Missed Insights About Romans 13

A Watchful Warning

(PTL, it's my 1,000th post!)

Romans 13:1–5 is often cited as ‘the final word’ on Christian obedience to civil authorities. Yet, like many other truths in Scripture, application of this passage depends on where we are in The Lord’s strategic timeline, and whether we are correctly ‘discerning the times’, or clinging to surface readings and vague understandings of this passage.

 

Paul’s teaching in Romans 13 is clear and Spirit-breathed: authority is instituted by The Lord God, ergo resistance activates prospects for His judgment. But The Bible also clearly shows us this instruction—like many others—has a contextual zone of application. It is not a Divine endorsement of corrupt regimes, nor a call to blind obedience in the face of moral collapse. When we believers apply this passage with no regard to The Bible’s contextual, prophetic signals or its various spiritual patterns, we risk misapplying it—and potentially, misleading other believers.

 

Obedience in Normal Times

In general, Romans 13 teaches us to respect legitimate governance. Laws against theft, murder, fraud, and disorder exist to restrain evil. Obeying such laws is part of honoring godly order. Most Christian teaching rightly stops there.

 

But what about in times that …aren’t normal?

 

What about moments in human history when entire societies rot from the inside out—when evil is called good, and good is punished as evil? What about moments when rulers exalt themselves above everything godly, mandate sin, and target those who quietly stand for truth—not with loud offense, but with faithful obedience?

 

These moments are not hypothetical. They are cyclical, appearing sharply during the closing of biblical ages of history—Heaven’s transitions to the subsequent age. (See: Mid-ages Musings (Series))

 

When Obedience Becomes Complicity

Scripture shows us at least three powerful examples when obedience to civil authority, would have meant betrayal of The Lord’s will, with potentially significant consequences. In these three examples, the righteous path contradicted the ruling authority. There are many more such examples in Biblical history. 

1. Noah in the 1st Age

The whole world had become thoroughly corrupt. Imagine… what if Noah had simply ‘gone along to get along’, submitting to whatever authorities existed? Thank The Lord He didn’t have a Romans 13-type script!  Otherwise, he would not have become the only righteous person on the planet, and would have been swallowed by The Lord’s watery judgment. Instead, he remained righteous amidst the rot.

2. Jesus in the 2nd Age

Jesus resisted the religious or political leaders of His day when they acted in defiance of His Father’s will. What if He had obeyed the Pharisees’ demand to preach only what Moses had written, and stick to the Mosaic tradition; or had defended Himself after Pilate rebuked Him for being silent? Recall, He only did what He ‘saw and heard’ what His Father was doing and saying. 

 

3. Revelation’s Angel in the 4th  (Tribulation) Age

In Revelation 14, an angel warns the entire world not to obey the anti-Christ regime (‘the beast’) or receive his mark—even though he will clearly be the ruling authority of that time. Disobeying that government’s ‘receive my mark, or else!’ order, is required to avoid the same fate others who will obey, will receive--namely eternal damnation in The Lord’s brimstone-lit lake of fire.

Discern the Times

Paul’s instruction in Romans 13 is not invalid. It is contextually bound. When authorities are functioning within Heaven’s general order of affairs, The Lord expects His bona fide believers to obey. But, when authorities become tools of lawlessness against what Heaven deems as righteous, then our submission becomes dangerous—with potentially negative, eternal consequences! Selah~

That’s why mature, spiritual discernment is critical as this this current (3rd) age of human history draws to its predicted close. The predicted precursors of its closing continue to mount: widespread moral inversion/perversion, deepening global lawlessness, corruption and manipulation of facts and truths, normalization of rebellion, etc. Ignoring this context, and ‘rote-like obedience’ to any godless authority is not faithfulness to Romans 13. It’s spiritual blindness and deafness—the fruits of child-like faith.

A Word of Caution

Mind you, this warning is not a license for personal rebellion or political anarchy. Scripture never endorses disobedience rooted in ego, offense, or personal convenience. Rather, my warning is an encouragement to:

     a) Study and learn Heaven’s general, strategic timeline, then discern our likely point within it,

     b) Study and learn what it deems as ‘righteous’, and

     c) Pray and prepare your lifestyle to respond to how The Holy Spirit personally leads you.

The topical series, Mid-ages Musings, posits and explores an apparent, iterative age-ending/transition pattern. Heads-up!~ All signals are that the world is deeply into this pattern that culminated in global judgments at the end of the first 2 ages of history.    

Final Thought

As we continue to study the Text of The Word, let’s learn to discern the ebbing/flowing Timing of The Word. I am learning how the text strategically signals to us who are attentive, various iterative patterns, interspersed with shocking reversal patterns. I intuit the latter may be how The Lord alerts His bona fide, attentive saints to increase our watchfulness.

Ponder this:

Who, pray tell, would benefit if

The Lord’s saints blindly apply

Paul’s admonitions in Romans 13:1-5,

as Heaven, itself, is preparing …to judge the nations??

Iran - Israel Yo-Yo Past and Future

In Genesis 3:15, The Lord issued a veiled threat to ­satan that, by the ‘seed of a woman’ (not a man), his kingdom would be crushed. Devils were smart enough to know what ‘seed of a woman’ likely meant—via a miracle, a baby would be born without a sexual relationship between a man and a woman. That sobering threat may have sparked satan’s kingdom to begin a frantic, then sustained search across the Earth for any talk of such happening. The threat did not materialize during the 1st age of history. But before the global flood, satan’s kingdom sustained a mighty blow—the loss of a contingent of devils who had committed an extremely grievous infraction—transforming to human men, marrying women, and siring children whose DNA was distorted. As this corruption spread, The Lord finally declared ALL the Earth was corrupted. Thus, He determined to send a global flood to destroy all land dwellers, sparing only one family and a large sample of land animals cloistered in an ark. (Genesis 6)

Early in the 2nd age, as the human population rebounded and began to spread across the Earth, I imagine satan’s kingdom re-initiated its aggressive search for that promised ‘seed of a woman’. Several millennia later, Apostle Paul would inform us that satan’s kingdom includes powerful demons (‘principalities and powers’) assigned across Earth’s atmosphere. (Ephesians 3 & 6, Colossians 1 & 2) I imagine one of their tasks might have been to surveil humanity for any indications of …a miracle of a so-called ‘seed of a woman’. (For more on the likely structure of satan’s kingdom, see: Seat of Wickedness (Series))

A few generations into the 2nd age of history, The Lord personally fingered and materially and spiritually blessed one man—Abram. The Lord declared many incredible promises to him and to his seed across generations—including a massive swarth of land. I imagine this area might have been Eden, where The Lord’s threat to satan had been made. During an invasion of that land by 4 kings from eastern nations just beyond this ‘promised land’, Abram’s nephew fell among the hordes of people who had been captured to become slaves in Elam—the leading nation in that invasion. Current-day southern Iran was ancient Elam.

When Abram learned of this news, he armed 318 of his servants who had been born ‘in his house’, and they mounted a rescue mission against the armies of the 4, eastern nations. Abram and his servants split-up, attacked at night, and pursued, then utterly defeated these fleeing armies! Abram’s crew managed to retrieve ALL of the people and resources who/that had been captured. Upon his return home, Abram was met, and was blessed by Melchizedek, King of Salem, the priest of God Most High, Whom Melchizedek declared, had delivered the invaders into Abram’s hand. Confident in God’s blessing, Abram returned all the people, and nearly all of the booty to their prior owners across Canaan, lest they claim that booty, rather than God, would make him rich.

satan’s no dummy! I imagine his top demons witnessed how The Lord had TWICE richly blessed Abram, and the promises made to his seed for untold generations. Might this have been a sentinel moment in satan’s kingdom? As history unfolded and will continue to unfold, the world would/will witness:

A. Expanding fruits of animosity between Abram’s descendants through Jacob (whose name The Lord changed to Israel), and successive occupants of the lands of the 4 kings in this story, especially modern-day Iran, including:

--Haman, the Agagite, plotting genocide against Jews in the Persian Empire. (Book of Esther)

--Persian supporting Hellenistic empires resisting Jewish religious autonomy. (Maccabean period)

--Rise of Islamic theocracy, hostile to Israel (1979 Iranian Revolution)

--Weapons, funding, strategic planning for plots (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon-Gaza-Yemen alliances) 

--Iran’s nuclear ambitions and rhetoric against Israel (on-going!)

--Per Ezekiel 38, Iran will join a Russian coalition to invade Israel, possibly during the apocalypse) in search of food, wealth and other booty. Read that awesome chapter to see how The Lord will awesomely end that, pre-Armageddon invasion, 

B. Heaven-engineered historical ‘flips’ in this animosity script, including:

--King Cyrus, whom The Lord named before his birth, to liberate Judean captives from Babylon (Isaiah 45)

--Persian kings who funded and protected the rebuilding of Jerusalem and Judah (Ezra & Nehemiah) 

--Haman who was hanged; Jews prevailed; Persian support of Jews was secured. (Book of Esther)

--Eastern (likely Persian) magi who traveled to honor The King of the Jews (Birth of Jesus)

--Elamites who were among the first to hear the Gospel (Pentecost, Acts 2)

C. Heaven-engineered Millennial Reign reconciliation between these groups, including:

--The Lord will regather post-apocalypse Jews from Elam (Isaiah 11)

--Iran reps will yearly join post-apocalypse nations for annual Feasts of Tabernacles (Zech. 14)

--Egypt, Assyria, and Israel (former enemies) will share covenant blessings. (Isaiah 19)

Conclusion

Ever since The Lord blessed Abram, and gave him success against a coalition invasion of ancient Canaan by 4 eastern armies, Abram’s descendants through Jacob’s line, have been on satan’s target list! Through this people, The Lord became the predicted seed of the woman, and partially fulfilled His Genesis 3:15 threat. Revelation 20:7-15 picture its total fulfillment. Until then, the yo-yoing between descendants of Jacob and ancient Elam and its allies, will continue with predictable patterns, interspersed with shocking reversals, until The Millennial Reign age—the fifth age of history. I imagine Iran and its long-embraced allies will join the final, predicted, global attack on Jerusalem (the 2nd War of Gog and Magog) during the ‘little while’ 6^th age of history, setting the stage for our eternal, 7th age on the new Earth The Lord long-ago predicted.

Missed Insights About Pride

Prideful glory, exchanged, forever...

(Galatians 3:28–29)

I suppose we Christians might think we have a fairly good understanding of pride—that it is sinful, hated by The Lord, and The Bible is full of clear examples and consequences of, and warnings against pride. That’s exactly what I was taught and learned. That is until I took some time to pray about, meditate and study pride.

 

What is Pride?

 It may be helpful to consider pride from several layered perspectives: its definition, basis, sources, motivations, expressions, and spiritual position.

• Definitionally, pride is an inward, elevated valuation or sense of worth.
• It is based on internal feelings, opinions, or thoughts about an intrinsic or extrinsic action, idea, person, quality, or object—the target or focus of pride, i.e., self, others, or abstract ideals.
• Pride may be internally motivated by:
• a perceived elevation in achievement or status,
• a desire for greater recognition or influence,
• fear of being diminished, or
• comparison, envy, or jealousy related to perceived qualities, possessions, or achievements outside oneself.
• It may be expressed inwardly or outwardly as thoughts, words, or actions that elevate the self or personal associations. Prideful expressions may include: acclaiming, applauding, appreciating, boasting, bragging, crediting, esteeming, exalting, glorying, glorifying, honoring, idolizing, lauding, magnifying, excessive defending, promoting, revering, and worshiping. Such expressions may be subtle or brash, perceived or misperceived, judged or misjudged.
• Spiritually, pride may be sinful or righteous, depending on its motives, targets, and manner of expression.

Very likely, the last point may have captured your attention because we typically understand Biblical perspectives on pride to be sinful. Right?? That may well be biases from the perspective of our collective and personal sinful natures.

 

Have you noticed that The Bible never defines pride? Rather it floods us with examples and consequences of, and admonitions against sinful pride. That generally anchors our emphasis and focus. But in doing this, The Lord intends to draw us back to His original intent for pride!

 

Hold on! Hear me out…

The Original Intent for Pride

 

In the beginning, The Lord created everything, and then declared it to be GOOD. Moreover, His intention was for everything in creation, animate and inanimate alike, to know Him, and to function/perform in accordance with His DESIGN and GOOD intentions. He created humans (as a little lower than The Godhead), and angels (to serve both The Godhead and humans), to receive and enjoy His eternal Gracious, Loving Goodness, and in turn, to reflect their Appreciation, Devotion, Honor, Joy, Love, Praise and Worship back to Him, Their Creator. 

 

In this, do you perceive His intent for

reciprocating, righteous pride??

 

Pause for a moment… 

 

Does that concept startle you? It should. We're all so conditioned to associate pride only with sin, that the idea of eternal, righteous, reciprocating pride almost sounds heretical. And yet, that is exactly what The Lord created, and plans to redeem—not pride rooted in human or angelic self-exaltation, but in mutual exultation between The Creator and ALL of His creation—forever! 

 

The Lord created both humans and angels with free-will—the personal choice and opportunity to obey or disobey His intentions—the opportunity for rebellion. We all know …‘the rest of the story’. Lucifer was likely the first in The Lord’s creation to ‘cash in’ on/activate this opportunity, and thus he became the first fruit of sin. And just like a third of The Lord’s angels joined in his rebellion, so have we all followed suit. But thankfully, a few of us have opened our ‘wide shut’ spiritual eyes, to perceive and believe His plan of eternal redemption, to draw us back to His original …’reciprocating pride plan’! 

 

The Bible predicts He, Who created pride, will also be THE ULTIMATE source of all pride, throughout eternity, on a new, eternal Earth!

 

In this, can you perceive the full circle 

of His intent will be completed??

  

Meanwhile, pending that predicted 7th age of human history (the eternal age), in addition to examples and consequences of, and admonitions against sinful pride, The Bible iteratively informs us of what to be proud in, about and for. We might typically miss the full meaning of the following verses because of limited understanding of ‘glory’. Today, we don’t generally use ‘glory’ to signify the noun, pride, or the verb, to be proud. 

 

Please read, study and meditate on these verses. In doing so, I trust you will see that all pride is not sinful, and is not shunned across The Bible. The concept of righteous pride isn’t generally heard today. As a result, Christians might not be skilled in discerning what it is when they encounter it, especially when it isn’t shrouded in …religious rhetoric. 

Recall, the Pharisees claimed Jesus was sinfully prideful.

Righteous pride:

It’s a theological reversal that feels almost scandalous—

until it starts ringing true …in Scripture!

Show, Then Fell: Judah and America (Part 2)

 

See the series here

See the Ponder This... series here

Part 1 puts the spotlight on Hezekiah, a king of ancient Judah—the two southern Jewish tribes that remained in Palestine after the 10 northern tribes were invaded by Assyria, and their remnant populations were carted off to serve as slaves in Nineveh. Some time after The Lord healed him from a deadly illness, he was visited by a royal delegation from Babylon. He decided to showcase to his visitors, ALL of Judah’s great wealth, and its armory as well. (See: Isaiah 39) That was an echo of how King Solomon (King David’s son and successor), had once showcased Jerusalem’s splendor to the Queen of Sheba. But unlike Solomon, who honored The Lord in his explanations, Hezekiah’s prideful display lacked spiritual discernment—failing to realize that not every guest should be shown the nation’s treasure and means of defense. That moment, like many in history, may have become a divine tipping point. About 125 years later, Babylon did to Judah, what Assyria had done to ‘the 10 lost tribes’ of Israel.’

In light of America’s large military parade (celebrating the president’s birthday that coincided with the 250th anniversary of its army), and Judah’s experience, I began to wonder: what spiritual and strategic parallels might exist between ancient Judah, and modern-day America?

America and Judah both…

• Declared, but largely feigned faith in the same Judeo-Christian God, both having long benefitted from His Grace-blessings;
• Had long-standing exposure to The Lord’s Word, though with its declining effectiveness in national affairs.
• Were entrusted by The Lord to be, and reflect His Light to onlooking nations, and to judge internal affairs according to His righteousness.
• Had religious rituals, but lifestyles were hollow of devotion as both nations served various idols—Judah its multitude of carved images, and America its ‘in God we trust’ money, economic, military and cultural might. In both nations, public piety masked deep, national idolatry.
• Became increasingly corrupt, with self-serving, self-preserving leaders. Judah’s kings ignored The Lord’s Word, forged sinful alliances with neighbors; and America’s leaders politicize truth, enrich themselves, deflect spiritual accountability, and promote political survival, rather than Biblical righteousness.
• Allowed moral decay to become normalized and monetized, Judah with gross child sacrifice, sexual corruption, and priestly greed; and America with its sins tolerated and institutionalized, including wide-spread abortion, gender confusion, sexual exploitation, and an expansive prosperity gospel culture—sinfulness, tolerated, then institutionalized.
• Rejected, then silenced prophetic voices, Judah having slaughtered many prophets, and America’s Truth-tellers labeled as divisive and fanatical, and some were outright canceled in favor of those who preach acceptable soothing, social gospel and lies, in lieu of Truth.
• Had enemies who were preparing, while internal divisions grew, Judah, which became fractured, politically divided, and was unprepared for Babylon’s rise, and eventual invasion; and America which is staunchly, politically polarized and internally destabilized, while enemy nations strategically align against it, its ‘less-mighty’ currency, and its dissolving national unity, just as external threats solidify.
• Had ‘kick-the-can down the road’ leaders, with both Judah’s and America’s leaders living for glitzy, glory moments, rather than leading for Godly movements, in matters of morality, justice, righteousness, fiscal management, and foreign affairs, prioritizing personal legacy over generational responsibility.
• Suffered from irrational beliefs in special immunity from collapse, with Judah’s insistence that ‘The Lord would never let Jerusalem fall!’; and America’s ‘We’re the greatest nation in history—too big to fall’ rhetoric. In both cases, beliefs in national exceptionalism became a national, spiritual blindfold.
• Were blessed with the presence of a righteous remnant, with Judah’s faithful saints whose lives The Lord spared, some of whom became exalted exiles (e.g., Esther as Queen of Persia, and Daniel as the #3 ranked in the Babylonian Empire); and America’s Truth-loving prayer warrior remnant who discern well-deserved, approaching national judgments, and who cry out to The Lord for grace and mercy to lead us to national repentance, spiritual revival, and moral clarity. 

When asked if he was concerned about a day of reckoning for America’s national debt, Donald Trump, during his first presidential term, reportedly replied:

‘Yeah, but I won’t be here.’ *

Globally well-known for his great pride, I perceive this president effectively shouts to the world that America’s trust and confidence belies what’s printed on its money -- In God we Trust. Rather, we actually trust more in the nation's:

Military might

Political personalities

Economic dominance

National exceptionalism

Technology and surveillance

Debt-fueled illusion of prosperity

Dollar as the global reserve currency

After parading Judah’s wealth to high-level strangers from Babylon, Hezekiah had a curiously odd reply to a message The Lord sent to him via the prophet, Isaiah, about the future Babylonian invasion of Judah, because of her gross sinfulness.

‘The word of The Lord which you have spoken is good!

At least there will be peace and Truth in my days.’

(Isaiah 39:8)

 

In this odd reply, do you hear echoes of Donald Trump’s above-noted reply? In the manner that King Hezekiah’s ‘static’ parade seems to have confirmed Judah’s future fall, the military parade and many other prideful things President Trump has ordered, may not spark America’s pending fall, but I perceive they will very likely help to justify and confirm it.

Like Judah…

America’s ‘Show and Tell’,

Might become her ‘Show, Then Fell’.

Here’s why:

Judgment does not always fall in fire and fury.

Sometimes, it walks calmly, behind a parade of pride.

~~~

Ezekiel 38:13 predicts the fall of every military ally of modern Israel.

Daniel 2:44-45 predicts the fall of every post-Roman Empire nation.

----------

* According to unverified 2018 reports by The Business Insider and The Daily Beast. Though never independently verified, the widely circulated remark has come to symbolize his deeper indifference toward long-term national consequences. Trump’s track record—campaign rhetoric, advisor statements, major legislative proposals, and expert analysis—paints a consistent picture of someone willing to deprioritize national debt, especially if it serves short-term political or economic goals.