The United States was founded with a unique understanding: its fathers (many fleeing oppression) saw government as limited, rooted in God-given rights and laws higher than any human ruler. They drew from Scripture (including ideas of resisting tyranny when it becomes oppressive) to create a system that protected conscience, worship, and the right to bear arms as a safeguard against both foreign and domestic threats. This is why the founders viewed the right to self-defense and resistance to tyranny as aligned with biblical justice, not rebellion against God.
Biblical Balance: Submission in Exile vs. Limits on Tyranny
Romans 13 calls us to submit to governing authorities as they function as God’s servants for good — punishing evil and protecting the innocent. But the text itself assumes the ruler is “not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:3). When authorities flip and become a terror to the good (attacking Torah-keepers, targeting Jews and Messianics/Notzerim who return to God’s instructions, dividing the land, or pushing policies that defy God’s covenants), they step outside the delegated authority Paul described.
This is exactly what the American founders recognized. They saw resistance to tyranny as obedience to God when rulers violated higher divine law. Many colonial pastors preached this from the pulpit, balancing Romans 13 with Acts 5:29 (“We must obey God rather than men”) and the whole counsel of Scripture (including the Exodus deliverance from Pharaoh and the judges who rose against oppressors).
Self-defense and the right to arm up against a domestic threat (when government itself turns persecutory) has deep biblical roots:
- Nehemiah armed the builders while rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 4).
- The Torah permits self-defense against violent aggressors (Exodus 22:2-3).
- Yeshua told the disciples to buy swords for a time of danger (Luke 22:36), even while teaching non-retaliation in personal insults (“turn the other cheek” as exile wisdom).
The pattern is clear: Submit where possible. Resist evil when it demands compromise with God’s laws. When special interest groups or policies begin to systematically oppress the faithful, change good laws, and target the regathering/restoration of Israel’s covenants, that system has moved from “minister of God for good” into alignment with the spirit of the beast.
Revelation’s Call to Patient Endurance (Revelation 13:10)
A Call to endure faithfully
“If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he goes; if anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.”
This is not a blanket command to disarm or never resist. It is a sober warning for the end-times onslaught under the beast system: persecution will come, and some will be taken captive or killed. In that hour, the saints are called to patient endurance and faithfulness — refusing to take the mark, (Obey Sunday laws instead of true Shabbat) refusing to worship the beast, and trusting God’s ultimate justice rather than becoming vigilantes driven by personal vengeance.
It echoes Yeshua’s words: those who live by the sword (in the sense of lawless violence or revenge) will die by it. But it does not cancel the right and duty to protect the innocent or defend against tyranny when authorities become the aggressor. The call is to endure without losing faith or becoming like the beast ourselves — while still walking in wisdom.
The Notzerim Posture Today
We are seeing the shift I have described:
- Policies that increasingly target Jews, Messianics, and Torah-returning believers.
- Attempts to redefine “inclusion and tolerance” such as woke ideology that destroyed Yehovah’s instructions and established laws, that twist his intentions, and inverting truth to support their agenda, such as gender perversions and policy and especially by taking Yeshua’s teachings on turning the other cheek and weaponizing his advice on living amongst an evil regime or policies aimed to destroy the foundations of the faith, in ways that pervert God’s created order and silence biblical truth.
- Pressures that align with dividing the land and resisting the full restoration of Jacob.
In this unique American context (founded on biblical principles of liberty and limited government), citizens have historically recognized a right to defend against domestic tyranny that tries to overturn those foundations. At the same time, Revelation warns us that as the beast system matures, raw power and persecution will increase — and our greatest weapon will be endurance, faith, prayer, and standing firm in the ancient paths.
Practical wisdom for the remnant:
- Submit and honor authority as long as it does not force violation of Torah or Yeshua’s commands.
- Defend the innocent and God-given rights when policies turn openly persecutory — but always with a heart that seeks God’s Kingdom first, not fleshly revenge.
- Set your face toward Zion and the coming King-Priest. The ultimate answer is not in any human polis or constitution, but in the return of Yeshua and the kingdom reign of God who will shatter every rebellious system and establish righteous rule from Jerusalem.
- Live as exiles who are also citizens of the Kingdom — wise as serpents, harmless as doves, armed with truth and, where lawful and necessary, the means to protect the household of faith.
The founding vision was a rare attempt to limit government under God. When that vision is attacked and replaced by a globalist beast spirit that oppresses the faithful and divides the land, the prophets say such nations become a cup of trembling. Yehovah will judge.
We endure. We stand. We refuse the mark. And we trust that the King who set His face toward Jerusalem is coming to settle every false claim to authority.
Shalom in the ancient paths, brethren. The tension we feel is real — it’s the birth pangs of the Kingdom. Keep your eyes on the prophets and the full Word. The gathering continues, and the true authority is about to appear.
