MOURN on the 4th of July!

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life,[5] liberty,[6] and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,[7] deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;[8] that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,[9] and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.[10] Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves[11] by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,[12] it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such as been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.[13] To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

[history of "repeated injuries and oppressions" omitted][14]

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.[15] We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war,[16] in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these colonies,[17] solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do.[18] And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.[19]

NOTES

3. When does the Bible say it becomes "necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another"? (Romans 13, 1 Peter 2)  [Return]

4. Is it the Christian's goal to be "equal" with "the powers"? (Jude 8-10, 2 Peter 2:10-12, Ephesians 6:12, Romans 13)  [Return]

5. Do we have a "right to life"? (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 1 Peter 2:21; Luke 17:7-10)  [Return]

6. If we have a "right" to "liberty," why does the Bible command us to work for our slavemasters as if we were working for Christ Himself? (1 Corinthians 7:20,24; Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:22-24; 1 Timothy 6:1-11; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:18-21)  [Return ]

7. Are governments instituted by men? (Romans 13)  [Return]

8. According to the Constitution, the State has the power to tax, and to declare war. Are these powers made "just" on the mere say-so of those who voted for the exercise of this "power to destroy"? According to the Bible, from Whom (or whence) do governments derive their "just powers"?  [Return]

9. Does the Bible say we have a right to "abolish" the State? Do slaves have a right to "abolish" their masters? Do children have a right to "abolish" their parents? (1 Peter 2)  [Return]

10. If we were instituting a new State, upon which principles should we build?  [Return]

11. If we are suffering under harsh masters or tyrants, does the Bible say we should "right ourselves"? (I Peter 2, Romans 12, Matthew 5)  [Return ]

12. Scholars estimate that the total of taxes imposed by the British government upon the colonists was less than 5% of income. We are now taxed at a rate approaching 10 times that amount. Was the British government really the "absolute despotism" that warranted an armed revolution?  [Return ]

       13. Imagine a young man about 23 years old. As an agent of the British Empire, he wears a red coat. He believes that the colonies face a situation of "anarchy" and chaos. For generations, the British government has maintained law and order, and he has been told that this stability is threatened by lawless hoardes who vandalize tax-paying merchants while dressed as Indians. Based on reports of a large cache of arms in Lexington and threats of armed revolution, he has been sent away from his family in Liverpool to help maintain order in the colonies.
       Oh dear. This nice young man has just had a large part of his face and shoulders blown away by the musket fire of an outraged tax-resister. This colonist (and others like him) apparently believed that this young soldier evinced "a design to reduce them under absolute despotism." As the officer lies dying in a pool of his own blood, the revolutionary "minute-man" rejoices in his victory over this red-coat's objective of the "establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states."
       Is this a loving (1 Corinthians 13:5-7) or righteous (John 7:24; Exodus 23:2; Prov. 24:21) judgment of this young human being? Was this soldier a budding Adolph Hitler, or a "good Christian family man"?

Was this revolutionary killing the beginning, or the end, of a Christian nation?  [Return]

14. The Declaration of Independence lists many political acts which are said to justify armed revolution. Many of these abuses are rampant in our day, yet no one who waves a flag on the 4th of July is taking up arms to spill the blood of government agents. For example, scholars have estimated that the total tax required of the colonists by the British government amounted to about 3% of income. Today, the post-revolutionary government takes 30% of income each year, and up to 90% upon death.
      If the killing of government agents was justifiable in 1776, why isn't it mandatory now?  [Return]

15. Did Nero have a "warrantable jurisdiction" over Jewish converts to Christ when the Apostle Paul penned his letter to the Romans?  [Return]

16. What is our duty toward our "enemies?" (Matthew 5; Romans 12; Luke 17) It is true that in the Old Testament God commanded His People to kill entire nations, which were idolatrous and made a public practice of committing capital crimes, such as infant sacrifice (Leviticus 18:24). These "Holy Wars" were a form of national capital punishment. Is there any such justification for war after the Priestly work of Christ? [Return]

17. In Whose Name did the Apostles govern the early church? (Acts 4:7)  [Return]

18. Would the BATF or the FBI be alarmed if some sizeable Christian group declared that it had these powers: the power to levy war, contract alliance (with foreign nations), and challenge the authority of the Federal Reserve Board and the Interstate Commerce Commission? Is it any surprise that the British government was alarmed? If you were a king would you be alarmed at militias and revolutionary pamphleteers? If you were President what powers would you exercise if armed "extremists" threatened to declare their state a separate nation and exercise all those governmental powers? Did Jesus and His Apostles claim these powers?  [Return]

19. Is the Declaration of Independence a document that can be supported by a Christian committed to "submission to the powers" (Romans 13) and the "Ministry of Reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)?  [Return]

Theonomy comes from two Greek words, and means "God's Law." That shouldn't be too controversial, but it is -- for two reasons: (1) "Theonomists" believe God's Law is found even in the Old Testament; (2) God's Law does not leave "neutral zones" in which we can "be as gods" (Gen. 3:5) and decide for ourselves what constitutes good and evil.  [Return to Beginning]

Americans are great for empty support of the American War for Independence. Many government officials are leery of such Christians taking the revolutionary rhetoric of the Founding Fathers too seriously. Some do: they store arms. Others don't: they claim to be followers of the Founders, who took up arms against a tax rate of less than 5%, but do nothing in the face of the current rate ten times greater. The militia groups at least have consistency on their side, and the government is justified in worrying. Christians animated by Micah's Vine & Fig Tree vision are no such threat.  [Return to Text]

The Christmas Conspiracy

Virtue

Vine & Fig Tree

Paradigm Shift

Theocracy