Page 65 - To Be Like Jesus (2004)

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Obey God, the Supreme Authority, February 22
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey
God rather than men.”
Acts 5:29
, NKJV.
The principle for which the disciples stood so fearlessly when, in answer to the
command not to speak any more in the name of Jesus, they declared, “Whether
it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge
ye,” is the same that the adherents of the gospel struggled to maintain in the days
of the Reformation. When in 1529 the German princes assembled at the Diet of
Spires, there was presented the emperor’s decree restricting religious liberty, and
prohibiting all further dissemination of the reformed doctrines. It seemed that the
hope of the world was about to be crushed out. Would the princes accept the decree?
Should the light of the gospel be shut out from the multitudes still in darkness?
Mighty issues for the world were at stake. Those who had accepted the reformed
faith met together, and their unanimous decision was, “Let us reject this decree. In
matters of conscience the majority has no power” (Merle d’Aubigné,
History of
the Reformation, book 13, chap. 5
).
This principle we in our day are firmly to maintain. The banner of truth and
religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by God’s
witnesses during the centuries that have passed since then, has, in this last conflict,
been committed to our hands. The responsibility for this great gift rests with those
whom God has blessed with a knowledge of His Word. We are to receive this Word
as supreme authority. We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of
divine appointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within its legitimate
sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God
rather than human beings. God’s Word must be recognized as above all human
legislation. A “Thus saith the Lord” is not to be set aside for a “Thus saith the
church” or a “Thus saith the state.” The crown of Christ is to be lifted above the
diadems of earthly potentates....
We are not to say or do anything that would unnecessarily close up our way.
We are to go forward in Christ’s name, advocating the truths committed to us. If
we are forbidden by others to do this work, then we may say, as did the apostles, ...
“We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (
Acts 4:20
).—
The
Acts of the Apostles, 68, 69
.
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