Should Christians Rebel Against Corrupt Rulers?
“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.
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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.
To keep searching for answers to life’s greatest questions shows that Brand is continuing his journey of deepening his relationship with Jesus Christ, and the Bible tells us that he is not the first to wonder about this philosophical predicament either.
In Acts chapter 5, the disciples encountered the exact situation where the ways of man, and religiousness, contradicted the ways of God, and Peter and the apostles answered the Sanhedrin plainly in verse 5:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
There is much more that can be unpacked on this topic but the message is clear, when the ways of man go against the ways, design and righteousness of God, it is imperative for us to obey our Creator above all else.
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
