1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:09,460 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:09,460 --> 00:00:14,240 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:22,859 and faith. And today, what are the constitutional principles, numbers 22 and 23, of the 5,000-year 4 00:00:22,859 --> 00:00:29,019 leap? Oh, we have been examining the 28 principles that are articulated in the 5,000-year 5 00:00:29,019 --> 00:00:35,679 leap, which indeed explore our Constitution and its principles. One of the things I like about the 6 00:00:35,679 --> 00:00:41,500 5,000-year leap is the thoroughness with which it is documented with citations from men like 7 00:00:41,500 --> 00:00:47,299 Washington and Adams and Hamilton, in addition to the background provided by many historians. 8 00:00:48,060 --> 00:00:55,140 Go to the National Center for Constitutional Studies website, nccs.org. Buy their books. 9 00:00:55,140 --> 00:01:01,280 Send them a contribution. They do yeoman's work on behalf of educating Americans on what our 10 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:07,659 founders really taught, not what those today maintain are part of the living, breathing document 11 00:01:07,659 --> 00:01:13,019 that is our modern Constitution. Well, now for constitutional principle number 22. 12 00:01:13,579 --> 00:01:20,219 A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. Oh, how we need this principle 13 00:01:20,219 --> 00:01:27,560 reinstated today. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. How basic this 14 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:35,879 is, and especially was to America and her liberty, but how casually forgotten and dismissed in our own 15 00:01:35,879 --> 00:01:43,040 day, right? Sure, we hear many people piously in tone, we're a nation of laws, not of men, or as the 16 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:48,939 progressives are fond of saying when it comes to Trump, no man is above the law. Yeah, except you 17 00:01:48,939 --> 00:01:55,519 Democrats, except for Biden, for example, in the classified documents case, right? Trump is 18 00:01:55,519 --> 00:02:03,579 prosecuted, Biden is not. Or the Biden crime family has been using Ukraine, for example, for decades as 19 00:02:03,579 --> 00:02:09,560 a money laundering operation, as have many others. He has not been prosecuted for that, even though the 20 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:17,599 evidence is abundant. Or Attorney General Merrick Garland, for example, selectively prosecuting 21 00:02:17,599 --> 00:02:25,620 libertarians and liberty-loving people, constitutionalists, especially the January 6th 22 00:02:25,620 --> 00:02:33,240 protesters, all of whom are in jail without good cause, without good reason, waging lawfare, 23 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:39,819 in other words. Oh, and then there's also just the general persecution of constitutionalists 24 00:02:39,819 --> 00:02:47,979 and conservatives by Democrats in the Biden administration. Where is America's outrage at 25 00:02:47,979 --> 00:02:53,240 these things? When do the American people say enough? Well, there are several reasons for this 26 00:02:53,240 --> 00:03:01,560 lack of outrage and action to cleanse American politics of immoral scourges like Biden and Garland, 27 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:10,560 or even the FBI director, Ray, Christopher Ray, right? Or others in the top echelons of the 28 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:17,280 Democrat Party, and not the least of which is a sheer ignorance the American people have of what this 29 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:22,879 principle actually entails. That is, a free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of 30 00:03:22,879 --> 00:03:28,919 men. History, civics, government, they're no longer taught in our schools, are they? So when someone 31 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:34,840 declares the finality, we are a nation of laws and not of men, odds are they don't have a clue as to 32 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:39,659 what this means. What then did our founders have in mind when they implied this principle to the 33 00:03:39,659 --> 00:03:45,539 formation of the Constitution? Well, Dr. Kleon Skousen notes succinctly, and I quote him, 34 00:03:45,740 --> 00:03:53,000 they defined law as a rule of action, which was intended to be as binding on the ruler as it was on 35 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,919 the people. It was designed to give society a stable frame of reference so the people could feel 36 00:03:58,919 --> 00:04:06,319 secure in making plans for the future, unquote. Very astute. All of this is a mere word on a page 37 00:04:06,319 --> 00:04:12,680 to someone who doesn't know the whims of a ruler in a society where the dictates of the ruler are law, 38 00:04:12,939 --> 00:04:19,379 and he and his special cronies are above the law. This has been the mean state of most of humanity 39 00:04:19,379 --> 00:04:23,980 throughout history, and most Americans don't see how swiftly the special privilege of living in a 40 00:04:23,980 --> 00:04:31,319 society and under a constitution where we are a nation of laws and not of men is swiftly evaporating. 41 00:04:31,660 --> 00:04:36,920 The vast bulk of mankind has lived under demigods like Pharaoh who could give permission to Moses to 42 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,759 take Israel out of Egypt at one moment and then force them to make bricks without straw on the next. 43 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:48,819 The kind of Pharaoh who could let Israel go at the height of the Passover and send out his army to 44 00:04:48,819 --> 00:04:53,360 destroy them at the Red Sea in the next moment, right? Most men have lived under men like the 45 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:59,379 Herods, who considered themselves to be a law unto themselves, who could order the slaughter of all 46 00:04:59,379 --> 00:05:04,040 children under the age of two in Nazareth, and who could demand the beheading of John the Baptist 47 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:10,360 without any objective law on the book or due process in the courts. In the Bible, with these men, 48 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:16,680 plus others like Ahab in Israel, or Ahasuerus in Persia, or the Caesars of Rome, there was no such thing 49 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:23,540 as a law as a rule of action, which was intended to be as binding on the ruler as it was on the 50 00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:29,720 people. No. With these men, they were the law, and by definition, the people had to obey it, 51 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:35,540 and they were above it by virtue of having made that law. These kings and princes and demigods 52 00:05:35,540 --> 00:05:41,560 lived as if they were immutable deity, and their pronouncements were as immutable as the laws of the 53 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:47,519 Medes and the Persians, as the Bible puts it. With very few exceptions, this way of things persisted 54 00:05:47,519 --> 00:05:54,000 right up until the founding of the United States of America. Our founders had very fresh in their 55 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,600 memories the history of the Stuart kings of England, who, to a man, felt themselves above the law and 56 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:05,019 only had recourse to parliament when their backs were against the wall. Most recent in their memory of 57 00:06:05,019 --> 00:06:11,680 the founders was their treatment at the hand of King George III, who Jefferson characterizes in 58 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:17,879 the Declaration of Independence as a prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may 59 00:06:17,879 --> 00:06:24,319 define a tyrant and is unfit to be the ruler of a free people, unquote. This portion of the 60 00:06:24,319 --> 00:06:30,420 Declaration is a little read today, but it brings into contrast the very principle we are discussing 61 00:06:30,420 --> 00:06:37,019 today. Nowhere is there a better definition of a nation of men and not of law than the person and 62 00:06:37,019 --> 00:06:44,060 rule of King George. For example, as Jefferson puts it in the Declaration, he has refused to assent 63 00:06:44,060 --> 00:06:49,839 to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. Well, here, King George considered himself 64 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:55,160 above the good and wholesome laws of the colonies such that he could pick and choose those he would 65 00:06:55,160 --> 00:07:02,379 obey. Or, Jefferson says, he, that is King George, has forbidden governors to pass laws of immediate and 66 00:07:02,379 --> 00:07:07,040 pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained, 67 00:07:07,180 --> 00:07:12,980 unquote, while here King George either approved or disapproved of laws based upon his whim. And then 68 00:07:12,980 --> 00:07:19,519 the Declaration also says, he, that is King George, has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing 69 00:07:19,519 --> 00:07:26,399 his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers, unquote. Here, King George felt himself above the 70 00:07:26,399 --> 00:07:32,339 judicial system of England and the colonies, sending his own judges instead of recognizing those appointed 71 00:07:32,339 --> 00:07:39,660 in the colonies. Well, any or all of these laws and practices could be changed at a whim, depending on 72 00:07:39,660 --> 00:07:45,639 the caprice of the ruler. One day the Stamp Act was in full force, the next it was not. One day an entire 73 00:07:45,639 --> 00:07:50,540 colonial charter was enforced, the next day it was replaced by another written in England. One day 74 00:07:50,540 --> 00:07:58,879 Boston had seven revenue assessors, and the next it had 30 tax men sent to harass the people. One day 75 00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:04,300 George would abide by the legislation of the colonies, the next he would, as Jefferson puts it, 76 00:08:04,579 --> 00:08:11,680 suspend our legislatures and declare himself invested with power to legislate for us in all cases 77 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:20,399 whatsoever, unquote. There's a real paralyzing effect that uncertainty and arbitrary change has upon a 78 00:08:20,399 --> 00:08:25,959 people who will invest in real estate, for example, when we don't know, or what the next government 79 00:08:25,959 --> 00:08:32,299 bailout is coming from government for homeowners or banks, what corporation will invest in coal or oil 80 00:08:32,299 --> 00:08:40,019 exploration, if he's unsure he will be placed out or taxed out of existence by the recent cap and trade 81 00:08:40,019 --> 00:08:46,740 legislation, or the insistence on electric vehicles? Oh, what bright medical student, for example, will 82 00:08:46,740 --> 00:08:52,480 struggle through medical school when everything from his specialty to his salary to his expense 83 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:58,179 reimbursements are whimsically and arbitrarily changed from year to year by the federal government 84 00:08:58,179 --> 00:09:04,399 and the national health care system, right? Who will enlist in our armed services when they're all 85 00:09:04,399 --> 00:09:12,740 plagued by progressive right think? Oh, as Dr. Skousen puts it, he says, to be governed by the whims of men 86 00:09:12,740 --> 00:09:19,820 is to be subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power. In such a society, nothing is 87 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:27,340 dependable, no rights are secure. Things established are in a constant state of flux. Nothing becomes fixed 88 00:09:27,340 --> 00:09:35,059 and predictable for the future. Oh, when that kind of reality exists, people become paralyzed by 89 00:09:35,059 --> 00:09:43,419 uncertainty and fear. Incentives for new advancements, for new inventions, for new techniques, the attempts 90 00:09:43,419 --> 00:09:50,299 for the difficult drill technique, maybe on the ocean floor, or work sacrificially put to put juniors 91 00:09:50,299 --> 00:09:56,220 through medical school, all of these things are undermined when they are uncertain. And we see this all the 92 00:09:56,220 --> 00:10:02,299 time, when children are parented by tyrannical and arbitrary mothers and fathers, don't we? We've all 93 00:10:02,299 --> 00:10:06,740 known such families, and the children grow up listless and unmotivated. They're uncertain of 94 00:10:06,740 --> 00:10:12,779 themselves. They become afraid of their own shadow. Same happens to citizens under tyranny, who could not 95 00:10:12,779 --> 00:10:19,320 help but be cynical and pessimistic about the world, when, as a child, you can depend upon no fixed rule 96 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:26,519 in the house, but the momentary rage and or good graces of an arbitrary father. The same goes for 97 00:10:26,519 --> 00:10:33,820 federal tyranny, dear listener. The same kind of mentality obtains in a society when a ruler or small 98 00:10:33,820 --> 00:10:41,159 band of rulers, like we have in our federal system, treats its citizens like children, pretending to care 99 00:10:41,159 --> 00:10:46,779 for them and provide for their needs at one moment, and arbitrarily taxing and legislating them 100 00:10:46,779 --> 00:10:53,259 infinitely. The next moment, in order to pay for all the caring, who can depend upon what our president 101 00:10:53,259 --> 00:10:59,860 or congress will say next? Who can believe that what they say will cost so many billions of dollars 102 00:10:59,860 --> 00:11:07,080 will not actually cost trillions? They're liars. They do not care for you. Understand this. Well, what is 103 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:13,000 needed at every level of government is a return to principle number 22. A free people should be governed 104 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:19,179 by law and not by the whims of men. Our founders drafted a written constitution providing for the 105 00:11:19,179 --> 00:11:25,700 orderly establishment of a government of laws. They did not provide for a king. They did not ordain a 106 00:11:25,700 --> 00:11:32,100 noble class with vested interests to lord it over the people. They did not leave an imbalance of power 107 00:11:32,100 --> 00:11:38,259 among the branches so that a few men could dictate to the nation an arbitrary order of things. No, they 108 00:11:38,259 --> 00:11:45,340 established a rule of law, not of men, based upon a written objective constitution where even the 109 00:11:45,340 --> 00:11:53,059 rulers would be subject to the very same laws as the people. As John Locke put it, freedom of men 110 00:11:53,059 --> 00:12:01,120 under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to everyone of that society, made by the 111 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:08,059 legislative power. So, when men fail to worship the God of the Bible, they substitute something or 112 00:12:08,059 --> 00:12:14,159 someone else. Not because they do so necessarily consciously as idolaters, but because our hearts and 113 00:12:14,159 --> 00:12:20,240 spirits are made and wired to worship. Just as everything looks like a nail to a hammer, so everything 114 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:26,919 looks like a God to a soul created to worship. The one true God of the Bible, however, and the empty soul 115 00:12:26,919 --> 00:12:32,700 will fill itself with something or someone else. Therefore, it is no surprise to a Christian 116 00:12:32,700 --> 00:12:40,960 when godless men elevate other men to a God-like status and blindly trust their political leaders, 117 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:47,899 the Supreme Court, maybe. Do not be shocked, then, dear listener, at the two-tiered system that is before 118 00:12:47,899 --> 00:12:53,460 you today, but know that it is a far different one from that given us by our founding fathers. 119 00:12:53,460 --> 00:12:59,480 Additionally, though you should not be surprised by it, you should also not be satisfied with it. 120 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:07,059 It is time to return in a clear, firm fashion to constitutional principle number 22. A free people 121 00:13:07,059 --> 00:13:14,360 should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. Well, principle 23 now is foundational to 122 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:21,799 re-establishing principle number 22 and all of the rest. And principle 23 is a free society cannot 123 00:13:21,799 --> 00:13:29,440 survive as a republic without a broad program of public education. Yes, a free society cannot survive 124 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:35,779 as a republic without a broad program of public education. And once more, here we have a principle 125 00:13:35,779 --> 00:13:42,139 that's so basic to genuine liberty, but which has gotten lost in the shuffle of politics and ignorance 126 00:13:42,139 --> 00:13:47,799 over the generations since our founding. Constitutional liberty is complex enough that it requires a certain 127 00:13:47,799 --> 00:13:55,559 threshold of knowledge and sophistication that the illiterate man can never achieve and will therefore 128 00:13:55,559 --> 00:14:01,679 be in perpetual slavery. On the other hand, constitutional liberty is understandable enough, 129 00:14:01,740 --> 00:14:07,340 on the other hand, that it can be learned by the simplest of common man who therefore is forearmed 130 00:14:07,340 --> 00:14:14,720 with such understanding to seize and hold onto his liberty. Oh, a literate man is more liable to be a 131 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:21,419 free man because he reads and understands his Bible and his constitution. Our founding fathers understood 132 00:14:21,419 --> 00:14:28,059 this to their toenails and they proposed to a man a broad program of education throughout the new states. 133 00:14:28,620 --> 00:14:34,139 George Washington put it this way. He said, a primary object should be the education of our youth 134 00:14:34,139 --> 00:14:40,840 in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? He asked. 135 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:48,240 Wow. Indeed, the republic created by Washington and his contemporaries depends on we the people for 136 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:53,600 its continuance and accountability. It was the common citizen who voted and spoke his opinion in the 137 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:59,440 town square and who wrote his congressman, ran for office for that matter. How could he assemble 138 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:05,440 peaceably or petition the government for redress of grievances if he could not read the first amendment or 139 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:12,100 study and understand the issues for which he assembled and sought redress? How could the local merchant grow 140 00:15:12,100 --> 00:15:17,399 and prosper his business without interference from the federal government unless he could read and 141 00:15:17,399 --> 00:15:22,580 understand article one, section eight, paragraph three, which gives Congress power to regulate 142 00:15:22,580 --> 00:15:28,740 interstate commerce. But that is all. Are those provisions for taxation and exportation and revenue 143 00:15:28,740 --> 00:15:34,600 raising? How could he, that citizen, protect himself in tyrannical criminal cases if he could 144 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:40,879 not read and understand the fourth amendment that guarantees us security in our persons and possessions 145 00:15:40,879 --> 00:15:47,039 and protects us against warrantless searches and seizures? All of these hard-won liberties are 146 00:15:47,039 --> 00:15:53,379 meaningless unless a literate, informed citizenry guards them jealously. And to this end, our founders 147 00:15:53,379 --> 00:15:59,600 prescribed a thorough program of public education for every citizen. Massachusetts, for instance, 148 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:06,899 required every community of 50 families or more to set up a free grammar school. Every township of 100 149 00:16:06,899 --> 00:16:13,860 families or more had to set up a secondary school to prepare students for college. John Adams said that 150 00:16:13,860 --> 00:16:20,480 the purpose of this was to, and I quote, have knowledge diffused generally through the whole body of the 151 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:27,700 people. Unquote. This way, every merchant, mechanic, laborer, farmer, not just the wealthy and the 152 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:33,539 privileged, could read and understand the issues of the day as well as his own constitutional freedoms. 153 00:16:33,940 --> 00:16:39,240 Dear listener, in an age which ignorance of our history and constitution reigns supreme, 154 00:16:39,620 --> 00:16:45,919 it is important to understand this principle. Our founders sought universal education, not that we might 155 00:16:45,919 --> 00:16:50,200 get better jobs and be able to read a government unemployment benefits form and or the latest 156 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:56,659 gender sensitivity memo from management. No, but rather universal education was proposed so that 157 00:16:56,659 --> 00:17:03,159 we might produce a literate, informed, and moral people. The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville 158 00:17:03,159 --> 00:17:10,279 noted in his famous book, Democracy in America, and I quote him, every citizen receives the elementary 159 00:17:10,279 --> 00:17:16,579 notions of human knowledge. He is taught the doctrines and evidences of his religion, the history of 160 00:17:16,579 --> 00:17:23,039 this country and the leading features of its constitution. Unquote. No more Christianity, 161 00:17:23,039 --> 00:17:28,599 American history, and the principle of the constitution were the meat and potatoes of our early education in 162 00:17:28,599 --> 00:17:35,160 the new republic. How 180 degrees in the opposite direction has modern public education taken us in 163 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:41,099 the last several generations. Religion is a horror, and the constitution is an impenetrable, 164 00:17:41,220 --> 00:17:45,759 obsolete document, according to progressives, that we just don't have the time for anymore. 165 00:17:45,759 --> 00:17:51,359 No, it is more important that little Johnny know how to put a condom on a cucumber in sex education 166 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:57,839 class and learn the religious trinity of tolerance, diversity, and equality. Dear listener, 167 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:04,200 our public school teachers and administrators are not dumb. They could actually educate our children 168 00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:10,220 if this was their top priority, but it is not. After decades of studying this issue, I know this to my 169 00:18:10,220 --> 00:18:15,259 bones. If you want to know what the public school system's prime directive is, then you must examine the 170 00:18:15,259 --> 00:18:21,359 final product they turn out on the assembly line. And what is that final product? Oh, it is a thoroughly 171 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:28,740 secular, properly socialized, progressive. That's the final product, isn't it? And in producing this, 172 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:36,140 our teachers and administrators have superbly been successful, haven't they? Oh, well, little Johnny 173 00:18:36,140 --> 00:18:41,460 may not be able to read his rap sheet or his diploma, but he gets one anyway. And he sneers at the flag 174 00:18:41,460 --> 00:18:46,779 rather than sheds a tear for those who gave their lives in defending it. But little Tyrone can recite 175 00:18:46,779 --> 00:18:52,220 the lyrics to all of the foul rap music he listens to. Or little Janie may not be able to articulate a 176 00:18:52,220 --> 00:18:58,900 single purpose for husband and wife or monogamous marriage and family from the Bible, but she can 177 00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:04,660 instruct her boyfriend on how to put a condom on. And every STD she may have, she has in spelling bee and 178 00:19:04,660 --> 00:19:12,000 precisely articulate for you all lifestyles of gay marriage and trans lifestyles, right? And little 179 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,119 Johnny may graduate thinking that the Electoral College is a four-year school in Washington, D.C., 180 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:21,559 and that the constitutional right to bear arms is every American's right to wear short sleeves, 181 00:19:21,660 --> 00:19:26,900 but he will ignorantly and adamantly parrot the progressive line that he has the constitutional right 182 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:32,279 to free health care and college tuition and marry his gay partner, though there be not one 183 00:19:32,279 --> 00:19:37,460 scintilla of evidence for any of these rights so-called in the Constitution. In short, all of 184 00:19:37,460 --> 00:19:43,400 the above characters, of which our nation produces plenty, are graduates of our public schools and 185 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:50,440 thoroughly secular, properly socialized progressives and in good standing. They are well-educated in the 186 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:57,880 holy trinity of diversity, equity, and inclusion, D-E-I, right? But they are utterly ignorant of what our 187 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:03,839 founding fathers inculcated in those early generations, the doctrines and evidences of our religion, for 188 00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:09,400 example, the history of our country, and the leading features of its constitution. Is it any wonder, 189 00:20:09,559 --> 00:20:15,680 then, that we are also at the same time producing a generation of subjects and slaves groomed for tyranny, 190 00:20:16,059 --> 00:20:23,000 groomed for tyranny, rather than a generation of citizens of a free republic? It's no secret 191 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:30,579 that the first requirement of a tyrant to impose and maintain a tyranny is the stone-cold ignorance 192 00:20:30,579 --> 00:20:37,220 of his subjects. The tyrant kings of Israel depended upon the neglect and ignorance of the people for 193 00:20:37,220 --> 00:20:44,039 the covenant of Israel. Remember the discovery by Josiah in the temple after generations of being lost 194 00:20:44,039 --> 00:20:51,099 of the Bible, right? And they had needed this to impose generations of godless tyrannies. The tyrant kings 195 00:20:51,099 --> 00:20:57,160 of England depended upon the neglect and ignorance of the people for the unwritten liberties of their 196 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:03,359 ancient Anglo-Saxon forebearers. And they needed this to impose generations of monarchical tyrannies. 197 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:09,720 Even Adolf Hitler depended upon the ignorance and neglect of the German people for the Teutonic 198 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:16,920 legacy of representative tribal republicanism. They depended on this ignorance to impose a one-man 199 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:23,519 godlike dictatorship. And today, ambitious progressives and conservatives alike, that is, 200 00:21:23,559 --> 00:21:29,099 all of those who would substitute our constitutional republic for a big government alternative, all they 201 00:21:29,099 --> 00:21:35,559 depend upon the ignorance and neglect of the American people for our constitution to impose a growing 202 00:21:35,559 --> 00:21:43,119 tyranny. George Orwell, in his prophetic book, 1984, had as one of the three-party tenets of Big Brother 203 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:50,359 this gem. Ignorance is strength. Ignorance is strength. Was ignorance strength for the people? 204 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,779 No, of course not. Not for the people. For the people and their liberties, ignorance was a weakness. 205 00:21:55,259 --> 00:22:00,200 Ignorance was a strength for Big Brother, because only by keeping the people in a constant state of 206 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:06,920 ignorance of history and freedom could he maintain his hold on them. Can you see the true insight that 207 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:12,380 Orwell had into human nature? The American education establishment has as one of its chief goals 208 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:17,380 of the people in the past several generations, the submerging of the knowledge of our constitution 209 00:22:17,380 --> 00:22:23,039 and its principles. Our public schools have dropped history, civics, and government courses 210 00:22:23,039 --> 00:22:28,500 as requirements for graduation. The complete opposites of what we have articulated for you here 211 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:34,539 over the last few months are inculcated in our public schools' opposites. I am certain that when it comes 212 00:22:34,539 --> 00:22:39,720 to the constitution and its principles, our present crop of politicians would agree with Big Brother 213 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,980 that ignorance is strength. Make no mistake about this, dear listener, the kids of our founder's 214 00:22:45,980 --> 00:22:51,880 generation were better educated than most of today's progressive thought fodder, right? John Adams 215 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:58,579 says, a native of America who cannot read and write is as rare as a comet or an earthquake. It has been 216 00:22:58,579 --> 00:23:04,759 observed that we are all of us lawyers, divines, politicians, and philosophers, unquote. Oh, but the founders 217 00:23:04,759 --> 00:23:11,380 wanted succeeding generations steeped in religion and history and the constitution for more focused 218 00:23:11,380 --> 00:23:15,980 reasons than being mere dilettantes of knowledge and good conversationalists at cocktail parties. No. 219 00:23:16,279 --> 00:23:22,240 For example, number one, our founders expected every citizen to be an informed participant in the 220 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:29,279 republic. Yes, ignorance is not a strength in a free republic, but it's a bane. No. Our founders knew that 221 00:23:29,279 --> 00:23:35,019 if the gift of our constitution was to endure, it would do so with the labors of an informed 222 00:23:35,019 --> 00:23:41,779 citizenry. Yes, the common man in America, Alexis de Tocqueville says, will inform you of what his 223 00:23:41,779 --> 00:23:46,700 rights are and by what means he exercises them. You will find that he is well acquainted with the rules 224 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:52,740 of the administration and that he is familiar with the mechanisms of the laws. The American learns to 225 00:23:52,740 --> 00:23:58,880 know the laws by participating in the act of legislation, and he takes lessons in the forms of government, 226 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:04,339 by governing. The great work of society is ever going on before his eyes and, as it were, 227 00:24:04,579 --> 00:24:11,960 under his hands. Oh, unquote. De Tocqueville speaking about Americans. Well, our founders also 228 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:18,579 expected every citizen to scrutinize their leaders for every blemish of tyranny, too. Oh, 229 00:24:18,859 --> 00:24:24,619 eternal vigilance being the price of liberty. Only an educated citizenry could be expected to know the 230 00:24:24,619 --> 00:24:30,500 difference between tyranny and liberty and see the signs of encroaching cancer of the one bountiful 231 00:24:30,500 --> 00:24:36,759 flourishing over the other, right? As Adams says, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, 232 00:24:37,099 --> 00:24:42,880 indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge. I mean, of the characters 233 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:49,319 and conduct of their rulers, unquote. Oh, and then thirdly, our founders saw the inextricable 234 00:24:49,319 --> 00:24:55,880 interdependence of religious education with constitutional education. Oh, yes. The basic 235 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:01,140 principles of Christianity were taught, along with reading, writing, and arithmetic, so that behavior 236 00:25:01,140 --> 00:25:06,019 in the world would be coupled with knowledge of that same world, both of which were seen to be 237 00:25:06,019 --> 00:25:12,559 from the God of the Bible. De Tocqueville says again, and I quote, it cannot be doubted that in the United 238 00:25:12,559 --> 00:25:17,539 States, the instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic 239 00:25:17,539 --> 00:25:23,160 republic. And such must always be the case, I believe, where the instruction which enlightens 240 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:29,200 the understanding is not separated from the moral education, unquote. Oh, dear listener, 241 00:25:29,579 --> 00:25:36,000 don't be cowed. Don't be cowed or compromised on this in our present culture, where ignorance is 242 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:42,000 strength for the modern progressive. Our heritage of a Christian constitutional republic is strong 243 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,480 and true and a matter of public record, which record the modern progressive socialist is trying 244 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,940 to expunge as swiftly as possible. Do not let them do so, dear listener. Become informed on the text of 245 00:25:52,940 --> 00:25:58,259 the Constitution yourself. Teach it to your children, where the public school is afraid to do, lest you 246 00:25:58,259 --> 00:26:04,619 become awakened and active. Most of all, read and study the text of the Constitution of eternity. That is 247 00:26:04,619 --> 00:26:10,539 the Bible. It is the book of life for the kingdom of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. In it, you will find 248 00:26:10,539 --> 00:26:16,259 a charter for the chief citizenship out of the city of heaven. For the new birth you find in Jesus 249 00:26:16,259 --> 00:26:22,660 Christ, there is true liberty, the liberty from death and sin. As Jesus Himself said, if the Son sets you 250 00:26:22,660 --> 00:26:30,680 free, you will be free indeed. Yes, then and only then will we be free indeed. This has been Pastor David 251 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:36,240 Bass at New Geneva with the Moment of Truth. New Geneva Meets for Holy Worship at 10 a.m. at Sunday 252 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:45,599 at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us for more information or feedback at 208-523-0196. 253 00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:49,700 208-523-0196.