Over the last two days in A Short Prepper Civics Lesson and in The Future of America. I have detailed that the founders stated what our God given rights are. I have also given some possible scenarios where those rights may be restricted, if not completely taken away. How then should a Christian respond?

Romans 13:1
A few years back I decided to read one chapter of the Bible every morning. There were some things I didn’t understand. I spent some time researching them. One of them was Romans 13:1. This verse differs greatly depending on the version of the Bible you have. I’ll post two.

King James:
“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.”

Many other versions are similar to this NIV version:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

The reason this was difficult for me is that there have been some truly awful governing authorities throughout history. I questioned whether a loving God would want us to subject ourselves to their authority. Like I said, this didn’t make sense. On a side note, there have been bad governments that have used this verse to keep Christians in line, claiming your God tells you to submit.

I did a bit of digging and thinking and found an article called Spiritual Authority and Romans 13. I don’t agree with everything the author says but he does make it clear that Paul was not telling us to be subject to the worlds authority, that we were to be subjected to our spiritual authorities. That made this verse more clear for me, as some of man’s laws absolutely contradict Gods law.

But let’s say that the verse actually means that we should submit to government. Does that mean even when it goes against God’s law?

God’s law vs. Man’s Law

As a general rule, Christians make excellent citizens. By living as Christ did and loving our neighbor as ourselves, we tend to stay out of trouble. There are many times when man’s laws and God’s laws are the same. For example, many of our current laws are based off of the Ten Commandments. Until recently, they were displayed in many court rooms across the country. In some places they still are.

There are times when there is a law that man uses to infringe upon our Christian liberties, such as taking a cross down from a national park or a city stopping a church from ringing a bell. At times like these I am reminded of Mathew 5:41:

“If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”When a Roman soldier would ask a Jew for directions, Jews would often give them the wrong ones. To stop this, a law was created that said when a Roman soldier asked for directions, the Jew had to walk with him for the first mile.

When our Christian Liberties are infringed upon, I think we should still make a stand, do battle in courts, protest or by other means voice opposition. But in the end, I think, since it does not go against Gods law, we must accept it and “walk the second mile”.

But then there are times when man’s law absolutely goes against God’s law. What should we do then? Following are a few examples of when God’s people rebelled against man’s law and followed Gods.

Daniel 1:8
King Nebuchadnezzar has requested among others that, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah be put in his service. They are given wine and fancy foods to eat. Daniel and company refused to defile themselves with the royal foods and asked to be allowed to eat just fruit and vegetables for ten days.

Daniel 3:1
This is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar building a 90 foot tall statue of gold and demanding that everyone bow and worship it. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused, they were thrown into the furnace.

Daniel 6:7
There is a law passed that anyone who prays to any god or man for the next 30 days would be thrown into the lion’s den. Daniel prays to God and is thrown into the den.

Esther 4:11- 7:3
It is forbidden to enter the kings chambers without invitation. Violation of this is punishable by death. Esther enters and is welcomed by the king. She later asks for her people to be spared and the king grants her request.

Mathew 2:16
King Herod orders the murder of all male children, aged two and younger. Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt.

John9:19
Jesus tells Pontius Pilate he has no authority over Him, essentially saying God is permitting Christ’s death.

The book of Acts
There are many examples of the Sanhedrin telling the 12 apostles to stop preaching about Christ.

These are just some examples I was able to find. Thank you to Mike for the assistance. God’s law should trump man’s law every time. There is almost always a cost; loss of reputation, financial penalty and, for some, even to this day, martyrdom.

When man’s law contradicts Gods law, how you respond is between you and God. I am just here to point out that there is biblical precedence for going against man’s law and government to keep the laws of God.

 
This article is from a series of three, they are:

A Short Prepper Civics Lesson
The Future of America
God’s Law vs Man’s Law

In this article I want to go over just some of my concerns for America and what it might mean for our future.  I’ll briefly touch on prophecy and what role it will have in America’s future.  But I will also use our recent history as well as the recent history of some other countries to see where we may be heading.

Concerns for Our Nation

No country is perfect, nor is any administration.  That being said, the last four years have seen a real infringement on the constitution, damage to the economy and so many other concerns too numerous to name.  The following is a short list.

Passing laws that are thousands of pages long, without reading a single one, Nancy Pelosi actually said the following about the healthcare bill in 2010 “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” 

The DHS allows the TSA to molest people at will.  I have heard of a grandmother in a wheelchair with a colostomy bag, a child in a wheel chair and multiple others that are disgraceful.

The authorization of using drones on Americans to me is stomping on the fourth Amendment, which protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures.  If you have probable cause, get a warrant but, to my understanding, that is not a requirement the FAA put on the multiple police agencies that now have permission to use them.

God has been chased from our schools, courthouses, some national parks and if some had it their way, from every other aspect of our lives.

Our economy is being propped up and I fear the final nails are being added to it.  The fault for this lies with both parties, one used a hammer and nails, the other a pneumatic nail gun.

Heroes coming home from serving their country are labeled as potential terrorists by the DHS.  They retracted it but it was said nonetheless.

We have a President that “forgets” to say God in a few different addresses and has said we are no longer a Christian nation.

They granted power to “shut down” the Internet in times of crisis. This would effectively shred the first Amendment and shut down free speech. 

There have been multiple rumors at potential gun grabs.  This is one of the reasons gun sales skyrocketed after our President was elected and why ammo was so hard to find.  Are they true or not?  I don’t know, but it would not be an easy task.

The constitution was designed with checks and balances, to keep any one side from becoming too powerful.    Our current President has stated numerous times that he’ll “do it with or without” Congress or the Senate.

The federal government has grown vastly under both political parties, to such a behemoth that in some months the unemployment rate dropped because of employees hired by the government, as was the case with the census. 

This President and congress have ignored the Constitution and the Bill of Rights on several occasions; creating Czar’s that are outside the three branches of government and using obscure rules to pass laws that could not pass by a majority vote such as “Obamacare”.

As I said, I could go on and on. 

The Future or America (prophetic)

I am not a prophet, but have studied it for years.  I am not saying whether we are in the end times or not but, Christians in America are aware that America is not mentioned in the end times.  While true, many nations are not mentioned the end times.  This doesn’t mean that they don’t exist or are destroyed; it just means that they are not key players. 

I am a patriot.  I have served my country and love it dearly.  I do believe that America will decline from the worlds one super power to a nation of less prominence. This is not something I look forward to.  It is a bitter pill to swallow.  Christ wasn’t looking forward to the cross, yet He said not His will but Gods be done.  I’m not saying we just lie down and let our values continue to be trampled but that we be ready and expect things to change.

Right now we are the worlds’ police force and the chief reason some nations don’t outright attack Israel but instead launch rockets from surrogate organized thugs who’re backed by Iran and other nations.  We’re told in the Bible that the entire world will turn against Israel.  I believe that for God’s will to be done, America must be removed from being the sole super power and Israel’s protector.  That does not mean we Christians turn our hearts from her or stop praying for Israel.

America has been a key player, if not the only super power since World War II, if not earlier.   Whether the end times are upon us or many years from now, America has changed and will continue to change.  I cover some of what I think will happen in our future below.  Some of it will be mild and some could be extreme, but this is part of why we prepare.

I have read that some people claim America will be destroyed.  Others claim that America is actually the New Babylon and others state that America will be broken up into smaller sections.  Like I said, I’m not a prophet, I don’t know what the Lord has planned for America, but His will be done, whether I like it or not.

The Future of America (Secular)

Even if the end times are hundreds of years from now, America will change. The following are some of the things I think we may see.  As I mentioned above, I’m not a prophet.  I am getting these ideas from looking at the current and recent past of world and national events.

While we could be attacked by an EMP or an all-out assault from another nation, or a variety of other things that originate from outside our borders, I believe, more likely, we’ll do it to ourselves.

With the colossal amount of debt we have, we will eventually come to the point where we are forced to make cuts.  The military is a popular place for making cuts, especially on the left.  If cuts are made deep enough, we will pull out of the many countries we maintain bases in.  (The argument could be made that this should be done now.)  Once we have less of a presence around the world, cuts could be made to the size of the military.  We would then have little to no presence in foreign countries and a much smaller force at home.  The once “most powerful military the world has ever seen” is now rendered, more or less, irreverent.

Before Argentina’s economy collapsed, it was on par with America’s.  Once it did crash, inflation climbed almost as fast as the crime rate.  It’s been a decade and they are not even close to where they once were.  Japans economy collapsed and they call it “Japan’s lost decade”.  They were still working their way back before being ravaged by earthquake, tsunamis and nuclear reactor problems.

Cuts will also have to be made on public services that many people have come to expect as rights.  When this was done in Spain, the people rioted.  When it was done in Greece, people rioted.  There were also anti-austerity riots in London in 2011.  The point I am making is that when we reach that point where we must make cuts, I think we may see riots worse than we have seen around the world; rioting so bad that people will beg for the government to step in and stop the riots and looting.

Martial Law and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus

In a large scale riot, many police departments could soon be pushed to their limit.  Local or federal governments could invoke martial law and suspend habeas corpus.

Before going any further, let me define a few terms.  First is Martial Law; Wikipedia actually has a very good definition of what Martial Law is, so I’ll just copy it here.

“Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis—(usually) only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively (e.g., maintain order and security, and provide essential services), when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread. In most cases, military forces are deployed to subdue the crowds, to secure government buildings and key or sensitive locations, and to maintain order.[1] Generally, military personnel replace civil authorities and perform some or all of their functions. In full-scale martial law, the highest-ranking military officer would take over, or be installed, as the military governor or as head of the government, thus removing all power from the previous executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.”

Here is the definition of Habeas Corpus offered by Cornell University Law School:

“Latin for “that you have the body.” A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g. institutionalized mental patient) before the court to determine if the person’s imprisonment or detention is lawful. In the US system, federal courts can use the writ of habeas corpus to determine if a state’s detention of a prisoner is valid.  A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody. It can also be used to examine any extradition processes used, amount of bail, and the jurisdiction of the court.”

The reason these two terms are important is that they could be used to quell any out of control rioting or violence.  Suspension of habeas corpus means you can be detained without going before a court to see if it is merited.  This could be indefinitely in a time of “crisis”.  If martial law is declared, the constitution has effectively been replaced with military rule, thus suspending your God given rights.

Martial law has been declared a few times in American history; Andrew Jackson imposed it in the war of 1812.  In 1892 it was imposed to quell a rebellion from striking miners who blew up a mine.  It was used again in 1914 to stop another miner uprising.  In 1934 the Governor of San Francisco used martial law to stop rioting during a dock worker strike.  Hawaii was placed under martial law in 1941 after the attack from the Japanese on Pearl Harbor. There is some confusion if martial law was declared after Hurricane Katrina.  I have seen reports saying that it was not declared.  However, this statement says that the Mayor of New Orleans did in fact declare it.

There have been people claiming that the government has been just waiting for an opportunity to implement martial law and throw people into FEMA camps.  I’ve never really bought into that line of thought.  Looking back at the freedom the founders wanted for us and how much the last two administrations have grown the federal government as well as how much the current president has sidestep the constitution to get more and more power, I’m convinced that this president, more than any before, would be willing to suspend habeas corpus and install martial law on a semi broad scale.  I say “semi broad” because it would be nearly impossible to enforce martial law in a large area unless all of our troops are pulled home as a result of cuts and closing foreign bases I mentioned earlier.

Even if martial law isn’t declared, there will be financial cuts made and liberties will continue to erode.  That is, unless and until a majority of American’s wake up and demand that we move back to what the Founders had intended for us.  Smaller government, people empowered to pursue life, liberty and happiness on their own, not expecting Uncle Sam to hand it out to them.

 
This article is from a series of three, they are:

A Short Prepper Civics Lesson
The Future of America
God’s Law vs Man’s Law