Government Authority

I was asked, “What about people who smuggled Bibles into Russia”
as in God’s Smuggler.

Although it is a favorite book, I have to believe that Scripture is true and the “end does not justify the means”.

My answer was that we need to be under authority and authority is established by God.

“Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil. Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor”. Rom.13

In America, we have, I believe the statistic is, four Bibles to every Christian. We rarely meditate on the Word. We are just like the world. We are spiritually bankrupt.

In these countries, where Bibles were smuggled, the Believers were “separated”, they were vibrant, and they knew the Word, even though it was scarce. They were rich.

God knew what the people needed for their own well-being. He used authority to that end.

In discussing this, my brother added this note to an email concerning Bill Gothard and the IBLP program:

A group of ATI (IBLP Homeschool Program) students and leaders traveled to a country to teach in their schools. I think it was communist, but can’t remember exactly. They were “provided” a number of government persons to oversee their actions. They were allowed to teach, as long as they didn’t mention Jesus.

After a few weeks of work, the person responsible for allowing them to be in the country called in the group leader. He praised them for being the FIRST Christian group to follow their instructions regarding not mentioning Jesus. Therefore, he wanted them to continue teaching, bring more people over, and they could teach on anything they wanted to – no restrictions.

Another similar situation - - the ATI group met with government officials prior to beginning ministry in another somewhat antagonistic country. They asked how they could serve the government officials. The officials were amazed, as no other group had ever done this and most were sneaking around and “ministering” in ways the government had forbidden. The officials were so impressed that they provided transportation (including helicopters) for the ATI group and sent senior government leaders along with them. They realized that, because the ATI group wanted to work with the government, any benefits the ATI group provided would also bring credit to the government.