After the flood, God established the earliest form of civil government. Genesis 9:5-6 says, "And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning; from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of a man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." One of the reasons Scripture gives for the flood was the earth had become so violent. This indicates people were killing each other at mass scale, and God said enough. After the flood, he changed the rules. If someone murdered, their life would be taken. It was a way of curbing the violence that had been on the earth before the flood. It was a way of establishing the earliest forms of civil government by man. This idea of God establishing civil government is also affirmed in the New Testament in at least two passages. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” ‭‭ Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭ “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”

A while back, I kept hearing people calling mega church pastors "false prophets" or "false teachers". That label gets thrown around a lot in the Christian world. It bothered me because I've attended a "mega church" over the past 15 years. And personally, I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences. I didn't start in mega churches. I had never been a part of a mega church until my mid twenties. Up until then, I had only ever attended a smaller church. I mention that to say I've had both experiences. Now, every church I've attended, small or large, has been imperfect from the minute I walked in the door. It probably got a lot more imperfect after I stayed for a while. Church's definitely have a responsibility to be faithful to Scripture, and we should find one that is. Yet, I have always been more blessed by the churches I've been apart of far more than I have been harmed by them. I also believe God is sovereign. That means if I'm not living in direct disobedience to Him, I have to believe that He placed me into my local church for a purpose and a plan. He certainly has for me. It's often been to work His will in me while also allowing me to be apart of a local body of believers and hopefully serve and contribute. I can look back and see what God did in me in each church I've attended. I can see His hand at work in my own life and the blessings and lessons he brought from those seasons. That's not to say that there are not bad church experiences at times for some people that cause genuine pain. I've had a few of my own. I had an extremely tough church experience in my early twenties. As I look back on it now, I could not be more thankful for that experience, even though it left me feeling very broken at the time. God used it to bring me to a better place. He used it to work His will in me. Now, back to false prophets. I've heard statements like "That guy is a false prophet cause he wears a Rolex". Ok. Could be. Sure. Or somebody just gave him one. I think we have to take a closer look.