God or Man

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Acts 5:29-30 says, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.   The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” 

     There are some phrases that occur in life that we seem to hear over and over.  They are like little catch phrases that develop into a common response to almost any question.  The new word for today is, “game changer.”  Many people say it at the end of something new and reply, “Well, that’s a game changer.”  The one I hear so often at nursing homes and assisted living is this, “It is against corporate policy.”  Rules are made by a group of people that are sitting in an office somewhere and afraid they are going to be sued by someone, so they develop protective measures that will protect them in court.  As a result, when you want to do something outside of the rules, you hear, “It’s against corporate.”  Corporate doesn’t even have a name, does not eat, does not breathe, it is just a set of guidelines made up by the owners to protect them.  I find myself bucking against “corporate” most of the time as it does not allow you to help or to even know people who are hurting and need help. 

     Peter had a time when he had to choose whether to obey God or to obey the government of the period in which he found himself.  The above statement shows that he chose to obey God rather than man.  Of course, he knew there would be consequences for his decision.  In fact all of the apostles died a martyrs death, Peter being crucified upside down.  James was beheaded and all the rest of them died in one way or another for their faith.  Foxes Book of Martyrs records for us other believers who stood firm for their faith and died as a result from being burned alive or even thrown into boiling oil, or to be drawn asunder by four horses.  They all stood firm for their faith.  We have been fortunate so far in America with our religious freedom but it is slowly being chipped away and soon we will have to answer the above question.  Whom will we obey?  It will be required for us to answer and hopefully the answer will be to obey God rather than men.  It  will cost us our lives if we choose to do so.  There was a report of a group of VietNamese Christians who were being gunned down as they sang, “It is Well With My Soul.”  When Corporate violates God’s commands, then I choose God over Corporate.  Whom will y ou choose?  Praise God that He will never leave nor forsake us.