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Amen. Romans chapter 13. Well, we're going to be talking about government, and specifically here in Romans chapter number 13, we have some delineations about government and how they're ordained and they're chosen of God. And the title of my sermon this evening is the problems with democracy, the problems with democracy. And I want to just give you a quick idea of what democracy even is, so therefore we can all be on the same page. But if you look at democracy from a dictionary definition or you try to understand it from what people say, democracy is essentially where the majority of the people or just the people as a whole are in authority. They're in control of whatever club, country, state, it doesn't matter exactly what the organization is, but for our purposes, let's say America, if everybody in the United States were in control, that would be a true democracy. Now, the thing about a democracy is in order to make this more efficient, a lot of times they have elected representatives that are on their behalf, representing them as a group of people. So therefore it's not all 300 million people necessarily that are in control. They have certain representatives. Now, America is not a democracy by true definition. It's actually a republic. Now, what's the difference between a republic and a democracy? Well, if you look up a republic, it's going to say the exact same definition essentially, where you have the majority in control, have representatives that are representing them. But here's the slight difference. The slight difference between a republic and a democracy is a republic also contains a constitution, which is supposed to protect the rights of the minority from the majority. Because somebody I've heard this said, I think it's a great way to define democracy. Democracy is two wolves and one lamb voting on what's for dinner. And so theoretically the republic would have a constitution that goes along with that and they would make up laws and they would say, well, you can't eat any of the members. And so the lamb feels really safe. And then the two wolves vote that the lamb's no longer member. Oh, it's so much safer. Well, yeah, you think that, but it's not really any different. Okay. So that's basically the difference between a republic and democracy from a dictionary definition or perspective. Supposedly America is a democratic republic. Okay. Where we have certain elected representatives that represent certain States and they go on our behalf and they make decisions for our country. They pass laws and they're supposed to uphold the constitution to protect minority groups from the majority trampling over their rights. Now it sounds pretty good. Some of the things about a democracy sound good, but there are problems with democracy and I have three problems that I want to identify for you this evening. The first is that it's not biblical. Now this should always be something we consider anything that we believe, anything that we invest in, anything that we triumphed, we should consider. Is this even biblical? Is a democracy, a biblical construct? Is this something we see modeled for us in the scriptures, in the Bible? And the answer is clearly no, this is not a picture in the Bible. Now look at verse one. What does the Bible say? Let every soul be subject under the higher powers for there is no power, but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Now let's fix it on this verse for a moment in a democracy who's in control everyone, but wait a minute. This said that we're supposed to be subject unto the higher powers. That would mean that someone is a control in a hierarchy system, not everyone. It doesn't say let everyone be in control. It says, no, be subject unto the higher powers. So in fact, the Bible models for us a true government or a true authority structure that's biblical. And that is of someone in charge, someone that's ruling. And we understand this from a biblical perspective is God the father. God, the father is in control. He is a soul monarch. He is the one in control. He's the only authority that exists and everything below him is in subjection to God the father. Look at verse two. Whosoever therefore resist the power, resist 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. Wherefore he must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Now we also have to understand while a democracy governmental structure is not a biblical structure, that does not mean that we should just completely revolt against the democracy or a public that we have over us. We're still supposed to be subject unto the authorities that God is allowing to be present. So what you have to understand is you have to get two concepts in your mind. First of all, is something biblical? Okay, no. But do I still have to submit unto them? Yes. Okay. Do I still have to submit to the United States government as far as, you know, from a legal perspective or from a citizen perspective? Yes, I'm supposed to be subject unto this. God has ordained and chosen for me to be subject unto that human government. But that does not mean that every human government system is a biblical system. There are all kinds of wide ranging governments in this earth. You say, are they biblical? No, none of them are. But at the end of the day, God has still chosen them to exist for the punishment of evildoers, for there to be some kind of order. And so while I can look at the United States and say, our democracy is flawed, it has major problems. I still have to submit myself under that governmental structure. Okay, now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's talk about these higher powers. Let's talk about a biblical government structure or how God would have things to be ordained. First of all, everything within the Godhead already models this for us. Now he said to be subject unto the higher powers. That first person at the top of the food chain is God the Father. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is going to give us some indication of that. Let's look at verse number 22. Verse 22, the Bible reads, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming, then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. So it's saying, Jesus Christ is going to be over everything. He's going to be the ruler and Lord over everything. But it's just like he has this caveat and he says, but it's obvious that God the Father is not subject unto the Son. And then even clarifies even further, verse 28, and when all things shall be subdued unto him, meaning the Son, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be in all in all. So we have an authority structure from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father is in control and the Son is subject unto the Father. Notice even within God, there is not a democracy. There is no democracy. It's not them three making decisions. It's whatever God the Father decrees or commands, the Son is subject unto the Father's commandment. Let's prove this further. Flip back to chapter 11 and look at verse number three. The Bible says, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. So notice that authority structure being defined for us again, how Christ has his head. His authority structure is God the Father. Go to John chapter 15, John chapter number 15, Jesus Christ subjects himself unto God the Father, just like we're supposed to obey our earthly father, Jesus Christ is obedient and then subjection to his father, God the Father. Now it says in John chapter 15, look at verse 10. If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Notice Jesus Christ was on this earth. He wasn't doing things of his own will and own accord. He was simply following the commandments of God the Father. He was following his instructions. Go to chapter 16, look at verse 13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you in all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things that come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. So we see that Jesus Christ is subject unto God the Father, but then we see another more subtle layer here of the Holy Ghost. And the Bible teaches that the Holy Ghost does not speak of himself, but rather he can only show you that which Jesus Christ hath. So Jesus Christ came here, he preached the word of God, he is the word of God, and the Holy Ghost does not exercise his will in that regard of speaking. He only speaks that which is of Jesus Christ. He brings things into remembrance. He does not speak of himself. Now what does that sound like? It sounds like subjection to me. Imagine if I said I can't say anything of myself. I can only speak that which Jesus Christ is or has said. That's a layer of subjection. So we have God the Father, we have the Son, we have the Holy Ghost, and within God there's an authority chain of command. We don't see a democracy. This is not a biblical concept. Now go to Numbers chapter 14. What if democracy was a biblical concept? Well, a lot of stories in the Bible would have been different. But democracy ruins things. Democracy destroys things, and it's not something that we should submit to in a sense of if we have a choice whether or not we're going to set up some kind of organization or structure, we're not going to put it into a democracy type government. That's not a biblical construct. And I've seen churches, they would attack a church like ours, our governmental structure, and they would say, well, we have a more biblical structure because we have a elected group of officials called deacons, and they represent us on their behalf, and they make all the rules. It's more like the American government. It's not like the Bible though. The Bible doesn't have elected officials that are representing the congregation. It doesn't have a group of deacons or so-called elders or any, I don't care what you call it, council or whatever. Now, why would you not want that? Well, let's look at some examples of the Bible. Numbers chapter 14, look at verse 1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness? Wherefore hath the Lord brought us under this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were not better for us to return in Egypt? And they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return in Egypt. Here's your democracy. What do they want to do? They want to get a representative to take them back to Egypt, but that's not a biblical construct. No, Moses is there to say, no, Moses is the man in charge because he was ordained of God. And he is going to put the squash on such a rebellious attitude. Look, if the children of Israel were a democracy, they would have destroyed themselves way long ago. It makes me think of judges. Put the judges for a second. Let's just look at two verses. This is what democracy is in the book of judges. And the Bible has a couple phrases in here that really give you the essence of democracy. But look at Judges chapter 17 verse six. In those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. That's what democracy is. There is no leadership. There is nobody in charge. There's no one making decisions. Everybody just does their own thing. And it's chaos. It's anarchy. And every time men are doing this in the book of Judges, they're heavily oppressed. There's all kinds of evil and wickedness. No, you need strong leadership and you need biblically ordained leadership. That is the correct model. Look at chapter 21 and look at verse 25. Look at chapter 21 verse 25. Look what the Bible says, the last verse of Judges. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. So notice how it finishes the book of Judges. It shows you a complete disaster of government, a complete disaster of the children of Israel, them doing nothing for God. They have a judge risen up and when that one man's in charge, when that one man's leading them, things go well. As soon as he's gone, just every man does that which is right in his own eyes and it's chaos. It's all kinds of oppression, evil and wickedness. Why? Because democracy is not biblical. I can show you some examples of democracy in the book of Judges. For the sake of time, I don't really want to go through those because we'll go through them in more detail in our Wednesday night Bible study. But you can see the group making horrible decisions throughout the book of Judges. You can find all other places in the Bible. Whenever there's a council brought together, what do they want to do? Crucify Jesus Christ. Tell people they can't preach in his name. It's a bad construct and we don't want to subscribe to this. Go to 1 John chapter 5. Let me get to my second point. Now you say, why does democracy not work Pastor Shelley? Because it sounds good. Why not let everybody be in control? Why not give everybody a vote? Why not let everybody be represented Pastor Shelley? Let me give you a really clear answer. Because the majority are bad. Because the majority are bad. That's why democracy is a flawed system. If everyone were good, it might have a chance, but it's not a biblical construct and the majority are not good. And even within the Godhead, they're all good. Yet there's still an authority structure, isn't there? There's not a democracy. And look what it says in 1 John chapter 5 verse 19. And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. The whole world lieth in wickedness. Now you explain to me why I should be so excited that we live in America where a huge nation of wickedness gets to be in control. You know what our laws are going to look like? Wickedness. Isn't that what we see today? I mean, our laws have deteriorated so poorly. There's so much disgusting filth and abomination in this country. And you say, why? Because the whole world lies in wickedness. And you know what's going to fix that? Not more democracy, not more of this type of government, not communism either. But go to Genesis chapter 6. Let's look at another verse. What happens when you have a bunch of bad people, bad things. You don't want them to be in charge. And what you really need is a strong leader that's good to come in and to take care of the trash. Now in Genesis chapter 6, a lot of trash had been collected, but look what it says in verse number 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So what happens when you just let man go wild? Every thought becomes evil. When you look at the laws that are passed in this nation, it just seems like every thought's wicked. Every thought's evil. All of them are bad. I mean, I don't look at the government and just think, well, there's a couple of bad apples. I'm thinking like, is there anybody that's not reprobate in the government is what I'm thinking. And I'm sure there are. There's plenty of people that are not reprobate, but at the end of the day, I don't look at our nation and think it's a godly model because the Bible already told me everyone's wicked. Go to Romans chapter 3, go to Romans chapter number 3. I'm going to read a verse for you from Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 7 chapter 7 verse 29 says lo, this only have I found that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. So God did design mankind to do that, which is right. But because of our sin nature inherited from Adam, we in the flesh cannot please God. We are wicked. Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. The Bible makes it clear that the whole world lies in wickedness. There's nothing good in man. And I think some people have this strange idea. Well, everybody's kind of good. I just think everybody's a good person at heart. Everybody has a good heart. The Bible says the exact opposite. The Bible says everybody has a bad heart. Why is it that my kids who get taken care of and loved and fed, all they do is lie and hit their brother and scream. I didn't teach them that. I didn't lie to them. I'm not running around punching them. I'm not terrorizing them. Well, sometimes, but I'm not terrorizing them constantly. What's going on with my children? Well, let me tell you, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child's what the Bible says. The Bible tells us that we're wicked by nature. We have a sin nature. We have a rebellious nature, and we have to get saved and start walking in the spirit to have that newness of life. Now, Romans chapter number three is kind of a diatribe on how bad man is. Look what it says in verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. It says there is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that do with good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues. They have used the seat. The poison of ass was under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's democracy. Let's just put all those people in charge. No, that sounds terrible. That sounds horrible. That sounds oppressive. It sounds like a lot of murder and destruction and theft. And people say, oh, you believe in God? Then how come all these bad things are happening? Democracy, man, man being man without God, not fearing God. God gives us free will. Now let's make some application because we've got a lot of Bible. We've kind of made, we've laid down some fundamental core concepts, but because democracy is not biblical and because the majority are bad, then we see a lot of bad results in our nation. And when I think about democracy, here's another problem that we have women voters. You know, the Bible teaches that women aren't allowed to vote. Let me prove that to you. Go, if you would, to first Timothy chapter two, first Timothy chapter two. But let me tell you a problem with women voting in this nation or at any nation or in any circumstance. Women, I looked up the statistic on party conventions and those that are men, they vote for Republican 28% of the time. For Democrat, 32% of the time. For independent, 34% of the time. Women voters, 25% Republican, 41% Democrat and 26 independent. They're way more likely to vote Democrat. Okay. Not only that women voters, they are 63% of all women in America vote. Okay. Only 59% of men vote. So that means that women outvote men by 9.9 million voters. And then what do we get? We get a democratic nation. We have a house that's primarily democratic. And you know what kind of agendas they push? Abortion. They push sodomy. They push filth, gender equality. They push all of these disgusting, filthy, abominable ideologies and philosophies on our nation. Where did it come from? Well, the majority is bad. And the Bible makes it clear that we shouldn't have democracy. You know, it's a shame on the men, the generation of men that started letting women vote. Women's suffrage or whatever. It's stupid. It's not biblical. I think that you hate women. Look, I don't hate women. But let me tell you this. Why would I put a woman in charge when she can't enforce the laws that she passes? You show me. You think that we could get a military of all women and defeat any country? No. Women, you think if the police force was only women, they could enforce the law? No. Look, you can't respect that. No man respects that. It's obvious that God made them. They're the weaker vessel. They have their place in society. Look, Jesus Christ, who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he submits himself to God the Father. Why then can't women submit themselves to men? That's the way that God created it. It's God's creation order. And the Bible even explains this. Look at 1 Timothy 2. You say, you got on the men this morning. Well, it's time to trade the tables, all right? Starting to turn the tables a little bit. 1 Timothy 2, look at verse 11. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived. But the woman being deceived voted for Joe Biden. I'm sorry. But the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved and childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Now, I don't think that voting in and of itself is a sin or there's anything negative or wrong about it. But I'm probably never going to vote because I don't think there's ever anything that I'm going to really think's worthy of my advocation or my time, my energy. But one thing is clear. I'm never going to let my wife vote ever. Never. You say, oh, you hate your wife. No, she needs to be subject unto me. And let me tell you this. My house is not a democracy. First of all, it's not biblical. God put the man in control. The man is in charge and the woman is supposed to be subject. Now, what kind of sense would it make if I want to vote Republican and she wants to vote Democrat? Now our votes are going to cancel out. My house ends up being a net zero. How does that work or vice versa, which I don't want to vote either. OK, they're both bad. It's deciding to shoot your hand, your whole body. I mean, it's just like I don't want it. And people like shoot the hand is way better. It's like, no, I don't want to pull the trigger. OK, I'm just not interested in shooting myself right now. OK, just back off. But here's the thing. Women being put in a position of power and authority, how has it benefited us? What have we gotten since women have been allowed to vote since women's suffrage? How has our nation gotten better? Have the laws gotten stricter in this nation? Nope, they've deteriorated. When did abortion come into play? Oh, yeah, with women voting. So now we have 60 million babies. Look, guys don't really care enough. They're just like, have the kid, you know, don't kill it or whatever. Women don't want to go through the suffering. So they're way more pro abortion. They're way more pro these wicked agendas and these evil agendas. They're more easily deceived. They're willing to take that apple off the tree. That's what the Bible is teaching here. OK, and obviously, it's Adam's fault for letting his wife do that. And it was man's fault for letting them vote. It was man's fault for letting all these things that happen in our nation and in our country. And look, if we have a woman president, which could ever I don't know, it could happen. Our nation is doomed beyond what it already is. I mean, women and look, no men are going to have respect for a woman as the president of our country. What kind of nonsense is this? Why would I want to put a woman in charge? Well, if you have a bunch of women voting, outvoting men, who is going to be the best representative for them? I guess a woman, huh? And look, Hillary Clinton almost won. I mean, it was super close when you look at the actions of the tallies in our nation. Look, democracy is wicked. Now, if you don't have a democracy, you have a biblically ordained organizational structure. You know what's never going to happen? A woman being in charge. You're never going to have that. Go to second Timothy chapter number three, second Timothy chapter number three. Let me prove even further that it's not a woman's place to usurp her authority. Second Timothy chapter three. Why are they easily deceived? Well, that's how God made them look at verse six or this sort of they would creep into houses and lead captive, silly women laid in with sins, led away with divers lust. So the Bible says wicked people, they try and persuade silly women. They try to take women and lead them astray. And there used to be kind of just this stereotype of the vacuum salesman would sell his vacuum to these housewives, these unsuspecting housewives, because they're more easily manipulated, more easily deceived. It's just fact mechanics try to prey on women because women are more easily deceived. They're less knowledgeable about certain subjects and they can play on their emotions. Women are more emotional. Now you say, does that make them worse? Makes them different, makes them different. My wife being more emotional works great at home. It works way worse when I'm there because I'm really black and white. I'm just like, get over it. I have no empathy. My patience level is very low and mothers are always looking at the best in their children and trying to encourage them and do good. I'm just like, what's wrong with you? Fix yourself. And I'm just going to beat you until you submit. That's not really the best philosophy for my children. You know what? In a work environment, a mothering attitude is not good at all. You don't want your manager to be this woman. You're working with heavy machinery and equipment and the guy is not being safe with the equipment, doing all kinds of damage. And she's just, let's just give him another try. We don't want to fire him. We don't want to let him go. Look, whereas a guy would be like, you're fired. Get out of here. I mean, that's just, it's crystal clear. We need these two attitudes, these two personas to be in their place. Men are born leaders. Women are born followers. Men are born strict. Women are born empathetic. And you say, does that make them worse? No, no, it makes them different. And they have great value when they're in their position, when they're in their role. Now, a lot of people would not like this sermon because they would say, I hate women, or I talk bad about women. Look, men and women have different strengths and weaknesses that doesn't change their value. Man's value is no greater than a woman's value. Period. I've never taught that it's any different, but to not identify people's different strengths and weaknesses and try to help them in their God-given role would be a detriment to them. I didn't write the Bible. God wrote the Bible. God said that they were more easily deceived. God pointed out Adam and Eve. God said that he made Adam first. I didn't make Adam. Okay. So I preach the Bible. That's not my opinion. It's the Bible. It's God's opinion. And you know what? I'm not supposed to have an opinion. I'm supposed to get up here and tell you what God said. Okay. And you know what? Women should not be in control of our country or a nation, or let me tell you this, the home. You know who makes the decisions in our house? Me. You say, who else? Me. It's not a democracy. God set up the home. The man's in charge. And you know what? The woman's job is in the home to say, yes, sir. You say, well, what if he makes up something I don't like? Yes, sir. But what if he tells me something that I don't really think is good? Yes, sir. There's no other option. Women are not allowed to vote. Now, this does not mean that your wife and you can't have a dialogue. You can't ask for her opinion. It doesn't mean that you don't care or have concern for her. I already preached that this morning. Okay. The majority of you probably heard that sermon. Look, obviously a good leader is going to consider his wife's feelings and emotions and what's best for her. But at the end of the day, it's not the wife's job. It's not the wife's role to decide what to do. It's her role to just say, yes, sir, and just do whatever the husband wants. I'm not for democracy. Go to Ephesians chapter number five. Ephesians chapter number five. Let's get some more Bible on this subject. Go back Ephesians chapter number five. And it's really easy to say I'll submit to everything. It's really hard in practice. Now it says in Ephesians chapter number five, look at verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves under your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now that verse is super clear. It's saying you should treat your husband as if you were treating Jesus Christ. Now, how many of you would argue with Jesus Christ would murmur? I mean, Jesus is right there to you ladies and Jesus has given you a command. Why? I don't like that. I don't want to do that. You wouldn't do that to Jesus. You'd just be like, yes, sir. The Bible says that's how you're supposed to treat your husband. It I'm not making this stuff up. It's in the Bible. It says whatever he says goes, says verse 23 for the husband is the head of the wife. Even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body, just as disgusting as it would be for me to start ripping pages out of my Bible and saying, I don't like that chapter. I don't like that verse. We're not going to follow God's commandments is the same when a wife disrespects her husband. In fact, in the book of Esther, it was so repulsive even to the unsaved that Vashti just gets replaced for saying no to her husband. And they say, we have to put a stop to this because if we don't put a stop to this, every wife's going to be like this. Every woman's going to be a feminist. Every woman's going to say, uh, you ain't telling me what to do. I'm getting me a job and the government's going to pay my paycheck and I'm going to go to a judge and a judge is going to grant me your house and your car and your kids. And I'm going to laugh all the way to the bank. It's wicked. That's evil. A real judge should say, shut your mouth and say, yes, sir. To your husband. That's what the real judge should say. I don't care. She's like, but he's not even mean to me. I don't care. I don't care if he's a wicked person. You just submit to him. You're like, ah, look, the Bible doesn't look even in the Bible. God made Hosea love his wife who was an adulteress. He said, well, my husband did this horrible thing. Submit to him. You married him. I didn't marry you. I didn't say you have to marry this guy. I might've performed a ceremony for a few, but I'm just saying like, I didn't force you to get married. I didn't say you're stuck with him no matter what you want. But even if you find yourself in that situation, the Bible's clear and God is telling us how the, uh, the authority structure is supposed to exist. The husband's in charge. It's not a 50 50 marriage. If it was a 50 50 marriage, if the husband and the wife had the exact same amount of authority and vote, how could you make any decisions? Well, I want out back and she wants all of garden. I guess I'll see you later. How's that work in a deadlock? How do you make any decisions? And let me, you know, even in the business world, I remember my management professor, he told me, he says, never organize any structure. 50 50. Never. He said, you do like 50.1 and 49.9, but you never have 50 50. He says, that is the worst thing you can do in a business. You have to have the ability to make decisions. And look, marriage is not 50.1 and 49.9. It's a hundred percent and 0%. The husband has a hundred percent of control. And you're like, ah, I have all this control. Well, it comes a lot of responsibility too. You have to pay for the bill too. And you're responsible when your wife screws up. Guess who God's looking for you. God's like who, whose husband, where's the husband for this woman. Let me go find out and let me talk to him. Let me chew him out for what he's doing wrong. And obviously we should be a servant leader. We should love our spouses and love our wives and our children and do good under them. But you know, no husband is perfect. No husband does it. Me, myself included. I'm not perfect, but you know what? That's not an excuse for my wife to decide. Well, I don't care. And you know what? She's a great wife. She's very submissive and I love her, but I'm just saying in general practice, if I were to make a mistake, it's not her job to rebel. If your husband makes a mistake, it's not your job to tell him, well, I didn't like that decision, so I'm not going to do it. Nope. You just subject period. The Bible says in verse 24, therefore is the church is subject unto Christ. So let wise be to their own husbands and everything, everything. Now I will give you a caveat. This is your only caveat. If your husband asks you to violate God's commandments, that is your only exception. That is it. And for the most part, that's not going to happen. If your husband's telling you to get drunk and your husband's telling you to blaspheme God and your husband's telling you to commit adultery or do all kinds of manner of evil or wickedness, you say, I'm not going to do it. But you can still be respectful about it and just say, well, honestly, I'm going to do whatever you want, but I am going to submit to the Bible above you. That is the only exception to that. If it's not a clear biblical commandment, then you say, yes, sir. You do it every single time. If your husband says you can never go to church, I would still go to church. But here's the thing. If my husband said, we're going to go to this church versus the other one, you go to the one that he's saying go to because he's not telling you to forsake the assembling. He's just saying he wants to go to a specific church. If he's trying to get you to stop following God's commandments, you have, you should follow God's commandments. Okay. I don't care what, who it is in your life, but if he's keeping you within the boundaries of God's commandments, you say, yes, sir. And you submit in every area of your life, just like our church is subject to Christ. Does Christ say that we have to meet at 5 30 on Sunday? No. That's where we get some discretion, right? So we get to decide exactly where and when did he say this building? I know he didn't say the building. Okay. But he gives us some options, right? Where to go, how to do these types of things. And you know, a husband's going to give his wife some, you know, Liberty there. God is saying, you need to be, you need to say, whatever your husband says, you're just going to follow period. Unless it violates the Bible. Just like our church. If our church tells you to do something, you should do it period, unless it violates the scriptures. And if we see anything in the Bible that Christ is commanding, we're supposed to say, we need to change. Oh, we're doing something not according to the scriptures. Show me and I'll fix it right away. Now, if it's not within the scriptures, it's, you know, I think we should have it at 4 30. I'm going to say like too bad. Sorry. He's like, let's have a vote on it. Nope. Not going to have a vote on it. Period. Now that's the same in the church. The church leadership authority and structure is not a democracy. We're not going to say, let's let all the women vote on how we're going to run the church. Let's let the women vote. If we're going to throw people out or not. Now, a lot of women here would probably be pretty good on that, but I'm just saying in general, you don't want to make those decisions as a democracy. We are going to have a pastor led church period. You say, I don't like that model. Well, you can find any other church and it probably won't be that bad. It would probably be a deacon run church or a congregational led church. And you know what happens to those congregational led churches? It's bad. And you say, how can you say that about them? They are priests of God. Well, you know what? There was bad priests in the Bible. And the Bible already told us that man's wicked. You don't want a majority. Show me where the majority did right. Show me where the majority is good. Show me where we have a majority opinion. And they were just like, they were just knocking it out of the park. Never happens. You see a person deciding to stand on the word of God and they lead the multitude. They lead the flock. They get things right. And our church is never going to be a democracy. I don't even know of anything we voted on so far. And it's not changing. So I hope when we get the new building, it's going to be a democracy. Nope. I hope the preaching is going to get softer. Nope. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to overfill it too quickly. So I'll preach really hard. All right. No, I'm just kidding. Go to Daniel chapter number six, Dan chapter six point. Number one, the problem with democracy, it's not biblical point. Number two is the majority are bad. So we're just not going to let them have rule. We're going to keep people in subjection and look, men are just as bad as women. There's not one gender that's worse than another, but women are more easily deceived. And when you have democracy, you're allowing them to have a vote. You're allowing them to make these types of decisions and you're just asking for trouble. Now, my third point is this. Why a democracy has problems is it distracts from the real fight. A democracy distracts from the real fight. You say, how does it distract from a real fight? Well, it tricks you into thinking that you should get involved because I decided, hey, in a democracy, your vote counts, right? Now you get to make decisions. Now you're involved. Now you have a voice. Now you matter. Okay. And it's this illusion of power. It's this illusion of you having some kind of a vote or even mattering. And this is all about politics. Our politics today, they're trying to say, you need to vote. You have a voice. Well, not voting actually is a voice too. When you say, hey, every single candidate is terrible. Every candidate is wicked. That's a voice too. And it'll actually send a message to those people. If every single person said, if everybody in this country just said, we're not voting for anybody, it wouldn't be hard to get a new candidate. We could write in a candidate and they could win. I mean, there's, there's all kinds of other options. Don't think that you're locked in to dumb and dumber. Okay. You're not too creepy and creepier. Okay. It's not that those aren't necessarily the options here, but a democracy will trick you into thinking that you should get involved. Now, let me give you an example. Let me give you a story first of somebody that has something negative happened to them when it comes from a government perspective. And let's see how he handled it. Daniel chapter six, look at verse number nine. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing in the decree. Now, and Daniel knew that the writing was signed. Now what's this writing? This writing was a decree that no man could make a petition, save King or King Darius for 30 days. Now what that would mean practically speaking is that you couldn't pray to God. You couldn't, any God, but specifically, obviously in this case for Daniel, it would be the Lord God. And when he knows about the writing, so it's not that he's unaware of the writing. He went and he got a bunch of people to sign a petition and he put Trump signs in his front yard and no, wait, he went into his house and his windows being opened, his chamber toward Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his knees three times a day. He got his phone and he snapped pictures of him doing it and posted it all on Instagram and Facebook. Oh, I didn't see that. And prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did a fourth time. Now look what it says in verse 11, then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. So as Daniel just going in open rebellion, just like, look at me, everybody, I'm going to still pray to God. I just want to let y'all know that over here, I'm praying. Look at me doing so much praying. Nope. He just went to his house. Now, is he trying to hide it? Not necessarily. Cause he still let the windows open. So it's possible you could tell what he's, but he's not like, Hey guys, I'm praying over here. No, they had to go find him. They were seeking out some way to destroy him and he wasn't getting involved. Was this a good law? No, it was a bad law. Did Daniel agree with the law? No. Did Daniel follow the law? No. Did Daniel tell anybody that was going to break the law? No. He just mind his own business. He just went into his house. He just prayed to God. He was just keeping to himself. He wasn't trying to be seen of any men, but it happened because they were trying to find something against him. And when they found something against them, they threw him in the lion's den. And what happens? Well, we know he gets saved and rescued and everything like this, but he wasn't fighting the King. Notice, was that a good law that the King passed? Nope. He didn't even know necessarily how wicked it was. He didn't know the agenda that was associated with it. Some people they'll come up to you like, do you know about this law? Well, there's this conspiracy theory that all these wicked people are going to try and use this law. They do X, Y, and Z. You might be right, but I don't care. I'm just going to keep serving God. And you know what? If God wants to allow this law or whatever's happening behind closed doors to come and affect me, then that's his will. Well, there's these people plotting to kill you every single day. I'm sure they were trying to kill Daniel for a long time. Well, there's these people they're making a videos against you. I know. Hey, they're trying to attack you. They're trying to hurt you. They're trying to kill you. Of course they are. That's what the Bible teaches. But you know what? I'm not going to go and try to usurp the King and cast my ballot and try to vote for somebody else and overturn that law. Did Daniel try to vote that law out of existence? We need to turn this voting. We need to turn this around because if this is going to be the law, nobody can pray. And I'm just so concerned for other people. Where did he just keep himself, go to his house, pray to God. Look, there's a lot of people. They want to show you how spiritual they are. Beware of this person. Beware of the person that's wanting to go around and brag about how spiritual they are. And they use this democratic fight as an excuse. Well, we got to stand up for our rights. We got to go out there and make it known how we feel and what we're doing and our voice counts and we're going to get involved and I'm going to vote Republican from now on. It's a fake fight. Daniel didn't get involved. When did Daniel become a Republican or a Democrat or a libertarian? Well, you got it wrong, pastor Shelley. Democrats, Republicans, libertarian, green party, you know? No, he just decided I'm going to go home. I'm going to pray to God. You only have so much time on this earth. Why would you want to get involved in a fight that you're going to lose? Get involved in something that does not matter. One iota. Well, they could use this against you. They did. If they're going to use Daniel fighting against that ordinance, wasn't going to prove anything and just get them thrown in the lines and quicker or something. Go to John chapter 18, go to John chapter number 18. Let me explain something to you. Your fight is not with this carnal world's politics. Well, it's not biblical. Of course it's not. Well, the constitution. The constitution is not biblical. The constitution has respect to all religions. That's not the God of the Bible. God has no respect to any false God, to any false religion. Zero. Oh, but we got to, we got to protect the Jews and the Muslims because we don't want the Christians to get attacked. What are you talking about? Where did that come from? That didn't come from the Bible. That sounds like the Freemasons or something where they just all just, let's just worship the one God all together. Let's all join together and hold hands. And as long as we can just generically worship the same God with the same type of language, then it sounds good. The creator. Isn't that the same language that they'd use? These cult groups use the creator and the one and the God. And we'll just, you know, if you want to be a Muslim, all you have to do is say like Allah is God or something. And you're just like in the club. It's like, how generic is that? Look, the God of the Bible is a specific God. His name is Jesus Christ, the son of God whom we worship. And we're not going to try and just water things down. I'm not interested in supporting false religion. I'm not interested in fighting so that Cain can also worship God with me. But if Cain can't worship, then what about you? I'm just going to worship. I'm just going to do my thing. If Cain gets destroyed, that's his problem. If he gets a mark, it's his problem. I'm not going to go around and waste my time fighting a stupid fight. Well, but you don't understand pastor Shelley. They're going to take away our rights. What rights do we even have anymore? They're going to take away your second amendment. Okay. Can you own an automatic weapon? No. Can you own a silencer? No. Can you own all the, it's like, can you own a bazooka? A tank? Grenade? I mean, the Bible says, or not so bad. The constitution is saying that we should be able to form a militia, an armed militia to fight the federal government. You know how far we are away from that? You can have your nine mil. Good luck fighting a fighter jet drone with your nine mil. We got to make sure that we hang on to that second amendment or they're going to come and kill us all. Look, you really think your nine mil is stopping the devil? You really think it's stopping these evil forces. You go try and take out a SWAT team with your nine mil. Yeah, but I've got an AR 15 semi-automatic. Okay. You'll take two of them down while they nuke your house. Okay. Good luck. Pastor Shelley. We have to fight for the second amendment. When, when does the Bible say that, you know, did you see God's people? They didn't even have any kind of weapons. It was like, they found two, they found two swords and saw Jonathan have one. Okay. I mean, look, obviously I'm not for being de-armed. I'm not for our rights being taken away and being trampled on, but here's my question. When they've already been decimated and destroyed and stripped away so far, why am I going to sit here and pretend like just a little bit more, so much worse? Well, you don't understand pastor Shelley. They're going to oppress us. Have you ever heard of taxes? You have federal tax, income tax, property tax, sales tax, gift tax. They can't even let you accept a gift anymore. They're like Santa Claus. It's not a gift. It's a reward. I mean, they're, Oh, but you have to understand pastor Shelley, you know, we need to vote for these people because they want to kill babies, you know, right out of the womb, as opposed to like right before. It's like, how about just not kill babies? I mean, you're just voting for the wrong thing. You don't understand our country is doomed. There is no redeeming it. You say, well, I think that we should get in this battle and we should get in this fight. And Trump's going to drain the swamp. He is the swamp. Yeah. There's other swamp creatures in there that look worse. Okay. And a really creepy and smelly and just disgusting. And Nancy Pelosi, you know, scares the lock monster away, you know, but at the end of the day, that is not our fight. Look at John chapter 18. I had you go here for a reason. Look at verse 33. Then pilot entered in the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said on him, art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, sayest thou this thing of thyself? Should others tell it thee of me? Pilot answered, am I a Jew? He doesn't like being a Jew either. Thine own nation and chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What has thou done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hints. Notice Jesus Christ said, if his kingdom were here, we would fight because we're his servants. But guess what he said? It's not of this world. Am I going to fight in the, am I going to be in this political rebellion? Well, you know what? You can go join Barabbas Baptist church, but I'm not going to join in that church. What did he get arrested for? Insurrection. What did Jesus Christ, he got arrested for righteousness sake. He was minding his own business, preaching the word of God, doing good. He got arrested. Barabbas is causing trouble, upset about taxes. Hey, I can get upset about taxes too. Okay. They suck. All right. My money's being wasted every single second on the government dime. It's being spent on all kinds of wicked means. I get that our liberties are being stripped away. I get that our government's wicked. I get that democracy sucks. I get that. It's not my fight. Political rebellion is not Christianity. It's Barabbas religion. And I don't want it. Well, you don't understand pastor Shelley. I think we should fight for the constitution and we should fight for our rights. And look, if you want to go do that, have fun, but I'm not interested. You're fighting an uphill battle. It's already been lost. You only have so much time. And Daniel could have spent his time resisting the King's ordinance or on his knees praying. And when he was going to get thrown in lines in either way, I would rather have been spending my time on my knees, praying to God before I get thrown in lines then, then going around, resisting the King's ordinance. Go to first Timothy chapter number six, first Timothy chapter number six. Well, I think all the founding fathers were really godly. Well, you didn't look into them. Oh, like Thomas Jefferson who wrote his own Bible. Well, at least he's writing a Bible. You know, it's like, what kind of logic is that? Why would I want to support these times? You know, they're like Catholics and Episcopalians. I mean, look at our government. People will be like Mike Pence. He's like, he calls himself like a Catholic Christian or something. It's like, what in the world? How is that guy our champion? How is he going to save us? How is Donald Trump's female pastor going to lead us? We already learned about that. First Timothy chapter six, look at verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. Now, if there's a good fight, you know what that tells me? There's a bad fight. And let me tell you where the bad fight is, democracy. It's a worthless fight. I'm not going to fight against the world and win. The world's majority bad. The world's going to make bad decisions. I'm just going to be a drop of water and a hot stove with them. Also, it says fight the good fight of faith. What is faith? Faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Show me in the Bible where it says fight for democracy. Then it's not a faith. Show me where it says fight for the constitution. It's not a faith. Show me where it says to fight for your bill of rights. It's not a faith. I'm going to fight the good fight of the constitution. My rights. Pastor Shelly, you're asking for oppression. I'm not asking for any of that because the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty. And if you really, really want to change our nation, it's not going to be voting Republican. It's not going to be voting Democrat. It's not voting libertarian. It's not casting your ballot. You know what it is? Preaching the word of God, because we need more of the spirit of God in this country and in this nation. That's what's going to give us Liberty. That's what's going to give us freedom. That's what's going to give us God's blessing. That's what's going to put you in the land of Goshen while Egypt is being destroyed and decimated. You know what? You can be in the midst of Goshen and enjoying your life and having all the pleasures that God wants you to have while the whole world's going to hell and a hand basket. But you know what? If you go over to Egypt and you start fighting with them, you're going to be in that same hell hole. I'm not interested. Second Timothy chapter two, you're right there. Look at verse four. No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. The Bible's clear. Well, I at least want to get by on this side of the equation. I just want to have green pastures on the earth and in heaven. You're not going to have it on this side. Why do you care about the affairs of this life? Well, don't you care about who's going to be president? Devil one or devil two? I don't know. I mean, does it really matter? If you had told me the state of our nation right now and asked me four years ago, if Hillary got elected or Trump got elected, I would tell you Hillary. So how does that work? How does that figure? Think about some of the worst atrocities have happened to our nation. I don't know, like nine 11. Was that Republican or Democrat? Oh yeah. That was Republican. And I'm the sucker that voted for that loser. Now I'm a partaker of his evil deeds. And you know, I think sometimes they put Republicans in office just so they can get away with the worst crap. It's devil one and devil two. I'm not interested in either devil. Okay. I'm not interested in the political fight. I'm not interested in democracy. I'm not interested in yoking up with 99% wicked people to try and put my 1% vote in there. It's not going to work anyways. Democracy is not a biblical construct and yeah, I'm going to be subject unto them as long as I'm not in violation of God's word, but I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. Look at chapter four and look at verse seven. I'm not going to get entangled with the affairs of this life, pastor Shelley. I bet you couldn't even quote the constitution. Great. I can quote Timothy though. And second Timothy and Titus, I'm not going to entangle myself with the affairs of this life. I bet you couldn't even name 25 founding fathers. Reprobate one, two, three, four. What do you want? Who cares? You don't stand with the Confederate statues of this nation. I don't. I don't care about any of them. Second Timothy chapter number four, verse seven. I have fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. You know what? American history is going to burn one day and nobody's going to care about it. The word of God is going to bite forever. I'd rather my kids know the history of the Bible than the history of America. Hey, I'm all for knowledge. I'm all for learning and history repeats itself. I think any good history book is valuable, but here's the problem with history books. Who knows if they're even telling the truth? There's so much revisionist history. History books are one of the most fabricated and false documents on these planets today. You have no idea what's going on. You have no idea. They put all these agendas and all this extra crap into them. I mean, it's basically just asking for lies. How about the history books about Jesus, like the Talmud? Is that very valuable? Does it have a lot of good content in it? No. So why would I expect history books about anything to have very much value or very much good content? Go to Mark chapter 12. I'm almost finished this evening. Mark chapter number 12. We need to follow the constructs that God has given to us and obey the leadership that he set up. Now, Mark chapter 12, and we need to have balance today. Just because our government's wicked as hell and just because so many of them are evil and they have evil plans does not mean that I just have the right to lip off to them every time I have a chance either, though, and just resist all of their ordinances and all their things. No, I should be subject as much as humanly possible, as much as possible and peaceably with all men. Now, what about Jesus Christ? Did he subject himself to these bad people? Well, look at Mark chapter 12, look at verse 14. And when they were come, they say in a master, we know that thou art true and care for no man, for thou regard is not the person of men, but teaches the way of God and truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Now, who is it that wants to rebel against taxes, rebel against the government? It's the Pharisees. It's false religion that wants to do that. What does Jesus Christ say? Well, he says in verse 16, they brought it, he asked for a penny. And they said to them, who is this image in superscription? And they say in him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. He said, pay the stupid taxes, give it back to Caesar. But you know what? You should render the things that are God's to him. You know what is God's you? You're God's servant. I'm not going to get involved in all this democracy crap. It's crap. It's not, it's not, I'm not going to get excited about it. I'm not excited when the third world nations finally get a democracy. Oh, great. Now they can be more liberal and wicked. You know, we replaced their monarch. Look at chapter 15 and look at verse seven. It says, and there was one named Barabbas, which laid bound with them, that had made insurrection with them who had committed murder in the insurrection. Insurrection is going to lead down a dark road to where you might even just kill somebody. You get so angry. It's a bad path. Well, we have a vow to uphold the constitution, pastor Shelley. When I was in school, we pledge allegiance to the flag. You know what? I never really liked saying the pledge allegiance and my allegiance isn't to the flag. It's the God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? I'm going to focus on what I can affect rather than things that I can't. I can't change the political landscape of this nation. It's not possible. You know what I can do is I can change the spiritual landscape of this nation. I can change the spiritual landscape of my family. I can change the spiritual landscape of someone else's family out there. I can get on my knees and I can pray for God's people. And you know what? I'm not interested in getting involved in these political institutions that are not found in scripture. They're not biblical. The majority are bad. And look, it's the wrong fight. Get in the right fight today. Stop getting sucked in to all these distractions. Serve God quietly. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for your institutions that you've laid out. I pray that we would not get distracted from the good fight, but rather we'd understand the importance and value we have in this life of preaching the gospel, of serving you. I pray that we do it quietly, that we would not go around trying to seek for some praise of men or glory of men, that we would not get sucked into worthless and futile ideologies and philosophies and vain trinkets, but rather we would submit ourselves to what you've already given us. We would submit ourselves to the authorities that be and that we could just serve God with quietness and live peaceably among men. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.