be obedience to the state or constituted authority. On two different occasions, first the one where Peter caught the fish to pay the Lord’s expenses, and the oth er when presented with a coin and asked the question of whose it was, He said, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s.” It was Daniel Webster who rightly declared, “What ever makes a man a good Christian also makes him a good citizen.” A Christian does not have to step out of character to be a good citizen. It is true, as Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20, that we are primarily citizens of heaven; however, while we are pil grims and strangers here, we are not to conform to this world, yet we have a responsibility to be examples to oth ers concerning God’s perfect righteous ness. In the long ago, there was an Ebionits sect which taught that all civil government was in the devil’s control, such theories are.certainly not taught in the Bible. Verse one of Romans 13 forcefully declares, “Let every soul be subject un to the higher powers. For there is not power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Since this Epistle is directed to believers, “every soul” means every true born-again Chris tian. Perhaps you, as have I, heard some political leader try to take this verse to inspire patriotism. This por tion of the Word, however, is far more than political; it is spiritual. The idea of being “subject” is from a military term it speaks of the soldier who is in obedience to the commanding offi cer. The soldier may not agree with his superior at all t i m e s , yet he remains under his constituted author ity. The kingdoms in the days of the Apostle Paul were largely pagan. Nero himself had come to power by poison ing Claudius and seeing to it that Caligula met a very violent death. Not for several centuries were the Chris tians allowed to worship according to the dictates of their hearts and to the Word of God. Now, it is true that there 4
is not the devil’s world. It is true that the whole world, speaking of unregen erate man, lieth in the lap of the wicked one, but the Bible teaches us that the earth is the Lord’s and the ful ness thereof. Satan may be the god of this present age, we see this exemplified on every hand, but the Lord is still on the throne. Those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ have much for which to thank God here in America. This season of the year should only give a greater rise to such an overwhelming persuasion. What other country of the world would welcome a man like a Leon Johnson, who had a serial number burned into his arm by Hitler’s gesta- po? Hunted, and hated by both Nazis and Communists, this man started a small business in a Brooklyn flat after his safe arrival in the United States. Five years later he had turned it into a seven million dollar business. Now, no other country of the world would have given him, and hundreds like him who have been so fortunate, such a privilege of amassing a fortune. I realize there are certain' things about which many of us complain, but in what other country of the world is there such freedom of press, radio and television? Perhaps our officials have been too lax in giving out more in formation than they should, and yet the basis of freedom is certainly there. Look at the educational facilities with which we are blessed, Remember the freedom of worship. In our land men may worship the sun, a sacred cow, or any other object, and some do; or they may worship that which so many oth ers worship, namely self. Yet there are no laws legislating against it. One may become a millionaire although un fortunately, the exploitation of this fact I think is causing much of the' moral decay, covetousness, dishonesty, payola, and cheating which is apparent on every hand. Romans 13 is the Christian Citizen ship chapter of the Bible. Certainly the Lord Jesus taught that there should
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