A Gauge of Tyranny

by Susan Snelling

America is unique amongst the nations of the earth. The quote “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny” is attributed to Thomas Jefferson and other of the founding fathers. Regardless of who the statement originated from the point is taken. This is exactly why the framers wrote the Constitution as they did. With how the American government is established, it is supposed to fear the people, not the other way around. And of course, the Second Amendment helps to secure that proper fear.

John Adams wrote in “Thoughts on Government” in 1776: “Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.” Whereas fear is the foundation of most governments, this is not how the founding fathers envisioned America and they took every step possible to limit this from happening.

As a matter of fact, according to Adam’s statement, it is such a bad foundation for a government that he believed Americans would not be inclined to approve of any political institution with fear as its foundation. Did Adams underestimate the American people in their wisdom to reject such a political institution? What kind of political institutions are approved of and established today in America? The founders did not base the American government on fear. They knew firsthand how that turns out for the people. Tyranny was something they were all too familiar with. So, is fear of the government a part of the American experience today?

What would the founding fathers say about, for example, the Internal Revenue Service and the fear that entity generates in people? What would Jefferson, Adams, and the others say about other departments of the federal government and the rules and regulations that put fear in the American people who stand to suffer punishment for not complying; rules and regulations that carry the force of law and are put on the people by bureaucrats and not elected officials. Do your friends and family, co-workers and others you interact with have fear of the government; or do they feel confident in their position as having the power set forth in the Constitution?

What would Adams and the others say about the condition of America today with political entities that cause fear in the hearts of the American people? That is a gauge of where a nation stands in the degree of tyranny it experiences. How much do the people fear its political institutions? This is why the founders wanted a small federal government and for the states to have the majority of power. It is up to the states to take back that control from the federal government. It requires the people to be educated on the original intent of the Constitution, the founding principles, citizen duties, and unity of the people; that band of brethren who stand for liberty and protection of our rights that come from God Himself.

Today we see some of the states standing up to the federal government’s overreach and it makes the people rejoice! Well, at least those who love liberty. Our state leaders, those we elected to office, must be encouraged to stand up to federal tyranny and overreach, and if they refuse, vote them out of office. Replace them with principled leaders who love liberty, and who have a passion for the people and a commitment to the Constitution. If the last couple years of lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates have taught us anything, it’s how fast mediocre individuals become power-hungry, controlling tyrants and how little they care for our inalienable rights. They have no fear of God and it shows.

How a ruling political party treats the opposition is telling as well. Using the justice system to punish those who hold different views while letting those who commit worse offenses walk free because they are of the same ideology. When the justice department becomes lawless under corrupt, lawless leaders it strikes fear in people from speaking their minds. We’ve seen the actions that result from tyranny: censorship, imprisonment, loss of jobs, and the list goes on and on. Remember, when there is true liberty, the government fears the people, not the other way around. Only the wrongdoer fears punishment for their deeds. Good citizens should have nothing to fear.

Consider a government that puts fear in the people through their agencies and departments and with a complicit media that refuses to do its duty under the Constitution but acts as an arm of the ruling regime (with those exceptions of truth-tellers). As a current example, a government and its entities that spread pandemic fears and lies about every aspect of it, including treatments, and uses it to control the people further. A morally bankrupt leadership in American government corrupts the government further until that is what we are dealing with. A corrupt American government. The good citizens press on, fighting for freedom, for the rights given to us by God and protected by the Constitution. We stand for liberty, pray for our leaders, uphold our citizen duties, and fight for truth. To the end that God may stay His hand on America and preserve it for our posterity and for those who went before us.

You Absolutely Need Absolutes

by Rich Farm

If you tell a lie long enough people will begin to believe it. ~ Unknown

If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. ~ John 8:31-32

What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.
~ C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

You can rest assured that 2+2 is 4, fire is hot, and if I walk out in front of a moving semi traveling faster than I can get out of the way I’m going to die. These are called absolutes. What would the world look like if we had no absolutes?  No concept of things being set as something we can count on?  I believe it would lead to utter chaos and all sorts of mental breakdowns.  Absolutes bring a sense of stability. Something we can be assured that we can have a similar outcome every time.  That stability and faith in the intended results bring security and peace of mind.  Look at putting a specific code into a computer you expect it to yield a certain result. If you put in the exact same code every time but got different results each time you would seriously lack any faith in that program.

The same is true in our lives. Without a solid foundation of absolutes, we are left to wonder what is real and what is not. If truth can waiver from person to person or based on our feelings, how can we ever be certain of anything?  Worse than that we can end up in utter chaos because what if someone’s truth is it’s ok to murder at will with no provocation. You’d constantly be looking over your shoulder wondering who will be the one to snap.  It would be living like in the days of the judges where everyone did what was right in their own sight.  This is why absolutes are necessary.  They provide a baseline for all mankind to live by regardless of economic status, gender, or nationality.

As a Christian we understand that our foundation is in the Person of Jesus Christ.  We understand that God being perfect and set apart from His Creation has the sole authority to define what reality is, and what truth is since He is Truth.  Therefore, it becomes our plumbline or gauge in measuring everything we see and hear, and experience in our lives.  With the presupposition that God is perfect and we are not, and that He gave his infallible word to guide us.  That means that anything that contradicts what He has said should be discarded or at the very least shelved to research further.

Let me address something quickly if any of you question the authenticity or accuracy of the scripture, or try to make arguments based on translation variations or types of original manuscripts.  I do not presume to know a lot about how translations came to be, and obviously, there will be variations based on whatever school of learning we come from, but I will keep it simple by asking you this question, how powerful is your God?  Is your god so weak that he can’t speak through a variety of translations possibly tainted by human reasoning, or is your God so powerful He can preserve His very word despite the intervention of man in translating from original languages?  To me this is nothing more than the serpent in the garden, “did God really say?”

Any time we call into question the authority of God’s word, we are in essence coming into agreement with the enemy of the God in the garden.  Is this an oversimplification?  I do not think so.  To call into question God’s word is an all-out assault on our faith.  Faith is essential to our walk with God, so anything that causes us to question that is an act of war.  Remember what the writer of Hebrews says, “without faith it is impossible to please God?” Jesus even asked, “when I return will I find faith in the earth?”  If we want to please God we need to do all we can to preserve and protect our faith and make sure we are on a solid foundation.  The only solid foundation is the absolutes that our Creator has laid before us, not the reasoning of fallible man in relativism.  Challenges in our faith should not push us away from God but draw us closer.  We don’t have to have faith at the expense of logic and reason, but they should work in tandem to take us into a deeper relationship with our Creator.

In a world where science is ever-changing, gender is fluid, and a woman is carrying nothing more than a blob of cells in her belly for 9 months, we are in such desperate need of truth and stability.  We are on a slippery slope to destruction in society.  Those who are built on a firm foundation of truth, do not lose heart and do not waiver because eventually the world of the relativist will implode, and when everything comes crashing down around them, they will look to those who have remained firm as a beacon of hope.  You will be able to speak that truth and they will finally be in a place to listen and receive.