Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego stand as one of the great examples of civil disobedience, defiance of evil, or speaking truth to power.
And the king was trapped by his decree that the people who would not worship will be punished. But that did not matter.
They would not serve, nor bow down to the gods of that age.
Daniel 3
13Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. 14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? 15Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. 17If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. 18But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Mission and Ministry — GAMC.
The Gods of this age are not statues. But at times they are flags, ideologies, systems of beleif, areas of silence.
If we speak up, we are going to lose out. We are not going the be the person hired for that committee or getting that promotion. For we will not bow down: to the pagan rituals of Maori that have become the new civil religion, to tolerance (of Islam), to the destruction of fetuses and families by feminism, ot to the other evils of this age.
Regardless of how much of a star chamber the judiciary is, we should not bow down and serve. For we serve someone higher, and we will not allow any other thing to stand in his place.