Rebuilding the Crumbling Foundations: The Biblical and Constitutional Response To Growing Tyranny
by Tom Rose
A Speech Delivered at the Spring, 1998 Meeting of the Pennsylvania Reconstructionist Society
By Tom Rose ©1998
Warning and Hypothesis:
Let me start first by giving you a warning, and then presenting a hypothesis for you to consider.
First the warning: The people of America are much closer to losing their Republic than they realize. In fact, if positive steps are not soon taken to peacefully rebuild our Constitutional foundations and restore the fabric of our American Republic, it will be too late! I realize that these are alarming words to share with you; but, sadly, they are true, as I will soon show you.
The information I am about to present-- the current socio/political/economic status of our country, the problems we face, and the solutions I propose-- is all based on a simple and straightforward hypothesis:
It is possible, as well as instructive, to gain an insight into the moral fiber or quality of a nation by observing and measuring the trend and degree of the growth of centralized political/economic power in a country.
To state my proposition somewhat differently:
A Biblically oriented people will conduct their personal and public affairs in such a way that they will be blessed by God with a decentralized political/economic system, while a society that is a stranger to, or antagonistic to, Biblical principles will, contrariwise, be cursed through being enslaved by tyrannical rulers. Historically, the United States are a good example of the former, while Red China and the former USSR are good examples of the latter.
[See Deuteronomy 28:1-14 for a list of God's blessings to be bestowed on an obedient people, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 for a list of God's cursings on a rebellious people.]
Did God have a reason to make his list of curses on those who stray from his law much longer and more extensive than his list of blessings on those who faithfully adhere to his law-word? Could this have something to do with fallen man's inherent nature to seek enslavement and death rather than liberty and life? If so, we have strong reason to be fearful and to tremble.
Examples of Tyranny in America:
First, we need a working definition of tyranny. By tyranny I mean any form of oppressive power[1] exerted over man-- that is, over man himself or over his property. Let us note that man's property, broadly defined, includes man's God-given freedom and ability to hold his own opinions, to act on those opinions in his own and his family's self-interest. In short, man has a property right to conduct his affairs without interference from other entities in society-- even from the various levels of civil authority-- as long as his actions do not unjustly harm another person or another person's property.[2] The assumption which underlies all this, of course, is that we are always to be guided by the parameters of the Bible in both our private and public lives.
We are about to lose our constitutional form of government and we are ripe to be "melded" into a tyrannical form of one-world government. Let me at this point once again raise a patriotic cry of warning: High-placed leaders in our country are right now pursuing long-held secret plans to undermine and destroy the inherent, God-given freedoms which our Founding Fathers so carefully attempted to protect in our Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of 1787 (our present Constitution), and other founding documents like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The present administration in Washington, D. C., is notorious for its devious undermining of our constitutional rights; but previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have also worked insidiously to hand our country over to the godless United Nations. One accomplishment I hope to achieve in this article is to help awaken a sleeping populace to this impending danger which threatens us, our children, and our grandchildren.
I. The Arrogation of Power Through Executive Orders:
President Abraham Lincoln was the first President to use an Executive Order as a means of gaining unconstitutional power. In doing so he destroyed the U. S. Constitution under the guise of "saving" the Union. He issued Executive Order #1 on April 21, 1861, to call forth 75,000 militia to invade the Southern states that had legally seceded from the Union. He did this while Congress was not in session. Since he had no constitutional authority to issue such an Executive Order, he did so under the "authority" of martial law which he imposed. The U. S. Constitution gives only Congress the power to declare war and to raise armies, but Congress subsequently endorsed his action. (Most of the opposing votes, of course, had already left with the seceded States.)
Succeeding Presidents followed Lincoln's lead in issuing Executive Orders, but mostly only for the internal governing of the Executive Department of the federal government. Between Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, fewer than 2,000 Executive Orders were issued; but from F. D. R. to the present, more than 17,000 have been issued.[3]
This brings us to a crucial turning point in America's history. Congress passed the "Trading With the Enemy Act" in 1917 during World War I.[4] This act defined "enemy" as foreigners and countries who were at war with the United States. It specifically excluded American citizens as enemies with these words ". . . other than citizens of the United States, wherever resident or wherever doing business. . . ."[5] It is important to recognize that this Act was not terminated after World War I, but that it remained in force like a ticking time bomb ready to go off.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, Congress was not yet in session. In his inaugural address Roosevelt said:
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption. But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis-- broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency as great as the power that would be given me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe. ... The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.[6]
The very next day, March 5, Roosevelt issued a proclamation calling Congress to a special session to begin March 9, 1933. On March 6 Roosevelt issued a proclamation declaring a "Bank Holiday" from March 6 to March 9, 1933. He had no constitutional authority to do this. Three days later, on March 9, Congress was presented with a bill "to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes" [italics added]. A compliant Congress was pressured to pass this bill without congressional members even having time to read the bill!
This resulting act of Congress amended the "Trading With the Enemy Act" of 1917 so that it would apply to American citizens instead of foreign enemies. It reads:
During time of war or during any other period of national emergency declared by the President, the President may, through any agency that he may designate, or otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit between or payments by banking institutions as defined by the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, by any person within the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof....[7]
In summary, a compliant Congress was very hurriedly pressured into passing into law, a bill which had been quietly and carefully prepared by the Roosevelt administration before Congress was ever in session. The resulting act extended to American citizens the controls that the 1917 Act had imposed only on America's enemies! It gave open-ended, dictatorial power to President Roosevelt to declare a national emergency at his sole discretion and then to act in any way he saw fit to solve whatever "national crisis" he seemed capable of conjuring in his mind. The President used this congressionally-bestowed power to arrogate unconstitutional powers to the Executive Department, which severely disrupted the previous balance of power between the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial Departments of our federal government.
Now comes the especially threatening aspect of this "War Powers Act" from a constitutional standpoint: This so-called "temporary" Emergency War Powers Act which was carried forward in 1933 from World War I in 1917 is still in force! It has never been rescinded by any subsequent Congress, so any President at any time and for any reason can still declare a national emergency and instantly declare martial law that will throw American citizens under a totalitarian dictatorship! This situation is, in itself, a true national emergency of the greatest proportion! It threatens the very existence of our American Republic!
II. Collusion Between Our Political Leaders and the United Nations:
A. Department of State Publications 7277:
In September, 1961, the U. S. Department of State published a nineteen-page pamphlet entitled FREEDOM FROM WAR, The United States Program for General Disarmament and Complete Disarmament in a Peaceful World. This document outlined a three-step program under which our country would be unilaterally disarmed while, at the same time, the military power of the United Nations would be gradually increased until no nation on earth, including our own country, would have enough military capability to withstand the power of the United Nations. In short, the plan was to establish the United Nations, a godless, morally and politically corrupt organization as a one-world dictatorship which would answer to no higher power, not even to God.
I first became aware of Document 7277 in 1962. I ordered multiple copies from the Government Printing Office for distribution as a means of awakening a sleeping and unsuspecting populace to what our political leaders were doing. I ordered more copies as I needed them. At that time they were priced at 15 cents each. In late 1962 the Government Printing Office returned my order stating "Out of Print." Over the years I continued to warn my students and others who would listen about the impending danger.
Even though Document 7277 is still officially "out of print," the plan is still in effect. Right now American servicemen are serving in many foreign countries under the banner of the United Nations, and an estimated 400,000 to 800,000 foreign troops are stationed here in the United States.[8] We might ask "Why?" Over 200 years ago American patriots went to war because King George III stationed foreign troops on American soil and tried to disarm American citizens. Our forefathers recognized the clear danger that armed foreign troops presented at that time, but an increasingly disarmed citizenry seems to be strangely complacent about this serious threat to American freedom today.
B. Treaties Between the UN and The United States:
During recent years, our country has become ensnared in various treaties with the UN. These treaties threaten the constitutionally protected rights of Americans. They do so by thrusting us under the authority of the UN World Court, by exposing Americans to international environmental "agreements," by handing over to UN control various parcels of American real estate through so-called "World Heritage Sites" and "Biosphere Reserves,"[9] as well as by a planned UN tax on U. S. citizens. Another insidious plan being worked on is to disarm American citizens by having our Second Amendment rights taken away via UN treaties with various countries to disarm citizens all over the world. Citizens in Canada and Australia have recently been disarmed. Why should political leaders be so intent on disarming their own citizens? I will be happy to point inquiring minds to sources of documentation.
C. Government Control Agencies:
Many Americans are gradually waking up to the threat that militant government agencies such as the BATF, DEA, FBI, IRS, FEMA and others pose to their safety. The first three agencies are becoming increasingly notorious for their violent "swat team" tactics; and, indeed, they are to be feared. A complacent citizenry has, up to now, tolerated such unconstitutional shows of force on fellow citizens because the federal government has mentally and psychologically conditioned them to believe that such tactics are needed to "protect" us from drug runners, etc. But our own CIA, another federal agency, has been accused (correctly so) of flying tons and tons of illegal drugs into our country as a means of generating "off budget" operating funds.[10] During the governorship of President Clinton, the Mena, Arkansas, airport was a notorious landing spot for such illicit trade. Videos and literature abound on this subject.
Income-tax time is recently passed. Is there anyone here who does not have a gnawing fear of that notorious agency, the IRS, and its power? Are you aware of the following facts?
1) The IRS can order a printout at any time of every bank transaction you have engaged in going back eight years. They can do this without even notifying you. I suggest that you read the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees American citizens the right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures."
2) All of the above-mentioned federal agencies can use drug-related RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970) and forfeiture laws to actually rob citizens of their property on even the alleged suspicion of drug trafficking or so-called "money laundering."
3) The IRS has been accused (again, correctly) of using its power to intimidate citizens, through the threat of tax audits and other harassing tactics, who cross them or cross the incumbent administration.[11] I won't weary you by needlessly continuing. What I have said so far is frightening enough.
III. Biological/Chemical Tests on Citizens:
Now we come to a facet of federal government operations that I found difficult to believe, even after encountering the information. But it is all well documented.[12] Beginning in 1949 and continuing until the late 1960s the Department of Defense conducted a number of tests on American citizens without their knowledge or consent. Biological simulants Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii, and others, were used. Here is a sampling of sites where these involuntary tests were conducted:
1949-1950 Washington, DC SM, BG 1950 San Francisco, CA SM 1953 Panama City, FL SM, BG 1955 State Highway, #16, PA BG PA Turnpike (Tunnels: Kittakinny and Tuscarora) BG 1957-1958 East of Rocky Mountains FP 1963-1964 Ft. Greeley area, AK BG, FP 1965 Washington, DC National Airport and Greyhound Bus Terminal BG 1965 Victoria, TX LP, FP 1966 San Diego, CA, off California Coast BG 1966 New York City subway BG
Note: BG = Bacillus globigii SM = Serratia marcescens FP = Florescent zinc cadmium sulfide LP = Lycopodium Spores
In the 1950 San Francisco test, a navy ship released SM along the coast to determine how far inland the Serratia marcescens biological simulant would travel. The SM traveled 50 miles inland. In 1951 there were 11 cases of SM infection; one person died. The 1966 New York subway experiment was done by the CIA to determine if the subway system would be vulnerable to biological attack. In the 1955 Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels experiments, Bacillus globigii biological simulants were sprayed into the air so it would be breathed by citizens driving through the tunnels. The hospital records were checked to see how far away the infectious biologicals were carried.
It is important to realize that these experiments in the public domain were done without either the knowledge or consent of the "subjects" being experimented on. At first, the Congressional Report from which this information is derived indicates that the federal officials involved believed that the simulants used were rather harmless. Even after it was discovered that they were harmful, the experiments continued for 17 years before being terminated. Question: Are American citizens to be treated like guinea pigs at the will of their political "masters?" Question: Are similar tests still being conducted on unwilling citizens?
The military personnel testifying at the Senate Hearing came as close to admitting wrongdoing as we might expect under the circumstances. They assured the Senate Committee that such testing has been stopped. But something new has recently raised its ugly head: Retired Air Force Captain Joyce Riley, R. N., has been working with thousands of very sick Gulf War veterans who have-- along with their wives, children, and the nurses and doctors who have been treating them-- succumbed to the dreaded "Gulf War Syndrome." The Veteran's Administration has been telling these sick Gulf War veterans that their "alleged sickness" is only something they are imagining! Yet, the American Gulf War Veterans Association has documentation, dated September 9, 1993, that proves the federal government knew of chemical and biological exposure of U. S. troops in the Gulf War.[13]
The important questions to ask are these: Have biological experiments indeed been going on in spite of the civil government's statements that they have stopped? Is this yet another indication of a tyrannical governmental system that has gotten out of control?
IV. Monetary Manipulation and International Monetary Collusion:
The Federal Reserve System was foisted on the American public in 1913 under false colors after a secret "duck hunting" expedition on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1910. The secret meeting was sponsored by the Eastern money-elite and Congressional leaders. The Federal Reserve System has faithfully served this money-elite ever since. Without the Federal Reserve, it is doubtful whether we would have gotten involved in World Wars I and II the way we did. Rather than protect the value of the U. S. dollar, Federal Reserve "protection" against inflation has steadily reduced the real value of the dollar. For instance, the purchasing value of the 1940 dollar, adjusted for inflation, is now less than seven cents! Somehow, we must find a way to abolish this unconstitutional monster of monetary tyranny. It has the ability to insidiously inflate and deflate the money supply at will, and thus manipulate interest rates and the dollar-value of capital wealth. This process works to the gain of those citizens' whose wealth thereby increases but does so at the expense of other citizens whose wealth somehow seems mysteriously to melt away. And it is always the ordinary, hard-working, monetarily unsophisticated American citizen who is shorn like a lamb in the process. America has many hidden tyrannies that have been built into our politico/economic system, and the misnamed Federal Reserve System-- with its close connections with the leaders of large international banks in our country and others-- is one of the most hurtful. This in spite of the constant educational propaganda program that has built a false esteem of America's central-bank monster in the eyes of the unsuspecting American public.
The chief of Japan's central bank, capital markets division, is being prosecuted for accepting gifts in exchange for leaking information about the Bank of Japan's open-market operations to the Industrial Bank of Japan and Sanwa Bank. The Bank of Japan is to Japan what the Federal Reserve Bank is to our country. How much of this same type of advance leaking of planned open-market operations goes on in the United States is anyone's guess. Less than a year ago, a small news item appeared about some suspected leaking of information from a source in the Federal Reserve Bank. Further information was apparently effectively squelched because nothing more was heard of the matter. Biblically, we know that man's heart is deceitful above all things and, therefore, cannot be trusted ( Jer. 17:9). Yet, the American public has been conditioned to blindly trust the money manipulators in the Federal Reserve System who have the very same kind of buddy-buddy relationships with leading banks in this country that monetary officials in the Bank of Japan have with banks in their country.
The American public has been strangely complacent to our country's quick lending of billions and billions of dollars, through the combined clandestine efforts of the Federal Reserve Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the central banks of the "Asian meltdown countries."[14] Question: Who are the primary beneficiaries of this international collusion in so-called "international monetary cooperation"? Answer: Mainly the large American banks that made risky loans to the so-called "Asian Tiger nations" which were growing so rapidly, largely as the result of the kind of international monetary collusion that the leaders of the Federal Reserve Bank and the leaders of those Asian nations' central banks have been engaging in for years. The result of the "international monetary cooperation" (which is just a sweet-sounding euphemism for what is more accurately called international monetary collusion) has been massive deficit spending in our country which has been thus "exported" to the Asian nations that now cry that they need to be bailed out.
The "false-whiskers" story that was sold to the American public by the Federal Reserve and the big American banks, that otherwise stood to lose billions of dollars in loans gone bad, is that we had to come to the aid of the Asian nations to prevent a financial meltdown that would then hurt the average American. The same false story was spread through the news media to pave the way for our coming to Mexico's aid not long ago, and also to the financial aid of Brazil and other countries in South America before the Mexico meltdown. In every instance, the main beneficiaries have been the large banks with billions of dollars of risky international loans that were going sour. In each instance it was the American taxpayer-- seduced by false propaganda generated by our government leaders, by the leaders of the Federal Reserve Bank, and by the large banks saddled with high-interest-rate loans that were going sour-- who stood in the gap and unknowingly accepted the financial risks involved in the bailouts.
President Andrew Jackson excised the financial "monster" that was called the Second Bank of the United States in his day. If Jackson were alive today he would once again pick up the cudgel to perform the same good service to American citizens. We should pray that the Lord will once again raise up political leaders like Jackson for us today.
V. Licensing Laws:
There is a special-interest coalition between our state governments and the federal government. It has resulted in an oppressive tyranny that costs American taxpayers billions of dollars in extra expenditures every year as well as an important loss of freedom. I don't believe that the coalition that exists today was planned to be as it is, but rather that it has been the natural outworking of forces that were put in place long ago, and which have been naively accepted by the people. What am I referring to?
Many years ago special interest groups in various occupations sought to increase their own incomes and public esteem by petitioning state legislatures to license the practitioners of their profession. (The process continues today.) I think of my father-in-law, a man of high integrity, whom I loved dearly. He worked as an engineer. The State of Missouri passed a bill to license engineers and, as is often the case, the bill included a "grandfather clause" which would automatically license those persons who were already practicing in the profession. To his own financial detriment, but to my everlasting admiration, my father-in-law stood on principle and refused the bait of government-created higher income and increased esteem. He refused to be licensed by the state!
Now, the coalition of which I speak today is not the licensing of engineers, electricians, bricklayers, plumbers, or the many other licensed professions. The licensing of any profession by the civil authority is just as evil in practice as the profession I am about to zero in on. Let me state clearly that any government licensing of professions is contrary to God's law and an act of tyranny against the public.[15] The one profession that has carried this ungodly practice to the greatest extreme is the medical profession, because it has combined the power wielded at the state level with the power wielded by the federal government.[16] In zeroing in on the medical profession, I do not mean to personally attack the integrity of the many fine persons who sincerely dedicate their lives to improving the health and physical well-being of sick people. Let me emphasize that I am focusing on the economically hurtful and freedom-robbing system that has evolved as a result of licensing. I am not focusing on individual practitioners, though they, of course, do indeed benefit personally from the system that has been put into place.
By 1900 most states had already licensed various professions. In 1910 the Carnegie Foundation commissioned Abraham Flexner, historian whose brother was the medical dean at Johns Hopkins University, to investigate the medical schools that then existed in the United States. Flexner's recommendations resulted in the licensing of medical schools and thereby led to the demise of half of the existing schools of medicine. This drastically restricted the number of incoming medical students and thereby severely reduced the future number of medical practitioners. In 1928 the former head of the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Education stated that:
[T]he reduction of the number of medical schools from 160 to 80 [resulted in] a marked reduction in number of medical students and medical graduates. We had anticipated this and felt that this was a desirable thing.... [17]
Certainly the leaders of the AMA would regard a reduction of practicing physicians as a desirable thing, because it would powerfully boost the incomes of the reduced number of practitioners who survived the legal purge. Question: Why not have the states license every line of work and every school that trains everybody? Then everybody can earn a higher income as a result of keeping out the so-called quacks! The answer is obvious: Such immoral systems cannot be extended to all workers because there must remain a large segment of the population to pay the tab. Since the incomes of all citizens cannot be raised by such schemes, the schemes have to be reserved to a relatively small elite. This explains why more and more professions today are following the lead of the medical and the legal professions. They want elitist status too! But eventually the system must either break down or end up with an unworkable middle-age guild system that strangles in its own bureaucracy.
But the immoral system I am speaking about did not just stop with the licensing of medical doctors and of medical schools by various states as a result of the devious work of the AMA. During the "progressive era" of American history, Congress passed a bill which established the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has grown into an enormous government bureaucracy that wields frightful power. The large food and drug companies the FDA was established to regulate now effectively run it. This has been a common happening in all government-regulated industries, and it can be roughly measured by the "musical chair" transfer of executives between the controlling agencies and the supposedly "controlled" companies. In actuality, the large companies in each industry welcome costly restrictions because such restrictions hurt small entrepreneurial companies more than the already-established large companies. The FDA also now has its own armed "swat teams" that make raids on medical practitioners who refuse to "toe the line," as well as on health food stores that sell "unapproved" safe non-toxic herbs, natural foods, and non-prescription supplements. All of this vicious government activity is done under the guise of eliminating the supposed "threat to health" generated by unlicensed practitioners. And the moving force behind this vicious activity is professional greed to enhance one's own income and professional esteem in the community.
Are There Solutions?
I have spent some time in describing and discussing many problems of tyranny that exist in American society. I could go on and on, but now we need to ask, "Are there solutions to these problems?" The answer is yes, BUT! . . .
While there are solutions, the ones I offer definitely will not be politically correct because they go against the mainstream of public opinion, and public opinion has been thoroughly manipulated and massaged by hidden forces and special interests for decades and decades. How many people whom you know, for instance, would readily agree with doing away with all licensing laws or the Federal Reserve System? Your answer shows the great need we have to remove the many "false whiskers" that now hide the truth behind the various issues I have raised. Every single solution I am about to suggest is truly workable in theory, but none is actually workable in practice in the absence of the mental, spiritual, and moral enlightenment that is needed to get each accepted and implemented. Thus, we are confronted with a challenging educational task.
God Is Sovereign
First, and most basic, we must recognize that God is still in control and that all of the problems I have mentioned are indeed part of his developing plan in bringing about the establishment of his kingdom on earth. This does not mean that we can "sit back and enjoy the ride," so to speak, and be content with the status quo, but rather that we should contemplate these problems in light of God's word and be much in prayer while seeking his guidance. God never said we wouldn't be faced with challenges. God works through his people. Our job, as I see it, is first to conform our personal lives to the dictates of God's word and then to reform and reconstruct our society and all of its institutions according to Biblical precepts. Every Bible-directed Christian is at heart a Christian Reconstructionist!
Education Is Essential
Next, we should study each of these issues-- as well as many issues I have not had time to touch on-- not only in accordance to God's word, but also in light of the Constitution of the United States. Generally, I believe we will find that the two are harmonious, but, where they are not, we should work to conform our man-made document to God's spoken document, the Holy Bible. I realize that these are general statements, but they are necessary starting points to the work at hand. Our first and major challenge is to conform ourselves spiritually to God's heart and mind, to "bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" 2 Cor. 10:5 Only then can we face the daunting need to reconstruct all of our societal institutions, including the institution of civil government.
Leadership Is Required
Then, we need a widespread educational movement to help people relate God's word and the United States Constitution to the issues at hand. This calls for action on various fronts: We need the pastors and elders of our churches to speak out forthrightly in sermons and Sunday School classes on the burning issues about which we are concerned so they can instruct their flocks about how God's word bears on the issues at hand. And, yes, this will mean that they must speak on issues that many church leaders wrongly perceive as "political" or as "politically incorrect." After all, who was it that was called the "Black Brigade" in the years leading up to and during the War for Independence? Why, it was the pastors of our churches who so faithfully instructed the people on Biblical principles concerning civil governmental tyranny and other matters of state. It was common for them to instruct their congregations on important political issues in annual election-day sermons. If I might paraphrase Admiral David G. Farragut in 1864 when he cried, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Today's cry of Bible-believing, patriotic pastors should be, "Damn government tax-exemption! Let's tell it like it really is!"
Part of this widespread educational program should also include the formation of home study groups for studying the Bible to become Biblically oriented in our personal lives and public affairs, plus the formation of home study groups to study our various state constitutions and the Constitution of the United States. Too many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, have little or no ability to apply God's word to God's institution of civil government. Few people have even the vaguest understanding of the Constitution. Nor have they any perception at all when their elected representatives so often fail to perform the task that each elected official took to uphold the Constitution and to protect it from enemies, both foreign and domestic. (Please note that very important last word.) For many years I told my students that I did not fear foreign enemies as much as I fear the civil rulers of our own country. It is because of these domestic enemies, who have failed to live true to their oath to uphold the Constitution-- be it either the result of their ignorance of the Constitution, or of their intentional efforts to subvert its clear provisions-- that we must be always on our guard if we are to preserve our liberty and self-responsibility before God.
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Footnotes:
1) In short, any law, edict, or action by the civil authority, or by any other private or public entity, which breaks God's law or which runs contrary to our state or national constitutions amounts to an act of tyranny. Thus the saying about laws that extend governmental power beyond the limits of the Constitution: "an unconstitutional law is no law at all and has never been lawful from its conception."
2) Of course, this necessary constraint on human action-- the absence of which would produce unrestrained license devoid of self-responsibility before God-- is what creates the "rub" in human affairs. It is the proper balancing of man's freedom to act versus his need to be self-responsible before God that makes the formation of, and adherence to, a constitutional framework so very important to the happiness and weal of a nation.
3) John William, Randy Lee, and John Joseph, The Book of the Hundreds for edifying and preserving His church and state, Rev. 3. 2, 2d ed. (n.p., 1996), 25.
4) House Bill #4960 which became law on October 6, 1917.
5) Congress, House, Trading with the Enemy Act, 65th Cong., 1st sess., H.R. 4960, Chap. 106 (6 October 1917), 411; quoted in Gene Schroder and others, War and Emergency Powers, (Campo, CO, n.d.), 60.
6) Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 7th ed. (New York, 1963), 242.
7) Congress, House, National Banking System, 73d Cong., 1st sess., H.R. 1491, Chap. 1.
8) Brig. General Ben Partin, U. S. Air Force, Colonel James Ammerman, Ret. U. S. Army, and Lt. Colonel Joseph Arrigo, Ret. U. S. Army, "What's Happening to the United States of America," interview by George Douglas (7 February 1997), Blueprint for Survival.
9) Tom Rose, "The Many Faces of Tyranny and How to Establish Godly Rule (Part 1)," The Christian Statesman 141, No. 1 (January-February 1998): 28, n.8.
10) Monika Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson, Kiss The Boys Goodbye (n. p., 1991). See also Jonathan Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA (New York, 1987).
11) Right now there is a court case in progress as a result of the IRS's revoking a church's tax-exempt status because the church's pastor, Dan Little, addressed contemporary issues from a Biblical viewpoint. The docket name of the case is Church at Pierce Creek v. IRS, U. S. District Court. The ACLJ has come to the defense of the church, and it has documents which show that the IRS conducted undercover photography, secret surveillance, and extensive background checks on church leaders and church members. This is intimidating tyranny in action!
12) Congress, Senate, Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, Biological Testing Involving Human Subjects by the Department of Defense, 1977, 95th Cong., 1st sess., 8 March 1977 and 23 May 1977.
13) For those of you that are interested in further information on the Gulf War Syndrome and Biological Testing, contact A.G.W.VA., 3506 Highway 6, South #117, Sugarland, TX 77478-4401 for copies of official government documents, books, videos, and audio cassettes. They are also available by calling (800) 201-7892, ext. 40.
14) The total amount of money that our political/financial leaders "coughed up" to rescue three of the "Asian Tiger nations," by monetary credit supplied at the ultimate risk of American taxpayers is stupendous. Here is a summary of the total credit supplied by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and other agencies who get a large portion of their funding from the United States: South Korea = $57 billion, Indonesia = $40 billion, Thailand = $17.2 billion; Total = $114.2 billion. International Monetary Fund, quoted in Fred Blahut, "You Bankroll 'Lender of Last Resort,'" The Spotlight, 23 March 1998, 21.
15) It is God who bestows spiritual and other gifts on men. See Exodus 31:1-6 , I Corinthians 12:1-3 , Ephesians 4:1 . Since it is God who bestows the gifts, where do civil rulers get any legitimate right to license what God calls men to do?
16) Some people might argue that the licensing of the legal profession is even worse, and they may well be correct, especially when we consider the number of attorneys who end up in the legislative halls of our state and national governments as well as in our state and federal supreme courts!
17) Douglass C. North and Roger LeRoy Miller, The Economics of Public Issues, 5th ed. (New York, 1980), 69.
Tom Rose is retired professor of economics, Grove City College, Pennsylvania. He is author of seven books and hundreds of articles dealing with economic and political issues. His articles have regularly appeared in The Freeman, published by Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY; Christian Economics, published by Christian Freedom Foundation, Buena Park, CA; The Christian Statesman, published by National Reform Association, Pittsburgh, PA; and in many other publications. For ten years he wrote a weekly syndicated column published by newspapers such as The Santa Ana Register (CA), The Indianapolis Morning News (IN), The Manchester Union Leader (NH), The Gazette-Telegraph (CO), The Odessa American (TX), and others. He and his wife, Ruth, raise registered Barzona cattle on a farm near Mercer, PA, where they also write and publish economic textbooks for use by Christian colleges, high schools and home educators. Rose's latest book is Reclaiming the American Dream by Reconstructing the American Republic, published by American Enterprise Publications, 177 N. Spring Rd., Mercer, PA, 16137. Phone: 412-748-3726; Fax: 412-748-5373;
Website: http://www.biblicaleconomics.com/