On Donald Trump’s week-one report card in last week’s blog posting, I gave him straight A’s. I think we were all
shocked at both the volume and the quality of his actions in those first seven days in office.
However, anti-Trump democrats would not agree with this evaluation. The wild-eyed, frantic, ranting from a majority of their spokespersons tells us that they feel he flunked miserably.
But the issue is always “By what standard?” What are the behavioral rules by which we are measuring his performance? So, to determine who is right, Trump or his political foes, we must settle on an unchangeable standard by which we will judge.
Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. (trinitarian Christians) each have their denominational Statement of Faith, emphasizing their own particular, denominational, biblical perspectives. However, they ALL point us to the Bible, as originally written, as the ONLY “standard of faith and practice” for all humanity and by which all belief and behavior is judged!
My contention is that Donald Trump, unconsciously, is proposing and implementing legislation and executive orders that are moving us as a nation to a more biblical civil government. He calls it “common sense,” but his common sense arises from a standard for living that was once universally followed in America, i.e., biblical law!
As we begin to investigate what that biblical standard tells us about civil government, we discover that THIS INSTITUTION HAS ONLY TWO RESPONSIBILITIES BEFORE GOD: 1.) To protect law-keepers, and 2.) To punish law-breakers. All other civil government activity is simply “man playing God,” and using civil government to accomplish what HE THINKS civil government should do, thus encroaching on our biblical, God given, personal freedom.
In the classic book, The Roots of the American Republic, written by the 19th century Biblical scholar E.C. Wines in 1853, the principles of the Hebrew Republic in the Bible are described in detail. The time frame of the Hebrew Republic in Israel was from the giving of the Law of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai, until the Israelites demanded a king, and God gave them Saul. This was a period of some 400 years, the time-frame God used to show us His model for civil government in living color—the Hebrew Republic.
There are 17 foundational principles Wines discovered in his study of the Hebrew Republic in the Bible, and are enumerated in his book. The similarity with our Constitution is striking, although not perfectly consistent. Our founders were not self-consciously trying to follow the biblical model. I will comment on the first four in this posting. The book is available at Plymouth Rock Foundation.
1. The unity of the Triune God – The first of these biblical principles is that all of the citizens of Israel were circumcised Jews or proselytes (Gentiles who had believed in Jehovah and been circumcised). They knew that “diversity was (NOT!) their strength,” but the unity of the one, triune God, Jehovah, and the law system He had given them, was! THEY ALL HAD THE SAME GOD, JEHOVAH! Sojourners, or non-Jews living in Israel, were welcomed (open borders!), not discriminated against, no matter their god, and they were free to enjoy all privileges and benefits of the Israelites (there was no welfare or any government habd-outs) and assimilate into Jewish culture. However, they could not be citizens—until they claimed Jehovah as their God and were circumcised.
2. National Unity – These sojourners had full privileges with all Jews (remember: no government perks !), but were not involved in the civil government. They must first convert to become proselytes—converts to Judaism—in order to “vote and hold office.” CITIZENS WERE ALL BELIEVERS IN JEHOVAH, circumcised into the Jewish covenant.
3. Liberty – E.C. Wines defines liberty as the right or complete freedom to do what the law permits, no matter how many people are offended, i.e. a wedding cake baker can refuse to make a cake for a homosexual wedding because he does not condone homosexual weddings.
4.Political equity – This principle is rooted in personal ownership of real estate. According to Wines, the Bible teaches (as he illustrates in his book) that land is owned by individuals, not by the state or the elite only. Originally influenced by John Locke, this was Thomas Jefferson’s initial wording in the Declaration of Independence. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” was initially “life, liberty and property.” We, as individuals, are stewards (rulers) over God’s earth, and property ownership allows us to fulfill this eternal purpose we were created to accomplish.
E. C. Wines’ contention in his book is that the roots of the United States Constitution are embedded solidly in the Hebrew Republic. Yet Wines’ first two Hebrew Republic characteristics seem to fly in the face of one of our most revered and sacrosanct constitutional principles. It is called “political pluralism”—the freedom of voting citizens to follow any religion or even no religion at all.
Next week we will look at what I believe is the exciting resolution to this situation!
