Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith today. From Founders to Pharisees. From Founders to Pharisees. Our political establishment, especially the Republican establishment, those we ostensibly elect to be our leaders in the federal and state systems, are so far from the character, abilities, and accomplishments of the Founding Fathers, as the Pharisees of Jesus' day, were from Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the Founding Fathers of Israel, if you will.

The Republican establishment as we know it, are as a class hypocritical Pharisees far more interested in protecting their own position, power, and privilege than in serving the people. This has come home to Americans as never before in this current presidential cycle. It is the year of the outsider, if you will, when the American people are gravitating in vast numbers to men perceived to be outside of and in challenge to the political establishment, whether it be the Democrat or Republican establishment. And there is good reason for this erupting volcano of discontent.

Whether the American people realize it or not, they nevertheless intuitively grasp the historical cycle of republics. And there is a cycle, an historical cycle, to which republics are subject. Republics arise with a clear vision of principle and purpose, no matter whence in history, whether it be a Greek or a Roman or an English or an American republic. They flourish and they prosper as a direct consequence of their republican nature, whose subsequent generations, however, languish in their prosperity, and subsequent generations forget the very principles and purpose that made them great.

In truly great republics, this cycle can sometimes be reversed by an awakening, a revival, if you will, of those founding principles and purpose which first made that republic great. This has happened, for example, in Rome, such that the Roman Republic slash empire, for they later morphed into an empire, nevertheless, it endured for over a thousand years. And England, insofar as she has been a republic, characterized as a parliamentary republic, England has seen this cycle repeated several times in her storied history. Israel, too, experienced these cycles of awakening and revival from her very earliest days.

Just read, for example, the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel recounting the days of the tribal republic, right up to her destruction as a nation in A.D. 70. That is, the days of awakening and revival, for example, in the days of the Maccabees during the intertestamental period. Well, America, too, is at such a point of crisis, I submit to you. Either America will awaken to her founding principles and purpose, or else the United States of America will be smashed and destroyed in her tyrannical obstinateness and rebellion.

What is important for us to recognize is the stage that we are in presently, where those corrupt, pharisaical generations now sit in control of a republic that has morphed into a tyranny. And the republican establishment is an integral part of this. If we seek a foreshadowing of things to come, we need only to look to history and compare. Ah, learn history, or you're doomed to repeat it, dear listener. For example, number one, let me elucidate two major principles for you.

Number one, the founders of any republic, the founders embodied the principles of their respective republics, often at great sacrifice to their own interests, dear listener. The founders of any given republic, Roman, Greek, British, Israeli, American, they all embodied the principles of their respective republics, and often at great sacrifice to their own interests. There's a surprising correspondence between the founders of Israel's tribal republic and the constitutional republic established by the United States of America's founders. It was intentional. Note these three major correspondences between them.

First of all, correspondence between the Republic of Israel and the Republic of the United States of America, the constitutional republic. First of all, they were committed to the God of the Bible. Indeed, both founders of both republics committed to the God of the Bible. Now, I identify Moses and Joshua and Caleb as sterling exemplars of Israel's founders. God anointed Moses to lead his people, Israel, out of Egypt and the house of bondage.

He gave to Moses the charter of Israel, its constitution, if you will. That is the Ten Commandments and all of its attendant law as written in the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. Now, of Moses, Exodus records, thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend, unquote. And Joshua and Caleb, too, were faithful men of Israel who first distinguished themselves by being the only two of the 12 spies to bring a good report of the promised land in full confidence that they could take it.

And when the people began to quake in fear of the giants in the land, the Nephilim, behold, Moses says, Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it. Joshua was an original founding father of Israel, being Moses' lieutenant all through Moses' career. And when it came time for Moses to die before Israel entered the promised land, Joshua was commissioned for the work ahead. The Bible says, Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him as did the Lord had commanded Moses, unquote.

Now, all three of these men demonstrated great faith in God, unlike our present leaders, and God's ability to deliver the land to them and give them the tribal republic sketched for them in the law. Their faith, these men's faith in God, was intuitive and implicit. Their knowledge of God was intimate and their obedience to God was reflexive. Can we say the same about their subsequent descendants or our subsequent descendants from our founding fathers? Oh, can we say this of the Pharisees of Jesus' day?

Oh, dear listener, can we say the same, for example, of our own founding fathers in the United States? Unequivocally, yes, I would submit to you. Note as one example, this prayer, I love this prayer, from the Journal of George Washington. He said in that prayer from his journal, O eternal and everlasting God, he prayed this one Monday morning, I presume to present myself this morning before thy divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks. Direct my thoughts, words and work, wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit.

Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends, and kindred, and unite us all in praising and glorifying you in all of our works. Unquote. Oh, blessed prayer from George Washington. Our founding fathers were committed to the God of the Bible.

And then secondly, note with me as well, for the founders of the Republic of Israel and the Republic of the United States. Note secondly with me, they were committed to liberty and limited government. Oh, the founders of the tribal Republic of Israel, they were committed to liberty and limited government. The whole of the law of God given to Moses at Mount Sinai was a law of liberty intended to keep Israel free within the context of the covenant that is their constitution in a tribal republic. Let me give you just one brief example from that law, that from that constitution intended to keep them free.

And it is the principle of the year of Jubilee. Oh, go to your Bibles, dear listener, look up the year of Jubilee because its principle was twofold. And that was the principle of debt release and property rights. The twofold purpose and principle of the year of Jubilee, debt release and property rights. With the expiration of a cycle of 49 years, the 50th year was proclaimed a year of Jubilee in which all debts were canceled and all land in Israel returned to its original tribal clan.

Wealth in the Bible was of family, dear listener, not banks, not government, but family. It was the year, the year of Jubilee in which men were freed from their debts and property was restored to families from rich landowners. Moses puts it this way. He says in Leviticus chapter 25, you shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. Liberty was proclaimed in the year of Jubilee throughout all the land.

By definition, the year of Jubilee freed the people on the one hand and as well, limited government and predatory bankers. It needs to be reinstated today, the year of Jubilee. This is just one aspect of liberty and freedom that was understood to their toenails by Moses, Joshua and Caleb and their generation. Our founding fathers also cherished private property rights famously in the bill of rights. For example, we have an amendment number five.

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Oh, from amendment number five of the constitution. It indeed combats the evil practice that we see today of eminent domain that the federal government has apprised itself of and indeed deprived us of our private property. And it has done it without just compensation. Oh, the principle of eminent domain versus indeed private property.

Well, the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, for that matter, when we talk about private property, Thomas Jefferson originally composed, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are indulged by their creature with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of property. Not happiness, but property is what Jefferson originally composed. But his co-mates then on the committee, that is Madison and Franklin, persuaded him to change property to happiness.

But it's just one aspect, this idea of the right to property of liberty and freedom that's understood to the toenails of the founders of republics, whether it be the tribal republic of Israel or the constitutional republic of the United States. And then thirdly, let me note as well, in regards to the founders of republics, they served at great sacrifice to themselves and their own interests. Yes, they did. The founders of the tribal republic of Israel and the republic, constitutional republic of the United States served at great sacrifice to themselves and their own interests.

Oh, quite contrary to the republican establishment of our own day, who served their own interests, is it not? Liberty is never won without great sacrifice. When we revere men like Moses, for example, a truly great man of God who became a type of our savior himself, we forget that Moses could have just as easily lived a life of ease and luxury as a prince of Egypt, instead of being a freedom fighter for his people Israel. Oh, the author of Hebrews notes about Moses, by faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

By faith, Moses left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him, that is, Christ, who is invisible. So, in the end, Moses never entered the promised land. He never saw the liberty and prosperity of Israel. He never lived to bounce his grandbabies on his knee. No, Moses served at great sacrifice to himself and his own earthly interests.

And our founding fathers did the same. They served at great sacrifice to themselves and their own interests, unlike the republican establishment of today. Famously, the Declaration of Independence concludes with this sentence, 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 honor, unquote. Oh, and how true and prophetic that sentence would become. Whole books have been written on the consequences for those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Many of them sacrificed precisely with their lives and their fortunes, but none of them with their sacred honor. No, that was preserved. Their sacred honor was preserved intact by their service, their sacrifice for the constitutional republic, and it was often sealed in their blood. Behold, dear listener, the founders of great republics. But behold, as well, the new Pharisees of corrupt politics, that is, men like we see in the republican establishment of today.

Note with me, number two, the Pharisees, rather than in contrast, in stark contrast to founders of republics, the Pharisees of republics betray the principles of their respective republics, seeking rather to preserve and prosper their own interests. Yes, the Pharisees betray the principles of their respective republics, seeking rather to preserve and prosper their own interests. The world has nothing but contempt for the betrayers of republics, even as Pontius Pilate saw through the hearts of Pharisees. Well, the Bible says, for he, that is, Pilate, perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered Christ up.

Oh, American history will look back with equal contempt upon this generation of establishment politicians, establishment republicans, who are just as envious of any leader advocating the interests of the people who are not bought, sold, and branded as part of their elite. The Pharisees in council together realized, and I quote then from John, where he said, if we let him, that is, Jesus, go on like this, the Pharisees complained, then everyone that is the people will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation, unquote.

Oh, unlike Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the Pharisees were not concerned about the liberty and interest of the people. They were obsessed with their place and their nation. Note with me three things about them, too. In contrast to the founders of republics, they gave Pharisaical lip service to God. They gave Pharisaical lip service to God.

The Pharisees of Jesus' day were notorious for feigning piousness and making great pretense of their love for God, but were really haters and enemies of God underneath. Jesus said to them, woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God. Oh, the love of God. Jesus saw through their fakery. He said to them, you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. Oh, the proud Pharisees claimed to be in the line of their founding father, Abraham, and that they were proper children of God. They said to Jesus, Abraham is our father. We have one father, even God. But Jesus saw through their propaganda.

He said back to them, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. The Republican establishment, I submit to you, is every bit a pack of Pharisees in our corrupt republic as those were in the captive tribal republic in Jesus' day. Woe to you, Republicans, hypocrites, liars.

You make great pretense of loving God with your mouths, or else you wouldn't get elected by conservative evangelicals, would you? But you end up serving the beast in your actions by your lust, greed, and tyranny. Republicans, woe to you, Republicans, hypocrites, liars. You seek the first table seats at prayer breakfasts and speakerships at evangelical churches and political action committees. You flaunt your faith to the voters, but you go back to Washington to serve the Red Dragon by your lust, greed, and tyranny.

Oh, Republicans, woe to you, hypocrites. Instead, go and serve justice and the love of God, as Jesus said. If you will serve justice, you will impeach and convict President Obama, and he will be in Guantanamo Bay instead of trying to close it. Serve justice and the love of God, if you really mean it. Secondly, note with me as well, that the Pharisees, those who are hypocrites in the Republican establishment and in ancient Israel, are committed to tyranny and massive government.

The Pharisees of Jesus' day were every bit as committed to the Roman occupation of Israel, as was Rome. Oh, the Bible is clear about this. They, that is, the Pharisees and leaders of Israel, had by this time, that is, in the years since Israel's conquering by Rome, they had worked out a mutually beneficial relationship. That is, we, the Pharisees, keep the people docile and servile, while you, that is, Rome, keep us at the top of the food chain.

With the arrangement that the Pharisees had worked out with Pontius Pilate and other Roman governors, Rome gets a pacified population that pays its taxes and does what it's told, and then in turn, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians enjoy all the perks and privileges that a religious leader can enjoy. This is what the council meant when they said of the outsider Jesus, if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. That's how they looked at Israel.

Huh, they looked at their place, and they looked at Israel as their nation, their private possession for their own plundering. And this massive Roman bureaucracy, headed by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, was just fine with the Pharisees. In fact, the Pharisees so manipulated that system that they were able to achieve their murderous ends, that is, the crucifying of Jesus. Who needs stoning, after all, in old Israel when you can get crucifixion with just a little more effort?

The Pharisees, just like our Republican establishment, were just fine with the massive, tyrannical Roman system, even as Republicans are just fine with the massive, tyrannical federal system. Republicans have learned to make it serve their interests, not the interests of the people. For example, Republicans will never repeal Obamacare because it serves their interest of wealth and control when they're in power. Republicans will never audit the Federal Reserve, much less abolish it, because the Federal Reserve works hand-in-hand with the federal government to finance the deficit spending that Republicans are addicted to as much as Democrats.

Republicans will never abolish the Internal Revenue Service because it is the very efficient collection agency for the beast of revelation, from which Republicans derive their wealth and power, too. And Republicans will never abolish any of the federal departments over which they ostensibly have oversight. And they won't do it, no matter how egregious the abuses of these departments, or how useless their mission. The Department of Education, for example, or the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Land Management, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and on and on we could go.

The Republicans will never abolish any of them because they are all instruments of power and control. for Republicans as well as Democrats. And Republicans will never repeal the 17th Amendment and return a measure of power back to state legislatures because most Republicans were elected by popular vote, the very popular vote which feeds the power of the federal beast, rather than devolving power back to the states. On and on we could go. But in short, the Republican establishment will never act to shrink government in real and substantial ways.

We have observed this from time immemorial. It doesn't pay for Republicans to do so. Ronald Reagan promised to do this, but failed utterly in the end, didn't he? And he only reduced government half-heartedly when he tried. Every Republican that runs for office promises with his lips to bring a smaller, more efficient government, but gives us more bloated, wasteful federal government by his actions once he gets to Washington, D.C. Woe to you, Republicans, hypocrites, liars.

We send you into the belly of the beast as patriots and you come back to us as politicians when you want to get re-elected. Woe to you, Republicans, hypocrites, Pharisees, liars. You do not serve your constituents. You serve us up as fodder for the beast of the federal system. Woe to you, Republicans, Pharisees, hypocrites, liars.

You promise with your mouths to stop the tyrannical overreach of this president, but you prove your impotence and complicity with him by your actions in approving every budget and every measure that he enacts with his pen and his phone. Oh, you remind me of Caligula. Caligula, one of the most reprehensible and evil emperors in the history of the Roman Empire. Caligula so despised the Roman Senate that he appointed his favorite horse as a senator. The Roman Senate had to endure the indignity of a horse sitting with them in their deliberations.

How shameful. Caligula did this deliberately to show his contempt for the weak and pusillanimous body the Roman Senate had become. Caligula ruled without them. They were a mere shadow of the old Senate, even as our Senate is a mere shadow of its former self. The Roman Senate was a pack of yes-men who rubber-stamped whatever Caligula decreed.

Caligula was so contemptuous of them that he said the droppings of his horse on the floor of the Senate was of more productive value than anything on the floor of the Senate they came up with. Well, Obama may not have a horse to appoint as senator, but don't worry. He has John Boehner and Paul Ryan as congressmen, as indeed men of the Congress. So despite what they say, Republicans will never shrink government nor curtail tyranny. If that will be done, it must come from another quarter, and that is the states and the people.

If indeed government will be curtailed, the burgeoning, blossoming size of it, the tyranny of it, it must happen with us, the people. And it will never happen with the Republican establishment, dear listener. Well, lastly, let me note with you as well, they serve. That is, the present Republican establishment serves at great sacrifice to the people, not themselves. The Republican establishment serves at great sacrifice to the people, and they also serve for their own interests.

The Pharisees themselves were entirely self-serving in their ostensible service to the people of Israel, and we see exact parallels now, don't we? Jesus said, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. So, practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but they do not practice. Isn't this the very sense of our Republican establishment? The Republican establishment, woe to you, Republicans, you Pharisees, you hypocrites, you liars, you sit on the founder's seat, you sit in Congress, and you tell us what to do.

So, we must practice and observe what you tell us, but woe to us if we practice what you do, because, indeed, you have government serve you with your political action committees, with your cocktail parties, where you raise money for your causes. Indeed, you hypocrites, you liars. Woe to you, Republicans. Jesus said to the Pharisees, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you travel across sea and land to make a single proselytite, and when he becomes a proselytite, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Oh, we go around the world, indeed, to ostensibly bring democracy and a constitutional republic to places like Iraq, and what do we have instead? We've made them twice a child of hell than when we first entered, and we refuse to become a constitutional republic ourselves. Woe to you, Republicans, hypocrites, liars.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law that is justice and mercy and faithfulness. Dear listener, woe to you, Republicans, you hypocrites, you Pharisees, you liars, you do not practice justice. If you practice justice, you would bring Eric Holder to justice. You would bring Hillary Clinton, Hillary Klingon to justice for her crimes in Benghazi. If you practice justice, you would impeach President Obama, and the Senate would convict him, and he would be in Guantanamo Bay instead of trying to close it.

Jesus said, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence. Dear listener, woe to you, Republicans, you blind hypocrites. You, as well, practice greed in getting for yourselves the wealth and the position and power of the American people, and you spend it on yourselves rather than for the good of the people. Dear listener, indeed, if there ever will be a revival of constitutional republicanism in America, it must be us. It must be the people.

We must first give ourselves to God, and then give ourselves to the principles of a constitutional republic. Take back your government, first through the states and the people. Consecrate yourselves first to God, dear listener, and then you will be able and willing to take back your constitutional republic. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th Boulevard.

Come and join us for worship. Come and visit us and call me for feedback at 523-0196.