The Perfect Law of Liberty
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass [mirror, NASB]: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:22-25)1
The law of Yahweh2 is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of Yahweh are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11)
What more could we ask for? And yet all of this was rejected by the Declaration’s signatories and Constitution’s framers and replaced with their own man-made surrogates:
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
The Declaration Speaks for Itself
Paragraph #2
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, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves 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, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—That has 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. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Paragraph #2, Sentence 1
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, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Is Liberty a Right?
Even life is not a right, except to the Creator. If otherwise, then God was obligated to create us, making Him subservient to us.3 What about liberty?
Americans are noted for their gullibility. Their unfounded confidence in the United States Constitution is no exception. Because the Preamble tells them the Constitution was ordained to secure their liberty, most Americans take it at its word, despite the fact that the first three articles of the Constitution enslave us to an ungodly congress,4 president,5 and judicial6 system—something the 17th- and early 18th-century Christians7 flourished without.
The constitutional framers could not provide their fellow Americans with liberty for the simple reason that slaves are never able to grant freedom to fellow slaves:
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption…. (2 Peter 2:19)
Liberty is only attainable individually via the blood-atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Christ8 and as society via the Bible’s perfect law of liberty.9
Neither of these means of liberty was the goal of either the Declaration’s signatories or that of the Constitution’s framers. Instead, liberty was officially lost (incrementally thereafter) when the eighteenth-century founding fathers replaced Yahweh’s immutable and perfect law of liberty with their own man-made, capricious Constitution—when liberty was made a goal instead of a corollary of implementing the Bible’s liberty laws (the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments10) as supreme over society.
America’s Greatest Liberty
Except for the British kings’ occasional meddling from across the Atlantic, Americans experienced their greatest liberty in the 1600s and early 1700s. From the ratification of the Constitution until now, liberty has been whittled away. At present, we would be hard-pressed to find a nation with less liberty than the United States of America. As Pastor Mather Byles purportedly put it prior to the American War for Independence: “Which is better—to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or by three thousand tyrants not a mile away?”
Fat and Happy Slaves
It is extremely difficult to convince well-fed, content, and happy Americans they are not free. But contentment has nothing to do with freedom. A slave is a slave even if he’s fat and happy. “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”11
2 Corinthians 3:17 states, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” The Spirit of the Lord cannot be found in the Constitution because Yahweh and His perfect laws of liberty were flagrantly disregarded therein.
Instead of liberty, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution it birthed eleven years later yoked Americans with bondage: reprobate and dishonest legislators, ever-expanding debt, an ungodly court system, an unnecessary and inept prison system, corruption, licenses, permits, countless registrations, ungodly wars, in addition to ever-increasing taxes on nearly everything. None of these atrocities can occur under Yahweh’s system of liberty established upon His triune moral law.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. (Matthew 7:16-18)
What has been the fruit of the Declaration and the Constitution it sired? We have only to look at the historical record of the last 200-plus years to know the Constitution shackled us with slavery instead of liberty. Man-made surrogates never have and never will provide liberty. Only Yahweh, by way of Jesus’12 blood-atoning sacrifice and resurrection, can free us as individuals, and only His perfect laws of liberty can free us as a nation.
Yes, America has been a blessed nation in many ways for many years—a residuum from the early 1600 governments of, by, and for God established upon His laws of liberty, per Deuteronomy 28:1-14. Since the U.S. Constitution was ratified, those blessings have been gradually replaced by the curses for disobedience to Yahweh’s laws, per Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
Paragraph #2, Sentence 2
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
“Securing” the Impossible
It’s impossible for man-made humanistic secular governments to secure anything, other than what they line their pockets with. It’s likewise impossible for them to secure rights to which man has no claim in the first place. On the other hand, futilely striving to secure the impossible helps to further enslave those so engaged.
Powers Derived From the Consent of the Governed
Do Christians even pause to consider such statements in light of the Bible? Can such a declaration—what amounts to saying that government comes from the approval or permission of the majority—be justified by anything found in the Bible? Or, does the Bible condemn this overtly humanistic claim to divinity from anti-Christ Thomas Jefferson?13
Paragraph 2, Sentence 2 is humanism of the rankest sort. God doesn’t look to the consent of the governed for permission to establish government or anything else. Furthermore, one would be hard pressed to find anything good accomplished by the consent of the governed, the majority of whom are in the broad way leading to destruction:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
The consent of the governed is what banished the Israelites to the wilderness for forty years.
Thomas Jefferson Not Alone
Such claims as in Paragraph 2, Sentence 2 were not at all unique to Thomas Jefferson. Such unbiblical assertions were common fare with Jefferson’s contemporary theistic rationalist founding fathers. For example, in one of his many arguments on behalf of the Constitution, James Madison revealed where ultimate power resides in a constitutional republic:
As the people are the only legitimate fountain of power … it is from them that the constitutional charter under which the several branches of government … is derived.14
Is it any wonder the Constitutional Republic has been dubbed a government of, by, and for the people?
Alexander Hamilton stated it similarly:
The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.15
Such an emphasis on the people cannot be found anywhere in the Bible.
Freemason George Washington (who presided over the Constitutional Convention) confirmed this self-originating authority in his “Farewell Address”:
This government, the offspring of our own choice uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and support.16
Talk about metaphorically slapping God’s sovereign face! And these are men who constitutionalists promote as Christians?
The Constitutional Republic’s fifth president, James Monroe, concurred:
The people, the highest authority known in our system, from whom all our institutions spring and on whom they depend, formed it.17
John Adams confessed to the same humanism regarding the States’ Constitutions:
It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [the establishment of the States’ Constitutions] had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of Heaven … it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses…. Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone….18
No surprise that it was John Adams who, as President, signed the Treaty with Tripoli in which the following is found:
[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…. (Treaty with Tripoli, of Barbary, Article 11)
While it’s true that the original states’ Constitutions were more biblical then the federal Constitution in some of their components, they were nonetheless mirror images of the federal Constitution as it pertains to their humanistic promotion of man as Sovereign. Following are samplings from some of the state Constitutions:
…all political power is vested in and derived from the people only. (North Carolina, 1776, “Declaration of Rights,” Article I)
…no authority shall, on any pretense whatever, be exercised over the people or members of this State, but such as shall be derived from and granted by them [the people]. (New York, 1777, Article I)
All power residing originally in the people and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government vested with authority – whether Legislative, Executive, or Judicial – are their substitutes and agents and are at all times accountable to them. (Massachusetts, 1789, part I, Article V)
…all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority. (Pennsylvania, 1790, Article IX, Section II)
…power is inherent in them [the people], and therefore all just authority in the institutions of political society is derived from the people. (Delaware, 1792, Preamble)
Consequently, a return to the States’ Constitutions (or the federal Constitution’s Tenth Amendment19) will not solve America’s propensity for humanism or save her from her present national woes created by the federal and states’ humanistic constitutions alike. Both were born of Jefferson’s audacious declaration that just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, which is just another way of declaring the unbiblical sovereignty of man over himself. This, in turn, is a blatant rejection of Yahweh’s exclusive authority over man, government, and society with or without the consent of the governed.
Paragraph #2, Sentence 3
—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 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.
Right or Responsibility
As Christians, subjects of the King of kings, it’s not our right but our obligation to work toward replacing any biblically incompatible government with local governments of, by, and for God20 (aka ecclesias21) exclusively established upon His moral law,22 per Matthew 6:10, 33; Romans 12:21; 13:1-7; 1 Corinthians 6:1-6; and 2 Corinthians 10:4-6.
For example, when Romans 13 is interpreted as intended by the Apostle Paul (as dictated by its context), we don’t find an optional right but instead a mandate for establishing biblical governments over society.23
Thus, it’s our duty to replace any form of government of, by, and for the people that’s invariably opposed—yea, destructive—to government of, by, and for God.
Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome [literally subdue] evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
This commission doesn’t end at the doorsteps of government. In fact, Romans 12:21 is strategically located at the scriptural doorstep of Romans 13:1-7. Romans 12:21 is the verse immediately preceding Romans 13:1-7 in which Paul depicts a biblical government established upon the Bible’s triune and integral moral law and adjudicated by biblically qualified men of God (Verses 4 & 6), who are continual (Verse 6) blessing to the righteous and perpetual terror to the wicked (Verses 3-4).23
What’s this then say about our responsibility to work toward replacing the biblically seditious Constitutional Republic, born of the biblically adverse Declaration of Independence? Rather than vainly attempting to save what can never be saved—the Republic built on sand,24 a house divided from its inception25—we’re commissioned to overcome evil government with good government. Not by the consent of the governed but rather by the command of Yahweh.
Never–Ending Futility
Do not overlook that Paragraph 2, Sentence 3 of the Declaration is as much an endorsement for any man-made government as it was for what eleven years later became the United States Constitutional Republic. According to Thomas Jefferson, regardless the nation in which you reside, if the present form of government of, by, and for the people is in your opinion (or anyone else’s opinion) abusive, you have the right to replace it with what you hope will be a better form of government of, by, and for the people.
Because all forms of government of, by, and for the people are built on sand24 and ultimately houses divided,25 they are thus inherently self-destructive. Thus, that which was promoted by Thomas Jefferson and the other signatories to the Declaration is inevitably a never-ending experiment in trying to find a better form of man-made government. In other words, an experiment of perpetual futility—that is, until each nation recognizes that what they’re looking for can only be realized in government of, by, and for God.
As to Them
Paragraph 2, Sentence 3 ends by saying, “laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” The three words “as to them” is unabashed humanism. Where in the Bible do we find anything whereby God leaves it to the people to decide their own form of government as to what they determine will make them most happy?
Talk about a recipe for disaster!
Case in point: The biblically contrary Constitutional Republic that’s destroyed man’s happiness in multifarious ways (including the lives of millions of infants slaughtered in their mothers’ wombs)—as with all governments of man’s own creation. This, juxtaposed with what’s perfect, sure, right, pure, true, and altogether righteous, resulting in conversions, wisdom, joy, true enlightenment, better than fine gold, sweeter than honey, and providing a great reward, per Psalm 19:7-11.
Man is incapable of fixing his own problems, either individually or collectively. Yet, that’s what many of today’s blinded Christians and patriots laud as allegedly occurring in the late 18th-century at the behest of men in rebellion to their God and Creator.
See Part 6.
Related posts:
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence, Pt. 1” (Blog article)
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence, Pt. 2” (Blog article)
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence, Pt. 3” (Blog article)
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence, Pt.4” (Blog article)
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence” (Audio series)
A Biblical Constitution: A Scriptural Replacement for Secular Government
“Ecclesia vs. Church: Why Understanding the Difference is Critical to Our Future”
Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant
Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective
End Notes
1. All scripture is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.
2. YHWH, the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, is most often pronounced Yahweh. It is the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible and was inspired to appear nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament. It was unlawfully deleted by the English translators. In obedience to the Third Commandment and the scriptures that charge us to proclaim, swear by, praise, extol, call upon, bless, glorify, and hold fast to His name, I have chosen to memorialize His name, per Exodus 3:15, in this article.
For a more thorough explanation concerning important reasons for using the sacred name of God, see Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain, the third in a series of ten free online books on each of the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments.
3. See Part 4 for more regarding the Declaration’s and Constitution’s alleged rights.
4. See Chapter 4 “Article 1: Legislative Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
5. See Chapter 5 “Article 2: Executive Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
6. See Chapter 6 “Article 3: Judicial Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
7. Not everyone claiming to be a Christian has been properly instructed in the biblical plan of salvation. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied to understand what is required to be covered by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins.
For a more thorough explanation concerning water immersion and its relationship to salvation, the bookBaptism: All You Wanted to Know and More may be requested from Bible Law vs. The United States Constitution, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.
Additionally, listen to audio series “I Had a Dream: Judgment’s Coming. Are You Under the Blood?” Part 1 can be found here. Or a MP3 CD, containing all ten messages, can be requested from Bible Law vs. The United States Constitution, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.
8. See John 8:32, 36; 2 Corinthians 3:17; etc.
9. See James 1:25, 2:12; Psalm 19:7-11; Psalm 119:44-45; etc.
10. See Part 1 for evidence that the perfect law of liberty equates to the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments.
11. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Otto Wenckstern, trans., Goethe’s Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science and Art (London, UK: John W. Parker and Son, 1853) p. 3
12. Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior’s given Hebrew name, with which He introduced Himself to the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:14-15. (Jesus is a twice-removed transliteration: the English transliteration of the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua.) Because many people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Yeshua, I have chosen to use the more familiar name Jesus in this article in order to remove what might otherwise be a stumbling block.
For a more thorough explanation concerning important reasons for using the sacred name of God, see Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain, the third in a series of ten free online books on each of the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments.
13. See Part 2 for evidence that Thomas Jefferson was an anti-Christ.
14. James Madison, The Federalist, No. 46 (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1888) p. 217
15. Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, No. 22 (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1888) p. 135
16. George Washington, Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols. (New York; NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892) vol. 13, p. 297
17. James Monroe, “Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements,” 4 May 1822, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/preambles20.html
18. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, 10 vols. (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1865) vol. 4, pp. 292-93
19. See Chapter 19 “Amendment 10: Counterfeit Powers” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
20. See A Biblical Constitution: A Scriptural Replacement for Secular Government.
21. See Ecclesia vs. Church: Why Understanding the Difference is Critical to Our Future.
22. For more regarding how the Bible’s immutable/unchanging moral law applies today and should be implemented as the law of the land, see Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant.
24. See Matthew 7:26-27
25. See Matthew 12:25