Subject: Submission or Resistance?
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:52:59 -0600

Submission or Resistance?

 

This question below was recently asked by a dear friend.

 

"I continuously wonder what should our actions be against the ever encroaching menace of this evil called our government. Were the founders of this nation outside of the will of God when they fought a war for independence from England? Were our ancestors who fought for the Confederacy outside of the will of God in their efforts for freedom. If they were right, are we wrong to do nothing?"

 

Some have written expressing their dismay at fellow Christian brothers who continue to advocate apathy in the face of tyranny and are stunned by it.

 

I am not at all stunned by the lack of Christian resistance to the tyranny and wickedness in our nation. We have gone far past the point in which our Founders would have drawn a line in the sand and said "enough"!

To be silent in the face of such wickedness is to be complicit with it. It is indeed a sinful silence.

A dear friend, who responded to this question, made the statement that he fought the Federal Government over the income tax issue because there is "no law" stating that we should pay this tax, otherwise we should submit to the governing authorities. While correct in his statement of there being no law concerning income taxes, my reply was this, "Most of what our government does today is in violation of the Supreme Law, the Constitution of the United States. At what point do we resist this usurpation of power?"

In my own humble view, the common mistake made by Christians who advocate submission to this government based on Romans 13 is a failure to understand who is in authority.

Who is the authority in this nation? Is this not a government of, by, and for the people? Are not "We The People" in authority? Are not those we elect supposed to be our representatives? I fully realize this has been turned on its head, but who is in rebellion here? Is it not those that we have appointed to represent us who are in rebellion to authority and thus to receive the damnation as told in Romans 13:2?

Has not this very authority we possess not been forever codified in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States?
I would venture to say that most Christians today have never read either document. They are ignorant as to their God-given Rights.

Our government today is a rewarder of evil and a punisher of good. Many say that we deserve the government we have today. This may be true but is it not the Christians in this nation that have allowed it to be so? If we were intolerant of wickedness and evil we would not have the government and society in which we now must endure.

Let us consider this. When we continue to allow the blight of abortion to plague our nation how can we expect God's blessings upon this nation? Those "doctors" who murder our unborn children have blood on their hands. Our judges and legislatures have blood on their hands. Those of us who elect such leaders have blood on our hands. Those of us who remain silent in the face of the ongoing slaughter have blood on our hands. Therefore, how could we expect God to hear our prayers? God always responds to prayers of confession and repentance but it seems our nation has forgotten how to pray this way.

This nation will reap what it has sown. We are, and will continue to receive, God's judgment upon this nation unless we turn away from our apathy and seek His face. We have a duty as Christian men to stand for righteousness and leave the consequences to God. I'm not advocating we start a fight. The fight will come to us. All we desire is to be left alone. This government will not have it so.

If we are so willing to submit to unrighteous government, which is made up of ungodly men, what makes us think that we will not shrink from the fight that now steamrolls toward us? When we compromise and call it courage should we be surprised that our own children will not be able to tell the difference?

There are perilous times ahead my friends. For those that scoff at such statements please go back and read the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

They may muzzle me. They might even kill or incarcerate me. But they will not assimilate me. I will not be lukewarm.

Blessings,
Michael Goza