City of Man, Kingdom of God

Why Christians Respect, Obey, and Resist Government

By: Jesse Johnson

Narrated by: Jesse Johnson

Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

"When government protects rights given by God, then it is owed obedience, submission, and honor," Johnson writes. "But when government violates those rights, Christians are no longer bound to submit to laws that do not serve the purpose for which God made government."

Developing the Puritans' understanding of religious freedom, Johnson shows how Christ's followers have reasoned through this tension in past centuries, and he identifies biblical principles for navigating government restrictions in the future.

Johnson reminds his listeners that God made government with a purpose, and that purpose makes the world livable for believers. Government is good, but it is not absolute, and Christians are not bound to treat it as if it were. So sit back, and let Johnson take you on a tour of what the Bible teaches about government, and why we should be more like Daniel, by recognizing the limits on our obedience to earthly authorities.

©2022 Jesse Johnson (P)2022 Jesse Johnson

This book (and the audio) deliver.

many hours (of) watching tv/film-turkeys of my youth cannot be "gotten back".

However:

Here now, in contrast are few hours that felt like "making the most of your time".

However, Jesse Johnson has written for Christians, the ones desiring a framework that helps in determining the factors that this student has spent many years coming to Scripture informed convictions regarding worship and civil governments.

Well Done

Appreciated the broad overview of government in Scripture. Also, the brevity was helpful. Would love to hear Jesse give an extended treatment to this topic in the future.

Great

Highly recommend for those who may be confused about the God ordained purpose of Government and the reality of the Christian's "dual citizenship" in BOTH "CITIES". Separation of powers doesn't mean that there is no interdependent workings between church,State and the Global Kingdom that is coming. Aka the Kingdom of God

Frustrating

I love Jesse Johnson. But he demonstrates his lack of knowledge about medicine right off the bat when talking about COVID at the beginning of his book. He states most Americans didn't die "from" COVID, they died "with" COVID.

I am a Reformed, Christian, conservative. my theology very much falls in line with Jesse's. However, I'm also an ICU nurse who has spent the entire pandemic caring for COVID patients in 3 different states. No, Jesse, during our Alpha, Delta, and initial omicron waves, the decisive factor in bringing about my patients mortality was not other factors. COVID was not just incidental. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome as well as vascular complications were the decisive cause of death in these patients. There is a reason our ICUs we're absolutely overflowing and nurses like myself were taking on unsafe patient loads and running ICUs in tents (true story, check out the SP response in NYC). These patients died from COVID.

About half of adults have comorbidities that put them at high risk for COVID. When you were talking about later middle age to elderly adults, the vast majority do. These were not a few outliers among a majority healthy population. We are a society riddled with these comorbidities.

The ironic thing is, I agree with Jesse about churches closing down. I do not believe that should have ever happened. It was a blatant infringement on constitutional rights. But you can't change the facts just to support your narrative.

Please listen to your brothers and sisters who were in the thick of this. Not your church member who happens to be a nurse at some doctors clinic. No, listen to the Christians who have taken care of countless dying COVID victims. We weren't making it up. You don't have to change the facts to have a valid argument about religious freedom. If you ever want to talk about it Jesse, hit me up. God bless.