A great statement about the nature of God and His desire for our salvation is found in I Timothy 2:4. In this passage God desires for all men to come to a knowledge of the truth in order for them to be saved. Dealing with the difficult times in which we now live must begin from that same foundation, that is, a knowledge of the truth. If we back up just a few verses we find something that we are to do. We are to pray for kings and for all that are in authority (verse 2). Because of the growing pressure applied to Christians by a liberal government, we all need to concentrate on the meaning of verse 2.
John, the immerser, told Herod he had no right to be married to the woman he was with. How could John condemn a world leader like Herod? Therein lies the truth for all of us to consider. I am commanded by God to pray for those in authority. There is nothing in the Scripture that says I am not to speak against those in authority. The manner in which I speak may cause a violation of Scripture in other areas but the right to speak should be granted to all who love freedom. We, therefore, we pray for those in authority. God, through Jeremiah, taught the Jews who would be taken into Babylonian captivity to seek the peace of the city where they would be taken (Jeremiah 29:7).
How, then, would we understand the actions of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3? Their faith caused them to say to Nebuchadnezzar, you may kill us in this fire but we will not serve your gods (verse 18). Were they not saying that the gods of the Babylonians were wrong and not worthy of worship? Brethren, we can stand against world leaders and or their positions. Under all circumstances we are to conduct ourselves as Christians so that no one can question our wisdom or our spirit (Acts 6:10). Let us pray for those in authority and live for Jesus before them. When we do this we will put to silence the ignorance of foolish men (I Peter2:15).