Before he became the apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus was a man utterly convinced of his own righteousness – and Scripture does not soften the record of what he did in its name. He hunted down Christians, dragged men and women from their homes, cast them into prison, and stood approvingly as Stephen was stoned to death. He “made havoc of the church,” (Acts 8:3) breathing out “threatenings and slaughter,” (Acts 9:1) fully convinced that his oppression of believers in Christ was not only justified but morally obligatory. Yet he was catastrophically wrong. His zeal was sincere, yet self-authorizing; his morality absolute, yet detached from God’s true authority. For that reason, heaven did not commend his conviction – it restrained it.

That ancient error has not disappeared; it has merely clothed itself in a new language of counterfeit morality.

Recently, a group of protesters interrupted a Sunday worship service at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, justifying their actions on moral grounds and celebrating the disruption as righteous resistance. This invasion of worship was even portrayed as virtuous, necessary, urgent, and justified by the cause at hand. But Scripture gives us no room for such confusion. What occurred was not prophetic courage. It was the modern echo of an old sin: self-authorizing moral sovereignty – a morality that claims absolute authority while recognizing no authority above itself.

Psalm 76 speaks with striking clarity to this very posture.

“In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.” (Psalm 76:1–2, KJV)

The psalm begins where our age so often refuses to begin: with the holiness of God and the sanctity of His dwelling. God dwells among His people when they gather to worship – a sacred space set apart for prayer, repentance, praise, and covenantal commitment to the living God. It is not a platform. It is not a forum for ideological enforcement. To intrude upon it in the name of righteousness is not courage; it is presumption. It is, in fact, a violation of the Third Commandment – invoking the name of God to justify what He has not authorized.

The psalmist continues:

“There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle.” (v. 3)

God is not merely unimpressed by unauthorized human force – whether physical intimidation or self-appointed moral coercion; He is provoked by it, and He acts to restrain it. He disarms those who believe their moral certainty grants them license to dominate, intimidate, or humiliate others. Zeal that dishonors God does not advance justice; it invites judgment.

Those who disrupted worship assumed roles Scripture reserves for God alone: judge, accuser, and enforcer. Psalm 76 issues a direct rebuke to such arrogance:

“Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?” (v. 7)

Fear belongs to God, not to self-appointed moral arbiters. Judgment belongs to God, not to mobs emboldened by misdirected ideological certainties. When human beings act as though they may stand where only God stands, Scripture is unambiguous about the outcome:

“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” (v. 10)

This is precisely what happened to Saul of Tarsus. Before his conversion, Saul violently persecuted Christians, convinced that his actions were righteous and obligatory. However, Christ did not applaud Saul’s passion. Instead, He literally stopped him in his tracks on the Damascus road. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” was heaven’s verdict on zeal severed from the truth. Years later, he would confess that he had been “a persecutor, and injurious,” acting in ignorance and unbelief (1 Timothy 1:13). His sincerity did not sanctify his actions; neither did his certainty excuse them.

There is a sobering irony, then, that an invasion of worship in our own day should occur in a city named St. Paul – bearing the name of the very apostle whose life stands as Scripture’s enduring warning that moral zeal, when unsubmitted to God’s authority, runs amok and turns into abuse.

In the St. Paul incident, the church’s pastor responded rightly and biblically. He called the disruption “shameful” and reminded the intruders – and the watching world – that what takes place in the sanctuary belongs to God alone: worship, repentance, praise, and renewed commitment to God’s holiness. It echoed Psalm 76’s closing exhortation:

“Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God… bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.” (v. 11)

True morality – biblical morality – does not authorize itself. It is received, not invented; restrained, not coercive; accountable to God, not enforced by human fervor. It honors worship because it fears God. It respects conscience because such judgment belongs to God.

What happened in St. Paul was egregiously wrong – not because the protesters lacked sincerity, but because sincerity detached from God’s authority erodes moral restraint and invites coercion. Acting under a self-authorized moral sovereignty and an erroneous reading of Scripture, Saul persecuted the church with a clear conscience. Psalm 76 explains why such zeal never ends well: God alone judges rightly, and worship belongs to Him – not to those convinced of their own righteous cause.

God is exceedingly gracious, patient, and willing to forgive – but He is also a God who is to be greatly feared. Scripture teaches that He dwells in the midst of His gathered people and that what occurs in the act of worship is holy. Worshipers may be frightened when that holiness is violated; God is not. Protesters may be loud and profane, but God alone will have the final word, and His judgment – whether in restraint, exposure, or mercy – will not be eclipsed by human authority or any assumed moral fervor.

This is not hyperbole or a scare tactic; it is biblical truth. Those who violate what God has declared sacred by intruding upon worship in the name of righteousness would do well to follow the example of Saul of Tarsus: repent and trust in the One who embodies both grace and truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, and become a new man even as he became St. Paul.

Do not be fooled. God will not remain silent in the face of irreverence, nor will He be passive toward blasphemy or the persecution of His people, even when it is carried out by those who earnestly believe themselves morally justified.

Picture: Associated Press, Youtube screenshot of video taken during the protestors’ invasion of the church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Rev. Mark Creech is a longtime pastor and former executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina. He now writes and speaks on issues of faith and culture and heads goverment relations for Return America.

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