8) What is the priority of private property?
If we agree that scripture has preeminence over earthly law, we must recognize the source of the Declaration of Independence’s phrase,
“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”
As we have previously noted, the Declaration of Independence’s original draft read, “Life, Liberty, and Property.” We should consider where these men got the idea that the life, liberty, and property of individuals were to be protected.
Let’s look at the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:2-17
1) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
2) You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6) You shall not murder.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
The first four of these commandments are specifically related to recognizing the proper place of God in our worship. The fifth reminds us to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you,” and we should remember that Exodus 21:17 says, “And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.”
Now, the rest of God’s commandments deal with our respect for and interaction with other humans.
We are not to murder them, commit adultery with them, steal from them, bear false witness against them, or covet their wife, or material possessions.
Isn’t the origin of governmental concern for life, liberty, and the pursuit of property obvious? Isn’t the biblical foundation of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution clearly demonstrated?
According to the Word of God, (written in stone by the hand of The Almighty,) isn’t proper respect for Him, respect for our neighbors, their lives, liberty, and their property, paramount?
If we help to enable those that seek to conquer our neighbors for their own personal gain, we are of all men most miserable. We find ourselves violating the spirit, and likely the letter of Isaiah 5:20,
“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!”
Isn’t the biblical foundation of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution clearly demonstrated?_________________________________________________________________________*
9) What is the meaning of, “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?”
How can we obey the laws of our society, let alone the laws of God, if we neglect to give proper weight to what those laws actually mean? Can we truly fulfill the intentions of laws that we fail to understand?
I believe that the answer to this is obvious, but how do we correct the problem if we lack the will to give proper respect to this question?
As Americans, I believe it is not only important to understand the reason that inspired our laws, it is important to understand their purpose in fulfilling God’s laws. To violate an unjust law is not to violate God’s law. There may indeed be consequences in our society for violating unjust laws, but the judgment of God remains according to His law, and those judgments have eternal implications.
With this in mind, we should consider our conviction concerning these three aspects of civil rulership, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Since God’s laws give attention to their protection, and the US Constitution affirms these protections, it seems important to explore them more fully.
What is life? Is it merely an accident? Is it arbitrary? Is it unjustly meted out on the undeserving, or is it the Devine creation of a merciful, and gracious God?
I believe that the Bible reveals that God is life itself. He gave it to Adam and Eve, as well as every living creature. At the time of creation, it was an everlasting quality. Mankind was created in the “image of God.” God is eternal, and therefore his created beings were also eternal, yet God did not fully clone Himself in mankind. They were given the freedom to choose not to worship Him as He wanted. They were free to sin, but the consequences of that sin were made clear at the onset.
In Genesis chapter 3 we learn of how Adam was coerced and chose to believe a lie over the truth. Today we are daily confronted with similar lies, each challenging truth, and the wisdom of the Word of God. We are free to honor the truth one minute and be in mortal defiance the next. The grace of God and the blood of Christ are our only hope.
What is liberty? Is it something that one man is free to choose for someone else, or is it God-given? Our Declaration of Independence affirms that our founders believed it to be God-given, and our constitution was authored to protect those rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As I have previously stated, the original rendering had “property” in place of “the pursuit of happiness.” Why was this changed, and how does, “the pursuit of happiness,” represent, “property?”
Of the original thirteen states, two would refuse the abolition of slavery, contending that slaves were the property of their masters. This undermined the foundational principles of our Declaration of Independence. It would render improper respect to slaves as the possession, and wealth of slave masters, and deny the proper respect to slaves as created beings, in the image of God,
Most of the framers of our constitution sought to affirm, “that all men are created equal,” therefore slaves’ rights were as God-given as those of their masters’. Walking this tightrope of beliefs could have been as perilous as any debate in history. Therefore, it was believed that substituting, “pursuit of happiness,” would ensure human rights in the near term, and preserve the option to address slavery at a later date.
They believed that if “property,” had been written into this divine declaration, it would consummate slaves as property, and might forever undermine the abolition of slavery. This was considered by many to be intolerable, as they sought liberty for all, regardless of pigment, birthplace, or plight.
What is property? Is it simply our physical possessions, or does it not include our intellectual property? Are the products of our imagination not likewise protected by our constitution, or are they subject to be coveted, and confiscated by overlords?
Happiness is defined by Miriam Webster as;
1a: a state of well-being and contentment: JOY
1b: a pleasurable or satisfying experience:
I wish you every happiness in life.
“I had the happiness of seeing you”— W. S. Gilbert
“a striking happiness of expression”
3. obsolete : good fortune : PROSPERITY
“all happiness bechance to thee”— William Shakespeare
Surely we can understand that the securing of the right to “pursue happiness” would include our intellectual, and physical property, including our wealth, yet not document slaves as property.
If we choose to ignore the biblical, and spiritual foundation of clauses in both, our Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution, we may be unable to come to the conclusions I have listed, but if we intend to honor God, and set our convictions in truth, I believe that I’ve made a good case.
Most Americans have ideas about the founding of our great nation and the motivations of its founders. We have all come to our conclusions based on our experiences, and our education.
In order for us to come to the one and only legitimate conclusion, we must familiarize ourselves with the documentation of these events. For many years it was viewed as essential that our youth were taught about the discovery, settling, colonization, establishment, and finally, the founding of The United States of America.
The separation of these colonies from Great Britain was documented in the Declaration of Independence.
After decades of English tyranny, and many efforts to appeal to the crown for a redress of grievances, delegates from these thirteen colonies convened to discuss how this unacceptable situation might be remedied. This convention concluded with the official appeal to the crown known as, “the Declaration of Independence.”
In this letter to the king, our forefathers revealed their grievances, the abuses they felt they had been forced to suffer, and how they intended to react.
These were not trivial complaints. They were life and death offenses, which threatened themselves, and their progeny.
This declaration begins with the words, “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….”
And ends with the words, “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.”
These are not trivial proclamations, and they were not lightly received by King George. They were tantamount to treason, and punishable by death.
Today in America there are many who believe that the death penalty, even for torture, rape, and murder is cruel and unusual punishment, yet at the time of this declaration, every one of our forefathers knew they would be judged by their political ruler as worthy of execution. This shows us the gravity with which these men faced the need for new governance, a government that respects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for every citizen.
“The Declaration of Independence,” served to drive a wedge between the governed, and their governors, extending across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to the heart of King George, and precipitating our Revolutionary War.
Against all earthly odds, and with the miraculous provision of the ruler of the universe, these thirteen colonies, populated with citizens of varying degrees of education, and resources, a new nation was founded.
If we are to have an accurate understanding of what the United States of America stands for, and was committed to holding for its citizens, we must be familiar with the “The Declaration of Independence.”
The full text of that document is posted below:
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 shown, 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.
_________________________________________________________________________*
10) What is the original basis for the laws that govern American society?
Most Americans have ideas about the founding of our great nation, and the motivations of its founders. We have come to our conclusions based on our experiences, and education.
In order for us to come to the one and only legitimate conclusion, we must familiarize ourselves with the documentation of these events. For many years it was viewed as essential that our youth were taught about the discovery, settling, colonization, establishment, and finally, the founding of The United States of America.
The separation of these colonies from Great Britain was documented in the Declaration of Independence.
After decades of English tyranny, and many efforts to appeal to the crown for a redress of grievances, these thirteen colonies convened to discuss how this unacceptable situation might be rectified. This convention concluded with the official appeal to the crown known as, “the Declaration of Independence.”
In this letter to the king, our forefathers revealed their grievances, the abuses they felt they had been forced to suffer, and how they intended to react.
These were not trivial complaints. They were life and death offenses, which threatened themselves, and their progeny.
This declaration begins with the words, “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….”
And ends with the words, “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.”
These are not trivial proclamations, and they were not lightly received by King George. They were tantamount to treason, punishable by death.
Today in America there are many who believe that the death penalty for torture, and murder is cruel and unusual punishment, yet at the time of this declaration, every one of our forefathers was judged by their political ruler as worthy of execution. This shows us the gravity with which these men faced the need for new governance, a government that respects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for every citizen.
“The Declaration of Independence,” served to drive a wedge between the governed, and their governors, extending across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to the heart of King George, and precipitating our Revolutionary War.
Against all earthly odds, and with the miraculous provision of the ruler of the universe, these thirteen colonies, populated with citizens of varying degrees of education, and resources, a new nation was founded.
If we are to have an accurate understanding of what the United States of America stands for, and is committed to holding for her citizens, we must be familiar with the “The Declaration of Independence.”
The full text of that document is posted below:
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 shown, 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.
________________________________________________________________________*
11) How important is it that we engage in politics?
Many Americans, young and old, are consumed by the events of their daily lives. Striving for the most productive, and enjoyable future, we often lose track of the foundations of such productive, and enjoyable endeavors.
As you have gotten this far in this essay, it seems right for me to assume that you know that I refer to the Bible as our ultimate foundation for truth, and as Americans, the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution serve as our civic roadmap for, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
How could we be expected to know the pitfalls of bad civic policy, if we are not aware of the “right,” or official, legal, and constitutional requirements for civic engagement?
If we agree on this point, we must at least consider that if we have no desire to pursue the study of either the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, or the US Constitution, we have little chance of obtaining a life of liberty, and true happiness.
This brings us to an important question. Do we really seek godly governance, or are we narcissistic by our very nature?
This is a question that only God, and we can judge honestly. If we are more concerned with the power, and the trinkets we might be able to collect, this is likely to be as far as we read. On the other hand, if we are able to critique our motivations honestly, it is never too late while there is breath in our lungs, to pursue truth through the Bible, or to learn the structure of our constitution that allows Americans to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As mentioned above, these determined followers of scripture pledged loyalty to godly governance at the peril of their own life, liberty, and property, (pursuit of happiness.)
The resulting Revolutionary War is incontrovertible evidence of their sincerity and commitment.
As today’s American citizens, we are responsible for the same level of commitment. That commitment should be toward our nation, as well as to our Lord.
Many Christians today shun a responsibility, or duty to be active in the preservation of our nation, and its governance. They believe that “the great commission,” calls us to evangelism to salvation and the kingdom of God. They don’t recognize a responsibility to patriotism in this at all.
I believe that this attitude is prevalent within the Church primarily because of the failure of pastors to instruct their congregations properly.
The “great commission” doctrine is reached primarily from Matthew 28:18-19.
“And Jesus coming up spoke to them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;” Matthew 28:18-19
This passage is largely understood to encourage, if not require the followers of Jesus to evangelize the “lost” for the Kingdom through salvation.
Might I suggest that salvation through the name and blood of the risen Christ is not the end goal of this passage? It is merely the first step. This verse doesn’t say to, “go therefore and bring salvation to all the nations,” it says, “make disciples.”
What is a disciple? Is it one who has simply accepted that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the son of the living God, and was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead for our salvation? That is an important requirement but is certainly not the full scope of discipleship.
“Disciple,” is a derivative of the word, “discipline.” Discipline is therefore an important ingredient of discipleship, and requires the disciple to discipline themself to something. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, whether those that walked the earth with him in person or those of today, that something is the teachings of The Word Of God, also known as, the Bible.
With this in mind, we must recognize the many Old Testament, and New Testament examples of prophets, judges, “the twelve,” and Jesus, confronting political officials, and even religious “leaders” on matters of truth.
I believe that we are meant to serve our discipleship, in part, through our civic engagement, and I believe that this encouragement is biblical. I don’t believe that we should blindly obey despicable people who have deceived their way to the top of organizations, whether it be political or church leadership. I believe that our standards were set in scripture, and fortified in the text of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution.
This is America, the land of the free, (for now,) and therefore you are free to disagree with me, but I am not the judge. I am simply a lone voice crying in the wilderness, “hear the word of the Lord.”
I believe patriotism is a major part of godly discipleship and is necessary for the preservation of a godly nation. If we do not stand, pledging our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on behalf of our nation of Christian heritage, it will fall to the dishonest tyrants of marxism, and rising generations of Americans and Christians will be forced to buckle under the tyrannical weight of despot rule.
I say that we should resist evil, calling it for what it is, defending the righteous, as well as the truth, furthering the Gospel, heralding the Word of the Lord, and preserving our nation.
“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
_____________________________
“One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house. One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”__ Proverbs 17:13,15
_____________________________
“Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14
_____________________________
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7 NIV
_____________________________
Might I suggest that if we do not resist the devil, he will not flee, and he won’t have mercy on us. Resistance takes action, it is not a passive endeavour, nor a spectator sport.
_____________________________________________________________________*
12) To what extent does God require our participation in politics?
It is hard to find a specific requirement for political involvement in scripture. God deals with people on an individual basis, and He does not force people to do what is right. He gives guidance, direction, warnings, and incentives, and leaves it to us to either choose wisely, or unwisely.
We see few blanket requirements for everyone, but those that exist are very important. Each person was created by the Father as an individual, and when they are grafted into the body of Christ through the new birth, they are created as an individual member of that Body of Christ.
Though they have become part of the Church, they have their own unique God-given function within the church.
We would not expect the same requirements or functions from an eye, as we would from a hand, though they both need a steady blood flow to perform their individual functions.
Some believe they have no duty to be politically engaged, but I believe that we all have an individual duty to to civic engagement. It is certainly possible for us to go overboard, even to the point of obsession, eclipsing our commitment to the Word of God, but I doubt that this relieves us of any duty as an individual Christian citizen of the USA.
In other words, while I’m not suggesting that we place our trust in politics, that doesn’t dismiss us from civic duty.
John Quincy Adams, after serving as the 6th President of the United States of America for a single term, was then elected to Congress as a Representative of his congressional district. There he served for the remainder of his life, and expired as a result of a stroke suffered during a debate on the House floor.
Among his many accomplishments, he mentored a young Abraham Lincoln during his one congressional term, before Lincoln was elected President.
“Adams’s long second career in Congress was at least as important as his earlier career as a diplomat. Throughout, he was conspicuous as an opponent of the expansion of slavery and was at heart an abolitionist, though he never became one in the political sense of the word. In 1839 he presented to the House of Representatives a resolution for a constitutional amendment providing that every child born in the United States after July 4, 1842, should be born free…” __Britanica.com
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Quincy-Adams/Second-career-in-Congress
You may wonder why I included this summary of John Quincy Adams’ life in this context. It is because I believe that it offers a vivid example of the point I’m driving.
Though he was certainly one of the more patriotic, committed, and resourceful among the Americans of his time, (and likely of all time,) we each have particular talents. Those talents may be used for honorable endeavors, or dishonorable. They may be used to improve, and preserve liberty, or to undermine it. They may be used to resist evil or empower it. The choice is up to each of us, and the spiritual significance is found in the issue of faithfulness.
If we choose to let others fight the battles that belong to us, we will likely not be pleased with the outcomes. Citizenship comes with duties as well as liberties, and as Americans, we are free to perform those duties or leave them unfulfilled.
Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to apply biblical principles in our civic engagement. We should not accept violations of our ruling compact, from our fellow citizens, or our political representatives.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to his nation,
“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord . ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.’”__Jeremiah 18:5-10
While the fate of a nation is ultimately determined by the will of God, the faith and conduct of its citizens play a controlling part in whether His favor is shed upon it. If we choose to ignore the enemies of righteousness and refuse to take part in the spiritual contest, failing to manifest the defense of righteousness in the temporal, how can we expect the Lord’s salvation to be manifested in our lives, in our nation, and in the future of our children?
Isaiah 5:20 says, “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,” and Proverbs 17:13,15 says, “One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house. One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”
[This verse is, and will be a recurring theme in this study]
These points should not be mistaken for suggestions if we are honest, and they cannot be fulfilled without challenging the status quo of contemporary American governance.
_________________________________________________________________*
13) How do we know if Our laws are constitutional?
The United States of America has a governing document that was designed by a collaboration of delegates from every state that existed in 1789. It was deliberated upon, passed, and then ratified by those states.
Every political official, including military recruits, and police, vow to preserve and defend our Constitution, in one form or another. Fidelity to our Constitution is crucial in every official capacity, whether it be local, state, or federal. There is no jurisdiction that is outside of the purview of the US Constitution, and therefore the authority of all laws is subject to it.
The ultimate authority falls to our national Constitution. The constitutions of individual states can add to parameters of federal laws. But all local laws must be in alignment with standards set by our state’s legislators, and those dictated by our Federal Constitution.
The adjudication of all laws should be in alignment with the protections of our Federal Constitution. Common perception has been perverted to appear that courts“have the authority” to dictate the function, and meaning of our laws.
This misconception exists, from local jurisdictions, to the Federal Supreme Court, that The Court has the authority to determine what laws are supposed to mean. This was never intended to be the purpose of the Court.
Federal law making is the job of Congress, and Congress members are chosen by their constituents to represent them in the making of laws. Our court system is intended simply to determine whether those laws, as created by our legislatures, have been violated.
The Supreme Court is also tasked with the authority to determine whether particular laws violate the dictates of our Constitution, but they do not have the authority to define, or rewrite laws. That authority lies solely with the legislatures themselves. If the court finds the meaning of a law ambiguous, it should be returned to Congress for clarification.
If laws are found to violate our Constitution, it is Congress that should amend them. There is no constitutional authorization for any entity other than Congress or a convention of states to amend the Federal Constitution, or state legislatures, to amend state Constitutions.
The constitutionality of particular laws has nothing to do with who they might favor, or condemn. Laws should not be determined “constitutional” on the basis that they further the cause of some favored group. The rules are established by our legislatures, state, and federal. The Congress is populated with representatives elected by their constituents to represent the will of the people.
The House of Representatives was designed to represent similarly sized districts throughout America. They are to give equal representation to all citizens, regardless of individual traits, or stations.
The Senate was originally designed to represent the states. Senators were to be selected by the state legislatures, according to the selection process established by the individual states, and answerable to that state for the faithfulness in their representation.
The Seventeenth Amendment perverted this process to make it a statewide popularity contest, denying individual states voice in legislation, and giving this selection process to the citizens. This leaves the States with no effective national representation concerning our federal laws.
All law makers, law enforcers, and law adjudicators vow allegiance, and fidelity to ensuring that laws are made, enforced, and adjudicated in accordance with the God-given rights guarded by our Constitution.
Are we alarmed when we see miscarriages of justice playing out right in front of our eyes on television? Are we faithful American citizens if we will not reject our Department of Justice’s targeting of our President, his family, his employees & associates, (including his attorneys?)
Are we alarmed when our current President’s son has surrendered his computer, with hours of video, textual, and audio evidence of Federal crimes on it? Does it concern us when our department of justice, (or injustice,) refuses to acknowledge it, much less seek prosecutions?
Constitutional laws are simply a first step in righteous governance. Our laws should be created in a constitutional fashion, by constitutionally authorized officials. Then they should be enforced by officers, and agencies built on a righteous foundation, as prescribed by our Federal Constitution. Then righteous judges should preside over righteous courts in the adjudication of laws for the protection of the God-given rights of every human being in America, citizen, or non-citizen.
How do I come to these conclusions? I go first to the Bible, where the creator of all creation gave His law to His people. Secondly, under God’s watchful eye, our US Constitution has been created, (and I believe it was by Devine inspiration,) for the express purpose of supporting God’s law, and applying it to the legal issues of Americans.
If we allow a breakdown at any level, we no longer will have justice. We no longer will see righteousness, we will experience tyranny.
It is the duty of every American to preserve liberty in America. We are not all authorized at every level, some are mere citizens, some are political officials, some are in law enforcement, or some other facet of our legal system, but we all should know the difference between truth, error, and lies.
Are we ruled today constitutionally, and by constitutional laws? I think the jury is at best still out. We could be the ones who straighten the path of American jurisprudence, or we can kick the can further down the road, imperiling the future of those that follow us.
_______________________________________________________________________*
14) How do we know if laws are righteous?
The righteousness of our laws is determined by their adherence to the law of God.
The record of God’s conference of just laws to mankind begins in the Garden of Eden where there was but one law. That law having been violated by Adam and Eve gave way to many generations of lawlessness, and anarchy. Every manner of evil proceeded forth during these generations, yet a remnant of favor was preserved by God through this era till the book of Exodus records God’s gift of the Ten Commandments to Israel.
In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we see those laws refined and expanded upon according to God’s revelations. These give us the ultimate insight into the functions of righteous laws.
If the laws created by mankind are not in alignment with the principles of these laws, they are not godly laws, they will not further righteousness, and they cannot protect the innocent.
______________________________________________________________________*
15) How should we relate to a law if it is not righteous?
According to the American justice system, as with other aspects of our government, there are meant to be checks and balances. There are three branches of our government, as laid out in our Constitution;
Article One __”Congress, made up of two bodies, One, the House of Representatives, representing the individual citizens. The other, the Senate, representing the states.
All laws must be passed by a majority in both houses, and either be signed into law by the President, or ratified by a supermajority in both houses of Congress.”
This is meant to properly respect the will of our citizens, the states, and the executive branch, (tasked with the enforcement of our laws.)
This process was designed in this way to protect Americans from tyrannical laws. Each law will have been subjected to scrutiny long before it is adopted as law, however, each of these bodies is populated with people. They are all flawed and capable of prejudice, greed, and other faults.
Each federal law is to be held to the standards of both bodies of Congress, and the President before the American people are to be held in the grip of its authority.
After being enacted, each law is to be enforced by the Executive department.
Article Two sets the parameters of the Executive Branch. The President is the entirety of the Executive Branch, and all Executive Branch entities operate under the authority of the President.
No other Executive entities are enumerated in our Constitution, they have all been created by Congress, with the President’s ratification, or by the direct authority of the President. This requires the CIA, FBI, DOJ, etc. to be directly submissive to the rule of law, as executed and directed by their ultimate superior, The President.
This does not, however, authorize the making of laws by executive order from the President. All law-making is to emanate from Congress, as stipulated in Article One.
We need to look no further than the treatment of President Trump by many of the top executives in each investigative, and law enforcement agency during, and since the Trump presidency to know that there is something dreadfully wrong in the Executive Branch of our government. That those who directly, and/or indirectly are constitutionally bound to submit to the President, according to their “Oath of Office,” assumed that they were free to usurp that authority in aggressive persecution, and prosecution of the sitting, or ex-president, is alarming, and dangerous.
As I understand our Constitution, each member of each of these agencies made an oath to defend, and protect the US Constitution, and thereby act in accordance with its provisions. The second most powerful authority to our laws is the President himself.
Unless a command of the President is in violation of the Constitution, these underlings have no constitutional authority to defy him. We can easily see that in the last several years this principle has been violated consistently by those that oppose, and resent President Trump.
Whether or not we like our President, he is due the respect due to the office, and no matter how much we might like the president, he has no constitutional authority to “make laws.”
_______________________________________________________________________*
16) How are we to relate to a law if it is not constitutional?
Under the rule of the US Constitution, laws are pursued by the people through their political representation. Those laws are meant to provide an environment amenable to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, (or property.)
It doesn’t matter what we think of a law, we should obey it and we should expect others to obey it too, “if it is constitutional.” If a law is the result of the constitutional process, it is assumed that it is constitutional, and is therefore righteous, however, the imperfections of mankind limit success.
Our court system, (including the Supreme Court,) is intended as a watchdog over this process to protect the citizen from over-aggressive and imperfect legislation.
How do we know if a law is righteous, or constitutional? Do laws come with a label identifying them as such? Are our Congress and courts flawless?
No, they are not flawless. But are we expected to consider laws righteous and constitutional simply because they have survived the legislative process? Our process was designed to incorporate the rule of the majority with accountability, checks, and balances, but even this process is imperfect.
There are no perfect checks and balances to the process because they rely on people to employ them.
John Adams once said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Since the morality of no human is guaranteed, the possibility of injustice is always possible.
This is also true of the fruit of their labor, including our laws. Unconstitutional laws need to be challenged. Our Constitution is the benchmark, the standard to which everything must be judged. Members of our judicial system are not the only ones who should be concerned with the righteousness of laws, every citizen is authorized to supervise the righteousness of our laws.
If unconstitutional laws are allowed to be applied, righteousness will be undermined. The entire judicial system has been designed as checks against this possibility. Rulings are appealed through the system, ending with the Federal Supreme Court to protect against the prevalence of unconstitutional laws and the unconstitutional application of laws.
Furthermore, the Bill Of Rights offers protections against unconstitutionality.
What is the “Bill OF Rights?” In the past, this was common knowledge, but due to the dereliction of the duty of American education, our Constitution, and Bill Of Rights have not been adequately taught to our students for decades, including in “law schools.”
Law schools spend little to no effort studying our Constitution, rather they study “case law,” or how laws have previously been adjudicated.
The first ten Amendments were created by the 1st session of the 1st Congress specifically to protect Americans from an overreaching government.
The First Amendment protects every American's religious and speech rights, regardless of their intelligence or station. If we believe a law is not righteous, we are enabled and authorized to challenge it, and oppose it openly.
1st Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This protection authorizes every American to oppose our government on religious, and legal matters without retribution.
The Fourth Amendment protects our personal security, and our possessions from our own government overreach.
4th Amendment:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Righteous and constitutional laws are not permitted to infringe upon these fundamental rights.
The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from prosecution and persecution by our government and its laws in violation of their God-given rights.
5th Amendment:
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
The Sixth Amendment sets the parameters for the enforcement of laws upon the citizen. The first thing a jury must determine is the application of law in prosecutions.
6th Amendment:
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”
This right allows the defendant in court proceedings to challenge the application of laws, and procedures.
The Seventh Amendment secures the right to have our trials heard by an impartial jury of our peers to protect against partial persecution.
7th Amendment:
“In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”
Each of these amendments provides personal protections against partiality in judgments of law upon citizens.
I believe e that the Constitution’s framers believed they had covered every conceivable angle to ensure righteous laws and their correct application. The remaining shortfall is the imperfections of man himself, as they be immoral, and irreligious. (See the quote by John Adams previously mentioned.)
These protections fall in direct opposition to the precepts of Marxist ideologies like socialism and communism, where it is believed that “government” is able to protect citizens from their imperfections by law.
In “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism,” George Bernard Shaw wrote,
“Under socialism, you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, taught, and employed whether you liked it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character and industry enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live, you would have to live well.”
Modern intellectuals and academicians often present socialism as more compassionate than “capitalism,” ( a substitution commonly used in place of “the free market,) and American youth are often tempted to agree.
You be the judge.
George Bernard Shaw is considered by many as an advocate for socialism over capitalism, but note the contrast in the actual natures of these two policies.
First, let’s note that the term“capitalism” is presented by Marxists, as a pejorative associated with the “free market economic system.” “Capitalism,” is said to have originated with opponents of the free market.
Within the free market, individuals use their God-given talents and abilities to innovate and produce both necessities and luxuries for themselves, their families, and society. Socialism assumes that there are those that are more equal than the rest, and that society must be forced to “enjoy” the benefits dictated by these masterminds.
Today our youth suffer from the injection of these Marxist influences, embedded in modern American society through academia.
No human ever needed to be forced to do what they legitimately believed was in their best interest. All forms of Marxism accept as fundamental that most people are too ignorant, or stupid to know what is in their best interest, and therefore need the assistance of benevolent experts to force their compliance. Hundreds of millions of people have been murdered by “benevolent experts” through the enforcement of these ideologies.
Laws that emanate from these flawed premises are never constitutional, or righteous, and should be opposed at every level of American society with ferocious tenacity, or as Ronald Reagan once said, “… one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
______________________________________________________________________*
17) How important is the protection of our children?
Being a parent is one of the most important jobs anyone can undertake. Most parents would agree, they make sacrifices and experience many sleepless nights planning how to give their children the best opportunities for successful lives.
There are forces in this world, even in the United States that seek to undermine their efforts and plunder those young people for evil means. Many of these forces have found their way into government and education in order to wield their tyrannical power over these young ones. They criticize homeschooling parents for trying to shield their children from evil as though the published objectives of Herbert Marcuse, John Dewey, and Antonio Gramsci are “conspiracy theories.”
It is a conspiracy, but not at all theoretical.
Herbert Marcuse and John Dewey made no secret about their plans, and their efforts have been paying dividends for decades, to the detriment of Christianity, true education, and righteousness in rising American generations.
John Dewey is called, “the father of American public education.” Our present education industry is proud of its heritage, and in recent years has been doubling down on destroying the fabric of our society.
Below are brief passages from Professor Paul Kengor’s [The Devil and Karl Marx]
_______________________________
John Dewey
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey
“The unaltering determination of the Communists to do away with religion and the inclusion of this aim [is] one of the chief features of the educational system from one end of the country [the USSR] to the other.”
“The Red Army is one of the most active centers for the dissemination of atheism. Its recruits are given systematic instruction in anti-religious theory just as they are in other Communist doctrines.”
The latter two nuggets were produced by longtime Columbia University professor Corliss Lamont, pal of Professor John Dewey, founding father of American public education, and one of the worst “progressive” agitators for the communist cause in American history. Corliss was another fellow traveler to the USSR (if not a formal CPUSA member), from which he returned sporting (among other things) a proud pin and insignia of Trotsky’s and Lenin’s League of the Militant Godless.
Kengor, Paul. The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism's Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration (pp. 215-216). TAN Books. Kindle Edition.
______________________________
Herbert Marcuse https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marcuse/
“Above all, these Frankfurt leaders were left-wing/atheistic academics and intellectuals who looked to the universities as the home-base to instill their ideas—and who, most of all, spurned the churches. Marx and Freud were the gods who, they were sure, would not fail them. Rather than organize the workers and the factories, the peasants and the fields and the farms, they would organize the intellectuals and the academy, the artists and the media and the film industry. These would be the conveyor belts to deliver the fundamental transformation. There were many key figures from the Frankfurt School: Georg Lukacs, Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Erich Fromm, Franz Neumann, the Soviet spy Richard Sorge, Wilhelm Reich, Walter Benjamin, and others.
Kengor, Paul. The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism's Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration (p. 347). TAN Books. Kindle Edition.
___________________________________
Here you can see that the destruction of American education is intentional, our children are the targets of this destruction, and this destruction is but an objective in alignment with the elimination of a free society.
Their ultimate goal is to separate people from a knowledge of God and liberty.
Every child is in danger of a godless future of debauchery and misery at the hands of those that our government authorizes to “teach” them. Only God can protect them, and loving parents are often His hands and feet in this endeavor, as they intentionally resist evil.
______________________________________________________________________*
18) How important is fidelity to the US Constitution?
If we are truly free, we are free to regard laws as suggestions, but the rewards of violating just laws are not pleasant. Likewise, fidelity to just laws produces social harmony, equitable trade, opportunities, and wealth.
The US Constitution is the final earthly arbiter of justice. The only higher authority is the Word of God. The first law ever given to man was recorded in the Bible in Genesis chapter two, verses sixteen and seventeen.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Adam chose to violate this law and received the just recompense for his offense.
The next time we know that laws were given to mankind was when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The framers of our Constitution were keenly aware of the laws of God, given to the Israelites. They tried to follow the pattern of godly jurisprudence, attempting to create an environment suitable for a godly society.
Every political official is required to make an oath to follow, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The reason for this oath should be obvious, and to those without an evil agenda, it is. However, not every American shuns evil. Some have been affected by the atheist, Marxist, devilish cultures which have risen within our midst, and therefore seek evil. They hate righteousness, and those who strive for righteousness.
Their real hate is directed toward God Almighty, but they see humans as a means to the end of inflicting pain on their creator.
Karl Marx was not an unbeliever that God existed, he hated God. His hatred was evident in his writings, and in the way he treated others. His disciples inherit this hatred, and look for new, and inventive ways to execute it on God’s creation, through assaults on those whom God loves.
This is relevant to the discussion of “how important is fidelity to the US Constitution,” because in theory, fidelity, or obedience to the US Constitution should mirror obedience to the commandments of God.
If we expect our political laws to mirror the laws of God, our love for God, His love for those whom He created, and our desire to obey Him and live peaceably with them, should inform our respect for the laws of our communities.
If our laws fail to mirror the laws of God, we have a duty to object. We are to resist evil, and every law that opposes the will of God is evil. The unequal application of righteous laws is as evil as unrighteous laws, and as the sovereign of our nation, US citizens are authorized to protest them, and the First Amendment expressly preserves this God-given right.
It is indeed possible that you, the reader, are recoiling. This may seem foreign to your conscience. Yet I believe that this is as self-evident as the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence;
“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…”
These are the truths upon which the foundation of our government rests. These are what give authority to any lawmaker, enforcer, or judge. Without these truths, we have only the survival of the fittest.
This principle was exemplified early in the writings of Moses.
Genesis 4:8-11
“And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;”
Cain had broken the law. A previously unspoken, and unwritten law. It was a self-evident law.
We can see from this passage that the violation of a self-evident law holds real consequences.
________________________________________________________________________*
19) What is the correct relationship between the
authority of our states, and the federal government?
Americans today often have an erroneous understanding of the hierarchy of political authority in The United States of America.
See that? I wrote, “The United States of America.” Is this name "America With States,” or is it the states that created, and make up America?
Once again, I believe that this is self-evident.
It was the British colonies that rebelled against the tyranny of King George. It was these colonies that sent the delegates who assembled for the purpose of declaring their independence. It was these same colonies that, once severed from the dominion of the Crown, formed the states, and united to form the nation.
The sovereignty belongs to the people, “We the people,” and their government falls to the elected officials of their state, who are in union with the other national states to represent our nation, “The United States of America.”
This is the correct relationship, we are the government of the people, which is by the people, and for the people. It could be no clearer than that the American individual is the highest authority, under God, in our civil society.
The individuals that make up the citizenry of our states determine the culture of our societies. These individual states combine to form a national union for the protection of the states from foreign threats. The associations of these states should benefit both the states and the citizens of the several states.
The “supremacy doctrine” has brought endless confusion to the clear, self-evident understanding of this arrangement, but it is not without some validity.
It is a paradox, the states are sovereign, yet the federal government has a position of limited lordship over them.
How could this be? How could the states hold authority over the nation while being under the authoritative command of the federal government?
It is because of the fallen nature of mankind. Our forefathers, who firmly believed that each community had the right to set the parameters of its own societies, therefore, each state created its own constitution, their own laws, and enforcement mechanisms.
Logically, these states did not all enjoy identical privileges and restrictions. Ordinarily, this would cause no problems, but eventually, there would be clashes between societies.
One such early clash was the issue of slavery.
Modern self-appointed culture-warriors are fond of criticizing America for slavery. They fail to recognize that slavery has existed for thousands of years, and in nearly every society until it was abolished in the USA after the Civil War.
That’s right, it was the United States of America that ended slavery, but it did not happen till the bloody battles of “the war between the states.”
How could this be? Isn’t slavery the “sin of America?”
At the founding, most of the American colonies believed slavery to be abominable, yet there were two that insisted that they would not ratify a constitution that did not allow for their slave trade. Those states were South Carolina and Georgia. As a compromise, and to secure ratification of the US Constitution, a compromise was struck that allowed slavery to remain in the new nation.
This, and other issues of contention existed among the states, requiring a system of settling disputes between the guiding principles of individual states. This gave opportunity for what is known as, “The Supremacy Clause.” It is written in Article VI, clause 2 of the US Constitution.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-6/clause-2/supremacy-clause-current-doctrine
Article VI, Clause 2:
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
The reason for this clause is itself self-evident. There must be a standard to which sub-standards must submit.
In Christianity, the Bible is this standard, but varying Christian congregations often find no difficulty in coming to different judgments. Likewise with our Constitution, the arbiters of these standards are mere men, capable of faulty judgments.
The Constitution’s framers sought to guard against these imperfections by “checks and balances.” These checks and balances were built into nearly every facet of the foundations of US constitutional government.
Separation of powers sets the authority of legislative, executive, and judicial powers in separate entities. The officers of each “branch” are selected in different ways, their tenure established independently, and their influence over the workings of the other branches limited, and constitutionally delineated.
Likewise, the states’ influence over the workings of the federal government was focused on the Articles of the US Constitution itself. The officials who serve in the federal government are citizens of independent states, They come to their federal position from unique prejudices, born of their familiar culture. This allows the states to guide the national culture, through participation in federal governance, without allowing one culture to rule over the cultures of other states.
The selection of candidates gave nearly every American similar access to these levers of federal power.
The principles of this relationship are mirrored throughout the varying positions in each of the three branches of federal government.
Candidates for President may rise from any state in the union, and once elected, are empowered to nominate officers from every state in the union to federal appointments, and the Senate is charged with confirmation.
The confirming Senate is made up of two Senators from each state, giving each state equal authority over these appointments, and limited control over the workings of these officials.
Congress, (the national legislature,) also has the power of impeachment, for the discipline of all federal officers, though this power is seldom used, and in recent years is more often abused.
As a constitutional, democratic republic, the election of our President is not a national election. The President is not elected merely by the popular vote of the nation’s citizens.
There is a national presidential election day, the date and interval stipulated by our Constitution, but it is actually fifty separate statewide elections. The states then send delegates to the “Electoral College,” where the states vote for President. The outcome is then ratified by Congress.
No other position in government has this same procedure for the filling of vacancies. This process strives to give equal authority to every citizen, as well as every state to the selecting of our presidents.
More populated states have their majority power buffeted by this process, giving less populated states similar access.
In other words, no state, nor group of states is constitutionally authorized to ride roughshod over the choosing of our Commander In Chief, the chief executive of the Federal Government.
_________________________________________________________________________*
20) Under what circumstances are our private property,
and privacy subject to the judgement of the government?
“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, --“
This phrase holds what I believe is the cornerstone of authority in our nation’s governance. It sets the whole purpose of government. If not to guard these God-given rights for the individual, there would be no righteous reason for government.
This section of the Declaration of Independence appears in the second paragraph, and sets the purpose for this defiant appeal to the king, (these colonists were citizens of the British Empire at the time of its writing.) It protests the lordship of any emperor, and challenges their authority to exercise their will over citizens. It firmly sets the reason this authority is to be denied to any human.
“all men are created equal”
This was the belief of the majority of those that had either migrated to the “new world,” or descended from those migrants. It recognizes that God alone has ultimate authority over all people. The people that form the citizenry of a nation should share in the governance of that nation,
“The government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” This is a guiding principle of our founders and one which was jealously preserved for many decades.
Marxist disciples of tyranny have risen to power in institutions throughout our society, determined to undermine these self-evident truths. Children have been “educated” by those that have been educated at the collegiate level by atheist Marxists, who intend to defeat the intentions of our forefathers, that greedy men, (and women,) might reign over other men, in spite of their protests.
Let me remind you that these elected and appointed officials have no authority to perpetrate this evil upon our nation. It has been the unwillingness of people like you and me to hold them accountable for their dastardly deeds that have brought this evil upon our nation.
Every facet, and level of government within the United States of America is charged with the responsibility to protect the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of every American, regardless of their age, their race, their gender, their wealth, their popularity, or their physical strength.
All are equal under the law.
As previously covered, the phrase, “pursuit of happiness,” was inserted in this section as a compromise to protect the opponents of slavery from the wishes of slave “owners,” and slave traders in the South.
Slave owners thought of themselves much like the king in England. They believed that God had made them superior to those who were enslaved under their “authority.” They were insulted at the idea that their slaves were entitled to the same liberties and protections as they.
They sought to count their slaves as persons, for the purposes of political representation, but to have no individual human rights, including the right to participate in the electoral processes. They considered these men and women as their property. Their selfish ambition had little bounds, therefore it was determined that it was to the benefit of the nation to substitute the word, “property,” with the phrase, “pursuit of happiness.” They believed that the pursuit of property would bring happiness, yet this phrasing would not officially establish slaves as property.
For the purposes of this discussion, it was determined by the framers of our Constitution, that it is self-evident that no human is the property of another, and that the pursuit of happiness by slaves is as crucial as that of the free man. This left open the option to abolish slavery by the descendants of these early Americans while appeasing the slavers of Georgia and South Carolina.
As we consider what circumstances our private property, and privacy should be subject to the judgment of the government, it must be remembered that the government’s charge is to protect that private property, and privacy.
The Marxist tendency is to prepare our lives, liberty, and property for plunder. The writings of Marx have served to inspire the most selfish humans alive to plunder the wealth created by more industrious people and enslave them for their own purposes.
Every tactic of Marxism is geared toward convincing others to surrender their resources to their “leaders.” We see it through the actions of people like Lenin, Mussolini, Castro, etc.
The bottom line of every Marxist regime is that the individuals who make up the citizenry are less important than their “leaders.”
These “leaders” force their opinions onto their servants, and capture the fruit of their labor. These dictators and their armies and bureaucrats live large at the expense of the common folk, often at the expense of their health, and often to their death, all the while forced to exalt the tyrants who enslave them.
Hundreds of millions of people, created in the image of God, have been reduced to servants of selfish people who have found ways to force others to serve their commands. This is the tale of Marxism, communism, socialism, and even democratic socialism. Examples abound.
When the government has authority over the property and privacy of citizens, tyranny is inevitable.
_______________________________________________________________*