The stage is set. Last week we proposed a biblical Constitution to put in place. As we do so, the nation itself is now ready to join in our
attack on the Gates of Hell which “shall not prevail against us” (Matthew 16:18)! Here’s a suggestion as to how I believe that will occur:
.General Functioning
1. All laws passed by Congress or the State Legislatures must explicitly or implicitly reflect biblical truth. The Bible is recognized as our ultimate standard.
2. Congress will discuss current and proposed law as to its conformity to the Constitution and Scripture. Various interpretations of the Bible and its application to current law, will then be debated and voted upon by members of Congress and the State Legislatures.
3. The civil government is only concerned with ACTIONS, based on the scriptural definition of CRIME. It has nothing to do with INTERNAL SIN that is not a physical action. Biblically, there is no such thing as a “hate crime”! Thus, personal religious liberty (liberty of conscience) is fully preserved. Blasphemy, the public renouncing of the God of the Bible or the advocacy of another god, is a biblical CRIME. This is not because of an internal belief system that is heretical, but because it is treason—the public promotion of another king besides King Jesus! The biblical punishment ranges from execution to expulsion from the country.
4. All borders are completely open. All of the people of the nations of the world are welcome to come to the United States as “sojourners” (non-voting, non-citizens) to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). All who are willing to abide by the laws of the land are free to enjoy the opportunities of a Christian nation as a non-citizen, but there is no welfare, no free services, no government assistance, etc. Civil government is restricted to its biblical parameters of punishing law-breakers and protecting law-keepers!
5. All of these sojourners have the opportunity to be evangelized, experience salvation, join a church, be completely assimilated into the country and become full-fledged voting, office-holding citizens. They are even honored and given special care! Because English is our national heritage, English is the exclusive, official language of all business and social intercourse.
Taxes
1 Taxes are only to support the legal functions of protection (National Defense, police, National Guard, fire department, etc.) and punishment of crime. There is no welfare, no government education, no government funding of social security, Medicare, post office, etc. All these other functions are performed by the family, the church and the marketplace.
2. There will be no graduated income tax. The only tax is a uniform “head tax” PAID EQUALLY by all who live in the country (both citizens and sojourners). This tax will pay for PROTECTION (national defense, both locally and internationally) and PUNISHMENT of evil doers. There are no real estate taxes, no gasoline tax, no sales tax, etc.
Criminal Justice
1. Criminal justice is carried out by the states and local governments for all crimes committed in their respective jurisdictions following the biblical pattern by using the following biblical sanctions only, as there are no other means of criminal justice in the Bible
a. Restitution
b. Flogging
c. Indentured servitude
d. Capital Punishment
2. National criminal justice is exercised by the Federal Government for treason, defense against attacking nations, terrorists, etc. − only those crimes that are outside individual state jurisdictions. The FBI, CIA, FDA, etc., and other Federal agencies that protect the righteous or punish evil according to God’s law, may retain their usefulness. Congress would debate this, recognizing that there will be differences of opinion. However, all government functions must lie within the protection/punishment parameters.
Current government functions assumed by other institutions.
This biblical approach to civil government provides many new entrepreneurial opportunities. After each function listed is the institution that is biblically accountable for carrying out that particular responsibility:
1. Education (family)
2. Welfare (family, church, marketplace)
3. Regulating the economy (marketplace)
4. Health care (marketplace)
5. Care for the environment (marketplace – private ownership of property)
6. Roads and highways (marketplace)
7. Post office (marketplace)
8. Other current governmental functions (all dropped by Congress if they fall outside the purview of punishment/protection)
These postings, obviously, are not a final word on a model for a biblical constitution. My attempt in this series of blog postings is to introduce ideas I have discovered in my journey. My hope is that they will open discussion and help us all to begin to think biblically about the United States Constitution rather than simply accepting our current document as infallible. I fully realize that the ideas I have proposed will be viewed by some as unworkable, impractical and impossible—even the thoughts of a madman (and they may be!).
However, I have lived long enough to have seen our society in America change radically. Cultural change is inevitable, and we are invariably resistant to that change, as we should be if change takes us away from God and His Word. The changes I am proposing, on the other hand, are an attempt to take us closer to the pattern for civil government that God has revealed to us in the Scripture. I am offering a biblical vision for our future as God’s rulers on the earth, both as individuals and as a nation, which every Christian will one day begin to develop. This is a call to awaken NOW! :“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14).
