May 13, 2013

Christian Conscience: The Bedrock of Honest Government

Of Oaths & Atheists, Holy Fear & Accountability

The proper functioning of the American government at all levels is predicated on one and only one assumption, and that is the presence of a Christian conscience. Without that element, it goes off the tracks because of the inherent dishonesty of people who seek power over others without any regard for individual rights and fidelity to the Constitution, which is meant to guard those rights.

That dishonesty is not limited to only those who seek elected office, but to all those who hold a political philosophy that values the power of government over the rights of the governed. Many have such a philosophy – one which holds no belief in unalienable rights. They feel that government is the great and grand dispenser of all rights, and any thing that gets in the way of that power is an unwanted hindrance, including, and especially the United States Constitution.

The highly respected British jurist and legal author wrote in his widely distributed Commentaries 19 1 page 156: The power and jurisdiction of Parliament, says sir Edward Coke, is so transcendent and absolute, that it cannot be confined – either for causes or persons, within any bounds. And of this high court he adds, it may be truly said: “It hath sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal: this being the place where that absolute despotic power, which must in all government reside somewhere, is entrusted by the constitution of these kingdoms.”

They, of all backgrounds and cultures, worship their Lord of Lords, their King of Kings, their Great and All-Powerful Government. It, and only it, should have the ultimate say in deciding what its pawns, its serf, its subjects must do “for the General Welfare”. And they, the devotees, the submissives, and their exempt overlords who are rightful rulers over others, being the entitled elite, are the natural possessors of the power of such government.

They mean to rule well, but they mean to rule. They mean to break you and saddle you and ride you because they were born with spurs and you are just a dumb beast that doesn’t know what is best for you. They are the closet totalitarians, the covert Czars and little Cesars, the unquestionable and inerrant oligarchs. Their Priesthood is the highest priesthood, and most of their members are lawyers who are unafraid of being sued, and all others must pay them homage.

And all this without any internal boundaries whatsoever on their conduct, no moral chains of restraint, no bonds of fidelity to any higher authority, especially a divine authority, no limitations of conscience by faith nor oath.

Why such an absence of limitations within them? Because they fear no God, no afterlife, no Judgement Day, and no Lake of Fire. They are unaccountable in this life and the next (which doesn’t exist to them).

They are not limited by law, only by its enforcement; nor are they limited by the oath they take swearing to uphold the law and the Constitution, both of which they have no regard for.

Why do they have no regard for the rule of law? Because of what is missing inside of them – namely, a Christian conscience (or if Jewish, a Jewish conscience).

A Christian conscience is the foundation on which our entire legal and political system is grounded. If you have a knee-jerk reaction that that is a gross exaggeration, then you need to ask yourself, “What is the basis of honesty, particularly honesty in government?”

Without honesty as the underlying virtue of all conduct by those with power, you have in its place a moral vacuum, a situation of corrupt, dishonest, self-serving, self-enriching, perjuring political hacks at all levels of “public service” regardless of position, elected or appointed, whether policeman or president.

What did our founding fathers expect of those entrusted with power if not honesty? And what did they expect the source of that honesty to be? Atheism? Relativism? Nihilism? Socialism? Humanism? Statism? Fear of legal punishment?

The answer is none of those. The answer is the fear of God. The fear of divine disfavor. The fear of Hellfire. The fear of damnation and eternal suffering. Fear is the greatest motivator of all, next to love. And so it was both. Both fear of engaging in lying, dishonest, selfish, and oath-breaking behavior, along with love of country, love of freedom, and love of the Constitution.

What was it that was meant to bind men to doing right and rejecting wrong? It was a Christian conscience, and the holy fear and love that is its substance.

How were men called on and obligated to do their duty faithfully and honestly as their position in government required?

It was by requiring them to swear themselves to it. It was by binding them to do their duty as they solemnly swore before men, before holy witnesses in Heaven, and He who sits on the Great White Throne, the Judge of the living and the dead. To swear an oath is to offer one’s soul as collateral for the fulfilling of one’s word. Failure to fulfill one’s oath to the best of one’s ability would spiritually assign one’s soul to the jeopardy of damnation.

If you are not Faithful and True out of fear, then you sure as hell better be faithful out of piety and devotion, because when both are lacking, then government unavoidably becomes corrupt.

Let’s look at the nature of an oath, and how it was not a light thing for a person to perform in a God-fearing world, such as existed in Europe for about 1,500 years before the birth of the United States.

If one were to pledge himself to a Lord, or a King or an Archbishop, or the Pope, one would place their left hand on that which is the most Holy thing in this world – the Word of God (the Holy Bible) – and speak his oath: “I solemnly swear to xxx…so help me Satan.”

Wait, I think that’s a mistake. That might not be right, but in the bigger picture, does it really matter who you swear to? God, or Satan? What difference does it make? Answer: all the difference in the world.

One can’t swear an oath to Satan because he is not the judge of anything. He, in the universe of Holy Scripture, is the father of lies, the inventor of deceit, dishonestly, and duplicity. How could an oath to Satan not be an oxymoron? (Unless you swore to lie and deceive to the best of your ability.)

If one is not swearing to the Judge of the World then one’s oath means absolutely nothing since human nature is inherently dishonest. Just pay attention to any young child. Lying comes quite naturally to them in order to shield themselves from punishment for forbidden behavior.

It’s the Almighty or it’s nothing. So how exactly can an atheist swear an oath? And without an oath, exactly how can the public trust that they will do their job honestly and fairly as the oath requires? The very foundation of honest and fair functional government is the honesty and fairness of those entrusted to its offices. If we cannot be assured of their character, then we cannot be assured that government will not be unfair, unjust, and dishonest.

If oath takers are not believers possessed of a conscience that compels them by fear or love or both, then how is the oath required of them not their first dishonest action on the day of their assumption of office? The words of their oath, spoken in public, are a false swearing before man (and God) because they believe in neither God nor demons, neither Heaven nor Hell. So they start their term in office with a big fat lie to everyone.

Just let one of them finish his oath with: “so help me Satan!” and the whole falsity of the modern world’s oath procedure would be brought to light.

That raises a question about other governments. What do officials in Communist countries do when taking office? How could they even have a swearing in ceremony when they have no one to swear to?

They can’t swear to gods, nor angels, nor demons, nor ancestors, nor spirits, nor heroes because they either don’t believe that they exist, or don’t believe in their divinity, since divinity doesn’t exist. So what is the basis of the expectation of honesty from such people?

Perhaps it’s devotion to the party, or the country, or the people, or to national pride, or family honor, or a combination of them all. But none of them are equal to Hellfire and Eternal Damnation. That is personal, that kind of accountability at the End of Days when all souls will be judged by their deeds in this life. That is a much more powerful motivator behind being a faithful and true servant (or master) in the public trust.

With the power of the oath of office being lost in today’s generation, the power of its restraint is non-existent. Politicians and their appointed minions will do whatever advances their agendas. Faithfulness to the law be damned. Truth be damned. Honesty be damned. Damnation be damned.

In a Godless universe, the very foundation of government (a public servant’s oath of obedience to law, fidelity to the execution of one’s duties, and allegiance to the Constitution) is neither grounded by nor anchored to anything, especially a politician’s false and lying oath. And that is just fine with all of them because it is a tiny price to pay to appear to be that which they are not, namely, humble and honest servants of Man and God and Country.

They put on the fine vestments of sacred trust and wear them proudly, while all along they’re naked underneath, hiding the lying demons of hypocrisy, dishonesty and self-aggrandizement, or secret collectivist political ideology.

Their power comes through government power; particularly the power of the purse and the power to mint money out of thin air. Keep the constituents contented and you’ll be reelected without any serious competition. Once in office, one has the power of that office to stay in office, and they use it to their fullest advantage, being reelected about 95% of the time.

They serve their master, the political power machines that direct, fund, and herd the political parties toward their ultimate goal of a government like that of the Confederacy. It not only had no opposition parties, it had no political parties at all. That is what their dream is, even if they don’t consciously know it. But then there are a whole lot of other things that they don’t consciously know about themselves.

Kind of like Morgan Freeman, who in the remarkable Tom Cruise Sci-Fi film “Oblivion” plays the leader of the human resistance that is in a life-and-death struggle against annihilation at the hands of an alien civilization. His role as leader is to fight against absolute domination, to fight for the survival of human freedom against merciless power. Yet he supported Obama whole heartedly, unaware of or unconcerned about his Marxist ideology and Statist attitude about all-powerful government.

If people are asleep to what is right in front of them, people who should be awake to the war that the citizens of the United States are in, then the likelihood of anything awakening them is very small. They can’t grasp what kind of slippery slope they are on because it is declined at such a minor angle, in their progressive perspective, that it seems practically level. But that will change for millions of people as the treasonous health care travesty is forced onto the backs of the American people.

It will be a debacle of such enormous proportions that people will be rudely awakened, or it will run smoothly enough that people will be lulled into permanent sleep. Only time will tell as it’s implemented state by state, but neither possibility will be good for the late, great, former land of the Free.

We ceased being that a long, long time ago, but when we stop being the land of the Brave, we will become the land of the endlessly bossed. And we, the mere citizens, sure won’t be the ones doing the driving nor giving the orders. You may as well learn how to salute, stand at attention, and genuflect, because you’ll then be doing a whole lot of it once the Statists acquire their full power.

The only barrier against such an eventuality is the push-back on constitutional grounds by the individual states. We have only the law and the Constitution on our side, while the Statists have the Congress, the White House, and the federal courts on theirs. It remains to be seen which one will prevail. We have reason to both despair and yet not lose hope because the high court unanimously ruled against the autocratic power of his excellency sire Obama in the case of the recess appointments. They adhered to the Constitution, the exact opposite of what they did with something 100 times more important, the Unaffordable Health Care Act.

So, in the absence of a crystal ball, we must hold to hope as our ancestors did in not yielding to the superior power and provisions of the British Army. Eventually, bravery and patience won the day, not to mention the aid of the French Navy. We must hope that aid will come though we know not from where nor when nor how. Like a great landing pad, the Constitution is ready and waiting for Truth to fly in and take over.

Once the all-powerful central government is wounded by the Constitution, and seen to be shield-less and vulnerable, then the blows from the states may come fast and furious. Lord, I’d sure love to live to see that day. The Hallelujahs will rise to the heavens and there will be dancing in the streets.

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