“Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away!”

Hello Everyone,

This is a very well written article on how bad government can creep up on you and take away all of your freedom and rights.  And it will be done in the name “safety and security” with a bit of “providing for the less fortunate” thrown in for good measure. 

This is a good time to be wide awake. 

Godspeed,

Gill Rapoza

Veritas Vos Liberabit

http://grapoza.blogspot.com/

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“Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away!”

By Kitty Werthmann

An Austrian witness of Nazi tyranny and transformation

Posted on January 26, 2010

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/fascism.htm

“I lived in Austria under Adolf Hitler’s regime for seven years. Dictatorship did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process starting with national identification cards, which we had to carry with us at all times.... Gun registration followed, with a lot of talk about gun safety and hunting accidents.... Freedom of speech was the next target....  With a large network of informers, people were afraid to say anything political, even in their own homes.”[1] Kitty Werthmann

I am an eyewitness to history. I can tell you that Hitler did not take Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.

We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group — Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.

After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family....

Hitler Targets Education–Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:

Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.  The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang “Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,” and had physical education.

Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

Equal Rights Hits Home

In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:

When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

Health Care and Small Business choked by Government Controls:

Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna … After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“Mercy Killing” Redefined:

In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

The Final Steps - Gun Laws:

Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly; it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria. Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn’t destroy, they burned. We called it “The Burned Earth.” Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn’t; paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.

It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. America Truly is the greatest country in the world. Don’t let freedom slip away.

After America, there is no place else to go!

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Gill Rapoza

Veritas Vos Liberabit

http://grapoza.blogspot.com

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A Rudderless Ship of State

A Rudderless Ship of State

By Chuck Baldwin

January 29, 2010

This column is archived at:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2010/cbarchive_20100129.html

In Patrick Henry's immortal "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" speech, he said, "[I]t is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth." Never have Henry's words been truer than they are today. For too long, good men have turned a blind eye to the obvious reality that America's Ship of State has swerved significantly off course. In fact, it is no hyperbole to say that America's Ship of State is completely rudderless and, absent a speedy course correction, seems destined to crash against the rocks of oppression and economic ruin in the very near future. For anyone willing to open their eyes, the manifestations of America's almost-certain collision with history are everywhere.

America's Liberty Ship is dependent upon the twin mainsails of Morality and Constitutional Government to stay on course. It is an irrefutable and irreversible law that these twin sails are indissolubly linked. We cannot have one without the other. America's founders clearly understood this.

For example, our second President, John Adams, said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Samuel Adams (called the "Father of the American Revolution") said, "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man . . . The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people."

Thomas Jefferson (the author of the Declaration of Independence and our third President) said, "Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others."

Jefferson also said, "[If a] people [are] so demoralized and depraved as to be incapable of exercising a wholesome control, their reformation [must] be taken up ab incunabulis [from the beginning]. Their minds [must] be informed by education what is right and what wrong, [must] be encouraged in habits of virtue and deterred from those of vice by the dread of punishments, proportioned indeed, but irremissible; in all cases, to follow truth as the only safe guide, and to eschew error, which bewilders us in one false consequence after another in endless succession. These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure of order and good government."

Our first President, George Washington (called the "Father of his Country"), said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens."

And to quote Patrick Henry again, "Bad men cannot make good citizens . . . A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom."

Yet, what do we see taking place all over America--including in the halls of government, the boardrooms of business, and the sanctuaries of churches? An almost complete and total breakdown of morality. And by a breakdown of morality, I am referring to much more than sexual immorality.

Morality demands honesty and equity in judgment. Morality is selfless. Morality is humble. Morality is jealous over truth and justice. Morality would never jeopardize the future on the altar of the present. Morality does not place personal advancement above principle. Morality respects its heritage and honors its ancestors. And Morality gladly submits to lawful authority, especially divine authority.

But compare basic morality to the modus operandi of today's governments, businesses, and churches. Instead of truth and moral principles, we find people who are almost totally absorbed by a culture of deceit, selfishness, ambition, and greed. Rightly does the Scripture say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." (I Timothy 6:10) Of more than one church or nonprofit ministry leader could it be said, "He doesn't let his Christianity get in the way of his business." Ditto for many so-called Christian businessmen and politicians. In fact, a good many religious leaders and churchmen today would not take a backseat to the most greedy, corrupt politician, or shady businessman that could be found.

Sunday-by-Sunday, pastors prostitute themselves to wealthy contributors, community leaders, or politicians. Day-by-day, unscrupulous bankers and businessmen give the shaft to honest, hardworking Americans. And almost hour-by-hour, politicians sell their souls to the highest bidder--even if that bidder represents values and principles that would destroy freedom and liberty in our land.

How is it that pastors are unwilling to educate themselves (and their congregants) about the dangers and pitfalls to which America's leaders are subjecting us? How is it that businessmen will smugly look the other way as their practices advance the causes of our enemies and weaken our own country? How is it that politicians will allow themselves to be corrupted, not only by evil forces from within America, but also by devilish forces from alien powers?

As a result of this total breakdown of basic morality in virtually every distinguished element within the American framework, constitutional governance is also virtually nonexistent. Adams was right: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral . . . people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

America's political officeholders routinely ignore their oaths to preserve, protect, and defend the US Constitution. Routinely! Many have never read the Constitution, or if they have, they desire neither to understand nor to obey it. And even worse is the fact that most Americans (including America's spiritual leaders) seem totally unbothered by it all. As long as their favorite politician, political party, or personal cause benefits, they could not care less whether the Constitution is followed or not. More than 50 years of moral relativism has now reached almost total and complete social saturation.

If I'm a Republican, it doesn't matter if the Constitution is followed as long as Republicans win elections. And Democrats behave the same way. "As long as my party wins, who cares about the Constitution, honesty, or truth?" is the attitude of many politically involved Americans--including many Christian Americans.

Democrats don't care if Bill Clinton or Barack Obama lies, and Republicans don't care if George H. W. Bush or George W. Bush lies. The only time we care about someone lying is when it's the person from the "other" party. If the "other" party promotes evil, we are enraged, but when "our" party promotes evil, we sit on our anatomical posteriors in complete silence and with full approbation.

And this is the bottom line: because We the People have lost our morality and fidelity to constitutional government, we have countless conscienceless criminals located at virtually every level in and out of the federal government (political party notwithstanding) that are up to their necks in total and absolute EVIL! I mean down-in-the-gutter, Genghis Khan-type evil. I'm talking about drug running, kidnappings, sexual exploitations, assassinations, family ruinations, illegal imprisonments, torture, and mass murder. If they desire it, they do it (or hire/order it done). Because there is no moral compass guiding our churches and businesses, there is no moral compass guiding those Machiavellians in Washington, D.C. After all, where do all these politicians, bureaucrats, blood-merchants, and mercenaries come from, if not from within our own social and religious establishments?

Until we wake up to the fact that our country, our Constitution, our liberties, and our future are up against evil--PURE, UNADULTERATED EVIL—we are never going to be able to muster the dedication and resolve required to turn this Ship of State around. Until we get our heads out of the sand and start seeing things as they are (and not as the national news media wants us to see them), until we are willing to stop indulging in the illusions of hope, and until we stop shutting our eyes against a painful truth, it will not matter to a tinker's dam who we elect or which party is in power. Folks, wake up to it: WE ARE FIGHTING AN EVIL SYSTEM!! And there is nothing that the people who are caught up in this evil system will not do. Nothing! They will steal; they will lie; they will cheat; they will kill; they will rape; they will pillage; they will plunder; they will do ANYTHING they think is necessary to fulfill their evil machinations.

Setting our Ship of State aright starts with We the People returning to the basic, moral laws of right and wrong. Whether it is business, religion, or politics, right is right and wrong is wrong! (And one does not have to be a born-again Christian to know right from wrong: anyone who understands and respects the principles of Natural Law can and will be an ally in the fight for right. In fact, sometimes our enemies come from within our family—even the family of faith. See Matthew 10:36.) It means to stop covering for evildoers, whether that person belongs to our own political party or even our own family. It means to stop living for personal gain and advancement. It means being honest and demanding honesty in others. It means elevating truth to a position above expediency. It means acknowledging that there is a Supreme Authority to which all men must submit--and I'm not referring to the US Supreme Court.

America's Ship of State is currently rudderless. And as long as we are expecting someone in Washington, D.C., to fix the problem, we will continue to be lost--adrift in a sea of evil and criminality. To get America's Ship of State back on course, you and I must get back on course. And it starts by being willing to OPEN OUR EYES TO PAINFUL TRUTH.

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/donate.php

© Chuck Baldwin 

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Gill Rapoza

Veritas Vos Liberabit

http://grapoza.blogspot.com

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Biblical Mandate for Just Government: What is “Good” and “Evil” - Parts 1 & 2

Hello Everyone,

This one is a keeper.  I enjoy a good writing on the depth of Romans 13, and this is certainly a good one.  Imagine that, me agreeing with a lawyer. 

This is a two part writing, both included here. 

Veritas Vos Liberabit

Gill Rapoza

http://grapoza.blogspot.com/

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Biblical Mandate for Just Government: What is “Good” and “Evil”

Part 1

by Timothy_Baldwin

January 28, 2010

http://libertydefenseleague.com/liberty/2010/01/28/biblical-mandate-for-just-government-what-is-“good”-and-“evil”-part-1/

I find it quite amazing that a person who claims to believe in the Bible and who actually studies it would ever hold the position that Christians should (or must!) submit to government’s laws contrary to the Natural and Revealed Laws of God relevant to justice, judgment and equity. What is their main support for this position? It is Romans 13. Let us consider these verses and the Bible’s confirmation that our duties to God and man necessarily mean that we not submit to laws contrary to God’s laws. For purposes of this discussion, this article is limited to “What Is ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’,” in context of Romans 13.

Romans 13

Romans 13:1-6 says:

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”

First, let us recognize that the Old Testament likewise declares government’s purpose to be identical to Romans 13’s description.

“A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment.” Proverbs 16:10

“A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right.” Proverbs 16:11-13

“Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.” Proverbs 20:28

There is nothing new about Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. It is as old as the oldest written book in the Bible–the book of Job. As will be seen here, it is as old as God’s immutable laws formed at creation. Thus, one cannot refer to Romans 13 as a justification for their pacifist and slavish position, because Romans 13 does not contradict the Old Testament explanation of our relationship to government, but rather confirms it.

Notice how God instructs every Christian to submit himself to “higher powers.” Some would have us believe that this instruction is an absolute command, without regard to legitimacy, authority and purpose of government. But the Bible commands otherwise. God conditions our submission to “higher powers” to the following. Government must:

1)      be ordained of God (the authority of God),

2)      punish evil and not good (the laws of God),

3)      be a minister to the citizens, not the other way around (the purpose of God),

4)      not be arbitrary, but must be based upon God’s notions of good and evil (the direction of God),

5)      be a minister to God, according to God’s laws (the responsibility to God),

6)      be accomplish the ordained purposes of God (the accomplishment of God).

These are God’s expressed qualifications, determinations and conditions upon the subject matter, “higher powers” (i.e. authority of civil government) and “every soul” (i.e. citizens in the jurisdiction of civil government). Nothing in these verses even suggests that our duty to submit is without reference to God’s laws first and foremost. Thus, the questions arise from these verses, since these verses do not define the words themselves: what is (1) ordained of God, (2) evil, (3) good and (4) minister of God to the citizens?

These definitions are found in no other place than in the laws of God. It cannot be denied without insulting and contradicting the Scriptures itself (and America’s founding history) that God in fact created immutable laws at His creation of the universe and mankind. They are called the Natural Laws of God. The Declaration of Independence refers to them as “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.”

Man’s Laws Are Not God’s Laws

We know that man’s laws do not equate to God’s laws, for the Bible tells us that “we are to obey God rather than man.” Acts 5:29. And even if you insisted on the blasphemy that man’s laws equated to God’s laws, 1 Peter 2:13-14 states the same thing as Romans 13:1-6:

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.” (emphasis added).

Here we see that an “ordinance of man” has the same qualifications and determinations of God as do the “higher powers”: to punish evil and praise them that do well. So, you cannot get away from God’s requirements for de jure, God-ordained civil government, and thus, the inquiries remain as raised above.

God-Ordained Government: Punish “Evil” and Praise “Good”

For brevity’s sake, I feel at liberty to combine the question of “what government is ordained of God?” into the question of “what is good and evil?” for how can one reasonably argue that God ordains evil actions by government? If you in fact hold that position, then there really is no talking truth to you. Thus, when we ask, “What government is ordained of God?” we necessarily conclude that it is government that fulfills the God-ordained qualification that government punish evil and praise good.

Amazingly, there are many Christians that believe that government can do virtually anything it wants, without right of the citizen to resist, as long as it does not interfere with the “preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” meaning the message that Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth; lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cross for man’s sins; was buried in a tomb; rose from the dead on the third day; and ascended to heaven thereafter. To these Christians, this is the only thing government has no authority to regulate. Oh, they might throw into the mix that government cannot legalize abortion or homosexuality. But it stops around that point.

It saddens me that there are sincere Christians who think that God’s created laws, relevant to our duty to each other, our family, our community and God, are limited to those matters, which really have little to do with the operation of government. Indeed, to admit that government has limits at all necessarily requires one to inquire about all the limits of government and what they are.

Does such a one believe that government may, under ordination of God, take your property? Do you even believe that God gives man the right to private property? Does such a person believe that government may violate, under ordination of God, the compact (constitution) that the citizens created to control government action? Do you even believe that God requires government to honor such a compact? Do you even believe that man has the God-given right to enter into contracts with other persons? Would any right-minded person deny these rights and responsibilities given and imposed by God?

When you get down to it, most who hold this philosophy simply do not want to get involved personally and think that God is somehow going to save them from oppression simply because they are a Christian and God is somehow obligated to shield their ignorance and indifference from tyrants. This is such a distortion of reality and truth as revealed in nature and scriptures that it is almost unconscionable, for God clearly states that for peace to be achieved, God’s laws must be followed. And of course, laws do not follow themselves, but are made for people to follow. Thus, when government’s purpose is to punish evil and praise good, those who facilitate the contrary result contradict God’s laws, purpose, ordination, direction and limitations on government.

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Biblical Mandate for Just Government: What is “Good” and “Evil”

Part 2

by Timothy_Baldwin

January 28, 2010

http://libertydefenseleague.com/liberty/2010/01/28/biblical-mandate-for-just-government-what-is-“good”-and-“evil”-part-2/

What is “Good” and “Evil”

Shortly put, those things are good which comply with God’s laws; those things are evil which do not comply with or contradict God’s laws. This definition conforms to the enlightenment exposition of what good or evil action is: “the formal character of goodness and badness consists in a bearing…to a directive norm which we call a law.” Samuel Pufendorf, Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence, (Indianapolis, IN, Liberty Fund, 2009), 235 (emphasis added). Scriptures confirm as well that God’s creation contains and perpetuates the very essence of God’s wisdom, which carry forth into all matters of God’s creation, including what is “good” and “evil”:

“The law of the Lord is perfect.” Psalms 19:7;

“The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.” Proverbs 3:19.

God’s creation of natural laws was designed to provide mankind with the blessings of life, liberty and property. “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalms 34:14. “Great peace have they which love they law.” Psalms 1119:165. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 18:5. These laws were made for God’s will and purpose and when followed, allow even the atheist to reap the blessings of life on earth, even though he lacks a spiritual life with God. “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.” Exodus 12:49.

God’s Laws Immutable

These laws are immutable and are based upon the eternal essence of God’s character and human nature. As Samuel Pufendorf says,

“[The] immutability of the laws of nature is derived merely from the supposition that man’s estate will persist in the same tenor.” Pufendorf, at 218. Similarly put, “The Decalogue…are in fact civil [laws]…But when those are considered with the condition of human society, and so obligate all men, even apart from their promulgation by Moses, they are in fact laws of nature. And it makes no difference.” Ibid., 210.

William Blackstone confirms the same:

“For as God, when he created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion, so, when he created man, and endued him with free-will to conduct himself in all parts of life, he laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free-will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws.” Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 28–29, (emphasis added).

So says Scriptures: “He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.” Psalms 33:15 (emphasis added).

Natural Laws of God

Scriptures confirm that God created laws (distinguishing “good” and “evil”), which are natural to the existence and nature of man. While I know there are well-intentioned and intelligent people who claim that natural laws are not superior to God’s revealed laws, one must conclude that Scriptures nevertheless confirm their existence and never contradict them.

In the story of the first human beings on earth, Adam and Eve, we see how God made man capable to know what is good and evil without any civil laws being presented by man or God himself. (Indeed, God never revealed positive laws to man until scores of generations passed. Did no justice exist during that time?) “You [Adam and Eve] may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17 (esv). Indeed, Satan was correct when he told Eve, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened…you [will know] good and evil.” Genesis 3:5 (emphasis added). Mankind did not need a set of laws passed to determine what is good and evil, which is why Cain fled for his life after having killed his brother, Abel, without cause: he knew justice required his life, for his murderous act. What told him this? His conscience, based upon the natural laws of God.

We see that one of the reasons God gave His positive laws to mankind was to add to the certainty of God’s natural laws, which existed at creation (to bring man to Christ): “What then is the law [as given to Moses]? It was added because of transgressions.” Galatians 3:19 (asv) (emphasis added). Indeed, how can there be transgressions except there already be a standard of good and evil? Moreover, how can positive laws be added, when nothing else existed before it? This also confirms that God’s laws were added, and did not contradict or terminate God’s natural laws.

During our founding era, men preached on the natural laws of God, and added them to their expositions on the Bible. Consider infamous Bible commentator Matthew Henry’s recognition that “the law, considered as the law of nature, is always in force, and still continues to be of use to convince men of sin.” Matthew Henry and Samuel Palmerl, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, vol. 6, (Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, 1838).

For this reason, the apostle Paul writes:

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” Romans 2:14–15 (esv).

For this same reason, Thomas Jefferson declared:

“Man has been subjected by his Creator to the moral law, of which his feelings, or conscience as it is sometimes called, are the evidence with which his Creator has furnished him.” Jefferson, The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, 591.

For this reason, John Locke says:

“[T]he law of nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men’s actions, must, as well as their own and other men’s actions, be conformable to the law of nature, i.e. to the will of God, of which that is a declaration, and the fundamental law of nature being the preservation of mankind, no human sanction can be good, or valid against it.” Locke and Macpherson, ed., Second Treatise of Government, 70–71.

Undoubtedly, “this idea of natural laws…[became] a fundamental principle in American constitutional law. Halstead Van Tyne, The Causes of the War of Independence, 230.

Natural Laws of God Determined

Enlightenment philosopher, Samuel Pufendorf, describes natural law as follows: “The laws of nature are commonly divided into principles, which [are] the fundamental laws of nature, whose truth and necessity arise directly from the very character of human nature; and conclusions, which are deduced from these principles by necessary consequence or sub-sumption.” Pufendorf, at 218. Is this not what the Psalmist said, “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” Psalms 49:20 (esv) (emphasis added). Without an understanding of God’s laws, man is like an animal, unable to know evil and good, and unable to know when a Romans-13-government exists. Is it God’s will that society be treated like animals and that government perpetuate the debasement of man, family, community, society and God’s laws? God forbid.

Without the execution justice within government, government is not only contrary to God’s ordination, but it is the perpetrator of beast-like behavior, reducing citizens to mere respondents to environmental stimuli. God Himself sees our actions in just that light: if man does not attempt to understand God’s laws and consequently, does not execute justice, those men are but beasts:

“I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.” Ecclesiastes 3:16–17 (esv) (emphasis added).

This is truth: one must study human nature to determine the natural laws of God relevant to what is “good” and “evil” (i.e. justice) in context of Romans 13. This construction of Romans 13 is confirmed throughout Scriptures as well:

“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 17:15 (esv).

“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” Luke 22:25–26 (esv) (emphasis added).

“Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.” Isaiah 59:15 (esv) (emphasis added).

Consider as well that Scriptures declare that righteous persons will actually contend with or strive against those who forsake the laws of God, including government that promotes evil and punishes good:

“They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them. Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.” Proverbs 28:4-5

“Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.” Proverbs 17:26 (put inversely, “Also, to praise the just is good, and to strike princes for inequity.”)

One may attempt to ignore the direct influence the laws of God have had in the making of the United States of America, but their ignorance is merely that and proves nothing to contradict the truth of the matter. The entirety of American jurisprudence recognizes that:

God is creator of all things; God first created a single human life (not family, society or government), giving complete value of mankind into one being; Human life is a gift of God, with the natural, God-given rights of liberty and property; individual man has the power to occupy the earth and take dominion over it, creating private property in that individual; individual man has the power to create enforceable contracts by virtue of his right to control his body and property (e.g. marriage, sale or exchange of land and services, compact, etc.); individual man has the right to control his life and property in any manner not contrary to God’s natural laws; individual man has the natural tendency towards creating society for his utility, convenience and social desire; society has the power to create government upon its own will; government’s purpose is for the benefit of those who created it, not for those agents with power to administer it; given the sin nature of mankind, individual rights, liberties and freedoms will be best preserved and society’s peace and happiness maintained where government is limited to the principles of God’s natural laws and to the compact that society decides to create; violations of God’s laws and society’s compacts are null and void, with no binding effect, worthy of resistance.

For this reason, Judge Jesse Root describes America’s jurisprudence as follows:

“Whereas, the truth, in fact is, that civil government is ordained of God, for the good of the people, and the Constitution they adopt, and the persons they appoint to bear rule over them, to make and to execute the laws, the Almighty recognizes to his ministers, acting under his authority, for the advancement of order, peace and happiness in society, by protecting its members in the quiet enjoyment of their natural and civil religious rights and liberties.” Root, Reports of Cases, xv, xvi

Let us not be ignorant any longer. God requires that government be just, righteous and equitable according to those laws God created and according to the limitations placed upon it by compact. God’s instruction of submission to “higher powers” is not absolute or unconditional. It directly relates for our benefit, just as God tells us in 1 Timothy 2:1-2: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” God’s plan for government was not that it oppress mankind, but that it supplement the liberty of man by punishing those who violate the laws of God so that WE may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all goodliness and honesty.

How dare we, especially as Christians, reject those God-ordained mandates upon government, and supplant God’s laws with our barbaric and beast-like notions of submission.

Copyright © Liberty Defense League

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Gill Rapoza

Veritas Vos Liberabit

http://grapoza.blogspot.com

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