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The BIG Picture
"Collected
wisdom from the journey."
from Doug
Perry - www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
- June,
2008
Chapter Thirty-one
– GOVERNMENTS
(Printable
PDF file)
Transcript of Video
PART
ONE
Governments - A discussion of
Romans 13 (and others)
There have been a number of folks
who don't understand what it is I'm trying to teach about various
topics. Across the board on a whole bunch of things, the
fundamental thing is to understand what the Bible says about
governments, and so I want to make sure that we do a video about
that, and explain that to you first, and kind of lay some of the
foundational stuff for other things that need to be explained. OK?
There's a lot of misunderstanding
about the governments of man and what the Bible says about that. And
we need to be clear about that if we're going to be able to proceed
onto other things – onto different things, to the deeper things.
The Bible says that the natural man cannot understand the things of
the Spirit. The Bible says that if you split up into teams, and pick
the names of men – 1 Corinthians 3 says that if you say “I'm
for Apollos, I'm for Paul, I'm for Cephas, I'm for Christ”
– even if you say “I'm for Christ” but what you mean
is, “You're not and you can't play with me,” then you're
carnal and not spiritual, and the carnal man cannot understand the
things of the spirit. And first and foremost the Bible is a spiritual
manual, and sure there are instructions in here about natural
things, about what to eat, and how to dress, and whatever, but those
are still spiritual on some level that we need to understand and
identify and apply.
First and foremost, to get an
understanding of this, you need to read the “The Great
Ecclesiastical Conspiracy” and you will see, as you study
through that stuff, that the King James Version of the bible was
specifically and intentionally doctored so as to establish King and
Pope over the people, and there are passages that were specifically
tweaked this way or that so as to get people to believe that they
were saying something that they didn't really say, or words that were
transliterated instead of translated, so as to obfuscate their
meaning like “presbyter” and other things. Also places even
where words were added, that are not in the Greek, that do not exist,
that do not belong there, that change the whole structure of that
verse. It's a really dangerous thing. The link is here - http://www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com/great_ecclesiastical_conspiracy.htm
. We have free audio book and a free book that you can print off and
read. A short little book, but it will go through the history
of the King James and how it was specifically and intentionally
doctored to overcome the Geneva bible that basically didn't preach
King and Pope and that is perfectly consistent with the King who
thought that he was God's messenger and sword.
Anyway, specifically we're
going to talk about Romans 13 most of all, at the moment. Now, Romans
13 is the main passage that is used to establish our responsibility
to obey the government, the governments of man, civil governments. I
want to read you the King James for this passage. Now in most of your
King James study Bibles, it's gonna have as a heading, right above
there, “the Christian and civil law,” or “the
Christian and obedience to governments,” but I'm going to read
you specifically what the Kings James says about, in Romans 13:1-7.
“Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the
powers that be are ordained of God”.
Okay, the word power here over
and over is the same word that's used when he talks about our battles
not against flesh and blood , but against powers and principalities.
Now, it is used in relation to civil governments at some times, but I
need you to really consider carefully and prayerfully whether this
passage is talking about civil governments.
“Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the
powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the
power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation.”
That's really important there.
And that word, look it up in the Greek, see that this is a spiritual
permanent thing that the bible is saying will come on you if you
resist the power.
“For rulers are not a
terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then be afraid of
the power? Do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the
same. For he is the minister of God, to thee for good. But if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.”
Okay, so he bears the sword of God.
“For he is the minister
of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Wherefore, you must need to be subject, not only for wrath, but also
for conscience sake, for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are
God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”
Ministering for the Lord, as
agents of His wrath, maintaining governments, maintaining powers.
“Render therefore, to all
their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
The only thing in this passage
that specifically looks like something governmental is the word
“tributes,” and it is listed there along with honor
and fear. So that verse is not specifically talking about just
natural things but also spiritual things. And if you consider that
these powers that this passage is talking about are spiritual powers
not governmental civil powers, then it makes a lot more sense.
You need to understand that
Romans 13, particularly that first chunk of that chapter, is wedged
in between Romans 12, which is all about Body life, all about
spiritual things. And Romans 14 which again, is all about Body life
and spiritual things, and even the remainder of that chapter is
entirely spiritual. So, what you have to do is come to the conclusion
that in the midst of an entire passage about spiritual body life
within the Body of Christ, within Christians, each walking in their
roles, each walking in their callings – all of the sudden
there's this thing about magistrates and civil governments!
I don't believe that this has
anything to do with civil governments at all, and I'm gonna tell you
why. Verse 2 says,
“Whosoever, therefore,
resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, because God has
ordained these and set them into place. And they that resist shall
receive to themselves, damnation.”
There is no loophole here!
There are certainly passages that say we are supposed to pray for our
Kings, for our leaders, for those who are set over us. Yes, we
are. Now this passage says – that is, if this is about
civil governments – then the Bible says that these governments,
that all governments, that elected officials, that every law that
gets on the books, that every county clerk, every whatever, is set in
place by God, a minister of God, and if you resist them you will heap
on your head damnation from God.
There is no loophole, there is no
gray area, there is no out. If you believe that Romans 13 and those
verses is talking about civil authorities, then when they pass a law
telling you to take the mark of the Beast, you cannot disobey without
damnation to your soul. How can we justify smuggling Bibles into
China or Russia or somewhere else, or disobeying anti-conversion laws
in India or wherever else, if every single civil government ever is
set in place by God and to resist them we heap damnation on
ourselves?! There is no loophole.
I've had people say, “Well,
if it goes against the laws of God, we're not gonna obey that. Of
course if they say to take the mark, I'm not going to take the
mark!” But you don't have that option! You don't
have that option. If that verse is about civil governments, you must
at all times, obey in every situation or else go to hell. That's
literally what it says, if you believe the powers that are talked
about here are civil governments. You have no out. Martin
Luther King, Jr. is in hell if this is true, because he passively
resisted the government – apartheid, slavery, whatever it is
– according to that verse, if this is about civil governments,
and you resist them in any way, you are going to hell. You will heap
damnation on you because they are agents of God and bear the sword of
God to punish you spiritually.
Civil governments do not have the
authority from God to punish you spiritually. You are jumping
spirals, from the natural to the spiritual. They are two different
things, and you don't get to hop from one to another. This is about
spiritual authorities, this is about spiritual governments, this is
about the elders that are set in place by God, this is about the
apostles that are called by God, this is about Christ the Head, this
is not about civil governments. Now, if you owe tribute, pay tribute,
if you owe honor pay honor, if you owe fear, pay fear. But this
cannot be about civil governments.
PART
TWO
Now, I want you to understand
that just about everything about church as we have known it is upside
down, and messed up, and mangled, and satan has very, very
effectively entrenched himself into the traditions, doctrines, dogmas
of man. Even getting us to justify things that are completely stupid
and non-Biblical, and believing that tradition even has equal weight
with scripture. It can't possibly be that things we make up out of
our mind and make routine are somehow just as good as the Bible! Even
though that's what the Catholic Church says. And that's what the
Protestant, Evangelical and lots of others practice, even if
they don't claim that that's the case.
Okay, here's the thing. The King
James Bible, you may say it's absolutely literal, and the
unadulterated, perfect flawless word of God, and every jot and
tittle, and “I believe this thing from the book of Genesis to
the book of Maps and that's all there is to it.” But the
thing is, you're also reading the headings that say that this is
about civil governments, and not reading the passage that says that
this cannot be about civil governments, or everything that we've been
saying and doing would crumble.
All over the world people are
under persecution for disobeying the government that is set against
Christians. And if you believe this passage is about civil
governments, all of them, then every martyr that resisted the
government is going to hell, because they should have just denied
their testimony and obeyed the king that outlawed Christianity, or
whatever. Let me read you some of how entrenched this is and
how far this has gone, okay? What went from a passage that I read you
before out of the King James – that talks about subject to
higher powers that are set in place by God that bare Gods sword that
are agents of wrath; what went from that, the heading said “Obey
the king and the civil authorities” or whatever it said.
People have taken the translation for that verse, modified it to look
like the heading for the chapter that wasn't in the original text,
and we end up with stuff like this.
This is from “The
Message.” Okay, now, please understand that I'm making fun
of it, I'm not telling you that this is a Bible that you should be
reading, but this is how far we got from the passage in the King James.
“Be a good citizen, all
governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it's
Gods order, so live responsibly as a citizen. If you're irresponsible
to the state, then you're irresponsible with God. And God will hold
you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if
you're trying to get by with something decent citizens should have
nothing to fear. Do you want to be on good terms with the Government?
Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine. The government
working to your advantage. But if you're breaking the rules left and
right, watch out. The police aren't there just to be admired in their
uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and He uses them
to do it. That's why you must live responsibly, not just to avoid
punishment, but also because it's the right way to live. That's also
why you pay taxes, so that an orderly way of life can be maintained.
Fulfill your obligations as a citizen, pay your taxes, pay your
bills, respect your leaders.”
That's mangled! All of the
sudden we went from “spiritual authorities” that are God's
agents to “the police.” That can't be right!
Let me read you another one. This is from the Phillips, which is a
much older translation than the new modern ones, but still, it's
gonna mangle this. Right away the heading says, the Christian and the
civil law.
“Every Christian ought to
obey the civil authorities, for all legitimate authorities derive
from God's authority in the existing authority is appointed under God.”
Okay, that means you cannot
dispute the Al Gore vs. George Bush election. You cannot talk about
punch cards....no...you cannot even question a speed trap. You cannot
defend yourself in anyway. You cannot seek to replace anybody that
you think is evil and have them impeached, because “they're set
in place by God.” If they're set in place by God, then to
resist at all, will bring damnation. That cannot be. That just cannot
be! Okay?
How much more obvious can it
be? That in places like this, the Bible was specifically
twisted, more and more and more to establish loyalty to Church and
King. Okay, anyway, let me finish reading.
“The honest citizen has
no need to fear the keepers of law and order. But the dishonest man
will always be nervous of them. If you want to avoid this anxiety,
just lead a law abiding life, and all that can come your way is a
word of approval. The officer is God's servant for your protection.
If you're leading a wicked life, you have reason to be alarmed. The
power of the law, which is vested in every legitimate officer, is no
empty phrase. He is, in fact, divinely appointed to inflict God's
wrath upon evil doers. You should therefore obey the authorities, not
simply because it is the safest, but because it is the right thing to
do. It is right too, for you to pay taxes. For the civil authorities
are appointed by God for the good purposes of the public order and
well being.”
Okay...now. If you come to the
conclusion that every government, that every system, that every law,
that every statute, that every ordinance is set into place by God,
ordained by God, and you resisting it will bring you damnation, where
do we end up? And how is that consistent with the Gospel? And when
Jesus went before Pilot, when the high priest .... how ..... how
..... how do we admire and idolize guys smuggling bibles like Brother
Andrew and Richard Wormbrandt. Why do we put them up on a
pedestal if the Word of God says they resisted the Government and
they're going to hell?
There is no loophole! There
is no option. There's no gray area here that says that,
“Well if the government makes bad laws that goes against God, I
don't have to follow those.” NO! That's not one of
the options. It clearly says – if you believe this is
about civil governments – that they are set in place by God and
you must obey. Doesn't that sound like King James – who
felt like he was God's messenger and the representative of God on
earth – would say and try to make sure that it was instituted
into people?
Let me have you take a look at
Titus Chapter 3. Here's another blatant example of this. Now
the ramifications of this, and how it's gonna effect everything,
frankly I have no idea. And it's not my job to worry about
whatever is going to ensue from truth being spoken. It's my job
to speak truth. Now here in Titus Chapter 3, verse 1, here is
what the King James says:
Those are the same Greek words
as: “Our war is not about flesh and blood, but against
principalities, powers, and wickedness in high places.” And,
other places where principalities and powers are talked about
spiritually as the principalities and powers of God.
“Put them in mind to be
subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates, to be ready
for every good work.”
Okay, “magistrates” is
clearly a civil term. They are talking about obeying civil
authority there. A lot of the headings even talk about obeying
civil authority in that verse. The problem is that the word
“magistrates” does not exist in the original
manuscripts. It's not there! It's entirely
fabricated. Is entirely added. Get on
www.blueletterbible.com, get on whatever. Look it up. The
word “magistrates” does not exist there. The King
James specifically added the word “magistrates.” It should read:
“Put them in mind to be
subject to principalities and powers, to obey, to be ready to every
good work.”
That's talking about the elders
of the church. The governments that the Lord has set in place.
But all of a sudden this word is inserted to infer that civil
governments have the same weight as God's government. And God
is not gonna obey whatever a civil government says, and endorse
whatever they say as if it has the weight of God behind it.
Because a government says it's “holy,” does not mean that
GOD says it's HOLY.
And this cannot be the
interpretation of these verses. Now in the RSV it says, “Remind
them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to
be ready for any honest work.” In the New English, it says:
“Remind them to be submissive to the government and the
authorities. To obey them and be ready for any honorable form of
work.” It just gets more and more and more mangled with
every modern translation, that at their heart, if they are inspired
by satan, are constantly going to get you to try to obey the systems
and governments of Man, because satan is the “Prince of this World.”
And we're not to obey the Prince
of this world, we're to obey God. First and foremost, our allegiance
is to God. And every government of Man is not instituted by God and
blessed by Him, and resisting them brings damnation on you, that
cannot be.
PART THREE
I wanna talk to you a little bit
more on Romans 13. I'm reading from “The Book” -
another modern translation. But I just want to show you how Romans 13
has transitioned from The King James (the Geneva, the Tyndale, and
other things) that clearly indicate that these are spiritual
authorities and God's authorities set over the church. That it has
transitioned to where King and State have to be obeyed no matter what.
Karl Marx said, "Religion is
the opiate of the masses." He understood that Christianity
serves well - religion serves well - to keep a population under
control, when you can assert that that religion tells them to be a
good citizen and obey the State.
I'm not saying to be a bad
citizen. I'm not saying to take up arms. I'm saying to
obey Jesus. I know this is going to get twisted all kinds of ways. It
just always does when you speak Truth. I'm not saying that this is
justification for building a big compound with barbed wire and
collecting automatic weapons. That's not it at all. That's not the
way Jesus did anything.
Our battle is not against flesh
and blood, it's against powers and principalities. Our battle is not
against authorities of Man. Our battle is against spiritual bad guys
- against spiritual authorities. That's clearly what the word of God
says. We need to resist spiritually since its a spiritual battle, and
not worry about what will happen with the flesh because God will
provide. He will clothe you, He will care for you, He will give you
the words to speak when you're taken before Kings and whatever.
I want to read to you from
“The Book” from Tyndale House. (How far we've fallen!)
This is Romans 13:1-7.
"Obey the government for
God is the One who put it there. All governments have been placed in
power by God,"
Ok? All governments.
"So, those who refuse to
obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment
will follow,"
... punishment from God.
Now, if you've synthesized this
and the King James, it says "damnation". This makes it
sound like if you speed, you're gonna get fined. But this is a
spiritual thing that they're inferring here. That God is gonna back
up the government and God Himself is gonna punish you if you don't
obey the government in every way.
"For the authorities do
not frighten people who are doing right, they frighten those who do
wrong. So do what they say and you will get along well. The
authorities are sent by God to help you. But if you are doing
something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for you will be
punished. The authorities are established by God for that purpose, to
punish those who do wrong. So you must obey the government for two
reason, to keep from from being punished and to keep a clear
conscience. Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons."
Now, this has just got to be one
of the most obnoxious...
We went from the King James: "give
honor to whom honor, fear to whom fear, duty to whom duty,"
to this:
"For government workers
need to be paid so that they can keep on doing the work God intended
them to do."
So, please remember, that when
you're at the DMV, that they are doing God's work, according to this.
And they need to get paid, and you have to pay your taxes, so that
all the government employees out there - who are doing God's work -
can continue to get paid.
"Give to everyone what
you owe them. Pay your taxes and import duties and give respect and
honor to all to whom it is due."
Of course inferring that they're
talking about civil governments.
This cannot be! This cannot be!
These verses cannot apply to civil governments. I've shown you why. I
want your eyes to be opened to how bible translators, kings like King
James that established translations and then tweaked them after the
fact to to suit him and added words like magistrate and other things.
We are spiritual beings trapped
in a natural world. This is not my home. I do not belong here. I hate
this nasty mud ball. I wanna go home. But I can't until I've done
whatever it is God has for me to do here. So, I'm gonna go as fast as
I can, be as loud as I can, say whatever I have to do as the Lord
leads, to do whatever I have to do so I can get out of this and go
home and be with Jesus.
You need to obey God. And
you need to obey the authorities and governments that God has set in
place for the government of His body. This cannot be about civil
governments. Take it to the Lord, seek Him, listen to Him only.
Look at the Greek. Study the words.
Look at Titus 3. Tell me that I'm
lying. If I'm lying, if I'm wrong, if you can prove to me that the
word "magistrates" is in Titus 3:1 in the manuscripts, and
that it's not talking about spiritual authorities, I will
repent. If I'm right about this stuff, then you need to take
the next step and say, "OK, well, why are we allowing man to
intrude SO much on things of God where they should have no part?"
Even in the United States,
constitutionally we have a separation of church and state. And we
tell people that the state should not be interfering in the things of
God. And yet God instituted marriage as Holy matrimony, as a Holy
covenant between two people and God.
God made Eve for Adam, joined
them together Himself, they were spiritually joined. They
didn't even know they were naked. They didn't even have sex,
according to the Word, when they got.......after the fall they
realized they were naked, they get thrown out of the garden and THEN
Adam knew Eve and had Cain. Ok?
First and foremost, we are
spiritual beings, and we need to read the Word of God in those terms.
My issue with the NIV, my issue with the Message, the Phillips - all
of these is not so much as they mangle up stuff, it's that they
despiritualize what the Word of God is trying to say. And remove from
it, and seek to remove from it, and from the people that read it, a
spiritual understanding of what the Lord is trying to say, of how
this applies to us spiritually.
Not just that it's about taxes
but it's about honor, it's about fear, it's about respect, for those
that the Lord sets in place. And we try to debase it by making it all
about the natural world and civil governments, and all this, instead
of understanding that this is about God's economy. And if we pray the
Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven," well if this is about civil governments, we're actually
saying that on earth, the governments that we have on earth, are
actually set in place by Heaven and will be in charge when we get to
Heaven. So we're praying the Lord's prayer upside down. That
can't be right. That just can't be right.
You know, all of you praying,
"Thy will be done, Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in
Heaven," well if we want things here to look like they will in
Heaven, how many denominations are there in Heaven? How many civil
governments? You know? How? No! One Head. Christ the Head. One city,
One new Jerusalem.
Anyway, that's all I got for now.
That ought to lay some foundation for you to begin thinking about,
more and more and more about how, maybe things are mangled beyond
what we realize. Maybe the government shouldn't be interfering in the
things of God. Is marriage just a tax benefit? Should
they just be civil unions? Because you're living together,
because it's common law, whatever.
Or is it Holy? And if it's
Holy, is it because man says it's Holy, or because God says it's
Holy? If we just rubber stamp something from the Judge or the
Justice of the Peace or whatever, does that mean God has to honor
it? Because Romans 13 says that God honors whatever governments
do? Then why does He have us resist governments? Why does
He have us smuggle bibles into China? Why does He have us have
house churches in China with 100 million people meeting, against the
law? Often going to prison and beaten. How can it be that
the Lord is inspiring those people to resist, and has for 2,000
years, if every civil government is set in place by God and we are
commanded not to resist them at the risk of our own soul? That
cannot be. So think hard. And seek Him. And ask
Him: Is something right because the government says it's right,
or because God says it's right? Is something Holy because God said it
was Holy, or because we said it was Holy?
Thanks for listening. More on
this from FellowshipoftheMartyrs.com.
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