Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass of New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls, Idaho, with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I would like to continue to take you on an amble through the preamble to the Constitution. Now, we have been doing this now off and on for a few months, and why we can amble through the preamble with Christ is because our founding fathers understood the biblical basis for government, and they articulated the six principles of human government that is in the preamble to the Constitution. Did you know that?

Oh, I wish that President Trump knew this when he was asked a question on the purpose of government, and he stumbled when he did when he was campaigning. So, we must have clearly put before us in our own minds the six principles of government, the six reasons that government exists. Number one, to form a more perfect union. Number two, to establish justice. Number three, to ensure domestic tranquility.

Number four, to provide for the common defense. Number five, to promote the general welfare. And number six, then, to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Now, we have ambled through the first three principles previously. Check out our website, omnispotestas.org, where they are cataloged.

That is omnispotestas, O-M-N-I-S-P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S.org. There you will find those three principles previously dealt with. You'll be able to find them as you peruse that website. But today, we want to show how providing for the common defense is a biblical principle and must be supported by all Christians. I want to cover four things with you here, four things to demonstrate why providing for the common defense of a constitutional republic is a biblical principle, and it must be supported by all Christians if you call yourself by that name.

The first principle I want to establish with you, number one, we are bound by the civil covenant. Yes, dear listener, number one, we must provide for the common defense in a constitutional republic because all Christians are bound by the civil covenant. Not only all Christians, but all mankind is bound by the civil covenant, responsible, responsible, excuse me, before God Almighty for it. Now, most Christians are ignorant of these things and think that perhaps the rainbow in the sky, for example, is a sign of a promise that God would no longer deluge the earth with a universal flood. But they only read half of Genesis 9 when they do.

The first part of Genesis chapter 9 inaugurates what we call the civil covenant, of which the rainbow is a sign and seal. And the civil covenant establishes the basis for human government, and that is justice. Listen, dear listener, to Genesis chapter 9. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood. And for your lifeblood, I will require a reckoning.

From every beast, I will require it, and from man, a reckoning, okay, for the life of man. And Genesis 9 goes on to say, from his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. And you be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it, unquote.

Establishing the civil covenant there in Genesis chapter 9. This is the real essence of the rainbow. Justice is the principle inherent in the command, whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. The basis, the founding understanding of the civil government.

All understanding and application of justice is derived from this text. Government begins here. We are commanded to be God's mediators of his justice by shedding the blood of the murderer in God's stead. This core act is the prototype of government, whereby godly magistrates administered justice across the board in every instance, with this as the model. So, with this in mind, it is important to remember that the protection and defense of the people is integral to the civil covenant.

The prime directive of every king of Israel was to march out to meet the invader Philistines or Assyrians or Babylonians, and in exchange for loyalty to him and his princes, the king covenanted with the people to protect the people against invaders and marauders and bands of thieves who would periodically sweep through the land. This is the seed idea of the common defense, a biblical seed idea of the common defense that our founding fathers incorporated into the constitution. It is why they authorized the Congress to raise an army and form a navy. So, God obliges government to defend the people. It is what they do.

It is their prime directive, like a carburetor feeds gasoline to an engine or a mother hen defends her chicks or a mama bear defends her cubs. So, a government must provide for the common defense of her people. The first instinct of government is to provide for the common defense. Well, that's reason number one. Reason number two, why a constitutional republic must provide for the common defense is number two.

An armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. Yes, you knew it had to come to this. An armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. One of the salient features of this obligation of the federal government to provide for the common defense was to ensure the militia was properly armed. It is one reason, and I emphasize here not the only reason, but it is one reason for the second amendment, which reads, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The militia was composed of citizens who were called up in times of war to be supplied, trained, and sent out to defend their homes and nation. The arms they used were generally their own. But it was also well understood that those arms were for the enemies of the constitution, whether foreign or domestic. Yes, those arms that citizens bore, kept and bore, those arms were for the enemies of the constitution. And that means there were some foreign enemies and there were some domestic enemies.

Guns intended to defend the constitution against both kinds of enemies. This is important to understand. This principle and understanding is incorporated in the oath of office of every federal office holder from president to dog catcher.

And that goes, as you may remember, I then supply the name, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. Unquote. Yes, bearing arms against enemies, foreign and domestic.

Therefore, each citizen was understood to keep and bear arms, not only for the invading forces from Russia or China or ISIS, which are modern enemies, but also, of course, to bear arms against those enemies of the constitution who may treasonously or treacherously in the breast of our nation dwell among us or even inhabit public office. That is enemies domestic. This includes the very government instituted amongst them, which the foresight of the founders knew could become corrupted in subsequent generations. That is, the Second Amendment was provided also to arm a citizenry against its own government when it turned tyrannical.

Oh, this, your government today wants you quickly to forget. Nothing to see here. These are not the ideas you want, if I can paraphrase a little bit. But indeed, our founding fathers understood clearly that in future generations, it could be that their own government, their own federal government in particular, might turn on them and become tyrannical. And in that case, there was nothing to do but to arms, to arms.

In fact, Alexander Hamilton expressed this very explicitly in Federalist paper number 28 of the Federalist Papers, which were written to justify the composition of the Constitution of the United States. Alexander Hamilton, in defending the Second Amendment, in defending the idea of arms, that is, says this, if the representatives of the people betray their constituents, oh, that's happened today, hasn't it? If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but to the exertion of that original right of self-defense, which is paramount to all positive forms of government. Do you realize that?

Hamilton and the other founders, for that matter, understood that there was an original right of self-defense that all men have. And they have that right against their own government, if necessary. Well, Hamilton goes on to say, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. Hamilton goes on to say, in a single state, if the persons entrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource, except in their courage and despair. Unquote.

Alexander, Alexander Hamilton, excuse me, indeed advises that in, when a government turns tyrannical, that we, the citizens must rush tumultuously to arms. So the second amendment was provided indeed for us to rise on occasion of tyranny, rise to arms and overthrow them. Do you see why an armed citizenry is more often than others a safe citizenry? And armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. And why our government is so eager to disarm us?

Our guns are not only for hunting, they're not only for self-defense of our lives and property, not only for the enemies foreign who may wish to take us by force, but our arms are also for enemies domestic who treasonously, treacherously act to betray our constitution and all for which it stands. This is one of the reasons tyrants give pause to their plans for treason. They cannot impose it without great loss on an armed citizenry. They cannot impose it without prospective failure upon an armed citizenry either. So in this way, our constitution provides for the common defense.

Thirdly, we must say the other third reason that, um, a constitutional republic must also provide for the common defense. Number three, if there are no borders, there is no common defense and ergo no country. Yes. Reason number three, a constitutional republic provides for the common defense. And that is, if there are no borders, there is no common defense by definition and thus no country either.

Oh, wake up America and wake up your neighbors, your friends, your relatives, and let them know if there are no borders, there is no common defense by definition and ergo no country either. Just like the skin on the human body is the first line of defense against infection and disease. So borders are the first line of defense against enemies who would harm us. Now, this does not mean that all immigrants are enemies and consequently analogous to infection and disease. No, I'm not saying this.

Please do not twist me to say this. All this analogy intends to point out is that no country that calls itself a country can be won with integrity without enforceable borders. A constitutional republic is responsible for conscientiously keeping and enforcing definable borders. No human would long survive stripped of his skin and no country will long survive stripped of its borders. It is the height of naivety and stupidity to think that all and every person who wants to come into the United States has the best of intentions.

Oh, we have seen this time and time again, haven't we? And still we have a substantial minority in our country who wish to make it so that is making us a place. We would be a place. We'd no longer be a country, but merely a place. And this kind of policy would make us a place where any and all may merely stride in and begin taking advantage of the life in the United States of America.

Yet we have observed repeatedly law abiding citizens victimized by illegal aliens committing crimes. These are the true infection of America, aren't they? Illegal Americans committing crimes. The murders of Kate Steinle and Molly Tibbetts, famously most recently. We have also seen MS-13 gang members flooding across the border like an infectious disease to bring with them drugs.

Bands of immigrants seeking a better life here, but suckers held hostage by MS-13 gangs. And then the whole immigrant community, once they're here, brutally raped and extorted for the money that they earn. And then these terrorized by unspeakable tortures that President Trump says makes them animals. And he's right. MS-13 gang members, animals.

We also see community organizers flooding across the borders who fully intend on taking back the southwest United States of America by conquest, by conquest via invasion by illegal aliens and sometimes called Azatlan, for example. This new country would be returned to its rightful owners, that is Mexico, who had it stolen by the gringos in the first place, so they maintain. This is roughly the vision of groups like La Raza, which is the race. And indeed, they hold themselves up as the race, do they not, as they take conquest of the southwest United States again by invasion by illegal aliens.

Well, then there are also the sleeper cells of ISIS soldiers who, when activated, will commit acts of terror on U.S. citizens and cities and soft targets. Well, in addition to this tangible threat of conquest and invasion and violence, there are also other threats, perhaps less sensational, but nevertheless very real. And they include, for example, a spike in the rates of infectious diseases, a spike in the rates of infectious diseases. One of the things that indeed a constitutional republic is responsible for is providing for the common defense against infectious diseases.

One of the prime directives of the old Department of Immigration and Naturalization was precisely this, that is, to screen aliens entering the country for diseases and either quarantine them or send them back to their places of origin. And in this way, American citizens themselves would not be unnecessarily threatened by them. That is the first line of defense, is it not? Borders and this kind of treatment of illegal, and it's to protect the citizens who are already here. The citizens who are already here and by right are deserving of protection of their common defense.

This is an intrinsic responsibility of a constitutional republic in providing for the common defense. But now, instead of carefully, humanely screening aliens for infectious diseases, we let any or all enter without knowing so much as to whether they have a common cold, much less the spike in diseases we see over the last decade. And they have included and rampant among illegal aliens, malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis. Tuberculosis is making a comeback as well in prime, in prime instance because of illegal aliens. And then a disease called Chagas disease, a vermin infection.

Well, there has also been then, as well, not only a conquest, a tangible threat through conquest, invasion, violence, and disease, but also a tremendous burden on social services in this country. At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $135 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens. That's a conservative number too. And about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens as well. And that amounts to a tax burden of approximately $8,000 per illegal alien family member and a total then a grand whopping total of almost $116 billion.

So we see, suffice it to say that the first issue regarding illegal immigration is not compassion and love and understanding for the immigrants, not the first issue. It is indeed a tangential issue and we should be compassionate and loving and understanding. But our first calling then, the first calling of a constitutional republic is not this, but borders and the common defense for the citizen. If we really are filled with the compassion, love, and understanding we say we have, then it will first manifest itself for one another.

For those we wish to defend from enemies, foreign and domestic, that love and compassion and understanding will first be manifest to and for the citizens of our constitutional republic for whom we make common defense. That's our theme and our topic today as we take an amble through the preamble to the constitution. And we see indeed what that entails for a constitutional republic to provide for the common defense. And these things are ignored. These things are overlooked.

These things are glided over and not even treated at all by most colleges, most schools today. Are they? What are the six purposes of government articulated in the preamble to the constitution? And today we are dealing with providing for the common defense, which every constitutional republic worth its name with integrity must provide for its citizens. And example number four, then let me treat of with you this day.

And that is peace through strength. Our fourth idea entails peace through strength. If we are to provide for the common defense in our constitutional republic, then we must have a strong, properly oriented military. That's very important to keep in mind too. We must have a strong, properly oriented military.

Strong in that we have the best equipped, best trained Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps in the world. And oh, God bless Donald Trump, who has helped then to increase funding for this. Now strength is not only in the amount of money that you direct towards your military, but it does comprise a large part of it. We show what we value by how we spend our money. Do we not?

Because we always have to make true then the patriotic spirit, uh, the incentive and the desire to make common defense for one another. We always express that and what we spend our money upon. Do we not? And if we are then going to be the best equipped and best trained Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, then we must direct our monies and put our mouth, put our money where our mouth is, excuse me. But, uh, our strong, uh, military strength then must also be properly oriented.

And when I say that strength must be properly oriented, it must be in that we stick to our prime directive of common defense, not unusual offense, common defense, not unusual offense, which our military strength has been, I'm sorry, perverted unto in days gone by much more than it used to be. I fully agree with the change of name. Our defense department used to be called the war department. Now it was intended indeed to, uh, provide, uh, for the common defense in times of war, ergo, the war department. Uh, but it's more politically correct.

And I think also more proper to our orienting to decola the defense department. Indeed, our founding fathers would have agreed with that, that indeed we need a department to help defend the United States against enemies foreign and domestic. Well, um, so we must be oriented properly then. And I'm afraid that has not always been the case in the past. Has it George Washington in his, uh, departing speech after his second term, um, warned America against having entangling alliances.

That is law alliances that drove us to things like peace or to war or, uh, inordinate expenditures on foreign aid and foreign military support and things like that, uh, which he had seen happen in England and saw how he drew, uh, England inevitably into, uh, wars on the European continent. He did not want that for the United States and neither should we, we should not involve ourselves in entangling alliances. That's how we got into world war one. For example, I'm fully persuaded that America should never have entered into world war one. We would have saved ourselves tremendous amounts of, um, uh, treasure lives, blood and treasure.

Uh, if we had not entered into that one, I'm fully persuaded, uh, that we should not have entered into it. Not to mention the war in Iraq. Yeah. Weapons of mass destruction were not there, were they, or the war in Vietnam for that matter as well. These are all wars, examples of wars that America has fought.

World war one, our war in Iraq and the Vietnam war that we should have had no business fighting and, and getting ourselves involved in entangling alliances. So we should have definitely peace through strength. We should devote ourselves to having the best, the strongest, the best equipped and trained army, Navy, air force, and Marine Corps in the world that we might deter war against us. We should not be leading from behind as, um, uh, president Obama exhorted us to do. And we've found ourselves falling further and further behind with that kind of a strategy.

We should lead with a strong army, Navy, air force, and Marine Corps. We should have peace through strength and then a strength properly oriented to toward defense and not unusual offense. The constitution says that a constitutional Republic should provide for common defense, not unusual offense. Well, these, um, four things then we have treated with you that we are bound by the civil covenant, that an armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. And that indeed, if there are no borders, number three, if there are no borders, there is no common defense, ergo, no country.

And then fourthly, peace through strength. I exhort you to these things in understanding them and exhorting our leaders then as well to provide for the common defense in this biblical sense. Now, this has been pastor David Bass at new Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian church with a moment of truth. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday. We exhort you to join us, to, um, visit us and find out who we are, what I preach on Sundays, these kinds of things.

And, uh, if you've been curious, now's the time to come and we invite you to do so. Uh, we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 1014 street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And, uh, you can call us for further information at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196. Or you can consult our websites.

I encourage you to go there too. Our church website is newgenevaopc.org. You'll find there a lot of articles and, uh, our sermons cataloged there are Sunday morning sermons. But then we also have another website where you will find cataloged these radio messages a couple of years back. And that website is omnisprotestas.org.

O-M-N-I-S dash P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S.org. Omnisprotestas.org. And once again, you can call me pastor David Bass at area code 208-523-0196.