“For some were clapped into prison, others had their houses beset and watched, night and day, and hardly escaped their hands. And most were feign to flee and leave their houses and habitations and their means of livelihood.”
William Bradford, Of Plimouth Plantation, 1630
You see, King James believed in something called “the DivineRight of Kings,” and that his power as the King over England was absolute(meaning that it could not be questioned).
“James’s great failure as an English king stemmed from his inability at first to perceive wherein the English assembly differed from the Scottish Parliament, and from his unwillingness to accept the differences when at last he became aware of them.”
In fact though, the problems didn’t end with James I. They went on for many years, with struggles between various kings and Parliament, until the English Bill of Rights was signed into law in 1689. But that only came after the King at that time (James II) fled the country, which became known as The Bloodless Revolution!
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he wasn’t writing it from within the bubble of the current events of his time. He was writing it from within the context of the hundreds of years of history since King James and the Pilgrims. And not only that, he was writing it from within the context of theancientrights of his ancestors going all the way back through history to Magna Charta.
That is the our heritage as American citizens, and we would do well to remember it.
Chapter 4: God’s Plan for Self-Government, Then and Now
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel…” (Benjamin Franklin)
“He (God) leads princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders… He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”
Job 12:19-20, 24-25
The point here is that man–us, we–no matter how smart we get, no matter how advanced we become–can never be smarter, or more powerful than God, and thankfully, He is good, and kind, and wants the best for us.
A case in point may be observed in the Book of Jonah.
The people of Nineveh (in the Neo-Assyrian Empire) had become cruel and ruthless, and were threatening the nation of Israel. So, God was not happy with them. So what did He do? Did He send downfire from heaven to consume them? No, instead, He sent a prophet–Jonah–to warn them. And this is what God said to Jonah about the city of Nineveh–which (coincidentally) had been part of Nimrod’s ancient empire:
“…Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Jonah 4:11
Benjamin Franklin once said:
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that Godgoverns in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel…”
Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, 1787
But some people today are no longer impressed with the ideas of Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, or Plato and Aristotle:
“In a certain sense, then, today’s preschoolers are smarter than the greatest thinkers of the ancient world.”
Steve Stewart-Williams Ph.D., evolutionary psychologist and cultural evolutionist
This is the kind of thinking that leads people to say things like this:
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
Back in ancient times, God chose Noah to build the ark and save the human race, but only a couple of generations later, it is Noah’s grandson Nimrod–not Noah–who built the first empire and set himself up to lead it. Benjamin Franklin would have called that laboring in vain–in vanity–in the idea that Nimrod was smarter-better– than the people around him.
Elitism is defined as “the attitude or behavior of a person or group who regard themselves as belonging to an elite.” (Bing)
Why is elitism so prevalent? One source says:
“Abraham Lincoln’s dream of governance ‘by, of, and for the people’ has mutated into a deathless trope, emanating from megaphones in the hands of charlatans, philistines and fools.”
DAVID MASCIOTRA, SALON, OCTOBER 25, 2015
So how do these “elite” come to power?
We put them there.
My favorite president was James A. Garfield. And he once said:
“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”
If the people who are running any particular area of our culture–whether it’s government, or media, or higher education, or whatever— have values that are different than ours, we have a responsibility–a duty–to do something to rectify the situation. If we don’t, we are accepting it. We are, in fact, saying “This is the type of culture I deserve.”
Is it?
We are very fortunate to live in the greatest republic–the freest democracy–that has ever existed throughout the history of the world. And we do not have to see it fall into ruin.
Let me leave you with this quote from Richard Maybury (the writer of the wonderful “Uncle Eric” series of books):
“Perhaps more than anything else, (we) should assume humans have the ability to overcome their problems and move forward… One of the most noteworthy characteristics of America’s founders is that they were aware of their own world, and indeed (that) their own characters and personalities, were not the best that humans could do. They worried about slavery, poverty, and war, and wanted something better. More importantly, they knew enough law and economics to believe something better was possible and they were working toward this goal.
“They were not utopians. They realized a perfect society is not possible. But they knew we could do much better and they were trying to create the legal environment that would enable this to happen…
“The belief that a better tomorrow is possible is absolutely essential not only for the rescue of our country but for the mental well-being of the individual. Young people need it desperately. However, we need to visualize this better future…”
“We will lead the exploration of space because discovery is one of the tests of the vitality of a nation.”
Richard M. Nixon (then Vice President of the United States) 10/25/1960
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade… not because (it is) easy, but because (it is) hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win…”
Jacqueline Kennedy, JFK’s widow, once said, “At night before we’d go to sleep, Jack (JFK) liked to play some records; and the song he loved the most came at the end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were, ‘Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.'”
This was the America that I grew up in–filled with promise. I have often wondered, “What went wrong? “Why hasn’t America fulfilled it’s potential?”
The Bible says:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28
In these verses, God gave Adam & Eve four commands:
“Be fruitful and multiply” (meaning: “Reproduce, become numerous”
“Fill the earth” (meaning: “Spread out across the earth”)
“Subdue it” (meaning: “Conquer it“)
“Have dominion over it” (meaning: “Rule it”)
Man was created to be a conqueror–to gain mastery–but not over other men. He was to explore the earth, to study it, and to figure out how to live upon it–all of it.
If man’s energies were invested in harnessing–exploring, studying, utilizing–the resources of God’s creation as God intended, the rest of the earth’s land surface–not to mention the ocean, the moon, and other planets–could support a much greater population than we have today.
population control = "a policy of attempting to limit the growth in numbers of a population, especially in poor or densely populated parts of the world, by programs of contraception or sterilization." (The Free Dictionary)
The 1972 Report of the President’s Commission on Population Growth and the American Future concluded that:
“No substantial benefits would result from continued growth of the nation’s population.”
And in 1974, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Henry A. Kissinger, issued National Security Study Memorandum #200, that concluded that continued global population growth posed a grave security risk to the United States. Kissinger argued that:
“We cannot wait for overall modernization and development to produce lower fertility rates naturally”
He called for an “all-out-effort to lower growth rates.”
Specific strategies includedundermining thetraditional role of motherhoodand “concentrating on the education and indoctrination of the rising generation of children regarding the desirability of smaller family size.”
And in 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that:
“The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is a fundamental right to privacy that protects a pregnant woman’s choice whether to have an abortion.”
“Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…”
Romans 1:21-22
Maybe that’s what happened to America.
Look at the Space Program today. Instead of planning colonies on the moon, or Mars, today we spend billions trying to find rocks with bacteria on them, hoping to find the origins of life.
Our nation has truly lost it’s way.
It seems that when the elimination of individual human lives for the perceived good of society-at-large became an option, society was no longer driven by the need for more living space. Yet it was that very need that would have driven mankind to conquer the earth–as God desired–or reach out into space–as John F. Kennedy dreamed–and fulfill his God-given potential.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.
The speech he was planning to give later in the day–the speech that he did not live to deliver included these words:
“We in this country, in this generation, are–by destiny rather than choice–the watchmen on the wall of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint… That must always be our goal… For as it was written long ago, ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'”
John F. Kennedy, REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY AT THE TRADE MART IN DALLAS, TX, NOVEMBER 22, 1963 [UNDELIVERED]
It raises some interesting points.
In 1962, for example, President Kennedy appointed Byron White as justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. White turned out to be one of the two jurists who voted against Roe vs. Wade, and he wrote the dissenting opinion, saying:
“The Court apparently values the convenience of the pregnant mother more than the continued existence and development of the life or potential life that she carries… I find no constitutional warrant for imposing such an order of priorities on the people and legislatures of the States…”
Regardless of one’s political views, it’s fair to say that it’s getting pretty ugly out there. And I think that one of the reasons this is happening is because people are confused.
For example, a lot of terms are thrown around by politicians and the media which we would do well to look at briefly:
Democrats = political party, started by Martin Van Buren, to support the candidacy of Andrew Jackson in 1828. In the 1850's, the part split over the issue of slavery, allowing Republican Abraham Lincoln to win the 1860 election. (History.com)
Republicans = political party, founded in 1854 to oppose the westward expansion of slavery in America. It's first presidential candidate was Abraham Lincoln. (History.com)
In his book, AreYouLiberal? Conservative? or Confused?, Richard J. Maybury claims:
“Both (parties) tend to hover close to the center, which is where they perceive the bulk of the voters to be.”
Richard J. Maybury (“Uncle Eric”)
That was the way it was in the 1970’s (think Gerald Ford), but if you think back, American Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy could also be considered centrists or moderates.
Moderates (Centrists) = "One who is in the middle of the left-right spectrum...not to the extremes..." (Richard Maybury)
And even in the 1980’s, we had Conservatives and Liberals, like Ronald Reagan, “Teddy” Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. But it was still an era of compromise.
Modern Liberalism = "based, in general, on faith in progress and in the ability and goodness of man, and on the firm belief in the importance of the rights and welfare of the individual...Liberalism advocates steady change" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed.)
Conservative = "the desire to maintain, or conserve, the existing order...Conservatives value highly the wisdom of the past and are generally opposed to widespread reform." (Columbia Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed.)
But what would our Founding Fathers think of the nation that we’ve become? (For an excellent understanding of their point of view, I recommend, What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This? by Richard J. Maybury.)
The popular musical Hamilton does a pretty good job of trying to tell us about them (See our blog ). They were Classical Liberals.
Classic Liberalism = "One who believes that the country should have a small, weak government, and free markets, and that the individual is endowed by his Creator with inalienable rights to his life, liberty, and property. Also, one who believes in Natural Law and common law, or Higher Law (think Thomas Jefferson)." (Richard Maybury)
But they were not radicals. Radicalism results in “widespread hysteria,” burning, and looting.
And it leads–in the end–to despotism, and the all-powerful State.
Statism = "The opposite of the original American philosophy (Classical Liberalism). Says political power is a good thing. Government is our friend, our protector, the solution to our problems, and there is no higher law than government's law." (Richard J Maybury)
There are many, many examples of this in history–in France, in Germany, in Russia, in China.
The Bible says:
“This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.”
1 John 4:3
One of my pastors once said something very wise about this. He said that every generation has an antichrist waiting in the wings. I think that is true. Yet, it’s really up to us. The Bible says:
” You know what currently restrains him…”
2 Thessalonians 2:6
The American people have restrained him before, and we can do it again.
(From a Biblical, Philosophical and Historical point of view)
Democracy = "a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives." (Bing)
Democracy was not invented by the Americans (after the Revolutionary War), nor by the French (after the French Revolution). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it was developed by the ancient Greeks about 2500 years ago.
National Geographic adds that democracy gives people a methodology for replacing their government “through peaceful transfers of power rather than violent uprising or revolution.”
So why is it associated with the Americans and the French? They both replaced monarchies (rule by a king or queen) with democracies.
So then, what is the purpose of “violent uprising or revolution” in a democratic governmental system?
The Huffington Post weighs in with this:
“Popular uprisings against state authorities that are largely democratic in nature…can be viewed and, rightly so, as a disproportionate, if not misguided, response to the ills of the democratic system or democratically elected leaders.”
(From a Biblical, Philosophical and Historical point of view)
“The light shineth in the darkness…”
John 1:5
I find this New Testament teaching fascinating. Firstly, What is it referring to, when it calls one thing “Light” and something else “Darkness”? The implication is that everything is not the same; that things are different–and further, it seems to be implying that everything is NOTequal (despite what many people say), but that some things are preferable (e.g., Light) to other things (e.g., Darkness).
