Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Some counties in New Mexico have stirred the pot, declaring themselves “sanctuary counties” in defiance of anticipated gun-control laws coming down from Santa Fe.
This tactic is not new, even recently in America, as we have also seen “sanctuary cities” defying federal immigration laws; and, Colorado declaring federal marijuana laws null and void in its state.
In response, some have spoken up and suggested that these lower levels of government have no business opposing the bigger, higher government. Shut up and do what you’re told.
As always, I urge Christians to ask the one, truly vital question when trying to evaluate these developments. That is, “What does the Bible say?”
It may surprise readers to learn that the Scripture addresses this issue repeatedly. It develops what has come to be known as the “Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate.”
The Bible never suggests that anyone owes blind, unthinking obedience to anyone else, so let’s dispense with that nonsense from the get-go. Instead, what we find in multiple instances is this: When a higher magistrate (or, government official) makes a law that is unjust or injurious to the people, the lesser/lower official has the duty to protect the people from injustice, by taking a stand between them and the errant, higher official.
In a nutshell, that’s the lesser magistrate teaching.
If you know your Bible, stories are probably already bubbling to the surface for you. You could write the rest of this column yourself. Below are some such stories that immediately present themselves.
In 1 Kings 18:1-15, Obadiah was an official in King Ahab’s court. When the queen sought to massacre all the servants of God, Obadiah took 100 of God’s prophets and hid them in two caves, keeping them alive during a famine with his own resources. He didn’t just do what he was told. He risked his life for the sake of standing up to murderous injustice.
Similarly, in Jeremiah 38, the disobedient king allowed the prophet, Jeremiah, to be lowered into a pit, in which he would die slowly. A lower official, a servant of the king named Ebed Melech, intervened and pled for Jeremiah, saving his life.
The Philippian jailer in Acts 10 removed Paul and Silas from prison on his own initiative, in defiance of the orders that had put them there.
The entire book of Esther builds to a climax in which she, as a trophy-wife sort of queen, took a courageous stand against the plans of wicked Haman, who was the second-most powerful person in the empire. She saved her whole nation by refusing to “go along to get along.”
I have a list of nearly three dozen more instances in which the good guys in the Bible took it upon themselves to stand in the gap between a villain and his innocent targets.
Three dozen.
This is not some obscure teaching, but is sitting there in plain sight. Why is this not taught in our churches?
The last thing we need is local officials who simply do what they’re told. (The Nazi guards at the concentration camps all did that.) We need them to do what’s right, both by the Constitution they’ve sworn to uphold and by God.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: