(:That is why Paul urges the Christians to he submissive toward their pagan overlords:)
There is no authority except from God. That is, there is no other power, good or bad, pagan or heretic, which is a true authority, according to the Scripture. (:However, God uses these 'evil' authorities to chastise a rebellious people.:)
As it is happening among us in these days: for almost fifteen years a raging mad authority is destroying everything, caring naught about a Just administration of villages, but rather being anxious to, destroy, to prostrate, to scorch, to murder, to rob, to imprison, and to devastate everything like a plague of lucusts.3 God has allowed this evil to happen because He wanted to pour out His anger on the sinful people which does not honor Him but on the contrary is dishonoring Him by hypocrisy. This power could not have arisen, had He not desired it; for, as the prophet says, "if there be disaster in the city, has not the Lord caused it?”4