On Christian Resistance by Chuck Baldwin
A Christian lady wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper recently. In the article she said, "The Word of God tells us we are to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." She went on to say that to do anything else is unchristian.
Christian people are, on the whole, very law-abiding. We understand the Scriptures to tell us that governments are ordained of God that we are to respect and obey our lawful authorities. Christianity has done more to promote peace and goodwill among men than any other single ingredient on earth!
Yet, does obedience to human authority demand that we acquiesce our loyalty to God? When the ordinance of man commanded Peter the other Apostles to stop preaching the Gospel were they obligated to obey? Did Moses err before God when he raised his hand against an Egyptian official? I hear this constantly: "The Christian must obey all authority." Does that include the ordinances of men that conflict with our conscience? Consider our Founding Fathers. Were they violating the laws of God when they refused to submit to the Stamp Act? When they threw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor? Were they disobeying Scripture when those shots were fired at Lexington Green and Concord Square? If you believe they were, how dare you celebrate Independence Day? Consider the underground resistance in France and Germany. Consider those freedom fighters in Nicaragua and Cuba? Consider the myriad numbers of Chinese Christians today who are living in violation of Communist law. Are they violating Scripture?
We preachers are part of the problem. We keep telling our people to submit to authority. Obey every ordinance of man. We need to be talking about the sinfulness of the Machiavellian who would attempt to play God! Is a wife required to submit to her husband when he commands her to join him in committing adultery? Is an employee obligated to obey his employer when he is instructed to cheat and be dishonest? The fact of the matter is there is only one Lord. And it is not your husband, it is not your boss, it is not your pastor and it is not your government. It is Jesus Christ! By giving someone other than Christ unequivocal submission we make them the Lord of our lives. That is not worship; that is idolatry! While slaiming spirituality many Christians are actually demonstrating cowardice. Sometimes submission is the easy way out.
One of history's most notable authorities on the law is Frederic Bastiat. He wrote, "There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also proper. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are just because the law makes them so."
The law may make something legal but it can never make something just. That is just what God, and God alone, declares to be just! It is very possible that something be lawful and sinful at the same time. In such a circumstance, whose law prevails? Who deserves my submission?
Francis Schaeffer wrote, "Let us not forget why the Christians were killed. They were not killed because they worshiped Jesus.... Nobody cared who worshiped whom as long as the worshiper did not disrupt the unity of the state, centered in the formal worship of Caesar. The reason Christians were killed was because they were rebels."
Benjamin Franklin said, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
George Washington said, "The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is that he would rather die on his feet than live on his knees."
Thomas Jefferson declared that the American people must "preserve the spirit of resistance."
What has happened to that old-fashioned, American spirit? What has happened to our love for God and liberty? When did these pipsqueak overlords supplant the authority of the Lord of the universe? Since when did we learn to fear the wrath of man more than the disfavor of God?
If we pastors and spiritual leaders maintain this cacophony of discordant rhetoric by promulgating submission to evil authority, if we remain determined to lull our listeners to sleep in the arms of tyranny and injustice we will not only incur the chains of slavery by power-mad potentates, we will find ourselves overwhelmed by the displeasure of that One who alone is King!
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