Romans 13 in the 21st Century

God will choose 
(Bob Thiel says don't vote for either )

Political leaders are for our good.
(Bob Thiel says watch out!)

They only will give you problems if you are a wrongdoer.

... Says the Apostle Paul


How Do We View Romans 13 in the 21st Century?
( or ever?)

Romans 13New International Version (NIV)

             Submission to Governing Authorities

13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.The authorities that exist have been established by God.

2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. 

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

LCG/UCG, The Azazel Goat and the Book of Enoch

For many decades the Church of God has worked overtime to write about the significance of the Azazel goat in association with the Day of Atonement.  United Church of God, COGWA and Living Church of God pay particular attention to the story.

The church has always associated the Azazel goat with the arch-deacon, Satan.  That "teaching" apparently stems from The Book of Enoch.  Living Church of God teaches a belief from the book, yet they disfellowship people for reading the book.  They use it to support their doctrine yet tell their plebe members that it a heretical book. What a pickle LCG is in!

Living Church of God fails to see that the Azazel Goat association with demons was the major premise in The Book of Enoch and its fallen angels. The very same book that the LCG went ballistic over after it was discovered that some LCG members were reading and discussing it.

For more on the story check out:   Just what do you mean...Atonement?

The United Church of God, another splinter, aptly explains the symbolism Herbert Armstrong attached to the Day of Atonement through the lens of speculative prophecy, for which he was famous. Armstrong claimed that the scapegoat released in the wilderness pictured Satan being be bound and thrown in the bottomless pit, as described in Revelation 20. Removal of the devil would allow man to achieve "at-one-ment" with God, they say.

"This sending away into the desert is part of the reason for translating Azazel as scapegoat, or goat that escapes. But many scholars identify Azazel as the name of a demon inhabiting the wilderness," UCG explains. "It stands to reason that Azazel is one in stark contrast to the Lord—indeed, the ultimate enemy Satan the devil."

This explanation sounds good until you examine the context and timing of Leviticus versus the literature that names Azazel as a demon. The primary source scholars use to support the Azazel theory is the Book of Enoch. Scholars believe the Book of Enoch was written between the 300s B.C. and the first century A.D. because it includes late Aramaic names not present until that time period, according to The Expositor's Bible Commentary. It is likely that the Book of Enoch used Leviticus, which is believed to date to the 1440s B.C., as a source. Not vice-versa. The demon of the wilderness likely got its name from lore related to this ancient ritual, according to both Expositor's and the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon. The ritual did not borrow a name from a figure that appears in literature at least a thousand years later.

Further, the COGs have traditionally rejected non-canonical sources such as the Book of Enoch. In fact, the Living Church of God disfellowshipped members last year for reading and discussing the Book of Enoch. So the Azazel teaching puts the COGs in the precarious position of placing faith in a book that it tells its own members is heretical.

Day of Atonement: Are You Fasting?

Today is the Church of God version of Yom Kippur, Atonement, one of the most holy days for the Jewish people. Various churches are afflicting their bodies today by abstaining from food and drink.  Some COG groups however have already celebrated Atonement a few weeks ago.  As usual the church cannot agree upon anything.

Today the most arrogant and legalistic of the official church Pharisees, James Malm, made the following proclamation on behalf of the self-made creature god he follows.

What does it mean to be “cut off from your people”?  It means that if we do not fast on this day we shall be rejected from being a part of the Covenant people; rejected from being a part of the bride – the Ekklesia of the faithful!

So there you have it.  Because you took a drink of water, had some orange juice or a bagel this morning you are damned to the lake of fire. There is no chance for you now.

A comment from a 2013 posted on this blog had this:

Rather than realizing that the Old Covenant shadows were fulfilled and no longer required to be kept, HWA instilled marketing elements into them to further his own empire and purposes. These marketing elements modified their ancient Jewish significance by injecting Herbert Armstrong's exclusionary Revelation-based understanding of Jesus' nature and personality into them. He also tainted them with his non-Holy Spirit motivated "government from the top down" and British Israelism.

Probably the Jews and Messianics in temple today are receiving better, more accurate insights into these shadows. In most of the ACOGs, unfortunately, chauvinism is being created and nurtured.

Relive those fun days by listening to this:

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