The federal government has been incessant in shoving the filth of sodomy down the throats of Americans. This impugning of the law of God has reached the point where God’s created order regarding marriage is now threatened.

The federal government – via the U. S. Supreme Court – decriminalized sodomy in 2003. The federal beast has since busied itself with a plethora of public policy changes to expand its homosexualization of America. Now, marriage itself is in peril by the perverting influence of the homosexual juggernaut.

Some lesser magistrates recognize the threat and have taken action against these immoral laws and policies. As of 2012, thirty-one states have enacted constitutional amendments to their state constitutions in order to assure that marriage conforms to the law and created order of God by declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman only. But will they continue to stand when the U.S. Supreme Court rules otherwise?

In the Magdeburg Confession, while discussing the fourth and worst degree of tyranny, in a near prophetic statement regarding our own day here in America, the pastors stated the following in their Confession:

“Therefore, if now the leader or Caesar proceeds to such height of insanity only in that of natural knowledge which governs the society of civil life and uprightness, that he abolishes the law concerning marriages and chastity, and himself sets up a contrary law of roving unclean lusts …”

“[I]n such a case, doubtless, no clear-thinking person would have any hesitation about the divine right and commandment that such a leader or monarch ought to be curbed by everyone in his most wicked attempt, even by the lowest of the lowest magistrates with whatever power they may have.”

The Magdeburg Confession is the first known document in the history of man to formally set forth the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. The lesser magistrate doctrine teaches that when a higher civil authority makes unjust/immoral laws or decrees, the lesser or lower ranking civil authority has the right and duty to interpose and refuse obedience to that higher authority. If necessary, the lower authority may even actively resist the higher authority.

The pastors of Magdeburg wrote their Confession in defiance of Emperor Charles V’s attempt to destroy their religion. They published the Magdeburg Confession on April 13, 1550. Five months after issuing their Confession, Charles V’s forces marched on Magdeburg. The magistrates and people of Magdeburg burned everything outside the city walls and closed the city gates. The siege of Magdeburg had begun.

The pastors addressed and answered in their Confession such questions as, “What constitutes a tyrannical government?” “How and when are Christians to respond and act when a government does become tyrannical?” “Are Christians to give unlimited obedience to the State?” In defiance of Charles V’s tyranny, the pastors declared, “Divine laws necessarily trump human ones.”

The Magdeburg Confession is of vast historical significance precisely because these Lutheran pastors were the first to formalize the lesser magistrate doctrine from Holy Scripture and history.

What the pastors of Magdeburg wrote in the Confession significantly impacted men like John Knox, Theodore Beza, Phillip Mornay and Christopher Goodman who further built upon the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. The repercussions of the Confession were felt throughout Western Civilization all the way to the founding of America as a nation.

Only time will tell if America’s lesser magistrates are just putting up a token fight against the perverting of marriage. Will they stand even when the federal dog bites back and presses all to embrace homosexual marriage whether legislatively or judicially? Will the lesser magistrates join the higher authority in their rebellion against God, or will they do their duty in the sight of God and resist?

As the pastors of Magdeburg rightly taught, all magistrates possess delegated authority from God. Therefore, the lesser magistrates have a right and duty to oppose the higher magistrate-turned-tyrant when he makes law contrary to the law and Word of God.

The primary duty of lesser magistrates is threefold. First, they are to oppose and resist any laws or edicts from the higher authority which contravene the law or word of God. Second, they are to protect the person, liberty and property of those who reside within their jurisdiction. Third, they are not to implement any laws or decrees which violate the Constitution, and if necessary, resist them.

Homosexual marriage clearly contravenes – violates, opposes, and contradicts – the law and word of God. Therefore, the lesser magistrates have a duty to resist the federal government ruling. To do otherwise is to join the higher authority in its rebellion against God.

The people have the duty to rally their lesser magistrates in support of what is right, and against the immoral actions of the federal government. If the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes homosexual marriage, no state with constitutional amendments against sodomite marriage should recognize the Supreme Court’s immoral ruling.

The interposition of the lesser magistrates is absolutely critical for the preservation of liberty. The hour for them to stand is upon us. We have a federal government that has caused much harm to the institutions and traditions of our people. They have attacked and plundered the American people. They are steeped in governmental mischief. The preborn are murdered, and sodomy is proliferated. The attacks upon the law of God are ferocious and relentless.

Matthew Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church. He and his wife, Clara, have eleven children and reside in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. The Magdeburg Confession, written in 1550, is the first document to formalize the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. You can obtain a copy by visiting MagdeburgConfession.com or LesserMagistrate.com