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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and

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faith. Today, what is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate? Part three. For the past few weeks,

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we've been looking at the best and biblical way to overthrow tyrannical government, and that is

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the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. We've covered a great deal of ground,

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but there are some more features that we must consider if we are to successfully meet and

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defeat the deadly soul-killing tyranny that has gripped the formerly constitutional republic that

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was the United States of America. Do you see this reality yet? So many Americans do not. They perhaps

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prefer to live with constitutional blinders on, refusing to see the destruction of their

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rights under a constitutional republic and those of their fellow citizens. Or perhaps other Americans

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see these realities but hope it won't affect them. And if they just keep their heads down and don't

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draw any attention to themselves and don't make waves, well, that their lives will continue to

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plod along and tyranny will not touch them. Or perhaps others are too afraid to do anything and

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leave it to others who they think might be more capable or enthused or braver than they are to

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resist and defeat tyranny. Leave it to others. These are cowards. Still others justify their

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participation in tyranny by saying, it's always been this way and I might as well be on the winning

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side. Or that what I do is for the good of everyone in the long run, even if it means the loss

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of a few meaningless rights. Well, on and on we could go. There are a thousand excuses for tyranny,

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but only one way to liberty. It must be fought for. It must be defended jealously and vigorously.

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And liberty must be uncompromisingly passed on to the next generation. I see a putrid river of excuses

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in America today and only a few precious drops of the pure, clear nectar of the pursuit of true

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liberty. And the net result for contemporary America is that we are increasingly, day by day,

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coming under the tighter grip of tyranny. And what tyrants count on to maintain their grip on power

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is for the greater populace to respond in one of two ways. And that would be to, number one,

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meekly submit. And most people do precisely this in the ways I've sketched out broadly above.

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In one way or another, most people throughout history excuse themselves from the struggle to

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live free for one expedient or another. It is always easier to pretend that tyranny is not that bad

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or doesn't exist or can be accommodated in one way or another. And this is the great, dull,

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lifeless existence that we see being lived by most Americans today. And it will continue to

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deteriorate until we find ourselves in a hapless, impoverished, brain-dead mass of zombified citizens

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like North Korea. When asked how much tyranny will tyrants impose, Thomas Jefferson replied,

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as much as the people will tolerate, as much as the people will tolerate. Well, others respond in

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another way. Number two, they overreact in powerless frustration. Some overreact in powerless

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frustration. This is the opposite extreme to meekly submitting. This is the response of a patriot who

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wants to do something but is unsure, confused, or ignorant of exactly what to do. So instead of doing

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the things that will bring about constructive positive change, the lone wolf strikes out in

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meaningless violence, blowing things up or shooting things up and in the end justifying the tyrant to

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further crack down on the people in general in order to stop the terror. And at the end of the day,

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nothing changes. Tyranny is only emboldened by the propagator of meaningless violence. Well,

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as we have also seen, however, there is a time-tested middle way towards the defeat of tyranny,

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which our forefathers labored to achieve in a godly way. It is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.

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And I refer you to parts one and two for a thorough treatment of the main body of this teaching.

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But today, I want to cover some other important points in closing. And we're using as our guide

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an important little book entitled The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate. The Doctrine of the Lesser

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Magistrate. And the subtitle is A Proper Resistance to Tyranny and a Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience

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to Civil Government. That's the rather long subtitle written by Matthew Trejuela. In previous broadcasts,

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we have covered these major points. Number one, the definition of the doctrine of the lesser

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magistrate. And of course, that is, and I quote, Reverend Trejuela, when the superior or higher

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civil authority makes unjust or immoral laws or decrees, the lesser lower ranking authority has both the

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right and the duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lesser authorities

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even have the right and obligation to actively resist the superior authority. That's a brief

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definition of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. We also treated point two. The doctrine is rooted

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in the biblical example of interposition, the biblical example of interposition. And interposition is defined

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as that calling of God, which causes one to step into the gap, willingly placing oneself between the

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oppressor and his intended victim. Interposition. And it's a biblical doctrine. An example might be the

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Egyptian midwives who refused to drown the Hebrew boys on Pharaoh's orders. Point number three, all authority

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is delegated authority. All authority is delegated authority. And it's from God. No magistrate is above

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God's authority because all authority is delegated by him to the earthly magistrates in order that he might

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rule for the commonwealth of all. Point number four was the lesser magistrate is bound by duty to resist

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tyranny. The lesser magistrate is bound by duty to resist tyranny. Those bearing lesser authority are not

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excused from resisting tyranny because they were just following orders or didn't have enough power. No, they

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have a God-given duty to resist tyranny. Point number five, there are objective standards for law. There are

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objective standards for law. And those standards are found in God's law, the Bible. Without them, government

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becomes the highest law and tyranny obtains. Point number six, there are intrinsic reasons why the

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resistance offered by the lesser magistrate is wise and proper. Intrinsic reasons why we resort to the

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lesser magistrate. Lesser magistrates constitute lawful authority by virtue of their office. And it stands

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in stark contrast to the actions of incoherent mobs or individual acts of terror and radical groups

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accountable to no one but themselves and their quaint creeds and manifestos. Well, those were our first

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six points. Point number seven today that we're going to expand on just a little bit here. Number seven,

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the rule of law is king or lex rex as it's put in Latin. The rule of law is king. The king is not the law,

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which would be rex lex. Word order in Latin is very important. Once we have established our objective

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standard for law, the Bible that is, then the laws thus derived from them must be applied equally

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and without regard to a man's wealth or status or magisterial office. This is the biblical understanding

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of justice. As Deuteronomy puts it, God tells Moses, you shall not pervert justice. You shall not show

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partiality and you shall not accept a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of

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the righteous. Justice and only justice you shall follow that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your

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God is giving you. Ah, from the law of God. In 1644, the Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford

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published his book, Lex Rex. That is, The Law is King. And the subtitle to that book was The Law and

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the Prince. It was a direct rebuttal of the divine right of kings. And that book argued for what we now

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know as the rule of law. It became a handbook for political philosophers ever after, especially our

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founding fathers. Many of its principles were applied in Scotland as a result of Rutherford's

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labors, and especially in the English Republic after the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament.

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But it was in the formation of the American Constitution that the idea of Lex Rex was applied

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in a way not seen before. There was no king in America and no monarchy. The people were supreme,

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and their will, expressed through law, applied equally, was the force in the exercise of power.

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And it was always the objective standard of God's law that formed the background for law to rule,

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not privileged men. And it was the long tradition of the Christian faith and the teachings of the

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church that gave birth to the idea of equality under the law. As Truhella puts it, Christianity

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established the rule of law in Western civilizations. The rule of law is a Western civilization phenomenon

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fueled by Christianity, unquote. This is a principle needed to be reapplied in our own day.

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Right now, there is a two-tiered system of justice in America,

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one for the privileged few with the money and political connections for special treatment,

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and another level of law for the rest of us who must strictly adhere to the rules made by the

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privileged few. The average citizen, for example, is put in jail for trading on Wall Street with inside

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information. But when congresspersons like Nancy Pelosi do it with inside information on legislation

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that directly affects business, well, it's just business as usual. Or the rich and the powerful,

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it is well known, operate within a tax system that is specially rigged with loopholes and exemptions

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by which they pay little to no tax at all, while the rest of us pay a sizable portion of our incomes,

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sometimes up to 40 to 50 percent of our incomes in taxes at the end of the day.

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Or, another example, rioters, looters, and gangs of thugs can burn, destroy, and murder all summer

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of 2020 in our cities and streets over the death of George Floyd and go unpunished because it suits

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the narrative of progressives in power. While a peaceful protest of a stolen election on January 6 in

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Washington, D.C., is treated as an insurrection with the protesters treated like political prisoners.

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Well, many other examples could be cited, but almost every American now sees that the rule of law has

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broken down in America, and it is time for the lesser magistrates to make a stand for its reapplication

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and for the people to back them and support them when they do. And if the people do stand behind

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such brave lesser magistrates, it can be done. Well, point number eight to keep in mind then when we

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are considering the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, point number eight is that the higher tyrannical

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magistrate will respond with oppression. The higher tyrannical magistrate being resisted will respond

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with oppression. No tyrant ever relinquished a scintilla of power without having it forcefully

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taken from him. Anyone who thinks by now that we can peacefully get back our constitutional republic

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through elections or passing the right legislation or filing the right lawsuits in court, oh, such a one

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is hopelessly naive. All of that has gone away. The tyranny of the fourth branch of government,

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as it's called. The tyranny of the fourth branch of government, the intelligence branch composed of

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the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, and the director of national intelligence. This fourth branch of

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government has effectively neutered the integrity of elections, has bought off and compromised our

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lawmakers, and ignored the decisions of the judiciary, excuse me, whenever it's convenient. Well, this rise

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of the fourth branch of government I have covered already in previous broadcasts, and you can access those.

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You can access all our previous broadcasts at americastruths.org, americastruths.org. As Truhella

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says, things often get worse before they get better when a stand is made against tyranny or unjust and

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immoral laws or policies. There will be a fight. The veneer of civility will dissipate. There will be a

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fight. Truhella is right. When you consider history, for example, Pharaoh did not soberly realistically bend

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to the will and wishes of Moses when he told Pharaoh to let my people go. Rather, the Pharaoh

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stubbornly hardened his heart and ordered the Hebrews to make bricks without straw. Or King George III did not

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see the logic of the colonists when they ask for representation in parliament if they were going to be taxed or that the

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colonists should have the same rights as any ordinary Englishman. No. Instead, he doubled down on tyranny, didn't he?

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King George. Nikita Khrushchev did not celebrate the Hungarian spring, the Hungarian revolution, when they rose up

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against the Soviet Union in 1956. Instead, Khrushchev sent in tanks to crush any movement towards liberty and away

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from tyranny. Oh, and in our own day, the deep state did not listen to the peaceful protest of a stolen

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election on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. But instead, the deep state framed those protesters as

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violent insurrectionists. And they have been persecuting them ever since, holding hundreds of

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them in jail for over two years and creating an armed camp in our nation's capital that makes us look like

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North Korea. The American gulag is doubling down on its tyranny. And there are times when tyranny must

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be resisted forcefully. Now, that day is drawing near and indeed may be upon us the time to resist

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tyranny forcefully. But what does that forceful resistance look like, dear listener? And who should

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lead it? Should individual Americans take it upon themselves to go out and shoot whoever they see

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fit to shoot and destroy, whatever property they see fit to destroy? No. And again, I say no.

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That would be chaos and anarchy and a kind of personal vengeance of which the Bible condemns.

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Oh, the Apostle Paul exhorts all Christians, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of

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God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So, the idea of each individual

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American personally taking it upon themselves to fight tyranny in any way they see fit is not a biblical

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stance. Well, then, perhaps we should have individual militia groups, perhaps, around the country take up

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arms and use their training to hit specific targets of the deep state. Is that what we should do? Again,

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we say no. And again, we say no. This is a favorite romantic notion of many Americans, but it is a

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dangerous trap. The deep state is looking for nothing more than for individuals to lash out or for

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individual militia groups to take it upon themselves to lead a revolution. No. Once more, there is no

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intrinsic authority to these militia groups. While they have their origins in we the people in a way

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that individual resistance does not, we are still a representative republic in which power is vested by

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the people and their elected representatives. Individual militia groups fall one step short of this process

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in being a more or less self-appointed military force without united, coherent policy goals and

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leadership. And while there may be some use and benefit to militia groups, and I think there is,

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under the right circumstances, an important constitutional principle must always be observed.

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And that is, the military arm of the people must be under civilian control. The military arm of the

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people must be under civilian control. That is, commanded by an elected representative of the people.

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So utterly necessary. This is precisely where the doctrine of the lesser magistrate enters in.

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As we observed last week, the lesser magistrate has intrinsic authority to lead and command armed

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resistance, but which lesser magistrate should be in charge then, when and if force is required to

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resist tyranny. If force indeed is required, who's going to lead it? Well, two examples are ready to hand.

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Number one, state governors should lead. State governors have authority to command the militia of their

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respective states. States already have the power to create defense forces separate from the National

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Guard. Yes, they do. And 22 states already have them, and they use them for emergencies like hurricanes or

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other major disasters. And additionally, Governor Rick DeSantis, for example, of Florida, has put legislation

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before the Florida legislature to become the 23rd state to form a state militia separate from the National

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Guard. And they would be his responsibility and under his command. Such governors have authority to train, arm, and

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deploy those troops for the defense of their respective states. And the second sort of lesser magistrate that

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indeed could command armed resistance is the local sheriff. Local sheriffs have the authority to deputize a force with

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which to resist tyranny. Oh, America, this is the great untapped resource for armed resistance to tyranny. Your local

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sheriff is exhibit A of the power of the lesser magistrate. He is elected by the people. He is in

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daily contact with the people. He and his deputies are armed, and he has intrinsic authority to deputize

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others when required. And under the right circumstances, he might even find it useful to deputize maybe

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previously trained veterans or even a local militia. One of the tasks of citizens who would resist tyranny

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is to raise the consciousness of and responsibility for the lesser magistrate to forcefully resist

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tyranny when it becomes necessary. And if history is our teacher, force will be required at some point

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if we are to resist or to rest, excuse me, if we are to wrest power from the tyrants and return it to the

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people, then indeed force will be necessary. Hopefully, though, it will never be required. I hope that is the

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case, but it must be realistically prepared for. It is the age-old story put so poetically by Thomas Jefferson

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who said, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.

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But if the lesser magistrate is to put his all on the line for liberty, oh, these brave lesser magistrates

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that do step forth, will he be supported or only hear crickets behind him when he shouts, who is with me?

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And that brings me then to our ninth point concerning the lesser magistrate, the ninth point. And that is

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the people have a vital role in resisting, remonstrance, and responding to the lesser magistrate when he

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acts. Resistance, remonstrance, and response. The role of the people, Matthew Trujillo says, the role of the

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people in applying the doctrine of the lesser magistrate is to remonstrate before the lesser

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magistrate and rally behind him when he takes a stand. The lesser magistrates often will not act

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until the people plead their case, and the magistrates are assured of their support. Unquote.

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Oh, this is the equally essential component of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, dear listener.

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Without the people behind him, the lesser magistrate fighting for liberty is only a lone voice in the

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worldliness, soon to become another in a long line of martyred prophets. No, no, no, dear listener. There

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are way too many martyred prophets of liberty already. What is needed in our day are more victorious

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soldiers of liberty, like our founding fathers. But those magistrates must have the united support of the

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people. The individual citizen must take responsibility for his own liberty. In a constitutional republic,

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that entails choosing a representative and then supporting him or her with all their energy and

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resources. As Trujillo observes, the people must remonstrate before their government in general,

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and the lesser magistrate in particular. Trujillo says, and I quote,

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quote, to remonstrate means to bring strong arguments against an act, measure, or any course

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of proceedings. Unquote. This is a constitutional right and responsibility. We have a God-given right

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in the First Amendment to petition our government for redress of grievances, that is, to remonstrate

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before our elected representatives, and expect a resolution to those grievances. Only when the

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lesser magistrate, be he a governor or local sheriff, when they gauge the overwhelming support of the

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people, then they will and should act to resist tyranny. The magistrate should lead, yes, but the people

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must follow. That dynamic must be present if tyranny will be successfully resisted and a constitutional

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republic restored. The people and the magistrate must be united, and they must have a mutual

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understanding and love and respect for one another and for liberty. Courage and fortitude are required

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by all. Well, dear listener, these are just the rough features of this essential doctrine of the lesser

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magistrate. It is the proper course of action to follow in the eternal struggle against tyranny. We do not have to

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wet ourselves and submit like puppy dogs to tyranny. But neither are we reduced to random acts of violence or

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isolated groups of patriots with little or no chance of defeating tyranny. No, rather, we do have a biblical,

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time-tested path to travel to liberty and the establishment of a constitutional republic, and that

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is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. If you are a magistrate, learn these principles and inculcate them

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in your constituents. And if you are a patriotic citizen, learn them and communicate them to your

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magistrates. And then let all of us pray for our nation and for its peace and prosperity. This has been

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Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. And New Geneva

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meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. I invite

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you to join us for worship. You'll find a warm welcome and an opportunity to worship in spirit and

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in truth. 10 a.m. on Sunday. We meet for holy worship, and you can call us for more information or feedback

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at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.