You've provided Scriptures of men and women who were living their lives according to God's will for them to try to justify people taking it upon themselves to get themselves installed in government to govern people.
You have provided no Scripture where Jesus tells Christians to govern over people. None.
I’ve also presented (in my limited abilities) an example of applying, actually APPLYING A BIBLICAL CONCEPT - of stewardship - to OUR ACTUAL LIVES as citizens of this country, where GOD HAS PLACED US NOW FOR HIS PURPOSES.
But what if God's purpose for a person's life is cleaning toilets in a prison? You provided examples of people carrying out God's will for their lives. What God's plan for them is not what God intends for everyone.
Paul and Joseph and Esther weren’t omniscient, knowing how every detail in their lives would play out in the future, but, they each had to exercise faith in that God would work through them...same as us.
That's right. But they did what God told them to do. They did not decide that what they were going to do was to get themselves in the government so they could rule over people, even if that may be what they wanted to do and what may have they thought they should do.
And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight...Hebrews 11
Again. These people were doing what God directed them to do. There is a difference between Christians submitting their will to God's will and deciding for themselves what is best and doing what they, in their limited, finite, "wisdom", think is best. Even if what they, in their own opinion, want to do isn't what God, the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God, does not want them to do.
..do you need even more scriptures? I can find more, it’s not difficult, as the entire bible is filled with examples of God working His will through His people on earth. Come to think of it Jesus taught His disciples to pray...”Our Father...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven...” Surely, God is very concerned with how we govern His Earth.
And again. What if Jesus' will on earth is for Christians to not decide what His will is, but to hear His voice and obey His direction, even if that means not ruling over other people, but engaging in menial work that's not grand and glorious and doesn't bring glory to us, but to God?
You're stuck on this notion you have of Christians ruling the earth because Jesus said to pray that His will would be done on the earth. Please explain to me how His will automatically translates into Christians taking control over the government and ruling over other people.
I need the Scripture where Jesus explicitly tells Christians to rule over the earth.
Before proceeding let me recap how I think we got to where we are at. I’d also like to say that though I felt exasperation upon reading your most recent post - I do appreciate the opportunity to address your comments.
How we got here (in my view):
1) In post 42 you made statements about the eradication of Christians and the capital “A” Antichrist and the capital “T” Tribulation...
...statements for which I did not ask for scriptural references - but now I will ask: Show me a scripture saying that an “Antichrist” will rule over the entire world and behead everyone who refuses allegience to him. And it doesn’t need to be a scripture attributed to Jesus (as you ask of me) because the entire word of God is the word of Christ.,,,And while you are at it, please provide an explicit scripture about the “Tribulation” being a seven year period and so forth.
2) I have in my limited abilities offered a few scriptures (not every one that I could provide) in posts 45, 58, 60, 62, 65, 85 to show:
-God uses regular people who respond to Him in faith to do mighty things by His power
-that Jesus has commissioned us to disciple and teach nations all that He commanded
3) The scriptures I provided do not seem relevant to you because there is not one in which Jesus explicitly says for Christians to seek “taking control over the government and ruling over other people” - in your words. Never mind that in earlier post 65 I mentioned the concept of governing being “serving”...obviously you think that governing means dominating or oppressing others, but, though that is the way of the world it is not the way that God would have us to look at it...and yes...Jesus addressed this very idea in Matt 20:25...
...But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
4) Deu 15:6 “For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you... comments?
5) Now for a scripture where Jesus tells His followers to explicitly rule over the earth - please realize that Jerusalem was occupied by the Romans and the disciples didn’t have the opportunity that we have to steward our freedom and affect our government.
Nevertheless, I would suggest the parable Jesus spoke in Luke 19:
...While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately...(I will not post the entire passage, but, I wish you’d read it for it contains this:
... “”And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ Interesting that Jesus uses this language here...perhaps having authority over cities isn’t a bad thing after all.
6) That’s all for now. Honestly, I don’t know why you oppose God’s people discipling the nations when it is so clearly and explicitly commanded by Jesus Himself in Matt 28 (already mentioned in post 65.)
Regards,