One shouldn't play so fast and loose with [Scripture].
I don't, and neither should you.
The "obey all government" rewrite/retort is a lie.
There is a form of obedience which leads to death (Romans 6):
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
God never commanded people to obey the kings of Israel when those kings turned their backs on him. Our Father put those people into captivity for their disobedience towards him! And he does the same today. The Nazi's at Nuremberg said, "Well, I was just doing my job. I was obeying the government." It's an error to believe that whatever the State says is okay "because it's ordained of God." For those who are true followers of Christ Jesus, the government is on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6), He is the King of kings, and the government is the Kingdom of God. It's a government of peace and the only government that will not end:
Isaiah 9:7, "Of the
increase of his
government and peace
there shall be no end,"
All man-made governments come to an end, so they are obviously not the "higher power." We have to obey the government that's always been here and always will be here.
In reply to the blind
opinion that all kings, princes, and governments are set up and "ordained" by God, we will quote the following passage, which is spoken into the ears of Hosea by God Almighty himself. We pray that those who have eyes to see and ears to hear will no longer engage in such opinions:
Hosea 8:4, "They have set up
kings, but
not by me: they have made
princes, and
I knew it not."
Also,
Psalms 2:1-3, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The
kings of the earth
set themselves, and the
rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and
against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
There's no Godly ordination there.
When Haman the wicked was promoted to the highest position in Persia, and second only to the king, the book of
Esther tells us "Ahasuerus....set his seat above all the princes that were with him" (Esther 3:1). The scriptures go on to say that "all the king's servants....bowed, and reverenced
Haman: for the king had so commanded him" (Esther 3:2).
Yet we see the Jewish
Mordecai, who is clearly an instrument for good in the tale, refuses to bow or revere Haman in any way. This action comes into direct conflict with what is commonly taught in corporate churches throughout the land, a popular teaching which is usually based on a misread of Romans 13.
That passage flatly states that we are to obey "the higher powers" because these "powers" are all "ordained of God" (Romans 13:1). We further see the passage says anyone that "resisteth" is going to "receive to themselves damnation" (Romans 13:2).
Since Mordecai, and subsequently Queen Esther, are
both going to
resist the evil plot of Haman, who clearly has
the legal authority to commit the heinous crime of genocide, if we listen to the
obey all things government mindset, we would have to conclude Mordecai and Esther are damned. It is self evident that this is not the case; and because the "scripture cannot be broken" (so said Jesus Christ in John 10:35), the inconsistency must be in our interpretation.
Consider the similar example of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-nego who refused to bow to the image constructed by Nebuchadnezzar. What about
Daniel, who was thrown in the lion's den, for refusing to obey the ill advised law of Darius forbidding worship of any God for a month? How about
Peter who, in direct coordination with an angel, staged a jailbreak?
Most "Christians" would say it was acceptable for the late
Corrie Ten-Boom, a great Christian woman, to disobey the government edict instructing them it was against the law to hide Jews from the Nazis, which she and her family did most heroically. Ironically, those that say it's acceptable to break the law when it involves the Jews are largely dispensational, and believe the Jewish people are still the "chosen" people --
which they are not.
Conversely, those same "Christians" will tell you it's
not all right for the
Christians to disobey unholy edicts -- unless it involves Jews! This incredible state of scriptural misalignment demonstrates why the world is headed for devastation. The issue really has to do with jurisdiction, authority, and spiritual lineage.
In a widely misunderstood verse,
Jesus encountered those that received the tribute money. The tax collectors asked
Peter if Jesus was going to pay them tribute money (taxes). Peter was about to pay them when Jesus stopped him. Jesus said "What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free." (Matthew 17:25,26)
As Christians, we are the children of the great God in heaven, so that "now are we the sons of God" (I John 3:2). We are
not children of "Caesar" (read Ahasuerus in the Persian example) and are only subject to him insomuch as "he is the minister of God to thee for good" (Romans 13:4).
Mordecai understood that authority is only valid to the degree that it comes from the LORD. When the evil are placed in a position of authority, the
children of the king are to "resist the devil, and he shall flee from you" (James 4:7). We would do well to learn from the wonderful example set for us in the book of Esther.