The American Militia

One Christian Prospective, Continued - Part II

Recently in California several men raped a 15 year old girl on school grounds while dozens of people stood around doing nothing. Those who did nothing were just as guilty as the criminals. They did not love their neighbor nor tend to what Jesus' “weightier matters.” Their apathy, sloth or cowardice was an act of violence.

“Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.” Jermiah 22:3

In a pure Republic the obligation of good government falls on the shoulders of everyman who must come to the aid of his neighbor by every means at his disposal. To righteously defend the lives of others who are unjustly violated by the brutes and criminals of the world is a duty and an obligation of everyman. It is not violence to do so, but violence to fail to do so.

These precepts define and limit the power and authority of the people and therefore it also limits the power and authority of governments defined and ordained by men.

Rep. Fred Maslack with a stricter interpretation of the Second Amendment and the Vermont's Constitution proposed a bill to register "non-gun-owners." The bill would require them to pay a $500 fee to the state for the privilege of not owning a gun. That would seem reasonable if the citizenry will not answer the “Hue and cry” of their neighbors in distress then they should bear the weight of hiring more police. Should the government have a right to take money from non gun owners?

There are governments that exercise authority one over the other and force the compliance and contributions of the people, but these institutions are ordained by the selfish and self indulgent nature of men, not by God. Those governments are here to punish the wicked who create them.

Those who reject God by stealing, murdering, or merely coveting their neighbor's goods are in violation of God's law already, and are and will be judged accordingly.

Those who are slothful in the exercise of their responsibility to God and their fellow man, those who have gone away from the precepts of God by “consent”[7] deserve the governments their own evil hearts create. The slothful should be under tribute[8] and have no right to rebel, but only repent.

In a recent NWV article “The Republic is Dead; We Are Ready to Fight, Now What?” Greg Evensen wrote "We as a nation of citizens, have been brutalized so badly by criminals inside the government, that we could have easily justified the use of deadly force to beat back the pillaging of our homes and communities."[9]

I beg to respectfully disagree. The truth is we have brutalized and pillaged our neighbor through wanton social schemes and our personal apathy and avarice. We have no right to rebel against the so called government benefactors which we have elected time and time again for our private gain.

To protest that we have been violated is a point of hypocrisy when we are just as guilty of sloth and coveting our neighbor's goods through those schemes created by our own democratic hands and consent. The first chapter of Proverbs warns us not to “consent” with others who desire to take from one another for personal benefit or welfare or we would be snared in the net of our own making.

In Part 1 of this series I attributed the legal maxim "Protection draws to it subjection; subjection protection" to Plutarch. While I have no doubt he would agree, what I meant to quote was his statement, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” No man can be free in society until he frees his neighbor from the tyranny in his own heart.

Government today is a product of our own greed and sloth. We have no right to fight for liberty until we set our neighbors free from our own wanton desires. We must turn around, repent, and form a society that frees our neighbor from our own covetous schemes. We must learn to live again by faith, hope, and charity under that perfect law of liberty we claim to seek as the early Church once did.

Consent of the people is created in a variety of ways, but the offer of benefits is one of the most common. Peter the apostle warned people that they would become merchandise, human resources, if they coveted each others wealth.[10] He warned that with “feigned words” they would be seduced into giving up their liberty. He knew some men would promise liberty and bring in a corruption that would bring the people back into bondage to the “world.”[11]

Although, Thomas Jefferson never said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have,"[12] it is undoubtedly true. Thomas Jefferson did say "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground." The only thing that can keep governments in check is the due diligence of virtuous people.

The standards of virtue required are set by God and it is the job of those who serve God including the Church to point out when and where the people and their institutions stray from the moral and virtuous character of God. One problem is that the modern Church has strayed from even the most basic commandments of Christ as a matter of policy. Coveting your neighbor's goods through the agency of others that exercise authority has become commonplace and acceptable while living by faith, hope, and charity has been, for all practical purposes, abandoned except for lip service.

Even William Pitt, Prime Minister of Great Britain, knew that “As long as we look to government to solve our problems we will always suffer tyranny.” Yet we still look for state or Federal governments to solve all our problems. Could there be a better way? William Penn said it “If we will not be governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants.”

I know the people want to believe all their natural rights are retained by them, but the people have delegated or relinquished the responsibilities correlative to every natural right. Those who bear the responsibility wield the right.

After almost a hundred years of a steady increase of socialism in the “world” are there any natural rights that have not fallen under the regulating powers of men with power? After all, if you delegate the authority to others to take from your neighbor for your personal benefit and security then it only seems reasonable that those who protect you may also regulate your right to protect yourself.

That may not be a popular concept of law for many, but that is exactly what has happened and in part three we hope to show that there is neither a state nor federal government that you may rely on to retain the rights God has granted you.


Footnotes:

1. Galatians 4:8 “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.”
2. “There are gods many”
3. Exodus 22:21 “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 23:9 “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:33 “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.” Jeremiah 7:6 “If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:” Zechariah 7:10 “And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” Malachi 3:5 “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.”
4. Luke 10:7 “And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.” 1 Timothy 5:18 “For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.” See Deuteronomy 25:4 and Malachi 3:5 above
5. Proverbs 25:21 “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:” Romans 12:20 “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
6. James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
7. Proverbs 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not... Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil...”
8. Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
9. The Republic is dead; we are ready to fight, now what?
10. 2 Peter 2:3 “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
11. 2 Peter 2:19 “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”
12. Gerald R. Ford, in a joint session of Congress on August 12, 1974. Often incorrectly attributed to Thomas Jefferson

© 2009 Brother Gregory Williams - All Rights Reserved

Website: HisHolyChurch.org

E-Mail: gregory@hisholychurch.org

As above, this is an interesting idea from Vermont, propose a law to require payment (to be used for the common defense I presume) by those who DO NOT have arms and the ability to defend themselves and their community. It sounds like what was done in Kennesaw Georgia and Virgin Utah. Such sweet turnabout, REGISTER NON-GUN OWNERS. We know that we have natural rights, of “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, but it is only those who exercise other rights, to arms and defense for example, that really enjoy those rights.