Note: One lady in Canada writes me saying that it appears the author is advocating adultery. I want to make it very clear this article does not condone or promote the sin of adultery. The purpose for the article is to show that many laws of society are in conflict with God's spiritual laws of love. Adultery is an unloving act because of the deception usually involved with it, and often leads to further sins. It violates Christ's second greatest commandment as stated in Matthew 22:38: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If you love your neighbour as yourself, you won't go running around with his or her spouse behind their back. The same applies if you love your own spouse as yourself.
Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg
From time to time you may hear or read about Christian witnesses or missionaries who are accused of "breaking the law" or of doing something "illegal". -- Or you may hear that a Christian group has been expelled from some country and wonder "what they did wrong". The fact is, they may have done nothing wrong, other than obey the law of God! -- For sad to say, in today's modern World, a good many of man's laws are in direct conflict with the laws of God!
It might surprise you to know that there are not just a few isolated examples of Man's laws which contradict the laws of God, but modern Man has now drifted so far away from God and His Truth that almost the entire materialistic, Godless, humanist foundation of society itself -- moral, political, religious and judicial -- is in absolute rebellion against God and His commandments! Such illegal laws of Man make criminals out of even the righteous and the innocent by making decrees that it is impossible for men to keep, or laws which the righteous, in all good conscience toward God, cannot abide by!
The Bible speaks of rulers "who frame mischief by a law", who "gather together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent." -- Psalm 94:2O-21. Although Romans 13:1-7 tells us to "obey the powers that be" and submit to legal ordinances, when man's unjust laws contradict the laws of God, the Bible tells us: "We ought to obey God rather than men!" -- Acts 5:29.
There are certain laws which Christians can not keep. For example, Jesus commanded His followers to "go into ALL the World and preach the Gospel to every creature...and teach all nations." -- Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19. Now that is a direct commandment by Jesus Christ, the Son of God! -- And, in the eyes of God, any law of Man which forbids us to witness and to win souls is illegal and does not need to be obeyed.
Many nations in the World today have laws against witnessing or 'proselytising'. So why should we be shocked when we hear about missionaries who are deported from such nations for "breaking the law"? Christians are not morally obliged to keep laws which contradict the laws of God and the direct commandments of Jesus Christ!
In many countries, it is illegal to have a gathering of a group of people other than just your personal family. But the Bible tells Christians, "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together!" -- Hebrews 1O:25. In other words, don't stop doing it! Many Christians down through history and even today have been forced to break this law by meeting in secret.
The Bible exhorts believers to "greet one another with an holy kiss" (1Corinthians 16:20; 1Thessalonians 5:26; 1Peter 5:14), yet in some countries you can be arrested for kissing someone in public or on the street!
Heathen and Communist nations have laws against reading the Bible or having prayer in public schools, but did you know that God, the Bible, prayer and witnessing are also banned and outlawed on the schools and campuses of so-called "Christian" America! This is clearly a wilful rejection of the laws of God! On many of the same campuses and universities where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is illegal, accredited courses in the occult, Hinduism and witchcraft are available to interested students!
Furthermore, in "Christian" America, it is now illegal to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, in public schools, or even to have a nativity scene on any public property! Even the giving of religious Christmas cards to classmates is against the law!
The cardinal religious law of almost every church denomination today is, "Thou shalt go to church on Sunday!" Most churches say this is a Law of God because one of the Ten Commandments to the Jews was "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." -- Exodus 20:8. But as any Bible student knows, Sunday is not even the Biblical "Sabbath". -- Saturday is! -- And Jesus never said to build church buildings or form huge hierarchical organisations called "denominations"! -- He never said "go to church on Sunday" either! -- not once!
The foundation principle of most churches is that their building or cathedral is the very "House of God" itself, and is sacred and holy. But the Scriptures clearly point out, "The Most High God does not dwell in buildings made with hands!" -- Acts 7:48; Isaiah 66:1-2; 1Kings 8:27. The true temple of God is the hearts of those who love Him. -- 1Corinthians 3:16-17; 2Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 3:2O.
The Catholic Church has made a law that its priests cannot marry, but must remain celibate. The Bible clearly says that "forbidding to marry" is a false teaching and even a "doctrine of devils"! -- 1Timothy 4:1-3; Genesis 2:18; 1Corinthians 7:9. The priests in the Old Testament -- even those who entered into the holiest of holies in the Temple -- were allowed to marry. Even Peter, whom Catholics consider to be the first Pope, was married! -- Matthew 8:14; 1Corinthians 9:5. As it now stands, the Church's teaching on celibacy has driven many priests into God-cursed sodomy, or homosexuality!
The early Christians gave monetary gifts to the Apostles who then either invested it in preaching the Gospel, or gave it to the poor. -- Acts 4:34-35; 2:45. Jesus had explicitly commanded his followers to "not lay up for themselves treasures on EARTH" (Matthew 6:2O), but most of today's churches have done just that! In most churches, only 3% of all offerings go to missionaries preaching the Gospel; most of the rest goes to building bigger and more luxurious church buildings! -- Or maintaining, repairing and "improving" the ones they've already got! "That which is HIGHLY esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God!" -- Luke 16:15. The Catholic church has billions of dollars invested in cathedrals, properties, art treasures, antiques, businesses etc., while millions of good Catholics live in absolute squalor and pitiful poverty!
In many nations, you're not allowed to walk down the street without money in your pocket! -- It's called vagrancy . Yet Jesus sent HIS disciples out with no money to preach the Gospel, telling them to depend on the charity of others. -- Matthew 10:9-11; Mark 6:8-10.
A related law in many countries is that it's illegal to beg. Yet begging is a time-honoured Scriptural practice, and the Bible commands believers to give to beggars and the needy. -- Deuteronomy 15:11; Matthew 5:42.
Influential women's lobby groups have had many laws passed in recent years giving women equal rights with -- and often more rights than -- men. But the whole concept of the `women's lib' movement is unnatural and unscriptural. In the Old Testament, wives were clearly expected to submit to their husbands, and this Godly principle did not change in the New Testament. -- 1Corinthians 11:3,8-9; Ephesians 5:22-24,33; Colossians 3:18; 1Peter 3:1,5-6.
However, in other places, David Berg clarified that he saw this as applying mainly to family, home and marital relationships. When it came to matters of ability, responsibility, talents & leadership, David underlined the Bible teaching that "spiritually" men & women are equal in God's eyes (Galatians 3:28). And in practice, in The Family International, positions of responsibility have been occupied equally -- -at times even more so -- -by women. -- -as well as by youth.
Old and New Testament societies were patriarchal societies, with the father in charge of the home and family. Yet in country after country today, it is the women -- who by legal laws and actual practice -- run the home, the children, family finances etc. For example, if a man and wife separate or divorce, the Courts in most Western countries give the woman the home, the car, custody of all the children etc. -- Contrary to the laws of God!
Abortion is totally anti-God! In Old Testament times, the heathen had their own form of "birth control", and threw their unwanted babies into the furnace in the belly of their devil-god, Molech, "causing their children to pass through the fire". This practice was absolutely and unequivocally forbidden and abhorred by God throughout the Bible! -- Deuteronomy 18:1O. (See also 2Kings 17:17; 2Chronicles 28:3) God's Word is diametrically opposed to "the shedding of innocent blood"! -- 2Kings 24:4; Ezekiel 16:36,38; 23:45. A perfect description of today's societies' attitude toward abortion is found in Jeremiah 2:34-35, which says: "In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents, yet you say, `I am innocent. -- I have not sinned!'" But no matter how "legal" Man's laws make abortion, or how much a supposedly "enlightened, progressive and modern" society promotes it, it's still devilish infanticide, baby-murder, and a diabolical violation of God's laws!
Birth control of any kind was considered unnatural and forbidden in Bible times. In Genesis 38:7-10, Onan didn't want to get his brother's widow pregnant, lest he have to share his inheritance with her children, so he deliberately, selfishly withdrew from her at the point of orgasm. -- And the Lord slew him for it! That is "onanism", not masturbation, which is not forbidden in the Bible. God is opposed to any form of birth control whatsoever, even the so-called "natural" methods.
In some countries, they have enforced sterilisation and family planning, and only a certain number of children are allowed. But the Bible says, "Children are an heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them!" -- Psalm 127:3-5.
In many countries it's illegal to get married if the girl is under 16 and the boy under 18, and in some very conservative nations, the girl has to be up in her 2O'S before she is legally allowed to marry without parental permission! This is totally contrary to Scriptural practices! In Bible times -- and in fact, in most of the World up until even modern times -- legal age for marriage for women was 13 or 14 years old.
What Western laws and culture call "unlawful" bigamy and polygamy, or the practice of having more than one wife, was very common in Bible times and perfectly legal under the Mosaic Law. Many great Bible heroes such as Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David etc. were blessed with more than one wife. -- Genesis 16:1-4; 29:16-3O; Judges 8:29-31; 1Samuel 1:1-2; 2Samuel 3:3-5; 12:8; 1Chronicles 4:5; 14:3; 2Chronicles 11:18-21; 24:2-3. The only warning was not to "multiply wives", or take TOO many (Deuteronomy 17:17), such as King Solomon who had 700 wives (1Kings 11:3-4)!
Although Western laws strictly forbid simultaneous polygamy, or having more than one wife at the same time, these same lawmakers are very tolerant towards sequential polygamy, or having as many wives as you want, as long as you only have them one at a time, and divorce each one before you marry the next one. This is strictly in defiance of God's laws regarding multiple marriage, where, if you took a new wife, you were not allowed to divorce or neglect the first one! -- Exodus 21:10; Deuteronomy 21:15-16.
Even having mistresses and concubines was perfectly legal in the Old Testament. -- Genesis 16:1-4; 30:1-4;9-10; Judges 8:31; 2Samuel 5:13; 15:16; 19:5; 1Chronicles 1:32; 2:46-48. This practice was not ruled out in the New Testament, yet the self-righteous, overly-prudish moralists of Western society made it illegal anyway.
(Note from webmaster: The Old Testiment practice of having a concubine cannot be considered "adultery". It was done with full knowledge and consent of the wife. For a classic example of the sin of adultery, please see 2 Samuel chapter 11 of the story of David with Bathsheba.)Sodomy, or homosexuality between men, is an abomination to God, and utterly and unequivocally forbidden in the Bible! See Genesis 9:20-25; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-28; 1Corinthians 6:9. In many countries today, however, the laws of Man have now made it legal and even promote it in the media! So as usual, God's laws are in direct conflict with Man's unrighteous laws!
Transvestism, where men dress and act effeminate like women, is also forbidden in the Scriptures. -- Deuteronomy 22:5; 1Corinthians 6:9. And this obviously also includes the anti-nature sex-change operations which modern Man has made legal.
In the U.S. they can take your baby away from you at any little provocation. If you run into a hospital to have a baby at the last minute, they can call you an "unfit mother" and have your baby taken away. Such self-righteous legalists probably would have taken baby Jesus away from Joseph and Mary by a court order and had Him put in an orphanage because she gave birth to Him in a stable! -- Luke 2:4-7.
In many Western countries, it is against the law to have a baby naturally at home, even with an experienced midwife present. They insist that you have to have childbirth in a hospital! In the Bible, natural childbirth at home was the rule, and even midwives were not required. -- Exodus 1:19.
In some Western so-called Christian countries, you can get arrested for praying for the sick, because they call it "practising medicine without a license". They would literally have thrown Jesus Himself in jail for healing the sick!
In the U.S., especially California, if someone is sick, it's against the law not to call a doctor! -- If they die and you didn't call a doctor, they can put you in jail for manslaughter! It's happened many times!
In some countries it is illegal to trust the Lord to take care of you and protect you (Psalm 118:8), and you are, by law, required to have certain insurance policies.
2Thessalonians 3:10 says, "He that shall not work shall not eat", yet in many industrialised nations around the World, millions of people simply refuse to work and legally live off of welfare and the dole!
The Bible has many warnings against extortion, yet most of the modern banking system, with its legal, exorbitantly high interest rates, is totally disobedient to this commandment. -- Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35-37; Nehemiah 5:10-11.
The Lord made several commandments about having just labour laws and wages (Deuteronomy 24:14; Proverbs 22:22), yet today, there are a multitude of crooked laws which, for all practical purposes, legalise financial slavery of poor labourers. -- James 5:1-4.
The rich industrialised so-called Christian countries waste and throw millions of tons of food away, even paying their farmers not to grow crops or to destroy them -- to selfishly, artificially keep their own prices and standard of living high while millions of people in poor nations starve! (See Ezekiel 16:49.)
The Bible says, "Honour your father and mother" (Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Deuteronomy 27:16), and "Children, obey your parents." -- Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20. Punishment for disobedient, rebellious children was severe. -- Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Exodus 21:15,17; Leviticus 20:9. -- Yet in some modern countries, it is against the law to even spank or discipline a rebellious child! -- Something the Bible commands parents to do! -- Proverbs 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14.
The Bible says to "honour the old men" and "despise not your parents when they are old". -- Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 23:22. Children were expected to love, respect and care for their elderly parents. Only in today's selfish society do children send their parents off to "Old Folks' Homes" or "Rest Homes" in defiance of God's laws! -- Mark 7:9-13.
In some places, it only takes one person to commit someone to a mental hospital. The Bible says that no legal action can be taken against someone unless it's confirmed by two or three witnesses. -- Deuteronomy 19:15.
There could hardly be anything more natural, Godly or Scriptural than a mother breast-feeding her baby. Yet in many countries it would cause a public scandal for a mother to nurse her baby in public! -- And in some countries she could even get arrested for "indecent exposure"!
In the Bible, communal family living was the rule -- even in the New Testament (Acts 2:44-45) -- yet in most modern countries, city building codes regulate how many people can live in one house, how many bedrooms and toilets you are required by law to have for so many people etc., making Godly communal living illegal.
The Bible explicitly specified that human dung and waste was to be buried in the ground (Deuteronomy 23:13), yet modern Man, on a vast and horrifying scale, has been irresponsibly pumping and dumping his waste and sewage directly into streams, rivers and oceans, so that Worldwide they are now fouled and polluted with sewage!
There are so many other laws of Man which are in direct defiance of Godly laws and principles that it would be impossible to list them all here; but briefly, here are a few more:
Man's use of chemicals and plastics which pollute AND defile the environment. -- Jeremiah 2:7; Isaiah 24:5.
Leviticus 17:10-14 forbids Man to drink blood, yet blood sausages etc. are considered a popular delicacy in most of the World today, and blood transfusions are rampant!
Tampering with nature by splitting the atom and releasing nuclear power.
The Nuclear arsenals of the Superpowers which can destroy the entire World! -- Matthew 24:22.
Some nations spending most of their national budget on weapons and the military while their people starve!
The entire wasteful space program upon which billions are wasted while the poor starve! -- Obadiah 1:4.
Industrialisation, unnatural city life, forsaking a normal agricultural economy, dangerously tall buildings and skyscrapers, which God is against! -- Genesis 11:4-8.
Mandatory voting laws of some nations which make it illegal not to vote.
Mandatory draft laws many nations have (James 4:1), whereas God's Word gave MANY reasons to be excused from military duty. -- Deuteronomy 20:5-8.
Mandatory school attendance, where it is illegal to drop out of classes that teach the anti-Christ theory of Evolution! -- 2Timothy 4:3,4; 1Corinthians 10:21; Col.2:8.
Many nations today have gotten rid of the death penalty for serious crimes and instead pamper the criminals all their lives in prison cells. The Mosaic Law clearly instituted the death penalty for serious crimes and did not allow imprisonment! -- Exodus 21:12-17,29 etc.
Nudity is against the law in most places, whereas God created Man and Woman to be naked and not ashamed of their bodies. -- Genesis 2:25.
The abusing of man's body, "the temple of the Holy Spirit", through legal drugs and strong alcoholic drinks. -- 1Cor.3:16-17.
Many nations have either a total or partial ban on alcoholic beverages, even though it was perfectly common and legal throughout the entire Bible. -- Even Jesus made wine on one occasion. -- John 2:1-11.
The list of Man's illegal laws and practices could go on and on: "Face lifts", working on night shifts instead of daylight hours, modern devilish Rock music, tatoos, African female circumcision, processed formulas instead of breast feeding, artificial prolonging of life, unnatural medicines, vaccinations, test-tube babies, artificial insemination etc. etc. etc.!
There are so many of Man's perverted laws that God Himself constantly breaks, that rebellious, foolish, anti-God Man would surely issue an immediate warrant for His arrest, have Him extradited from His throne in Heaven, and put Him behind bars for several hundred million years if he could! But who really are the criminals and law-breakers? God and His holy children? -- Or those who make illegal laws! -- What do you think?