And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. - Acts 5:27-29 (ESV)
As the election draws closer, uber-NAR dominionist Steven Strang is leveraging his Charisma Media platform to do the bidding of his true master, the Republican Party. One problem they always have when speaking against current secular leadership is the correct biblical sense that rebellion against what God has established is a no-no. The NAR uses this when the guys they like are already in office but when they are not, they are kind of stuck. We saw last week Strang sent out Jonathan Con to put forth the notion of "holy rebellion", which required extreme bible twisting. Not satisfied, Strang is now turning to celebrity to try and woo people over to the idea that it is perfectly normal and biblical to rebel. We see this with the NAR in their excusal of the American Revolution, which was strictly economic in nature. Of course, from a secular perspective, we are quite happy the colonists rebelled but to pretend that it was somehow not violating Romans 13 is absurd. Likewise, the notion that it is perfectly biblical to rebel today is equally absurd. God is in control. I know the NAR insists that you are somehow partnering with God and He needs your help but that is wildly heretical. God does not need our help. We are not partners. We are creations of His. If He is not Lord then He is not God. Remember that as we reason once more together through the above linked article where Charisma News turns to Russel Brand. Yes, you read that right.
'"Are we in the end times? Are we at the point where as good Christians we have to oppose authority, or do we focus on loving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and submitting to authority?" This was a question posed by comedian and podcaster Russell Brand, who recently made the leap to accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, and has been searching for knowledge and understanding ever since. Of course the first verses that usually come to mind are Paul's writings in the book of Romans which say that all authority is derived from God, and that Christians are to submit to authority, just as Jesus submitted to the Father's will and sacrificed His own life for that of humanity.' - Charisma News
Let me point out the obvious. While we are truly rejoicing if Brand is truly transformed, why in the world is a Christian media site promoting what a brand-new convert is confused about? Oh, because he is a celebrity and the question allows them to continue to abuse the narrative of holy rebellion. Nevertheless, let's address the question presented. We live in a representative democracy and as such, we have mechanisms to address if we do not like our leaders. It is called the vote. In this government, both sides present their ideas and whoever wins that battle of ideas, usually wins. If you lose, get better ideas. Maybe make the case for why your candidate is better instead of lying and calling your opponent names like a petulant child on the playground. This system by the way is NOT rebellion. What is rebellion is lying about people to achieve your political goals because you have somehow deemed in your heart that your side is somehow righteous and the other side is entirely demonic and Satanic. That is not hyperbole. Charisma News has twice in the past week espoused exactly that position by both Mario Murillo and Dr. Michael Brown. The problem Brand does not understand yet is that he is trying to apply biblical principles to carnality. In order to get there, he sets up a strawman enemy that represents the devil and thus the other side represents Christ. The truth is neither side represents nor cares about the cause of Christ. For every issue you can think of that supports your choice I can think of one that does not and both have biblical relevancy. When Jesus walked the earth, He was entirely apolitical. His kingdom is not of this world beloved.
"But what are Christians to do when corrupt rulers go against the teachings of God? Brand read from Revelation 13, detailing the two beasts and those who would in turn worship the beast and eventually receive his mark. The Bible details that "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world," (Rev. 13:9), yet those whose names are in the Book of Life shall not receive the Mark and worship this satanic beast. "We've got a job to do, haven't we?" asked Brand. "[It] sounds to me that political power is highly corruptible and that our duty is to recognize that the Lamb was slain for our salvation and redemption. "I find it difficult to chart my way through that, but it aligns more easily with my pre-conditioned attitude to authority which is one of cynicism and doubt. "But I wonder, as Christians, is it our role to be radical and rebellious when rebelliousness is so often chief among our sins," Brand continued." - Charisma News
First of all, while I share the cynicism and doubt regarding our politicians, they are equal in that disappointment. The problem is that people are teaching Brand that one side is somehow righteous, or at best, a lesser evil. He does not yet understand that it is never a role of a believer to support any evil, no matter how "lesser" we have determined it to be. As for the verse, which is enormously taken out of context, this is prophecy and not a prescriptive text. There is a stark difference between living in the end times, which we are, and living out Revelation 13 now, which we are not. More concerning, is that Brand appears to be taught by the NAR apostate church in his belief that he has a "job" to do, related to his salvation, and that this job is somehow related to politics. We should be continuing to read the word and represent Christ to a dying world. Not espousing personal political preferences as if that will somehow change the calculus of God. It will not. Our role is not to be radical, but rather to be humble. Our role is not to be rebellious, which is likened to witchcraft in the bible, but represent the gospel. We are blessed to live in the United States where it does not matter who gets elected, because we will still be free to speak about Jesus. That is who we should spend our days speaking about. Not our favorite perceived lesser evil politician.
