In the year of our Lord, 2018

ISBN-13 978-0-578-21121-3

This book is copyright protected simply so no one may monopolize its content. David places no restrictions upon any lawful use of the text or ideas presented herein. Anyone may copy, distribute, translate, or even profit from publishing this book, in whole or in part. The value of this book is to be realized from the truth it proclaims, and David hopes that it will benefit many people. If you have benefited from this information and want to make it more broadly available to others, please consider sending a donation in an amount that reflects your enthusiasm to help disseminate its message. Electronic donations may be made via PayPal at David’s website. Cash (for gold or silver, please insure delivery), checks, or money orders may be sent to:

David of Ohio

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Coshocton, Ohio 43812 USA

www.davidofohio.com

David hopes that the information contained herein will salt and light the world by advancing the expansive benefits of justice and an economy of love. For additional information, opportunities to view comments, participate in discussions, or ask questions, please visit David’s website.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

All Scripture citations appear in bold. Scripture reference is not provided for familiar quotations, such as Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, or for various phrases that are incorporated into the text.

The name Holy Spirit has been italicized to emphasize this characteristic of God.

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Introduction

I. The Cross and Civil Justice

II. Lawlessness in the Land

III. Natural Law and Justice

IV. Love is the Answer

V. The Reformation of Christian Piety

VI. Three Categories of Law

VII. Governmental Authority

VIII. Law and Rights

IX. Wealth

X. Christianity, Tyranny, and War

XI. Stewardship, Sustainability, and Environment

XII. The Highway of Holiness

1. Hold Usury Unenforceable

2. End Unjust Wars

3. Repudiate Public Debts

4. Meet Government Financial Obligations

5. End Direct Taxes

6. End Legal Tender Laws

7. Return Gold and Silver Money

8. Reform Rental Contracts

9. End Economic Manipulation

10. End Limited Liability

11. End Licensure Monopoly

12. End Patents and Copyrights

13. Justice in the Courts

14. Secret Police Operations

15. Reconcile Crimes and Damages

16. Sanction Capital Crimes

Summary

Author’s Note to the Reader

Preface to the Second Edition

IT HAS BEEN three years since I wrote the first edition of. This has given me some time to listen and reflect upon the responses I received. I wondered how the book could be more clear and comprehensive on several points. Consequently, I have made changes in this second edition.

The subtitle was changed from “The Epic Failure of Law Making” in the first edition to “Ending Political Legalism” in this second edition. I thought this subtitle better communicated my intent to explain why the vanity of lawmaking is so confusing and unjust. The word “legalism” also more effectively communicates a philosophical approach to social theory, whereas the term “lawmaking” merely describes actions. Since I am concerned with the presuppositions that support social theory along with the underlying philosophy that affects motivations by people who see themselves as social engineers, I judged the change in the subtitle was warranted.

In the first edition, I did not specifically address the philosophy of what is called “natural law.” Since natural law philosophy applies directly to the administration of justice in social theory and because it occupies such a prominent place in our courts today, I was stirred to include a full chapter that critiques this popular philosophy. In addition, the first edition did not specifically discuss the dialectical tension that exists between the separate philosophies of Marxism and Capitalism, how these political philosophies arise from the same root, and why they cannot be harmonized peacefully to provide a firm foundation for justice in society.

The balance of the changes involve a more clear presentation of God’s transcendence, the incarnation of Jesus, and the authority of Christ the Lord. There are also many more detailed explanations about how true justice differs from the common practices of legalism.

I have some concern about the repetitive nature of the text. At the end of most chapters there are summaries that reinforce what was written earlier. For the careful reader, this approach may seem to be a bit unnecessary and tedious. For this, I apologize in advance and appreciate your patience. As a justification for this approach, my thought is that represents such a paradigm shift in social theory, it is easy for a reader’s mind to drift and rely upon popular, preconceived notions related to the administration of justice. When radically new material is presented, repetition remains as the best instructor.

The people I intend to serve with this book are the common, hardworking, taxpaying citizens, not privileged establishment academics. Currently popular academic teachings already have brought us to the brink of social crisis, which now must be addressed by doing true justice. There will be exceptions, but typical university intellectuals simply will not like this book for many reasons. For example, there are no footnotes or index. This is not an oversight. Those who are wise in their own eyes may never be willing to enter into an actual discussion regarding the substantive issues of what it means to do justice. Admittedly, this approach may not be pleasing for academics who wish to ignore or discredit the teaching that almighty God alone determines what is just. In any case, I hope will prove to be a straightforward and profitable roadmap for those who seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. This kingdom is immediately at hand and always before us in time and space, this life and the next.

Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52)

My thanks to Scott Craig Mooney, author of the exceptional and scholarly book, Usury: Destroyer of Nations, for his assistance in editing and formatting this book. I also express my thankfulness to my faithful wife Patricia for her constant support and abiding love.

I thank also you, the reader, for acquiring and starting to read this book. I pray it will inspire you to do justice, love mercy and by your good works, glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you as you seek first the Kingdom of Heaven.

David

Introduction

PEOPLE EVERYWHERE seek fulfillment in life. Although we seek after happiness and satisfaction, our experience often falls short of our dreams. When we become confused by our passions or ideas, we tend to look for fulfillment in the wrong places. There are so many facets to human life, no matter where we look for answers, we can often find problems instead.

A popular mindset today believes the best strategy to enhance safety, peace, and prosperity throughout society is if lawmakers can invent and impose the right matrix of “laws.” With few exceptions, faith in civil government’s ability to engineer justice is enthusiastically supported at all levels of society. After all, if citizens cannot have faith in their government’s ability to fix our social problems, what hope remains for mankind? But there is a serious problem with this approach. All attempts at social engineering that emanate solely from mankind’s imagination are built upon the shifting sands of legalistic philosophy and utopian faith.

As people elect and follow humanistic leaders, they hope everything will finally work together to usher in justice, peace, and prosperity. But their actual experience becomes increased frustration as lawmakers and governments move further away from doing justice. People increasingly doubt that good ever will come from the invention, prosecution, and enforcement of innumerable laws, rules, and regulations. Can all this legalistic political activity ever improve our social experience? This book will show that confidence and faith in any legalistic process is unwarranted at best, and evil at worst.

Because of factious division and strife, people are beginning to wonder if there are laws that can reliably lead us to find true justice and liberty. Well, there are laws that will promote justice and liberty in our lands. But these are not laws social engineers can invent. They are eternal laws. They come to us from outside of mankind’s experience in time and space. They come from God.

God has revealed true law to all people and nations. God’s law is discovered by mankind, but it is not in any sense an invention of man’s imagination. It is foolish to assume the words of politicians are of greater value than God’s commandments. Mankind simply does not have the authority or ability to create true laws out of human experience alone. It is false to believe any creature can ignore his Creator’s Word and substitute his own words to determine what is good and evil for everyone. To force a free people to obey any laws invented by politicians is vain at best and at worst, evil. When political leaders legislate, they should repeat God’s laws and apply them to present language and circumstances. Teaching and enforcing true laws will bless and sanctify any nation and its political rulers.

Legalistic Capitalists and Socialists appear to be locked in a struggle with one another. They superficially appear in perpetual opposition, but behind their posturing, they maintain a love-hate union. In their mutual covetousness, they come together to produce regulatory corporatism, or what can be most simply described by the word “legalism.” The outcome of this relationship can only produce a godless, legalistic social expression.

Rather than establishing justice and peace within a nation, the bad fruit of legalism will only manifest tyranny, strife, and injustice. It is like mankind’s experience with another fruit, which our first parents were forbidden to eat. This fruit is lethal to all who satiate themselves with its deadly poison.

As nations give in to legalism, political leaders are stripped of honor, dignity, grace, and this renders them incapable of leading by righteousness. But political leaders are creatures of God just like everyone else. As such, they have no authority to invent decrees for others, decide for themselves what is good and evil, or what all free adults must do with their lives. Legalistic “laws” will never improve social relationships in a free society. Instead, they will only confound justice and produce social dysfunction. Consider the following examples of epic failures of legalism:

• Legalistic nations create so many laws, rules and regulations that no one—including judges—can know enough to compile a complete list of them. Nevertheless, hypocritical judges proudly talk down to defendants and lecture, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

• So-called lawmakers often do not read the laws they pass and cannot coherently explain in all cases how they should be applied. Yet, ever hoping for a better result, citizens fight for their politicians to invent and enact even more laws.

• In an attempt to construct a legalistic utopia, Americans now imprison well over two million men and women violators in concrete and steel cages that are inappropriately named “correction facilities.” Just what do these facilities correct? New laws condemn these poor souls to an unproductive existence separated from family and friends and with little hope they can be repatriated to society to lead a fulfilled life. Once they are sentenced, very few of them will ever experience a productive normal life with joyful family relationships and engage in loving service toward their neighbors. Such people are named and classified as “criminals.” Criminals are shunned and effectively disenfranchised from society, often for the rest of their lives.

• Many caged convicts have no proven record of harming any person. Criminals who have actually harmed others rarely compensate their victims or make peace with them. Those who are innocent of actual crimes against any person are enslaved and caged along with those who may be guilty of actual crimes. These law enforcement schemes do not lead to reconciliation and peace between people.

• New laws are invented and taxes are exacted in the hope that more legalism and stronger compliance will strengthen banking, crony corporatist interests, and the bureaucracy of government. The oppression that legalism introduces grinds down productive citizens and future generations are now said to owe so much government-induced involuntary debt it can never be fully paid. When a nation seeks to establish a legalistic utopia, it will descend into debt-slavery and the social strife we now see before us.

• The belief that mankind can replace God as lawmaker is a false belief. In their arrogance, usurping lawmakers have imposed upon the nation more than a million criminal and commercial laws, rules, and regulations. Nevertheless, the public demands even more of the same. An idolatrous public seeks to erect a utopia that rejects or ignores the commandments of God. Like those who tried to build Babel so many years ago, they seek to establish a nation to reach into the Heavens, to establish its own will upon the Earth. But God will confuse their tongues so their language will only cause arguments, strife, and even war between them.

• New laws are passed to protect the public from external threats while their own government displays an arrogant contempt for God, His people’s property, and their liberty.

• Expansive new laws and regulations extend government control over health care for the said purpose of making the healing arts widely available and affordable, but such laws actually deliver less care at substantially higher costs. When a legalistic bureaucracy seeks to manage everyone’s personal affairs, the utopian dreams become a nightmare for all.

This list could go on and on without including any trivial matters, but I have already made the point. The problem with political legalism is not simply a partisan matter related to factions that are right or left, feminist or traditionalist, capitalist or Marxist, libertarian, conservative, or progressive. Despite the many evangelists promoting faith in legalism, an honest inquest will render a sure indictment: political legalism is an evil failure.

It is commonly said that a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The imposition of increasing legalism will not yield a good result. In this sense, experimental legalism is a kind of insanity. But then, all idolatry is a kind of insanity.

More legalism means less prosperity, happiness, love, grace, and peace in society. The wildly popular practice of lawmaking is perhaps the largest factor that destroys social cohesion and results in social breakdown. Make-it-up-as-you-go-along laws are no substitute for obeying God’s laws, which He gave to promote justice, reconciliation, and peace.

Ancient standards of justice have always been available to us so together we might know how to recover from crimes and create a social environment that promotes goodwill. To do justice and to love mercy ensures communities will function more like Heaven on Earth instead of a legalistic hell where there is no liberty or peace.

We may think of all of human life in terms of four broad categories: 1) the personal life of the individual, 2) family life, 3) the life of voluntary institutions like churches and other social organizations, and 4) the life of the whole civil society. This book is concerned mainly with the fourth category. These are matters of civil society wherein a civil government should enforce true law and administer justice. Matters arising in the first three categories are very important and must not be neglected. Indeed, there is much written and spoken about how to administrate and resolve problems that involve personal, family, and church life. The reason the focus of this book is upon matters of society and civil government is because in teaching and practice, civil justice has been neglected by contemporary Christian leaders.

Some of the problems we face in civil society, such as environmental pollution and gun violence, are unique to the modern age. Other problems, such as government debt and social corruption, are as old as the hills. What is common to all problems of civil society, past and present, is that people turn away from following the Lord and attempt to engineer society on their own. Nations reap what they sow. A focus only upon the accumulation of personal goods and money cannot overcome the damage done to society by an idolatrous faith in a legalistic utopia.

Much of the information you will find in this book is not to be found in the curriculum of what are regarded to be the best colleges, graduate schools, and seminaries of today. This book is about how faith in the Lord Christ and obedience to God’s commandments should direct the full range of public policy issues. It starts with the theological foundation of redemption, law, and how people must do justice.

What is proposed here will seem to most readers like a paradigm shift in social theory. It will fundamentally challenge the typical American’s perception of regulation, taxes, war, monetary policy, economic exchange, and criminal law. The lack of teaching about civil application of God’s law in universities or seminaries is a major reason for today’s social dysfunction and why this author believes it was necessary to write this book.

This book is about the social necessity to do God’s justice. The reader will come to understand how justice is like social medicine, how it functions to heal relationships in a sick society, and how it creates a state of social homeostasis. Justice is like plowing the ground for the preparation of a seed bed. It is like a financial balance sheet, where all things are revealed and reconciled. But justice alone cannot cause the growth, it cannot produce fruit any more than financial reconciliation alone can inform a business about what to do with its capital. However, accounting and a financial balance must be achieved before a sure and constructive course of action may be taken. Justice brings peace to society, but as wonderful as peace is, a creative and expansive life is far more than the mere lack of conflict. A growing life involves faith, hope and love within the context of redemption and peace.

In the totality of social interaction, justice is only useful to mitigate damage and recover from the effect of crimes. The magnitude of resources required by civil government to implement justice is directly related to the frequency of criminal acts. As civil ministers do their God-ordained work and justice is advanced, crime related costs will be reduced and civil government will diminish. This is the progress of Heaven on the Earth.

He shall judge between many peoples,

And rebuke strong nations afar off;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid;

For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

For all people walk each in the name of his god,

But we will walk in the name of the LORD our God

Forever and ever. (Amos 4:3–5)

Eventually, the need for a civil government that dispenses justice will pass away leaving only a memory of its once important activities. What remains will be a body of people who are led by the Holy Spirit and live in liberty, peace, and the fellowship of love between God and mankind. There shall be no administration of justice in Heaven because there will be no sins, no social disease to cure, and no need for any such medicine. As society does justice and implements God’s sanctions, then peace and interpersonal redemption will be advanced until the prescribed justice-medicine will no longer be needed in the land. Having done its job, the prescription of justice will have run out.

The proposals within this book are not novel because they are rooted in ancient justice. Justice is never out of date because its established standards are given for all times and these must be applied to new situations every day. Social situations may change and difficulties may arise, but new and ancient justice resolves them all. The message of this book is only a reiteration of the Word given from the beginning and its conclusions are all contained in the premise of orthodox faith in God. If the contents herein seem new to the reader, it is only because today’s social dialogue about justice has deviated so far from the law given by Moses and the Apostolic faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that was once and for all delivered to the saints.

The first part of this book sets forth the work of Jesus to free mankind from condemnation and to confer liberty upon all who believe and follow Him. After explaining the foundation of justice and the proper role of civil government, this book goes on to explain righteous responses to challenges presented by legalism, natural law, tyranny, terrorism, human rights, war, ownership of property, and stewardship of the environment. What follows are several essays about practices that must change before Heaven’s righteousness and peace can be realized in daily social life. The reader will see repeatedly how God’s laws are complete, divinely organic, integrated, sustainable, and how they support material and spiritual blessings.

This book does not argue for any kind of humanistic utopia. Utopian schemes are invariably based upon legalism, central planning, and the enforcement of made-up laws. Utopian systems always compromise liberty and lead society away from justice. No man-made utopian system of government can replace the standard of God’s law that leads to justice and liberty for every person.

Rather than a legalistic utopian plan, the Kingdom of Heaven is the only basis for a truly free and righteous society. There is simply no way a nation can build a society of goodwill and peace without a network of people who love God and their neighbors. In a nation ruled by God’s justice, lawless actions are curtailed, criminals who have not committed capital crimes are redeemed to society, and a social fabric is developed wherein free people find creative ways to exhibit love for their neighbors.

Jesus taught us to pray, Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. The Apostle John assures us, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, ... we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (I John 5:14–15) Since our prayers are directed to the eternal God, they reach beyond time and space. There is great power and authority in any effort to advance God’s will upon the Earth. A multitude of Christians have gone before us to advance the Kingdom of Heaven in the Earth. Although they have succeeded to some extent, much work remains to be completed in our age. Since some of the past gains have been neglected and because many more good works remain to be done, we now face serious social, economic, and political issues that demand our immediate attention.

God’s standard of justice has not changed. In our day, as in all days past, our prayer must be for God’s will to be done on Earth. Since much of society has slipped so far from a godly standard of justice, doing God’s will in civil society may seem like it is a new idea. But godly justice is really an old idea that is passed down to us from the dawn of human society. God has always spoken to His people and His righteousness is more powerful than any evil. All people may have confidence that if they do justice and love their neighbors, their future social experience will be blessed. New and ancient justice can surely heal the social, political, and economic ills that perplex us today.

I.

The Cross and Civil Justice

ALL THE PERSONAL and social problems we face in life are the result of sin. Since the word sin evokes so many different thoughts, it is important to understand what this author intends to convey. As it is used in this book, the word sin means: any transgression of the commandments of God as revealed in Holy Scripture, the Christian Bible. The sum of God’s commandments is for us to love Him and our neighbors. God is love, and to obey Him is to live in love. Sins are those actions that can never work to advance love and fellowship. All sin is rebellion against the will of God, therefore all sin is anti-love. Our Lord instructs us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Since sin is the root cause of all civil injustice, what can be done about it? The answer to this question is the subject of this book. To some readers, it may seem odd to begin a discussion of civil justice with a lesson about sin, but that is where we need to begin.

The answer to sin involves redemption. By God’s grace we now have a great Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Christ is holy and gave His life for our justification. He was raised from death, ascended into Heaven, and rules from there as Lord of Heaven and Earth. Because Christ is Lord of all people and nations, His will alone is the firm foundation upon which all nations must build personal and civil redemption. It is impossible for individuals and nations who reject Christ to experience the peace and redemption related to civil justice. Unless people experience the Lord’s justice in all their social dealings, they will search in vain for solutions to the problem of injustice.

Because God is holy He does not overlook sin. All sin is anti-love because it is opposed to God’s character and it begins with a denial of the authority of God who is love. Sin is always oppressive toward people. In addition, sinful acts damage the natural world. Sin is destructive of all that is lovely and true in people and in the world. Because of the destructive nature of sin, how God deals with sin is of overall importance to society and cannot be overlooked by anyone who seeks a solution to society’s problems.

Sin affects everyone because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No one is perfect. Before anyone may approach holy God the Father in love and fellowship, the issue of sin must first be addressed. All true fellowship between persons requires holiness. Since no one can be made holy based upon his own merits, people may approach fellowship with God only through holiness provided from outside of themselves. If we are to realize love in our relationships, sin cannot be ignored. Thankfully, the required holiness is provided for everyone who relies upon the redemption that is found in the atoning work of Jesus.

Who is this Jesus? At the right time, the holy virgin Mary was uniquely blessed, sanctified, and selected for motherhood so the eternal Son of God might be revealed and known by created people in time and space. Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In preparation for the incarnation of Jesus, God made mankind in their image and likeness. By this creation, God prepared a body to inhabit, and woman was ordained to carry the created part of His seed. Jesus humbled Himself to be comprised of body and spirit so He might be revealed to us in body, soul, and spirit, a living temple whereby God may be intimately known and worshiped by the people He created. The miraculous nexus of the incarnation is the inseparable and personal link God established with His own creation!

By the mystery of the incarnation, Jesus was introduced into creation as fully God and fully man, unified in being and without confusion. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus lived a life that was holy and without sin. By His voluntary sacrifice He upheld the demands of God’s law and by His death upon the cross He satisfied all the law’s sanctions for the sins of those who trust in Him. Although sin leads to death and separation from God, Jesus was holy and without sin, so death had no power over Him. Out of love for His people, He subjected Himself to the sanction of death for their sins, but by holiness Jesus retained authority to overcome death by His act of resurrection. Jesus died and rose again. He now rules over all who dwell upon the Earth and all who are passing from death to life are welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The power of Christ’s resurrected life is available to all those who receive Christ as Lord and by faith identify with Him in life, death, and resurrection. Thus, all who humbly trust in Christ for their salvation may be free from the fear of death because their sins no longer pose an obstacle to fellowship with God the Father. Jesus promises, “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26) Renewed fellowship with God enables individuals to experience a new life that transcends death. People will experience this righteous redemption as they seek to do His will and as they begin to overcome their temporal, personal problems in light of God’s commandments.

The Bible calls this process of redemption by learning righteousness, “sanctification.” The word sanction comes down to us from the Latin sanctio, which indicates a process of sanctifying or to make something sacred. Since people in this life are not yet perfect in love, they need instruction in sanctification. Like children, people need the discipline of sanctions so their senses may be trained to discern between good and evil. From God’s law we find the necessary instructions for the process of personal and social sanctification.

Our social lives can only be redeemed when they conform to the requirements of the law, including the sanctions that are commanded by God. One cannot be sanctified and at the same time turn a blind eye toward the oppression of the innocent. A sinner is not yet sanctified if he says in effect, “Jesus has forgiven me so I am saved, but the injustice done to others is none of my concern. I will ignore the oppression of other victims unless they are among my family and friends who benefit me.”

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14–17)

Is it profitable for someone to claim Christian faith and at the same time willfully ignore injustice when there is opportunity to do justice? Of course not! In this, I write to those who are mature in faith, who understand faith without works is not abundant life, but is merely temporal existence. No indifference in regards to doing justice and loving mercy is ever profitable for one who has true faith in Christ. The works done by saints will be established only by sincere trust in the Lord and by doing the will of God. This includes doing justice in communities, cities, and nations.

In His work on the cross, Jesus did not remove God’s law, rather He fulfilled its sanctions and then granted mercy. What does this mean? To be sanctified is to conform to God’s will. If we love Him, we will learn to keep His Commandments and seek to do His will upon the Earth. God painstakingly teaches us that our part in the ministry of reconciliation involves applying His sanctions. To demonstrate the justice God requires, Jesus was willing to be sanctioned upon the cross for the sins of others. Jesus obediently accepted God’s serious sanction for sin. All those who follow and believe in Christ have been forgiven and are justified by Jesus’ obedience to the Father. The Holy Spirit is given to empower a believer’s obedience toward God so sanctification may be realized and made manifest. The way of the cross is by the obedience of faith, resulting in sanctification.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1–4)

God’s law should not present a problem to Christians. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (I John 5:3). As love is advanced, faithful Christians live by what is the law of liberty. This means as long as they love they may do whatever they want because what they want is good.

A sincere Christian’s prayer is to experience God’s will on Earth as it is in Heaven. Jesus instructs His disciples, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7). In other words, it is here, right before us! Followers are led by the Holy Spirit and once liberated from the power of sin, they learn to obey God’s commandments.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit helps and incites obedience in the heart of the believer, to empower him with a desire to do good works. Since social relationships are in principle redeemed by God’s grace, loving one’s neighbor becomes a joyful experience. Love for one’s neighbors and good works toward them expands sanctification out from individuals and into the sphere of civil society.

No one can add to the work of Christ to atone for sin, but if we love Him, we will obey His commandments. Jesus commands us to love one another. When it comes to obeying God, there is no way to separate personal piety from civil justice because if we overlook injustice, we cannot consider ourselves to be pious. For example, God will eventually deal with whoever tells lies, but the imposition of sanctions by a temporal court may also be necessary if lies have borne false witness or if criminal actions have created a quantifiable damage. When violations occur, obedience toward God means to faithfully impose the specific sanctions required in His law. When the specific sanctions God requires are imposed, individuals and civil society are always sanctified. Only by this sanctification will justice be realized within society.

True sanctions are not for the purpose of inflicting pain or punishment, nor are they merely for instructing society to fear police or government office-holders. Rather, true sanctions redeem social peace, promote justice and respect for God’s law. This is the process of sanctification that results in reconciliation and peace between victims and oppressors.

We cannot maintain obedience toward God and at the same time ignore or reject the sanctions that God requires for specified public sins. One cannot glory in the personal benefits of the Cross of Christ and deny its benefits to others. Did Christ bear God’s sanction of death on our behalf so we could permit injustice to rule in our land? May it never be! Upon the cross, Jesus demonstrated the power of obedience to His Father. Jesus’ perfect submission to the law’s sanctions is the power of righteousness that overcame sin for all those who are redeemed and follow Him. The

ultimate act of sanctification was when Jesus chose to accept the law’s required sanctions for the sins of others. Thus, in Jesus, the law’s sanctions for all our sins were fulfilled for us, and by our reconciliation with God redemption is made available to the world.

In this one act of atonement Jesus sums up all things. He satisfied the demands of justice and dispensed mercy toward the offenders when He prayed in His passion, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). Mercy is forever, but the administration of justice is only for temporal life.

Is the servant greater than the Master? No. Christ’s disciples follow after Him by sacrificing their own will to do the will of God. This is what it means to be dead to sin and alive to Christ. Christians should always pray believing, Not my will, but Yours, be done and Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Faith in God is always sanctifying, but faith without obedience to His law is impossible.

God’s commandments, sanctions, justice, redemption, love, and grace all find a complete resolution in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Christ demonstrates how holy God does not overlook sin. Instead, His perfect sacrifice fulfills the law’s sanctions for all sins. The work of Christ accomplishes not only deliverance from the curse of sin, but after this sacrifice, in the power of His resurrection, He provides new life for all who identify with Him by faith.

All those who are sanctified by Jesus’ death may experience a resurrected life through the work of the Holy Spirit who proceeds to us from God. The work of Jesus has broad redemptive implications for individuals and also for society at large. Christ’s work of atonement, resurrection, ascension, and His rule over the nations of this world makes available to humanity a salvation that is complete and comprehensive in life and death, now and forever.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on Earth, and of those under the Earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9–11).

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen (Romans 16:25–27).

II.

Lawlessness in the Land

MANY YEARS AGO, God’s authority over all governments was highlighted in Egypt. Moses repeatedly declared the word of God to Pharaoh, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” But Pharaoh coveted God’s people and sought to keep them as his slaves. He hardened his heart and rebelled against God’s will. But Pharaoh’s futile resistance eventually was overcome. After God brought many humiliations upon Egypt, Pharaoh finally had to bow to almighty God and grant Israel liberty to go and serve the Lord. In a final act of rebellion against the Lord, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to recapture the children of Israel. But God protected Israel and destroyed Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.

Pharaoh’s rule over God’s people was shown to lack true authority because he invented his own laws and did not seek to obey the will of God. Pharaoh wanted Israel to serve him rather than to serve God alone. His legal inventions required what God did not require, and sanctioned what God did not sanction. Pharaoh is merely a type who represents all proud authoritarian rulers. In response to Pharaoh and many other mighty rulers down through the ages, God has demonstrates in each case how He requires the obedience of all earthly rulers. There are no exceptions.

Christ’s ascension into Heaven is evidence that God the Father has given His Son Jesus Christ authority over all the governments of this world. Christ now sits at the right hand of God the Father and rules from there as King of kings and Lord of lords. As it was with Pharaoh, some rulers may resist the rule of Christ while they invent and apply their own laws. But invented laws cannot sanctify society in peace, they only increase strife. God requires justice and promotes liberty, thus denying perpetual domination by those who oppose Him. Political legalism can only enslave and corrupt society; so it can never promote love and peace.

All false laws are antithetical with faith in God. We are cautioned that whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23) Innumerable new federal, state and local laws may be invented by those who forget God, but the result is only a state of increasing lawlessness. A state of lawlessness increases when the only laws that matter—the Laws of God—are suppressed or denied. The enforcement mechanisms that support invented laws always violate God’s true law and righteous sanctions. Any disregard or disobedience toward God is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. (I John 3:4) By this we see the arrogance of sin always is dysfunctional and is destructive of justice, mercy and liberty.

Contrary to what arrogant rulers may think, the bad effects of their false laws cannot be overcome by increasing police power to force greater compliance. The more that laws are created and enforced with increased penalties, the result is only greater civil strife. The rejection of God’s commandments and the imposition of political legalism always leads to confounding social, political and economic problems.

Government actions are legitimate only to the extent that they derive authority from God’s commandments. God ordains His civil ministers to sanction criminals and safeguard liberty by enforcing His laws. Conversely, government force becomes tyranny when it is used to enforce the invented laws of political legalism. No amount of force can turn political legalism into godly law. God alone

Lawlessness in the Land 23 creates law, and the revelation of this work is already finished and complete. Jesus explains:

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:17–19)

When rulers usurp God’s place as lawmaker, they proudly attempt to set themselves up as a creator and judge of the law, and also a judge of God who stands behind all true law! This pride is the root of sin. They see themselves above God’s law, not under it. All such usurpation is lawless. But God instructs us not add to His Commandments or subtract from them. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

Most ‘lawmakers’ and those who empower them generally believe they are doing what is best for society. Since they do not seek the Lord, they do the best they can with what they have—themselves. When these invented laws, rules and regulations are first put into effect by those who have forgotten God, it appears to them as a good way to address real social problems.

As propaganda and the manipulation of public opinion are advanced, a majority of citizens become more anxious to have their ideas codified and put into practice. “There ought to be a law!” is the frequent cry of this legalistic generation. But invention of a new law is only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ True future social outcomes are miscalculated during the process of legislation because political legalism fails to take into account the effect of unjust enforcement schemes. Such legalism always produces decline in goodwill, wealth and faith in God.

Sin always carries with it unforeseen, toxic consequences. Sin may seem desirable to the eye, even enlightening to the mind, but the vast majority of what lies hidden from immediate view is the resultant corruption of relationships and separation from God. The attitude that undergirds the invention of new laws is an arrogant boast, such as:

We shall be as God, knowing good and evil. We do not need God’s commandments, we are wise and enthusiastic to make up our own. We do not need to follow His ways. Since we are captains of our destiny and masters of our own souls, we can always decree our future course for ourselves and our nations.

This arrogant philosophy may seem attractive to some, but those who are wise know: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12).

The lawlessness of political legalism can be clearly seen by its destructive impact. We face terrible social, political and economic problems today not because invented laws began as what seemed like good idea at the time, but directly because of what these laws and their unjust enforcement schemes provide. Political legalism always corrupts society through a pattern of injustice committed by the very government that ought to uphold God’s law.

The enforcement of invented laws confounds justice and weakens devotion to God’s true law. When God’s law is ignored or denied, a million invented laws can only add up to more lawlessness. God’s law sets forth the true standard of holiness, but when secular-minded people impose godless enforcement schemes upon others, the social result is an epic breakdown of justice and goodwill.

All people and nations must choose whom they will serve. A lack of personal faith in God leaves people with hollowed-out personal lives that are sinful, weak, ineffective, timid and insecure. Such souls become fearful and are further subject to manipulation by propaganda, tyranny, and terrorism. The social effect of all this is destructive to good will, love, and peace. Invented “laws” operate in rebellion against God’s true law and promote injustice throughout society.

The spread of lawlessness throughout an increasingly godless society is evident. Do you want to operate a business but not be liable for damages done to others that may result from business operations? No problem. For a fee, the government will provide a license for limited liability. Do you want a no-fault divorce? No problem. The government will make it easy. Do you want to be irresponsible for your own financial affairs and still have money to spend on a cell phone, delivered pizza, and a big screen TV? No problem. The government will provide these things along with retirement, healthcare, and more! Do you want to buy lottery tickets and not feed your children? No problem. There always is a government-sponsored school breakfast and lunch program just a free bus ride away! Do you want sex, but no children? No problem. The utopian State will help you kill the unborn child. Is the government running out of money to pay for all of this? No problem. The government can always borrow more from the money-creators. Are today’s tax-payers unable to pay for all the new government debt? No problem. Their children and grandchildren will be held responsible to pay the debts. All this is done under color of political legalism. This is the way a nation goes when people forget God and invent their own laws.

God liberated the Israelites of old from the superficially powerful, but ungodly government of Pharaoh. At the right time, and when Pharaoh’s army fulfilled its purpose in the divine plan, God easily destroyed them all. This all happened for our example, that we might trust in the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. The children of Israel went forth to serve the Lord; they received His law and under His many disciplines they learned the obedience of faith.

Israel was a prophetic example to teach us how God deals with nations. Christ’s followers understand the Passover and their

Baptism by Israel’s example in Egypt. We too must learn to follow and serve only God and not turn aside to those who fancy themselves as worldly lawmakers and power-rulers. God will protect those who follow Him. For those who humbly love God, His will is not mysterious or hard to apply. The potential of doing God’s justice is always before us, so we should learn to apply God’s law to every social problem.

For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

(Deuteronomy 30:11–19)

III.

Natural Law and Justice

THIS CHAPTER EXPLORES the philosophy of natural law and how it relates to justice. A little study of the philosophy of natural law will show it is very complex with many variations. In the West, the philosophy of natural law appears to have begun in ancient Greece, developed further in Rome, then modifications and an ethical synthesis was attempted by many Christian theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin and numerous others. It seems these theologians sincerely tried to conduct a synthesis between observed natural law and God’s law as regards to civil government. This involved a kind of poorly described Christian filter that identified legal violations in terms of ethics, but it did not carefully acknowledge the civil sanctions as they were applied by the holy Prophets and Christ. The violations of God’s law were confirmed by observation, but civil redemption available by the implementation of God’s justice and reconciliation remained poorly developed or largely ignored. They focused on how the Holy Scriptures related to ecclesiastical matters, but only obliquely considered how God’s law relates to the function of civil government.

It should be noted here that the just live by faith. Sinners cannot justify themselves by the works of the law, they can only be justified before God by the work of Christ because He fulfilled the demands of the law for all who trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Jesus always kept the law. His obedience was perfect and blameless. He did not need to be justified or perfected by the sanctions of the law because He never acted unjustly. Jesus was justice and mercy personified. The law had no power over Him. Nevertheless, He accepted the sanctions of the law on behalf of all who believe in Him.

The law remains in full force and effect to function as a tutor for those who commit crimes and do not have or follow the Holy Spirit. When the perfect comes, the partial will pass away, and any need for civil ministers of justice will end. A demand for more civil government and sanctions will always increase with crimes, but all these are mitigated by the love of justice and the justice of love. The perfect comes as people seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, love God, and love their neighbors. Only then will society be free from the requirements of the civil law and its sanctions.

With this in mind, let us go on to examine the philosophy of natural law. Natural law is founded upon observations of human action, filtered through the mind of the observer. It is clear to all functioning societies that infractions like murder, unjust wars, rape, adultery, dishonor toward parents, manstealing and theft are injurious to the cohesiveness of society. Long before the great flood and after the Ten Commandments were given by God at Sinai, men could observe many crimes that required forceful intervention. The idea that crimes must be punished is ancient and reaches back to the dawn of human history. Throughout history God has revealed His will and held all nations responsible for their violations of His law.

God is gracious and rich in mercy. He grants a kind of common grace to all mankind so they would not be completely without light and reason while under the tutorage of the law and awaiting a time of redemption. In a sense, the observation of what worked and did not work was naturally understood, hence for those who remained under the law they theorized there must

Natural Law and Justice 29 be a kind of natural law. After all, that is all they knew. It is upon this basis that men reason they can make laws by themselves.

For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12–16)

God created human beings to exhibit an analogy of His own divine nature. Thus humans by nature think and behave as though there must be a law of some kind to guide their actions. Christians know that the instinct for law is rooted in the image of God, the law-giver. But human attempts to formulate and enforce human laws never work because the human nature is corrupted in sin. The natural man simply has no frame of reference by which to perceive that faith in Christ represents a practical approach to social living. Because of sin, the natural man is lost and habitually does things that can never work for anyone. Like a slave, the natural man is bound to sin and cannot escape it on his own.

The natural man cannot perceive how anyone can live without a plethora of legalistic law codes and punishments. It always seems someone must take charge and simply tell the people what to do. People without faith in Christ simply cannot rule themselves because they do not have the help of the Holy Spirit. They cannot be allowed an economy of freedom because their lack of restraint would quickly lead to social destruction.

The pretense of a natural law assumes that man can explain himself individually and socially by his reason alone. But without the revelation of light from Immanuel, who comes to us from outside of time and space, man can only develop a closed system of reasoning. Based upon a naturalistic approach to observation and derived philosophy, one who is considered to be enlightened and educated sets out to explain, manage, and press his own version of order upon society. Natural law is about independently theorizing what is good or evil, so once armed with this assumed knowledge, those with political power attempt to assert their own utopian vision of dominion over the world and all living things, including mankind.

Since natural law theory is essentially derived from careful reasoning about observations that are independent of God’s transcendent revelation, the premise employed is humanistic and natural. Pragmatism involving the application of natural law leads to a complexity of legalisms where the great ones exercise authority over those who are poorly positioned in society. Hence, invented laws, rules, regulations and punishments are designed to forge a utopian, secular society based upon autonomous human reason. Again, natural law is a closed system with its own religion, all based upon the belief that mankind can pragmatically decree good and evil apart from the clear commands of the eternal Creator. Such men can certainly know evil, but they do not know what is good.

By enacting legalisms derived from a pragmatic philosophy of natural law, men attempt to bring order to society. By this they usurp the place of God. God is the fountainhead and authority for all true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. God is love. Love abides in liberty and cannot be coerced. Consistent adherents of natural law philosophy will forever war against the Lord Jesus Christ who is exclusively the way, the truth, and the life for all mankind. Natural law without Christ is energized by the spirit of antichrist, that is, human society ordered on its own, without obedience toward Christ. Justice for antichrist becomes what man can decree and compel upon others without submission to God.

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

“You shall have no other gods before Me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:1–6)

When applied to politics, the natural law idea seeks to explain how human action works, does not work, and what must be done about the problems of society. However sincere, this attempt constructs a humanistic standard of justice without God’s transcendent righteousness. This is idolatry.

Such a secular approach has been advanced by many civil rulers, theologians, and scholars down through the ages. Since human nature still exhibits at least a residue of the image of God, it is not hard to understand how this idea has taken root. All people instinctively know that individual life and corporate society must be ordered according to some kind of law. A seemingly reasonable philosophy of natural law, based on independent observation, is used to lay a foundation of ethics and social law. Obviously a godless society needs some restraint. But all powerful lies always contain a large element of truth, which functions like bait in a trap. The quest for law is a valid quest, but it is fulfilled only in the law of God.

Consider that apart from matters of civil government, we can observe a universe that reveals the attributes of God, the Creator. By careful observation we can postulate natural laws about the material world. By design, God made creation to function in predictable ways. Fixed laws govern gravity, momentum, mass, the reactivity of elements with one another, evaporation, condensation, the behavior of the fluids of liquids and gases, the properties of solids, electricity, time, etc. This leads us to understand something about our Creator’s omniscience, constancy, and creation’s rational predictability. Our understanding about how the material world is constructed is based upon our own observations coupled with knowledge and philosophy passed down by word of mouth and in writings from known and unknown persons. In this way, monotheistic observers and scientists over the years have carefully and rationally discerned natural laws that are useful to predict outcomes of various material processes. These forerunner scientists are our scouts and they recommend courses of action that are most constructive, efficient and profitable to our desired outcomes. Although this line of reasoning works fairly well as it touches upon the manipulation of physical forces, doing justice involving persons is something altogether different.

As we observe, understand, and apply natural laws we are enabled to make wealth and generally improve our lives. On the other hand, for those who do not know God’s love and therefore do not understand how to love their neighbors, their prideful employment of such knowledge eventually becomes twisted, without grace, and oppressive toward the material universe and the living things found in it. Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him (I Corinthians 8:1–3).

Carnal knowledge cannot save one who does not know God because relying upon it only increases sins and after that, a curse for disobedience. Thankfully, the irrevocable law of God decrees that all sin involves a curse which, to some degree, limits the damage a sinner may do to creation. Either Christ resolves sin and its curse by redeeming the sinner to new life or the wicked will perish. In either case they will trouble the world no more. Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. (Psalm 37:1–2)

In addition to observations about the material universe, one might also observe how more complex subjects function. Observations about life forms, from microorganisms to plants, animals, and eventually human beings are studied together and by themselves. All things in creation are to some extent interrelated and much can be learned by careful observation. Thus, to increase understanding, many interactive theories and natural laws about how life works may be presented. The more complex is any symbiotic system, the less it can be understood in detail. So, predictions about outcomes necessarily become more tentative and generalized. The study of the complexity of living things can only be considered a “soft science.” In contrast, philosophies regarding natural laws involving mathematics and physics are derived from observations of inanimate objects. Observations about them may be considered a “hard science” because they are simple to understand and outcomes can be accurately predicted.

Let us now consider things that are far more complex and intricate. For example, we know love when we observe and sense it, but why does a woman love one man and not another? The processes that govern affection and human attraction are so complex they defy rational analysis. Who can predict with any certainty who will love one person and hate another? Because a complex nexus of biochemical processes coupled with little-understood spiritual influences involving motivations and choices, it is impossible to observe and understand all the inputs and effects with enough precision to postulate hard laws that can reliably predict human behavior and outcomes in society.

Therefore, it may be a misnomer to call social science a “science” at all. Unless the observer is omniscient and can comprehend all the environmental, historical, genetic, biochemical, symbiotic relationships between a person and other living things—not to mention the impact of the Spirit of God— in addition to affections, past experiences, instructions by others, social acceptance, motivations, faith, & etc., he cannot truly function as a “scientist” in matters of human life and relations. At best, we may think of social science as a “soft science” in contrast to the “hard sciences” of physics, chemistry, etc. We can predict with certainty when the next eclipse of the sun will occur, but in matters involving faith and love our reason fails us. This implies a limitation of reason—not the irrationality of faith and love. Faith and love are reasonable, but they cannot be quantified by careful analysis. Therefore, they cannot be manipulated by a social engineer according to some idea of natural law.

Obviously, some things can be observed about the predictable behavior of persons, but to create any kind of reliable picture of how to manipulate outcomes requires painting with a very broad brush. Such a painting would more resemble what may be called “modern art.” This art allows freedom for observers to pour their own ideas and content into an image, thus defying any accurate, universal definition of what is observed. The sheer number of factors necessary to understand and successfully manipulate outcomes for persons—even ourselves—is for any practical purpose, impossible. Impossible that is, unless you are the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God who exists outside and inside time and space. But even God does not relate to us as though we were purely a mechanical thing. He created us after His image and likeness to be moved by His perfect love and led by the Holy Spirit. Only by love can we know the inscrutable God, and only by knowing Him can we hope to know our individual and corporate selves.

Now, consider the contrast between natural laws of the hard sciences and the law needed to govern human society. God has given to all people a measure of what is often described as “common grace.” Therefore, all people have access to some truth about what is good or bad in human life, because in God’s world they cannot escape the abundance of many things that are true. For example, people easily notice poor outcomes when children do not obey their parents and choose only to do what is right in their own eyes. When such rebellious children become adults they practice their rebellion upon broader society. Governments are established by God to limit these unfortunate criminal effects within society. The common grace God gives to us all permits us to form our own opinions about what is good and evil. But apart from God’s revelation and our obedience to His commandments, justice and reconciliation are impossible to direct. When it comes to justice and reconciliation, men are dead in their sins and cannot escape this doom by their own efforts. If this were not true, why would anyone need salvation and justification by the work of Christ?

When people do not submit to a measure of civil control, and commit crimes of their own choosing, anyone can observe the dire social consequences that result. In an effort to control criminal activity, governments employ what amounts to experimental social engineering techniques, which are set forth in legislation that is designed to bring criminals under subjection and move society in the direction the masters desire. These laws often include harsh sentencing guidelines involving fines and confinement to a cage for extended periods of time. New experimental laws with inventive penalties are often imposed with little or no concrete evaluation of those outcome data that might demonstrate or refute their effectiveness. When people do not follow Christ, they develop their own social theories to order society and mitigate the social problems that constantly confront them.

In nearly every society there is a common belief that sins like murder, rape, kidnapping, theft, etc. are wrong and must always be opposed and fought against by employing force if necessary. These crimes are understood by people everywhere. Based upon observations of the effect of crimes upon society, injustice and oppression are apparent. It is commonly understood that some kind of justice must be imposed to remedy and overcome actions that are considered to be unjust. However crimes are defined, the common understanding is they must in some way be forcefully mitigated so a state of peace can be restored. This is generally what is called “natural law.” Nearly everyone appears to accept this premise.

It is natural for us to understand these things on a theoretical basis. But among the nations, a definition of natural law is very imprecise and, more often than not, defined only by powerful people who have an interest in specific outcomes that benefit them. This all presents critical problems. Who can decide upon the definition of what is justice, which penalties should be imposed, how do such actions promote peace, and most importantly, how do we know when justice has been done? People without God intently seek their own solutions to these problems according to reason alone. In various experimental ways they attempt to direct and to control the lives of others.

When people who are unfaithful to Christ appeal to theories of an undefined law of nature, this effectively becomes an appeal to lawlessness. They do not admit to anything outside of their own reason and experience to guide them or to provide a context for the natural law theories they seek to forcefully apply to their neighbors. Since they acknowledge no universal, transcendent principle about what is always just, reconciliation and peace become impossible. Force and godless reason inescapably devolve into disputes, slavery, and eventually tyranny for the people while the political powerful and elite masters do what is right in their own eyes.

Consider the example of counterfeiting currency and how this practice is naturally regarded as a theft. Is this the law of nature at work? Well, for economic experts, it depends. If a government issues a license to central banks to expand the “money supply,” this establishes a practice that can only be called counterfeiting, and which is considered necessary for the maintenance of commerce. Therefore, it is seen by them to be a good, lawful action. All this may seem to be a natural and just practice for some, but unnatural and unjust for others. Obviously, in the minds of most judges and politicians today, the law of nature does not apply equally to everyone. Under many international agreements, if one nation counterfeits and distributes the currency of another, it is considered an act of war. But is it any more just for banking corporatists to counterfeit their own currency and oppress their own citizens? Is this natural or unnatural? Just or unjust? Or is it more natural for some privileged corporatists to be above the law of nature and others under it?

Some consider the killing of an unborn child a most unnatural murder. Others consider this same act as justified by the natural right of the mother. How is the law of nature at work here? In such a case does the law of nature give us any clue about what is just or unjust? I could go on and on with examples of situational ethics where one natural person considers one behavior to be natural and just, while others contend the same act is an unjust crime against nature. Who can make sense of all these contrary claims?

All U.S. Supreme Court judges have their own disparate philosophies of what is the natural law. Based upon their independent reason they decree what is the natural law and therefore what is just in one case or another. Contentious factions argue intensely for their own version of natural law, the law of nations, human rights, all undergirded by the various philosophies they think will best promote their brand of justice. In the end, the determination comes down to a vote between factions and the political power to enforce the decision. Which side has the most votes so they may decree what shall be “settled law?” This is the way of the world. The natural man observes and reasons without faith in the Lord Christ, trying to discern whose ways always bring justice, reconciliation, and peace. Pure and simple, natural law theorists just don’t trust God.

What law is so evident that all natural people can agree upon a standard of natural law and justice? This author contends if one appeals only to observations of nature, study of “human action,” and private reason to develop a philosophy of justice, almost any act can be justified in the minds of fallen, natural persons. Jesus states clearly, “...without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Without faith in Christ, justice, reconciliation, and liberty become impossible and mankind is lost.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:18–31)

From Plato until today much ink has been spilt by lawyers and philosophers in a vain attempt to define and apply their own theories of natural law. All this effort has only resulted in a plastic, pragmatic theory of natural law and its unholy child, human rights. Many philosophers today use the terms “natural law” and “human rights” synonymously. Constitutional conservatives prefer the term “natural law,” while socialistic progressives prefer the term “human rights.” But when it comes to ordering society according to their own reason and will, they essentially start from the same place. Secular “Right” and “Left” political philosophies are energized by the spirit of the Antichrist. They always oppose the rule of the Lord Christ and God’s justice in matters of civil society.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (I John 4:1–4)

So, what are the laws that govern human behavior, and can the practice of them lead to good, predictable outcomes? This is the body of observational social information that is now taught as “social science.” We should understand that the philosophy of natural law in regards to society is at best descriptive, and cannot be considered prescriptive. However, doing justice is always prescriptive. Natural law may inform us of the many evil things people do, but it cannot compel our obedience to anything. Philosophy and reason cannot replace the Holy Spirit working into our hearts the obedience of faith in Christ. God instituted civil ministers for purpose of imposing the sanctions of His law. This always will result in reconciliation and peace. No natural law theory can empower anyone to circumvent God’s system of civil justice.

To sin is natural. Sin is the consistent law of nature for all unredeemed mankind. But to consistently do justice and love mercy requires humility and revelation from the God who exists eternally above, before, and within all time and space. Christ is without sin. He is holy and good. The law of God teaches justice and reconciliation, not mere punishment and fear of the “authorities.” The sum of the law of God is love. This also is known as the “law of liberty.”

Although we are instructed by our Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, the natural man cannot receive this message. John records what he witnessed when the legalistic Nicodemus came in the night and spoke discretely with Jesus about these things.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:1–21)

The natural man is carnal and can only imagine a natural law. Unless a natural man is born again and given a new spiritual life, he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We must live in and clothe ourselves with righteousness and the Word of Truth, not the philosophies of mere men who regard God as nonexistent or absent from the halls of justice.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. (I Corinthians 2:13–15)

In summary, the philosophy of natural law may be helpful to describe how the natural man in society works, but such independent observations alone are not a prescription to compel willing obedience from anyone. Christians should not halt between two opinions on this matter. They should seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, learn from Christ, and follow the Holy Spirit. Christians walk by faith not by the sight of their own independent observations and reason. They do God’s justice and love mercy.

Natural law emboldens tyrants. It is a plastic concept that can be molded by powerful interests. It is a multifaceted philosophy made by some men to suit their own ends. Natural law philosophy does not submit its prescriptions for social action to God’s law. Applications based upon natural law attempt to administer justice. But, lacking a just foundation, these efforts are consequently lawless. This is true for “constitutional conservative” as well as “socialistic progressive” judges and all political leaders who adopt political legalism as the ultimate social principle. When the multifaceted philosophies of natural law are used prescriptively to compel the obedience of men, it requires a tyrannical force that diminishes liberty. When disparate philosophies of natural law and independent human reason are employed to provide a premise for any compulsive action by government, another law is then operative. It is the natural law of sin.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the LORD is sure,making wise the simple;

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover by them Your servant is warned,

And in keeping them there is great reward.

(Psalm 19:7–11)

IV.

Love is the Answer

LOVE FOR GOD and neighbors leads society away from command and control legalism and toward liberty. Those who follow the way of Christ live independently, take responsibility for their lives, do justice, love mercy, lend freely, practice hospitality, heal the sick, exchange property, perform services, and generally see that God’s will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven. To the extent people practice godly love, they rarely continue in disputes that require litigation or commit crimes that require the intervention of justice. The answer to all social, political, and economic problems of society is found in people’s love for God and their neighbors.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love (I John 4:8). If we are to know the truth about God’s love we must accept His definition of what is love. We cannot truly define God’s love by starting solely with our own personal sentiments, passions, and theories. People do not invent the divine concept of love, instead they learn it from God and from one another. If people do not learn love from others, they never learn it because love is always learned through relationships with persons. The centrality of personal fellowship is woven into the fabric of creation and revealed by God who is personal and present everywhere. Since God is our Creator and because we are made in His image and likeness, He defines what is true love.

The beloved Apostle writes, If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (I John 4:11). Christ instructs us, If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)

Jesus teaches us that if we add up all that is written in all of God’s commandments, the sum is love.

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:35–40)

The beloved Apostle quotes Jesus, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Love transcends specific individual experiences and emotions. Because godly emotions are a product of love, we know and sense God’s love because He first loved us. But it is a mistake to believe we can start only with our own godless emotions and ever find true love. Love is not naturally in us, it does not arise within us by a genetic endowment, it is revealed to us from outside of ourselves. A relationship of love with God and His children is the true reality that stands behind and gives meaning to all created things.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (John 15:12–14)

The apostle Paul taught that all things are subordinated to our love for others.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

(I Corinthians 13:1–3)

The foundation upon which society must be based is true love for Christ and all people. To ensure this foundation remains firm, all people should carefully consider God’s commandments and how these must be applied in individual and public situations. If people would only concentrate upon loving God and their neighbors, society would overflow with liberty, peace, and material prosperity. An important part of the good news Christians bring to a lost and violent world is that true justice and love inevitably yield an abundance of blessings for individuals and society. As the song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

It is critical to understand the applications of God’s commandments because they are our guide to personal piety and teach us how we must avoid sin, do justice, and love one another. God’s law does not authorize any coercive force to be used against people who love and serve their neighbors because love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). Since no act of godly love ever violates God’s commandments, and since no compliance scheme can be justly applied to works of love, liberty is always the result of obedience toward God.

Governments must never employ force of any kind to oppose the free exercise of godly love. Free adults must experience liberty to practice godly love according to their gifts and callings so they must not be subject to the bureaucracies of a command-and-control economy. People do not need permission from civil government to love and serve their neighbors by the use of their own property and within the scope of their personal gifts and callings. Instead, the very reason government should protect individuals within society is so people may freely practice love for their neighbors without any interference from others, including government agents.

Love must be unfettered and free within the context of God’s law. Anyone who opposes the liberty of love that God has established for society opposes God. There is no earthly authority that can make any act of God’s love unlawful and there is no decree that can grant liberty for anyone to commit sin. When God’s law is fulfilled in love, no human agency may justly intervene or object. Works of love do not require the application of civil justice because obviously, love is never a crime.

Whenever God’s law is violated, true love is compromised. This is the way of sin and all sin is anti-love. Governments should protect liberty by enforcing sanctions, but only when there is evidence of an actionable violation of God’s commandments that requires His specific sanctions. Any use of force against another person must be limited to those specific sanctions commanded by God. God alone defines what is justice and how it must be administered. When violent people in governments enforce legalistic penalties, they oppose God and injustice always results.

Although people may lack faith in God, everyone needs an organizing social principle or else they feel lost and insecure. But where can people who have forgotten God find an organizing principle? If each individual defines his own organizing principle, society descends into chaos and anarchy. Or, if an organizing principle is invented by a collective of voters, such as “the will of the people” or even the will of a dictator, this too eventually results in tyranny and the loss of liberty. People who reject God find obedience to authoritarian governmental control to be a kind of religious duty that promises collective security. In a desperate attempt to find social salvation within themselves or from a collective, people who oppose God will accept being directed by legalistic central planners within a command-and-control society. This is idolatry.

People who do not love God or their neighbors can scarcely imagine a society where their neighbors would love them. They trust only in themselves and scoff at the idea that God’s love and the help of the Holy Spirit might provide whatever is needed to direct society. They have no consistent reason to view other people as anything more than potential sources of some kind of gratification. Because they lack an appreciation for true love, people with godless hearts become evil, twisted, and without grace. Since liberty cannot function without love, a society weak in love always yields to command-and-control regulations. When legalistic control over others becomes a prime agenda for those who resist God, unloving people fight over who will control the lawmaking and enforcement powers of government.

When nations forget God and neglect His commandments, their social, political, and economic institutions flounder in a state of lawlessness. But the answer to social problems is near to us all. It is the simple message of love for God and love for our neighbor. In his First Epistle, the beloved Apostle John explains the way of love.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that the one who loves God must love his brother also. (I John 4:7–21)

In summary, love is the answer for all of our personal and social problems. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, cultivate love for God, build strong personal character, and strong relationships. The beloved Apostle clearly explains that love for our neighbor is grounded in God’s love for us and our love for Him. And when there has been violation of God’s law, love is the answer here as well. Only God can decree the process of sanctification, reconciliation, and liberty for society. The solution to all the ills of society is found in the practice of love for God and our neighbors. This is the way of Christ our Lord.

V.

The Reformation of Christian Piety

Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the Earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the Heavens shall laugh;

The LORD shall hold them in derision.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure:

“Yet I have set My King

On My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree:

The LORD has said to Me,

‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the Earth for Your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the Earth.

Serve the LORD with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

(Psalm 2)

This Psalm foretells the ministry of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, or we might say today, President of administrations and Prime Minister of governments. After Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the world upon the cross, He overcame death by rising from the dead and ascending to the right hand of God. Christ has received from the Father all authority in Heaven and on Earth and He now works with His followers to bring all things under subjection to God.

Jesus the Christ commissioned His Apostles to go unto all nations and teach them to observe all He has commanded. Christ charged His followers to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is being established throughout the Earth, so now is the time for everyone to order their lives accordingly. The Apostles and Evangelists proclaimed the truth there is one Lord over all the powers of the Earth and Christ forgives all who turn from their sins to trust and obey Him. He is Lord over all people, rulers, and nations of this world. God sends the Holy Spirit to lead those who desire to love and obey Christ. If people will receive it, the Kingdom of Heaven is good news for all individuals and nations. The Kingdom of Heaven brings peace and increases spiritual and material wealth to individuals and nations.

Why are Church leaders so silent about the public aspects of salvation? The pulpits of today’s churches resound with teachings on many subjects, but instructions about the governmental, legal, and economic implications of redemption are largely ignored. How can believers ever be equipped to love and serve their neighbors if they are not taught how to apply the good news of Christ’s rule to all aspects of their daily lives and civil society?

Church leaders have neglected important teachings about our Lord Christ and God’s instructions in the law and the Prophets. What we hear from pulpits today tends to focus on self-help or getting what individuals personally want from religion. But teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be collapsed into merely a personal message that is only about “ME.” Heaven’s truth transforms our social experience so that we might love others and live righteously in our daily affairs. Consider the words of Jesus to the tax collector Zacchaeus who had come to faith in Christ.

Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four-fold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:7–9)

After Zacchaeus commits to do justice and love his neighbors according to God’s law, Jesus announces salvation has come to his house. This should be the pattern of all homes wherein people receive Christ as Lord. Although the personal experience of following Christ and receiving His spiritual blessings is important, we cannot neglect the social manifestation of the rule of Christ in our homes, workplace, cities, and nations. Our love for one another confirms our love for Christ. And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

The Kingdom of Heaven is real. It is not a utopian plan that originates within the mind of a man to be implemented by invented laws and compliance schemes. Such utopias are always based upon legalistic central planning. As a consequence, those who would design and attempt to build a utopia by a legalistic system of governance will always diminish liberty, self-governance, and the free expression of neighborly love.

Contrary to many worship words about love for Jesus, church-goers often serve the gods of political power, and hope thereby to advance their own affluence. Clergy and laity alike often accept this utopian, secular view of legalism. Knowingly or not, they implicitly teach it is a Christian’s duty to obey every edict of any ruler who makes a show of political power. Many even claim to find this utopian mandate in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 13. But that is clearly not what the Apostle teaches. Please carefully consider the Apostle’s entire text on the matter.

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13)

Reading the entire chapter in context is instructive. Many church teachers today take the first verse out of its context. The Apostle does not simply teach Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, period. Popular teachers may also center upon the admonition to pay taxes to governing authorities, but not much else. But Paul goes on to point out all authority is from God, so rulers with true authority will oppose evil and support those who do good. Paul appeals to the understanding that love fulfills the law and notes the Second Table of the Ten Commandments to make his point about the response of civil ministers to crime. If the saints love one another, they have nothing to fear from God’s authority manifested in civil government. No government of any kind has authority from God to violate His law.

When Paul exhorts God’s people to Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, this does not mean people should render unqualified taxes, custom, fear, or honor, but rather, only that which is good and consistent with God’s law. God’s civil ministers in government are ordained to praise righteousness and punish evil deeds. People who do good will be praised by God and by His established governmental authorities. It should be obvious Paul’s teaching does not permit God’s civil ministers to punish anyone for good works nor subsidize those who do evil. To do justice, a government minister must not do more or less than what God requires. As God’s ministers, government authorities are first subject to God and only secondarily to the people. The Apostle Peter brings this same teaching in his first epistle:

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (I Peter 2:11–17)

The Apostle Peter instructs Christians to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. This means that every ordinance of man carries God’s enforcement authority when it obeys what God requires. When Peter refers to “every ordinance,” he can only mean every lawful ordinance. This obviously cannot include any false, legalistic or unlawful ordinance that is oppressive and contrary to God’s commandments. No ordinance that is for the Lord’s sake violates God’s own words or usurps His authority. God is not the author of confusion. Legalistic laws always break God’s commandments because they rely upon unjust enforcement schemes that God has not commanded. Without exception, every true ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake will impose only godly sanctions, which promote justice and redemption in society.

God’s commandments are instituted to produce righteousness in personal and public relations. Those who live by the Holy Spirit shall not carry out the deeds of the flesh—they will not violate God’s will. Obedience toward God always provides society with a foundation that cannot be shaken. So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. (I Samuel 15:22)

Love and righteousness are powerful forces that can move Heaven and Earth to accomplish all that is good in human society. Since true faith has a public dimension, faith in Christ cannot be limited only to personal applications. True faith confronts and tears down strongholds of wickedness in high places. Read with faith the words of Isaiah:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3–5)

In summary, the need for reconciliation and piety should be a simple and clear message for priests and ministers to bring to the world. But they have often followed the world in defining the idea of love by how they feel and reducing religion to only a private experience. They have also accepted false utopian ideas of lawmaking and have trusted in legalism to save their nation. But a godly and just social life can only be founded upon the true Christian Gospel of salvation as it is applied to all public and private aspects of human life. Church leaders must understand and teach that the Gospel of Christ is good news for more than personal peace and material wealth. Let us also embrace the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven for the salvation of souls and the redemption of nations. Followers of Jesus Christ are commissioned to teach in such a way that the whole Earth is filled with the knowledge of God so the people will exercise obedience to His righteous ways.

VI.

Three Categories of Law

SANCTIFICATION RESULTS when we pursue the will of God in all areas of life, both personal and public. To pursue the will of God in public affairs requires the application of God’s commandments to various social, governmental and economic aspects of civil society. However, it must be appreciated that God’s commandments teach wisdom and cannot always be applied mechanistically. In its essence, doing justice is not purely a bureaucratic or regulatory process. Justice requires careful analysis of complex fact patterns and often with incomplete information. Matters involving the administration of justice must always be judged with a profound humility and sincere love for God and our neighbors.

People who seek justice must not go beyond nor do less than what God commands. If people remain faithful to God’s commandments, justice always will be the result. Therefore, we must study God’s commandments with the understanding that no exact formula anticipates all possible conditions. As we observe God’s revelation to us, we may discern three different categories of law that guide civil authority. These three are: 1) Laws without delegated authority in this life, 2) Laws with delegated authority in this life, and 3) Laws with delegated authority to assign liability in this life.

1. Laws without delegated authority in this life.

In the first category of law God commands obedience but does not delegate any enforcement authority to people or governments of this world. Examples of such laws pertain to covetousness, hatred, envy, greed, lust, etc. God’s clear commandment is, “You shall not covet ... anything that is your neighbor’s.” Jesus said, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” These are examples of serious violations of God’s commandments, but God does not authorize governments to exercise jurisdiction in these matters. No earthly authority can lawfully use force to stop or prevent covetousness, hate, greed, lust, and the like. People might admonish and encourage one another to be free of such sins. But since God does not specify sanctions to be enforced, no one has any authority to compel any remedy for supposed violations involving these sins.

Other laws that do not include required sanctions are ceremonial or practical in nature. God forbids harvesting fields completely and instructs us to leave some crop in the corners of fields for the poor to glean. Also, the Apostle Paul exhorts us that we must not muzzle an ox as it treads out the grain. He applies this law to the material support of Gospel ministers. But these laws have no specific sanctions delegated for civil enforcement. The same may be said of what are called ceremonial laws related to Israel’s temple and the Levitical priesthood.

God deals with these sins through fellowship, the holy Sacraments, the inward work of the Holy Spirit, and His own judgments. Governments cannot lawfully force compliance in matters involving these laws. Instead, in these situations we must abide by the instruction of Jesus regarding non-criminal, legalistic criticisms: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:1–2). This does not mean Jesus is opposed to all judgment in this world. Judgment must occur where God has specified sanctions, but we must not judge others in matters where God has not commanded sanctions and reserves perfect judgment for Himself alone.

2. Laws with delegated enforcement authority in this life.

In the second category of law God delegates specific enforcement authority to people with clear instructions to impose sanctions. People must exercise judgment and enforcement authority, but only in the way God defines, delegates, and regulates. Only those sanctions authorized by God can produce just outcomes for individuals and society. In order to be righteous, all people must submit to God’s commandments, whether they are kings, presidents, police, legislators, prosecutors, beggars, laborers, rich or poor, foreigners or natives, young or old, men or women. The sanctions of the law command equal justice for all and do not take into account the social status of people. When people apply God’s sanctions, justice is always the result.

Examples of this second category of law involve such crimes as rape, murder, theft, adultery, etc. In such cases breaking the law is manifested outwardly, may be verified by witnesses, is directly oppressive, and creates harm. For proven violations God requires specific sanctions. Such sins are called “crimes” in order to distinguish them from other sins. Unlike examples of covetousness or lust, witnesses can identify victims and certify evidence a crime was committed. The administration of justice involving crimes requires the production of evidence, receiving sworn testimony, impartial judgment, and the enforcement of God’s delegated sanctions.

Because mercy triumphs over judgment, the victim of a crime has the option to forgive an oppressor. But this is the prerogative of the victim alone. All other parties involved, even judges, must faithfully apply God’s sanctions. If the victim is no longer living, then no relief from the commanded sanctions is lawful or just. After the example of God’s grace, only a victim may lawfully forgive and exempt an oppressor from sanctions that are commanded by God for their reconciliation. In this case mercy triumphs over justice. Justice is temporal, but mercy is eternal. Earthly judges must obey God and impose any and all sanctions God requires. God requires death for capital crimes and these sanctions must not be neglected.

People participate in an injustice when they have knowledge of specific crimes yet refuse to obey God’s instructions to administer justice. No righteous person is free to turn his back on evidence of an observed crime as if it were none of his concern. Those who look the other way or willfully fail to act after an injustice becomes known to them rebel against God. If they reject justice, they become tainted by the crime they witness. Thus, people who rebel against God and ignore injustice are drawn into the consequences of a criminal act. Witnesses are to some extent liable to God for this failure because no neutrality is possible in the pursuit of justice.

If justice is to be done, everyone who has knowledge of a crime has no choice but to obey God in all that He commands. On the last day, no one should expect to be excused from his responsibility to have done justice in this life. Only a wicked fool would say to Christ, “Yes, I noticed much injustice, but it was not my job to do anything about it. I kept my mouth shut, ignored the victims, and chose rather to have the favor of those who do not follow you.”

3. Laws with delegated authority to assign liability in this life.

The third category of law is commonly known as the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” standard of reciprocity for victims. The more technical name is lex talionis. This category of law does not carry specific sanctions for violations, rather it defines liability if an injury results from breaking the law. In these cases there is no sanction specified in advance for failure to conform to what the law requires. However, if damage or injury results from lack of due care, God delegates jurisdiction and authority Three Categories of Law 61 to assign liability. Consider the example of the requirement to build a railing around a raised platform.

When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. (Deuteronomy 22:8)

A raised platform is known to be dangerous to life and limb unless steps are taken to mitigate the risk to others. Where no railing has been installed and if no injury has yet occurred, the situation is not ripe to assign liability and apply sanctions. Likewise, as with the case of an ox that has a history of goring people, liability for a lack of due care follows an involved owner’s knowledge of known risks.

If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him (Exodus 21:28–30).

This passage goes on to discuss how liability must be assigned and what are appropriate sanctions to apply under different situations. In any case, until a tort or damage has been proven, no sanction may be lawfully imposed, because there is nothing to remedy. No fair compensation can be determined for a loss that has not occurred or may never occur. Where no material harm is proven, there can be no compensation because there is no victim who can quantify damages or receive compensation. These laws instruct us how to love others by exercising reasonable care when known hazards are evident.

It is a popular belief that the commandment requiring a railing on a rooftop living area provides a justification for enforcing building codes and safety regulations. But once enacted, how will these laws be enforced? This third category of law that assigns liability does not permit governments to punish people who are innocent of any proven damage. God does not issue blank checks to be filled out with whatever punishments strike the fancy of arrogant legalists. Legislators cannot justly establish regulations that lead to prosecutions of what are essentially only “pre-crimes.” Governments may not deprive people of money or liberty when no victim has been identified because to do so is inherently unjust and oppressive. Thus, until a damage is proven, no just enforcement mechanism exists to support building codes, zoning regulations, or other safety-related laws, rules, and regulations.

If God is silent regarding any specific delegation of sanctions to enforce a rule or regulation, His silence must be respected. God does not grant to anyone authority to substitute invented laws and punishments to overcome His silence. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). It requires faith to do justice. One who suspects a crime that cannot be proven must trust God to work all things together for good. Christ will eventually render perfect justice when He judges the works, thoughts, and intentions of the souls of all people.

It should be noted here that free people may enter into contracts that bind them and/or their property. Examples of these contracts involve marriage covenants, commercial agreements, employment contracts, deed restrictions involving condominium covenants, building regulations in incorporated villages and cities, loan agreements, fees and taxes, etc. Free people may voluntary choose to incorporate their assets and commit to activities with each other to achieve goals related to specific enterprises and common endeavors. If affected people wish to establish a village, city or corporation in a formerly unincorporated area with more or less restrictive codes, fees or taxes, they should be free to do so and compete for new residents by offering better services.

Voluntary agreements create obligations that bind the willing covenanter or contractor to specific performance and create a situation where others may rely upon, invest, and create wealth in reliance upon such agreements. If disputes arise regarding noncompliance to contracts, and measurable damages are evident, they should be resolved by compensation, forgiveness by the offended parties and/or a return to compliance under the terms of these voluntary agreements. Voluntary covenants must be kept and when there is harm to parties who relied upon them, such agreements should be enforced by God’s civil ministers. This is also an application of the third type of law, where liability for harm may be assigned and restitution ordered by a court. The psalmist notes the requirement to be faithful to covenants when he wrote about those who will dwell with God. Among the qualities mentioned is found, “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” (Psalm 15:4)

As an example of faithfulness, God always keeps his promises so we can rely upon His every word. The most extreme example is when God promised to raise up a multitude of faithful children to Abraham. Pursuant to this promise God did many good works for the children of Abraham. The most striking of these was when Father God sacrificed his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to save an innumerable multitude of Abraham’s children and other children of the sons of Noah so they might dwell in peace and righteousness forever. As we plainly see, keeping promises may involve extreme sacrifices. This is the way of love. Those who love their neighbors as Christ commands will also keep their covenants and promises and avoid harm to those who extend their trust to them.

In summary, all crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes. Whatever is not from faith is sin, but only a few sins are crimes. Crimes cannot be ignored without the observer becoming contaminated by guilt. Sins that are not crimes cannot be lawfully regulated by legalistic government edicts and force. Crimes carry specific sanctions so justice may be enforced. Crimes are public matters that must lead to legislation and the enforcement of justice, but any sins that are not crimes cannot be addressed by laws or regulations, and cannot be policed among free citizens without creating an injustice.

Because justice is the application of the will of God in criminal matters, we are taught to pray, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. The standards of justice can only be derived from God as He delegates authority to obedient civil ministers. Liberty and justice are possible only by the obedience of faith in almighty God. In order to love God and our neighbor, we must study God’s law to learn 1) what judgments He has reserved to Himself alone, 2) what specific sanctions He has delegated to human agency for enforcement, and 3) when He has delegated authority to assign liability after damages have been proven. Liberty and justice cannot be achieved in society unless the administration of civil authority is limited to the sanctions that God commands.

VII.

Governmental Authority

CHRIST RULES OVER all the affairs of nations, and mankind’s destiny is to do the will of God on Earth as it is done in Heaven.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on Earth, and of those under the Earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

Whether anyone likes it or not, the true and legitimate form of government of this world is a theocracy wherein Jesus Christ is King of kings, President of presidents, Judge of all judges, Governor of governments and Lord over all rule and authority. But any attempt to implement a theocracy under false gods is a practice of idolatry.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (I John 4:1–3)

A common sentiment in opposition to the rule of Christ is that God’s commandments are incomprehensible, impractical to apply, intended for ancient Israel alone, or not complete enough for modern society. But clearly, these views are hypocritical. The very people who reject God’s laws invent and throw their support behind a million federal, state, and local laws and regulations that are much more difficult to understand and apply than are God’s commandments. Such legalistic hypocrites will argue endlessly about property rights, civil rights, building codes, taxes, drug laws, commercial regulations, and legal precedence, but will not accept what God’s law clearly commands. They are of their forefathers in lawlessness, the Pharisees. Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” (Matthew 23:23)

Obviously, not everyone honors Jesus Christ by faith and obedience. Consider the evil views of Chairman Mao Zedong, architect of the Chinese communist revolution. He claimed civil authority comes from the barrel of a gun. In contrast to this wicked man, Christians believe civil authority comes only from doing the will of God as it is forever revealed in His commandments. When Jesus was tempted to rule the nations through submission to Satan, He reiterated what was written in the law of Moses:

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matthew 4:8–10)

The teaching of Mao and the teaching of Jesus represent the choice of humanistic political power on one hand or the authority of divine justice on the other. Mao says in essence, “Obey me for no other reason than because I have a gun at your head.” But Jesus says we all must live by God’s revealed word of truth and worship and obey God alone. These two teachings cannot find common ground; there is no way to synthesize a peaceful society of goodwill by attempting to mingle the dross of Mao with the pure gold of Christ our Lord. The worthless dross and fine gold cannot be mixed and always will separate. Therefore, no negotiated settlement or philosopher’s synthesis is possible between man’s legalism and God’s justice.

It is part of the Great Commission for all the saints to teach governments of whatever type—whether monarchy, republic, tribal, etc.—that they all must comply with God’s grant of authority to require only what God requires and to sanction only what God sanctions. God alone defines the limits of authority for government, and He does not grant carte blanche or unlimited authority to any ruler. The imposition of any civil power that is not derived from God is false and without true authority. If civil authority is not limited to what is delegated by God, then it can only become an arrogant, legalistic force that always produces injustice. Legalism is the foundational doctrine of Antichrist.

Civil ministers are commissioned by God to use force against evildoers and to praise those who do righteousness. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil (Romans 13:4). Every ordinance of man that fails to enforce God’s law, or goes beyond it, is not a legitimate ordinance. Among true Christians, there should be no misunderstanding about the fact that law originates from God and not from man.

God’s authority and the certain obligation of all nations to serve Him is clear. Because of this truth, there are only two possible positions: people either believe and live by the Lordship of Christ, or they reject the way of justice and serve only political power. Christians should not encourage unjust legalistic laws because to do so would be to oppose Christ and allow the rule of injustice. Because compromise with false laws always diminishes justice, Christians must not turn a blind eye when false laws are enacted and enforced. Christ disciplines those who choose governments that lead them astray into legalism, slavery, and tyranny. In light of this, the question Christians must answer is: Will I be found faithful when it comes to salting and lighting an unbelieving nation?

Only God’s commandments may be lawfully enforced upon a free people and only to the extent and in the way God commands. An injustice always occurs when men use unauthorized force against others. Therefore, anyone who employs force against another person bears a burden of proof to demonstrate such force is employed in obedience to Christ. Only those who obey Christ have His authority and they have it only to the extent they continue to obey Him. All citizens should be clear that legitimate government authority is not merely about holding an office. True authority is revealed by obedience to God while in office. Because legitimate office-holders are stewards of God’s delegated authority, all people must be watchful and warn others if anyone in a civil government office resists godly authority.

Human failure to understand God’s commandments, or plain ignorance about how to apply them, does not mean His laws are inadequate. Difficulty in understanding does not excuse anyone from an obligation to keep God’s law. Because the application of the law in some situations is not simple, those who are gifted with wisdom and understanding must be our guide. There should be room for healthy discussion and hearty debate about how God’s law must be applied. Society cannot escape debate about what law is, from where it is derived, and how best to apply it in specific circumstances. For this reason, Christians must often contest with those who oppose Christ. Thankfully, the Person of the Holy Spirit empowers Christians with the desire and power to keep and apply God’s commandments. Those who follow Christ have all the weapons necessary to tear down strongholds of wickedness and to advance justice in the Earth.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11–13)

Consider how our Lord taught us to pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. People who pray to the eternal God should understand their prayers transcend time and space. The Lord’s Prayer is always an effectual prayer and by praying it we already have our petition granted. But people who are self-willed and godless do not petition God because they hope for something quite different. It is ultimately satanic to proudly establish an administration of force that is not authorized by God. It is as if a godless official’s prayer becomes, “My kingdom come, my will be done on Earth as it is in Hell.” This is not overstating the case.

Legalistic men unjustly lord it over others to produce an administration of evil, not of righteousness. Political compulsion should be used only in obedience to God because humanistic political power alone can never provide a foundation for righteous government. The very idea of a tyrannical government is oxymoronic and might be better described as organized crime. But no government that truly implements God’s justice can ever result in a tyranny. The prophet Isaiah foretold the rule of Christ and how He would compassionately lead His people, A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth (Isaiah 42:3). Christ declared, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

Nations are founded and good governments are formed when people pool their efforts to establish a nation under Christ with liberty and justice for all. Bad governments are formed when people pool their efforts to enforce a legalistic tyranny over those who they calculate must obey their will in all things. Today we are witnessing an attempt to form a synthesis between these two opposing ideals. The scheme involves taking a few rules from God and largely ignoring His sanctions. Then an immense body of legalistic rules are added with regulations enforced by threats and punishments. However, the product of such a synthesis is not at all what is first advertised by lawmakers. Instead, it only results in strife. When a nation halts between two contradictory opinions, she will not find peace until she finds faith in God alone. The way of repentance is for society to turn to God’s commandments and away from the false legalistic laws.

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. (I Timothy 1:5–11)

In this passage from his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul teaches about the purpose of the commandments of God. It often seems everyone has an opinion about what the law should be, but the purpose of the law must be understood before we confidently speak about it. We must also understand we cannot live by the law alone because it applies only to those who transgress, but not for those who do righteousness by loving one another. Life can be found in how we love one another, not by concentrating upon how we fail to do so. God’s Law is good if one uses it lawfully.

VIII.

Law and Rights

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:19–20)

The only legitimate task of any civil government and law enforcement is to require what God requires and to sanction what God sanctions. In order to facilitate this mission, the courts must hear evidence and declare findings according to God’s will. Godly people will go to court only to seek a just remedy according to God’s laws.

Government’s judicial function is often distracted over contests involving what are popularly called “rights.” Often the pretext for taking legal action is not that a crime has been committed, but that someone’s “rights” were violated. But godly justice is concerned only with faithfulness to God’s law, not with philosophic theories of “human rights.” For example, someone may complain of theft on the basis his “property right” was violated. Instead, theft should be opposed because everyone is obligated to abide by God’s Eighth Commandment, You shall not steal. Theft is a crime because it violates God’s law, not because of a theory that someone’s rights were violated. A property issue brought before a godly court must be brought on the clear basis of God’s commandment and remedied by the sanction justice requires, not on the basis of some philosophic idea of the violation of a right.

The cacophony of rights-talk common in courts today does not originate from seeking obedience to God. It originates from a legalistic theory of law as people seek an organizing social principle apart from God’s law. But the only reason people developed a catalog of rights in the first place is because of the injustice that results when God’s laws are neglected. A little study will reveal that theories of rights are not new to recent history.

For more than a thousand years in the West, philosophers and even some eminent theologians have spoken about rights, inalienable rights, and natural rights as if these concepts were required to establish justice. Even when the idea of “god-given inalienable rights” is advanced, there is no attempt made to disclose specifically who this god is or what is the justice such a god requires. The effect of a shift from obedience to Christ toward rights-talk is to draw the focus away from God’s law and toward various theories of humanistic philosophy. Either by purposeful intention or careless oversight, the attention of many people has now drifted away from obedience to God and toward philosophy and legalistic laws involving the protection of various rights. With this shift in focus, justice is now expected to spring from enlightened human reason, not from obedience toward God. But if people truly desire to do justice, they will always find that faithful obedience toward Christ is better than the musings of philosophers!

American history further demonstrates the shift away from an emphasis on God’s law and toward a preoccupation with the rights of man. The consensus of the people who lived in the original American colonies was mainly of the Christian faith with an admixture of legalistic philosophy. Although the Federal founders might have chosen to more consistently honor Christ and apply God’s law, instead they advanced a synthesis between God’s law and the Enlightenment theory of the natural rights of men and nations. Originally, many American colonies declared their central mission was to advance the Gospel of Christ and build the Kingdom of Heaven. However, during and after the American Revolution, the early Federal documents failed to acknowledge the fact that all legitimate political authority is derived from obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This failure is partly understandable because the purpose of the Federal Constitution was to grant limited authority to a Federal government administration in specific areas. The Federal Constitution was not enacted to prosecute crimes within the several States. The Federal government was simply not given authority to interfere with how the several States governed the application of criminal laws. In any case, the Federal founders justified rebellion against the British Crown by an appeal to philosophies involving the rights of man, the law of nature, the law of nations, but not specifically by God’s law and justice as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Their appeal to Christians was blended with an appeal to the political theories of the republic of Rome and the democracy of Greece. In the final analysis, the form that was eventually impressed upon the Federal government was to make preeminent the political philosophies of these ancient idolatrous empires, not after the pattern of free Israel before she demanded a king to be like all the other nations.

The Federal founders did not limit the use of coercive force by appealing to God’s law alone. They concluded that the will of man should be imposed within a synthesis of Greek democracy and Roman republican philosophies to empower the civil government with authority and a workable form of administration. In all this, the secular influence of Freemasonry should not be overlooked, but a study of this subject is beyond the scope of what is needed here. There were exceptions among the colonists, but the consensus of those who ascended to positions of authority in the new democratic republic presupposed rational man would be the source of all political authority. By default, they essentially asserted that their power of independent reason was better than mere obedience to God’s law.

The seminal documents of the new republic make only oblique reference to a creator or nature’s god. The triune God as Lawgiver, Judge, and Savior is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution either by explicit mention or even by tacit acknowledgment. Since the American founding fathers sowed the seeds of autonomous government and failed to effectively acknowledge their Creator, America is now reaping the harvest of a nation that has forgotten the God who is always there.

The creator idea advanced by rights proponents defies any true description of who is God and what is justice—but that seems to be the point! Consider this modern example from the United Nation’s “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.

What does this really mean? Although this proclamation was offered to protect the free expression of religious faith, it could not detract more from faith in the one true God. Article 18 presupposes there is no truth and rules out even the possibility of idolatry. This article implies all possible human imaginations and ideas about God are equally acceptable and require people to accept all possible religions without any discernment about what is true or false. But when everything is true, there is no truth. Essentially, the implicit point of this proclamation is that all religion is inconsequential so long as everyone pledges ultimate allegiance to an authoritarian, global State. After rejecting the idea of any true religion, by default, only a godless state remains as the final authority to invoke obedience and trust. This is idolatry.

As false, legalistic laws increase, more rights are demanded. There is no end to the war of words and eventual civil conflict that results from arguments and political intrigue over property rights, women’s rights, civil rights, right to speech, right of expression, right to worship, right to life, homosexual rights, right to a living wage, right to vote, constitutional rights, right to work, right to health care, right to an education, right to democracy, right to abortion, the right to keep and bear arms, right to same-sex marriage, and on and on it goes. “My rights” is the godless catch-phrase of the Me Generation. The demand for rights becomes insatiable. The concept of rights becomes shorthand for demanding whatever is desired and making it into an illusion of justice to be realized. But the pursuit of such rights is a vain diversion from the true life issues of love, justice, and mercy.

Since the creator of rights is unknown and unnamed, this supposed creator or power has no voice by which to command anyone. Such a creator has no word, save the words of political leaders who seek to give life to a false image. How convenient this scheme is for those who wish to establish a government without Christ the Lord! All that is needed is the will and imagination of false prophets. Thus, to humanists it is actually the absence of the unified truth of God’s law that seems so attractive about the doctrine of rights. It permits ethical flexibility and a relativism that seems temporarily comforting to autonomous, lost people. Rights advocates seek a liberty without God and His justice. But true liberty is not pagan magic to be induced by special words—it is the gift of God to those who are faithful to Christ and who obediently do justice and love mercy.

On the surface, the objective of human rights advocacy seems to be a worthy goal, but since it compromises faith in God, it can only secularize society. It is amazing this foolish doctrine of human rights has come as far as it has in the minds of so many Christians. It seems the pastors and priests have gone to the wrong schools and become worldly in their assessment of the role of civil government. Christians ought to understand that only a godless energy lies behind the human rights ideal. This philosophy seeks to supplant the will of God and replace it with the will of man. It is an old contest and one that was already decided when the Seed of the woman crushed the head of the serpent. Human autonomy ignores God, presumes to rule over others, and pretends to decree what is good and what is evil. “There ought to be a law!” is the rights proponent’s rallying cry.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (I Corinthians 2:4–6)

All the talk of rights is antithetical to the love of God. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” He did not say, “If you love me, invent human rights laws and punish all who do not comply.” When Christians today advocate God’s law, rights-advocates often counter these efforts with ridicule, scorn, and even outright hostility. Secular courts are used to prosecute civil rights violations, and police are dispatched by court order to root out those who have offended the latest legalistic theory of rights. But so called “religious rights” are not typically granted to people who speak against idolatry, advance orthodox faith in Christ the Lord over all civil authority, and who seek to implement God’s justice in society. Sometimes religious rights advocates will even seek to prosecute and persecute people who openly advance the truth of the Christian Gospel and the supremacy of God’s law.

We need to judge with righteous judgment. It is not enough to speak only of rights as if they are true and separate from

Law and Rights 77 God’s justice. Consider the words of the psalmist and the prophet

Amos.

How long will you judge unjustly

And show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Defend the poor and fatherless;

Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Deliver the poor and needy;

Free them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:2–4)

Blessed are those who keep justice,

and he who does righteousness at all times! (Psalm 106:3)

But let justice run down like water,

And righteousness like a mighty stream. (Amos 5:24)

Justice followed by love must be the goal of our relationships with one another. As amazing as it may seem to some, the philosophy of inalienable human rights will inescapably lead to the destruction of justice. Those who favor heavy-handed governments delight in the confusion and conflict generated by contesting factions who fight for their rights. The resulting chaos invites the use of increasing force by godless men in civil government and so they allow no crisis to go to waste when it comes to advancing more legalisms. No Bill of Rights exists that has the power to save a stiff-necked and rebellious people who have turned their back on the rule of Christ the Lord. In a secular society, rights are in the process of being collapsed into government-sanctioned privileges for those who meet the required political conditions.

When the object of service and worship is a secular State, a contraction of liberty cannot be avoided. Then, endless laws and regulations are needed to balance one person’s political rights against another’s. This is a devilish and effective way to divide and conquer foolish Christians. Politicians are elected by promising the electorate, “I will fight for your rights.” A nation that rejects its Lord and pursues rights will be forced to worship and serve the most politically powerful factions. Then as the “powers that be” censor speech and justice, God will withdraw His Holy Spirit and give them up to vile passions. In the absence of God’s grace, they will begin to do those things which are not fitting. (see Romans 1:18–32)

In summary, a contentious focus on the idea of “my rights” simply does not communicate anything of lasting value to anyone. It is a language devoid of faith in God or love for one’s neighbor. It is vanity and striving after wind. In time, the consistent pursuit of human rights will devolve into the rights of slaves within an authoritarian State. Eventually, unless the nation turns to the Lord Jesus Christ, human rights will become the right to die, the right to choice will become the right to kill, the right to property will become a license to steal and the right to financial security will become the right to take subsidies from the labor of others. Great and irresolvable disputes about the meaning of words erupt between factious rights advocates. This will inevitably lead to a confusion of tongues like what occurred at the Tower of Babel and it portends a similar social collapse.

An appeal to “rights” is a distraction from justice because it neglects God’s commandments. Liberty, justice, and peace are found only in obedience to God’s commandments. A blessed state is achieved when all matters brought before the courts are focused to discern God’s will, apply His sanctions, and do justice.

IX.

Wealth

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND and apply God’s justice related to wealth, it is important to first consider God’s design of the material universe and how mankind is oriented towards it. God distributes all property according to His own providence. By God’s own sovereign actions, He gives people power to get wealth.

“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 8:18–20)

God initiates the possibility of wealth production as He providentially distributes the material of creation and spiritual gifts to individuals and nations. People who trust God respond to material blessings with faithful stewardship toward God and service toward their families and neighbors. The Eighth Commandment “You shall not steal” reveals how we must always honor God’s sovereign wealth distribution plan. Subject only to the demands of justice, God’s stewards have an inalienable privilege and responsibility to possess, freely trade, or give away any property God has granted to them. God not only gives to us our lives, but also our daily bread and the power to make wealth.

Since human souls are comprised of both body and spirit, wealth can only be understood in terms that involve both material and spiritual realities. Wealth is not found in material possessions alone, but it also includes all that is needed to nourish body, soul, and spirit. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? If one has gold, but has no food, is he wealthy? If one has an expensive home, but no family or friends, is he wealthy? A person of humble status is always wealthy if he has the material things needed to sustain his life, can count upon the support of family and friends, and has fellowship with God.

Fellowship with God and mankind represents a person’s greatest potential for wealth. To produce wealth is in a real sense a creative act and it springs from being made in God’s image and likeness. God has created a personal, responsive universe designed to bless the lives of those who keep His commandments. Mankind’s ability to make wealth is energized by righteousness, but sin always inhibits the creation of wealth.

There are only three possible ways property can change hands:

1) Gift. A gift is something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without the anticipation of material compensation. A gift is typically given as an act of grace and love. By definition, love is always voluntary, unmerited, and must be free of any coercion. A material gift increases the wealth of the recipient and at the same time, confirms for him the love and compassion of the giver. Because the giver finds joy in increasing the wealth of one whom he loves, every participant benefits as a result of a gift. Since people only learn love after they are loved, the grace manifested by a gift often motivates the recipient to love others in turn, thus increasing a cascade of love throughout society.

Wealth 81 Thus, a free gift increases the wealth of a giver, the recipient, and others who are affected directly and indirectly by the gift.

2) Transaction. Property may be freely exchanged for other property. All free exchanges between people require two willing traders. Since free people are not lawfully subject to coercion by others, they choose to trade property when they calculate they may increase their wealth thereby. A free market functions when people with goods seek to expand their wealth by making exchanges with others so all parties may increase their wealth. An efficient distribution of goods throughout the commonwealth results as people freely exchange their property. Thus, love for one’s neighbor and an optimized stewardship over material blessings is effected by the free exchange of property.

3) Theft. Theft occurs when a person or a collective (such as a corporation, mob, or government) acquire property to which they are not justly entitled. Every act of theft diminishes the life of the victim and offends God. Theft actually is an attack upon the person of the property owner, and upon God who entrusted the owner with property in the first place. In opposition to the way a gift or free transaction blesses all parties, theft diminishes the lives of the victim, the thief, and all who in some measure suffer its downstream effects. The sin of theft is always a wealth-destroying activity that harms individuals and society because it breaks the chain of goodwill by cutting off productive resources from an economy of service. Theft manifests material and spiritual corruption. It is destructive of the true wealth of thieves and their known and unknown victims. All theft is a violation of the will of God.

Gifts and transactions work to increase individual wealth and improve the commonwealth, but theft always destroys wealth. Gifts and transactions are blessings, but theft is always a crime that conveys a curse, not service or love. When property is stolen, the owner effectively bears the loss of whatever portion of his or another’s life was spent obtaining or producing the property. Theft defrauds the property steward, debases the thief, and is rebellion against God who is the property owner of last resort. Thus, individual and collective thieves sin against both God and man.

In terms of economic effects, nothing is more destructive to human society than sin. Sin strikes at the heart of Creator-creature fellowship and therefore is destructive of hope, vision, wisdom, love, service, and material and spiritual wealth. Sin always involves some kind of oppression, deceit or usurpation that in some measure separates a sinner from fellowship with God and other persons.

Theft also does damage to the creation at large by frustrating a man’s stewardship toward God, which in turn damages the environment. When a society becomes spiritually bankrupt, its material wealth is rapidly exhausted. As the curse plays out, godless mobs and/or governments restrict the freedom to trade freely until society collapses under the weight of oppression and sin. This loss of the stewardship relationship between God and man sends destructive shock waves throughout society and even into the material world where environmental damage is manifested.

A tipping point for a nation comes when more wealth is destroyed by sin than is produced by goodwill, gifts, and voluntary exchanges. Social breakdown occurs when wealth reserves inherited from prior generations reach a critically low point. Without repentance, a resultant kleptocracy will institutionalize theft in an irrational attempt to remedy economic decline and to satisfy the demands of a nation that has forgotten God. This regression becomes like a civil autoimmune disease. The very government authorities that should do justice and defend society against crimes, instead turn upon the body politic to oppress its own citizens who desire to trade freely.

Because Lord Christ rules the nations with a rod of iron, every nation that empowers oppressors becomes accursed. For a nation to be saved, it must turn away from its sins—including personal, public, and institutional government theft. Nations must obey God who is their Creator and Lawgiver in all matters.

Since God’s will shall be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, those who rebel against Him shall eventually come to nothing. The Psalmist assures us of this outcome.

Do not fret because of evildoers,

Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the LORD,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

(Psalm 37:1–4)

Christians who do justice bring hope to the oppressed, but an innocent victim of crime who is weak in faith may begin to see the universe—perhaps even God—as hostile toward him. Obviously, such a conclusion is false because God is love. Christ has decreed justice and reconciliation between people to overcome evil and teach the nations the way of life.

To enable the establishment of a wealth-producing social environment of liberty, God’s justice is necessary to counter any material effects of oppression. A nation must undertake any expenditure of capital or effort needed to achieve God’s justice. Because this is a holy sacrifice, doing justice must be complete and without compromise. It is an intense contest waged against the wicked who are destructive of all good things. Doing justice is “job one” for all civil governments. Justice will materially compensate victims, redeem thieves, and heal the collective social spirit. Once justice is restored, free people will quickly and efficiently make more goods and services available for gifts and transactions to increase the commonwealth.

Just remedies for crimes are found in God’s commandments. The sanction for theft requires the material compensation of victims. In some cases, compound compensation of double or triple recompense is required (Exodus 22:4). Some people may think justice is difficult or untimely, but God’s justice will always provide the opportunity for a blessing. Now is always the time to act because justice delayed is justice denied. When a transgression has occurred, true justice will reconcile all things and in our collective experience, restore the blessings found by doing the will of God.

The administration of the sanctions justice requires cannot immediately repair all the damage done by crimes, but it does set people on a path of sanctification. Sometimes a costly effort is needed to protect the innocent from oppression. Such efforts must be employed at a cost that inevitably drains some material wealth producing potential from individuals and society. Only a portion of the direct material costs may be recovered when justice is realized. For example, time and energy spent solving crimes, apprehending suspects, trying criminals, and using force to require restitution only stops the bleeding that sin has caused. Doing justice is a form of triage. Sanctions stop the bleeding and victims are compensated, but this does not directly increase material wealth. Justice redeems a spirit of goodwill and after that, material wealth follows as people labor and trade peacefully together.

Following the law alone cannot save society because salvation involves faith, love, and good works. Doing justice is like the preparation of a seed-bed. God’s law and sanctions teach us how to avoid or recover from sin, but the law does not teach us how to grow or tell us what to do. We must germinate service and grow to love one another, not just avoid harming them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord (Ephesians 5:8–10). The Apostle also teaches, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)

In summary, property and labor represent a portion of the life of a free person and should only be transferred to other people on a voluntary basis. One may voluntarily give his life for another, but it must not be taken from him by force. People serve one another by the voluntary transfer of property as love for neighbors produce a cascade of new wealth for all parties. The true foundation of commerce involves goodwill, the voluntary exchange of property, and the sharing of knowledge. Through the intercourse of godly commerce, people may freely share their lives and property to benefit one another. Love and service are manifested by godly actions within free commerce under the watchful eye of those who commit to do justice.

X.

Christianity, Tyranny, and War

WHEN A NATION rejects the rule of Christ, the result is some form of political oppression such as tyranny or terrorism. Tyranny and terrorism are but extreme manifestations of the false idea that law originates from self-willed leaders. A state of tyranny is born when a nation’s leaders claim to be the source and final authority for what is good and evil. Terrorism is advanced when people who do not follow Christ commit violent criminal acts in order to gain leverage over a fearful nation that has forgotten or never known God. Terrorism and tyranny are both fed by an idolatrous fear of man.

Terrorism and tyranny are related. They are like siblings who both operate on the basis of unrighteous coercion. They are brothers in sin, but they cannot live in peace together. They are predisposed to fight for political supremacy to monopolize coercion over a fearful populace. Although they may for a season cooperate as allies, there is no honor or peace between them. Terrorists and tyrants are like wolves who fight over the same prey.

Consider again the statement of Chinese communist Mao Zedong. He proclaimed the principle of tyranny when he said that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. It is estimated that tens of millions of innocent people died during the last century, victimized by people who permit this evil doctrine to take root in society. In contrast to this, the Christian teaching is that civil authority comes to us by revelation from the one true God who alone defines what is good and evil for everyone, including political leaders. In contrast to the pretended authority of the wicked, God is good and His love is sacrificial. Christ does not grant authority so leaders may diminish the standards of justice. The conduct of political rulers is legitimate only to the extent they require what God requires and sanction what God sanctions.

Tyranny is opportunistic. Tyranny does not invade a society by chance. It is an opportunistic infection within a weak society, similar to the case of a weakened tree whose defenses have been compromised and is attacked by a virulent fungus. Tyranny advances when citizens passively allow or actively encourage injustice to infect their communities.

When people lack faith in God, they become afraid of wicked, violent men and because they fear death, they will tolerate injustice in their lands. Tyranny then rushes in to fill the vacuum caused by a lack of faith in God and love for neighbors. Tyranny can advance only when people neglect or reject many opportunities God has given them to trust Him. People who are accustomed to faith in God fear no man, they are courageous, they do justice, and experience liberty in their communities. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7). This principle also applies to nations since they are comprised of many individuals. Nations are only safe and defensible when faithful individuals display righteousness and do justice. Christ will defend and bless any righteous nation.

Tyrants do not tolerate probing questions about the source or use of their political power. They will not stand for examination or questioning because they do not seek what is true and can give no public defense for their actions. They operate largely behind the scenes and under cover of darkness. The tools of a tyrant’s craft include spying, classified information, secret courts, undercover police operations, propaganda campaigns, control over assembly, speech and information media, kidnapping, torture, and murder. All is done without honest debate or open disclosure to the public regarding their activities and plans. Since the controlling information given to the public is critical, propaganda rules the day. If no person received gossip about another and limited their discussion of crimes only to the testimony of sworn witnesses and actual evidence, the deceitful power that propaganda and “fake news” holds over people would be rapidly diminished and lose its appeal.

Revolutionaries who have not achieved overwhelming political power often find terrorism is an effective tactic because it can be utilized to convert fearful populations into allies of sorts. People who succumb to fear and panic will ally with whatever power broker gives them the best sense of security. If a wicked regime wants to stay in power, it will have to devote a massive effort to maintain the status quo power structure while manipulating the people’s panic and fear to justify the regime’s continued domination. Conflict and destabilization will expand one crisis after another and revolutionaries will not let any crisis go to waste.

Under some circumstances, tyrants may even choose to manipulate and work behind the scenes with terrorists. They may even engage in false-flag operations. Since there is no honor among tyrants and terrorists, they may directly allow or perpetrate covert acts of terrorism in an attempt to create public panic and justify greater control over a victim population. Their strategy to control fearful populations becomes simply a pragmatic matter of cutting the best deal with various democratic factions that can be manipulated to keep wicked leaders in power. Propaganda campaigns are crucial to the success of tyrants. Relentless lies propagate in manufactured news narratives to manipulate the understanding of the public, color the information they receive, and attempt to justify unlawful means to dominate and subdue society.

Because those who are fearful do not have faith in God, fear grips and corrupts the hearts of those who have forgotten God. Once corrupted by fear, what separates such citizens from their overlords is only a lack of opportunity to transfer their own fear to others and climb to higher levels of authority so they too might have power over political rivals. Fearful people worship human power. This is the work of the Devil. Since they respect only whatever power they think is or will become the most dominant political force, they trust a wily tyrant to keep them safe. Such trust is always misplaced and evolves into an idolatrous religious-like faith, which further energizes tyranny. When tyrants ascend to positions of power, they encourage idolatry by placing portraits and statues of wicked leaders throughout the land.

The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25) For those who lack faith in God, the fear of man is very powerful because it is energized by the fear of death. Fearful people do not trust in the word of Christ when He proclaims and asks, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26). Even the great disciple Peter feared the ruling authorities and denied the Lord three times in an attempt to avoid even the appearance of his association with Jesus. Thankfully, the life of Peter also demonstrates God’s forgiveness is available for those who turn from the fear of man toward faith in God. So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)

A state of tyranny cannot be improved by a rival tyranny. The victor of one tyranny vs. another will always be the stronger tyrant—and it is always worse to have stronger tyrants! This is why violent revolutions based upon the philosophy of human rights or the will of the people cannot increase righteousness and liberty. Rival revolutionaries are merely contesting factions who also wish to invent their own laws without reference to God. Unless people first have faith in God, resisting tyranny by violent means is destructive and cannot promote justice. People who support godless revolutions jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. Only by having humility before God and seeking to do His will on Earth can we hope to achieve peace and at the same time bring about a social change that leads to liberty.

The order is this: first faith in God, then liberty follows. If people trust Christ and limit their political actions to what is consistent with godly faith, the love of God will be manifested in their nation. When righteous citizens love their enemies, support the weak, and rescue the oppressed by doing justice, they shall have Christ’s favor. Christ will employ His faithful followers to advance liberty, tear down strongholds of injustice, and build the Kingdom of Heaven by righteousness.

God’s law does not judge others based on the social, cultural, or racial status of people, rather it considers only proven behavior and does not suffer gossip and slander. Those who follow true law do not pick sides in political struggles; they are not partisans, and they will respect righteousness from any quarter. The Devil would convince Christians to struggle against political factions or against flesh and blood, but this is vain and a distraction from the way of justice. The pursuit of justice is not factious. When constructive efforts are advanced, peacemakers should thankfully accept assistance from anyone who contends for justice.

To deal with tyrants and terrorists, people must be guided by godly wisdom and not act upon or even repeat propaganda or gossip. Prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures are required to plan a successful course of action to mitigate the effects of violent political operatives. Since tyrants typically do not frequent situations where the truth is spoken, they are rarely converted to the faith. Nevertheless, when they are loved by courageous followers of Christ and their injustice is opposed, their resistance to God is stripped of its power. No one can long resist the open the true proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. God’s words and our love for others are more powerful than the strongest armies. The light of Christ dispels the greatest darkness. This is why tyrants work so hard to suppress those who speak the truth openly. John the Apostle gives us the following description of our Lord:

Now I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in Heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

(Revelation 19:11–16)

The pursuit of God’s justice is not always easy, but all Christians are commanded to do good and to resist evil. The greater the injustice, the more intense must be the struggle for justice. Since Christians are called to overcome the world by faith and the word of their testimony, no one can truthfully say that defending the oppressed and doing justice is none of their concern. Every person must answer to God for the actions they take or fail to take in the defense of the innocent and the pursuit of justice.

Early Christians give us good examples of how to resist tyranny. They exposed idolatries and proclaimed Christ as Lord over all people, from the least to the greatest. They taught the truths of Christ’s incarnation, atonement, and ascension. They professed the truth about sin and righteousness, and they made converts who testified truthfully before common people, governors, and tyrants. They testified the way of the world was sinful, is passing away, and the meek will surely inherit the Earth. They loved their enemies and did good to those who hated them. They were wise as serpents and harmless as doves. They were not afraid. They taught that everyone will appear before God and be judged for their deeds done in this life. They believed their sins were forgiven so they practiced the obedience of faith toward Christ who has already answered God’s judgment on their behalf. By the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Christians inducted into the Kingdom of Heaven all converts who believe in, and were committed to follow Christ as their Lord.

The world hated them because their teaching required humility and did not originate from the ways of the world. Regarding the origin of His authority, Jesus answered Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Apostles and their followers announced the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and they believed in the certain inevitability of Christ’s triumph over the world of sin. When Christ destroyed the great Roman Empire with its principalities and powers, Christians were already tried, trusted, and prepared to step into the social vacuum created by the Lord’s destruction of the old political structure. They had the faith that overcomes the world.

How can Christians promote needed social change? Christians are not change agents who rely upon propaganda and swaying public opinion. Christians center upon solid good works, not upon shallow political support and votes that are here today and gone tomorrow. They speak the truth and perform tangible works of love for their neighbors. Since people differ in gift, opportunity, situation, and resources, every person must make his own decision regarding how he will resist tyranny and promote the Kingdom of Heaven. Heaven is not about earthly central planning to be enforced by punishments. Heaven is about humility, repentance, redemption, love, and peace.

Heavenly minded people are led by the Holy Spirit. In the Kingdom of Heaven, life is an adventure and His people meet every new challenge with courage and faith. Resistance to tyranny may be advanced by raising a godly family, working and serving in an honest profession, telling the truth in all opportunities, living a sanctified life, producing audio or written materials, participating in public assemblies and demonstrations, protesting unjust taxes and false laws, paying just taxes, voting, releasing prisoners, compensating victims, and preaching the Gospel. In every available situation God’s people will do justice, love mercy, and generally love their neighbors in all their dealings.

To do justice in extreme situations it may be necessary to war against foreign oppressors. But to successfully defend a nation, the people must desire to honor Christ before all others. This is the first issue to be addressed. Why does Christ make a nation subject to enemies in the first place? It is because Christ disciplines them so they will trust Him alone. A nation that lacks faith in God cannot be liberated, because her people are by nature slaves to sin. Whatever would a godless nation do with more freedom? More freedom would only be license to commit more sin. What is often overlooked is that people who do not love one another are actually better off under the humiliating boot of tyrants than they would be if every person did what was right in his own eyes.

As opportunity allows, Christians should participate in the defense of a righteous nation and extend justice on an individual basis to every neighbor. This takes courage and faith in God. People who trust Christ have already received eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit so they shall never be subject to death. God will defend those who follow His ways. Note the words of the great Apostle Paul.

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:19–21)

It should be noted that coercion and armed resistance are very crude tools and ineffective to bring about beneficial change involving governments. Authoritarian governments commonly employ violence or the threat of violence, but true Christians believe violent resistance to evil tyrants must be avoided at almost any cost.

A revolution against the established political order cannot be justified simply because certain special interests want some kind of unspecified change or because some people think society is going in the wrong direction. Revolutionaries take care! To resist any government official in the performance of any truly lawful duty is to resist God. All civil governments do some good and none of them are completely bad. It should be understood that wickedness is the result of lawless conduct by individual evil doers, but evil is not de facto an aspect of the institution of civil government. Justice deals with each accused individual and the evidence of specific crimes, not with collective groups of unnamed individuals who are identified only by political loyalty, employment, philosophic labels, national origin or racial characteristics.

Christians are commissioned by Christ to teach God’s word to the nations, not to conquer them by military campaigns! Christians must not oppose the institution of government. Rather, a Christian’s duty is to prosecute crimes irrespective of persons, whether committed by common criminals or those acting in the capacity of a government officeholder. If God caused the complete collapse of the seemingly impenetrable walls of Jericho by only a few walkabouts, the blowing of horns, and a shout by

His children, how much more powerful is the open proclamation of Christ’s law to break down the strongholds of injustice? This shall be accomplished only by faith and obedience to Christ. Violence alone is not an authorized or effective means to bring about constructive social change. What we need is more love, not more violence.

The avoidance of violence by Christians does not in any way mean they are strategically weak. Revolutionary leaders who rise to power by deceit and political force alone will not only prove to be tyrants, but they will be worse than the tyrant they supplant. Those who resolve to follow God and love their neighbors can only realize a goal for constructive social change when a nation chooses to honor Christ the Lord. After all, a humanistic government organized by the will of the people alone can never usher in a state of liberty. At its best, such a government can only marginally protect those who become its allies. Until a consensus of people have faith in Christ, it remains a time to speak, debate, and proclaim—not a time for political force or armed conflict. It is unlikely a time of armed conflict will ever ripen if faithful citizens call out and prosecute those individuals involved in specific criminal acts. When justice is done wherever it is required and individual redemption is realized, God will bless any such nation with peace and prosperity.

Christians are sometimes called upon to fight defensive wars to protect innocent citizens. Soldiers who follow Christ are willing to risk death to contest for the liberty of the people whom they love. True Christians will not fight only for money, education or employment benefits, but they will individually commit to fight a specific war if they believe it is God’s will. People with faith in God may agree to fight for their country, but only when killing others is the only remaining option to protect people from oppression. Christians must not fight to advance national political and commercial interests, because the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be advanced in this way.

Christian soldiers must be loyal to Christ. They must obey only civil ministers and commanders who seek to advance true justice. What righteous person would kill people they do not know simply because they were talked into joining up and took an oath to follow orders? If they go to war, it must be with a clear conscience and intent to obey only the will of God first. A godly military commander would expect nothing more, and nothing less.

When many soldiers are involved in a military operation, it is critical for them to follow regular orders and specific plans, so they might do their work as a team. Every effective fighting force must rely upon participants to strictly obey orders involving specific operations, maneuvers, and timing. Trust and reliability between individuals and fighting teams are critical to victory. The larger the operation, the more regimentation is required. But soldiers who are fearful and have no faith in God cannot be trusted to coordinate courageously with other fighters and if they cannot be relied upon to fight for justice and defend against oppression, they should be transferred from combat service or altogether discharged from the military.

In summary, the path for any nation seeking to end tyranny and terrorism is straightforward and comparatively easy. First, people must believe that God is omnipresent, almighty, the only lawgiver, and He is good. Second, they must fear no one except God alone. Third, they must love their neighbors and do good to those who hate them. Fourth, they must resist evil by doing justice at all times. Having faith in Christ and defending the innocent will neutralize manipulation by tyrants and terrorists. Fifth, citizens must stop their ears to the lying propaganda of fear-mongers and gossips who do not follow Christ.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. (I John 4:2) Christians must not respond in fear when the wicked speak their lies and they must reject the words of false prophets who proclaim salvation and peace through godless war. America’s

slogan for national security should not be “peace through military strength,” rather it should be “peace through justice.” Since Christians believe the Lord Christ directs the affairs of nations according to His own purposes, they have confidence the Lord hears when they pray, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, (The Lord’s Prayer) and believe, If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) and hope, If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed! (John 8:36)

XI.

Stewardship, Sustainability, and Environment

PUBLIC CONCERNS must extend beyond the social, political, and economic relations between people. Beyond social interaction, concerns remain regarding how people affect the natural environment. God is the Creator of all things, and because we all answer to Him for our stewardship and use of nature, our conduct in this world always has an ethical dimension. By God’s grace, people are able to tend the beauty of the natural creation and employ its utility in the service of God and man.

Our Creator is omnipresent. Since the material world is also God’s personal space, by nature it is not merely mechanical, materialistic, or impersonal. The physical universe is infused by the Spirit of God who also transcends beyond time and space. God is the Spirit in the machine, as it were. By the incarnation of Christ, we understand the eternal Son of God is in union with creation and without confusion.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). Christ has all authority over creation. Time and space do not limit Him in any way. He even created time so His children might learn about His handiwork, experience redemption from sin, know Him by the process of sanctification, and grow in the fellowship of His love.

From the nucleus of an atom to a massive black hole found in the core of a galaxy, there is nothing hidden from His sight nor is there any place He cannot go and intervene according to His own will. Christ lives and is constantly interactive with His creation. Of Christ, the Apostle writes, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17). For those who have eyes to see, the creation of the universe, especially mankind, foretells and highlights the revelation of the Son of God in bodily incarnation. The Beloved Apostle testifies of this when he writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Mankind was created to know and to be known by God. This thought is ever before people as they gaze upon the world and contemplate the workings of its design. In an unguarded moment, this deep human consciousness often pops out in strange ways. We have all seen and heard it happen many times. People who pretend to be scientific atheists or agnostics will commonly speak of “Mother Nature,” as if some god-person stands behind and is manipulating creation.

Weather broadcasters may be the most frequent public examples of a manifestation of this deeply held conviction. There is a common belief that a spirit-god is at work in all natural events. This is so deeply rooted in the human psyche, people who watch a weather broadcast or nature documentary take in stride the casual talk about how Mother Nature does this or that. But no one seems to actually know this “mother.” To some degree, since these inherent presuppositions are so commonly shared, it makes such ideas seem natural to nearly everyone.

A belief that some person stands behind creation, directs it, and gives it meaning is more than a mere figure of speech. Although imperfect, everyone has some sense that everything is or should be part of an orderly plan of some kind. Created in the consciousness of all people is the sense that some kind of one or more god-person(s) rules or should be allowed to rule all things. Whether or not it is accurately understood, the universe is infused with the personality, works, and power of the one omnipresent and transcendent God.

If people do not know the God who is there, they will invent their own gods or they will assert they are gods themselves. They cannot find peace in the idea of an impersonal, mechanistic universe where there are no free persons, no love or purpose. The so-called atheist pretends there is no transcendent God and assumes a great leader or a collective of nature-people or even government-gods must order the world as best they can. But this belief in the ultimate supremacy of mankind is a blatant case of inventing a false god! People instinctively know God is there, but because human vision is blinded by the pride of sin, people may not acknowledge the holy God who is always before them. Since many people do not know and trust Him, they try to go their own way as best they can.

Mankind is made in God’s image to seek His fellowship, but it is impossible to know and understand God if He is not trusted. Therefore, without faith it is also impossible to know our Creator who eternally exists in timeless perfect love and fellowship of the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We may understand that God is love because the one God is comprised of the fellowship of three Persons. Trust is an indispensable condition of fellowship and love between persons. By God’s grace, this same love and fellowship are now available for all people who trust in Christ. Jesus prayed,

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20–23)

Knowing and honoring God is the foundation upon which good stewardship over the world is based. God directs us by His law how we must relate ethically to other people and how we must be good stewards over His creation. In contrast to faith in God, the “Humanist Manifesto” states that the universe is “self-existing and not created.” This false religious doctrine provides no evidence or witnesses to its assumptions or how it is under-girded by a foundation of ethics, stewardship or care over the natural world. A strict materialist has no reason to view life in this world as personally meaningful. Thus, the godless have little hope in the future, have no reason to love others sacrificially or exercise stewardship over creation.

A materialist scientist can give no reason to consider ethical behavior as anything more than what is to be derived from natural instincts, personal preferences, and invented laws passed down from “the powers that be.” But since God forever asserts His ultimate judgment over all things, no creature is a final authority on any subject. People who do not believe and act as if their Creator shall judge every person for what they do are compelled to employ the legalistic threats of government to form a basis for social accountability. In their unbelief they refuse to see the eternal One to whom they must give account for all their stewardship. The emptiness of unbelief is devoid of love and faithfulness toward our Creator and this error cascades into a false perception of the true meaning that stands behind all creation.

Such a godless outlook is essentially a denial of God’s authority over His world and the stewardship by which mankind is called to have dominion over creation. Although we have been made in the image and likeness of God, people who forget Him are perverted by unbelief and self-centeredness. In such a state of pride and unbelief, the faithless are poor stewards of the world’s life-systems and elements of creation.

For those who reject God, public policy concerns devolve into threats to obey legalistic laws, but this does not produce a true heart-felt responsibility of personal stewardship. Hearts and minds are trapped in a secular doctrine of merely “doing what you are told by the powers that be.” The motivations provided by threats of enforcement or the desire to be in fashion when the popular color is green does not a faithful steward make.

Among all the grievous damages that can be attributed to sin, many of them have direct environmental effects. When people combine the effects of crony corporatism, covetousness, usury, thefts, tyranny, unrighteous wars, murder, and other sins, the total social and environmental damage done is far beyond what anyone can calculate.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:18–22)

This “bondage of corruption” is slavery to sin. Sin is destructive of the beautiful world and its creatures. But many people are so focused on the symptoms of environmental damage that they do not carefully consider its root cause. The root cause of all environmental damage is a failure to love God and our neighbors. Consider how the natural environment would be affected if people did not start wars, steal, murder, lust, envy, covet, or exploit lands and oceans to seek only mammon and their own whims and pleasures.

When a secular approach to environmental stewardship is taken, it presupposes coercive government control over all resources and opportunities. With this approach to the environment, the public only seriously considers what is compelled by government edicts or encouraged by monetary grants and tax breaks. But the legalism of invented environmental laws cannot produce a state of voluntary stewardship with liberty. An inescapable reality is that the corruption of sin cascades through the order of Creation: First, sin compromises our fellowship with God. Corruption of the Divine/human relationship then compromises everything else about human life. We suffer corruption of the individual, family, society, and eventually a failed stewardship over nature.

Politically-minded people take advantage of obvious environmental damage to lord it over those who they declare to be guilty citizens. In the name of “The Environment,” central planners hope to exercise control over the world’s resources and populations. They intend to control not only soil and minerals, but also water, air, and all living things. This outlook considers everything on Earth—including the human population—as “environmental assets” that should be managed by a centralized political power. Those who have forgotten God cannot imagine how harmony within the natural environment can exist along with individual liberty. But this world is the intricate creation of the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God—it is not self-existing. The Triune God created His own personal, responsive universe to reveal His glory, and to bless His people. As His stewards, the saints rule over creation as they fellowship with God and man, in liberty and love. Our Creator made all things well!

When people approach the world without first acknowledging God, their secular idea of stewardship eventually devolves into legalistic control over others and the seizing of privileges for themselves. Self-promoting environmental saviors and legalistic regulators soar high above the little people in private jets to fancy destinations. They give speeches over ornate dinners about how the only way to save the world is to let them tax and dictate how the mass of guilty people must live. Elite nature-priests seek to turn the world into a society where the little people are managed in minute detail while the legalistic central planners and false prophets soar far above others to a life of luxury and power.

Those who lack faith in Christ cannot imagine how environmental health and good stewardship would naturally result from social liberty under God’s commandments. They are blind to these realities and cannot perceive what it would be like to follow Christ. People who are without faith become fixated on the idea that everyone must be managed by force and driven like herds of sheep toward some utopian plan that is designed to save the world. But utopian dreamers reject out of hand the faith in God who is love. Thus, their unbelieving ways lead only to poverty, slavery to central planners, poor environmental stewardship, and eventual tyranny.

True faith in God is redemptive to the fullest extent. The obedience of faith in Christ is the true way to bring peace and blessing to the world. Those who live by faith are a royal priesthood; they employ justice to overcome crimes and seek to reconcile the world to its Creator and the people to one another. Centralized social control and the subjugation of people under the iron fist of secular government cannot make the world beautiful or society peaceful. But justice and godly liberty will always provide a state of blessing that best mitigates environmental and social damage. Beyond the mere mitigation of damage, faith in God will provide material blessings exceeding the imagination of everyone. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (I Corinthians 2:9)

Totalitarianism and war results in severe damage to people and their environment. The more sinful a society becomes, the poorer is the quality of their stewardship toward God. When people do not love their neighbors who are made in the image and likeness of God, who would expect them to be good stewards of relationships with living creatures or wisely employ the inanimate elements of creation? But when people love and elevate their neighbors, they better appreciate the beauty and grace found in all things. Consequently, optimum environmental healing and stewardship can be found in justice and liberty that is according to faith in God.

Believers in Christ are energized with new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. By their testimony and sacrificial good works saints reconcile the world to God. Their sincere prayer includes, “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” All Christians should understand the Lord’s Prayer is also an environmental prayer. God knows best how His creation should be utilized and tended.

Recall the experience of our first parents. It was in the setting of a perfect garden that mankind first sinned, the creation became subject to corruption, and all mankind’s troubles began. Thankfully, God has revealed to us written instructions for life, and by His cross and resurrection, Christ has redeemed us from the consequences of sin. Rightly understood, no further word is needed for mankind to experience good environmental stewardship. To obey God in every instance is the wisest and most sustainable course of action involving all things. By their faith in God, saints will overcome the ways of the world and mitigate the curse related to environmental problems caused by the disobedience of sin.

Central planners are concerned not only with control over inanimate resources, but they also produce noble-sounding rhetoric about the dangers of over-population. They imagine the life-issue of a mother’s womb represents a kind of potential environmental pollution that must be managed by central planners or else the beauty of the world will be destroyed and all of society will become destitute. Many people are concerned that the human population of the Earth will grow to outstrip all the available resources. But any challenges presented by the birth and raising of children vanish in comparison to environmental and social damage done by the godless domination of tyrants, warmongers, usurers, and ungodly central planners. Any true management of natural resources must take into account all the available information, including spiritual truths, without which people cannot understand the true nature of themselves or proper use of God’s creation. The problem is not too many people—the problem is too few people who love their neighbors as themselves and who honor God through good stewardship over His creation.

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25–34)

Mankind’s call to stewardship is not frustrated by circumstances, gifts, opportunities, or even a perceived shortage of natural resources. The blessings good stewardship can bring to us are only limited by a lack of faith, hope, and love. Does anyone believe that the phrase in the Lord’s prayer—“Give us this day our daily bread”—is designed to become ineffectual at some point in the future? Do they not understand that our prayers to God transcend time and space? Will our faith in the God who loves us and fills the creation with His glory and fruitfulness abruptly end when the population density reaches some unknown maximum level? Is there a numerical trigger beyond which mankind is destined to live and then die in the misery of poverty, starvation, and without hope or even an effectual prayer that can be answered? Did Jesus feed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes only to leave us in unbelief and recoiling from the fear of poverty and death? Does history have no conclusion where the world is fully redeemed and the dead are raised to eternal life? All those who trust in Christ know these questions have sure answers.

The universe is a personal place and is filled with wonder that never ceases to amaze those who carefully observe its design, love their neighbors, and exercise good stewardship over what they have been given. We have only begun to make wise use of the physical resources God has already made available to us. There is nothing new under the Son, so all good things are already before us, if only we have the light of truth to see with eyes that truly see what is there. Concentrated organic aquaculture, hydroponics, and gardening can multiply sustainable land use many times over and bring happiness and satisfaction to families and people of all ages. The vast benefits of sustainable grazing and fishing, and stewardship over the oceans, lakes, rivers, and land lie before us, but it will take faith and love for us to inherit the many blessings that now lie dormant because of unbelief.

It should be noted that much power from petroleum and coal is wasted on vain pursuits that do not enhance the love of families and neighbors or our ability to feed one another. Be assured that as natural resources for electric power generation become scarce, a gradual transition to more sustainable methods will naturally result from inventive people who live in a state of liberty. While living in righteousness, faithful stewards will trim wastefulness and will artfully use what is needed to enhance wealth in their individual lives and communities.

It is Christ who redeems the world and provides untold blessings to all those who believe in Him. The false prophets of humanism herald only fear, domination, death, and destruction. Their only plan amounts to a legalistic, impersonal and centralized control over fearful citizens. But true justice and liberty empower environmental stewardship in the hearts of the faithful. This is another essential part of the good news of the Gospel that is sorely needed today.

XII.

The Highway of Holiness

A highway shall be there, and a road,

And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it,

But it shall be for others.

Whoever walks the road, although a fool,

Shall not go astray.

No lion shall be there,

Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;

It shall not be found there.

But the redeemed shall walk there,

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

(Isaiah 35:8–10)

The way to love your neighbor is a public matter. This is the Highway of Holiness the Prophet Isaiah spoke of so many years ago. A land of liberty can be found when holiness is the road a pilgrim takes. But as Jesus demonstrated, true holiness is not only a personal pursuit. To bring salvation to the nations involves public actions to free captives, heal the effects of sin, and proclaim liberty throughout the land. Christ commissioned His saints to teach all nations to observe whatsoever He has commanded. This matter involves every nation and imposes an obligation upon all earthly authorities to require what God requires and to sanction what God sanctions, no more and no less.

If people wish to travel the highway that leads to liberty they must turn from their national sins, unrighteous debts, legalistic central planning, slavish obedience to godless collective governments, and display holiness in all they do. Today is the day for personal and national salvation. Christians everywhere should pray that God will be gracious and merciful toward them, so in the power of the Holy Spirit they may be able to travel the highway that leads to liberty. This is a road of holiness so it involves repentance and doing God’s will in all personal and public matters. All godly travelers accept the fact that God makes all the rules of the road.

Sing to the LORD a new song,

And His praise in the assembly of saints.

Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;

Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise His name with the dance;

Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;

He will beautify the humble with salvation.

Let the saints be joyful in glory;

Let them sing aloud on their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

And a two-edged sword in their hand,

To execute vengeance on the nations,

And punishments on the people;

To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute on them the written judgment—

This honor have all His saints.

(Psalm 149)

People who wish to experience the fruits of salvation must turn away from an escapist and hypocritical pietism. They must exercise an all-encompassing faith in God to work righteously in their personal life and in the public square. True faith in Christ will guide us to improve all our circumstances, including personal piety and public justice. Holiness is not merely an escape from this world, but is found while overcoming the problems of the world through faith, obedience, hope, and love. Orthodox Christians who travel this road will invest themselves in working to overcome injustice and seek the redemption of the world. They shall subdue the kingdoms of this world by the Word of God while bringing light, redemption, and peace to all who accept the Kingdom of Heaven.

He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

(Isaiah 2:4)

May we love God and keep His commandments. May the love of God rule in our hearts so by the obedience of faith we might bring healing to our nation.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17–20)

The following sixteen chapters show what must be done to follow the Highway of Holiness that leads people to justice and liberty in the Kingdom of Heaven. The road is before us, but we cannot take everything with us. Choices must be made. Some evil things must be cast aside before we can make progress on our journey. Any legalistic encumbrance and sin that entangles us must be left behind. To travel this road and arrive at its joyful destination, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the political leaders and legalists of our day. By no means will those who cling to legalistic laws and injustice make progress on the highway we must travel, nor would they even be allowed entry when our destination is finally reached.

The subjects that follow are not the only areas where applied faith in God is needed. They include specific matters involving justice that have been overlooked by church leaders and politicians. These needed changes are admonitions advanced to encourage public and private repentance in critical areas before progress in justice, liberty, and love can be made. As this author sees it, the following chapters contain things that must change before our nation can be redeemed from sin and inherit the blessings God has ordained for all those who follow the way of Christ our Lord.

1.

Hold Usury Unenforceable

GOD’S LAW FORBIDS charging usury or interest on debts. The following text is one of several in the Bible that makes it clear usury is contrary to the will of God.

If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25:35–37)

God’s commandment against usury teaches part of what it means for us to love our neighbors. But Jesus challenges his people to go even further than merely to abstain from collecting interest. The Lord instructs us all, “Lend, hoping for nothing in return” (Luke 6:35). Like turning the other cheek, our Lord instructs us to do more than the bare minimum required by the law, but in any case we must never do less! A serious question is asked in Psalm 15, “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” The following is found among the psalmist’s straightforward and brief answers: “He who does not put out his money at usury.” Also the experience of Nehemiah and Israel offers us an opportunity to better understand usury and how justice must deal with it:

And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?”

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”

So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”

Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.”

And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise. (Nehemiah 5)

We may observe several important facts from this historical account. First, we see a sober account of the widespread damage usury does to society. Can we assume the character of usury would undergo an extreme transformation to become a beneficial practice in our own economy? Second, we see also that the practice of usury was almost universally accepted. Even Nehemiah had become entangled in this wicked practice. Third, it was required of usurers to make restitution, including even one percent of what had been taken by usury. Fourth, without exception, under threat of total property forfeiture and expulsion from the economy of Israel, everyone took a universal oath to leave off this evil practice.

If restitution was required for having taken usury, upon what basis was it required? Obviously, it was under obedience to the Eighth Commandment that the usurers were required to give back that which had been stolen. Such a remedy can only mean what was taken by usury never rightfully belonged to the usurers. It is plain to see usurers could not obtain lawful possession of property by this evil practice. Since the property stolen by usury remained the property of the victims, justice required restitution.

By this historic example we can plainly see title to possessions cannot be lawfully transferred by usury. Today we must all acknowledge the Eighth Commandment remains as a standard of justice and binds all righteous people in all ages. Only a foolish philosopher or economist would claim a practice that was clearly an unjust evil to all of Israel can in this age be transformed into an economic blessing for the whole world! Regarding the example of Israel, the Apostle admonishes, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” (I Corinthians 10:6)

Moses, the holy Prophets, Jesus, and His followers universally condemned the practice of usury. For fifteen hundred years, the Church Fathers and Church councils in both the East and the West were unanimous in their opposition to usury. The orthodox Christian teaching was always that usury or interest, in all its forms and at any rate, is unlawful and is banned by Scripture. Throughout Christendom the question of the unlawfulness of usury on loans of money was a settled issue. A multitude of Prophets, Church Fathers, theologians, pastors, teachers, fathers and mothers instructed those under their charge that taking usury was a sin with nary a contrary opinion uttered.

Usury was a serious sin for all Christians and Roman Catholics universally categorized it as a mortal sin. The universal Church consistently barred usurers from a Christian burial and the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Communion. Unrepentant usurers were universally considered to be cast out and forever lost to the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course, true repentance was always offered and available so any former usurers might have faith in Christ and be saved from the wrath to come.

Clearly, it is a much different picture today. The vast majority of churchgoers all over the world, including Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics now practice usury on a 24/7 basis and seemingly with no pangs of conscience. Usurers maximize their take and are often admired for their involvement in this sin. Church leaders are even known to teach a doctrine that expert usurers are “good stewards” of what God has entrusted to them!

When, how, and why did the clear and consistent Christian teaching about the sin of usury change? In the early 1500’s A.D. the revolutionary view that under certain circumstances some usury could be lawful found a haven with some Roman Catholic teachers. The new view fundamentally contradicted the laws of Moses, the holy Prophets, the plain teachings of Christ, the Church Fathers, and the established canon law. Also around this same time, some leaders of the Protestant Reformation, notably Calvin, accepted this new enlightenment-influenced teaching by a process of rationalization. Nevertheless, many of the Protestant reformers for some time maintained the orthodox teaching that usury is a serious sin. Others vacillated and compromised. But following the naturalistic reasoning of the Catholics, Calvin and a few other reformers began to invent new exceptions permitting usury.

Within the nobility and mercantile classes, there was an intense, pragmatic sentiment to mitigate laws against usury. Moneylending Jews were free in many Christian kingdoms to practice usury and people noticed it brought them great riches. They operated without competition within a Christian society that abstained from the practice of usury. Because the practice of usury can tap the labor of many others at the same time, it allowed moneylenders to operate at an increased scale of commerce without the need to produce merchantable goods or services.

Usurers do not create new wealth by usury, instead they prey upon wealth created by others. Legalizing usury was tempting for the upper classes because they sought to be served, not to serve. With serfdom, land rents, and taxes, many of the “lords” were already comfortable with a parasitic lifestyle as they lived upon goods and services produced by a sub-class of surfs and slaves. Because their intention to advance usury was only an extension of their parasitic and covetous nature, the skids were already greased.

Under great pressure to please their lordly patrons, scholars began to substitute philosophic and pragmatic arguments in exchange for what was ancient, settled law regarding usury. They took up the defense of usury and devised subtle theories to promote it as a legitimate business practice. Covetous usurers demanded a cut of the assumed profits produced by debtors because they claimed this was only natural and fair. Those who lust for usury and seek to justify this practice echo a conversation the Deceiver had with our first mother so many years ago when he questioned rhetorically, “Has God indeed said?” and later added his own deceitful response, “You shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:1,4)

Although this corrupt teaching about God’s law resulted in many disputes, ever more pressure was brought to bear to loosen the Christian’s staunch opposition to usury. The arguments were complex and subtle, but eventually human reason dominated again to determine what was good and evil. This result was more bad fruit laced with spiritual toxins. While energized by lust and covetousness, civil authorities began to supplant the obedience of faith with their own will. The philosophic approach of the usury revolutionaries was essentially to assert that some new idea of “equity” based upon “reason” should be used to modify the command of God’s established law. In the end, Church authorities failed to adequately assess and discipline this radical change that overturned settled orthodox doctrine and law.

Some scholars advanced the theory that there is some kind of ethical difference between taking usury from a destitute poor man and taking interest from the rich. They further theorized if a rich man used a loan to fund a commercial enterprise, then it follows that the lender has a right to a share of the profits. These pragmatic distinctions of poor/rich or business/charitable loans were devised solely for the purpose of diverting the discussion from the legal ethics of taking usury to the philosophic issues of class distinctions, equity, and rights. That deceitful old serpent bites mankind yet again.

This philosophic approach to the classification of borrowers did not clarify the ethical issues raised by usury. What does it mean to be rich or poor? Can anyone precisely identify these classes of borrowers so lenders will know with certainty when usury is permitted or when it is forbidden? But despite these important questions, those who advocate such views do not provide accurate definitions of “rich” or “poor” borrowers. Is a loan to purchase a car that enables a poor man to get to work a loan to the poor, or is it a commercial loan? Is lending to an American who has a big screen TV, iPhone, air conditioning, and an automobile, but who by government standards remains below the “poverty line,” a loan to the poor or to the rich? Is a loan made to a needy businessman or farmer a commercial loan, or is it a loan to the poor?

Popular economists also claim usury is permitted as a right to a share of the borrower’s profits. If usury is justified as a right to a share of profits, how could a precise interest rate be ascertained before the loan was made and without accurate foreknowledge of the eventual profits? What share does a lender’s right require? No usurer can possibly know in advance how much profit will result from a business that is financed by his loan. What if no profits arise from the commercial borrower and instead he suffers a loss? To be consistent with such a theory, it follows that if interest is justified as a share of the profits, then a usurer should also share in any losses. But because covetousness rules in the hearts and minds of usurers, justification for taking usury remains a one-way street—a blind alley without love, mercy, or compassion.

God’s law commands that the poor and the rich alike must be judged by the same standard. Although circumstances may change, sins committed by one class of people are also sins when committed by others of a different class. Victims of crimes involving one class are also victims of any other class. Justice may not be viewed through the lens of situational ethics or class distinctions. Since economic or social status cannot erase sins or alter what is justice, the same standards of law apply to all people irrespective of their individual economic status. The rich/poor and the commercial/personal distinctions advanced by self-justifying usurers can only produce injustice. When we judge crimes, in all cases class preferences and double standards are unjust. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it. (Deuteronomy 1:17)

Another modern tactic to confuse God’s law involving usury is to introduce a new term to function as a legalistic basis to distinguish between unlawful usury and lawful interest. Many years ago the use of the word interest caught on quickly because it was fresh and it sounded better than plain old usury. The new term seemed more technically specific and enlightened so it was used to support a new philosophic concept to sell the practice of usury to nervous Christians who valued their souls more than worldly goods. At first, people did not understand the meaning of the new term interest so those who were better educated took it upon themselves to explain to the common folk what was meant by this new word. Thus, a redefinition of what is usury was outfitted with a new word, representing a fresh approach to an old subject. Those who study the history of usury must admit the use of the word interest was deceitful and designed to facilitate the substitution of a new philosophic presumption in place of the prior legal standards prohibiting usury.

The new dogma of interest gave civil governments a pretext to distinguish usury from interest by limiting the rate of interest. If a maximum interest rate can be set with the new legalism, then any interest rate lower than the declared legal limit may be legally charged to anyone, regardless of the use of the loan in question or economic status of the borrower. Thus, only rates beyond the legal limit were said to be usurious and therefore, unlawful. However, the arbitrary determination of the allowable rate of usury is nothing more than a legalistic exercise in false law-making. Since God stands behind His law, His truth cannot be confounded by deceitful speech or a confusion of tongues.

The historic teaching of the church has been undermined, and today we have church teachers defending usury along with worldly teachers! Today some church leaders advance a theological argument that God’s civil law condemning usury was never intended as a universal, timeless application of the Eighth Commandment for all peoples, but was given exclusively to govern the economy of ancient Israel. To find support for this philosophy, modernists point out that the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 23:20 allows Israel to take usury from their enemies. Thus, they claim usury cannot be universally banned for all peoples in all ages. They reason that if usury is actually theft, it would always be under the ban; but since it is not always forbidden, it cannot be considered a theft or any kind of injustice. There is some partial logic to this view. But in this world no error is without some element of truth.

How can we understand God’s law to simply condemn usury if His law also allows it in certain cases? Actually, this is not hard to understand. For example, consider a parallel with the way we must apply the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” Obviously, a simple prohibition against all killing was not universal in this commandment because God also commands the killing of human souls for particular crimes, in the defense of the innocent, and during the prosecution of just wars. Father Ambrose highlights this line of reasoning by arguing that usury may and, by implication, should be taken from an enemy. If a person may and should be killed in a just war, taking usury from such an enemy is obviously permitted. Likewise, for the same reason, it is not a theft nor is it inconsistent with God’s law if magistrates violently seize property from a thief and return it to a victim.

This leaves the defender of usury in an inconvenient position as he seeks to base his license upon the law of God. Are the prohibitions against usury regulated by the Ten Commandments or not? More pointedly, is usury a violation of the Eighth Commandment and if so, does justice universally require material restitution for such a theft? Answers to these questions are not difficult to find. Usury and other plunder may at times be taken from enemies, but you shall not steal from neighbors and countrymen since they may not lawfully be killed. Every attempt to justify interest—what might be better called “legalized usury”—defies analysis and vanishes before the light of even the most cursory examination. With the manipulation of the new categories, all these pro-usury arguments prove to be so arbitrary and confounding that, in the minds of covetous people, almost any usurious loan can be redefined and made to appear justifiable.

It should be noted here that without humility and a desire to seek truth above all, true knowledge and wisdom cannot be possessed. Truth cannot be manipulated. We conform to the truth—truth does not conform to us. Faith in Christ is not based merely upon independent observation, or what we wrongly call today the “science of economics.” Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Any person who does not have an overwhelming desire and love for truth abides in darkness and will not come to the light. Without faith, people look within themselves, but because their reasoning is closed, they cannot perceive why they are lost.

It can be plainly seen that usurers do not seek truth or justice. Their covetous hearts are intent only upon usury, not upon answers about how best to pursue righteousness or love their neighbors. This is why usurers quickly abandon any argument involving rights and equity as soon as it is apparent a borrower has become unprofitable. Then, the proud usurer can be heard demanding loudly, “I’ll have my bond!”

As it is with all sins, to the extent the sin of usury is practiced, productive economic activity is diminished. The mathematics of usury forecloses a long-term stable and expanding economy as usury adds to the cost-basis of goods and services in the stream of commerce. Because profitable businesses are positioned to pass these costs along with the goods they produce and supply, eventually consumers pay all the added costs of usury. Also, it is typical for debts to expand even when economic activity contracts. It should be noted here that all costs from every source are passed along to consumers via a supply chain of goods, not only the costs of commercial usury, but also the significant costs of usury involving public debts and direct taxes applied to employees and businesses.

When usury is practiced, its cost-burden trickles down throughout the economy. The production/consumption ratio of poor consumers is unfavorable for passing along these costs, so as a percentage of the poor’s total earned resources, they disproportionately pay the added cost of usury. In other words, since most of the money earned by the poor is used directly for consumption rather than investment, they are least able to pass along or discharge their usury costs into the stream of commerce. But the trickle becomes a massive flood as the mathematics of usury expands throughout the economy. The Devil knows his business. The unnamed poor are bled by parasitic usurers who tap the stream of goods and services and thereby suck the lifeblood out of the commonwealth. By any measure, the parasitic load of usury is unsustainable and will weaken, infect, and eventually destroy any nation where this infestation remains unchecked by justice.

Usury bites as much flesh as it is able. Its character is without a conscience and its appetite is insatiable. This is no mere exaggeration or hyperbole; the Hebrew word used in the Holy Scriptures and translated into English as usury or interest is neshek, which literally means “the bite of a serpent.” Compound interest over time means usury’s bite will spread its poison and become increasingly damaging to individual souls and the commonwealth. Consistent with the design of serpent’s mouth and teeth, once usury grasps its prey, it cannot let go. When usury’s teeth surround the body politic, either usury will swallow its victim whole or the predator will die in the attempt. There can be no negotiated, peaceful settlement with this wickedness. Without justice, that old serpent, energized by covetousness, will bite and grasp a nation until she is consumed.

Compounded interest demands an ever-increasing supply of currency with which to repay loans. Usury eventually strips all available currency from an affected economy and recycles repaid currency as loans, with each contract demanding more in addition to what was loaned. Since the mathematical laws of usury are without repeal, a fixed and stable supply of currency will always buckle under the weight of compounding unlawful usury. When this happens, the currency will eventually collapse and the disenfranchised poor will be the first affected. Many others will soon follow.

In a vain attempt to meet usury’s demands, the advice modern economists give is to expand the supply of currency. When this is done by favored government corporatists, this monetary technique is known as inflation, but when it is done by common people, it is known as the crime of counterfeiting currency. Since all new fiat currency is loaned into circulation by central banks, no amount of monetary inflation can effectively outrun the growing mathematical demand for currency that accompanies widespread usury. Then by controlling credit, the usurers may better pick economic winners and losers.

It is mathematically impossible to inflate currency to keep up with the demands of compounded interest. Along with the expansion of inflation, usurers have the best credit and ever more money to lend to ever more desperate borrowers. Usurers get richer and those who labor become poorer.

Corporatist central bank usurers have received a government-granted license to “create” legal tender currency so they are most protected from the effects of inflation. They just make more currency as they need it to extend more credit as it suits them. The major concerns of such legal counterfeiters center around keeping the public ignorant of their true character and activities, not the fear of any impoverishment they might experience from their wicked practices. As long as the public remains fooled, the currency “expanders” will always have money aplenty.

Given enough time, the insatiable demands of usury will eventually outstrip any possible supply of money along with the value of all goods and assets. In an attempt to meet the demands for usury, capital is stripped from producers, shortages increase, prices rise, and the poorest are forced to pay what is dearest to them. This entire scheme is by any measure, wicked and unsustainable.

A consortium of central banks are locked in a death grip with the people of the world. The common people will either be constrained in debt-slavery, consumed altogether, or the predator will be killed and the victims liberated from its death grip. Thankfully, God has woven into the fabric of creation the eventual collapse of every usurious economy. Christ’s judgments and disciplines cannot be altered by any doctrine based upon legalism or the force of mankind’s political will. Christ is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

Increasing the velocity of currency in commerce or any temporary economic development moneylenders and politicians claim to provide cannot reverse this trend. Usury will eventually debase everything of value. Such evil practices corrupt social and commercial intercourse, monetary weights and measures, goodwill, peace, and love between neighbors. All that is efficient, artful, and beautiful is in jeopardy when usurers dictate economic policy and are allowed to get their teeth into a nation.

If it were not for the implicit or explicit approval of those who have crept into the Church and claim to be priests and ministers of Christ our Lord, the evils of usury could not be broadly practiced today. By their complicity and even encouragement, international usury has grown to become a scourge upon every nation. They shall have their day of reckoning when the Lord of Righteousness comes knocking on the door of all unrepentant usurers. Fine vestments, liturgical traditions, or even the practice of Holy Sacraments cannot shield leaders who claim to speak for Christ and do not teach righteousness. God’s wrath will find them when it is kindled but a little. Judgment begins with the House of God, and He will surely judge all who support the oppression of usury. Warnings from James and Paul come down to us through the ages:

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (I Timothy 6:9–10)

Below are listed some practical steps a nation can take to roll back the evil of usury.

First, usurious contracts must not be enforced against any person or nation that is not a declared enemy. Government courts and authorities must not enforce any unlawful, immoral usurious contract. Support for these unrighteous contracts turns law and justice upside down. The invention of more and more regulations, taxes, inflation, and the addition of greater police power cannot save a practice that is unsustainable and, by its very nature, sinful. All legalisms forming a basis for the continued practice of usury must be repudiated and abandoned.

Second, God’s law declaring usury is sin does not mean that voluntary debts are sinful. Debt may be unwise in some cases, but it is not a priori a sin for someone to borrow. However, once a person enters into voluntary debt, it is a sinful form of theft for the borrower to shirk repayment. It should be obvious that all borrowed principal sums must be repaid to a lender. But given the unlawfulness of usury, no borrower owes any interest. Nevertheless, owing no interest does not relieve the borrower from an obligation to repay the principal amount of the loan that he decided to borrow.

Third, since usury is a form of theft, justice demands if borrowers have paid any usury or interest on any loans, this portion of their payments must be credited toward the principal amount owed. Any usury paid in excess of the principal amount borrowed must be refunded to the borrower. Thus, both the borrower and lender will each retain what belongs to them.

Fourth, individuals who own usurious lending institutions, including stockholders, must be held personally liable for usury and fraud committed on their watch. If a lending business does not have the means to compensate victims, then as a percentage of ownership in the unrighteous corporation, justice requires that shareholders must proportionately compensate any identifiable victims of usury. Justice recognizes no limited liability from such damages and governments cannot justly invent laws to further any practice that is immoral. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

Saving faith requires a sinner to turn away from sin and to provide restitution for any wrongs suffered by victims. Without this kind of repentance, one should not expect salvation. Usurers might falsely imagine they can commit frauds upon the innocent, extort usury with impunity, keep the booty, and still inherit eternal life. They are wrong. If usurers remain unrepentant, church attendance and the practice of Holy Sacraments will only witness against them. A Father of the Church, St. Ambrose, quotes Ezekiel 18:13 and states clearly, “If someone accepts usury, he commits robbery, he shall not live.” (De Bono Mortis, s.56)

Usurers not only oppress real people, but they also offend the Lord by despising His commandments. Thus, without repentance no sinner can escape God’s judgment. Since Jesus was judged in the place of His people, it is immeasurably better to trust in His forgiveness and identify with the Savior now, than to stand alone before God and be judged for one’s own sins on Judgment Day.

2.

End Unjust Wars

THE DEFENSE OF CITIZENS is a most basic national duty. As collective organizations, nations must protect themselves, make their own decisions about defense and accept the consequences of their actions. The purpose of a just war is to defend against invasion and provide peace and liberty at home.

A case for war must be abundantly clear if citizens are to avoid the sins inherent in unjust wars. Because all people are universally accountable to God for all they do, actions involving war are judged no differently than other human conduct. When it comes to killing others, the standard required by justice is understandably very high. Decisions and actions involving war must always be disciplined and subordinated to God’s will. The use of military force must be limited to resisting evil and imposing God’s demands of justice upon those who oppress the innocent.

Unjust wars are mass murder. Nations that begin killing without a clear mandate from God commit serious transgressions. The Lord of Heaven and Earth sees all. He will defend the innocent and discipline individuals, mobs, and nations who murder. When a nation forgets God and begins a war without just cause, she invites a curse, not a blessing. When unjust wars are sown abroad, judgment shall eventually be reaped at home. All who desire safety and security should honor the Prince of Peace and oppose all unjust wars. Jesus promises us, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

Christians are enjoined to go to war only in the name of Christ and only with an intent to do the will of God. It is generally true that Whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). All who agree to fight, materially support, or monetarily finance a war effort must be convinced they are doing the will of God. Free, righteous people will not agree to start killing others either directly or through the proxy of mercenaries merely because government officials give them a job and demand their allegiance.

Saints who pursue peace must not be deterred by nationalistic propaganda campaigns designed to promote godless war. They must also resist enthusiasm for hasty war initiatives from national leaders, friends, or the public at large. Souls who follow the ways of the Prince of Peace should remember their Christian Baptism because this sacrament is an exclusive declaration of allegiance to Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Any subsequent allegiance to a government by Christians should only be understood in light of the Holy Sacrament of Christian Baptism.

When nations ignore the commandments of Christ and begin unjust wars, it will eventually lead to their destruction. As we see from the examples of Egypt and Rome, the bigger they are, the harder they will fall. The Lord will surely judge proud nations that initiate unjust wars. If they live by the sword, which is signified by a principle of violence, they will die by the sword. Justice cannot result from war or any violent conflict that is initiated without just cause. Since Christ is the Prince of Peace and Lord of lords, He rules the nations and directs them wheresoever He will. So His saints shall overcome the way of the oppressor either by peacemaking or a just war, but in any case, only according to God’s will.

War can be a tempting pretext for those who desire authoritarian control and legalistic tyranny over nations. War provides opportunity for a godless government to expand involuntary debts and advance the commercial interests of favored insiders. Today’s empire-building is about the global advance of crony corporatism involving money, oil, natural resources, drugs, military arms, and other economic materials. The war goals of godless leaders are not hard to discern: dominate weak nations, plunder their resources, and as the social instability and fear caused by war allows, increase public dependency and debts upon all citizens. Ungodly wars expand debt-slavery upon victim populations. International usurers have a perverse incentive to prolong conflicts, extend emergency conditions, and generally increase the economic subjugation of the people. It is well-known that international usurers finance both sides of these wars. The greater the crisis, the more victim populations become pliable and willing to accept greater involuntary debts and the legalism of regulatory controls.

No-win conflicts allow usurers time to move financial minions and central banking institutions into strategic places to manage a post-war economy. International usurers anticipate the imposition of post-war government loans and economic development policies to provide a steady source of usury for many years. Economic reforms are enacted, regulations are expanded, the production of currency is controlled, and taxation is increased so with each passing year, a subjugated people become more compliant.

Is there a better tool to oppress the public than a strong military or internal security force? The wicked look for ways to justify military spending, to advance their power over other nations, and to maintain mercenaries at home and throughout the world. But even a powerful military is rarely allowed to win a war and bring conflict to a speedy conclusion. Military forces are often used to control weak nations and intimidate others who have not yet been goaded into conflict. Warmongers now employ aircraft drones to incite war because dropping bombs in nations where there is no declared war can expand the conflict and warrant more intervention. This practice is wicked and must be immediately stopped.

Today’s popular wars often have no defined enemies who can speak for themselves and negotiate peace. Victim populations can only stand by, try to stay out of the way, and hope the war is soon over. The multitude of refugees and the ensuing economic crisis war brings should not go unnoticed. Effective propaganda campaigns expand war-making possibilities so wars may be extended over decades while peace is kept just out of reach.

Propagandists wrap justifications for war in catch-phrases and the brightly colored flags of patriotism: “preserve our way of life,” “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here,” “secure the homeland,” “protect our national interests,” “save the oppressed from an evil foreign dictator,” etc. Propaganda is a wicked tool in the mouth of a liar. It is amazing how easily the public falls for these superficial propaganda campaigns.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by Hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. (James 3:5–9)

Most nations are filled with people who wish to avoid war at almost any cost. Common citizens rarely profit from war because war demands extreme sacrifices and represents an imminent hazard to life and property. Christians must not be drawn into schemes of oppression and killing others simply because intense propaganda campaigns have made war seem to be a popular and even a necessary effort.

Since war means killing people, citizens should only act upon hard evidence of an attack that includes the specific identification of an enemy nation or group, and never upon unsubstantiated information. Godly citizens cannot be expected to trust the testimony of anonymous classified intelligence sources who do not stand for public cross examination, honor God’s law, or disclose clear evidence why war is the only remaining option available to resolve conflict with another nation. If the case for just war is not obvious, the time for killing is not ripe. For similar reasons, secret murder trials and executions are forbidden. Before initiating war, citizens must receive open and public information so they can make their own informed decisions based upon verifiable facts.

Christians should demand the repudiation of all international defense treaties and entangling alliances that commit them to defend other nations who have not committed to follow the way of Christ. Each nation should be responsible to pursue peace with other nations on Christ’s terms. Making peace is a serious business, and it is best done one person and one nation at a time. Peace cannot be imposed on those who reject the Prince of Peace and who stubbornly seek to establish their own godless will as normative for society.

When nations do not sincerely seek peace with neighboring nations, and unless their conduct is righteous, they should not expect military aid from others. Righteous wars are the Lord’s discipline to teach hostile nations to observe what He has commanded. A nation must not become embroiled in conflicts between other nations that are not aligned with Christ. But even in victory, without a clear understanding of the will of God involving the application of justice, no nation can hope to bring peace and reconciliation between waring nations. Peace is possible because Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, but it can only be realized when the involved nations become committed to do justice.

If war has no just mandate, it must be brought to a swift end and standing military units should be disbanded. The majority of military assets should be distributed to the several States on a per capita basis. To the extent the several States deem necessary, they should raise militias to defend their own lands. Military assets should be retained in Federal hands only for the purpose of protecting international commerce in bordering seas and oceans (Bering, Caribbean, Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific) and to defend all U.S. borders against invasion. In times of peace the Federal government should maintain a military force sufficient only to protect the free flow of international commerce. If poor international relationships exist, wisdom may require some advance defensive preparations, but only those that are justified by open and public information. This may alarm career military officers, but if we learn to make peace and do justice, maintaining a perpetual war-footing should not be a national objective.

Volume of military assets must not be determined by “intelligence” experts and career military personnel who lobby for maintaining a strong military-industrial complex. Intel and military experts, consultants, lobbyists, etc. circulate continuously within industry, congress, the executive, and military brass who recommend money for “defense” buildups at politically expedient, maximum levels. These advocates may be alternately employed by government or industry. By any measure, the business of war involves huge, lucrative markets.

Public and private companies that supply materiel, subcontract for “security contracts,” private occupation forces, software for logistics, spying, military ship and aircraft builders, etc., all hire permanent employees and seek to maximize their profits for their shareholders. These natural conditions combine to create a substantial conflict of interest for defense contractors because their goal is to encourage the continued use of their products and services. The military-industrial complex is more than eager to provide ready assistance during times of conflict, most desirably, long conflicts. With the end of the cold war, new enemies must be found to expand new war-markets, reduce inventories of materiel, energize research, provide employment, and market “defensive arms” to vulnerable nations who just happen to have the natural resources to pay for military buildups. War is simply great for business! Besides, who really wants to make agricultural implements like plowshares and pruning hooks?

How might we control military spending? When commercial goods are received or exported from a port of entry, all of the cost of Federal military security that is needed to protect international supply chains should be added to the cost of directly affected goods. All goods should carry their own total costs so imported and exported goods have the added costs of security incident to transport. This “user pays” approach affects the degree of needed security efforts and the cost-impact related markets must bear. If the cost of security makes trade in international goods less profitable than is trade in domestic goods, then local production may fill market needs by offering a better price and/or a more secure supply. As peaceful nations prosper, the resultant market response will improve service, security, and lower supply chain costs. This will limit the need for funds and military operations since expensive, insecure supply chains will be naturally and peacefully discouraged while market forces go to work.

Domestic producers and consumers should not be forced by indiscriminate direct taxation to subsidize the security of international supply chains where they have no direct commercial interest. It is unjust to tax people or goods to pay for international security when the taxed goods are not directly related to commerce that is supported by government provided services. By subsidizing the transportation of goods through lands where security costs are high, perverse incentives are created for merchants to enter risky ventures with uncertain allies. Tax schemes that transfer these business risks to disinterested taxpayers confuse important cost-benefit calculations and the just distribution of costs in the marketplace. Such indiscriminate and direct taxes are simply unjust and therefore, not in the nation’s interest. If merchants and consumers bear their own security costs, they will decide if costs are too high from one source and will seek to develop more cost efficient and secure supply chains for needed goods.

If merchants desire to take advantage of commercial security services provided by a foreign nation, they should pay an equitable portion of the related security costs. For example, if the Atlantic Ocean remains free of piracy because of the presence of the U.S. Navy, then merchants who ship goods from England to Brazil should pay an equitable portion of the cost of this protection—that is, if they wish to receive the benefit of such security. Nations should cover their own security needs, launch their own navies, or pool their efforts to cooperate with other nations to protect the transportation of their goods. In any case, tax schemes must not be imposed broadly upon United States citizens to subsidize military security services for the benefit of favored merchants in markets related to the production and transportation of crude oil, fuels, chemicals and manufactured products from the Middle East or other politically unstable areas of the world.

Thus, “user pays” is the only equitable way to deal with the cost of commercial security. Of course, any navy that receives a distress call should be a good Samaritan and rescue or protect wayfarers or commercial enterprises that have encountered emergency conditions. But just policies should rule out continued dependence upon security services maintained at the expense of people who are not directly involved in the commerce of such goods.

Since the work of security is not a war-making effort, protection of commerce might even be privatized. Although waging war must never become a profitable business venture, services that provide security can be contracted and might be a good business. Unlike empire building, the maintenance of security is purely a defensive practice. Eligibility to provide security services might be subject to competition for the best service at the best price. This is similar to the way security guards are hired for many enterprises, but on a larger scale. Although the privatization of international security efforts is not the only possible solution, it may be a way to provide cost-competitive private security services for smaller nations. Since services provided by governments always tend toward monopoly and inefficiency, privatized security may be more efficient for specific merchants who must minimize the cost of import duties on goods destined for price-competitive markets.

In summary, the use of military operations and assets must be consistent with God’s will. Nations who wish to promote peace must end the practice of empire-building with its predatory militarism. Ungodly war always leads to injustice and a curse upon nations who seek the unrighteous domination of others. In times of peace, when no godly war is being waged, troops should be brought home and disbanded and military hardware sold, converted to a peaceful use (e.g. plowshares), or distributed to the several States. The Federal government should maintain only needed personnel and those assets necessary to secure national borders and provide international security for commerce. All the costs of commercial security must be borne by those merchants and consumers who benefit from such activity.

Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace teaches His followers to implement peace on Earth and goodwill toward all people.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days

That the mountain of the LORD’s house

Shall be established on the top of the mountains,

And shall be exalted above the hills;

And all nations shall flow to it.

Many people shall come and say,

“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

He will teach us His ways,

And we shall walk in His paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2–4)

3.

Repudiate Public Debts

JUSTICE DEMANDS the repudiation of all involuntary debts. Involuntary debts are typically imposed upon citizens by direct taxation. Such debts include public obligations created when legal tender currency is loaned into circulation, government borrowing, municipal bonds, and tax levies. It is always unjust to compel individual free people to pay debts when they 1) had no prior knowledge of the conditions of a loan, 2) were unaware of the repayment terms, 3) did not receive the loaned principal in the first place and 4) in fact, never personally agreed to borrow anything of value. Justice does not permit any free person to be compelled into debt for any reason.

Over the last few centuries the practice of usury has become common throughout society. Usurers have exploited the popular acceptance of usury to entrap individual free citizens in involuntary public indebtedness. They expand credit and lobby lawmakers to invent spending schemes that create financial dependency among social subgroups while adding to public debts. It is assumed the debts created to advance the goals of politicians must be paid by someone. These debts are broadly imposed upon citizens and payment is demanded from targeted individuals and commercial organizations.

Government employees become so corrupted by these practices they are ever more enthusiastic to expand the involuntary debts that are forced upon the public. The default political policy becomes to borrow, spend, and tax. This oppressive policy is welcomed by commercial banks, commercial investment funds, and individual bondholders who seek monetary profits from the injustice of involuntary public debt. Creditors and their lobbyists induce governments to borrow and police powers are unleashed to collect involuntary debt payments from reluctant citizens. Citizens are classified individually with identification numbers so as taxpayers, their private transactions can be monitored and audited at the option of the enforcers. By any measure, the expansion of involuntary public debts is corruption and racketeering that must be addressed by the imposition of God’s justice.

The practice of usury in the hands of a government becomes a sticky, complex web of entrapment. It wraps its filaments around human souls and their property. It is anchored by many powerful elements within banking, commerce, and government. These interests combine to advance parasitic practices that suck lifeblood from everyone involved in the economy. Nevertheless, economists and political scientists are taught in universities that public and private debt involving interest is absolutely necessary for the advancement of commerce. People educated in this way often claim, “A nation simply cannot have a modern economy without interest lending practices and public debt.” Nearly everyone in society has accepted this false line of reasoning and is personally involved in usury of one kind or another.

Because of this widespread practice of usury, common people lack discernment to understand the nature of the problem of public debts. Many citizens have unclean hands, having “invested” in all kinds of popular “instruments” such as CD’s, U.S. Savings Bonds, municipal bonds, bank stocks, etc. Through these investments, common people have been recruited to become part of the involuntary debt scheme. Their participation per- petuates a cycle of abuse leading to poverty for the many hardworking taxpayers who work every day to add to the supply of goods and services in the economy.

God hates hypocrisy for its deceitfulness. The hearts of common usurers become hardened and their conscience dulled. Only usurers argue for usury. But since so many have succumbed to its temptation, demanding usury from debtors does not particularly bother most common citizens. Nearly everyone has invested in some kind of usury. Having been corrupted by a lust for unrighteous gain, they are without divine power to resist their own debt-slavery. They have drowned out the voice of the Holy Spirit and stopped their ears to the Word of God. They are reaping what they have sown.

As God’s discipline upon the nation runs its course, petty usurers are on the receiving end of what they have been seeking from others—with interest added! The widespread practice of usury has enabled conspiring international usurers to steal by imposing debt-slavery upon many nations. With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. What usury petty usurers have taken, is now taking them. Thus, since numerous small-time usurers weaken the resolve of the nation to do what is right, they bring a curse upon themselves and oppression upon their neighbors.

While many citizens were hard at work and mostly minding their own business, they foolishly trusted their government to protect their assets from fraud and theft. But because so many citizens have dabbled in petty usury, they have suffered the blinding effects of this sin. Priests and ministers who had a duty to warn them fell silent and are now soundly asleep—not the peaceful sleep of saints who have found their rest in Christ, but the oblivion of those who turn away from God’s justice. They have been compromised by the ungodly mantra that in the typical course of business a little usury is legitimate—and even needed! For many years, usurers and their allies both within and without Christian congregations have encouraged the practice of usury. But judgment must begin with the household of God. With the general public corrupted by the practice of usury, very little resolve can be mustered by them to object to involuntary public debt. They become blind to the problem—until perhaps it is explained by someone with understanding. May God have mercy upon us!

Involuntary debt is immoral by whatever name it is called. It may be called “national debt,” but it is nonetheless sinful and unjust to compel payment from individual citizens who have not agreed to the terms or scope of the loans in question. This practice cannot be justified no matter how long involuntary debt has been collected, how many people rely upon its lucre, what legalistic laws of the nation teach on the subject, what judges or politicians say about it, or how misguided are the souls who enforce what is wrongly called “repayment.”

Justice demands the repudiation of all loans to government made by creating credit. This includes all municipal bonds, treasury securities, liens upon property (i.e. land taxes), and any other kind of loans to any department of government—with or without prior majority voter agreement. Voter approval cannot lawfully authorize public debt because no act of voting can ever justify the oppression of any minority group.

The repudiation of all involuntary debt must include all principal and interest. This is justified because such loans are applied by deceitful means without the approval of all would-be future debtors and because payments are extorted from individuals by the threat of force. No person or their representatives in government can lawfully compel individual free people to become surety for any debt, personal or public. Therefore, it is unjust to demand payment even of the loan principal from individuals because no individual debtor can be identified who has consented to the loans in question or has even received or spent the loan principal in the first place.

If people who wish to be free of usury are willing to repent of their own usury and keep the Tenth Commandment by not coveting anything that belongs to their neighbor, it is only a matter of time before the specter of massive involuntary public debt will trouble citizens no more. A holy life is power because Christ the Lord defends the innocent, but He does not defend those who reject His ways. This oppression could end very rapidly, but citizens must first be truthful about the injustice of debt-slavery. They must bring the wickedness of these practices out into the light of day. They must first cleanse their own hands and afterwards demand in the name of Christ to immediately repudiate all involuntary debts. Let all the saints honor Christ and “proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.” (Leviticus 25:10)

4.

Meet Government Financial Obligations

THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES there is much concern about whether the Federal government can meet its financial obligations. As a matter of justice and to the fullest extent possible, a government must meet all true financial obligations. Nevertheless, the means government uses to meet obligations must be compatible with God’s justice. As we covered in the preceding section, there is no just way to require the public to pay involuntary debts. But there are other government outlays that do not arise directly from borrowing. Some of these are obligations, while others are only handouts.

Obligations involve contracts of one kind or another. Examples include the so-called Social Security System, government purchases of goods and/or services, and employee costs including pensions. Handouts are so-called “welfare programs” created by government fiat, but are not supported by any contractual obligation. Examples of handouts are the USDA Food Stamp program, drug subsidies, and thousands of other programs, grants, commodity price supports, and subsidies to educational institutions and favored corporations.

The term “welfare” is often used to indicate handouts involving government payments and/or services that are expected or even promised, but where the recipient has made no specific prior investment of money or labor. Such government subsidy programs invite people and corporations to reap where they have not sown and gather where they have scattered no seed. This chapter concerns true financial obligations of the government. Handouts are not true obligations and cannot be collected or paid without creating an injustice upon the citizens.

Let us consider in some depth the largest and most notable government obligation, commonly called “Social Security.” Before the Social Security plan was implemented, government officials and legislators made serious promises and representations to the public concerning its overall soundness and function. One promise made was that all funds collected would go into a separate trust fund that would never be encumbered by other obligations. Nevertheless, within a generation of when this system was established the trustees betrayed the public by borrowing from the trust fund to cover other spending programs, including handouts. Not only have these funds been misappropriated, but when this is compounded with the changing national demographics, there are ever fewer workers to pay in cash in an effort to maintain the fund’s solvency. Thus, young workers and employers continue to suffer heavy direct taxation to provide a stream of payments that can only cover current obligations.

To confound things even further, other handout programs (Medicaid, Medicare, etc.) have, in the minds of the people, become entangled with the concept of the original Social Security plan. Savvy young workers no longer expect to receive promised Social Security benefits after they invest and when they reach retirement age. When people believe they are free to invent laws and covet what belongs to their neighbors, what is promised today will of necessity be taken away tomorrow. This is the Lord’s discipline upon a wayward nation.

With the original introduction of Social Security, legislators promised the plan would be voluntary. No one would be forced to participate. That is why people must sign up individually and are not merely assigned an account by the government. The plan was sold to the public as a form of insurance to be administered by the government and backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States.” However, the Social Security program has since devolved into a compulsory system for everyone—except government employees! The Social Security program is supported by involuntary payments extorted directly from individuals and from employers in the form of an excise employment tax. By any measure, these enrollment and collection practices are unjust and oppressive.

In an effort to push the eventual day of reckoning further into the future, government administrators make increasing demands for cash from young workers and the already vested citizens. But it is never enough. The Social Security plan has devolved into a classic Ponzi scheme and in order for it to continue, fraud, deceit, and coercion have become integral to the strategy. One might observe at least one important difference between today’s Social Security plan and a classic Ponzi scheme: no one is obligated to participate in a private Ponzi scheme, but the current Social Security system does not allow private citizens and employers to walk away without “investing.” The threat of violence to employees and employers by government agents is simply too great to ignore.

The Social Security System represents a solemn stewardship obligation of the U.S. government that cannot be evaded without providing compensation to investors. Justice demands these obligations must be fulfilled to the fullest extent possible. But it would be wrong to extort more money from private employers and employees to cover the government’s misconduct. The whole program has become unrighteous, untenable, and must be promptly discontinued.

The cost of winding up the Social Security plan should include payments to beneficiaries after adjustment for inflation. It should be obvious the government cannot meet its obligations by a simple return of the original investment based on today’s inflated Federal Reserve Note “dollars.” Nevertheless, the government must be responsible to compensate investors by paying real commodity-based money or money equivalents that represent an honest accounting and consideration regarding these obligations.

The Social Security Administration has records of individual deposits during the years money was collected from citizens and employees. Thus, a proper allocation of financial obligations can be made based on the number of years each deposit was entrusted to the government and the typical commodity exchange rate of U.S. currency at the time. Until such an honest accounting has been completed, the government cannot begin to satisfy its stewardship obligations to investors.

In addition to satisfying its Social Security obligations, the government has other commitments that must be considered. These include contractual obligations to employees and military personnel. The way forward should be clear. All contracts for government services that do not directly affect the administration of justice or the defense of commerce should be wound up with reasonable and customary cancellation penalties paid to employees and contractors. Future government employment must be limited to what is necessary to secure the liberty of citizens and protect commerce, but only to the extent that debt-free funds are available from security-related import/export duties, fees, and related excise taxes.

It is obvious that God’s law does not allow government to steal property via taxation from some citizens in order to provide benefits or what are euphemistically called “entitlements” to others. All such theft is a violation of the Eighth Commandment, You shall not steal. No individual or collective government is above God’s law. Because we are so easily inclined toward covetousness, we must always be careful to guard our hearts and in obedience to the Lord, always keep the Eighth and Tenth Commandments.

Theft is a revolt against God’s will. Theft is a rejection of the truth that God distributes the goods of His creation among stewards of His own choosing. Faith and obedience toward God always ensure the best possible outcome in the distribution of wealth. What God does is good. Taxes taken for the purpose of benefiting special political interests cannot be justly enforced because such a practice is contrary to the will of God. No act of congress, ruling by a court, or executive order can overturn God’s commandments. For those who have become entangled in promoting this rebellion against God’s law, repentance is necessary. For repentance to be sincere, it must be evidenced by the cessation of extortion, fraud, theft, with restitution paid to those who have been damaged.

We must also consider that government obligations cannot be discharged by monetization. Merely printing currency and expanding the electronic “money” supply to pay obligations with cheap currency is a form of fraud, and therefore also is theft. Monetization with fiat currency—or what might more forth-rightly be called “counterfeiting”—functions like a direct tax, and this always defrauds present currency holders of earned value, which thereby increases injustice.

Proponents of debt monetization deceitfully blame others by attempting to tie the debasement of currency to “inflated” prices, as if merchants were simply raising prices. But any purposeful dilution of the market value of currency is only another form of theft. The ends of satisfying government financial obligations cannot justify any unjust means of collection. All lawful government obligations must be met, unjust government handout programs must be abolished, and all compensation must be administered only in a way that is just. Therefore, the U.S. government must meet its stewardship obligations without creating additional evils.

The answer to unwinding government obligations is really quite simple, but the solution might never occur to those who worship the largess of the Federal government. If no honest commodity money is available to pay obligations, the government-as-debtor must liquidate assets to meet its contractual obligations. It makes absolutely no sense for government stewards to claim poverty when it comes to meeting government financial obligations. Settling debts is basic to any godly behavior. And above all, government ministers must lead by doing justice.

The U.S. government possesses millions and millions of acres of valuable land, many millions of square feet under roof, prime real estate, golf courses, buildings, monuments, gem and art treasures, airfields, dock facilities, ships, helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, rolling stock, postal services, dams, hydroelectric facilities, bridges, highways, mineral rights, gold, silver, base and rare metals, petroleum, and etc. It is unrighteous for the government to hold many valuable assets and at the same time, claim it cannot meet its solemn financial obligations. It is always a form of theft to avoid paying a debt when the assets are available to do so. The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. (Psalm 37:21)

Government administrators and stewards must act responsibly because that is what justice requires from every debtor. God’s law applies equally to individual private citizens and to collective governments. People cannot justly empower a government to evade the requirements of what is justice, be it by democratic vote or some other mechanism. Therefore, no government is free to ignore its true financial obligations. In fact, those who serve in government must do justice by setting the highest standard of ethical financial conduct.

Some people may argue that if government assets are liquidated to meet financial commitments, it would diminish government’s ability to serve the public. Such an argument is absurd to any reasonable person! As stewards of the public trust, government agents must employ all the property they hold to advance the cause of justice among the people. Free people of the nation are the government asset owners of last resort, so they must always be the object of government service. After all, free people created and incorporated the government in the first place. It should be obvious that a government is only a collective trustee and steward of public assets. Since free people already have authority to alter or abolish their created government administration and replace it with a more just one, they certainly have the authority to instruct their government stewards to liquidate property to meet present financial obligations.

All government assets should be ranked by priority of use and sold as needed for commodity-money. With the case of real property, certificates of title to such government assets may be used to settle accounts. As we have seen earlier, taxpayers would be defrauded if government properties were liquidated for fiat currency. A central bank must not be allowed to seemingly create currency out of thin air and extend credit to crony capitalists so they might buy up (take over) Federal assets. In many countries this practice is often called by the name “privatization.” The expansion of fiat currency and credit to privileged interests cannot be used as a strategy to settle outstanding government debts because the expansion of credit only compounds the injustice of inflation.

In any case, government property must be sold only for real commodity money or transferred at market value by receipt to those who have a legitimate claim for recompense. In all this, it should be understood that private ownership of property will encourage the responsible use of land and other assets acquired by such a settlement.

It is acknowledged that people who wish to expand the sphere of an oppressive government will strongly object to this logical and just approach to the settlement of government obligations. The wicked will attempt to use the present crisis to expand government injustice rather than employ government property to advance true justice and reconciliation. Citizens should tolerate no whining from their government stewards and special interest supporters regarding the need to liquidate government assets. Multiplying injustice to avoid government financial obligations is like a millionaire who steals from his poor neighbors in order to pay his own debts. Uncooperative servants who refuse to implement justice must be dismissed from employment. By their continued misconduct, they have preemptively forfeited any constructive role in government.

In summary, government stewards must pursue all lawful means to meet all true financial obligations. All government assets should be available to back up the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. It will take some time to bring justice and responsibility to government, but the citizens’ only other option is slavery to a Federal State administered by lazy, self-absorbed bureaucracies and directed by corrupt crony capitalists. The work of reform must now begin and the sooner the better! It is long past the time for a day of reckoning. To permit the present ungodly financial practices to continue is to pursue a course of slavery instead of a way that leads to liberty. The way ahead is clear and if justice is to be done, the people have no other righteous option. Justice delayed is justice denied.

5.

End Direct Taxes

DIRECT TAXES are those taxes a government enacts and the public approves simply because of an authoritarian decree, by legislative edict or by the will of the people. But governments are not justified in taking someone’s property simply by calling the process a “tax.” Legislators and government agents often act as if by chanting the word tax again and again they could invoke some kind of magical spell that can convey title to private property into their hands. But legitimate taxes require justification. This chapter examines the question of what is a just, versus an unjust tax.

When asked about the justification of a particular tax Jesus answered, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). Many church leaders and nearly all contemporary political leaders teach that this answer means all people must pay whatever legalist lawmakers and government agents choose to call a “tax.” But Jesus does not command everyone to give up everything Caesar demands. No one—including Caesar—is above God’s law. Since God grants no exemption for theft, His prohibition applies to all people and collectives of people regardless of their social or political status. To suggest men employed by the government may name-and-claim anything they covet from others is the same as saying the government owns everything. If the government owns everything, then by definition, it cannot steal.

It certainly is true that God owns everything, but to believe the government owns everything is to equate the government with God. This clearly is idolatry, and it certainly is not the teaching of Jesus. During his confrontation with the thieves in the temple court, Jesus referred to specific coins that were marked as Caesar’s property. Upon Caesar’s decree, these particular coins must be rendered unto him in the form of taxes. This is a good reason to avoid using Caesar’s coins in the first place!

Christians should pay all taxes that are due. But what is due? Since God makes all the rules, when there is any uncertainty about the use of coercion to enforce tax rules, wise men will not go beyond what is clear in God’s law. Justice will only compel people to pay a tax when they are individually required to do so by God’s explicit commandments and related sanctions. But God has given us no laws or sanctions by which to require the payment of direct taxes. If Church and political leaders are righteous, they would not falsely teach that any and all taxes demanded by a government are de facto God’s will for society.

The justice or injustice of taxation ultimately boils down to a matter that is decided by God’s Eighth Commandment, You shall not steal. Accordingly, there are only three possible means by which the government may obtain property: 1) the property is stolen, 2) the property comes by way of sales or excise taxes on goods related to a voluntary exchange of property, or 3) citizens voluntarily donate property. In a free society, all taxes are voluntary and must not be coerced. The subject of taxation must be considered in light of the fact that God has not delegated authority to any government to seize property that belongs to one of God’s stewards.

The Apostle Paul instructs us concerning taxation in the following context:

Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:5–7)

It is evident from this passage that the Apostle Paul does not attempt to define all ethical applications related to specific taxes, customs, fear, and honor. If early Christians understood Paul to advocate unqualified fear and honor toward any government, then no Christian would have suffered martyrdom. Paul’s instructions here should not be understood to mean that civil government employees are exempt from keeping the Eighth Commandment. This admonition by Paul is similar to our Lord’s instructions about carrying a pack two miles instead of the one mile demanded, giving a shirt also to one who demanded only a coat, turning the other cheek, doing good to those who hate you, etc. Obviously, it is not God’s will for His followers to hit people in the face, demand others turn over their clothes, or press people into involuntary service at the point of a spear.

Jesus reasons it may be wise to pay a direct tax in certain circumstances, even when the tax is not just in the first place.

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the Earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:25–26)

Since the direct tax noted here is not justly owed, such a tax payment is like a gift. To avoid offense and for the sake of peace, if Christians elect to pay direct taxes they do not justly owe, God can always be trusted to provide whatever is necessary for their sustenance. Christians should not give the impression to those who worship mammon that money means everything to Christians, because such a message would reinforce idolatry. Nevertheless, the choice to pay a tax while under threat does not somehow justify everything government employees call a tax, because that would be an attempt to justify extortion. We might pay a tax only because as much as it is possible with us, we try to be at peace with people—even with our enemies! Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9). Since we trust God for all our needs, we are free to believe and act as if peace is better than money, which it is.

It must be admitted that the legitimacy of taxes can be a confusing issue. But if there is doubt concerning the legitimacy of a tax, the only safe conclusion is that since it is clear God opposes all theft and He does not specifically authorize any direct taxes, Christ’s followers should oppose any tax while its lawfulness is open to question. Although some people may be unsure of God’s will regarding taxes, everyone can be sure about God’s will in regards to theft. Thus, the burden of proof rests upon anyone who would wish to justify a specific tax.

Let us now look in greater detail at 1) direct, coerced taxes, 2) voluntarily paid, indirect taxes, and 3) donations to government.

1. Direct, coerced taxes

God’s law does not delegate authority for any government to punish a failure to pay direct taxes. Apart from God’s specific sanctions, it is unjust to coerce anyone to do anything, to put people in cages or to seize their dwellings and property. Government employees have received no authority from God to invent punishments for people who refuse to pay direct taxes. When legalistic penalties are imposed that God has not commanded, an injustice always is done.

One might wonder why God did not clearly delegate direct taxing authority to governments. After all, many people think this is a critical matter for the maintenance of civil government. God exists beyond time and space and orders all things according to His will. By what frame of reference can anyone judge God’s undisclosed reasons for anything—as if He left something out? The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Today compulsory direct taxes are paid on land, personal property and whatever happens to be legalistically defined as “income.” Taxpayers grudgingly comply because the government employees use threats and police powers to extort these direct taxes. When compulsory direct taxes are not paid timely, government agents use the threat of force to obtain compliance. To ensure compulsory tax schemes will consistently raise money, government agents prepare to meet all resistance with escalating force until a taxpayer surrenders payment or is killed and his property is seized. This is not an overstatement. If anyone refuses to pay direct taxes, attempts to defend himself in his home, or refuses to be kidnapped, government minions will enlist the help of military-styled SWAT teams. If unconditional surrender cannot be obtained, they will invade and kill the victim on his own land. In such cases, government agents are trained to “send a strong, clear message” to all subjects and taxpayers whom they believe they can control by such violent means.

Direct taxation is unjust and, if permitted, will eventually send any free nation into a spiral of decline. The more unjust taxes are, the less willing productive citizens are to pay. The less willing are citizens to pay, the more force and intimidation is required to separate citizens from their property. The more force and intimidation the government applies, the less confidence productive citizens have in government’s administration of justice. The less confidence there is in government ethics, the more politicians will bribe voters with promises of more benefits if they support more of this unfortunate regression. Violence is increased, producers lose confidence to make future investments, so on and on it goes. This kind of oppression is never good for a nation because when injustice is permitted to operate unchallenged it always carries with it a curse from almighty God. Thankfully, the Lord Christ will discipline such a nation, and if they are stiff necked and refuse obey His laws, He will destroy them and their schemes so they can trouble the Earth no more.

But some may contend the government must help people by providing benefits to them. Some people even go so far as to suggest that direct taxation is a “Christian approach” to social justice. On the surface, it appears the government is being charitable by providing economic benefits—until one investigates how such a scheme actually works. Government can only fund benefits to individuals by engaging in some form of extortion, including involuntary debt. We see this law of sin at work in the scheme of coercive taxation. When force is used in unjust ways, liberty is diminished and market decision-making becomes perverted. Extortion under the color of law is nonetheless a sin. Although money taken by a thief spends as well as any other money, this does not justify any kind of theft. God is not fooled. He gives every man his due and always pays the wages of sin. Apart from confession and repentance there can be no escape from the grip of sin. All unjust tax schemes will be easily turned back when people repent and trust Christ—but not before.

2. Voluntarily paid, indirect taxes

Direct taxation is theft, but indirect taxes may be justified. Not all taxes are theft if they do not involve involuntary debts directly forced upon individual people. A just tax may be derived from fees or taxes added to the costs of goods or services. This form of taxation is indirect because once a nexus has been established between government services that support the flow of specific goods in commerce, the added costs of these indirect taxes are passed along the stream of commerce and ultimately attached to the price of goods. Thus, indirect taxes follow specific goods, not individual people. Excise taxes, tolls, sales taxes, and import and export duties may be justified to support the maintenance of free trade and the defense of a nation. Since no one is forced to purchase a specific taxed good or service, all such taxes are collected solely on a voluntary basis. Voluntary buyers pay these taxes. Taxes that follow goods are not de facto unjust, but all direct taxes assessed against people presuppose a degree of involuntary debt and slavery

If taxes are not specifically tied to the cost of specific goods, they subsidize inefficiency in commercial dealings. Where no government services are directly related to commercial supply chains, taxes on these goods lack a just foundation and will only create mischief. People must be free to purchase goods or engage services from market sectors where taxes, risks, and other costs are minimized by circumstance and market forces. If no direct coercion is involved at any step in the process of taxation, production, transportation, or sale, then under voluntary taxes, commercial incentives will remain free to maximize efficiency and good stewardship.

3. Donations to government

If a government provides valuable services to society, then people will be motivated to voluntarily purchase such services outright or freely donate to government efforts. People are often told that the main reason wealthy people seek to avoid paying direct taxes is because they are greedy and resent the “free riders” who benefit from government programs. But each year billions of dollars are freely given to provide food, medical services, clothing, education, and all manner of human services for free riders in America and abroad. In fact, helping free riders is the key selling point of most charities! Charities brag about how many free riders they have helped, their low administrative costs, and why this should encourage more donations. Thus, people who make voluntary donations consider ministry to free riders in a positive light.

Many wealthy people are generous and actually find joy in helping others who have unmet needs. People who desire to be rich at all cost, but have not yet achieved their financial goals, cannot understand this kind of generosity. But having already achieved their financial goals, many rich people have come to realize that the mere possession of monetary wealth is not everything. Satisfaction and peace cannot come from money alone.

A reward for generosity and love is found in Heaven, but those who are selfish and unloving already have their full reward in this life. There is nothing stored up for the unloving in eternity and they cannot take their wealth with them beyond the grave. Those who invest in good works to show love and mercy toward the needy shall surely have their reward in eternity. Good works toward others who cannot repay also demonstrates a person’s love for God, who is the source of all good things. What they see their heavenly Father doing for them, they do unto others.

The problem is not that people are unwilling to donate to a good cause. The problem is that an oppressive government is not considered by anyone to be a good cause! Governments today often have employees who are inattentive, self-indulgent, overpriced, and exploit the very same people they pretend to serve. Partly because of their domineering practices toward citizens coupled with a common indifference toward serving the public, politicians simply cannot convince citizens the quality of government services are of sufficient value to warrant donations.

No one knowingly volunteers to donate to a thief. Government officials act like thieves when they promote fear among the citizens, spy on the innocent, catalogue their property, and invent coercive schemes to separate citizens from their wealth. Under these circumstances, it is unimaginable to think reasonable citizens would have an incentive to make donations to enable this kind of unrighteous behavior. Wise people always draw the obvious conclusion: Starve the beast! Don’t feed it!

In summary, all governments acquire property by involuntary or voluntary taxes and gifts. Gifts may be rare, but they cannot contribute to any injustice. Involuntary taxes, like so called “income taxes,” are oppressive. They have no foundation in God’s law as it relates to free people, hence such taxes are categorically unjust. The downstream effects of this injustice are destructive of free markets and always require unjust and oppressive collection methods.

Voluntarily paid taxes like custom duties, user fees, tolls, and sales taxes are not oppressive because they follow goods, not people. These voluntarily paid, indirect taxes should be directly tied to a nexus of definable government services incident to the protection and facilitation of transportation related to commercial infrastructures (e.g. bridges, tunnels, roads, ports, docks, etc.). If services provided by a government are directly related to the support of commercial activity, voluntarily paid taxes may be used to lawfully raise money to fund them.

Direct, involuntary taxes have no nexus to goods, so eventually any money raised thereby is personally oppressive and can only subsidize injustice. Just taxes follow goods and may benefit commerce, but unjust taxes enslave people and cause poverty. God’s law of theft is without repeal. It is defended by a curse for disobedience that the Lord has woven into the very fabric of creation. No politician’s plan can defeat God’s law and no official is exempt from its sanctions. Goodwill and liberty will always maximize the quality of stewardship toward God and will accrue to the benefit of the commonwealth. By following Christ, people will fulfill His command to Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

6.

End Legal Tender Laws

LEGAL TENDER LAWS are examples of legalistic government pretense designed to require what God does not require and punish what He does not sanction. Under threat of penalty, such laws dictate everyone in the land must accept whatever the government decrees shall be “money.” But God has not granted to government any lawful authority to devise or enforce legal tender laws. Government servants should recognize their profound obligation to protect free exchanges of property, but legal tender laws are enacted to control trade and extort wealth from the public. Legal tender laws define the currency in which all direct, coerced taxes must be paid, thus conferring a money-monopoly advantage to central banks and other crony capitalists who are empowered to “create” and lend the nation’s currency into circulation.

How does this scheme work? If a person is in possession of valuable property, but has no legal tender with which to pay direct, coerced taxes, such a person runs the risk of being labeled a “tax-delinquent.” The government demands that only legal tender may be used to pay all direct, coerced taxes. If a tax-delinquent person does not comply with these demands, government agents will seize his property and liquidate it to obtain legal tender to satisfy outstanding direct tax obligations. Thus, all taxpayers quickly learn that they stand to lose at least their property, and perhaps even their freedom, if they do not acquire enough legal tender to make timely direct, coerced tax payments.

In the modern scheme of things, legal tender currency does not come from metals mined from the ground, such as gold or silver. Where does legal tender currency come from? Corporatist banking interests (the private Federal Reserve corporation and member banks) lobby lawmakers to conjure a legalistic money system whereby they receive a seemingly magical power involving exclusive and perpetual privileges to “create” out of nothing the nation’s legal tender currency. They do not stop there, they are also permitted to advance credit and lend their currency at usury to the government, thus creating massive public debts. An important question is: How can the banking corporatists compel universal compliance with their scheme? Answer: Legalistic tax policies are implemented to require only legal tender currency repayment—plus interest!

Central bank usurers essentially create legal tender currency. They lust for schemes involving this fiat currency because it allows them to legally get away with the illusion of creating value out of nothing. But this scheme is deceitful because nothing real is actually created! This should not surprise the reader. All idols represent nothing, but people who reject God are inclined to worship that which is false.

Today’s monetary practice rests upon a fiction of legalism. The only reason people consider fiat currency valuable is because legal tender laws are coercive and this creates perverse economic incentives that demand its use. By creating such a legal fiction and loaning all such currency into circulation, central banks have even learned how to charge interest to the entire nation for the use of their nothing. These schemes allow capitalistic, central bank usurers to bleed the life out of the nation. Many people feel powerless against this money cartel that is promoted and enforced by government decree. This entire practice is obviously fraudulent and violates God’s law. If it remains unchecked by justice, it will inescapably produce a social environment of debt-slavery, as we now see looms ever before us. But it is not only Americans who are led into economic debt-slavery, these idolatrous practices are now commonly accepted throughout the nations of the world.

Legal tender laws are employed by corporatist usurers and their agents in government to forcefully overcome the people’s natural resistance to the fraud of money creation. Government officials and capitalist banks join in a symbiotic relationship to perpetuate a criminal scheme—the central banks “create” the currency, extend credit, and conduct the accounting while government minions handle the theft, intimidation, and oppression. It is not hyperbole to say that many of today’s government officials and central bank owners are partners in what amounts to a global criminal scheme to generally defraud and enslave vulnerable citizens and nations. When a nation forgets God, it is remarkable how easily they slide into slavery. But it must be appreciated this is all according to Christ’s decree as He disciplines people and nations who reject His commandments. Slavery is a most natural and God-ordained outcome for people who lack faith in God. Those who are faithful to the Lord live by the law of liberty so their outcome is completely different.

The evidence of history is before us, and the truth is apparent. So-called “money creation” is a fraud and whenever privileged commercial corporations are allowed to control the currency of a nation, it will always corrupt any commonwealth. We must come out of the dark ages, set aside past mythologies and admit that no individual or collective of individuals can create anything out of nothing. The threats of police powers used to enforce legal tender laws cannot convert the paper/ electronic alchemy of money creation into any kind of true science or just monetary standard. Confessing this fact and stopping this evil practice can have no social downside. Every righteous person is edified when the truth is spoken and applied, justice is done, and liberty is realized.

God alone spoke the universe into existence and created all things out of nothing. The Beloved Apostle testifies to this truth, All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:3) Legal tender laws are nothing more than a naked attempt to usurp the place of God in the hearts of the people. No new legislation or escalation of police force can convert the lie of fiat money into any substance of true value. Lies cannot support liberty, so government agents should not force anyone to accept or use a currency they know to be false. This practice is plainly contrary to good judgment, truth, and justice. God hates this wicked practice and Christ is opposed to those who put it into motion and maintain a parasitic grip on the nation. Sin may for a season seem to offer a sweet advantage, but its end is always bitter.

Although some people may seek to enslave all others, their day of judgment will come and almighty God will even turn this toward good for all who humble themselves and keep His commandments. The Apostle assures of this truth. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)—not some things, all things.

God does not require any one substance to be used as money. Any substance which can be measured, is widely recognized, and accepted can function as money. All people should be free to use money of their own choosing. Silver and gold have a long history as money, but in specific situations free people may elect to use shells, salt, cattle, oil, copper, lead, whiskey, cigarettes, wheat, or nearly any substance as money to facilitate a barter-exchange. Rightly understood and contrary to common economic teaching, money is not merely a medium of exchange. True money is an easily exchanged, recognized, and valuable commodity. Thus, for those who choose to execute trades of property, true money has value inherent both in its substance and how it is valued by a recipient. There is simply no righteous requirement for government to employ force to centrally plan and monopolize the use of any specific money. When honest commodity-money freely circulates, it may also be reasonable for bona fide paper or electronic certificates of deposit to be traded in an exchange of property as willing traders see fit.

In a free economy, citizens may choose to trade paper certificates of deposit or perhaps even use computer-mediated secure digital transfers. This is particularly true when large-scale trades like a shipload of oil, wheat or other commodities are involved in commerce.

All buyers and sellers must be free to transact business upon terms of their own choosing. Those who initiate an exchange of property must be fully satisfied with the quality and quantity of the property they stand to receive. If one party is not fully satisfied with whatever is offered for trade, he must be free to walk away without completing a given transaction. It is wrong to use force against a neighbor in an attempt to coercively manipulate, inhibit, or regulate the sale of his lawfully produced goods or services. God’s stewards must be free to make and act upon their own estimations of value and be accountable to Him for their stewardship.

The choice of what constitutes money for any specific transaction, whether it is a physical substance, voucher, certificate, note, or secure electronic transfer must be free of fraud, trusted, and satisfactory to the individuals who are buying and selling. Transactions involving a choice of money or goods are rarely free of risk. In all commercial dealings, the mitigation of risk is a critical issue that must be addressed. Checks are commonly used to tender payment and this practice works efficiently although no seller is required to accept such a “promise to pay.” Irrespective of whatever is traded, the more goodwill between buyers and sellers, the lower will be the market risk for everyone. Thus, maintaining an environment of goodwill is critical to any secure and efficient economy.

The true value of any commodity must rest upon just weights and measures, and the free, unfettered choices of individual people. Honest weights and scales are the LORD’s; all the weights in the bag are His work. (Proverbs 16:11) A government’s only legitimate monetary authority involves the certification of just weights and measures for commodities, and the prosecution of fraud. An ounce should always be known as a true ounce, and the same with the dollar (a weight of silver or perhaps gold), bushel, meter, gallon, etc. Because God commands just weights and measures, civil government has a legitimate function to enforce these standards. Direct costs associated with this certifying activity should be compensated by a tax or fee that follows goods in the stream of commerce (e.g. a fee for the coinage of money or the certification of weights and measures). But authority to certify just weights and measures does not in any way imply authority to compel any monopoly involving what is legal tender for all debts, public and private.

Even the U.S. Constitution does not grant any authority to the Federal government to establish any form of legal tender. Some people may contend legal tender laws are not coercive and such laws only exist to make currency consistently and conveniently available for buying and selling. There is some truth to this assertion in the sense that legal tender laws have the effect of standardizing exchanges. The intent to standardize money may be seen, for example, in Article 1 § 10 of the U. S. Constitution: “no state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.”

It should be noted here that the U.S. Constitution places no positive requirement upon States to establish legal tender. States that choose to establish legal tender may only employ gold and silver. But under the Constitution, the Federal government is given no authority to create a legal tender status for any currency. This lack of authority granted to Federal government does not extend to the citizens who wrote and approved the U.S. Constitution. Citizens are always free to use anything they choose as money or a medium of exchange. Article 1 § 10 of the U. S. Constitution does not even require the several States to make gold and silver legal tender—or establish legal tender of any kind. It only prohibits the States from making anything other than gold and silver coin a legal tender. The correct and righteous choice of action is for the government to enforce just weights and measures, but not to require a money-monopoly by enacting legal tender laws.

An absence of legal tender laws would make it impossible for bureaucracies to implement economic central planning and manipulate markets for the benefit of special banking interests. Liberty to choose one’s own money would inhibit direct taxation, and crony capitalism would vanish like fog before the morning sun. People and businesses could not be required to keep accounting books and records to be audited at will by government taxing authorities. Instead of politicians and moneylenders picking winners and losers, free consumers would do so based upon their own choice of money, goods and services. Without legal tender laws, people would be largely free of the nonproductive parasitic class of politicians, bureaucrats, and banking corporatists who sap their strength during every working day. The resultant liberty would dramatically expand the commonwealth to the benefit of all who love their neighbors. A state of liberty ensures those who serve others the best will prosper the most.

Could modern governments operate without legal tender laws? Yes, they could! Voluntary indirect taxes might be paid to the government in silver or gold coin, certificates for the same, or any commodity certificate or coin that is not fraudulent and which can be valued at market rates when tax payments are made. Governments could easily exchange negotiable certificates or commodities for currency (i.e. gold or silver). A government might hire private clearinghouses to facilitate government uses of money. For a competitive fee, such establishments could exchange commodities and commercial paper for currency. Payments might be executed by physical or electronic receipt.

It is obvious that if taxes can be paid electronically in the fraudulent currency of the government today, then legitimate taxes could also be paid in any commodity, commodity certificate, or other valuable substance. Bureaucrats may whine about this being a burden, but the citizens must demand they get it right. If the bureaucrats cannot figure out how to buy and sell the way everyone else does day in and day out, they are judged to be ignorant incompetents and should be given training. If they cannot be trained, then for everyone’s sake they must be relieved of government employment.

In summary, to impose legal tender laws upon the public by force is not only an ineffective economic practice, it is unlawful, and therefore sinful. Fiat legal tender currency always corrupts the economy and enslaves citizens in debt. Men cannot create value out of nothing. Trees may produce raw materials for paper, but commodity money does not grow on trees! The idol Mammon does not move, speak, or create. Men must not worship the work of their hands when the only material they can employ for idolatry was originally created out of nothing by God who moved, spoke, and created all good things.

Gods that are invented by idolatrous men cannot grant their mammon-seeking worshippers an abundant life or prosperity. It is vain to have faith in idolatrous money comprised of little pieces of printed paper or electronic blips that are here today and gone tomorrow. When men depart from the law of their Creator, their schemes always lead to want, misery, and slavery, not life, prosperity, and peace. Multiplying legalism, bureaucracy, and political force cannot produce a different outcome. This is true regardless of the degree fiat legal tender currency—paper or electronic—finds support among lawyers, bankers, investment houses, professors of economics, judges, and political operatives. Today is the day to end all such unlawful practices. Justice demands an economy where citizens are free to select the conditions of their own exchanges from the property which God has created and entrusted to them for love, service, and to employ in the production of true wealth.

7.

Return Gold and Silver Money

CLEARLY, ONE OF THE important issues in the United States today is the on-going monetary crisis. The Federal Reserve System operates in secret to manipulate currency, but no matter what action it takes, economic problems only increase while the nation’s fiat currency is further debased. The Federal Reserve System promotes government debt at such levels that by any reasonable calculation these massive debts cannot be paid by citizens. All the while the nation’s increasing long-term financial problems remain unaddressed. No responsible government budgets are enacted by legislative representatives of the citizens, while political and corporatist banking leaders routinely lobby to further increase national debts. They seem intent to utilize every periodic financial crisis to further their economic grip upon the debtor population. America’s growing financial problems are directly related to the abandonment of silver and gold commodity money and the continued practice of usury.

Silver and gold coins were once commonplace in American markets and throughout the world, but today this true commodity money may be found only in private collections and in government and private bank vaults. Gold and silver no longer facilitate common economic exchanges or circulate freely in the pockets of ordinary citizens. Gold and silver have great utility and liquidity because they are made of scarce, stable metals that are easy to identify and convenient to assay.

By comparison, a small weight of precious metal coins may represent a large weight of another commodity or quantity of service. When given the choice, free people have traditionally preferred to buy and sell using precious metal coins or certificates for the same. There was a time when trading gold and silver was the everyday reality, but now, by government edict, fiat currency, checks, and electronic vouchers for Federal Reserve Notes are used. In fact, theft of gold and silver with the imposition of fiat legal tender laws has become a universal scourge upon people everywhere in the world.

In 1933 the U.S. Treasury defaulted on its obligations to redeem its gold certificates. To deal with the potential loss of creditability in the banking system and the U.S. Government, a diversion plan was hatched to defraud the citizens. The U.S. Government imposed false laws and unjust executive orders to criminalize the private possession of gold coinage. Thus, by fiat they made gold into a “controlled substance.” Responding to serious threats by Federal government agents, citizens turned in their gold coins to the U.S. Treasury and agents in the Federal Reserve System. Problem solved! There would be no run on the banks or U. S. Treasury. But instead of a rightful foreclosure on the Treasury, politicians forced foreclosure on the citizens themselves. Thus, the U.S. Treasury was rescued from insolvency while the people were robbed of their earned wealth!

It should not go without notice that the possession of gold was criminalized only for common, working Americans. Central banks and foreign people remained free to possess gold and redeem their gold certificates at a U.S. Treasury that was now flush with the citizen’s gold. As amazing as it may seem on the surface, under this policy only common citizens within the United States were denied access to the gold they owned. It is clear that to cover up government and corporatist fraud, gold belonging to U.S. citizens was essentially stolen in broad daylight.

On the heels of this crime, other central banks and political leaders throughout the world were encouraged to follow this practice in their own nations. It worked everywhere for the thieves, but for the productive people, it worked nowhere.

World War II ensued. While able bodied men were fighting foreign wars, political leaders enacted a “temporary” war-emergency income withholding tax on wages. Wages were reclassified as “income” and now subject to the compulsory, direct tax. Again, in the furtherance of their wicked plans, they did not let the crisis of war go to waste. Once payroll withholding was in place among the people, the money-interest established a new kind of permanent parasitic attachment upon the host populace. The war ended, but the “temporary” emergency payroll withholding orders then became permanent. The path was now clear for new involuntary debts to be efficiently collected with every pay via a scheduled, periodic, and slow bloodletting process.

Since the majority of people saw no fundamental problem with taking usury at some level, they were blinded by sin and became largely compliant while this injustice was continued and expanded. It goes on. In 1965 the U.S. Treasury stopped coining silver money and redeeming silver certificates. Because the scheme worked so well with gold, why not try silver? Thus, the U.S. Treasury also defaulted on its solemn obligation to supply silver coinage for all outstanding silver certificates. Under the color of legal tender laws, banks fraudulently began to replace silver certificates and coinage with Federal Reserve Note scrip and coin-like slugs of base metal. The effect was to defraud people of another valuable commodity, silver money. By this scheme, the bulk of the nation’s silver was transferred into the crony capitalist banking system. This was another massive robbery conducted in broad daylight and under color of law.

The principle of replacing true money with false currency is so consistent in history that economists identified this scheme as another natural law. The effect became known as “Gresham’s law” after an economist named Gresham, who gave the principle its memorable expression: “Bad money drives good money out of circulation.” Nevertheless, keep in mind that Gresham’s law only applies when an economy has abandoned just monetary weights and measures and when the bad money is decreed by a government to be legal tender. The people forgot God and the scheme advanced. But God will not be ignored and He will not grant liberty to nations who reject His laws. So Christ ordained a form of national slavery to discipline those who rejected His ways.

It is plain for anyone to see how the private Federal Reserve corporation and member banks conspired with government authorities to extort massive amounts of gold and silver from common citizens. On a global scale, people everywhere forgot God and embraced a faith in a godless mammon. The understanding of what actually is money was preemptively cut off from obedience to God’s law. A philosophy of economics based upon a lawless economic analysis of “human action,” simple political expediency, and promised financial modernization was preached throughout the world. The worldly preachers made many converts to the seductive new faith, but what they preached was certainly not the good news of the Gospel.

Over several decades, this wickedness became a global phenomenon as other, smaller central banks were encouraged by larger banks to be in on the racket in their own countries. If they played ball with the dominant capitalist banks, their own fiat currency would be recognized in international markets. As an inducement to sell out their nations, it is understood leaders were bribed with direct cash payments to be stashed in Switzerland or other countries under secretive private bank accounts. To qualify, all the political leaders had to do was to allow their citizens to be robbed of their gold and silver and effectively sold into bondage to central banks. This global scheme amounts to the largest swindle, extortion, and counterfeiting racket in the history of mankind! Amazingly, it was perpetrated openly upon all citizens under color of law while the banks and their minions compromised targeted government leaders and nations.

God will not be mocked by a stubborn and rebellious people who act as if His law is of no account. Where were the voices of church leaders heard when these evil schemes were advanced? Because of the preceding centuries of compromise with the sin of usury, a spiritual laryngitis infected many pastors and priests who otherwise claimed to follow Christ. They became ill and dumb, unable or unwilling to speak about the injustice occurring right before their eyes. The sin of usury has come full circle and a people who have been seduced into seeking its lucre are now being forced to experience its curse in their personal and public affairs.

Judgment begins with the household of God and His disciplines are designed to redeem. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). God has declared usury is a theft, and since the people have rebelled against Him, the Federal Reserve-U.S. Government nexus has piled involuntary debts upon a nation who forgot God. What goes around comes around. While pastors and priests hold their tongues and look away, a corrupted public reaps what they have sown. For all concerned, the only way out of this economic prison is the way of repentance.

The effects of these crimes have continued down to this day and will increase at compounded rates until citizens obey God and do justice. If they do not pursue justice, they will be further disciplined by Jesus Christ, the great vinedresser of the world. Justice demands that when circumstances and opportunity permit, prior and present frauds against the public must be addressed. The time for action is now. Financial peace cannot be restored to the nation until every opportunity has been exhausted to compensate the victimized public. However, to qualify for the benefits of justice, common people must first turn and do justice in all their own dealings.

Populist monetary movements today oppose the use of gold or silver as money. They rightly contend that these metals are subject to manipulation by usurious banks. However, the only reason banks are able to manipulate or monopolize silver and gold is because of legal tender laws and usury. Monetary populists are rightly opposed to allowing the Federal Reserve System and affiliated banks to seemingly create currency out of nothing, lend it at interest into circulation, and rely upon government collection agencies like the IRS to collect the resultant public debt. As an alternative to the present scheme, Populists advocate the theory that government should issue its own debt-free currency, spend it into circulation, and then manage the money supply consistent with the needs of the economy. But this populist fiat money idea is a utopian scheme that overlooks four serious problems.

First, fiat money depends upon legalistic legal-tender laws and unjust punishments to compel its use. As explained in the chapter covering legal tender, the use of coercion to enforce the requirements of a fiat money system is incompatible with God’s will and always interferes with the liberty of His people.

Second, no person or monetary management authority has the god-like powers, incorruptible virtue, and omniscient wisdom to manage an economy that should be free under God. Populists typically recommend that a congressional body should oversee the quantity of money supply and even where it shall be spent into circulation. But since all human beings are flawed by sin, any monetary system devised and managed by collective, centralized controls will likewise be flawed.

Third, any decision to inflate the money supply will dilute the value of currency already earned, in circulation or saved by currency holders. Counterfeiting by any other name is still theft.

Fourth, although populist fiat money would relieve citizens of the burdens of public debt and related usury, it would do nothing to address the overwhelming injustice of massive personal, corporate, and commercial usury. Because moneylenders will eventually extend more credit and outrun the available supply of currency, this too will require an inflated currency. On and on it will go.

What must be done to ensure sound money? Justice requires that gold and silver money stolen from citizens must be returned. Some may disagree and argue that citizens cannot be compensated for the theft of their gold and silver money because specific victims can no longer be identified. But defrauding the public of gold and silver money was not done by random criminal acts against isolated individuals. These were premeditated crimes perpetrated against the commonwealth as a whole. In order to remedy crimes against the citizens at large, justice must be pursued as a class action. Citizens at large must receive compensation for the evil done to them as a class. Justice demands this wrong must be righted by the return of gold and silver money to the whole population.

Nor is it righteous to argue that since the injustice was committed so many years ago, it is too difficult to establish justice today. Banks do not believe their confused and fraudulent currency system is too difficult for them to continue, so let us not be deceived that doing justice today is too difficult to implement! Righteousness works well for all the people, all the time. In contrast, the practice of sin is always and inherently dysfunctional at all levels, at all times. When God provides an opportunity to remedy past injustices, citizens must not trample justice underfoot and simply go on their way without obedience of faith in the Lord or willingness to do justice.

The needed practical steps toward monetary justice cannot be negotiated with bankers, political lobbyists, the Federal Reserve System, their lawyers in Congress or the Department of the Treasury. Given their past and present criminal activity, banks, usurers, and government agents come to this matter with unclean hands, so they cannot be trusted and must not be allowed to contaminate any needed reforms. Thus, their testimony and counsel in any matter touching currency and monetary policy must be rejected a priori without any further consideration. Citizens should not entertain the counsel of the wicked when making an attempt to bring justice to the very problems created by these groups in the first place.

Again, although this crime must not go unaddressed, it must also be recognized that many citizens also have unclean hands involving usury. Those who continue in the practice of usury cannot make a righteous case to demand justice from others. Hypocritical demands for justice will not be taken seriously by God or man. May God have mercy upon us! Since God’s justice depends upon righteous administration, only repentant people with clean hands can make and implement an effectual case for divine justice. To make progress, they must be traveling the Highway of Holiness. People must appeal to God and seek justice in sincerity and truth. Only after turning away from their own sins should people expect God to save them from the sins of others.

In summary, justice cannot be done until an honest attempt at monetary restitution is made to the public. The U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and affiliated banks must be required to return the gold and silver they extorted from the public so many years ago. Because this is a matter requiring the imposition of justice, righteous civil government must oversee the return of coinage and distribution of gold and silver money to all adult citizens on a per capita basis. By these actions, the nation will begin to amend the wrongs created by past, unjust monetary policies.

8.

Reform Rental Contracts

WE ARE INSTRUCTED by Jesus to love our neighbors, to lend freely, and expect nothing in return. This command is not optional or subject to human repeal. It applies to all property of any kind whatsoever that can be loaned or rented. Jesus sets forth the practice of righteous lending to facilitate love between those who live by the law of liberty. Against such loving liberty, there can be no just law, sanction, or penalty.

Rent and loan agreements involving fixed property or commodities are effectively the same as renting money. You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest (Deuteronomy 23:19). In every case of lending, to expect something in return beyond repayment of the principal is usury. Similar to other false excuses permitting usury, rent on land has long been accepted by many political and church leaders. Because of a failure of Christian leadership, people in many nations are reduced to perpetual serfs or land-slaves. Although land-rent has gone by many names, it has contributed to centuries of serfdom, class struggle, oppression, revolutions, and murder.

Consider a hypothetical example of a homeless family and an empty house. Wishing to protect his family from the elements, a homeless man requests to borrow the unused house from its owner. If the owner loves his neighbor, he will take the homeless poor into his empty house—or he may even take him into his own home! In no instance would love for the poor instruct the owner to consider the circumstances of the homeless family as a monetary profit opportunity.

What landlord would not freely take his own homeless mother into his unused house? Usurious landlords may love their mothers, but they do not love their homeless neighbors. Rather than having love for his neighbor, a landlord seeks to become enriched by his unfortunate, homeless, and needy neighbor. Eventually, such landlords hope to purchase more rental-units with money rendered from the homeless. He rubs his hands and imagines gain. He hopes that increasing numbers of poor people will pay him rents so he can acquire even more properties so he can be seen as “helping” more of the poor. As it is with moneylenders, by such rationalizations a landlord imagines he is a benefactor to the poor. The Lord teaches otherwise.

Landlords rent and thereby rend liberty from those who need a place to live. Before landlords can pursue a productive and righteous life, they must reform, exercise godly stewardship over what they have, and decide how to lovingly lend or trade goods and/or services with their neighbors. Instead of bleeding the poor, they must learn to serve the needs of others by increasing the wealth of everyone they touch. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28) As with everyone, usurious landlords must also learn the way of love. They should not lord it over others because “he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11)

Everyone, from buyer to seller, and borrower to lender, will benefit when people practice justice and abstain from the sin of usury. But regarding rent, how do we get from here to there? Justice would be done if all who owe rental or lease payments had the option to either convert their contracts into purchase agreements or receive a refund of what they paid in excess of depreciation and expenses. The total sum of past payments, less depreciation, upkeep, taxes, and utilities should be applied to purchase contracts at fair market prices or the net profits should be refunded to the tenant. This is necessary for the long-term spiritual and material benefit of both tenants and landlords.

Consider a landlord who appears before Lord Christ on the last day. The landlord may tell the Lord he helped many homeless people live in homes provided by him for rent. The landlord then inquires, “Where is my reward for my good works?” Perhaps the Lord will reply something like this:

“You have earned a profit, have lived in comfort and have already received your reward. I have nothing for you here so depart from me. I love my people. When they were homeless, you required them to purchase you another house. He who is generous and serves my people is worthy of a reward he has not yet received. When the homeless were in need, you considered their need as a profit opportunity. You lived in luxury as you multiplied their poverty. As you have done unto them, you have done so unto me.”

Someone with an unused house might either lend it, expecting nothing in return beyond expenses and depreciation, or sell it to someone who will make better use of it. But what if a property owner does not wish to sell or lend? A property owner cannot justly be required to lend or sell his property. Forcing an owner to lend or sell his property would deny the very idea of property ownership and would violate the requirement of God’s law. In any case, God will surely redistribute every person’s property when his stewardship commission is terminated by natural death.

It is not profitable for a steward to perpetually hold unused property. There may be many reasons for property to remain temporarily unused, but playing “dog in the manger” or perpetually hoarding unused property is unprofitable for all. Those who hoard unused property can only be exhorted and encouraged to turn from seeking security in temporal things and walk in the way of God’s love. Hoarders should sell or distribute excess property to those who have need. The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. (Proverbs 11:26) With profitable stewardship toward God and good works toward neighbors, people who are faithful will store up treasures in Heaven.

In contrast to righteous people, unrepentant landlords rely upon a constant stream of usury to support themselves and finance additional properties. They hope to “make money” and multiply lucre. But when justice is done in the land, usurious rental contracts on property shall become unenforceable at law. Since this condition will lower the market price for real estate, housing will become much more affordable for everyone.

By any measure, usury increases the cost of housing and reduces the number of homes on the market. Someone is always paying for idle and parasitic usurers. As usury is diminished, more real estate will be on the market, so the price of all properties will be reduced by some significant amount. When justice is done, more of the homeless poor will be able to afford homes. Since those who purchase homes would not owe usury on home loans, their purchase decisions will also be free from these substantial extra costs. When usurers submit to justice, no longer will people be required to pay usurious banks the price of two or three houses in order to buy only one house.

Freedom from all forms of usury will lead to a reliable currency with an increasing purchasing power and those who labor and save money will increasingly be able to afford homes and other property. Unrepentant usurers may protest the outcome of justice, but they shall not inherit the future. We all have it on good authority that, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth (Matthew 5:5). These words shall be fulfilled as people follow the way of Christ.

There may be some contracts that at first glance appear to be a kind of usurious rent, but are actually permitted by God’s law. For example, one may lend the use of an orchard for a price determined by some fraction of the value of the expected production over time.

And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 25:14–17)

Thus, by such a sale the owner may lawfully be compensated for some or all of the net profits he would have made if he had tended the orchard himself. In this example, it is not actually the land that is rented, but rather it is the projected future produce of the productive orchard that is sold. God’s law provides that land with productive assets in place may be sold for a finite period of time, so after the term of the contract is complete, control of the land and the assets revert to the owner. On the surface, this arrangement may seem like renting land, but it is not. The law does not state the land is rented, but rather crops from producing assets are sold for a period of time. When productive assets appear to be loaned for a price, it actually is the net fractional value of future production that is sold.

Essentially, the land and productive assets were always owned by the seller, and at the conclusion of the contract term the seller receives back his property. The buyer trusts God to provide an increase during the intervening time. The owner receives payment for the expected future crops, less the labor, maintenance, and some fraction of the projected profit. Productive capital assets do not change hands, instead some of the projected profits are prepaid. The property owner thus is able to invest the prepaid profits in other ventures and the entrepreneur is able to maximize his portion of the profits from the contracted productive asset. This business arrangement could be lawfully applied to any asset, living or mechanical in nature that is expected to produce goods while given a continued degree of care and maintenance.

Such contracts may constitute righteous business arrangements whereby all parties involved sincerely practice love for their neighbor. Contrary to this, callous usurers will work hard to justify their usury by making usurious rental contracts seem similar in appearance to righteous purchase contracts. Obviously, with a little imagination one can construct hypothetical scenarios where the line between usury and a lawful business arrangement is difficult to discern. Those who seek to justify usury do not use their imaginations to come up with ways to promote justice, mercy, and love. When they yield to the sin of covetousness their minds become darkened and their logic, twisted. Then they will advance never-ending legalistic arguments in an attempt to construct hypothetical fact patterns designed to confound righteous judgment.

However, it may not be easier to adjudicate disputes regarding leases and ferreting out what is and what is not usury than it is to judge other important disputes with complex fact patterns. For example, if an investor suffers loss, it might be difficult to determine whether a swindle has occurred. It may not be obvious whether business risks were underestimated due to a lack of understanding by the investor or seller, failure of communication between the parties, deceit involving incomplete disclosure of the conditions of a business venture or unpredicted market conditions. We must not repeal all fraud statutes simply because it is sometimes difficult to make a determination of fraud. In the same way, any difficulty presented in some cases between usury and a righteous lease of a productive asset does not constitute grounds to justify all usurious rents.

Many important things are complex and difficult to understand. Most people today use machinery, electronics, and appliances, but few understand how these things actually work. Experts are consulted to address difficult problems involving machines. In this respect, human relations involving lending and borrowing are no different than are other conditions in life. Because of misunderstandings, inexperience, or lack of facts, it is not always easy to judge the truth of a complex matter. The parties in a dispute have inherent conflicts of interest and cannot impartially judge matters that directly affect them. Therefore, godly judges will always be needed to resolve difficult disputes. In any case, all judgment in this world is only a shadow of the judgment to come. Thus, temporal judgments are always somewhat tentative and less than perfect. In all our earthly dealings, we should strive to be faithful to God’s law, but we must also trust in Christ’s final judgment when all history will be finally wrapped up and perfect justice is rendered.

Some people may still desire to enter questionable rental agreements and usurious arrangements. If no party objects to such an arrangement, then no cause of action should be initiated by a third person or government. Justice does not require a state-sponsored “usury vice squad” to be out looking for usurers and creating disputes where none are evident. This does not mean consenting adults are immune from dangers regarding how the practice of usury may affect their souls or lead to undesirable circumstances. It only means absent a complaint by the borrower or lender, there is no legal issue to resolve in an earthly court.

If one party chooses to repent of a usurious contract, the other party cannot lawfully force the repentant party to continue harming himself in a way that is indefensible and a violation of Christ’s commands. For example, when a person is struck in anger, every godly person understands they may, and perhaps even should, turn the other cheek, forgive, and forget. The sting caused by the slap is simply not important when compared to the value of love in a relationship. Love covers a multitude of sins, but another slap does not cover any sin. If one chooses to overlook or forgive a slap in the face, there is no dispute to resolve. There would be no case of assault unless the assailant kept on slapping after being asked to stop. Once the slaps continue over expressed objections and if a legal cause of action can be sustained, a crime will become evident. In the same way, so long as consenting people agree to lend and borrow at usury, there is no legal cause of action that would stop the parties from harming one another. Thus, only when one party objects to the terms of a questionable contract and the other refuses to sustain the objection and continues to enforce a usurious payment does a cause of action become ripe for litigation.

In summary, lending any unproductive asset and expecting more back than the principal plus direct maintenance and depreciation costs is a violation of God’s law. But future production from assets like trees, machines, or even animals may be sold by the owner, provided that the price set is some fraction of the projected profits. Nevertheless, in response to proven claims of usurious rents, justice requires usurers to settle all accounts. After legitimate expenses and depreciation are deducted from the total sum of prior payments, all excess payments must be refunded outright or credited toward the purchase of the property at issue. In such a case, the lender is not harmed because he still has access to his capital. The borrower is also not harmed because he receives back any usury paid. By doing justice, neither the property owner nor tenant will suffer material loss. Therefore, property owners and the needy poor can avoid any injustice and be reconciled to one another.

9.

End Economic Manipulation

IF WE WISH to understand and apply God’s justice to popular economic regulations and legalisms, it is important to start with an understanding of God’s design of the material universe and mankind’s alignment to it.

“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 8:18–20)

We see from this passage God initiates the possibility of wealth production when He providentially distributes the material of creation and spiritual gifts to individuals and nations. God holds stewards responsible for what they have been given. People who trust God respond to material blessings with faithful stewardship toward God and service toward their families and neighbors. God reveals how we must honor His wealth distribution plan by the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not steal.”

We receive all things from God. God not only gives us our lives, but also our daily bread, spiritual gifts, the air we breathe, and the material things necessary to make wealth. God commands our obedience to maintain the distribution of material wealth wherein He fixes personal property boundaries for all people, the great and the small alike. We see an example of the maintenance of God’s will in Deuteronomy 19:14. The Law of God by Moses declares it is unlawful to remove private property boundary markers. Subject only to the demands of justice, God’s stewards have an inalienable privilege and responsibility to possess, freely trade or give away any property God has granted to them.

No person or social collective may violate any of God’s commandments. It is clear to all who honor God that the commandments of God all stand or fall together. Since the violation of any one commandment is, in principle, a revolution against the totality of Christ’s rule, any rebellious act introduces a violation of all the commandments. If men can disobey God at one point, why should He be obeyed at any other? Every sin, whether it is done on purpose or in ignorance, is manifested opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven. Crimes involving theft evidence an outright rebellion against Christ’s rule. These acts are an affront to the entire domain of God’s Kingdom as it is manifested in upon the Earth.

Theft is a revolt against the will of God. By it a sinner attempts to diminish and eventually, to some degree, kill the image and likeness of God revealed in the victim of theft. Theft is akin to murder because it either takes what is necessary to sustain life or it effectively robs the portion of one’s life expended in the production or acquisition of the stolen property. The commandment “You shall not steal” applies to individuals and to their collective administrative governments. No individual, mob, or government may seize the property of others apart from the pursuit of God’s justice. In all cases, great injustices arise when unrighteous coercion is used to manipulate buying, selling and possession of property.

Only by identifying a victim and applying God’s specific sanctions may a lawful challenge to the possession or use of a person’s property be sustained. Thus, a free property owner who does no wrong to his neighbor is responsible only to God for the use and possession of his property. It is God who distributes all property through the agency of His creation, providence, and gifts. Since the Earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, and because God alone sets the conditions of stewardship over what He has created, He will judge everyone for the quality of their stewardship.

Today’s primary political/economic philosophies are Marxism and Capitalism. They are used to focus public policy regarding possession and use of property. They are often combined with one another in an uncomfortable synthesis, but no combination of these divergent philosophies can ever resolve basic tensions that arise about how individuals and collective governments should order society and resolve economic conflicts.

The philosophy of Marxism is founded upon organized theft and mass covetousness—not upon love and justice as advocates feign. Unless people are enticed to violate the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, this wicked philosophy would never take root in society. Marxism’s evil seed, Socialism, seems softer at first, but its fruit will eventually ripen into Marxism’s open rebellion against God’s commandments, the result will be authoritarian rule. When property owners resist socialist public policies that involve the forceful redistribution of wealth, Marxist governments always resort to war and even mass murder against open opposition to their utopian plans. Marxism cannot advance by an appeal to humility, meekness, or applying God’s commandments to love one another. Instead, the skids of Marxism are greased with collective envy, covetousness, slander, false witness, violence, and murder.

Marxism essentially claims social justice will result when politicians usurp the place of God and redistribute the world’s wealth according to their own revolutionary edicts. By this rebellion, they reject God’s law and conduct a seductive campaign to entice people to covet and even steal their neighbor’s wealth. Progressive Marxists speak often of justice and economic equality, but do not be deceived by the perversity of their speech. They falsely foretell a future when after they have forcefully redistributed what God has distributed to individuals, the world will become a paradise. Marxist revolutions in the 20th Century have murdered tens of millions of souls in the violent pursuit of their utopian goals. Only the wicked would mistake a worker’s paradise for the hell that results from rebellion against Christ’s commandments. Those who follow God realize that the distilled essence of Marxism and Socialism is: Let us do evil to build a just society.

The philosophy of Capitalism seems appealing to some, but it cannot be separated from the practice of usury and centrally planned, legalistic corporatism. From previous chapters, it should be evident usury is a kind of theft. As a foundational aspect of Capitalism, usury is a violation of the Eighth and Tenth Commandments. Capitalism makes superficial arguments for private property rights while adherents covet gain by enslaving those who lack capital. But all the while a lack of capital in the hands of free people is assured by their corporatist monetary policies, rents, and moneylending.

Capitalism does not repudiate the involuntary debts of the nation, liberate people from property rents, or establish a sound monetary system without usury. They do not proclaim liberty throughout the land. Crony capitalists and their lobbyists bribe politicians to propose legalisms so their corporations may manipulate markets and commit theft on a massive, government-protected scale. This approach is seductive for those who have forgotten God, His justice, mercy, and love. Money is the Capitalist’s god and devotion to it feeds their lust to acquire wealth and power. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? (Luke 9:25)

The whole political world vacillates between the two contradictory social theories: Capitalism with its apparent individual license, and Marxism with its collective authoritarianism. Divisive propaganda wars on both sides seek political commitment from converts who cannot resolve the inherent conflict within this dialectical battle. Division and strife break down the character of a nation, with each side attempting to rule the other by employing propaganda and the vote in a democratic jousting contest. The battle for supremacy is fierce. It separates communities, friends, and families into teams who assume their personal affluence and security hang in the balance of which philosophy gains supremacy over the public.

This ideological war is destructive to the fabric of society. The conflict can find no social resolution because given the presuppositions of both sides, the contradictions are unresolvable. Even though the contestants attempt to apply logic as they build upon their radically different presuppositions, they end up talking past each other. Communication is effectively lost in mistrust and a confusion of tongues. In the process of debate, passions are inflamed and the strength of social goodwill and trust are often exhausted. Parasitic central banks look approvingly upon this conflict because it drains the strength of both sides while the ideological war they encourage rages on. This distracts and weakens the host. For them, no crisis can be allowed to go to waste.

The need to bring a resolution to this compelling dialectical contest increases the power of central banks and their minions in government. People begin to imagine only centralized power can unify them. They desire to establish their own political leaders to defend and lead them in a struggle to make laws and get what they can demand from the legalistic process.

People who forget God are so deeply insecure they choose promised financial security over justice. The battle is increasingly focused in a contest over money and political power and central banks remain at the center and in control over essential resources. All the while, central bank usurers finance both sides and with a spirit of indifference they rise above the battlefield and play one side against the other, brother against brother, and neighbor against neighbor.

Therefore, Socialism appeals to collective action and Capitalism to individual license. The contest is intense and divisive, but it is not possible to construct a dialectical synthesis of Marxism and Capitalism that can advance the Kingdom of Heaven. They both strive to usurp the rule of Christ and substitute the godless will of autonomous men, hoping thereby to save society by any pragmatic means they deem necessary. But two wrongs cannot synthesize what is right, and any attempt only robs society of love and goodwill. But God is One, and His justice resolves all these problems.

Since free people and their property do not belong to any collective government, people are not to be lorded over as if they were slaves. The Lord Jesus Christ came to liberate mankind from sin, proclaim liberty throughout the land, goodwill toward all people, and to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The way of Christ is found in love and service to God and man.

Free citizens are not to be treated like those who lived under Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. To be free, people must be willing to leave Egypt, as it were, and be baptized in the Red Sea waters of salvation, and wash away any loyalty to armies of legalistic and violent men. Day by day God’s commandments must be remembered as saints follow the Lord through a wilderness to the promised land where, No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)

How can a contest of irreconcilable ideologies ever find resolution and peace? Civil governments are given authority under God and have a responsibility to preserve the liberty of individuals. Its bureaucrats may not act as tyrants or even administrators over free souls and their lives and property.

Governments must not compel involuntary debts, control market prices, prohibit sales, or in any other way interfere with the liberty of people to possess or dispose of the property God has entrusted to them. Instead, civil government’s commission under God is to preserve and defend liberty for all people, but it should not in any way frustrate individual stewardship that is exercised in accordance with God’s will.

In an effort to manipulate markets, the Pharisees of ancient Israel prohibited the use of Roman coins for temple offerings because the coins bore the image of Caesar. Although the substance of the coins was gold or silver, made ex nihilo (out of nothing) by God, the Pharisees determined that the mere outward stamp on the coin defined its legitimate value. Of course, all precious metal coins from whatever source may be refined or made holy by fire, but the Pharisees instituted regulations that required only their own minted temple coins could be used as an offering to God. I wonder, what did the moneychangers do with Caesar’s evil coins they took in exchange? God knows.

Building upon this legalism, moneychangers in the temple swindled the people by setting monopolistic exchange rates and required worshippers to exchange common currency for temple coins (legal tender) at controlled prices. This was a kind of theft derived from a monopoly that violated the justice, reconciliation and sacrifice God intended His temple to exhibit. God’s house was to be a place of worship, reconciliation, liberty, and peace— not a den of robbers! Jesus was righteously angry and upheld God’s justice as He forcefully drove the moneychangers out of His house. Monopolies created for the purpose of defrauding God’s people have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Government-required price controls are prime examples of the unlawful manipulation of markets. Price controls are often used by politicians to garner the support of political allies by practicing a form of extortion against producers of goods and services. When viewed as an individual action, the injustice of price controls is easily understood. It would clearly be unlawful for anyone to bring a gun into a grocery store and force the owner to sell merchandise or purchase labor for a price fixed by a monopoly or cartel. Likewise, covetous special interest groups have no authority to empower a government to do the same on their behalf. Buyers and sellers alike cannot effectively consider their own stewardship interests when government agents are looking over their shoulder, wielding weapons, and forcing manipulative demands into the market place. Such intimidation can only confound those who seek to transact exchanges of property according to their own stewardship and faith in God. Price controls are oppressive and they frustrate the goodwill and service that must undergird all honest markets.

Every free person has a stewardship responsibility to God to set his own prices for goods and wages for hire. No party to a transaction should be compelled to buy or sell under terms that are coercive or not fully acceptable to all parties at the time of transaction or contract. People should express liberty and service in the marketplace, not threats of violence. As Christ our Lord decrees, the one who serves best is to be regarded as the greatest. Clearly, legal tender laws, minimum wage laws, and other forms of price controls, at a minimum, violate God’s Eighth Commandment. Thus, they are offensive to the Lord and all free people. Except in the pursuit of justice where specific sanctions are clearly commanded, government agents may not manipulate or control prices, because to do so would usurp God’s sovereignty over the distribution of His own property to stewards of His own choosing.

Since manipulation and coercion in markets is not authorized by God, this practice cannot promote justice. It is injurious to the commonwealth, limits the availability of goods and services, decreases wealth, and increases poverty. In the same way Jesus physically drove legalistic thieves out of His temple, righteous citizens should likewise drive thieves and extortionists from the high places of the Earth where they oppress the innocent. The Earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness (Psalm 24:1). Only a faithless fool operates as if he is above God’s law; as if the omnipotent and omnipresent God is not active in the direction of His own creation. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15)

In summary, saints must pray and work constructively in society, understanding that the will of Christ shall be accomplished on Earth as it is in Heaven. The gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Christians must not be distracted and exhausted by the manipulative contest of Marxism or Capitalism, because both of these economic systems remain opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven. They cannot be peacefully reconciled in society or before God.

Except for the lawful prosecution of crimes, civil government must not seek to control economic matters. Using political force to manipulate commerce by controlling prices is unjust. We must acknowledge that God has destined for the obedient to live in the liberty of love and exercise good stewardship toward Christ who is the Lord over all the material and spiritual aspects of creation.

10.

End Limited Liability

LIMITED LIABILITY privileges are a form of government subsidy. This legalistic scheme is designed to encourage risky commercial investment by allowing a measure of legal irresponsibility on the part of an enterpriser. Under government-granted privileges of limited liability, when proven damage is done to innocent parties, a shareholder’s personal assets may be shielded from use to compensate victims. By this scheme, if a corporation cannot meet its financial obligations, the costs of business failures or other damages are transferred from corporate owners and shareholders to victims and innocent parties. Thus, shareholders of limited liability corporations may avoid paying compensation to victims or payment to suppliers for goods or services that have already been delivered and consumed. Such privileged shareholders embrace gain, but flee responsibility for the damages they do to others.

The total cost of limited liability schemes involving corporate bankruptcy enters into and is passed along the stream of commerce. To one degree or another, unpaid damages not only cause harm to innocent parties, but also to the commonwealth at large. Someone always pays the cost of failure, but the limited liability scheme means those who are responsible for a financial failure can transfer the cost away from themselves and onto innocent parties. This legalistic scheme is contrary to God’s commandments and therefore it is unjust and without redeeming value.

Because risky circumstances are inherent in all business, depending upon circumstances, an enterprising shareholder may stand to lose part or all of his investment. These losses should be focused upon the shareholder’s voluntary decision to risk his capital for future profits. What about the losses suffered by vendors who deliver goods but cannot collect payment from a failed limited liability enterprise? In any case, selling goods or services is not as risky when payment is guaranteed by a company and its shareholders. Vendors who provide value to customers have sown in the market and deserve to reap payment for goods or services they have already delivered. But the legalistic fiction of limited liability may discharge obligations owed by companies and shareholders to suppliers and creditors, who subsequently get stuck with the unpaid bills.

Damaged parties are typically unable to penetrate what is often referred to as a “corporate veil.” Innocent parties may suffer loss even though the defaulting enterprisers might otherwise be able pay obligations with personal or other corporate assets over which they have control. This legalistic fiction pretends to confer license, but God requires accountability. This kind of practice leads to injustice. Today’s commercial practice is similar to the selling of religious indulgences so many years ago. Money is used to purchase limited liability privileges to confer a license that can seemingly absolve one of responsibility for wrongs done. But it should be better appreciated Heaven does not recognize such a license.

In essence, limited liability shareholders are sold a license to sin. This of course does not mean all corporations will cause damages and evade justice, but if they choose to be irresponsible, limited liability laws will assist them. The commonwealth at large suffers loss whenever a bankruptcy occurs, but the injustice of limited liability allows owners of a bankrupt enterprise to retain personal material wealth rather than using it to pay claims to the very parties who have been damaged by their actions or lack of due care. Shareholders in such an enterprise should not be permitted a legal fiction status to hide or remove assets from the demands of justice and out of the reach of victims.

If innocent parties have been damaged by an enterprise, the shareholders should be responsible to make them whole, even to the point of exhausting the limits of their own assets. In this circumstance, justice is served if bankrupt enterprisers make payment from their own store of property, work over-time, or work as indentured servants until they have fully compensated their victims. Otherwise, the failed enterprisers may be released from their debts by time or, at the sole discretion of their victim, by forgiveness. Because mercy triumphs over judgment, voluntary forgiveness always encourages goodwill among people. When mercy is freely extended by victims, justice is not diminished and rewards are laid up for them in Heaven.

It is impossible to calculate the total cost of all the social ills created by a social atmosphere of commercial irresponsibility. Irresponsible practices expand beyond strictly commercial matters to infect many areas of society. Once society becomes conditioned by legalized irresponsibility, this wickedness goes on to infect the operation of courts, employment relations, marriages, personal relationships, and generally debases social goodwill throughout the land. Limited liability schemes inflame a litigious society where real and suspected swindles abound. Similar to the spread of a cancer, legalized injustice metastasizes and ever more injustice is advanced throughout the body politic.

The legalistic practice of limited liability has infected the laws of many nations and injustice has sown its tares throughout the world. On a global scale, limited liability schemes provide license for multinational corporations to evade stewardship responsibilities, plunder natural resources, and damage whole nations with impunity. This fosters a commercial climate of gain without responsibility to serve or love one’s neighbor. The chief goal of this wicked practice devolves into hoarding mammon instead of exercising good stewardship in the service of God and man. Apart from repentance, people who defraud others by such legalisms demonstrate little or no faith or good works that might otherwise commend them in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The nearly universal practice of establishing limited liability corporate charters is a manifestation of a lack of faith in God. People who lack faith in God seek to manipulate the future to bless themselves by unethically transferring their business risk to other parties. They tend to see the acquisition of wealth as a zero-sum game. Because they do not trust in the expansive blessings that God multiplies for the faithful, they feel compelled to look out only for Number One. Worldly people are energized by what one popular libertarian philosopher calls, “the virtue of selfishness.” But unjust schemes will not increase a nation’s wealth or make its future more secure. Despite present legalistic practices, the status of limited liability is not a requirement of justice, rather it is just another unjust privilege granted to business shareholders by naked government edict.

Some people argue limited liability status is needed to shield them from unjust litigation and damage awards. They believe that without the asset protection provided by limited liability status, they would be vulnerable to the whims of the judicial system. Given today’s litigious climate, judges and even juries are notorious for demanding excessive damage awards that go beyond proven monetary damages. Courts often impose excessive fines and penalties as a way to punish limited liability corporations, but this practice only points to another injustice in popular judicial practice. Corporations are attacked by legalistic enforcement schemes, but fines are paid to subsidize the enforcers, thus corrupting the process. Often fines are assessed against individuals and companies when no true victim has entered a plea demanding compensation for provable damages. Again, the cost of all these unjust limited liability and judicial enforcement schemes is carried along in the stream of commerce. Since this cost is added to the cost of commercial goods, the poor are always most adversely affected by the resultant higher prices.

God’s law provides monetary compensation only for proven economic damages. Unjust damage awards must not be used in an attempt to favor plaintiffs to balance out injustice done by limited liability corporations. It is a good end to require corporations to be responsible for their actions, but the pursuit of this worthy goal cannot justify the unjust means of excessive fines to create an atmosphere of fear or compliance. Two wrongs do not make anything righteous. Government must not pervert justice in an attempt to make what is an inherently unjust legalistic scheme seem more fair to the public.

In summary, citizens must acknowledge the injustice of personal and corporate irresponsibility that flows from limited liability licensure. Responsible economic practices always lead to improved stewardship over environmental resources and generally make the world a better place in which to live. A world run primarily by just and responsible people will always be more prosperous, beautiful, and peaceful than the litigious, ethical chaos of limited liability schemes in today’s global experience.

Therefore, the modern practice allowing a government to sell and enforce what amounts to limited liability indulgences must end immediately. Material wealth and goodwill shall increase throughout society when people accept full responsibility for all of their actions. The legalistic manipulation of liability with excessive fines and arbitrary damage awards corrupts the judicial process and does not solve the fundamental problem of legalized corporate irresponsibility. The godly administration of justice guards the innocent from oppression, reinforces the responsibility of all participants, and teaches everyone they must love their neighbors as themselves.

11.

End Licensure Monopoly

FREE PEOPLE have an inalienable responsibility to use their talents to pursue God-given callings by any lawful means. There is no just cause for a government to monopolize licensure for professional people. Professionals like doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, accountants, engineers, lawyers, beauticians, therapists, veterinarians, teachers, architects, electricians, builders, drivers, pilots, and the like should not be forced to join a governmentregulated monopoly or cartel. Godly governments will always guard the liberty of free people to serve their neighbors according to God’s gifts and leading. No free person needs permission or a license from a government to pursue his calling, invest his own resources, and use his gifts and abilities in the service of God and man.

Government-mandated licensure is not necessary to assure the safety or quality of goods or professional services. A private quality organization can address concerns of whether manufactured goods are free of known defects, or whether particular people meet professional quality standards of education and experience. For a fee, Underwriters Laboratories will examine, test, and certify the safety of manufactured goods. This testing is done for the protection of the public and it is financed by those who employ its testing services. These efforts work effectively without any oversight by civil government. Likewise, the quality of a person’s professional service can be certified by a diploma that demonstrates completion of applicable training. Quality diplomas may be provided to graduates by reputable colleges that employ disciplined instruction, testing, and grading systems. The quality of college diplomas may also be certified by additional third-party quality organizations.

Buyers must be free to make their own assessments and purchase decisions about the quality and safety of goods or services. When a manufacturer knowingly misrepresents the safety or quality aspects of a product, and if damage results from known defects, then the company may be prosecuted for fraud. If convicted, they must be required to make any and all victims whole. The law of reciprocity must be applied in cases involving damages from known, but undisclosed hazards, unless of course, the victim chooses to forgive the offender. We should also understand that no one should be held responsible for hazards or defects that were unknown by the responsible parties at the time of an injury. Liability for a lack of due care must be specifically proven. But the assignment of liability cannot be merely a blame-game to divert attention from an individual’s own lack of due care or to reward those who covet what rightfully belongs to others.

It should be noted here that this law of reciprocity is technically called lex talionis, and more commonly is referred to as the “eye for eye and tooth for tooth, life for life” law. This law of God is often criticized and held in great distain by arrogant people who think themselves well-educated and wise. Worldly seminaries and universities teach that because lex talionis is not seen as modern or enlightened, this law should not be practiced by civilized people. They claim this law is primitive at best and immoral at worst. But their mouths will be stopped when they are called to explain to the one true God and Lawgiver why they thought they were free to reject the explicit standard of justice He commanded them to observe.

God requires the responsible use of property while it is under the control of persons and organizations. People should be careful when they acquire, operate, or handle hazardous equipment or materials. People who do not have the skills or knowledge necessary to responsibly use dangerous materials, or who lack the resources or insurance to compensate victims for potential damages, would be wise to avoid risky activities. Where specific damages have been proven, business owners must provide adequate insurance coverage, be willing to liquidate personal and corporate assets, or sell their labor for sufficient time to provide full compensation to victims. These are risks everyone who engages in commerce must accept in order to preserve a state of justice and goodwill.

When, for unknown reasons, something goes wrong and damage results, people must resist temptation to point the finger and attempt to assign unprovable liability to others who have “deep pockets.” Lawyers and their clients who seek mammon first rather than the Kingdom of Heaven cannot justly overcome the effects of an accident by false accusations and legalistic extortion. It should be accepted that winning a lawsuit is not merely a matter of convincing a judge or jury to give away other people’s money. Rather, justice is first and foremost a matter of obedience to God’s law. On the last day, all earthy judgments will be reviewed by the Lord. In any case, today we must keep the Ninth Commandment and avoid all false accusations.

Those who work in known hazardous conditions must also accept responsibility for their own actions. An employer is not responsible for the actions of an employee who has chosen a hazardous profession and where known hazards have been disclosed. Nevertheless, an employer may choose to provide insurance as part of an employee compensation package, but this cannot lawfully be demanded because all parties must be free to negotiate their own terms of compensation and employment. Also, there can be no action of law to prohibit an employee from negotiating his terms of employment and paying for his own insurance designed to offset known or even unknown risks.

God’s commandments provide no sanction for refusal to abide by a licensure scheme, therefore monopolistic government licensure of professions or businesses is not justified. Should violators be fined $50,000? Should they be confined in a prison for six months, twelve months, or longer? When non-licensed people resist enforcement efforts for “practicing without a license,” should they be subject to arrest? Just answers to these questions should be obvious. Although unjust penalties for operating without a license may be common today, these legalistic, false laws must be rejected because they do not conform to the revealed will of God.

Licensure schemes also corrupt a nation’s courts. When civil government is the plaintiff, impartiality cannot be expected from judges who are government employees. Justice is further confounded when government-employed prosecutors demand licensure fees, fines, or penalties for failure to conform to legalistic regulations. A conflict of interest is inherent in the process if fines paid to a government are involved in a proceeding at law before a judge and prosecutor who are on the government’s payroll.

When any adverse party is paying the judge for any reason, an insurmountable conflict of interest is evident and judicial impartiality cannot be assured. Some people may argue government-paid judges are a necessary aspect of maintaining a regulated economy, but this only serves to emphasize the point that the monopolistic regulatory schemes affecting commerce are inherently unjust. Fines, penalties, and a tendency toward self-promoting publicity combine to create perverse incentives for prosecutors and judges to expand the reach of government beyond the limits permitted by God’s law.

It is also common for government-paid prosecutors to initiate litigation as a way to enhance personal self-promotion and institutional publicity. Inventing regulatory crimes supposedly committed against unidentified parties (e.g. “The People of the State of Ohio vs. John Doe”) creates an opportunity for prosecutors to lord it over others while making a name for themselves.

This is particularly true in cases involving non-economic damages where prosecutors become little more than gossipmongers and legalistic accusers of their neighbors. They seek popularity and political advantage by accusing others of false crimes when no actual damage to any real person is evident. This is like doing the work of the Devil who accuses the saints day and night.

It should not escape notice that all violations of regulations and licensure schemes amount to the prosecution of pre-crimes. These supposed violations reveal no specific victims, no damages can be proven, and no just monetary award may be assessed. It simply is not a crime to violate the good advice of government regulators. To have standing in a just court of law, someone must both experience and prove damages. Justice can never result from such mischievous activities involving the prosecution of crimes that have not yet been committed.

In summary, it is unjust to require people to join a monopolistic licensure scheme or cartel before they can serve God and the public in any righteous calling. All people must bear the consequences of their own decisions and activities regarding care for their neighbors and themselves. Skilled professionals, manufacturers, and merchants must be responsible, honest, and careful with the lives and property of others. Unjust coercion involving judicial lawlessness designed to support license monopolies and cartels must be immediately ended. Godly juries and judges always have the power to do justice, but to do so, they must first honor God. Civil government must not oppress those who are innocent of any proven material damages to victims, those who simply “operate without a license” or are alleged to have committed a pre-crime. God desires responsible liberty, service, and love as He commands justice in all our dealings with our neighbors.

12.

End Patents and Copyrights

MOST PEOPLE TODAY accept without question the idea that nearly all of our modern advancements in science and art are due to monopolies involving what is generally called “intellectual property.” Well-meaning and seemingly intelligent people commonly express the belief that no one would invent, write, compose music, or produce art unless patent and copyright protections were enforced by government decree.

So-called “intellectual property” is a very recent category of philosophy in law and economics. For nearly all of history, until only about the last two hundred years, no such concept existed among the nations. In contrast to the present philosophy, great scientific discoveries of the past were advanced and masterpieces of art, music, and literature were produced without any thought of patent or copyright protections. People have always maintained secrets, know-how, and private information, but until recently knowledge per se was not understood to be a category of property.

All things and all knowledge come to us by the creation and revelation of God. Since mankind was created after the image of the one God who fellowships eternally as three Persons, likewise all knowledge is transmitted to and between mankind by fellowship between persons. This means knowledge comes to us by the use of language, expressed by touch, sight, and sound or otherwise received by our senses. Language between people includes all art, literature, music, technology, the spoken word, and any other expression of knowledge that comes to our senses. Giving and receiving words that represent knowledge always involves some kind of fellowship between persons.

To know God is to receive His revelation. God ultimately is revealed in the incarnation of Jesus, and by His work of creation God communicates to us knowledge of His attributes. The material universe came into existence as God created it out of nothing. Creation appeared like dew that condenses upon the grass. The dew testifies to what was there all along. The water was always there, invisible, and at the right time God reveals to a person’s perception what always has been known by God. In similar manner, creation testifies of its Creator; it is His art on display for us all to appreciate. God works within in time and space to communicate to people a revelation of His eternal attributes and sovereignty over all the things He created. The Word of God formed the universe and communicated information that He eternally knows. The Son of God is the artist who stands within, before, above, and behind all true art. The art is not of His essence, but is His artistic expression. Creation is God’s revelation to all mankind by the three artistic Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we also artfully communicate our understanding to others. Unlike God, we cannot create anything from nothing, so we can make nothing that is truly new. Even by our inventions, we only disclose what God has first revealed. What God has disclosed He still retains, so it cannot be monopolized by recipients. Knowledge of art and science are never the exclusive property of individual people. A canvas, musical instrument, paper or parchment may be owned by someone, but the invention and information that is art and science are not property that can be owned by any person, except Christ. Christ is the incarnate God-man who ascended into Heaven. He is before all things, and in Him

all things consist (Colossians 1:17). He freely possesses all material and non-material things. All artists and scientists must rely solely upon the information they receive freely from God by their observation of what is found in creation or by revelation to their own minds by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, all knowledge and science is derived from and retained by God. It cannot be exclusively owned or monopolized by any created person.

We fellowship with one another after the pattern prescribed and revealed by God. Consider the writings of Homer, Virgil, the Apostle Paul, and Milton. Consider also the compositions of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, and Beethoven. What of the intellectual work of Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, Bacon, Davey, or Boyle and the discovery of gravity, chemistry, or gas laws? What of the art of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Van Eyck? A list of similar names and past accomplishments could fill innumerable books. It is well-known these past writings and discoveries were not copyrighted or patented. Are we to assume that something is stolen when others receive this fellowship of knowledge and employ these unique works without first purchasing the permission of the inventor, author, or artist?

Artists and scientists of the past expressed no thought involving intellectual property monopolies to be purchased for a fee and enforced by government edict. Instead, they produced, displayed, published, and lectured about their works so anyone might freely benefit thereby. These authors, inventors, and artists valued the satisfaction found in their work. They displayed their art and advanced knowledge broadly to people who were present in their time and the descendants of all who follow.

The value of an idea is not diluted when it is broadly disclosed. Ideas actually multiply in value and utility as more people receive and understand them. For example, if only one person understood the principles of how to build and fly an airplane, the overall impact upon public transportation would be negligible. Because of limited resources and time, a lone inventor may never be able to build an airplane that can fly with many passengers across oceans. But after aeronautical knowledge is widespread and utilized by many people, greater projects can be undertaken. As aeronautical knowledge is broadly propagated among people, it becomes possible to plan trips across vast continents and oceans, over tall mountains, in almost any weather conditions, and arrive safely at destinations thousands of miles away within a few minutes of the time projected months in advance.

Many people contend the new philosophy of intellectual property ownership provides some motivation to make new developments in science, literature, and art. There is some truth to this, but when mammon is desired more than service toward others, such lust corrupts people’s motives, creativity, and to some degree confounds beneficial developments within society. In some projects, work in plant hybridization has improved crop yields. But because of patent schemes, farmers may be subject to legalistic restrictions regarding which seeds they harvest and save may be planted on their own land. Regarding medical research projects, cures are devised for terrible diseases and conditions, but dying people cannot benefit from these cures unless they, or their health insurance underwriter, pay what amounts to huge bribes for the use of new healing arts. Although in some circumstances, monopolistic copyrights and patents make it possible for a segment of the population to temporarily increase lucre, affections focused upon the love of mammon leads to works of technology, literature, visual arts, and music that devolve into a coarsening and corruption of the culture.

Patents and copyright schemes are not grounded in God’s law. Like all such legalistic schemes, they are conjured up within the minds of people who think themselves to be independent of God. The enforcement of such laws can only produce injustice because God does not recognize knowledge as a category of property at law. And further, He provides no just sanction for any alleged intellectual property violation. Instead, God enjoins us to seek after understanding in all things without neglecting our fellowship with one another. Further, we are instructed that the things revealed belong to us and to our children, but the secret things belong to God. By definition, secrets are not known. But knowledge that is true and disclosed is no longer a secret, so it can benefit everyone.

Contrary to God’s will, intellectual property has now become an accepted legalistic doctrine throughout the world. Various arguments are advanced in an attempt to justify the concept, but upon examination, these arguments are foolish and become almost amusing. For example, it is said one who devises knowledge ought to have exclusive legal title to his knowledge. But this presents a problem. Once information is shared, it can no longer be exclusively possessed by only one person. Therefore, it should be plain to all people that knowledge cannot be stolen. This fact is so obvious it is amazing how often it is overlooked. Once ideas are disclosed, they may be possessed by more than one person. Nothing can change this fact. This truth is woven into the fabric of God’s creation.

It is also said an inventor is entitled to a share of the profits derived from the employment of his invention. But if this were true, then for the same reason he must also bear some responsibility for any related financial losses. At this suggestion, the inventor will vehemently deny he had anything to do with the losses experienced by an enterprise that relied upon his invention. If we grant an inventor’s plea of irresponsibility for losses, then by what principle—other than naked covetousness—could an inventor consistently argue that he is entitled to a share of the profits? Any inventor is at liberty to employ his own invention and earn profits, the same as anyone else who might choose to employ such knowledge. All anyone has to do to earn profits is to possess knowledge, invest capital, and skillfully labor to serve his neighbor.

Unwinding the doctrine of intellectual property is like having an argument with the Devil. As soon as some truth is injected into the discussion the subject is changed and a different path is taken until the tired protestor either concedes the dispute or is worn down and goes away perplexed. The entire doctrine of intellectual property is what amounts to an unholy collection of name-it-and-claim-it decrees, intellectual Band-Aids, bailing wire, white wash, smoke and mirrors, etc., all designed to create an impression that some kind of property is involved. But even when viewed in its most favorable light, it can only be described as a form of virtual property because it does not actually exist in the set of real things.

Intellectual property rights are really for the purpose of forming temporary monopolies designed to control how people may use information. In the last analysis, these schemes are about renting ideas, legalistic privileges, and coercion. Copyrights and patents afford an artist or inventor the opportunity to employ police powers to extort a form of rent from individuals who make profitable use of certain information. “Profitable use” means only a use by which someone benefits.

Patent related legalisms require the collection of rents from those who use information to employ a process to produce product for a limited period of time. The length of time a patent or copyright may be enforced can be arbitrarily extended, diminished, or abolished merely by government decree. If the government abolished these privileges, this would not be considered a “taking” because no one would suffer the loss of any property. Politicians receive “donations” (e.g. bribes) to maintain and extend these practices. Governments also receive fees and a share of the rents in the form of capital gains taxes. These fees and direct taxes on profits amount to kick-backs that encourage the government to remain interested in these unjust schemes.

In an effort to advance respect for this legalistic theory of a property right, police force is employed to overcome public indifference or even outright resistance against schemes involving patents and copyrights. Judges who decree penalties for infringement can cite no sanction required by God. Forgetting God, they presume authority to impose penalties for repeat violators of intellectual property as high as 20 years in a concrete/steel cage, up to $15,000,000.00 to be paid to the government, plus restitution paid to the supposed intellectual property owner may also be required by court order. On paper this seems outrageous to any reasonable person, but where is the public outrage? It is hard to find. Many people today continue to accept the proposition that governments can make up laws, willy-nilly. Nevertheless, because God does not authorize any rules or sanctions to control the disclosure and use of information, these legalisms are de facto unjust.

Innumerable pages of legal briefs, interpretations, judgments, and statutes have only managed to raise more questions than truth regarding a theory of intellectual property. At the end of the search we find the employment of this strange doctrine rests only upon government-granted monopolies and not upon God’s justice. Virtual intellectual property is only a legalistic fiction similar to what we find in the fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Likewise, this doctrine lacks any real substance to cover its exposed nakedness.

There are a few legitimate concerns having to do with the unauthorized disclosure of information. Some information ought to remain secret and should not be broadly disseminated. God has secrets so there is nothing unholy about keeping some information confidential. In some cases, even Jesus requested his disciples to maintain confidence about certain matters. It must be acknowledged that the inappropriate or unauthorized disclosure of secrets may, in some cases, injure individuals, compromise a strategic war effort, or even damage commercial interests.

In addition, a priest should not disclose the details of a parishioner’s confession because to do so might further damage a person who confessed his sins in confidence. Love covers a multitude of sins that, once forgiven, should be remembered no more. Traffic in gossip can in fact create real damages to people. But when damage is done by an improper disclosure of secrets, the injury may not always be quantifiable in monetary terms. Once disclosed, information cannot be returned. After information is disclosed to the mind of another, the effects of disclosure cannot be reversed. Knowledge is simply not a category of property that can be returned to create an original state of exclusive ownership. Pure and simple, knowledge cannot be owned.

When it can be proven a harmful disclosure of secrets has occurred, the victim may be entitled to a just monetary restitution, depending upon the facts of the disclosure and any measurable economic damages. Typically, such damage may be difficult to quantify in monetary terms. If economic damage related to an improper disclosure of secrets cannot be measured, it follows that no amount of monetary compensation may be ordered.

One who is damaged in ways that cannot be compensated in this life must patiently have faith and wait for a time when the Lord will make all amends for uncompensated damages. Then the faithful will surely see how God works all things according to their good. It must be admitted that those who do not have faith in Christ will consider such an idea to be nonsensical. But all reason begins with faith in someone or something. There are no exceptions to this fact. Thus, faith is woven into our psyche and this fact cannot be altered by any skeptic.

In addition, there are questions involving the accuracy and truthfulness of information. If someone publishes another’s writing or research under his own name, this may be a violation of the Ninth Commandment indicating the need to be truthful and to avoid false witness. If one alters or corrupts another’s writing or research without giving clear notice of new authorship, this is also a form of false witness that violates truth. In matters involving falsification there may be established remedies under God’s commandments, but we must again acknowledge where no quantifiable damages are proven, no sanctions for disclosure are commanded by God. Again, unquantifiable damages are not subject to earthly justice.

Patents and copyrights are legal fictions and prime examples of the clamoring for rights based upon the humanistic, enlightenment mood of our day. Anxiety about rights is always about MY rights. This attitude focuses on ME first, it diminishes justice and does not promote love for one’s neighbor. A patent-holder effectively says:

“I have disclosed something that may benefit you and you can see my idea is very clever and useful. But although you have already received the information, unless you have my further permission you cannot realize the benefit of this knowledge you now possess. You may obtain my permission only if you give me the amount of money I demand. If you benefit from what I disclosed without paying me money, my allies in the government will forcibly take your property and perhaps even put you in a cage for a long time.”

People do not speak in this way to someone they love, but they would speak this way to someone whom they did not love—someone they desired to exploit for unrighteous gain. What shall teachers of these legalisms do on the last day when all men are judged? Shall they assert the information used by God to judge them was pirated in violation of their intellectual property rights? What if our Lord determines it was actually the advocates of intellectual property who extorted money or property from their neighbors? Can such people reasonably expect a reward in life eternal? All things are known by God who exists as omniscient in being, both internal and external to time and space. What will they say then, and how will they argue with God? Let us instead abandon the false monopolies of intellectual property, be devoted to doing God’s will on Earth as it is done in Heaven, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Obedience toward God involves the free dissemination of His revealed knowledge and by such service a loving teacher will find a great reward from Christ. This is a reward that does not expire, grow old, and cannot be taken away.

13.

Justice in the Courts

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor;

Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow.

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the LORD,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

You shall eat the good of the land.”

(Isaiah 1:17–19)

Isaiah promises forgiveness and blessing for those who follow God and seek His justice. Since God sets the standard by which all people must be judged, earthly rulers and judges have no authority to invent new standards of legalistic laws by which to judge others. No court can lawfully supersede or ignore the will of God. In all of its functions, a court must require what God requires and sanction what God sanctions—no more and no less. Earthly courts must administer God’s standard of justice by lawfully utilizing the services of judges, juries, and witnesses.

Because God judges all people by the same standard, justice is not dependent upon the class, race, or individual characteristics of a particular person. All people should have access to impartial judges who are committed to do the will of God. But earthly judges are not always righteous. Even though judges may try to do what they think is right, they often act as if they are not responsible to God for their decisions. They would do well to remember that it is God who makes the rules and establishes the authority of all His civil ministers, but unfortunately not all judges have a heart to serve the Lord. Abusive judges who do what is right in their own eyes are notorious throughout history and have caused innocent people much harm.

If judges are to be unbiased, they must not receive compensation or benefits of any kind from any party to a case over which they preside. When government is a litigating party, government-paid judges always have a conflict of interest regarding the outcome. In cases between government and individuals, juries and/or volunteer judges should be employed. This would not present an obstacle to the administration of justice. Judges who are paid by one of the litigants or in any way derive benefits from one party in a dispute will always have an insurmountable conflict of interest. If such judges do not voluntarily step aside, others must remove them. It should be noted that once all false, legalistic laws are abandoned, there would be very few cases involving collective civil government as a litigant. Above all, the public must have every confidence their courts are free of corruption so justice will be available to all people, whether they be mighty or humble, rich or poor.

A disciplined legal procedure is good because it can assist the administration of the courts, but even the most efficient judicial procedure alone cannot guarantee justice will be done in all cases. It may surprise some readers to learn that a common breeding-ground for injustice is judicial procedure. This is because many judges emphasize judicial procedure and legal precedence over God’s justice. A system of administrative law is a prime example of substituting legalistic procedure for the way of justice. Rather than a dedication to do justice, administrative legal procedure often requires obedience to false laws and the enforcement of what can only be called pre-crimes.

Courts often presume justice is what superior judges have written, rather than what God has decreed. Judges and lawyers are trained to conform new cases to prior decisions. Too often justice is viewed as a process, not a just outcome. Lawyers are taught to assume if legal procedure is followed, this alone will satisfy all the necessary demands of justice. Law schools today actually teach this inane doctrine. But true justice requires outcomes that are consistent with God’s law, not mere conformity to a judicial process or traditions invented by men! If any requirement of a court is inconsistent with God’s requirements, it cannot decree a just outcome. A critical failure of a court system is evidenced when judicial process supplants God’s commandments. The best intentions involving judicial procedure can have no utility for justice unless they are first subordinated to the true standard of justice found in God’s law.

Another corruption of a court’s impartiality is evidenced by negotiated plea agreements between a prosecutor and a defendant to drop certain specified charges in exchange for testimony against others. Guilty, no-contest pleas or even the elimination of criminal charges often result as part of a deal for a criminal target to “cooperate” with prosecutors. Piling on tens, or in some cases even hundreds of potential criminal violations can overwhelm defendants and make them amenable to making a deal. Often a defendant’s own lawyer, who by the way is also a licensed officer of the court, will advise defendants to “make a deal” created by this corrupt process. Too often witnesses who are under duress will make deals with prosecutors to give manipulated testimony that is in line with prosecutorial objectives, but such testimony is not free and unfettered, so it is likely not even true.

Negotiated pleas are attractive to government-employed prosecutors and trial judges because they mitigate the government’s risk in litigation, reinforce government power, involve secret off-the-record negotiations, avoid a jury trial, and keep government agents firmly in control of the process. During secret negotiations, fearful defendants are often offered immunity in exchange for specific testimony against their neighbors. By this corrupt practice many weak souls are compelled into acting deceitfully. This process evidences a profound ignorance of, or even hostility toward, God’s demand for justice. Misguided government prosecutors and judges who engage in this kind of process are hypocrites. How can they on one hand claim to be pursuing justice, but on the other hand show partiality toward some parties over others? In the last analysis, they are only pursuing autonomous political power, not God’s justice. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. (Deuteronomy 16:19)

If people follow Christ, a “jury of one’s peers” system of judgment is a powerful antidote to corruption in the courts. It rests upon the firm foundation that all citizens are responsible to see justice is done. The practice of jury-as-judge arose in ancient times and was brought forward to America. As part of the English Common Law that influenced American society, to be judged by a jury of one’s neighbors is somewhat guaranteed to citizens by the U.S. Constitution. Historically, juries have often been empowered to decide the justice of a law in question and weigh the specific facts of a case. Thus, a defendant may be cleared simply because a jury refuses to convict him due to a lack of evidence or because they believe the applied law is unjust. By this process, a jury can bring about God’s justice even though prosecutors and judges may choose to oppose the way of Christ.

It should be noted that the “jury of peers as judge” as a judicial procedure is a social construct and judicial custom that has a long history and has been wisely employed to overcome civil government conflicts of interest and corruption in courts of law. Customs involving adjudication by juries, in one form or another, have been passed down from ancient Greece, to Anglo Saxons, Normans, and most notably to the English, Irish, and Scots and their descendants in many lands. This judicial custom has been modified to some extent in many countries and in the several States of the United States. But we must acknowledge, doing justice does not specifically require adjudication by juries. Justice can and should still be done with or without juries playing a part of the process.

Any judge, whether king or magistrate, if he does justice according to God’s law, would meet the standards for all matters involving the adjudication of crimes and civil matters. The desirability of judicial procedures involving juries is not critically required for just outcomes in any trial. Nevertheless, when corruption in the judicial process is evident, when common people are systematically oppressed by schemes involving judicial procedures, and when the righteousness of the common people exceeds that of government-paid judges, a jury process can be effective as a lawful means to limit institutional injustice. God’s justice is not a respecter of office or process. Irrespective of office, process or legal customs, justice must be done and it is blind to all else. Justice does not suffer legalistic activity alone, it is only focused upon just outcomes.

The power of the citizen’s jury system is under attack today and is now in danger of disappearing from modern courtrooms. Since civil government is positioned as an interested party in all criminal proceedings, judges and prosecutors often work together in an attempt to steer defendants away from jury trials, especially where the law and the facts of a case may be considered together.

Ideally, juries should contain impartial citizen-judges. In contrast to jurors, government judges and prosecutors are employees of government so they are often contemptuous of juries and instead favor legalistic pro-government decisions. Because of the supreme power of the jury to judge, prosecutors and judges are set against allowing juries to judge matters of law. Thus, government judicial employees often conspire to oppose jurors as judges of the whole matter, including whether the laws employed in a proceeding are just or not. But in all cases, a trial both of the law and the facts are necessary to do justice.

Legal procedure is partly designed to insulate courts from jurors who wish to administer justice according to their own convictions. Trial judges are trained to instruct trial jurors that during jury deliberations they must follow his written instructions. Jury instructions are often written to deceive jurors into thinking they cannot also judge the specific law being used to accuse their neighbor. This doctrine is obtuse to any serious, thoughtful observer because it is clear the people draft and enact all laws through their legislative representatives. In theory, judges have no legitimate authority to enforce laws against the accused when, in a particular case, one or more members of the jury believes the relevant law or its application is unjust. In some states a less than unanimous jury verdict is accepted for the conviction of criminal defendants. Civil cases may require lower jury voting standards involving super majorities. Nevertheless, despite the efforts of judges to convince them otherwise, if jurors are convinced a law or penalty is unjust, their responsibility to do justice is to essentially overrule any unjust law simply by finding the defendant innocent of the crime or liability in question.

Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand all (Proverbs 28:5). To the extent jurors have the opportunity, they are obligated by the Lord to see that justice is done in each and every case. The Lord instructs His followers, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In response to whatever instructions a jury receives from a judge, jurors should learn to smile and say, “Thank you sir!” Then, after the door of the jury deliberation room is shut, they must vote to do the will of God without offering excuses or explanation of their motives to anyone. As our Lord commands, it is best to only “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’” (Matthew 5:37)

Caution must be taken because jury foremen may inform supervising trial judges about a juror who questions the process, disagrees with the law or does not intend to follow the instructions of a trial judge. If this happens, jurors may be dismissed and an alternate juror installed before justice can be done. When faced with this situation, wise jurors should choose to keep mum about their opinions and when the time is right only vote “innocent” or “guilty” to do justice.

No juror can lawfully be required to explain or justify his decision to other jurors, jury foremen, or judges. Since jurors are the judges of record and are not on trial before the court, they must try to remain free from manipulation and tampering by supervising judges, other jurors, foremen or anyone. In any case, justice requires courage and faith in God. Good neighbors must be as bold as lions in the defense of the innocent and in the prosecution of the guilty. Every neighbor’s liberty depends upon righteousness in judgment and the enforcement of godly sanctions. Doing justice is a duty everyone owes to Christ our Lord and He shall eventually hold all judges responsible for their every word. As in all situations, the words of all people immediately pass out of time, are heard, and will never be forgotten by our eternal, omniscient God.

There is a curious, wicked hypocrisy at work in popular judicial systems. Out of one side of their mouth, judges, prosecutors, and law professors commonly berate the jury system and boldly claim mere uneducated common citizens cannot possibly understand the law well enough to apply or reject it. Out of the other side of their mouth they rail against defendants, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse!” Government-judges claim they expect common people to know every invented law and apply all complex legalistic doctrines with one sole exception— when they serve on a jury! Christ hates this process because justice cannot abide hypocrisy. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

Government-paid judges and prosecutors do not always stop at trying to manipulate the Petit Jury—they are also keen to manipulate Grand Juries. Prosecutors often arrogantly act as if they are Grand Jury Foremen. Like a shepherd dog herding sheep, they push themselves forward and manage jury investigations and proceedings. Prosecutors determine the scope of investigations, control and filter the information jurors may view, select witnesses, independently interview witnesses under oath, issue subpoenas, and deliver indictments to be rubber-stamped by a Grand Jury. Government paid judges who are complicit with these manipulative techniques have little respect for the Grand Jury as an investigative body and may even resent the jury’s independence to investigate whatever they think is necessary in order to root out crimes in society.

It should be more commonly understood that Grand Juries are free to subpoena judges, prosecutors, politicians, or any government employee to testify before them under oath. Grand Juries do not require the permission of a judge or prosecutor to seek out probable cause that a crime has been committed. Further, Grand Juries are not required to disclose the details or reasons for their investigations to prosecutors or judges. To remove the investigation of crimes and subsequent indictments from government manipulation is why we have Grand Juries in the first place. It is the executive, not the judicial function of government to enforce subpoenas and serve indictments, but no branch of American government has been constitutionally entrusted with a monopoly to investigate crimes or subject a person to trial for alleged crimes.

It is easy to understand why judges and prosecutors might attempt to quash any attempt to question them. Although prosecutors and judges like to ask questions of others, when they are examined by common citizens who seek out the truth of a matter, they are loath to answer questions under oath. But it is much better for them to learn to answer a few questions about justice now than to be unprepared when it comes time to answer many questions before the final Judge and Lawgiver.

If indictments issued by a Grand Jury are subsequently quashed by judges or prosecutors, grand jurors may always issue further indictments for obstruction of justice. Judges and prosecutors who hide evidence of crimes, withhold exculpatory evidence, manipulate witnesses, or in any way cover up injustice become parties to the related crimes. They too must be held accountable. They have no true immunity from prosecution for criminal collusion. Thus, all government employees are subject to the same sanctions God’s justice demands in all criminal cases and from every person.

No court may justly grant a liable party immunity from compensation to victims of injustice or from the sanctions God commands. Granting pardons or dropping charges in exchange for a witness’ testimony are evil practices that have been developed under a tradition of legalistic schemes that frequently relate to pre-crimes and false laws. Crimes cannot be made subject to such manipulations because true criminal statutes must be upheld without regard to any particular status or class of people. Since the law of reciprocity must be obeyed, prosecutors who hide or destroy exculpatory evidence must be personally liable for the unjust damages they have helped to inflict upon innocent defendants. By what measure they use, justice must be measured back to them.

Prosecutors who knowingly hide exculpatory evidence must be subject to the same penalty they have deceitfully sought to bring upon their neighbor. Like all people, if they escape the sanctions of God’s justice on Earth, they will not escape God’s final judgment in eternity. It is much better for anyone to face an earthly judge and righteous sanctions, repent, and enter eternity covered in Christ’s righteousness than to face God’s judgment alone with the guilt of their own sins ever before them.

All cases brought before a court must depend upon the testimony of witnesses. God’s law requires multiple witnesses to support accusations of crime. By the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Witnesses must be truthful, unfettered, and not bribed with plea bargains, immunity, money, employment, or other benefits. The Ninth Commandment warns all witnesses, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

If someone is proven to have given false witness against a neighbor, a lying witness must be subject to the same sanction as was the accused defendant. No witness who has unclean hands and is accused of the same crime as is the accused should receive criminal immunity in exchange for testimony. It is always contrary to justice to cover up a crime, except of course, when a victim voluntarily forgives his offender. But no prosecutor, judge, or executive can justly step into the shoes of a victim to extend forgiveness and ignore the sanctions God’s justice commands. True forgiveness can only be advanced by victims who alone have the power to make peace apart from sanctions and at the same time, preserve justice. This is because mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13) We also learn this truth from Jesus who was revealed as the ultimate forgiving victim when He prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24)

Great care must be taken when neighbors accuse one another. After the evidence and testimony are weighed, if the plaintiff does not prevail, he must be responsible for the cost of the dispute he unwisely or maliciously brought. Because God’s justice and due process rewards timely peacemaking, it is always wise to make peace quickly with an out-of-court settlement and before the compulsory process of courts become involved. The teaching of Jesus on this matter should be heeded by all, “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.” (Luke 12:58)

If defendants allege the civil government is relying upon an unjust law for prosecution, these defendants and/or their advocates must be allowed to speak openly in court and before jurors to present a defense on that basis. Does any court presume that citizen jurors cannot recognize an unjust or a just law? All people everywhere are commanded to do justice and love mercy. Justice demands all people who face an accuser must have the opportunity to cross examine him and/or explain before their judge(s) why they believe the accusation, regulation, or law that forms the basis of a complaint is unjust and how it violates God’s law. Godly judges have nothing to fear from free speech uttered in open court where among all places, it is most critically important to be heard. Instead, they will welcome it. Such open speech will not harm the administration of justice in any way, but it may avert tyranny.

If a prosecutor presents legal doctrines in open court and if this information is used as part of the evidence against the accused, the prosecutor should be subject to cross-examination under oath. Legal doctrines presuppose definitions and set the framework for the administration of justice. Since legal doctrines occupy such an important part of the evidence to sustain an accusation of criminal conduct, great care must be taken to ensure these foundations are tested and true. Because such doctrines are central to the administration of due process, they too must be carefully and openly examined by a judge and/or jury in open court as is all other relevant testimony and evidence related to deciding a case.

If anyone, including prosecutors, are found to have accused their neighbor falsely or oppressed them on the basis of a false law, they should be subject to the same penalty to which they would have subjected their neighbor. The Lord instructs us all, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). A righteous prosecutor’s duty is to present evidence, but it is not to make accusations against defendants or assert his own conclusions about what the evidence proves regarding the guilt of the accused. If prosecutors make any accusation, they should be placed under oath and meet the standards of truth required under God’s commandments.

You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. (Exodus 23:1–2)

In summary, complex matters may represent a challenge to the knowledge and wisdom of the godliest judges and jurors. In any godly society judges, juries, prosecutors, and witnesses should all work together to ensure the courts of our land advance justice and peace by upholding God’s law—no more and no less. Prosecutors are subject to the same law and justice as everyone so they may not receive immunity from wrongs done to the innocent. To do justice, judges and juries have no choice but to convict or exonerate all defendants according to God’s commandments and related sanctions. Devotion to godly justice does not automatically bring about perfect justice, but by faith in God and by His grace, a sincere effort will be effective to keep the peace and bless any nation. Nevertheless, in all cases, earthly judgments are preliminary and subject to God’s final judgment. The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple... (Psalm 19:7).

Because they will all eventually answer to God for their every word, judges, juries, and witnesses must never compromise the standard of justice found in God’s law. Accusers and false witnesses should never assume the Lord of all people and nations who sees, hears, and remembers all will not condemn them if they willfully reject His commandments and revolt against the Kingdom of Heaven. Difficulties presented by the adjudication of some cases do not justify turning away from what is the only true standard of righteousness.

For the LORD gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

He guards the paths of justice,

And preserves the way of His saints.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

Equity and every good path.

(Proverbs 2:6–9)

14.

Secret Police Operations

RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT is about doing justice, promoting reconciliation, and encouraging peace. God’s justice honors individuals and requires each person to be responsible to amend the consequences of his own criminal sins against others. Reconciliation and peace between the offender and the offended is the goal of the godly administration of justice.

But the way of the world is a different path than the Highway of Holiness. The worldly way is to demand primary loyalty to the enforcement machinery of a civil government that ignores God’s laws and invents its own. It is a serious sin to be loyal to, and aligned with, a government that openly rejects God’s laws. A pledge of loyalty is a kind of worship, so it is idolatry to worship anyone or anything above God. All loyalty to people and institutions must be founded first upon loyalty to Christ and viewed only in that light. True worship toward God is liberating for the soul. Godly loyalty rests upon humility, truthful communication, love, and respect. In contrast, worldly governments demand loyalty while relying upon the tools of secrecy, punishment, entrapment, and fear. Instead of acknowledging God, authoritarian governments demand the service and worship of their subjects. Such idolatry is lethal to any free society.

Government idolatry is without grace; it is legalistic and energized by fear. The use of force to manage all social and economic interaction between people is an attempt to usurp the place of God. Enforcement efforts in legalistic nations employ selective enforcement because with so many laws and limited resources, prosecutors must manage the herds of accused violators into classes. Well-connected and loyal citizens are not afraid because they are often excused from enforcement actions. But vulnerable, disenfranchised people who object to the politics of their accusers are persecuted, principally for their lack of faith in and submission to the regime in power.

Targets of investigations often lack financial resources and can be forced by prosecutors into submission by the high costs of legal defense. In authoritarian, legalistic societies the selective enforcement of laws becomes a route for the well-connected to gain immunity, power, and prestige. In contrast, in godly administrations, doing justice yields service, goodwill, liberty, and peace for everyone regardless of class distinctions or political affiliations.

When new legalistic laws and enforcement schemes are first introduced, many citizens are skeptical or even hostile toward the new laws. In response to this resistance, heavy-handed governments initiate undercover operations and propaganda campaigns to create an atmosphere of fear leading to compliance and respect for the “rule of law”—their law. These efforts are employed in the so-called war on drugs, the war on terrorism and other expansive legalistic programs. Because the enforcement of false laws can only increase injustice and lead to more social unrest, this activity does not lead to reconciliation and peace.

During the last century alone, governments that employ secret police are known to have murdered tens of millions of their own citizens. A tyranny cannot be sustained except under the darkness of secrecy, laced with classified information. Secret police operations always represent a clear and present danger to the liberty and the safety of free citizens. But governments that are open, accountable, and employ uniformed police have a dramatically better record of public protection and service. The difference between spying, secretive governments and open, transparent governments is like night and day, darkness and light. One leads to slavery and death, the other to liberty and life.

The public is often encouraged to support undercover police work since violations of legalistic laws and administrative regulations do not involve a true criminal component or evidence of actual damage to anyone. Powerful officials recognize the benefit of secret operations to promote loyalty to their political system and its expansive goals. But when police work is shrouded in secrecy, this alone should be enough to raise alarm from any discerning free citizen.

In free societies government employees are easily identifiable during law enforcement activities. Employees should wear uniforms and display identification badges while on duty. Some government employees may feel hamstrung if their communications are monitored and common citizens observe or film their public operations. Secret enforcers and spies hide behind disguise, secret courts, secrecy orders, and sealed documents to prevent citizens from uncovering their deceitfulness. Of course they will claim this is necessary to prosecute potential offenders before any harm has been done, so their work often centers on the prosecution of pre-crimes.

Free societies function well in the light of day because government agents whose work is righteous are always confident amid accountability for their actions. Uniformed police work is an honorable profession, but undercover police work and spying on citizens is dishonoring to the spies and dangerous to the peace and safety of any nation.

It is unrighteous for police agents to secretly pose as would-be criminals to entice others into criminal acts. For example, it is wrong when government agents pose as terrorists in order to corrupt weak souls and ally with them to plan public acts of violence. Sometimes government agencies even use secret undercover, false-flag, and illegal operations for propaganda purposes. They hope to create a public perception that their secret programs are critically needed to protect public safety. By this deceit they justify the acquisition of more tactical resources and political power. This bad behavior corrupts the institutions of government and society at large.

Any agent who uses entrapment as an enforcement technique effectively becomes an accessory to the crime in question. The process of gathering evidence cannot justify any criminal entrapment scheme. Government law-enforcement agents should never, under any circumstances, seek to encourage any crime in an effort to reduce the rate of crime. Even though stingoperations are usually reserved for pre-crimes where no victim can be identified, this technique is still immoral on a number of levels. Because stings and entrapments convert police work from protecting and serving to hunting and predation, this practice has a demoralizing effect on the dignity of police work. Those who are directly involved in the administration of justice must not employ secret undercover operations to tempt any neighbor to do evil. God does not condone any behavior that encourages evil, even if the stated goal is that good might increase thereby. Good ends do not justify any unrighteous means.

Godly governments do not employ undercover agents to make examples of individuals who are not loyal or obedient to legalistic laws. A righteous government has no reason to spy on non-violent citizens. There is no justification for government agents to read the personal letters or emails of citizens, secretly record their conversations, peek into their windows, examine their finances, case their assets, keep track of where they travel, catalogue their habits, or investigate their friends. Spying is often a warlike act. Spying leads to future intimidation, the manipulation of behavior, the extraction of direct taxes, laying a net for someone’s feet, or other such devious activities that are unrelated to the administration of justice.

Specific cases of spying may be justified where there is actual probable cause that a violent crime is imminent. An impartial court should supervise any such cases and make a record of all proceedings and actions for later full public disclosure during trials of those indicted for true crimes. Spying must not be for the purpose of encouraging crimes or passively observing those who may be planning crimes only to more easily levy charges based upon “intent” before any actual crime is committed. Legalisms like “criminal intent” are often prosecuted in the place of real crimes when no victims can be identified.

When “intent to commit a crime” is the only issue before a court and there is no evidence that an actual crime has been committed, no legitimate cause of action is justified. Only God knows the intentions of any person. It should be appreciated that more often than not, people cannot even accurately know or judge their own intentions! God has only delegated to government authority to impose sanctions for crimes that are proven after victims have been identified. Therefore, intent to commit crimes cannot justly be the subject of a trial and no righteous sanctions can apply.

If anyone knows of someone who appears inclined toward a grievous, criminal sin, intervention is the response that godly love must make. It would be best to inform such a person his behavior appears suspicious, that he is being openly watched, and if he is considering criminal acts, counseling is available about the benefits of keeping God’s law and the consequences of committing crimes. The only reason people commit crimes—or any sins—is because they do not know God and the power of His love. People who are thought to be at risk for criminal conduct need more constructive human contact and godly leadership, not less. Therefore, loving someone who is poor in love will mitigate their tendency to follow a criminal path. That is the best a neighbor can do—and it is enough!

Public employees and especially armed police must do justice and love their neighbors as Christ commands. People with social problems are the very people who most need to understand true justice, godly sanctions, redemption, and the experience of brotherly love. This is especially true of people who did not receive love and discipline as a child. Righteous people who love one another will try to keep their neighbors from becoming involved in criminal acts. They are willing to encourage, befriend, and counsel people who have serious social problems. Like any good neighbor, citizens who have law enforcement duties must also learn to serve God and love their neighbors as themselves. The object of their loyalty, devotion, and service must not be a secular State or the “law enforcement community” as if such groups have interests separate from common people. They must always love and serve public individuals and, of course, God to whom they are responsible in all things.

The proper and peaceful place to remedy unjust laws, especially those involving entrenched legalism, is in the courts of our land. In the opinion of some, courts may sometimes render questionable verdicts. On the last day, Christ will review all prior decisions, render final judgment, and shall work all things together for good for those who are patient and wait upon Him. For those who have suffered unjustly, the justice meted out by Christ is the sweetest justice there is! But it is not the way of Christ to resist evil by violent, revolutionary means.

You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously. (Deuteronomy 17:10–13)

Justice does not suffer violent people who advocate anarchism. Even if the verdict of a court is believed at the time to be unjust, we may have confidence that Christ defends all those who suffer unjustly. No justice in this world is perfect, and Jesus knows all that can be known about the injustice of evil governments. To overcome the injustice of this world we must do justice, defend the innocent, and love mercy.

In summary, police work should not be shrouded in secrecy. After knowledge of a crime has come to light, confidentiality regarding witnesses, investigations, and collecting evidence may be necessary for later disclosure once a criminal indictment is obtained. Police should not prosecute pre-crimes advocated by a tradition of legalistic laws, rules, and regulations where violations do not evidence harm to a known victim. Police powers must not be employed to create an atmosphere of intimidation or fear. In addition to solving true crimes and apprehending criminals, as opportunity allows, all government agents, including police, should also pursue intervention and provide godly counsel to potential criminals. In any case, while joining with righteous citizens who are their employers, government agents and police should also pray as our Lord instructed: Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one and Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

15.

Reconcile Crimes and Damages

THE CROSS OF CHRIST teaches us doing justice brings redemption to all people. Justice works to make amends, pays debts, and removes enmity between a criminal and his victim. The Cross of Christ satisfies all demands for justice toward God and makes justice and reconciliation possible for all those who rely upon Christ’s atonement and advocacy. Even a criminal who is facing the sanction of death, can make peace with God on the basis of the perfect atonement for sin by the work of Jesus Christ. Because Christ is our advocate before God the Father, all those who trust in Him shall not be condemned on the last day. Jesus Christ shall vouch for His followers because He has fully satisfied the demands of justice toward God and is able to sanctify forever all who trust in Him. The finality of our sanctification will be realized eternally by the resurrection of the dead.

All redemption requires restitution and/or forgiveness. When a victim is not fully compensated, redemption is only possible through forgiveness. Such forgiveness must be free and cannot be forced. But forgiveness alone is not always the most redemptive approach because doing God’s justice with compensation to victims always sanctifies criminals and victims. Criminals do not always benefit best by earthly forgiveness alone. Their sanctification may be best realized while they learn the discipline of restitution. God’s law requires full restitution for wrongs suffered by the innocent and this promotes peace on earth and goodwill toward those who experience redemption. Even if a victim extends an offer of forgiveness, as opportunity and resources allow, a repentant criminal who has learned the power of love and service should insist upon making his victim whole.

Criminals who have committed theft or otherwise have harmed others must be redeemed for a price sufficient to make their victims whole. The requirement of justice for all crimes or damages against victims must be lex talionis, or reciprocity, where the demands of restitution fit the crime.

Contrary to popular but foolish opinions, the goal of justice is not to punish criminals for what they have done. Instead, the objective of justice is to bring peace between victims and criminals by providing a way of redemption. Temporal reconciliation between people is aligned with the eternal pattern found in Heaven. Doing justice is instructive and sanctifying for all involved parties. People who learn to love their victims and forgive their oppressors are inclined toward Christ’s eternal Kingdom. After all, even innocent Jesus prayed while on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 24:34). Does anyone suspect this prayer offered by Jesus at the peak of his passion was unheard, ineffectual, or unanswered? Of course not!

Punishment in prisons does not bring reconciliation between criminals and victims. No one should be confined to a prison-cage unless he is awaiting a speedy trial and the risk of flight before trial can be reasonably anticipated. Not only is incarceration costly to society, this practice can never amend the injustice caused by a crime. Justice is never served when criminals are held in cages like animals and when judges ignore God’s requirement to fully compensate victims of crimes. While prisoners who are a flight risk are confined, they should be allowed to meet frequently with Gospel ministers, family, and friends who can encourage them in the way of faith and life. Prisoners must be allowed human contact with those who love them. This practice cannot inhibit justice, injure a prisoner, or create harm to society.

If criminals do not have the wherewithal to compensate their victims completely and cannot raise sufficient resources from family or friends, they must labor to work off their debts. After victims have been fully compensated and the demands of justice satisfied, former criminals will have learned the value of service toward others, and in this they will experience a measure of personal redemption.

After victims are compensated, criminals should be repatriated to society with the full privileges and benefits of any freeman. This is not to imply those victims affected by a criminal act will always forget the original offense, but only to assert there is no longer any reason to interfere with the liberty of one who has fully compensated his victim. The end of true justice is the redemption of all affected persons to material wholeness and liberty. Once a victim has received full material restitution, there is no cause for further action because to the extent required by law, the social relationship in question has been sanctified, resulting in peace and liberty for all who are involved.

Living victims are always free to forgive their oppressors, but forgiveness must be freely offered and cannot be demanded or required. Obviously, a dead victim cannot forgive anyone in this life. Therefore, the commanded sanction of death for murder must always be imposed upon a lawfully convicted criminal. No uninvolved third party, executive official, or even a judge may justly forgive a lawfully convicted criminal. Since justice must always be done, it is arrogant and sinful to tamper with God’s sanctions as if they were not commanded by the Lord.

Courts must do no less or more than to impose the demands of justice. Above all other persons, judges must be the most obedient toward God because to obey is better than sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22). God reserves the strictest judgment for those who judge others. Judges must not expand compensation to victims beyond what justice requires, extend forgiveness to criminals, or ignore God’s sanctions. Only actual victims are able to justly forgive their oppressors. When forgiveness is freely given, mercy triumphs over judgment. In this we may keep the command of our Lord by loving our enemies. It is always blessed to forgive others even as God the Father forgives all who trust in Jesus.

In the case of all non-economic damages, real or imagined, God requires forgiveness. It is outside of the authority of any court to administer or require non-economic remedies. A court cannot calculate or justly impose material remedies for non-material damages. No material thing can be required to compensate a victim for damage that cannot be proven objectively or is not of an economic nature. There is no just material remedy for insults, mental anguish, pain, suffering, and such things. An offender cannot be justly required to make monetary payments if a damage cannot be quantified. In the same way, money cannot buy happiness or peace with God, money cannot compensate anyone for offenses involving non-economic damages. Money is not everything. In such cases, the victim must trust God to work all things together for the good of those who trust in Him. To forgive others for non-economic damages is to lay up treasures in Heaven. Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21–22). Christ will amend all wrongs and fully reward those who are forgiving and patiently wait upon His final justice.

It is God who judges the heart and He reserves matters involving indeterminate harm for adjudication by Himself alone. If courts require payment of money for non-economic damages, they exceed God’s delegated authority. Judges should instruct litigants that courts only have authority to issue orders that compel restitution after economic or monetary damages have been proven.

When non-economic damages occur, peace may be achieved by voluntary actions taken by the parties. An offender may ask for forgiveness, and to reestablish trust and goodwill he may also freely offer an unforced, appropriate gift consistent with the perceived degree of the offense. A victim of non-economic damage should forgive such an offense and turn the other cheek. But to resolve conflict and establish goodwill, actions between such parties must always be voluntary. We should all remember the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” And Jesus further teaches, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:26).

Reconciliation between God and man cannot be compelled by earthly force, rather it is established only through the sovereign, mediating work of the Holy Spirit. For those who are led by the Holy Spirit, forgiving others is part and parcel of what it means to follow Christ. Love will cover a multitude of sins (I Peter 4:8). Before receiving the Holy Sacraments or even giving tithes, followers of Christ are wisely instructed to make peace with their neighbors. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (I John 4:20). There is no place in the Kingdom of Heaven for unforgiving, bitter souls who hold grudges or seek the punishment of others, especially when they cannot even provide evidence of uncompensated damage.

In summary, courts are unjust when they attempt to intercede by force into areas where voluntary forgiveness alone can provide a remedy. Beyond the payment of proven economic damages, oppressors should ask for forgiveness from their victims and forgiveness should not be withheld. It should be understood that those who do not know the love and forgiveness of Christ might not be willing to forgive a non-economic offense. However, this is a sinner’s and not a court’s problem to resolve. In any case, it is always perverse to demand money for what should not or cannot be purchased.

Many of today’s court practices and procedures are unrighteous and unjust. Multiplying legalistic laws and regulations without number has perverted the administration of justice. Governments today require criminals to be housed in cages for months or years at a time, all the while compensation owed to victims is often ignored. Furthermore, innocent citizens are forcibly and unjustly required to pay the cost for caging and punishing unredeemed human beings. This practice only leads to compounded injustice. But the injustice does not stop there. Tragically, the redemption of criminals to society is largely ignored. Popular “criminal justice” practices are often sinful and contrary to the redemption required by God’s justice. Do political leaders seek to establish Hell on Earth? Those who love their neighbors will do justice toward them and as opportunity allows, encourage the reconciliation of criminals to their victims.

“Let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos)

“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Paul)

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.... Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” (Jesus)

16.

Sanction Capital Crimes

ALL SINS ARE ACTS of rebellion against God, and certain specific sins are crimes for which God commands the death of a lawfully convicted criminal. Crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, and other specified crimes leave damages to victims, or such offense toward God that the Lord has determined these persons cannot be reconciled in this life. After due process has run its course, a criminal convicted of a capital offense must be put to death as God has decreed. God commands these souls must be dispatched to Him for further adjudication and final judgment. But this is nothing unusual because at one time or another, after this life, all people will appear before God. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, when an adult victim of a capital crime remains alive, a living victim’s forgiveness may trump even a sanction of death (e.g. rape or kidnapping). Mercy triumphs over judgment. Again, such forgiveness must be freely given and cannot be coerced.

The wages of sin is death and God always pays the wage that is due and owing. Because of sin, all mankind lives under a death penalty in this life. Everyone’s temporal body will die at one time or another, but Jesus promises Martha and us when Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26)

By his own actions a person who has been convicted of a capital crime has made it impossible to compensate his victim(s) or make amends in this life. In obedience to God, such a criminal must be required to leave for the next life earlier than by natural death. God has decreed this specific penalty because of the nature of what He has determined to be a capital crime. God’s determination in this matter is sovereign and final. It not subject to repeal or modification by judges, juries, politicians, religious ministers, voting majorities, and others who think their will is superior to God’s law.

A criminal who has been justly tried and found guilty of a capital crime must make an appeal to God where forgiveness and peace will be found. This need for forgiveness is nothing unusual —it is the same appeal all sinners must make to God for forgiveness and justification. If we confess our sins—even our greatest sins—God is faithful and righteous to forgive them. Nevertheless, even though such a criminal who has harmed another person may rely upon eternal forgiveness by faith in Christ, unless his living victim forgives him, he cannot be reconciled in this life.

In addition, when a person is lawfully convicted of any crime, and if it can be clearly determined by conduct he is without repentance, he refuses to abide by a righteous sanction issued by a lawful court, and he rebels against God’s civil minister in any lawful command pursuant to God’s justice, this too may warrant the sanction of death. There is no place for personal violent rebellion in the face of a lawful order of a magistrate. The Apostle’s admonition extends even to orders that appear to be unjust.

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him a drink;

For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19–21)

Some people imagine these laws involving capital sanctions are limited to ancient times. Thus, they reason because God’s laws are ancient and not popular modernist concepts, certain capital sanctions should not be enforced today. Scholars often contend modern society has evolved beyond the reach of the sanctions commanded by God. Others theorize these laws were never just laws from the beginning and boldly contend it would be unjust to apply the capital sanctions commanded by God.

But by what standard of reason can a creature determine whether his Creator’s pronouncements are wrong, unjust, untimely, or even ill-advised? Who is this creature that thinks himself so wise as to charge his Creator with error? God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is not subject to time or any other aspect of His creation—including any creature’s independent reason or judgment! People should tremble before God, not pretend to sit in judgment over His commandments. Who answers to whom? Mankind cannot truthfully judge or rightly contradict any matter upon which God has decreed. It is the duty of all mankind—and the pleasure of those who love Christ—to keep all of His Commandments, including those related to capital sanctions. But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

There may be different opinions about the applicability of ceremonial laws or questions of whether this or that statute applied only to the national administration of ancient Israel. But this is not the case when God’s law requires specific sanctions, including death. Other laws involving the right of return, the fifty-year jubilee, clean and unclean foods, certain holy days, cities of refuge, and theoretical title to loosely defined ancient lands are not linked to specific earthly sanctions to be enforced by God’s civil ministers. No one can compel obedience unless God’s law contains a commanded sanction. In any case, justice always requires the application of sanctions when God has clearly spoken about what is required to do justice.

The educational-forerunner effect of the Hebrew ceremonial laws is now fully illuminated and realized in the priesthood of Christ. One might recollect the forerunner John the Baptist and how he prepared the way of the Lord. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus takes away sins once and for all. Animal sacrifices cannot do this, but must be repeated every time additional sins are committed. God’s instructions to Israel about animal sacrifice and atonement were measured and progressive throughout history, but any continued practice of temple laws would dishonor God’s work of atonement today by supposing that the blood of Christ is an incomplete sacrifice for sins. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. (I John 3:5)

But when God commands specific sanctions for crimes, these are matters of justice and are not unique to a temple or particular national administration. Thus, as sin remains in this world, the commanded sanctions remain in force and are without any repeal. The standards of justice transcend time, culture, personal circumstances, class, race, and family. Recall again that God’s sanctions are for sanctification, not mere punishment. “....My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:5–6)

God ordains all judicial standards for justice and no government administration has authority to alter or abolish them. God has not delegated authority to governments or judges to handle capital cases as they fancy or to experiment with the lives of criminals. For example, there is no godly basis for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. This practice is without any true authority and cannot be justified. Long-term caging (what is euphemistically called “incarceration”) only produces more injustice. God has not granted to governments authority to take money from victims and uninvolved third-party citizens to pay costs of caging during the convict’s long process of aging and death. A sentence of life in prison amounts to untimely capital punishment. All the while the administration of justice is unwisely diverted from obedience to God’s will to willful rebellion by arrogant men who think they are able to create their own standards of justice.

When a witness gives testimony of a capital crime, he must be careful to be accurate and assume nothing. His neighbor’s life depends upon the truth of his testimony. Since we must all love our neighbors as ourselves and even love our enemies, should we not also love people who are accused of a capital crime? Judges, jurors, and witnesses must also love their accused neighbor and this is especially urgent when the neighbor is in jeopardy of death.

It is important for the accused to know the love of his neighbors so if he is found innocent, he will have confidence to return to his home, but if he is found guilty, he can blame only himself. In the context of neighborly love and justice, even a convicted criminal is drawn to accept his own responsibility rather than shift his blame toward others he believes must have it in for him. Such love is healthy for the souls of all who are involved. The sanctifying process of justice focuses the criminal’s appeal toward God alone for forgiveness and reconciliation. Justice cleanses society of sinful practices and sanctifies to some degree all who are involved with or have knowledge of a capital crime.

The Ninth Commandment prohibits all false witness. A witness must be truthful because evidence against the accused is critical for the administration of justice. Since no witness should risk being convicted of perjury, he should be absolutely sure of any testimony offered against a neighbor, or he must hold his peace and assume nothing. If false witness is proven, God’s law requires a lying witness must be subjected to the same sanction he would have unjustly perpetrated upon his neighbor. All people must learn the serious duty of testifying against their neighbors, loving all people, and seeking out the truth of a matter.

And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 19:18–19)

Witnesses occupy a particular and indispensable place in the administration of justice. God further requires the participation of witnesses in carrying out the required sanction (sentence).

Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 17:6–7)

This participation is thoroughly consistent with what it means to offer evidence against someone who is being tried for a capital crime. When an accuser testifies against his neighbor in a capital case, it is as if the witness is taking the life of the accused in his own hands. Regarding this, Jesus alluded to the law of Moses when He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8:7) By this command it should also be noted that the law does not permit a witness who has unclean hands to offer testimony or participate in executions. God hates hypocrisy—especially when a capital sanction is applied. Hypocrisy in judgment is evil and incompatible with the imposition of the godly sanctions that are necessary for justice.

In summary, the administration of God’s law brings redemption and reconciliation between oppressors and victims. In the case of particular capital crimes, because victims cannot be made whole by restitution, justice cannot be done in this life. The nature of a capital crime involves a sin that makes it impossible for an oppressor to compensate the victim or amend the offense. Once due process and the testimony of two or more witnesses has established the guilt of someone accused of a capital crime, the convicted criminal must not be caged indefinitely. If God requires a sanction of death, a criminal must appeal to God alone for forgiveness and reconciliation. As commanded, his soul must die to this world and be dispatched forthwith out of time and on to God’s judgment. God requires all civil ministers and citizens to obey Him and do justice in all things, including the imposition of capital sanctions.

Summary

JUSTICE IS THE PROCESS of implementing God’s commandments. Because there is only one standard of justice, God’s commandments bind all people and all nations for all time. No man or nation is above the Lord Christ or His law. The path of justice is for people to bend all their thoughts and actions to do the will of God. Jesus taught us to pray in this manner:

Our Father in heaven,come. Your will be done

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

This prayer is effectual and it shall surely come to pass. Jesus did not teach His followers to offer prayers that would not be answered! “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). The gates of hell represent the rebel’s ultimate opposition to God’s justice, but Hell’s resistance against Heaven is futile. No power on or under the Earth can stop the advancing Kingdom of Heaven and the global rule of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Resistance against the Kingdom of Heaven is vain. The Kingdom of Heaven is the true globalism. It is not born of war, financed by massive involuntary debt, maintained by the invention of violent threats or the social prison of a million false laws. The Kingdom of Heaven rests upon the sure foundation of redemption for those who do justice, serve their neighbors, and who demonstrate by their good works, love, and faith in Christ the King. The chief end of all people is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

The truth of the invincibility of Heaven is hidden from idolaters, from those who think themselves to be highly educated in popular worldly ways, and those who are perishing in unbelief. By ignorance or rejection of the way of Christ, many people are engaged in a desperate attempt to redefine justice so they may force their own will upon society. They seek to usurp the place of the Lord and determine good and evil for themselves. This struggle continues as long as the godless assert their will upon the Earth. This is a false, satanic globalism. But true faith teaches us that justice comes from doing God’s will, not from doing our own. Jesus prayed that great petition of all petitions, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” God’s will is not subject to evolution, change, or the process of time. Each and every day we should do God’s justice and know it is both new and ancient.

No one should think God’s law is too much trouble to understand and apply. Hypocrites who oppose the rule of Christ are willing to accept a million false laws, rules, and regulations that are too numerous to be remembered or understood. But God’s law instructs us about what is required to advance neighborly goodwill and for love to reign in our land. Unlike false laws invented by legalistic, self-willed people, God’s will can be known and understood by all. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:34). God’s law is designed to be taught to and understood by children. The way of Christ is the way of liberty. It is debt-forgiveness, setting prisoners free, truth in all dealings, meekness in relationships, doing justice, making peace, and demonstrating love for one’s neighbor.

It is strange to see so much hand-wringing, fear, and opposition by today’s established leaders in church, government, and academia regarding doing justice by following God’s commandments. Are they all so committed to lawlessness? Is this passion not demonic? Because legalism leads to injustice, we must not follow leaders who reject the instruction of God’s law and seek to establish their own words as preeminent in the Earth. The experience of Judah and Israel in this regard is instructive.

For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made... Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.

(II Kings 17:7–8, 19–20)

This is a pointed account of the consequences of Judah and Israel’s epic failure involving their invention of legalism. Legalism is always lawless and sinful. Contemporary secular democracies notwithstanding, one can never promote a just society by inventing new laws and punishments. Since the desired end of a matter never justifies any unjust means to bring it about, we must not do evil hoping thereby that good will increase. Any threats of violence used to enforce false laws, collect direct taxation, involuntary debts, or any form of tribute from free people cannot promote peace and goodwill among citizens. Such actions are a perversion of law and justice. They are oppressive and unjust. God does not require citizens to cooperate or comply with those who pervert justice and oppress the innocent. Arrogant and self-willed legalists will not inherit the earth.

The curse of injustice is released upon society when the wicked enforce their invented laws. These curses are the disciplines imposed by Christ and designed to instruct those who will inherit life so they might turn from their sins and be saved from their evil ways. It is instructive and comforting to us that no president, king, legislator, judge, army, or any other power can long resist God’s will. But we must all humbly accept that the loss of goodwill and liberty in our nation is not a matter that can be resolved by writing or amending constitutions, treaties, empowering police, armies, controlling political parties, natural philosophies, voting, or inventing new laws.

Peace on Earth is first a matter of obedience and faith in God, and second, it is a matter of love for one’s neighbor. It does not matter how those who oppose the rule of Christ scheme and manipulate the machinery of government, they will never inherit liberty and peace. After the Lord makes a spectacle of their rebellion as He did with Pharaoh, they and their works shall be destroyed and will come to nothing. Apart from repentance, legalists are cursed and shall have no lasting place in the earth. Christ proclaims, “Without Me you can do nothing.” No ruler who resists God’s commandments can long stand against the justice of God and the liberty that is the birthright of all who follow the way of Christ.

A Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. Truly, those who are meek, who love God and their neighbors will inherit the earth. But those who do not respond to God’s grace, are self-willed, and predatory shall be condemned. Therefore, citizens must learn to judge their leaders by their fruits. Who are the leaders that love all people according to Christ’s commandments? Who seeks to liberate the nation according to God’s justice? Who supports the weak and defends the innocent? Who refuses to gossip, does not accuse or uncover the nakedness of a neighbor? Who does not point the finger and speak wickedness? Who refuses to conduct attacks of personal destruction, but loves their neighbors and brings peace to society? Who seeks to apply God’s sanctions to do justice and love mercy? Or, who turns away from God’s law and decides it is inadequate for modern society? Who supports false legalistic lawmaking in an attempt to force their own godless will upon the nation? Who is of the lawless one, energized by Hell? These are questions that must be answered. By their fruits, you shall know them.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” (Matthew 7:15–23)

Legalism is lawlessness. Any nation that invents innumerable laws, rules, and regulations, cannot possibly retain them while at the same time seek liberty, peace, and prosperity. The sheer number and complexity of legalistic laws means those who are politically powerful must employ police and even military-styled teams to selectively enforce their invented laws as they see fit. Such wicked regimes will change the interpretation of true laws and whenever it suits their lust for power over others, they will ignore what has been established. Instead, they seek to revolt against God and to assert their own will upon the Earth.

Tyrants will not answer direct questions about who is God and to what extent God has authority over them. If any true and godly law becomes inconvenient to their agenda such a law is suppressed while they resort to force, intimidation, and violence to advance their political goals. The result is a descent into a police state where spying, intimidation, and overwhelming police force becomes a godless regime’s modus operandi. Too often classified or secret information determines the parameters of police work and indictments by prosecutors. This in turn corrupts the administration of justice in the courts. Secrets are rarely designed to protect national security, rather they are used to advance the slavery of the people and promote the security of those who view themselves as the political masters of the common citizens.

Justice demands that prisoners who have harmed no one and who have been jailed unjustly must be set free and compensated for their time in prison. When harm has been proven and to the extent possible, all victims must be made whole, and after that criminals must be fully redeemed to society as if they had never committed a crime. Justice does not maintain a perpetual prison population with a vast legalistic enforcement bureaucracy to manage underlings. All those who are entrusted with civil authority must value God’s truth, justice, and righteousness, or depart into the shadows. People must not bear false witness against their neighbors. Those who cage people without a divine mandate promote Hell, not the Kingdom of Heaven. New and ancient justice surely overcomes oppression and ensures peace and liberty for all.

Government employees who are not needed or do not support a righteous administration of justice must learn to produce voluntarily traded goods and services that benefit their neighbors. Government employees who have plundered their neighbors and hoped to live a life of privilege by lording over, regulating, and controlling their fellow citizens, must be turned out to find useful work in markets that are free, where he who serves best is regarded as the greatest. We must pray and act so willing people will come to an understanding that liberty and wealth result from love and service, not from coercive domination, legalistic oppression, or unlawful government subsidies.

Jesus answered Pilate about the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, and contrasted it with the Roman doctrine of political power and war as a means to advance empire and civilization.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:36–37)

The book of Hebrews details in plain language the perfect and eternal atonement of Christ, faith in God, the advance of Christ’s rule, and the sure destruction of all that offends justice and peace.

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:25–29)

Many years ago, the prophet Daniel spoke of the invincibility of the coming Christ and the advance of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13–14)

Now is the time to follow the way of Christ. A sober choice is before us all. Will you follow the light when you have seen it or will you shrink back into the darkness? Are you willing to stand for justice, or will you follow a multitude to do evil? Will you commit to follow the Holy Spirit, to honor Almighty God and serve His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of Nations? Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death for all who are faithful to Him. Will you choose forgiveness and everlasting life with Him, or will you go to the grave alone, without faith and without Christ as your advocate before God the Father? Jesus makes an amazing promise to those who follow Him, “He who believes in me shall never die.”

Behold. Today is the day of salvation. You see before you the choice of slavery and death or liberty and life. Choose faith in the Lord that you might live. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus came that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly. Those who trust in Him will not be disappointed.

O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs—

O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!

Rise up, O Judge of the earth;

Render punishment to the proud.

LORD, how long will the wicked,

How long will the wicked triumph?

They utter speech, and speak insolent things;

All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.

They break in pieces Your people, O LORD,

And afflict Your heritage.

They slay the widow and the stranger,

And murder the fatherless.

Yet they say, “The LORD does not see,

Nor does the God of Jacob understand.”

Understand, you senseless among the people;

And you fools, when will you be wise?

He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?

He who formed the eye, shall He not see?

He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,

He who teaches man knowledge?

The LORD knows the thoughts of man,

That they are futile.

Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD,

And teach out of Your law,

That You may give him rest from the days of adversity,

Until the pit is dug for the wicked.

For the LORD will not cast off His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

But judgment will return to righteousness,

And all the upright in heart will follow it.

Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?

Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

Unless the LORD had been my help,

My soul would soon have settled in silence.

If I say, “My foot slips,”

Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up.

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,

Your comforts delight my soul.

Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law,

Have fellowship with You?

They gather together against the life of the righteous,

And condemn innocent blood.

But the LORD has been my defense,

And my God the rock of my refuge.

He has brought on them their own iniquity,

And shall cut them off in their own wickedness;

The LORD our God shall cut them off.

(Psalm 94:1–23)

Author’s Note to the Reader

DAVID WISHES to express sincere gratitude to the reader for the time spent reading this book. David’s intention was to explain New and Ancient Justice in a simple and straightforward manner. Given the state of our legalistic society today this was obviously quite a challenge. Efforts were made to mitigate the inherent repetitive nature of the text, but this was difficult. There is also a measure of repetition in each chapter which anticipates that a reader’s focus on a particular subject may cause him to overlook the larger context of the entire book.

If we all already knew what is and what is not justice, what it means to love God and our neighbor, then time spending reading this book would be unnecessary and perhaps, wasted. There are many complex social problems related to injustice, but they are all resolved by the one thing that is at once both simple and profound, new and ancient. Our salvation rests upon the work of Christ and our obedience of faith in Him. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. It is hoped the reader will respond with repentance where it is needed, follow the Holy Spirit, and by faith in Christ do justice, love mercy, and honor God the Father.

David prays you will commit to come along on the Highway of Holiness where travelers do justice, love mercy, and experience the awesome adventure found in a life lived by faith in Christ. May the God who is eternally just, and who gave His only begotten Son for our sakes, have mercy upon us and grant us justice and peace. May the Lord keep you and bless you as you seek to do His will on Earth as it is in Heaven. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.