Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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When I was in Junior High School, we would start the mornings with a Bible reading and a prayer over the intercom for all the classes in the school. At graduation exercises, public reverence for Jesus was expected and welcomed. Not too long ago, I watched a re-run of a Lawrence Welk Christmas program in which, without strain or shame, the name of Jesus was mentioned routinely. After those days, a foolish woman named Madeleine O'Hare sued to have recognition of Jesus, or any of earth's false gods, removed from public life. Her case reached the Supreme Court of the United States, and she won. The court decided that it was in the best interest of this nation, and that it was in keeping with the principles established in the Constitution of the United States, to order that all religious expression, such as prayer, should be abolished from schools and other publicly run institutions. In short, God was expelled from this nation's schools. It became public policy to exclude Jesus from the public institutions that most affect our children.
For years, until I learned the truth about Christianity, I marveled that when the "Supreme Court" in Washington, DC, said, "Stop praying!", almost everyone stopped. Isn't that strange, when you pause to think about it?
However, Jesus helped me understand that Christianity is a religion, just like Islam or Buddhism, and that it is a part of human culture. It originated with man; it is led by man's wisdom; and it is controlled by man. That being so, when men on the U. S. Supreme Court commanded men in this country to stop praying in public places, Christians dutifully stopped. By ceasing from prayer according to the Court's decree, Christians were merely acknowledging the fact that the earthly Supreme Court of the United States possesses authority over their earthly religion.
The way of the Spirit of God, on the other hand, is neither of man nor is it subject to the rule of man. The children of God are free in Christ Jesus to pray whenever the holy Ghost says to pray, and they are free to stop praying only when the Spirit is finished. Human will, including human law, has no authority whatsoever over the holy Ghost, and never will. The will of man means nothing to the mind of the Spirit. Throughout my nearly twenty years of teaching in the Community College system, I always prayed in class and with the class when I was led to do so by the Spirit. I never prayed from a spirit of rebellion against anything; I prayed only according to the will of God, and there were very many of those classes in which I did not pray because I felt no leading to do so.
In 1978, when I began teaching, I felt that if I was fired for praying when the Spirit said to pray, then the school was unworthy of my presence, and unworthy of the presence of anyone led by the Spirit of God. I would have been happy, not bitter or sarcastic, if asked to leave, as long as I knew I was pleasing God. After all, it would have been the school's loss, not mine. I simply would have taken it as a signal from God that I no longer belonged there.
Praying never caused a problem for me in my college situation, but it did for others. I would occasionally hear of someone being reprimanded or even fired for praying in class or for talking too much about Jesus. News reports of such events would anger some people, but not me. Why should we be angered when we see the world govern what belongs to it? The schools are earthly institutions, and men set the rules. If man's courts want to dictate what can and cannot happen in their own social, educational, and religious organizations, what business is that of God's people? None at all. Stay out of man's business. Remember King Josiah.
But if, as sometimes happens, man's courts attempt to intrude into the holy places of God and dictate to the Spirit what it can and cannot lead God's children to do, then we are not required by Jesus to submit to that rule. We are to be respectful and obedient to "every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake", as Peter told us. But that same apostle, when commanded by one of man's courts to cease from preaching the gospel, said, "We ought to obey God rather than men."
So, the standard by which we are to live is to obey every law of the society in which we live (regardless of how foolish those laws may appear), but only up to the point at which those laws contradict the clear will of God. We are always to submit to "the higher power", and God is the highest power of all. That is all the thinking that we have to do concerning this issue. It is not a mind thing; it is a spirit thing.
There are laws in effect now in this country that seem foolish to me, but that is none of the saints' business. As long as those laws do not impose upon the saints a manner of conduct that contradicts the will of God, they are to be obeyed. And at all times, even when governors of a nation or state are trespassing into holy places, the governors of this country, of states, or of cities, are to be prayed for and respected, if not obeyed. They need the saints' prayers and compassion. After all, remember that you yourself could have been cursed by God to be an enforcer of earthly laws, a mayor, senator, congressman, or even president (God forbid!), instead of being called out of the world and into the precious kingdom of Christ. Be thankful for your calling; stay out of man's business; and ignore men when they meddle with ours.
Be like Jesus, who humbly submitted to man's legal authority to kill him but refused man's claim of authority over what he should preach, or whom or when he should heal.