Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, what is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate? Part three. For the past few weeks, we've been looking at the best and biblical way to overthrow tyrannical government, and that is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.

We've covered a great deal of ground, but there are some more features that we must consider if we are to successfully meet and defeat the deadly soul-killing tyranny that has gripped the formerly constitutional republic that was the United States of America. Do you see this reality yet? So many Americans do not. They perhaps prefer to live with constitutional blinders on, refusing to see the destruction of their rights under a constitutional republic and those of their fellow citizens. Or perhaps other Americans see these realities but hope it won't affect them.

And if they just keep their heads down and don't draw any attention to themselves and don't make waves, well, that their lives will continue to plod along and tyranny will not touch them. Or perhaps others are too afraid to do anything and leave it to others who they think might be more capable or enthused or braver than they are to resist and defeat tyranny. Leave it to others. These are cowards. Still others justify their participation in tyranny by saying, it's always been this way and I might as well be on the winning side.

Or that what I do is for the good of everyone in the long run, even if it means the loss of a few meaningless rights. Well, on and on we could go. There are a thousand excuses for tyranny, but only one way to liberty. It must be fought for. It must be defended jealously and vigorously.

And liberty must be uncompromisingly passed on to the next generation. I see a putrid river of excuses in America today and only a few precious drops of the pure, clear nectar of the pursuit of true liberty. And the net result for contemporary America is that we are increasingly, day by day, coming under the tighter grip of tyranny. And what tyrants count on to maintain their grip on power is for the greater populace to respond in one of two ways. And that would be to, number one, meekly submit.

And most people do precisely this in the ways I've sketched out broadly above. In one way or another, most people throughout history excuse themselves from the struggle to live free for one expedient or another. It is always easier to pretend that tyranny is not that bad or doesn't exist or can be accommodated in one way or another. And this is the great, dull, lifeless existence that we see being lived by most Americans today. And it will continue to deteriorate until we find ourselves in a hapless, impoverished, brain-dead mass of zombified citizens like North Korea.

When asked how much tyranny will tyrants impose, Thomas Jefferson replied, as much as the people will tolerate, as much as the people will tolerate. Well, others respond in another way. Number two, they overreact in powerless frustration. Some overreact in powerless frustration. This is the opposite extreme to meekly submitting.

This is the response of a patriot who wants to do something but is unsure, confused, or ignorant of exactly what to do. So instead of doing the things that will bring about constructive positive change, the lone wolf strikes out in meaningless violence, blowing things up or shooting things up and in the end justifying the tyrant to further crack down on the people in general in order to stop the terror. And at the end of the day, nothing changes. Tyranny is only emboldened by the propagator of meaningless violence.

Well, as we have also seen, however, there is a time-tested middle way towards the defeat of tyranny, which our forefathers labored to achieve in a godly way. It is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. And I refer you to parts one and two for a thorough treatment of the main body of this teaching. But today, I want to cover some other important points in closing. And we're using as our guide an important little book entitled The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate.

The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate. And the subtitle is A Proper Resistance to Tyranny and a Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience to Civil Government. That's the rather long subtitle written by Matthew Trejuela. In previous broadcasts, we have covered these major points. Number one, the definition of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate.

And of course, that is, and I quote, Reverend Trejuela, when the superior or higher civil authority makes unjust or immoral laws or decrees, the lesser lower ranking authority has both the right and the duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lesser authorities even have the right and obligation to actively resist the superior authority. That's a brief definition of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. We also treated point two. The doctrine is rooted in the biblical example of interposition, the biblical example of interposition.

And interposition is defined as that calling of God, which causes one to step into the gap, willingly placing oneself between the oppressor and his intended victim. Interposition. And it's a biblical doctrine. An example might be the Egyptian midwives who refused to drown the Hebrew boys on Pharaoh's orders. Point number three, all authority is delegated authority.

All authority is delegated authority. And it's from God. No magistrate is above God's authority because all authority is delegated by him to the earthly magistrates in order that he might rule for the commonwealth of all. Point number four was the lesser magistrate is bound by duty to resist tyranny. The lesser magistrate is bound by duty to resist tyranny.

Those bearing lesser authority are not excused from resisting tyranny because they were just following orders or didn't have enough power. No, they have a God-given duty to resist tyranny. Point number five, there are objective standards for law. There are objective standards for law. And those standards are found in God's law, the Bible.

Without them, government becomes the highest law and tyranny obtains. Point number six, there are intrinsic reasons why the resistance offered by the lesser magistrate is wise and proper. Intrinsic reasons why we resort to the lesser magistrate. Lesser magistrates constitute lawful authority by virtue of their office. And it stands in stark contrast to the actions of incoherent mobs or individual acts of terror and radical groups accountable to no one but themselves and their quaint creeds and manifestos.

Well, those were our first six points. Point number seven today that we're going to expand on just a little bit here. Number seven, 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, which would be rex lex.

Word order in Latin is very important. Once we have established our objective standard for law, the Bible that is, then the laws thus derived from them must be applied equally and without regard to a man's wealth or status or magisterial office. This is the biblical understanding of justice. As Deuteronomy puts it, God tells Moses, you shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality and you shall not accept a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

Justice and only justice you shall follow that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Ah, from the law of God. In 1644, the Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford published his book, Lex Rex. That is, The Law is King. And the subtitle to that book was The Law and the Prince.

It was a direct rebuttal of the divine right of kings. And that book argued for what we now know as the rule of law. It became a handbook for political philosophers ever after, especially our founding fathers. Many of its principles were applied in Scotland as a result of Rutherford's labors, and especially in the English Republic after the victory of Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament. But it was in the formation of the American Constitution that the idea of Lex Rex was applied in a way not seen before.

There was no king in America and no monarchy. The people were supreme, and their will, expressed through law, applied equally, was the force in the exercise of power. And it was always the objective standard of God's law that formed the background for law to rule, not privileged men. And it was the long tradition of the Christian faith and the teachings of the church that gave birth to the idea of equality under the law. As Truhella puts it, Christianity established the rule of law in Western civilizations.

The rule of law is a Western civilization phenomenon fueled by Christianity, unquote. This is a principle needed to be reapplied in our own day. Right now, there is a two-tiered system of justice in America, one for the privileged few with the money and political connections for special treatment, and another level of law for the rest of us who must strictly adhere to the rules made by the privileged few. The average citizen, for example, is put in jail for trading on Wall Street with inside information.

But when congresspersons like Nancy Pelosi do it with inside information on legislation that directly affects business, well, it's just business as usual. Or the rich and the powerful, it is well known, operate within a tax system that is specially rigged with loopholes and exemptions by which they pay little to no tax at all, while the rest of us pay a sizable portion of our incomes, sometimes up to 40 to 50 percent of our incomes in taxes at the end of the day.

Or, another example, rioters, looters, and gangs of thugs can burn, destroy, and murder all summer of 2020 in our cities and streets over the death of George Floyd and go unpunished because it suits the narrative of progressives in power. While a peaceful protest of a stolen election on January 6 in Washington, D.C., is treated as an insurrection with the protesters treated like political prisoners.

Well, many other examples could be cited, but almost every American now sees that the rule of law has broken down in America, and it is time for the lesser magistrates to make a stand for its reapplication and for the people to back them and support them when they do. And if the people do stand behind such brave lesser magistrates, it can be done. Well, point number eight to keep in mind then when we are considering the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, point number eight is that the higher tyrannical magistrate will respond with oppression. The higher tyrannical magistrate being resisted will respond with oppression.

No tyrant ever relinquished a scintilla of power without having it forcefully taken from him. Anyone who thinks by now that we can peacefully get back our constitutional republic through elections or passing the right legislation or filing the right lawsuits in court, oh, such a one is hopelessly naive. All of that has gone away. The tyranny of the fourth branch of government, as it's called. The tyranny of the fourth branch of government, the intelligence branch composed of the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, and the director of national intelligence.

This fourth branch of government has effectively neutered the integrity of elections, has bought off and compromised our lawmakers, and ignored the decisions of the judiciary, excuse me, whenever it's convenient. Well, this rise of the fourth branch of government I have covered already in previous broadcasts, and you can access those. You can access all our previous broadcasts at americastruths.org, americastruths.org. As Truhella says, things often get worse before they get better when a stand is made against tyranny or unjust and immoral laws or policies. There will be a fight.

The veneer of civility will dissipate. There will be a fight. Truhella is right. When you consider history, for example, Pharaoh did not soberly realistically bend to the will and wishes of Moses when he told Pharaoh to let my people go. Rather, the Pharaoh stubbornly hardened his heart and ordered the Hebrews to make bricks without straw.

Or King George III did not see the logic of the colonists when they ask for representation in parliament if they were going to be taxed or that the colonists should have the same rights as any ordinary Englishman. No. Instead, he doubled down on tyranny, didn't he? King George. Nikita Khrushchev did not celebrate the Hungarian spring, the Hungarian revolution, when they rose up against the Soviet Union in 1956.

Instead, Khrushchev sent in tanks to crush any movement towards liberty and away from tyranny. Oh, and in our own day, the deep state did not listen to the peaceful protest of a stolen election on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. But instead, the deep state framed those protesters as violent insurrectionists. And they have been persecuting them ever since, holding hundreds of them in jail for over two years and creating an armed camp in our nation's capital that makes us look like North Korea. The American gulag is doubling down on its tyranny.

And there are times when tyranny must be resisted forcefully. Now, that day is drawing near and indeed may be upon us the time to resist tyranny forcefully. But what does that forceful resistance look like, dear listener? And who should lead it? Should individual Americans take it upon themselves to go out and shoot whoever they see fit to shoot and destroy, whatever property they see fit to destroy?

No. And again, I say no. That would be chaos and anarchy and a kind of personal vengeance of which the Bible condemns. Oh, the Apostle Paul exhorts all Christians, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord. So, the idea of each individual American personally taking it upon themselves to fight tyranny in any way they see fit is not a biblical stance. Well, then, perhaps we should have individual militia groups, perhaps, around the country take up arms and use their training to hit specific targets of the deep state. Is that what we should do? Again, we say no.

And again, we say no. This is a favorite romantic notion of many Americans, but it is a dangerous trap. The deep state is looking for nothing more than for individuals to lash out or for individual militia groups to take it upon themselves to lead a revolution. No. Once more, there is no intrinsic authority to these militia groups.

While they have their origins in we the people in a way that individual resistance does not, we are still a representative republic in which power is vested by the people and their elected representatives. Individual militia groups fall one step short of this process in being a more or less self-appointed military force without united, coherent policy goals and leadership. And while there may be some use and benefit to militia groups, and I think there is, under the right circumstances, an important constitutional principle must always be observed. And that is, the military arm of the people must be under civilian control.

The military arm of the people must be under civilian control. That is, commanded by an elected representative of the people. So utterly necessary. This is precisely where the doctrine of the lesser magistrate enters in. As we observed last week, the lesser magistrate has intrinsic authority to lead and command armed resistance, but which lesser magistrate should be in charge then, when and if force is required to resist tyranny.

If force indeed is required, who's going to lead it? Well, two examples are ready to hand. Number one, state governors should lead. State governors have authority to command the militia of their respective states. States already have the power to create defense forces separate from the National Guard.

Yes, they do. And 22 states already have them, and they use them for emergencies like hurricanes or other major disasters. And additionally, Governor Rick DeSantis, for example, of Florida, has put legislation before the Florida legislature to become the 23rd state to form a state militia separate from the National Guard. And they would be his responsibility and under his command. Such governors have authority to train, arm, and deploy those troops for the defense of their respective states.

And the second sort of lesser magistrate that indeed could command armed resistance is the local sheriff. Local sheriffs have the authority to deputize a force with which to resist tyranny. Oh, America, this is the great untapped resource for armed resistance to tyranny. Your local sheriff is exhibit A of the power of the lesser magistrate. He is elected by the people.

He is in daily contact with the people. He and his deputies are armed, and he has intrinsic authority to deputize others when required. And under the right circumstances, he might even find it useful to deputize maybe previously trained veterans or even a local militia. One of the tasks of citizens who would resist tyranny is to raise the consciousness of and responsibility for the lesser magistrate to forcefully resist tyranny when it becomes necessary.

And if history is our teacher, force will be required at some point if we are to resist or to rest, excuse me, if we are to wrest power from the tyrants and return it to the people, then indeed force will be necessary. Hopefully, though, it will never be required. I hope that is the case, but it must be realistically prepared for. It is the age-old story put so poetically by Thomas Jefferson who said, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots.

But if the lesser magistrate is to put his all on the line for liberty, oh, these brave lesser magistrates that do step forth, will he be supported or only hear crickets behind him when he shouts, who is with me? And that brings me then to our ninth point concerning the lesser magistrate, the ninth point. And that is the people have a vital role in resisting, remonstrance, and responding to the lesser magistrate when he acts. Resistance, remonstrance, and response.

The role of the people, Matthew Trujillo says, the role of the people in applying the doctrine of the lesser magistrate is to remonstrate before the lesser magistrate and rally behind him when he takes a stand. The lesser magistrates often will not act until the people plead their case, and the magistrates are assured of their support. Unquote. Oh, this is the equally essential component of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, dear listener. Without the people behind him, the lesser magistrate fighting for liberty is only a lone voice in the worldliness, soon to become another in a long line of martyred prophets.

No, no, no, dear listener. There are way too many martyred prophets of liberty already. What is needed in our day are more victorious soldiers of liberty, like our founding fathers. But those magistrates must have the united support of the people. The individual citizen must take responsibility for his own liberty.

In a constitutional republic, that entails choosing a representative and then supporting him or her with all their energy and resources. As Trujillo observes, the people must remonstrate before their government in general, and the lesser magistrate in particular. Trujillo says, and I quote, quote, to remonstrate means to bring strong arguments against an act, measure, or any course of proceedings. Unquote. This is a constitutional right and responsibility.

We have a God-given right in the First Amendment to petition our government for redress of grievances, that is, to remonstrate before our elected representatives, and expect a resolution to those grievances. Only when the lesser magistrate, be he a governor or local sheriff, when they gauge the overwhelming support of the people, then they will and should act to resist tyranny. The magistrate should lead, yes, but the people must follow. That dynamic must be present if tyranny will be successfully resisted and a constitutional republic restored.

The people and the magistrate must be united, and they must have a mutual understanding and love and respect for one another and for liberty. Courage and fortitude are required by all. Well, dear listener, these are just the rough features of this essential doctrine of the lesser magistrate. It is the proper course of action to follow in the eternal struggle against tyranny. We do not have to wet ourselves and submit like puppy dogs to tyranny.

But neither are we reduced to random acts of violence or isolated groups of patriots with little or no chance of defeating tyranny. No, rather, we do have a biblical, time-tested path to travel to liberty and the establishment of a constitutional republic, and that is the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. If you are a magistrate, learn these principles and inculcate them in your constituents. And if you are a patriotic citizen, learn them and communicate them to your magistrates. And then let all of us pray for our nation and for its peace and prosperity.

This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. And New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. I invite you to join us for worship. You'll find a warm welcome and an opportunity to worship in spirit and in truth. 10 a.m. on Sunday.

We meet for holy worship, and you can call us for more information or feedback at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.