Romans 12:17-19 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; providing that which is good before all men. If possible, as much as depends on you, keeping peace with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
I want you to pay special attention to the end of Romans 12. Remember these words in relation to what Romans 13 actually means, “Vengeance is mine saith the LORD”.
Romans 13:1-4 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (My emphasis only)
They have pulled out Romans 13 as their weapon against Christians and “Churches” who do not adhere to what the government is telling them to do. Romans 13 limits the power and reach of governments. That is the bottomline of Romans 13. The question you should ask, according to Romans 13, has your government applied what Paul is saying or do they have a history with over reaching their authority and boundaries?
Is this government “a terror to good works”? That is the question that Paul is asking. If it is then obey your government. If it isn’t, well you then have a problem. Is your present government a terror unto good works? Answer that, then you have your answer about Romans 13. It is funny how verse 3 always gets left out when quoted by these government proponents.
“It has no power or authority to terrorize good works or good people. God never gave it that authority. And any government that oversteps that divine boundary has no divine authority or protection. Civil government is a “minister of God to thee for good.” It is a not a minister of God for evil. Civil magistrates have a divine duty to “execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” They have no authority to execute wrath upon him that doeth good. None. Zilch. Zero. And anyone who says they do is lying. So, even in the midst of telling Christians to submit to civil authority, Romans Chapter 13 limits the power and reach of civil authority.”
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-limits-of-submission-to-man
Does Romans 13 apply here?
Daniel 6:7 All who preside over your kingdom, captains and satraps, chiefs and local governors, have taken counsel together, to establish by a royal statute, and to confirm a decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except for you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
If you pray to any God other than Darius in 30 days according to this royal decree executive order, you will be thrown into the lions den. Is this in accordance to Romans 13? No. It is a terror unto good works.
In some context here, Paul wrote this from prison to the Roman Christians right before his death. He couldn’t come out and say, “listen people, we know Rome and Caeser are wicked, that’s obvious here. But I can’t say what they really are because than this letter wont ever get to you. So let me tell you what GOD honors in governing and if this is contradicting what we see in Rome…well there you have it.” Just after this letter Paul was beheaded by Rome. Terror unto good works? Yes. Paul gave you the answer to your question. Paul knew and so should we.
Romans 13 is a snare to those who don’t understand it. But let me make this clear. To the tax exempt 501c3 church, none of this applies. They are part of this establishment that is yoked to this modern day Ceaser. Romans 13 does not apply to them. They have left their first love for a little extra money at the beginning of the year. The Body of Christ is a living organism made of believers, not a for walled world corporate machine. This needs to be made clear.
The churches or should I say so called churches didn’t need to be closed down by their respected states. If you notice, they did it on their own. They didn’t need Ceaser to come in and shut their doors. They knew they would be on the NON-ESSENTIAL list with parks and your local bakery. How sad is that? And now you see churches thinking they have a pot to piss in and are filing lawsuits against states. I think their lawyers need to remind them of their binding agreement in the form of a nine digit IRS number that was given to them.
As of writing this, 3 churches in California are suing the state for freedom of religion. I can tell you for a fact that 2 of the 3 plaintiffs as of right now are 501c3 status. I’m still waiting for a reply back from one (I will update this as I find out). So ESSENTIALLY they have already lost. This is their no pot to piss in moment.
Ironically this tax exempt 501c3 bill came into play in 1954 by a Texas Senator named Lyndon B. Johnson. “This did not happen by accident, but by design, and it is something of relatively recent design. Churches were added to IRS Code § 501c3 in 1954. All one need do is analyze who is responsible for sponsoring the congressional bill to include churches in § 501c3 and it should become apparent that his agenda was not to empower the church, but to silence the church.” Link
If you are curious if a certain church in America has this status, then go here: https://www.taxexemptworld.com/
Hidden in the Crag 
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