The Political Bands Are Back!
As we celebrate our 235th year of separation from
British rule and our subsequent independence as a nation, it might
be a worthwhile exercise to think about where we are and where we’re
heading as our history continues to unfold. Consider briefly the
first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence that was ratified
by the original Thirteen States on July 4, 1776. The text reads as
follows:
“When, in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which
have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers
of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws
of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.”
Human events do indeed run a course determined
largely by the decisions of governments. The dictates of the British
government regarding its subjects are what fueled the perceived need
for separation. That need is what gave birth to America. And now, in
2011, there is a loudening refrain among Americans that the
government in Washington, D.C. is beginning to bear a striking
resemblance to the Political Bands of its former boss. The Tea Party
movement was, in a microcosm, an expression of that same need for a
degree of dissolution.
The other side of the dissolution coin is the
assumption of a separate and equal status among nations. That is
what the Founders sought and secured for us. It was something to
which they felt “entitled” by both nature and nature’s God. It’s
noteworthy that the Founder’s idea of “entitlement” meant freedom
and INDEPENDENCE FROM government. Now 235 years hence it signifies
DEPENDENCE UPON government. And we all know that those who are
dependent upon government are CONTROLLED BY government. This is
where America is today with half of its citizenry dependent upon a
government subsidy and adamant about their entitlement to it.
The phrase “a decent respect for the opinions of
mankind” is what the Founders had for the inhabitants of the
Thirteen States they represented, and therefore felt impelled to
declare their noble causes (opinions) as a basis for separation. Its
British taskmasters lacked such respect. The fact that Britain
LACKED it was NO EXCUSE for not having it. In like manner, the U.S.
government has demonstrated repeatedly—especially since January
2009—its total LACK of DECENT RESPECT for the opinions of Americans.
And any government void of such decent respect is INDECENT
government! We need go no further than the first paragraph of the
document we are celebrating this weekend to realize the dangers we
face. What we once were is NOT what we now are! The Political Bands
are back!
The dissolution of Political Bands is a relevant
biblical topic. In the law God gave Israel at its formation as “one
nation under God” was the Year of Jubilee. That statute is found in
Leviticus 25:10: “And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and
proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every
man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his
family.” The various causes and reasons for an indentured condition
are not within our scope here. But the fact is servitude of men to
other men was a reality the Lord anticipated and for which he gave a
specific directive.
I am not certain why the Lord sanctified the Fiftieth
Year. But if we take seventy years as a general time frame for life
expectancy (Psalm 90:10), it may very well be that God chose fifty
to virtually guarantee that every man, at some point in his
lifetime, would experience a quality of life representative of
genuine freedom! And the Lord was serious about the leadership of
Israel ensuring that Jubilee was carried out in accordance with his
directive.
When Jeremiah (often referred to as “The Weeping
Prophet” because of his “laments” about backslidden Israel) spoke of
judgment, one of the reasons he cited was failure to keep Jubilee as
the sacred event God meant it to be (Jeremiah 34:15-17). The word
“liberty” is found four times in those verses with the first three
constituting an indictment against masters for denying to indentured
Israelites that taste of liberty God commanded for them. In his
indictment, the Lord rebuked Jewish masters for basically doing to
their servants what Pharaoh attempted to do to the Jews after
releasing them from Egyptian bondage: BRING THEM BACK INTO BONDAGE!
Of this much I am
certain. Jubilee prefigured the spiritual freedom that IS the
birthright of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. By granting
and then retracting that liberty, Israel’s leadership blurred that
sacred picture and incurred the displeasure of Almighty God. If only
America’s leadership could see the dangers of bringing back the
Political Bands from which once we were loosed!
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