Should Christians follow the commands of religious or government leaders, when such commands contradict the words of God? We see the apostles' attitude in Acts 5: “We must obey God rather than men”. We consider how this principle was applied by David Lipscomb and other Christians in the Restoration Movement at the time of the US Civil War, to resist pressure from both sides to join the fight. We conclude by examining how a problem in the early church was solved by the apostles, with practical implications for us today.