Our rulers:

[Shempster]

I have grown up being told that the rulers of this world are hand picked and established by God himself and we are obligated to obey whatever they say.
But I also read that Satan is the "god of this world". And when Jesus was tempted, Satan claimed to control all the governments and he could give any of them to Jesus if he would bow and worship him.
How can both be true?
I know there may have been times where God used a wicked leader for his purposes, but should we really believe that God hand appointed Hitler, Kim Jong Un and Basshar Assad?
If you lived in one of those countries and you were a Christian, would you not be obligated to obey them?

 

[HTacianas]

I have grown up being told that the rulers of this world are hand picked and established by God himself and we are obligated to obey whatever they say.
But I also read that Satan is the "god of this world". And when Jesus was tempted, Satan claimed to control all the governments and he could give any of them to Jesus if he would bow and worship him.
How can both be true?
I know there may have been times where God used a wicked leader for his purposes, but should we really believe that God hand appointed Hitler, Kim Jong Un and Basshar Assad?
If you lived in one of those countries and you were a Christian, would you not be obligated to obey them?

If you lived in one of those countries you would in fact be obligated to obey those rulers provided that they did not require you to violate your faith. Christians throughout history have had to live under the same circumstances. Even if it meant death.

 

[timewerx]

I have grown up being told that the rulers of this world are hand picked and established by God himself and we are obligated to obey whatever they say.
But I also read that Satan is the "god of this world". And when Jesus was tempted, Satan claimed to control all the governments and he could give any of them to Jesus if he would bow and worship him.
How can both be true?
I know there may have been times where God used a wicked leader for his purposes, but should we really believe that God hand appointed Hitler, Kim Jong Un and Basshar Assad?
If you lived in one of those countries and you were a Christian, would you not be obligated to obey them?

None of the rules are absolute. King David killed in order to save a nation.

Even Jesus say, you may not observe Sabbath if you have to save someone or even an animal that day.

Was Jesus obedient to the authorities? Not to all of them.... He exposed the evil works of some of them!

Likewise as followers of Christ, we should do the same!

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I have grown up being told that the rulers of this world are hand picked and established by God himself and we are obligated to obey whatever they say.
But I also read that Satan is the "god of this world". And when Jesus was tempted, Satan claimed to control all the governments and he could give any of them to Jesus if he would bow and worship him.
How can both be true?
I know there may have been times where God used a wicked leader for his purposes, but should we really believe that God hand appointed Hitler, Kim Jong Un and Basshar Assad?
If you lived in one of those countries and you were a Christian, would you not be obligated to obey them?

I think we just need to realize that occasionally God will empower leaders like Nebuchadnezzar to effect some kind of hard-ship on others in the world. However, and this is a BIG however, God only does this when He sees some body of people (any people group, really) that isn't abiding by His Will for a prolonged amount of time. Otherwise, if we see a Lenin/Stalin, a Mao or a Pol Pot, or even a Machiavelli type leader.....*cough, cough*.....it probably isn't God who is empowering that government.

 

[dreadnought]

I have grown up being told that the rulers of this world are hand picked and established by God himself and we are obligated to obey whatever they say.
But I also read that Satan is the "god of this world". And when Jesus was tempted, Satan claimed to control all the governments and he could give any of them to Jesus if he would bow and worship him.
How can both be true?
I know there may have been times where God used a wicked leader for his purposes, but should we really believe that God hand appointed Hitler, Kim Jong Un and Basshar Assad?
If you lived in one of those countries and you were a Christian, would you not be obligated to obey them?

I side with those who believe the Lord does not hand pick our rulers and expect us to obey them. Hitler is the best example I can think of.