Obediance

Acts 5:29. Often quoted by those who break the law. Wrongly.

Peter and John have been imprisoned for preaching the Gospel (and blaming the religious leaders for killing Jesus). They are, once again, hauled before the whole Jewish council to account for their actions and are told to, "never again teach in this man's name." To which they reply, "we must obey God rather than any human authority..." And there you have it. Every christian person who has been arrested for breaking the law uses this passage as their "get out of jail free" card. But they're wrong.

I wonder how many people have been arrested for doing what the Apostles were doing? Preaching the Gospel in a public place is not against the law. Unless you break the law in another way. Inciting a riot. Impeding traffic. Being too close to a school or something. See, Peter and John were not breaking ANY laws, and yet were thrown in jail and told not to preach (lawfully) to the people, when they made their defiant statement.

I know ministers who have rejoiced over the fact they got arrested protesting an abortion clinic and broke the law by getting too close to the clinic. That is not what Peter and John were talking about. Or, many Christians simply break the law for their own benefit and then claim that they only answer to God... and they will.

The Bible clearly states in several places that as Christians we are to obey the laws of the land we are in and every authority that has been placed over us. We can not use the Bible for our own personal benefit. We can not break the law and then claim that God told us to do it, or fool ourselves into thinking He is proud of it.

If you are lawfully presenting the Gospel Message of hope and life in Jesus Christ and are arrested (having broken NO laws) then you can claim, "I must obey God rather than men." But God does not condone breaking the law. He does not condone killing to stop killing. He wants us to live, "such peaceful and quite lives among the lost that they see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven."

It's about time we got so on fire that our preaching was once again so powerful to transform lives that the only way to get us to stop would be to put us in jail. Then, having obeyed every law and being punished wrongly for the cause of Christ, we could rejoice that we had been counted worthy to suffer.