Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government

Biblical Methods of Dealing with Tyrants

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 1999-12-13

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that idolatry is any attempt to substitute man's will, word, or law for God's, and that civil government is especially prone to this sin. Using 2 Kings 17 and other passages, he shows that Israel was judged for obeying idolatrous laws of their rulers. He warns that modern statism is a form of Molech worship, and that Christians must fear God rather than government, obeying God's law even when it conflicts with man's law.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn tonight in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings, Chapter 17. 2 Kings, Chapter 17. And I want you to also find Exodus, Chapter 20. Exodus, Chapter 20. And we'll read 2 Kings, Chapter 17 first. And let's read the first 23 verses. 2 Kings, 17.

[John Weaver] In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah began Hosea, the son of Elah, to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hosea became his servant and gave him presence. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea. For he sent messengers to Sow, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up through all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Hala and Habor by the river Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. For Sow at once," now watch carefully, For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the

[John Weaver] heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchman to the tent city, And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen, whom the Lord carried away before them and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. And they served idols, whereupon the Lord had said unto them, You shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, According to all the law, which I commanded your fathers and which I sent you by my servers, the prophets, notwithstanding they would

[John Weaver] not hear, but hardened their necks like into the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord, their God. Now watch. And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers and his testimonies, which he testified against them. And they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen that were round about them concerning whom the Lord had charged them. that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served Baal.

[John Weaver] And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to revoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight. For He rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did. They departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said about all His servants the prophets.

[John Weaver] So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." Now, if you'll go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 20, and very quickly let's just simply read the first three verses. The Bible says,"...And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Idolatry is very plainly and clearly forbidden in the Scripture. You know, one of our greatest problems in this land is our concept of idolatry. Most of us, when we think of idolatry, we just simply think of an idol somewhere, maybe out of gold or wood or silver, it doesn't matter, and you see people bowing down before that idol, and that is our concept of idolatry. Now, it is true that is an aspect of idolatry. That is a type of idolatry. But idolatry is much broader than that in the Word of God. In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would.

[John Weaver] Hold II Kings, chapter 17. But go in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, and let's look at verse 5. Let me show you how broad idolatry really is. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul makes this statement. He says,"...for this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Isn't that amazing? Paul says a covetous man is an idolater. So, covetousness, then, is part and parcel of idolatry. Look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter 3 and verse 5. In case you did not understand it in Ephesians 5, here it is plainly spelled out. Colossians 3, verse 5. He says,"...mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry."

[John Weaver] You remember the ninth commandment is that we are not to covet anything that is our neighbor's. Now, idolatry is very broad. And let me just try to spell it out like this. Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt of man to be governed by his own will rather than the will of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt by man to be governed by his own law rather than the law of God.

[John Weaver] All of us can clearly understand what happened in Genesis chapter 3. God created the earth. God created Adam. God created Eve. God placed them in the garden. And God said, look, here is my law. God entered into a covenant with them, which we'll find out even in a greater degree tomorrow night. But God entered into a covenant with Adam and Eve. And God said, of all the trees of the garden, you may freely eat, but you don't touch this one tree. But Adam and Eve determined they were not going to live by the will of God. They were not going to live by the Word of God. They were not going to live by the law of God. They were literally going to become a law unto themselves. They were going to do whatever they wanted to do.

[John Weaver] You and I can stand back. We can look in the Garden of Eden. We can say Adam and Eve were idolaters. They denied the sovereignty of God. They denied the authority of God. They took it upon themselves to live however they wanted to live. Let me just spell it out like this. Modern day men and women who just as stubbornly and rebelliously and wickedly substitute their will for God's will and their word for God's word and their law for God's law are equally idolatrous.

[John Weaver] You see, the basic question that we have to answer is this. What is treason? Now think with me. Is treason unfaithfulness to the state, or is treason unfaithfulness to God? Now, if you answer and say, well, Brother Weaver, treason is unfaithfulness to the state, then you have just given the answer that has allowed governments all down through history to persecute God's people. Every one of us know that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire.

[John Weaver] They were thrown to the lions. They were slain various ways. Even Nero, wicked as he was, one of the emperors, he used Christians for torches. When he wanted to go out and view his garden at night, he had Christians tied to stakes He dumped a flammable liquid on them and lit them, and he walked around looking at his flower gardens while Christians literally burned to death.

[John Weaver] Now, the question is, how in the world can a government put people to death like that because of their concept of treason? You see, in the Roman Empire, those people were not put to death because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe anything you wanted to believe. If you wanted to be a Christian, fine. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you wanted to worship Aphrodite, go for it. They couldn't care less.

[John Weaver] Rome had its own hill of the gods. They had many, many gods. Well, how in the world could Christians then be put to death because they worshipped Jesus Christ? Let me tell you. It did not matter which God you worshipped in the Roman Empire. Just so, once a year, you swore by the genius of Caesar. Once a year, you gave an offering to Caesar. That is, you supported the emperor cult. And you said, in essence, Caesar is Lord. And the Christians refused to do it. They refused to acknowledge the lordship of Caesar. They said Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Listen, the word Lord means boss, owner, master, sovereign. They said there is only one, and that's Jesus Christ. Do you realize that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire not for being Christians, but because they were classified as traitors to the states? They were guilty of treason against the emperor cult. Did you know that in 30 A.D., Augustus Caesar sent out men all through his empire and they proclaimed this message?

[John Weaver] There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved other than the name of Augustus Caesar. And when Peter in Acts 4 and verse 12 took that very same saying, but he applied it to Christ, he said, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved other than the name of Jesus Christ. It was a declaration of war between Christ and Caesar.

[John Weaver] And thus, Christians were put to death not just simply for being Christians, but because they were counted as traitors and treasonous to the state. Now, for the Christian, we've got to understand that it is idolatry which, above all, constitutes treason to God and treason to our culture and treason to our social order. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to God is treason. Many of you can quote the United States Constitution, Article 3, Section 3, when it says this, treason against the United States consists only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, or giving aid or comfort unto their enemies. But here's my question. What if the enemy of the citizen and the enemy of the Christian turns out to be the state turned traitor against the law of God and its own constitution?

[John Weaver] You see what I'm saying? If we as citizens obey any state, and I'm talking about not just the state of South Carolina or the state of Georgia, we don't have a federal government. If we obey any government, while that government is guilty of idolatry and issuing laws that are contrary to God, then we become idolaters along with that idolaters government, and we receive part and parcel of the judgment of God. Do you realize?

[John Weaver] The definition of statism that is prevalent among the people in this country today. Statism is just simply the concept that the state is always right. That the state can basically do what it wants to do. Have you ever heard, you can't fight against city hall? Or you can't fight the federal government? Or you can't fight... You know what we're doing? We're saying that the government is God. We're saying that it possesses authority and power above and beyond not only what the Constitution gives it, but above and beyond what the Word of God gives it. And when you ascribe authority and reverence and honor over and above that which God says it deserves, it is idolatry, plain and simple. You see, what most people have not understood is this, that government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood. Government can become an idol. Do you realize all throughout the Bible, and this is very interesting, it was civil government that always led the way in idolatry.

[John Weaver] In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, back to 1 Kings 11. 1 Kings 11. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. I'm going to answer the question for you in just a moment, but I want you to know that it has always been civil governments. It has always been civil rulers in the Bible that pushed and shoved idolatry on the people. Look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. The Bible says, in fact, we're talking about Solomon. Verse 3 says he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Watch verse 4. For it came to pass that when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

[John Weaver] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, that is an idol or false god, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

[John Weaver] And likewise did he for all his strange wives, who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared on him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but it kept not that which the Lord commanded. Now I want you to note, it was Solomon that was introducing idolatry into the land. It was the king, it was the civil ruler who was building these false altars and these false gods so that he could worship them. Or at least his wives could, which undoubtedly was incentive for other people to worship in him as well.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles if you would, please. The first Kings chapter 12. First Kings chapter 12. Here is Jeroboam, beginning there with verse 26. Jeroboam was the first king of Israel. In fact, let's read verse 25, Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein, and went out from Thessalonians and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah, whereupon the king took counsel. And he made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, I have God so Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

[John Weaver] And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even as a Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like in the feast that is Judah. And he offered upon an altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, that he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense."

[John Weaver] Now what in the world had happened? Well, the ten tribes had split. Rehoboam had two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, and the rest Jeroboam had. Jeroboam said, now look, if this people continue to go back down to Jerusalem and worship where the tabernacle was and later where the temple was, if they continue to go down there, then they're going to turn against me and they're going to go back to Rehoboam. What am I going to do? I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to start my own religion. I'll have my own calves. I'll tell the people, these are your own gods. I'll have my own priests. I'll have my own feast. I'll have everything. Here is the king who initiated a new idolatrous religion in the land.

[John Weaver] And I might add, practically all of the children of Israel fell for it. A few did not, but most did. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings chapter 21. I'm just showing you. It's kings. It's civil rulers. Who were pushing idolatry? Look in 2 Kings chapter 21. Begin reading there with verse 1. Here we read about Manasseh. If I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Israel was, I would expect you to answer Ahab, for he was. But if I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Judah was, I would expect the answer Manasseh, for he was. And the Bible says in 2 Kings 21 in verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abomination of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, for he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove, as

[John Weaver] did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them." Watch,"...and he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said in Jerusalem, I put my name." And if you read on down, everything that Manasseh did is exceedingly wicked and idolatrous. He even built altars in the house of the Lord to false gods. He had sodomites in the house of the Lord.

[John Weaver] Everywhere you read in the Scripture, I don't care if it's Old Testament or New Testament, it's the civil rulers that are pushing idolatry upon the people. Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Why is government so prone to idolatry? Why are civil rulers so prone to idolatry? Let me answer that for you. The first answer is this, because government deals with law. Do you realize that all law is inherently religious? There is no such thing as a non-religious law. When Washington, D.C.

[John Weaver] says, we're unbiased in this matter, that's hogwash. When Columbia says, well, we didn't consider anything in this matter, that's hogwash as well. The truth is, all law is inherently religious. Why? Because when a lawmaker makes a law or passes a law or signs for the bill to be made into law, what is happening is this. He places a value judgment upon that law, whether that law is good or bad, whether it's right or wrong.

[John Weaver] And it is His religion that determines rightness and wrongness and goodness and badness. All law is religious. It may not be the Christian religion, but it's religious. All law is inherently religious. And secondly, because it is the nature of government, to perpetuate itself. Let me ask you this question. Why did Jeroboam initiate a false religion? I'll tell you why. Because he said, and if you go back, you can read in 1 Kings 12, because he said, it will come to pass.

[John Weaver] If this people continue to go down in Jerusalem, then they will turn again to their Lord, Rehoboam, and they'll kill me. What was Jeroboam interested in? Was he interested in the health and the wealth of the people? Was he interested in the blessing of the Lord upon the people? Well, of course not. The only thing that Jeroboam was interested in was himself, preserving his kingdom, preserving his rule, preserving his family.

[John Weaver] Have you ever known a politician that did not want to be re-elected? Have you ever known a politician or a party that did not want to stay in power? Do you realize that parties and politicians will literally do anything to keep their power and their authority? Let me show you that. Look in your Bibles to John chapter 11. Let me show you how far men will go. John chapter 11.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse 47. John 11, verse 47. John 11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees of counsel and said, What do we for this man do with many miracles? That's Jesus Christ. Now watch. The chief priests and the Pharisees are having a meeting. They said, What are we going to do about Christ? Because this man is doing many miracles. We can't deny them. Everybody's seeing them. What are we going to do? Watch verse 48,"...if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our..." What?"...place and our nation." We've got to get rid of Jesus Christ or we're going to lose our power, our authority, and our clout. The chief priests and the Pharisees, the leaders of the people, were willing to crucify the Son of God just so they could stay in power. Do you think for one minute that a politician wouldn't hand you to the wolves to stay in power? He would.

[John Weaver] If they would crucify Christ to keep their power, I can assure you they'd sacrifice a Christian in a heartbeat. Did you notice? In some of the news lately, oh, I'm sure you have it in the mainstream news, but there have been headlines, is being a Christian a hate crime? Read World Net Daily. Read Newsmax. Because the Southern Baptist Convention now has been accused of being hateful because they want to witness to the Jews and to other groups. And thus, they're now being accused of being hate mongers because they think the other people are not saved. Well, I've got news for you folks. Anybody who has not come savingly to Jesus Christ and repented and believed on Him is not saved, period.

[John Weaver] I don't care who He is or where He is or what religious affiliation he has or what denomination he has. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is salvation. And the truth is, politicians will do anything to keep their power and their authority. And then you've got to remember this, and I'll deal with this a little bit more tomorrow night. Because government is power. Because government is authority.

[John Weaver] Corrupt, depraved, wicked men, instead of trying to exercise dominion over God's creation, they want to exercise dominion over other people. Do you remember Genesis 3? What was the serpent's temptation? You shall be as gods.

[John Weaver] Now, if I claim to be a god, To demonstrate my Godhood, I have to exercise my control. I have to exercise my power. I have to ask you to bow to me and subject yourself to me. And if you don't, then I'll make you. Because, you see, I'm a God. And unsaved men like to play God.

[John Weaver] Now, I don't know if you caught this a little earlier as we were reading 1 Kings 11. But the Bible said, now it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart. And he then began to build all of these altars to all of these false gods. One of the altars that he built was to Moloch. And he did that when he was old. I don't know if you know anything about Moloch or not, but let me tell you what Moloch is. Moloch worship is the worship of the state. It's the worship of the government. Moloch, the very name, means king or kingship. And Moloch worship is the concept of divine kingship or the king as God. Or as you and I have known in history, the divine right of kings. You see, Moloch worship is basically the worship of the state. Solomon had known power like no one else had ever known. But now Solomon is getting old and he's losing his grasp. He's losing his grip.

[John Weaver] And what does he do? Instead of appealing to the sovereign God of heaven and earth who has all power, He now appeals to Moloch, the God of the state. You see, Moloch worship was a political power manifested in a political religion. And the king became identified with God as he exercised total and complete and absolute power. Thus, Moloch worship then is a religion that claims absolutely total jurisdiction over man. Statism, totalitarianism, tyranny, whatever you want to call it, that is Moloch worship. Moloch worship, or the Moloch religion, claims unlimited jurisdiction. It claims to be the total governor of man in its completeness. In other words, the Moloch religion He claims jurisdiction from the cradle to the grave or from the womb to the tomb. In other words, Moloch worship exercises authority over welfare, education, family, business, farming, building.

[John Weaver] You say, oh, come on, Brother Weaver. If you don't believe what I'm saying, you try to do anything that I just suggested without a license. and without permission. He said, Bless God, it's my farm. I'll grow whatever I want to grow. Help yourself. You can't sell it unless you sell it by the roadside. Do you realize the agricultural business has been so sewed up by ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt? It is unbelievable. A farmer can't plant what he wants to plant, nor can he plant as much as he wants to plant. He has to plant what the government gives him his quota for. The farmer can't sit back and say, ha, I think there's going to be a need next year for peanuts. Instead of planting 100 acres, I'm going to plant 500 acres of peanuts. No, no, no. He only has the quota for 85 acres, and that's all he can plant. It's absolutely, totally controlled by the government.

[John Weaver] Let me show you how far we are. I have a pastor friend. He was in Texas. In fact, he still is in Texas. They used to have their church service early in the morning. And every family would bring a picnic lunch, extra sandwiches. And then they would go out downtown into the homeless area. They would get all the homeless folks, the derelicts, the drunks, everybody they could get there. and they would share their picnic lunch with them. They would give them the sandwiches. And then he would get up and preach to them.

[John Weaver] Well, this went on for several months until one day the city health inspector happened to drive by and he saw these people sharing all this food with these homeless people. And so he stopped and wanted to know where their permit was. Had they obtained a license? And my pastor friend said, the only license I need is the authority of the Word of God, and God tells us to do this. No, no, no. He said, in this city, you have to have a special permit. And the permit is only like 25 bucks. But unless you have this permit, you can't feed these people. This food has not been inspected. We don't know whether it's good or whether it's not. Well, I'll tell you how hot it got. They came out every week and wrote him citations, and he kept those citations until they amounted to several thousands of dollars. And it looked like there was going to be a big court battle, and he said finally he got them out there again, and he said, you mean to tell me that I can't share this food with this homeless man over here without a license from the city?"

[John Weaver] That's right, sir. He said, let me ask you a question. Suppose I take this food that I have prepared, and my family's have prepared, and we dump it in the garbage can, and we walk off, and all these homeless folks come up here then, and they fish down in the garbage can, and they get it out and eat it. Well, he said, you don't need a license for that. That's just them doing it. So the next week, he had garbage cans there full of food, and he says, this is the food supplied by the city. It was trash food. And then he had all this other food over here on the tables. This is the food supplied by such and such that this church, choose whichever one you want. The city was willing for him to eat out of the dumpsters and out of the trash cans, but they weren't willing for anyone to give them some decent and clean food without a permit.

[John Weaver] You see what I'm saying? Do you realize. In Fairfax Virginia. You can't even cut out a tree in your own yard. Without permission. That's probably the way it is in some of the areas around here. Let me tell you I've got to tell you this. There was a young man in Jessup Georgia. He lived at the edge of the city in the county. He had five acres of land. He had a mobile home on that five acres. And somehow the county health inspector found out the man did not have a septic tank. And so he went out to see the gentleman and he said, sir, he said, I've received a report that you don't have a septic tank. And the man said, Yes, sir, that's true. I don't have one.

[John Weaver] Well, he said, Where do you go to the bathroom? He said, Out in my woods. He said, It's just me. There's nobody around but me. He said, I'm not married, don't have any children. Well, the inspector said, You can't do that. He said, What do you mean I can't do that? I've done it for years. I was born and raised that way. People did it in this country for years. Why cannot? He said, well, you don't understand.

[John Weaver] We've got ordinances and you have to have a septic tank. The man said, no sir, you don't understand. I'm willing to have a septic tank. I'm willing to have one. I want one. I'd much rather have an indoor toilet, he said. But I'm one of these unique people that believes that you have to have cash. I don't go in debt for anything. He said, I paid cash for this land. I paid cash for this trailer. He said, and when I save up enough money, he said, I'm going to put in a septic tank so you don't have to worry about that. That county health inspector said, no, you don't understand. Unless you have one in, you can't live in this house and you can't live on this land.

[John Weaver] The boy said, you mean to tell me? I can't live on this land and can't have this house, can't even go to the bathroom, I'm on woods. County health inspector said, that's right. That young boy said, you mean to tell me? I served those years in Vietnam. I got wounded twice. He said, I'm still carrying shrapnel around in my body. You mean to tell me that I fought for a country, that I can't even go to the woods and go to the bathroom in my own woods? He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll get my rifle out of the closet right now and I'll blow your brains out. You get off my property right now. And he jumped up to get the rifle. And guess what? The county health inspector left and never went back. Now, I'm not recommending that. I'm just telling you that's how far we've come in this country. You mean to tell me a man out in the country, where did people go to the bathroom before there were bathrooms?

[John Weaver] Of course there were rules for sanitation in the Bible. But you see what I'm saying? You've got to have a permit. Do you realize you cannot even put a septic tank down unless you've got a permit? And if your ground will not pass the percolation test, you can't put one down, even if you've already bought the ground. You see, we've gotten this thing so far out of proportion.

[John Weaver] The state, the civil government, is always limited by the Word of God. God is the one that ordains civil government. Just read Romans 13. God is the one that proscribes the limits and the boundaries of government, not man. Government is not God. Government cannot do whatever it wants to do. And when you and I try to say that the government has absolute power, then we're ascribing deity to government. We've become idolaters. Government is limited, not only by the Word of God, but in our country, it's limited by the Constitution. Unhappily, most of us don't even know the Constitution or the Bible, and consequently, we let them get away with everything. I had a run-in with a bureaucrat who represented the state of Georgia.

[John Weaver] We had had numerous interviews. That's the nice way of saying confrontations. And finally, after we had written letter after letter, we decided we were going to have one more meeting and try to settle it. So I set up the meeting. He came to my office with his associate. I had the tape recorder on my desk. I had seven or eight of my men sitting around. And I started a tape recorder, always record anything when I'm dealing with the bureaucrat.

[John Weaver] So he he began, he said, now, Pastor Weaver. He said, I did not come here today to argue theology with you. I said, well, I'm glad. I said, I'm thankful to hear that. I said, because I don't think you're quite able to argue theology. And I wasn't being unkind, I was just being truthful. I said, but sir, I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. I have so many constitutional objections to what you're trying to do to this church and to this ministry.

[John Weaver] I will forego the theological arguments. I said, here's the deal I'll make with you. I will not bring up theology if you do not bring it up. But I said, the minute you bring up theology, I want to take the absolute right to argue with you and approve you wrong from the Word of God. Do you know that conversation did not last five minutes? Before one of the men.

[John Weaver] Said, Sir, let me ask you a question, and he asked the question. And when that bureaucrat began to answer, here are his exact words. Exactly. He said, well, you see, sir, the state in its infinite wisdom. And when he said that, I hit my desk. I jumped up. I said, sir, you told me you were not going to argue theology. And I mean, man, his eyes bugged out and his mouth fell open.

[John Weaver] I said, you just brought up a theological proposition. I said, you just said the state in its infinite wisdom. I said, infinity is an attribute of God. I said, God alone is infinite, not man, not government. I said, the problem is this. We serve two different gods. You worship the state. I worship Jesus Christ. There is never, ever going to be an agreement between us as long as you think government is God and I believe Jesus Christ is God.

[John Weaver] Do you realize that conversation and that meeting ended rather quickly after that? Just in the last month or so, I had another bureaucrat. Thankfully, there were witnesses because I was caught in an emergency situation and had no tape recorder with me, but I did have witnesses. And I confronted him. I said, the state will not allow this. He looked at me and here is what he said with fire in his eyes, I am the state and I can do whatever I want. I said, sir, I don't believe you are the state and I don't believe you can do whatever you want and I'll tell you what, you better leave these premises and don't ever, ever, ever come back on this property again or you'll be in trouble. Folks, let me tell you something. The state is not God. God is God.

[John Weaver] We are not to fear other gods. We are to fear only the one true and the living God. Go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings, chapter 17. Why did Israel get into trouble? Look at it. 2 Kings, chapter 17, verse 7. for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now, God now was chastising. God was punishing Israel because they feared other gods. They did not fear the one true, the living God. They feared false gods.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. What in the world does it mean to fear a false God? What does it mean to fear the one true, the living God? Well, let me answer that for you. See, when we're talking about fear in the Bible, there's two different types of fear. There is that fear of punishment. There is that fear of hell, which you and I would call. But that's not the fear that God is talking about here. There is a filial fear. There is a reverential fear. There is a fear that acknowledges that God is the absolute sovereign. And that fear leads us to a loving obedience.

[John Weaver] For instance, look in your Bibles. Hold 2 Kings 17. Look in your Bibles very quickly to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16. And then we'll go to Job 28. Look in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 6. And I'm particularly interested in the latter part of the verse. Look what he says. Proverbs 16 verse 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."

[John Weaver] What is it that makes a man cease from his wicked, rebellious, disobedient, ungodly activities and ways? He fears God. All of a sudden now, he realizes that God is not only all-powerful, but that God is the loving, majestic Heavenly Father, and he ought to fear Him, thus he ought to obey Him. Look in your Bibles to the book of Job 28. If you have not underlined this verse, you ought to do it. If you have not memorized this verse, you ought to do it. Job 28. And unto man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and it apart from evil is understanding. What in the world is the fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord is when we depart from evil, we depart from wickedness, and we turn to God and in loving affection embrace Him and obey Him. What do you do when you fear false gods? You obey them. You worship them. Now go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17 and look at verse 7 again.

[John Weaver] And then we're going to tie it together with verse 8. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, watch, and walked in the statutes of the heathen. What is fearing other gods? Walking in their laws. The heathen were worshiping false gods. They had laws. that were in line with their false worship and the worship of their false god, and they were obeying those laws. Watch now,"...and walked in the statues of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made."

[John Weaver] Now, let me prove something to you before I show you two things. Look in your Bibles to verse 13. Same chapter, 2 Kings chapter 17. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, all the prophets of all the seers saying, turn you from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to the law, which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants, the prophets, notwithstanding they would not hear. but hardened their necks like unto the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God." What are they doing? When you fear other gods, you are leaving the commandments of the one true and the living God, and you're obeying the false god.

[John Weaver] You're turning your back on the one true and living God and obeying the false God. Now, why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Here's two reasons. Notice, if you would please, the first one in verse 8 is they walked in the statutes of the heathen, that is, they feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before, the children of Israel. Then he says, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. In other words, the kings of Israel had made statutes and made laws much like the heathen kings."

[John Weaver] Now, let me see if I understand this right. Are you listening? God is going to send the children of Israel into captivity for obeying their civil rulers. That's exactly what He's saying. You obeyed the laws of these heathen kings and of the kings of Israel which they made. You obeyed their laws, and their laws were contrary to My law. God sent them into captivity because they obeyed the laws of the land. Look in 2 Kings 18, verse 12.

[John Weaver] In fact, let's read verse 11. You can see it in the context. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria and put them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan in the cities of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant. And all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded them would not hear them nor do them. So they quit obeying God and obeyed man. And God sent them into captivity. because they obeyed man's laws and not God's laws.

[John Weaver] Now, look back in 2 Kings, chapter 17, in verse 21. And let me show you something that is said about Jeroboam. For he rent Israel, that is, God rent Israel from the house of David, and then made Jeroboam the son of Levi, king. And Jeroboam braved Israel from following the Lord and made them sin a great sin. He drove them away. The word drave there, in the Hebrew, is nedarba, which literally means spontaneously, spontaneously, willingly, abundantly, freely, voluntarily. So, Jeroboam willingly, freely drove Israel from following the Lord. He drove them away from God. How did he drive them away from God? By taking them away from God's law and giving them his law. By taking them away from the true worship of God and giving them an idolatrous worship. Look in your Bibles to 2 Kings 21 in verse 9. 2 Kings 21 in verse 9.

[John Weaver] In fact, verses 10 and 11 will explain this.

[John Weaver] 2 Kings 21, verse 9, here's Manasseh, the most wicked king in Judah. But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. Now, how in the world did the king seduce the people to do evil? And the Lord spake by His servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all the Amorites did which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols." What did he do?

[John Weaver] He instituted a false religion and undoubtedly passed laws which would favor those who worshiped with him and would be contrary to those who refused. And so he seduced them. And here's somebody, listen, we're in this same situation today in America. Here's a man who wants to do what's right. He wants to obey God. He wants to honor God. But the laws of the land are so we can't do what we know we ought to do because if we do, we know we're going to get in trouble with the government.

[John Weaver] The IRS will be sicked on us or the state will be sicked on us. And what are we doing? We're vacillating. And what we're actually being doing is seduced away from the worship and the service and the laws of the one true and the living God. Because the pressure that's being put upon us by false government, most of us have forgotten that idolatry and sin many times comes under the color of law. Look in your Bibles. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 94 and verse 20. Psalm 94. Verse 20. Look at this amazing verse. Psalm 94, verse 20. Here's a question. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by law? Now let's try to analyze this verse. Shall the throne, so we're talking about a government. We're talking about a power. A throne speaks of government. Secondly, it's called a throne of iniquity. That means it's a wicked civil government. So the question is, shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with thee, that is with God, when that wicked civil government frameth mischief by eye law, or let me paraphrase it where you'll understand what the Hebrew is saying, when that wicked civil government makes sin legal.

[John Weaver] Mischief is another word in the Hebrew for sin. In other words, they make sin lawful. You see, it's lawful to murder in this country, as long as you do it before the baby's born. It's lawful to steal as long as you're a politician. It's lawful to be a sodomite. You see what I'm saying? Government is making sin legal. Now here's the question. Shall that wicked civil government have fellowship with God which makes sin legal? What's the answer? No. No. It's not in fellowship with God. It's contrary to God. And when you and I take the attitude, well, that's the government.

[John Weaver] It can do whatever it wants to do. No, it cannot. When we take that attitude, however, that it can, we're guilty of idolatry. We are ascribing power and authority to government that God never, ever gave it. If you look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1. And I could fill another hour up with illustrations. This one will be sufficient. We'll look at Exodus chapter 1, verse 16. In fact, verse 15, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shepron, the name of the other, Puah. And he said, When you do the office of midwife to the Hebrew women and seat them upon the stools, if it be a son, then you shall kill him.

[John Weaver] But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God. What does that mean? It means they obeyed God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men and children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing and have saved the men and children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are deliberate ere the midwives come into them. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very great. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses." Now, here these two Hebrew midwives had two sets of commands. One from God, thou shalt not kill. One from the high civil ruling land, thou shalt kill. What determined which set of laws they obeyed? The fact that they feared God.

[John Weaver] That is, they reverenced Him. They worshipped Him. They knew that His law was greater than man's law, and thus they refused to obey the law of man. And God blessed them. God rewarded them because they stood by God and His law.

[John Weaver] Now, had the two Hebrew midwives gone with Pharaoh, then they would have been idolaters and brought upon themselves the judgment and the curse of God along with the house of Pharaoh. For they feared God. Acts 5 in verse 29 really sums up everything that I'm trying to say. You know what Peter and the other disciples said to the rulers? We ought to obey God rather than man. When the civil rulers tried to get Peter and the other disciples to go contrary to God and His Word, his response was, we ought to obey God rather than man.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. It is quickly coming in our country. as it did in the first century in the Roman Empire. We're going to be faced with a soul-trying question. Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord? Who has the ultimate authority? Who has the right to dictate and to rule our lives, God or government. The question that was so crucial in the first century, who is Lord, has come full circle. In this century, it's the same question. Who is Lord? And we better understand God said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, I am the Lord, and besides me there is none other, and my glory will I not share with another. We cannot acknowledge government as God. Government is nothing more than a servant of God. He was created by God to be his deacon, according to Romans 13.

[John Weaver] to be His avenger, to be His public worship. Government is nothing more than a servant, any more than we are. And just as God has defined and limited the family and defined and limited the church, likewise He's defined and limited the government. There's only one God. And to ascribe the attributes of God to the state is to become an idolater. Only God is infinite. Only God is sovereign. Only God has total jurisdiction. Only God has all authority in heaven and earth. Let's pray.

[John Weaver] Father, we are thankful today for Jesus Christ. And we acknowledge tonight His Lordship, His sovereignty, His greatness and His glory. And we do ask You, Father, for courage to stand in these trying times. As the Apostle Paul says, in having done all, to stand. We ask for Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

Biblical Methods of Dealing with Tyrants

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	11130212230
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government
Genre	Sermon
Date	1999-12-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	76

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver opens with a reading of 2 Kings 17:1-23 and Exodus 20:1-3, setting the stage for a discussion on idolatry and its consequences.

I want you to turn tonight in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings, chapter 17. 2 Kings, chapter 17. And I want you to also find Exodus, chapter 20. Exodus, chapter 20. And we'll read 2 Kings, chapter 17 first. And let's read the first 23 verses. 2 Kings 17.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up through all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was—now watch carefully—for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 17:1-23

heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. And they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, 'You shall not do this thing.' Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, 'Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.' Notwithstanding, they would

not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. Now watch. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight. For He rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets.

So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." Now, if you'll go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 20, and very quickly let's just simply read the first three verses. The Bible says, "...

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:1-3

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Idolatry is very plainly and clearly forbidden in the Scripture. You know, one of our greatest problems in this land is our concept of idolatry. Most of us, when we think of idolatry, we just simply think of an idol somewhere, maybe out of gold or wood or silver, it doesn't matter, and you see people bowing down before that idol, and that is our concept of idolatry. Now, it is true that is an aspect of idolatry. That is a type of idolatry. But idolatry is much broader than that in the Word of God. In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would.

The Broad Definition of Idolatry

Idolatry is defined not only as bowing to images but as any attempt to be governed by one's own word, will, or law instead of God's. Covetousness is explicitly called idolatry in Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5.

Hold 2 Kings, chapter 17. But go in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, and let's look at verse 5. Let me show you how broad idolatry really is. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul makes this statement. He says,

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 5:5

"...for this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

Isn't that amazing? Paul says a covetous man is an idolater. So, covetousness, then, is part and parcel of idolatry. Look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter 3 and verse 5. In case you did not understand it in Ephesians 5, here it is plainly spelled out. Colossians 3, verse 5. He says, "...mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

You remember the tenth commandment is that we are not to covet anything that is our neighbor's. Now, idolatry is very broad. And let me just try to spell it out like this. Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt of man to be governed by his own will rather than the will of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt by man to be governed by his own law rather than the law of God. All of us can clearly understand what happened in Genesis chapter 3. God created the earth. God created Adam. God created Eve. God placed them in the garden. And God said, look, here is my law. God entered into a covenant with them, which we'll find out even in a greater degree tomorrow night. But God entered into a covenant with Adam and Eve. And God said, of all the trees of the garden, you may freely eat, but you don't touch this one tree. But Adam and Eve determined they were not going to live by the will of God. They were not going to live by the Word of God. They were not going to live by the law of God. They were literally going to become a law unto themselves. They were going to do whatever they wanted to do.

Treason: Against God or the State?

Weaver contrasts the biblical view of treason as unfaithfulness to God with the Roman Empire's definition of treason as refusal to worship Caesar. Christians were martyred for declaring 'Jesus is Lord' rather than 'Caesar is Lord.'

You see, the basic question that we have to answer is this. What is treason? Now think with me. Is treason unfaithfulness to the state, or is treason unfaithfulness to God? Now, if you answer and say, well, Brother Weaver, treason is unfaithfulness to the state, then you have just given the answer that has allowed governments all down through history to persecute God's people. Every one of us know that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire. They were thrown to the lions. They were slain various ways. Even Nero, wicked as he was, one of the emperors, he used Christians for torches. When he wanted to go out and view his garden at night, he had Christians tied to stakes. He dumped a flammable liquid on them and lit them, and he walked around looking at his flower gardens while Christians literally burned to death.

Now, the question is, how in the world can a government put people to death like that because of their concept of treason? You see, in the Roman Empire, those people were not put to death because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe anything you wanted to believe. If you wanted to be a Christian, fine. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you wanted to worship Aphrodite, go for it. They couldn't care less.

Rome had its own hill of the gods. They had many, many gods. Well, how in the world could Christians then be put to death because they worshipped Jesus Christ? Let me tell you. It did not matter which God you worshipped in the Roman Empire. Just so, once a year, you swore by the genius of Caesar. Once a year, you gave an offering to Caesar. That is, you supported the emperor cult. And you said, in essence, Caesar is Lord. And the Christians refused to do it. They refused to acknowledge the lordship of Caesar. They said Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Listen, the word Lord means boss, owner, master, sovereign. They said there is only one, and that's Jesus Christ. Do you realize that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire not for being Christians, but because they were classified as traitors to the state? They were guilty of treason against the emperor cult. Did you know that in 30 A.D., Augustus Caesar sent out men all through his empire and they proclaimed this message?

There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved other than the name of Augustus Caesar. And when Peter in Acts 4 and verse 12 took that very same saying, but he applied it to Christ, he said, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved other than the name of Jesus Christ. It was a declaration of war between Christ and Caesar. And thus, Christians were put to death not just simply for being Christians, but because they were counted as traitors and treasonous to the state. Now, for the Christian, we've got to understand that it is idolatry which, above all, constitutes treason to God and treason to our culture and treason to our social order. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to God is treason. Many of you can quote the United States Constitution, Article 3, Section 3, when it says this, treason against the United States consists only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, or giving aid or comfort unto their enemies. But here's my question. What if the enemy of the citizen and the enemy of the Christian turns out to be the state turned traitor against the law of God and its own constitution?

Government as an Idol

Statism, the belief that the state is always right, is idolatry. Throughout Scripture, civil rulers led the people into idolatry, as seen in Solomon, Jeroboam, and Manasseh.

The definition of statism that is prevalent among the people in this country today. Statism is just simply the concept that the state is always right. That the state can basically do what it wants to do. Have you ever heard, you can't fight against city hall? Or you can't fight the federal government? Or you can't fight... You know what we're doing? We're saying that the government is God. We're saying that it possesses authority and power above and beyond not only what the Constitution gives it, but above and beyond what the Word of God gives it. And when you ascribe authority and reverence and honor over and above that which God says it deserves, it is idolatry, plain and simple. You see, what most people have not understood is this, that government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood. Government can become an idol. Do you realize all throughout the Bible, and this is very interesting, it was civil government that always led the way in idolatry.

In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, back to 1 Kings 11. 1 Kings 11. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. I'm going to answer the question for you in just a moment, but I want you to know that it has always been civil governments. It has always been civil rulers in the Bible that pushed and shoved idolatry on the people. Look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. The Bible says, in fact, we're talking about Solomon. Verse 3 says he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Watch verse 4. For it came to pass that when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, that is an idol or false god, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared unto him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Now I want you to note, it was Solomon that was introducing idolatry into the land. It was the king, it was the civil ruler who was building these false altars and these false gods so that he could worship them. Or at least his wives could, which undoubtedly was incentive for other people to worship them as well.

Look in your Bibles if you would, please. 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. Here is Jeroboam, beginning there with verse 26. Jeroboam was the first king of Israel. In fact, let's read verse 25, Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein, and went out from thence and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah, whereupon the king took counsel. And he made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon an altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense."

Now what in the world had happened? Well, the ten tribes had split. Rehoboam had two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, and the rest Jeroboam had. Jeroboam said, now look, if this people continue to go back down to Jerusalem and worship where the tabernacle was and later where the temple was, if they continue to go down there, then they're going to turn against me and they're going to go back to Rehoboam. What am I going to do? I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to start my own religion. I'll have my own calves. I'll tell the people, these are your gods. I'll have my own priests. I'll have my own feast. I'll have everything. Here is the king who initiated a new idolatrous religion in the land.

And I might add, practically all of the children of Israel fell for it. A few did not, but most did. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings chapter 21. I'm just showing you. It's kings. It's civil rulers. Who were pushing idolatry? Look in 2 Kings chapter 21. Begin reading there with verse 1. Here we read about Manasseh. If I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Israel was, I would expect you to answer Ahab, for he was. But if I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Judah was, I would expect the answer Manasseh, for he was. And the Bible says in 2 Kings 21 in verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, for he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove, as

did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them." Watch, "...and he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name." And if you read on down, everything that Manasseh did is exceedingly wicked and idolatrous. He even built altars in the house of the Lord to false gods. He had sodomites in the house of the Lord. Everywhere you read in the Scripture, I don't care if it's Old Testament or New Testament, it's the civil rulers that are pushing idolatry upon the people. Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Why is government so prone to idolatry? Why are civil rulers so prone to idolatry? Let me answer that for you. The first answer is this, because government deals with law. Do you realize that all law is inherently religious? There is no such thing as a non-religious law. When Washington, D.C.

Why Government is Prone to Idolatry

Government deals with law, which is inherently religious, and it seeks to perpetuate its own power. Politicians will sacrifice truth and even Christ to maintain authority, as seen in John 11:47-48.

says, we're unbiased in this matter, that's hogwash. When Columbia says, well, we didn't consider anything in this matter, that's hogwash as well. The truth is, all law is inherently religious. Why? Because when a lawmaker makes a law or passes a law or signs for the bill to be made into law, what is happening is this. He places a value judgment upon that law, whether that law is good or bad, whether it's right or wrong. And it is his religion that determines rightness and wrongness and goodness and badness. All law is religious. It may not be the Christian religion, but it's religious. All law is inherently religious. And secondly, because it is the nature of government to perpetuate itself. Let me ask you this question. Why did Jeroboam initiate a false religion? I'll tell you why. Because he said, and if you go back, you can read in 1 Kings 12, because he said, it will come to pass.

If this people continue to go down to Jerusalem, then they will turn again to their lord, Rehoboam, and they'll kill me. What was Jeroboam interested in? Was he interested in the health and the wealth of the people? Was he interested in the blessing of the Lord upon the people? Well, of course not. The only thing that Jeroboam was interested in was himself, preserving his kingdom, preserving his rule, preserving his family. Have you ever known a politician that did not want to be re-elected? Have you ever known a politician or a party that did not want to stay in power? Do you realize that parties and politicians will literally do anything to keep their power and their authority? Let me show you that. Look in your Bibles to John chapter 11. Let me show you how far men will go. John chapter 11.

And let's begin reading there with verse 47. John 11, verse 47. John 11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. That's Jesus Christ. Now watch. The chief priests and the Pharisees are having a meeting. They said, What are we going to do about Christ? Because this man is doing many miracles. We can't deny them. Everybody's seeing them. What are we going to do? Watch verse 48,

Scripture Reading — John 11:47-48

"...if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our..."

What? "...place and our nation." We've got to get rid of Jesus Christ or we're going to lose our power, our authority, and our clout. The chief priests and the Pharisees, the leaders of the people, were willing to crucify the Son of God just so they could stay in power. Do you think for one minute that a politician wouldn't hand you to the wolves to stay in power? He would.

If they would crucify Christ to keep their power, I can assure you they'd sacrifice a Christian in a heartbeat. Did you notice? In some of the news lately, oh, I'm sure you have it in the mainstream news, but there have been headlines, is being a Christian a hate crime? Read World Net Daily. Read Newsmax. Because the Southern Baptist Convention now has been accused of being hateful because they want to witness to the Jews and to other groups. And thus, they're now being accused of being hate mongers because they think the other people are not saved. Well, I've got news for you folks. Anybody who has not come savingly to Jesus Christ and repented and believed on Him is not saved, period.

Molech Worship as Statism

Molech worship represents the worship of the state, claiming total jurisdiction over every area of life. Modern examples include government overreach in agriculture, feeding the homeless, and property rights.

And what does he do? Instead of appealing to the sovereign God of heaven and earth who has all power, he now appeals to Molech, the god of the state. You see, Molech worship was a political power manifested in a political religion. And the king became identified with God as he exercised total and complete and absolute power. Thus, Molech worship then is a religion that claims absolutely total jurisdiction over man. Statism, totalitarianism, tyranny, whatever you want to call it, that is Molech worship. Molech worship, or the Molech religion, claims unlimited jurisdiction. It claims to be the total governor of man in its completeness. In other words, the Molech religion claims jurisdiction from the cradle to the grave or from the womb to the tomb. In other words, Molech worship exercises authority over welfare, education, family, business, farming, building.

You say, oh, come on, Brother Weaver. If you don't believe what I'm saying, you try to do anything that I just suggested without a license and without permission. He said, Bless God, it's my farm. I'll grow whatever I want to grow. Help yourself. You can't sell it unless you sell it by the roadside. Do you realize the agricultural business has been so sewed up ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt? It is unbelievable. A farmer can't plant what he wants to plant, nor can he plant as much as he wants to plant. He has to plant what the government gives him his quota for. The farmer can't sit back and say, ha, I think there's going to be a need next year for peanuts. Instead of planting 100 acres, I'm going to plant 500 acres of peanuts. No, no, no. He only has the quota for 85 acres, and that's all he can plant. It's absolutely, totally controlled by the government.

Let me show you how far we are. I have a pastor friend. He was in Texas. In fact, he still is in Texas. They used to have their church service early in the morning. And every family would bring a picnic lunch, extra sandwiches. And then they would go out downtown into the homeless area. They would get all the homeless folks, the derelicts, the drunks, everybody they could get there, and they would share their picnic lunch with them. They would give them the sandwiches. And then he would get up and preach to them.

Well, this went on for several months until one day the city health inspector happened to drive by and he saw these people sharing all this food with these homeless people. And so he stopped and wanted to know where their permit was. Had they obtained a license? And my pastor friend said, the only license I need is the authority of the Word of God, and God tells us to do this. No, no, no. He said, in this city, you have to have a special permit. And the permit is only like 25 bucks. But unless you have this permit, you can't feed these people. This food has not been inspected. We don't know whether it's good or whether it's not. Well, I'll tell you how hot it got. They came out every week and wrote him citations, and he kept those citations until they amounted to several thousands of dollars. And it looked like there was going to be a big court battle, and he said finally he got them out there again, and he said, you mean to tell me that I can't share this food with this homeless man over here without a license from the city?"

That's right, sir. He said, let me ask you a question. Suppose I take this food that I have prepared, and my families have prepared, and we dump it in the garbage can, and we walk off, and all these homeless folks come up here then, and they fish down in the garbage can, and they get it out and eat it. Well, he said, you don't need a license for that. That's just them doing it. So the next week, he had garbage cans there full of food, and he says, this is the food supplied by the city. It was trash food. And then he had all this other food over here on the tables. This is the food supplied by such and such that this church, choose whichever one you want. The city was willing for him to eat out of the dumpsters and out of the trash cans, but they weren't willing for anyone to give them some decent and clean food without a permit.

You see what I'm saying? Do you realize, in Fairfax, Virginia, you can't even cut down a tree in your own yard without permission? That's probably the way it is in some of the areas around here. Let me tell you, I've got to tell you this. There was a young man in Jesup, Georgia. He lived at the edge of the city in the county. He had five acres of land. He had a mobile home on that five acres. And somehow the county health inspector found out the man did not have a septic tank. And so he went out to see the gentleman and he said, sir, he said, I've received a report that you don't have a septic tank. And the man said, Yes, sir, that's true. I don't have one.

Well, he said, Where do you go to the bathroom? He said, Out in my woods. He said, It's just me. There's nobody around but me. He said, I'm not married, don't have any children. Well, the inspector said, You can't do that. He said, What do you mean I can't do that? I've done it for years. I was born and raised that way. People did it in this country for years. Why cannot? He said, well, you don't understand.

We've got ordinances and you have to have a septic tank. The man said, no sir, you don't understand. I'm willing to have a septic tank. I'm willing to have one. I want one. I'd much rather have an indoor toilet, he said. But I'm one of these unique people that believes that you have to have cash. I don't go in debt for anything. He said, I paid cash for this land. I paid cash for this trailer. He said, and when I save up enough money, he said, I'm going to put in a septic tank so you don't have to worry about that. That county health inspector said, no, you don't understand. Unless you have one in, you can't live in this house and you can't live on this land.

The boy said, you mean to tell me? I can't live on this land and can't have this house, can't even go to the bathroom in my own woods. County health inspector said, that's right. That young boy said, you mean to tell me? I served those years in Vietnam. I got wounded twice. He said, I'm still carrying shrapnel around in my body. You mean to tell me that I fought for a country, that I can't even go to the woods and go to the bathroom in my own woods? He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll get my rifle out of the closet right now and I'll blow your brains out. You get off my property right now. And he jumped up to get the rifle. And guess what? The county health inspector left and never went back. Now, I'm not recommending that. I'm just telling you that's how far we've come in this country. You mean to tell me a man out in the country, where did people go to the bathroom before there were bathrooms?

Of course there were rules for sanitation in the Bible. But you see what I'm saying? You've got to have a permit. Do you realize you cannot even put a septic tank down unless you've got a permit? And if your ground will not pass the percolation test, you can't put one down, even if you've already bought the ground. You see, we've gotten this thing so far out of proportion.

The Fear of God vs. Fear of False Gods

To fear God is to depart from evil and obey His commandments. Israel was judged because they feared other gods and walked in the statutes of the heathen and their own kings, obeying man's laws instead of God's.

Now, let me ask you a question. What in the world does it mean to fear a false God? What does it mean to fear the one true, the living God? Well, let me answer that for you. See, when we're talking about fear in the Bible, there's two different types of fear. There is that fear of punishment. There is that fear of hell, which you and I would call. But that's not the fear that God is talking about here. There is a filial fear. There is a reverential fear. There is a fear that acknowledges that God is the absolute sovereign. And that fear leads us to a loving obedience.

For instance, look in your Bibles. Hold 2 Kings 17. Look in your Bibles very quickly to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16. And then we'll go to Job 28. Look in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 6. And I'm particularly interested in the latter part of the verse. Look what he says. Proverbs 16 verse 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."

What is it that makes a man cease from his wicked, rebellious, disobedient, ungodly activities and ways? He fears God. All of a sudden now, he realizes that God is not only all-powerful, but that God is the loving, majestic Heavenly Father, and he ought to fear Him, thus he ought to obey Him. Look in your Bibles to the book of Job 28. If you have not underlined this verse, you ought to do it. If you have not memorized this verse, you ought to do it. Job 28. And unto man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. What in the world is the fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord is when we depart from evil, we depart from wickedness, and we turn to God and in loving affection embrace Him and obey Him. What do you do when you fear false gods? You obey them. You worship them. Now go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17 and look at verse 7 again.

And then we're going to tie it together with verse 8. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, watch, and walked in the statutes of the heathen. What is fearing other gods? Walking in their laws. The heathen were worshiping false gods. They had laws that were in line with their false worship and the worship of their false god, and they were obeying those laws. Watch now, "...and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made."

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 17:7-8, 13-16

Now, let me prove something to you before I show you two things. Look in your Bibles to verse 13. Same chapter, 2 Kings chapter 17. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God." What are they doing? When you fear other gods, you are leaving the commandments of the one true and the living God, and you're obeying the false god.

You're turning your back on the one true and living God and obeying the false God. Now, why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Here's two reasons. Notice, if you would please, the first one in verse 8 is they walked in the statutes of the heathen, that is, they feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Then he says, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. In other words, the kings of Israel had made statutes and made laws much like the heathen kings."

Now, let me see if I understand this right. Are you listening? God is going to send the children of Israel into captivity for obeying their civil rulers. That's exactly what He's saying. You obeyed the laws of these heathen kings and of the kings of Israel which they made. You obeyed their laws, and their laws were contrary to My law. God sent them into captivity because they obeyed the laws of the land. Look in 2 Kings 18, verse 12.

In fact, let's read verse 11. You can see it in the context. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria and put them in Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan in the cities of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded them, and would not hear them nor do them. So they quit obeying God and obeyed man. And God sent them into captivity because they obeyed man's laws and not God's laws.

Obedience to God Over Man

Using the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 and Acts 5:29, Weaver concludes that Christians must obey God rather than man when laws conflict. The ultimate question is 'Who is Lord?'

But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God. What does that mean? It means they obeyed God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very great. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses." Now, here these two Hebrew midwives had two sets of commands. One from God, thou shalt not kill. One from the high civil ruling land, thou shalt kill. What determined which set of laws they obeyed? The fact that they feared God.

That is, they reverenced Him. They worshipped Him. They knew that His law was greater than man's law, and thus they refused to obey the law of man. And God blessed them. God rewarded them because they stood by God and His law.

Now, had the two Hebrew midwives gone with Pharaoh, then they would have been idolaters and brought upon themselves the judgment and the curse of God along with the house of Pharaoh. For they feared God. Acts 5 in verse 29 really sums up everything that I'm trying to say. You know what Peter and the other disciples said to the rulers? We ought to obey God rather than man. When the civil rulers tried to get Peter and the other disciples to go contrary to God and His Word, his response was, we ought to obey God rather than man. Let me tell you something, folks. It is quickly coming in our country, as it did in the first century in the Roman Empire. We're going to be faced with a soul-trying question. Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord? Who has the ultimate authority? Who has the right to dictate and to rule our lives, God or government? The question that was so crucial in the first century, who is Lord, has come full circle. In this century, it's the same question. Who is Lord? And we better understand God said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, I am the Lord, and besides me there is none other, and my glory will I not share with another. We cannot acknowledge government as God. Government is nothing more than a servant of God. He was created by God to be his deacon, according to Romans 13.

to be His avenger, to be His public worship. Government is nothing more than a servant, any more than we are. And just as God has defined and limited the family and defined and limited the church, likewise He's defined and limited the government. There's only one God. And to ascribe the attributes of God to the state is to become an idolater. Only God is infinite. Only God is sovereign. Only God has total jurisdiction. Only God has all authority in heaven and earth. Let's pray.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Idolatry as Self-Governance

Summary: Idolatry is any attempt by man to be governed by his own word, will, or law instead of God's.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God.'

Government as an Idol

Summary: Civil government can become an idol when it claims authority beyond what God has given, leading people into idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood.'

The Fear of God

Summary: Fearing God means reverencing Him and obeying His law, which leads to departing from evil.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil' (Proverbs 16:6).

Obedience to God Over Man

Summary: When civil laws conflict with God's law, Christians must obey God, as exemplified by the Hebrew midwives and the apostles.

Evidence: Weaver cites Acts 5:29: 'We ought to obey God rather than man.'

The Lordship of Christ vs. the State

Summary: The central conflict is whether Jesus Christ or the government is Lord, a question that demands a clear allegiance.

Evidence: Weaver asks: 'Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord?'

Key Arguments

All law is inherently religious

Summary: Every law reflects a value judgment based on the lawmaker's religion, making government inherently prone to idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver argues: 'All law is inherently religious. Why? Because when a lawmaker makes a law... he places a value judgment upon that law... And it is his religion that determines rightness and wrongness.'

Government perpetuates itself through idolatry

Summary: Civil rulers introduce false religions and laws to maintain power, as seen in Jeroboam and the Pharisees.

Evidence: Weaver notes: 'Jeroboam said... If this people continue to go down to Jerusalem, then they will turn again to their lord, Rehoboam, and they'll kill me.'

Israel was judged for obeying idolatrous laws

Summary: God sent Israel into captivity because they obeyed the statutes of heathen kings and their own kings instead of God's law.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'God is going to send the children of Israel into captivity for obeying their civil rulers.'

Sin can be made legal by government

Summary: Psalm 94:20 shows that wicked governments can frame mischief by law, making sin legal, but such governments are not in fellowship with God.

Evidence: Weaver paraphrases: 'when that wicked civil government makes sin legal.'

Christians must fear God, not government

Summary: The fear of God leads to obedience to His law, even when it means disobeying civil authorities, as demonstrated by the Hebrew midwives.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'the midwives feared God... they obeyed God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them.'

Scripture References

2 Kings 17:1-23

Context: Read at the opening to show Israel's idolatry and captivity for obeying heathen statutes and their own kings' laws.

Exodus 20:1-3

Context: Cited to establish the prohibition of idolatry as the first commandment.

Ephesians 5:5

Context: Used to show that covetousness is idolatry, broadening the definition.

Colossians 3:5

Context: Reinforces that covetousness is idolatry.

1 Kings 11:4-8

Context: Solomon's idolatry as an example of a civil ruler leading the people into false worship.

1 Kings 12:26-33

Context: Jeroboam's institution of idolatrous worship to preserve his kingdom.

2 Kings 21:1-9

Context: Manasseh's extreme idolatry and seduction of Judah.

John 11:47-48

Context: The chief priests and Pharisees plot to kill Jesus to preserve their power and nation.

Proverbs 16:6

Context: By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

Job 28:28

Context: The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

2 Kings 17:7-8, 13-16

Context: Israel feared other gods and walked in heathen statutes, rejecting God's law.

2 Kings 18:11-12

Context: Israel was carried away because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord.

2 Kings 17:21

Context: Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord.

2 Kings 21:9-11

Context: Manasseh seduced Judah to do more evil than the nations.

Psalm 94:20

Context: Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with God, which frames mischief by a law?

Exodus 1:15-21

Context: The Hebrew midwives feared God and disobeyed Pharaoh's command to kill male infants.

Acts 5:29

Context: We ought to obey God rather than man.

Isaiah 42:8

Context: I am the Lord, and my glory will I not share with another.

Romans 13

Context: Government is a servant (deacon) of God, ordained and limited by Him.

Historical References

Roman Empire persecution of Christians

Context: Christians were executed for refusing to swear by the genius of Caesar, being labeled traitors to the state.

Nero's persecution

Context: Nero used Christians as human torches to light his gardens.

Augustus Caesar's proclamation (30 A.D.)

Context: Augustus sent messengers proclaiming 'there is none other name under heaven... whereby you must be saved' other than Caesar, which Peter countered in Acts 4:12.

U.S. Constitution, Article 3, Section 3

Context: Definition of treason against the United States, contrasted with biblical treason against God.

Modern government overreach examples

Context: Stories of a pastor fined for feeding the homeless without a permit, a man forced to install a septic tank, and agricultural quotas illustrate Molech worship today.

Southern Baptist Convention accused of hate crime

Context: Mentioned as a recent news item where witnessing to Jews is labeled a hate crime.

Important Quotes

Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God.

Significance: Defines idolatry broadly as self-governance apart from God's revelation.

government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood.

Significance: Identifies civil government as a potential object of idolatrous worship.

All law is inherently religious.

Significance: Argues that every law reflects a religious value judgment, making government inherently prone to idolatry.

the state in its infinite wisdom

Significance: A bureaucrat's statement that Weaver challenges as ascribing a divine attribute to the state.

I am the state and I can do whatever I want.

Significance: A bureaucrat's claim illustrating the idolatrous mindset of total state authority.

by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.

Significance: Quoting Proverbs 16:6 to define the fear of God as obedience that turns from sin.

We ought to obey God rather than man.

Significance: The apostolic principle for resolving conflicts between divine and human law.

Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord?

Significance: The central question of allegiance that Christians must answer.

Discussion Questions

How does Weaver's broad definition of idolatry challenge common assumptions about what it means to worship false gods?

Context: Weaver defines idolatry as any attempt to be governed by one's own word, will, or law instead of God's.

In what ways might modern governments exhibit the characteristics of Molech worship described in the sermon?

Context: Weaver describes Molech worship as the state claiming total jurisdiction over every area of life.

How should Christians respond when civil laws directly contradict God's commands, based on the examples of the Hebrew midwives and the apostles?

Context: The midwives feared God and disobeyed Pharaoh; Peter said to obey God rather than man.

What does it mean to 'fear God' in the context of civil disobedience, and how does this differ from a fear of punishment?

Context: Weaver distinguishes reverential fear that leads to loving obedience from mere fear of punishment.

How can Christians discern when government has overstepped its God-given limits and become an idol?

Context: Weaver argues that government is limited by God's Word and the Constitution, but most people don't know either.

Applications

Recognize and reject statism as idolatry

Summary: Christians must not ascribe unlimited authority to the state, but recognize that only God is sovereign.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'when you ascribe authority and reverence and honor over and above that which God says it deserves, it is idolatry, plain and simple.'

Obey God rather than man when laws conflict

Summary: When civil laws command what God forbids or forbid what God commands, Christians must obey God.

Evidence: Weaver cites Acts 5:29 and the example of the Hebrew midwives.

Fear God by departing from evil and obeying His law

Summary: The fear of the Lord is demonstrated by turning from wickedness and keeping God's commandments.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil' and 'to depart from evil is understanding.'

Understand that all law is religious

Summary: Recognize that every law reflects someone's religion, and evaluate laws by God's standard.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'All law is inherently religious.'

Prepare to answer the question 'Who is Lord?'

Summary: Christians must be ready to confess Jesus as Lord, even when the state demands ultimate allegiance.

Evidence: Weaver warns: 'We're going to be faced with a soul-trying question. Who is Lord?'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:26:01Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:25:02Z

Clean Transcript

Biblical Methods of Dealing with Tyrants

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

I want you to turn tonight in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings, chapter 17. 2 Kings, chapter 17. And I want you to also find Exodus, chapter 20. Exodus, chapter 20. And we'll read 2 Kings, chapter 17 first. And let's read the first 23 verses. 2 Kings 17.
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In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up through all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was—now watch carefully—for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the
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heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. And they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, 'You shall not do this thing.' Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, 'Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.' Notwithstanding, they would
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not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. Now watch. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
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And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight. For He rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets.
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So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." Now, if you'll go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 20, and very quickly let's just simply read the first three verses. The Bible says, "...And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Idolatry is very plainly and clearly forbidden in the Scripture. You know, one of our greatest problems in this land is our concept of idolatry. Most of us, when we think of idolatry, we just simply think of an idol somewhere, maybe out of gold or wood or silver, it doesn't matter, and you see people bowing down before that idol, and that is our concept of idolatry. Now, it is true that is an aspect of idolatry. That is a type of idolatry. But idolatry is much broader than that in the Word of God. In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would.
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Hold 2 Kings, chapter 17. But go in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, and let's look at verse 5. Let me show you how broad idolatry really is. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul makes this statement. He says, "...for this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Isn't that amazing? Paul says a covetous man is an idolater. So, covetousness, then, is part and parcel of idolatry. Look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter 3 and verse 5. In case you did not understand it in Ephesians 5, here it is plainly spelled out. Colossians 3, verse 5. He says, "...mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
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You remember the tenth commandment is that we are not to covet anything that is our neighbor's. Now, idolatry is very broad. And let me just try to spell it out like this. Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt of man to be governed by his own will rather than the will of God. Idolatry is any and every attempt by man to be governed by his own law rather than the law of God.
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All of us can clearly understand what happened in Genesis chapter 3. God created the earth. God created Adam. God created Eve. God placed them in the garden. And God said, look, here is my law. God entered into a covenant with them, which we'll find out even in a greater degree tomorrow night. But God entered into a covenant with Adam and Eve. And God said, of all the trees of the garden, you may freely eat, but you don't touch this one tree. But Adam and Eve determined they were not going to live by the will of God. They were not going to live by the Word of God. They were not going to live by the law of God. They were literally going to become a law unto themselves. They were going to do whatever they wanted to do.
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You and I can stand back. We can look in the Garden of Eden. We can say Adam and Eve were idolaters. They denied the sovereignty of God. They denied the authority of God. They took it upon themselves to live however they wanted to live. Let me just spell it out like this. Modern day men and women who just as stubbornly and rebelliously and wickedly substitute their will for God's will and their word for God's word and their law for God's law are equally idolatrous.
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You see, the basic question that we have to answer is this. What is treason? Now think with me. Is treason unfaithfulness to the state, or is treason unfaithfulness to God? Now, if you answer and say, well, Brother Weaver, treason is unfaithfulness to the state, then you have just given the answer that has allowed governments all down through history to persecute God's people. Every one of us know that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire.
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They were thrown to the lions. They were slain various ways. Even Nero, wicked as he was, one of the emperors, he used Christians for torches. When he wanted to go out and view his garden at night, he had Christians tied to stakes. He dumped a flammable liquid on them and lit them, and he walked around looking at his flower gardens while Christians literally burned to death.
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Now, the question is, how in the world can a government put people to death like that because of their concept of treason? You see, in the Roman Empire, those people were not put to death because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe anything you wanted to believe. If you wanted to be a Christian, fine. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you wanted to worship Aphrodite, go for it. They couldn't care less.
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Rome had its own hill of the gods. They had many, many gods. Well, how in the world could Christians then be put to death because they worshipped Jesus Christ? Let me tell you. It did not matter which God you worshipped in the Roman Empire. Just so, once a year, you swore by the genius of Caesar. Once a year, you gave an offering to Caesar. That is, you supported the emperor cult. And you said, in essence, Caesar is Lord. And the Christians refused to do it. They refused to acknowledge the lordship of Caesar. They said Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Listen, the word Lord means boss, owner, master, sovereign. They said there is only one, and that's Jesus Christ. Do you realize that Christians were put to death in the Roman Empire not for being Christians, but because they were classified as traitors to the state? They were guilty of treason against the emperor cult. Did you know that in 30 A.D., Augustus Caesar sent out men all through his empire and they proclaimed this message?
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There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved other than the name of Augustus Caesar. And when Peter in Acts 4 and verse 12 took that very same saying, but he applied it to Christ, he said, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved other than the name of Jesus Christ. It was a declaration of war between Christ and Caesar.
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And thus, Christians were put to death not just simply for being Christians, but because they were counted as traitors and treasonous to the state. Now, for the Christian, we've got to understand that it is idolatry which, above all, constitutes treason to God and treason to our culture and treason to our social order. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to God is treason. Many of you can quote the United States Constitution, Article 3, Section 3, when it says this, treason against the United States consists only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, or giving aid or comfort unto their enemies. But here's my question. What if the enemy of the citizen and the enemy of the Christian turns out to be the state turned traitor against the law of God and its own constitution?
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You see what I'm saying? If we as citizens obey any state, and I'm talking about not just the state of South Carolina or the state of Georgia, we don't have a federal government. If we obey any government, while that government is guilty of idolatry and issuing laws that are contrary to God, then we become idolaters along with that idolatrous government, and we receive part and parcel of the judgment of God. Do you realize?
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The definition of statism that is prevalent among the people in this country today. Statism is just simply the concept that the state is always right. That the state can basically do what it wants to do. Have you ever heard, you can't fight against city hall? Or you can't fight the federal government? Or you can't fight... You know what we're doing? We're saying that the government is God. We're saying that it possesses authority and power above and beyond not only what the Constitution gives it, but above and beyond what the Word of God gives it. And when you ascribe authority and reverence and honor over and above that which God says it deserves, it is idolatry, plain and simple. You see, what most people have not understood is this, that government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood. Government can become an idol. Do you realize all throughout the Bible, and this is very interesting, it was civil government that always led the way in idolatry.
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In fact, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, back to 1 Kings 11. 1 Kings 11. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. I'm going to answer the question for you in just a moment, but I want you to know that it has always been civil governments. It has always been civil rulers in the Bible that pushed and shoved idolatry on the people. Look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. The Bible says, in fact, we're talking about Solomon. Verse 3 says he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Watch verse 4. For it came to pass that when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
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For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, that is an idol or false god, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
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And likewise did he for all his strange wives, who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared unto him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Now I want you to note, it was Solomon that was introducing idolatry into the land. It was the king, it was the civil ruler who was building these false altars and these false gods so that he could worship them. Or at least his wives could, which undoubtedly was incentive for other people to worship them as well.
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Look in your Bibles if you would, please. 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. Here is Jeroboam, beginning there with verse 26. Jeroboam was the first king of Israel. In fact, let's read verse 25, Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein, and went out from thence and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah, whereupon the king took counsel. And he made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
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And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon an altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense."
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Now what in the world had happened? Well, the ten tribes had split. Rehoboam had two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, and the rest Jeroboam had. Jeroboam said, now look, if this people continue to go back down to Jerusalem and worship where the tabernacle was and later where the temple was, if they continue to go down there, then they're going to turn against me and they're going to go back to Rehoboam. What am I going to do? I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to start my own religion. I'll have my own calves. I'll tell the people, these are your gods. I'll have my own priests. I'll have my own feast. I'll have everything. Here is the king who initiated a new idolatrous religion in the land.
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And I might add, practically all of the children of Israel fell for it. A few did not, but most did. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings chapter 21. I'm just showing you. It's kings. It's civil rulers. Who were pushing idolatry? Look in 2 Kings chapter 21. Begin reading there with verse 1. Here we read about Manasseh. If I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Israel was, I would expect you to answer Ahab, for he was. But if I were to ask you who the most wicked king in Judah was, I would expect the answer Manasseh, for he was. And the Bible says in 2 Kings 21 in verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, for he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove, as
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did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them." Watch, "...and he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name." And if you read on down, everything that Manasseh did is exceedingly wicked and idolatrous. He even built altars in the house of the Lord to false gods. He had sodomites in the house of the Lord.
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Everywhere you read in the Scripture, I don't care if it's Old Testament or New Testament, it's the civil rulers that are pushing idolatry upon the people. Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Why is government so prone to idolatry? Why are civil rulers so prone to idolatry? Let me answer that for you. The first answer is this, because government deals with law. Do you realize that all law is inherently religious? There is no such thing as a non-religious law. When Washington, D.C.
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says, we're unbiased in this matter, that's hogwash. When Columbia says, well, we didn't consider anything in this matter, that's hogwash as well. The truth is, all law is inherently religious. Why? Because when a lawmaker makes a law or passes a law or signs for the bill to be made into law, what is happening is this. He places a value judgment upon that law, whether that law is good or bad, whether it's right or wrong.
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And it is his religion that determines rightness and wrongness and goodness and badness. All law is religious. It may not be the Christian religion, but it's religious. All law is inherently religious. And secondly, because it is the nature of government to perpetuate itself. Let me ask you this question. Why did Jeroboam initiate a false religion? I'll tell you why. Because he said, and if you go back, you can read in 1 Kings 12, because he said, it will come to pass.
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If this people continue to go down to Jerusalem, then they will turn again to their lord, Rehoboam, and they'll kill me. What was Jeroboam interested in? Was he interested in the health and the wealth of the people? Was he interested in the blessing of the Lord upon the people? Well, of course not. The only thing that Jeroboam was interested in was himself, preserving his kingdom, preserving his rule, preserving his family.
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Have you ever known a politician that did not want to be re-elected? Have you ever known a politician or a party that did not want to stay in power? Do you realize that parties and politicians will literally do anything to keep their power and their authority? Let me show you that. Look in your Bibles to John chapter 11. Let me show you how far men will go. John chapter 11.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 47. John 11, verse 47. John 11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. That's Jesus Christ. Now watch. The chief priests and the Pharisees are having a meeting. They said, What are we going to do about Christ? Because this man is doing many miracles. We can't deny them. Everybody's seeing them. What are we going to do? Watch verse 48, "...if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our..." What? "...place and our nation." We've got to get rid of Jesus Christ or we're going to lose our power, our authority, and our clout. The chief priests and the Pharisees, the leaders of the people, were willing to crucify the Son of God just so they could stay in power. Do you think for one minute that a politician wouldn't hand you to the wolves to stay in power? He would.
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If they would crucify Christ to keep their power, I can assure you they'd sacrifice a Christian in a heartbeat. Did you notice? In some of the news lately, oh, I'm sure you have it in the mainstream news, but there have been headlines, is being a Christian a hate crime? Read World Net Daily. Read Newsmax. Because the Southern Baptist Convention now has been accused of being hateful because they want to witness to the Jews and to other groups. And thus, they're now being accused of being hate mongers because they think the other people are not saved. Well, I've got news for you folks. Anybody who has not come savingly to Jesus Christ and repented and believed on Him is not saved, period.
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I don't care who he is or where he is or what religious affiliation he has or what denomination he has. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is salvation. And the truth is, politicians will do anything to keep their power and their authority. And then you've got to remember this, and I'll deal with this a little bit more tomorrow night. Because government is power. Because government is authority.
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Corrupt, depraved, wicked men, instead of trying to exercise dominion over God's creation, they want to exercise dominion over other people. Do you remember Genesis 3? What was the serpent's temptation? You shall be as gods.
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Now, if I claim to be a god, to demonstrate my godhood, I have to exercise my control. I have to exercise my power. I have to ask you to bow to me and subject yourself to me. And if you don't, then I'll make you. Because, you see, I'm a god. And unsaved men like to play God.
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Now, I don't know if you caught this a little earlier as we were reading 1 Kings 11. But the Bible said, now it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart. And he then began to build all of these altars to all of these false gods. One of the altars that he built was to Molech. And he did that when he was old. I don't know if you know anything about Molech or not, but let me tell you what Molech is. Molech worship is the worship of the state. It's the worship of the government. Molech, the very name, means king or kingship. And Molech worship is the concept of divine kingship or the king as God. Or as you and I have known in history, the divine right of kings. You see, Molech worship is basically the worship of the state. Solomon had known power like no one else had ever known. But now Solomon is getting old and he's losing his grasp. He's losing his grip.
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And what does he do? Instead of appealing to the sovereign God of heaven and earth who has all power, he now appeals to Molech, the god of the state. You see, Molech worship was a political power manifested in a political religion. And the king became identified with God as he exercised total and complete and absolute power. Thus, Molech worship then is a religion that claims absolutely total jurisdiction over man. Statism, totalitarianism, tyranny, whatever you want to call it, that is Molech worship. Molech worship, or the Molech religion, claims unlimited jurisdiction. It claims to be the total governor of man in its completeness. In other words, the Molech religion claims jurisdiction from the cradle to the grave or from the womb to the tomb. In other words, Molech worship exercises authority over welfare, education, family, business, farming, building.
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You say, oh, come on, Brother Weaver. If you don't believe what I'm saying, you try to do anything that I just suggested without a license and without permission. He said, Bless God, it's my farm. I'll grow whatever I want to grow. Help yourself. You can't sell it unless you sell it by the roadside. Do you realize the agricultural business has been so sewed up ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt? It is unbelievable. A farmer can't plant what he wants to plant, nor can he plant as much as he wants to plant. He has to plant what the government gives him his quota for. The farmer can't sit back and say, ha, I think there's going to be a need next year for peanuts. Instead of planting 100 acres, I'm going to plant 500 acres of peanuts. No, no, no. He only has the quota for 85 acres, and that's all he can plant. It's absolutely, totally controlled by the government.
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Let me show you how far we are. I have a pastor friend. He was in Texas. In fact, he still is in Texas. They used to have their church service early in the morning. And every family would bring a picnic lunch, extra sandwiches. And then they would go out downtown into the homeless area. They would get all the homeless folks, the derelicts, the drunks, everybody they could get there, and they would share their picnic lunch with them. They would give them the sandwiches. And then he would get up and preach to them.
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Well, this went on for several months until one day the city health inspector happened to drive by and he saw these people sharing all this food with these homeless people. And so he stopped and wanted to know where their permit was. Had they obtained a license? And my pastor friend said, the only license I need is the authority of the Word of God, and God tells us to do this. No, no, no. He said, in this city, you have to have a special permit. And the permit is only like 25 bucks. But unless you have this permit, you can't feed these people. This food has not been inspected. We don't know whether it's good or whether it's not. Well, I'll tell you how hot it got. They came out every week and wrote him citations, and he kept those citations until they amounted to several thousands of dollars. And it looked like there was going to be a big court battle, and he said finally he got them out there again, and he said, you mean to tell me that I can't share this food with this homeless man over here without a license from the city?"
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That's right, sir. He said, let me ask you a question. Suppose I take this food that I have prepared, and my families have prepared, and we dump it in the garbage can, and we walk off, and all these homeless folks come up here then, and they fish down in the garbage can, and they get it out and eat it. Well, he said, you don't need a license for that. That's just them doing it. So the next week, he had garbage cans there full of food, and he says, this is the food supplied by the city. It was trash food. And then he had all this other food over here on the tables. This is the food supplied by such and such that this church, choose whichever one you want. The city was willing for him to eat out of the dumpsters and out of the trash cans, but they weren't willing for anyone to give them some decent and clean food without a permit.
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You see what I'm saying? Do you realize, in Fairfax, Virginia, you can't even cut down a tree in your own yard without permission? That's probably the way it is in some of the areas around here. Let me tell you, I've got to tell you this. There was a young man in Jesup, Georgia. He lived at the edge of the city in the county. He had five acres of land. He had a mobile home on that five acres. And somehow the county health inspector found out the man did not have a septic tank. And so he went out to see the gentleman and he said, sir, he said, I've received a report that you don't have a septic tank. And the man said, Yes, sir, that's true. I don't have one.
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Well, he said, Where do you go to the bathroom? He said, Out in my woods. He said, It's just me. There's nobody around but me. He said, I'm not married, don't have any children. Well, the inspector said, You can't do that. He said, What do you mean I can't do that? I've done it for years. I was born and raised that way. People did it in this country for years. Why cannot? He said, well, you don't understand.
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We've got ordinances and you have to have a septic tank. The man said, no sir, you don't understand. I'm willing to have a septic tank. I'm willing to have one. I want one. I'd much rather have an indoor toilet, he said. But I'm one of these unique people that believes that you have to have cash. I don't go in debt for anything. He said, I paid cash for this land. I paid cash for this trailer. He said, and when I save up enough money, he said, I'm going to put in a septic tank so you don't have to worry about that. That county health inspector said, no, you don't understand. Unless you have one in, you can't live in this house and you can't live on this land.
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The boy said, you mean to tell me? I can't live on this land and can't have this house, can't even go to the bathroom in my own woods. County health inspector said, that's right. That young boy said, you mean to tell me? I served those years in Vietnam. I got wounded twice. He said, I'm still carrying shrapnel around in my body. You mean to tell me that I fought for a country, that I can't even go to the woods and go to the bathroom in my own woods? He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll get my rifle out of the closet right now and I'll blow your brains out. You get off my property right now. And he jumped up to get the rifle. And guess what? The county health inspector left and never went back. Now, I'm not recommending that. I'm just telling you that's how far we've come in this country. You mean to tell me a man out in the country, where did people go to the bathroom before there were bathrooms?
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Of course there were rules for sanitation in the Bible. But you see what I'm saying? You've got to have a permit. Do you realize you cannot even put a septic tank down unless you've got a permit? And if your ground will not pass the percolation test, you can't put one down, even if you've already bought the ground. You see, we've gotten this thing so far out of proportion.
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The state, the civil government, is always limited by the Word of God. God is the one that ordains civil government. Just read Romans 13. God is the one that prescribes the limits and the boundaries of government, not man. Government is not God. Government cannot do whatever it wants to do. And when you and I try to say that the government has absolute power, then we're ascribing deity to government. We've become idolaters. Government is limited, not only by the Word of God, but in our country, it's limited by the Constitution. Unhappily, most of us don't even know the Constitution or the Bible, and consequently, we let them get away with everything. I had a run-in with a bureaucrat who represented the state of Georgia.
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We had had numerous interviews. That's the nice way of saying confrontations. And finally, after we had written letter after letter, we decided we were going to have one more meeting and try to settle it. So I set up the meeting. He came to my office with his associate. I had the tape recorder on my desk. I had seven or eight of my men sitting around. And I started a tape recorder, always record anything when I'm dealing with a bureaucrat.
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So he began, he said, now, Pastor Weaver. He said, I did not come here today to argue theology with you. I said, well, I'm glad. I said, I'm thankful to hear that. I said, because I don't think you're quite able to argue theology. And I wasn't being unkind, I was just being truthful. I said, but sir, I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. I have so many constitutional objections to what you're trying to do to this church and to this ministry.
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I will forego the theological arguments. I said, here's the deal I'll make with you. I will not bring up theology if you do not bring it up. But I said, the minute you bring up theology, I want to take the absolute right to argue with you and prove you wrong from the Word of God. Do you know that conversation did not last five minutes? Before one of the men.
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Said, Sir, let me ask you a question, and he asked the question. And when that bureaucrat began to answer, here are his exact words. Exactly. He said, well, you see, sir, the state in its infinite wisdom. And when he said that, I hit my desk. I jumped up. I said, sir, you told me you were not going to argue theology. And I mean, man, his eyes bugged out and his mouth fell open.
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I said, you just brought up a theological proposition. I said, you just said the state in its infinite wisdom. I said, infinity is an attribute of God. I said, God alone is infinite, not man, not government. I said, the problem is this. We serve two different gods. You worship the state. I worship Jesus Christ. There is never, ever going to be an agreement between us as long as you think government is God and I believe Jesus Christ is God.
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Do you realize that conversation and that meeting ended rather quickly after that? Just in the last month or so, I had another bureaucrat. Thankfully, there were witnesses because I was caught in an emergency situation and had no tape recorder with me, but I did have witnesses. And I confronted him. I said, the state will not allow this. He looked at me and here is what he said with fire in his eyes, I am the state and I can do whatever I want. I said, sir, I don't believe you are the state and I don't believe you can do whatever you want and I'll tell you what, you better leave these premises and don't ever, ever, ever come back on this property again or you'll be in trouble. Folks, let me tell you something. The state is not God. God is God.
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We are not to fear other gods. We are to fear only the one true and the living God. Go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings, chapter 17. Why did Israel get into trouble? Look at it. 2 Kings, chapter 17, verse 7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now, God now was chastising. God was punishing Israel because they feared other gods. They did not fear the one true, the living God. They feared false gods.
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Now, let me ask you a question. What in the world does it mean to fear a false God? What does it mean to fear the one true, the living God? Well, let me answer that for you. See, when we're talking about fear in the Bible, there's two different types of fear. There is that fear of punishment. There is that fear of hell, which you and I would call. But that's not the fear that God is talking about here. There is a filial fear. There is a reverential fear. There is a fear that acknowledges that God is the absolute sovereign. And that fear leads us to a loving obedience.
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For instance, look in your Bibles. Hold 2 Kings 17. Look in your Bibles very quickly to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16. And then we'll go to Job 28. Look in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 6. And I'm particularly interested in the latter part of the verse. Look what he says. Proverbs 16 verse 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
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What is it that makes a man cease from his wicked, rebellious, disobedient, ungodly activities and ways? He fears God. All of a sudden now, he realizes that God is not only all-powerful, but that God is the loving, majestic Heavenly Father, and he ought to fear Him, thus he ought to obey Him. Look in your Bibles to the book of Job 28. If you have not underlined this verse, you ought to do it. If you have not memorized this verse, you ought to do it. Job 28. And unto man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. What in the world is the fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord is when we depart from evil, we depart from wickedness, and we turn to God and in loving affection embrace Him and obey Him. What do you do when you fear false gods? You obey them. You worship them. Now go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17 and look at verse 7 again.
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And then we're going to tie it together with verse 8. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, watch, and walked in the statutes of the heathen. What is fearing other gods? Walking in their laws. The heathen were worshiping false gods. They had laws that were in line with their false worship and the worship of their false god, and they were obeying those laws. Watch now, "...and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made."
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Now, let me prove something to you before I show you two things. Look in your Bibles to verse 13. Same chapter, 2 Kings chapter 17. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God." What are they doing? When you fear other gods, you are leaving the commandments of the one true and the living God, and you're obeying the false god.
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You're turning your back on the one true and living God and obeying the false God. Now, why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Here's two reasons. Notice, if you would please, the first one in verse 8 is they walked in the statutes of the heathen, that is, they feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Then he says, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. In other words, the kings of Israel had made statutes and made laws much like the heathen kings."
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Now, let me see if I understand this right. Are you listening? God is going to send the children of Israel into captivity for obeying their civil rulers. That's exactly what He's saying. You obeyed the laws of these heathen kings and of the kings of Israel which they made. You obeyed their laws, and their laws were contrary to My law. God sent them into captivity because they obeyed the laws of the land. Look in 2 Kings 18, verse 12.
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In fact, let's read verse 11. You can see it in the context. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria and put them in Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan in the cities of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded them, and would not hear them nor do them. So they quit obeying God and obeyed man. And God sent them into captivity because they obeyed man's laws and not God's laws.
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Now, look back in 2 Kings, chapter 17, in verse 21. And let me show you something that is said about Jeroboam. For he rent Israel, that is, God rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them sin a great sin. He drove them away. The word drave there, in the Hebrew, is nidachah, which literally means he thrust them out, he banished them. So, Jeroboam willingly, freely drove Israel from following the Lord. He drove them away from God. How did he drive them away from God? By taking them away from God's law and giving them his law. By taking them away from the true worship of God and giving them an idolatrous worship. Look in your Bibles to 2 Kings 21 in verse 9. 2 Kings 21 in verse 9.
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In fact, verses 10 and 11 will explain this.
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2 Kings 21, verse 9, here's Manasseh, the most wicked king in Judah. But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. Now, how in the world did the king seduce the people to do evil? And the Lord spake by His servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all the Amorites did which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols." What did he do?
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He instituted a false religion and undoubtedly passed laws which would favor those who worshiped with him and would be contrary to those who refused. And so he seduced them. And here's somebody, listen, we're in this same situation today in America. Here's a man who wants to do what's right. He wants to obey God. He wants to honor God. But the laws of the land are so we can't do what we know we ought to do because if we do, we know we're going to get in trouble with the government.
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The IRS will be sicked on us or the state will be sicked on us. And what are we doing? We're vacillating. And what we're actually being doing is seduced away from the worship and the service and the laws of the one true and the living God. Because the pressure that's being put upon us by false government, most of us have forgotten that idolatry and sin many times comes under the color of law. Look in your Bibles. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 94 and verse 20. Psalm 94. Verse 20. Look at this amazing verse. Psalm 94, verse 20. Here's a question. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? Now let's try to analyze this verse. Shall the throne, so we're talking about a government. We're talking about a power. A throne speaks of government. Secondly, it's called a throne of iniquity. That means it's a wicked civil government. So the question is, shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with thee, that is with God, when that wicked civil government frameth mischief by a law, or let me paraphrase it where you'll understand what the Hebrew is saying, when that wicked civil government makes sin legal.
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Mischief is another word in the Hebrew for sin. In other words, they make sin lawful. You see, it's lawful to murder in this country, as long as you do it before the baby's born. It's lawful to steal as long as you're a politician. It's lawful to be a sodomite. You see what I'm saying? Government is making sin legal. Now here's the question. Shall that wicked civil government have fellowship with God which makes sin legal? What's the answer? No. No. It's not in fellowship with God. It's contrary to God. And when you and I take the attitude, well, that's the government.
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It can do whatever it wants to do. No, it cannot. When we take that attitude, however, that it can, we're guilty of idolatry. We are ascribing power and authority to government that God never, ever gave it. If you look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1. And I could fill another hour up with illustrations. This one will be sufficient. We'll look at Exodus chapter 1, verse 16. In fact, verse 15, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other, Puah. And he said, When you do the office of midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then you shall kill him.
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But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God. What does that mean? It means they obeyed God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very great. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses." Now, here these two Hebrew midwives had two sets of commands. One from God, thou shalt not kill. One from the high civil ruling land, thou shalt kill. What determined which set of laws they obeyed? The fact that they feared God.
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That is, they reverenced Him. They worshipped Him. They knew that His law was greater than man's law, and thus they refused to obey the law of man. And God blessed them. God rewarded them because they stood by God and His law.
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Now, had the two Hebrew midwives gone with Pharaoh, then they would have been idolaters and brought upon themselves the judgment and the curse of God along with the house of Pharaoh. For they feared God. Acts 5 in verse 29 really sums up everything that I'm trying to say. You know what Peter and the other disciples said to the rulers? We ought to obey God rather than man. When the civil rulers tried to get Peter and the other disciples to go contrary to God and His Word, his response was, we ought to obey God rather than man.
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Let me tell you something, folks. It is quickly coming in our country, as it did in the first century in the Roman Empire. We're going to be faced with a soul-trying question. Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord? Who has the ultimate authority? Who has the right to dictate and to rule our lives, God or government? The question that was so crucial in the first century, who is Lord, has come full circle. In this century, it's the same question. Who is Lord? And we better understand God said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, I am the Lord, and besides me there is none other, and my glory will I not share with another. We cannot acknowledge government as God. Government is nothing more than a servant of God. He was created by God to be his deacon, according to Romans 13.
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to be His avenger, to be His public worship. Government is nothing more than a servant, any more than we are. And just as God has defined and limited the family and defined and limited the church, likewise He's defined and limited the government. There's only one God. And to ascribe the attributes of God to the state is to become an idolater. Only God is infinite. Only God is sovereign. Only God has total jurisdiction. Only God has all authority in heaven and earth. Let's pray.
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Father, we are thankful today for Jesus Christ. And we acknowledge tonight His Lordship, His sovereignty, His greatness and His glory. And we do ask You, Father, for courage to stand in these trying times. As the Apostle Paul says, in having done all, to stand. We ask for Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:26:01Z

Biblical Methods of Dealing with Tyrants

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that idolatry is any attempt to substitute man's will, word, or law for God's, and that civil government is especially prone to this sin. Using 2 Kings 17 and other passages, he shows that Israel was judged for obeying idolatrous laws of their rulers. He warns that modern statism is a form of Molech worship, and that Christians must fear God rather than government, obeying God's law even when it conflicts with man's law.

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver opens with a reading of 2 Kings 17:1-23 and Exodus 20:1-3, setting the stage for a discussion on idolatry and its consequences.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 17:1-23

heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. And they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, 'You shall not do this thing.' Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, 'Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.' Notwithstanding, they would

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:1-3

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

The Broad Definition of Idolatry

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 5:5

"...for this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

Treason: Against God or the State?

Government as an Idol

Statism, the belief that the state is always right, is idolatry. Throughout Scripture, civil rulers led the people into idolatry, as seen in Solomon, Jeroboam, and Manasseh.

Why Government is Prone to Idolatry

Government deals with law, which is inherently religious, and it seeks to perpetuate its own power. Politicians will sacrifice truth and even Christ to maintain authority, as seen in John 11:47-48.

Scripture Reading — John 11:47-48

"...if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our..."

Molech Worship as Statism

The Fear of God vs. Fear of False Gods

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 17:7-8, 13-16

Now, let me prove something to you before I show you two things. Look in your Bibles to verse 13. Same chapter, 2 Kings chapter 17. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God." What are they doing? When you fear other gods, you are leaving the commandments of the one true and the living God, and you're obeying the false god.

Obedience to God Over Man

Using the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 and Acts 5:29, Weaver concludes that Christians must obey God rather than man when laws conflict. The ultimate question is 'Who is Lord?'

Biblical Methods of Dealing with Tyrants

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	11130212230
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government
Genre	Sermon
Date	1999-12-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 3
Source Timed Segments	76

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Scripture Reading: Weaver opens with a reading of 2 Kings 17:1-23 and Exodus 20:1-3, setting the stage for a discussion on idolatry and its consequences.
The Broad Definition of Idolatry: Idolatry is defined not only as bowing to images but as any attempt to be governed by one's own word, will, or law instead of God's. Covetousness is explicitly called idolatry in Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5.
Treason: Against God or the State?: Weaver contrasts the biblical view of treason as unfaithfulness to God with the Roman Empire's definition of treason as refusal to worship Caesar. Christians were martyred for declaring 'Jesus is Lord' rather than 'Caesar is Lord.'
Government as an Idol: Statism, the belief that the state is always right, is idolatry. Throughout Scripture, civil rulers led the people into idolatry, as seen in Solomon, Jeroboam, and Manasseh.
Why Government is Prone to Idolatry: Government deals with law, which is inherently religious, and it seeks to perpetuate its own power. Politicians will sacrifice truth and even Christ to maintain authority, as seen in John 11:47-48.
Molech Worship as Statism: Molech worship represents the worship of the state, claiming total jurisdiction over every area of life. Modern examples include government overreach in agriculture, feeding the homeless, and property rights.
The Fear of God vs. Fear of False Gods: To fear God is to depart from evil and obey His commandments. Israel was judged because they feared other gods and walked in the statutes of the heathen and their own kings, obeying man's laws instead of God's.
Obedience to God Over Man: Using the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 and Acts 5:29, Weaver concludes that Christians must obey God rather than man when laws conflict. The ultimate question is 'Who is Lord?'

Major Themes

Key Arguments

All law is inherently religious

Every law reflects a value judgment based on the lawmaker's religion, making government inherently prone to idolatry.

Weaver argues: 'All law is inherently religious. Why? Because when a lawmaker makes a law... he places a value judgment upon that law... And it is his religion that determines rightness and wrongness.'

Government perpetuates itself through idolatry

Civil rulers introduce false religions and laws to maintain power, as seen in Jeroboam and the Pharisees.

Weaver notes: 'Jeroboam said... If this people continue to go down to Jerusalem, then they will turn again to their lord, Rehoboam, and they'll kill me.'

Israel was judged for obeying idolatrous laws

God sent Israel into captivity because they obeyed the statutes of heathen kings and their own kings instead of God's law.

Weaver states: 'God is going to send the children of Israel into captivity for obeying their civil rulers.'

Sin can be made legal by government

Psalm 94:20 shows that wicked governments can frame mischief by law, making sin legal, but such governments are not in fellowship with God.

Weaver paraphrases: 'when that wicked civil government makes sin legal.'

Christians must fear God, not government

The fear of God leads to obedience to His law, even when it means disobeying civil authorities, as demonstrated by the Hebrew midwives.

Weaver says: 'the midwives feared God... they obeyed God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them.'

Scripture References

2 Kings 17:1-23: Read at the opening to show Israel's idolatry and captivity for obeying heathen statutes and their own kings' laws.
Exodus 20:1-3: Cited to establish the prohibition of idolatry as the first commandment.
Ephesians 5:5: Used to show that covetousness is idolatry, broadening the definition.
Colossians 3:5: Reinforces that covetousness is idolatry.
1 Kings 11:4-8: Solomon's idolatry as an example of a civil ruler leading the people into false worship.
1 Kings 12:26-33: Jeroboam's institution of idolatrous worship to preserve his kingdom.
2 Kings 21:1-9: Manasseh's extreme idolatry and seduction of Judah.
John 11:47-48: The chief priests and Pharisees plot to kill Jesus to preserve their power and nation.
Proverbs 16:6: By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
Job 28:28: The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.
2 Kings 17:7-8, 13-16: Israel feared other gods and walked in heathen statutes, rejecting God's law.
2 Kings 18:11-12: Israel was carried away because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord.
2 Kings 17:21: Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord.
2 Kings 21:9-11: Manasseh seduced Judah to do more evil than the nations.
Psalm 94:20: Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with God, which frames mischief by a law?
Exodus 1:15-21: The Hebrew midwives feared God and disobeyed Pharaoh's command to kill male infants.
Acts 5:29: We ought to obey God rather than man.
Isaiah 42:8: I am the Lord, and my glory will I not share with another.
Romans 13: Government is a servant (deacon) of God, ordained and limited by Him.

Historical References

Roman Empire persecution of Christians: Christians were executed for refusing to swear by the genius of Caesar, being labeled traitors to the state.
Nero's persecution: Nero used Christians as human torches to light his gardens.
Augustus Caesar's proclamation (30 A.D.): Augustus sent messengers proclaiming 'there is none other name under heaven... whereby you must be saved' other than Caesar, which Peter countered in Acts 4:12.
U.S. Constitution, Article 3, Section 3: Definition of treason against the United States, contrasted with biblical treason against God.
Modern government overreach examples: Stories of a pastor fined for feeding the homeless without a permit, a man forced to install a septic tank, and agricultural quotas illustrate Molech worship today.
Southern Baptist Convention accused of hate crime: Mentioned as a recent news item where witnessing to Jews is labeled a hate crime.

Important Quotes

Idolatry really and truly involves any and every attempt by man to be guided by his own word rather than the word of God.

Defines idolatry broadly as self-governance apart from God's revelation.

government can be an idol just as easy as silver and gold or wood.

Identifies civil government as a potential object of idolatrous worship.

All law is inherently religious.

Argues that every law reflects a religious value judgment, making government inherently prone to idolatry.

the state in its infinite wisdom

A bureaucrat's statement that Weaver challenges as ascribing a divine attribute to the state.

I am the state and I can do whatever I want.

A bureaucrat's claim illustrating the idolatrous mindset of total state authority.

by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.

Quoting Proverbs 16:6 to define the fear of God as obedience that turns from sin.

We ought to obey God rather than man.

The apostolic principle for resolving conflicts between divine and human law.

Who is Lord? Is Jesus Christ Lord or is government Lord?

The central question of allegiance that Christians must answer.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does Weaver's broad definition of idolatry challenge common assumptions about what it means to worship false gods?

[Context]

Weaver defines idolatry as any attempt to be governed by one's own word, will, or law instead of God's.

[Question]

In what ways might modern governments exhibit the characteristics of Molech worship described in the sermon?

[Context]

Weaver describes Molech worship as the state claiming total jurisdiction over every area of life.

[Question]

How should Christians respond when civil laws directly contradict God's commands, based on the examples of the Hebrew midwives and the apostles?

[Context]

The midwives feared God and disobeyed Pharaoh; Peter said to obey God rather than man.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'fear God' in the context of civil disobedience, and how does this differ from a fear of punishment?

[Context]

Weaver distinguishes reverential fear that leads to loving obedience from mere fear of punishment.

[Question]

How can Christians discern when government has overstepped its God-given limits and become an idol?

[Context]

Weaver argues that government is limited by God's Word and the Constitution, but most people don't know either.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:25:02Z