2008 Issue 3 - The Christian Prince - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 2008 Issue 3 - The Christian Prince - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/6

The Christian

Prince

Buddy

Hanson

Putting Civil Back into Civil

Government

Excerpt From Chapter Five

Which Vision

s

Guiding Your

Lifestyle and Legislation?

Those

who

have

caused

trouble all over the

world have

now

come here. They are all defying

Caesar s decrees saying that there is another

king, one called Jesus.

cts

17.6-7

It will be necessary to adjust the Christian

dogma to the

ideas

which we National Socialists

represent. ~ d o l p h Hitler

Scroll

through the annals

of history,

and

as

you

stop

along

the

way to look

at

a

particular

society's

culture, you will

see that

i they were living

according to God's rules things were probably

going well,

and

if they were living according to

their

rules, things probably weren t going well.

The

reason

the word probably is

used

in the

preceding sentence

is

because

God doesn t

usually

reward or

punish us immediately

for

our

decisions

and

actions. This means that sometimes a society

that is living according to non-Christian principles

may not be cursed immediately because of the

blessings

that

have

accrued

from

the

obedience

of previous generations.

Sooner or

later, however,

disobedient

societies will fill

up

God's

cup

of

wrath

and will receive His

perfect

justice.

One constant throughout

all societies

and

all

generations

is

the

all-out

war

(either ideological

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon


2/6

or

physical) over

whether

God's will

or man's

will

sets

the

oultural agenda. Stati sts strive

to eliminate

Christianity because they see themselves as god.

In Mussolini's words: The

state

is God ,valking on

earth. Mussolini's contemporary, Adolph Hitler,

stated his oontempt for thc triuno God of the Bible

by

telling

the

uncompromising and

internationally

renovl'll.ed Pastor Martin NienlOeller,

The religions are all alike, no matter

, vhat

they call themselves. They have no future-certainly

none for

the

Germans.

God invented civil

govenunent and

it is only

as we govern ourselves

acoording to God s

inerrant

HT 1d

that

we will

be govenwd

in

a Hcivil 1nannel:

bringing

about

hell on

earth.

Those v;,rho believe

that

man, apart

from God, is fully

capable of bringing

about a heaven

on

earth are

called utopians,

and history

proves

that

while

utopians

always

fail to

bring about

heaven on earth,

they succeed in

Machiavelli's The

Prince

is the most famous book on

civil government,

but

it is neither the best, nor the

first, sinoe the Bible holds

those

distinctions.

Just

as

the

Bible provides specific guidelines on

how to

carry

out the functions of the God-appOinted self-governing

spheres (individual, family and church), so does the

Bible provide speoific guidelines

on

how we

should

govern ourselves. It should oome as a surprise that

the methods

of

our

perfectly holy

God are

a

great

deal different from the methods of perfectly u nholy

and

non-redeemed

man.

Paul

puts

it

like

this:

FOT though

we

live in the world,

we

do not wage

war

as

the woTld does. The weapons

wefight

with

are

not

the weapons f the world. On the contral) ,

they

have divine

power to demolish strongholds. lVe

denwl ish argu1rwnts and eVel)

pretension

that sets

itself

u against

the hnowledge oj God, and

we

tahe

captive eVe1) thought to mahe it obedient to Christ.

2 CoTinthians 10.4-5

Each of God's four appointed self-governing spheres

is assigned specific duties,

and

no sphere should

usurp

the

responsibilities of another. The

chart

below

illustrates four areas

that

today are being governed

very unsuccessfully by the state. Man, the state,

wants to predestine all outcomes for life on earth,

but that is not God's plan, so the

result

is that man's

plans are frustrated. The only way we can turn the

world r ightside up is to follow God's instructions.

ig

1 page 23)

Pastor Joe Morecraft explains why we

are

commanded to declare Christ's lordship

in

the

Nations Christ s Disciples

political arena:

Christ's comprehensive and unlimited lordship is of

particular

importance for

the

political realm. Since

He is the unrivaled Monarch of the politioal process

of the United States, Christians have

the duty

to

declare His lordship in the

American

political

arena;

and we should not

rest until

His divine rights and

absolute authority are recognized and voluntarily

submitted to

in the executive, legislative and

judicial

branches

of our oivil

government

at

the national,

state, county, munioipal and individual levels. For a

Christian to seek anything less is to act as

i

Christ is

something less than ,vhat He is in fact: ~ K i n g of kings

and Lord of lords. 2

God's vision of civil government is contrasted

with man's vision in the following chart. 'Vhile

not intended to

be

a oomplete compilation of the

hvo opposing views, it nevertheless shows the

uncompromisingnature of both forms of governing.

Ultimately,

both

have a ('take

no prisoners attitude,

since Christ will not Imver the standards of His

Kingdom, and man will not elevate his.

Fig 2 page 24)

The Bible is not difficult

to

understand, and indeed

was written in a

manner

so it

could

be understood

by

the general population. However,

Once

God's clear'Vord is cast aside, ethics become

very murky as we begin to look for

rationalizations to

justify our sinful behavior.

The

most direct

route

would be to

declare

that

there

is

no such

thing

as absolute

truth, thereby making

the principles in our Constitution relative

to

the

times in which we live. For example, non-Christians

may

present

this

argument:

Our

founders were living

in the

midst of

an

agrarian

oulture, and we are living in a sophisticated high-tech

culture, so surely our ethics have

to

be looked at

in a manner different from theirs.

Some judges and

justices

shy mvay from making

such

an obviously unbiblica l statement and resort to

playing word games, since they consider themselves

as our intellectual superiors

and

can't imagine

that

we will

be

able

to

see

through their

ethical

shell

game.

The

height of this

arrogance

was reached

when Supreme Court Justice 'Villiam O. Douglas

proclaimed that

prenumbras

formed

by emanations

justified his decision to overlook some specific

guarantees of the Bill of Rights. A penumbra is a

partial

shadow between regions of complete

darkness

and complete illumination, as in an eclipse, and

v.rhatever illumination

Justice

Douglas received was

very clearly not from God.

Other justices,

not liking the

clear intentions

of

the

Continued

on Page

23

7


3/6

The Christian Prince (continuedfrom page

7)

absolute principles

contained in our Constitution, f anguage is not correct, then what is

said

is

not

laws oroEner

counffies:-vVn 'e=n------=w=hat 1 S meant; ifWhat 1 S saul

1 S not

wnat

1, 's:-c;m=-O:;:e=a=n-rt,-------

they

come

to a

particular

case

with

their

decision

then what ought to be

done

remains undone; if'this

in mind,

and

can't

find specific words,

or

even,

remains undone, morals and art deteriorate; if

prenumbras

formed

by emanations they search the morals and art deteriorate,

justice

LlDill go astray;

laws of

other countries until they

find one,

then

cite if

ustice

goes astray, the peo ple will

stand about

that

as

justification

for

their

ruling For

Christians,

this

is absolutely

insane

behavior,

but

for a

person in helpless confusion. Hence there must be

no

who

doesn't

believe

that Christ

is

the incarnation

of arbitrariness

in what is said. Confucius

God's 'Word,

they

have

no

respect

for His

clear

Word.

They would

probably

repeat Pontius Pilate's query to

Jesus: "vVhat is

truth? 3

So

instead

of viewing words

as

clear

means

of

communicating

our intents,

they

distort

and

abuse

f

udges can

read into

the Constitution rights

that are not there they can also read out of the

Constitution

rights

that

are there.

them in order

to

change culture

according

to

their

self-centered

agenda.

In other

words,

they

view

The Purposes o Government

themselves as

gods

In

the

18th

century the

second President

of

America, John

Adams,

remarked,

Our

Constitution

was made

only

for a moral and

religious people.

It is

wholly

inadequate for the

government

of

any

other.

The

ssue

To protect citizens from invasion,

and to keep communities safe for

people to live, work and play

To

take care

of

people who can t

take care

of

themselves

To educate the children

To protect the environment

vVhen President

Adams

made

this

statement

the

word "religion" was

synonymous

with

"Christianity."

His

meaning

was

that

without

a

people who

believed

in

absolute truths,a constitution

wasn't

worth

the paper it

was

written

on,

because

judges

and

legislators would attach

their

personal

meanings to

it.

The

U.S.

Constitution

(and

each

of

the

original

State

Constitutions) was

written to

provide

personal

liberty

for self-governing citizens and

protection

from

a

tyrannical

civil government.

In Patrick

Henry's

words,

The

Constitution is not an

instrumentfor

the

government

to

restrain the

people, it is

an instrttmentfor the people to

restrain

the

government-lest

it come to dominate our lives and

interests.

It

is all too obvious

that

today's

judicial

branch

has

turned

Patrick

Henry's

words

on their ear by

refusing

to attach absolute meanings to

the

words we use.

Even

Confucius,

the 6th century

B.C.

non-Christian

Chinese

philosopher. recognized

the

importance

of

the absolute meaning of words.

the Nations

Christ s

Disciples

The Responsibility

MAN SAYS

Civil Government

Civil Government

Civil Government

Civil Government

GOD SAYS

Civil Government

Family/Church

Private/Personal

Charity

Family

Individual

Fig 1

This

points up

the

critical

importance

of

not

only

electing

Christian

civil

rulers

(legislators

and

judges),

but

doing

what

we

can

to make

certain they

know how to

connect

their

Spiritual Dots" to their

legislative and judicial decisions. Otherwise, we will

have

whatwe

have now:

Christians

civil ruler s who

behave

as

though they

are

merely

"conservative"

in

their approach to

governing. t

has been

said that

a conservative is a

person who has

grown fond of

the order

which liberals

have

forced

on

him.

Such

a

person

is obviously

not the kind

of ally we

need

in

order to

help

turn our culture

around.

He that

rules

over men must bejust,

ruling in thefear of God. 2 Samuel2J.J

Researcher

George

Barna admonishes each

of

us

to

get serious about serving

in

Christ's

Kingdom. Living

as

t h o l ~ h

we are capable of

determining

truth

on

our

own is wholly incompatible

with

repeatedly affirming

that

"God's Word" is

truth.

Is God's

moral truth an obsession

with you?

t

ought

to

be, for every follower of Christ. After all,

our

decisions

are influenced by the accuracy

of

the

23


4/6

The Ch1'ist ian P1 ince

perspectives we bring to every point of decision; we

cannot make

great choices if

\ve are

working with

faulty information. And if our purpose is to love God,

and we do so by honoring Him and respecting His

laws and principles , then

we

must gracefully

and gratefully bow to His revelation of

truth

in order

to

do

what

is right

and

appropriate

in

His eyes.

4

Paul instructs us that God gave us His inerrant

'ord

in order that \ve may "be complete, thoroughly

equipped for every good work 5

Christian Conservative or Deist ...

Which Does our Lifestyle

Say You Are?

Deists don't allow for

anyon-going communications

with God,

we

could make up \vays to worship Him

one day a week, then push Him completely out of our

minds

during

the

rest of the week, while \ve attend

to

our "real \vorId" obligations.

The

separation of

the

church

and

state takes on a completely ne\v meaning

for Deists.

According to Christianity, as

\ve

have seen, God

assigns both

of

these spheres specific responsibilities,

and the state should not usurp the responsibilities

of the church, nor Vice-versa. Both, ho\vever,

are

accountable to operate according to biblical

principles. On the other hand, Deists have

no

such

guidelines, so

they

can live like hell on

earth and

imagine

that

they will go to heaven \vhen

they

die.

Talk about

the

best of both \vorlds

As the saying goes, "Actions

speak

louder than

\vords." So

the

question each of

us needs

to answer

'hile

deists can't

see

that their s is a false religion,

the

scales from our eyes have mercifully been

removed so we

can correctly

see

Fig 2

the truth.

6

'Ve know

that dod

is

~ I d e n t i j Y i n g Y o u r L e g i s l a t ~ e A p p r o a c h ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ w d ~ ~ C ~ t i ~

and

\ve

kno\v that we have

been

24

GOVERNMENT ACCORDING TO GOD called to transform our culture into

one that reflects His will. 7

And

So

speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law

of

liberty.

'Ve know that before we begin our

godly attack on culture, we need

to attack ourselves, and

get

our

worldview and lifestyle squared

away.

James 2 12

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

Proverbs

14 34

And

He said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are

Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

Matthew

22 21

'Ve also have confidence

our

godly walk will help

transform

our culture because

God

gives

us

His 'Vord that evil will eventually

perish.

8

GOVERNMENT ACCORDING TO MAN

. There is no transcendent standard of government outside of man .

. Whatever serves the state is moral and is considered truth.

. The state gains its mandate to govern either by popular vote, or, failing that,

by court rulings that Imaginatively interpret the plain written words of the law

according to subjective penumbras formed by emanations * instead

of an

objective reading of the U.S. Constitution.

The Difference

etween

Conservative and

Christian Civil Rulers

is: "Does our lifestyle reflect that we

are

a Christian,

or a non-Christian?" Since this

book

is aimed at

Christians, a

more

useful question

might

be: "Do

our

daily decisions (whether in the legislature, in the

courthouse,

the

home, or

another

vocation) testify to

those

around us that we

are a Christian or a Deist?

'ere I not, by God's grace, a Christian , I probably

would be a deist. From a non-Christian viewpoint,

there are a couple of good reasons to be a deist. First,

this explains the orderliness

in creation that

cannot

be explained by a totally chance and random "Big

Bang" theory. Second, imagining that God created

the

universe (and us)

and

is now sitting idly by

watching us "do our thing" is compatible with the

non-Christians' self-centered point of view because it

doesn't hold them accountable for their actions. Since

At any moment we are either

imaging Christ (keeping His

l a ~ v s ,

or Satan (breaking

Christ 's laws by living according to a different set of

rules). Approaching your legislative duties fro111 an

exclusively Christian perspective (imaging Christ)

may

seem

an

ovenvhelming task.

And

\ {ell

it

\vould

be without

the

Creator God's help. The thought

of having

the

Creator God in your corner, \vatching

over you

and

directing your every move through His

revealed 'ord should more than offset any "peer

pressure to image Satan.

The

difference being a

Christian

makes is that we have God guiding us,

blessing our obedience

Ho\v can we expect

to improve

on

God's \vill by

living according to our ideas?

Since the Triune God has brought us out

The ounsel of halcedon


5/6

of darkness and into light, ,vhy are ,ve more

ooncerned about how people will respond to His

truth, than

we are about how He will respond to

our compromising His truth?

There is no biblical varrant for religious pluralism.

The

ultimate question is, "Under \vhich ideas

shall we live: true or false ones?" To compromise with

the proponents of false ideas is to agree

that

society's

problems are

not

inside us (a sinful heart), but are

outside us (bad family or social environment, bad

education). Such a position leads to dealing only with

the symptoms of what ails society. The results are:

more civil

goveTrt1nent programs

higher taxes,

and

the

continuation

f the problems

Scripture teaches that God is primarily

concerned vith a society's ethics. \Ve live in an

orderly universe ,vhere predictable results follow our

actions (including legislative decisions). This means

that

good (or godly) legislation will produce good

results. \Vhy, then, leave God out of your strategy

to govern? Your duty is to be Biblically correct, not

politically correct.

Do )'our best to present yourself to God

as

one

appTOved, a

wodw1an who

does not

need

to be

asham,ed

and

who

c01Tectly

handles

the

word

of

truth.

2

Timothy 2.15

Ten Questions

That Only

th

Bible

Correctly Answers

Jesus does not command us

to

transform

the culture

of the world to His Father's principles and then leave

us on our mvn to figure out hov\T to do it. He knows

too well

that

if He did, we ,vould, with

the best

of

intentions, mess things up royally. The purpose of

The Christian Prince is to describe the biblical frame

of

mind

from which civil rulers should approach

their vocation. In-depth explanations to the following

questions can be found in

such

works as Buddy

Hanson's Choose This Day: God's Instructions' on

HO\v

to Select Leaders, and The Christian Civil

Ruler's Handbook.

9

For

our purposes, the

follOWing

questions will help solidify your thinking:

1. How should we goveTr/, ourselves?

2. A1 e

there

any

limits t

civil government?

3. lVhat cTiteTia should

civil

rulers

use for

legislating,

and

governing?

4.

Should

politicalluwwledge 1 est

011,

lahing the

Nations

Christ's Disciples

The Clwistian Prince

expeTience

and man's

reason,

or

upon the

instructions

OU1

Creator

has given

to

us?

5.

Does the Bible give any support for the state's

educating our children?

6.

What

hinds

qf

services

a1e we

currentl.y

paying

thTOUgh our

taxes,

that

should

be

handled

by the

individual,

the family, 01 the

church?

7.

lVhat

hinds f civil laws

are I ~ o ( ) d ,

and

which

are Ilevil

and should

be ove1 turned?

8.

lVhat

hinds Qfwars

are IYust?

9. What's

11W1 e

impfwtant: pee? acceptance,

or

God's acceptance? Staying in Q[fi.ce, or staying

in the good graces f our IJonl, Savi01

and

King?

10.

Is

our

political goal to bTing down the

other party's principles,

01

to

honor

Christ's

p1 inciples by governing om selves accm ding to

His will? Your

stance

f01 Godly

principles

will

automaticall.y

lib

ring

down ) our

opposition's

principles;

but ifYOU1 priority is

to

l1wrel:v

contrast YOU1 IIconservative'

principles

with

their Illiberal princ iples , you

will SOOne1 01

lateT lose esteem, not only with voteTs

but

with

God. . ,

A Christian legislator's biggest

mistake

is to believe

he

is representing

someone

other

than

Jesus

Christ.

t is true that our constituents vote us

into

office

and we owe

them

our best representation, but

such representation must be

based upon

biblical

principles,

not just

the latest public opinion poll.

Te

must guard against Christianity s

becoming just

another religious alternative, or simply a custom

from bygone days. As Christians, we know that

Christianity is the one, true religion, but knowing

that does not fulfill our

commitment

to God. t is

incumbent upon

us

to

provide a daily

demonstration

of its superiority over all false religious vie\vs,

including

the

religious view of

the

state As a

Christian legislator, you must be like

Issachar

"who

understood the times ,vith the knowledge of what

[you] should do."

10

The following

statement

from Martin Luther is as

familiar as i t is famous. Until now you

may

have

never considered its applications to civil government.

Luther, after all, was a theologian, but the underlying

premise of The

Christian Prince

is that all vocations

are godly and to

be

sllccessful, must

incorporate

biblical principles into their daily duties. To see how

explicitly Luther's admonitions apply to civil rulers,

read

his \vords as

though they

were yours.

5


6/6

The Christian

Prince

If

I profess

with

the loudest voice

and clearest

exposition every portion of the truth of God

=r=ec=ci sely tnat

Uffle

pomt

wlUch----nie worIa

6

and the

devil are at the moment attacking, I am

not confess ing Chris t, however boldly I may be

professing

Christ.

"Where the battle rages, there the

loyalty of the soldier is proved. He is disgraced if

he

flinches

at that

point. Martin

Luther

As a legislator

or

a judge, you are always going to

be

dealing with hot button cultural issues. When you

do, will you be hesitant to

present the

biblical reasons

for supporting or opposing

certain

issues? As a judge

will you make

your

rulings based strictly upon the

written words of the law? Luther tells

us

that we find

out the worth

of

the

soldier in the heat of

the

battle.

As a legislator are you flinching at that point

because

a biblical

stand

may be too controversial? Or, as a

judge, if public sentiment opposes a decision based

upon the law, will you

be

faithful to stand on

the

law

instead of public opinion? If not, how do you plan to

present your

reasons

for "bailing

out

on your

Lord,

Savior

and

King, Jesus Christ when you

see

Him

on

Judgment

Day?

s God s Rule Limited To The

ozy

Confines Of Our Churches and

Homes?

vVe are commanded

not to serve two masters.

This means that it is not enough to "love" Christ

inside our Churches and homes, while we

hate

(or "despise") Him by obeying ungodly laws

in

the

workplace, the

State

House, the school, and in our

day-to-day activities.

The

purpose of God's Word is to

show us

how to live

and

govern ourselves.

t

gives

us

direction. When God's laws are taken away, so is

the

true meaning of life.

Any law that

violates

the law of

God is

no law at all.

William

Blackstone -

Commentaries Volume 1, 1765

To keep God's truths on the sidelines of life and to

not advocate

and promote

His principles, is to live

as if His vVord is irrelevant to day-to-day activities,

and to imply that man's will is superior to God's. The

following verses testify that God's will is

superior to ours,

and

that He is in complete control

of His

creation

and

doesn't

need

any

help from

our

"wisdom."

For the kingdom is the Lord s and e rules over

the

nations. Psalm

22.28

By

Me

kings

reign, and

rulers

decree

justice.

Proverbs 8.15

The king s

heart

is in the

hand of

the Lord, like

the rivers of

water;

e

turns it

wherever

e

(vishes.

Proverbs 21.2

For a society to succeed

it

must follow God's

instructions, for "God is not mocked." Our goal, as

Christ ians, and your goal as a Christian civil ruler, is

to live according to "every word that proceeds from

the

mouth

of God."

12

These words, as revealed

in

Scrip ture, reflect God's will for our life, and in order

to effect His will "on

earth

as

it

is

in

heaven,"

13 we

have no other option but

to

conduct our personal

and

public actions according to His Word. Nowhere

in

Scripture does God instruct us that His laws

are no longer the best way to conduct our

civil affairs. This

means

that for a society to

imagine

it

is

smarter than

God is to insult

its Creator, Lord, Savior

and

King

Nowhere does Scripture

teach that

God's

principles for living are intended to be applied

exclusively to

the

private aspects of our lives.

As

king Solomon proclaims, "Righteousness exalts

a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." 14

It should not be forgotten that the non-Jewish

city of

Sodom was destroyed for breaking

an

Old

Testament

case law, 15

and

the non-Jewish city

of Nineveh was spared destruction because it

repented and

began living

in

obedience to God's

Word. 16 Any nation can be

assured that

unless t

does its best to follow God's laws,

it

will perish. 17

Old

habits

do die hard, but as the 14th

Century

Catholic writer Thomas a Kempis notes,

"Habit is overcome by habit," and the Biblical

Legislative Checklist is

presented

to help you

replace

any

non-Christian approaches to your

legislative duties with Christian ones.

The Counsel of

Chalcedon

Documents

2008 Issue 3 - The Christian Prince - Counsel of Chalcedon