Biblical Government

When the early Americans searched their Bibles to learn about government, what did they find?

 

The first level of government is individual self-government.  Lasting success comes by giving attention to God's standards, the laws of creation's nature that were the norm before man's rebellion opened the door for Satan's influence (Exodus 20:1-17, Romans 13:13-14).  Big government, the abundance of police, prisons, and hospitals are the consequences of sinful life practices.  When man restrains his own selfish impulses and desires, the tyranny and exploitation of big government can be avoided.

 

The second level of government is the family.  From the beginning, it has been the holy commitment of one man and one woman in marriage that has defeated the will of Satan in his war against civilization (Genesis 2:18-24).  God instituted marriage to facilitate companionship and the nurturing of children in the truth.  The husband cares for his wife in a loving way and she respects him (Ephesians 5:22-23).  Parents are responsible for the education of their children.  By learning to honor and obey their parents, children also learn to honor the lordship of God and become responsible citizens (Ephesians 6:1-4, Proverbs 15:5).  The Bible makes it clear that property ownership and wealth come through labor, while laziness produces poverty (Proverbs 10:4-5).  Recognition of this aspect of the laws of creation's nature benefits families (1 Timothy 5:8, Proverbs 31:13-27).

 

The third level of government is the voluntary union of people belonging to a church, churches of different denominations to edify citizens through biblical principles for faith and community (1 Timothy 5:17) and discipline (Matthew 18:16-19).  Churches also have the biblical mandate to be societal caregivers (1 John 3:17).  Families and churches are united in the promotion of citizen self-reliance and limited civil governments.

 

The fourth level of government is civil government on local, regional and national levels.  Its prime function is to protect the citizens from criminals inside and outside government and from external aggression (Romans 13:1-4, 1 Peter 2:13-14).

 

Detailed in Chapter 4 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness, these guidelines for government were applied by America's Founding Fathers.

Tencommandments

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The Paper Trail of Liberty

There is a rich orthodoxy that brought the universal principles of the Declaration to the American mind.  That the nation was founded upon the principles of God's Word is well documented by the founding compacts, covenants and constitutions.

In 1620, the Pilgrims drafted our nation's first self-governing document, the Mayflower Compact:  "We… having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, do… solemnly and mutually in ye presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politic…  And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."*

Signing_the_mayflower_compact_large

The King of England left the colonists alone for 150 years.  Without the albatross of paternalistic authoritarianism, the colonists experienced the benefits of personal responsibility and hard work.  People would come together with their pastor or a prominent student of the Bible as moderator and search the Scriptures for principles of government that would uphold civility in the community.

In 1630, the famous sermon by John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, reflected the great sense of purpose that has prevailed since the arrival of the Pilgrims.  Later quoted repeatedly by Ronald Reagan, Winthrop declared:  "We are to be 'a City upon a hill,' a beacon of light for the world to follow."  He continued, "The eyes of all people are upon us.  So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world" (Robert C. Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity," discourse written aboard the Arbella during the voyage to Massachusetts, 1630, in Life and Letters of John Winthrop, 1867, 19).

 

In 1638, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut stated:  "[We] enter into a combination and confederation together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which we now profess" (Text Version, Liberty Library, rendered into HTML by Jon Roland of the Constitution Society).

 

In 1772, Samuel Adams stated:  "The right to freedom being a gift from God Almighty… the rights of Christians may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of the great Law Giver which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament."  Being under authority is not being under control.  It is being under God's protection.  The help provided by God-ordained authorities can be illustrated by the protective wall or "breakwater" that shields boats in a harbor from devastation.  Getting the craft into a harbor may be inconvenient, but the barrier tames the waves and keeps boats safe.  Similarly, parents, employers and police may be an inconvenience at times but they play an important role in our progress.  God's benevolent instruction is evident at several levels of responsibility and authority for government (Romans 13:1-3).

 

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list, but the truth about the impartial and non-sectarian God-honoring foundations so highly treasured by immigrants is what causes the atheistic frenzy.  They must revise history and then control what is taught as history!

 

*http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/PrimarySources/MayflowerCompact.php

 

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Natural Law vs. Secular Law

The natural-law philosophy, foundational to the American constitution, is in direct conflict with secular law.

 

The atheistic-secular philosophy for law identifies with what Solon of Athens described as "government by incalculable and changeable decrees" (Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. II, The Life of Greece, Simon and Schuster, 1939, 118).  No ~ a solid basis is necessary for prosperity and the self-government enablements of man, for which the Constitution was written.  Secular law leads to political adventurism, exploitation, death and slavery.

 

Separation of the three branches of government (checks and balances) is vital, but what about the Declaration of Independence pattern for separation from hierarchical rule?  This is outlined in the Bill of [citizen] Rights and intended to prevent government servants from perverting established law to grant rights that are harmful to the public.  They are also intended to prevent government servants from using the public's treasury to subsidize slothful citizens and thereby attract an irresponsible voting block.  

"Liberty and security in government depend not on the limits, which the rulers may please to assign to the exercise of their own powers, but on the boundaries, within which their powers are circumscribed by the Constitution.  With us, the powers of magistrates, call them by whatever name you please, are the grants of the people…  The supreme power is in them [the people]; and in them, even when the Constitution is formed, and government is in operation, the supreme power still remains.  A portion of their authority they, indeed, delegate; but they delegate that portion in whatever manner, in whatever measure, for whatever time, to whatever persons, and on whatever conditions they choose to fix" (Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-1791).

 

The limited purpose for judicial independence is to enable judges to settle disputes without being pressured by special interests.  When judges establish policies by legislating or administrating, they have seriously violated their jurisdiction and become fascistic.  That is, they are overriding and preventing the people as sovereigns whose exclusive authority it is to elect like-minded representatives to do the legislating and serve as administrators. 

 

"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary.  That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them."*  Upholding the intent and meaning of "certain unalienable [supreme] rights" of the people, outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, is indispensable.  Laws that protect sodomy, same-sex marriage, abortion, and the privileges of teacher tenure are a violation of essential American principles that protect the public from exposure to unsavory and virulent evil practices.  On the other hand, laws that protect a strong, responsible citizen majority are crucial to the survival of self-government and liberty from tyrannical government rule.  

 

As long as judges do not use their independence to twist the meaning of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to mask an authoritarian secular agenda, the American principles for life and liberty are not impaired or diminished.  All citizens, including judges, have the duty to protect the unalienable God-given rights to life and responsible use of liberty for others.

Judicial-activism

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* (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, March 9, 1821, www.marksquotes.com/Founding-Fathers/Jefferson/index7.htm)

 

Telling Taxpayers the Truth

The Declaration of Independence is universal and immortal in scope. It provides the design for freedom, justice and tolerance.

 

In their quest for liberty, our Founding Fathers focused upon 1) the conspicuous Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God, 2) the Declaration of Independence, 3) the governing character of humility, 4) the Golden Rule, and 5) the morality of the Ten Commandments.  The Constitution was prepared and establishedThe Constitution is the tool for implementing that design of freedom, justice and tolerance.

Image_we-the-people-300x225

Leftist union bosses and unelected judges who allege entitlement to dictate our laws ARE THE ENEMIES of the American concept of man under God over government. Laws should reflect the will of the people who choose like-minded representatives to establish their laws. 

 

The purpose of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness is to tell people the TRUTH. When taxpayers realize what is happening, they resolve to restore their control.  For example, most Americans would be appalled to know how their education tax is being used in captive student classrooms. As a citizen, your help in this important matter is needed.

 

After reading only four chapters of the book, a public school teacher from Ames, Iowa said in amazement, “This was not taught to me in American history.”  She offered some great ideas for improving education; I agreed, but had to tell her that those ideas could not be instituted.  The problem that must be corrected in order to effect the changes she is looking for goes much deeper than that: it is with the system itself. The problem is that parents and the great majority of teachers no longer have control over what is being taught.

 

 

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

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American Principle Fifteen: Benevolence of God for Man Is Recognized by Our Founding Fathers

This concludes the rehearsal of immortal principles central to liberty and American greatness as found in the Declaration of Independence.  We believe in them because they reflect the unrelenting power of creation's God.  Compromise of any of these principles leads to harmful consequences.  Renewed exposure to these fifteen American principles is our most powerful weapon.  It is the light of truth that fortifies the minds of men and women, boys and girls.  Americans need not be enslaved for lack of knowledge.

 

 

"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."

Declaration of Independence

 

It is the open expression of faith in the nonsectarian God of creation and the unchanging laws of nature that put an end to atheistic secular oppression and deprivation in human history.

 

"The very name of patriotism is indeed become a jest with some men; which would be much stranger than it is, had not so many others made a jest of the thing, serving their own base and wicked ends, under the pretext and color of it.  But there will be hypocrites in politics, as well as in religion.  Nor ought so sacred a name [patriotism] so fall into contempt, however it may have been prostituted and profaned, to varnish over crimes.  And those times are perilous indeed, wherein men shall be only lovers of their own selves, having no concern for the good of the public.

 

"… Is there a Christian, who is required to love all men, and to do good to all, as he may have opportunity for it; is there a Christian, who does not love even his brethren, the members of the same body with himself?  Is there a Christian, who is void of all generous solicitude for his country's welfare?  Is there, who has no desire to see it in a prosperous and flourishing condition?  Who has no pleasure in actually seeing it so?  Is there, who has no grief, in beholding its calamities?  No disposition to serve it?  Such a person, though he were of a private character, would be a reproach not only to his religion, a religion of charity and beneficence, but even to our own common nature, as corrupt and depraved as it is.  But how much more infamous were this, in persons of public character?  In those on whom the welfare of their country, under providence immediately depends?" (Jonathan Mayhew, D.D., Pastor of the West Church in Boston … to the House of Representatives, 1754, An Election Sermon).

 

"To read the Constitution as the charter for a secular state is to misread history, and to misread it radically.  The Constitution was designed to perpetuate a Christian order" (R.J. Rushdoony, The Nature of the American System, Ross House Books, 2002).

Image_in_god_we_trust

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

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American Principle Fourteen: Life and Happiness are the Goals of Humanity

"Unalienable rights, that among these are Life,

… and the pursuit of Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

"Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness…  We claim them from a higher source--from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth.  They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals.  They are created in us by the decrees of Providence…  It would be an insult on the Divine Majesty to say that He has given or allowed any man or body of men a right to make me miserable.  If no man or body of men has such a right, I have a right to be happy.  If there can be no happiness without freedom, I have a right to be thus secured" (John Dickinson, reply to Committee in Barbados, 1766, Quotes by John Dickinson).

 

"The consequence is, that happiness of society is the first law of every government.  The people have a right to insist that this rule be observed; and are entitled to demand a moral security that the legislature will observe it.  If they have not the first right, they are slaves; if they have not the second right [moral security], they are, every moment, exposed to slavery" (US Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-91).

Images

John Dickinson

1732 - 1808

Founding Father of the United States

 

 

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

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American Principle Thirteen: Government Power and Taxes Must Be Limited For Liberty's Sake

 

"… imposing Taxes on us without our Consent …"

Declaration of Independence

 

Low taxes and limited government are indispensable supports for property ownership and liberty.  "He [the King] has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance" (Declaration of Independence).

 

Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist No. 17* emphasizes that taxes should not be imposed at the federal level that enable the federal government to do things that go beyond their enumerated powers. That would take money from the people that should be available for state and local government needs (in effect, enabling federal usurpers to prevent the function of government that is closest to the people). 

 

Government debt that exceeds income cripples nations in the same devastating way that it cripples individuals, families and corporations.  "Indeed, we cannot too often inculcate upon you our desires, that all extraordinary grants and expensive measures may, upon all occasions, as much as possible, be avoided.  The public money of this country is the toil and labor of the people …" (written by representatives of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, to their legislative representative, Braintree Records, 1765-66).

Image_tax_revenue

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

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*http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/fed/blfed17.htm

 

American Principle Twelve: Vital to the American Work Ethic, Property Ownership Must Be Secure

"… are entitled to life, liberty and property ..."

Declaration, First Continental Congress, 1774

 

"All men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

"That all men … have certain inherent rights … namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property."

Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

 

The emotionally charged appeal for the redistribution of the fruits of man's labor was attempted in our own historical Plymouth Colony.  Following extensive food shortages, Governor Bradford turned to the Bible for wisdom and then announced that settlers would have a plot of land, and thereafter be entitled to the fruits of their own labor (April, 1623).  Entire families went to work, and hard times changed to a plentiful supply of food.  "It made all hands very industrious so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been..." *

 

This redistribution philosophy was later identified and popularized by Karl Marx (1818-1883) as "each according to his ability, to each according to need." 

 

Linking the work ethic to property ownership is a monumental break from the world's political history.  The incentive of property ownership is the engine that makes an economy flourish.  It is the value created in the usefulness of products provided by the suppliers that leads the buyer to spend his money to own the product.

 

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies" (2 Thessalonians 3:10-11).

 

 
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*http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s1.html

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