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)
Psalm 19 depicts society functioning at its optimum liberty, prosperity, and peace. And yet self-deceived man (beginning in the Garden of Eden) seems to think he can one-up his God and Creator. The Declaration’s signatories and Constitution’s framers were no exception.
The Declaration Speaks for Itself
Paragraph #2, Sentences 6–7
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.
As we continue to biblically examine the twenty-seven Facts (grievances), take note again how many of these same abuses can be leveled at both the Declaration’s signatories and the Constitution’s framers.
Grievances #13 & 19
He [Britain’s King George III] has combined with others [members of England’s Parliament] to subject us to … their Acts of pretended Legislation: … For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.
The Administration of Justice Act was one of five laws enacted by the British Parliament on May 20, 1774, in response to the Boston Tea Party. It made it possible for American colonials (in particular Massachusetts Bay citizens) to be transported to Great Britain for trial for capital offences.
Bogus Indictments Based On Bogus Legislation
Judicial litigation on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean would be a horrific inconvenience and disruption of life. However, the real issue in this grievance is not so much where court convenes, but rather the moral standard employed. Thomas Jefferson summed it up as “pretended offences” based upon “pretended legislation.”
Any judicial indictment drummed up by any government not based upon the Bible’s triune moral law of liberty—that is, upon Yahweh’s unchanging justice as reflected in His Commandments, statutes, and judgments3—is an instance of a pretended (counterfeit) offence based upon pretended (counterfeit) legislation. Case in point: the bulk of indictments originating from the Constitutional Republic’s Criminal Justice System,4 sired by the Declaration of Independence, and born of the biblically seditious Constitution.
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed. (Isaiah 10:1)
Regardless whether the government is Great Britain’s, the United States of America’s, or any other nation’s, when Yahweh’s moral law is rejected as supreme and thus the standard for all of society, it’s inevitable that evil will be identified as righteousness and righteousness as evil:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter … because they have cast away the law of Yahweh of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 5:20, 24)
In turn, justice will invariably be replaced with injustice:
[Yahweh’s] law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted…. (Habakkuk 1:4, NASB)
This is especially true for the Constitutional Republic as a consequence of the framers banning biblical qualifications for its civil leaders, per Article 6’s Christian test ban.5 Would anyone dare dispute that Americans have consequently been surrounded by the wicked, legislating and adjudicating what originates with themselves?
Their justice and authority originate with themselves. (Habakkuk 1:7, NASB)
As King Solomon declared, there’s nothing new under the sun:
United States Constitution, Preamble, Sentence 1: “WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in order to … establish justice…6
Counterfeit Justice
The constitutional framers were not referring to the justice that originates with Yahweh, God of the Bible, but rather with the alleged justice originating with themselves. Otherwise, they would have followed the example of their early 1600s American predecessors6 and, at the very least, mentioned Yahweh’s law upon which justice is determined.
Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek Yahweh…. Pay attention to Me, O My people; And give ear to Me … for a law will go forth from Me, and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. (Isaiah 51:1, 4, NASB)
As with Britain’s humanistic government, the framers merely established their own form of counterfeit justice adjudicated by tribunals of injustice,7 by which “pretended offences” have been, time and again, leveled against its citizens and non-citizens alike. Except for being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, this is no different—in fact, it’s become much worse—than what the American colonials endured under King George.
Rather than replacing Britain’s government with a government of, by, and for God, the Declaration’s signatories and Constitution’s framers replaced King George’s government of, by, and, for the people with a different version of the same humanism, resulting in similar counterfeit offences based upon similar counterfeit legislation.
John Adams attested to this regarding the states’ governments:
It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [the establishment of the states’ constitutions] … were in any degree under the inspiration of Heaven … it will ever 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….8
Augustine of Hippo declared, “If justice [as can only be determined by God] be taken away, what are governments but great bands of robbers….”9
When the constitutional framers disregarded Yahweh’s justice they opened the door for justice to be defined however judges choose to define it based upon their own interpretations of the biblically seditious Constitution10 via their own moral (immoral) proclivities. In other words, the Constitution essentially allows “justice” to originate with the judges themselves.
Today’s constitutional courts are, with very few exceptions, tribunals of injustice,11 no different from King George’s courts.
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)
Stay Tuned for Part 19.
Related posts:
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence” (Audio series)
“Biblical Examination of the Declaration of Independence, Pts. 1-12” (Articles)
Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant
A Biblical Constitution: A Scriptural Replacement for Secular Government
Ecclesia vs. Church: Why Understanding the Difference is Critical to Our Future
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. For more on how the Bible’s triune and integral moral law (the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments) applies and should be implemented today as the law of the land, see Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant.
Also A Biblical Constitution: A Scriptural Replacement for Secular Government.
4. Chapter 6 “Article 3: Judicial Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
5. Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
6. Chapter 3 “The Preamble: We the People vs. Yahweh” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
7. Chapter 6 “Article 3: Judicial Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.
8. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, 10 vols. (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1865) vol. 4, pp. 292-93
9. Augustine of Hippo, De Civ. Dei, IX:4
10. See Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective, in which every Article and Amendment is examined by the Bible.
11. Chapter 6 “Article 3: Judicial Usurpation” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.