Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
Proverbs 25:26 ( ESV )
When Peter was asked by a bunch of ( Re? ) publicans if His Master paid the temple tax, like a good Jew, he responded in the affirmative; of course He does.................right? After they had gone into the house, a bit later; Jesus asked Peter this question, 'From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?' When Peter responded that it was 'from strangers'; Jesus reminded him that 'then the sons are free'. Nevertheless; Jesus went ahead and paid the temple tax, not because He must, but because He could.
Most Christians today believe that we should obey 'the powers that be', for they are ordained of God ( Romans 13 ), and obey them as long as they do not command us contrary to the Law of God. Well; that sounds okay, as far as that goes, maybe, but from places like the passage in Proverbs that I quoted above: is it right for Christians to bow to the laws, the unjust laws for that matter, of unrighteous men? Not to get too far into it, for as we know, Scripture can get pretty graphic, but the verse above, in the Hebrew, alludes to the nether region, the unmentionable parts of a woman, and how when a righteous man bows before the wicked ( metaphorically or actually ), he is really whoring himself before that person, or image.
Although there are more and more who are waking up to it, I daresay that most people in this country do not even realize how unjust, to say nothing of their unrighteousness, and how unscriptural many of the statutes of this nation are. I am not a lawyer, and I do not claim to know a whole lot of 'legalese', but I am one of those, praise God, who are waking up to the unbiblical and unconstitutional laws that have been foisted upon us by our 'leaders'. Both Christians and non-Christians alike, lovers of liberty all; have begun to unite under one common banner and to fight this unjust theft of our liberties!
Getting to the point; by prostrating ourselves, as those whom Christ has made righteous, before the wicked leaders of this once Godly nation, before 'Caesar'; we have done nothing different than the old covenant children of Israel. We have committed spiritual adultery, harlotry, in fact, by quivering before them, and even, whether through fear, or otherwise, trusting in them for our sustenance, rather than in the God who provides, Yahweh, or Jehovah-Jireh!
We were not set free, just as God's old covenant 'children' were not, so that we could 'go back to Egypt', so that we could once again be in bondage to those who make a mockery of our God, and His perfect Law of liberty! We were set free, as were they, so that we, in our liberty, could freely serve God, and exercise the dominion over His creation of which He has made us stewards.
We are kings! Who are we to abdicate our God-given position and pay homage to Baal?? At this point, you may begin to see where this is going; how far do we go in our exercise of our liberties, our dominion as kings? Though it's very arguable, as we saw earlier, in Jesus' statement, whether or not we even owe those obeisances, whether literal or figurative, to these 'powers that be', especially wicked and ungodly ones, it is clear that our Christian duty is first and foremost to our Creator and His Laws, not to those whom we have allowed to take dominion over us; we are to render unto Him our worship, ascribing worth to Him alone. As one of our wise and good elders once said ( and I love this phrase ), Jesus is Lord; Caesar is not'!
For too long, we as Christians, as kings and priests, ordained by God, have prostrated ourselves, bowed, and given way to the wicked, mostly out of fear, but also out of ignorance. We need to wake up to the higher calling that God has called us to, start taking up the reins of government, whether it be family, church, state, or all three, and begin to exercise the dominion that God has given us, to take back the freedoms and liberties that He has granted! It is only through His Word, and the Berean study and anointed preaching of it, that we will begin, as many have already, to realize our exalted position, and having done all, to stand.....................and fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by God's grace, alone,
Charles Haddon Shank
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