In the book of Acts (in the Bible – chapter 16) teaches Christians to hold the authorities accountable for their injustice. After Paul and Silas were thrown into prison for telling people how to be saved through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then beaten and severely flogged, God used them in prison. God uses the persecution of His saints to bring more to Himself.
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” I’m sure many of these prisoners began to call on the Lord. God did an amazing thing for Paul and Silas in prison, opening the prison doors, where they could’ve escaped, but chose to stay put. Integrity! The Jailer almost killed himself fearing the authorities over all the prisoners escaping, but Paul and Silas stopped him, “We are all here!” The Jailer and his family were saved by the grace of God through this miracle and the message of the Gospel by Paul and Silas.
Paul and Silas’ crime: “These men (Jews with Roman citizenship) are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating CUSTOMS unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” Their accusers called the TRUTH of the Gospel, an UNLAWFUL custom that should not be accepted or practiced in Rome.
As I read this passage this morning it hit me how here in America the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST has become UNLAWFUL to accept and practice. Why? Because to those who worship other gods – the Gospel of Jesus Christ threatens them; holds them accountable to their Creator God for their sins (but also shows them way of salvation!). In this particular account in Acts – the threat was how a female slave who foretold the future was being used by her owners to make money. Hum. Has our government been using our abilities (with outrageous taxation and costly penalties) so they can live in luxury, not really serving the people, but themselves? I’d say yes, for most.
Here we have a pastor right now, of an L.A. church suing L.A. for injustice, and winning by way of our Constitutional rights.
Rev. Franklin Graham, in a Facebook post, celebrated John MacArthur’s victory, saying “Thank you for standing firm. This is a huge victory for religious liberty—it’s a win for all of us! The Constitution has the last word. This situation was an abuse of power by those making the decisions in their county and their state.”
Both the State of Calif. and the L.A. County EACH must hand over to this church $400K, totaling $800K.
My point in bringing up Paul and Silas in the Bible? The authorities (magistrates) told the Jailer to release Paul and Silas from prison, and to leave the city. BUT Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now they want to get rid of us quietly! NO! Let them come themselves and escort us out!” The officers reported this to the authorities and they came to appease Paul and Silas, and personally and humbly escort them out of the prison. BUT Paul and Silas did not leave just yet, but went to the home of a woman they had led to Jesus, and met with others there that they had led to Jesus to encourage them. “THEN THEY LEFT.”
To me, this teaches us that as American citizens who are Christians – we have every right to hold our government ACCOUNTABLE for what they do that goes against the Constitution of the United States of America! Just as Paul did in Rome as a Roman citizen Christian. The only difference is that Rome never had a Constitution like America that is rooted in the ‘biblical’ principles of governing This is why they regarded the Gospel as a custom not to be accepted nor practiced by LAW.
Rome’s early days: “In the early days of the fledgling settlement, Rome was governed by kings. Similar in many ways to the emperors that came later, these individual men had complete authority over all aspects of the lives of their subjects. A challenge to the king’s authority would almost certainly lead to severe punishment, typically death. As kings and rulers of other countries and civilizations throughout history have found (often paying the price with their life), such totalitarian rule can only last so long. The end of the road came with Rome’s seventh king, Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) who ruled from 534-510 BC. He repealed several earlier constitutional reforms and used violence and murder to hold on to power. His tyrannical rule was despised by the Romans and the final straw was the rape of Lucretia, a patrician Roman, at the hands of Tarquinius’ son Sextius. The Tarquins and the monarchy were cast out of Rome in 510 BC in a revolt led by Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, who would become the first two consuls of a new form of government – the Roman republic.”
We have our American roots in God and His Word. Therefore, every Christian and Church (who preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ) has EVERY RIGHT to hold our government and all officials (mayors, governors, senators, representatives, and even our president and vice-president) ACCOUNTABLE TO THE LAWS OF THE LAND.
To our own shame: We’ve allowed new laws to be made by the legislature that go against righteousness and justice by God’s design. We even see how some Courts think they have the right to make new laws, which is the right of the legislature branch only according to our Constitution.
I have heard Christians say that our only duty is to God in preaching the Gospel and sharing our testimonies of what Jesus means to us; to stay out of politics! You know, “the separation of church and state!” This is not about the church (Christians) not taking government seats of authority, in order to hold to our Constitution, but rather about the government not being allowed to force its citizens to come under any one religion, like it was in Great Britain under the Roman Catholic church, which is why Christians left and asked God to lead them to where they could worship Him freely and live by the principles that bless all peaceful people of any race. And so America was born.
I thank God for this example of Pastor John McArthur holding Calif. authorities accountable to our Constitution. May we begin to see more of this. LET FREEDOM RING! MAY GOD BE GLORIFIED!