The Acts of the Apostles- 93

Subtitle:  When the Serpent Bites

Acts 28:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 23, 2025.

There is a literal serpent bite in this passage, but it can also have a metaphorical lesson for us. 

Similar to how disease and the attendant viruses, prions, etc. can be a picture of spiritual problems, dangerous creatures, venom, toxins, etc. become pictures of spiritual attack.

Viruses work to get past our natural defenses and then commandeer the cells’ factories in order to replicate itself, rather than replicating what God made the cell to replicate.  Of course, spiritual truths can pop in our minds as we think about such things.  The enemy hates the fact that humans are made to be imagers of God.  He operates to erase any remnant of God in our image and turn us to imaging him.  Sin really began with the serpent questioning as such.  “Did God really say…?”  He also directly questioned the truth of God’s decree that they would die in the day that they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

They were metaphorically bitten by the serpent that day, and a mind toxin was inserted into them.  Humans have never been well since, except by the touch of Jesus Christ..

Let’s look at our passage and get into the details.

They safely make it to land (v. 1-6)

We left the story last week as the crew and passengers abandoned a ship that was stuck on a sandbar with the wind and surf tearing the ship apart.  They all made it to land safely.  However, just as God had spoken through Paul, they all made it safely to land.  The New King James Version uses the phrase in verse 1, “And when they had escaped…”  In the New American Standard Bible, it is translated, “When they had been brought safely through…”  We tend to think of escaping in the sense of avoiding and not having to go through something.  However, this word reflects an escape from death, yet still going through the ordeal.  God kept them through the trial.  We see this in 1 Corinthians 10:31.  “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NKJV).  We can see the idea of escaping, but also an enabling to endure temptation without succumbing to its allure.

Temptations can often be avoided.  We too often set ourselves up for difficulty through the things we say and do.  We can even make those temptations worse than they need to be.  Trials on the other hand are a difficult thing that typically “tempts” us to lose faith in God.  There are some trials that we can avoid, but in general, we will not avoid all trials.  We see Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, praying to God.  In the end, he trusts the Father to bring him through the trial into death, and back to life.

Thus, it is important to recognize that God can keep us out of trials.  However, if He kept us out of all trials, then we would be missing something big.  God can take us through trials and overcome them by faith.  God then uses the trial to develop spiritual maturity in us.

We are told that the natives (literally barbarians) gave them “extraordinary kindness.”  This is the same word that is used of the miracles done through Paul in Acts 19:11.  Yes, men and women can be kind at times, even unbelievers.  However, this was an uncommon, unusual kindness.  They went above and beyond what would be expected.

They take pity on these shipwreck survivors who landed on their shores.  Instead of hiding and taking on a defensive posture, they kindled a fire (probably more than one) for the survivors to warm up.  This is important because the water is cold, it is the beginning of winter, they are sopping wet and exhausted.  They could escape the waves only to succumb to hypothermia.

This brings up the question.  How do I respond to the tragedy of others?  Do we protect ourselves and watch the tragedy from a safe distance?  Christians are to be bold and show extraordinary kindness in such times.  Of course, we shouldn’t suspend our thinking and situational awareness.  At the same time, we should be led by the Lord in how to help others.  This requires us to be a praying people.

These natives are not Christians.  Yet, God has touched their heart to be kind to these men.  We should recognize that not all Jesus calls us to do is impossible for unbelievers to do.  We have just come through a time when several hurricanes devastated many parts of our eastern States.  Fires also consumed many places in California.  Many unbelievers gave money and helped out with recovery efforts, and this is commendable.  However, we tend to do good things for our own glory and justification.  Christians want to do these things for the glory of God and for His purposes.  Thus, a good work for the glory of God becomes a much better thing than helping people, as good as that is.  Good works can be done for the wrong reasons.  They cannot make a heart better, but they will flow from a good heart.

God may have put you in someone else’s tragedy for such a time as this.  The person you help may be a Christian or they may not be one.  Believers should be quick to help others.  Yet, a person who does not know Jesus has a big spiritual need on top of their natural tragedy.  May God help us to show extraordinary kindness in the time when tragedy strikes people around us.  May He help us to minister to their spiritual needs as well.

Paul was helping to gather sticks to put on the fire and had picked up a bundle to throw on the fire.  The heat from the fire causes a viper to bite him.  The natives watch as this snake fastens onto Paul’s hand and is dangling from him. 

Of all the guys on the ship, don’t you find it just a bit suspicious that it was Paul who was bitten?  Of course we can let that suspicion go several different ways.  We can become suspicious of God’s care for us.  “God, what do you have against me!”  Imagine the whole ordeal that they have just come through and then to be bitten by a snake.  How would you feel if it was you?

We should recognize that God’s dealings with Paul are not about how comfortable Paul is.  Sometimes the mission of God in our life will lead us into uncomfortable times.  It has nothing to do with God’s feelings towards you and everything to do with the difficulty of the task.

We can also be suspicious in the sense that we recognize God’s hand.  Paul is the one bitten.  He is the one that the natives watch, expecting him to swell up or drop dead.  God has brought this man to the attention of these natives.  Yes, he is just an earthen vessel, but there is a treasure inside of him, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are told that Paul shakes the snake off into the fire and goes about his task.  He never swells up and doesn’t drop dead.  I believe that these literal things teach us one thing, but that we can also learn something else metaphorically.  We don’t push one over the other.  Both are important.  Satan was not happy with how God was working through the Apostle Paul.  His witness to the people on the ship would now be expanded to the inhabitants of this island (Malta).  The attack of a literal viper is a picture of the attacks of the spiritual viper, the devil.  He seeks to take us out through the same things that take others out.  Yet, God’s hand of grace and power is upon Paul.  This doesn’t make him invincible.  Rather, it makes him to be in the hand of God.  He doesn’t have to worry about serpent bites.  If God is ready to take him to heaven, then so be it.  If not, then let’s get to work.  The devil is a threat, but he cannot really do anything to us that is eternal, unless we lose faith and let him.  There is coming a day when the viper will be shaken off into the lake of fire by humanity through the work of Jesus Christ.  Read Revelation 20:10.  We will go on unharmed by his bite over these millennia for the Lord will have healed us!

There is always a purpose behind why God allows such things to happen.  For Paul, God was going to use it to demonstrate His blessing upon Paul and aid the natives in listening to him. 

However, if God protected believers from everything bad that threatened them, how would that help the world?  You might say that more people would become Christians.  Well, more people might say they are Christians.  Do you not realize how things went with the Church when they didn’t have persecutions and trials like this?  It wasn’t good.  Yes, many joined the Church, but it was generally for all the wrong reasons.  It was in difficult and trying times that true Christianity grew the most.  It produced stronger followers of Jesus.

In some cultures, to become a Christian is to lose your job, family and sometimes even life.  Maybe, we should be thankful for difficult times because it is then that people can see God in you.  They see you going through the same kind of things that they go through, but with a different Spirit and a different purpose.  They see hope, life and joy in you when they expect to see despair, despondency and sadness.

At some point, the natives go from thinking that Paul must be a really evil man, for the snake to bite him, to thinking that he must be a god.  The world is used to being at the mercy of the “gods” and the fates.  They quickly make snap pronouncements about life that can be seemingly right, or self-fulfilling, and even wrong.  The demonstrations of God’s power are not given to believers so that others can think we are gods.  It is not about elevating Christians above others.  This is not the day of elevation.  This is the day lowering ourselves so that we can serve the lost with the Truth of God.

The mentality of people who are lost is that of being at the mercy of the “winds and the waves,” the many forces that push our life this way and that- forces we are unable to stop.  Christians are taught to make true judgments, and in fact, that we sometimes need to reserve judgment.

This jumping from thinking Paul is an evil man being judged by the gods to a man who is a god is a lot like our society.  We see people quickly judging others as evil, while others idolize the person as if they were a god.  People may even judge you as being the problem in America because you try to serve Jesus.  Don’t lose heart.  Even if God hasn’t done the amazing thing that He did with Paul through you, He is working through you to be a light to them.  Don’t ask God why He is doing things to you, but what does He want you to do in the midst of them.  God will shine through us as we embrace the things that He allows in our life and show people that His love is real.

Paul heals a man (v. 7-10)

The leading man on the island, Publius, takes care of them.  On one hand, we can see that God is assisting Paul through this man.  Yet, notice how the story turns to a blessing upon the man.  God also rewards people who unknowingly treat His people well.  Publius typifies the unbeliever who is nice to God’s man, and it produces a reward for him.  He is not saved by this act, but God’s goodness can lead him to salvation.  It gives grace to them, a witness of God’s love and purpose. 

We do not know the long-term effect on Publius, but we do know that a church was started on Malta because of this event.   The next time things go bad, don’t question God’s love for you.  Rather, ask for His presence and directions.  How can I serve Your purposes, Father God?

In the midst of talking with Paul, it becomes evident that Publius’ dad is sick.  Perhaps, the Lord spoke to Paul’s heart, or Paul may be recognizing that God is doing something amazing here, and so he steps out in faith.  Regardless, Paul prays for the sick dad, and he is healed.  This becomes the second thing that gets the attention of these natives.  When the people find out that Viper Man can also heal people, they bring sick people to Paul from around the island.  Paul prays for them and they were being cured.  It is wonderful to be healed physically.  Praise God!  He has designed our bodies to fight off sickness.  Yet, because of the fall of mankind and the presence of sin, our bodies do not work as efficiently as God originally made them to be. 

God often worked through Paul with miraculous healings.  However, Paul himself had a problem that he called a “thorn in the flesh.”  It is not detailed, but in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about asking God to cause it to leave him.  Yet, God did not heal him.  “My grace is sufficient for you.”  Paul came to realize that God was keeping him humble. 

What if I am not healed?  As great as physically healing is, it cannot replace salvation.  Our reward with a glorified, heavenly body causes any sickness and weaknesses we experience in this life to be small and only trifles in comparison.  Yes, God doesn’t relish in the sickness of people in this world, but even worse, He weeps over the spiritually darkened condition of the lost.

We are told that they honored Paul and well supplied the group when they left 3 months later to go to Rome.  We are not told exactly how they are honored other than the supplies.  I mentioned earlier that a church was started on Malta.  That would be a great honor for any Christian, to know that your witness caused a new church to spring up where one had not been before.

We don’t always know what God will do through us, but we can honor him before the world so that they will know that God doesn’t just heal the sickness of our bodies.  He can heal the sickness of our souls!  This is our greatest need.

Sometimes the devil (the serpent) uses people to try to harm us or draw us into temptation.  In such a way, he seeks to bite us.  God intends to demonstrate His power over the devil and his works through us.  Unbelievers are not our true enemy.  In the face of ugliness and persecution, Paul is being faithful to live for Christ and not for his ego.  May we serve God faithfully and diligently.  May a demonstration of the Spirit of God reach the heart of those separated from God as we faithfully serve His purposes.

Serpent Bites audio

The Most Negatively Positive Message

Hebrews 13:5-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 28, 2021.

The promises of God are “yes,” and “amen!”  If He promises something then all that is left is for us to say, “Amen,” and then believe it. 

Today, we are going to look at a promise from Jesus that we need to hold onto more tightly in these days.  It is the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us, even to the end of the age (where we are).

Let’s look at our passage.

We should choose to be content

The verses that we are looking at are in a series of exhortations to godliness.  In them, we are reminded to live in a contented way.  On one hand, we have very little excuse for not having contentment.  We are surrounded by plenty compared to others in the world.  Yet, on the other hand, that very fact can stir up a fear within us that we are going to miss out on what others are enjoying.  We can adopt an entitled attitude.  It is here that we see; contentment begins in the mind and heart of a person.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they should live without the love of money.  The idea for conduct or living is that of the turnings of our mind in looking at things, which then lead to the turning of our life in its choices and decisions.  This “way of living” should not be directed by the love of money (the word is literally not a lover of silver).  People love money because of the power that it gives us to obtain whatever it is that we need, or desire.  The money is just a proxy, a stand-in, for the multitude of things that our hearts and minds desire.

As Christians, we must choose to be drawn into this world where the power of money becomes the source of our thinking, the director of our life, and even the hope of our heart.  The reality is that there is no contentment in that world.  How much more money does a millionaire need to be content?  The answer is just one more million.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if your heart looks to it as your answer, then you will always need more to be content, which is another way of saying that you will always be discontent.

Instead of looking to money to get us the “things that we need,” believers are told to be content with what they have.  It is literally “the things that are present.”  What do I have right now?  This is what God has provided for me, and part of gratitude is learning to be content with what we have.  This doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God for things.  However, it would be better for us to ask God for His help rather than asking for things.  When our focus is on the “things” themselves, we see God as a cosmic means to satisfying ourselves.  God knows how to help us, and what we need, far better than we do.

When Joseph was taken captive to Egypt, or later when he was in prison, he probably did not feel like he had everything that he needed, but God was helping Him all along, even through those very bad things that others did to him.  His brothers bound him and sold him as a slave.  Potiphar’s wife lied and said he tried to sexually assault her.  These were not good things, but God used them to put Joseph in the right place at the right time in order to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and cupbearer.  We can choose to be content and embrace the things that we have, and the situations that we find ourselves in, because we know that God has supplied them for us and is working it towards a good end (Romans 8:28).  Learn to embrace the things present in your life instead of always looking to the hills for something “better.”

Our Lord has given us a promise

The writer then reminds us of a promise from the Lord to his followers in the last part of verse 5.  In English, we see that he promises something good by stating that he will not do a bad thing.  He will not leave us.  This is a positive message that is stated in a negative way.  If he will not leave us, then that means he will always be with us!  However, there is more going on here than can be seen in English.  Here is the Greek text of the statement translated as “I will never leave you.”

Οὐ  μή  σε  ἀνῶ

The first two words that are underlined are both negations.  They are essentially the word “not.”  The third word is the pronoun “you,” and the last word is the verb, “I will leave” (roughly). 

Normally, to say “I will not leave you,” you would just use words 2-4.  However, in this case, a double negative is used.  Of course, they are not the same word, but more on that in a second.  In English, double negatives would cancel each other out.  “I will not not hurt you,” means that I will hurt you.  This is not the case in Greek.  A double negative actually emphasizes, or intensifies, even more that one will not do the thing.  It could be translated, “I will not, no not, leave you.”  The NKJV uses “never” to cover both negatives; “I will never leave you.”  This is well enough, but there is one more layer to this double negative.

They are not the same word, and therefore do not negate in the same way.  Together, they form a more powerful negation than either one of them can give alone.  The first word of negation negates that it will ever be a fact.  It will never be a fact that I have left you.  You may think and feel this, and others may say this, but it will not be a fact.  The second word of negation negates that it would ever be a possibility, or that it would never be a desire of the Lord.  Not only will it never be a fact, but it would never even be a thing that I could possibly desire.  It is hard to bring all that across in English, but now you have a sense of how strongly our Lord is trying to tell us that he will not leave us.

The second half of this promise from Jesus says the same thing, but it uses a different verb and adds another word of negation.  Here is the text of the second part translated as “nor forsake you.”

οὐδ  οὐ  μή  σε  ἐγκαταλίπω

Words two, three, and four are exactly the same and have the same meanings.  The last word is a verb, but is clearly a different word.  This verb is more than just leaving, and has a sense of leaving so as to abandon or forsake someone.  This would broaden or deepen the first statement.  I will not leave you, and even more, I will not abandon you.

Now, the first word is another type of negation and would fit our word “neither.”  As in, I won’t do this, neither will I do that.  Again, it will never be a fact, neither something that Christ could possibly desire, that he has forsaken us.  The Greek has 5 negatives in this one promise, and is why I entitled this sermon, “The Most Negatively Positive Message.”  It is impossible to translate this word for word in English and still make sense.  “I will not not leave you, neither, I will not not forsake you.”

I have taken the time to go through this to ask this question.  Why would it be stated with so many negatives rather than just stating it in the positive?   This is exactly what Jesus does in Matthew 28:20, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV).  This is speculation on my part, but I think the prevalence of negatives has a power to it that is very different from the positive.  It reminds me of the circumstances of life that cause us to doubt the promises of God.  Such negative thoughts and fears, and turnings of our mind, are a kind of inner negative world that we can fall into.  It is as if the Lord says, “You want to be negative?  Then, I will say it in a way that might break into your negative mindset.”

Oh friends, if we really knew just how much He is committed to us, we would never doubt him.  It is one of the reasons why he hung on a cross for you and for me.  He did it so that we would never doubt his love for us.  The cross is itself stating a positive thing within a negative event.  “I love you this much!”

We must deal with fear

So, why do we doubt his promise to always be with us, even to the end of the age?  It is because we fear all the wrong things.  If I fear the Lord, then I would dare not doubt His promise to me.  But, if I fear not having all sorts of things that my heart wants, if I fear people and what they can do to me, then I will never have contentment.

Verse 6 says that we are to say, “The Lord is my helper!”  We are not to say this because we are arrogant and conceited, but because the Lord of heaven has stated it in such a way that you can’t deny it.  Wow, the Lord has come alongside of me to be my helper.  I don’t deserve such a thing, but I can’t deny it either.  He has loved me this much anyways.  Now, we might be tempted to say that we are supposed to be his helper and on his side.  That is true, but it is not what the Bible says here.  It is also true that he is on your side in order to help you.

This first statement should spur the next choice.  “I will not fear!”  Again, of course we will fear the Lord because He is our judge, but the context is everything else that we tend to fear.  I won’t be afraid of things that I don’t have, or enemies that I do have.  In fact, when we fear things other than the Lord, we diminish him and act as if he really isn’t enough.  The Lord is on your side; nothing else should matter.  Joseph didn’t need anything else, and neither do you!

Verse 6 pictures a person who is realizing that God is on their side and so they are choosing not to fear what they see around them, or the lack thereof.  They are choosing to disregard the messages of fear that come from their heart and mind, and instead, choose to trust in the Lord.  This is David before Goliath.  David did not do what he did because he thought he had the perfect slingshot, rocks, and aim.  He went against the giant because he knew that the Lord was with Him.  He was not cocky and arrogant like Goliath, but acted with faith in God alone. 

Satan’s greatest weapon against us is our own fear that God has left us, and abandoned us.  We fear that if we don’t try to make it happen, and “leave it up to God,” it will never happen.  Such cynicism, does not lead us to the joy and peace of God.  It leads to emptiness.

This leads to a question, “What then can others do to me?”  This question is not being asked in the literal sense.  Of course, others can beat me, put me in jail, kill me, etc.  The question is not about that.  The question is grander than that.  I mentioned Joseph earlier.  His brothers intended and did great evil to him, and so did Potiphar’s wife.  It appeared that no one cared for Joseph, and was on his side, but the truth is that God had not left Joseph, nor forsaken him.  His brothers couldn’t really hurt him because God was on his side.  What they meant for evil, God was turning to the good.

So, why doesn’t God get rid of Satan and his minions, and the countless people who do his bidding?  At least for now, He doesn’t because He is using it for our good.  Like Joseph, God is bringing us to that place where we can be raised up into an exalted position, and when we get there, we will be tried and proven faithful, warriors who know how to stand in truth against evil.  In the end, all man can do to you is promote you, unless you give into fear and do to yourself what they can’t.

Negatively Positive audio

A Trial of Tricks and Traps

Luke 20:20-26.  This sermon was preached on August 30, 2015 by Pastor Marty Bonner.

In the last week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, he was at the temple each day teaching the people.  Unable to challenge his authority successfully, the religious leaders resort to different tricks and traps in order to try and stop Jesus.  Their rebuff by Jesus only led to a more determined desire to get rid of Jesus.  Today we will be looking a a specific type of trap and that is a political one.

It is important as believers in a difficult situation to observe how our Lord deals with this trap and learn from him.

The Schemes of the Wicked

In verses 20-21 we are told that they were watching Jesus as he was teaching, both obviously and in a hidden way through spies.  They were looking for anything to use against Jesus.  As brothers it is good for us to look out and watch out for one another.  However, these were looking for anything they could use either to neutralize Jesus or to apprehend him.    It also says that they were hoping to find something that would legitimize handing him over to the Roman authorities.  This attempt to trap people in order to take them out is not a path of righteous people.  It is a hallmark of the wicked.

Thus they operated in pretense.  They only pretended to be righteous and concerned about righteous matters.  But in reality they are wicked.  They use pious questions and religious cover to keep their wickedness from being recognized by people.  Of course this didn’t trick Jesus.  But we need to recognize how the wicked operate.  Not everyone who speaks piously has pure motives.  We need to have the wisdom of Christ and not take everything at face value.

Notice how they set up their question in verse 21.  They approach Jesus with flattery.  Now everything they say is technically true of Jesus.  But their motivation of flattery is intended to mask their true motivation.  We must be careful of those who talk us up and give us high praise.  It is not wrong to praise people where it is due.  However, if you are receiving praise you need to be careful to keep pride in check.  Also, on the other side, if you are giving praise, you need to be careful that you are not trying to make yourself look better in the eyes of the person you praise.  Keep it short and sweet and move on.  Do not use praise to try to obtain power or influence on others.

Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar

In verse 22 we are given the question, which is a political trap.  “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”  I believe the response of Jesus, “Why do you test me,” is intended to let them know that he sees through their ruse.  Yet, it is an important question.  Whether we are questioning others or being questioned, the motivation of the questioner is key.  Often a questioner has no desire to actually learn anything.  They ask the question as part of a greater agenda.  This is not a marker of a righteous person.  Thus Jesus prefaces his answer with a challenge to these men to think about why they are testing him.

This question has some history in Israel.  Since Judea had been taken over by the Roman governors, taxes had to be paid.  Several tax revolts had surfaced over the years with the understanding that to pay taxes to this wicked country was compromise.  They usually taught that God would help them if they “quit compromising” and fought the Romans.  Each of these uprising were crushed quickly by the Romans.  So the question is a legitimate one for that day and age.  However, it was also a very dangerous question to answer. 

If Jesus says it is not lawful, then the Romans will see him as a threat and at least imprison him.  If Jesus says it is lawful, then it will undermine his popularity with the people.  They believe he is the messiah.  He has essentially refused to publicly renounce this.  Thus it would be strange to the people to have the Messiah teaching that they should be paying taxes to Rome.  Surely the Messiah has come to deliver us from Rome.

Jesus tells them to bring him a coin called a denarius.  By this time much of the trade and commerce of Israel and the surrounding area was done in Roman currency.  Thus Jesus points out the reality that they are using Roman currency.  If you are using Roman currency then you have an obligation to the Roman government.  Rome had conquered Israel.  Now Israel had the authority to fight to the death to the end and never surrender.  But in the end they did surrender to Israel.  Such a surrender is a recognition that God had allowed the other country to conquer you.  Thus Jesus tells them to give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God.

This reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah.  He had warned the king of Israel that God had given Israel into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  Thus he counseled them to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, rather than fighting.  This was rejected by the leaders and things went worse for them.  Jesus here reminds them that it is lawful because God who gave the law had also given Rome authority over Israel.  They needed to submit to this and look to His timing for deliverance.

Yet, the master stroke of Jesus is to also remind them that they still have obligations to God as well.  “Give to God the things that are God’s.”  So what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God?  Caesar has much things under his authority, including Israel.  However, even Caesar belongs to God.  Tyrants and statists have often made demands on Christians throughout history.  Submit to us!  And, often Christians have submitted in many ways.  However, they have also stood up to them in other ways.  So what do we do?  Rebel against tyrants or submit to them?  The answer is determining when the tyrant or All-Powerful-State demands from us something that belongs only to God.  Yes we could abuse that by declaring that everything belongs to God and thus we should give nothing to such governments.  However, the Bible says that no power can rise up but what God allows it.  Israel can claim that all their money belonged to God, but that is a pious ruse that seeks to avoid the harsh reality that they were under judgment of God.  When we humbly admit and submit to our disciplines from God, then we will learn to wait upon Him for our day of deliverance.

We see this with the apostles.  When the Jewish authorities commanded them to stop teaching about Jesus, they answered that they had to obey God.  God had directed them to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thus they would not comply with such an unlawful order.  Yet, these same apostles submitted to the repercussions of such a choice.  In other words, they rebelled against the unlawful order without becoming rebels themselves.  If we are rebels then we are rebels against the demands of the flesh.

So what about a democracy?  Christians should exercise the rights that they have to their fullest extent without becoming belligerent to the results.  If such a society deems it “good” to persecute Christians for obeying God, then we accept that.  Sure, there is a time to flee such persecution.  There is also a time to stand and be a prophetic witness to that persecution, even a martyr.  Yet, each must be led by the Truth of God and the Spirit of Christ, not our rebellious flesh.

Today there are groups that seek to trap Christians with the politics of the day.  Christians need to be careful that they know exactly who they are serving.  May God give us wisdom in these days to see through the political traps that seek to make us fear.  We are His.  We can fulfill our obligation to the USA as long as it doesn’t conflict with God’s commands to us.  Take this to heart because it will be critical in the days ahead.

Tricks and Traps audio