It was recently brought to my attention that wireless mics are prohibited from operating in the 700 Mhz band. This caused us to have to look at our wireless mics and we had one that needed adjusted to comply. This ruling came from the FCC, who say:
Certain wireless microphones have operated in frequencies that are needed for public safety. When these microphones were first designed, the frequencies they used were in between the frequencies that television stations used to broadcast television programs. With the completion of the digital television (DTV) transition on June 12, 2009, television stations no longer use the frequencies between 698 and 806 MHz (the 700 MHz Band) for broadcast. These frequencies are now being used by public safety entities (such as police, fire and emergency services) and by commercial providers of wireless services (such as wireless broadband services).
The wireless microphones that had been operating in the old TV broadcast channels can cause harmful interference to these public safety and wireless consumer services. Therefore, all users of wireless microphones (or certain low power auxiliary stations) that operate on any of the frequencies in the 700 MHz band – including both licensed users (under Part 74) and unlicensed users – now have to stop operating in this band.
Another blog I read, Security at Church, quoted an article about churches scrambling to comply. As we were upgrading, I was surprised to hear of churches in our area who refuse to upgrade, citing “this is just how government works with more regulations” and “we will never get checked.” However, Scripture calls us in Romans 13:1-7 to the following:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Remember, Paul is writing this to Christians in Rome who were, no doubt, facing a much more wicked government than we are. He is urging them to obey and to do so with a certain heart, because God is their authority.
For this reason, then: because we are under the authority of God who has placed the government over us and because the government is not calling us to abandon proclamation of the Gospel or be decidedly pro-choice or interpret Scripture a certain way (which in my view would be examples for pursuing civil disobedience), we will not only comply, but seek to do so joyfully.