Authority: Who Rules?
By Rev. Paul Michael Raymond The Covenant News ~ January 15, 2009
Government, Law and Public Policy deal fundamentally with questions of authority. By what authority does a government enact laws, or a President govern? By what legislative standard of authority does a community, state or nation formulate, enact and enforce law? These are essential questions of importance, since they determine what type of culture we will live in; whether we will be free or slaves, prosperous and blessed, or impoverish and destroyed. If the standard of authority is derived from the mind of man, who has often shown himself to be wrong, bias, self consumed, tyrannical and wicked (ironically proving the Biblical Doctrine of man’s depravity), then that authority will be oppressive at best and despotically destructive at its worst. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines authority as “Legal power or right to command or act.” Therefore let’s consider two questions of authority.
The first question concerning authority is “Where does legitimate authority come from” and the second is “How and to whom is it distributed?” In other words, who has the right to command, and by what standard should that commander use in his command? The answer to these questions are both historical and theological since all law and public policy is the externalization of a society’s religion and an expression of the god (or gods) it serves.
Contrary to the historical revisionists, America was founded upon Biblical Principles. Like it or not, this is the historical fact. While there was, to be sure, some Enlightenment and Deistic influence during the Independence era, and early structuring of this nation, Biblical Christianity, especially Puritanism, was the foundation stone of America. The Great historian, George Bancroft, who incidentally was not a Christian, declared that it was the European Reformation hero John Calvin who was the Great Grandfather of the American nation.
As with every war and conflict, the war for independence also had its motto. The notable cry for American independence was “ No King but Jesus.” It was the Presbyterian clergy, dubbed by the British, “The Black Regiment” (called such for their black Geneva gowns that they wore in the pulpit), who spearheaded the war for American independence. Their cause was for the advancement of the Crown Rights of King Jesus against the tyranny of men, particularly the tyranny of King George III. All authority, law and public policy was rightly viewed and regulated by the light of Scripture, which undeniably placed all authority and power in the Sovereignty of Christ. This is why America has lasted as long as she has. It is because the principles of authority, law and public policy were originally rooted in Scripture.
There is a principle to be understood here: All governing, magisterial power conferred upon an individual is given by Christ so as to be used according to His mandated Law of Scripture. Contrarily, any and all rebellion by a civil authority to that Law was to be viewed as rebellion against God, and was not to be obeyed by the people. Even Thomas Jefferson, suggesting that the Great Seal of America should have as its inscription, “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God” understood the importance of a God honoring body politic.
However, this Christocentric idea is rapidly changing right before our very eyes and its practice is all but gone. Even among the majority of the Christian population these ideas are alien. In recent decades, and in every governing administration, both Democratic and Republican, the civil powers have misused their authority by claiming for its own various realms of authority that God has rightly distributed to the individual, church or the family. As our American government unashamedly mandates unjust taxes, (while some taxes are legitimate, most are a violation of the 8th commandment), maintains the structure of an unlawful fiat and fractional reserve banking system, inflates the dollar so as to make it almost worthless, controls education, provides billions of bailout dollars for corrupt or ill managed companies, sustains an unbiblical prison system (one without restitution mandates) and encroaches upon the Nation’s Constitutional rights of the family and the individual by the formation of a multitude of repressive and illegitimate laws, many pulpits remain silent.
When was the last time you heard a sermon that set the record straight on Biblical authority, law and politics? This is not to suggest that politics, economics or any social system can be heralded as Messianic, but if politics are discussed at all, it is usually party politics and not the principles of Christian politics. When was the last time that you heard a sermon condemning Federally controlled education which violates both Scripture and the U.S. Constitution, especially since it mandates as its curriculum the religion of Secular Humanism? Or when was the last time you heard a sermon condemning FDR’s historic confiscation of gold and silver and his destruction of the American system with his so called New Deal and New Society? When was the last time you were informed as to how that system was the institution of a damnable welfare system that the Scriptures clearly denounce, and how it is happening all over again? Can you remember the last time that you heard a sermon counseling on economic prudence in an age of guilt manipulators and government thieves who are seeking to destroy you and your family, so as to make you fearful and dependent upon government administrative “nannies” who promises you cradle to grave support if only you would give up all your God given liberty? We have heard of the “dumbing down” of public school children. I am afraid that that sickness has also crept into many of our churches.
While there are many pastors of whom I deeply respect and believe are faithful men of Christ, there are still those that remain silent, waiting for their retirement, transfer, rapture or death. I can assure them that if that is their stance they have ignored their calling by not warning their people of this destruction, which is now at the very gates of our nation. If the Christian church and its people do not wake up to what is happening to them in our time, begin to speak out, and act so as to reconstruct our beloved America according those Biblical principles which have made her great, I am afraid we will leave a wake of destruction to our children and the many generations following. May God stir us to courageous action in a time of deep spiritual darkness.