And yet.... the New Testament says the powers are put in place by the Lord and those refusing the powers get damnation
Rather, what "powers" are being referred to there? The Read Deal, usurpers, or both?
.... unless they are violating God's Word, we are to obey the laws.
That is a continuation of a poured-in-cement false teaching that just keeps on deceiving. It's a cop-out, another old wives' tale without scriptural or linguistic support. You will have no relevant scripture to back up that compromising opinion. It is the worldly default position, the cop-out, the lie we tell each other because we hope that such commiseration will ea$e the pain of our self-inflicted bondage.
Ya gotta accept the whole counsel of God, not just bits and pieces....
Indeed. Continuing with your statement, let's allow scripture to interpret scripture.
Turning to Hebrews 13, we get a second witness as to what constitutes
Godly government:
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. (v. 7) When's the last time you heard Trump speak the word of God to you and/or evidenced his faith in Jesus Christ to you?
and
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (v. 17) When's the last time Trump watched for your soul and gave account to others in the body of Christ for it?
I trust you get the point.
Compromising with temporal powers e.g. the soulless State can never lead to redemption or a stronger walk with the King. If you're not grounded in Christ in the first instance, then you will soon enough become influenced or overwhelmed by the Godless State; it's only a matter of degree.
Touch not the unclean thing.
There is only one lawgiver (James 4:12). This one lawgiver is the Lord (Isaiah 33:22). Man does not have authority to make laws, but only the authority to make ‘ordinances’ which
enforce Laws already in existence, which are the Laws of God. To obey the so-called ‘laws’ conjured up by the worldly governing authorities is to set aside the gospel of our Lord, and place oneself under a separate government, other than his.
Bondmen of Christ are not citizens of any country on this earth, our
citizenship is in
heaven, and so our first loyalty is to God, not "our" country (Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20). Ours is a better, heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16).
Now WHY would I want to waste my time doing that?
Vote all you'd like... it's not going to stop this world from getting darker and darker.
Besides, there's nobody running I could vote for with a clear conscience before the Lord.
The scam in this country is now at the point where the worldly "authority" does not mandate that its subjects vote, but it does mandate that they
register to vote. IOW, for "citizens" of the soulless State, it is illegal (but not unLawful by God) to fail to
register to vote. Essentially, with the world's purported authority, one's vote is irrelevant, but knowing the
numbers of "citizens"
registered to vote allows the perp's to more profitably manage their citizen/$lave portfolio.
And where's the source to know you're being led by the Lord?
God's Holy Spirit - not man's opinions or pseudo-government (knee pads help).