There are many people that believe God is not involved, or should not be involved in human government. Many Christians believe that political activism is not among the list of things that God expects us to encumber ourselves with, but does that align with examples in scripture?
In the book of Judges, chapter eight, and verse 23, Gideon says to Israel, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah will rule over you.”
This appears to refute the view that God is unwilling to be involved with the government of men.
We should also consider the context of this proclamation? Was this not after God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from the armies of Midian, through the leadership of Gideon?
In this chapter we see that God was indeed involved in the government of men, and He also encouraged Gideon to be somewhat involved.
After God wrought deliverance for Israel, they sought to be ruled by their perceived deliverer, Gideon. This is not a rare occurrence among humans, it is more the norm. People often seek the rulership of men, as they place their hope in men, hoping to benefit from their good graces, and the provision of men whom they perceive have gained victories, and conquests on their behalf. These men are then lauded as candidates, and chosen to be rulers, but is this God’s primary will for the government of his people?
No, the latter part of this verse verifies the will of the Lord, “Jehovah will rule over you.”
Though this is human nature, our best choice is to humble this nature by conforming it to the will of God. Otherwise sin will rule in our lives. It is the natural state of humans to want, and to have those wants supplied by others. Every human that has ever lived, (except Jesus,) is a sinner. That sin nature is to be resisted, with a reliance upon a loving Father, and the saving work of his obedient, and gracious son, Jesus Christ.
An important job of parents is to train their children to resist evil, while pursuing righteousness. As it is written in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
This leads to important questions, how are we to be ruled by God? Just how do we know His will, how does God communicate His judgements to us, and how does He execute His enforcements among men?
It should be noted that God gave the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel while Moses was leading them from Egypt, and to the promised land. Those commandments have been preserved through endless generations, and are the foundational laws of God. These laws were given to Israel for the purpose of their government.
Later, these ten laws were greatly expanded upon. This expansion was not in order to establish a heavier burden, but for guidance in the obedience of the original ten. When people search for loopholes, and "fine print” that can be exploited, it is for selfish reasons. The spirit of the law is thereby destroyed, and we are left to our rebellion, and the just rewards of that rebellion. The hundreds of additional commandments given to Moses were meant to aid in the clarification, and fulfillment of the law.
In much the same way that the Ten Commandments needed clarification to insure against the corruption of the Israelites, our laws are often challenged for the express purpose of violating those laws.
This example of God’s righteous governance of His people through His laws, and the appointment of humans authorized to judge, and enforce those laws, serves as an example to us.
The goal of the framers of our Constitution was to imitate this model, and supply a firm foundation for the godly governance of a righteous people. John Adams was known to have said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
In other words, it is up to our citizens to self govern, and where they fall short, laws are to serve as a guideline for their enforcement.
I believe that it is most obvious that just as the Ten Commandments, (and subsequent reinforcing directives,) were given to Israel for a foundation, and a framework to aid them in righteous living, (or self government,) our constitution is likewise, “The law of the land,” here in the USA.
The US Constitution was constructed for much the same reason, acknowledging the commandments of God as the basic foundation of righteousness, and setting a framework for humans to execute righteous government of a nation of sinners, by sinners.
This has been called, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
I believe that this is where Romans, chapter thirteen comes in.
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Rom 13: 1-14, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
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Some believe that this passage enables elected, and appointed politicians to rule as they wish, bending, and perverting our laws to their will, for their own benefit, and the benefit of those of their choosing.
Is this “righteous rulership?” Can it be the will of God that His people, the recipients of His grace, and mercy, are to choose to submit to corrupt men that have corrupted the laws of our nation by their corrupt actions?
“Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20
In verse 7, of Romans thirteen, we read, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”
Are we to believe that deceitful people, who have muscled their way, or charmed their way to power, are considered worthy of tribute, or honor?
As we read the Bible, we notice that God is always able to judge righteously, in all situations. Sometimes we can easily recognize the righteousness in His judgement, as it is swiftly executed. Other times, we struggle to see His reasoning, but in time, God’s will is revealed, and His righteous judgement will be fulfilled.
Our nation was founded by people who ran after righteousness in order to provide for the personal rulership of the Lord Jesus Christ in the life of every American. Our Declaration of Independence was drafted to establish, and proclaim this purpose. The signatories rejected the unrighteous rulership of King George, proclaiming an allegiance to the rulership of the true ruler, God Almighty, and independence from England’s reign, or more generally, the rulership of men.
Were these men heroes, and patriots, or were they unrighteous rebels?
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Declaration of Independence
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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These are the principals upon which our nation was founded. You should notice that this was not written to impress the delegates’ neighbors, or their friends’ or even their opponents. It was to inform the king, and all loyal to him and his reign, that these offenses, and the resulting tyranny would no longer be tolerated by a God-fearing American public. They were saying, as Gandalf said in the Lord Of The Rings, “here, and no further.”
Is it rebellious to demand liberty for ourselves, our progeny, and civil society, or is it righteous, and for us to choose?
In the Canadian band, “RUSH’s” hit song, “Free Will,” we see it stated, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
My goal is to empower, and inspire as many of my neighbors as possible to choose liberty.
God bless you, Dave