Category Archives: Government

“Patrick of Ireland”

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It is such an amazing story! Patrick, a young, former slave in Ireland, was called by God in the 400s to go share the Gospel of Christ with those same Irish people who had enslaved him just a few years before! Yet, without fear, he boldly entered again into that realm and became the agent of liberty to those who had once been his agents of slavery.

He developed this boldness because Christ had revealed Himself to him in such a living way. Patrick’s faith in Jesus was no cold orthodoxy; his was a living relationship with the living, resurrected Son of God! In Patrick’s life, Jesus was Lord! We get a glimpse of the intimacy between him and his Lord when he writes of hearing His voice. With great humility he simply states that God said to him:

“He who gave His life for you, He it is who speaks within you.”

(Great Christian Classics, Kevin Swanson ed. (Generations With Vision, 2010), p. 140)

His knowledge of Christ was deeper than most of us today. He understood that Jesus dwelt inside him. He knew Christ, not only as the Continue reading →

“Why so Much Talk about Government?”

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The newscast is full of it.  The newspapers’ main stories are about it.  Bestseller books are often discussions of it.  Why is there so much talk about government?  What’s so important about government?

Well, like most things in today’s world, we generally talk around the topic instead of defining it.  Why not go to the root of the issue and actually learn what we’re talking so much about.

The word government comes from the word govern.  The word govern is defined in Noah Webster’s original American dictionary as control.  Thus, government is the exercising of control.  The first form of government we must learn is self-government.  The art of governing ourselves means we control our appetites of the mind and the body.  Self-government in the mind means we exercise control over our thoughts and think on what is “…noble…just…and pure…” as the Bible teaches us to (Philippians 4:8).  This necessarily means we must Continue reading →

“Foundational Ideas of America”

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Four generations of Americans have now been taught that this nation was birthed out of ideas from many different cultures:  That America is the great ‘melting pot’ of ideas.  While it is true America has descendants from many nations which make up her citizenry, the men who birthed this nation were very much alike in their basic view of life and the world.  The effort to hide from us their beliefs is designed to destroy the very liberty we cherish.

In 1843, Emma Willard, educator and historian, identified both the characteristics of the young republic of the United States and the reason for its emerging greatness.  Her words give us insight, which, if taught to our children, will Continue reading →

“The Birth that Affected Civil Law”

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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 →

“The Pilgrims — Overcoming the Hard Times”

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The Pilgrims - Overcoming the Hard Times 1Forefathers Monument, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is dedicated to the memory of the Pilgrims: Specifically to the memory of, “…their labors, sufferings, and sacrifices in the cause of civil and religious liberty.” One of the five statues which make up Forefathers Monument is Morality. This statue reveals the Pilgrims desire to live conforming their actions to the Bible. They demonstrated how Christ could live His life through us if we were surrendered to Him as a living Master. And that was true in hard times as well as good times. Their story shows us this reality—even in the most difficult circumstances.

When they came together in a church covenant in 1605 to: “…walk together in all His ways…whatsoever it should cost them…” (Bradford, William. Of Plimoth Plantation), it would cost them dearly. Several times over the next three years, English deputies would burst into their worship meetings, hauling the men off to jail; fining them and keeping them locked up for thirty days. This cost them financially because they were unable to work their farms during those times.

When they moved to Holland in order to have the religious freedom to teach their children the ways of Christ, they were Continue reading →

“Thankful for Biblical Civil Systems”

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In 1623 the Pilgrims celebrated a time of Thanksgiving with their Indian friends, Chief Massasoit and his Wampanoag tribe. The Pilgrims were grateful to God for their Indian friends. The peace treaty into which they had entered helped both peoples to go on with their daily lives in an ordered manner. This is, of course, the purpose of civil law; to protect the God-given rights of life, liberty, and property. When this is done, the resulting order allows society’s institutions to function without the interruption of chaos. The Pilgrims’ Pastor, John Robinson, had taught them that this order flowed from Biblically based civil government, and thus, the first thing they did when they arrived was to write the Mayflower Compact; which instituted this type of government. I believe their new civil government was one of the things they were most thankful for on those first Thanksgiving Days.

And the Pilgrims’ new civil government was working. Their original economic system failed because it was Continue reading →

“The Pilgrims’ View of Government”

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The ship rode the waves in Cape Cod Bay in a restless sort of way. The voyage just completed had lasted sixty-six days. The last six weeks had been in unbelievable storms. At one point, the Mayflower had nearly gone to the bottom. Only by a miracle was a broken beam repaired with a tool that was supposed to have been left on the dock in England. There were other difficulties and the hard voyage had left the Pilgrims sea-weary and sick.

And yet, before they got off the ship, a document must be written and agreed upon by all those who would be making their home in America. The document would come to be known as the Mayflower Compact.

This government form was not Continue reading →

“Interposition: The Basis of American Independence”

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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 →

“What Is Interposition?”

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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 →

“The Hope of Biblical Government”

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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 →