God’s Plan for a Blessed Nation: Principle #8 –
Understand the Need for Citizens of Integrity to Maintain a Republic
A Stand in the Gap Today Transcript
August 23, 2021
Host: Sam Rohrer
Co-hosts: Dr. Keith Wiebe & Dr. Jamie Mitchell
To download a PDF of this transcript, please click HERE.
Segment 1:
Sam Rohrer: Hello and welcome to Stand in the Gap Today, and this is our eighth in our Monday series that we’re entitling 10 Principles to National Renewal. I’m Sam Rohrer, and it’s my honor to be joined today by two of our Stand in the Gap Today and our APN team, doctors Keith Wiebe and Jamie Mitchell. Both of these men were with me. We’ve put together different formulations of our respective teams as we’ve gone through these principles thus far. These two were with me last week for principle number seven. If you were listening then, that was the role of justice in government. So far, we’ve identified seven principles, today being number eight, that were effectively lifted from the pages of Scripture, but they were identified by men such as William Penn in his 1682 frame of government and concurred in by the vast majority of our Founding Fathers.
They talked about … Now, they didn’t call out these 10 principles ultimately that we’ll share and naming them one by one, but they did include all of these within the framework for how they believed a new nation, if it was going to be established and become successful, they said it had to include these principles. They said because that’s what God said. So, we’re identifying those as we go through this series.
Now, Governor Bradford in 1630 in his words, he termed it a shining city on a hill. That was his vision as they were looking at this new country. William Penn termed it a holy experiment in freedom and the remarkable undertaking, what was before them. Wow, what an opportunity they had, but where do you start in putting together a new country that’s going to be blessed of God? Well, they went to the pages of Scripture, and they laid it out. It was later then preached by the pastors of the pulpits of America, and then it was incorporated ultimately. Many of those same principles, almost all of them frankly, you can find by the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence when they put things down there, recognizing God as creator and then went from there into that document and then embodied within the constitution federally and within the various states. Before, they understood God’s law, and they understood the blessings of God.
Well, we now sit in a nation whose leaders have rejected the God of heaven. They mock the word of God, right, and are increasingly, sadly we’re recognizing, seeking to persecute the people of God and those who believe in absolute truth. We see it happening before our eyes. So, in these days, what is needed in our nation? Well, we need repentance. That’s what we need and a turning back to God, but we need to return to the ways of God, doing the will of God and seeking the face of God. That’s the reason for highlighting these 10 principles recognized by our founders.
Quick review, number one, embrace and pursue integrity and virtue. Number two, understand the nature and the role of God. Three, understand the sinful nature of man. Four, understand the purpose for government as God established it. Then, five, understand the purpose for law, which unless you have a law, you don’t have good government. Number six, understand the tendency of government that’s to consolidate itself to become bigger and bigger and replace God himself. Number seven, as we talked about last week, understand the role of justice in government, brings us to today. Understand the need for citizens of integrity to maintain a republic.
All of these, I want to mention to you, are available to listen to on standinthegapradio.com. Best site to go to there. When you’re there, you can also download a free transcript of each of these programs. I encourage you to do that. It’s great to better sit down and read it, and ultimately, we’re completing a book that’s going to be built off of these programs, so that we’ll track what we are saying that you can purchase, and you can distribute to others in these days when answers are so short on supply but are so critically needed.
Now, in the history of human civilization, one thing is for sure, and that is freedom and liberty and self-government under God is not the normal. That’s going to bring us up to some things here. I want to move right into it because of the time here. Keith, I want to go to you because Penn and many of our early founders made it very clear that a self-governing republic under God could only rise or continue if the citizens and those in office voluntarily submitted themselves to the 10 commandments of God. What is it about the statement that is so essential not only for them but for us now, Keith?
Keith Wiebe: Well, Sam, the issue with self-government is that it requires leaders who themselves as individuals are self-governed. It requires a populace who are self-governed. Leaders in government are going to govern out of what is in their hearts, and so it requires that they themselves be governed in that fashion. This is illustrated so much in the history of the nation of Israel.
I was reading just this morning in my own devotions in Deuteronomy 28 and verse 1 starts with individual obedience and then moves from that to God’s influence of using that in the nations of the world in government. So, the whole issue is that it requires citizens, who are themselves self-governed, and then out of those citizens, government by the people is government by people who are also self-governed. Self-government is really the core of it.
Sam Rohrer: Now, I’m going to go right to you now, Jamie, because that is the core of it, but he didn’t use the word … Keith didn’t use the word but I’m going to use it, duty, obligations, accountability to God. These are words that almost like dirty words in our culture, linked together why the concept of duty and responsibility on behalf of citizens, particularly Christian citizens, are so critical in the ability to maintain a republic.
Jamie Mitchell: Sam, as a pastor, I used to teach men how to be good fathers and husbands, wives, and moms, children, how they’re to work and operate within the family realm. Well, as Christians, we need to be teaching as well that there is a role of responsibility, a duty, an action that we’re supposed to be doing as citizens of whatever nation we’re part of. I used to say it this way, that if you want to have a peaceful existence in your community or your nation, then you need to do these five things. And they spelled the word peace, pray. There’s a duty that we need to do. Pray for our nations. Pray for our cities. Pray for our communities.
Educate. We need to know what our responsibilities are. What are the laws? How does government work? I mean, we’ve given up on teaching on civics. Then, A is adhere. Adhere to the laws. Adhere to the leaders. Respect the authorities in us. C was to contribute, to make a difference. Jeremiah 29 says that we’re to seek the welfare of the city. Then, E was to engage, to actually be involved in your government. The problem is, Sam, that we’re so individualistic. We don’t see our responsibility in this. We don’t see our duty as citizens.
Sam Rohrer: But ladies and gentlemen, duty and responsibility are accountability, and that’s how God set up the whole plan of creation. For society, it’s all there. You can’t walk away from duty and responsibility. When we come back, we’re going to talk about that and extend it now to responsible leaders. We need that if we’re going to maintain a republic.
Segment 2:
Sam Rohrer: We are talking today about principle number eight in our series of 10 Principles to National Renewal. Our theme today is this, the need for involved citizens to maintain a republic. I just went through in the last segment where we have gone thus far. We are identifying these principles, ladies and gentlemen, so that you understand, so that we all understand that in these days, when you have the termites in the system, those who are actively working to destroy our self-governing republic under God, that there are reasons for it.
We, in this series, are not dealing so much with how we got here. We deal with that in other programs, the programs we do with George Barna, as an example, tells you how we have gotten to a point where you only have a few percent of Americans who have a biblical worldview. That is where we go into the how. The what are the headline news of day that demonstrates that policy after policy is against God’s design. Those are indications of where we are. This series is a solution series. This is the roadmap for renewal as we put it that way. It is from the pages of Scripture as adopted by our founders, how you can even start a nation that’s going to be blessed of God, what’s required for it. Then, as we are right now, one that is so seriously undermined and being attacked as we speak, what can we do? What do we need to know as solutions if, in fact, this is going to be turned around and God’s judgment, which is upon us clearly, can be turned again to blessing?
God makes it clear. Now, that’s what we’re laying this out here for, so that’s why we’re talking about this, but in this area we’re talking about today, not only must all citizens submit their actions and yes, their thoughts to the 10 commandments of God … Sermon on the Mount took the 10 commandments and moved it even deeper as we all know into the very thoughts of our heart, but it has to apply to governmental leaders also. Now, in reality, those in government who make and enforce the laws play an even greater role. As such, God will hold them in awe. I’m going to submit in positions of authority to a higher level of accountability. There’s going to be a lot more required of them.
Penn knew this, and in an address to leaders of his time and into those in authority at all times, he said this. I’m going to quote just a piece here from what Penn said. He said, “To you who are in authority, I beseech you, first of all, to remember that although ye are as god’s on earth, yet you shall die like men. Because you are encompassed with similar passions and are subject to sin, I beg you in the name of God to search yourselves and to be just to your own souls.” Penn goes on to say, “Let the mercies and the providence of God constrain you to unfeigned repentance. Turn to the Lord. Love righteousness. Hate oppression, and He will turn to you and love you and bless you.”
Wow. What remarkable difference contrast thinking to today. In the last segment, Jamie explained briefly the concept of duty and responsibility for the citizen and briefly what that meant, but it also applies to those in positions of authority as well. Here’s another I want to ask you about here. Penn said, and we’re going to talk in the last segment about he called on them to consider their commission and the extent of their authority. We’ll talk about it in the last segment, but he also said something else. Penn said to those in authority, “There is a higher voice unto which Christian men rule,” I was just talking about, “have to regard,” and that is the voice of God who requires us to fear him and obey his righteous commandments at the peril of making Him, God, our enemy when we should make our common friend God and protector.
When we should be making God our friend, we can actually turn and make God our enemy if we don’t listen to his voice is what he was saying. So, Jamie build out the meaning of this principle of listen to the higher voice a bit more since every person in office is listening to some voice.
Jamie Mitchell: Well, Sam, every year when there’s an election, and this is what we’re talking about. We’re talking about our leaders, about government or leaders and people who are in high office. The Scripture tells us as man thinketh, so shall he be. So, this is why it’s so important that we determine things like, well, what do people believe? What’s at the core of their belief system and their belief structure? What are their ideologies? What is the basis of their morality? Who has been their mentors? Where have they been educated? What allegiances have they had or do we have a testimony out? Because deep in the heart and the soul of a person is what drives them to make the decisions that they do.
Again, we can’t hold everyone to a Christian ethic or a Christian doctrine. That’s just not going to happen in our nation. However, we want to see some semblance of a biblical worldview and beliefs that hold to the things that Penn was speaking of and what we understand at the core of our founding was what was important to people. So, if righteousness is deep in the heart of a man, he’s going to want things to be done rightly and for righteousness to avail. That’s going to be at the heart of what a man does as a leader.
Sam Rohrer: I want to pursue that just a little bit further because I agree with you, Jamie, and that in reality, we are not going to see 100% of people in government, in positions of authority doing what God wants them to do, but that’s what we’ve been talking about. We’re in a sinful world. The nature of man is bent towards sin. We don’t naturally do what is right. That’s been the whole aspect of what we’ve been talking about, yet though, every person in a position of authority, be it a citizen or someone in office, do choose to whom they will listen. That was Penn’s call here. He said, “Those in authority, you got to listen to somebody. Listen to the voice of God in regard to how you carry out your purpose in government.”
Then, he went through … It was a great document I read this morning. He went through and considered almost every civilization since the Tower of Babel, Penn did, and laid out who they pursued, who they listened to, even mentioned about old king Saul in the Old Testament, who at one point, even went to the Witch of Endor. Here’s my question for you. Every person is going to choose to whom they are going to listen. Those in positions of authority do put around themselves counselors. Somebody gets their ear. Talk about why it’s so important to put around counselors who give good counsel and build that into listening to the voice of God.
Jamie Mitchell: Sam, those people of influence, your counselors, your mentor, the people around you, they’re going to influence how you think. I think this comes back to then the citizen because who we vote for, who we put in power, who we hand our authority to, are we sure they’re thinking the way we want them to think? Are we sure that what is driving them and the voices that they’re listening to are going to be the kind of counsel we want them to hear and be influenced by and be affected when they’re leading us? Because ultimately, here in America, when we vote for somebody and we give them authority, as we’re even seeing in the headlines today, we have people in authority who we voted for, who we put into office. Now, we’re starting to understand that boy, how they think, what they believe, what their allegiances are, their philosophy of governing and philosophy of even human kind and human nature is drastically affecting where we go as a nation.
Sam Rohrer: Jamie, go back for another further comment on this, back what you had said earlier, I agree. It’s not realistic to expect that every person in a position of authority is seeking and listening to the voice of God with a biblical worldview, yet though, and Keith talked about Deuteronomy 28, I’ve gone there many times, however, God says, “You fear me, and you keep my commandments. I will bless you. You don’t do that, I am going to curse you.” So, whether or not it’s real or not, Jamie, God’s promise of blessing is nonetheless unconditional, isn’t it?
Jamie Mitchell: Absolutely. Absolutely, Sam. Look. The person who doesn’t know the Lord and doesn’t have a personal relationship like you or I and many of our listeners, they can still pursue righteousness. They can still say, “You know what? I don’t fully understand this, God, but I understand what he has said. We understand his word. We understand things like the 10 commandments, and we see the value it has to society and the blessing that it can bring if I were to adhere to it.”
We can see this throughout history, that there have been people in elected office, people who have been ruling who didn’t necessarily know God personally, but they knew of God and they were willing to follow His way.
Sam Rohrer: Ladies and gentlemen, again, this focus for keeping a republic such as we have, it requires great maintenance, and it revolves around individual citizens and those in office who say God’s laws are higher than mine. If I obey Him, I’m blessed, and if I don’t, I’m judged. That simple. We’ll be back. We’ll continue our discussion.
Segment 3:
Sam Rohrer: Well, so far, we’ve talked about individual citizens, concept of duty and responsibility, a lot of common mentality, certainly nothing taught in our modern culture about those words, are there? Well, actually, we don’t even talk about character, integrity, virtue, responsibility, right, but yet, without those, you really can’t have a republic. You cannot do what Franklin told the folks after the constitution was signed. We’ve given you a republic if you can keep it. Things don’t happen by accident. We’ve talked about that. We’ve talked a little bit about, it’s also required in those who are in positions of authority, and we [inaudible 00:19:40] right because the founders talked about it, right, in simple terms as citizens and those in office who voluntarily submit their thoughts, yes, and their actions definitely to the 10 commandments of God, god’s moral law. Without that, you end up with tyranny.
I will say that while they knew while liberty and freedom may be the hope, and I think it is for most all people, the choice of tyranny and the lust for power by those who refuse the voice of God as we talked about in the last segment, and citizens who refuse to voluntarily submit themselves to God’s moral law, see that also becomes the reality. Tyranny is the default position of civilizations throughout history. What we have had here in this nation and in the Western world is not the normal throughout world’s history because of the nature of man.
So, here’s how Penn summarized this historical reality. He said this. I’ve quoted this before but just so you get this, then we’ll talk about it. Penn said this. “Governments, like clocks, go from the motion that men give them. As governments are made and moved by men, so by them, they are ruined too. Therefore, governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments.” He said, “Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad, and if government be ill, they will cure it. The people will cure it, but if men be bad, let the government be ever so good as far as the structure of government goes,” he said, “and they will endeavor to warp it, and they will spoil it in their turn.”
Penn says, “Now, I know that some say, let us have good laws no matter for the men that execute them.” He said, “Consider this, that the good laws do well. Good men do better. For good laws may lack good men and may be abolished or avoided.” He said, “But good men will never lack for good laws, nor will they allow ill ones.” Then, he said, “It’s true. Good laws have some awe, some effect upon ill ministers, those in office, but that’s where they don’t have the power to escape or abolish them, and the people are generally wise and good, but a loosened, depraved people love laws and government like themselves.” He said, “Therefore, that which makes for a good constitution, good body of laws must keep it, and that’s men of virtue and wisdom.”
So, Jamie, Penn’s reference to good men and good laws is a strong point. I’d like you, if you could, make the connection between good men and good laws and what’s required for citizens in our representative public to pursue and elect good men who recognize good law. What’s required to make that happen because obviously, something has gone haywire right now?
Jamie Mitchell: Well, Sam, as you were reading what Penn said, I couldn’t help my mind went to what Paul said to young Timothy that there’ll be those who want their ears tickled, and they’ll even get preachers and hire preachers to be ear ticklers because it makes them feel good. I think we’re in the same sense that sometimes, we elect people and put people in office, or we give people authority because of what we want in ourselves, and so our heart is deceitfully wicked. No man understands it. It’s corrupt. That’s where it’s important that we have absolutes that guide us and have absolutes that are moving us to create laws that will guide us and direct us when our heart is telling us that we want to go in different directions.
So, having men of good character, of godly virtue, and having them in office and in leadership and being the one to create the policies, create the laws will lead us towards a society and a world that when our hearts, our corrupt hearts want to take us in a different direction, the good laws, the godly laws, the absolutes will guide us back. That’s where we are today, Sam, is that we’re putting in office and giving authority to people who don’t have those godly virtues in their heart. They’re not good men or men pursuing godly virtue. So, at the end of it is they’re creating laws or even avoiding laws that would lead us towards absolute truth and what God is desiring, Sam, for us. That’s why it’s so important to find men who mirror a godly virtue.
Sam Rohrer: Keith, I want to go to you next and build off of what Jamie just said because now, Penn in that section used the word good men and good laws. Of course, we, on this program, talk a lot about you’ve got to define your terms because in other places, Penn actually used the word righteous in place of good. He talked about you elect righteous men, and then you will have righteous laws, but there’s a Scripture verse that says remarkably the same thing. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the evil, the unrighteous bear rule, the people mourn. That’s essentially the core of what he was describing. Can you illustrate a little bit, Keith, what it looks like for a righteous person in office? What’s that look like, and maybe compare, contrast what it looks like as compared to what it doesn’t look like?
Keith Wiebe: I think in a nutshell, Sam, is someone who obeys what William Penn and so many others throughout history called the laws of nature. They’re not laws that people need to come up with. They are, in essence, laws of God. They would be the equivalent of the unalienable rights described in our Declaration of Independence. It is those laws, like I said, not invented by men but they are just a part of what God has given to humanity through what we might call just his common grace that he extends to everyone. It seems like honesty, integrity, morality, things that Romans 1 says are really the laws that are just part of nature, but when people forsake those things and they go, what Romans 1 said was contrary to nature, they begin to live by their own selfishness. They begin to go to the fulfilling of their own desires, and you connect the people or this government by the people after all with the people that they choose to put in leadership over them.
They choose people who are like they are, who have themselves no self-government. They have abandoned the laws of nature. They’re doing their own thing. They’re fulfilling their own desires, even lusts out of the powers of government. We soon have a culture that is completely corrupt and therefore, we do not have what Scripture describes, righteous in authority. The people can’t rejoice. The evil are bearing rule, and even though the people are getting not only what they deserve, but I guess what they wanted, yet the end result is they mourn. They are dissatisfied, unhappy, become disgruntled. Soon, you have a culture and a society that is just filled with chaos.
Sam Rohrer: Keith, that kind of reminds me of the nation of Israel who came out of Egypt, and God said, “I’m going to give you the law,” which He did through Moses, “and I’m going to make you to be the light unto the world,” and all of that, we know that goes with it, but there was a point after they had all these blessings, they said, “You know what? We want a king.” That’s when they pursued Saul. There’s a principle there that’ll apply to our time now, isn’t there?
Keith Wiebe: Well, there is. Twice, the Book of Judges says there was no king in Israel and probably referring not so much to human king as the fact that God was the longer king in their hearts. Every man did what was right in his own eyes, and I don’t know of anything more descriptive than that of our culture that we’re in today.
Sam Rohrer: With that, ladies and gentlemen, can I suggest that there was a nation. They knew who God was. They had experienced the blessings of God. They had been delivered from slavery. They had now liberty. They were set free, and they said, “That’s not good enough. We want what others have.” As Samuel, the prophet said, “They haven’t rejected me. They rejected God.”
So, what do we do in this nation that has rejected God? Well, that’s these 10 principles for a blessed nation as we’re laying out. We’ve got to start with the pursuit of truth and say I want the truth. I will not believe a lie. I recognize who God is as sovereign as creator, but I know that man is sinful. Principle number three. So, therefore, God said, “I got to delegate authority here and put some order in place because these people are going to kill themselves,” and then deliver the law, the law of God, the 10 commandments. “Follow my law,” God said, “I’m going to bless you. Do what I’d say, and I will bless you, and then you move along to these principles.”
Ultimately, God says, “If you would do what I say, I will raise up a nation.” He did. He raised up our nation, and what have we done? Just like Israel, right? We said God’s not good enough. Well, what’s the solution is to get back on our knees before God and say, “No, we’ve got to start.” Well, in this case, that’s why we’re calling it 10 principles for renewal because we’ve had it once.
Segment 4:
Today, we’ve been laying out principle number eight in our 10 principles to national renewal series. Today, we’re getting closer to the end now. We’re talking if a republic is raised up, a nation is raised up of God, well, what do you do to continue it? So, there’s the need for involved citizens in the maintenance of a republic. So, we started about the need for responsible citizens who understand duty and responsibility, and then we went to responsible leaders because understand, nobody gets in a position of leadership who’s not already a citizen, right? Well, theoretically, that’s the way it should happen.
So, if you have irresponsible citizens, then you will have irresponsible leaders. If you have citizens who don’t understand duty and responsibility and integrity and voluntarily submitting themselves to God’s moral law, then when they get in positions of leadership, neither will they do it then. That’s what Penn was talking about. So, you have that. Then, in the last segment, we talked about in reality, that good laws require good law makers. That’s what He said. That’s what the Bible says, and we substitute it in saying righteous laws, laws that can bring God’s blessing require that you have righteous lawmakers and as Penn said, but if you have a depraved people who are loose in their morals, they will elect the people who don’t really care for God’s standards.
See, it’s how it all links together, and you can’t let go of any of these pieces. Well, another thing that is required that is called out in part of this is that good government, righteous government also requires that those in positions of authority understand that they are God’s servants. One of the most profound principles in Scripture is that of authority. We talk about it a lot here. It runs through these 10 principles necessary for a renewed nation. It’s a principle, that’s an essential core for God’s plan for a blessed nation, these same 10 principles. William Penn understood this as well. Our founders did. They all understood this principle.
Let me just read from one piece of the writings of Penn. Again, I’m going there because he did perhaps more to put into a written form and analysis of these principles requiring what’s necessary for a holy experiment and freedom to come about, but listen to what he said here. Again, he’s writing this to those in authority, those who would be in government. “Consider your commission, your charge, and examine the extent of your authority.” He said, “And you will find that God and the government structure have empowered you to punish sins, and it is so far from being a crime.” He said, “It’s your duty to do so.” He said, “This is not a troubling thought for men of faith, nor is it perplexing to people who are of tender conscience for there can be no pretense of conscience,” now, he’s naming some sins here, “to be drunk, to be whoring, adultery, to be voluptuous, sensation …” There’s a whole things involved in that term as he used it. He said, “Or gamble or swear or curse or blaspheme and profane.” He said, “No such matter.”
He said, “These are all sins against nature and against the government. As well, they are against the written laws of God. These sins lay the axe to the root of human society, and they are the common enemies of mankind. To prevent these iniquities, government was instituted by God, and shall government encourage that which is instituted to correct?” In other words, shall government encourage the very sins that God put government in effect to control? He said, “This would be to render government and those in government as useless and of bearing the sword in vain. There could be no such thing in government as being a terror to evil doers, but everyone would end up doing that, which is right in their own eyes.” Then, he prayed in desperation, “God Almighty, defend us from this sort of anarchy.”
Wow, how profound. Jamie, principle number eight, the need for involved citizens to maintain a free republic, Penn used this idea that to punish those who do evil by citing certain basic sins, he said called him against nature and against God, in simple terms, why does the failure of government leaders to view actions, he called these sins, he called some of them out, contrary to God’s law, why does it render those in government useless as Penn said? Then, why did he pray, God almighty, defend us from this sort of anarchy?
Jamie Mitchell: Well, Sam, at the basis of the relationship of leaders in government and its citizens, there is trust. If trust is broken, then there’s no confidence in government. I used to say it this way. If we are unsettled about our liberty, our laws or our leaders, we will not give ourselves over to the authorities that govern us. So, it is when Penn said to pray that God would keep us from this anarchy, but what he’s talking about is that when leaders and people who are in leadership stop seeing themselves as servants, both servants of God and servants to the people that they’re leading, when servanthood is gone, that means selfishness has flooded in, and we start doing things for our own personal gain. We start doing them for our own power. We start forgetting why we were sent into government and to lead and to exercise authority. It is a poison.
When that slips into the vein of those who are in leadership and it begins to show itself with this tyranny or this anarchy, the people just lose confidence in government. They lose confidence in leadership, and there, you have the great conflict that happens in civilization. When the people who willingly want to be led are entrusting themselves to leaders who they want to believe are there to serve for their good, and then they’ll submit, but when they start to see those in government abusing that authority and abusing their authority and not being a servant to the people, boy, we have a problem. We have a major problem. I think that’s something that those who are in authority need to look to.
Sam, as I’ve been thinking about this whole segment and this whole program today, you’re the only one who’s on this program today that was an elected officer. You served in the government. You were in that position. As Penn talks about, to consider the commission or the extent of authority, from your perspective as being an elected authority, can you explain what that means in practical terms?
Sam Rohrer: Jamie, I can in about one minute. It’ll be very brief. That was when I understood from Romans 13 when I was in office, and I know from talking to so many others, now and back then ,the one thing that makes the biggest distinction in how a person serves and their attitude in office is whether or not they understand that they are a minister of God under God, which is what Romans 13 talks about. That is what Penn was talking about, the extent of their authority.
A person in office, if they don’t understand that their authority is bounded by their obligation to the other authorities, the individual, the home, and the church, all being under God, if they don’t understand that they are all bound by authority and they’re to be a deacon, a servant of God for the people, carrying out God’s plan, if they don’t understand that, Jamie, they will become tyrants in their minds and in their actions. That’s the only solution to tyranny.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s what we’re witnessing today in our nation. We need people, and it starts with you and me in our hearts. Who is on the throne in our hearts? God or us? That then is extended after those who are in office. Until we get ourselves back right with God, with who he is and what he expects, we won’t be able to turn around. As what Penn prayed for, this anarchy, defend us, oh God, from this sort of anarchy. See you back.
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