Category Archives: Government

Exploring the Limits of Civil Government

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“Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

Matthew 28:18-20

These are some of the last words Jesus gave to us before he left to Heaven. They are very helpful when we consider the limits of civil government. Notice that Jesus made it clear that He currently holds “all authority… on earth.“

Although the commission was written to Christians, Christians are commanded to delver a message to “all nations.” The people that form the government are included in this. In fact, the Bible records the fact that civil magistrates were converted to Christianity.

It’s important for everyone to understand that neither the government nor the citizens are allowed to do whatever they want. All of us are governed by the commands of Jesus. Even the authority of civil government is limited to Jesus’ commands.

This idea didn’t just start when Jesus gave us the Great Commission. All authority was already God’s before He put it in Jesus’ hands. Jesus brought this up when He talked to Pilate.

‘Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”’

John 19:10-11

The Default Authority

An important thing that the Great Commission tells us is that all authority not granted by Jesus to the civil government already belongs to Jesus. If “all authority has been given to” Jesus, it doesn’t leave anything laying around for the government to take. When the Bible is silent about who is in charge, it is correct to assume that Jesus is. This limits government’s authority to what God has specifically delegated to them.

An Overview of God’s Commands to Government

In order for us to understand God’s limits on human government, we have to know everything that Jesus has commanded government to do. Thankfully, we have all of that in the Bible. We may not fully comprehend everything God tells the government to do in the Bible yet, but we all know where to look when we have a question about it. There are several places where the government’s authority is mentioned. Here’s one place:

“Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, 4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. 5 Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing. 7 Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

Romans 13:1-7

The main focus of this passage is a Christian’s relationship to the government, but it also holds some truth about the role of government. It tells us some important things:

  • The government is to be respected
  • The government is not to be resisted
  • The government is authorized to judge between good and evil
  • The government is authorized to punish evil
  • The government is authorized to issue the death penalty
  • The government is authorized to tax

This overview actually limits government to a very narrow area. They are only authorized to judge and punish evil, and to require taxes for that purpose. It’s pretty simple and strait forward. I think that what has made this issue difficult to discern today, is that the definition of “good and evil” has been corrupted by those who wish to obtain god-like power.

Good and Evil

It’s very important to notice that Romans 13 only gives the government permission to judge between good and evil. It does not give it permission to define what good and evil is. This is a critical thing for Christians to consider. God never gave man the authority to create new commandments. God placed all authority on Jesus, and Jesus told us to make His commands known. The government doesn’t even have the job of making Jesus’ commands known. That’s our job as Christians. The government’s only job is to enforce civil commands. God’s civil commands are more specifically described in the Old Testament and that’s where a government should go in order to know what is good and what is evil. It is wrong for them to simply make it up commands themselves:

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.“

Deuteronomy 4:2

“Woe to those 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!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
    and prudent in their own sight!”

Isaiah 5:20-21

Civil Sins are the Punishable Ones

If God has given civil government the authority to punish evil but has limited it to the evils found in the Bible, then the only sins that the government is to punish are those that are specified by God as having a punishment attached to them. If a government punishes a sin that God doesn’t have a specified punishment for in the Bible, they are modifying Jesus’ commandments. They are limited to punishing only the evil that the Bible says is to be punished.

This is very important. For example, the Bible doesn’t allow a government to punish “thought crime.” Jesus does hold a man accountable for thought crime, but human government does not have the authority to punish it. In fact, human government doesn’t have the proper tools to assess the thoughts of a man. We are seeing the results of man’s attempts to know the thoughts of people today and it clearly leads to abuse and oppression.

Man’s Justice is Limited

Another very important thing for us to keep in mind, is that only God has the ability to bring perfect justice. One long-awaited promise of the Kingdom of Jesus is that He will bring perfect judgement to man for the first time in history, but this judgment is reserved for Jesus alone.

Man’s justice is always incomplete and temporary. We cannot see or punish many of the sins that God can. God is actually offended if we try to do so. Here’s what God tells us:

‘Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”’

Romans 12:19

If a man attempts to punish “sins” that only God can see, we put ourselves in God’s place. It is a violation of the third commandment to attempt to vainly act in God’s name. That’s what government officials do when they create punishments for crimes that only God can properly assess.

Which sins are punishable?

To learn which sins are punishable, read God’s law, much of which is found in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Most of these sins are quite obvious even though the punishments have been diminished in many cultures today. That’s because God has given each one of us a built in legal system called a conscience, but we tend to minimize our failures. The “basic rule” for civil government is found way back in Genesis after Noah got off of the ark:

“I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.”

Genesis 9:5-6

Later in the Leviticus, God gave Moses more detail:

““‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death. 18 He who strikes an animal mortally shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It shall be done to him as he has injured someone. 21 He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’”

Leviticus 24:17-21

When a man or an animal kills a man, it is the government’s job to kill that man or animal. Laws that God allows the civil government to punish, are often related to the value of human life or private property in some way or another. This includes death for those adults in rebellion to parents (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) and those in direct rebellion against the Creator of the law (Leviticus 24:16). It also includes those who commit sexual sins of fornication and adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22-30).

The Distribution of Authority

It’s important for us to understand that Jesus didn’t simply pass authority down government officials. Individuals, families and churches have been given authority too. Most of the law is written to us as individuals. The law of God not only tells us our individual responsibility, it also informs us of our liberty (Psalm 119:45). By giving man direct responsibility under God, we are free from the control of man. The Bible teaches that God intends for us to be free (1 Corinthians 7:23, Galatians 5:13).

A good way that we observe God’s distribution of authority is by looking at what the Bible says about obedience and submission. Liberty has been given to each of us because each individual is commanded to control himself. Children are to submit to their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3) and a wife is told to submit to her husband (Ephesians 5:22). Men and women are also told to submit to their bosses (Ephesians 6:5-8).

An important teaching in the New Testament is that the church reports directly to Jesus Himself (Ephesians 5:23-24). This is also reflected in God’s instructions to church members. They were not to not bring lawsuits between themselves to civil courts (1 Corinthians 6:1-11). God also calls on younger people to take the advice of the older ones (1 Peter 5:5).

Government Overreach

Government overreach is a very serious sin. When a government takes authority that it was not given, it must take it from someone else. If God has already given the responsibility to an individual, parents, bosses or the church, the government doesn’t have the right to remove that responsibility. When a government takes authority away by force, it isn’t just taking that authority away from man. It’s taking the authority away from Jesus who distributed it.

God’s design for human government is for it to focus on judgment and the punishment of civil wrong doing. There is no mention of the economy, communications, food distribution, education, welfare, healthcare, resource management, workforce management, etc. The government may find civil disorder in any of these areas when life or property is at stake, but God doesn’t call for governmental management of these areas.

It definitely doesn’t give government the right to manage personal issues like what a person should wear or eat or what medicines a person should be taking. It doesn’t have the right to tell churches what to teach or how to meet together. It doesn’t have the right to tell families how many children to have or to tell individuals what to think.

Dealing with Oppression

Jesus had to deal with the overstep of the “Jewish local government.” They made so many rules that no one could follow them, and they excluded themselves from having to do them.

“All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.”

Matthew 23:3-4

Often in this life, we are forced to do things by our governments that God does not require. As a result, we have to obey or suffer. Sometimes, the only alternative is to suffer because to obey would be a sin. It’s important for us to remember that Governments are being watched by Jesus and they will be held accountable for what they have done.

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

Hebrews 13:17

Further Study

Here are some good places to read more about authority and the government’s limits. These have helped me as I have considered the topic.

God vs. Government
by Dr. Jason Lisle
(https://biblicalscienceinstitute.com/theology/god-vs-government/)
In this document, Jason Lisle focuses on the role of government and its interference with the church. He has an excellent focus on God’s law which he also discusses in other places.

An Examination of Romans 13
by Pastor Matthew Trewhella
(https://defytyrants.com/01/Romans13appendix.pdf)
This document provides three proofs as to why Romans 13 does not teach unlimited obedience to civil government. This is an important thing to understand as many argue that Romans 13 means that God wants us to obey all authority without question.

The Christian foundations of the rule of law in the West: a legacy of liberty and resistance against tyranny
by Augusto Zimmermann
(https://creation.com/the-christian-foundations-of-the-rule-of-law-in-the-west-a-legacy-of-liberty-and-resistance-against-tyranny)
This is an in-depth document that connects Christianity to the rule of law. This concept is an important one and one that I didn’t discuss in my writing here. This document is also very special in that it was formally written by an Australian Christian in a peer-reviewed creationist journal.

Clear Evidence that Universal Masking Isn’t Necessary

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After carefully considering COVID-19 recommendations, I came to a very strong conclusion that mask mandates have nothing to do with the danger of being infected with COVID-19.

The CDC has this recommendation regarding masks:

“CDC recommends that you wear masks in public settings around people who don’t live in your household and when you can’t stay 6 feet away from others. Masks help stop the spread of COVID-19 to others.”

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html

First, it’s important to note that this is a “recommendation.” There are no “mask mandates” on the CDC website to the best of my knowledge. Americans should know that these mandates are both illegal and immoral as I detail in a previous article.

The main reason that I assert that mask mandates are wrong, is that they spread a lie that COVID-19 is a dangerous disease. Evidence recently came into focus that has clearly exposed the inconsistency of the experts regarding when the disease is infectious which calls universal mask wearing into question.

One thing that God teaches us is that we are to judge people by what they do, not by their words alone. What a person does, exposes the truth about what they really believe. Here’s what James said:

“Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. 18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

James 2:17-18

God tells us that when a person says he believes something, but does something else, we are not to believe what that person says. What a person does, demonstrates what he really believes. This fact turns out to be very important when it comes to the CDC’s recommendations and the truth about mask wearing.

What exposes the CDC’s deception is their recommendations regarding testing. Here’s what they say about that:

“Considerations for who should get tested : People who have symptoms of COVID-19, People who have had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with someone with confirmed COVID-19, People who have been asked or referred to get testing by their healthcare provider, local or state ​health department”

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html

When it comes to actually deciding who has COVID-19, the CDC says that they only want to test those who have symptoms, or those who have spent 15 minutes with another person who was confirmed to have the disease. This exposes who the CDC really believes are dangerous.

The experts apparently don’t believe that people without symptoms are sick enough to even test for the disease. This doesn’t match with what the CDC says in another place:

“COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.”

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

These experts are only testing those who are sick even though they say that it “may be” spread by people without symptoms. They want us to live by what they say while they live by a different rule.

What does this have to do with universal mask mandates? It has to do with what the CDC said in the first quotation in this article. They claim in that quotation that “masks help stop the spread… to others.” What it actually means when you put all of these things together is that masks help stop the spread of the disease from a harmfully infected person to others who are not infected. Since the actions of the experts demonstrate that only people who show symptoms are worthy of testing, it exposes the fact that only those who have symptoms should be wearing a mask.

A person might argue that the only reason that the CDC doesn’t want to test people without symptoms is because they don’t have the resources to test everyone, but that’s not a good argument anymore. A recent article in the New York Times exposed the fact that the tests themselves are measuring people who have the virus but are not sick enough to test positive. The unrevealed fact was that it is possible to have the virus without being contagious enough to be a concern to the experts.

“The standard tests are diagnosing huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus. Most of these people are not likely to be contagious, and identifying them may contribute to bottlenecks that prevent those who are contagious from being found in time.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html

The article goes on to remind people that they should only seek out testing if they are truly sick. If the argument for testing is that people who don’t have symptoms are not even “COVID-19 positive,” why should those who have no symptoms be required to wear masks? What the experts are doing doesn’t match what they are mandating that we do.

This doesn’t change what Christians should do about mask mandates. As I mentioned before, God’s requirement has always been that only those with symptoms of certain diseases should be required to wear masks and be isolated from others. God’s law has no requirement for universal mask wearing. What has been revealed here is merely a confirmation of what we should already know from God’s word. When an individual knows that he has a contagious disease, he should isolate himself and may even need to wear a mask. This allows the rest of us to support the community while those who are sick, get better.

This brings up the question: If experts don’t really think that masks reduce the spread of COVID-19, why do they insist that we wear them? We may never really know the specifics of what they are thinking, but God has made it clear what we should do.

“You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.”

1 Corinthians 7:23

For More Information

Worse than the Disease
When we see misleading information like this that comes from a government agency, it should cause us to ask some questions about what we need to change. This article explains what I think we should do.

How Should Christians Respond to Mask Mandates?

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**revised on 10/23/2020 *** This document is intended to provide a specific response to government mask mandates based on God’s written law. It’s intended to answer these questions: Is it wrong for governments to issue mask mandates? If it is, should Christians obey the mandates anyway? If Christians shouldn’t obey, how are we to live?

The biblical role of government is given to us in a combination of Old and New Testament teaching. The laws that God gave to Moses, tell us what God expects of individuals. They tell us when an individual has violated God’s law and what the punishments for disobedience are. The New Testament provides more about what government’s role is today in relation to God’s previously defined laws. God spoke through Paul in Romans 13:1-7 and Peter in 1 Peter 2:11-17 and in these passages we learn that God gives civil government the right to discover which individuals have done wrong and to punish them for crimes with the punishments specified in the laws given to Moses. It’s important to remember that God provides a process to make sure that the crime was actually committed. Wrongfully punishing an innocent person is also treated as a crime. Crimes without a specific punishment are left for God alone to punish. For more on this, listen to Dr. Jason Lisle’s message on The Law of God.

Since God only tasks government with the job of punishing crimes with specified punishments, we are limited to determining if the law of Moses has a mask mandate or something like it, and if so, see if it has a punishment specified for breaking it. Surprisingly, there is a law that specifies a face covering:

““The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’  All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp.”

Leviticus 13:45-46 (emphasis mine)

It’s interesting that the face covering requirement here only permits the covering of the mouth and not the nose. Future discussions could clarify the form of covering and the disease specified, but the most important thing to realize here is that that God’s mandate only specifies that a sick person be “masked.” The passage also specifies the process by which certain diseases are detected, none of which are asymptomatic. The process by which a person was determined to be sick was objective. It couldn’t have a “false positive” as many obscure tests have today. Once again, a false positive could end up putting a well person in isolation and that would be a violation of the law in regard to punishing the innocent. Read the first 44 verses of Leviticus 13 to get a more complete picture.

What we learn here is that there is no biblical mask mandate for a person who is not sick. Forcing people who are well to wear a mask is not only not biblical, it is in violation of biblical law. A well person is not to be put in jail for not wearing a mask. Also, there was no further requirements for the sick other than to be in isolation until their symptoms were clearly gone. It is quite clear that it is wrong for a government to mandate that masks be worn by well people based on this passage.

This answers the first question and we can move on to the next. Assuming the mask mandates are illegal, the question now is: Should we offend our leaders by refusing to comply? This is where the law gets more complicated.

Thankfully, it appears that God anticipated that we would encounter problems like these. When Paul was giving instructions to Christian converts, he had to deal with the fact that many of them were slaves. I am told that about 50% of the people living in the Roman empire were under some form of slavery. The Bible teaches us that all slavery is wrong for Christians. Here’s what it says:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:28

Paul was tasked by God to tell the slaves what to do when they became Christians while under human bondage. Since God didn’t see them as being any less than their masters, should they offend their masters and demand release? Should they run away? What should they do? I bring this to our attention, because the same principle appears to apply to us regarding mask mandates. When our leadership decides to require us to do something God doesn’t, we are being forced into slavery. When we, as Christians, find ourselves enslaved to a government, we are in a similar situation. So let’s look at what Paul told slaves like us to do:

“Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.  Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.  For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.  You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.  Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.”

1 Corinthians 7:20-24

God tells us that if we find ourselves enslaved to a man as a Christian that we take any opportunity to be free available. If we apply this to mask wearing, it would appear to be saying that if we find ourselves forced by the government to wear a mask, even though they shouldn’t be mandating it, we should go ahead and comply until we can find a way to be free legally. At this point, It may appear that we have answered the second question, but there are more complications to consider.

One of the many amazing things about God’s law is that He applied His laws directly to individuals. It would appear that it is upon this fact that human liberty is founded. The Bible teaches that when a government or a master tells an individual to do something that goes against God’s law, that the individual is to obey God instead of man.

“When they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us.”  But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

Acts 5:27-29

The Jewish leadership of Peter’s time had requested that they stop spreading the word about Jesus, but God had already told them to do the opposite. Even though they were obligated to follow the Jewish leadership by God’s law, they had to disobey and suffer for it in order to be obedient to the law of God as an individual. This behavior was also clearly demonstrated by the Old Testament prophets.

So the next question we must answer is: “Does God tell us to not wear a mask?”

There isn’t a specific law in the Bible that tells a person that he can’t wear a mask. So, if we base our decision on this, it would appear that we are required to obey our governmental masters and wear masks, but once again, there’s more complication in the law that we must consider.

There is a condition, specified in the New Testament, in which it is wrong to do something that we would otherwise be free to do. It’s a significant doctrine of New Testament Christianity and has to do with meat sacrificed to idols. During the Roman rule, pagans would take their best meat and offer it up to the gods like Zeus and Hermes. The temple workers would then take this meat and sell it in the market as the meat that was sacrificed to the gods. Everyone knew that this was the best of the best. Christians and Jews had qualms with this. This was sacrificed to an idol so some thought that eating this meat was like participating in idol worship. Paul said that it wasn’t wrong, individually, as long the individual had enough knowledge to realize that Zeus wasn’t a real god. Even so, there was a wrong way for this individual to use this freedom. Here’s the problem:

“For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”; yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him. However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of the idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.”

1 Corinthians 8:5-7

Paul warns the knowledgeable that they must pay attention to what their actions portray to those around them. I believe that the term used today is: “signaling.” Back then, if you were caught eating at the the temple to Zeus, a “weak” Christian might see you and decide that it’s actually O.K. to worship Jesus and Zeus. The knowledgeable Christian would be signaling the wrong thing to the ignorant person, effectively destroying his weak faith. Even though we are free to eat anywhere, it becomes wrong again when what we are signalling destroys someone else, causing them to sin.

So, before we conclude that it’s O.K. to wear face masks under our current conditions, we must ask ourselves: “Would our mask wearing signal something inappropriate to those around us?”

I believe that this is where we all must make our own personal assessment. If you don’t believe that we are in a public health emergency, and you indicate the opposite to those around you, you are lying and that is a violation of the 9th commandment. In fact, you might be misleading those who have less knowledge than you and causing them to act irrationally. This issue can have very serious consequences in society as a whole. As Churches are being sued and pastors going to jail, it’s pretty obvious that the government can’t be trusted with too much power. Would we, by wearing a mask, make people believe that the government needs to continue to control our lives as they take away more and more liberty?

The Coronavirus is no longer a public health emergency in most places in the United States and it may have never been. Statewide mask mandates may create a false signal that there actually is a public health emergency when there actually isn’t one anymore. I don’t know why our leaders would force us to do this. Perhaps its because they don’t believe in God and His power to help us, but here’s what God’s law says to us:

“You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.”

Exodus 23:1

In my earlier version of this document, I asserted that I thought wearing a mask would almost always be signalling to others that we believe that there is a health emergency. I have since come to believe that most people are aware that we are under a mandate and because of that, we are merely “signalling” to each other that we are obeying the authorities.

That being said, you may be forced to wear a mask in order to buy groceries or to do your job. It doesn’t really matter what you are signalling at that point. Everyone knows that they have been forced to do something against their will by the authorities. That places us back under slavery only this is slavery by forces outside of ourselves. We shouldn’t willingly place ourselves under the mandate, but it has become clear that the mandates have been imposed upon us against our will.

I don’t think it is good for us to just go along with mask mandates, however. One loss of freedom will likely lead to another. Instead, I believe that we should do everything in our power to stop them. On thing we can do is to ask our pastors, police and sheriff to disregard these wrongful mandates. We can call on “lesser magistrates” to help protect us by seeking them out and rallying around them when they take their stand against the illegal laws of the higher authorities.

If you are one of those lesser magistrates, or if you are simply one under authority and want to know more, here’s a link to The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates. A lesser magistrate can be a local sheriff, a city council member, a governor, a district attorney and others. When someone is willing to take a stand, we need to let them know we are right behind them. Amazing freedom has returned to people when lesser magistrates have taken a stand.

Finally, as with any injustice of man, it is our duty as believers to remember who we are fighting. Although it is true that those who oppress us are human, the Bible tells us that the real enemy cannot be seen. Let’s stay focused on what God wants us to focus on.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:10-13

Further Study

Questioning Mask Mandates
In this article, I ask important questions that should be answered rationally by governments regarding mask mandates.

The Law of God by Jason Lisle
It is important for us to recognize that the government is responsible to the Law of God just as we are. This message explains the importance of the Law of God to our lives today as Christians.

The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates
Learn how our government officials can help us restore our governments to their proper function.

A “Neutral” Government?

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If philosophical neutrality is a fallacy, as I previously asserted, then building a government on this philosophy is a critically serious problem.  It appears to be a trend in governments across the world and it looks like a plan forged by the powers of darkness to me.

Peace does not come by the careful application of a fallacy.  It only comes through love and proper reasoning and that will mean that those who are thinking irrationally will have to be exposed.  That exposure doesn’t feel very good and some will fight to death over it, but I know from experience that true humility brings peace when we are finally willing to admit that we are wrong.

I was reading a report from a few years ago, about a Canadian ruling that was addressing the contents of prayers before meetings.  I am told that they were warning that there are prayers that may not be legal.  This appears to be a clear case of philosophical absolutism to me.  The United States has it share of the same kind of thing, as do other countries.

We may be tempted to assert that a government should stay out of speech related issues, but in reality, how can they?  A government must assert a philosophy of some kind or else it cannot function.  It has no choice.  The problem with what governments are doing is that the philosophy they are asserting is often irrational.  You can’t rationally assert a philosophy that assumes that no philosophy should be asserted. A government built on a foundation of irrationality is in no position to bring about peace or anything else.

With great sorrow, I see the problem again in the recent speeches of both President Trump and Vice-President Pence.  Their words sound like an attempt to respect all religions and creeds, even though it is obvious that they can’t.  In many of the same speeches, they rightly express that that there are certain creeds and religions that they do not respect, such as those that kill people or promote the destruction of the United States or disrespect its constitution.  Are these not creeds and religions?  This is confusing to say the least.  That’s not what made America great.

If they intend to go back to America’s foundation, they must return to the doctrine of Christian tolerance which asserts that although Christians don’t respect other creeds and religions, they do tolerate them to a degree in civil life, because that’s what Jesus expects us to do until He chooses to deal with them Himself.  Christian tolerance is built on the concepts of free will, grace (meaning favoring others when they don’t really deserve it), and the fact that Jesus is still alive and able to take care of the wicked without our help.  Christians desire that all men will come to know Jesus by willingly accepting His offer.  This means that, according to Christian tolerance, there can be no force when it comes to individual choice either.  This is the basis for American liberty and it also happens to be non-neutral.

So why is this a big deal?  It’s because it’s this issue that leads a people toward either liberty or tyranny.  If a government doesn’t have the authority over life, liberty and personal property, it definitely doesn’t have authority over the Creator that endowed those rights.  Any government that thinks it does that is indicating that it believes it is the supreme authority in certain matters.  Even if taking God’s place isn’t intentional, that’s what is being communicated and it leaves the door open to serious future problems.  Even now we are seeing the desire for philosophical respect drive the followers of various ideas to converge against Christianity, asking that it either comply or be silenced by “civil” government.  Since Christian tolerance is the basis for our liberty,  freedom as we know it is in serious danger.  What governments must do is to acknowledge that their right to rule comes from the God of the Bible, the true One that the Christians have acknowledged.

Other brands of neutral thinking have already been used in the west and have failed quite miserably at critical times.  Recall that Neville Chamberlain attempted to bring peace in his time using a method that would allow the UK to respect Hitler’s choices.  President FDR signed a peace agreement with Japan in a similar gesture right before we entered the war.  It’s important for us to remember how well those things worked out.  How about those Israeli peace agreements?

It’s important to ask ourselves: What good is peace if freedom is taken away?    There is a way for peace and freedom to coexist, but it depends on Christian philosophy, because that’s the only way they fit together without the government becoming an irrational tyrant.

 

Science Opposes Evolution

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Science is the study of physical things that can be repeatedly observed, and by doing experiments, it has been observed that order is a fundamental element of physical systems.  In living systems, this order takes the form of programming, which we recognize as a very complicated form of linguistic information.  This doesn’t fit well with the ideas of evolution because evolution usually tries to explain change as a random process that happens when energy is applied to matter.  I believe, that at least one reason we don’t consider this to be a problem, is because we were only exposed to part of the truth about the fundamental elements of universe in school.

In an effort to stay within the bounds of naturalism, public schools teach two things that don’t work together.  We see this in the difference between what was taught in health class and what was taught in science class.

In health class, we are warned about germs and ways to protect ourselves from doing things like eating canned goods that have had the seal broken.  We are told that as long as the seal of a canned item is unbroken, an unwanted organism cannot get through and contaminate it.

Now when we go to science class, we are told something else, but it isn’t obvious at first.  Evolutionary science teaches something that could be simplified into a formula like this:

Matter + Energy = Life!

One thing that was shown to me is that we are capable of doing this experiment ourselves, but I suggest that we go back to health class to do it!  Let’s take a sealed can of beans and put it in a shaking machine.  Let’s also heat it up to just above room temperature.  Let’s leave it there all day.  Then let’s open it up at the end of the day and see what kinds of new life has formed.

Note that we had this formula:

Beans + (Shaking and Heat) = ?

To our dismay, when we open the can we find no new life.  There is no mold or anything.  We added a significant amount of heat and shaking.  The amount of pounds of pressure that was sent through the can could probably have built a house.  What we are experiencing is a way in which the formula we are taught in science class doesn’t appear to work.  We still eat cans of beans that haven’t been opened yet, even though the temperature has changed, it has been shaken and light has been showing on it.  We could have even been exposed to an magnet.  Did you realize that this experiment is performed over and over every day all over the world?  There are literally millions of cans being stored every year. The government is so concerned with the reality of this that they make laws to ensure that business abide by health class rules and not science class rules.

Here’s the formula being carefully controlled by health organizations:

Matter + Energy + Information = Life!

I would argue that there are actually three fundamentals of nature and one of them isn’t physical.  Information is from outside nature.  It’s “super” natural, and we don’t observe nature without it.  Once the right kind of information is introduced into a can of beans, we quickly discover new life forms.  If information is kept from being introduced into the experiment, only the existing life forms are left, but only until they break down (but that’s another topic).

The Bible has been telling us the truth the whole time.  Even when we didn’t understand the nature of germs or DNA yet.  Unlike a science book, it didn’t have to change to protect its philosophy.

 

Rebuilding America’s Foundation

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It was difficult for me to celebrate Independence Day this year.  From a Bible-believing Christian’s point of view, the United States is really coming apart.  It was brought to my attention that the leadership of the United States is going in exactly the opposite direction than when the was country founded.  Let’s look at some of the quotes from America’s leaders:

“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the Word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next.  Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
– John Jay, Original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

“The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul.  I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days.”
– President Harry S. Truman

“The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be… impossible for us to figure to ourselves what life would be if these teachings were removed.”
– President Teddy Roosevelt

“The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
– President Andrew Jackson

And these are just a few examples.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that what the Bible says about marriage doesn’t matter anymore.  That may seem like a small thing at first, but it’s actually monumental.  The crack in the foundation of the United States that is now widening by the day, has to do with who’s ultimately in charge of our lives.

As we can read in these quotes, there was a time when not only did the people and leadership of the United States believe that God was in charge, but that it was the Bible that would show us exactly how.  The thing that is destroying the United States today is the thing that Presidents Truman and Jackson warned us about.  The foundation for any people is the world of God.  Here’s what God has to say:

“Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”’”
– Luke 4:4, Jesus is quoting the Old Testament from Deuteronomy 8:3 while He is starving and being tempted to simply make bread to eat.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
– Proverbs 14:34, King Solomon of Israel (The wisest man that ever lived)

So, as you can see for yourself, the problem the United States has is that many of the people and the leaders have decided that man’s opinions are to be trusted over the clear words of God.

The wonderful thing is that there is something we can do about it.  We can live our own lives based on the Bible today.  That means that we need to know what it says.  That’s one of the many reasons why I am writing about the Bible, I can’t think of anything that is more pertinent to us right now.  As long as we trust in the opinions of man, we are under a curse.

“Yahweh says:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
and makes flesh his arm,
and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
For he shall be like a bush in the desert,
and shall not see when good comes,
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
a salt land and not inhabited.
 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,
and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
who spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf shall be green;
and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
– Jeremiah 17:5-8