27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! (Acts 5:27-29)
Much less does the Pope have any power or jurisdiction over civil authorities in their domains or over any of their people, nor can he deprive them of their domains or lives if he shall judge them to be heretics or on any other pretense whatever.(Westminster Confession Modern English Version 25)
Thoughts: While we owe allegiance to our country and government, Christians are held ultimately accountable to God. We do not owe allegiance to any church official. There is no church army that we are a part of. Christians do not want to rule the world or take the world over by force. We recognize that Christ already rules the world, and we want the world to be a better place. Christians do not want to be violent toward others. But we do want to spread the Gospel of love. When governments ask us to be quiet- we try to obey, but we also know that we ultimately must obey God. When the government, as above, tries to force us to be quiet.
Prayer: Help me to always listen to you. Help me to also be a good citizen. We pray, Lord, that you would grant us grace and peace to be able to both listen to the government and listen to you without conflict.
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