What should Christians do when war or pandemic strikes, with government mandates following closely behind? Revolt? Submit? Peaceably assemble and conscientiously speak out? The “Establishment Clause” and “Free Exercise Clause” of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment are due largely to the faithful witness and compelling influence of Baptist forefathers like John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Leland. Ultimately these protections are due to Divine Providence. Yet many Americans, even among the religious, fail to adequately appreciate this. Jimmy Barber’s studies bring to a fine point the relevant scriptural principles. Christ and his kingdom are “not of this world.” Consequently, his followers are “not of the world,” and we must “obey God rather than men.” Yet God Himself enjoins, “submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake” and “let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,” because “the powers that be are ordained of God.” How do we square these sometimes seemingly conflicting heavenly directives? As Barber convincingly articulates, we fervently pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority” while striving to “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,” with the King of Kings as our only true head. Society may condemn and friends may recoil, yet we “can do no other” than to honor civil authority as fully as we can while yielding ultimately to Christ alone.