Spirit of Prophecy Counsels Relating To Church-State Relationships

Individual Rights To Be Regarded

But God never compels men to obey Him. Together truth and error take the field. The light shines forth amid moral darkness, and men are left to choose their own leader. SPCCSR 47.1

After the king of Babylon had witnessed the wonderful deliverance wrought by God for His faithful servants, and had seen the men walk unhurt from the fire, he published a decree that any one speaking a word against the God of Heaven, who had so wonderfully saved His servants, should be cut in pieces, “because,” he declared, “there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.” Thus, through the deceiving power of the enemy, God’s truth is misinterpreted and misapplied, and His way confused by human inventions. SPCCSR 47.2

The king had a right to worship the God of Heaven, and to do all in his power to exalt Him above other gods; but he had no right to use his authority in compelling his subjects to change from the worship of idols to the worship of the true God. He had no more right to threaten men with death for not worshiping the true God than he had to make the decree consigning to the flames all who refused to worship the golden image. SPCCSR 48.1

Today, as in the days of Babylon, the accuser of the brethren is working through human agencies to hurt and destroy those who are dear to the Lord. Men in power do not realize that they can not in justice control the minds of their fellow men, and Satan works through them to corrupt right dealing. Those who try to keep the commandments of God, will meet with much opposition. Satanic attributes will take possession of the hearts of men, making them as hard as steel; and all who depart from evil will make themselves a prey to the hatred of those that refuse to obey the law of God. SPCCSR 48.2

But when the State forms laws directly opposed to the laws of Jehovah, and thus strives to compel men to obey them, it is following the example set by the king of Babylon. When it takes the guardianship of the religious interests of the nation, a spirit of intolerance is manifested if men seek to practise the truth which, by earnest study, they have found in God’s Word. Those who are actuated by such a spirit of oppression can not understand what religious liberty means. SPCCSR 48.3

Every man has a right to worship God according to his own convictions; no one is called upon to obey laws that are opposed to the laws of God; and the only position the State can take, and have the approval of God, is to guard the rights of every individual, permitting no oppression to come upon any one because of religious belief. SPCCSR 48.4

As Nebuchadnezzar tried to force his subjects to obey his mandates, so men will try to force us to disregard the Word of God. They will endeavor to compel us to render homage to man-made statutes; but in God’s strength we are to refuse to dishonor Him. The laws of earthly kingdoms are to be obeyed only when they do not conflict with the laws of God. When governments are tyrannical and overbearing, when they trample on God’s law, their laws are contemptible in His sight. And when they try to control the minds and consciences of those whom Christ died to make free, God’s children are to show their loyalty to Him by refusing to disobey His commandments. SPCCSR 49.1

When the judgment shall sit, and the books of heaven shall be opened, all will be judged, not by the laws that human minds have enacted, but by the law of God, which existed before the foundations of the world were laid. And the men who have been coworkers with the first great rebel, and who have not, as guardians of the State, searched the Word of God, that as rulers they might deal righteously and mercifully, will be judged by the law they have disregarded and dishonored.... SPCCSR 49.2

They have shown no respect for God, no fear to transgress His commandments; but have refused to give their fellow men rights equal to their own, and have tried to make them disobey God. They have stubbornly adhered to man-made commandments, and they will be judged accordingly. Those who persist in enacting laws which men can not obey without dishonoring God, and those that obey these laws, and trample on the law of the eternal God, must prepare for the result; for God will not change, nor alter the thing which has gone out of His mouth.—The Signs of the Times, February 27, 1912. SPCCSR 49.3