Acts, 5:1-16

And then there were three questions. So what did you guys come up with for question number one? Were Ananias and Sapphira truly Christians? Why or why not? So remember they sold a piece of land that they had owned. And that's what a lot of people were doing at that time in the early church. And they took the money and they brought it to the apostles' feet. But they lied about the amount of money that they had sold their land for. So, God took their lives.

So, the question is, are they Christians or not? What do you guys think? Okay. Yeah, it makes a point. It says that they lied to the Holy Spirit. Yeah. So I'll try to tread there. But I would say that, yes, they were saved because of the fact that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

They were told in Acts 4.31, they did lie, and they did lie to the Holy Spirit. But I guess I've never lied. When I stole the cookies, that was a fairy tale. I don't know why, but they were safe.

They were on the day of Pentecost. They must have, the scripture doesn't tell us. But they must have been among the 120, then when the 3,000 were added on the day of Pentecost. If they weren't among the 120, they'd come in from somewhere and they had served. And the fact that they were filled with, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit is what I think Scripture itself nails it down to. Yeah, we're not sure where they joined the church, but it seems that they are Christians. And then it mentions that they lie to the Holy Spirit. But there are some things we can think about further. It says that Satan had filled their heart. And are there any other places in Scripture where you see Satan influencing believers?

Can you think of anything? Judas. Judas, okay. And I was thinking of Peter. When Christ, it's in Matthew 16, verse 21, when Christ tells His disciples that He's going to be crucified and then will resurrect, Peter says to Him, no, not you, Lord. And Christ says, get behind me, Satan. And then there's Peter, in 1 Peter, when he writes an epistle, he says, be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm in your faith.

So, just because it says Satan filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira, that doesn't mean that they were not saved. Another question is, Well, they didn't behave in a way that glorifies God, that glorified God. But that, again, doesn't necessarily mean they were not saved. Because the Bible is full of people who do things that aren't right.

Just because we do sin as Christians doesn't mean we're unsaved. What about God taking their physical life? Did you have a chance to look up those verses in the notes that talks about God actually taking the physical life of a Christian? I'm sorry? Yeah, in 1 John 5, 16 and 17, it talks about a sin unto death.

It doesn't say what that is, it doesn't say that there's one or two, it just says there is such a thing as And then, in 1 Corinthians 11.30, Paul says, for this reason, for the Corinthians' failure to judge their actions, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number are dead. So, it seems that, in Corinthians, Paul teaches that if a believer would continue in sin, without judging his own life, without being careful about the way he does walk, may take him home. His physical life, his spiritual salvation is secure, and we're not talking about that. We'll just be talking about God taking the physical life of a saint who is conditionally walking in sin.

What's that now? Is that a penalty? Yeah, is that a penalty? Do they consider it a punishment? Oh, right. Yeah. Is that why God did it, in other words? To punish those two? Was that why it was done? Well, I think the reason it happened is it was an example to the Church.

And God doesn't appear to do that today. I guess I'd like to make the point that from all we read, it's better to be with the Lord. So it's hard to construe this as a penalty for those three. It clearly was, though. Because there's something about living our life here and having the opportunity to glorify the Lord here. But it is a good thing to go be with the Lord.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And the answer is yes, based on 1 Corinthians 11, and even 1 Corinthians 5, and maybe Hebrews 10. The answer is yes. Not the norm, but God certainly can do that. was taking a fellow who was very openly and deliberately sinning, yet was known to be a believer.

And he had knowledge of it. And the pastor had gotten together with this guy and talked to him about it. And the two of them were driving, they were going down the road. The pastor was driving, he had a few bugs. And the fellow said, well, he's next to him. And they were driving over to while they were driving down the road, all of a sudden, the truck went out of control, hit the passenger side of the EW, and instantly killed the fellow who was sitting next to the passenger. And, you know, in an accident like this, it's tough to call, but it sure looks like it. Yeah, good point.

So, again, just to answer the question clearly, we're Ananias and Sapphira Christians, although there are some questions to answer in the passage, there isn't anything that clearly says, no, they were not saved. And after you answer the questions, it does appear they are saved. For question number two, is the taking of the lives of Ananias and Sapphira too harsh a penalty for what they did? Let's answer that one first. What do you guys think there?

They still did something good. They sold a piece of land. They made a sacrifice. They still gave it to the church. It was more about the example. The Holy Spirit is there, capable of watching everything you do. It sees you. It dwells in you. That's more about the example than the kind of thing.

Like Ben said, it wasn't really healthy for them because they weren't hearing a lot of what they were awarding. Like what Vern was saying, sometimes you look at those things and the only thing that kind of makes sense to us is that they're removed from this life because of the crummy example and the bad name that gets all Christians, that that person is viewed as being a typical Christian and living in the flesh, that what God does is remove them from here. Yeah. Yeah.

And it does seem to be the reason that God took immediately like that was to serve, so that it would be an example to the church and those without the church. That's what the passage says, that great fear came upon the church and upon everyone who heard what happened. And remember, what happened at the beginning of the dispensation of law with Achan right after the children of Israel entered into the promised land they took the city of Jericho and this guy Achan took some of the spoil and hid it in his tent and then God ended up taking his life as well what you see is that at the beginning of a new dispensation certain things happen as examples to show what God's will is for that group. The second question there says, did Peter decide to take their lives, exercising apostolic authority, or were their lives taken entirely by God's sovereign decision? So, did Peter call down fire and have them consumed, or did God take their lives? What did you see there in the passage?

Let me read those verses. With Ananias, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? I'm sorry, down to verse 5. And as Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And then with Sapphira later, three hours later, Peter talks to her and then Verse 10 says, "...immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and a young man came in and found her dead." Basically, Peter's talking to her and confronting her and asking, why did you lie to the Holy Spirit? And then she drops dead. The text doesn't say that it was Peter, God used Peter to take her life. Although there may not have been anything wrong if God would have done that. That's what the text seems to indicate. So in that case...

The word for to breathe out says, he breathed his last, or she breathed her last, It's only used one other time in the New Testament, and that's when God took the life of Herod in chapter 12. And it simply just means to breathe out your breath or your spirit. And here's what it says in Acts 12 concerning Herod, King Herod.

Immediately an angel of the Lord slayed him, and he was eaten by worms and breathed out his last breath. So there it's the same verb, same tense, mood, everything. But the text clearly says that an angel of the Lord slayed him, and he breathed at his last. So it appears that God took their lives, and not necessarily through Peter.

Don't you guys find anything else out there? Okay, the last question of two, we've answered this already. Does the same thing happen now whenever a believer is hypocritical and deceptive? And, as we've been talking about the past few minutes, God doesn't appear to do this immediately, take a believer's life immediately when we sin, but it's from 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 5, and even Hebrews 10, it appears that if a believer would continue on over time, consistently refusing to judge his actions and confess his sin to the Lord and walk then in fellowship with the Lord again, that the Lord may decide to go ahead and just take him home.

It would be better if he was with me now. So it doesn't appear to be immediate like it was with Ananias and Sapphira. What's that? Yeah, and he could. He could, but there's not a verse that says that he's going to do that or anything like that. He still could, but yeah. It appears that after the beginning of that church age, that then he's a little more... waits a little longer to do something like that. Right. Yeah.

And that leads us right into the next question. Should such a response of fear, as is described in this passage, characterize the church and those outside the church now? Because what happened is, in verse 5, after Ananias died, it says, great fear came over all who heard of it. And then after Sapphira had died, it says, in verse 11, great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things. So, it had the effect. of serving as an example to the Church and to those who had heard what happened. But should that same fear or respect and awe of God characterize the Church now?

And what about the world now? What do you guys think? If God's not judging believers like He did Ananias and Sapphira, today in the same way, like every time a believer would lie to another believer or misrepresent something they did, and God takes their life. If God doesn't do that today, then how would we, the Church, fear Him or respect Him? Yeah, right. We can read the account of Ananias and Sapphira, and it can serve as an example to us, too.

You know, God is a holy God. Christians do have, from other passages, we see that Christians have a position in Christ. They are completely separate from sin, positionally, although the sin nature indwells. Positionally, they have died out of the realm of sin, and they are now with Christ in the heavenly, set apart for His possession and use.

And we can see that God hates sin, and it's not okay for believers to sin. And we see here, with the account of Ananias and Sapphira, what God's attitude towards sin really is. It's not okay with Him. And so we can then have that same respect for God. Not a fear, as in we're scared of Him, but we do respect Him, and He is God, and we're His creatures. But the world now, because they're not reading the Word, and therefore God's not acting the same way today as He did with Ananias and Sapphira, They're not going to see that. They're not going to see God showing His holiness and maybe His judgment that way. Yeah, that's right. So, do you guys have any other comments there? But I would say that's...

The main reason why you and I today can have a respect and reverence for God is because we can read about Him in His Word. Because He's not communicating to us through apostles and prophets today like He did in the early church. He's not having Vern and Hal and Mike and Roger perform signs, wonders and miracles every Sunday. the neighborhood around us isn't hearing a mighty rushing wind sound. You know, and 2,000 people aren't rushing to Holly Hills to see what in the world's going on here. But we read about...

But now we have God's revealed Word, which they didn't have then. They didn't have the written Word then. But now we have God's written Word, so we can get to know Him by studying His Word and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But the world, if they're not reading the Word, they're not going to get to know God in this way. Anything else? Mary Ann? Why do you think the love of God is the most important? Just like for us, water is our health.

And if we just see it as a consequence, that doesn't draw people to Him. I just pray that God makes the best. In the Word today, you see the whole picture, where everything has a whole picture. And I don't think they lie with love. They're pretty modern with everything. That's true. That's right.

Paul says that the love of Christ compels me or constrains me. Well, let's go ahead and move on into the next part of chapter 5. And what we'll do is, I'm going to go ahead and read these verses and then we'll read through our notes for today. Does everyone have Acts 5, 17-41? I think Verdon made sure of that earlier. Let's go ahead and read this. Last week we didn't have quite as many verses, but I'll try to read it real quickly. Verse 17 of chapter 5, But the high priest rose up along with all his associates, that is, the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy.

They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison and taking them out, all the apostles, he said to them, go stand and speak to the people in the Temple the whole message of this life." Upon hearing this, they entered into the Temple about daybreak and began to teach. Now, when the High Priest and his associates came, they called the Council together, and even all the Senate of the Sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought.

But the officers who came did not find them in the prison, and they returned and reported back saying, we found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors, but when we had opened up, we found no one inside. So you can imagine they were shocked and scared. Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone came and reported to them, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence, for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned by the people. When they had brought them, they stood them before the council.

The high priest then questioned them, saying, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, and remember, this is the Sanhedrin, most of whom are Sadducees who don't believe in the Resurrection, and here Peter goes talking about the Resurrection again, right? The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross, He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.

But when they heard this they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. For some time ago, Feudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about 400 men joined up with him, but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him. he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.

So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may even be found fighting against God. They took his advice, and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So, they went on their way, the apostles, they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name, and then, every day, in the temple, and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Okay? That is cold. Alright, so let's go ahead now and look at our notes. Last week, the Sanhedrin, we saw the Sanhedrin, which was mainly comprised of Sadducees.

They had just let Peter and John go after warning them not to teach about the resurrected Christ. Basically, remember, Peter had told them the same thing. You decide if it's better for us to listen to God or man. But now, the Apostles encountered the Sadducees again. But instead of just Peter and John being thrown in prison, it appears to be all of the Apostles were thrown into prison this time. While being held in the public jail, an angel freed the Apostles and told them to continue their teaching and preaching in the Temple. The next morning, as we saw, the council gathered together, they were all assembled, and they sent the guards out to go get the apostles, but then the apostles were gone. And they were back in the temple, preaching and teaching. The apostles were re-arrested, but Gamaliel told them to not kill the apostles, so they ended up just flogging the apostles and releasing them.

So let's look at some background information. And this is going to be helpful to you as you study this portion of Acts 5 this week and answer the questions at the end. And we'll preview those questions right before we close. So we're going over this to help you study God's Word. So these are some more historical insights, textual insights, and cultural insights that will help you guys study.

So, throughout the Book of Acts, the Sadducees are the primary Jewish party in Jerusalem, opposing the Apostles' proclamation and teaching. So, in other words, the Romans, they're not getting involved too much right now, are they? It's the Jews, the Jewish leaders, that are opposing the Christians. And specifically, it's the it's the Sanhedrin, I'm sorry, the Sadducees. And why was that?

Do you guys remember what, I already stated it a couple minutes ago, but what was it that the Sadducees, what was one of the things the Sadducees didn't believe in, that the Apostles taught? The Resurrection. They taught that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and that was the basis of their Gospel. And when the angel released them, released the Apostles, the Twelve Apostles, He told them to go out and keep teaching the words of this life. So they're telling people about the life of Christ, because He's resurrected, and He lives in them. And so they're telling everybody about this life and salvation we have. And the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. So they opposed the Christians. The Sadducees also only believed in the inspiration of the first five books of the Old Testament.

Although there are references to the Messiah and Christ's future kingdom in the first five books, it's not clearly taught about. The Millennial Kingdom isn't clearly taught about. The coming Messiah isn't clearly and elaborately taught about in the Pentateuch. But in the Prophets, it clearly is taught about. But again, the Sadducees didn't really care about the rest of the Old Testament.

So the Apostles teaching about the Messiah coming back, and they were telling people to repent. In Acts chapter 3, they told people to repent. And they said that times that were refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. And they're using Old Testament references to the Millennial Kingdom.

So the Sadducees wouldn't have wanted anything to do with that either. The Apostles prove that Jesus is the Messiah, drawing upon the entire Old Testament. The Apostles tell of the repeated involvement of angels. So again, the Sadducees didn't believe that angels existed. They're sort of anti-supernatural. But again, the Apostles did teach about the angels.

I wonder what they thought when maybe word got around that an angel had released the apostles from the prison. I wonder what they thought of that. How in the world did they get out of there? The twelve apostles were locked in the prison. The next morning they were gone, but the guards were still there. The prison was intact, it was secure, but the apostles were gone. Something weird happened. I had to recognize that, you'd think.

The Sadducees placed great emphasis upon temple rituals and activities. Remember, they were centered around the temple. The Sadducees were centered around the temple. And that's one reason why in AD 70, when the Jews came in under General Titus and destroyed the Temple and a lot of Jerusalem. After that, the Sadducees, as a group of Jews, just kind of disappeared, because their Temple was gone. The Apostles taught that the coming of Jesus, whom the Sadducees had a part in killing, was even greater than the magnificent Temple where they stood.

Now, it says that the Sadducees put them into prison, and we don't know exactly where that prison was, there's a couple options. There were prison cells in Herod's Palace, and Herod's Palace was off to the west, a little ways away from the Temple Mount, so it could have been there. But more likely, it would have been in the Antonia Fortress, which was right next to the Temple Mount, the temple, and actually the soldiers could look into the temple area from the Antonia Fortress, where there were prisons built right into that, so it could have been there that the apostles were put. But also there were prisons built into the walls of the temple area, so it could have been right there as well. And on the next page, page 2, there's another map of Jerusalem and then the temple the temple area. In fact, the picture on the upper right is a picture of the Fortress Antonia.

This is where Christ was interrogated by Pilate Okay, there was nothing about the release of the Apostles that led the guards to suspect an escape. So, something weird, supernatural had happened. They knew the Apostles hadn't escaped on their own, because there was no way for them to get out. The angels told the Apostles, go stand and speak to the people in the Temple the whole message of this life. the angel sent them back to the temple area.

And at this time, in the book of Acts, we see the apostles and Christians centered around Jerusalem. And that's about to change. In a few chapters, that's going to change. A minor point. When you look at that time frame, when you talk about the Christians and so forth, the Sanhedrin, when they looked at them as just another sect or a division of The Sanhedrin would have viewed him that way, you're saying? Right.

In other words, you're emphasizing the Sadducees, but the Pharisees also would be against them. It would be like the Democrats and the Republicans, not liking the Green Party. And there were some political issues there as well, because the Pharisees were in favor of the Resurrection, not Christ's Resurrection, but they believed in a Resurrection. And they believed in the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. What a great point, because the Pharisees were kind of holding back, kind of letting the Christians have some breathing space, because they kind of agreed with them on some points.

But the Sadducees would have liked just to, you know, wipe them out. But then the Sadducees would have been wiping out the Christians for some of the same beliefs that the Pharisees held to. So the Pharisees didn't want to let that happen. Yeah, that never happens today in the church.

Yeah, that's good for everybody to know. So you have that dynamic going on within the Sanhedrin, which was the council of the Jewish leaders. Something also, I don't know who said it, so I didn't look too far into the reference, but the temple was also called the Temple of Life.

And it's interesting that the angel said, go back to the temple and preach the message of this life. So, apparently the Jews, I don't know which group of Jews, but they viewed the temple as the Temple of Life. but now the angel is telling the apostles to go continue preaching the message of life, which is, of course, Christ and His work on the cross. It's also possible that the angel spoke to them in Aramaic, which would have been their native tongue, because the Aramaic word for life and salvation are the same word. And in chapters 1 through 5, show an Aramaic influence built into Acts and into their dialogues.

The last sentence here says, it's fascinating that the angel would miraculously release them without knowledge of the guards and then tell them to go where they would most certainly be noticed and caught again. And I wonder why God did that. It could be that Had they not been released by the angel and then recaptured, it could have been that the Jews may have decided just to whack them right then. But now there's something supernatural associated with their escape.

And remember when the guards then go out to get them the next morning, that they bring them back carefully or quietly, because they're afraid that the people would stone them. So it could be, that could, it's just speculation, but it could be one of the reasons why God released him that night.

Now, Acts 5.21 talks about the meeting of the Senate. It says the Council and the Senate of the sons of Israel. And this is a figure of speech called a Henniades. And that's where you have a single idea expressed by two nouns instead of a noun and an adjective. So the Council and the Senate of the Sons of Israel, those two things refer to the Sanhedrin.

On your next page you have some pictures and maps, and a map. We've already mentioned that this is inside of the Fortress Antonia. And then the smaller picture is from sort of across the temple looking at the Fortress Antonia. And you can see how it sat right next to the temple and even overlooked the temple area. And then the bottom map is a pretty good map of the city of Jerusalem, showing the temple. You see Herod's palace off to the left or the west. Let's look at this last paragraph here.

When it was reported to the Sanhedrin that the apostles were right back in the temple teaching again, The Apostles were only a short distance away. Remember? Because we think that the prison that they were taken to was either in the temple walls itself or in the fortress Antonia, which is right next to the temple. So they didn't go very far. They didn't try to run and hide.

They went right back to where they were and they continued to proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah and you guys can have forgiveness of sins. And it even specifically says that they were they were teaching this to Israel. So there's still a focus upon the nation of Israel. Apparently there's still an opportunity for them to repent. But they don't. Anyway, the apostles don't run away.

They just kind of go around the corner and they're back in the temple preaching again the next morning. Yeah, do you guys have any questions or comments? So this will give you a little background information to study this passage as you answer the questions. Oh, there's one more part about Gamaliel. Let's look at that.

Remember that it mentioned that a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up. from Acts 22.3 it tells us that Paul was taught by Gamaliel Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel and Hillel was a famous rabbi Gamaliel's direct influence in Israel was from 25 to 50 AD so he was active as a leader during those 25 years in the Jewish Mishnah it says When Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, the glory of the Torah ceased, and purity and saintliness perished." Perhaps that is why his call for moderation and response to the Apostles' teaching was so highly regarded, even though the feelings of many were inclined to respond to much more in the extreme. Remember, they wanted to kill the Apostles, but Gamaliel said, Also, it says that the apostles were flogged.

And in Jewish tradition, that would have meant 39 lashes. And the reason for that is that in the Old Testament, it says that you could flog a person 40 times. So the Jews decided, okay, we're only going to flog someone 39 times, just in case we miscounted, you know, when we were whipping them. So we don't want to break God's law and and beat him 41 times.

So they were nice? Yeah! Very merciful. Okay, one more thing I wanted to tell you. Gamaliel refers to a couple people. He refers to Feudas, and Feudas isn't mentioned anywhere else. in the New Testament, or outside of the New Testament, this particular feudus that Gamaliel refers to. There were other guys named feudus who pop up throughout Jewish history, but not this particular guy. And then another person that Gamaliel mentions was Judas. And we do have more information outside of Acts about this specific Judas. And let me just give you a little more information here.

Gamaliel refers to the seditious activities of a man who came on the scene shortly after Herod the Great's son, Archelaus, was deposed from his rulership of Judea and a Roman procuratorship was established. So after Herod the Great died, his son was kind of taken off of his puppet position. and Rome put in procurators throughout the area. So this is when this Judas the Galilean revolted against the Romans. And this is from Josephus, this next description. The territory of Archelaus, Herod's son, who now was taken over by the Romans, the territory was brought under direct Roman rule, and a man of equestrian rank at Rome, Caponius, was sent as procurator with authority from Caesar, to inflict the death penalty.

In his time, a Galilean named Judas tried to stir the natives to revolt, saying that they would be cowards if they submitted to paying taxes to the Romans, and after serving God alone, accepted human masters. This man was a rabbi with a sect of his own, and was unlike the others." So that's from Josephus, and that's the same Judas that Luke mentions in Acts.

So, this week now you have five questions that you'll get to study. The first says, the Apostles were miraculously delivered from prison. Unlike the Apostles recapture, they were likewise delivered from a death sentence, by the pivotal words of Gamaliel. So the question is, should Christians categorically expect this kind of delivery from problems and difficulties? Why or why not? Secondly, since the Apostles were to be witnesses for Christ to the remotest part of the earth, why was there any value in them staying around Jerusalem?

Remember, the angel referred them, told them to go back to the Temple. Okay, so think about that. Remember Christ had said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. So why are they all still around the Temple in Jerusalem?

Number three, The Book of Acts makes note that there was great support for the Apostles among the people, even to the point that the Sadducees were afraid of physical harm from the people. Did that support from the people result from the direct efforts of the Apostles?

And should Christians today be seeking that support? Okay, so you understand the question? Should we try to get the world around us excited about what we're doing and even support us and push our Number four, the Apostles received most of their outside opposition in the early chapters of Acts from the Sadducees, and the Pharisee Gamaliel even provided some substantial support at a critical moment. Should Christians seek out the support of and alliance with other groups in society, even if those groups are not typically believers? That's a good question. If so, how big of a priority should this be?

Should the church seek protection or support from other outside groups? Number five, if one were to come to a place of choosing between what God has clearly revealed and earthly authority, does this passage provide any insight into what principles of a believer would or should observe in doing? Okay? Alright. I have lots to study. That's it. Thanks.