Repent now or be dragged down later as a traitor to your calling

This was my response to someone’s unbelievable position – even until now :

“I do support the govt – out of conscience’s sake and as a Christian submission to the governing authorities – plural- because of the Lord Himself.

But to say we still support DU30 inspite of empirical data – then ( Human Rights Watch’s data) and 2 year hence ?

Better reconsider this – remember Nazi Germany and what the German Confessing Church of Barth and Bonhoeffer did against Hitler or the capitulation of the other Protestants and even Catholics to the Fuhrer .

Or worse- the irrelevance of Orthodox Churches during Tsarist Russia – which was the boon for the October Revolution of Lenin and Stalin.

Supporting a bloody immoral leader is not a matter of faith. Following a lawful civil order- yes – but this ?

Please reconsider – or your ministries or apologetics or theologies will be dragged down by this ethical position. Your voice will be ignored when the unveiling happens.

Remember – it was the Magisterial Reformers and the Protestants who resisted Emperors and Kings (Puritan Revolt and American’s Wars of Independence) when the governing authorities are no longer acting as Ministers of God.

As with husband and pastors acting independent and especially against God’s boundaries – so are we no longer bound to our political leaders. Our ultimate allegiance is to God only. Better to obey God than men.

When i voted for Marcos in the snap election of 1986 – due to the fears of Communists taking over after Marcos – which is true then – my eyes were opened when the ‘lesser magistrates’ ( Enrile and Ramos and Cory) revolted against him.

You must reconsider now – not later – and raise up your voice for God and His Word – in this situation. Or be tainted by this wrong choice and lose your moral ascendancy forever.”

What Romans 13 really said about Submission to the Civil Government

Romans 13 is :
1. A defense against anarchy but not for dictatorship

2. About multiple authorities,not the rule of one tyrant or an emperor.

3. Submitting to legal authorities in order to avert leading a society to anarchism like what happened during the French Revolution and the Jewish Tribulation of AD 70.

4. Obedience to them means supporting them with taxes and legal revenues. But it does not mean runaway taxation or deficit spending

5. Paul is not condoning Nero’s immoral acts in the future. Nor is Peter in his epistle.

6. Submission is not the same as adulation or idolatry.

You can submit to your commanding officer to fight the enemy’s soldiers but not to terrorize the common masses or citizenry. Those are crimes against humanity.

In analogy a child can submit to his parents to goto school but not to be his runner for drugs.

7. Is not making one form of government as a norm -monarchial and dictatorial.

8. Governing authority is a minister of God -for good.Not evil. Especially evil men.

9. A minister is under a higher law – not merely what is legal. He is under God’s moral law – which reflects His character.

10.It does not say that a violent or strongman rule is the qualification for a governing authority. He must possess the qualifications of a minister of God. He must know the Law and upheld it – substantively and procedurably. Sometimes he must take the sword to prevent violence, punish evildoers or defend the citizenry from hostile nations or elements of society.

11. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles portrays the Roman Law and governance as a defense against the lawlessness of the Judaizers and their Zealots.

12. At the time when Apostle John wrote the Revelation – about 10 -30 years after Paul, Nero is already called the Beast -the proto-antiChrist.

13. Jesus and the Apostles taught of turning the other cheek and praying for God’s enemies. And in time of persecution -is to flee from one town to another.

They did not taught them to meekly submit their necks to the oppressor. The Gospel must be spread -as it is now.

Raising an army against the Roman Empire is a foolhardy enterprise. Only a Zealot with Maccabean visions did that. And they got Masada and the Bar- Kokhba revolt

These are my preliminary thoughts on this. I will add some more in the future.