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This time of year there’s a lot of reference to the Baby Jesus in the manger.  That’s a good thing.  We think of the Christ Child and hope comes to us that God literally invaded history and brought hope that there could be “peace on earth toward men of good will” (Luke 2:14).

And yet, for all this good feeling surrounding the Baby Jesus, few ever think beyond the manger.  And even of those who do think of His important life, death, and resurrection, even fewer ever come to understand His impact on all civilization; and particularly here in the western hemisphere.  Jesus was the most important Law-Giver in world history.  His influence over moral and civil law in this world makes Him, without question, the most influential person in all of history.  Yet, few law schools in America ever acknowledge His powerful impact.

Jesus’ birth came at a time when Rome ruled the world with crushing dictatorial power.  No one criticized Roman authority without placing their lives at great risk.  Into this oppressive realm Jesus was born.  The very place of His birth was Continue reading →

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“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.”

Note America’s Founders spoke without a stutter as to why they had the right to establish a new government among themselves:  The Declaration of Independence stated:

“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…” (emphasis added)

Why did they believe they had the right to “institute new government”?  Because they believed what the Bible taught about civil government.  The Bible identifies the Source of government when it says Continue reading →

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Interposition; what on earth does that mean?  Noah Webster, in his original American dictionary defined it as, “being, placing or coming between; intervention.”  In geography, it is illustrated by the way Kentucky lies between (or you might say, is interposed between) Tennessee and Ohio.  In government it is one governmental power, such as Kentucky’s state government, intervening between the national government and the people, to keep the national government from forcing its will on Kentucky people.  You might ask, “Is this the right thing to do?”

Actually the idea of interposition comes from the Bible.  Jesus stepped in between God and sinful man, to pay our debt to God of one perfect life we had stolen in the Garden of Eden and used for ourselves.  Jesus, by offering up His perfect life to pay the debt we owed, interposed His life between us and God.  He stepped in between God and man to turn away the judgment of God on man.  As the Bible says,

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” (1st Peter 3:18)

Jesus did this because it’s a law with God that every debt must be Continue reading →

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Hope came to the world 700 years before the birth of Christ, as Isaiah, the Hebrew prophet foretold of a Child who would come into the world and change the world for the better.  Isaiah prophesied:

“For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders…There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

The Child Isaiah talked about would be named Jesus.  And the kingdom Jesus would build would be built on “justice and righteousness”.  Jesus would start by stepping into the lives of those who would believe in Him as their Master and Deliverer.  He would rule them from the inside out, so that their actions would express His own attitudes and actions.  He would literally be living His life though those who believed in Him (Galatians 2:20).  And if Christ could live His life through an individual in a family, why couldn’t He live His life through that whole family?  And if He could live through a family of believers, why couldn’t He live His life through a church of believers?  And if He could live His life through an individual church of believers, why couldn’t he live His life through a community made up of several churches filled with believers?  And if that could be done, why couldn’t an entire state, or even a nation be an expression of His life?

In fact, America’s Founders believed they were Continue reading →