Dear friends,
Returning to God
If
we wish to fix the Root Cause, we must return to God, as the only sensible
object of trust.
“But without faith it is impossible to
please Him: for anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He
is the One Who rewards those who diligently seek Him.”[1]
“I say to you, ‘Ask, and it shall be given
you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks, receives; he who
seeks, finds; and he who knocks, it shall be opened to him.
‘If a son asks for bread from any of you
fathers, will he give him a stone? If he
asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? If he asks for an egg, will he offer him a
scorpion?
‘If you then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?’ ”[2]
“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will
guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He
hears, He shall speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive My
things, and show them to you. All things
that the Father has are Mine: therefore I said, that He shall take My things,
and show them to you.”[3]
These three passages are enough to get anybody started. God is the Greatest of all Monarchs. Yet, He did not say to Adam, “This is how it
is.” He brought the animals to Adam, and
said in effect, “Figure it out.”[4] As the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit again
becomes active in our lives, we will discover more and more truth with each
passing day. We will learn to trust God
as our true and only best friend. As we
grow in understanding the Bible, we will learn to participate in God’s
conversation with Moses and all the prophets.[5] As we learn to trust God, we will learn to
love Him. But trust and love do not
spring into full bloom in an instant: they develop day-by-day and year-by-year
as the direct consequence of diligent searching for truth and wisdom.
Trust God; Love God and Man
But what about man? How can I develop trust in my fellow
man? You should never trust your fellow
man. You shouldn’t even trust
yourself. Trust God: that is
enough. You have no need for idols in
your life, and you shouldn’t make your brother or sister into such an idol by
deferring trust to them. Trust belongs
to God alone. But as you learn to love
God, you will learn to love your fellow man.
You will learn how to confess your own sins, and how to be
forgiven. In that process, you will
learn how to accept the confessions of others, and how to forgive them in
return. You will discover that God’s
Kingdom is the Kingdom of forgiveness. You
will also come to know that God hates slavery and the central result of His law
and love is the crushing of slavery and the bringing of freedom.[6]
Do you trust our government
leaders? Why? A recent 60 Minutes broadcast revealed common
ways our leaders defraud the populace.[7] Legal, but corrupt use of PAC[8] funds;
legal, but immoral insider trading; unjust use of influence; retiring to the
lobbying profession are a few of the issues that top the list of offenses. Our government leaders are unworthy of our
trust.
Crushing Debt Slavery
By now it should be clear
to you that our current system of debt is appropriately called debt
slavery. This death grip that debt has
on us must be broken. Historically, we
have tried to solve the problem of debt slavery by bailing out mega-banks and
giant corporations. How is this working
out for you? Take a look at your life
savings, and then take a look at Detroit.
Detroit is fighting to fix
its own problems, without any help from the federal government. Local action can, will, and must win the
day. If we stand around waiting for
handouts, we will wait in vain. The sort
of financial aid that is available for natural disasters, is simply not
available in Detroit.
I don’t know about your
life savings; but the series of bailouts for the hyper-wealthy took at least
half of mine.
The solution is the same in
both cases: sweat equity in local action; neighbor helping neighbor; getting
out of debt, and staying out of debt; building a zero leverage economy; putting
the Banker Barons out of business; eliminating predatory loans and other
corrupt lending practice.
Bailouts
The current policy of
bailouts must be stopped. If any
bailouts are extended, they should be given to the working poor: people on the
brink of losing their homes; victims of predatory loans; college kids in debt
up to their eyeballs, who can’t find jobs.
Education Loans
The current practice of
lending money to gullible college kids needs to be crushed: it is predatory.[9] If a college education is necessary, there
must be a demand for it. Such a demand
must come from fishing, farming, factories, or government. Those who stand to profit by education must
pay for it. If education is
unprofitable, it doesn’t need to exist.
Only a sucker buys such an expensive product with no hope of financial
return at the other end. This means that
all higher education should be scholarship driven: no scholarship, no
education.
Many large businesses have
an education package for full time employees.
Tuition is paid for a wide variety of subjects: usually dependent on
receipt of a passing grade. Get a job
first, then get your employer to pay for school;[10] or else
find another source of grant money:[11] not mom
and dad. Do not go in debt to go to
college. The promise of better jobs is a
lie, it is so much propaganda. If there
are better jobs, they will be willing to pay for education up front.[12]
Don’t get suckered-in to
education idolatry: it’s a business transaction, bargain until you find a
profitable deal. If a more profitable
deal is not forthcoming, your current minimum wage job may be the best offer
you have. Don’t jump out of the frying
pan and into the fire trying to make it better.
A college degree that gets you another minimum wage job and a mountain
of debt is no bargain.
Breaking the Back of the Industrial-Political Complex
Currently, the law sees
corporations as persons. They possess
nearly every right, except the right to vote.
This doesn’t really matter, because they control vast amounts of money
and enormous power. Many folks seem to
confuse corporation with cooperation.
But a corporation is frequently a cruel totalitarian dictatorship that
strips people of all dignity and freedom: it is another form of slave
state. The feudal leaders of giant
corporations control: education, and how we think; government, and what our
vote means; powerful lobbies that manipulate change in their favor, all to the
detriment of the people.
Some of you will see this
as a tirade against wealth. It is
not. The vast oceans of wealth
controlled by massive corporations were not obtained by earning, but by fraud;[13] not by
effort, but by theft. They are called
Robber Barons for a reason. These feudal
empires not only stole the country’s wealth, they stole the country’s legal
government.[14] There is nothing wrong with wealth rightfully
earned. There is something dreadfully
wrong with special privilege at law.
We must find the way to
restore State supremacy and Constitutional authority. If necessary, we need to go on a massive
trust busting spree. Corporate lobbying
of any kind or amount must be made against the law. We need to change the way we elect public
officials to make them responsible to the law and to the populace.
Abolishing Gigantic Central Government
Nor is this a plug for the
Libertarian Party. As far as I can tell
the Libertarian Party has never fielded a credible candidate; or produced any
platform other than, if it’s big, we’re against it.[15] The Constitution of the United States has an
adequate idea for handling man’s inherent lack of trustworthiness. It rests on mutual accountability between
brothers and sisters in balance of power, and limitation of government.
However, the framers of the
Constitution, developing a system to coordinate thirteen colonies, could not
have foreseen either fifty States or the industrial revolution coming. What is necessary is that the Constitution be
shored up to restore its original effectiveness, to reclaim State supremacy,
and to replace every possible administration and decision with local action. There are only three exceptions to this rule;
there are only three reasons to have a central government at all.
The only three fundamental
objectives of national government are: to provide for the national defense, to
administer international trade and relations, and to insure domestic
tranquility. Let us be exceedingly
clear. We need a national defense, we do
not need to be the world’s dominant warlord enforcing our policy on any and
every other nation. We need to
administer international trade[16] and relations,
we do not need to pursue a demonic ideal of manifest destiny, or shove
democracy down our neighbor’s throats.[17] We need domestic tranquility, we need a
method to arbitrate inter-State disputes, not a way to take over State
government, responsibility, and sovereignty.
In my view, this last goal
would be best served by a board of the States Governors. In other words all “Police Powers” would be
removed from federal control. The
National Guard would once again become State Militias, only accountable to the
President upon Congressional declaration of war.[18] States would retain all rights of
conscription. The FBI would be reorganized
to report to the Governors. Homeland
Security would be dissolved.[19] The secretaries of the Treasury, Attorney
general, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, HHS, HUD, Energy, Education,
EPA, and SBA would all be removed from the President’s Cabinet and placed under
the authority of the board of Governors.
Court resolution of inter-State disputes would be resolved by
inter-State courts.
The President would be left
with Secretaries of State, Defense, and Administrative staff. The federal government would have no right of
conscription. Federal military
organizations would by manned only by volunteers. It would be against the law to delegate
defense activities, CIA or otherwise, to contractors.
The Congress and Supreme
Court would be limited in scope to these same national issues. The Supreme Court would confine itself to
Constitutional law and get out of the business of criminal and tort law unless
such specifically pertain to federal fraud or international crime.
It is easy to see this as
federal government bashing. It is
not. The sober reality is that the
States share the blame for this Constitutional fraud: they are derelict in
their duty. The federal government
stepped into the power vacuum when States refused to exercise their Constitutional
responsibilities. There is no good
reason to fight for the restoration of Constitutional law, as this paper does,
if it means that the States will continue with business as usual. States need to get off their respective dead derrieres,
and swing into decisive and responsible Constitutional action. If necessary, they must form an alliance to
do so.
The Problem is Global
We are concerned about far
more than a shutdown of the United States economy. The world economy is now in danger. This cannot be fixed as long as people
believe that democracy is the road to freedom.
Freedom lies along the path of minimal national governments, maximum
local control; people allowed to become problem-solvers in the field of their
own choice, without fear of being eaten alive by their own governments. Learning to keep our noses out of our
neighbor’s business, as long as he doesn’t burn our house down. This is what a republic is and does. A growing number of militant Christians seems
to be developing: Christians who want a dictatorship. Neither democracy nor dictatorship is a
solution.
What is the Biblical form of Government
We have previously called
the universal Divine Government a Monarchy.
This is not technically correct.
The Divine Government is a Triarchy, which presents as a Monarchy. The Father is the head of the Trinity, but He
is co-equal with the Son and with the Holy Ghost. The Father has delegated all authority to the
Son, Who reigns at the Father’s right hand as the Sovereign Monarch of the
Universe. Yet in the same eternal plan,
the Father delegates the administration of the Kingdom through the Holy Ghost,
Who proceeds from the Father. At the
Son’s request the Holy Ghost is sent into the world in the Son’s Name to
comfort The Church on earth.
Many people believe that
the best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. This cannot be true. We observed that in the case with Adam, God
let Adam figure things out for himself.
It is man’s God given task, through the proper use of science and other
problem solving tools to figure things out.
God has never acted with man as a benevolent dictator. Instead, He has always been to us a patient
and loving Father.
When mankind achieved
sufficient maturity in time, God provided for the establishment of a Divine
nation under law. The purpose of that
law was to more fully disclose the nature of God’s love for His creation; to
gently persuade them to love Him in return; and finally to love their fellow
man. The nature and result of that law
was to abolish slavery from the face of the earth, and crush it out of
existence. Unfortunately, the bulk of
mankind was insufficiently mature to grasp even this. Many people, through their own cruelty and
slavery to idols, brought themselves under the penalty of death. This penalty was always present from Adam
onward, but God’s grace was always available, even though it was generally
refused. Man has always, since Adam, had
a bent toward waging war with God.
When that Divinely
instituted nation had advanced enough, God provided them with a king. At first God gave them the king that the
people wanted. From this the people
learned the painful lesson that things became disastrous when they got what
they thought they wanted: they still needed guidance and teaching, even under a
perfect law. Then God replaced the
popular king with the shepherd king. This
shepherd king did not behave as an ordinary monarch.[20] At no time did God give them a benevolent
dictator. Yet, even under the shepherd
king, they were not sufficiently mature to resist the temptations of idolatry.
As the years passed, God
witnessed the sinful human division of His Divinely instituted nation and the
ultimate collapse of both of its halves.
Evidently, God’s teaching method involves letting rebellious sinners
suffer under their own devious plots, until they learn to live better
lives. This is a constant theme in the
Psalms.
Eventually, the Divinely
instituted nation learned to hate idolatry, but when they re-gathered, God
refused to dwell among them; they remained as vassals to other nations for
hundreds of years; and lapsed into a cruel and bitter legalism, even though
their idolatry appeared to be gone.
The final outcome of this
was that when the Shepherd King finally returned they murdered Him. He however, could not be defeated by death;
He raised from the dead; was seated on David’s throne; and petitioned the
Father to send the Holy Ghost in His name.
Now God has provided for the establishment of a Divine world under law
and Gospel.
The Holy Ghost proceeded to
complete the reorganization of the Divine Kingdom on earth, The Church: not by
dictatorship, but by guidance of the individual citizens in the way of truth.
For the organization of
this Kingdom, He provided Apostles, as He had previously provided prophets: not
as dictators, but as living foundation stones for the Kingdom.[21] And so this Kingdom continues in construction
to this very day, as this same Holy Ghost gently leads people into becoming
living stones in this Kingdom, this Glorious Temple, the Wonderful City of God.
How is this Government Applied Today?
I’m not sure that there is
any one best way. These things are
certain: One, it is not now, nor has it ever been any form of democracy. Two, it is not now, nor has it ever been any
form of dictatorship. The most
successful governments have been those of shepherd monarchies with limited
power. The best of these governments was
limited. The monarch confined himself to
international relations, and peacekeeping.
Worship was regulated under a distinct headship, as the Kingdom of
priests was gathered under a leading priest, ultimately under and for the
worship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The monarch was never the head of the Church.[22] The metropolitan was never a government
official. The office of the Laity in the
common pursuits of society was not usurped.
Thus, people were set free for the love and worship of God, and to their
individual gifts and pursuits. There is
a collegiality, not a democracy, shared by those who are given the Holy Ghost.[23]
The United States
originally envisioned such a collegial plan.
The foundational monarchy belonged to those whose homes were their
castles. States and Counties had
sovereign dominion. A federal government
was establish to facilitate cooperation, not domination, particularly in
national defense: even here the States acted largely independently.
The Constitution even
provides for a national monarch, whose powers and terms are limited, and who is
elected from the common people. What is
different about the Unites States is that there is no American royalty: there
is collegiality among the Populace. The
monarch is not royalty, nor does he pass his scepter to his heir.[24] The American monarch is never above the law,
but always under it.
In science, this form of
behavior is known as a swarm. Three
things are necessary for the behavior of a swarm: One, a designed-in and
created capability is necessary. The
swarm is not free and cannot function outside of its capabilities. Two, the swarm members function as interdependent
individuals that find their relationships through built in laws, or codes: most
specifically, the Decalogue. Three, the
swarm is frequently led by one of its members: namely, Jesus Christ.
As with a flock of ducks or
geese, the members seem to function independently: they do function voluntarily. If one member dies the others fill in the
vacancy and continue to function. The
formation is unbroken. The swarm or
flock finds its optimum freedom in the formation: especially as observed in
flight. In the case of Christ, He can no
longer die, He cannot be replaced.
What are the Main Forms of Slavery Today?
The main forms of slavery
today are: the selling of democracy and dictatorship as forms of freedom; the
encroachment of strong central government that usurps Constitutional authority
granted to States; the development of the industrial-political establishment
into a feudal system; debt.
How Do We Restore Freedom?
As it stands today, the
United States federal government is out of control, and sees itself as
answerable to no one, not even to God.
What’s the point of having a Constitution if we’re not going to live in
accordance with it? Once a nation
commits to living outside of the law, there is very little chance of convincing
the populace to obey the law. Disrespect
only breeds more disrespect. This is not
what I signed up for in military service.
In the business of spinning
propaganda we never discuss zero debt.
We always sell the theoretical ideal of a balanced budget. The supposedly free-market economy is never
again allowed to be free. The demagogues
who insist that the only way out of economic disaster is to spend our way out,
are unwilling to let the economy self-balance to zero debt. Consequently, they pontificate that budget
cutting does not work. They are simply
unwilling to return to a zero debt economy.
Having said that, the
growth of the Gross National Product is not a good indicator of economic health
and stability. It is only a good
indicator of an encroaching and growing powerful central government. The surefire indicators of economic health
and stability are zero debt and a surplus of jobs. With the generation of surplus jobs, minimum
wages cease to be an issue, provided that the Robber Barons are not permitted
to defraud the workforce.
What Must We Do?
For starters, we must
return to God. No, I don’t mean more
lip-service; we must get serious and sincere in our worship. We must stop trying to tell God what we want,
and start begging Him to lead us in His mercy.
When we do that, everything
else will pretty much fall into place.
We will find the way to Unite in following God. This will not, and can never be a Unity of
compromise; it is, and will ever be a Unity of obedience, a Unity of Law in
Grace. God will give us the courage,
creativity, and wisdom to figure this out.
We will find the way to undue all the evils discussed in this paper, and
many others. We have until January, when
the next disaster is scheduled to hit.
[1] Hebrews 11:6, my paraphrase
[2] Luke 11:9-13
[3]
John 16:13-18
[4]
Genesis 2:19-20
[5]
Exodus 33:11
[6]
Exodus 20:1-2; Deuteronomy 5:6; Exodus 20:3-17; Deuteronomy 5:7-21; John 8:32,
36; 10:10.
[7] Washington's open secret: Profitable PACs, October 20, 2013 4:37 PM: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/
?id=50157523n.
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee
[9] http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/03/student-loan-borrowers-shouldn-t-get-a-degree-in-debt/index.htm,
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/04/student-debt-grows-to-alarming-levels/index.htm
[10]
Ironically, a friend of mine busted his neck to finish college this way, but
his employer then refused to promote him.
He quit. The employer is
bankrupt. Which of them mismanaged their
resources?
[11]
ROTC and the GI Bill are excellent resources, but you have to join the
military. Four years work for a full
ride scholarship is not a bad deal.
[12] http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-column/skilled-workforce-shortage-do-something-about-it.html
[13]
This is not my idea, see James 5:4.
[14]
Unidentified citizens crippled a railroad trestle at Skeleton, Oklahoma (1894),
ostensibly because the railroad refused to obey public law and stop. The idea that corporate power can overthrow
State and local law is foreign to the constitution. Today, railroads are still granted special
privileges under federal law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Railroad_Wars.
[15]
It is possible that we should have paid better attention to Ross Perot. Unfortunately, Mr. Perot is more of a
problem-solver than a decision-maker or
implementer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot.
[16]
We need to level the economic playing field.
As long as Americans are going jobless, it is foolish to send those jobs
out of country just to cut costs. The
real purpose of sending jobs out of country is to crush American labor, through
unfair and unjust competition. We need
to exact stiff duties, say ten percent for starters, on all imported goods and
services. This is especially tricky in
the case of services, because these are virtually invisible. Even so, it is absurd to try to build our
national technology, while the jobs for that technology are being undercut by
other nations. We need to make it
illegal for noncitizens to own United States real estate or stock in American
corporations and other businesses. We
need to stop large corporations from moving their, often phantom, headquarters
overseas, as a tax dodging strategy.
[17] Democracy is a form of slavery anyway, and we
ought to hate it with flaming passion.
[18] Veterans
Affairs would be handled either by State Militias or by the Secretary of Defense,
whichever employs them.
[19] Individuals
fomenting terrorism would be returned to the asylum of their nation of origin,
and banned from reentry into the United States, upon penalty of death.
[20] Please give attention to the plural,
thrones. “For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones
of the house of David.” Psalm 122:5
[21] There never were twelve tribes of Israel: for
Jacob adopted both of Joseph’s sons, bring the number to thirteen. When Paul is added he becomes the thirteenth
Apostle. The Apostles replace and become
the heads of the thirteen tribes of Israel.
Jesus also trained and sent out seventy: these replace and become the
new Sanhedrin, although we know little of their activities, the number seventy,
when considered alongside all the other Old Testament tangencies, cannot be
accidental. Jesus intended to replace
Israel-Judah with a new kingdom, The Church.
The Holy Ghost implements this Divine plan according its Divine
schedule. Today, a republic most closely
resembles this form of government.
[22]
This structure under Anglicanism appears to be a serious mistake, both is civil
and in church government.
[23]
This is not a plug for any of those excesses sometimes found in tongue
speaking, snake handling, lying miracles, and the like. It simply notes that God’s principle gift to
The Church, to all Christians everywhere, is the gift of the Holy Ghost.
[24]
We are reminded that this is the historic meaning of Senatus Populusque Romanus
(SPQR). Rome had a monarch, but Rome was
never a pure monarchy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR
