading us in any way to disobey our Lord and to worship and bow down to them, instead. But this is happening BIG TIME in today’s modern market-driven “churches” here in America, where loyalty, devotion, and obedience are often to men over God.
So, yes, obey the law of the land where that obedience is consistent with obedience to our Lord. For the whole purpose of this command is that we do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and that we do not give way to what is evil. And obey your church authorities unless what they command you to do is against God’s divine will and purpose for our lives. And believe me when I say that many of them are indeed leading their people to disobey God and his word, and to obey them, instead. Watch out for this, please!
And then we have biblical examples of this in the prophets of old, in Daniel, in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in Jesus Christ, and in the lives of his NT apostles who did not bow to foreign gods and foreign idols and who did not compromise their faith and convictions in order to submit to those in authority over them. They stood strong in their faith and in their testimonies for God/Christ, and for the teachings of the Scriptures, and they did not submit to any human authorities who led them to do wrong.
‘Til The Storm Passes By
By Thomas Mosie Lister
In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face
While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place
'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry
Keep me safe till the storm passes by
Many times Satan whispered
There is no use to try
For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by
But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise
Where the storms never darken the skies
Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
Keep me safe till the storm passes by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ
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