The Senate hearings regarding the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to
the Supreme Court demonstrated that few in Washington view the Constitution as our founders did. The
Constitution first and foremost is a document that limits the power of the federal government. It prevents the
president, Congress, and the Supreme Court from doing all kinds of things. But judging by last week's
hearings, the Constitution is an enabling document, one that authorizes the federal government to involve
itself in nearly every aspect of our lives...
John Jay is one of America's most celebrated founders. He was America's
first Supreme Court Chief Justice and also co-authored the Federalist Papers. Jay's influence upon the founding
generation was immense. Jay is credited with saying, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their
rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer
Christians for their rulers."
Both President Bush and Iraqi leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari consider it an
act of altruism to sacrifice young Americans in Iraq.
"Our people will never forget those who stand beside Iraq, particularly in these terrible times," stated
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari during a June 24 joint press conference with President Bush at the
White House. "You have given us something more than money – you have given your sons, your children that were
killed beside our own children in Iraq. Of course, this is more precious than any other kind of support."
Despite the deepening morass in Mesopotamia and growing disillusionment with the war on the part of both
Congress and the public, Mr. Bush remains dauntless. Referring to suicide bombers like those who killed at
least a half-dozen Americans in Baghdad on the same day – as well as wounding 11 female Marines – Bush
declared: "They figure if they can shake our will and affect public opinion, then politicians will give up
on the mission."...
...The destruction of America's founding principles can be directly
traced to the country's willful rejection of the Bible as our source of divine authority. America has done
more than expel God and the Bible from our schools; it has expelled God and the Bible from politics, commerce,
and even our very way of life. Should it be any wonder then that our founding documents are also being
expunged? After all, America's founding documents are themselves predicated upon God and the Bible...
Admire him or despise him, George W. Bush is essentially a
figurehead for the tightly knit Establishment oligarchy that actually runs the Executive Branch of our
government.
When a tiny, single-engine Cessna 150 aircraft wafted into restricted Washington, D.C., airspace on
May 11, the federal government went to a terrorism threat advisory level of red alert, and the nation's capitol
was evacuated. As it happened, the airplane had simply been off course during a trip from Pennsylvania to an
air show in North Carolina. But the fallout from the incident revealed volumes about how the executive
branch of the federal government is run during a crisis.
Our American Republic is uniquely rooted in the idea
and practice of Liberty. To be American is to be at liberty from all forms of tyranny and
oppression. On September 23rd, 1800, in a letter to Founding Father Dr. Benjamin Rush, Thomas
Jefferson stated, “I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of
tyranny over the mind of men.” Our documents of Liberty reflect the very touchstone of this
ideal. However, it was not George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or any of the Sons of Liberty
that invented this philosophy. The very truth and blessing of our personal and political
freedom is as old as the Creation and has been developed from a long heritage of historical
Christian Tradition.
In early December, without a word of public notice, the
Justice Department placed on its website a lengthy September 25, 2001 memorandum entitled "The
President's Constitutional Authority to Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorists and
Nations Supporting Them." That document sets out, on behalf of the Bush administration, a
plainly totalitarian view of presidential power.
>..."National ID cards are not proper in a free society,"
Paul stated. "This is America, not Soviet Russia. The federal government should never be
allowed to demand papers from American citizens, and it certainly has no constitutional
authority to do so."
Last week Congress increased the mortgage on your future
yet again, by voting to allow the federal government to borrow another $800 billion to pay its
bills. This latest increase in the federal debt limit represents merely another chapter in the
unprecedented explosion in federal spending that has occurred in recent years. At its present
rate of spending, the federal government soon will amass $1 trillion of new debt in just one year.
By contrast, the entire federal debt was only $1 trillion when President Reagan took office in
1981.
The 9-11 Commission report,
released late last month, has disrupted the normally quiet Washington August.
Various congressional committees are holding hearings on the report this week,
even though Congress is not in session, in an attempt to show the government is
doing something about terrorism in an election year. The Commission recommendations
themselves have been accepted reverently and without question, as if handed down from on high.
"Not since the convention that nominated Barry Goldwater in 1964 has a
gathering of the Republican faithful featured so much UN bashing from so many prominent players in the party," wrote
columnist John Nichols of the liberal Madison, Wisconsin, Capital Times on September 9. "What was once the extremist
line of John Birch Society cadres and their allies — ‘Get U.S. out of the UN,’ read the society’s billboards in the
1960s — has become a popular position within the Republican Party."
A Wall Street Journal article last week detailed a Department of Defense
memo that discusses the legality of interrogation and torture methods in the wake of events at Abu Gharib.
The document reportedly advises that the president has authority to order almost any action, including physical or
psychological torture, despite federal laws to the contrary. The Pentagon lawyers who drafted the memo were not shy
about blatantly asserting that the Commander-In-Chief can break the law when necessary, as evidenced by this quote
from the memo: "Sometimes the greater good for society will be accomplished by violating the literal language of the
criminal law."
...As a nation, America was founded in the context of a general Christian consensus and upon Christian principles. The evidence shows that the Christian faith dominated our developing nation’s cultural and legal history.
Friday, October 22, 2004
H.R. 10 -- the so-called 9/11 bill -- has passed the House by a two-to-one margin. It is now in conference committee
to iron out its differences with the Senate-passed version (S. 2845). GOA has already alerted you to the most alarming
aspects of the House bill. Just to review, H.R. 10 would: ...
"There have been various attempts to set up a distinctly Christian civil
government throughout the New Testament era. Some more recent endeavors have been that of Calvin in Geneva, Knox in
Scotland, and the Puritans in New England. These attempts had one thing in common: they were sincere and worthy
efforts by godly but fallible men. Their work is instructive and important, and those who would seek to institute a
Christian civil government in their own nation today neglect their work at their own peril. However, none of these
can provide the definitive model for erecting Christian civil government today because none were without error; all
were plagued by human frailty and mistakes. Examples from church history may provide help, and we ought to learn from
them, but none carries divine authority or infallibility. "
The conscientious Christian desires to glorify God and obey His Word in all that he thinks and does. This desire extends to his actions as a Christian citizen. Perhaps one of his more important actions as a citizen is that of voting for the men who will serve as magistrates over him.
...The choices are not limited to either banning gay marriage at the
federal level, or giving up and accepting it as inevitable. A far better approach, rarely discussed, is for Congress
to exercise its existing constitutional power to limit the jurisdiction of federal courts. Congress could statutorily
remove whole issues like gay marriage from the federal judiciary, striking a blow against judicial tyranny and
restoring some degree of states’ rights. We seem to have forgotten that the Supreme Court is supreme only over
lower federal courts; it is not supreme over the other branches of government. The judiciary is co-equal under our
federal system, but too often it serves as an unelected, unaccountable legislature.
JUPITER PRESBYTERIAN and
REFORMED COVENANT CHURCH
110 Park Street, Jupiter, FL 33458
For information, JPRCC: mailto:jprcc@adelphia.net
Phone: Elder Ron Bull (561) 745-2429
