1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:09,859 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:09,859 --> 00:00:15,160 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:23,899 faith. Today, what are principles 24 and 25 of the Constitution, principles of the Constitution, 4 00:00:23,899 --> 00:00:31,339 24 and 25, that are in the book, The 5,000-Year Leap? Now, if this is brand new information for 5 00:00:31,339 --> 00:00:36,579 you, then you must understand that our founding fathers established our Constitution based upon 6 00:00:36,579 --> 00:00:43,560 a number of principles for government and not upon random improvised thoughts. No. Men like Adams 7 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:49,060 and Jefferson and Franklin spent their lives studying what Adams called the divine science 8 00:00:49,060 --> 00:00:55,100 of government. Called this precisely because they felt that God himself had given man both the 9 00:00:55,100 --> 00:01:02,460 objective principles for happiness in government and the subjective gifts of heart and intellect to 10 00:01:02,460 --> 00:01:09,439 discover them. Now, what I have discovered is that the book, The 5,000-Year Leap by Cleon Skousen, 11 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:15,219 has gathered together and summarized the basic foundational principles upon which our 12 00:01:15,219 --> 00:01:21,659 Constitution is based. We have already made our way through the first 23 principles, 13 00:01:21,659 --> 00:01:29,060 principles. And today, we stand ready to articulate principles 24 and 25. Now, after you are done 14 00:01:29,060 --> 00:01:34,680 with hearing them, and if they resonate with you as being true, well, then I urge you to go ahead and 15 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:42,239 get this book through Mr. Skousen's organization, The National Center for Constitutional Studies. 16 00:01:42,519 --> 00:01:51,400 The National Center for Constitutional Studies. And it can be accessed at nccs.org, nccs.org. 17 00:01:51,400 --> 00:02:00,920 Well, principle 24 is this. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong. A free people 18 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:10,879 will not survive unless they stay strong. Yes, freedom, liberty is something that is taken. It's not given 19 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:20,180 to you. Those who are free and live in a constitutional republic and live under liberty must generally 20 00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:27,300 take it take it for themselves. And oftentimes, they have to wrest it out of the death grip of tyrants 21 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:35,159 in order to do so. And a free and prosperous people will not survive even. Once they've obtained 22 00:02:35,159 --> 00:02:43,199 their liberty, they will not survive in that liberty unless they stay strong. While this may seem obvious 23 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:50,699 to any reasonable person in any realistic world, we must understand that reasonable men and women do not 24 00:02:50,699 --> 00:02:57,360 govern us today. And we have created for ourselves an unrealistic world in the United States of 25 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:04,180 America. Most of us are sheeple. Most Americans, I'm afraid, though, this is beginning to change. Many are 26 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:13,819 waking up. But so many Americans are naive, brainwashed Pollyannas when it comes to the goodwill they think of 27 00:03:13,819 --> 00:03:19,060 their government. Government only wants to help. Government only wants to make your life better. 28 00:03:19,379 --> 00:03:29,740 I'm afraid that is not the case. Oh, our current president is Exhibit A in this regard. Oh, we have 29 00:03:29,740 --> 00:03:35,180 thrown our way around all over the world, for example. We have asserted our will in places like 30 00:03:35,180 --> 00:03:44,280 Iraq and Afghanistan and Ukraine. Oh, Biden is seen across the world as weak and pusillanimous, 31 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:52,099 which invites aggression. I have a whole lecture on this, dear listener, on why weakness invites 32 00:03:52,099 --> 00:03:59,659 aggression and why our government, the present administration in particular, has invited 33 00:03:59,659 --> 00:04:07,039 aggression all across the globe and will do so further if they are not stopped. While weakness 34 00:04:07,039 --> 00:04:13,979 is invited by things that Biden has done, for example, closing down our oil and gas production, 35 00:04:14,419 --> 00:04:24,699 causing us to depend upon importation of oil and making us vulnerable and at the whims of places like 36 00:04:24,699 --> 00:04:31,259 Saudi Arabia and Iran. He has increasingly shipped our industrial base overseas. That's been happening 37 00:04:31,259 --> 00:04:40,939 for years. That's we've been hemorrhaging jobs ever since the 90s and then arms production in particular. 38 00:04:41,860 --> 00:04:51,439 We have seriously depleted our arms storehouse, our arms stockpile by sending them all to Ukraine. 39 00:04:51,439 --> 00:05:00,199 We have seriously depleted many of our defense capabilities by supplying Ukraine with our 40 00:05:00,199 --> 00:05:06,899 modern technology and weapons. In fact, it's estimated that we couldn't fight a two-front war, 41 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:13,339 an all-out, full-tilt two-front war, which America has always tried strategically, at least, 42 00:05:13,339 --> 00:05:21,000 to plan for, for any longer than six weeks, that we would run out of ammunition before six weeks had 43 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:28,959 transpired. So we have also thrown open our borders. This has especially weakened us as a country. We are 44 00:05:28,959 --> 00:05:37,060 not a strong country anymore in primarily because we have thrown open our borders to completely 45 00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:44,420 unvetted illegal immigrants. Yes, we have, for example, and I've spoken on this here before, 46 00:05:44,420 --> 00:05:52,600 that we have seen a steady stream of Chinese nationals coming in across the border, and they 47 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:59,220 have even streamlined and customized their own path in with stopping points for Chinese nationals 48 00:05:59,220 --> 00:06:08,800 exclusively. They travel together. They are dressed almost in semi-military uniforms, Chinese nationals, 49 00:06:09,439 --> 00:06:17,259 military-aged men, and they are streaming into our country. And there have also then been, of course, 50 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:23,720 you've heard perhaps cartel gangs from Guatemala and Venezuela in particular that have been streaming in 51 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:30,600 for years now. In fact, most people admit that they now control the border. It's not ICE that 52 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:36,360 controls the border anymore. It's not our border patrol that controls the border between Mexico and 53 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:46,100 America. No, it is the cartels, the human trafficking and drug cartels that now control our borders. And of 54 00:06:46,100 --> 00:06:52,079 course, drugs have been flooding, and this makes a country weak as well, doesn't it? With the fentanyl 55 00:06:52,079 --> 00:06:59,220 is notoriously has been flooding into our country across the border and has been weakening the national 56 00:06:59,220 --> 00:07:07,500 will and resolve and health and strength and vitality of America. America is weak because of the drugs 57 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:15,019 flowing in across our border. And then, of course, there are the Iranian men of military age, men from 58 00:07:15,019 --> 00:07:22,879 the Middle East, others as well, who are forming sleeper cells so that if, indeed, in case war breaks 59 00:07:22,879 --> 00:07:28,819 out in the Middle East, they will create havoc here behind the lines. All of this because our border 60 00:07:28,819 --> 00:07:37,339 has been thrown open completely to unvetted illegal immigrants. And Mayorkas, head of Homeland Security, 61 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:43,800 should not only be impeached, he should be convicted, he should be tried, convicted, and thrown in jail. 62 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:50,420 He is deliberately weakening the United States. If you look in his background, you find out that for 63 00:07:50,420 --> 00:07:57,319 his entire adult lifetime, he has hated the United States and thought that it should be weakened and 64 00:07:57,319 --> 00:08:03,639 destroyed. And yet he's head of Homeland Security, ironically enough. Well, all of these things have 65 00:08:03,639 --> 00:08:12,000 conspired and combined to make America weak. Benjamin Franklin was fond of citing this Italian proverb, 66 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:18,519 which is, make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will 67 00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:26,019 eat you. Well, Biden and his administration swiftly making of America a nation of sheep and the wolves 68 00:08:26,019 --> 00:08:33,500 are licking their chops. Even now, while Americans are distracted by childish schemes of free government 69 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:40,059 health care or student loan repayment, and they're focused upon sensational stories about TikTok, 70 00:08:40,059 --> 00:08:46,519 all these things, our enemies are planning our destruction and executing that plan. Oh, pastor, 71 00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:53,259 you may protest. You're just being sensational and paranoid. Who could possibly be planning to hurt us? 72 00:08:53,720 --> 00:09:01,519 Isn't President Biden watching over us and guarding our national security? That is part of the naive, 73 00:09:01,519 --> 00:09:09,759 brainwashed, Pollyannish attitude that so many Americans have adopted. No. If this is your response 74 00:09:09,759 --> 00:09:18,940 to me, well, then I have two numbers for you. Nine and 11. The entire Biden administration has been one 75 00:09:18,940 --> 00:09:26,240 big senior moment, hasn't it? As he has dealt with the strength of our nation and another 9-11 could 76 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:32,960 easily transpire if we are not careful. Ah, no one saw that coming, did they? No, they didn't. And we've 77 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:41,000 learned so much about 9-11 since then, too. All of this demonstrates a wrongheadedness, a soul sickness 78 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:47,179 concerning the prime directive of our federal government. That is the protection of our borders, 79 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:54,019 the protection of our safety, and the Constitution defending the Constitution of the United States of 80 00:09:54,019 --> 00:10:02,220 America, to which all of our government officials swear allegiance. Do they not? Men like Ronald Reagan 81 00:10:02,220 --> 00:10:07,460 or Dwight Eisenhower, George Washington, they understood this clearly. In fact, our founding 82 00:10:07,460 --> 00:10:14,659 fathers knew this as a principle. As Benjamin Franklin puts it, he said, protection is as truly due to the 83 00:10:14,659 --> 00:10:21,899 people as obedience is due from the people to the government, unquote. Oh, yes. It is a reciprocity 84 00:10:21,899 --> 00:10:30,059 between government and people. Government owes us protection and safety and security. They owe that to 85 00:10:30,059 --> 00:10:37,960 us. We, in turn, owe them obedience. But when that compact is broken, all bets are off. And believe me, 86 00:10:38,039 --> 00:10:46,159 your government has no intention of securing your safety. In fact, they have put you deliberately at 87 00:10:46,159 --> 00:10:53,279 risk. They do not want to protect you. They hate you. They are bent on destroying you and subjecting 88 00:10:53,279 --> 00:11:01,039 you under tyranny. They are no longer protecting. Consequently, we must no longer obey. How arrogant of 89 00:11:01,039 --> 00:11:07,679 our leaders today who expect obedience from us, but they refuse to protect the very people from whom they 90 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:14,639 derive their power. Our leaders are wrongheaded and they are soul sick when they do the things government 91 00:11:14,639 --> 00:11:21,360 was ill-designed to do, like provide health care or welfare or underwrite the economy. That's not what 92 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:27,600 they were designed to do. While they, on the other hand, neglect the very things for which God ordained 93 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:34,019 government, raising armies, providing for national defense, remaining a neutral policeman and referee in 94 00:11:34,019 --> 00:11:39,679 the marketplace, these kinds of things, for example. Well, to a man, our founding fathers insisted 95 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:46,019 that government fulfill this prime directive, that it was indispensable to a free republic. 96 00:11:46,700 --> 00:11:51,919 George Washington built a fire under Congress in his fifth annual address. He says, 97 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:57,620 I cannot recommend to your notice measures for the fulfillment of our duties to the rest of the 98 00:11:57,620 --> 00:12:04,820 world without, again, pressing upon you the necessity of placing ourselves in a condition of 99 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:10,179 complete defense and of exacting from them, that is, our complete defense preparations, 100 00:12:10,419 --> 00:12:16,960 the fulfillment of their duties towards us, unquote. In other words, one of the true things the federal 101 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:24,320 government is wired to do and charged to do by our Constitution is provide for our complete defense 102 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:31,960 and then monitor meticulously the fulfillment of those duties. Yes, it was a constant and vigilant 103 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:38,240 discipline understood and practiced by our founding fathers. Washington, as general of the Continental 104 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:44,639 Army, understood the necessity for military strength. As Dr. Skousen puts it, he says, 105 00:12:44,899 --> 00:12:51,379 the founders passed on to their posterity a policy of peace through strength. They were peace-loving, 106 00:12:51,639 --> 00:12:58,320 but not pacifists, unquote. No great nation has ever achieved greatness without being a martial nation. 107 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:05,460 This is irrefutable. Warfare and violent struggle are part of the status quo between nations, 108 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,100 and so it has been since the tribes of Babylon clashed on the plains of Shinar, 109 00:13:10,639 --> 00:13:16,659 and so it will be until the last great battle transpires at the end of time. Lest we forget, 110 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:24,039 the land of the free and the house of the brave was born in blood. Our very national anthem is violent 111 00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:29,860 and militaristic, isn't it? As you listen closely to it, as General Patton puts it, Americans have always 112 00:13:29,860 --> 00:13:35,740 loved a good fight. The naive progressive defeats his own argument every time he tries to prove that 113 00:13:35,740 --> 00:13:43,080 violence never solved anything. Oh, dear listener, martial resistance to British dragoons certainly 114 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:48,960 solved the tyranny of the King George in our revolution. Martial resistance to the Third Reich 115 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:54,919 solved Hitler, and the atomic bomb solved the vicious bloodletting tyranny of the Japanese Empire 116 00:13:54,919 --> 00:14:02,360 and the need for a bloodbath in an invasion of the Japanese homeland. Oh, the truth is that the just 117 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:10,440 selective use of violence does solve problems and injustices. The just selective use of violence 118 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:17,179 does keep our country safe and ensures our freedoms and rights as citizens. I hate to have to break it to 119 00:14:17,179 --> 00:14:22,559 the pacifists among us, but the irony is that you would not have the freedom to practice your pacifism 120 00:14:22,559 --> 00:14:28,200 and proclaim it openly if someone else had not shed blood in violent warfare to give that right to 121 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:34,720 you. Pacifists all over the world and other places are persecuted and jailed and deprived of property and 122 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:42,139 liberty for refusing to fight for regimes and kings. Here in the United States, pacifists are protected and 123 00:14:42,139 --> 00:14:49,000 treated as equals in a free republic, but that is only yours because someone else went out and died or 124 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:55,860 risked his life to defend those rights for you. The irony is that even your pacifism is a right born in 125 00:14:55,860 --> 00:15:01,360 blood. One of the true dangers of our age is that our people have lost this sense of the constant 126 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:07,299 vigilant discipline of military security and preparedness. Instead of being fit and practiced 127 00:15:07,299 --> 00:15:14,120 and mentally and spiritually aware, we are tired and lazy and mentally and spiritually indifferent and 128 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:19,500 lackluster. We no longer see the need. Who cares, right? Give me my free health care. Give me my 129 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:26,840 bailout check. Make my next house payment. Oh, pay for my college education. Mr. President, let us skip 130 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:32,600 and cut back on the needful things and spend trillions in a so-called stimulus package for the frivolous 131 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:38,139 we don't need but want. Well, in short, the true guarantor of security against our enemies 132 00:15:38,139 --> 00:15:45,080 is not overwhelming military hardware in million man armies, but the heart and will of the people 133 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:51,220 in tune with the God of the Bible who gave them their liberties to begin with. If the people are not 134 00:15:51,220 --> 00:15:59,000 ready to fight, they will not raise up an army ready to fight. Our military is already falling short 135 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:06,059 by 25% of their recruitment goals. No one's willing to fight for this government. But if they are 136 00:16:06,059 --> 00:16:10,919 prepared to fight, the men who make up the army will be ready to fight and the rest of the population will 137 00:16:10,919 --> 00:16:15,919 be there to arm and equip them with the best weaponry in the world. A people must be trained 138 00:16:15,919 --> 00:16:22,279 and educated to appreciate the importance of being ready and willing to fight. They do not see it and 139 00:16:22,279 --> 00:16:27,960 they do not know this to their toenails. They'll not support and supply the military needed to defend 140 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:33,620 themselves. It's also important to understand the role of the sovereign God of the Bible. 141 00:16:34,179 --> 00:16:39,539 He is ultimately the decider of every battle, every war, and the fate of every soldier on the 142 00:16:39,539 --> 00:16:45,860 battlefield. It is a biblical fact of history that there are no stray arrows, no stray bullets, 143 00:16:45,860 --> 00:16:51,799 and no random shells that fall from the sky. While to the individual soldier the dean of battle 144 00:16:51,799 --> 00:16:57,600 represents chaos and disorder, the Christian realizes that every particle of matter is under the divine 145 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:04,059 hand of the God of the Bible. The nation that acknowledges him therefore knows he is the great 146 00:17:04,059 --> 00:17:11,200 shepherd of their destiny. No one knew this better than General Washington. I, he said, reflecting on the 147 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:17,559 Revolutionary War, he says, the signal instances of providential goodness which we have experienced 148 00:17:17,559 --> 00:17:23,819 and which have now almost crowned our labors with complete success demand from us, in a peculiar 149 00:17:23,819 --> 00:17:32,700 manner, the warmest returns of gratitude and piety to the supreme author of all good." This is only one 150 00:17:32,700 --> 00:17:38,680 of the countless acknowledgments of God's hand in America's military struggles. It is utterly imperative 151 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:44,420 for every American to clearly understand and acknowledge that while we fight wars with soldiers 152 00:17:44,420 --> 00:17:50,700 and concrete physical weapons, it is not the calculus of sheer physical force alone that accounts 153 00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:56,420 for victory or defeat. The Bible says, the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. No, 154 00:17:56,940 --> 00:18:02,500 it is imperative for us to understand and acknowledge that while strategy and tactics and inspired 155 00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:08,839 commanders are important to the outcome of battles and warfare, they alone do not determine that outcome. 156 00:18:09,039 --> 00:18:14,559 While the morale and training of our armed forces is necessary to the survival and success of any 157 00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:20,680 military campaign, we must always understand that it is the invisible hand of providence that ultimately, 158 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:26,619 decides all. In the end, we must confess with a psalmist, some trust in chariots and some in horses, 159 00:18:26,619 --> 00:18:32,599 but we trust in the name of the Lord our God, unquote. Unless and until we are ready to do this, 160 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:38,660 we may do everything else right in providing for our homeland security, but we will fail at the most 161 00:18:38,660 --> 00:18:44,299 critical juncture, that is, arming ourselves in the complete faith of God, that He will determine the 162 00:18:44,299 --> 00:18:50,599 course of warfare for His glory and our good. Then and only then will the United States be able 163 00:18:50,599 --> 00:18:57,859 to return successfully to principle 24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong. 164 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:07,180 Well, principle number 25 then. It all follows closely upon the heels of principle 24. Principle 25 is 165 00:19:07,180 --> 00:19:14,140 peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none. Peace, 166 00:19:14,460 --> 00:19:20,400 commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none. This is a direct 167 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:26,099 quote from Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural address as president. The bulk of our founding 168 00:19:26,099 --> 00:19:31,660 fathers agreed with Jefferson. They gazed upon the continent of Europe from which they had so 169 00:19:31,660 --> 00:19:37,900 recently come and saw the ancient animosities and complicated relationships that existed among 170 00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:44,720 the national, ethnic, and religious peoples, and they saw disastrous results ensue when the passions 171 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:50,759 let loose from these differences are allowed free reign. Europe was a cauldron of vicious 172 00:19:50,759 --> 00:19:56,980 internecine infighting and destruction, and our founders wanted to guard the new states from sinking 173 00:19:56,980 --> 00:20:04,680 into a similar condition. War, bloodshed, prejudice, economic warfare, sound familiar? Incessant 174 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:09,980 fighting were the legacy of those groups as they combined into factions and alliances with one another. 175 00:20:09,980 --> 00:20:16,599 France and Spain would combine against England and the Netherlands. Italy and Austria would form an 176 00:20:16,599 --> 00:20:23,140 alliance against Germany and Denmark. Even Catholic Ireland would conspire with France to overthrow the 177 00:20:23,140 --> 00:20:30,019 Protestant king of England, precipitating the glorious revolution of 1688. Well, on and on we could go. 178 00:20:30,019 --> 00:20:37,220 To all of this, our founders gave a resounding, not here. Instead, America should stand aloof from 179 00:20:37,220 --> 00:20:43,299 these passions and remain a separate world power, though not isolated from the world. Washington 180 00:20:43,299 --> 00:20:49,279 articulated this attitude very well, and I quote George Washington on this here. Quote, 181 00:20:49,420 --> 00:20:55,960 in the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent inveterate antipathies 182 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:02,559 against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of 183 00:21:02,559 --> 00:21:08,940 them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward 184 00:21:08,940 --> 00:21:15,599 another and habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its 185 00:21:15,599 --> 00:21:22,259 animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its 186 00:21:22,259 --> 00:21:29,200 interest, unquote. Therefore, the founders articulated the doctrine of separatism, whereby the new United 187 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:34,980 States would not be bound by formal alliances with other nations that would commit her to wars and trade 188 00:21:34,980 --> 00:21:41,839 agreements that might be to her hurt and disadvantaged, but rather a policy which would commit her to free 189 00:21:41,839 --> 00:21:47,759 trade with all nations and friendly relations with all nations. Insofar as it was possible, this was the 190 00:21:47,759 --> 00:21:54,720 policy of separatism, which is not to be confused with as caricature by opponents that is isolationism. No, our 191 00:21:54,720 --> 00:22:00,559 founders in no way, shape or form were naive enough to think that America could be isolated from the rest of 192 00:22:00,559 --> 00:22:06,839 the nations as if we existed completely self-sufficient unto ourselves. But they were also wise enough to 193 00:22:06,839 --> 00:22:12,500 know that she could trade with and exist among those nations without being bound to them and their 194 00:22:12,500 --> 00:22:18,660 destinies by treaties, which committed the American people to sacrifice blood and treasure for those nations 195 00:22:18,660 --> 00:22:25,299 that did not necessarily coincide with America's interests. Oh, as Thomas Jefferson puts it, he puts 196 00:22:25,299 --> 00:22:31,380 it so well, our first and fundamental maxim should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe, 197 00:22:31,660 --> 00:22:38,140 our second, never to suffer Europe to intermiddle with cross-Atlantic affairs. America, North and South, 198 00:22:38,279 --> 00:22:44,779 has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe and peculiarly her own. She should therefore have a 199 00:22:44,779 --> 00:22:49,940 system of her own separate and apart from that of Europe. While Europe is laboring to become the 200 00:22:49,940 --> 00:22:56,799 domicile of despotism, our endeavors should surely be make our hemisphere that of freedom." Unquote, 201 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:04,099 Thomas Jefferson. Oh, yes. If only the despots Obama and Biden had listened to these words of wisdom 202 00:23:04,099 --> 00:23:09,819 from our founders. In my opinion, the United Nations, Vietnam War, all of these things, 203 00:23:09,819 --> 00:23:16,859 our entry into NATO and the United Nations would shock and sadden them. To them, America was poised 204 00:23:16,859 --> 00:23:22,660 to be a unique nation among the nations of the world, a beacon of peace and liberty. God had called 205 00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:28,940 her to a destiny different from that of the common run of nations in history. Washington's own words 206 00:23:28,940 --> 00:23:35,299 still echo, and they exhort us to this high calling, even as he called upon his own generation. He said, 207 00:23:35,299 --> 00:23:41,940 observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and 208 00:23:41,940 --> 00:23:48,259 morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that? Good policy does not equally enjoin it. It will be 209 00:23:48,259 --> 00:23:55,759 worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous 210 00:23:55,759 --> 00:24:02,400 and two novel examples of people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence." Unquote. 211 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:09,279 Oh, how far we have drifted from this principle and guidance. America is in danger of becoming, 212 00:24:09,279 --> 00:24:14,720 if she's not already, just another one-of-the-mill country of the world, locked in her own vicious 213 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:21,680 go-round with socialist tyrannies and petty despots, bound by treaties like those with the United Nations. 214 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:30,799 The WHO, the World Health Organization, with this pandemic treaty, if we sign it, will sacrifice our 215 00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:36,880 sovereignty to United Nations bureaucrats. Or NATO, too. That's been in the headlines here recently. 216 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:44,880 NATO and Ukraine will plunge us into World War III. Yes. Instead, it is time to recalibrate our national 217 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:51,359 course for the headings determined by our founders. Indeed, as Washington so eloquently put it, 218 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:58,559 religion and morality enjoin this conduct. That is, that we observe good faith and justice towards all 219 00:24:58,559 --> 00:25:04,799 nations and cultivate peace and harmony with all. It's not too late to be a godly example to the world 220 00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:10,799 in this regard. Our founders had a much higher sense of calling and destiny than we do, precisely 221 00:25:10,799 --> 00:25:17,519 because they knew that God expects such behavior of a Christian people. Will you be a peacemaker and a 222 00:25:17,519 --> 00:25:23,759 reconciler? Then you will shun war unless it's forced on you, and then you will fight it ferociously and 223 00:25:23,759 --> 00:25:30,000 doggedly. Will you advocate justice and equal opportunity for all men, especially the oppressed? 224 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,960 Then you will not bind yourself in treaties with governments that oppress their own or other nations, 225 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:40,240 but you'll work patiently for justice and harmony for the oppressed. Our dear listener, 226 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:47,680 religion revealed is hypocrisy unless it is religion applied. If, indeed, as we maintain our constitution, 227 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:52,640 as it was established according to Christian principles and liberties, then we ought also to 228 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:59,920 embrace and act upon the two principles articulated for you here today. That is, a free people will not 229 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:07,039 survive unless they stay strong. That's principle 24 and principle 25. Peace, commerce, and honest 230 00:26:07,039 --> 00:26:14,400 friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none. As you labor to redirect our national 231 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:21,039 energies to these principles, pray that the sovereign God of all nations and their destinies will grant to 232 00:26:21,039 --> 00:26:27,680 us the spiritual reformation to the Christ of the Bible. All right, this has been Pastor David Bassett, 233 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:34,640 New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday at 234 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:41,039 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information or feedback 235 00:26:41,039 --> 00:26:50,000 at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.