Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. (Leviticus 25:10a)
The inscription on the Liberty Bell.Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:31,32)If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:36)
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. (Matthew 21:9)
This was the Lord's public claiming of authority over Israel. He was the son of David, and so He was by natural right the King of the Jews. If He had taken possession of His own, He would have been sitting on the throne of the chosen dynasty of David by right of birth. Also as the Messiah, the Christ, He was the King of His people Israel. Concerning Him it had been said by the prophet, Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold! thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9). Our Lord Jesus literally came to Zion in this way. As King He rode to His capital and entered His palace. In His priestly royalty the Son of God went to His Father's house, to the temple of sacrifice and sovereignty. Among the tribes of Israel He is seen to be One chosen out of the people, whom the Lord had given to be a leader and commander for the people. They might afterwards choose Barabbas and cry that they had no king but Caesar, yet Jesus was their King, as Pilate reminded them when he said, Shall I crucify your king? And also His cross declared, it, bearing the legal inscription, This is Jesus the King of the Jews. Before His trial and condemnation He had put in a public claim to the rights and prerogatives of Zion's king, whom God has set on His holy hill. Would to God all fully recognized our Lord's kingdom, yielding to His sway! Oh, that you would bow before Him, and put your trust in Him! Part of His intent in riding through Jerusalem was that we also who dwell in the isles of the sea might know Him and reverence Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. -- C.H. Spurgeon commenting on Matthew 21:9 in Devotional Classics of C.H. Spurgeon. p. 86Whereas, we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace. -- The New England Confederation, May 19, 1643
The roots of liberty and limited government are in the Protestant Reformation. We believe the key to the maintenance of liberty and limited government is to be found in the Scottish covenanting struggle. -- James A. Dodson
The question of Paul, Is Christ divided? is one to which professing Christians have not given sufficient heed, and the evil consequences are abundantly apparent.
It was deemed essential to the salvation of men that their Redeemer should possess the powers at once of a prophet, a priest, and a king. These offices, while essentially distinct, are necessarily and inseparably connected with one another. Such a union has been by some utterly denied; and its denial has laid foundation for some capital errors, which have exerted a pernicious influence on the Christian church. By others it has been criminally overlooked; and the neglect with which it has been treated has occasioned vague and conflicting conceptions regarding the great work of man's deliverance from sin and wrath by the mediation of the Son of God.
If, as we presume will be readily admitted, the whole of Christ's offices are necessary to the salvation of fallen man, it follows that they are all essential to the character of the Saviour, and that, of course, we can not suppose him to have existed for a moment without any one of them, as this would suppose him to have been, for the time at least, no Saviour. -- William Symington (1795-1862)Briefly stated, where Christ is demoted or limited, His Kingdom and crown rights are limited and demoted. There is then a shift of sovereignty from God to man, which means the triumph of the state. The state as the new sovereign becomes god walking on earth, and the result is the rapid death of all freedom. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001)
A doctrine once held to be important by early Presbyterians and most Puritans that, today, is largely forgotten and even held in disrepute is social or national covenanting. The Presbyterians of the First and Second Reformation periods of Scotland were so dedicated to socio-religious covenanting as a biblical tool for reformation and solidifying national religious attainments that they came to be called Covenanters. They took seriously Jesus' command to disciple whole nations (cf. Matthew 28:18-20). They believed that this Commission is not fulfilled until every nation bows the knee to Christ and covenants with Him. The Puritans understood that the Bible presents Israel, including its covenant and covenant law code (excluding any laws that have been abrogated or set out of gear by the death of Christ), as a model for all nations (cf. Deuteronomy 4:5-8). The gospel of Jesus Christ is to transform individuals and even whole cultures and nations. It should result in progressive sanctification in society as people learn all that Christ has commanded. When the majority of people are committed to the Lord, they will formally recognize the Redeemer in their constitutions; will establish the true Christian religion on a national and local level; and will seek to base all their laws on the law of God revealed in Scripture.
In the book Rev. Schwertley not only sets forth the biblical case for social or national covenanting in a simple, organized and comprehensive manner, but also critiques the modern Presbyterian alternative to the original Presbyterian teaching on this and related topics. -- Publisher, National Covenanting and Christ's Victory Over the NationsIn the final analysis, all modern ills, spiritual and temporal, are traceable to our continuing departure from the principles of the Second Reformation. . . . In particular, I am convinced that the Lord will not bless a church at peace with his enemies. Our departure from truth has led to our undernourished condition as a church; truth, as Thornwell argued, is the only food that the soul can digest.
It does no good to blame society or the church for our deficiencies before the Lord because Christ holds men, not churches and states, accountable. In the words of Hugh Miller, "Churches, however false and detestable, are never to be summoned to the bar of judgment. . . . To Christ, as his head and king, must every man render an account."
The great heresy of our times is that all men are children of God. Those within the church have lost their identity as a people of God, united in spirit and purpose. We have adopted the half-truths of our fathers for which Judah faced punishment: Because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked. (Amos 2:4b). Nevertheless, Christ loves his church, and he will see to it that his bride is prepared (Ephesians 5:27), for the great banquet. Base on the history of God's people, the needed corrections will result from either prayer or persecution, leading the people to renew their covenant promises. Let us pray that God's kingdom come, and let us covenant to fulfill our obligations to be his people. When persecution comes, let us pray that we would stand as firm as did the Scottish Covenanters. When covenanting comes, let us praise the Lord, for only in him will we stand firm. Let us ever strive to make it possible for our children to utter one of James Nisbet's praises, "O my soul! Bless and praise the Lord that I was born in a land where the glad tidings of the everlasting gospel are published and pressed with so much purity and plainness." This should be our prayer, Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." (Psalm 80:3) -- Edwin Nisbet Moore from the conclusion to Our Covenant Heritage: The Covenanters' Struggle for Unity in TruthYe have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Exodus 19:4-6a)
What a loving preface to the law! If anything could have engaged rebellious man to obedience, this would have done it, but, alas, the Lord has nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against him. -- C.H. Spurgeon commenting on Exodus 19:4-6a in Spurgeon's Devotional Bible. p. 92The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpTraditionally, law was never construed as legalist. It was always construed as a result of covenant. If we can define the word covenant as bond, that lovely four letter word, b-o-n-d, then it's a relationship, it's a solidarity with God or with another person. And from that relationship flows duty. So we can think of convent as that marvelous combination of promise and duty. And so I really see law as a response to a relationship. -- Joseph Kickasola
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated [defective] state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom. -- Patrick Henry
True, the state as the policeman can be corrupt; in fact, if the society as a whole is corrupt, the state will also be corrupt. In a healthy and godly society, the state will function successfully to restrain the minority of evildoers. The key to the situation is not the state but the religious health of the society. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), in Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 470
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proven; and to be steady on all the battlefront besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. -- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
It is a poor and pitiful kind of knowledge, to know many loose parcels, and broken members of truth, without knowing the whole, or the place and the relations which they have to the rest. To know letters and not syllables, or syllables and not words, or words and not sentences, or sentences and not the scope of the discourse, are all but an unprofitable knowledge. -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691), A Christian Directory, p. 269 (Soli Deo Gloria Publications reprint)
How does a nation protect itself against terrorists who commit suicide to murder innocent citizens?It is the presence of The Holy Spirit in society, The Third Person of the Holy Trinity -- it is His presence alone, that restrains evil in society. It is His presence alone that stops men from murdering their neighbors and from completely destroying society. See: John Owen, GOD'S PRESENCE WITH A PEOPLE THE SPRING OF THEIR PROSPERITY; WITH THEIR SPECIAL INTEREST IN ABIDING IN HIM.
In the absence of The Holy Spirit there is no restraint of evil.
Therefore, a nation that struggles to remove The Holy Trinity, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, from all public life, that nation will lose all restrain of evil, and will succumb to self-destruction from within. It will also succumb to destruction from enemies without. It is the presence in a nation of The Holy One of Israel, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the presence of The Triune God, that restrains evil, and that gives society order and life.
Honored citizens of The United States of America, your willful rebellion against Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has brought the judgment of God upon this nation. God punishes a people by putting godless leaders in command. All restraint of evil has disappeared from our nation, and our leaders are helpless to stop the spread of terrorism. Repent honoured citizens of this beloved nation, partake of Christ, for you are the terrorists.
And now may the Grace, the Mercy, and the Peace, of God The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, rest and abide with you now and forevermore. Amen.
Part 2
Part 3
Chapter 9 (part 3) Related Weblinks
Part 4
The Covenanted Reformation of Scotland Author/Title Listing
Chapter 9 (part 4) Related Weblinks
Combined Interactive Contents for The Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/combtoc.html
Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said:Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. (1 Chronicles 29:10-15,17,18)
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory,
and the victory, and the majesty;
for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine;
thine is the kingdom, O LORD,
and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honour come of thee,
and thou reignest over all.
And in thine hand is power and might;
and in thine hand it is to make great,
and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God,
we thank thee
and praise thy glorious name.
But who am I, and what is my people,
that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?
For all things come of thee,
and of thine own have we given thee.
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners,
as were all our fathers;
our days on the earth are as a shadow,
and there is none abiding. . . .See the Theological Notes: "The Authority of Scripture," at 2 Timothy 3:16 in The Reformation Study Bible.
I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip of Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word did it all. -- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The Protestant Reformation is based upon the Five Solas.
Sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone"): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
Sola Fide ("faith alone"): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia ("grace alone"): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
Solus Christus ("Christ alone"): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.
Soli Deo Gloria ("to the glory of God alone"): We live for the glory of God alone.A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it. -- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
For I am not ashamed of the good news of the Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to every one who is believing; both to Jew first, and to Greek. For the righteousness of God in it is revealed from faith to faith, according as it hath been written, 'And the righteous one by faith shall live,' for revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:16,17, YLTHB)
And may I remind you, and I would remind you of this for all times throughout your lives, that in the Western church there are only three basic theologies. There is Thomism (which held sway in the Roman church officially from the Council of Trent to Vatican II) . . . Lutheranism . . . and, thirdly, Calvinism. These are the three theologies which have dominated Western thought. . . .
I would remind you that all other theological systems are, to a lesser or greater extent, negation either of Thomism within the Roman Catholic system, or they are a negation of Lutheranism, or they are, to a lesser or greater extent, a negation of Calvinism. . . .
When enemies of Christianity unleash their attacks on Christianity, if they attack the Roman Catholic system, they always direct their heaviest guns against Thomas Aquinas. This is not an idle gesture. For if they can topple Thomas Aquinas, then the rest of the Roman Catholic structure will fall, because it depends upon Saint Thomas Aquinas. He was a great thinker, no question about it, and had a systematic approach to his position. So if they can destroy him, they can destroy the rest of it.
But within Protestantism, I would remind you, that the heaviest attacks against the Church always come against Calvinism. Now there is a reason for that, the same reason, in general, which I mentioned in regard to Thomas Aquinas. If the enemies of faith can destroy Calvinism, then those theologies which are, to a greater or lesser extent, negations of Calvinism, will fall under their own weight. Which is to say, that in Calvinism all these other theologies find their resting place, even though they may deny major aspects of the Calvinistic position, they still are supported by it, even though they will not admit it. . . . When they attack Calvinism they are attacking the citadel of the whole Protestant position, even as when they are attacking the Roman Catholic position, they are aiming their heaviest artillery at the fortress known as Thomistic Theology. -- C. Gregg Singer in his address Calvinism and the ReformationThe medieval structure of ecclesiastical authority could not withstand the Protestant idea of sola scriptura -- the Bible alone. One Christian man with a Bible was superior to any pope or council or tradition without it. Luther translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into German so the people could read it in their own language and not be subject to an ecclesiastical ruling class. By translating the Bible into the common language, Luther freed the German people from ecclesiastical totalitarianism: The Bible was the written constitution of the church, which the people could now read for themselves. His second major contribution to Western political thought was the idea of a written constitution -- the Bible -- limiting the power and authority of the church (and later political), leaders. There is a direct connection between the Reformation cry of sola scriptura and the American idea of the Constitution -- not any man or body of men -- as the supreme law of the land. -- John W. Robbins, in a tract, Civilization and the Protestant Reformation
Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria: the five Solas of the Protestant Reformation.
What distinguishes the arid ages from the period of the Reformation, when nations were moved as they had not been since Paul preached in Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, is the latter's fullness of knowledge of God's Word. To echo an early Reformation thought, when the ploughman and the garage attendant know the Bible as well as the theologian does, and know it better than some contemporary theologians, then the desired awakening shall have already occurred. -- Gordon Clark
What the Reformation's return to Biblical teaching gave society was the opportunity for tremendous freedom, but without chaos. That is, an individual had freedom because there was a consensus based upon the absolutes given in the Bible, and therefore real values within which to have freedom, without these freedoms leading to chaos. The world had not known anything like this before. -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
Our protection is only in the Triune God, and in our individual and collective covenant relationship with The True and Living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and in His Son The Lord Jesus Christ.If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble, a commentary on 2 Chronicles 7:14
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGoldenSceptreHeldForthToTheHumbleA diamond is perfectly showcased in black velvet. The horrendous cameo of total depravity of Islamic miscreants [and, apparently, treasonous factions within our own government -- compiler], on September 11, 2001, showcased, possibly better than any single event in history, the diametrically opposite teachings of The Lord Jesus Christ, the highest ethical standard known to mankind -- the basis of law and justice, and the teachings of Mohammed.
How sobering that, after the cataclysmic suicide airline bombing of the Twin International Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, our politicians still equate freedom with toleration and license, a fatalistic and false presupposition. How sobering that we still can not see that conflict of will leads to death. Toleration is the enemy of truth, and no individual or nation can tolerate falsehood, or they will be destroyed by that falsehood. The issue is life and death. Absolute Truth leads to life, both temporal and eternal, and falsehood leads to death, both physical death and the Second Death. Nor can a republican form of government grant suffrage to anti-Christian factions and expect the protection and positive sanctions of the Triune God.
Among other things, the cataclysmic suicide airline bombing of the Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon was a clear example -- to our generation, seen around the world, and never to be forgotten -- of moral absolutes. Since September 11, 2001, no intellectually honest individual can make an assertion of moral relativism, values clarification, situation ethics, all paths lead to God, polytheism, toleration of all religions, neutrality, or non-duality.
How sobering that it takes a tragedy of the magnitude of September 11, 2001 to make us realize that justice and punishment are the only ways to suppress evil, evil that, among other things, results in suffering of the innocent.
How chilling to realize that, after God has used our enemy to chasten us, we are still apparently blind to our own sin as a nation, sins that collectively outweigh the sin of the Islamic Jehad's Holy War.
How sobering to realize that, after the war on international terrorism, this nation will then have to face the enemy within.
How sobering that it took the sudden devastation of September 11, 2001 to remind this nation and the world that we are all one, that the "many" are of equal importance to the "one."
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)
God be merciful unto us, and bless us: and cause his face to shine upon us: That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. (Psalm 67:1,2)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 130, C.H. Spurgeon
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. (Psalm 130:5)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps130.php
*Acton, John E. (1834-1902), History of Freedom, and Other Essays, facsimile edition.
*Acton, John E. (1834-1902), Lectures on the French Revolution.
Armstrong, William Park (editor), Calvin and the Reformation: Four Studies by Emile Doumergue, August Lang, Herman Bavinck, and Benjamin B. Warfield.
*Bainton, Roland H., Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. A Christian classic.
"Available for the first time in trade paperback, this authoritative biography of the great religious leader was hailed by Time magazine as "the most readable Luther biography in English." This edition showcases the intricate woodcuts and engravings that enhance the text and give the flavor of the era in which Martin Luther lived. More than 100 woodcuts and engravings." -- Publisher
A scholarly presentation of Luther's part in the Protestant Reformation which changed the course of Western civilization. Highly recommended, especially for those seeking a deeper understanding of the theology of the Reformation. A scholarly work in which the Gospel is articulately presented. The story of Luther's conversion is, of course, presented in detail. Numerous editions of this book are available. Includes extensive bibliography.
Martin Luther
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/author/martin-luther
*Bainton, Roland H., Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy, ISBN: 0807056510.
"These frequently neglected women were faithful to their commitments and often displayed courage equal to that of the Reformers themselves." -- Cyril J. Barber
Barrow, Greg, Classical Protestant Doctrine of the Church (as read by Larry Birger for THE COVENANTED REFORMATION DEFENDED, series of audio files. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This tape, read by Larry Birger, is chapter 2 in Greg Barrow's THE COVENANTED REFORMATION DEFENDED. It covers some of the most important (and often forgotten, in our day), aspects of the Reformation doctrine of the church. Numerous citations are included, from many Reformation leaders and the confessional statements of the best Reformed churches. Without the distinctions made here you are likely to misunderstand not only the Reformation view of the church, but also related questions (like why the Reformers accepted Roman Catholic baptism [it was the Anabaptists that rejected the baptism of Rome, because of errors related to these very questions]). Furthermore, as Barrow points out, the Reformed distinction regarding the 'being' and the 'well-being' of the church is absolutely indispensable. Without an understanding of this crucial Scriptural distinction concerning the church you will not be able to fully understand the best Reformers on any issues about or related to the church." -- Publisher
Barrow, Reg, Books as Tools for Reformation, a tract.
*Beeke, Joel R., Assurance of Faith: Calvin, English Puritanism, and the Dutch Second Reformation, ISBN: 082041428X 9780820414287.
"In-depth studies and comparisons of William Perkins, Willem Teellinck, the Westminster Confession, John Owen, Alexander Comrie, and Thomas Goodwin convincingly demonstrate with fresh insights that the differences between Calvin and the English/Dutch Calvinism on assurance arose primarily from a newly evolving pastoral context rather than from foundational variations in doctrine. One of the best books on assurance, maybe even the best. 'This is a clearly-written study of the ways in which faith was related to the assurance of salvation by the Reformers, the Puritans and the their Dutch counterparts. Calvin, Beza, Perkins, Owen, Goodwin and the men of the Dutch Second Reformation are all considered. A most valuable book which bears scholarly scrutiny and is full of pastoral counsel'." -- Banner of Truth
Beeke, Joel, Calvin's Piety: The Heartbeat of the Reformation. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (CALVIN ON PIETY) in THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO JOHN CALVIN.
*Bullinger, Henry (Heinrich, 1504-1575), The Decades of Henry Bullinger: Fifty Sermons Divided Into Five Decades: Containing the Chief and Principle Points of Christian Religion, 4 volumes, 1549-1852. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Henry Bullinger (1504-1575), was one of the most widely esteemed leaders of the Reformed churches, and THE DECADES was the most famous of his 150 treatises and manuscripts. THE DECADES derives its name from being a series of fifty theological sermons divided into five groups of ten sermons each. Each sermon is a helpful, detailed exposition of an important doctrine. Combined, they encompass the field of theology in a form readable for the typical layman. They became more popular than CALVIN'S INSTITUTES in England, and now are reprinted for the first time since 1850.
"From 1550 to 1560, there were in England 77 editions of Bullinger's Latin 'Decades' and 137 editions of their vernacular translation 'House Book,' a treatise in pastoral theology (in comparison, CALVIN'S INSTITUTES had two editions in England during the same time). Some historians count Bullinger together with Bucer as the most influential theologian of the Anglican reformation.
"Bullinger played a crucial role in the drafting of the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566. What eventually became the Second Helvetic Confession originated in a personal statement of his faith which Bullinger intended to be presented to the Zurich Rat upon his death. In 1566, when the elector palatine introduced Reformed elements into the church in his region, Bullinger felt that this statement might be useful for the elector, so he had it circulated among the Protestant cities of Switzerland who signed to indicate their assent. Later, the Reformed churches of France, Scotland, and Hungary would do likewise.
"Bullingers works comprise 127 titles. Already during his lifetime they were translated in several languages and counted among the best known theological works in Europe. His main work was THE DECADES, 'a treatise in pastoral theology, in the vernacular called 'House Book'." -- Wikipedia
Calvin, John (1509-1564), Defending the Reformation: John Calvin Debates the Romanist Sadolet. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17. Available in Calvin, Jean [John], Jacques Sadolet, and John C. Olin, A REFORMATION DEBATE: SADOLETO'S LETTER TO THE GENEVANS AND CALVIN'S REPLY, ISBN: 0823219917 9780823219919.
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
*Cambridge University Library, Acton Collection, Acton Collection . . .
"In October 1902 Viscount Morley of Blackburn presented to the University the library of the late Lord Acton . . . A full catalogue of this collection of nearly 60,000 volumes is in preparation; but it was thought that it might prove useful to issue during the progress of the work bulletins of some specially interesting sections of the library."
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), John Calvin. Available in THE REFORMERS AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"As Cunningham states, 'John Calvin was by far the greatest of the Reformers with respect to the talents he possessed, the influence he exerted, and the services he rendered in the establishment and diffusion of important truth.' Here we have a succinct account of Calvin's works and the leading principles that he maintained. Calvin is without a doubt one of the great men in all of human history, and as he often pointed out, he owed everything to the Lord Jesus Christ -- all his talents, all his influence, his very salvation, etc. -- for that is the nature of 'Calvinism,' giving God all the glory!" -- Publisher
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), James Buchanan (preface), and James Bannerman (preface), The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, 2 volumes.
*D'Aubigné, J.H. Merle (1794-1872), Discourses and Essays, Family Worship, Lutheranism and Calvinism, etc. (1846), ISBN: 1599250187 9781599250182. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A great part of these productions were presented to the public for the first time, in English, when this volume first appeared. President of the Theological Seminary of Geneva, Merle D'Aubigné is best know for his massive history of the great reformation. [HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE IN THE TIME OF CALVIN -- compiler]. Concerning this book, Baird, in the introduction, writes, 'it would be hard to find in any language an equal number (of essays), that can be compared with them.' Furthermore, he notes that they 'possess one grand characteristic: that of a glorious baptism, if I may so express myself, into the spirit of the Reformation.' Includes Merle D'Aubigné's 'Family Worship,' 'Lutheranism and Calvinism,' and fifteen more articles." -- Publisher
*D'Aubigné, J.H. Merle (1794-1872), History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. 2 volumes. Available (HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, in 5 volumes, 1846), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Originally published in five volumes. This paperback edition is unabridged and 867 double-column pages in length.
"This man will make you live through the thrills and chills of those days of battle between good and evil. You will see the providence of God preserving the saints as they were being attacked by world powers. And these who were tortured, burned, and pilloried would be the first to testify that God upheld them all during their ordeals, then took them to receive the robes of Heaven purchased for them by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a superb author, one that will not let you go until you have read the entire book." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
D'Aubigné, J.H. Merle (1794-1872), The Life and Times of Martin Luther: Selections From D'Aubigné's Famed History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century.
"The best book on Luther and his part in the Reformation." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
*D'Aubigné, J.H. Merle (1794-1872), The Reformation in England, 2 volumes.
"Provides an indispensable guide to the place of the Bible in the Reformation of England. No one can read the writings of D'Aubigné and be the same afterward." -- Cyril J. Barber
"The author devoted his lifetime to the study of the Reformation. His ability to convey the importance of the history of this historical transformation of the world is easy-to-understand, even exciting . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Davis, D. Clair, The Issue of Biblical Authority in the Reformation.
Dawson, Jane E.A., The Early Career of Christopher Goodman and his Place in the Development of English Protestant Thought, a thesis, 1978.
Defoe, Daniel (1661?-1731), Lex Talionis, or, An Enquiry Into the Most Proper Ways to Prevent the Persecution of the Protestants in France, 1698.
De Witt, John R., What is the Reformed Faith? ISBN: 0851513263 9780851513263.
"A professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Seminary in Jackson provides a short, insightful look into the major truths of the Reformed Faith." -- GCB
Donaldson, George, The Scottish Reformation, ISBN: 9780521086752 0521086752 9780521072847 0521072840.
"A brilliantly written treatment of the way in which Protestantism was established in Scotland." -- Cyril J. Barber
Edwards, Brian H., God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale and the English Bible. Alternate title: WILLIAM TYNDALE, THE FATHER OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE and WILLIAM TYNEDALE: ENGLAND'S GREAT BIBLE TRANSLATOR, ISBN: 0842382186 9780842382182.
"This is the thrilling story of one who was forced to leave England and slip from city to city in Germany, Holland, and Belgium in an attempt to avoid the agents sent to arrest him. Tyndale's story is one of poverty, danger, and ceaseless labor, but he left a priceless heritage: The Scriptures in the English language." -- GCB
Vision Video, Roger Rees, Ben Steed, and Tony Tew, God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale, DVD.
Elazar, Daniel Judah, Covenant and Commonwealth: From Christian Separation Through the Protestant Reformation, ISBN: 1560002085 9781560002086.
Fountain, David, John Wycliffe: The Dawn of the Reformation, ISBN: 0907821022 9780907821021.
"There are those who believe that when Wycliffe was born about 660 years ago, he became the one man who changed the course of English history more than any other man." -- GCB
Includes bibliography.
*Foxe, John (1516-1587), and Thomas Freeman (prefatory material), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable (unabridged). Alternate title: THE UNABRIDGED ACTS AND MONUMENTS ONLINE or TAMO (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). A Christian classic. Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Implemented by the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, England, and published by HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011, Version 2.0, ISBN: 9780954260864.
"You can browse and compare the unabridged texts of the four editions of this massive work published in John Foxe's lifetime (1563, 1570, 1576, 1583). Each edition changed significantly as Foxe sought to incorporate new material, answer his critics, and adjust its polemical force to the needs of the moment. . . .
"TAMO is both an instrument of scholarship and a tool for anyone who wants to explore this remarkable work, a milestone in the history of the English printed book and a signal achievement of its printer, John Day."
John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, ISBN: 0197262252 9780197262252.
"This CD-ROM combines readable and printable images of 2,200 pages of text and woodcut engravings from the 1583 edition, the last for which Foxe was personally responsible."
Other editions: Acts and Monuments or Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 1554, 1843-49 edition, 8 volumes. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
" 'No book ever inflicted a wound so deep and incurable on the Romish system of superstition and bloody persecution . . . it was placed in . . . all churches and chapels throughout the kingdom, by order of Queen Elizabeth.' (Smith, Select Memoirs, p. 245). Contains much information not found in any of the liberally edited and severely shortened editions of this classic work which are in print today. Covering martyrs from the early church through to Foxe's day, it was one of the most influential books of the sixteenth century! It overflows with faith building testimony of the power of God to overcome the most cruel and barbarous acts of human depravity and demonic cruelty. 6890 pages. A very rare set, now back in print after 150 years!" -- Publisher
"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the BOOK OF MARTYRS. Even in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification." -- James Miller Dodds, English Prose
"When one recollects that until the appearance of the PILGRIM'S PROGRESS the common people had almost no other reading matter except the BIBLE and FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS, we can understand the deep impression that this book produced; and how it served to mold the national character. Those who could read for themselves learned the full details of all the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers; the illiterate could see the rude illustrations of the various instruments of torture, the rack, the gridiron, the boiling oil, and then the holy ones breathing out their souls amid the flames. Take a people just awakening to a new intellectual and religious life; let several generations of them, from childhood to old age, pore over such a book, and its stories become traditions as individual and almost as potent as songs and customs on a nation's life." -- Douglas Campbell, The Puritan in Holland, England, and America
"If we divest the book of its accidental character of feud between churches, it yet stands, in the first years of Elizabeth's reign, a monument that marks the growing strength of a desire for spiritual freedom, defiance of those forms that seek to stifle conscience and fetter thought." -- Henry Morley, English Writers
"John Foxe was a prince among believers. He had his printing press on a cart, and had often to print at night, moving his press before dawn to escape capture and burning at the stake. He never faltered in his purpose to leave a voluminous written witness to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep His saints in love and peace." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs Variorum Edition Online
http://www.tei-c.org/Activities/Projects/jo01.xml
Gough, Henry (compiler), A General Index to the Publications of the Parker Society (1855), 811 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"An extensive general index to the works of the leading English Reformers of the sixteenth century, as they were published by the Parker Society. Some of these volumes have once again been republished in our day by Still Waters Revival Books. Works indexed here are mainly of a theological nature, but also 'include a considerable amount of historical and biographical information; they may also prove serviceable to the topographer and the antiquary; certainly they are not likely to be overlooked by any who may hereafter direct their attention to English lexicography'." -- Publisher
*Hall, David W., The Genevan Reformation and the American Founding, ISBN: 0739106392 9780739106396.
Contents: Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God | From Medieval Birthpangs to Geneva's Farel: Contra Tyrannos ('Against Tyranny') | Calvin's Political Thought and Impact: Confoederus ('Covenant Together') | Post-Calvinistic Advances on the Continent, 1550-1600: Nemo Posse Dare ('One Cannot Give What One Does Not Possess') | Calvin's Ideas Emigrate to Scotland and Great Britain: Lex Rex ('Law is King') | Colonial Calvinism in Church and State, 1607-1700: Puritans and Pilgrims Pro Libertas ('On Behalf of Liberty') | Before the Revolution, 1700-1776: Non Potest Civitas Abscondi Supra Montem Posita ('A City on a Hill Cannot Hide its Light') | Evidences of Calvin's Themes in the American Founding: Post Tenebras Lux ('Light after Darkness')."
*Hall, David W., and David J. Vaughan, A Heart Promptly Offered: The Revolutionary Leadership of John Calvin, ISBN: 9781581825053 1581825056.
"Few today realize the extent to which John Calvin, the great Genevan reformer, and his work have shaped modern culture. Few know that it was John Calvin who pioneered the effort to decentralize government by calling for checks and balances against the rule of the few or the king. Equally unknown are his efforts to establish a productive social safety net for immigrants, create educational models that were far ahead of his time, and instill a sense of self-worth in all citizens (regardless of their occupations or class). He was also known for his support of free markets, the rise of private enterprise, and the advancement of publishing and knowledge beyond its medieval confines. The result of his efforts was an explosion of culture and liberty, a story that often is lost or ignored in the rush to offer criticism of the man. A HEART PROMPTLY OFFERED presents the basic story of Calvin's life, along with numerous excerpts from his own pen -- writings from his letters, commentaries, and sermons. In addition to summarizing the main topics of CALVIN'S INSTITUTES, it lays out his ground-breaking political theory." -- Publisher
*Hammond, Peter, The Greatest Century of Reformation, ISBN: 9780994697172 0994697171.
"In this book, readers are introduced to examples of excellence -- Professor John Wycliffe of Oxford University; Queen Anne from Bohemia; Professor Jan Hus of Prague University; Gutenberg, the Father of the Printing Press, and Italian Reformer Savonarola -- are some of the pre-Reformers that are highlighted in the chapter on Preparation for Reformation. Towering above all the Reformers is Dr. Martin Luther; followed by Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformer of Zurich; William Tyndale, who gave his life translating the Bible into English; Heinrich Bullinger, the Consolidator of the Reformation; Martin Bucer, the Reformer of Strassburg; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who transformed the Catholic church in England into the Reformed Church of England; Anne Askew, a Daughter of the Reformation; Philipp Melanchthon, the Teacher of Germany; the fiery debater and Evangelist, William Farel; the greatest Theologian of the second generation of Reformers, John Calvin; John Knox, whose prayer: 'Give me Scotland or I die!' was answered in his own lifetime; Pierre Viret, the French Evangelist and Reformer; Albrecht Dürer, the Evangelist and Reformer in Art and many more, are illustrated and quoted in this book.
"Practical Resources to Empower You for Reformation Today
"There are also chapters on Martin Luther's Practical Programme to Revive your Prayer Life, How the Reformation Changed the Church and How the Reformation Changed the World. The Appendices include a Chronology of the Reformation, a Reformation Calendar of key events and dates, the people of the Reformation, the popes of Rome, Libel against Luther and articles tackling thorny issues, such as, Did the Reformers Persecute the Anabaptists? and Is Celebrating the Reformation Anti-Catholic? There are lists of Roman catholic heresies and inventions and the approximate dates of when they were introduced. The Challenge of Islam According to the Reformers, The Five Points of Calvinism in the Teachings of Christ, 25 Steps You Can Take for Reformation Today, Key Contacts for Reformation Today, Questions for Discussion, either for home educators, or at Bible college classes, are also included. The book concludes with an inspiring example of how to celebrate and promote Reformation Today, applying the Lordship of Christ to all areas of life." -- Publisher
Hillerbrand, Hans J. (editor), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, 4 volumes, ISBN: 0195064933 9780195064933 0195103629 9780195103625 0195103637 9780195103632 0195103645 9780195103649 0195103653 9780195103656.
"The preface notes, 'THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE REFORMATION seeks to do justice to the whole range of events and happenings of the sixteenth century. It uses the broadest possible definition of the Reformation in order to depict not only religious life but also the related societal phenomena that in one way or another had bearing on religion . . . the roster of contributors encompasses scholars not only from the United States and Canada but the United Kingdom, Norway, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Finland, Poland, and Australia, to mention but a few nations at random. If nothing else, the encyclopaedia represents the creative international guild of Reformation scholars.' The preface also notes that 'for far too long, many interesting and important personalities of the sixteenth century, because they were not major reformers, theologians, or rulers, have fallen into scholarly obscurity . . . One of our major intentions was to shed new light on these fascinating figures.' This set includes four beautifully bound, oversized hardcover volumes. Each volume contains about 500 double column pages. The final volume includes a massive index and maps." -- Publisher
*Himmelfarb, Gertrude, Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics, ISBN: 1558152709 9781558152700.
A scholarly work on the politics of the Reformation and Counter-reformation. Includes bibliography and index.
It was Acton who stated:
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)See also:
Holborn, Hajo, Ulrich Von Hutten and the German Reformation, revised and expanded translation, ISBN: 0313201250 9780313201257.
Hospers, Gerrit Hendrik, The Reformed Principle of Authority: The Scripture Principle of the Reformation Set Forth in the Light of our Times.
Includes contributions by Abraham Kuyper.
Hurst, John F., Short History of the Reformation, 1884. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
Hutcheson, George, A Review and Examination of a Pamphlet . . . "Protestor no Subverters, etc." Alternate title: A REVIEW AND EXAMINATION OF A PAMPHLET LATELY PUBLISHED BEARING THE TITLE PROTESTERS NO SUBVERTERS, AND PRESBYTERIE NO PAPACY, &C. / BY SOME LOVERS OF THE INTEREST OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 1659.
Johnston, Pamela, and Robert W. Scribner, The Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, ISBN: 0521406072 9780521406079.
"Combines new interpretations which emphasize the importance of popular response, belief and practice with the traditional approach to the origins and progress of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland. Avoiding a Luther-centered view, it gives equal attention to other important figures as well as the political dimensions of the Reformation and elements of social protest. . . . It focuses on the longer-term success or failure of the implementation of the Reformation and includes many original documents translated here for the first time from previously unpublished archival sources." -- Publisher
*Kelly, Douglas F., The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World: The Influence of Calvin on Five Governments From the 16th Through 18th Centuries, ISBN: 0875522971.
"Examines Calvin's influence on the civil governments of Geneva, Huguenot France, Knox's Scotland, Puritan England, and Colonial America. Shows how Calvin's legacy continues to bear upon the issues that guide and agitate Western nations today." -- Publisher
Kittelson, James M., Luther the Reformer, ISBN: 0806622407 9780806622408.
"Historically solid, factually authentic, psychologically sensitive, personally perceptive, socially aware, and above all theologically knowledgeable and persuasive." -- Lewis Spitz
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth, 1554. Alternate title: A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, and AGAINST ROMISH RITES AND POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL TYRANNY. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #15, #26. Available in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX.
"Formerly titled A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, this letter is said to be 'undoubtedly the most important' of Knox's writings (up to that time), by W. Stanford Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD (p. 114). Furthermore Reid notes that Knox's 'views on the magistrate expressed in the FAITHFUL ADMONITION, were to have an important influence upon much of his future conduct, and upon the development of the Reformation in both England and Scotland.' The editor of KNOX'S WORKS states, 'the object of the ADMONITION was twofold. The one was to animate those who had made a good profession to perseverance, and to avoid the sin of . . . appearing to conform to the 'abominable idolatry' re-established in England; the other, to point out the dangers to be apprehended in when the kingdom became subjected to the dominion of strangers.' Knox uses very strong language here, in the hopes of getting through to those who came to be termed Nicodemites (i.e. those who thought that they could 'keep faith secretly in the heart, and yet do as idolaters do,' in Knox's own words). Written at a time when the true church had been driven underground by Roman Catholic persecution, it was said concerning this letter that 'many other godly men besides have been exposed to the risk of their property, and even life itself, upon the sole ground of either having had this book in their possession, or having read it.' Kevin Reed gives an excellent summary of this letter in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, when, in part, he writes, 'while acknowledging the risk of persecution to the faithful, the reformer perceives a greater danger in compromising with idolatry. Government persecution may bring disfavour of men, loss of personal goods and, in some cases, physical death; but idolatry brings down the wrath of God, resulting in grievous punishments, now and through eternity. Idolatry also invites a curse upon the posterity of the nation. In an intense pastoral appeal, Knox strongly admonishes his readers to avoid conforming to the Romish rites of worship.' (p. 220). For those who would rather read many of these Knox items with contemporary spelling, punctuation, and grammar we highly recommend the SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX." -- Publisher
John Knox: Faithful Admonition (1554)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FaithAdm.htm
Knox, John (1505-1572), The Genevan Book of Church Order. The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments, etc. Used in the English Congregation at Geneva in 1556.
"Written by Knox and four others, this book received the approval of John Calvin. Succinctly covers matters of worship and church government.
" 'Readers need only a cursory glance at contemporary Presbyterian books of order to see how far these modern manuals of polity have degenerated from their venerable predecessors', notes Kevin Reed in the introduction. THE GENEVA BOOK is not a liturgy, but illustrates the doctrine and practices of worship used by a church committed to the regulative principle of worship. The Geneva Order was later adopted and expanded by the church of Scotland." -- Publisher
The Genevan Book of Church Order
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/GBO_ch00.htm
*Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland . . . by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline, Glasgow, 1761. A Christian classic. Alternate title: THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND and THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 1 of 6, (Book 1-2). Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Containing, The Manner, and by what Persons, the Light of Christ's Gospel has been manifested unto this Realm, after that horrible and universal Defection from the Truth, which has come by the Means of that Roman Antichrist. Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, viz. I. His Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him, by the false Bishops and Clergy of Scotland; with his Supplication and Exhortation to the Nobility, States, and Commonality of the same Realm. II. His faithful Admonition to the true Professors of the Gospel of Christ within the Kingdom of England. III. His Letter to Queen Mary, Regent of Scotland. IV. His Exhortation to England for the speedy Embracing of Christ's Gospel. V. The first Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. VI. A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. 13 [Isaiah 26:13], &c. By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, some time Minister of God's Word in Edinburgh. To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland to call them to Repentance, written by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline; together with some Acts of the General Assemblies clearing and confirming the same; And an Act of Parliament. With a large Index to the whole." -- Contents
"It breaths with the spirit of excitement and expectation, being told by the author from his experience as an eyewitness and participant in the unfolding drama of the work of God in 16th century Scotland." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
"Knox portrayed the origins and development of a movement and not a mere chronology of events . . . Knox based his arguments on original sources and he often cited the documents in full. When KNOX'S HISTORY is compared to the contemporary vernacular narratives of Bishop Leslie and Sir James Melville, the superiority of Knox's work becomes evident. For the most part, these writers were preoccupied with petty details and had no conception of the momentous issues that hung on the events they recorded . . . Knox used history to demonstrate his single-track philosophy. And his philosophy said: 'The hearts of men, their thoughts, and their actions are but in the hands of God.' Lee said KNOX'S HISTORY was a sermon without an audience, a preaching book, one long inflammatory speech in behalf of God's truth as the reformer saw it.' (Kyle, The Mind of John Knox, p. 13). Our editions of volumes one and two of KNOX'S WORKS contain the only full, unedited version of Knox's massive HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND available today." -- Publisher
The Works of John Knox (1846), vol. 1 of 6.
http://archive.org/details/worksofjohnkn01knox
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in The Scottish Reformation (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX (p. 580), comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son' (cf. Psalm 2)." -- Publisher
Knox, John (1505-1572), Scottish Confession of Faith, 1560. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"The CONFESSION was the first Subordinate Standard for the Protestant church in Scotland. With frank outspokenness, Knox focuses on the central doctrines of election and the Church. Warning against all sects of heresy and all teachers of erroneous doctrine, this narrative presents the truth that is confessed in historical form. His conviction and his fiery personality brought the Gospel back to Scotland and continue to inspire many today to take a stand for the truth of the Gospel, regardless of adversity or cost.
"A good primer on Christian church history!" -- Reader's Comment
Scottish Confession of Faith, 1560
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/ScotConf.htm
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Select Practical Writings of John Knox. Alternate title: SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX: PUBLIC EPISTLES, TREATISES AND EXPOSITIONS TO THE YEAR 1559. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Selected Writings of John Knox, Volume 2: Later Writings and Correspondence. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"Following the general format of the first volume of the reformer's SELECTED WRITINGS, the second volume contains the following works:
Kyle, Richard G., The Mind of John Knox, 1984, ISBN: 0872911640 9780872911642.
Based on the author's Ph.D. dissertation.
Lang, Andrew, John Knox and the Reformation, 1905.
*Luther, Martin (1483-1546), J.I. Packer (translator), and O.R. Johnston (translator), Bondage of the Will, ISBN: 0800753429 9780800753429. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL is fundamental to an understanding of the primary doctrines of the Reformation. In these pages, Luther gives extensive treatment to what he saw as the heart of the gospel. Free will was no academic question to Luther; the whole gospel of the Grace of God, he believed, was bound up with it and stood or fell according to the way one decided it. . . This is the greatest piece of writing that came from Luther's pen. In its vigour of language, its profound theological grasp, and the grand sweep of its exposition, it stands unsurpassed among Luther's writings." Publisher
"Luther recognized this book as his most important work and even said that if all his other books perished, he would hope that this one, along with his SMALL CATECHISM, would be the only ones to remain. As noted above, this is one of the most important books of the early Reformation, for it deals with what Luther saw to be the heart of the Gospel. Luther here refutes the Romish notion of 'free will' in man and upholds the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners -- as well as justification by faith alone. Luther clearly saw the issue of free will as the primary cause of his separation from Rome.
"In this book he replied to the Roman Catholic scholar, Erasmus, and his diatribe THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL. Though disagreeing with just about everything else Erasmus wrote, Luther commended Erasmus for recognizing the crux of the matter at issue between Rome and the Bible believers, the debate over 'free will.' In this regard Luther wrote,
that unlike all the rest, you alone have attacked the real issue, the essence of the matter in dispute [i.e. man's so-called free-will -- RB] . . . You and you alone saw, what was the grand hinge upon which the whole turned, and therefore you attacked the vital part at once; for which, from my heart, I thank you." 'This book is most needful at the present day,' noted Atherton in 1931, for 'the teachings of many so-called Protestants are more in accordance with the Dogmas of the Papists, or the ideas of Erasmus, than with the Principles of the Reformers; they are more in harmony with the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent than with the Protestant or Reformed Confessions of Faith.'
*Luther, Martin (1483-1546), Commentary on Galatians, English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge, ISBN: 0825431247. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"I prefer this book of Martin Luther's (except the Bible), before all the books I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded soul." -- John Bunyan
"This is a great, historic work, and is beyond criticism on account of its great usefulness. As a comment its accuracy might be questioned; but for emphatic utterances and clear statements of the great doctrine of the Epistle it remains altogether by itself, and must be judged per se." -- C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"The reissue of a famous series of lectures delivered at Wittenberg University in 1553." -- Cyril J. Barber
Commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther
http://archive.org/details/cu31924029294133
Luther's Commentary on Galatians, That He might deliver us from the present evil world. (Galatians 1:4 excerpt), English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge
http://www.lettermen2.com/luther2.html
Luther's Commentary on Galatians, Who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth. (Galatians 3:1 excerpt), English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge
http://www.lettermen2.com/luther1.html
Luther, Martin (1483-1546), Luther's Ninety-Five Theses: With the Pertinent Documents From the History of the Reformation.
*Luther, Martin (1483-1546), Jaroslav Pelikan, Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works on CD-ROM, 55 volumes.
"This CD-ROM makes available the entire 55-volume set of Luther's Works, a magisterial translation project published jointly by Fortress Press and Concordia Publishing House in 1957."
"Essential reading in order to understand the Protestant Reformation."
Luther tended to be subjective, while Calvin tended to be objective.
Luther Martin, Luther's Works: Volume 55, Index to LUTHER'S WORKS, ISBN: 0800603559 9780800603557.
"This is the long awaited index to the American edition of LUTHER'S WORKS. This comprehensive index includes a names, subjects and literature, and Scripture index (Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha). An indispensable tool for exploring the works of Luther." -- GCB
Vogel, Heinrich J., Vogel's Cross Reference and Index to the Contents of Luther's Works: A Cross Reference Between the American Edition and the St. Louis, Weimar, and Erlangen Editions of Luther's Works, ISBN: 0810001683 9780810001688.
Koelpin, Arnold J., Martin Luther, Luther's Works: A Quick Reference Guide.
Luther, Martin (1483-1546), T.G. Tapper (editor), Selected Writings of Luther, 4 volumes.
"Important selections from Luther's writings, arranged chronologically."
Luther, Martin (1483-1546), Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 volumes, ISBN: 0801056268 9780801056260. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This is the best collection of the Reformer's sermons in English! Here are 175 sermons, only seven of which appear in Luther's WORKS. 'Striking freshness . . . clarity of exposition and incisiveness of thought . . . epitomize Luther's genius.' Indispensable for preachers and for students of Luther and the Reformation. . . ." -- CBD
*Lyford, William (1598-1653), The Plain Mans Senses Exercised to Discern Both Good and Evill: Or, A Discovery of the Errors, Heresies and Blasphemies of These Times, and the toleration of them as they are collected and testified against by the ministers of London, in their testimony to the truth of Jesus Christ, 1657. Alternate title: TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST AND OUR SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT.
This is a detailed refutation of Anabaptist error.
Sundry Ministers of London, Testimony to the Truth of Jesus Christ and our Solemn League and Covenant
http://archive.org/details/plainmanssensese00lyfo
Sundry Ministers of London, Testimony to the Truth of Jesus Christ and our Solemn League and Covenant, 1647
http://www.truecovenanter.com/anti_toleration/testimony_truth.html
Mackinnon, James, Calvin and the Reformation, 1936.
"This book is an attempt to portray Calvin's work as a leader of the Reformation at Geneva and far beyond it. He is an international, not merely a local or national figure, who had his finger on the pulse of the Reformation in many lands outside the little republic on the shore of Lake Leman. The Reformed churches are under no small obligation to John Calvin. If Luther was the creator of the Reformation, Calvin was its great organizer, developer, and propagandist." -- Publisher
Mackinnon, James, Luther and the Reformation, 4 volumes, 1925-30.
Mackinnon, James, The Origins of the Reformation, 1939.
*MacPherson, Hector, Scotland's Battles for Spiritual Independence, 1905.
"Ably delineates between the quest for power (ecclesiastical as well as political), and a true spirit of independence based upon Biblical principles. Describes the struggle between church and state, and lays justifiable stress upon the far-ranging effects of the battles they fought and won." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Marshall, Walter (1628-1680), The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union With Christ, ISBN: 189277724X. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Reformation Heritage Books edition is a reprint of the 1954 edition set by Oliphants and includes an introduction by Joel R. Beeke. Also includes the author's famous sermon on "The Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied."
See the WorldCat record for various foreign language editions.
Other editions:
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1597520543 9781597520546.
"This is by far the best book on the doctrine of Sanctification in print. It was originally written in the 17th century, but has been put into modern English with this edition. This book will help you better understand the Gospel and its power not only for our Justification, but our Sanctification as well." -- Reader's Comment
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1589600630 9781589600638.
"Here you will read the most closely reasoned defense of scriptural sanctification to be found anywhere. . . . Fourteen directions are given to the reader, all perfected with the aim of explaining to sincere souls what sanctification is, what it is not, and how to attain a holy walk before God. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-mystery of Sanctification, Opened, in Sundry Practical Directions: Suited Especially to the Case of Those who Labor Under the Guilt and Power of Indwelling Sin. To Which is Added a Sermon on Justification (1859)
http://archive.org/details/gospelmysteryofs02mars
McLeod, John Niel (1806-1874), Protestantism, the Parent and Guardian of Civil and Religious Liberty. Found in MISCELLANEOUS, VOL. 6.
Protestantism, the Parent and Guardian of Civil and Religious Liberty. A lecture, Delivered, March 26, 1843, Under Appointment of the N.Y. Protestant Reformation Society (1843), John Niel McLeod
http://archive.org/details/protestantismpar00mcle
McNeill, John T., The History and Character of Calvinism.
M'Crie, Thomas (the younger, 1797-1875), Annals of English Presbytery From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1872, ISBN: 1286121043 9781286121047.
M'Crie, Thomas (the younger, 1797-1875), History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy in the Sixteenth Century; Including a Sketch of the History of the Reformation in the Grisons, 1856, ISBN: 0404041183 9780404041182.
M'Gavin, William (1773-1832), The Protestant: A Series of Essays in Which are Discussed, at Length, Those Subjects Which Form the Distinguishing Features Between True and False Religion, Between the Christianity of the New Testament and the Papal Superstition Which has Usurped the Name.
McGrath, Alister E, A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture, ISBN: 0631163980 9780631163985.
"Provides an exploration of Calvin's life and influence, his theology and his political thought, and his determining of the course of European history. This book traces Calvin's remarkable impact on the development of modern Western attitudes to work, wealth, civil rights, capitalism and the natural sciences." -- Publisher
McKay, W.D.J., An Ecclesiastical Republic: Church Government in the Writings of George Gillespie, ISBN: 0946068607 9780946068609.
*McKim, Donald K., and David F. Wright (consulting editor), Robert Benedetto, Carnegie Samuel Calian, Arthur C. Cochrane, Stephen D. Crocco, Richard C. Gamble, et al., Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith, ISBN: 0664218822 9780664218829 0715206605 9780715206607.
"More than two hundred international scholars from a variety of denominations contribute to this outstanding, one-volume reference book. Comprehensive in scope, it stresses the importance of events, persons, and theological concepts that have been significant to the Reformed tradition.
"Includes the article 'Marian exiles.'
"The Reformed faith provides a basis for the lives of millions of people throughout the world. American and British academics pay particular attention to the historical development of this faith: the events, people and theological issues." -- Publisher
*M'Crie (McCrie), Thomas (the elder, 1772-1835), Brief View of the Evidence for the Exercise of Civil Authority About Religion. Available in STATEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PROFESSION OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, AS ADOPTED BY SECEDERS, AND THE PROFESSION CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTIMONY AND OTHER ACTS, LATELY ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSOCIATE SYNOD, Section VII. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available (STATEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (STATEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"M'Crie published at Edinburgh in 1807 a helpful discussion of the biblical evidence for an obligation of nations and their civil rulers to give recognition to the true religion. His book is a protest against the church in which he was ordained, and which subsequently departed from the principles it had espoused: STATEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PROFESSION OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, AS ADOPTED BY SECEDERS, AND THE PROFESSION CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTIMONY AND OTHER ACTS, LATELY ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSOCIATE SYNOD. It has often been regarded as the best presentation of the confessional point of view respecting a national acknowledgment of religion. Churches formed after M'Crie's death found their conflicts over church principles defined in his literary output." -- Publisher
Brief View of the Evidence for the Exercise of Civil Authority About Religion
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/a-godly-society/the-exercise-of-civil-authority-about-religion.php
*M'Crie, Thomas (the elder, 1772-1835), Life of Knox, 1831. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Iain Murray, in his stirring introduction to Cunningham's HISTORICAL THEOLOGY writes, 'The third event marking the commencement of this spiritual movement was the publication of a book in 1811. It was the biography of John Knox by Thomas M'Crie. All over Scotland this work was used to revive the memory of the great Reformer and nothing could have been a more telling protest against the stifling influence of Moderatism. It brought many a student and minister into the experience once described by James Fraser of Bera in his Memoirs: 'When I read Knox, I thought I saw another scheme of divinity, much more agreeable to the Scriptures and to my experience than the modern.' M'Crie followed this up in 1819 with a biography of Knox's great successor, Andrew Melville, and these two books became known as the 'Iliad and Odyssey of the Scottish Church.' Just as Homer's heroes fired the hearts of many imitators so M'Crie's biographies aroused a holy ambition in many to follow the noble example of these two spiritual giants.
"M'Crie's work is an undisputed classic regarding this fiery reformer. It exhibits information on Knox and the Scottish Reformation which has been hid in manuscripts and books which are now little known or consulted. Knox may be the most pertinent Reformer to study in our day of widespread idolatry, pluralism, anti-Christian government, humanistic law, relativism, and the revival of that 'masterpiece of Satan,' Roman Catholicism. Read everything that you can get your hands on -- either by or about Knox; you'll never be the same again!" -- Publisher
Life of John Knox: Containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland: with Biographical Notices of the Principal Reformers, and Sketches of the Progress of Literature in Scotland During the Sixteenth Century; and an Appendix, Consisting of Original Papers
https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnkno00mcri
*M'Crie, Thomas (the elder, 1772-1835), Statement of the Difference . . . Particularly on the Power of Civil Magistrates Respecting Religion, National Reformation, National Churches, and National Covenants, 1871. Alternate title: STATEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PROFESSION OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, AS ADOPTED BY SECEDERS, AND THE PROFESSION CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTIMONY AND OTHER ACTS LATELY ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSOCIATE SYNOD. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
" 'The ablest exposition in the English language of the Establishment Principle . . . Dr. (George) Smeaton describes the Statement as a masterly defense of the principles of establishments as Scripture truth: and the most complete vindication ever given to the world of the position occupied by the Reformed Church of Scotland, on the whole subject of national religion and the magistrates legitimate power in promoting it. 'The same thoroughness,' wrote the late Rev. D. Beaton, 'which gave such abiding value to his great biography of Knox, is shown in this, his less known work . . . Dr. McCrie in his STATEMENT shows that all the Confessions of the Protestant and Presbyterian Churches of the Reformation, both in Britain and on the Continent of Europe, held and maintained the Establishment Principle. 'These harmoniously agree,' he writes, 'in declaring as with one mouth that civil authority is not limited to the secular affairs of men, and that the public care and advancement of religion is a principle part of the official duty of magistrates.' He goes on to give extracts from THE CONFESSION OF HELVETIA; THE CONFESSION OF BOHEMIA; THE CONFESSION OF SAXONY; THE FRENCH CONFESSION; THE BELGIC OR DUTCH CONFESSION; THE CONFESSION OF THE ENGLISH CONGREGATION IN GENEVA; THE SCOTS CONFESSION AND THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646). 'Such is the harmony of doctrine in the Protestant churches on this head,' he remarks, 'expressed in their confessions and public formularies drawn from the Word of God; a harmony which deserves great attention, and from which none should rashly depart' (as cited in CHRIST'S KINGSHIP OVER THE NATIONS by C.J. Brown). Concerning the doctrine of national obedience to Christ, M'Crie demonstrates in the most convincing way that there are few doctrines 'of the practical kind, in which the best interests of mankind and the general state of religion in the world, are more deeply concerned, than in the right and wrong determination of this question.' Contains an excellent preface by George Smeaton. Considered one of the definitive works on Church/State relations, defending the historic Reformed position. An extremely rare and very expensive item if located as a rare book." -- Publisher
Brief View of the Evidence for the Exercise of Civil Authority About Religion
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/a-godly-society/the-exercise-of-civil-authority-about-religion.php
*Mitchell, Alexander F. (1822-1899), Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The first three lectures give a succinct account of English Puritanism from its origin to the meeting of the Westminster Assembly. The tenth lecture is a similar account of the history of doctrine in British churches during the same period. Mitchell endeavors to give prominence to aspects of this historical period which have hitherto been overlooked, making this an ideal companion volume for other recent releases of Warfield, Hetherington, and George Gillespie. A perfect introductory volume on Puritanism and the work of the Assembly." -- GCB
*Murray, Iain, The Reformation of the Church: A Collection of Reformed and Puritan Documents on Church Issues, ISBN: 085151118X 9780851511184.
"First published in 1965 and once again available. Documents are drawn largely from the 16th and 17th centuries and presents the finest thinking of the fathers on authority and freedom, the need for reformation, the nature of the government, unity, and membership of the Church of Jesus Christ." -- GCB
Oberman, Heiko A., Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, ISBN: 0300037945 9780300037944.
"Written by one of the world's greatest authorities on Luther, this book portrays the controversial reformer in the context of his own time, analyzing his state of mind, and portraying his world more closely than has been done before." -- GCB
Ogden, Greg, The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God, revised edition, ISBN: 0310246199 9780310246190.
"Ministry is to be by the people and for the people, and this book explains why it is needed and how it can be done." -- Publisher
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
*Preston, John (1587-1628), The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble, ISBN: 1877611174 9781877611179. A Christian classic.
This book is comprised of six sermons on 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, just one verse that succinctly gives the Biblical solution to terrorism. Sermons are on Affliction, Humiliation, Seeking god's face, Turning from evil, Forgiveness to those who forsake sin, and Sin as the cause of all calamities.
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGoldenSceptreHeldForthToTheHumble
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.lettermen2.com/goldensceptre.pdf
Reid, W. Stanford, The Reformation: Revival or Revolution? ISBN: 0030714753 9780030714757.
Ridley, Nicholas, and Henry Christmas, Works of Nicholas Ridley.
"Ridley was 'an eminent reformer and Protestant martyr . . . Having concurred in the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey, he was committed to the Tower. Condemned to death for heresy and burnt in 1555.' (Darling, Cyclopedia Bibliographica, p. 2557)
Of all our English martyrs, . . . Ridley has been esteemed by far the most learned . . . he learned to repeat, without book, almost all the epistles in Greek . . . The courage and zeal he manifested in promoting the (first English -- RB), reformation was such, that he was considered, next to Cranmer, its greatest supporter amongst the clergy . . . the purity of his life corresponded with his knowledge . . . The reformation was greatly promoted by his learning, zeal, and active exertions while he lived, and perhaps more so by his death in its defence. In England, as everywhere else, the ancient observation has been verified, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' (Thomas Smith, Select Memoirs of the Lives Labours, and Sufferings, of Those Pious and Learned English and Scottish Divines, p. 173 ff, 1828)"Along with a biographical notice, and among 16 other works, letters, and disputations, this book contains Ridley's 'Brief Declaration or Treatise Against Transubstantiation' ('Ridley is allowed to have been master of that subject more than any man of his age,' Smith, p. 175), his 'Treatise Against Image Worship,' and his 'Conferences with Latimer.' Printed from the 1843 Parker Society edition, indexed, 485 pages." -- Publisher
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Acton on the Papacy, an article.
It should be noted that The Acton Institute has come under the control of the Roman Catholic Institution.
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church, ISBN: 0940931753 9780940931756.
"This book is a detailed examination of the official statements of the Vatican on economic and political matters. It demonstrates the collectivism and totalitarianism of the Roman Catholic Church-State. It is the only such book written by a Christian in the twentieth century.
"This book explores the conflict between Roman Catholic social thought and human freedom, relying on official pronouncements from the Vatican to show that the political and economic theory of the Roman Church-State justifies feudalism, corporativism [corporatism -- compiler], liberation theology, the welfare state, and fascism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress [Ron Paul of Texas], editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)"As the world focuses it attention on the papacy, we ought to recall Lord Acton, the great Roman Catholic historian of the 19th century. Many have heard the aphorism, 'Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely,' though it is usually misquoted as 'Power corrupts.' Few who have heard it, however, know who its author was: John Emerich Edward Dalberg, better known as Lord Acton. Fewer still realize that Acton used the aphorism in opposing the papacy, the absolute monarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
The object of the Inquisition [was] not to combat sin -- for the sin was not judged by it unless accompanied by [theological] error. Nor even to put down error. For it punished untimely and unseemly remarks the same as blasphemy. Only unity. This became an outward, fictitious, hypocritical unity. The gravest sin was pardoned, but it was death to deny the donation of Constantine. [The Donation of Constantine was a document forged in the eighth century in which the Roman Emperor Constantine willed the Western Roman Empire to the Pope. The Roman Church taught that the Donation was genuine, and the legal basis for the pope's civil authority, for centuries. -- JR]. So men learnt that outward submission must be given. All this [was] to promote authority more than faith. When ideas were punished more severely than actions -- for all this time the Church was softening the criminal law, and saving men from the consequences of crime: -- and the Donation was put on a level with God's own law -- men understood that authority went before sincerity."Acton believed that the Inquisition was the institution by which the medieval papacy had to be condemned or acquitted. Just as a man charged with murder is judged for a single act, though be may be kind to his mother and a great philanthropist, so the papacy must be judged for the Inquisition. To Mandell Creighton, an Anglican priest, Acton wrote:
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. . . . For many years my view of Catholic controversy has been governed by the following chain of reasoning: 1. A crime does not become a good deed by being committed for the good of a church. 2. The theorist who approves the act is no better than the culprit who commits it. 3. The divine or historian who defends the theorist incurs the same blame. . . . To commit murder is the mark of a moment, exceptional. To defend it is constant, and shows a more perverted conscience."Acton turned his attention to other crimes of the Roman Church as well. Beginning on Sunday, August 24, 1572, tens of thousands of French Huguenots were massacred by the Catholics. Overnight, thousands were murdered, and the murders continued for several months. The massacre began in Paris. The sign of the cross was everywhere, and the murders took on the air of a crusade, a holy war against the infidels. The banks of the Seine became a slaughterhouse. Men, women, children, and infants were stabbed or dragged by a rope around the neck to be thrown into the river. The murder, looting, and rape went on for days in Paris.
The story is much more abominable than we all believed. . . . S.B. [St. Bartholomew's], is the greatest crime of modern times. It was committed on principles professed by Rome. It was approved, sanctioned, and praised by the papacy. The Holy See went out of its way to signify to the world, by permanent and solemn acts, how entirely it admired a king who slaughtered his subjects treacherously, because they were Protestants. To proclaim forever that because a man is a Protestant it is a pious deed to cut his throat in the night. . . ."For three centuries the Roman church's canon law had affirmed that the killing of an excommunicated person was not murder, and that allegiance need not be kept with heretical rulers. Murder and treason were part of the Roman church's official teachings. Charles IX was acting as a good Catholic, and he was highly praised by the pope for his murders.
A man is not honest who accepts all the Papal decisions in questions of morality, for they have often been distinctly immoral; or who approves the conduct of the Popes in engrossing power, for it was stained with perfidy and falsehood; or who is ready to alter his convictions at their command, for his conscience is guided by no principle."After studying the history of the popes, Acton wrote:
The papacy contrived murder and massacre on the largest and also on the most cruel and inhuman scale. They were not only wholesale assassins but they made the principle of assassination a law of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation. . . . [The Papacy], is the fiend skulking behind the Crucifix.Massachusetts Attorney General, The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Thomas F. Reilly, Massachusetts Attorney General.
Robertson, Edwin, Wycliffe: Morning Star of the Reformation, ISBN: 0551011424 9780551011427.
"This short book (125 pages), was written to commemorate and celebrate this famous Bible translator's place in our Christian heritage. Wycliffe was a man burdened for a Gospel for all people and a vision of God's grace being freely available to all." -- GCB
Robinson, Hastings (editor), Original Letters Relative to the English Reformation Written During the Reigns of King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., and Queen Mary: Chiefly From the Archives of Zurich, 1846-47, 2 volumes, 819 pages, ISBN: 155635049X 9781556350498. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The greater part of these letters are now printed for the first time: they will be found to contain many details of interest, relative to various proceedings of that period, and occasionally to give much information respecting the customs and manners of the times, as well as the private history of the writers and other individuals to whom they refer. Bucer, Melanchthon, Calvin, Cranmer, Edward VI., Lady Jane Grey, Hooper, Ponet, Bullinger, Foxe, Goodman and a host of others either penned or received these letters. These letters where 'translated from authenticated copies of the autographs'." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Christianity and the State, ISBN: 9996717755. Available through Exodus Books.
"The need to return to a Biblical doctrine of civil government is evidenced by our century's worldwide drift into tyranny. Humanism invariably rushes in to fill the world's theological vacuums: the need of the hour is to restore a full-orbed, Biblical, theology of the state. This work sets forth that theology." -- GCB
Schnucker, Robert V., Calviniana: Ideas and Influence of Jean Calvin. Series title: SIXTEENTH CENTURY ESSAYS AND STUDIES, Vol. 10. ISBN: 0940474107 9780940474109.
There are more than 40 volumes in this series.
*Schuettinger, Robert, Lord Acton: Historian of Liberty, ISBN: 0875482945 9780875482941.
Includes appendix, bibliography, and index.
Shaw, Duncan (editor, a festschrift), and Hugh Watt, Reformation and Revolution: Essays Presented to Hugh Watt, on the Sixtieth Anniversary of his Ordination, 1967.
Sheats, Rebecca A., Pierre Viret: The Angel of the Reformation, ISBN: 9780984378517, 0984378510.
"Rebekah Sheats is engaged in translating Viret's writings. Her latest work, THOU SHALT NOT KILL: A PLEA FOR LIFE, is a translation of Viret's commentary on the sixth commandment. Other translations include LETTERS OF COMFORT TO THE PERSECUTED CHURCH, THE CHRISTIAN AND THE MAGISTRATE: ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND JURISDICTIONS, and SIMPLE EXPOSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
"Rebekah is grateful for the godly home education she received, and has designed several curricula to assist parents in the education of their children, including Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew for Children (Psalm 78 Ministries)." -- Publisher
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), Calvinism: The Summit of Reformation Theology in JOHN CALVIN: HIS ROOTS AND FRUITS, (pp. 7-19).
"For Calvin, God was a true sovereign, who is only limited in the sense that He cannot do anything which would negate His attributes. . . . (p. 11)
"In his treatment of the atonement, Calvin surpassed not only the Scholastics but Augustine as well. Calvin had a greater insight into this Biblical doctrine than any other theologian before or after him. . . . (p. 11)
"Calvin clearly saw the Scriptural relationship of the sovereignty of God and the total depravity of the whole human race to the doctrines of atonement and election. Divine election is the means ordained of God for making the death of Christ effective." (p. 16) -- C. Gregg Singer
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
Smellie, Alexander (1857-1923), The Reformation in its Literature. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Sproul, R.C. (general editor), The Reformation Study Bible: The Word That Changes Lives -- the Faith That Changed The World, New King James Version, ISBN: 0785258523 9780785258520. Previously published under the title New Geneva Study Bible: Bringing the Light of the Reformation to Scripture, ISBN: 0840710917 9780840710918.
"The NEW GENEVA STUDY BIBLE offers a restatement of Reformation truth for Christians today. The first Geneva Bible was a pivotal force in the Reformation. Using the everyday language of its time, it opened the pages of Scripture to readers and provided helpful notes to assist them in understanding its message. It became the family Bible of the English people, and was the Bible that the Pilgrims brought to the New World. Since that time a multitude of English translations and study Bibles have appeared, but none of these has incorporated a summary of Reformed theology." -- Thomas Nelson Publishers
Also available in digital format from Logos Bible Software.
Geneva Bible Notes: Reviews of the 1599 and the 1672 editions of the Notes, and of the Reformation Study Bible
http://www.lettermen2.com/geneva.html
Readers of THE REFORMATION STUDY BIBLE should also be familiar with the Geneva Bible Notes, The Westminster Family of Documents, the doctrine of the Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ, and the literature of the Covenanted Reformation.
The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), (The Westminster Standards), and Related Works: A Study Guide
http://www.lettermen2.com/suggest.html
The Covenanted Reformation of Scotland Author/Title Listing
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chb.html#crsstl
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
*Stalker, James, John Knox: His Ideas and Ideals. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Published the year before the Quartercentenary 'of the birth of the greatest of Scotsmen,' as Stalker calls Knox, this is an easy-reading look at this great Reformer. Expressing great gratitude for David Laing's 'immortal labours' in editing Knox's Works, and humbly directing the reader to these six volumes 'if he desires to see Knox face to face,' Stalker summarizes his intent, stating, 'I do not pretend to have given a complete collection of Knox's good things; but at least I have creamed them and furnished enough to familiarize the reader not only with his ideas but with the remarkable phraseology in which these were expressed; and my hope is that the following pages may help to make it true that he, being dead, yet speaketh.' For the bibliophiles this item contains a nice chapter summarizing Knox's books and letters." -- Publisher
Various, Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers: Documents Illustrative of the Radical Reformation.
Welch, John (1568?-1622), Hugh Latimer, and John Knox, The Pulpit of the Reformation.
*Williams, George H., The Radical Reformation.
Wilmot, Alexander, The Story of the Scottish Reformation, 1883, ISBN: 0524035237 9780524035238.
Wilson, William, A Defence of the Reformation Principles of the Church of Scotland. With a Continuation of the Same. And a Letter From a Member of the Associate Presbytery . . . Wherein the Exceptions That are Laid Against the Conduct of the Associate Presbytery are examined, 1769. Alternate title: A LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY TO A MINISTER IN THE PRESBYTERY OF D- -- NE. (sic), 1769. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
*Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), The History of Protestantism, 2 volumes. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This massive (8.5' X 11'), two-volume set contains nearly 2000 pages and more than 500 illustrations. It chronicles Protestantism in its progress from the first century to the late 17th century (though the focus is clearly on the 16th and 17th centuries). From Luther's burning of the Papal Bull 'excommunicating' him, to Calvin's refusing the Lord's supper to the Libertines of Geneva (who said they would kill him for doing so), the pages of this book testify to the life and death struggle for truth that remains to this day. The pictures in these books are also excellent for introducing children to major historical events relating to the struggle, sacrifice and victory of Christ's church on earth. The writing of Wylie is well worth the time invested to gain an overview of the great controversy between the true church and the false. Paisley, in his foreword, states, 'The Reformation of the 16th century was the greatest revival of New Testament Christianity since the days of Pentecost. Then once more the gospel in its purity was preached with apostolic power and with apostolic results.' He continues, 'Wylie's . . . is the best history extant. I welcome its republishing. Read it. Study it. Circulate it and by so doing you will help to dispel the dark cloud of priestly superstition, popish idolatry and papal tyranny encircling our land.' When it was first published Rome banned this book, buying up and burning all the copies that they could lay their hands on. It was more hated and denounced by Papists than any other book of its time. In our day, when the Pope addresses the United Nations, is often the subject of news reports, and regularly meets with national civil leaders (and when professing Protestants are defecting to 'the whore of Babylon,' and signing 'peace' treaties with this great enemy of Christ [to fight cultural battles]), these books are needed more than ever. William Cunningham's words, though written many years ago, should be heeded by all faithful Christians today, for he said, 'it is quite evident, from the signs of the times, that the Popish controversy must be fought over again . . . It is incumbent upon ministers of the gospel to prepare themselves for the contest'." -- Publisher
Wylie, The History of Protestantism (1902), vol. 1 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes01wyli
Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 2 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes02wyli
Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 3 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes03wyli
Wylie, James Aiken (1808-1890), History of Protestantism in the Netherlands. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30.
Wylie, James Aiken (1808-1890), The Scottish Reformation. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), What the Sixteenth Century says to the Nineteenth.
Zwingli, Ulrich (1484-1531), and Samuel Macauley Jackson, Selected Works of Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531): The Reformer of German Switzerland.
Zwingli, Ulrich (1484-1531), and Elizabeth Warren, The Story of Ulrich Zwingle and the Reformation in German Switzerland.
See also: The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Christ's influence on western civilization, Church history, The providence of god, Lutheranism, Christian scholarship, The history of reformation of the church, The protestant reformation, Christian biography, The history of martyrs, The dutch reformation, Calvinism, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Church history and the history of local churches, Works of c. gregg singer, A theological interpretation of american history, God's sovereign hand in history, "his-story," The history of martyrs, Persecution, Church government, God's sovereign hand in history, "his-story," Church and state, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, Unity and uniformity in the visible church: unity in the truth, The westminster confession of faith (1646), (westminster standards) and related works a study guide, National establishment of religion: establishmentarianism, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation of scotland author/title listing, The reformed presbytery of america, and other smaller reformed associations, The puritan revolution, Covenanting in america, Servant leadership, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, liberty of conscience, pluralism, and neutrality, Unfaithful reformed ministries, The counter-reformation, The destruction of American liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Modern myths and fallacies, The love and justice of God, Revisionist history, Reformation eschatology, Books considered to be among the ten greatest in the english language, and so forth, and so on.
The Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies
http://www.girs.com/index.html
The Historicism Research Foundation
http://www.historicism.net
John Knox and the Reformation in Scotland [audio file], Peter Hammond
"On this day, 15 May 1556, John Knox appeared at the Church of Blackfriars in Edinburgh to face charges of heresy. Knox succeeded in turning the tables on the Catholic Bishops and went on to preach to large crowds in Edinburgh."
"I am more afraid of the prayers of John Knox than of an army of 10,000." -- Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots,
"Give me Scotland or I die!" -- John Knox's famous prayer that was answered in his lifetime.
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=103014335471
https://vimeo.com/232620505
http://reformationsa.org/index.php/reformation/353-knox-500
https://www.slideshare.net/
/john-knox-and-the-reformation-
Lutheranism and Calvinism. Their Diversity Essential to Their Unity: An Essay
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2017/3/7/lutheranism-and-calvinism
Martin Luther -- Captive to the Word
"10 December 1520 -- Martin Luther publicly burned the Papal Edict demanding that he recant, or face, excommunication. Surrounded by a large crowd of students and faculty of the University of Wittenberg, Luther declared: 'I stand fast on the truth and no other. Fear of power shall never sway me, for God is God and man is naught.'
http://reformationsa.org/index.php/reformation/95-martin-luther-captive-to-the-word-of-god
Martin Luther -- Captive to the Word
https://vimeo.com/227875118
Martin Luther's Date With Destiny, [audio file], Peter Hammond, 10/31/2017
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=11117414232
Reformation and Geneva Bibles
http://www.swrb.com/bibles/bibles.htm
Repentance (FGB #203)
What is Repentance? Plumer, William S. (1802-1880) | The Necessity of Repentance, Ryle, J.C. (1816-1900) | Six Ingredients of Repentance, Watson. Thomas (c. 1620-1686) | Repentance or Faith: Which Comes First? Murray, John (1898-1975) | Christ Commanded Repentance, Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892) | Sin, Sinners, and Repentance, Gill, John (1697-1771) | The Fruits of Repentance, Pink, A.W. (1886-1952) | Examining our Repentance, Watson, Thomas (c. 1620-1686) | The Greatest Motive to Repentance, Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892) | Repentance and Universal Judgment, Davies, Samuel (1723-1761) | Heaven's Joy and Repentance, Payson, Edward (1783-1827)
https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/repefg/repentance
Still Waters Revival Books, Puritan Hard Drive Collection.
Containing 12,500 plus Puritan and Reformation resources on an external USB hard drive, "with an embedded database and custom search/interface program now added, the most extensive and powerful reformation study tool ever produced!"
"Over 12,500 Classic and Contemporary Puritan and Reformation Resources On SWRB's New, Portable, USB Puritan Hard Drive (SWRB-PHD) -- Easy, Virtually Effortless, Access To All 12,500+ Puritan And Reformation Resources (Books, MP3s and Videos [audio files, DVD]), and the Power to Search, Build, Print and Even Save An Unlimited Number of Study Lists Related to Whatever Authors, Topics and Titles You Most Need To Know and Understand!
"The new Puritan Hard Drive also works on both PCs and Macs." -- Publisher
Apparently the Puritan Hard Drive includes all Bookshelf collections prepared and in preparation by SWRB at the time of release of the Puritan Hard Drive. Therefore, it includes titles formerly in the Puritan Bookshelf, Reformation Bookshelf, Calvinism Bookshelf, and Protestant Bookshelf as well as SWRB Newsletter, and audio files. Text and audio files that Puritan Downloads has acquire since release of the PHD may be purchased and downloaded singly at puritandownloads.com. It seems that individual PHD owners can not incorporate new text into the PHD database software and indexes.
PuritanDownloads.com
Download contents: Authors, Titles, Categories, and MP3s for the Puritan Hard Drive.
http://www.puritandownloads.com/swrb-puritan-hard-drive.html
Still Waters Revival Books, Reformation Bookshelf 30 CD Set, ISBN: 0921148674 9780921148678.
This is the WorldCat (OCLC) record for the entire 30 CD set. It gives the title of each CD. See the WorldCat (OCLC) record for each CD for a listing of the titles included on that CD. "Comprehensive Author Index Containing all the Books Found in the Entire 30 CD Reformation Bookshelf Set" is available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30. ISBN: 0921148380 9780921148388.
Reformation Eschatology at Still Waters Revival Books
http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/reformation-eschatology.htm
Reformation History, a tract
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/FREEBOOK/RefHist.htm
See the Theological Notes: "Repentance," at Acts 26:20 in Geneva Bible Notes: Reviews of the 1599 and the 1672 editions of the Notes, and of the Reformation Study Bible.God be merciful unto us, and bless us: and cause his face to shine upon us: That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. (Psalm 67:1,2)
Johnston, Archibald (of Wariston), and James Guthrie (1612?-1661), Causes of the Lords vvrath against Scotland, Manifested in his sad Late Dispensations. Whereunto is Added a Paper, Particularly Holding Forth the Sins of the Ministery, 1653. Alternate title: HUMBLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE SINS OF THE MINISTERY OF SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. http://www.truecovenanter.com/guthrie/guthrie_james_causes_of_wrath.html
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX (p. 580), comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son' (cf. Psalm 2)." -- Publisher
*Mason, Archibald (d. 1831), Observations on the Public Covenants Betwixt God and the Church: A Discourse (1799). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
Contents: Observations on the public covenants betwixt God and the church / Archibald Mason -- Paleopresbyterianism vs. neopresbyterianism / Michael Wagner -- Permanence of covenant obligation -- The preface and bibliography to the rare bound photocopy: obligation of social covenanting -- The binding nature of national covenants with God -- The Solemn League and Covenant -- Guide for studying the Westminster Confession, in suggested order of reading -- Terms of ministerial and Christian communion in the Reformed Presbyterian Church -- Corporate sanctification: holding fast the attainments of Reformation / John Brown -- What is a moral person? How God views the church and the nations / David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton -- A hind let loose / Alexander Shields -- Of separation from corrupt churches -- Old landmarks -- confession and testimony.
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Observations on the Public Covenants, Betwixt God and the Church, -- Archibald Mason (d. 1831)
http://archive.org/details/spiritualillumin00maso
Owen, John (1616-1683), What Must be the Nature of our National Repentance to Divert Judgment [audio file], a narration.
"Observation. It is the great rule of divine Providence, with the special seal of our Lord Christ annexed to it, I tell you, Nay; but, unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. When warnings for instruction are not received, they are tokens of destruction. This is a truth which none almost deny, and none almost believe. Had it been believed, many desolating judgments in former ages had been prevented; nations and cities should have abode in prosperity, which are now sunk into ruin, yea, into hell. See Luke 24: 41-44; Matthew 11:23. And were it believed in the days wherein we live, it would be the means of saving a poor nation from otherwise inevitable ruin. The state, is so with us, that, unless we repent, we shall perish."
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=81020123455967
*Pendlebury, William, National Repentance and Reformation the way to Obtain National Blessings. A sermon preach'd at Rotherham in Yorkshire, on the eleventh of April, 1744, . . . by William Pendlebury, M.A.
*Poole, Matthew (1624-1679), Steven Dilday (translator), Andrew Myers (editor), The Exegetical Labors of the Reverend Matthew Poole.
The Matthew Poole Project
"The Project is dedicated to republishing the extensive literary efforts of the Reverend Matthew Poole. The cornerstone of the project is the translation of Poole's massive SYNOPSIS CRITICORUM (SYNOPSIS OF INTERPRETERS), making it available in English for the first time." -- The Matthew Poole Project
"Notes: Each volume [to date, February 2012 -- compiler], in this edition combines two separate works: A synopsis of interpreters, both critical and otherwise, of the Sacred Scriptures is printed in regular type and Annotations upon the Holy Bible is printed in bold type. Description: v.; 24 cm.
Contents:
Volume 1: Genesis 1-9
Volume 2: Genesis 10-22
Volume 3: Genesis 23-50
Volume 4: Exodus 1-18
Volume 5: Exodus 19-40
Volume 80: Revelation 1-7
Volume 81: Revelation 8-14
Volume 82: Revelation 15-22.
http://www.matthewpoole.net/index.html
*Poole, Matthew (1624-1679), Synopsis Criticorum Aliorumque Sacrae Scripturć Interpretum, 5 volumes from 1669-1676. Alternate title: SYNOPSIS CRITICORUM ALIORUMQUE SACRAE SCRIPTURAE INTERPRETUM ET COMMENTATORUM.
This is a Latin work currently being translated by the Matthew Poole Project.
"The work with which his name [Matthew Poole], is principally associated is the SYNOPSIS CRITICORUM BIBLICORUM (5 vols. fol., 1669-1676), in which he summarizes the views of one hundred and fifty biblical critics. On the suggestion of William Lloyd, Poole undertook the SYNOPSIS as a digest of biblical commentators, from 1666. . . .
"Rabbinical sources and Roman Catholic commentators are included; little is taken from John Calvin, nothing from Martin Luther.[2] The book was written in Latin and is currently being translated into English by the Matthew Poole Project.[3] Poole also wrote ENGLISH ANNOTATIONS ON THE HOLY BIBLE, a work which was completed by several of his Nonconformist brethren, and published in 2 vols. in 1683. The work was continued by others (last edition, three volumes, 1840).[4]" -- Wikipedia
*Preston, John (1587-1628), The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble. A Christian classic.
This book is comprised of six sermons on 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, just one verse that succinctly gives the Biblical solution to terrorism. Sermons are on Affliction, Humiliation, Seeking god's face, Turning from evil, Forgiveness to those who forsake sin, and Sin as the cause of all calamities.
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGoldenSceptreHeldForthToTheHumble
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.lettermen2.com/goldensceptre.pdf
*Scott, David, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton, What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in OBSERVATIONS ON THE PUBLIC COVENANTS BETWIXT GOD AND THE CHURCH: A DISCOURSE.
"A clear and concise summary of the biblical doctrine of the moral person (i.e. that God regards churches and nations as moral entities separate from the individual members of which they are composed). No Christian can afford not to understand this vital teaching! In many ways this is a crux of the Covenanter position, underlying as it does the issues of separation from backslidden or anti-Christian civil and church governments, the binding nature of lawful Covenants on posterity, eschatology, etc." -- Publisher
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations. David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Stevenson, Thomas Patton, The Forgiveness of National Sin, 1900.
Whincop, John (d. 1647), Gods Call to Weeping and Mourning. Set out in a Sermon before the honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament, at their late solemne fast, Ianuary 29. 1644. Being, the day before the Treaty (at Uxbridg), began. By John Whincop, D.D. Late fellow of Trin: Coll: in Cambridge, now Rector of the Church of Clothall in Hartford-shire. Published by order of that House. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Whincop, John (d. 1647), Israels Tears for Distressed Zion. Shown in a Sermon Before the Right Honourable House of Lords Assembled in Parliament, at their late solemn fast, in the Abby-Church of Westminster, Sept. 24. 1645. By John Whincop D.D. and pastor of the church of Clothall in Hertford-shire. Published by order of the House of Peers. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Williams, Daniel (1643?-1716), What Repentance of National Sins God Doth Require, as Ever we Expect National Mercies? [Sermon on Hosea x. 12. (Hosea 10:12)], 1690. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
See also: Confession of national sin and covenant renewal, The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The protestant reformation, Background, foundation, and history of the covenanted reformation of scotland, and so forth, and so on.
The Matthew Poole Project
"The Project is dedicated to republishing the extensive literary efforts of the Reverend Matthew Poole. The cornerstone of the project is the translation of Poole's massive SYNOPSIS CRITICORUM (SYNOPSIS OF INTERPRETERS), making it available in English for the first time."
http://www.matthewpoole.net/index.html
Repentance (FGB #203)
What is Repentance? Plumer, William S. (1802-1880) | The Necessity of Repentance, Ryle, J.C. (1816-1900) | Six Ingredients of Repentance, Watson. Thomas (c. 1620-1686) | Repentance or Faith: Which Comes First? Murray, John (1898-1975) | Christ Commanded Repentance, Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892) | Sin, Sinners, and Repentance, Gill, John (1697-1771) | The Fruits of Repentance, Pink, A.W. (1886-1952) | Examining our Repentance, Watson, Thomas (c. 1620-1686) | The Greatest Motive to Repentance, Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892) | Repentance and Universal Judgment, Davies, Samuel (1723-1761) | Heaven's Joy and Repentance, Payson, Edward (1783-1827)
https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/repefg/repentance
Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:7-11)A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. (John 3:27)
Right views of God's truth are not an intellectual attainment, but a blessing bestowed on us by God. -- Arthur Pink (1886-1952), He Instructed HimWho being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3)
The most excellent study of expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. -- James Innell Packer
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:6,7)
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:8-10)
He himself shall be saved, etc. It is certain that Paul speaks of those who, while always retaining the foundations, mix hay with gold, stubble with silver, and wood with precious stones -- that is, those who build upon Christ, but in consequence of the weakness of the flesh, admit something that is man's, or through ignorance turn aside to some extent from the strict purity of God's word. Such were many of the saints, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, and the like. Add to these, if you choose, from those of later times, Gregory and Bernard, and others of that stamp, who, while they had it as their object to build upon Christ, did nevertheless often deviate from the right system of building. Such persons, Paul says, could be saved, but on this condition -- if the Lord wiped away their ignorance, and purged them from all dross. -- John Calvin commenting on 1 Corinthians 3:15
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The whole of the prophecies of Isaiah are precious, and should be read by us constantly in private. -- C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Devotional Bible
On the contrary, he charges them with gross and voluntary ignorance, as if he had said that, by their madness, they brought down destruction on themselves. The meaning therefore is, that the people perished because they despised instruction . . . .
Hence we draw a useful doctrine; namely, that the source of all our calamities is, that we do not allow ourselves to be taught by the word of God, and this is what the Prophet chiefly intended that we should observe. . . .
So then it is a true statement, that the reason why the people endure such a variety of afflictions is, that they are ignorant of God, and will not allow themselves to be taught by him. -- John Calvin commenting on Isaiah 5:13Where there is the greatest simplicity, there is the greatest unity; and where there is the greatest unity, there is the greatest power. -- Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)
Saint Augustine's final sentence of THE CITY OF GOD is "All things must be referred to the Glory of God."
When you see that, then you will see the key to the story, and you will see the key to history. . . . The classic exposition of history in terms of Scripture. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999)Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history. -- Lord Acton (1834-1902)
We are an illiterate nation incapable of understanding great truth. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999)
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance. -- Thomas Sowell
I would have you remember, ladies and gentlemen, that the Reformation was born on the wings of sound scholarship. I can not emphasis this enough, that learning and great theology, great evangelical convictions, the great evangelical fervor, and even bravery and martyrdom are not foreign to the Reformation, but they are all part of the story. We see Calvin fleeing from France. We see Archbishop Thomas Cramner putting out the hand to be burned first because that was the hand which betrayed his Lord. We hear Bishop Latimer and Bishop Ridley crying out to one another as they are being burned at the stake by Henry VIII. These men, without exception, were great scholars. The evangelical world then was floated by divine mercy and divine sovereignty on the wings of great scholarship, and desperately the church needed it then. Desperately the church needs it today. . . . Don't every come to the place where you believe that you can not be a great evangelical minister and not be a profound scholar. I would site to you Thornwell, Dabney, Palmer, and the other great leaders of our church, the Southern Church . . . I remind you of the Hodges and the Alexanders, and so on, in American church history to support this thesis. Time does not permit me to recite the list of those who lead the Reformation, who were equally great scholars. -- C. Gregg Singer, in the lecture Speaking on Calvinism
Down through the ages there have been only a few great Christian scholars, but God had given them to us when they were needed. -- C. Gregg Singer
So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), in the Apologetics series of 24 lectures using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979.
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453The Reformation is the revival of Augustine. Augustine came to his own in the Reformers. . . .
Charles Hodge, in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, three volumes, declares that the Reformation was a revival of Augustine. Now, there is no doubt, students, that when Luther was so distressed in mind, so distressed in spirit, when he entered the monastery in 1505, and came under the powerful influence of Von Staupitz, Von Staupitz said, "My son, my son, read Saint Augustine. Martin my son, read the blessed Saint Paul, Martin read the blessed Saint Paul, Martin read Augustine." And after a struggle of some years Martin Luther walked out in the fullness and the brightness of the light of Justification by Faith.
And when Luther had done his greatest work, in 1536 in the city of Basil, there was published THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION by a man, who at that time, was 27 years of age. And around Calvin were gathered the great forces of Reformers. Luther spoke for Germany, but Calvin spoke for the whole Christian world in Western Europe, for Hungry, for Poland, for southern Germany, for The Netherlands, for the French Huguenots, for the Calvinists in Spain and Italy, for the Calvinists in England and Scotland, and at Wales and Ireland. And the Church was once again brought into a position of great strength in its contact with Philosophy. . . .
In other words, students, because Calvin so emphasized the Doctrine of the Covenant, because he so emphasized the fullness and the necessity of revelation, because he so emphasized the Sovereignty of God, what did he give the Church? He gave the Church the message founded upon the truth, grounded in the truth, a Christian Theism. . . I am saying this, that when you have a truly biblically oriented, centered theology, comprehending and including the whole counsel of God, the Church is well armed to meet the conflict of culture. For the real conflict is Christian Theology verses all the ideologies, verses all the philosophies, which rage around her today. . . .
But the more pure her theology, the greater will be the conflict. The communists do not care about tearing down liberal Christianity. Now, that theology, which is most biblical, that church which holds that theology which is most biblical, will be the object of violent attack. Humanly speaking these men are correct, because if they can destroy biblical theology, that is found in Calvinism, the whole edifice will fall. . . .
Calvin and his cohorts provided for the Western mind a biblical rationalism. By that I mean a world and life view which made it possible for the Christian man to view reality after God, to think his thought concerning history, literature, music, art, philosophy, education, economic activity, and so on, thinking, in all these areas, God's thought after him. In other words, they provided a biblical . . . world and life view, a biblical view of all things, which was rational in the sense that when you see things as God sees them, even though we do it analogically, and, of course, never perfectly, but when we begin to see things as God sees them, we begin to see them in the right perspective, which is rational in the biblical sense. We see the purpose and meaning of everything in a biblical perspective. It is not truth achieved by us, it is God's revealed truth overwhelming our minds, in one sense, making us captive to his thinking, and giving us, as Paul said, a sense of all things have become new to us. We see them in the new light.
Now, in this book [FROM RATIONALISM (the Renaissance sense of "rationalism" -- compiler), TO IRRATIONALITY], I have been frankly supporting Calvinism as the answer.
Now let me make a point here in my discussion of the Reformation. I am not saying that other reformers were not Christian. I am certainly not saying that. I am not saying that other reformers did not make a significant contribution. . . . -- C. Gregg Singer in Apologetics #03: Classical and Medieval Thought #3
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 81 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511637Then, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence [harmony -- compiler], and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavored by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Lćlius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be.
Tully [Cicero -- compiler], himself, too, speaking not in the person of Scipio or any one else, but uttering his own sentiments, uses the following language in the beginning of the fifth book, after quoting a line from the poet Ennius, in which he said, "Rome's severe morality and her citizens are her safeguard." "This verse," says Cicero, "seems to me to have all the sententious truthfulness of an oracle. For neither would the citizens have availed without the morality of the community, nor would the morality of the commons without outstanding men have availed either to establish or so long to maintain in vigor so grand a republic with so wide and just an empire. Accordingly, before our day, the hereditary usages formed our foremost men, and they on their part retained the usages and institutions of their fathers. But our age, receiving the republic as a chef-d'oeuvre of another age which has already begun to grow old, has not merely neglected to restore the colors of the original, but has not even been at the pains to preserve so much as the general outline and most outstanding features. For what survives of that primitive morality which the poet called Rome's safeguard? It is so obsolete and forgotten, that, far from practicing it, one does not even know it. And of the citizens what shall I say? Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality. . . ."
For I mean in its own place to show that -- according to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debate -- Rome never was a republic, because true justice had never a place in it. But accepting the more feasible definitions of a republic, I grant there was a republic of a certain kind, and certainly much better administered by the more ancient Romans than by their modern representatives. But the fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ, if at least any choose to call this a republic; and indeed we cannot deny that it is the people's weal.
But if perchance this name, which has become familiar in other connections, be considered alien to our common parlance, we may at all events say that in this city is true justice; the city of which Holy Scripture says, "Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God." -- Augustine in The City of God, Book 2, Chapter 21, Cicero's Opinion of the Roman RepublicOurs is not an age of thinking or reading to the great detriment of the church and the souls of men. Unless the church and individual professing Christians wake up, most will live out their lives believing falsehoods and when they die will wake up in hell for all eternity. -- Arthur Pink, The Broad Way and the Narrow Way
The name Tolle Lege comes from St. Augustine's autobiographical work CONFESSIONS. Translated from the Latin and pronounced tol-lay lah-jhay, it means, take up and read. Augustine used this phrase when relating his own conversion experience as he described how God used a sentence in the New Testament (Romans 13:13,14), to suddenly convert him:
But when a profound reflection had, from the secret depths of my soul, drawn together and heaped up all my misery before the sight of my heart, there arose a mighty storm, accompanied by as mighty a shower of tears . . . . I flung myself down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, and the streams of mine eyes gushed out, an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this effect, spake I much unto Thee, -- But Thou, O Lord, how long? -- How long, Lord? Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Oh, remember not against us former iniquities; for I felt that I was enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries, -- How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?As the apostle says to Timothy, so also he says to every-one, Give yourself to reading. [1 Timothy 4:13] . . . He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own . . . You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible . . . the best way for you to spend your leisure is to be either reading or praying. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo, I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, Take up and read; take up and read. Immediately my countenance was changed, and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So, restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it no other way than as a command to me from Heaven to open the book, and to read the first chapter I should light upon . . . I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell, -- Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended, -- by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart, -- all the gloom of doubt vanished away. -- The Confessions of St. Augustine (Book 8, Chapter 12), as quoted at the Tolle Lege Press websiteAutodidact: A self-taught person.
Each famous author of antiquity whom I recall places a new offence and another cause of dishonor to the charge of later generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds and the writings that their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through insufferable neglect. Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its ancestral heritage. -- Petrarch (1304-1374)
The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject . . . And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them . . . Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC to 65 AD) in Natural Questions
Many of the celebrated makers of the modern world have been shown up for their devious handling of truth in some aspect of their thinking or their lives -- including Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Brecht, Bertrand Russell, Sartre, Margaret Mead and others. Yet these are the men and women of ideas who have risen up to overthrow the guardians of traditional Western society, and who on the basis of the brilliance of their minds are now trusted to diagnose our ills, prescribe our remedies and direct the future for our children and for the world. -- Os Guinness, Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion, pp. 79-80
Experts of every kind are in the perfect position to exploit you. -- from the Contents of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economists Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Above all, we must at all times remember what intellectuals habitually forget: that people matter more than concepts and must come first. The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas. -- Paul M. Johnson, his concluding statement in Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky
Theological acumen should never be viewed as a substitute for godly piety. -- Jon D. Payne
"Give thyself unto reading." The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. -- C.H. Spurgeon
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:25)
Averitt, Richard C., The Scriptural Teaching Regarding Christian Scholarship (Dissertation: Thesis [M.A.] -- Wheaton College, 1953).
*Boot, Joseph, The Mission of God: A Manifesto of Hope for Society, ISBN: 9780994727909 0994727909.
"This is a work of practical theology and cultural philosophy, demonstrating the religious nature of all human actions and institutions." -- Publisher
"The problem with most contemporary thought regarding missions is the tendency towards a truncated view of God's plan for the world and Christians' role within it. The strong focus on the salvation and transformation of individuals, and not so much on how this transformation can be externalized to communities and nations as well -- a phenomenon which one Christian thinker refers to as a 'flight to the interior.' This means that social thought has become monopolized by those who hold to non-Christian philosophies, who then get to frame the terms by which social thought is discussed. Even those Christians who try to articulate a social vision inadvertently borrow from these philosophies, rather than drawing from the resources of the Christian worldview.
"It is good, then, that Dr. Joseph Boot has provided us in THE MISSION OF GOD a comprehensive, well thought out treatise on how God's plan does not just involve the salvation of individuals, but the transformation of the world to one that is characterized by godliness. He describes the purpose of the book as follows:
I have endeavored in the following pages, to further biblical faith and life through what I hope is an engaging analysis of key themes in contemporary missiology through a reformed, puritan lens. This is done, not simply out of an academic interest in missiological concerns, but because I genuinely believe that the core elements of Puritan thought must be restated with relevance in our time, as central to both the recovery of the church, and the Western world itself from the brink of disaster -- a cultural auto-homicide (p. 17)."In producing this treatise, Boot does not weave entirely news idea out of thin air, but draws upon historic Christianity, especially the Puritan movement that sprung out of the Protestant Reformation. He shows that Christianity provides a coherent social vision, that it alone can provide a stable foundation for society, and how our present societies will not be able to sustain themselves if they abandon those foundations. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, 4 books, published in 2 volumes, ISBN: 0801024404. A Christian classic. Available in CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES, a 22-book series, online, and in various other formats.
"Of all commentators I believe Calvin to be the most candid. . . . He was no trimmer and pruner of texts. He gave their meaning as far as he knew it." -- C.H. Spurgeon
"I know of no man since the Apostles' days whom I value and honor more than Calvin, and whose judgment in all things, one with another, I more esteem and come nearer to." -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
There are at least 400 references to Augustine in John Calvin. Anybody who says that Calvin got his theology of the top of his head knows no Calvin. Calvin knew Augustine probably better than anybody else, including Luther. [see Warfield, CALVIN AND AUGUSTINE -- compiler]. Calvin went back to all the early western fathers. I would say that next to Augustine, his theology is based upon Bernard of Clairvaux and Anselm, and he had a higher respect for Saint Thomas Aquinas than many people are willing to admit. But he is in the western theological tradition. Charles Hodge, in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY of three volumes, very often refers to Calvinism as Augustinianism, and you can see why. . . . [Charles Hodge], declares that you might as well call Calvinism revived and revitalized Augustinianism. -- C. Gregg Singer in Speaking on Calvinism, a lectureThere seem to be very few commentaries on Chronicles from Reformed writers. Both Chronicles and Isaiah cover the reign of good King Hezekiah. Probably this is one reason Calvin did not comment on Chronicles. Isaiah covers the themes of Chronicles with the addition of the prophesy of the Messiah.
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
*Calvin, Jean (John, 1509-1564), Theodore de Beza, Robert Estienne, Academiae de Geneve, Leges Academiae Genevensis. Alternate title (French): L'ORDRE DU COLLEGE DE GENEUE. Language: Latin.
"First edition of the new Academy of Geneva founded by John Calvin. It contains the complete speeches made at the inauguration by John Calvin and Theodore de Beza, the first Rector of the Academy. Also a complete outline of the curriculum, from seventh to first grade, with a complete reading list in classical authors for each grade, and the by-laws and regulations for appointing the faculty. One of the two imprints by Robert Estienne to bear the place of publication as Geneva."
*Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), A Christian View of Men and Things, ISBN: 1891777009 9781891777004.
"It is important to learn many subjects in detail, but it is equally important to understand the whole picture. How does Christianity relate to history, politics, ethics, science, human religions, and the study of knowledge? This book carefully and clearly answers those questions. It may be studies with profit by teachers and parents . . . Clark's command of both worldly philosophy and Scripture is evident on every page, and the result is a breathtaking and invigorating challenge to the wisdom of this world." -- The Trinity Foundation
Contents: Foreword, Introduction; The Philosophy of History; The Philosophy of Politics; Ethics; Science; Religion; Epistemology; Index; Scripture Index.
"It was a Christian view of men and things that created and sustained Western civilization. It is a Christian view of things and men that gives us truth about history, science, religion, ethics, politics, and philosophy. . . . Gordon Clark demonstrates that it is Christianity, and Christianity alone, that offers hope both for this world and the world to come." -- Publisher
In Chapter V, "Science," Clark makes, among many others, the following points: "Theism gives coherence to history, politics, and ethics, whereas naturalism does not. . . . Christian theism furnishes a basis for significance in history, orderly freedom in government, and a life that is still called respectable west of the iron curtain. . . . Scientific laws are not discovered but are chosen. . . . Not only are scientific laws non-empirical, they must indeed be false. . . . The fallacy of asserting the consequent is invalid whenever used. But it is precisely this fallacy that is used in every case of scientific verification. . . . There is a prior and much more important question: What is the purpose of science? . . . If there are any scientific facts, they are unattainable values with zero variable error. . . . No scientific or observational proof can be given for the uniformity of nature. . . . Science is incapable of arriving at any truth whatever. . . . Ethics and history do not depend on science, but science depends on them. . . ."
Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), The Johannine Logos (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation), ISBN: 0940931222 9780940931220.
"Clark analyzes the relationship between Christ, who is the truth, and the Bible. He explains why John used the same word to refer to both Christ and his teaching. Chapters deal with the Prologue to John's Gospel, Logos and Rheemata, Truth, and Saving Faith.
"Yet how is Christ, who is the truth, related to the truths of the Bible? That is the question Gordon Clark answers in this book. His answer explains why contemporary religion has little to do with Christianity, for religion has moved far away from what the Bible, especially the Gospel of John, says about truth." -- The Trinity Foundation
*Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God, ISBN: 0940931850 9780940931855.
"Through most of its history, modern science has been at war with Christianity. This little book ends the battles, for it demonstrates that science cannot argue against the truth of Scripture, for the methods of science can never prove anything true. Written by the chairman of the philosophy department at Butler University, this book may be studied with profit by teachers, parents, and students." -- Publisher
"THIS IS THE BOOK to confound anyone who is putting faith and trust in science." -- Jay P. Green Sr.
Includes bibliography and indexes.
"In this book the late philosopher Gordon H. Clark takes a critical look at the fundamental workings of the scientific method and demonstrates that science is incapable of discovering truth. Science is a collection of useful falsehoods, which we may use to manipulate and control nature. It is useful for giving us technology and for providing working theories of the natural world, but these theories are forever that -- theories. They can be proven false, and often are proven false, but no scientific theory can ever be proven true. Therefore the modern fascination with science (which borders almost on idolization), is misguided. Since science cannot discover truth, science has nothing to say about the existence of God, or the truths of Christianity and the Bible. These things are outside the domain of science. This means that there is no fundamental conflict between religion and science, once science is properly understood. Truth does not come from science, but is, rather, a gift revealed to us by God in the pages of the Bible. This book is well worth one's careful study." -- Reader's Comment
Clark, Gordon Haddon (1902-1985), The Works of Gordon Haddon Clark, Volume 5: Modern Philosophy, 417 pages (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 2008), ISBN: 9781891777202 1891777203.
"MODERN PHILOSOPHY is Volume 5 of The Works of Gordon Haddon Clark. MODERN PHILOSOPHY combines five of Dr. Clark's books confuting modern philosophy and philosophers: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND BELIEF IN GOD, BEHAVIORISM AND CHRISTIANITY, LANGUAGE AND THEOLOGY, WILLIAM JAMES, and JOHN DEWEY. These books compose a brilliant refutation of the major figures and movements of twentieth-century philosophy: Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, William James, John Dewey, Gilbert Ryle, John Watson, Edgar Singer, B.F. Skinner, A.J. Ayer, Herbert Feigl, and Rudolf Carnap. Clark subjects the notions that science discovers truth, that language is inadequate, that mind is a myth, and that Christianity is fiction to withering logical examination and demonstrates them all to be false. Science discovers no truth, language is completely adequate to express meaning and truth, intellect is indispensable, and Christianity is truth revealed by God." -- The Trinity Foundation
Contents: The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God, Behaviorism and Christianity, Language and Theology, William James, and John Dewey.
*Crampton, W. Gary, The Scripturalism of Gordon H. Clark (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 1999), ISBN: 0940931532 9780940931534.
"Gordon Clark was one of the clearest thinking and clearest writing theologians and philosophers of the twentieth century, yet one of the least influential. By engaging the philosophical thought of the past 2,500 years, Dr. Clark achieved what no thinker before him had done: a complete revolution in philosophy. Dr. Gary Crampton is one of the few scholars who understands the significance of what Dr. Clark has done, and he explains it clearly and concisely in this introduction to Dr. Clark's thought." -- Publisher
Contents: Introduction
Part 1: Knowledge; Epistemology; Three Methods of Epistemology; Christian Epistemology; General and Special Revelation; Epistemology and Soteriology; Revelation and Apologetics; Knowledge and Opinion; Epistemological Limitations and the Language of Scripture
Part 2: Scripture; Progressive Revelation; Canonization of Scripture; the Inspiration of Scripture; The Nature and Extent of Inspiration; The Attributes of Scripture; The Witness of the Bible and Church History; Original Manuscripts, Copies, and Translations; The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture; The Law and the Gospel; Law and Love; Biblical Hermeneutics and Application; Theology and Philosophy; Scripture and Biblical Institutions; Conclusion; Index; Scripture Index
*Crampton, W. Gary, By Scripture Alone: The Sufficiency of Scripture (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 2002), ISBN: 0940931591 9780940931596.
"Over the centuries, the enemies of Christianity, with Satanic shrewdness, have focused their attacks on the Bible, the Word of God, knowing that the surest way to discredit Christianity is to discredit its source. Those enemies -- rationalist and mystic, empiricist and scientific, religious and irreligious -- have denied the clarity, the truthfulness, the sufficiency, the accuracy, and the divine origin of the 66 books of the Bible. They have done so in order to support their own claims that another document (such as the KORAN or the BOOK OF MORMON), or an organization (such as the Roman Church-State or the Greek Orthodox Church), or an experience (such as visions and intuitions), or a method (such as scientific experimentalism), or a man (such as the pope), are the genuine source of knowledge.
"BY SCRIPTURE ALONE is an articulate and reasoned defense of the principal doctrine of Christianity, The Bible alone is the Word of God, against one of Christianity's most persistent and determined foes: Roman Catholicism." -- Publisher
"Metaphorically speaking, then, as Gordon Clark taught, the first chapter of the Confession [The Westminster Confession of Faith in its original form, 1646], stands as a 'continental divide.' The Word of God, which has been the touchstone of pure doctrine throughout the centuries, forms a great divide between Christianity and all other types of thought. In 'Of the Holy Scripture' the Westminster divines discuss (among other things), the necessity of Scripture, the identity of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the self-authentication of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture, the clarity of Scripture, the transmission and preservation of Scripture, the interpretation of Scripture, and the finality of Scripture, all of which are essential for a proper understanding of the Word of God. And it is because of these essential marks or attributes of the Bible that the Reformers held to the principle of sola Scriptura: Scripture alone has a systematic monopoly on truth; it is the sole criterion of truth. This is why the Preface of the 1611 King James Version described the Bible as 'A Pandect [complete body], of Profitable Laws, against Rebellious Spirits.'
"To ignore, reject, or attack any one of these attributes is to ignore, reject, or attack the Word of God and the God of the Word. We are forbidden to add to or to take away from the written Word of God (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19). Yet, it is precisely at this point that opponents of Christianity -- modernists, Pentecostal-Charismatics, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholics -- have made their most determined attacks on Christianity, that is, at the foundation. The most vehement opponent and enemy of God and the true church through the centuries has been the one the Confession (25:6), calls the Antichrist himself: 'the pope of Rome,' the Roman Church-State. 'The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent' go so far as to anathematize anyone who adheres to the Reformed doctrine of sola Scriptura. This is why William Whitaker wrote: 'If ever any heresies have impiously outraged the Holy Scripture of God, we may justly rank the papists [Roman Catholics] . . . with this class of men, who pervert things most sacred'."
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), John Calvin. Available in THE REFORMERS AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"As Cunningham states, 'John Calvin was by far the greatest of the Reformers with respect to the talents he possessed, the influence he exerted, and the services he rendered in the establishment and diffusion of important truth.' Here we have a succinct account of Calvin's works and the leading principles that he maintained. Calvin is without a doubt one of the great men in all of human history, and as he often pointed out, he owed everything to the Lord Jesus Christ -- all his talents, all his influence, his very salvation, etc. -- for that is the nature of 'Calvinism,' giving God all the glory!" -- Publisher
*Dabney, Robert L. (1820-1898), A Discourse on the use and Results of Church History.
"Delivered by Robert L. Dabney, May 8, 1854, at his induction into the professorship of Ecclesiastical History and Polity in Union Theological Seminary, Virginia." -- Publisher
Diekema, Anthony J., Academic Freedom and Christian Scholarship, 214 pages, ISBN: 0802847560.
"This book reflects on the scholarly literature on academic freedom and the personal experience of an educator with 20 years experience as a college president. The book offers a balanced approach which develops a working definition of academic freedom, assesses the threats it faces, acknowledges the significance of academic freedom, and explores educational policy implications for Christian colleges. The chapters are: (1) Introduction; (2) The Search for Definition; (3) Threats to Academic Freedom; (4) Academic Freedom in the Context of Worldview; (5) Policy Development in the Christian College: Modest Proposals; and (6) Reflections: Toward an Ethos of Freedom. An appendix contains the expanded mission statement for Calvin College (contains 254 references)."
Douma, Doug J., Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark, ISBN: 9781532607257 1532607253.
"This is the story of Gordon Clark (1902-85), respected philosopher and prolific writer, who held that Christianity, as a logically coherent system, is superior to all other philosophies. Clark fought no wars and conquered no kingdoms. Yet he was a leading figure in many theological wars fought for the Kingdom of God. These battles for the minds and souls of men were every bit as crucial as physical wars between nations.
"In an age of increasing secularization, he put up an intellectual defense of the Christian faith. This faith, he believed, was a system. All of its parts link together, a luxury of no other philosophy. His stance shows a Christianity that is in fact intellectual, not relying on appeals to emotion or experience.
"In propounding this view, he encountered frequent opposition, not from the secular world, but from within his own denomination. This biography helps explain why his thought was so profound, why resistance mounted against him, and how his struggles impacted American Presbyterianism. Additionally, this book calls for a reappraisal of Clark's views, which have been maligned by controversy. Understanding and applying his views could significantly fortify Christians combating irrational and non-systematic ideas prevalent in today's churches." -- Publisher
Federer, William J. (compiler), America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, ISBN: 1880563053 9781880563052 1880563096 9781880563090 1880563134 9781880563137.
"An invaluable resource highlighting America's noble heritage, profound quotes from founding fathers, presidents, statesmen, scientists, constitutions, court decisions . . . for use in speeches, papers, debates, essays . . ." -- Publisher
Amerisearch
https://americanminute.com/
*Hall, David W., The Arrogance of the Modern: Historical Theology Held in Contempt, ISBN: 096503674X 9780965036740.
"Into the breach comes a very well documented volume by David W. Hall, with the title, THE ARROGANCE OF THE MODERN: HISTORICAL THEOLOGY HELD IN CONTEMPT. Early on in the book, Hall decries the tendency for researchers and theoreticians to cite only recent writings as backup of their work. He cites the concept that civilization is a democracy extending far back into time; the 'votes' of citizens of old, represented by their writings, are just as important as those written just yesterday.
"To cap off his argument, Hall quotes a comment from Lord Acton, in which he said, 'Just as the loss of memory in an individual is a psychiatric defect calling for a medical treatment, so too any community which has no social memory is suffering from an illness.' Those who do not learn from history, as you will recall, are doomed to repeat it. And, I might add, history has far more of what the Clarence Pages of this generation despise than the present. But, the Balkanization brought on by Postmodern criticism may well be our 'unlearned lesson' that finally does us all in.
"This volume is a closely-argued, well organized thesis. It is not easy reading but, with the complexity of the subject, I think it is as well written a volume as I have seen." -- William L. Brown
*Hall, David W., et al., Tributes to John Calvin: A Celebration of his Quincentenary, ISBN: 9781596380967 1596380969.
"The essays in TRIBUTES TO JOHN CALVIN: A CELEBRATION OF HIS QUINCENTENARY illuminate Calvin's times, thought and legacy, and provide a celebratory tribute to one of the most influential people in history.
"This book commemorates the quincentenary of Calvin's birth (July 10, 1509), and attests to the remarkable fact that a French religious leader from a tiny village is still remembered half a millennium later. Twenty-three leading Calvin scholars exhibit a firm understanding of Calvin's era, theology, and the heritage he bequeathed the church. Their articles cover Calvin's theology, soteriology, and ecclesiology, as well as his doctrines of assurance, worship, and Scripture. They examine Calvin as a Frenchman, lawyer, and liturgist. Other articles explore Calvin's impact on the arts, Calvinism in Asia, and the influential women in Calvin's life." -- Publisher
Holmgren, Fredrick Carlson, The Old Testament and the Significance of Jesus: Embracing Change -- Maintaining Christian Identity: The Emerging Center in Biblical Scholarship, 204 pages, ISBN: 0802844537 9780802844538.
*James, Kevin, Corruption of the Word (Williamsburg, NM [Micro-Load Press, Box 92 St. Rt., Williamsburg 87942]: MicroLoad Press), ISBN: 0962442003 9780962442001.
"This book developed from the discovery of the author that there were some very important differences in various versions of the Bible. When he asked fellow Christians and pastors why there were certain passages missing from the new versions, he was met with a shrug, or a lack of interest . . . James has done a wonderful job of isolating the differences between the advocates of the handful of maverick MSS B and Aleph, and those supporting the majority of the MSS. He gives many instances of heretical changes of the first three centuries which are repeated in the modern versions. And he names the MSS (usually 4 or 5), which contain those heresies. He shows that often these changes, especially omissions, were made to support their theory that Jesus was a created creature, or at best a secondary god.
"The author has done a tremendous amount of work. He gives many comparisons. He does a good job of bringing out the many points seen in Burgon's works. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Johnson, Paul, Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky, ISBN: 0061253170 9780061253171.
"The trail of the intellectuals is filled with radicalism and perversion. It is very interesting to see the men and women behind the theories and ideas that have greatly influenced culture in the past few centuries. Intellectuals may be brilliant in art or have a certain area of expertise, but when an intellectual begins to express influence in an area outside of where he or she has proven his or her mastery of a subject, beware. 'A dozen people picked at random on the street are at least as likely to offer sensible views on moral and political matters as a cross-section of the intelligentsia.' But I would go further. One of the principal lessons of our tragic century, which has seen so many millions of innocent lives sacrificed in schemes to improve the lot of humanity, is -- beware intellectuals. Not merely should they be kept well away from the levers of power, they should also be objects of particular suspicion when they seek to offer collective advice. Beware committees, conferences and leagues of intellectuals. Distrust public statements issued from their serried ranks. Discount their verdicts on political leaders and important events." -- Reader's Comment
Johnson, Gary L.W. and R. Fowler White, Whatever Happened to the Reformation? ISBN: 0875521835 9780875521831.
*Machen, Gresham J., Education, Christianity and the State, ISBN: 0940931192 9780940931190.
"Machen was one of the foremost educators, theologians, and defenders of Christianity in the twentieth century. The author of numerous scholarly books, Machen saw clearly that if Christianity is to survive and flourish, a system of Christian grade schools must be established. This collection of essays captures his thought on education over nearly three decades.
"What role does the government have to play in education? What is the relationship between faith and knowledge? Is scholarship important, or is education the same as training? This book has been adopted as required reading by a large college in Florida. It may be studied with profit by teachers, parents, and students. Contents include: Faith and Knowledge, The Importance of Christian Scholarship, Christianity and Culture, Reforming the Government Schools, The Necessity of The Christian School, Shall We Have a Federal Department of Education? Proposed Department of Education, The Christian School: The Hope of America, Westminster Theological Seminary: Its Purpose and Plan." -- The Trinity Foundation
Machen, J. Gresham, The Importance of Christian Scholarship, 43 pages.
MacLeod, A. Donald, W. Stanford Reid: An Evangelical Calvinist in the Academy (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. McGill-Queen's University Press, November 2004), 401 pages, ISBN: 0773527702 9780773527706.
"W. Stanford Reid's career affected both university and religious life in Canada during the post-war period. Donald MacLeod traces Reid's career in the university, first at McGill, where Reid was a history professor for twenty-four years as well as dean of residences, and then at the University of Guelph, where he set up a history department, organized a large graduate program, and created a Scottish Studies emphasis.
"MacLeod's in-depth analysis examines how an observant Christian academic, unapologetically Calvinist, openly articulated his faith in a secular environment and helped convince evangelicals to abandon their ghettoizing anti-intellectualism. His discussion of Reid's international networking serves as a reminder of the way in which Canadian evangelicalism was influenced by and in turn influenced the United States, where Reid's influence was appreciable, both as a trustee of Westminster Seminary for thirty-seven years and as editor at large of the nascent Christianity Today. W. STANFORD REID is a poignant, in-depth investigation of the life of a man whose career spanned academia and church." -- Publisher
McMaster (M'Master), Gilbert (1778-1854), and Hanover College. Philalethean Society, The Obligations of the American Scholar to his Country and the World: An Address Delivered Before the Philalethean Society of Hanover College, September 28th, 1841.
*Meyer, Stephen C., Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, ISBN: 9780062071477, 9780062071484, 9780062071491, 0062071475, 0062071483, 0062071491.
"Charles Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. In what is known today as the 'Cambrian explosion,' 530 million years ago many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In DARWIN'S DOUBT Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life -- a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but also because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, SIGNATURE IN THE CELL, Meyer argues that the theory of intelligent design -- which holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection -- is ultimately the best explanation for the origin of the Cambrian animals." -- Publisher
Miethe, Terry L., Augustinian Bibliography, 1970-1980: With Essays on the Fundamentals of Augustinian Scholarship, 218 pages, ISBN: 0313226296 9780313226298.
North, Gary, Foundations of Christian Scholarship: Essays in the Van Til Perspective, ISBN: 1879998254, 372 pages.
Of particular interest in this collection of papers are the following:
"PART ONE -- EPISTEMOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Chapter 1 -- The Epistemological Crisis of American Universities -- by Gary North
Chapter 2 -- The Quest for Common Ground -- by Rousas Rushdoony
PART TWO -- ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES
Chapter 3 -- Psychology -- by Rousas Rushdoony
Chapter 4 -- History -- by C. Gregg Singer [Dr. Singer addresses "The Problem of Historical Interpretation" -- compiler]
Chapter 5 -- Economics -- by Gary North
Chapter 6 -- Education -- by William Blake
Chapter 7 -- Political Science -- by Lawrence Pratt
Chapter 8 -- Sociology -- by Gary North
Chapter 9 -- Mathematics -- by Vern Poythress"
*Owen, John (1616-1683), William H. Goold (editor), The Complete Works of John Owen, 23 volumes (The Banner of Truth). Christian classic.
"[John Owen -- compiler] is by common consent not the most versatile, but the greatest among Puritan theologians. For solidity, profundity, massiveness and majesty in exhibiting from Scripture God's ways with sinful mankind there is no one to touch him. . . ." -- J.I. Packer in A Quest for Godliness, p. 81
"I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern; and I owe more to [THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN -- compiler] than to anything else he wrote." -- J.I. Packer
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2013/packer-on-owen-on-mortification/
"To master his works is to be a profound theologian." -- C.H. Spurgeon
"John Owen's treatises on INDWELLING SIN IN BELIEVERS [see: TEMPTATION AND SIN,] and THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN [see: THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN IN BELIEVERS] are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written." -- Jerry Bridges
"The Banner of Truth Trust completed in May, 1968, the re-issue of the complete English works of Owen, his seven volumes on the Epistle of Hebrews excepted. All of these volumes 'are of the greatest value' (Dr. Lloyd-Jones), but for newcomers to Owen we especially recommend the four volumes in the Practical Division (vols. 6-9) . . ." -- William J. Grier
Note: "The Goold edition of John Owen's works originally comprised seventeen volumes, with a further seven volumes published as the EXPOSITION OF HEBREWS, these being numbered volumes 18-24. In the present republication of the Goold edition, volume 17, largely made up of the author's Latin writings, has not been reprinted. The only material in English in that volume, Posthumous sermons and three discourses suitable to the Lord's supper, is added to volume 16 of the present set. The first volume on Hebrews has become volume 17.
"His works on communion, Christian life, and the person and glory of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, etc. are of the utmost value to any serious-minded Christian." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Volume 1: The Glory of Christ, ISBN: 0851511236, 9780851511238. The Glory of Christ, ISBN: 0851516610 9780851516615. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"In THE GLORY OF CHRIST . . . we have the great Puritan pastor and theologian, John Owen, at his richest and most mature. Here he writes about Jesus Christ, the heart of the Gospel, with biblical insight and understanding that is at times almost overwhelming for a contemporary reader.
"These chapters were written during the final period of Owen's life, and began simply in his personal meditation and study, before being shared with others in public ministry. Deep love for, and fervent devotion to Christ, is evident on every page. Owen had already seen the glory of Christ from afar and pondered long on its significance. Here he speaks from his proximity to eternity, and teaches us how to see Christ more clearly and to serve him more faithfully.
"The publishers are convinced that THE GLORY OF CHRIST is a spiritual treasure-cave to which many readers will return again and again throughout the whole of their lives. Its sole purpose is to renew and deepen devotion to Jesus Christ." -- Publisher
Contains: Life of Owen, the Person of Christ, Glory of Christ, and two short catechisms.*Volume 2: Communion With God, vol. 2 of WORKS, ISBN: 0851511244 9780851511245. Alternate title: OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST (EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY), IN LOVE, GRACE, AND CONSOLATION: OR, THE SAINTS FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, UNFOLDED. BY JOHN OWEN, D.D. Available (COMMUNION WITH GOD, MP3 only), [audio file], on the Puritan Hard Drive.
See also: COMMUNION WITH GOD, the Puritan Paperback Series edition, abridged and made easy to read by R.J.K. Law, ISBN: 0851516076 9780851516073. A Christian classic.
"Contains: COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, and more."
"John Owen (1616-1683), believed that communion with God lies at the heart of the Christian life. With Paul he recognized that through the Son we have access by the Spirit to the Father. He never lost the sense of amazement expressed by John: 'Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.' In this outstanding book he explains the nature of this communion and describes the many privileges it brings.
"COMMUNION WITH GOD was written in a day, like our own, when the doctrine of the Trinity was under attack and the Christian faith was being reduced either to rationalism on the one hand or mysticism on the other. His exposition shows that nothing is more vital to spiritual well-being than a practical knowledge of what this doctrine means. . .
"One of the greatest Christian classics of all time . . ." -- Publisher
Owen, Of Communion With God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost or, The Saints Fellowship With the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Unfolded (1763)
http://archive.org/details/communionwithgo00owengoogVolume 3: The Holy Spirit, ISBN: 0851511252 9780851511252. Alternate title: HOLY SPIRIT GIFTS AND POWER: EXPOSITION OF THE SPIRIT'S NAME, NATURE, PERSONALITY, DISPENSATION, OPERATIONS AND EFFECTS. A Christian classic.
"Contains: Work of the Holy Spirit, His name, personality, operations, effects, work in regeneration, in the Old Testament, work on the mind, in sanctification, mortification of sin, and more."
John Newton calls Owen's discourse on the Holy Spirit, "An epitome, if not the masterpiece of his writings."
"Goodwin (THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR SALVATION), and Owen were both excellent expositors. Goodwin interpreted by the insight of a renewed heart, Owen by the patient and prayerful study of words and phrases. . . . These two books complement one another. Together they form a definitive answer to virtually every book concerning the Holy Spirit which has appeared since these two were written in the 17th century . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
"I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern; and I owe more to [THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN -- compiler] than to anything else he wrote." -- J.I. PackerVolume 4: The Work of the Spirit. A Christian classic. Alternate title: PNEUMATOLOGIA, OR, A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHEREIN AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF HIS NAME, NATURE, PERSONALITY, DISPENSATION, OPERATIONS, AND EFFECTS: HIS WHOLE WORK IN THE OLD AND NEW CREATION IS EXPLAINED, THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING IT VINDICATED FROM OPPOSITIONS AND REPROACHES . . . ISBN: 9780851510682 085151068X.
"This volume continues the very detailed study of the last volume, and contains new sections on the work of the Spirit in prayer, as the Comforter, and a discourse on the Gifts of the Spirit."
Volume 5: Faith and its Evidences, ISBN: 9780851510675 0851510671. A Christian classic. Alternate title: THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH, EVIDENCES OF THE FAITH OF GOD'S ELECT, and DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
Contains a detailed discussion of Justification, its foundation, purpose, results, and extent. Also several chapters on just exactly what was imputed to us by Christ's work."
John Owen on Justification
http://www.ccel.org/owen/justification/justification.txt
*Volume 6: Temptation and Sin, ISBN: 9780851511269 0851511260. A Christian classic.
"Contains sections on: Mortification of sin, temptation, indwelling sin, and an exposition of Psalm 130."
"I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern; and I owe more to [THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN -- compiler] than to anything else he wrote." -- J.I. Packer
"John Owen's treatises on INDWELLING SIN IN BELIEVERS [see: TEMPTATION AND SIN,] and THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN [see: THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN IN BELIEVERS] are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written." -- Jerry Bridges
Owen, John (1616-1683), The Mortification of Sin in Believers: Containing the Necessity, Nature, and Means of it. With a resolution of sundry cases of conscience thereunto belonging. By John Owen, D.D. . . .
On the Mortification of sin in Believers, John Owen (1 of 6), [audio file]
Currently (February 2009), there are 63 readings of John Owen by SWRB and Reformed Baptist of Holland (Michigan), (Thomas Sullivan), at SermonAudio.com available for listening online, downloading as MP3 files, [audio file], and listening on iPhone or Mobile Phones.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=62906111628
*Volume 7: Sin and Grace, ISBN: 9780851511276 0851511279. A Christian classic. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF THE DOMINION OF SIN AND GRACE. . . . BY THE LATE PIOUS AND LEARNED MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, JOHN OWEN, D.D.
"Contains: Nature and causes of apostasy from the Gospel, duty of being spiritually minded, treatise on the dominion of Sin, and Grace."
*Volume 8: Sermons to the Nation, ISBN: 9780851510668 0851510663. A Christian classic.
"Contains 16 long and detailed sermons that Owen gave mostly during the Cromwellian Period. Nine of them were preached before the House of Commons (Long Parliament). The majority of texts that are used are from the Old Testament."
*Volume 9: Sermons to the Church, ISBN: 0851510655 9780851510651. A Christian classic.
"Contains 83 sermons: Fourteen which resolve practical cases of conscience, twenty-five intended as preparations to the Lord's Table, and others of various Gospel subjects."
*Volume 10: The Death of Christ, vol. 10 of WORKS, ISBN: 0851510647 9780851510644. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also found in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN, Volume 10, ISBN: 9780851510644 0851510647.
"Greatest Biblical apologetic on the specific and limited nature of the atoning work of Christ in print. Contains discussions on Arminianism, the death of death in the death of Christ, Divine justice, and also discusses, in detail, many views of the atonement that certain men and groups held (and still hold)." -- Publisher
"THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST is a polemical work, designed to show, among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural and destructive of the gospel. . . . Those who see no need for doctrinal exactness and have no time for theological debates which show up divisions between so-called Evangelicals may well regret its reappearance. Some may find the very sound of Owen's thesis so shocking that they will refuse to read his book at all. . . . But . . . there are signs today of a new upsurge of interest in the theology of the Bible: a new readiness to test traditions, to search the Scriptures and to think through the faith. It is to those who share this readiness that Owen's treatise is now offered, in the belief that it will help us in one of the most urgent tasks facing evangelical Christendom today -- the recovery of the Gospel.
"It is safe to say that no comparable exposition of the work of redemption as planned and executed by the Triune Jehovah has ever been done since Owen published his in 1684. None has been needed.
"Owen's interpretation of the texts . . . is sure; his power of theological construction is superb; nothing that needs discussing is omitted, and . . . no arguments for or against his position have been used since his day which he has not himself noted and dealt with. . . . Owen's work is a constructive, broad-based biblical analysis of the heart of the gospel, and must be taken seriously as such. . . Nobody has a right to dismiss the doctrine of the limitedness . . . of the atonement as a monstrosity of Calvinistic logic until he has refuted Owen's proof that it is part of the uniform biblical presentation of redemption, clearly taught in plain text after plain text. And nobody has done that yet." -- J.I. Packer, from the Introduction
"Packer's well balanced definition of Calvinism in the introduction to that volume [John Owen's THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST], is by far the best we have seen in 42 years of intensive reading." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/deathofdeath
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ: Being a Treatise of the Redemption and Reconciliation That is in the Blood of Christ; Wherein the whole controversy about universal redemption is fully discussed: In four parts (1792)
http://archive.org/details/deathofdeathinde00owen
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, including J.I. Packer's Introduction by John Owen
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer_intro.html
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ: Redemption and Reconciliation That is in the Blood of Christ (Limited Atonement), 1 of 33, [audio file]
An audio file reading by Still Waters Revival Books from THE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN. Currently (October 2018), there are 77 readings of John Owen by SWRB and Reformed Baptist of Holland (Michigan), (Thomas Sullivan), at SermonAudio.com available for listening online, downloading as MP3 files, [audio file], and listening on iPhone, mobile phones, and MPE players.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=47081639571*Volume 11: Continuing in the Faith, ISBN: 0851511287 9780851511283. A Christian classic.
"Contains detailed Biblical arguments for the perseverance of the saints. Also has chapters which answer arguments against the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. Very detailed and complete work on the subject."
Volume 12: The Gospel Defended, ISBN: 0851511295 9780851511290. A Christian classic.
"Contains chapters on: the mystery of the Gospel, the death of Christ, Justification, and an examination of Socinianism."
Volume 13: Ministry and Fellowship, ISBN: 0851510639 9780851510637. A Christian classic.
"Contains: The duty of pastors and people distinguished, schism, the nature of schism, the authority of the magistrate in the church, consideration of indulgence and toleration, and much more."
Volume 14: True and False Religion, ISBN: 0851510620 9780851510620. A Christian classic.
"Contains many and detailed arguments against the Church of Rome, during Owen's day, its teachings, and practices. Owen was answering those in his day who wanted to return to Rome. Still applicable for our day of ecumenicalism."
Volume 15: Church Purity and Unity, ISBN: 0851511309 9780851511306. A Christian classic.
"Discourses on liturgies, their imposition, evangelical love, Church peace and unity, and argument for congregationalism, with an answer to critics, a defense of the Puritans against charge of schism, a brief (84 pages!), introduction to the worship of God via a short catechism."
Volume 16: The Church and the Bible, ISBN: 0851510612 9780851510613. A Christian classic.
"Contains: the true nature of a Gospel Church, excommunication, administration of church censures, marrying after divorce, infant Baptism and dipping, and more. Includes 84-page index to Owen's works, writings, life, Greek and Hebrew words used, authors, and Scripture passages used or commented on in his works."*Indexes to The Complete Works of John Owen, Banner of Truth, volume 16
Volumes 17-23 are the 7 volumes on Hebrews. Apparently they are not included in the "Indices."
http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2006/11/08/download-free-index-to-the-works-of-john-owen-16-volumes/*Hebrews, 7 volume set, volumes 17-23 of Owen's WORKS (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1999). Alternate title: EXPOSITION OF HEBREWS and AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
Volume 17 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516122 9780851516127.
Volume 18 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516130 9780851516134.
Volume 19 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516149 9780851516141.
Volume 20 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516157 9780851516158.
Volume 21 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516165 9780851516165.
Volume 22 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516173 9780851516172.
Volume 23 of Owen's Works: Exposition of Hebrews, ISBN: 0851516181 9780851516189.
Keep in mind that there are many other editions of Owen's books that have been published in modern times.
Many single works by Owen may be found on the Puritan Hard Drive and on the Reformation Bookshelf 30 CD Set. Available (THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN including HEBREWS, OCR digital text, in the Amazing Christian Library, DVD One, CD #1.Owen, John (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews; With the Preliminary Exercitations. By John Owen, D.D. revised and abridged; . . . by Edward Williams, 3 vols.
Owen, Hebrews, vol. 1 of 3
http://archive.org/details/expositionofepis184001owen
Owen, Hebrews, vol. 2 of 3
http://archive.org/details/expositionofepis184002owen
Owen, Hebrews, vol. 3 of 3
http://archive.org/details/expositionofepis184003owenThe Works of John Owen at Archive.org
https://archive.org/search.php?query=the+works+of+john+owen&page=2On the Mortification of sin in Believers, John Owen (1 of 6), [audio file]
Currently (February 2009), there are 63 readings of John Owen by Still Waters Revival Books and Reformed Baptist of Holland (Michigan), Thomas Sullivan, narrator, at SermonAudio.com available for listening online, downloading as MP3 files, [audio file], and listening on iPhone or Mobile Phones.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=62906111628John Owen (1616-1683), Quotes
http://johnowen.org/quotes/
Rainy, Robert (1826-1906), and James Mackenzie, Life of William Cunningham, D.D: Principal and Professor of Theology and Church History, New College, Edinburgh, ISBN:0790557975 9780790557977. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Cunningham (1805-1861), was Principal and Professor of Theology and Church History at New College, Edinburgh, during the mid-1800's. His four volume WORKS include the magisterial two volume set HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, DISCUSSIONS ON CHURCH PRINCIPLES and THE REFORMERS AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. A volume of his SERMONS is also in print. In Iain Murray's introduction to HISTORICAL THEOLOGY he points out that 'in the days of Cunningham and Bannerman, New College, Edinburgh, rose to be the finest theological college in Europe.' Furthermore, concerning Cunningham's work in the General Assembly of 1832, he writes, 'and once more a young man arose to deliver a historic speech. Like Begg he was a new-comer to the Assembly's debates, but his tall figure and mass of curly hair quickly identified him as "Cunningham of Greenock".'
"When he sat down two hours later there was no mistaking the feeling of the Moderates. 'That's Andrew come back,' exclaimed one! Others were forced to think of young George Gillespie of the 17th century, who, having just arrived in London, in riding boots and with whip still in hand, delivered such a speech in the Westminster Assembly that his opponent, the great Selden, declared: 'This young man, by a single speech, has swept away the learning and labour of my life! . . . Those who heard Cunningham's speech that day,' write his biographers, 'speak of it with wonder to this day. Such power, wealth, and precision of language they had never heard. . . . In his first six years at Edinburgh he read and carefully classified 530 distinct volumes, not to mention pamphlets or magazines.' Cunningham's works are still much sought after today." -- Publisher
Reid, W. Stanford, Christianity and Scholarship, 110 pages.
Reid, W. Stanford (editor), and Paul Woolley, John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World, ISBN: 0310447216 9780310447214.
"This book, which is dedicated to Paul Woolley, covers over 400 pages. There are 16 different chapters. The contributor's include: Robert Knudsen, W. Stanford Reid, Richard Gamble, D. Clair Davis, Philip Hughes, R.T. Kendall, J.N.D. Douglas, George Marsden, C. Gregg Singer, John Bratt, and others." -- GCB
Includes "The Scotch-Irish in America" by C. Gregg Singer.
Renwick, James (1662-1688), Christ our Righteousness. A Choice Sermon, Preached by the Reverend Mr. James Renwick From Revel. iii. 4 [Revelation 3:4], Falkirk, 1775. Available in (A CHOICE COLLECTION OF VERY VALUABLE PREFACES, LECTURES, AND SERMONS, PREACHED UPON THE MOUNTAINS AND MUIRS OF SCOTLAND, IN THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE LATE PERSECUTION. BY MR. JAMES RENWICK), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in (A CHOICE COLLECTION OF VERY VALUABLE PREFACES, LECTURES, AND SERMONS, PREACHED UPON THE MOUNTAINS AND MUIRS OF SCOTLAND, IN THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE LATE PERSECUTION. BY MR. JAMES RENWICK), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #29.
Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship, The Scientific Enterprise and Christian Faith: Main Themes From a Conference of the Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship, ISBN: 0851117228 9780851117225.
Robertson, James Patrick Bannerman, Right Hon. Lord President of the Court of Session, The Duty of Educated Intellect to the State. An address, 1895.
Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), America's Augustine: Gordon Haddon Clark, an article.
"Some may think it an exaggeration to refer to Clark as America's Augustine, but those who have studied his works will not. Not only did he consider himself an Augustinian (he repeatedly and modestly emphasized that he was simply restating, refining, and developing insights Augustine had originated), but he was the equal of the African doctor in breadth of learning, and his contributions to theology and philosophy are both original and brilliant. Not many histories of philosophy have been written by Christians in this century. Clark's THALES TO DEWEY has been in print since 1957 and is a standard college text. It is a model of philosophical clarity and literary style. One of his early texts on Hellenistic philosophy has been in print for forty-five years -- no one has published anything worthy to replace it. A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MEN AND THINGS -- Clark's outline of his philosophy -- has become a contemporary classic. No Christian since Augustine, except Clark, has attempted what Clark accomplished masterfully in HISTORIOGRAPHY, SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS. And at the time he died, Clark had just completed a manuscript on the Incarnation, part of his major series of books on systematic theology, the first to be written by an American Calvinist in over a century. As his remaining works are published and a new generation of Christians becomes familiar with his thought, they too will agree that he was indeed America's Augustine." -- John W. Robbins
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/041a-AmericasAugustine-GordonHaddonClark.pdf
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), What is Christian Philosophy? a tract.
"Those who put their trust in science as the key to understanding the universe are embarrassed by the fact that science never discovers truth. If the Bible is the source of all truth, science cannot discover truth.
"One of the insoluble problems of the scientific method is the fallacy of induction; induction, in fact, is a problem for all forms of empiricism (learning by experience). The problem is simply this: Induction, arguing from the particular to the general, is always a logical fallacy. No matter how many crows, for example, you observe to be black, the conclusion that all crows are black is never warranted. The reason is quite simple: Even assuming you have good eyesight, are not colorblind, and are actually looking at crows, you have not, and cannot, see all crows. Millions have already died. Millions more are on the opposite side of the planet. Millions more will hatch after you die. Induction is always a fallacy.
"There is another fatal fallacy in science as well: the fallacy of asserting the consequent. The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell put the matter this way:
All inductive arguments in the last resort reduce themselves to the following form: If this is true, that is true: now that is true, therefore this is true. This argument is, of course, formally fallacious. Suppose I were to say: "If bread is a stone and stones are nourishing, then this bread will nourish me; now this bread does nourish me; therefore it is a stone and stones are nourishing. If I were to advance such an argument, I should certainly be thought foolish, yet it would not be fundamentally different from the argument upon which all scientific laws are based."Recognizing that induction is always fallacious, philosophers of science in the twentieth century, in an effort to defend science, developed the notion that science does not rely on induction at all. Instead, it consists of conjectures, experiments to test those conjectures, and refutations of conjectures. But in their attempts to save science from logical disgrace, the philosophers of science had to abandon any claim to knowledge: Science is only conjectures and refutations of conjectures. Karl Popper, one of the twentieth century's greatest philosophers of science, wrote:
First, although in science we do our best to find the truth, we are conscious of the fact that we can never be sure whether we have got it . . . . We know that our scientific theories always remain hypotheses . . . . In science there is no "knowledge" in the sense in which Plato and Aristotle understood the word, in the sense which implies finality; in science, we never have sufficient reason for the belief that we have attained the truth . . . . Einstein declared that his theory was false: he said that it would be a better approximation to the truth than Newton's, but he gave reasons why he would not, even if all predictions came out right, regard it as a true theory . . . . Our attempts to see and to find the truth are not final, but open to improvement: . . . our knowledge, our doctrine is conjectural; . . . it consist of guesses, of hypotheses rather than of final and certain truths."Observation and science cannot furnish us with truth about the universe, let alone truth about God. The secular worldview, which begins by denying God and divine revelation, cannot furnish us with knowledge at all." -- John W. Robbins
Rogers, Charles (editor), Three Scottish Reformers: Alexander Cunningham, Fifth Earl of Glencair, Henry Balnaves of Halhill, and John Davidson, Minister of Prestonpans, With Their Poetical Remains and Mr. Davidson's "Helps for Young Scholars in Christianity," 1874.
Rogers, Jack Bartlett, Scripture in the Westminster Confession: A Problem of Historical Interpretation for American Presbyterianism, 1967.
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) With Scripture Proofs
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/
The Complete Scripture Index to the Westminster Confession (1646), Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Alternate title: SCRIPTURE INDEX TO THE WESTMINSTER STANDARDS. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Complete Scripture Index to the Westminster Confession (1646), Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/index01.htm
*Rushdoony, Rousas John (1916-2001), The Foundations of Social Order: Studies in the Creed and Councils of the Early Church, ISBN: 1879998122 9781879998124. Available through Exodus Books.
"Tampering with our basic social order is tampering with the religious beliefs that underlie it." -- GCB
"One of the seminal works of Christian scholarship, by one of the few men who actually believed that the Bible is authoritative. A study in the early Church's battles with various forms of heresy, that were then put down in creeds. But Rushdoony does something more: he puts these creeds in philosophical context, showing that these creeds actually do much more than simply make a statement about the faith.
"Should be read in conjunction with his THE ONE AND THE MANY." -- Reader's Comment
Schrotenboer, Paul G., Integral Christian Scholarship.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
"So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
"I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), Christian Approaches: To Philosophy; To History, ISBN: 0934532249.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before then, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book is called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. [Notice Singer seems to have gracefully embraced the best of Van Til in this work that, on a grand scale, disproves Van Til's inconsistent statements relating to epistemology. See the Robbins article below. -- compiler]. The thesis being that the irrationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as the textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
Cornelius Van Til, John W. Robbins
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=33
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages, ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), Toynbee (International library of philosophy and theology, Modern thinkers series. Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., June 1965), ISBN: 0875525903 9780875525907, 76 pages.
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Unholy Alliance: The Definitive History of the National Council of Churches and its Leftist Policies -- From 1908 to the Present, 384 pages, ISBN: 0870003275 9780870003271.
"This book is not calculated to win friends among adherents to the National Council of Churches. It provides convincing evidence of the tremendous gap that has developed between the NCC and its critics and demonstrates the NCC's inability to achieve its objectives." -- Cyril J. Barber
Unholy Alliance: The Definitive History of the National Council of Churches and Its Leftist Policies -- From 1908 to the Present
Freebooks online e-text.
http://freebooks.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/39be_47e.htm
Smith, Gregory A., The Role of the Library in the Character Formation of the Christian College Student.
*Steele, David (1803-1887), The Two Witnesses: Their Cause, Number, Character, Furniture and Special Work, 1859. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #14.
"This is a great companion volume to Steele's NOTES ON THE APOCALYPSE. Here Steele zeros in on and works primarily from the text of Revelation 11:13, I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy. Steele deals with Testimony-bearing, Antichrist, Popery, The beasts of revelation, The mark of the beast, 666, The image of the beast, Civil and ecclesiastical apostasy, Reformation, Covenanting, Heresy, Schism, Terms of communion, Slavery, Sectarianism, Mormonism, Independency, Freemasonry, History, Worship, Idolatry, Britain, The united states, Canada, Mystical babylon, The last days, The ultimate victory of the church, and a host of other subjects!
"As is usually the case with Steele, he makes the doctrines of Scripture eminently practical. For example, note how the faithful witnesses are continually called to testify against open opposition to the Lord's Covenanted Zion and the attainments of biblical Reformation in (the faith which was once delivered unto the saints); and against whom this testimony is directed:
'These witnesses are called and commissioned to testify especially against Antichrist -- a false christ, and therefore an opposing christ. But Christ is to be considered either personally or mystically; either abstractly in his personal rights and prerogatives, or in the concrete, in the rights and immunities of his church. There is this prejudice, too prevalent, against Christians testifying against Christians! This we are often told, is contrary to the law of charity. We have not so learned Christ. They are not all Israel which are of Israel. Much of the business of these two prophets is to oppose prophets -- to prophesy against the shepherds, Ezekiel 34:2. Moses with his miracles must confront the magicians with their enchantments, Exodus 8:19. Elijah must confront the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18:25. Paul must counteract false apostles, 2 Corinthians 11:13. In short, the direct object of these witnesses' testimony is apostate christendom -- those who depart from the faith, 1 Timothy 4:1 -- who have gone out from fellowship and renounced the doctrines of the apostolic church, 1 John 2:19. Their special work is to testify against error and its propagators and abettors, together with ungodliness, the natural fruit of error, rather than against pagans.' -- The Two Witnesses, p. 14"Moreover, having taken his own place 'in the wilderness' (i.e. having separated himself from, and having been ostracized by the 'civilization' of the obstinately defecting RPCNA and other unfaithful denominations of his day [2 Thessalonians 3:6,14-15; Revelation 12:6, Revelation 17:3]), it was given to Steele to see and expound those grand old principles of our covenanted forefathers (who sat at Westminster and in the best Reformed churches during both the first and Second Reformations -- the Scottish Presbyterians being granted the greatest measure of light as a settled body from 1638-1649).
'These two witnesses have always testified -- not formally against pagans or infidels as such; but -- against apostate Christians, as comprising an organized and complex system of opposition to the Lord and his Anointed. And just here, the witnesses have detected the secret of Antichrist's successful enterprise among the human family . . .' Many false prophets are gone out into the world. . . this is a deceiver and an Antichrist, (2 John 7). The combination is ostensibly on the side and in the interest of Christ, and the elements of which Antichrist is composed were obviously professing Christians, They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19). Here is the apostasy, and so the witnesses are fully borne out in asserting that Antichrist is a great Christian apostasy! To trace the origin and development, in the organization and modifications of this enemy of all righteousness, is the special work of Christ's witnesses.' -- (The Two Witnesses, pp. 17-18)
Swanson, Kevin, Apostate -- The men who Destroyed the Christian West, ISBN: 9780985365158 0985365153.
"Whatever happened to Western civilization? Somehow, Christians have lost ground in every cultural area of leadership and influence in Europe and America since 1700. This is an indubitable fact. The remaining Christians search for an explanation. They want to know how it happened. This is the story of the decline and fall of Western civilization. It is the story of uncommonly powerful men, unfathomably evil men and apostates. Reader beware! This book faces head-on the spiritual forces that leveled a full-out attack on the Christian faith in the Western world. On the one hand, it is a story of demonic possession, insanity, suicide, mass-murder, adultery, homosexuality, cultural and social revolutions, and unbridled, maniacal apostasy. It is the story of apostasy on a massive scale. But it is also a story of hope and victory for the last men standing in the ashes of Western civilization. It will be a testimony to the inevitable triumph of Jesus Christ over the great men of renown who picked the wrong fight in the history of the West." -- Publisher
"In APOSTATE, Kevin Swanson covers not only philosophers such as Rene Descartes and John Locke but also those who put the philosophers ideas in motion. It took men of the world such as Richard Wagner and John Lennon in the music industry, and Mark Twain and John Steinbeck with their impact in the literary field to take the ideas from the philosophers and put those ideas into the hands of the people. The Average Joe is not going to pick up Rousseau's writings, but he will listen to a song by Lennon. The general populace follows along with the popular and 'relevant' ideas of the day. What they don't know, is that those ideas are actually old ideas that have been working into the culture for several hundred years. Kevin Swanson's has a biblically rooted worldview and throughout the book, although he openly acknowledges the 'nephilim [A biblical race of giants or demigod "tyrants" Genesis 6:4]' who brought Western Civilizations down, he also openly acknowledges God's providence even through the decline of the Western World. Apostate was thoroughly researched and is extremely well written. I highly recommend this book." -- Reader's Comment
"Homeschooled himself in the 1960s and 70s, Kevin Swanson and his wife, Brenda, are now homeschooling their five children. Kevin has 43 years of experience in the homeschooling movement and serves as the director of Generations With Vision a ministry he founded to strengthen homeschool families. Kevin's passion is to strengthen and encourage the homeschooling movement all over the world, and to cast a vision for generations to come. For the last 4 years Kevin has hosted a daily radio program, Generations Radio, the world's largest homeschooling and biblical worldview program that reaches families across the US and in over 100 countries. Kevin has also served as the executive director of Christian Home Educators of Colorado for the last nine years. He has authored several popular books for homeschoolers, including APOSTATE, UPGRADE: 10 SECRETS TO THE BEST EDUCATION FOR YOUR CHILD, THE SECOND MAYFLOWER, THE FAMILY BIBLE STUDY GUIDE SERIES, and others." -- Publisher
"This might be a crude comparison to make, but Swanson's book is basically the Calvinist equivalent of Pat Buchanan's THE DEATH OF THE WEST [see also Calvinist C. Gregg Singer's FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT]. Whereas the trajectory of Buchanan's book is more political in nature and focuses more on demography, Swanson's writings are far more theological in nature and focus on the toxic philosophies of unbelieving humanists." -- Reader's Comment
Timm, Alberto Ronald, The Academy of Geneva and its Role in the Spread and Consolidation of the Calvinistic Movement.
*Varghese, Roy Abraham (editor), The Intellectuals Speak out About God: A Handbook for the Christian Student in a Secular Society, ISBN: 0895268272 9780895268273.
"This book reaffirms the need for character, personal integrity, spiritual depth, and moral standards that are essential if education is to remain viable . . . The essays that make up this book are stimulating, and it is a work that can be heartily recommended." -- Cyril J. Barber
Various, Christian Higher Education: The Contemporary Challenge: Proceedings of the First International Conference of Reformed Institutions for Christian Scholarship (Potchefstroom: Institute for the Advancement of Calvinism; Toronto; distributed in Canada and the U.S.A. by Wedge Pub. Foundation, 1976), ISBN: 0869903209 9780869903209.
Various, Mount Olive Tape Library of Reformed Theology. Alternate title: TAPE LIBRARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY: SOLA GRATIA, SOLO CHRISTO, SOLA FIDE, SOLI DEO GLORIA, SOLA SCRIPTURA.
This collection is now in the custody of the Greenville Presbyterian Seminary. It appears that the Media Center at the Seminary have put practically none of the lectures in the collection on SermonAudio.com in MP3 format.
If a lecture from the Mount Olive Library is not found on SermonAudio, then the listener may make a request to the Greenville Presbyterian Seminary Media Center to have it put on SermonAudio.com.
"The following listing was developed by George Calhoun, the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library, over the course of some thirty years. This catalog reflects the personal quest of Mr. Calhoun for a balanced education in Reformed Theology. The speakers herein have been scrutinized for their faithfulness to the Bible. These tapes will enable students to pursue the study of Reformed theology at a minimum of financial expense."
"FOR YOUR INFORMATION . . . [from the introduction to the Mount Olive Tape Catalog -- compiler]
"The tapes included in this catalog are recordings of sermons and lectures given by various pastors, theologians, Bible teachers, and conference speakers who confess adherence to the broad perspectives of historic Reformed theology. We have diligently tried to screen all the materials as to their basic commitment to the Biblical perspectives reflected in the Reformed creeds and confessions.
"Since, however, no human interpreter of God's Word is infallible, it is the prayer of those responsible for sending forth these tapes that all who listen to them will cultivate the spirit of the Bereans, who 'searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.'
"Also, it should be emphasized that the tapes included in this catalog have been evaluated in terms of their basic content as they were originally given, and the inclusion of them in this catalog should not be construed as an unreserved approval of the men who originally gave them. Christians grow in grace and knowledge with the passing of time, yet it must be recognized that some turn aside from the norms of Scripture. It is our hope, therefore, that no one will attach himself to any of the men whose tapes are included in this catalog on the basis of the tapes alone. We are all commanded to be discerning toward those who would instruct us in the faith.
"Finally, it would be a tragic abuse of the intent in providing these sermons and lectures should they in any way cultivate a party spirit so clearly condemned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul reminded the Corinthians that all things were theirs -- Paul, Cephas, and Apollos included. We, too, may recognize that the various servants of Christ whose voices are heard on these tapes are God's gifts to us and that we are to follow them only insofar as they follow Christ and the clear teachings of His holy and infallible Word! Since not all men have the same gifts, learn to drink from the gifts of many men -- not just one fountain."
The Catalog of the Mount Olive Tape Library in PDF Format
http://www.lettermen2.com/olivecat.pdf
Mt. Olive Audio Library, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary [audio file]
http://gpts.edu/media/index.php?currpage=1&sa_action=
Wilder-Smith, A.E., and Beate Wilder Smith, Fulfilled Journey: The Wilder-Smith Memoirs, ISBN: 0936728752 9780936728759.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, The covenant faithfulness of god, The all-sufficiency of christ, Lordship of jesus christ, Christ's kingdom, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Covenanted reformation short title listing, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, The one and the many, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Unfaithful reformed ministries, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), Epistemology, Absolute truth and relativism, Logic based on god's truth, The ten commandments: the moral law, Artificial intelligence and christianity, Trusting god, Idolatry, Crosswalk bible study tools, Tools for biblical scholars, lingua workstation, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, The history of Reformation of the Church, Works considered to be among the ten greatest in the english language, Christian classics, a short title listing, Collections of christian classics, The best books in this bibliography, Some complementary works, Works of saint augustine, Works of john calvin, Works of john knox, Works by david steele (1803-1887), Works of gordon haddon clark, Works of r.j. rushdoony, Works of c. gregg singer, The works of c.h. spurgeon, The complete works of various authors, Puritanism: works by and about puritans, Works by and about the pilgrims, Early english books online (eebo), Eighteenth century collection online (ecco), Google book search, Librarything, How to find a book, Reformed publishers and booksellers online, Special listings, Reference works, CD-ROM libraries, Online digital libraries, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Servant leadership, Excellence, Topical bible indexes, Bible reference works, Books considered to be among the ten greatest in the english language, Reformation bookshelf 30 CD Set, The still waters revival books hard drive, The covenanted reformation of scotland author/title listing, Education, Public schools, public education, Home schooling, Teaching children, and so forth, and so on.
Apologetics #08: The Enlightenment in Western Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 76 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105182137
The Autodidact (Self-taught)
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9cha.html#atddct
Books of Interest Noted Informally During Editing and Proofing of the Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/toread.html
Calvin 500 Collection From Logos Bible Software
"Calvin's Latin writings fill 59 volumes of the massive CORPUS REFORMATORUM. Many of his works have been translated into English -- some several times -- and have gone through numerous editions. He is best known for his INSTITUTES and COMMENTARIES covering almost the entire Bible, but these are only a portion of all that he wrote. He also penned hundreds of pages of sermons, letters, tracts, and treatises.
"Logos Bible Software currently offers the largest collection of Calvin material available in the English-speaking world. The Calvin 500 Collection includes 108 volumes."
http://www.calvin500.com/john-calvin/works-by-calvin/
Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship
"Since 1976, the CCCS has been a place where committed Christian thinkers from across the academic disciplines could reflect and write about pressing issues of public concern. Over the years its support has enabled scholars to produce some sixty-two books, several of which have gone into second editions, as well as numerous articles, lectures, conferences, and public presentations. Visit the CCCS bibliography."
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/cccs/
Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship: International Christian Scholarship: Bibliography
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/cccs/scholarship/publications.html
Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), part 1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=819021843
Functional Illiteracy
"Functional illiteracy is a term used to describe reading and writing skills that are inadequate 'to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level.' Functional illiteracy is contrasted with illiteracy in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language. . . .
"Links with poverty and crime
"In developed countries, the level of functional literacy of an individual is proportional to his/her income level and risk of committing crime. For example, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics in the United States:
"According to BeginToRead.com:Over 60 percent of adults in the U.S. Prison System read at or below the fourth grade level
85 percent of U.S. juvenile inmates are functionally illiterate.
Adult inmates who received educational services while in prison had a 16 percent chance of returning to prison, as opposed to 70 percent for those who received no instruction. [this statistic not in citation given -- compiler]
43 percent of adults at the lowest level of literacy lived below the poverty line, as opposed to 4 percent of those with the highest levels of literacy.
"The National Center for Education Statistics provides more detail. Literacy is broken down into three parameters: prose, document, and quantitative literacy. Each parameter has four levels: below basic, basic, intermediate, and proficient. For prose literacy, for example, a below basic level of literacy means that a person can look at a short piece of text to get a small piece of uncomplicated information, while a person who is below basic in quantitative literacy would be able to do simple addition. In the US, 14 percent of the adult population is at the 'below basic' level for prose literacy; 12 percent are at the 'below basic' level for document literacy; and 22 percent are at that level for quantitative literacy. Only 13 percent of the population is proficient in these three areas -- able to compare viewpoints in two editorials; interpret a table about blood pressure, age, and physical activity; or compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items."Two thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
Three out of four individuals who receive food stamps read on the two lowest levels of literacy.
16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts. . . .
List of Christian Thinkers in Science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science
Speaking on Calvinism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 53 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8110391415
The Trinity Foundation
http://trinityfoundation.org/
The Trinity Foundation Lecture Series (MP3)
There are 13 series of lectures here in MP3 format. They can be listened to online, or downloaded for use on a CD player, computer. Load them on an iPod and listen anytime, anywhere.
http://www.trinitylectures.org/MP3_downloads.php
Why Darwin's Theory of Evolution Does not Explain Biodiversity, Otangelo Grasso
"NEVER, in over 150 years, since Darwin's book ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES was published, has even ONE, amongst hundreds or thousands, if not millions of science papers, provided ONE DEMONSTRATION, and empirical verifiable replicable evidence, that any of the evolutionary mechanisms proposed, could produce a primary macroevolutionary transition zone of speciation and population differentiation."
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2623-why-darwins-theory-of-evolution-does-not-explain-biodiversity
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
Works of John Calvin
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#wojclvn
Works of Saint Augustine
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#wosagst
Autodidact: A self-taught person.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)
The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. (Proverbs 18:15)
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:21, 23)Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:8-10)
We know ourselves because we first know God. -- Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
John Calvin begins his theological masterpiece, THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, with these sentences: "Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern" (I:1:1). Without a knowledge of one's self, there is no knowledge of God. But to know one's self (and the whole world in general), there must first be a knowledge of God. God is known both better, and before, oneself or anything else (I:1:1-3). -- W. Gary Crampton
Epistemology: The study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.
What distinguishes the arid ages from the period of the Reformation, when nations were moved as they had not been since Paul preached in Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, is the latter's fullness of knowledge of God's Word. To echo an early Reformation thought, when the ploughman and the garage attendant know the Bible as well as the theologian does, and know it better than some contemporary theologians, then the desired awakening shall have already occurred. -- Gordon Clark
*[Bible], Calvin, John (1509-1564), et al. [John Knox, Theodore Beza, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, Martin Luther, and others], Peter A. Lillback (foreword), Tolle Lege Press (preface), Gary DeMar (Notes to the Modern Reader), Marshall Foster (The History and Impact of the Geneva Bible), 1599 Geneva Bible, (Tolle Lege Press), 1400 pages, ISBN: 0975484699 9780975484692 0975484613 9780975484616 0975484621 9780975484623. Available (Tolle Lege Press restoration) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620, they brought along supplies, a consuming passion to advance the Kingdom of Christ, a bright hope for the future, and the Word of God. Clearly, their most precious cargo was the Bible. The GENEVA BIBLE, printed over 200 times between 1560 and 1644, was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This superb translation was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers, thinkers, and historical figures of that time [but the translation was surpassed by the AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION in 1611, see 'Textual Criticism' -- compiler]. The GENEVA BIBLE is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses and became the most popular version of its time because of the extensive marginal notes. These notes, written by Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and others, were included to explain and interpret the scriptures for the common people. For nearly half a century these notes helped the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland understand the Bible and true liberty. King James despised the GENEVA BIBLE because he considered the notes on key political texts to be seditious [to question the Divine Right of Kings -- compiler] and a threat to his authority. Unlike the KING JAMES VERSION, the GENEVA BIBLE was not authorized by the government. It was truly a Bible by the people and for the people. You can see why this remarkable version with its profound marginal notes played a key role in the formation of the American Republic. Until now, the only complete version available was a large, cumbersome, and difficult-to-read facsimile edition. But this new edition contains all the original words and notes [see the errata listing below -- compiler], but the type set has been enlarged and the font style change for today's reader." -- Publisher
"This is the Bible that eventually put an end to Feudalism in Europe, strengthened Puritans, Quakers, and came to America on the Mayflower. This was the first Bible published in the language of the common people, the first Bible to contain commentary and verse numbers, and the first Bible written in English from Greek and Hebrew texts available from Constantinople, not from the Latin Vulgate. The dynamite in this Bible is the commentary accounting for about one third of its length.
"The Church of England and King James were so upset they determined to create a new translation. They called it the KING JAMES VERSION. They choose to use language so formal and grand, even by the standards of those days, that the common people would find it difficult to understand. The GENEVA BIBLE was found seditious by it's insertions of commentary that spoke directly about the priesthood of lay believers, the church as naturally anti-oligarchy, and setting forth some other ideas considered anarchy by the King, but meaning freedom to the masses who read it. . . .
"Important facts to remember about this Bible. The Reformation was strong in England and the Lollards were a lay group of huge influence that had to go underground. English Christian theologians, not Catholics and not Anglicans, fled in huge numbers to Geneva for freedom. Geneva was not part of Switzerland at that time, because Geneva was its own city-state. . . . The GENEVA BIBLE was printed 1560-1644. THE KING JAMES VERSION was published in 1611. The GENEVA BIBLE was against the law to own. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Available "in printed formats with various binding options from Tolle Lege Press. Tolle Lege Press has given Puritan Downloads permission to provide a PDF copy of their retypeset and fully searchable edition of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (Copyright 2006-2008, Tolle Lege Press), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The GENEVA BIBLE is the Puritan Bible with Reformation promoting marginal notes authored by prominent leaders of the Reformation (during the time of John Calvin and John Knox). The New Testament was translated out of the Greek, by Theodore Beza. The GENEVA BIBLE was the predominant English translation during the period in which the English and Scottish Reformations gained great impetus.
"Iain Murray, in his classic work on revival and the interpretation of prophecy, THE PURITAN HOPE, notes,
The two groups in England and Scotland developed along parallel lines, like two streams originating at one fountain. The fountain was not so much Geneva, as the Bible which the exiles newly translated and issued with many marginal notes . . . it was read in every Presbyterian and Puritan home in both realms. (p. 7)"This time also saw the rise of the forces for covenanted Reformation against the corruption and abuses of prelacy and the royal factions. Darkness was dispelled as people read this Bible and saw for themselves that there is no authority above the Holy Scriptures. Discerning this truth, it became apparent that the civil tyranny and the heretical superstitions imposed by Pope, King and Bishops were to be resisted unto death, if necessary (i.e. because these innovations in church and state were opposed to the Kingship of Christ and the law of His kingdom, as set forth in Holy Scripture).
The notes of TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576, which took the place of the New Testament of the Bible of 1560 in many editions from 1587 onward, are entirely different from those in the GENEVA BIBLE. They are taken from Beza's Latin Testament, and are controversial and strongly Calvinistic."Furthermore, Eason cites Pocock (a rabid anti-Calvinist), in the same book,
The changes adopted in the GENEVA BIBLE and New Testament synchronize with the gradual spread of the Calvinistic heresy and the contemporaneous development of hatred of the whole Papal system of doctrine. The notes attacked the Sacramental teaching of the Church, substituting for it the Calvinistic doctrines of election and reprobation. They taught that Sacraments are nothing more than signs and seals of grace previously given to the elect. All passages about the Sacraments are explained away.("We cite this quote, though it is full of a good deal of devilish nonsense, to demonstrate that even the enemies of biblical truth recognized the powerful impact that the GENEVA BIBLE was having in furthering the Protestant Reformation, as well as to show that the notes in the later versions of the GENEVA BIBLE were moving in the direction of a more distinct testimony against error and for the truth." -- RB) -- Publisher
(1) The editions that follow the first edition of 1560."In our opinion, the notes in the 1599 edition were the most faithful to Scripture." -- The Genevan Bible, Notes on its Production and Distribution [Of course, the judgment and candor of Calvin are renown. This Bible played a key role in the Reformation, and anyone not using it 'will be the poorer for their neglect.' However, very few works are without caveats. Calvin used the LATIN VULGATE. His comments had to be translated from French. Experts (see 'Textual Criticism'), consider the authorized KING JAMES VERSION to be the most accurate translation. It used a literal approach to translation of the Traditional Text, which is referred to today as the Majority Text or Textus Receptus. Beza's translation of the New Testament is in a different category. One is urged to not neglect the knowledge developed over 400 years of Reformed scholarship since 1599. For example, compare the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (1400 pages, 1366 in the Tolle Lege restoration edition), annotation with the annotation, theological notes, text notes, scripture notes, and other study aids of the NEW GENEVA STUDY BIBLE (2228 pages), with its own noted caveats. -- compiler]
(2) The editions in which TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576 is substituted for the 1560 New Testament.
(3) The Bibles from 1598 that contain the Notes on Revelation of Francis Junius."
Excerpts from two articles on the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE may be read at the Puritan Downloads site: "The Forgotten Translation," Gary DeMar, President of American Vision and Honorary Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board, and "Introduction to the 1599 Geneva Bible," Marshall Foster, President of the Mayflower Institute, Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board.Word-for-word accuracy with the 1599 Geneva Bible [see the errata listing below -- compiler]
Original cross references
Modern spelling
Original study notes by Reformers
Old English Glossary
2-page Family Tree Chart
Presentation page with several family registry pages
Easy-to-read print [see the errata listing below -- compiler]
Size: 8.75" X 11.5"
Approximately 1,400 pages." -- Publisher
1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press Restoration, Fourth Printing, 2008, Probable Errata ListingGenesis 1:11 "So that we see it is the only power of God's word that maketh the earth fruitful, which else naturally is barren.
Genesis 1:12 "This sentence is so oft repeated, to signify that God made all his creatures to serve to his glory, and to the profit of man: but for sin they were accursed, yet to the elect, by Christ they are restored, and serve to their wealth.
Genesis 2:16 "So that man might know there was a sovereign Lord, to whom he owed obedience.
Genesis 2:17 "By this death he meaneth the separation of man from God, who is our life and chief felicity: and also that our disobedience is the cause thereof.
Genesis 3:4 "This is Satan's chiefest subtlety, to cause us not to fear God's threatenings.
Genesis 4:5 "Because he was an hypocrite, and offered only for an outward show without sincerity of heart.
Genesis 9:6 "Not only by the magistrate, but oft times God raiseth up one murderer to kill another.
Therefore to kill man is to deface God's image, and so injury is not only done to man, but also to God.
Psalm 37:1,7,11 "1 This Psalm containeth exhortation and consolation for the weak, that are grieved at the prosperity of the wicked, and the affliction of the godly. 7 For how prosperously soever the wicked do live for the time, he doth affirm their felicity to be vain and transitory, because they are not in the favor of God, but in the end they are destroyed as his enemies. 11 And how miserably that the righteous seemeth to live in the world, yet his end is peace, and he is in the favor of God, he is delivered from the wicked, and preserved.
Psalm 37:5 "Be not led by thine own wisdom, but obey God, and he will finish his work in thee.
Psalm 37:6 "As the hope of the daylight causeth us not to be offended with the darkness of the night: so ought we patiently to trust that God will clear our cause and restore us to our right.
Psalm 37:8 "Meaning, except he moderate his affections, he shall be led to do as they do.
Psalm 37:12 "The godly are assured that the power and craft of the wicked shall not prevail against them, but fall on their own necks, and therefore ought patiently to abide God's time, and in the meanwhile bewail their sins, and offer up their tears, is a sacrifice of their obedience.
Psalm 37:16 "For they are daily fed as with Manna from heaven, and have sufficient, when the wicked have never enough, but ever hunger.
Psalm 37:25 "Though the just man die, yet God's blessings are extended to his posterity, and though God suffer some just man to lack temporal benefits, yet he recompenseth him with spiritual treasures.
Psalm 37:29 "They shall continually be preserved under God's wings, and have at least inward rest.
Psalm 37:30 "These three points are required of the faithful, that their talk be godly, that God's law be in their heart, and that their life be upright.
Psalm 37:37 "He exhorteth the faithful to mark diligently the examples both of God's mercies, and also of his judgments.
Psalm 37:39 "He showeth that the patient hope of the godly is never in vain, but in the end hath good success, though for a time God prove them by sundry tentations.
John 1:1 "The Son of God is of one, and the selfsame eternity or everlastingness, and of one and the selfsame essence or nature, with the Father.
"From his beginning, as the Evangelist saith, 1 John 1:1, as though he said, that the world began not then to have his being, when God began to make all that was made: for the word was even then when all things that were made, began to be made, and therefore he was before the beginning of all things.
"Had his being.
"This word, That, pointeth out unto us a peculiar and choice thing above all other, and putteth a difference between this Word, which is the Son of God, and the Laws of God, which otherwise also are called the word of God.
"This word (With) putteth out the distinction of persons to us.
"This word (Word) is the first in order in the sentence, and is that which the learned call (Subjectum) and this word (God) is the latter in order, and the same which the learned call (Predicatum).
John 1:3 "The son of God declareth that same his everlasting Godhead, both by the creating of all things, and also by the preserving of them, and especially by the excellent gifts of reason and understanding, wherewith he that beautified man above all other creatures.
"Paul expoundeth this place, Col. 1:15 and 16 [Colossians 1:15,16].
"That is, as the Father did work, so did the Son work with him: for he was fellow worker with him.
"Of all those things which were made, nothing was made without him.
Jude 1:24 "He commendeth them to the grace of God, declaring sufficiently that it is God only that can give us that constancy which he requireth of us.
Hebrews 13:8b "all precepts of manners, and that is this: That we ought to quiet and content ourselves in Christ only: for there was yet never any man saved without the knowledge of him, neither is at this day saved, neither shall be saved hereafter.
Revelation 4:9 "God is said to have glory, honor, kingdom, and such like given unto him, when we godly and reverently set forth that which is properly and only his." -- excerpts from 1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press, 2006, 2007)
*Boot, Joseph, The Mission of God: A Manifesto of Hope for Society, ISBN: 9780994727909 0994727909.
"This is a work of practical theology and cultural philosophy, demonstrating the religious nature of all human actions and institutions." -- Publisher
"The problem with most contemporary thought regarding missions is the tendency towards a truncated view of God's plan for the world and Christians' role within it. The strong focus on the salvation and transformation of individuals, and not so much on how this transformation can be externalized to communities and nations as well -- a phenomenon which one Christian thinker refers to as a 'flight to the interior.' This means that social thought has become monopolized by those who hold to non-Christian philosophies, who then get to frame the terms by which social thought is discussed. Even those Christians who try to articulate a social vision inadvertently borrow from these philosophies, rather than drawing from the resources of the Christian worldview.
"It is good, then, that Dr. Joseph Boot has provided us in THE MISSION OF GOD a comprehensive, well thought out treatise on how God's plan does not just involve the salvation of individuals, but the transformation of the world to one that is characterized by godliness. He describes the purpose of the book as follows:
I have endeavored in the following pages, to further biblical faith and life through what I hope is an engaging analysis of key themes in contemporary missiology through a reformed, puritan lens. This is done, not simply out of an academic interest in missiological concerns, but because I genuinely believe that the core elements of Puritan thought must be restated with relevance in our time, as central to both the recovery of the church, and the Western world itself from the brink of disaster -- a cultural auto-homicide (p. 17)."In producing this treatise, Boot does not weave entirely news idea out of thin air, but draws upon historic Christianity, especially the Puritan movement that sprung out of the Protestant Reformation. He shows that Christianity provides a coherent social vision, that it alone can provide a stable foundation for society, and how our present societies will not be able to sustain themselves if they abandon those foundations. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Carranza, Elhu, Logic Workbook, ISBN: 0940931346 9780940931343.
"This Workbook, geared to Clark's textbook, LOGIC, contains hundreds of exercises and the test questions based on Scripture. It includes an appendix on what several theologian have said about logic. The pages are perforated for easy removal. A must for both the student and the teacher of logic."
Carranza, Elhu, Logic Workbook Answer Key (Philadelphia, PA: Trinity Press International).
"This Answer Key contains answers to all the questions and exercises in the LOGIC WORKBOOK. An invaluable aid to the teacher. Clark's textbook, LOGIC, and these two books by Carranza, are a complete course in logic."
*Charnock, Stephen (1628-1680), The Existence and Attributes of God. A Christian classic. Available (THE WORKS OF STEPHEN CHARNOCK, VOL. 4: THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"When the essence and attributes of God are called into question, to whom else can we better go than to Stephen Charnock? . . . the study of God's attributes is not dry-as-dust theology, but is practical; that is, it leads to righteousness." -- Gordon H. Clark
Discourses Upon the Existence and Attributes of God (1853), Charnock and Symington,
http://archive.org/details/discoursesupone00symigoog
The Works of the Late Rev. Stephen Charnock (1815), volume 1 of 9.
http://archive.org/details/worksoflaterevst01char
*Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), Logic.
"Reading, writing, and arithmetic are not the most basic subjects, although they are taught first, for they all depend on thinking. Logic provides the rules for correct thinking. Unless the next generation of Christians is taught how to think correctly, it will be overwhelmed by worldly philosophy. This book is a clear explanation of the rules of correct thinking. It may be studied with profit by parents, teachers, and students. . . . His [Clark's] presentation of the laws of thought, which must be followed if Scripture is to be understood correctly, and which are found in Scripture itself, is both clear and thorough. LOGIC is an indispensable book for the thinking Christian." -- The Trinity Foundation
See Elhu Carranza, Logic Workbook designed to be used with this book.
*Downes, Stephen, Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.
"Stephen Downes, an information architect with a background in philosophy, created this site with the aim of identifying, indexing, and describing 'all known logical fallacies.' A logical fallacy can be defined as an error in reasoning in which a conclusion appears to follow from a set of premises but in reality does not. Downes groups the fallacies into thirteen categories, such as Fallacies of Distraction, Inductive Fallacies, and Syllogistic Errors. Each fallacy (over 50 in all), is described with its name, definition, examples of how it might be used in an argument, and how the argument can be proven fallacious. The How to Use this Guide section of the site provides a helpful introduction, and a robust bibliography offers possibilities for further study of logic. In addition, users may register at the site (no fee), to gain access to discussion boards on the topic. The author notes that his Guide "is intended to help you in your own thinking, not to help you demolish someone else's argument." Regardless of how a reader uses the information, however, the site remains an interesting and fun investigation of how logical arguments are constructed."
"Lists all known logical fallacies, with definitions, examples, and the steps needed to prove that the fallacy is committed. Site also includes links to logic references and resources."
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
http://www.fallacies.ca/welcome.htm
*Geneva Bible Notes, 1599
The GENEVA BIBLE contained "marginal notes which were heavily influenced by John Calvin, John Knox, and many other leaders of the Reformation. The GENEVA BIBLE was the predominant English translation during the period in which the English and Scottish Reformations gained great impetus. Iain Murray, in his classic work on revival and the interpretation of prophecy, THE PURITAN HOPE, notes that, 'the two groups in England and Scotland developed along parallel lines, like two streams originating at one fountain. The fountain was not so much Geneva, as the Bible which the exiles newly translated and issued with many marginal notes . . . it was read in every Presbyterian and Puritan home in both realms.' (p. 7). This time also saw the rise of the forces for covenanted Reformation against the corruption and abuses of prelacy and the royal factions. Darkness was dispelled as people read this Bible and saw for themselves that there is no authority above the Holy Scriptures.
"Although most people today have never heard of the GENEVA BIBLE, it was so popular from 1560 to 1644 that it went through 140 plus printings. The reason for its popularity among the faithful is obvious: the marginal notes promoted a full-orbed, nation-changing Protestantism. . . !
" 'By 1599, the GENEVA BIBLE . . . added many Calvinist annotations for household use' (Bremer, The Puritan Experiment, p. 12). A number of the notes argued for family worship and instruction by the head of the household. Puritanism in the British Isles is known as an effort to continue the Reformation of the church in the area of worship and church government. However, the Puritans also sought to reform the family life according to Biblical principles . . . as a result of their efforts they 'were creators of the English Christian marriage, the English Christian family, and the English Christian home'." (J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 260) -- Publisher
1599 Geneva Bible Notes
http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn/en.htm
For other GENEVA NOTES text see the following:
*King James Bible With the Geneva Bible Notes, 1672.*KING JAMES BIBLE WITH THE GENEVA BIBLE NOTES, 1672,
1599 GENEVA BIBLE, Tolle Lege Press restoration,
THE 1599 GENEVA BIBLE, TOLLE LEGE ONLINE EDITION,
"1599 GENEVA BIBLE, Tolle Lege Press Restoration, Fourth Printing, 2008, Probable Errata Listing," and
"A Resolution That Tolle Lege Press and White Hall Press of Chicago Complete the Limited Modernization of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE Begun in 2004."
*Kettler, Steven C. (compiler), Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal. An Annotated Topical Bibliography of Works Containing Biblical Counsel for Persons Seeking Lasting Solutions to Life's Problems, ISBN: 0963682113 9780963682116.
A book-length annotated bibliography containing over 5700 citations by 2550 authors cross-referenced under 440 topic headings. Includes author and title, scripture, and subject indexes.
An edited version of the 1993 edition of BIBLICAL COUNSEL: RESOURCES FOR RENEWAL (1997), is available on CD-ROM in Logos Library System (LLS) format.
"This unique book-length bibliography enables the reader to bring known Biblical counselors into the home via book, audio cassette [audio file], video cassette, and the World Wide Web. Painstakingly researched over a 15-year period, it is a gold mine of Biblical wisdom. The 5,700 titles by 2,300 authors include little known and hard to find books, for example, 273 Reformed classics. The breadth of the collection evidences the interrelationship of absolute truth, life, moral behavior, the law, freedom, obedience, social stability, and the positive sanctions of God. Therefore, it is a strong apologetic for the Biblical Christianity of our forefathers, that aimed to be true to Christ." -- Publisher
Logos Research Systems
http://www.logos.com
The Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrrhome.html
Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://books.google.com/books?id=j4vzqat_dqEC&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Some Complementary Works
http://www.lettermen2.com/somecomp.html
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
"So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
"I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before them, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. The thesis being that the Rationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964), ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5) in a series of addresses History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
Various, Mount Olive Tape Library of Reformed Theology. Alternate title: TAPE LIBRARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY: SOLA GRATIA, SOLO CHRISTO, SOLA FIDE, SOLI DEO GLORIA, SOLA SCRIPTURA.
This collection is now in the custody of the Greenville Presbyterian Seminary. It appears that the Media Center at the Seminary have put practically none of the lectures in the collection on SermonAudio.com in MP3 format.
If a lecture from the Mount Olive Library is not found on SermonAudio, then the listener may make a request to the Greenville Presbyterian Seminary Media Center to have it put on SermonAudio.com.
"The following listing was developed by George Calhoun, the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library, over the course of some thirty years. This catalog reflects the personal quest of Mr. Calhoun for a balanced education in Reformed Theology. The speakers herein have been scrutinized for their faithfulness to the Bible. These tapes will enable students to pursue the study of Reformed theology at a minimum of financial expense."
"FOR YOUR INFORMATION . . . [from the introduction to the Mount Olive Tape Catalog -- compiler]
"The tapes included in this catalog are recordings of sermons and lectures given by various pastors, theologians, Bible teachers, and conference speakers who confess adherence to the broad perspectives of historic Reformed theology. We have diligently tried to screen all the materials as to their basic commitment to the Biblical perspectives reflected in the Reformed creeds and confessions.
"Since, however, no human interpreter of God's Word is infallible, it is the prayer of those responsible for sending forth these tapes that all who listen to them will cultivate the spirit of the Bereans, who 'searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.'
"Also, it should be emphasized that the tapes included in this catalog have been evaluated in terms of their basic content as they were originally given, and the inclusion of them in this catalog should not be construed as an unreserved approval of the men who originally gave them. Christians grow in grace and knowledge with the passing of time, yet it must be recognized that some turn aside from the norms of Scripture. It is our hope, therefore, that no one will attach himself to any of the men whose tapes are included in this catalog on the basis of the tapes alone. We are all commanded to be discerning toward those who would instruct us in the faith.
"Finally, it would be a tragic abuse of the intent in providing these sermons and lectures should they in any way cultivate a party spirit so clearly condemned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul reminded the Corinthians that all things were theirs -- Paul, Cephas, and Apollos included. We, too, may recognize that the various servants of Christ whose voices are heard on these tapes are God's gifts to us and that we are to follow them only insofar as they follow Christ and the clear teachings of His holy and infallible Word! Since not all men have the same gifts, learn to drink from the gifts of many men -- not just one fountain."
The Catalog of the Mount Olive Tape Library in PDF Format
http://www.lettermen2.com/olivecat.pdf
Mt. Olive Audio Library, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary [audio file]
http://gpts.edu/media/index.php?currpage=1&sa_action=
Voeller, Brad, Accelerated Distance Learning: The new way to Earn Your College Degree in the Twenty-first Century, ISBN: 0970156316 9780970156310.
"Home school graduate Brad Voeller earned his four-year, fully-accredited college degree in less than six months for less than $5,000 by applying the revolutionary techniques of accelerated distance learning. In this book, he shares with you tested approaches to learning that will allow you to earn a college degree in less than half the normal time -- for a fraction of the cost. Discover how to: receive college credit for life experiences; earn college credit quickly and easily through credit-by-examination; speed up the learning process while improving comprehension; cut study time by at least 50 percent; make a wise decision in choosing a distance-learning program; and complete college in less than half the time for less than half the cost." -- Vision Forum
See also: The attributes of god, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The holy bible, Wisdom, Loving and obeying god, obedience, Christian scholarship, Works of saint augustine, Works of john calvin, Works of gordon haddon clark, Works of john knox, Works of John Owen, Works of john w. robbins, Works of samuel rutherford, Works of c. gregg singer, The autodidact, An introduction to the covenanted reformation, Books considered to be among the ten greatest in the english language, Resources for students, Home schooling, Chapter 5, "reference works," public education, Modern myths and fallacies, and so forth, and so on.
Books of Interest Noted Informally During Editing and Proofing of the Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/toread.html
Christian Classics
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html
Combined Interactive Contents for The Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/combtoc.html
Epistemology of Theology, The Theory of Knowledge
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr1cha.html#epist
A Guide to the Puritans -- Index to the Writings of the Puritans, Martin
http://www.lettermen2.com/mgtp.html
How to Find a Book
http://www.lettermen2.com/findbook.html
Inspiration, Revelation and Infallibility of Scripture
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr1cha.html#irai
An Introduction to the Covenanted Reformation
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#intrcvtdref
Logic Based on God's Truth
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr1cha.html#logic
Logical Fallacies
http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/
Resources Associated With Dr. C. Gregg Singer's Work, From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present
http://www.lettermen2.com/autodidact.html
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
Some Complementary Works
http://www.lettermen2.com/somecomp.html
Virtual Online Digital Libraries
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr5ch.html#odlib
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
While AI can help provide information and resources, it cannot replace inspiration that comes from God.A local search of a designated domain (or web page), using the New Bing AI-powered copilot, could prove to be helpful to Reformed researchers and writers. After the search question simply add the search operator "site:. . ." for example, site:ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34/
Another example, [search question] "What does the Apostle John say about eternal life? [search operator] site:ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34/" The search operator "site:. . . " following the question instructs the New Bing to search locally only. Notice that some domains are large with many web pages. Therefore, the researcher may find it necessary to first visit the domain and select the web page to be used in search operator.
Following are a few suggested search operators:
site:bibleprotector.com/ (for THE CAMBRIDGE EDITION [PCE] of the Bible)
site:biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201&version=GNV (for THE 1599 GENEVA BIBLE, TOLLE LEGE EDITION, online)
site:reformedreader.org/gbn/en.htm (for 1599 GENEVA BIBLE NOTES)
site:ccel.org/ccel/owen/deathofdeath (for THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST)
site:chapellibrary.org/literature/bunyan/ (for THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN, to search PILGRIM'S PROGRESS)
site:ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34/ (for CALVIN'S COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN)
site:lettermen2.com/icrcont.html (for Contents and Chapter Sections for CALVIN'S INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 1559 [McNeill/Battles])
site:ccel.org/ccel/baxter/practical.toc.html (for THE PRACTICAL WORKS OF RICHARD BAXTER in four volumes)
site:biblestudytools.com/Commentaries/MatthewHenryComplete/ (for MATTHEW HENRY'S COMPLETE COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE)
site:biblestudytools.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/ (for JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE, 6 volumes)
site:ccel.org/fathers/NPNF1-02/ (CITY OF GOD, Saint Augustine)
and so forth, and so on.
Users may want to experiment by searching some titles from among the approximately 50 found at "The Ten Greatest Books in English," lettermen2.com/tengreat.html.
Try a New Bing AI-piloted search from the Edge browser or from the New Bing, https://www.bing.com/search.Predictions about world-altering technology are usually premature, but AI shows no signs of slowing down. Sooner or later, AI will bring changes -- perhaps significant changes -- to the counseling field. The key is to adapt and evolve. Remember, no AI is better than the best counselor -- yet. (2023) -- https://ct.counseling.org/2018/01/counseling-artificial-intelligence/
The Gospel is the good news of God's love and salvation for humanity through Jesus Christ. On Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. How can we relate these two events? One way is to think of the "mechanism" of the Gospel, or how it works to bring us to God.
The Bible tells us that sin separates us from God and leads to death (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). But God, in his mercy and grace, sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, taking our place and paying our penalty (Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18). By his death, Jesus defeated sin and death, and by his resurrection, he opened the way for us to have eternal life with God (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; John 3:16). This is the "mechanism" of the Gospel: substitutionary atonement.
On Memorial Day, we can see a reflection of this "mechanism" in the lives of those who have died for our country. They gave their lives so that we can enjoy the benefits of freedom and peace. They took our place and paid our price. They substituted themselves for us. Of course, this is not a perfect analogy, because no human sacrifice can compare to the sacrifice of Jesus, who was sinless and divine. But it can help us appreciate the cost and the value of what Jesus did for us.
So on Memorial Day, as we remember and honor those who have died for our country, let us also remember and honor the one who died for our souls. Let us thank God for his love and grace, and let us respond with faith and obedience. Let us live in a way that honors both our earthly and heavenly heroes. And let us share the Gospel with others, so that they too can experience the "mechanism" of God's salvation. -- Microsoft Edge browser, Artificial Intelligence composition, unedited, "The 'mechanism' of The Gospel illustrated on Memorial Day"Some of the top online Christian counseling services include Faithful Counseling, ReGain, Grace Wellness Center, Christian Therapist on Demand, Chatnow, and GoodTherapy.
Henley, Wallace, and Otis Graf, Who Will Rule the Coming 'Gods'?: The Looming Spiritual Crisis of Artificial Intelligence, ISBN: 9781954618374 1954618379.
"We have entered a new age in which we can go into the quietness of our rooms and slip into whatever identity we desire, virtually. Artificial intelligence is fast becoming a normal part of our lives. The existential crisis of our age is how technology, specifically AI and robots, is eclipsing our reverence for the transcendence of God. In the rush to create human-helping AI, technologists are making machines that may eventually become our masters. Some people are already worshiping at the feet of the great god of AI, just as the ancient Philistines once bowed before statues of the idol Dagon. In this compelling and groundbreaking book, best-selling author Wallace Henley shares about the impending moral and ethical choices we will soon need to make, as believers in Christ, to hold AI and it's creators accountable to the true God. Otherwise our world will spin into peril." -- Publisher
Huizinga, Gretchen (author), and Stephen T. Kerr (degree supervisor), Righteous AI: The Christian Voice in the Ethical AI Conversation, a Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2022.
"I further proposed that acknowledgment of divine intelligence, along with an ordinate (or rightly ordered) understanding of human intelligence, is foundational to the development and use of artificial intelligence and therefore, religious voices should have a say in framing the ethical scaffolding around it. This basic qualitative study explored the Christian voice in AI ethics and focused on three main research questions: 1) How does worldview affect our approach to artificial intelligence? 2) Does a Christian worldview have anything unique to contribute to the discussion around Ethical AI? and 3) How might AI ethics be more robust and beneficial if we brought Christian teachings, texts, and traditions explicitly into the conversation? Using a semi-structured question protocol as the primary data-collection instrument and a constant comparison method of data analysis during both collection and analysis phases, I conducted online interviews with a purposeful sample of AI/tech/ethics professionals who were also professing Christians to identify key themes that differentiate the Christian ethical worldview from the materialist worldview that currently animates the conversation around Ethical AI. My findings suggest that worldview (both implicit and explicit) informs every aspect of our approach to Ethical AI. While materialist thought seeks to compel humans to be good without transcendent reason or power, the Christian faith speaks clearly about the role of God as originator, motivator, and sustainer of human moral behavior. Christianity compels us to look beyond a humanistic idea of ethics and toward a creative notion of goodness that cannot be accomplished by our own will and power. This study adds critical insights to the field of AI ethics by deepening awareness of how faith in and fear of God could influence how artificial intelligence is designed and implemented. When Christian wisdom is included in every phase of AI development, we begin to think beyond a minimum-standard culture of Ethical AI and move toward a robust culture of Righteous AI." -- Gretchen Huizinga
Paulus, Michael D. (editor), and Michael D. Langford (editor), AI, Faith, and the Future: An Interdisciplinary Approach, ISBN: 9781666703481 1666703486
"Artificial intelligence is rapidly and radically changing our lives and world. This book is a multidisciplinary engagement with the present and future impacts of AI from the standpoint of Christian faith. It provides technological, philosophical, and theological foundations for thinking about AI, as well as a series of reflections on the impact of AI on relationships, behavior, education, work, and moral action. The book serves as an accessible introduction to AI as well as a guide to wise consideration, design, and use of AI by examining foundational understandings and beliefs from a Christian perspective." -- Publisher
Thacker, Jason, The age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, ISBN: 9780310357643 9780310357667 0310357640 0310357667.
"This is an area that Christians must become aware of and engage with. In this book you'll hear of some of the progresses that have been made with AI, it goes much wider than one might initially think. AI is involved in banking, medicine, warfare, work, and even in our homes. So it's pretty important! This book explores the benefits, limitations and dangers of AI. The fundamental conviction is that people are made in the image of God and the whole book stems from this. Thacker engages with those who think that one day AI will surpass its human creators and deals graciously with the lack of understanding about the beginnings of humanity. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to you. -- Reader's Comment
Trothen, Tracy J. (editor) and Calvin Mercer (editor), Ethics, Religion, and Spiritual Health: Intersections With Artificial Intelligence or Other Human Enhancement Technologies, ISBN: 9783036557182 3036557180.
"What does human enhancement technology (HET) and artificial intelligence (AI) have to do with religion? This book explores, specifically, the intersection of HET and AI with spiritual health, Christianity, and ethics. The exploration strengthens an emergent, robust body of publications about human enhancement ethics. What does it mean to make us 'better' must also address the potential spiritual implications. Concern for spiritual health promises to make the study of religion and human enhancement ethics increasingly pressing in the public sphere. Some of the most significant possible and probable spiritual impacts of HET and AI are probed. Topics include warfare, robots, chatbots, moral bioenhancement, spiritual psychotherapy, superintelligence, ecology, fasting, and psychedelics. Two sections comprise this book: one addresses spirituality in relation to HETs and AI, and one addresses Christianity in relation to HETs and AI." -- Publisher
AI and Tech in Your Church: Determining the Role new Technologies Play in Your Ministry.
"A growing number of leaders are wondering what role artificial intelligence and other new technologies could and should play in church leadership. Here at Barna, we agree this is an important and timely topic. We also believe the answer could depend on the person and ministry context.
"To help you work through these questions in your own heart, reaching conclusions that align with your beliefs and goals, we're hosting a six-week CoLab dedicated to exploring the role of tech and AI in church ministry." (Begins September 5, 2023)
https://www.barna.com/colabs/ai-tech/
AI in Counseling and Spiritual Care
"Predictive models are transforming mental health. They might also monitor and shape our moral lives."
https://medium.com/ai-and-christianity/ai-in-counseling-spiritual-care-e324d9aea3b0
Bing AI-powered Copilot Local Search
THE WEB EDITION OF BIBLICAL COUNSEL: RESOURCES FOR RENEWAL (lettermen2.com, a database of approximately 25MB of annotated bibliography), can now (August 2023) be searched with the Microsoft Edge browser using the "New Bing AI-powered copilot for the web." (MicroSoft has been a major partner with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT and now GPT-4. "On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced that it is building AI technology based on the same foundation as ChatGPT into Microsoft Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365 and other products." Apparently, "Microsoft's new Bing was using GPT-4 all along." (March 30, 2023)
From Edge click on the Bing icon in the upper right corner. Or, if you do not use Edge, then access the New Bing from The Internet.
Users with questions may specify that the Bing search be limited to one website or domain. For example, search by entering in the "Ask any question" dialogue box, "What is the biblical basis for Grace? site:lettermen2.com." Of course, any question, website, or domains may be specified in a New Bing AI-powered search.
Christian Mental Health and AI, March 22, 2023
"I looked at the main chatbots available at this time and know of three big ones: OpenAI, Jasper, and Bing's ChatGPT."
https://churchandmentalhealth.com/christian-mental-health-and-ai/
DTx and the Treatment of Mental Health
"Among the earliest advances in the DTx [Digital Therapeutics] space were several for the treatment of mental health and substance abuse conditions. Thus far, these have focused on a variety of established needs in treatment, including technologies to provide information and guidance to patients, support needs in monitoring and behavior modification, expand access to motivational support, and deliver real-time assessments of cognitive function. They can also significantly enhance the range of available data from individual patients and entire patient populations that can, in turn, support more rapid and effective modifications to treatment regimens and approaches. DTx are also shown to present opportunities for benefits in other areas, including the ability for patients to better manage the pace of their treatment and monitor their own progress, reduced costs, less need for in-person interventions, and enhanced privacy."
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-expanding-role-of-digital-therapeutics-in-mental-health
Existential Risk From Artificial General Intelligence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk_from_artificial_general_intelligence
The Lessons we can Learn From ChatGPT's Interpretation
"In the end, ChatGPT offers us a mirror and a caution. ChatGPT's interpretations of the biblical texts are a distillation of the spirit of our age. Like ChatGPT, we tend toward metaphorical interpretations of Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. Like ChatGPT, we tend toward individualizing interpretations of Paul. And like ChatGPT, we tend to forget or be ignorant of whose interpretations that have formed our own interpretations of the text. These tendencies are interconnected. After all, it is not the tendency to metaphorize Scripture that is the problem, but rather the default to a metaphorizing interpretation as a kind of short circuit when we are unable or do not wish to examine the interpretative tradition and application of the text. ChatGPT cannot do these latter two things, but we can. Thus, ChatGPT exposes us to ourselves.
"This experience with ChatGPT therefore cautions us to consider the value of any of the interpretive tendencies it exposes. Will we treat the Bible as a statistical game of tokens? As words and ideas to be bandied about in disembodied dialogue? Or will we take up the challenge of Jesus to be wise, to hear his teachings and to do them (Matthew 7:24) in community with one another? In a word, will we outsource our understanding of the Scriptures? Or will we choose to live together, seeking the meaning of these texts through our history and our common commitment to God, and thus teaching them to those who come after us (Matthew 28:20)?"
https://hebraicthought.org/chatgpt-sermon-on-the-mount/
Search Your Print Books, Digitally
Apparently, Logos is now able to search both the text of print books in your library and your Logos titles.
"Catalog your print library by simply scanning the ISBN with the Logos mobile app. Then, search in Logos to discover results from your print resources right alongside your digital library."
https://www.logos.com/10
Welcome to the New Bing
"Your AI-powered copilot for the web."
The New Bing seems to deliver better results when running for the Edge browser, than when running from The Internet.
https://www.bing.com/search
When Artificial Intelligence Finds its way Into the Church, Rosaly Guzman, August 8, 2023
I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip of Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word did it all. -- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
A man with God is always in the majority. -- John Knox (1505-1572), the inscription on the Reformation Monument, Geneva, Switzerland
The Protestant Reformation is based upon the Five Solas.
The history of the church has practical value for every Christian, as a storehouse of warning and encouragement, of consolation and counsel. It is the philosophy of facts, Christianity in living examples. If history in general be . . . as Diodorus calls it, "the handmaid of providence, the priestess of truth, and the mother of wisdom," the history of the kingdom of heaven is all these in highest degree. Next to the holy Scriptures . . . there is no stronger proof of the continual presence of Christ with His people, no more thorough vindication of Christianity, no richer source of spiritual wisdom and experience, no deeper incentive to virtue and piety, than the history of Christ's kingdom. -- Philip Schaff
The whole of the prophecies of Isaiah are precious, and should be read by us constantly in private. -- C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Devotional Bible
See Isaiah 40:1 -- Isaiah 55:13 and annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
To the glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of the Christian religion to such people as yet live in ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. . . . (April 10, 1606) -- King James I, in the charter for the settlement of Virginia
Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace. (May 19, 1643) -- The Articles of Confederation
It is this author's contention that the modern churches have let go of this important piece of the faith [Christ's Kingship over the nations -- compiler], once for all delivered to the saints. Thereby they have delivered the church, not to kings as nursing fathers, but to the cruel civil domination of the enemies of the true religion, their sheep being taught that they must submit passively to every pretended civil authority as the ordinance of God. By this defection, these leaders of the flock have also undermined the magistracy, allowing and even encouraging wicked men to remove this blessed ordinance from its foundation in God its creator, and from its subjection to Christ His King, thereby directly opposing God's benevolent ends in instituting civil government: Thus have [they] made the commandment of God of none effect by [their] tradition. . . . teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15:6,9), [Matthew 15:6,9]. Furthermore, by their false teaching regarding civil government, they have made themselves guilty of the very sin of which we are often accused: opposing the ordinance of God. If this wasn't enough, however, consider that their sin is worse than that of the garden variety rebel, inasmuch as their opposition to God's institution is not so much practical as it is principal; and because of their position as teachers and guides of the flock of God. Be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. . . . For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. (James 3:1; 2 Cor. 13:8 [2 Corinthians 13:8]) -- Greg Price (Biblical Civil Government Verses the Beast, p. 64)
We are an illiterate nation incapable of understanding great truth. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999)
*Augustine, Saint (Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 AD), (author), Philip Schaff (editor), Marcus Dods (translator), St. Augustine's City of God and Christian Doctrine (A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church -- Volume 2), new edition, 624 pages, English, ISBN: 0802880991. Available (2 volumes, 1872 edition), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Bainton, Roland Herbert, The Church of our Fathers, ISBN: 0880192119 9780880192118.
Bainton, Ronald H., Yesterday, Today, and What Next? Reflections on History and Hope, ISBN: 0806616709 9780806616704.
Baird, Henry, History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France, 2 volumes, 1127 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30.
*[Bible] Calvin, John (1509-1564), et al. [John Knox, Theodore Beza, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, Martin Luther, and others], Peter A. Lillback (foreword), Tolle Lege Press (preface), Gary DeMar (Notes to the Modern Reader), Marshall Foster (The History and Impact of the Geneva Bible), 1599 Geneva Bible, (Tolle Lege Press), 1400 pages, ISBN: 0975484699 9780975484692 0975484613 9780975484616 0975484621 9780975484623. Available (Tolle Lege Press restoration) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Bradford, William (1588-1657), Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647, ISBN: 0075542811. A Christian classic.
*Burgess, Anthony (d. 1664?), The Difficulty of, and the Encouragements to a Reformation: A Sermon Preached Before the Honourable House of Commons at the Publick Fast, Septem. 27, 1643, Mark i. 2-3, 1643. [Mark 1:2,3]. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Burgess, Anthony (d. 1664?), The Reformation of the Church, To be Endeavoured More Than That of the Commonwealth, 1645. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Buxbaum, Melvin H., BF (Benjamin Franklin), and the Zealous Presbyterians, ISBN: 0271011769 9780271011769.
Cairns, Earl E., God and Man in Time: A Christian Approach to Historiography, ISBN: 0801024269 9780801024269.
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
*Calvin, Jean (John, 1509-1564), Theodore de Beza, Robert Estienne, Academiae de Geneve, Leges Academiae Genevensis. Alternate title (French): L'ORDRE DU COLLEGE DE GENEUE. Language: Latin.
Carden, Allen, Puritan Christianity in America: Religion and Life in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts, ISBN: 0801025435 9780801025433.
Christensen, Merton A., Franklin on the Hemphill Trial: Deism vs. Presbyterianism Orthodoxy, WMQ [William and Mary Quarterly -- compiler], 10 (1953): 422-40.
Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF)
Christian History Magazine (Worchester, PA [Christian History Magazine, Box 540, 2030 Wentz Church Road, Worchester 19490]: Christian History Magazine).
Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), John W. Robbins (1949-2008, editor), Historiography: Secular and Religious, ISBN: 0940931397 9780940931398.
Columbus, Christopher, Christopher Columbus' Book of Prophecies: Reproduction of the Original Manuscript With English Translation by Kay Brigham, ISBN: 8476454775 9788476454770.
Cowan, Henry, John Knox: Hero of the Scottish Reformation, ISBN: 0404017886 9780404017880.
Cowan, Ian Borthwick, The Scottish Reformation: Church and Society in Sixteenth Century Scotland, ISBN: 0312705190 9780312705190.
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), The Scottish Reformation, Tercentenary of. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Davis, D. Clair, Church History (part 4 of 5): Awakening and Revivalism; Modern Church (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
Audio cassette CD504 [audio file].
Davis, D. Clair, Church History (part 3 of 5): Awakening and Revivalism (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
Dawson, Jan C., The Unusable Past: America's Puritan Tradition, 1830 to 1930, ISBN: 0891307214 9780891307211 0891307222 9780891307228.
Dell, William (d. 1664), Right Reformation, or the reformation of the church of the New Testament, represented in Gospel-light. In a sermon preached . . . November 25, 1646. By William Dell.
Dell, William (d. 1664), The Tryal of Spirits Both in Teachers and Hearers Wherein is Held Forth the Clear Discovery and Certain Downfal of the Carnal and anti-Christian Clergie of These Nations, 1653.
*Edersheim, Alfred (1825-1889), Bible History, ISBN: 156563165X 9781565631656.
*Edersheim, Alfred (1825-1889), The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. A Christian classic.
Edersheim, Alfred (1825-1889), Sketches of Jewish Life, ISBN: 1565631382 9781565631380. Alternate title: SKETCHES OF JEWISH SOCIAL LIFE IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST.
*Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758), A History of the Work of Redemption (unfinished), ISBN: 0781227747. Alternate title: HISTORY OF REDEMPTION, ON A PLAN ENTIRELY ORIGINAL: EXHIBITING THE GRADUAL DISCOVERY AND ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE DIVINE PURPOSES IN THE SALVATION OF MAN . . . BY THE LATE REVEREND JONATHAN EDWARDS . . . TO WHICH ARE NOW ADDED NOTES, HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND THEOLOGICAL, WITH THE LIFE AND EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR, LONDON, 1788. Available in THE WORKS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS. Available (THE WORKS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS), on the Puritan Hard Drive. An 18 volume edition is also available on
Fitzgerald, Allan D. (editor), Augustine Through The Ages: An Encyclopedia, 902 pages, ISBN: 080283843X 9780802838438.
Fountain, David, John Wycliffe: The Dawn of the Reformation, ISBN: 0907821022 9780907821021.
*Foxe, John (1516-1587), and Thomas Freeman (prefatory material), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable (unabridged). Alternate title: THE UNABRIDGED ACTS AND MONUMENTS ONLINE or TAMO (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). A Christian classic. Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Implemented by the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, England, and published by HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011, Version 2.0, ISBN: 9780954260864.
*Fraser, James (of Brea, 1639-1698), The Lawfulness and Duty of Separation From Corrupt Ministers and Churches Explained and Vindicated, 1744. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
Frend, W.H.C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict From the Maccabees to Donatus, ISBN: 9780227172292 0227172299.
[Geneva Bible, 1599] *Calvin, John (1509-1564), et al. [John Knox, Theodore Beza, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, Martin Luther, and others], Peter A. Lillback (foreword), Tolle Lege Press (preface), Gary DeMar (Notes to the Modern Reader), Marshall Foster (The History and Impact of the Geneva Bible), 1599 Geneva Bible, (Tolle Lege Press), 1400 pages, ISBN: 0975484699 9780975484692 0975484613 9780975484616 0975484621 9780975484623. Available (Tolle Lege Press restoration) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Geneva Bible Notes, 1599
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), A Late Dialogue Betwixt a Civilian and a Divine, Concerning the Church of England, 1644.
*Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Reformation's Refining Fire; or, Iconoclastic Zeal Necessary to World Reformation by George Gillespie, audio file. Available (MP3) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also found in volume one of GILLESPIE'S WORKS.
Grant, George, The Last Crusader: The Untold Story of Christopher Columbus, ISBN: 0891076905 9780891076902.
Grant, Robert McBride, Early Christianity and Society, ISBN: 0060634111 9780060634117.
*Green, Edward M.B., Evangelism in the Early Church, ISBN: 0340107073 9780340107072.
Greaves, Richard L., Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox, 1980, ISBN: 0802818471 9780802818478.
Guinness, H. Grattan, Romanism and the Reformation: From the Standpoint of Prophecy, 1891. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13.
Guthrie, William D., Magna Carta and Other Addresses.
Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E., The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England, ISBN: 0807815187 9780807815182.
Harrison, Cassain, Liam Neeson, Timothy West, Lee Pullbrook, and Nick Powell, Martin Luther, an empires special, distributed by PBS Home Video, ISBN: 0793696283 9780793696284.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), The Bishops Doom: A Sermon Preached Before the General Assembly Which sat at Glasgow Anno 1638, on Occasion of Pronouncing the Sentence of the Greater Excommunication Against Eight of the Bishops, and Deposing or Suspending the Other six.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), Church of Scotland, General Assembly, Commission, Reformation of Church Government in Scotland, Cleared From Some Mistakes and Prejudices by the Commissioners of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, now at London, 1644. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Hetherington, William (1803-1865), History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1856). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #30.
Hood, Fred J., Reformed America: the Middle and Southern States, 1783-1837, ISBN: 0817300341 9780817300340 0817300368 9780817300364.
Howie, John (1735-1793), Reformation Principles, &c. Re-exhibited: A Collection; Containing, I. The National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant, With the Acknowledgment of Sins, and Engagement to Duties, as They Were Renewed at Douglass, July 24, 1712, With Accommodations to the Present Times -- Together with a preface, containing a narrative of the manner of the action, &c. II. Plain Reasons for Presbyterians Dissenting From the Revolution-church in Scotland. As also, their principles concerning civil government, and the difference betwixt the reformation and revolution principles. Alternate title: PLAIN REASONS FOR PRESBYTERIANS DISSENTING FROM THE REVOLUTION-CHURCH IN SCOTLAND.
*Howie, John (1735-1793), The Scots Worthies. Biographia Scoticana: or, A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies . . . Also, an Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Hint of the Wicked Lives . . . of the . . . Apostates and . . . Persecutors in Scotland . . . 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged, 1781. A Christian classic. Available (PDF and MP3 audio files) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (PDF file) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1, #10. Available (22 MP3 audio files) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1-30 and at AudioSermons.com.
*Hughes, Philip E., The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin, ISBN: 1592444865 9781592444861.
*Hurst, Henry, Whether Well-composed Religious Vows do not Exceedingly Promote Religion, 1661. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
*Hutchison, Matthew, The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland: Its Origin and History, 1680-1876, 450 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18.
*Jackson, Jeremy, No Other Foundation: The Church Through Twenty Centuries, ISBN: 0891071695 9780891071693.
Johnson, Gary L.W. and R. Fowler White, Whatever Happened to the Reformation? ISBN: 0875521835 9780875521831.
*Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston (translator), The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, 4 volumes, ISBN: 9789568351762 9568351760. Alternate title: THE WORKS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
*Kelly, Douglas F., The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World: The Influence of Calvin on Five Governments From the 16th Through 18th Centuries, ISBN: 0875522971.
*Kennedy, D. James (1930-2007), with Jerry Newcombe, What if the Bible had Never Been Written? ISBN: 0785271546 9780785271543.
*Kennedy, D. James (1930-2007), with Jerry Newcombe, What if Jesus had Never Been Born? The Positive Impact of Christianity in History, ISBN: 0785271783 9780785271789.
Kerr, James (1847-1905), The Attainments of the Church of the Second Reformation.
*Kerr, James (1847-1905, editor), and et al., The Covenants and the Covenanters: Covenants, Sermons, and Documents of the Covenanted Reformation, 1895, ISBN: 9781406876109 1406876100. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
Knox, John (1505-1572), The Early Church and the Coming Great Church. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth, 1554. Alternate title: A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, and AGAINST ROMISH RITES AND POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL TYRANNY. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #15, #26. Available in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland . . . by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline, Glasgow, 1761. A Christian classic. Alternate title: THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND and THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 1 of 6, (Book 1-2). Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
Lang, Andrew, John Knox and the Reformation, 1905.
*Lorimer, Peter, John Knox and the Church of England: His Work in her Pulpit and his Influence Upon her Liturgy, Articles, and Parties. Alternate Title: JOHN KNOX AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, HIS WORK IN HER PULPIT AND HIS INFLUENCE UPON HER LITURGY, ARTICLES, AND PARTIES. A MONOGRAPH FOUNDED UPON SEVERAL IMPORTANT PAPERS OF KNOX NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
Lorimer, Peter, The Scottish Reformation: A Historical Sketch, 1861.
*McFetridge, N.S., Calvinism in History. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*M'Crie, Thomas (the younger, 1797-1875), Life of John Knox, 1855. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
Miller, Perry, and James Hoopes (editor), Sources for the New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century, ISBN: 0910776016 9780910776011.
*Montgomery, Michael S. (compiler), American Puritan Studies: An Annotated Bibliography of Dissertations, 1882-1981, 419 pages, ISBN: 0313242372 9780313242373.
*Murray, Iain, The Reformation of the Church: A Collection of Reformed and Puritan Documents on Church Issues, ISBN: 085151118X 9780851511184.
*Neal, Daniel (1678-1743), and Joshua Toulmin, The History of the Puritans, or, Protestant Non-conformists: From the Reformation in 1517, to the Revolution in 1688; Comprising an Account of Their Principles; Their attempts for a farther reformation in the church, their sufferings, and the lives and characters of their most considerable divines, 3 volumes.
*New Liberty Videos, The Forbidden Book: The History of the English Bible, DVD, new 2006 version, on-camera spokesman: Dr. Craig Lampe; Narrator: Jim Birdsall; Director: Brian Barkley; Run Time: 60 minutes.
New Liberty Videos, Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Secrets of God Revealed, Joel Lampe, Craig Lampe, Frank Seekins, New Liberty Videos, DVD, ISBN: 0966321669 9780966321661.
Noll, Mark A. (editor), Eerdman's Handbook to Christianity in America, ISBN: 0802835821 9780802835826.
Owen, John (1616-1683), An Humble Testimony Unto the Goodness and Severity of God in his Dealing With Sinful Churches and Nations. Or the Only way to Deliver a Sinful Nation From Utter Ruin by Impendent Judgments: In a Discourse on the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . by John Owen, D.D. The second edition Edinburgh, 1737. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
Packer, J.I. (editor, 1926-2020), The Bible Almanac: A Comprehensive Handbook of the People of the Bible and how They Lived, ISBN: 0840751621 9780840751621.
Packer, J.I. (1926-2020), and David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), Puritan Papers, 5 volumes, vol. 1, ISBN: 0875524664 9780875524665; vol. 2, ISBN: 0875524672 9780875524672; vol. 3, ISBN: 0875524680 9780875524689; vol. 4, ISBN: 0875524699 9780875524696; vol. 5, ISBN: 0875524702 9780875524702.
Pauck, Wilhelm (editor), Melanchthon and Bucer, ISBN: 0664220193 9780664220198.
Paul, Robert S., The Assembly of the Lord: Politics and Religion in the Westminster Assembly and the Grand Debate, ISBN: 0567085597 9780567085597.
*Pendlebury, William, National Repentance and Reformation the way to Obtain National Blessings. A sermon preach'd at Rotherham in Yorkshire, on the eleventh of April, 1744, . . . by William Pendlebury, M.A.
Perrin, Jean Paul, Robert Baird, and Samuel Miller, History of the Ancient Christians Inhabiting the Valley of the Alps: I. The Waldenses. II. The Albigenses. III. The Vaudois, 1847. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #16.
Phillips, Thomas, The Welsh Revival: Its Origin and Development, ISBN: 0851515428 9780851515427.
Post-Reformation Digital Library
*Powlison, David (1949-2019), Competent to Counsel? The History of Biblical Counseling, new edition. Alternate title: COMPETENT TO COUNSEL? THE HISTORY OF A CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANT ANTI-PSYCHIATRY MOVEMENT, ISBN: 0978556763 9780978556761 (College Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. thesis, 1996).
Presbyterian Heritage Publications, Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library and (website) Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, Dallas, 75218]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999).
Come out From Among Them: 'Anti-Nicodemite' Writings of John Calvin, Library of Congress Number: 47597573.
Green, William Henry (1825-1900), The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded.
Alternative titles (many previously available in printed form)
Books and Booklets
*Reformed Presbytery in North America "Steelite," David Steele (1803-1887), John Thorburn (1730?-1788), John Courtass (d. 1795), et al., Act, Declaration, and Testimony, for the Whole of the Covenanted Reformation, as Attained to, and Established in, Britain and Ireland; Particularly Betwixt the Years 1638 and 1649, Inclusive. As, Also, Against all the Steps of Defection From Said Reformation, Whether in Former or Later Times, Since the Overthrow of that Glorious Work, Down to This Present day (1876), (Philadelphia, PA: Printed by Rue and Jones, 1876), a new edition of the Ploughlandhead Testimony of 1761, the subordinate standard of the original "Steelite" Reformed Presbytery that was constitutes in 1840. Available (the 1850 edition only) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (the 1850 edition only) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Reformed Presbytery of North America "Steelite" (David Steele [1803-1887], James Campbell, Thomas Sproull, James Fulton), A Short Vindication of our Covenanted Reformation, 2nd Edition, Revised, and Enlarged by a Committee of the Reformed Presbytery ("Circular" and "Review" prefixed), 1879, 50 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2 (also #1, #25, and #30).
*Reid, James, Memoirs of the Westminster Divines.
Reid, W. Stanford, The Reformation: Revival or Revolution? ISBN: 0030714753 9780030714757.
*Reid, W. Stanford, Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox, 372 pages, ISBN: 0801077087 9780801077081.
*Renwick, A.M., and A.M. Harman, The Story of the Church, 2nd enlarged edition, ISBN: 0802800920 9780802800923 0851104649 9780851104645. Includes index.
Renwick, James (1662-1688), Christ our Righteousness. A Choice Sermon, Preached by the Reverend Mr. James Renwick From Revel. iii. 4 [Revelation 3:4], Falkirk, 1775. Available in (A CHOICE COLLECTION OF VERY VALUABLE PREFACES, LECTURES, AND SERMONS, PREACHED UPON THE MOUNTAINS AND MUIRS OF SCOTLAND, IN THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE LATE PERSECUTION. BY MR. JAMES RENWICK), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in (A CHOICE COLLECTION OF VERY VALUABLE PREFACES, LECTURES, AND SERMONS, PREACHED UPON THE MOUNTAINS AND MUIRS OF SCOTLAND, IN THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE LATE PERSECUTION. BY MR. JAMES RENWICK), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #29.
*Renwick, James (1662-1688), Select Works of John Renwick, at True Covenanter
*Renwick, James (1662-1688), The Testimony of Some Persecuted Presbyterian Ministers of the Gospel Unto the Covenanted Reformation of the Church of Scotland, and to the Present Expediency of Continuing to Preach the Gospel in the Fields, and Against the Present anti-Christian Toleration in its Nature and Design, Tending to Bury all These in Oblivion, Lately Obtruded Upon, and Accepted by the Body of this Nation, 1688. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Renwick, James (1662-1688), Alexander Shields, and Other "Society People," An Informatory Vindication of a Poor, Wasted, Misrepresented Remnant of the Suffering, Anti-prelatic, Anti-erastian . . . 1744. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
Ridley, Nicholas, and Henry Christmas, Works of Nicholas Ridley. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Ringenberg, William C., The Christian College: A History of Protestant Higher Education in America, ISBN: 0802819966 9780802819963
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008, editor), Christ and Civilization, ISBN: 1891777246 9781891777240.
Roberts, William L. (1798-1864), The Covenanting Martyrs and Revival of the Covenants! Quoting the Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion, 1853. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, ISBN: 0524065543 9780524065549. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available from ATLA 1991-2638.
Robertson, Edwin, Wycliffe: Morning Star of the Reformation, ISBN: 0551011424 9780551011427.
Rogers, Charles (editor), Three Scottish Reformers: Alexander Cunningham, Fifth Earl of Glencair, Henry Balnaves of Halhill, and John Davidson, Minister of Prestonpans, With Their Poetical Remains and Mr. Davidson's "Helps for Young Scholars in Christianity," 1874.
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Christianity and the State, ISBN: 9996717755. Available through Exodus Books.
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, ISBN: 0873779517. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF CIVIL POLICY: BEING A RESOLUTION OF FORTY THREE QUESTIONS CONCERNING PREROGATIVE, RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE, IN REFERENCE TO THE SUPREME PRINCE AND THE PEOPLE. / BY SAMUEL RUTHERFORD PROFESSOR OF DIVIN{TIY OF ST ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #25.
"There are several applications of Artificial Intelligence that can be useful to Christian ministry. For instance, AI can help with routine tasks such as recording donations and attendance data, allowing church staff to focus on other tasks1. AI can also help personalize content, suggesting Bible study materials or prayer schedules, thus facilitating a deeper understanding of the Bible through targeted resources. Additionally, AI can indicate the kind of content people are drawn to, aiding in spreading the gospel and sermon preparation. Another possible ministry application for generative AI is video creation. A platform such as Synthesia enables ministry leaders to produce low-cost and customized videos for small group Bible studies or training purposes2. A ministry leader can also use an AI image creation application (also known as text-to-image AI) to make a customized graphic for a sermon series." -- AI
The History of Reformation of the Church
Grace and election are the essence and meaning of history. -- Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), quoted by C. Gregg Singer
Sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone"): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
Sola Fide ("faith alone"): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia ("grace alone"): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
Solus Christus ("Christ alone"): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.
Soli Deo Gloria ("to the glory of God alone"): We live for the glory of God alone.
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
But many [that are] first shall be last; and the last [shall be] first. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28-30)
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)
Atkinson, Miles, The Necessity of a National Reformation. A sermon occasioned by the present critical state of the nation, preached at the parish-church of Leeds, July 11th 1779. . . . By Miles Atkinson, A.B. Leeds, [1779?].
Augustine is said to be the greatest Christian thinker next to the Apostle Paul. Luther set the BIBLE and the CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE above all other books.
"One of the classic texts of Western civilization [it explains the fall of Rome in terms of Scripture -- compiler]. . . . DE CIVITATE DEI is an important contribution of interest to students of theology, philosophy, ecclesiastical history, the history of political thought, and late antiquity." -- Publisher (from the Cambridge University Press edition)
"Calvin paraphrased Augustine about 400 times in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"St. Augustine's final sentence of THE CITY OF GOD is 'All things must be referred to the Glory of God.'
"When you see that, then you will see the key to the story, and you will see the key to history. . . .
"The classic exposition of history in terms of Scripture." -- C. Gregg Singer
"Augustine began writing THE CITY OF GOD at age 59 [shortly after the city of Rome had been sacked by the Goths in 410 A.D., much to the surprise, it is said, of both the Romans and the Goths -- compiler], and worked on it, off and on, for much of the next 14 years. The impetus for the beginning of this vast work (and its recurring focus), was the charge of Pagans (polytheists) that Christianity was responsible for the decay and demise of the Roman Empire. The charge put forward the claim that the prosperity and social stability of the state was dependent upon polytheistic worship. In response, Augustine arrays several lines of argument, rebutting the assumed 'goodness' of the Pagan state, as such, and detailing the ethical/moral and logical failings of Paganism. Augustine displays tremendous scholarship, employing the writings of Paganism's greatest historians and philosophers in his case against their religious claims. The result is a giant literary, philosophical, historical, theological and exegetical work. . . .
"Against the 'city', i.e., society, of many gods, there is but one alternate society, this Augustine calls The City of God, adopting the expression found in several of King David's psalms. Not only is the society of many gods the society of polytheists, it is also the 'city' of pantheists, atheistic materialists and philosophical Cynics. In the case of the Cynics and atheists, these false gods are the myriad gods of self, indeed, at least as many gods (selves) as there are believers in them. Thus there are two 'cities,' two loves, two ways to understand the big questions of existence, two destinations. Says Augustine:
"The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self." XIV:13.
"Augustine reflects deeply here on human nature and the meaning of eternal life and eternal punishment, within an explication of the 'meaning' of history. He writes of all human history as a single narrative. This also a work of Biblical exegesis, as Augustine treats Scripture as a historical document. For Augustine, creation is good, creation exists in time and has a history. Indeed, since God enters into history to show man His love, history itself is sanctified, through the City of God.
"The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3:4). In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity . . ." (XIV:28) -- Reader's Comment
"The book contains the parallel histories of what Augustine terms the City of God and the City of Man, both descended from Adam. The City of Man is founded on murder (specifically fratricide, the murder of a brother, viz. Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus). The City of Man has been deceived and debased, fallen under the sway of pagan gods, which appear to be either demons or, at best indifferent or benign spirits that are mistakenly worshipped. The City of God, on the other hand, is a pilgrim on this earth, toiling here in the joyous expectation of final salvation in God's Kingdom." -- Reader's Comment
"His 'grand unifying theory' of Western civilization, uniting the organization of Rome with the thought of Greece and the revelation of the Bible, has been accepted as the de facto definition of what it means to be Western until only the very last few decades of our time. . . .
"This seamless blend of literary prowess from Rome's greatest scholar and highest ranking professor generates for the reader a powerful education in philosophy, history and theology, tied together with awesome rhetoric, that is uniquely powerful, erudite, insightful and useful all at once.
"As it is written for the leaders of society and not for the average citizen, be ready to be intrigued, challenged to thought, and impressed with every line.
"By no means must the reader have any kind of religious belief to benefit from this book, nor must the reader agree with all that Augustine postulates, nor can the reader, due to the great distance of time separating him from us and improvements in scientific knowledge since his time. The importance, greatness and power of the writing itself commend it to us." -- Reader's Comment
"One who has been introduced to Augustine through his auto-biographical CONFESSIONS may find it easier to follow his logic as he discusses the numerous topics of THE CITY OF GOD." -- Reader's Comment
"It would do the modern Church well to read this book since Augustine places THE CITY OF GOD (i.e., Christ and His Church), within the context of the pagan world in which we live, and its message is as applicable today as it was 1,500 years ago when he first wrote it." -- Reader's Comment
"History and theology in one rich volume." -- Reader's Comment
City of God, Saint Augustine, Philip Schaff (editor), Rev. Marcus Dods, D.D. (translator)
http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF1-02/
The Confessions of Saint Augustine
"The story of his sinful pursuits before conversion, and of his conversion, then of his confession to God, and his discoveries of the greatness of God after his conversion." -- Publisher
http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/confessions.html
The Works of Saint Augustine
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Augustine%2C%20Saint%2C%20Bishop%20of%20Hippo
Calvin's Commentaries (online)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom
The Classical View of History (Augustine)
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, "The Christian View of History," lecture series.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=7150273140
The Augustinian Approach to History
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 47 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9150393751
Church History #09: Augustine #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, "Church History" lecture series.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=41504163949
Church History #10: Augustine #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, "Church History" lecture series.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=41504164048
Church History #11: Augustine #3
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, "Church History" lecture series.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=41504164152
"A popular presentation of the historic drama, intrigues, rivalry, persecution, suffering, courage, and heroism displayed by Christian leaders from Paul to the establishment of the church in the New World." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Important reflections on history, the discernible patterns that may be used to guide our decision today, and what we may expect in the future." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Volume one covers the period from the beginning of the French Reformation to the Edict of January, 1562. Volume two takes in the period from the battle of Coutras to the death of Henry the Fourth (1610). The author notes that 'the period of about half a century with which these volumes are concerned may properly be regarded as the formative age of the Huguenots in France. It included the first planting of the reformed doctrines, and the steady growth of the Reformation in spite of obloquy and persecution, whether exercised under the forms of law or vented in lawless violence. It was the gathering and the regular organization of the reformed communities, as well as their consolidation into one of the most orderly and zealous churches of the Protestant family.' The author has made use of manuscripts 'previously known to few scholars -- if at all.' 1127 pages, including an extensive 26 page index covering both volumes." -- Publisher
"When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620, they brought along supplies, a consuming passion to advance the Kingdom of Christ, a bright hope for the future, and the Word of God. Clearly, their most precious cargo was the Bible. The GENEVA BIBLE, printed over 200 times between 1560 and 1644, was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This superb translation was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers, thinkers, and historical figures of that time [but the translation was surpassed by the AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION in 1611, see 'Textual Criticism' -- compiler]. The GENEVA BIBLE is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses and became the most popular version of its time because of the extensive marginal notes. These notes, written by Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and others, were included to explain and interpret the scriptures for the common people. For nearly half a century these notes helped the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland understand the Bible and true liberty. King James despised the GENEVA BIBLE because he considered the notes on key political texts to be seditious [to question the Divine Right of Kings -- compiler] and a threat to his authority. Unlike the KING JAMES VERSION, the GENEVA BIBLE was not authorized by the government. It was truly a Bible by the people and for the people. You can see why this remarkable version with its profound marginal notes played a key role in the formation of the American Republic. Until now, the only complete version available was a large, cumbersome, and difficult-to-read facsimile edition. But this new edition contains all the original words and notes [see the errata listing below -- compiler], but the type set has been enlarged and the font style change for today's reader." -- Publisher
"This is the Bible that eventually put an end to Feudalism in Europe, strengthened Puritans, Quakers, and came to America on the Mayflower. This was the first Bible published in the language of the common people, the first Bible to contain commentary and verse numbers, and the first Bible written in English from Greek and Hebrew texts available from Constantinople, not from the Latin Vulgate. The dynamite in this Bible is the commentary accounting for about one third of its length.
"The Church of England and King James were so upset they determined to create a new translation. They called it the KING JAMES VERSION. They choose to use language so formal and grand, even by the standards of those days, that the common people would find it difficult to understand. The GENEVA BIBLE was found seditious by it's insertions of commentary that spoke directly about the priesthood of lay believers, the church as naturally anti-oligarchy, and setting forth some other ideas considered anarchy by the King, but meaning freedom to the masses who read it. . . .
"Important facts to remember about this Bible. The Reformation was strong in England and the Lollards were a lay group of huge influence that had to go underground. English Christian theologians, not Catholics and not Anglicans, fled in huge numbers to Geneva for freedom. Geneva was not part of Switzerland at that time, because Geneva was its own city-state. . . . The GENEVA BIBLE was printed 1560-1644. THE KING JAMES VERSION was published in 1611. The GENEVA BIBLE was against the law to own. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Available "in printed formats with various binding options from Tolle Lege Press. Tolle Lege Press has given Puritan Downloads permission to provide a PDF copy of their retypeset and fully searchable edition of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (Copyright 2006-2008, Tolle Lege Press), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The GENEVA BIBLE is the Puritan Bible with Reformation promoting marginal notes authored by prominent leaders of the Reformation (during the time of John Calvin and John Knox). The New Testament was translated out of the Greek, by Theodore Beza. The GENEVA BIBLE was the predominant English translation during the period in which the English and Scottish Reformations gained great impetus.
"Iain Murray, in his classic work on revival and the interpretation of prophecy, THE PURITAN HOPE, notes, The two groups in England and Scotland developed along parallel lines, like two streams originating at one fountain. The fountain was not so much Geneva, as the Bible which the exiles newly translated and issued with many marginal notes . . . it was read in every Presbyterian and Puritan home in both realms. (p. 7)
"This time also saw the rise of the forces for covenanted Reformation against the corruption and abuses of prelacy and the royal factions. Darkness was dispelled as people read this Bible and saw for themselves that there is no authority above the Holy Scriptures. Discerning this truth, it became apparent that the civil tyranny and the heretical superstitions imposed by Pope, King and Bishops were to be resisted unto death, if necessary (i.e. because these innovations in church and state were opposed to the Kingship of Christ and the law of His kingdom, as set forth in Holy Scripture).
"Moreover, this is the Bible that led to the King James edition. James . . . did not want the Calvinistic marginal notes of the GENEVA BIBLE getting into the hands of the people because he considered them 'seditious' hence, he authorized the KING JAMES VERSION as a substitute (though the KJV far surpasses modern translations).
"Although most people today have never heard of the GENEVA BIBLE, it was so popular from 1560 to 1644 that it went through 140 plus printings. The reason for its popularity among the faithful is obvious: the marginal notes promoted a full-orbed, nation-changing Protestantism! Taking a modern work, such as the SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE, and comparing the notes to those of the GENEVA BIBLE, it will readily be seen that the religion of the Protestant Reformation bears no resemblance to much of the nonsense being prattled today!
"Additionally, the later editions of the GENEVA BIBLE (like this 1599 edition), are more strongly Calvinistic and anti-Papal noted by Eason in THE GENEVAN BIBLE, NOTES ON ITS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION. . . ."
The notes of TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576, which took the place of the New Testament of the Bible of 1560 in many editions from 1587 onward, are entirely different from those in the GENEVA BIBLE. They are taken from Beza's Latin Testament, and are controversial and strongly Calvinistic.
"Furthermore, Eason cites Pocock (a rabid anti-Calvinist), in the same book,
The changes adopted in the GENEVA BIBLE and New Testament synchronize with the gradual spread of the Calvinistic heresy and the contemporaneous development of hatred of the whole Papal system of doctrine. The notes attacked the Sacramental teaching of the Church, substituting for it the Calvinistic doctrines of election and reprobation. They taught that Sacraments are nothing more than signs and seals of grace previously given to the elect. All passages about the Sacraments are explained away.
("We cite this quote, though it is full of a good deal of devilish nonsense, to demonstrate that even the enemies of biblical truth recognized the powerful impact that the GENEVA BIBLE was having in furthering the Protestant Reformation, as well as to show that the notes in the later versions of the GENEVA BIBLE were moving in the direction of a more distinct testimony against error and for the truth." -- RB) -- Publisher
"There were three primary editions of the GENEVA BIBLE:
(1) The editions that follow the first edition of 1560.
"In our opinion, the notes in the 1599 edition were the most faithful to Scripture." -- The Genevan Bible, Notes on its Production and Distribution [Of course, the judgment and candor of Calvin are renown. This Bible played a key role in the Reformation, and anyone not using it 'will be the poorer for their neglect.' However, very few works are without caveats. Calvin used the LATIN VULGATE. His comments had to be translated from French. Experts (see 'Textual Criticism'), consider the authorized KING JAMES VERSION to be the most accurate translation. It used a literal approach to translation of the Traditional Text, which is referred to today as the Majority Text or Textus Receptus. Beza's translation of the New Testament is in a different category. One is urged to not neglect the knowledge developed over 400 years of Reformed scholarship since 1599. For example, compare the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (1400 pages, 1366 in the Tolle Lege restoration edition), annotation with the annotation, theological notes, text notes, scripture notes, and other study aids of the NEW GENEVA STUDY BIBLE (2228 pages), with its own noted caveats. -- compiler]
(2) The editions in which TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576 is substituted for the 1560 New Testament.
(3) The Bibles from 1598 that contain the Notes on Revelation of Francis Junius."
"Features of the Tolle Lege 1599 GENEVA BIBLE:
Excerpts from two articles on the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE may be read at the Puritan Downloads site: "The Forgotten Translation," Gary DeMar, President of American Vision and Honorary Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board, and "Introduction to the 1599 Geneva Bible," Marshall Foster, President of the Mayflower Institute, Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board.
http://www.swrb.com/bibles/bibles.htm
"The GENEVA BIBLE has a unique place in history. It is some times called the BREECHES BIBLE. That term comes from the reference in Genesis 3:7 where it says that Adam and Eve clothed themselves in 'breeches' made from fig leaves. It is the product of Protestant scholars who had taken refuge in Geneva, Switzerland during the reign of Queen 'Bloody Mary' of England (1553-1558). It is also known as the Bible that the Pilgrims brought to America. It is older than the KING JAMES VERSION and is considered by some to be more 'Protestant' than the KING JAMES VERSION." [probably because of the Notes of the Geneva Reformers -- compiler] -- Reader's Comment
"I've seen the facsimile versions of the GENEVA BIBLE and they don't even come close to this edition. The legibility and readability of this edition is far superior to other editions. -- Reader's Comment
Tolle Lege Press edition of the 1599 Geneva Bible
http://www.GenevaBible.com
Perhaps the unique wisdom in the annotation by the Reformers, John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox, and Theodore Beza, among others, is due to their doctrinal position of the absolute sovereignty of God and the utter depravity of mankind. The notes are also very concise, explaining the meaning of Scripture and free of pedantic material.
Sample notes from the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE, the Tolle Lege Press restored edition of 2007:
1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press Restoration, Fourth Printing, 2008, Probable Errata Listing
Therefore to kill man is to deface God's image, and so injury is not only done to man, but also to God.
"From his beginning, as the Evangelist saith, 1 John 1:1, as though he said, that the world began not then to have his being, when God began to make all that was made: for the word was even then when all things that were made, began to be made, and therefore he was before the beginning of all things.
"Had his being.
"This word, That, pointeth out unto us a peculiar and choice thing above all other, and putteth a difference between this Word, which is the Son of God, and the Laws of God, which otherwise also are called the word of God.
"This word (With) putteth out the distinction of persons to us.
"This word (Word) is the first in order in the sentence, and is that which the learned call (Subjectum) and this word (God) is the latter in order, and the same which the learned call (Predicatum).
"Paul expoundeth this place, Col. 1:15 and 16 [Colossians 1:15,16].
"That is, as the Father did work, so did the Son work with him: for he was fellow worker with him.
"Of all those things which were made, nothing was made without
him.
http://www.lettermen2.com/1599errata.html
A Resolution That Tolle Lege Press and White Hall Press of Chicago Complete the Limited Modernization of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE Begun in 2004 and of all Spin-off Publications
http://www.lettermen2.com/1599resolve.html
The 1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege edition, online
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201&version=GNV
There is confusion in certain library records for the 1599 and 1672 Bibles that will only be resolved by physical inspection. The following is thought to be an alternative record for the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE.
*Beze, Theodore de, Joachim Camerarius, Pierre Loyseleur, Laurence Tomson, and Franciscus Junius, The Bible, That is, The Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Old and New Testament. "Publisher: [Amsterdam?]: [publisher not identified], [approximately 1599]."
1599 Geneva Bible Notes
http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn/en.htm
The journal of William Bradford.
"A remarkable work by a man who himself was something of a marvel. It remains one of the most readable seventeenth-century American books, attractive to us as much for its artfulness as for its high seriousness, the work of a good storyteller with intelligence and wit." -- Publisher
History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 (1912), William Bradford
http://archive.org/details/historyplymouth00socigoog
"Deals with the centrality of Scripture in Reformation and 'that it is a special duty upon all, to remove all impediments, and to make way for Christ when he is coming to us.' 'Dr. Wilkins,' writes Thomas Smith (of Burgess), 'enrolls him among the most eminent of the English divines for sermons and practical divinity . . . Dr. Cotton Mather says . . . 'Of A. Burgess, I may say, he has wrote for thee excellent things'." (Select Memoirs . . . of Pious and Learned English and Scottish Divines, p. 471) -- Publisher
"A 'Sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Lords at the publicke Fast, August 27, 1645,' (notes the cover), during the days of the sitting of the Westminster Assembly. Can you image these words (which are just a small sample from the preface to the godly exhortation contained in this sermon), directed, by request of the civil magistrate, to the leaders of your nation? Burgess writes, 'It was my endeavour in this Sermon to excite your Lordships to a speedy and exact Reformation of the Church from all the corruptions that have defiled her, and herein to attend unto God's Word, as the only starre that will conduct unto Christ. None are too great to undertake so good a work. Gregory said of David dancing before the Ark, Magis miror Davidum saltantem, quam pugnantem, David is to be more admired in his religious worship of God, than in his courageous conquest and slaughter of the Philistines, or other enemies. Hence, Jer. 9:23,24 [Jeremiah 9:23.24], where glory in wisdome, riches and might is forbidden, there is a kinde of an holy pride allowed in the knowledge of the Lord. Let Heathens glory, that they are saluted by the Common-wealth, Patres Pariae; but let those Christians, whom God honoureth with dignity and place, delight to be nursing Fathers to the Church, by speaking comfortably unto those who teach the good knowledge of God; and by commanding the Levites to carry all the filthiness out of the Temple. Which that your Lordships may faithfully and zealously doe, is the prayer of Your Lordships humble Servant, Anthony Burgesse'." -- Publisher
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Proverbs 29:18], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
"First edition of the new Academy of Geneva founded by John Calvin. It contains the complete speeches made at the inauguration by John Calvin and Theodore de Beza, the first Rector of the Academy. Also a complete outline of the curriculum, from seventh to first grade, with a complete reading list in classical authors for each grade, and the by-laws and regulations for appointing the faculty. One of the two imprints by Robert Estienne to bear the place of publication as Geneva."
"After exploring the Biblical basis of the Puritan movement, Carden's thematic study examines all aspects of Puritan theology as well as the Puritan's approach to the Christian life, social ethics, politics, family life, education, and culture. He concludes with an overview of the legacy bequeathed to American culture." -- GCB
1803 East Willow Grove Avenue
Glenside, PA 19038
Telephone: 215.884.7676
http://www.ccef.org/
A quarterly magazine devoted to giving the reader an awareness of our Christian heritage. Request a listing of back issues.
Christian History CD-ROM
http://www.christianityonline.com/christianhistory/current/
"The Christian doctrine of the sovereignty of God transformed the world's view of history, investing it with a meaning, importance, and grandeur that pagan historiography could never achieve. History is the unfolding of God's purpose and plan. Because God is rational, because God is sovereign, history is not a tale told by an idiot.
"The Bible is not only the earliest history book, it is also the most reliable. Centuries before the famed historians of Greece and Rome, Moses had already written the definitive account of mankind's early history as revealed to him by God. The account was not exhaustive, for no history can be, but it contained all that God wished it to contain and nothing else. God, writing through Moses, has given us true history.
"HISTORIOGRAPHY SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS will introduce the reader to the principles and problems of historiography and, in so doing, begin to suggest what an enormous debt we owe to the Bible in the study of history." -- Publisher
" 'Contains papers read at this commemoration in August of 1860 by Cunningham, Begg, Symington, Hetherington, M'Crie, Wylie, Binnie and others. Notes that 'Next to the advent of our blessed Saviour, the Reformation from Popery is the most remarkable and glorious event recorded in modern history.' Shows how the Reformation affected every area of life in Scotland." -- Publisher
From a set of five audio files.
Audio cassette CD503 [audio file].
"An examination of how American thinkers and writers reinterpreted the Puritan tradition from the Romantic period to the Great Depression. Drawing from major literary, historical, religious, and journalistic sources, this study traces the reasons for the decline of Puritan influence from the time when New Englanders still wrestled with the inscrutability of Divine Providence to the indifference and even hostility toward Puritanism of the late 1930's." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Alfred Edersheim's monumental work -- his most significant one next to the LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH. This massive, popular-level work covers Bible history from creation to the decline and captivity of Israel and Judah, drawing on criticism and Biblical geography and antiquities in its analysis. . . ." -- CBD
"This has long been a standard work. It is a telling of the Scripture in a straightforward, more or less chronological form. But unlike secular historians, he tells no lies. He has a good grasp of Scripture, and a reverent attitude toward God and His people." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
The Bible History Old Testament, Alfred Edersheim
http://philologos.org/__eb-bhot/default.htm
"The most important general work on the life of Christ in our language." -- Wilbur M. Smith
"From his prodigious study he produced an unrivaled picture of the life of Christ and of the whole Jewish background -- not merely of the archaeological details, but of the essential characteristics of Jewish thought and feeling. It is today the most extensively used life of Christ in the English language." -- Publisher
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, by Alfred Edersheim
http://www.ccel.org/e/edersheim/lifetimes/
Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ, by Alfred Edersheim
http://www.ccel.org/e/edersheim/sketches/
"Edwards powerfully shows how the work of redemption was carried on through the time from The Fall to the end of the world. It is truly amazing how Edwards cover the redemptive history with a strong link on the destruction of Jerusalem, the time of Constantine, Reformation, the rise of Antichrist, etc. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
This is an unfinished work.
The Works of Jonathan Edwards
http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/works/works.html
A History of the Work of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/text/Hist%20of%20Redemption/Hist%20Outline.htm
Jonathan Edwards.com
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/
A History of the Work of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards
http://www.heritagebooks.org/item.asp?bookid=517
"AUGUSTINE THROUGH THE AGES is an enormously informative work on the life and thought of Augustine of Hippo. Every serious student of Augustine would benefit from having this volume. Allow me to enumerate three reasons why this encyclopedia is so valuable in helping people to understand Augustine and his extraordinary contribution both to the history of Christianity and to the intellectual development of the Western world:
1. This work contains hundreds of articles by the best Augustine scholars from both the Catholic and Protestant ranks. The result is that you can fairly evaluate Augustine's contribution to the history of Western Christianity. For example, this volume contains insightful articles on how Augustine's thought influenced the development of the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed theological traditions in particular.
"AUGUSTINE THROUGH THE AGES contains more than 900 pages that attempt to capture the life, thought, controversies, and literary output of one of Christianity's greatest thinkers. This is indeed an extremely valuable volume." -- Reader's Comment
2. Because Augustine wrote more than five million words, it is often difficult to pull together his various treatments of issues and to attempt to summarize his overall position. This encyclopedia is quite helpful in systematizing the various categories of Augustine's thought.
3. This work includes articles which address all areas of Augustine's thought, including biblical, theological, philosophical, ethical, historical, and his many literary works.
"Fitzgerald (patristics, Augustinian Patristic Institute, Rome, and editor of Augustinian Studies for Villanova U.), presents an encyclopedic treatment of the life, thought, and influence of arguably the most influential Western Christian thinker after the apostles, Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430). Includes some 400 articles written by scholars whose academic backgrounds include classics, history, philosophy, political science, and theology, and which cover every aspect of Augustine's life and writings and trace his influence on the church and on the development of Western thought. Indexes, cross references, and current bibliographies should make this volume a useful research tool." -- Publisher
"There are those who believe that when Wycliffe was born about 660 years ago, he became the one man who changed the course of English history more than any other man." -- GCB
Includes bibliography.
"You can browse and compare the unabridged texts of the four editions of this massive work published in John Foxe's lifetime (1563, 1570, 1576, 1583). Each edition changed significantly as Foxe sought to incorporate new material, answer his critics, and adjust its polemical force to the needs of the moment. . . .
"TAMO is both an instrument of scholarship and a tool for anyone who wants to explore this remarkable work, a milestone in the history of the English printed book and a signal achievement of its printer, John Day."
John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, ISBN: 0197262252 9780197262252.
"This CD-ROM combines readable and printable images of 2,200 pages of text and woodcut engravings from the 1583 edition, the last for which Foxe was personally responsible."
Other editions: Acts and Monuments or Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 1554, 1843-49 edition, 8 volumes. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
" 'No book ever inflicted a wound so deep and incurable on the Romish system of superstition and bloody persecution . . . it was placed in . . . all churches and chapels throughout the kingdom, by order of Queen Elizabeth.' (Smith, Select Memoirs, p. 245). Contains much information not found in any of the liberally edited and severely shortened editions of this classic work which are in print today. Covering martyrs from the early church through to Foxe's day, it was one of the most influential books of the sixteenth century! It overflows with faith building testimony of the power of God to overcome the most cruel and barbarous acts of human depravity and demonic cruelty. 6890 pages. A very rare set, now back in print after 150 years!" -- Publisher
"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the BOOK OF MARTYRS. Even in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification." -- James Miller Dodds, English Prose
"When one recollects that until the appearance of the PILGRIM'S PROGRESS the common people had almost no other reading matter except the BIBLE and FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS, we can understand the deep impression that this book produced; and how it served to mold the national character. Those who could read for themselves learned the full details of all the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers; the illiterate could see the rude illustrations of the various instruments of torture, the rack, the gridiron, the boiling oil, and then the holy ones breathing out their souls amid the flames. Take a people just awakening to a new intellectual and religious life; let several generations of them, from childhood to old age, pore over such a book, and its stories become traditions as individual and almost as potent as songs and customs on a nation's life." -- Douglas Campbell, The Puritan in Holland, England, and America
"If we divest the book of its accidental character of feud between churches, it yet stands, in the first years of Elizabeth's reign, a monument that marks the growing strength of a desire for spiritual freedom, defiance of those forms that seek to stifle conscience and fetter thought." -- Henry Morley, English Writers
"John Foxe was a prince among believers. He had his printing press on a cart, and had often to print at night, moving his press before dawn to escape capture and burning at the stake. He never faltered in his purpose to leave a voluminous written witness to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep His saints in love and peace." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs Variorum Edition Online
http://www.tei-c.org/Activities/Projects/jo01.xml
"This is one of the most comprehensive treatises dealing with the lawfulness and duty of separation. It does not shy away from the hard biblical questions, but rather meets them head on. Fraser covers all the major biblical reasons for separation, both in general and in particular. Some of these Scriptural reasons for separation include (examples in parentheses are selected to fit our contemporary situation in accord with the general headings found in the book -- though a number of these specific errors are also dealt with in the book itself): 1) Heresy, or error in doctrine (e.g. Arminianism, Pelagianism, Romanism, the denial of the regulative principle of worship, antinomianism, legalism, etc.); 2) Idolatry in public worship (e.g. singing hymns of human composition, paedocommunion and open communion, the use of musical instruments, women speaking or preaching, anti-paedobaptism, Charismatic [or anabaptistic], folly and excesses, malignancy [anti-covenanting], etc.); 3) Tyranny in government (e.g. Popery, Prelacy, Independency, etc.); 4) Sinful terms of communion (e.g. any terms which deny or ignore the attainments of the Covenanted Reformation or in any way contravene Scripture); 5) Tolerationism (e.g. refusing to discipline the scandalous, open communion and countenancing false ministers or false governments or false doctrine, etc.). Many other areas are also dealt with, not the least of which include a strong testimony against the Prelatical Priest George Whitefield (who, as the preface notes, is 'a person leavened with gross errors, enthusiastic delusions, etc.'). In the publisher's original reasons for publication we read, 'In this book the case and nature of schism and separation is cleared, and the true scriptural terms of church-communion, and grounds of separation from corrupt churches and ministers, carrying on backsliding courses from the Covenanted Reformation principles . . . are clearly handled, and the same proven to be just and warrantable grounds of separation, and many useful cases of conscience concerning separation; and what are just and warrantable grounds of separation and what are not, are solidly, learnedly, and accurately discussed and resolved, and the case of separation clearly stated, handled and determined; and separation from corrupt ministers and churches is fully vindicated; and the true Scripture marks of time-servers and hirelings, who should be separated from, are given from the Word of God.' Calvin, Knox, Rutherford, Gillespie, Durham, Owen (who repented of his Independency and embraced Presbyterianism just before he died), and a host of other notable Reformers are cited throughout. Occasional hearing and occasional communion are also exposed and rebuked from Scripture. Appended to the book is, 'The Reasons agreed upon by the Reformers of the Church of Scotland, For which the Book of Common Prayer, urged upon Scotland, Anno 1637 was refused. As also the Reasons agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, for laying aside the English Book of Common Prayer. Together with Mr. George Graham's Renunciation and Abjuration of Episcopacy.' This is an almost flawless photocopy of this exceedingly rare and valuable book (which was obtained at great expense from the Bodleian Library [Oxford University], in England). It is one of the major Reformed classics concerning the topics that it addresses and it answers many common questions which Christians raise today regarding church affiliation. It is also a much needed landmark of Reformation testimony against the white devils of Independency and sectarianism and the black devils of Popery and Prelacy -- which can be seen to be covering the land once again -- contrary to the teaching of the Word of God and the attainments fought (and died), for during the Second Reformation." -- Publisher
"First published in 1965, this work remains the standard treatment of the interplay between Church and State in the early centuries of the Christian era. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
"When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620, they brought along supplies, a consuming passion to advance the Kingdom of Christ, a bright hope for the future, and the Word of God. Clearly, their most precious cargo was the Bible. The GENEVA BIBLE, printed over 200 times between 1560 and 1644, was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This superb translation was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers, thinkers, and historical figures of that time [but the translation was surpassed by the AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION in 1611, see 'Textual Criticism' -- compiler]. The GENEVA BIBLE is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses and became the most popular version of its time because of the extensive marginal notes. These notes, written by Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and others, were included to explain and interpret the scriptures for the common people. For nearly half a century these notes helped the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland understand the Bible and true liberty. King James despised the GENEVA BIBLE because he considered the notes on key political texts to be seditious [to question the Divine Right of Kings -- compiler] and a threat to his authority. Unlike the KING JAMES VERSION, the GENEVA BIBLE was not authorized by the government. It was truly a Bible by the people and for the people. You can see why this remarkable version with its profound marginal notes played a key role in the formation of the American Republic. Until now, the only complete version available was a large, cumbersome, and difficult-to-read facsimile edition. But this new edition contains all the original words and notes [see the errata listing below -- compiler], but the type set has been enlarged and the font style change for today's reader." -- Publisher
"This is the Bible that eventually put an end to Feudalism in Europe, strengthened Puritans, Quakers, and came to America on the Mayflower. This was the first Bible published in the language of the common people, the first Bible to contain commentary and verse numbers, and the first Bible written in English from Greek and Hebrew texts available from Constantinople, not from the Latin Vulgate. The dynamite in this Bible is the commentary accounting for about one third of its length.
"The Church of England and King James were so upset they determined to create a new translation. They called it the KING JAMES VERSION. They choose to use language so formal and grand, even by the standards of those days, that the common people would find it difficult to understand. The GENEVA BIBLE was found seditious by it's insertions of commentary that spoke directly about the priesthood of lay believers, the church as naturally anti-oligarchy, and setting forth some other ideas considered anarchy by the King, but meaning freedom to the masses who read it. . . .
"Important facts to remember about this Bible. The Reformation was strong in England and the Lollards were a lay group of huge influence that had to go underground. English Christian theologians, not Catholics and not Anglicans, fled in huge numbers to Geneva for freedom. Geneva was not part of Switzerland at that time, because Geneva was its own city-state. . . . The GENEVA BIBLE was printed 1560-1644. THE KING JAMES VERSION was published in 1611. The GENEVA BIBLE was against the law to own. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Available "in printed formats with various binding options from Tolle Lege Press. Tolle Lege Press has given Puritan Downloads permission to provide a PDF copy of their retypeset and fully searchable edition of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (Copyright 2006-2008, Tolle Lege Press), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The GENEVA BIBLE is the Puritan Bible with Reformation promoting marginal notes authored by prominent leaders of the Reformation (during the time of John Calvin and John Knox). The New Testament was translated out of the Greek, by Theodore Beza. The GENEVA BIBLE was the predominant English translation during the period in which the English and Scottish Reformations gained great impetus.
"Iain Murray, in his classic work on revival and the interpretation of prophecy, THE PURITAN HOPE, notes, The two groups in England and Scotland developed along parallel lines, like two streams originating at one fountain. The fountain was not so much Geneva, as the Bible which the exiles newly translated and issued with many marginal notes . . . it was read in every Presbyterian and Puritan home in both realms. (p. 7)
"This time also saw the rise of the forces for covenanted Reformation against the corruption and abuses of prelacy and the royal factions. Darkness was dispelled as people read this Bible and saw for themselves that there is no authority above the Holy Scriptures. Discerning this truth, it became apparent that the civil tyranny and the heretical superstitions imposed by Pope, King and Bishops were to be resisted unto death, if necessary (i.e. because these innovations in church and state were opposed to the Kingship of Christ and the law of His kingdom, as set forth in Holy Scripture).
"Moreover, this is the Bible that led to the King James edition. James . . . did not want the Calvinistic marginal notes of the GENEVA BIBLE getting into the hands of the people because he considered them 'seditious' hence, he authorized the KING JAMES VERSION as a substitute (though the KJV far surpasses modern translations).
"Although most people today have never heard of the GENEVA BIBLE, it was so popular from 1560 to 1644 that it went through 140 plus printings. The reason for its popularity among the faithful is obvious: the marginal notes promoted a full-orbed, nation-changing Protestantism! Taking a modern work, such as the SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE, and comparing the notes to those of the GENEVA BIBLE, it will readily be seen that the religion of the Protestant Reformation bears no resemblance to much of the nonsense being prattled today!
"Additionally, the later editions of the GENEVA BIBLE (like this 1599 edition), are more strongly Calvinistic and anti-Papal noted by Eason in THE GENEVAN BIBLE, NOTES ON ITS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION. . . ."
The notes of TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576, which took the place of the New Testament of the Bible of 1560 in many editions from 1587 onward, are entirely different from those in the GENEVA BIBLE. They are taken from Beza's Latin Testament, and are controversial and strongly Calvinistic.
"Furthermore, Eason cites Pocock (a rabid anti-Calvinist), in the same book,
The changes adopted in the GENEVA BIBLE and New Testament synchronize with the gradual spread of the Calvinistic heresy and the contemporaneous development of hatred of the whole Papal system of doctrine. The notes attacked the Sacramental teaching of the Church, substituting for it the Calvinistic doctrines of election and reprobation. They taught that Sacraments are nothing more than signs and seals of grace previously given to the elect. All passages about the Sacraments are explained away.
("We cite this quote, though it is full of a good deal of devilish nonsense, to demonstrate that even the enemies of biblical truth recognized the powerful impact that the GENEVA BIBLE was having in furthering the Protestant Reformation, as well as to show that the notes in the later versions of the GENEVA BIBLE were moving in the direction of a more distinct testimony against error and for the truth." -- RB) -- Publisher
"There were three primary editions of the GENEVA BIBLE:
(1) The editions that follow the first edition of 1560.
"In our opinion, the notes in the 1599 edition were the most faithful to Scripture." -- The Genevan Bible, Notes on its Production and Distribution [Of course, the judgment and candor of Calvin are renown. This Bible played a key role in the Reformation, and anyone not using it 'will be the poorer for their neglect.' However, very few works are without caveats. Calvin used the LATIN VULGATE. His comments had to be translated from French. Experts (see 'Textual Criticism'), consider the authorized KING JAMES VERSION to be the most accurate translation. It used a literal approach to translation of the Traditional Text, which is referred to today as the Majority Text or Textus Receptus. Beza's translation of the New Testament is in a different category. One is urged to not neglect the knowledge developed over 400 years of Reformed scholarship since 1599. For example, compare the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE (1400 pages, 1366 in the Tolle Lege restoration edition), annotation with the annotation, theological notes, text notes, scripture notes, and other study aids of the NEW GENEVA STUDY BIBLE (2228 pages), with its own noted caveats. -- compiler]
(2) The editions in which TOMSON'S NEW TESTAMENT of 1576 is substituted for the 1560 New Testament.
(3) The Bibles from 1598 that contain the Notes on Revelation of Francis Junius."
"Features of the Tolle Lege 1599 GENEVA BIBLE:
Excerpts from two articles on the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE may be read at the Puritan Downloads site: "The Forgotten Translation," Gary DeMar, President of American Vision and Honorary Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board, and "Introduction to the 1599 Geneva Bible," Marshall Foster, President of the Mayflower Institute, Member of the 1599 Geneva Bible Advisory Board.
http://www.swrb.com/bibles/bibles.htm
"The GENEVA BIBLE has a unique place in history. It is some times called the BREECHES BIBLE. That term comes from the reference in Genesis 3:7 where it says that Adam and Eve clothed themselves in 'breeches' made from fig leaves. It is the product of Protestant scholars who had taken refuge in Geneva, Switzerland during the reign of Queen 'Bloody Mary' of England (1553-1558). It is also known as the Bible that the Pilgrims brought to America. It is older than the KING JAMES VERSION and is considered by some to be more 'Protestant' than the KING JAMES VERSION." [probably because of the Notes of the Geneva Reformers -- compiler] -- Reader's Comment
"I've seen the facsimile versions of the GENEVA BIBLE and they don't even come close to this edition. The legibility and readability of this edition is far superior to other editions. -- Reader's Comment
Tolle Lege Press edition of the 1599 Geneva Bible
http://www.GenevaBible.com
Perhaps the unique wisdom in the annotation by the Reformers, John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox, and Theodore Beza, among others, is due to their doctrinal position of the absolute sovereignty of God and the utter depravity of mankind. The notes are also very concise, explaining the meaning of Scripture and free of pedantic material.
Sample notes from the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE, the Tolle Lege Press restored edition of 2007:
1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press Restoration, Fourth Printing, 2008, Probable Errata Listing
Therefore to kill man is to deface God's image, and so injury is not only done to man, but also to God.
"From his beginning, as the Evangelist saith, 1 John 1:1, as though he said, that the world began not then to have his being, when God began to make all that was made: for the word was even then when all things that were made, began to be made, and therefore he was before the beginning of all things.
"Had his being.
"This word, That, pointeth out unto us a peculiar and choice thing above all other, and putteth a difference between this Word, which is the Son of God, and the Laws of God, which otherwise also are called the word of God.
"This word (With) putteth out the distinction of persons to us.
"This word (Word) is the first in order in the sentence, and is that which the learned call (Subjectum) and this word (God) is the latter in order, and the same which the learned call (Predicatum).
"Paul expoundeth this place, Col. 1:15 and 16 [Colossians 1:15,16].
"That is, as the Father did work, so did the Son work with him: for he was fellow worker with him.
"Of all those things which were made, nothing was made without
him.
http://www.lettermen2.com/1599errata.html
A Resolution That Tolle Lege Press and White Hall Press of Chicago Complete the Limited Modernization of the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE Begun in 2004 and of all Spin-off Publications
http://www.lettermen2.com/1599resolve.html
The 1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege edition, online
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201&version=GNV
There is confusion in certain library records for the 1599 and 1672 Bibles that will only be resolved by physical inspection. The following is thought to be an alternative record for the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE.
*Beze, Theodore de, Joachim Camerarius, Pierre Loyseleur, Laurence Tomson, and Franciscus Junius, The Bible, That is, The Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Old and New Testament. "Publisher: [Amsterdam?]: [publisher not identified], [approximately 1599]."
1599 Geneva Bible Notes
http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn/en.htm
The GENEVA BIBLE contained "marginal notes which were heavily influenced by John Calvin, John Knox, and many other leaders of the Reformation. The GENEVA BIBLE was the predominant English translation during the period in which the English and Scottish Reformations gained great impetus. Iain Murray, in his classic work on revival and the interpretation of prophecy, THE PURITAN HOPE, notes that, 'the two groups in England and Scotland developed along parallel lines, like two streams originating at one fountain. The fountain was not so much Geneva, as the Bible which the exiles newly translated and issued with many marginal notes . . . it was read in every Presbyterian and Puritan home in both realms.' (p. 7). This time also saw the rise of the forces for covenanted Reformation against the corruption and abuses of prelacy and the royal factions. Darkness was dispelled as people read this Bible and saw for themselves that there is no authority above the Holy Scriptures.
"Although most people today have never heard of the GENEVA BIBLE, it was so popular from 1560 to 1644 that it went through 140 plus printings. The reason for its popularity among the faithful is obvious: the marginal notes promoted a full-orbed, nation-changing Protestantism. . . !
" 'By 1599, the GENEVA BIBLE . . . added many Calvinist annotations for household use' (Bremer, The Puritan Experiment, p. 12). A number of the notes argued for family worship and instruction by the head of the household. Puritanism in the British Isles is known as an effort to continue the Reformation of the church in the area of worship and church government. However, the Puritans also sought to reform the family life according to Biblical principles . . . as a result of their efforts they 'were creators of the English Christian marriage, the English Christian family, and the English Christian home'." (J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 260) -- Publisher
1599 Geneva Bible Notes
http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn/en.htm
For other GENEVA NOTES text see the following:
*King James Bible With the Geneva Bible Notes, 1672.
This is considered to be a superior text to the 1599 GENEVA BIBLE, which is said to be about 80 percent Tyndale translation. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive and in The Amazing Christian Library. [broken link]
"The best Reformation translation (King James Version), combined with the best Bible notes of the first Reformation, the GENEVA BIBLE notes. [The drawback of the 1672 is that it has never been restored with a modern typeface. -- compiler] A great tool for public, family, and private worship and study. Printed from a marvelously clean original copy, surpassing the quality of all other printings (of the GENEVA BIBLE NOTES in particular), we have seen. Contains almost 1000 (8.5 X 11 inch), pages with notes on the complete Bible (Old and New Testaments), making this a veritable library of study and classic Protestant commentary in just one book." -- Publisher
The following title is apparently an alternative edition of the 1672 AKJV with GENEVA NOTES:
James, King of England, Lancelot Andrewes, Theodore de Beze, Franciscus Junius, and John Canne, The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testament; Newly translated out of the originall tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by his Majesties speciall command; With most profitable Annotations [probably the GENEVA NOTES -- compiler] upon all the hard places, and other things of great importance; Which notes have never before been set forth with this new translation; but are now placed in due order with great care and industrie. "Publisher: [Amsterdam]: [Stephen Swart], Printed in the Year MDCLXXII."
The Authorized King James Version of 1611 (Pure Cambridge Edition), Digital Text
"The PURE CAMBRIDGE EDITION (first published circa 1900), is the product of the process of textual purification that has occurred since 1611 when the AUTHORIZED VERSION was completed, and has been used (often unwittingly), as the received text for many decades. Millions of copies conformed to this edition were issued by Bible and missionary societies in the twentieth century. This text stands in contrast to all other editions (especially newly edited and modernized ones). . . ." -- excerpt from Bible Protector homepage
https://archive.org/details/king-james-bible-pure-cambridge-edition-pdf
"Particulars spoken of: 1. The sinne and danger of delaying reformation. 2. That there is a certain form of church-government jure divino. 3. That there was an ecclesiasticall excommunication among the Jews. 4. That excommunication is an ordinance in the New Testament. 5. Concerning the toleration of all sects and heresies. 6. Some answer to a late book come from Oxford. The 'late book come from Oxford' is John Maxwell's AN ANSWER BY LETTER TO A WORTHY GENTLEMAN." Available (THE WORKS OF GEORGE GILLESPIE) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This sermon, read by elder Lyndon Dohms, was originally preached to the House of Lords in the abbey church at Westminster during the days of the Westminster Assembly (on August 27, 1645). It deals with Malachi 3:2 and can also be found in volume one of GILLESPIE'S WORKS. The reading is approximately 80 minutes in length and for content this is likely the best sermon that we have ever carried. The glory of Christ is magnified in a soul stirring manner and at a level which is seldom (if ever), reached in our day. Though preaching before some of the most powerful men of his day, Gillespie does nothing to shave off the sharp edges of the whole counsel of God. He makes it abundantly clear that spiritual Reformation (individual, ecclesiastical and civil), is like a flaming fire which burns the dross of the flesh and is often hated and opposed by those that cry loudest for 'Reform.' On the other hand, the refining fire of Reformation which pleases God (and comes from His fatherly hands, filled with mercy, love and grace), not only turns his wrath from the nations (by granting the grace to remove the causes of His wrath), but invigorates the spirit with that iconoclastic zeal against sin (whether personal or corporate), that can only be produced by His sovereign power. Whole-hearted (covenanted) reformation is contrasted, throughout this sermon, with the half-hearted comfortable Christianity that has been common in most ages. Gillespie wields the sword of Scripture as few can in driving home a multitude of vitally important points. This sermon can be listened to over and over with increasing profit, as it contains a fullness which is almost impossible to absorb in just one sitting. Don't miss this one; it is a real gem!" -- Publisher
Reformation's Refining Fire; or, Iconoclastic Zeal Necessary to World Reformation. Preaching on Malachi 3:2 in 1645.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=103006312
"This carefully researched and enlightening study shows that Columbus was not only a man of God, but that his voyage was largely motivated by godly zeal. Written in narrative to appeal to the heroic heart of all generations, it is designed to rekindle our natural wonder even as it recaptures the true meaning of Columbus." -- GCB
"Other titles in the series: National danger in romanism, Creed of pius iv, Roman catholic faith of the world today, Spanish romanism and english protestantism on the western continent."
"A valuable historical resume in which the author attempts to probe the Godward relationship of our founding fathers in an endeavor to recapture something of their lost piety." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Traces Luther's life. His attack on the all-powerful Catholic Church was a knife to the heart of an empire that had endured for over a thousand years. Luther became a monk and by the nailing of his treatise to the doors of the Wittenberg Cathedral, Martin Luther changed the world forever, unleashing forces that plunged Europe into war and chaos. Martin Luther not only revolutionize the Church, he offered the Christian world a new vision of man's relationship with God, and in turn redefined man's relationship with authority in general. This is a dramatic story of the collapse of the medieval world, of social, economic and political revolution, and of the birth of the modern age." -- Publisher
The Bishop's Doom
http://www.truecovenanter.com/sermons/henderson_bishops_doom.html
"This book is one of the best easy reading historical accounts published concerning this unsurpassed Assembly. Hetherington's purpose for writing this book is stated in the preface as follows:
In common with all true Presbyterians, I have often regretted the want of a History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines . . . Especially in such a time as the present, when all distinctive Presbyterian principles are not only called in question, but also misrepresented and condemned, such a want has become absolutely unendurable, unless Presbyterians are willing to permit their Church to perish under a load of unanswered, yet easily refuted, calumny. And as the best refutation of calumny is the plain and direct statement of truth, it is by that process that I have endeavored to vindicate the principles and the character of the Presbyterian Church (p. i).
"The Puritan history leading up to the Assembly (which this book takes a in-depth look at), is especially important and not only set the context for what became the major debates among the ministers present, but even dictated who was selected to this august body of scholars. Civil wars, national upheavals, emigration to the 'new world' and a host of other epoch making events surrounded this momentous period of history. These debates and their resolutions have defined and directed Christian thought and national cultures ever since their original ratification -- and Hetherington is not shy about noting the significance of this Assembly when he writes,
But the man who penetrates a little deeper into the nature of those unrevealed but powerful influences which move a nation's mind, and mold its destinies, will be ready to direct his attention more profoundly to the objects and deliberations of an assembly which met at a moment so critical, and was composed of the great master-minds of the age; and the theologian who has learned to view religion as the vital principle of human nature, equally in nations and in the individual man, will not easily admit the weak idea, that such an assembly could have been an isolated event, but will be disposed earnestly to inquire what led to its meeting, and what important consequences followed. And although the subject has not hitherto been investigated with such a view, it may, we trust, be possible to prove, that it (the Westminster Assembly -- RB), was the most important event in the century in which it occurred; and that it has exerted, and in all probability will yet exert, a far more wide and permanent influence upon both the civil and the religious history of mankind than has generally been even imagined. (p. 17)
"Hetherington covers the period from 1531 to 1662. Many consider this era a historical high water mark for doctrinal and practical Puritan precision. Also included is a chapter on the theological productions of the Westminster Assembly and six valuable appendices (one containing six biographical notices of the Scottish Commissioners including Rutherford, Gillespie, Henderson and Baillie).
"This work is indispensable for understanding the work accomplished by the Westminster Assembly, Presbyterian and Independent history, Oliver Cromwell and much more. For example, consider the lofty and Christ honoring goal of the Assembly as
summarized by Hetherington:
There was one great, and even sublime idea, brought somewhat indefinitely before the Westminster Assembly, which has not yet been realized, the idea of a Protestant union throughout Christendom, not merely for the purpose of counterbalancing Popery, but in order to purify, strengthen, and unite all true Christian churches, so that with combined energy and zeal they might go forth, in glad compliance with the Redeemer's commands, teaching all nations, and preaching the everlasting gospel to every creature under heaven. This truly magnificent, and also truly Christian idea, seems to have originated in the mind of that distinguished man, Alexander Henderson. It was suggested by him to the Scottish commissioners, and by them partially brought before the English Parliament, requesting them to direct the Assembly to write letters to the Protestant Churches in France, Holland, Switzerland, and other Reformed Churches. . . . and along with these letters were sent copies of the Solemn League and Covenant, a document which might itself form the basis of such a Protestant union. The deep thinking divines of the Netherlands apprehended the idea, and in their answer, not only expressed their approbation of the Covenant, but also desired to join in it with the British kingdoms. Nor did they content themselves with the mere expression of approval and willingness to join. A letter was soon afterwards sent to the Assembly from the Hague, written by Duraeus (the celebrated John Dury), offering to come to the Assembly, and containing a copy of a vow which he had prepared and tendered to the distinguished Oxenstiern, chancellor of Sweden, wherein he bound himself 'to prosecute a reconciliation between Protestants in point of religion'. . . . On one occasion Henderson procured a passport to go to Holland, most probably for the purpose of prosecuting this grand idea. But the intrigues of politicians, the delays caused by the conduct of the Independents, and the narrow-minded Erastianism of the English Parliament, all conspired to prevent the Assembly from entering farther into that truly glorious Christian enterprise. Days of trouble and darkness came; persecution wore out the great men of that remarkable period; pure and vital Christianity was stricken to the earth and trampled under foot. (pp. 337-339)
"Further demonstrating his grasp of the most important events of the Second Reformation, Hetherington comments on the Solemn League (the epitome of Second Reformation attainments),
no man who is able to understand its nature, and to feel and appreciate its spirit and its aim, will deny it to be the wisest, the sublimest, and the most sacred document ever framed by uninspired men. (p. 134)
"Anyone interested in the work of the Westminster Assembly -- and the men, teaching and events which were at the heart of the Puritan revolution against the forces of antichrist -- should read this book at least once. Third edition, 413 pages." -- Publisher
Hetherington, W.M., History of the Westminster Assembly
History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, by William Maxwell Hetherington, D.D., LL.D.
http://www.reformed.org/books/hetherington/west_assembly/index.html
"Most commonly known as SCOTS WORTHIES, this edition contains Howie's footnotes (defending the Covenanters), and Howie's appendix titled 'The Judgment and Justice of God' (which chronicles God's judgments upon Reformation apostates and those who persecuted the Covenanters). It is the only edition in print which contains both these sections intended for publication by the author (as later editors often removed either one or both of these parts of this book). BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA covers the history of 'noblemen, gentlemen, ministers and others from Mr. Patrick Hamilton, who was born about the year of our Lord 1503, and suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews, Feb., 1527, to Mr. James Renwick, who was executed in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, Feb. 17, 1688. Together with a succinct account of the lives of other seven eminent divines, and Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston, who died about, or shortly after the Revolution.' This is one of our best history books (over 700 pages), covering all of the major Scottish Reformers. Howie summarizes his book as follows: 'The design of the following was to collect, from the best authorities, a summary account of the lives, characters, and contendings, of a certain number of our most renowned SCOTS WORTHIES, who, for their faithful services, ardent zeal, constancy in sufferings, and other Christian graces and virtues, deserve honourable memorial in the Church of Christ; and for which their names have been, and will be savoury to all the true lovers of our Zion, while Reformation principles are regarded.' Furthermore, the momentous nature of the struggles chronicled in this book are succinctly noted when Howie writes: 'the primitive witnesses had the divinity of the Son of God, and an open confession of Him, for their testimony. Our reformers from Popery had Antichrist to struggle with, in asserting the doctrines of the Gospel, and the right way of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. Again, in the reigns of James VI. and Charles I., Christ's REGALIA, and the divine right of Presbytery, became the subject matter of their testimony. Then, in the beginning of the reign of Charles II. (until he got the whole of our ancient and laudable constitution effaced and overturned), our Worthies only saw it their duty to hold and contend for what they had already attained unto. But, in the end of this and the subsequent tyrant's reign, they found it their duty (a duty which they had too long neglected), to advance one step higher, by casting off their authority altogether, and that as well on account of their manifest usurpation of Christ's crown and dignity, as on account of their treachery, bloodshed, and tyranny . . . which may be summed up. The Primitive martyrs sealed the prophetic office of Christ in opposition to Pagan idolatry. The reforming martyrs sealed His priestly office with their blood, in opposition to Popish idolatry. And last of all, our late martyrs have sealed His kingly office with their best blood, in despite of supremacy and bold Erastianism. They indeed have cemented it upon His royal head, so that to the world's end it shall never drop off again.' Moreover, the importance of this book can be clearly seen when Johnston, in TREASURY OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANT, reports that, Walter Scott refers to Howie as 'the fine old chronicler of the Cameronians'. . . Howie's book has been for upwards of a century a household word, occupying a place on the shelf beside THE BIBLE and THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' Written for God, country and the covenanted work of Reformation. Stirring history!" -- Publisher
An alternative edition that also contains the appendix, Biographia Scoticana: or, A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies, Noblemen, Gentlemen, Ministers and Others . . . With an Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Account of the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of Some of the Most Bloody Persecutors in Scotland, 1836.
An Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Hint of the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of Some of the Most Remarkable Apostates and Bloody Persecutors in Scotland From the Reformation to the Revolution
This is the Appendix to THE SCOTS WORTHIES. BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA, 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged, 1781.
http://archive.org/details/biographiascotic28272gut
See also: A CLOUD OF WITNESSES FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST BEING THE LAST SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE TRUTH IN SCOTLAND SINCE . . . 1680 and JOHN FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. ACTES AND MONUMENTS OF MATTERS MOST SPECIALL AND MEMORABLE. Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Implemented by the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, England, and published by HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011, Version 2.0, ISBN: 9780954260864.
The last chapter, about Calvin's last meeting with his pastors, is said to be one of the great pieces of Reformation literature.
"A Puritan sermon on a much neglected means to spiritual victory, ecclesiastical revival, and national reformation." -- Publisher
"This is the only book-length history covering the period after 1680 (to 1876), when the majority Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland merged with the Free Church of Scotland. The history after 1822, when the Auchensaugh Renovation was removed as a term of communion, merely chronicles the wholesale backsliding of the church and eventual split in 1863; from which a majority emerged which joined with the Free Church of Scotland in 1876. A remnant of the minority of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland still exists, however they never returned to the original position of the church from which it began to depart in 1822 (with the removal of the Auchensaugh bond -- which bond is the Auchensaugh Renovation . . . This book is a fine illustration of the 'footsteps of the flock,' (as seen in the Protesters [paleopresbyterians], and their spiritual posterity), during the period of which it deals, while at the same time serving as a clear warning to those who have declined from Reformation attainments (i.e. the Resolutioners [neopresbyterians], and those who continue their deformation of the faith). 'By the National Covenant,' notes Thomas Sproull, 'our Fathers laid Popery prostrate. By the Solemn League and Covenant they were successful in resisting prelatic encroachments and civil tyranny. By it they were enabled to achieve the Second Reformation . . . They were setting up landmarks by which the location and limits of the city of God will be known at the dawn of the millennial day . . . How can they be said to go forth by the footsteps of the flock, who have declined from the attainments, renounced the covenants and contradicted the testimony of 'the cloud of witnesses.'. . . All the schisms (separations) that disfigure the body mystical of Christ . . . are the legitimate consequences of the abandonment of reformation attainments -- the violation of covenant engagements.' Understanding where the faithful covenanted servants of Christ have been historically, not only helps individuals to separate between truly constituted churches and the those that are false (because they have constitutionally backslidden from Reformation attainments); but is a necessary component to the keeping the fifth commandment, as the Reformed Presbytery has pointed out: ' Nor otherwise can a Christian know the time or place of his birth, or the persons whom God commands him to honor as his father and mother, than by uninspired testimony; and the same is true of his covenant obligation, if baptized in infancy. Against all who ignorantly or recklessly reject or oppose history as a bond of fellowship, in the family, in the state, but especially in the church, we thus enter our solemn and uncompromising protest.' (excerpted from: The Act, Declaration and Testimony for the Whole of our Covenanted Reformation . . . by the Reformed Presbytery, pp. 177-178, the 1876 edition). This edition of THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN SCOTLAND: ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY, 1680-1876 also contains an introductory note by William Goold (the editor of John Owen's WORKS). In introducing this book Goold writes, 'This volume may claim attention as supplying an essential link in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland. It is the history of that body of men who adhered to the civil part of the Second Reformation, according to which Presbytery was established and recognized by the State between 1638 and 1649 . . . The Church of which this volume is a history took its rise in its distinctive character at this period, and on the ground that it could not, while acknowledging the relief from oppression which the Revolution (of 1688), afforded, acquiesce in the arrangements made by the State for the recognition of the Church and the due exercise of its authority within its own spiritual domain (because the so-called 'glorious revolution' was Erastian to the core and also denied the previous national covenant engagements -- RB). . . . Apart, however, from their testimony in regard to this evil and danger, resulting from a Civil Government in which Prelacy was continued as an essential element, those who dissented from the Revolution Settlement, and from whom the Reformed Presbyterian Church arose, were animated with an earnest zeal for the maintenance of religious ordinances. They strove to exist as a Church, and how far they succeeded, and what difficulties they had to surmount in the attempt, is the interesting story recorded in this volume' (pp. v-vi). In summary, this book (of 450 pages), is an one-of-a-kind chronicle of an integral part of the history of the battle for the 'Crown Rights and Royal Prerogatives of the Lord Jesus Christ'." -- Publisher
"Josephus' writings are indispensable for understanding Jewish thought, background, and history up to and around the time of Christ. Now Josephus is more accessible than ever!
"In this edition, the entire text has been reset in modern, easy-to-read type. The Loeb numbering system (the standard way to cite Josephus), has been added so you can locate passages mentioned in other reference works -- and the confusing Roman numerals have been changed to simple Arabic ones. The entire text and notes of William Whiston's four-volume edition are included so you'll have the most complete edition possible. And the indexes have been thoroughly corrected and expanded. This is the edition to own!" -- CBD, referring to the Whiston translation
The Works of Josephus
http://www.biblestudytools.com/History/BC/FlaviusJosephus/
"Examines Calvin's influence on the civil governments of Geneva, Huguenot France, Knox's Scotland, Puritan England, and Colonial America. Shows how Calvin's legacy continues to bear upon the issues that guide and agitate Western nations today." -- Publisher
"Following its predecessor, WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN, WHAT IF THE BIBLE HAD NEVER BEEN WRITTEN is a veritable compendium of the major accomplishments of the western world. D. James Kennedy demonstrates quite capably that many of the most fundamental stages of advancement for mankind over the last 2000 years began with the impetus of people whose lives were influenced by the Holy Scriptures. The book reads easily and keeps the attention of the reader as the author moves from one aspect of human development to another. He also explodes some myths along the way with clear and concise excerpts from personal letters, writings and biographies of the individuals about whom he writes. All in all, I would recommend this book to those who question the validity and potency of the Bible and to those who need to bolster their faith and resolve in the Book of books." -- Reader's Comment
Hospitals, universities, literacy and education, capitalism and free-enterprise, representative government, separation of political powers, justice and common law, civil liberties, abolition of slavery, modern science, and so forth, can all be attributed to Christianity.
"This lecture was delivered before the First International Convention of Reformed Presbyterian Churches, 1896. It is taken from the volume entitled, FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. SCOTLAND, JUNE 27-JULY 3, 1896."
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/23/the-attainments-of-the-church-of-the-second-reformation
"The Reformed Presbytery (in 1879), has well noted the following incongruity that is still with us today, 'We heard from various quarters the cry, 'maintain the truth, stand up for the principles of the Second Reformation:' and yet many of those who are the most loud in uttering this cry, appear desirous to bury in oblivion those imperishable national and ecclesiastical deeds, by which the church and kingdom of Scotland became 'married to the Lord.' (A Short Vindication of Our Covenanted Reformation, p. 20). This book should go a long way to remedying the above noted ignorance and hypocrisy among those who now call upon the name of the Lord especially those who claim a Reformation heritage and are still open to further growth as it spells out in no uncertain terms what lay at the heart of the Second Reformation. Moreover, these covenants (landmarks of the Lord), stand as beacons to all nations of their continuing moral duty to bind themselves to Christ (First Commandment), or suffer His avenging wrath. (Ps. 2 [Psalm 2]). And make no mistake about it, the Lord will utterly destroy all those who quarrel with His covenant bonds, whether individuals, churches or nations the mystery of iniquity will fall! The prefatory note to this magnificent volume well describes its value: The Covenants, Sermons, and Papers in this volume carry the readers back to some of the brightest periods in Scottish history. They mark important events in that great struggle by which these three kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland -- RB), were emancipated from the despotisms of Pope, Prince, and Prelate, and an inheritance of liberty secured for these Islands of the Sea. The whole achievements of the heroes of the battlefields are comprehended under that phrase of Reformers and Martyrs, 'The Covenanted Work of Reformation.' The attainments of those stirring times were bound together by the Covenants, as by rings of gold. The Sermons here were the product of the ripe thought of the main actors in the various scenes -- men of piety, learning, and renown. Hence, the nature, objects, and benefits of personal and national Covenanting are exhibited in a manner fitted to attract to that ordinance the minds and hearts of men. The readers can well believe the statements of Livingstone, who was present at several ceremonies of covenant-renovation: 'I never saw such motions from the Spirit of God. I have seen more than a thousand persons all at once lifting up their hands, and the tears falling down from their eyes.' In the presence of the defences of the Covenants as deeds, by these preachers, the baseless aspersions of novelists and theologians fade out into oblivion. True Christians must, as they ponder these productions, be convinced that the Covenanters were men of intense faith and seraphic fervour, and their own hearts will burn as they catch the heavenly flame. Members of the Church of Christ will be stirred to nobler efforts for the Kingdom of their Lord as they meditate on the heroism of those who were the 'chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof;' and they will behold with wonder that 'to the woman were given two wings of And Statesman will discover how princes, parliaments, and peoples united in the hearty surrender of themselves to the Prince of the kings and kingdoms of the earth; and will be aroused to promote that policy of Christian Statesmanship which, illustrating the purpose and will of God, the Father, shall liberate Parliaments and nations from the bonds of false religions, and assert for them those liberties and honours which spring from the enthronement of the Son of man, and King of kings and Lord of lords. This volume of documents of olden times is sent out on a mission of Revival of Religion, personal and national, in the present times. It would do a noble work if it helped to humble classes and masses, and led them to return as one man to that God in covenant from Whom all have gone so far away. A national movement, in penitence and faith, for the repeal of the Acts Recissory and the recognition of the National Covenants would be as life from the dead throughout the British Empire. The people and rulers of these dominions shall yet behold the brilliancy of the Redeemer's crowns; and shall, by universal consent, exalt Him who rules in imperial majesty over the entire universe of God. For, 'The seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.' Here we have some of the most moving sermons ever addressed to a people and their nations, given before the most solemn of occasions national covenant renewal! Alexander Henderson, Andrew Cant, Joseph Caryl, Edmond Calamy and a host of other Puritan Covenanters (even the turncoat Independent Philip Nye), are included here in easy to read modern (1895) type. Anyone interested in seeing the royal prerogatives of King Jesus once again trumpeted throughout the nations, on a national and international scale, needs this book for these men 'were setting up landmarks by which the city of God will be known at the dawn of the millennial day'." (Thomas Sproull cited in the Reformed Presbytery's Short Vindication, p. 38) -- Publisher
"Contents: The national covenants: Introduction [Part One]. | The national covenant, or confession of faith | Exhortation to the Lords of Council | Sermon at St. Andrews / Alexander Henderson | Exhortation at Inverness / Andrew Cant | Sermon at Glasgow / Andrew Cant | Sermon at Edinburgh / Andrew Cant [Part Two]. | The solemn league and covenant | Act of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland | Exhortation at Westminster / Philip Nye | Address at Westminster / Alexander Henderson | Sermon at Westminster / Thomas Coleman | Sermon at Westminster / Joseph Caryl | Sermon at London [the first, of Sat., 30th Sept., 1643] / Thomas Case | Sermon at London [the second, of Sun., 1st Oct., 1643] / Thomas Case | An ordinance of the Lords and Commons | Exhortation by the Westminster Assembly | Sermon at London / Edmund Calamy [Part Three]. | The national covenants. Coronation sermon at Scone / Robert Douglas | Charles II, taking the covenants | The acts rescissory | The Torwood excommunication | Act against conventicles | The Sanquhar Declaration | Protestation against the Union | Secession from the revolution church."
The Covenants and the Covenanters: Covenants, Sermons, and Documents of the Covenanted Reformation. Introduction on the National Covenants by James Kerr, 1895
http://archive.org/details/covenantscovenan00kerr
The Covenants and the Covenanters
Project Gutenberg free e-text online.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19100
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Formerly titled A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, this letter is said to be 'undoubtedly the most important' of Knox's writings (up to that time), by W. Stanford Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD (p. 114). Furthermore Reid notes that Knox's 'views on the magistrate expressed in the FAITHFUL ADMONITION, were to have an important influence upon much of his future conduct, and upon the development of the Reformation in both England and Scotland.' The editor of KNOX'S WORKS states, 'the object of the ADMONITION was twofold. The one was to animate those who had made a good profession to perseverance, and to avoid the sin of . . . appearing to conform to the 'abominable idolatry' re-established in England; the other, to point out the dangers to be apprehended in when the kingdom became subjected to the dominion of strangers.' Knox uses very strong language here, in the hopes of getting through to those who came to be termed Nicodemites (i.e. those who thought that they could 'keep faith secretly in the heart, and yet do as idolaters do,' in Knox's own words). Written at a time when the true church had been driven underground by Roman Catholic persecution, it was said concerning this letter that 'many other godly men besides have been exposed to the risk of their property, and even life itself, upon the sole ground of either having had this book in their possession, or having read it.' Kevin Reed gives an excellent summary of this letter in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, when, in part, he writes, 'while acknowledging the risk of persecution to the faithful, the reformer perceives a greater danger in compromising with idolatry. Government persecution may bring disfavour of men, loss of personal goods and, in some cases, physical death; but idolatry brings down the wrath of God, resulting in grievous punishments, now and through eternity. Idolatry also invites a curse upon the posterity of the nation. In an intense pastoral appeal, Knox strongly admonishes his readers to avoid conforming to the Romish rites of worship.' (p. 220). For those who would rather read many of these Knox items with contemporary spelling, punctuation, and grammar we highly recommend the SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX." -- Publisher
John Knox: Faithful Admonition (1554)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FaithAdm.htm
"Containing, The Manner, and by what Persons, the Light of Christ's Gospel has been manifested unto this Realm, after that horrible and universal Defection from the Truth, which has come by the Means of that Roman Antichrist. Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, viz. I. His Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him, by the false Bishops and Clergy of Scotland; with his Supplication and Exhortation to the Nobility, States, and Commonality of the same Realm. II. His faithful Admonition to the true Professors of the Gospel of Christ within the Kingdom of England. III. His Letter to Queen Mary, Regent of Scotland. IV. His Exhortation to England for the speedy Embracing of Christ's Gospel. V. The first Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. VI. A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. 13 [Isaiah 26:13], &c. By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, some time Minister of God's Word in Edinburgh. To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland to call them to Repentance, written by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline; together with some Acts of the General Assemblies clearing and confirming the same; And an Act of Parliament. With a large Index to the whole." -- Contents
"It breaths with the spirit of excitement and expectation, being told by the author from his experience as an eyewitness and participant in the unfolding drama of the work of God in 16th century Scotland." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
"Knox portrayed the origins and development of a movement and not a mere chronology of events . . . Knox based his arguments on original sources and he often cited the documents in full. When KNOX'S HISTORY is compared to the contemporary vernacular narratives of Bishop Leslie and Sir James Melville, the superiority of Knox's work becomes evident. For the most part, these writers were preoccupied with petty details and had no conception of the momentous issues that hung on the events they recorded . . . Knox used history to demonstrate his single-track philosophy. And his philosophy said: 'The hearts of men, their thoughts, and their actions are but in the hands of God.' Lee said KNOX'S HISTORY was a sermon without an audience, a preaching book, one long inflammatory speech in behalf of God's truth as the reformer saw it.' (Kyle, The Mind of John Knox, p. 13). Our editions of volumes one and two of KNOX'S WORKS contain the only full, unedited version of Knox's massive HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND available today." -- Publisher
The Works of John Knox (1846), vol. 1 of 6.
http://archive.org/details/worksofjohnkn01knox
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX (p. 580), comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son' (cf. Psalm 2)." -- Publisher
" 'The 'three mighties' in the army of the Reformation, are undoubtedly Luther, Calvin, and Knox. Each of the three has his appropriate place and his peculiar work. Luther cleared the ground; Calvin exhibited the plan of the new edifice; Knox was the workman who erected it.' (Wylie, Tercentenary of the Scottish Reformation, p. 73, this book is listed under 'Cunningham' in this catalogue). Here Lorimer gives us an important look at a major chapter in the life of Christ's Reformation 'workman,' as founded upon several important papers of Knox never before published. Kyle elaborates: 'After the publication of Laing's collection, three smaller Knoxian writings were discovered. In 1875 these tracts were reprinted as part of Peter Lorimer's book JOHN KNOX AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Scholarly criticism has verified Knox's authorship of these articles.' (The Mind of John Knox, p. 14). Lorimer himself says that 'the amount of fresh biographical and historical material supplied by these papers is so very considerable that it appeared to warrant and suggest a re-writing of the English chapter of Knox's life.' Furthermore, he continues, that though Knox is too often thought of only in connection 'with his work and success as the Reformer of Scotland,' it should be remembered that 'a large portion of the best and most energetic part of his life was spent in England, and among Englishmen out of England.' Written as a Monograph to 'make larger and freer use of Knox's own writings, in the way of culling their most personal and characteristic passages,' Lorimer intimates, 'I wished, as much as possible, to let Knox himself be seen and heard in my book.' Kevin Reed, one of the foremost Knox scholars alive today, calls this work 'an excellent account of Knox's ministry in England' (JOHN KNOX THE FORGOTTEN REFORMER, Presbyterian Heritage Publishing, p. 19). A great supplement to any study of Knox." -- Publisher
"A splendid book." -- Loraine Boettner
"The rich Reformation heritage of truth and freedom is set forth in four chapters: 1. Calvinism as a Political Force, 2. Calvinism as a Political Force in the History of the USA, 3. Calvinism as a Moral Force, 4. Calvinism as an Evangelizing Force." -- Publisher
"Arminianism, taking to an aristocratic form of church government, tend toward a monarchy in civil affairs, while Calvinism, taking to a republican form of church government, tends toward a democracy in civil affairs."
Life of John Knox: Containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland: with Biographical Notices of the Principal Reformers, and Sketches of the Progress of Literature in Scotland During the Sixteenth Century; and an Appendix, Consisting of Original Papers
https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnkno00mcri
Includes bibliography.
"This bibliography orders one major genre of research in American Puritan studies -- doctoral dissertations and published monographs based on them -- to facilitate access to many significant but often neglected studies, and to display per exemplum the remarkably broad array of topics that have interested students of the American Puritans. It comprises citations of and abstracts for 940 American, British, Canadian, and German doctoral dissertations from 1882 through 1981. Dissertations cited treat entirely or in part some aspect of the history, theology, literature, and culture of the American Puritans, from the time of the Mayflower through 1730, and the perceived influence of Puritanism on later American thought. Also included are historiographical studies on the idea of Puritanism as interpreted by later generations of Americans. Each citation is annotated with a brief abstract and/or the table of contents. For ease of access to the contents of this bibliography, Montgomery has provided four indexes: author/editor/compiler, short-title, degree-granting institution, and subject." -- Publisher
American Puritan Studies: An Annotated Bibliography of Dissertations, 1882-1981
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0313242/0313242372.html
American Puritan Studies: An Annotated Bibliography of Dissertations, 1882-1981, full view.
http://books.google.com/books?id=cqjVAAAACAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
"First published in 1965 and once again available. Documents are drawn largely from the 16th and 17th centuries and presents the finest thinking of the fathers on authority and freedom, the need for reformation, the nature of the government, unity, and membership of the Church of Jesus Christ." -- GCB
"Reprinted from the latest edition and containing critical notes, this outstanding presentation of Protestant nonconformity (from 1517 to 1688), delineates the course of action taken by those dubbed Puritan, describes the seeds of liberty and democracy that they spread and that lie latent in their history and teachings, and presents a vivid picture of the effect of their stand for truth. This is an excellent work and is well-deserving of careful study. The benefits of reading these volumes is too great to be tabulated here. We can only hope that a new generation of men and women who are loyal to the Lord and His Word will peruse these pages to their own great profit." -- Cyril J. Barber
The History of the Puritans, or, Protestant Non-conformists . . . (vol. 1 of 4)
https://archive.org/details/historyofp01neal
The History of the Puritans, or, Protestant Non-conformists . . . (vol. 2 of 4)
https://archive.org/details/historyo02neal
The History of the Puritans, or, Protestant Non-conformists . . . (vol. 3 of 4)
https://archive.org/details/historyofpurit03neal
The History of the Puritans, or, Protestant Non-conformists . . . (vol. 4 of 4)
https://archive.org/details/historyofpurit04neal
" 'The Forbidden Book' is unlike anything you have ever seen before. Hosted by Dr. Craig Lampe, this one-hour documentary takes you on a fascinating journey through time. Follow our film crew across Europe as we SHOW YOU all the important places of Christian history.
"Learn how God's Word was originally scribed in Hebrew and Greek. Walk with Dr. Lampe among the ruins of the very first Christian Church ever built above ground -- not in Israel, but in England! Discover how the Word was preserved through the 1,000 year period of the Dark and Middle Ages, when possession of scripture in any language other than Latin meant certain death at the hands of the organized church. Uncover the truth about the misunderstood books called 'Apocrypha' that were printed in every Protestant Christian's Bible until 1885.
"Meet John Wycliffe, the first person to translate the Bible into English -- and see his church, which is still offering Sunday services today, as it has since the 1300's. Look at the door where Martin Luther, the first person to print the Bible in German, nailed his 95 Theses, starting the Protestant Reformation. See William Tyndale's illegal printing shop, which is a book store today, and find out why Tyndale was executed for being the first person to print the scriptures in English. Find out about the 1535 first complete printed English Bible of Myles Coverdale, the 1537 Matthews Bible, and King Henry the Eighth's 1539 'Great Bible' -- the first legal English Bible.
"Learn why the Bible of the Protestant Reformation, the 1560 English Geneva Bible, had to be printed in Switzerland due to the reign of Queen 'Bloody' Mary. See how the 1568 BISHOPS BIBLE was revised to become the 1611 KING JAMES BIBLE, and how the KING JAMES VERSION slowly replaced the much more popular GENEVA BIBLE among early American Colonists.
"The Forbidden Book is simply the most captivating and informative video ever produced on the subject of how we got the Bible, and how God has preserved His Word for thousands of years to countless generations." -- Publisher
"The Forbidden Book is a DVD presentation examining the history of the Word of God in English. It is hosted by Dr. Craig Lampe, a Bible historian and International Director of the World Bible Society. Dr. Lampe owns the Rare Bible Showroom in Arizona and holds a virtual monopoly over rare and antique Bibles. His collection even includes a 1410 Wycliffe Manuscript valued at just under $3 million. It is one of the rarest Bibles in the world. He has a Coverdale Bible, Great Bibles, sells leaves of the Geneva Bible, and, amazingly enough, leaves from the Gutenberg Bible -- the first book ever published. If you happen to have one of these complete Bibles sitting in your attic, you should have it insured for about $100 million.
"This DVD is an hour-long presentation on the history of the English Bible. The viewer will meet most of the historical figures responsible for bringing us the Bible as we know and love it today: Wycliffe, Huss, Gutenberg, Colet, Erasmus, Tyndale, Luther and so on. He will see some of the locations important to the history of the Bible, such as the Wittenberg door and Martin Luther's study. He will learn about the earliest English translations, in the Old World and in the New.
"There are many amazing facts worked into the presentation. Lampe shows a scroll that is 1000 years old, and tells the viewer that it is word-for-word the same as the text of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were written a full millennium before. He describes how the Bible went from being available in 500 languages in 400 AD to being available in only 1 only 100 years later. He talks about a 110 year period in America during which 5000 editions of the Bible were produced. . . .
"Before I close, I will warn that the host is quite harsh towards the Roman Catholic Church and their role in the history of the English Bible. And well he should be, as the papacy worked tirelessly to eradicate any person who dared to present the Scriptures to the common man. Of course the fears of the Church were founded, for when Scripture became accessible, the light quickly broke forth and spread throughout the world. -- Viewer's Comments
"Did you know that during the period of AD 100 and AD 400 the Bible had been translated into nearly 500 languages? Did you know that from AD 400 to AD 500 it had been reduced to just one language? A language only know to the clergy and the educated. . . .
"John Wycliffe, the brilliant 14th century Oxford scholar, translated the Bible from Latin into English in order to enlighten the masses oppressed through ignorance. His work was so despised by the established church, that Pope Martin V ordered Wycliffe's bones to be dug up and burned. Martin Luther was one of the few who challenged church authority in the 16th century and lived to tell the tale. . . .
"William Tyndale was not spared like his friend Luther. Tyndale spent the last 500 days of his life in a cold castle dungeon. He was then tied to a stake, strangled and burned. His crime? . . . printing Bibles in the English language! Discover the fascinating story behind the preservation of the English Bible . . ." -- J.J. Calvin
"Learn the behind-the-scenes details of the 19,000 pieces of what has become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
"Hebrew word pictures: In ancient Hebrew, every word is formed by adding pictures together to illustrate its meaning. Biblical Hebrew is composed of simple word pictures that illustrate the truths found in Scripture.
"During the dark ages, superstition and ignorance controlled the minds of the masses. A few brave men obeyed God and brought the Bible to the world."
Includes bibliography and index.
Addresses delivered at the Puritan and Westminster Conferences 1959-1969.
"These studies are of practical value because the Puritans are approached with three important question in mind: What did they teach and do? Was their teaching Biblical? and, What can we learn from them for our life and witness today?" -- GCB
Paisley, Ian R.K., and J.A. Wylie, The Pope is the Antichrist: A Demonstration From Scripture, History, and his own Lips; Being a Precis of Dr. J.A. Wylie's classic, The Papacy is the Antichrist.
Contents: The Puritans and the doctrine of election / Iain Murray | The witness of the spirit: the Puritan teaching / J.I. Packer | The Puritans' dealings with troubled souls / G.A. Hemming | The law and the covenants: a study in John Ball / E.F. Kevan | Mrs. Hutchinson and her teaching / E. Braund | Richard Greenham and the trials of a Christian / O.R. Johnston | The Puritans and the Lord's day / J.I. Packer | The Savoy Conference, 1661 / G. Thomas | Thomas Shepard's "Parable of the ten virgins" / O.R. Johnston | John Bunyan and his experience / Owen C. Watkins | The Puritan principle of worship / W. Young | Daily life among the Puritans / E. Braund | The life and work of a minister according to the Puritans / Paul Cook | The Puritans as interpreters of Scripture / J.I. Packer | William Guthrie on the trial of a saving interest in Christ / D. Mingard | Divine sovereignty in the thought of Stephen Charnock / F.K. Drayson | Richard Baxter's social and economic teaching / D.R. Wooldridge | Morgan Llwyd / Geraint Gruffydd | John Calvin: the man whom God subdued / P.E. Hughes | The Puritan view of preaching the gospel / J.I. Packer | Andrew Fuller's conflict with hyper-Calvinism / T.E. Watson | Discipline in the Puritan congregation / D. Downham | Revival: an historical and theological survey / D.M. Lloyd-Jones.
Contents: Philip Doddridges's The rise and progress of religion in the soul / Alan Gibson | Jonathan Edwards and the theology of revival / J.I. Packer | John Knox and the Scottish Reformation / G.N.M. Collins | The Puritan doctrine of apostasy / W.H. Davies | Knowledge: false and true / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | The Puritan idea of communion with God / J.I. Packer | The Puritan doctrine of Christian joy / J. Gwyn-Thomas | Missions in the Reformed tradition / B.R. Easter | Preaching: Puritan and Reformed / J.A. Caiger | The Puritan concept of divine intercession / Eifion E. Evans | Summing up / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | The casuistry of William Perkins / I. Breward | The Puritan conscience / J.I. Packer | Thomas Boston of Ettrick / D.J. Innes | John Owen's doctrine of Christ / F.R. Entwistle | Puritan perplexities: lessons from 1640-1662 / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Contents: The Puritan approach to worship / J.I. Packer | Scripture and "things indifferent" / Iain Murray | Charles Haddon Spurgeon: preacher / D.M. Whyte | John Owen on schism / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | John Calvin's doctrine of God / R.A. Finlayson | John Calvin the man / O.R. Johnston | John Calvin: a servant of the word / J.I. Packer | The growth of John Calvin's Institutes / G.E. Duffield | John Calvin's Geneva / W.H. Grier | John Calvin and George Whitefield / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Contents: Ulrich Zwingli / D.W. Marshall | The Anabaptists / D.P. Kingdon | Martin Luther / J.I. Packer | Thomas Cranmer / G.S.R. Cox | John Knox / S.M. Houghton | Ecclesiola in Ecclesia / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | Charles Finney on revival / P.E.G. Cook | John Owen on communication from God / J.I. Packer | Catechisms and the Puritans / J. Lewis Wilson | Oliver Heywood, the northern Puritan / W.H. Davies | Henry Jacob and the first Congregational Church / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | The Christian mind of Abraham Kuyper / Rex Ambler | The Puritans and spiritual gifts / J.I. Packer | Daniel Rowland / Eifion Evans | Richard Baxter's Reformed pastor / J.A. Caiger | Sandemanianism / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Contents: The Arminian conflict and the Synod of Dort / John R. de Witt | Arminianisms / J.I. Packer | John Wycliffe: the Evangelical doctor / David Fountain | Puritan eschatology: 1600-1648 / Peter Toon | John Fletcher: an Arminian upholder of holiness / David R. Smith | William Williams and Welsh Calvinistic Methodism / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones | German Pietism and the Evangelical Revival / John D. Manton | The doctrine of justification among the Puritans / J.I. Packer | The death of Presbyterianism / Hywel R. Jones | Joseph Alleine / Elizabeth Braund | Can we learn from history? / D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=antichrist_intro
"Too bad this excellent book is so expensive. It is the kind of book that anybody interested in the background of the Westminster Assembly would enjoy reading. Detailed, scholarly, and thoroughly documented. We think it is well worth the price for the understanding that it imparts." -- GCB
"This rare book, published in 1860 as the first comprehensive account of the 1859 revival in Wales, holds a primary place in the authentic records of periods of remarkable spiritual recovery and growth. Phillips was an eye witness of much that he records. He also gives the testimony of others." -- GCB
"The Post-Reformation Digital Library is a collection of resources relating to the development of theology during the Post-Reformation/Early Modern era (c. 16th-18th centuries), hosted by the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies of Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary.
"The primary focus of this site is digital books available from Google Books as well as smaller digital libraries such as Internet Archive, which may have books not available on Google.
"All users are encouraged to contribute to this project by reporting new books with a note under 'Comments' at the bottom of the relevant page. Please also copy and paste any broken links in the relevant comments page so that the editorial board can investigate. (Nota bene: this site is limited insofar as it aims at only those works of the authors that have been digitized. In the vast majority of cases this will not be representative of the author's work as a whole and is no substitute for due bibliographic research.)"
http://libguides.calvin.edu/prdl
David Powlison is editor of Journal of Biblical Counseling, a staff member of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Harvard University in 1972.
Through the years I have often asked our students and alumni about the pivotal moments of their studies at Westminster Theological Seminary. High on the list of frequent answers was Dr. Powlison's class on "The Dynamics of Biblical Change." Students have told me repeatedly, "That course changed my life." We thank God for the gift of Dr. Powlison (1949-2019) who has left such a permanent impact on so many, including Westminster Theological Seminary. -- Peter Lillback
"ALL ON ONE CD, including some of Calvin's never before translated anti-Nicodemite writings in COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, THE ANTI-NICODEMITE WRITINGS OF JOHN CALVIN and other important and previously unreleased titles -- as compiled and/or written by Kevin Reed.
"Over the years, PHP titles have provided readers with solid literature from an historic Protestant and Presbyterian perspective. With the passage of time, many of the older titles have gone out of print. Moreover, the publisher has several new volumes ready for press. At PHP, we do not have the resources to produce printed editions of all these titles at once. Therefore, in order to make all of this material available at one time, on a single source, we have released the PHP Library on CD.
"The files on the CD are in both HTML and PDF file formats. That means that there is no application software to install. Instead, you use the PHP CD in conjunction with your browser program (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator), and with Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 3.0 or later). Recent versions of browser software and Reader may be downloaded free via The Internet from various software companies; we do not supply them with the PHP disk. Of course, you must also have a CD drive (2x required, faster recommended), connected to your computer.
"Note: The CDs are available in both Mac and Windows versions. If you have a relatively new computer (and a recent version of the Mac OS or windows), you should be able to run either version of our disk, because it follows ISO standards and utilizes generic HTML and PDF formats. Nevertheless, for the sake of customers with older computers, we have created platform-specific disks. We will ship you the version of the disk matching the computer and operating system which you describe above. If you have questions about the compatibility of your operating system with the PHP CD, please contact us. Contents of the disk are copyrighted, and protected by applicable U.S. and international copyright laws." -- Publisher
Contains the following new titles and previously unreleased material.
*Presbyterian Heritage Publications, Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library and Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, Dallas, 75218]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999).
"ALL ON ONE CD, including some of Calvin's never before translated anti-Nicodemite writings in COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, THE ANTI-NICODEMITE WRITINGS OF JOHN CALVIN and other important and previously unreleased titles -- as compiled and/or written by Kevin Reed. Includes the following:
The Protestant Reformation
"An entire volume, newly translated from the French, providing some of Calvin's most important statements respecting worship. Calvin writes against the 'Nicodemites:' a class of would-be Protestants who hoped to maintain their social standing by outward conformity to Romish rituals and worship; these dissemblers claimed that it was lawful to attend the outward ordinances of Romish worship, so long as they did not inwardly receive the heretical tenets of Rome.
"Calvin's response is forceful. Through a series of tracts, letters, and sermons, the reformer consistently maintains that proper worship is an essential part of the believer's duty to God. Calvin decries all forms of superstition and man-made worship. He exposes the blasphemous nature of popish worship, and stresses the duty of true Christians to separate themselves from such polluted forms of worship.
"This volume (over 300 pages long), includes a publisher's introduction, describing Calvin's concern for worship, and providing historical background to the individual works contained in the book.
Knox, John, Selected Writings of John Knox, Volume 2: Later Writings and Correspondence (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, Dallas, 75218]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999). Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"Following the general format of the first volume of the reformer's Selected Writings, the second volume contains the following works:
*Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (in the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men. At the request of his brethren, Goodman subsequently published an expanded version of his exposition, HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED OF THEIR SUBJECTS: AND WHEREIN THEY MAY LAWFULLY BY GOD'S WORD BE DISOBEYED AND RESISTED. WHEREIN ALSO IS DECLARED THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS PRESENT MISERY IN ENGLAND, AND THE ONLY WAY TO REMEDY THE SAME. In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny.
"This new edition of SUPERIOR POWERS includes a scripture index, a subject index, a biographical essay on the life of Christopher Goodman, and the original foreword by William Whittingham." -- Publisher from Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library
"Very rare. One of the dozen most important political writings appearing in English in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Together with THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET and THE APPELLATION (retitled REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM in this catalogue), by John Knox, and Ponet's TREATISE OF POLITIQUE POWER, this book marks the first definite shift of opinion under the pressure of religion, away from the doctrine of almost unlimited obedience which characterized the political thought of the first half of the century laying the foundation for future ideas about civil disobedience. In that day, a proclamation of Philip and Mary had decreed the death of a rebel for anyone found in possession of the book." -- Publisher
Reid, Kevin, John Knox: The Forgotten Reformer
"The present volume seeks to restore interest in Knox's theology, illustrating how the reformer's beliefs have great relevance for our own day. The individual essays in this book treat the following topics:
American Presbyterian Authors
"This volume is not a detailed commentary; rather it furnishes an overview of the principal persons and themes in the book of Job: Job's happy estate, Satan, Job in affliction, Job's three friends, Job's conflict, Job's triumph, Job's refutation of his friends, Elihu, the Lord, and the place of the book of Job in the scheme of holy scripture. William Henry Green (1825-1900), was a professor at Princeton Seminary. His volume about the book of Job was originally published in 1874."
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Letters on the Eternal Sonship of Christ: Addressed to the Rev. Professor Stuart, of Andover, ISBN: 9780548310793 0548310793. (Legacy Reprint Series. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, June 25, 2007), 292 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature." -- Publisher
Letters on the Eternal Sonship of Christ, by Samuel Miller in Google Books, full view
http://books.google.com/books?id=FjEQAAAAYAAJ&dq=Eternal+Sonship+of+Christ&lr=&ei=t1blR9y0NI6UzASm2e3WBA&ie=ISO-8859-1
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Letters on Unitarianism; addressed to the members of the First Presbyterian Church, in the city of Baltimore.
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), God Manifest in the Flesh
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Letters on Unitarianism; Letters on the Eternal Sonship of Christ (Samuel Miller). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The two books reproduced in this volume are thematically linked, and they furnish Miller's most extensive writings on Christological controversies.
"Each book was produced with a distinct readership in mind. The first work, "Letters on Unitarianism" (1821), was written for a general readership, in order to expose the evils of Unitarianism, so that orthodox Christians would guard against the inroads of Unitarian errors (prevalent today in some Charismatic circles -- RB). The second work, "Letters on the Eternal Sonship of Christ" (1823), was composed to correct the errors of a straying brother, Moses Stuart, a professor at Andover Seminary; in contrast to the first book, the second work is cast with a more academic readership in mind. Also included, as an Appendix, is Miller's "Letter to the Editor of the Unitarian Miscellany," which was a reply to a published attack against Miller, by an anonymous Unitarian writer whose article was printed in the Unitarian periodical." -- Publisher
Contents of the Volume:
1. Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), The Gospel
"The book opens with strong declarations about the first principles of Christianity. Miller explains the substitutionary atonement in 'Christ Our Righteousness.' He shows the necessity of 'Being on the Lord's Side.' Perceptive readers will note the depth of these statements, respecting the nature of the gospel, in contrast to the shallow evangelistic messages of the present day. In two missionary sermons, Miller illustrates how Christ, through the gospel, will conquer the world. There are additional sermons on 'The Difficulties and Temptations which Attend the Preaching of the Gospel in Great Cities' and 'The Importance of Gospel Truth'."
2. Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), The Christian Ministry
"Miller considers 'Christ, the Model of Gospel Ministers.' He examines the call to the Christian ministry in 'The Sacred Office Magnified.' He shows the necessity and meaning of pastoral fidelity in 'Holding Fast the Faithful Word.' In a related messages, he stresses, 'The Duty of the Church to Take Measures for Providing An Able and Faithful Ministry,' and gives 'A Plea for an Enlarged Ministry'."
3. Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), The Eldership
"This volume includes Miller's original sermon on the ruling elder; his later writings on the eldership were developed from this discourse."
4. Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Personal and Family Piety
"Miller gives warm exhortations regarding personal and family piety. He describes "The Duty, the Benefits, and the Proper Method of Religious Fasting." He treats "The Importance of Domestic Happiness," and "The Means of Domestic Happiness." An illuminating discussion on the role of women is found in "The Appropriate Duty of the Female Sex.
5. Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Exhortations to Christians
"Christian parents are given a stern warning on the danger of educating their children in Roman Catholic schools. Later discourses cover the subjects of suicide and theatrical amusements."
6. Breckinridge, Robert J., Presbyterian Ordination
"A companion speech to Breckinridge's PRESBYTERIAN GOVERNMENT, this discourse sustains the argument that ordination is a joint governmental act of the presbytery, not a ministerial rite restricted to preachers. Breckinridge defends the propriety of ruling elders participating in the laying on of hands in ministerial ordinations.
Special Publications: Miscellaneous Articles and Book Reviews
"This article is a book notice for WAR AGAINST THE IDOLS: THE REFORMATION OF WORSHIP FROM ERASMUS TO CALVIN by Carlos M.N. Eire (a Roman Catholic author), (Cambridge University Press, 1986).
Reed, Kevin, The Decline of American Presbyterianism, a book review of Gary North's CROSSED FINGERS: HOW THE LIBERALS CAPTURED THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/decline.htm
Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church, by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/table_of_contents.htm
"And now, when time has proved that more recent Testimonies, Terms, and Covenants, have failed to preserve either unity or uniformity among those who framed them; it cannot be unseasonable to re-exhibit the original ACT, DECLARATION, AND TESTIMONY, which has been justly characterized as 'the most profoundly reasoned document ever emitted by the Reformed Presbyterian Church'." -- The Reformation Advocate Magazine, Vol. I, No. 8, December, 1875, page 267
"Upholds the original work of the Westminster Assembly and testifies to the abiding worth and truth formulated in the Westminster family of documents. Upholds and defends the Crown Rights of King Jesus in Church and State, denouncing those who would remove the crown from Christ's head by denying His right to rule (by His law), in both the civil and ecclesiastical spheres. Testifies to the received doctrine, government, worship, and discipline of the Church of Scotland in her purest (reforming) periods. Applies God's Word to the Church's corporate attainments 'with a judicial approbation of the earnest contendings and attainments of the faithful, and a strong and pointed judicial condemnation of error and the promoters thereof.' (The Contending Witness magazine, Dec. 17/93, p. 558). Shows the church's great historical victories (such as the National and Solemn League and Covenant, leading to the Westminster Assembly), and exposes her enemies actions (e.g. the Prelacy of Laud; the Independency, sectarianism, covenant breaking and ungodly toleration set forth by the likes of Cromwell [and the Independents that conspired with him]; the Erastianism and civil sectarianism of William of Orange, etc.). It is not likely that you will find a more consistent working out of the principles of Calvinism anywhere. Deals with the most important matters relating to the individual, the family, the church and the state. Sets forth a faithful historical testimony of God's dealings with men during some of the most important days of church history. A basic text that should be mastered by all Christians." -- Publisher
Act, Declaration, and Testimony (1876)
https://archive.org/details/actdeclarationte00refo
Act, Declaration and Testimony, 1761 (edition of 1876)
"Compared with the 1777 edition, Philadelphia. We hereby certify that this is a true edition of the ORIGINAL JUDICIAL TESTIMONY, emitted by the Reformed Presbytery at Ploughlandhead, Scotland, 1761; together with the Supplements adopted by the Reformed Presbytery at this date, June 2d, 1876. [Signed -- compiler] David Steele, James Campbell, Robert Clyde, Robert Alexander, Committee.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/
"Until the church comes to terms with what is written in this book it will remain weak and divided. Covenant breakers will not prosper, as this rare item demonstrates from both Scripture and history. The power packed ordinance of covenanting (the National and Solemn League and Covenant in particular), was foundational to the Second Reformation and the work of the Westminster Assembly. 'By the National Covenant our fathers laid Popery prostrate. By the Solemn League and Covenant they were successful in resisting prelatic encroachments and civil tyranny. By it they were enabled to achieve the Second Reformation . . . They were setting up landmarks by which the location and limits of the city of God will be known at the dawn of the millennial day . . . How can they be said to go forth by the footsteps of the flock, who have declined from the attainments, renounced the covenants and contradicted the testimony of 'the cloud of witnesses. . . . All the schisms (separations) that disfigure the body mystical of Christ . . . are the legitimate consequences of the abandonment of reformation attainments, the violation of covenant engagements.' If you are interested in knowing how to recognize a faithful church (or state), when and why to separate from unfaithful institutions, who has held up the standard of Covenanted Reformation attainments and who has backslidden (and why), what it means to subscribe to the Westminster Confession (1646), (and why most that say they do so today do not have any idea of what that means), and much more concerning individual, family, church and civil, individual, family, church and civil duties, this is one of the best books you will ever lay your hands on. It chronicles 'some instances of worldly conformity and mark(s) some steps of defection from our 'covenanted unity and uniformity,' noting how 'it is necessary to take a retrospect of our history for many years; for we did not all at once reach our present condition of sinful ignorance and manifold apostasy.' Presbyterian and the Reformed churches lay under the heavy hand of God's judgment in our day, because of the very defections noted throughout this fine work. 'We heard (hear) from various quarters the cry, "maintain the truth, stand up for the principles of the Second Reformation"; and yet many of those who are the most loud in uttering this cry, appear desirous to bury in oblivion those imperishable national and ecclesiastical deeds, by which the church and kingdom of Scotland became 'married to the Lord.' Are we married to the Lord, or have we thrown off the covenants of our forefathers; are we the chaste bride of Christ, or a harlot who is found in the bedchambers of every devilish suitor (whether ecclesiastical or civil), who tempts us with the favors of this world? Let us cry out, as with 'the noble Marquis of Argyle, upon the scaffold,' when he said, 'God hath tied us by covenants to religion and reformation. These that were then unborn are yet engaged, and it passeth the power of all the magistrates under heaven to absolve them from the oath of God. They deceive themselves, and it may be, would deceive others, who think otherwise.' Not for the weak of heart." -- Publisher
A Short Vindication of our Covenanted Reformation, Reformed Presbytery
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/26/a-short-vindication-of-our-covenanted-reformation
"As far as I am able to judge, the Christian world, since the days of the apostles, had never a synod of more excellent divines than this." -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
"The Assembly was called into being by the English Parliament, and convened on July 1, 1643. The result of their deliberations was a CONFESSION OF FAITH and the famous SHORTER CATECHISM. The synod met over a period of several years and comprised the finest church historians, Hebraists, Greek scholars, theologians, and pastors of their time. This book records their activities. It is a fine work and should be read for its intrinsic worth." -- Cyril J. Barber
"First published in 1811, this authoritative work of 756 pages contains biographical sketches of 106 who worked on the historic Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)." -- GCB
Knox laid the foundation for Presbyterianism and the Covenanted Reformation.
"First published in 1958, this concise summary of the history of the church is one of the very best for laypeople. Since its first appearance, this work has attained the status of a classic. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
http://www.truecovenanter.com/renwick/index.htm
A Testimony Against anti-Christian Toleration, James Renwick; Alexander Shields
http://www.truecovenanter.com/renwick/renwick_testimony_16880117.html
"INFORMATORY VINDICATION (1687), a statement of principles issued by the Society People (see Societies, United), during James VII's reign. Prepared mainly by James Renwick, latterly in consultation with Alexander Shields, it was published in Utrecht. Its full title reflects something of the contents: AN INFORMATORY VINDICATION OF A POOR WASTED MISREPRESENTED REMNANT OF THE SUFFERING ANTI-POPISH ANTI-PRELATIC ANTI-ERASTIAN ANTI-SECTARIAN TRUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CHRIST IN SCOTLAND UNITED TOGETHER IN A GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. BY WAY OF REPLY TO VARIOUS ACCUSATIONS IN LETTERS INFORMATIONS AND CONFERENCES GIVEN FORTH AGAINST THEM. It refuted charges brought against the 'Remnant' of schism (in their eyes a great evil) . . . The VINDICATION mourned the estrangement from other Presbyterians who had accepted the government's INDULGENCES OR EDICTS OF TOLERATION, and expressed love for them as fellow ministers 'with whom again we would desire to have communion in ordinances'. The separation had been forced upon the Society People by the tyranny and temper of the times, but it did not affect their position as being in the succession of the historic Kirk of Scotland. The document aimed to clear away the hostility and misunderstanding about them that had grown up in Scotland and Holland." (Cameron, editor, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, p. 429)
"In proof of the catholic, unsectarian, Christian spirit of Renwick and his followers, the clear statements of the INFORMATORY VINDICATION, the work which most fully and clearly defines their position, may be referred to . . . In these noble utterances, we have strikingly exemplified the true spirit of Christian brotherhood . . . This is the genuine import of the vow of the Solemn League and Covenant, which binds Covenanters to regard whatever is done to the least of them, as done to all and to every one in particular. While firmly holding fast all Scriptural attainments, and contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, we should cordially rejoice in the evidences of grace in Christ's servants wherever we find them. We should love them as brethren, fulfil the law of Christ by bearing their burdens, wish them God speed in all that they are doing for the advancement of His glory, and fervently labour and pray for the coming of the happy period when divisions and animosities shall cease, and when there shall be one King, and His name one in all the earth. The testimony of Renwick and his associates is of permanent value and of special importance in our day, as it was directed against systems of error and idolatry, which serve to corrupt the Church and enslave the State. Against Popery in every form Renwick was a heroic and uncompromising witness. At the peril of life, he publicly testified against the usurpation of the papist James, and rejected him as having no claim to be regarded as a constitutional sovereign, and as utterly disqualified to reign in a Protestant reformed land. This was the main ground of his objection against James' toleration, for which the Indulged ministers tendered obsequious thanks to the usurper. Yet this edict of toleration was issued for the purpose of opening the way for the practice of Rome's abominations, and for the advancement of papists to places of power and trust in the nation. None of the Cameronians would, for any earthly consideration, even to save their lives, for a moment admit that a papist had any right to exercise political power in a reformed land. Our martyred forefathers we regard as worthy of high respect and imitation, for their deeply cherished dread of the growing influence of Popery, and for their determined resistance to its exclusive and extravagant claims. The system of Popery is the abnegation of all precious gospel truth; and is a complete politico-religious confederacy against the best interests of a Protestant nation. The boast of its abettors is that it is semper eadem, ever the same. Rome cannot reform herself from within, and she is incapable of reformation from external influences and agencies. The Bible never speaks of Antichrist as to be reformed, but as waxing worse and worse till the time when he shall be completely subverted and irrecoverably destroyed. Whatever changes may be going on in some Popish countries, whereby the power of the Papacy is weakened, it is evident that the principles and spirit of the Romish priesthood, and of those who are under their influence, remain unchanged. The errors of the anti-Christian system, instead of being diminished, have of late years increased. Creature worship has become more marked and general. The Immaculate Conception has been proclaimed by Papal authority as the creed of Romanism. In these countries, and some other Protestant lands, the influence of Popery in government and education, and so on the whole social system, has been greatly on the increase. Among those who have most deeply studied inspired prophecy, there is a general expectation that the period of Babylon's downfall is hastening on, and is not far distant. There is a general presentiment too, that the Man of Sin, prior to his downfall, will make some dire and violent attempt through his infatuated followers against the truth, and against such as faithfully maintain it. The 'Slaying of the Witnesses,' which we are disposed to regard as yet future may take place, not so much by the actual shedding of blood, though it is plain that Jesuit policy and violence will not hesitate to re-enact former persecution and massacre, to accomplish a desired purpose. It may mainly be effected, as Scott, the expositor, suggests, by silencing the voice of a public testimony in behalf of fundamental truths throughout Christendom; and of this there are at present unmistakable signs not a few, throughout the churches in various countries. The Protestant church in all its sections should be thoroughly awake to its danger from the destructive errors, idolatry and power of its ancient irreconcilable enemy; and should, by all legitimate means, labour to counteract and nullify its political influence. The ministry and the rising youth of the church should study carefully the Popish controversy, and should be intimately acquainted with the history of the rise and progress of the Papacy its assumed blasphemous power its accumulated errors and delusions, and its plots, varied persecutions and cruel butcheries of Christ's faithful witnesses. Above all, they should set themselves earnestly, prayerfully and perseveringly to diffuse the Bible and Gospel light in the dark parts of their native country, and among Romanists in other lands. By embracing fully and holding fast, in their practical application, the principles of the British Covenants, and by imbibing the spirit of covenanted martyrs men like Renwick and the Cameronians, we will be prepared for the last conflict with Antichrist. The firm and faithful maintenance of a martyr-testimony will be a principle instrument of the victory of truth over the error and idolatry of Rome. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Rev. 12:11 [Revelation 12:11]). Finally, the testimony of Renwick is valuable, as throwing light on great evils connected with systems of civil government, and with Protestant churches, and as pointing out clearly the duty of faithful witnesses in relation to them. Two great principles, the one doctrinal, and the other practical, were essential to it, or rather constituted its whole specialty. These were, first, that, according to the national vows, and the reformation attainments, the whole civil polity of the nation should be conformed to the Scriptures, and secondly, the positive duty of distinct separation from whatever systems in the state and church that are opposed to entire allegiance to Messiah the Prince. (Houston, The Life of James Renwick, pp. 52-55)
"Some of them, particularly in Scotland, loved not their lives unto death for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. Rev. vi. 9. [Revelation 6:9]. These refused to have communion in public ordinances not only with prelatical ministers, but even with the acceptors of indulgences or licenses from the civil power, to exercise their ministry under certain limitations. The INFORMATORY VINDICATION, which certainly contains the genuine principles of church communion, held by the sufferers for the cause of Christ in that period, declares, that they could by no means own or countenance the administrations of the indulged ministers; because they considered the indulgence, in any of the forms in which it was granted by the civil power, as derived from the supremacy claimed by that power in ecclesiastical matters; as laying the office of the ministry under unwarrantable restriction; and as tending, in a great measure, to suppress and bury the covenanted reformation, cf. INFORMATORY VINDICATION, Head iv." (Anderson, Alexander and Rufus; or a Series of Dialogues on Church Communion [1862], p. 294)
"To the friends of evangelical truth, and the faithful witnesses for the redeemer's royal prerogatives, the services of Renwick, at the crisis in which he exercised his public ministry, were invaluable. He was eminently the man for the time. Through the influence of the unhappy Indulgence, the strict Covenanters were reduced to what they style themselves in the Informatory Vindication, a 'wasted, suffering, anti-popish, anti-prelatic, anti-erastian, anti-sectarian remnant.' By the death of Cargill and Cameron, they were left as 'sheep without a shepherd,' broken and scattered. Through the fierceness of persecution, and the machinations of enemies, they were in danger of falling into confusion, and of being entirely wasted and destroyed. We admire the gracious providence of God in preparing, at this particular crisis, an instrument of such rare and suitable endowments for feeding 'the flock in the wilderness,' and for unfurling and upholding so nobly the 'Banner of Truth' amidst hosts of infuriated enemies. James Renwick, though a very youth when he entered on his arduous work, and trained under great outward disadvantages, had a powerful and well-cultivated mind. He was endowed with singular administrative talent, and had great tact and skill in managing men. He was an acute and logical thinker, an eloquent and attractive public speaker, and was distinguished by fertility and force as a writer. The INFORMATORY VINDICATION his testimony against King James' 'toleration, with his 'Letters,' and 'Sermons and Lectures,' bear ample evidence of his sound judgment, comprehensive mind, and ability as an author. His prudence, meekness and loving disposition, combined with his sanctified zeal, and heroic courage, deservedly gave him great influence among those to whom he ministered. He was eminently fitted to be 'a first man among men.' The Lord held him in the hollow of his hand, and made him a 'polished shaft in his quiver.' The services which Renwick rendered to the Protestant cause were invaluable. He organized the scattered remnant, and imparted new life and ardour to their proceedings. He set forth clearly the principles of the 'Society people;' and in a number of able and logical papers, clearly defined their plans of action. He rendered it, in a great measure, impossible for enemies to misrepresent and accuse them falsely to the Government. He was their Secretary in their correspondence with foreign churches; and he did much to evoke the prayerful sympathy of Protestants in other lands in behalf of the victims of persecution in Scotland. The presence and influence of Renwick among the suffering Presbyterians were of the highest importance in his own day; and not to them alone, but also to the whole church of Christ in these lands, and to the constitutional liberties of the nation. So far as we can see, but for the singular power and devoted spirit of Renwick, and the firm and unyielding position which the Cameronians through him were led to assume, the cause of truth would have been completely borne down, and Erastianism, and Popery, and Despotism had triumphed. Renwick and his followers were the vanguard 'in the struggle for Britain's liberties, and for the Church's spiritual independence.' Though, like other patriots born before their time, they were doomed to fall, yet posterity owes to them a large part of the goodly heritage which they enjoy. (Houston, The Life of James Renwick [1865], pp. 36-37). Emphases added throughout the preceding quotations. This is a very rare and valuable specimen of Paleopresbyterian (Covenanter) thought don't miss it! 142 pages, plus new material added by the present publisher." -- Publisher
An Informatory Vindication, 1687, James, Renwick, Alexander Shields and Other "Society People"
http://www.truecovenanter.com/societies/informatory_vindication.html
"Ridley was 'an eminent reformer and Protestant martyr . . . Having concurred in the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey, he was committed to the Tower. Condemned to death for heresy and burnt in 1555.' (Darling, Cyclopedia Bibliographica, p. 2557).
Of all our English martyrs, . . . Ridley has been esteemed by far the most learned . . . he learned to repeat, without book, almost all the epistles in Greek . . . The courage and zeal he manifested in promoting the (first English -- RB), reformation was such, that he was considered, next to Cranmer, its greatest supporter amongst the clergy . . . the purity of his life corresponded with his knowledge . . . The reformation was greatly promoted by his learning, zeal, and active exertions while he lived, and perhaps more so by his death in its defence. In England, as everywhere else, the ancient observation has been verified, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. (Thomas Smith, Select Memoirs of the Lives Labours, and Sufferings, of Those Pious and Learned English and Scottish Divines, p. 173 ff, 1828).
"Along with a biographical notice, and among 16 other works, letters, and disputations, this book contains Ridley's BRIEF DECLARATION OR TREATISE AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 'Ridley is allowed to have been master of that subject more than any man of his age,' (Smith, p. 175). See his TREATISE AGAINST IMAGE WORSHIP, and his CONFERENCES WITH LATIMER. Printed from the 1843 Parker Society edition, indexed, 485 pages." -- Publisher
"A new 48-page booklet. Includes a complete listing (in an additional 16 pages), of the books currently available from The Trinity Foundation."
Christ and Civilization
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/200a-ChristandCivilization.pdf
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/CovMart.htm
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
"Excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM below, this book deals with the inescapable necessity, of the demand found in the Word of God, for the Civil establishment of Christ as King and Lawgiver over every nation on earth. If you are sick of the cease-fire with humanism, set forth by the syncretistic, Satanic and pragmatic pagan politicians of our day (those who bargain with votaries of Antichrist [the Pope], publicly tolerate all manner of false religions (e.g. Islam), and idolatry, and compose their policy and draw their pretended authority from the beast [and not the Word of God], this book is for you! For all pagan politics is summed up in the words of the Cameronian (Covenanter) political philosopher Alexander Shields, as 'rotting away under the destructive distempers of detestable neutrality, loathsome lukewarmness, declining, and decaying in corruptions, defections, divisions, distractions, confusions; and so judicially infatuated with darkness and delusions, that they forget and forego the necessary testimony of the day.' (A Hind let Loose, 1797 edition, p. 20). Pick up this book and begin the political walk in the 'footsteps of the flock,' traveling the covenanting road of Reformation and Scripture (with the magisterial Reformers of the past)!" -- Publisher
On the Duty of Covenanting and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants.
Being Section 11 in THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM by William L. Roberts
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/PresCatCov.htm
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
A Hind let Loose; Or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
A magnificent catechism that sets forth the Crown Rights of The King of Glory and Lord of Lords. It also presents incontrovertible evidence that the United States Constitution is not a Christian document, and that it is, in fact, a slavery document.
"A manual of instruction, drawing from such notable authors as William Symington and J.R. Willson, presenting arguments and facts confirming and illustrating the 'Distinctive Principles' of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Chapters deal with: 'Christ's Mediatorial Dominion in General;' Christ's Exclusive Headship Over the Church;' 'The Supreme and Ultimate Authority of the Word of God in the Church;' Civil Government, the Moral Ordinance of God;' Christ's Headship Over the Nations;' 'The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ;' The Word, or Revealed Will of God, the Supreme Law in the State;' 'The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion:' 'The Spiritual Independence of the Church of Christ:' 'The Right and Duty of Dissent From an Immoral Constitution of Civil Government;' 'The Duty of Covenanting, and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants;' 'The Application of These Principles to the Governments, Where Reformed Presbyterians Reside, in the Form of a Practical Testimony;' and finally 'Application of the Testimony to the British Empire. . . '." -- Publisher
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
On the Mediatorial Dominion of The Lord Jesus Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_01_mediatorial_dominion.html
The Exclusive Headship of The Lord Jesus Christ Over the Church of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_02_christs_headship_over_the_church.html
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_04_civil_government.html
On Christ's Headship Over the Nations, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_05_christs_headship_over_nations.html
The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_06_subjection_of_nations_to_christ.html
See also: The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration, SECRET PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; CONSPIRACY IN PHILADELPHIA: THE ORIGINS OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, and A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
"This short book (125 pages), was written to commemorate and celebrate this famous Bible translator's place in our Christian heritage. Wycliffe was a man burdened for a Gospel for all people and a vision of God's grace being freely available to all." -- GCB
"The need to return to a Biblical doctrine of civil government is evidenced by our century's worldwide drift into tyranny. Humanism invariably rushes in to fill the world's theological vacuums: the need of the hour is to restore a full-orbed, Biblical, theology of the state. This work sets forth that theology." -- GCB
" 'Lex, rex' is Latin for 'law is king.'
"LEX, REX is 'the great political text of the Covenanters.' (Johnston citing Innes in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 305). 'Rutherford was the first to formulate the great constitutional principle Lex est Rex -- the law is King . . . much of the doctrine has become the constitutional inheritance of all countries in modern times.'
"Gilmour writes [in SAMUEL RUTHERFORD], 'that, as regards religious fervour, scholastic subtlety of intellect, and intensity of ecclesiastical conviction, Samuel Rutherford is the most distinctively representative Scotsman in the first half of the seventeenth century'." -- Publisher
"Without a doubt one of the greatest books on political philosophy ever written. Rutherford here has penned a great Christian charter of liberty against all forms of civil tyranny -- vindicating the Scriptural duty to resist tyrants as an act of loyalty to God." -- Publisher
"That resistance to lawful authority -- even when that authority so called has, in point of fact, set at nought 'all law' -- is in no instance to be vindicated, will be held by those only who are the devotees of arbitrary power and passive obedience. The principles of Mr. Rutherford's LEX, REX, however obnoxious they may be to such men, are substantially the principles on which all government is founded, and without which the civil magistrate would become a curse rather than a blessing to a country. They are the very principles which lie at the basis of the British Constitution, and by whose tenure the House of Brunswick does at this very moment hold possession of the throne of these realms." -- Rev. Robert Burns, D.D., in his "Preliminary Dissertation" to Wodrow's Church History
Additional sources of text related to LEX REX are as follows:
"Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX,
A HIND LET LOOSE by Alexander Shields is sometimes referred to as 'Lex, Rex, Volume Two.'
A Hind let Loose; or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
A Hind let Loose; or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ
"This book sets forth the Crown rights of King Jesus, against all usurpers in both church and state, giving a history of some of faithful sufferings endured by the elect, in maintaining this truth." -- Publisher
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
"This [THE DUE RIGHT OF PRESBYTERIES OR A PEACEABLE PLEA FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], could be considered the LEX, REX of church government -- another exceedingly rare masterpiece of Presbyterianism! Characterized by Walker as sweeping 'over a wider field than most'." -- Publisher
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People (1843)
http://archive.org/details/lexrexlawandpri00ruthgoog
Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, Samuel Rutherford
"Rutherford is to be praised for his teaching that the king is subject to the law of God. The Bible has nothing but condemnation for those who frame mischief by a law and declares rhetorically, Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? (Psalm 94:20). Deuteronomy 17 is the classic passage in defense of LEX, REX, wherein the king is charged to read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 17:19)." -- Publisher
http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htm
Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People, containing the reasons and causes of the defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland, and of their expedition for the ayd and help of their brethren of England. In which a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet, intituled, Sacro-sancta regum majestas, penned by J. Maxwell. By S. Rutherford. [Followed by], De jure regni apud Scotos; a dialogue, tr. by R. Macfarlan (repr. from the ed. of 1799).
http://books.google.com/books?id=jtYDAAAAQAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist: Opening the Secrets of Familisme and Antinomianisme in the Anti-Christian Doctrine of John Saltmarsh, and Will. Del, the Present Preachers of the Army now in England, and of Robert Town, Tob. Crisp, H. Denne, Eaton, and Others. In which is revealed the rise and spring of Antinomians, Familists, Libertines, Swenckfeldians, Enthysiasts, &c. The minde of Luther, a most professed opposer of Antinomians, is cleared, and diverse considerable points of the law and the Gospel, of the spirit and letter, of the two covenants, of the nature of free grace, exercise under temptations, mortification, justification, sanctification, are discovered. In two parts, 1648. Also contains Rutherford's A BROTHERLY AND FREE EPISTLE TO THE PATRONS AND FRIENDS OF PRETENDED LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #20.
Samuel Rutherfurd's (sic) Preface to his Survey of Spirituall Antichrist. A Brotherly and Free Epistle to the Patrons and Friends of Pretended Liberty of Conscience.
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/21/samuel-rutherfurds-preface-to-his-survey-of-spirituall-antichrist
*Schaff, Philip (editor, 1819-1893), Church Fathers Series, 38 volumes.
*Schaff, Philip (editor), The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series.
*Schaff, Philip (editor), A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library CCEL CD-ROM 2000
http://www.ccel.org/cdrom/cdrom.html
*Schaff, Philip (1819-1893), Schaff's History of Christianity, 8 volumes, ISBN: 0802880479 9780802880475.
"A brilliant, detailed account of the history of Christianity up to and including the continental Reformation. Well written, and easy to read. One of the most informative and valuable treatments available. Based on the edition published in 1910." -- Cyril J. Barber
The History of the Christian Church, Philip Schaff
http://www.reformedreader.org/history/schaff/
Scharpff, Paulus, History of Evangelism: Three Hundred Years of Evangelism in Germany, Great Britain and the United States of America.
*Shedd, William Greenough Thayer (1820-1894), The Proposed Revision of the Westminster Standards (1890)
http://archive.org/details/proposedrevision00shed
*Shields, Alexander (1660?-1700), A Hind let Loose, or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ With the True State Thereof in all its Periods. Together with a Vindication of the Present Testimony Against Popish, Prelatical, and Malignant Enemies of That Church, as it is now Stated, for the Prerogatives of Christ, Privileges of the Church, and Liberties of Mankind; and Sealed by the Sufferings of a Reproached Remnant of Presbyterians There, Witnessing Against the Corruptions of the Time: Wherein Several Controversies of Greatest Consequence Are Enquired Into, and in Some Measure Cleared; Concerning Hearing of the Curates, Owning of the Present Tyranny, Taking of Ensnaring Oaths and Bonds, Frequenting of Field-Meetings, Defensive Resistance of Tyrannical Violence, With Several Other Subordinate Questions Useful for These Times, 1797, 1744, 1687. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2, #26.
"First printed in 1687 (near the end of the 'killing times'), we have used the 1797 edition for this rare bound photocopy because all of the Latin has been translated into English (an obvious improvement for English readers). This rare Covenanter classic, concerning Calvinistic political philosophy and tactics of civil resistance, is comparable to Samuel Rutherford's LEX, REX; in fact it could rightly be referred to as 'Lex, Rex volume two.' It is solidly in the line of John Knox's teachings on civil disobedience and addresses numerous topics that are relevant to today's Christian. 'In A HIND LET LOOSE, Shields justified the Cameronian resistance to royal absolutism and the divine right of kings. He argued that government is divinely ordained, but the people are entitled to bring a king to judgement for wrongdoing. Parliament is commissioned by the people to oversee the nation's affairs, but the compact between the people and their rulers does not entail a forfeiture of the people's power to depose tyrants and confer authority on someone else. Government is by consent, and must justify itself to the consciences of the people. God has given men the right of self defense, and this extends to a right not only passively to resist, but also to kill relentless persecutors' writes Isbell in Nigel Cameron, editor, DICTIONARY OF SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY AND THEOLOGY, p. 773. Controversial chapter titles include: 'Concerning Owning of Tyrants Authority;' 'Defensive Arms Vindicated;' 'Of Extraordinary Execution of Judgement by Private Men;' and 'Refusing to Pay Wicked Taxation Vindicated.' This book sets forth the Crown rights of King Jesus, against all usurpers in both church and state, giving a history of some of faithful sufferings endured by the elect, in maintaining this truth. It bears testimony against 'the popish, prelatical and malignant enemies' of Christ and proclaims the only true basis of liberty for mankind. 'The matter is argued with a vast abundance of Biblical illustration, and with much reference to Reformation and Puritan divines. It should be consulted, if practicable, by all who wish fully to understand the inner spirit of the Covenanting Movement,' writes Purves in FAIR SUNSHINE (p. 202). Isbell interestingly notes that Shields was once 'amanuensis to the English Puritan John Owen'." -- Publisher
A Hind let Loose; Or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/index.htm#shields_hind_let_loose
A Hind let Loose: or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ: With the True State Thereof in all its Periods, Shields, Alexander
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Shields, Alexander (1660?-1700), The History of Scotch-presbytery Being an Epitome of The Hind let Loose / by Mr. Shields; With a Preface by a Presbyter of the Church of Scotland, 1692.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before them, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. The thesis being that the Rationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964). A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
"The Erastian Revolution, anno 1689, was 'utterly inconsistent with the covenanted constitution of the Reformed Church of Scotland, anno 1648.'
In fact, the relationship between Church and State has been in decline since 1661. "In early 1661 . . . the Scottish Parliament passed the Act Rescissory, which established the king as supreme judge in all matters civil and ecclesiastical, and which made owning the covenants [National and Solemn League], unlawful. These acts undid all the works of Reformation from 1638 to 1650 and made it high treason to acknowledge Jesus Christ as head of the church. . . ." See: Act, Declaration, and Testimony, 1876, Part II.
Another turning point occurred in 1758 with the reunion of the Old Side and the New Side of American Presbyterian Church. "This signaled the end of the influence of Calvinism in American Politics." For a detailed discussion see:
From Old School to New School in CROSSED FINGERS: HOW THE LIBERALS CAPTURED THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/Chapter02.htm
An example of the positive influence of theological doctrine on American political development is the Presbyterian General Assembly meeting in 1774, in which the Assembly instructed local congregations to press for the dissolution of ties with Great Britain. The result was a flood of resolutions, the most important of which was the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence which became a pattern for our national Declaration of Independence. See: James Geddes Craighead (1832-1895), SCOTCH AND IRISH SEEDS IN AMERICAN SOIL: THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SCOTCH AND IRISH CHURCHES, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF AMERICA.
In 1787 there were two conventions in Philadelphia: the Constitution Convention and a convention of the Presbyterian Church. "In 1787-88, American Presbyterians revised the Westminster Confession of Faith [know as the "American Version (1789)"], in order to make it conform to the political pluralism that also lay behind the U.S. Constitution,(26) which was being ratified at the same time that the presbyteries were voting for the revision of the Confession. The Presbyterians removed that clause in Chapter XXIII:3 which had authorized the civil magistrate to call a synod for advice.(27) This was one of the last traces of the theocratic Calvinism of the Scottish Covenanters -- or Calvin's theocratic Calvinism, for that matter. (The final trace was the Confession's assertion that the failure to take an oath to a lawful authority is a sin [XXII:3]. That provision was abandoned in the 1903 revision, and Machen's Orthodox Presbyterian Church did not restore it in 1936). From that time on, Presbyterians became defenders of a secularized republican order. They believed that God's civil covenant could be made on a common-ground confessional basis, without a mandatory covenantal civil oath, operating under a providential natural law order that did not mandate Trinitarian confession. Obedience to this natural order, they believed, would bring national prosperity. This was the liberal worldview of English Whig politics, and no group in America was more dedicated to defending it than the Presbyterians." -- Gary North, Crossed Fingers, p. 106
Many scholars consider alterations to the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), originally compiled by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, to be a "reverse plagiarism," an alteration of the original document by someone beside the author, and then passed off to the public, under the original title, as the work of the original authors. Plagiarize: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another), as one's own use (a created production), without crediting the source; to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary)
Revisers have altered the content of the original WCF (1646), have removed key doctrine related to Christ's Crown and Covenant, and yet have retained the name given by the Westminster Assembly. Consequently, revisers have deceived many in the Church into believing that their alterations are the work of the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1646.
Most Presbyterian and Reformed denominations and seminaries today prescribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith (1879), the "American Version." Ideas have consequences. Because theology is truth, when men delete or alter key doctrines, or replace sound doctrine deducted from God's infallible Word by logic, with human imaginations, then the course of history is changed.
For a detailed analysis of the devastating consequences to American history caused by non-Biblical alterations in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and non-Biblical alterations to constitutional government in the United States see the following:
A Theological Interpretation of American History
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#stiahis
In Great Britain the Independents and Calvinistic Baptists edited the Westminster Confession (1646) for their own use, but they gave the new confessions a different name, the Savoy Declaration and the Baptist Confession. Certainly this was the honest procedure.
"In 1788 the U.S. Constitution and the revised Westminster Confession were ratified. For a detailed discussion see:
From Old School to New School in CROSSED FINGERS: HOW THE LIBERALS CAPTURED THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/Chapter03.htm
See also the following:
Appendix A: Major Changes of the Savoy Declaration
http://www.bible-researcher.com/wescoappa.html
Appendix B: Major Changes of the PCUSA (1788-1958)
http://www.bible-researcher.com/wescoappb.html
Appendix C: Major Changes of the UPCUSA and PCUS (1958-1983)
http://www.bible-researcher.com/wescoappc.html
Preface to Confession and Catechisms of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC)
http://opc.org/documents/Preface.pdf
Trinitarianism Verses Polytheism: Unresolved Questions of Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution
http://www.lettermen2.com/trinpoly.html
Selection of Covenant Heads for Positions of Leadership
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#covenantheads
Timeline of the liberalization of the Presbyterian Church in Crossed Fingers by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/timeline.htm
A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY, Chapter 6, "Theological Liberalism After 1920 and its Political Consequence."
A Partial Timeline of U.S. History Showing how Liberalization in the Church and Liberalization in the State, has Been Paralleled by Advances in the Feminist Movement, and the Overall Decline of American Society
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#ptushlcs.
*Price, Greg L., Biblical Civil Government Versus the Beast; and, the Basis for Civil Resistance. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This is the best modern testimony for the biblical principles of civil magistracy -- which were so prominent during the height of the Second Reformation -- that we have seen. Price documents the teachings of many of the major Reformers (and some of the church fathers), and in an easy reading manner simplifies what can at times become a very complex subject. This particular Reformation message, proclaiming Christ's Kingship over the nations (and the practical outworking of the same), has been buried from the view of the general public for some time now, but is once again being brought to light in this very helpful introductory book. A sobering appendix has been added (written by a friend of the Covenanted Reformation), which shows why it is unlawful for a Christian to swear any oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. This appendix also compares the points of difference between classic (or historic), Reformed teaching and modern Reformed teaching regarding magistracy and religion. Special attention is given to the OPC, the PCA and the RPCNA and the changes that these groups have made to Second Reformation confessional standards (concerning matters related to the civil magistrate). Statements by B.B. Warfield are also contrasted to the older Reformed views. You won't find a better easy-to-read and easy to understand introduction to this important topic -- a topic which impacts directly on every Christian's testimony for the crown rights of King Jesus!" -- Publisher
"It is this author's contention that the modern churches have let go of this important piece of the faith [Christ's Kingship over the nations -- compiler], once for all delivered to the saints. Thereby they have delivered the church, not to kings as nursing fathers, but to the cruel civil domination of the enemies of the true religion, their sheep being taught that they must submit passively to every pretended civil authority as the ordinance of God. By this defection, these leaders of the flock have also undermined the magistracy, allowing and even encouraging wicked men to remove this blessed ordinance from its foundation in God its creator, and from its subjection to Christ His King, thereby directly opposing God's benevolent ends in instituting civil government: Thus have [they] made the commandment of God of none effect by [their] tradition. . . . teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matt. 15:6,9 [Matthew 15:6,9]). Furthermore, by their false teaching regarding civil government, they have made themselves guilty of the very sin of which we are often accused: opposing the ordinance of God. If this wasn't enough, however, consider that their sin is worse than that of the garden variety rebel, inasmuch as their opposition to God's institution is not so much practical as it is principal; and because of their position as teachers and guides of the flock of God. 'Be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. . . . For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.' (James 3:1; 2 Cor. 13:8 [2 Corinthians 13:8]) -- Greg Price, Biblical Civil Government Verses the Beast, p. 64
Biblical Civil Government Versus the Beast; and, the Basis for Civil Resistance, Greg Price
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/BibCG_GP.htm
After 1920 "Forces of liberalism were able to gain a commanding position in the liberal arts colleges and seminaries run by most of the major denominations. . . .
"The denial of the inspiration and infallibility of the Scripture proved to be tantamount to a rejection of their doctrinal authority; one by one, the great evangelical doctrines of the past were rewritten in such a way as to be scarcely recognizable. . ." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 187
"The basic issue is the reduction of the total scope of government, on both the federal and state level, to those spheres which are clearly conferred upon it by the Scriptures, and the surrender of those extra-Biblical powers which liberal political philosophies and practice have given to it during the last one hundred years or so. . . .
"When Jesus Christ returns, this span of history will cease. Perhaps at this point the cleavage between the biblical position and the views of Hegel, Marx, Spengler, Toynbee, and other contemporaries, becomes most obvious. The modern mind simply cannot accept the idea that humanity does not control its own destiny. It refuses to believe that the ultimate manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ is beyond all human manipulation, whether they be statesmen or educators. It denies that the sovereign Ruler of the universe will bring all sinful humanity to judgment in a final accounting for its long history of willful rebellion against His righteousness, goodness, and mercy." -- Gregg C. Singer
The roots of liberty and limited government are in the Protestant Reformation. We believe the key to the maintenance of liberty and limited government is to be found in the Scottish covenanting struggle. -- James A. Dodson
Smith, Timothy Lawrence, Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War, ISBN: 080182477X 9780801824777. Alternate title: REVIVALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM IN MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA.
Includes bibliography and index.
*Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), The one Foundation, a sermon.
Preaching on the text For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1879, Sermon 1494.
"As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein. If any portion of a church be not based upon Christ it is a mere deforming addition to the plan of the great Architect, and mars the temple which God has built, and not man. What a blessed thing it is to feel that you belong to a church which has a rock under it, because it is constituted by Christ's authority. We feel safe in following an ordinance which is of his commanding, but we should tremble if we had only custom and human authority for it. . . .
"When sermons are preached without so much as the mention of Christ's name, it takes more than charity, it requires you to tell a lie to say 'That was a Christian sermon;' and if any people find their joy in a teaching which casts the Lord Jesus into the background, they are not his church, or else such teaching would be an abomination to them. . . .
"All the decrees of popes and councils, all the resolutions of assemblies, synods, presbyteries, and associations, and all the ordinances of men as individuals, however great they be, when they are all put together, if they at all differ from the law of Christ, are mere wind and waste paper, nay, worse, they are treasonable insults to the majesty of King Jesus. Those who build apart from the authority of Christ build off of the foundation, and their fabric will fall. There is no law and no authority in a true church but that of Christ himself; we who are his ministers are his servants and the servants of the church, and not lords or lawmakers. To his law a faithful church brings all things as to the sure test. As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein.
"Let us put this, our first point, in a few sentences. It is not the union of men with men that makes a church if Jesus Christ be not the centre and the bond of the union. The best of men may come into bonds of amity, and they may form a league, or a federation, for good and useful purposes, but they are not a church unless Jesus Christ be the basis upon which they rest. He must be the ground and foundation of the hope of each and of all." -- C.H. Spurgeon
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols25-27/chs1494.pdf
*Steele, David (1803-1887), James Campbell, Thomas Sproull (1803-1892), James Fulton, and The Reformed Presbytery [of North America], A Short Vindication of our Covenanted Reformation, 1879. Alternate title: THE REFORMED PRESBYTERY'S A SHORT VINDICATION OF OUR COVENANTED REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (also #2, #25, and #30).
"Until the church comes to terms with what is written in this book it will remain weak and divided. Covenant breakers will not prosper, as this rare item demonstrates from both Scripture and history. The power packed ordinance of covenanting (the National and Solemn League and Covenant in particular), was foundational to the Second Reformation and the work of the Westminster Assembly. 'By the National Covenant our fathers laid Popery prostrate. By the Solemn League and Covenant they were successful in resisting prelatic encroachments and civil tyranny. By it they were enabled to achieve the Second Reformation . . . They were setting up landmarks by which the location and limits of the city of God will be known at the dawn of the millennial day . . . How can they be said to go forth by the footsteps of the flock, who have declined from the attainments, renounced the covenants and contradicted the testimony of 'the cloud of witnesses. . . . All the schisms (separations) that disfigure the body mystical of Christ . . . are the legitimate consequences of the abandonment of reformation attainments, the violation of covenant engagements.' If you are interested in knowing how to recognize a faithful church (or state), when and why to separate from unfaithful institutions, who has held up the standard of covenanted Reformation attainments and who has backslidden (and why), what it means to subscribe to the Westminster Confession (1646), (and why most that say they do so today do not have any idea of what that means), and much more concerning individual, family, church and civil, individual, family, church and civil duties, this is one of the best books you will ever lay your hands on. It chronicles 'some instances of worldly conformity and mark(s) some steps of defection from our 'covenanted unity and uniformity,' noting how 'it is necessary to take a retrospect of our history for many years; for we did not all at once reach our present condition of sinful ignorance and manifold apostasy.' Presbyterian and the Reformed churches lay under the heavy hand of God's judgement in our day, because of the very defections noted throughout this fine work. 'We heard (hear) from various quarters the cry, "maintain the truth, stand up for the principles of the Second Reformation"; and yet many of those who are the most loud in uttering this cry, appear desirous to bury in oblivion those imperishable national and ecclesiastical deeds, by which the church and kingdom of Scotland became 'married to the Lord.' Are we married to the Lord, or have we thrown off the covenants of our forefathers; are we the chaste bride of Christ, or a harlot who is found in the bedchambers of every devilish suitor (whether ecclesiastical or civil), who tempts us with the favors of this world? Let us cry out, as with 'the noble Marquis of Argyle, upon the scaffold,' when he said, 'God hath tied us by covenants to religion and reformation. These that were then unborn are yet engaged, and it passeth the power of all the magistrates under heaven to absolve them from the oath of God. They deceive themselves, and it may be, would deceive others, who think otherwise.' Not for the weak of heart." -- Publisher
A Short Vindication of our Covenanted Reformation, Reformed Presbytery
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/26/a-short-vindication-of-our-covenanted-reformation
Sylvester, Nigel, God's Word in a Young World: The Story of Scripture Union, ISBN: 0862012597 9780862012595.
"A wonderful retelling of the Scripture Union story from its inception in 1867 to the present day."
*Symington, William (1795-1862), Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ, ISBN: 0966004434 0921148054. The 1884 edition is available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13, #25, and #26.
"It is the standard work on the kingdom of God in English! There is nothing else like it." -- Publisher
"It was deemed essential to the salvation of men that their Redeemer should possess the powers at once of a prophet, a priest, and a king. These offices, while essentially distinct, are necessarily and inseparably connected with one another. Such a union has been by some utterly denied; and its denial has laid foundation for some capital errors, which have exerted a pernicious influence on the Christian church. By others it has been criminally overlooked; and the neglect with which it has been treated has occasioned vague and conflicting conceptions regarding the great work of man's deliverance from sin and wrath by the mediation of the Son of God." -- William Symington (1795-1862)
"It is the standard work on the kingdom of God in English! There is nothing else like it; it is one-of-a kind! It covers the necessity, reality, and qualifications of Christ's dominion over not only the church, but all nations too. Anything less is to rob Christ of His magnificent, majestic, mediatorial glory -- for He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. 'While books on the priestly work of the Redeemer, and especially on the Atonement, are numerous,' notes the introduction to the American edition, 'no formal and exhaustive discussion of the kingly office of the Messiah . . . and its application to various classes of moral agents is elsewhere to be found . . . It is cause for satisfaction that the only treatise, as yet, upon this subject, is a work of signal ability, lucid in arrangement, reverent in spirit, and with hardly an exception, sound and judicious in its conclusion. Its very merits are probably, in part, the reason why no other work on the same subject has appeared, and until it is supplanted by a better work -- an event not likely soon to occur -- it will have a value peculiar to itself'." -- Publisher
Chapters include "The Necessity of the Mediatorial Dominion," "The Universality of the Mediatorial Dominion," "The Mediatorial Dominion Over the Church," and "Over the Nations," plus much more.
Symington, William, Messiah the Prince or, The Meditorial Dominion of Jesus Christ (1881)
http://archive.org/details/messiahtheprince00symiuoft
Symington, William, Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ
http://www.reformed.org/eschaton/symington/index.html
Symington, William, Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ
http://reformedchurchpublications.org/messiah_the_prince_by_william_symington.htm
Thomas, Derek W.H., and John W. Tweeddale (editors and Preface), John Calvin: For a New Reformation, ISBN: 9781433512827 1433512823 9781433512834 1433512831 9781433523991 143352399X.
"More than 500 years ago, 16th-century Reformer John Calvin was born -- a theologian whose teachings set the stage for reformation of the church around the world. The modern world is in continual need of his Christ-exalting doctrine and vision of the Christian life. In 20 essays by leading Reformed pastors and scholars, this primer explores Calvin's life, teaching, and legacy for a new generation. This book is a clarion call to Christians everywhere to take seriously the ongoing need of theological reformation across the globe." -- Publisher
"Thomas and Tweeddale have brought together an impressive team of sympathetic scholars to provide us with this wonderful in-depth exposition of many important aspects of Calvin's life and teaching. The contributors to John Calvin not only highlight but also understand the profound contemporary relevance of his theological and pastoral emphases. Here is a genuine Calvinian treat! May it encourage twenty-first-century pastors and teachers -- indeed, all serious Christians -- to think, worship, serve, and live in the kind of dependence on God and confidence in his word that Calvin so courageously exhibited in his day." -- Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries
*Thomson, John Henderson (editor), John McMain, and David Scott (introduction), A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ Being the Last Speeches and Testimonies of Those who Have Suffered for the Truth in Scotland Since . . . 1680. Alternate title: THE FIFTEENTH EDITION, ENLARGED AND CORRECTED: A CLOUD OF WITNESSES, FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST: OR, THE LAST SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE TRUTH IN SCOTLAND, SINCE THE YEAR 1680: WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE QUEENSFERRY PAPER; TORWOOD EXCOMMUNICATION; A RELATION CONCERNING MR. RICHARD CAMERON, MR. DONALD CARGIL, AND HENRY HALL; AND AN ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO WERE KILLED WITHOUT PROCESS OF LAW, AND BANISHED TO FOREIGN LANDS: WITH A SHORT VIEW OF SOME OF THE OPPRESSIVE EXACTIONS, ISBN: 0873779231. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"With the Testimonies of John Nisbet the Younger, John Nisbet of Hardhill, Robert Miller, Thomas Harkness, &c. A Letter of John Semple's and of Archibald Stewart's. The Paper found upon Mr. Cameron at Airsmoss, and an Acrostick upon his name. The Testimony of John Finlay in Kilmarnock. The Epitaphs upon the Grave Stones of Mr. Samuel Rutherford, Mr. John Welwood, and the noble Patriots who fell at Pentland-hills, &c.
"Also includes THE TESTIMONY OF SOME PERSECUTED PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, UNTO THE COVENANTED REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, AND TO THE PRESENT EXPEDIENCY OF CONTINUING TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN THE FIELDS, AND AGAINST THE PRESENT ANTI-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION IN ITS NATURE AND DESIGN, &C. GIVEN IN TO THE MINISTERS AT EDINBURGH, BY MR. JAMES RENWICK, UPON THE 17TH JAN. 1688. AND MR. RICHARD CAMERON'S LAST SERMON; PREACHED ON KYPE WATER IN EVANDALE, JULY 18TH, 1680, THREE DAYS BEFORE HE WAS KILLED AT AIRS-MOSS. (Pittsburgh: Printed for David Reed, by Eichbaum & Johnston, 1824), 1884 edition.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1,2)
"Presbyterian Covenanter martyrs of Scotland, their last speeches and testimonies. The first edition appeared in 1714, and as more material was collected it was added to the 15 editions that were printed over the next 100 years.
"An amazing book compiled to show how -- and especially why (from their own dying testimonies) -- the Covenanters suffered, bled and died. These brave martyrs for Christ laid the foundation for liberty and truth in both church and state. They have much to say to us today . . . . Though the issues and ferocity of persecution (by the Popes, prelates, and Erastians), were more obvious during the times covered in this book, the message to contemporary Christians could not be clearer: we are involved in a life and death struggle. Few books are this moving or this edifying -- a real treasure! (658 pp., 1884 ed.)." -- Publisher
The 1871 edition was praised by Spurgeon.
A Cloud of Witnesses
https://archive.org/details/cloudofwitnesses00thom
A Cloud of Witnesses, 1871 edition, free online e-text.
http://books.google.com/books?id=4vMCAAAAQAAJ&dq=thomson+a+cloud+of+witnesses&ie=ISO-8859-1
Timm, Alberto Ronald, The Academy of Geneva and its Role in the Spread and Consolidation of the Calvinistic Movement
*Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America, 2 volumes, revised edition, ISBN: 0060915226.
Translated by Henry Reeve and revised by Francis Bowen. Edited by Philip Bradley
"Tocqueville in the early part of the 19th century was commissioned by the French government to travel throughout the United States in order to discover the secret of the astounding success of this experiment in democracy. . . . A classic of political and sociological reporting and analysis . . ." -- Publisher
Democracy in America
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/home.html
Tracy, Joseph, Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield, new edition, ISBN: 085151233X 9780851512334 0851517129 9780851517124.
"This volume remains second to none in its definitive treatment of the 'Revival of Religion in New England in 1740', one of the most important and remarkable eras in the history of the Christian church in modern times." -- Publisher
"The most comprehensive account of the major 18th century revival." -- Roberts
"The author follows his theme from the local revivals of the 1730s to the floodtide of 1740-1742. The material is broad-based and includes numerous quotes from the time period." -- GCB
"I have read a number of works on revivals and this revival in particular. This is the one book on the subject that I have gone back to time and again. It is scholarly, thorough, and devotionally helpful. As I read of the changes in the lives in the villagers of New England I became more and more impressed with how true revivals are such awesome and precious things.
"This book is very helpful for our day as well. In describing the excesses of this revival (especially those that had to do with Davenport), and in the detailed accounts of unwanted side-phenomena, we see sad similarities to what has been experienced in some of our churches today. This book shows what a true revival looks like." -- Reader's Comment
Watt, Hugh, John Knox in Controversy, 1950.
*Westminster Assembly (1643-1652), The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), [completed and first printed in 1646, approved by the Assembly, August 27, 1647, Session 23 -- compiler] (Glasgow, Scotland: Free Presbyterian Publication [133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6LE], 1994), ISBN: 0902506080 (case-bound), and ISBN: 0902506358 (paperback). Among the ten greatest works in the English language. Available (THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) with all its subordinate documents in searchable format) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also available (THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) with all its subordinate documents in searchable format) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) With Scripture Proofs
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/
The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, With the Scripture Proofs at Large: Together With The sum of Saving Knowledge (contained in the Holy Scriptures, and held forth in the said Confession and Catechisms), and Practical use Thereof, Covenants National and Solemn League, Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties, Directories, Form of Church-government, &c. of Public Authority in the Church of Scotland, With Acts of Assembly and Parliament, Relative to, and Approbative of the Same (1757) [the original version of 1646, prior to the changes of the "American Version" of 1789 -- compiler]
http://archive.org/details/confessionofscot00chur
" 'The product of Puritan conflict,' stated Shedd, reaching 'a perfection of statement never elsewhere achieved.' All that learning the most profound and extensive, intellect the most acute and searching, and piety the most sincere and earnest, could accomplish, was thus concentrated in the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith, which may be safely termed the most perfect statement of Systematic Theology ever framed by the Christian Church,' writes Hetherington. (The History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, p. 345).
"Concerning The Shorter Catechism, which is one of the items also included in this book, Mitchell notes: 'it is a thoroughly Calvinistic and Puritan catechism, the ripest fruit of the Assembly's thought and experience, maturing and finally fixing the definitions of theological terms to which Puritanism for half a century had been leading up and gradually coming closer and closer to in its legion of catechisms.' (Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards, p. 431).
"THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) is the greatest of all the creeds of the Christian church. The church of Christ cannot be creedless and live. Especially in an age of doubt and confusion, it is her duty to define and proclaim the one true faith. Nowhere has the Reformed church done this so effectively as in the WESTMINSTER CONFESSION, and family of documents. This book represents Reformed thinking at its purest and best. It was intended, as part of the Covenanted Reformation taking place during its compilation, to be adopted as the binding confessional standard for every individual, family, court, church, and legislature in the British Isles." -- Publisher
This is considered to be the definitive publication of the Westminster family of documents. It includes the following:
*Willson (alt. Wilson), James McLeod (1809-1866), Some Reasons for Retaining the Westminster Confession as the Basis of Ecclesiastical Union. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
"Explains why the use of the Westminster Confession is one of the best ways in which to obtain godly ecclesiastical union. This booklet pays special attention to the biblical teaching regarding civil government and shows why changes to the original WCF (regarding this matter), has resulted, not surprisingly, in much ecclesiastical disunity. It also contains some interesting notes on the millennial power and glory that will be exhibited in both church and state 'in the day of the Lord's power.' Excerpted from The Original Covenanter and Contending Witness Magazine, (volumes 1:1-4).
Wilson, David, A Modest Apology for the Conduct of Seceders, in Refusing to Join in Christian Communion With Sectarians, Latitudinarians, etc., who Have Departed From the Purity of Reformation Once Attained to in These Kingdoms. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
"An exceedingly rare work published in 1773. Sets forth a strong case for separation from all bodies that are backslidden from the work of covenanted reformation, as it was attained during the days of the Westminster Assembly, and as set forth in the WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH [1646] and its related documents (regarding the government, worship, doctrine and discipline of Christ's church). Denounces the 'detestable indifference or neutrality' of not maintaining covenant obligations, which bind all reformers, 'to endeavour the extirpation of all superstition, heresy, schism, and whatsoever should be found contrary to sound doctrine.' Also proves that there is no liberty or love that is contrary to God's Word. Maintains Christian charity throughout by distinguishing between loving the persons in error, and taking part with, or encouraging them in their sinful confederacies or actions. A great work on the subjects of purity, faithfulness and separation. It is in keeping with the sentiments expressed in the Reformed Presbytery's ACT, DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY which states: 'The first cry against the presbytery and its members was -- 'schism -- schismatics.' This charge was promptly and publicly met and refuted, by showing from the Scriptures, that schism -- 'is in the body,' 1 Cor. 12:26 [1 Corinthians 12:26]; and from the approved writings of our covenanting fathers, that 'sometimes to avoid schism, we must separate.' Our worthy ancestors knew better than to adopt the vocabulary of papal Rome. Besides, 'the majority making defection are the real separatists.' -- Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)" -- Publisher
Wilson, William, A Defence of the Reformation Principles of the Church of Scotland. With a Continuation of the Same. And a Letter From a Member of the Associate Presbytery . . . Wherein the Exceptions That are Laid Against the Conduct of the Associate Presbytery are examined, 1769. Alternate title: A LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY TO A MINISTER IN THE PRESBYTERY OF D- -- NE. (sic), 1769. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
*Woodbridge, John D., Mark A. Noll, and Nathan O. Hatch, The Gospel in America: Themes in the Story of America's Evangelicals, ISBN: 0310372402 9780310372400.
Woods, David Walker, John Witherspoon, ISBN: 9781432672799 1432672797.
"A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty. . . . He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting pure and undefiled religion." -- John Witherspoon
"John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister and president of what is now Princeton University, was the only pastor to sign the Declaration of Independence." -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
Workman, Herbert B., Persecution in the Early Church, ISBN: 0192830252 9780192830258.
"This important assessment of persecution in the early centuries of the Christian era analyzes the clash between church and state, probes the causes of hatred, chronicles the great persecutions, and recounts the experiences of those who were persecuted for their faith." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), The History of Protestantism, 2 volumes. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This massive (8.5' X 11'), two-volume set contains nearly 2000 pages and more than 500 illustrations. It chronicles Protestantism in its progress from the first century to the late 17th century (though the focus is clearly on the 16th and 17th centuries). From Luther's burning of the Papal Bull 'excommunicating' him, to Calvin's refusing the Lord's supper to the Libertines of Geneva (who said they would kill him for doing so), the pages of this book testify to the life and death struggle for truth that remains to this day. The pictures in these books are also excellent for introducing children to major historical events relating to the struggle, sacrifice and victory of Christ's church on earth. The writing of Wylie is well worth the time invested to gain an overview of the great controversy between the true church and the false. Paisley, in his foreword, states, 'The Reformation of the 16th century was the greatest revival of New Testament Christianity since the days of Pentecost. Then once more the gospel in its purity was preached with apostolic power and with apostolic results.' He continues, 'Wylie's . . . is the best history extant. I welcome its republishing. Read it. Study it. Circulate it and by so doing you will help to dispel the dark cloud of priestly superstition, popish idolatry and papal tyranny encircling our land.' When it was first published Rome banned this book, buying up and burning all the copies that they could lay their hands on. It was more hated and denounced by Papists than any other book of its time. In our day, when the Pope addresses the United Nations, is often the subject of news reports, and regularly meets with national civil leaders (and when professing Protestants are defecting to 'the whore of Babylon,' and signing 'peace' treaties with this great enemy of Christ [to fight cultural battles]), these books are needed more than ever. William Cunningham's words, though written many years ago, should be heeded by all faithful Christians today, for he said, 'it is quite evident, from the signs of the times, that the Popish controversy must be fought over again . . . It is incumbent upon ministers of the gospel to prepare themselves for the contest'." -- Publisher
Wylie, The History of Protestantism (1902), vol. 1 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes01wyli
Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 2 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes02wyli
Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 3 of 3.
http://archive.org/details/historyofprotes03wyli
Wylie, James Aiken (1808-1890), History of Protestantism in the Netherlands. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30.
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), History of the Waldenses, ISBN: 1572581859 9781572581852.
"The Waldenses were among the first of the people of Europe to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of years before the Reformation they possessed the Bible in manuscript in their native tongue. Here the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the ancient faith." -- Publisher
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), Pilgrimage From the Alps to the Tiber; or, The Influence of Romanism on Trade, Justice and Knowledge.
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), Protestantism in Scotland (1878), Book 24 (illustrated), from Wylie's THE HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"For the period covered by this book, Scotland went from a nation of uncivilized barbarians to national covenants with Christ, and then through many ups and downs as various factions tried to destroy true Christianity. From darkness to Hamilton, Wishart, Knox, and Melville, through to the Covenanters, the Westminster Assembly and the tragic deception used by Charles II, Wylie's racy style makes it hard to put this book down. Few other nations and periods of history provide such edifying reading. Highlights include Knox's call to the ministry, his interview with Queen Mary, his trial for treason, Melville's work, the National and Solemn League and Covenant, the civil war, the Westminster Assembly, and more." -- Publisher
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), The Road to Rome via Oxford: or, Ritualism Identical With Romanism.
Wylie, Samuel B. (1773-1852), The Obligation of Covenants: A Discourse, Delivered, Monday, June 27, 1803, After the Dispensation of the Lord's Supper, in the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, Glasgow. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Obligation of Covenants
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/samuel-b-wylies-sermon-on-the-obligation-of-covenants
*Wylie, Samuel B. (1773-1852), The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis (1850 edition, reprinted 1995). A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13, #26.
"A Covenanter classic opening Revelation 11:3,4 and Zechariah 4:14. It has been hailed as the 'best presentation of the position of the Covenanter Church that has been written.' Noting that the 'time has been, when the whole body of Presbyterians, in Scotland, England, and Ireland, unanimously subscribed' to these principles, 'for civil and ecclesiastical reformation' and that thousands bled and died for the glorious covenanted cause of civil and ecclesiastical reformation; Wylie sets out to explain and defend 'that cause. Not because it is an ancient cause; not because many have sealed it with their blood; but, because,' as he says, 'I thought it the doctrine of the Bible, and the cause of Christ.' This book explains how to tell if a government (especially a civil government), is faithful to Christ and thus to be obeyed for conscience's sake. It also gives direction regarding when and how to resist (and disassociate), yourself from governments which get their power from 'the beast.' Moreover, this book gives clear testimony as to what the Bible requires of civil magistrates, noting 'that civil rulers should exercise their power in protecting and defending the religion of Jesus.' It also gives plain reasons why dissent from the government of the United States (and other covenant breaking nations), is the legitimate Scriptural pattern." -- Publisher
The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis, Samuel B. Wylie
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/two-sons-of-oil.htm
The two Sons of oil, or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis (1850), Samuel Brown Wylie and James McLeod Willson
http://archive.org/details/twosonsofoilorfa00wylirich
Wylie, Samuel B. (1773-1852), James M'Kinney, John Black, John Niel McLeod, Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod, Minutes of the Supreme Judicatory of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America: Presbytery from A.D. 1801 to A.D. 1809; Synod from A.D. 1809 to A.D. [1853].
See also:The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Feminism, Men, women, and god, misogyny, misandry, misanthropy, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The love and justice of God, God's sovereign hand in history, History, "his-story," Christian scholarship, Christ's influence on western civilization, Family worship, The protestant reformation, The dutch reformation, Calvinism, Background, foundation, and history of the covenanted reformation of scotland, Church history and history of local churches, The history of reformation of the church, The puritan revolution, The reformed presbytery of america, and other smaller reformed associations, Christian biography, A theological interpretation of american history, Works of c. gregg singer, The providence of god, The christian foundation of america, colonial history, Works by and about puritans, Church and state, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Persecution, The history of martyrs, Revisionist history, Modern myths and fallacies, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Meltdown: the depression of 2008, God's deliverance of nations, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Covenanting in America, The scottish covenanting struggle, alexander craighead, and the mecklenburg declaration, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, Church government, Servant leadership, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Unity and uniformity in the visible church: unity in the truth, National establishment of religion: establishmentarianism, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation of scotland, The covenanted reformation of scotland author/title listing, The westminster confession of faith (1646), (westminster standards) and related works a study guide, The puritan revolution, The reformed presbytery of america, and other smaller reformed associations, Covenanting in america, Unfaithful reformed ministries, The counter-reformation, The destruction of American liberty, Reformation eschatology, Books considered to be among the ten greatest in the english language, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, and so forth, and so on.
Christian History CD-ROM
http://www.christianityonline.com/christianhistory/current/
The Historicism Research Foundation
http://www.historicism.net
How Christ Taught us to Pray for Reformation
https://www.reformationscotland.org/2021/06/24/how-christ-taught-us-to-pray-for-reformation/
Reformation and Geneva Bibles
http://www.swrb.com/bibles/bibles.htm
Still Waters Revival Books, Puritan Hard Drive Collection.
Containing 12,500 plus Puritan and Reformation resources on an external USB hard drive, "with an embedded database and custom search/interface program now added, the most extensive and powerful reformation study tool ever produced!"
"Over 12,500 Classic and Contemporary Puritan and Reformation Resources On SWRB's New, Portable, USB Puritan Hard Drive (SWRB-PHD) -- Easy, Virtually Effortless, Access To All 12,500+ Puritan And Reformation Resources (Books, MP3s and Videos [audio files, DVD]), and the Power to Search, Build, Print and Even Save An Unlimited Number of Study Lists Related to Whatever Authors, Topics and Titles You Most Need To Know and Understand!
"The new Puritan Hard Drive also works on both PCs and Macs." -- Publisher
Apparently the Puritan Hard Drive includes all Bookshelf collections prepared and in preparation by SWRB at the time of release of the Puritan Hard Drive. Therefore, it includes titles formerly in the Puritan Bookshelf, Reformation Bookshelf, Calvinism Bookshelf, and Protestant Bookshelf as well as SWRB Newsletter, and audio files. Text and audio files that Puritan Downloads has acquire since release of the PHD may be purchased and downloaded singly at puritandownloads.com. It seems that individual PHD owners can not incorporate new text into the PHD database software and indexes.
PuritanDownloads.com
Download contents: Authors, Titles, Categories, and MP3s for the Puritan Hard Drive.
http://www.puritandownloads.com/swrb-puritan-hard-drive.html
Still Waters Revival Books, Reformation Bookshelf 30 CD Set, ISBN: 0921148674 9780921148678.
This is the WorldCat (OCLC) record for the entire 30 CD set. It gives the title of each CD. See the WorldCat (OCLC) record for each CD for a listing of the titles included on that CD. "Comprehensive Author Index Containing all the Books Found in the Entire 30 CD Reformation Bookshelf Set" is available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30, ISBN: 0921148380 9780921148388.
Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Forgotten Principles of the Reformation, an article.
"These also are principles of the Reformation, largely forgotten among those who call themselves Reformed. We ought to remember and defend the solas, [Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria -- compiler], but we ought also to remember and defend the equally Biblical principles of logical consistency, Scripture alone, the right of private judgment, and separation of church and state."
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=202
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
#01: Introduction: A Span of History
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=72902195856Apologetics #04: The Renaissance and the Reformation
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 47 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105181649Apologetics #24: The Recovery of Christian Theism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 58 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=3205142039John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250The Story of Presbyterianism, C. Gregg Singer, Ph.D. [audio file]
http://www.fpcjackson.org/resources/apologetics/story.htmA Theological Interpretation of American History
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#stiahis
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:12)The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Christians continued to be the most persecuted group across the globe in 2016. It is estimated that 90,000 Christians were killed worldwide for their faith in 2016. "And hundreds of millions more were not allowed to practice their faith." -- Christians the Most Persecuted Group in World for Second Year
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. -- Tertullian (160-225)
Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)The Christ is the only One truly called. . . . The flesh has always struggled against Him, as we see when we survey the history of God's people. The struggle was especially acute at Golgotha. -- S.G. De Graaf in Promise and Deliverance
Anonymous, The Book of Martyrs, With an Account of the Acts and Monuments of Church and State, From the Time of our Blessed Saviour, to the Year 1701. . . . Abstracted from the best authors and original papers. Illustrated with . . . plates. In two volumes. . . . Vol. 1. London, 1702. 2 vols.
*Carslaw, W.H., The Life and Letters of James Renwick the Last Scottish Martyr, 1893. Alternate title: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JAMES RENWICK. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30. Available in BIOGRAPHIA PRESBYTERIANA. Available (BIOGRAPHIA PRESBYTERIANA) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (BIOGRAPHIA PRESBYTERIANA) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30.
Biographia Presbyteriana
https://archive.org/details/biographiapresby02walk/page/n9
Carslaw, W.H., Six Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation: Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, Walter Myln, James Guthrie, Marquis of Argyll and Sir Archibald Johnstone, 1907. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26.
Carslaw, W.H., Three Heroes of the Covenant: The Life and Times of William Guthrie, Donald Cargill and James Renwick, Last of the Martyrs, 1902. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26.
Carter, Robert, and Brothers, Martyrs and Covenanters of Scotland.
Clergyman and others, The Biographical and Martyrological Dictionary: Containing the lives, sufferings, and deaths, of the most eminent martyrs and confessors of Christ, . . . To the whole is annexed, a general index, . . . By a clergyman and others. Newcastle upon Tyne, 1790.
Foster, Finley Milligan, In Memory of Scotland's Martyrs: Lectures Delivered June 20th and 27th, and July 4th, 1880, ISBN: 0524050783 9780524050781.
*Foxe, John (1516-1587), and Thomas Freeman (prefatory material), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable (unabridged). Alternate title: THE UNABRIDGED ACTS AND MONUMENTS ONLINE or TAMO (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). A Christian classic. Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Implemented by the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, England, and published by HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011, Version 2.0, ISBN: 9780954260864.
John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, CD-ROM, ISBN: 0197262252 9780197262252.
Other editions: Acts and Monuments or Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 1554, 1843-49 edition, 8 volumes. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), John Foxe's Book of Martyrs Variorum Edition Online
http://www.tei-c.org/Activities/Projects/jo01.xml
Frend, W.H.C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict From the Maccabees to Donatus, ISBN: 9780227172292 0227172299.
"First published in 1965, this work remains the standard treatment of the interplay between Church and State in the early centuries of the Christian era. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
Gilfillan, George (1813-1878), The Martyrs and Heroes of the Scottish Covenant, 10th edition, 1914.
Gogor, William (d. 1681), The Late Speech and Testimony of William Gogor one of the Three Desperate and Incorrigible Traytors Executed at the Grass Mercat in Edinburgh, the Eleventh Day of March, 1681, for Disowning His Sacred Majesties Authority, 1681.
Guthrie, James (1612?-1661), A cry From the Dead or, the Ghost of the Famous Mr. James Guthrie, Appearing. Being the Last Sermon he Preached in the Pulpit of Stirling, Before his Martyrdom at Edinburgh, June 1661. To Which is Added, his Last Speech Upon the Scaffold. 1738.
Guthrie, James (1612?-1661), The Ordinary of Newgate his Account, of the Behaviour, Confession, and Dying Words of the Malefactors who Were Executed at Tyburn, on Monday the 12th of This Instant February, 1728.
Guthrie, James (1612?-1661), Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyll (1598-1661), My Lord Marquesse of Argyle, his Speech Upon the Scaffold the 27th of May, 1661 as it was Spoken by Himself and Written in Short-hand by one That was Present. As Also the Speech of Mr. James Guthrie, Minister at Sterling, Which he Delivered Upon the Scaffold at the Crosse of Edinburgh Immediately Before he Suffered June 1, 1661.
Hefley, James, and Marti Hefle, By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the 20th Century, ISBN: 0915134284 9780915134281.
"Too often we forget that God's people are suffering and being martyred. Here in a vivid book we are awakened. What FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS did for generations past this book does for our generation." -- GCB
"The book begins with accounts of the martyrs during the Boxer Rebellion in China, continues with martyrs in Japan and Korea, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Nazi Germany, and of the Soviet Union and its communist regimes. Then there are martyrs from the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and from Latin America. . . .
"The stories themselves are gruesome. There is no viciousness like the viciousness of those who worship humanly-conceived gods. Like the Roman Catholic inquisitors in the sixteenth century, men in all nations have at one time or another sought to physically torture Christians to make them recant their testimonies. It is said that for every Christian Stalin murdered in Russia, two or more were raised up by God, until Stalin ordered the killing stopped for fear the whole nation would become Christians. Despite the lurid details of the torture, we recommend that everyone read the books that tell of martyrs dying for the cause of God and truth. This goes for children. Before you cry out, remember what they are watching on television, and seeing in movies, yes, and reading in Stephen King books, and others of that kind. Horror stories are bestsellers in our times. Let the children learn what horrible things are being done to Christians merely because they believe and obey God's word, and because of it worship the Lord Jesus Christ. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
*Howie, John (1735-1793), The Scots Worthies. Biographia Scoticana: or, A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies . . . Also, an Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Hint of the Wicked Lives . . . of the . . . Apostates and . . . Persecutors in Scotland . . . 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged, 1781. A Christian classic. Available (PDF and MP3 audio files) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (PDF file) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1, #10. Available (22 MP3 audio files) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1-30 and at AudioSermons.com.
"Most commonly known as SCOTS WORTHIES, this edition contains Howie's footnotes (defending the Covenanters), and Howie's appendix titled 'The Judgment and Justice of God' (which chronicles God's judgments upon Reformation apostates and those who persecuted the Covenanters). It is the only edition in print which contains both these sections intended for publication by the author (as later editors often removed either one or both of these parts of this book). BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA covers the history of 'noblemen, gentlemen, ministers and others from Mr. Patrick Hamilton, who was born about the year of our Lord 1503, and suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews, Feb., 1527, to Mr. James Renwick, who was executed in the Grass-market of Edinburgh, Feb. 17, 1688. Together with a succinct account of the lives of other seven eminent divines, and Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston, who died about, or shortly after the Revolution.' This is one of our best history books (over 700 pages), covering all of the major Scottish Reformers. Howie summarizes his book as follows: 'The design of the following was to collect, from the best authorities, a summary account of the lives, characters, and contendings, of a certain number of our most renowned SCOTS WORTHIES, who, for their faithful services, ardent zeal, constancy in sufferings, and other Christian graces and virtues, deserve honourable memorial in the Church of Christ; and for which their names have been, and will be savoury to all the true lovers of our Zion, while Reformation principles are regarded.' Furthermore, the momentous nature of the struggles chronicled in this book are succinctly noted when Howie writes: 'the primitive witnesses had the divinity of the Son of God, and an open confession of Him, for their testimony. Our reformers from Popery had Antichrist to struggle with, in asserting the doctrines of the Gospel, and the right way of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. Again, in the reigns of James VI. and Charles I., Christ's REGALIA, and the divine right of Presbytery, became the subject matter of their testimony. Then, in the beginning of the reign of Charles II. (until he got the whole of our ancient and laudable constitution effaced and overturned), our Worthies only saw it their duty to hold and contend for what they had already attained unto. But, in the end of this and the subsequent tyrant's reign, they found it their duty (a duty which they had too long neglected), to advance one step higher, by casting off their authority altogether, and that as well on account of their manifest usurpation of Christ's crown and dignity, as on account of their treachery, bloodshed, and tyranny . . . which may be summed up. The Primitive martyrs sealed the prophetic office of Christ in opposition to Pagan idolatry. The reforming martyrs sealed His priestly office with their blood, in opposition to Popish idolatry. And last of all, our late martyrs have sealed His kingly office with their best blood, in despite of supremacy and bold Erastianism. They indeed have cemented it upon His royal head, so that to the world's end it shall never drop off again.' Moreover, the importance of this book can be clearly seen when Johnston, in TREASURY OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANT, reports that, Walter Scott refers to Howie as 'the fine old chronicler of the Cameronians'. . . Howie's book has been for upwards of a century a household word, occupying a place on the shelf beside THE BIBLE and THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' Written for God, country and the covenanted work of Reformation. Stirring history!" -- Publisher
An alternative edition that also contains the appendix, Biographia Scoticana: or, A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies, Noblemen, Gentlemen, Ministers and Others . . . With an Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Account of the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of Some of the Most Bloody Persecutors in Scotland, 1836.
An Appendix, Containing a Short Historical Hint of the Wicked Lives and Miserable Deaths of Some of the Most Remarkable Apostates and Bloody Persecutors in Scotland From the Reformation to the Revolution
This is the Appendix to THE SCOTS WORTHIES. BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA, 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged, 1781.
http://archive.org/details/biographiascotic28272gut
See also: A CLOUD OF WITNESSES FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST BEING THE LAST SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE TRUTH IN SCOTLAND SINCE . . . 1680 and JOHN FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. ACTES AND MONUMENTS OF MATTERS MOST SPECIALL AND MEMORABLE. Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Implemented by the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, England, and published by HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011, Version 2.0, ISBN: 9780954260864.
Lawson, John Parker, John Lothian, and David Hay Fleming, Life of George Wishart, the Most Distinguished Martyr for the Reformation in Scotland: With an Appendix Containing the Life and Murder of Cardinal Beaton, and Biographical Sketches of Gawin Dunbar and Sir David Lindsay. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18.
"Had I taught men's doctrine, I had gotten great thanks by men; but for the word's sake and the true gospel, which was given to me by the grace of God, I suffer this day by men, not sorrowfully, but with a glad heart and mind." -- George Wishart (1513-1546), while fixed to a stake moments before being burned alive.
*McFeeters, J.C. (James Calvin, 1848-1928), Sketches of the Covenanters. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Stirring accounts of sacrifice and martyrdom for the Reformed Faith that will bring tears to eyes of all but the backslidden. Follows the chain of events which gave Scotland two Reformations and a Revolution. Knox, the National Covenant, the Westminster Assembly, the Field Meetings, and much more is covered. The history of great battles for Christ and His royal rights are recounted in this moving history book. Sheds much light upon the warfare with the dragon for true liberty. One of our best history books, highly recommended!" -- Publisher
Sketches of the Covenanters
http://archive.org/details/sketchesofthecov13570gut
Sketches of the Covenanters
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13570
Nisbet, John, A True Relation of the Life and Sufferings of John Nisbet in Hardhill, his Last Testimony to the Truth; With a Short Account of his Last Words on the Scaffold, December 4. 1685. Never Hitherto Published, Edinburgh, 1718. Available in Tweedie, SELECT BIOGRAPHIES II.
Renwick, James (1662-1688), Antipas, or, The Dying Testimony of Mr. James Renwick, Minister of the Gospel, who Suffered at the Grass-market of Edinburgh, Feb. 17, 1688: His Sentence was Founded on These Following Heads: 1. Because he could not own James the VII, to be his lawful soverain, 2. Because he taught the unlawfulness of paying the cess expresly [sic] exacted for supressing of the faithful and free-preaching of the Gospel, 3. Because he taught, that it was the people's duty, to carry arms at the preaching of the Gospel (when it was persecuted), for defending of themselves, and resisting of unjust violence, 1688. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Ridley, Nicholas, and Henry Christmas, Works of Nicholas Ridley.
"Ridley was 'an eminent reformer and Protestant martyr . . . Having concurred in the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey, he was committed to the Tower. Condemned to death for heresy and burnt in 1555.' (Darling, Cyclopedia Bibliographica, p. 2557)
Of all our English martyrs, . . . Ridley has been esteemed by far the most learned . . . he learned to repeat, without book, almost all the epistles in Greek . . . The courage and zeal he manifested in promoting the (first English -- RB), reformation was such, that he was considered, next to Cranmer, its greatest supporter amongst the clergy . . . the purity of his life corresponded with his knowledge . . . The reformation was greatly promoted by his learning, zeal, and active exertions while he lived, and perhaps more so by his death in its defence. In England, as everywhere else, the ancient observation has been verified, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' (Thomas Smith, Select Memoirs of the Lives Labours, and Sufferings, of Those Pious and Learned English and Scottish Divines, p. 173 ff, 1828)"Along with a biographical notice, and among 16 other works, letters, and disputations, this book contains Ridley's 'Brief Declaration or Treatise Against Transubstantiation' ('Ridley is allowed to have been master of that subject more than any man of his age,' Smith, p. 175), his 'Treatise Against Image Worship,' and his 'Conferences with Latimer.' Printed from the 1843 Parker Society edition, indexed, 485 pages." -- Publisher
Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Covenanting Martyrs and the Revival of the Covenants! (From THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/CovMart.htm
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
Shields, Alexander (1660?-1700), The Life and Death of That Eminently Pious, Free, and Faithful Minister and Martyr of Jesus Christ, Mr. James Renwick: With a Vindication of the Heads of his Dying Testimony, 1806, 2nd edition. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2.
Staughton, S., A Selection of Remarkable Events in the Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Eminent Reformers, and Martyrs, in the Christian Church, Coventry, 1791.
Symington, Andrew (1785-1853, the older brother of William), The Blood of Faithful Martyrs Precious in the Sight of Christ: A Discourse, Delivered in the Church of Paisley, on the 24th October, 1834: On Occasion of a Collection to Erect a Monument Commemorative of Two Martyrs. Text on Psalm LXXII, 14 [Psalm 72:14], 1834.
Symington, Andrew (1785-1853, the older brother of William), The Martyrs' Monument: A Brief View of the Principles and Character of the Scottish Martyrs, 1847.
Symington, Andrew (1785-1853, the older brother of William), Religious Principles of the Scottish Martyrs
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/RelPrinScotMar.htm
Thomson, J.H., Matthew Hutchison, and David Hay Fleming, The Martyr Graves of Scotland. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Thomson, John Henderson (editor), John McMain, and David Scott (introduction), A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ Being the Last Speeches and Testimonies of Those who Have Suffered for the Truth in Scotland Since . . . 1680. Alternate title: THE FIFTEENTH EDITION, ENLARGED AND CORRECTED: A CLOUD OF WITNESSES, FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST: OR, THE LAST SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE TRUTH IN SCOTLAND, SINCE THE YEAR 1680: WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE QUEENSFERRY PAPER; TORWOOD EXCOMMUNICATION; A RELATION CONCERNING MR. RICHARD CAMERON, MR. DONALD CARGIL, AND HENRY HALL; AND AN ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO WERE KILLED WITHOUT PROCESS OF LAW, AND BANISHED TO FOREIGN LANDS: WITH A SHORT VIEW OF SOME OF THE OPPRESSIVE EXACTIONS, ISBN: 0873779231. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"With the Testimonies of John Nisbet the Younger, John Nisbet of Hardhill, Robert Miller, Thomas Harkness, &c. A Letter of John Semple's and of Archibald Stewart's. The Paper found upon Mr. Cameron at Airsmoss, and an Acrostick upon his name. The Testimony of John Finlay in Kilmarnock. The Epitaphs upon the Grave Stones of Mr. Samuel Rutherford, Mr. John Welwood, and the noble Patriots who fell at Pentland-hills, &c.
"Also includes THE TESTIMONY OF SOME PERSECUTED PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, UNTO THE COVENANTED REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, AND TO THE PRESENT EXPEDIENCY OF CONTINUING TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN THE FIELDS, AND AGAINST THE PRESENT ANTI-CHRISTIAN TOLERATION IN ITS NATURE AND DESIGN, &C. GIVEN IN TO THE MINISTERS AT EDINBURGH, BY MR. JAMES RENWICK, UPON THE 17TH JAN. 1688. AND MR. RICHARD CAMERON'S LAST SERMON; PREACHED ON KYPE WATER IN EVANDALE, JULY 18TH, 1680, THREE DAYS BEFORE HE WAS KILLED AT AIRS-MOSS. (Pittsburgh: Printed for David Reed, by Eichbaum & Johnston, 1824), 1884 edition.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1,2)
"Presbyterian Covenanter martyrs of Scotland, their last speeches and testimonies. The first edition appeared in 1714, and as more material was collected it was added to the 15 editions that were printed over the next 100 years.
"An amazing book compiled to show how -- and especially why (from their own dying testimonies) -- the Covenanters suffered, bled and died. These brave martyrs for Christ laid the foundation for liberty and truth in both church and state. They have much to say to us today . . . . Though the issues and ferocity of persecution (by the Popes, prelates, and Erastians), were more obvious during the times covered in this book, the message to contemporary Christians could not be clearer: we are involved in a life and death struggle. Few books are this moving or this edifying -- a real treasure! (658 pp., 1884 ed.)." -- Publisher
The 1871 edition was praised by Spurgeon.
A Cloud of Witnesses
https://archive.org/details/cloudofwitnesses00thom
A Cloud of Witnesses, 1871 edition, free online e-text.
http://books.google.com/books?id=4vMCAAAAQAAJ&dq=thomson+a+cloud+of+witnesses&ie=ISO-8859-1
Walker, Patrick, and David Hay Fleming, Six Saints of the Covenant: Peden, Semple, Welwood, Cameron, Cargill, Smith, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0790572621 9780790572628. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Covers the lives of Peden, Semple, Welwood, Cameron, Cargill and Smith. These two volumes are edited with illustrative documents, introduction, notes, and a glossary by David Hay Fleming. Walker's advantage in writing of these men, as Hay Fleming points out, can be seen in 'that he lived in the times of which he wrote, that he personally knew many of the Covenanters and martyrs of whom he wrote, and that he was himself a shrewd observer and was endowed with a tenacious memory.' Walker himself had endured imprisonment and torture for the Covenanted cause of Christ and Burton writes that his 'unadorned descriptions of suffering and heroism convey a lesson to the heart which no genius or learning could strengthen,' indexed." -- Publisher
Six Saints of the Covenant: Peden, Semple, Welwood, Cameron, Cargill, Smith, vol. 1 of 2
https://archive.org/details/sixsaintscovena00walkgoog
Six Saints of the Covenant: Peden, Semple, Welwood, Cameron, Cargill, Smith, vol. 2 of 2
https://archive.org/details/sixsaintscovena02walkgoog
See also: Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Chapter 10: christian biography, Biography of covenanters, The covenanted reformation short title listing, Persecution, Affliction, adversity, trials, suffering, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Christian biography, Biography of covenanters, and so forth, and so on.
Without Bible magistracy -- law enforcement, judgment, justice, criminal prosecution, civil prosecution, punishment of wrongdoers, equal justice for the "insane" and "mentally ill" (who in most cases are demoniacs), regulation of finance, business, and just regulation in all spheres of human activity -- in the absence of law enforcement, and regulation there is no government in church or in state. Punishment of wrongdoers is the primary function of a nation's government. Likewise, without church discipline there is no church government and, of course, no church.
Anonymous, A Vindication of the Presbyteriall-government, and Ministry: Together, with an Exhortation, to all the ministers, elders, and people, within the bounds of the province of London, whether joyning with us, or separating from us. Published, by the ministers, and elders, met together in a provinciall assembly, Novemb. 2d. 1649. Wherein, amongst other things, these ensuing particulars are contained; 1. That there is a Church-government, by divine right. 2. That the magistrate, is not the fountain of Church-government. 3. That the presbyterial-government, is by divine right. 4. The inconveniencies of the congregationall-way. 5. That the ruling-elder is by divine right. 6. That it is the will of Jesus Christ, that all sorts of persons should give an account of their faith, to the minister, and elders, before admission to the Lords Supper; . . . 7. Directions to the elders, for the right managing of their office. 8. Directions to such as are admitted to the Lords Supper, . . . 9. Rules to preserve people, from the errours of these times. 10. That separation from our churches, is justly charged with schisme. 11. That ministers formerly ordained by bishops, need no new ordination. 12. The necessity and usefulness of catechizing. Licensed, entred, and printed according to order, 1649. Available (under Robert Baillie and Sundry Ministers of London) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Baillie, Robert (1599-1662), A Dissuasive From the Errours of the Time: Wherein the Tenets of the Principall Sects, Especially of the Independents, are Drawn Together in one map, for the Most Part in the Words of Their own Authours, and Their Maine Principles are Examined by the Touch-stone of the Holy Scriptures. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Chapter titles include: The origin and progress of the Brownists; The doctrine of the Brownists; The origin and progress of the Independents, and of their carriage in New England; The carriage of the Independents in Holland; The carriage of the Independents at London; An enumeration of the common tenets of the Independents; It is unjust scrupulosity to require satisfaction of the true grace of every Church member; Concerning the right of prophesying; Whether the power of ecclesiastical jurisdiction belongs to the people, or to the Presbytery?; Independency is contrary to God's Word; The thousand years of Christ, his visible reign upon Earth, is against Scripture (contra Premillennialism -- RB)." -- Publisher
Baillie, Robert (1599-1662), A Review of the Seditious Pamphlet Lately Published [sic] in Holland by Dr. Bramhell, Pretended Bishop of London-derry, Entitled, His Faire Warning Against the Scots Discipline: in which his malicious and most lying reports, to the great scandall of that government, are fully and clearly refuted: as also the Solemne League and Covenant of the three nations justified and maintained, 1649. Alternate title: BAILLIE'S REVIEW OF BRAMHALL'S SEDITIOUS PAMPHLET . . . ALSO THE HOLY LEAGUE AND COVENANT OF THESE THREE NATIONS JUSTIFIED AND MAINTAINED. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Baillie, Robert (1599-1662), The Unlawfulness and Danger of Limited Prelacy, or Perpetual Presidency in the Church, Briefly Discovered, 1641. Alternate title: THE UNLAVVFULNESSE AND DANGER OF LIMITED EPISCOPACIE. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
"A defense of Alexander Henderson."
Baillie, Robert (1599-1662), Patrick Adamson (1537-1592), and Welch, John (1568?-1622), An Historical Vindication of the Government of the Church of Scotland: From the Manifold Base Calumnies Which the Most Malignant of the Prelats did Invent of old, and now Lately Have Been Published With Great Industry in two Pamphlets at London: The one intituled Issachars burden, &c. written and published at Oxford by John Maxwell, a Scottish prelate, excommunicate by the Church of Scotland, and declared an unpardonable incendiary by the parliaments of both kingdoms: the other falsly intituled A declaration made by King James in Scotland, concerning church-government and presbyteries: but indeed written by Patrick Adamson, pretended Archbishop of St. Andrews, contrary to his own conscience, as himselfe on his death-bed did confesse and subscribe before many witnesses in a write hereunto annexed. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Ballantyne, J., George Clark, David Brown, and Alexander Brown, A Comparison of Established and Dissenting Churches, 1824.
Bannerman, D. Douglas (1842-1903), Worship, Order, and Polity of the Presbyterian Church, ISBN: 052402443X 9780524024430.
*Bannerman, James (1807-1868), The Church of Christ: A Treatise on the Nature, Powers, Ordinances, Discipline, and Government of the Christian Church, 1869, 2 volumes. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
"Two large volumes. A classic on the Church and worship! This is one of the most extensive studies of its kind ever compiled. Nothing compares to it on this subject. Regarding these gems, Iain Murray has stated, 'In our day, however greatly we need an evangelical revival, we need more than that. We need another Reformation, a movement which will go 'to the root of the mischief' and bring back the visible church to the pattern of God's Word in her government, ordinances and ministry. The republication of Bannerman is a step in that direction . . . For those who wish to study the doctrine of the Church in its several aspects as it was held by the majority of the Reformers, Puritans, Covenanters and leaders of 'The Third Reformation,' it will prove an invaluable textbook." -- Publisher
Bannerman, James (1807-1868), The Independent System of Church Polity as Opposed to the Presbyterian. Excerpted from Bannerman's THE CHURCH OF CHRIST: A TREATISE ON THE NATURE, POWERS, ORDINANCES, DISCIPLINE, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Alternate title: THE INDEPENDENT THEORY OF THE MINISTRY. Available (THE CHURCH OF CHRIST) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"As good a short treatment as you will find anywhere concerning this subject. Hits all the disputed points.
"The independent view of the ministry critiqued and biblically refuted. Very pertinent given the turmoil, disunity, and confusion in the modern church. Independents must deal with these arguments if they want to retain credibility." -- Publisher
Breckenridge, Robert J., Presbyterian Government not a Hierarchy, but a Commonwealth, and, Presbyterian Ordination, not a Charm, but an act of Government: The Substance of two Arguments Delivered Before the Synod of Philadelphia met in Baltimore, October, 1843. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
Brown, John (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), The Exclusive Claims of Puseyite Episcopalians to the Christian Ministry Indefensible: With an inquiry into the divine right of episcopacy and the apostolic succession: in a series of letters to the Rev. Dr. Pusey by John Brown. To which is prefixed an article on the Anglican reformation, 1844.
*Brown, John (of Haddington, 1722-1787), A Compend of the Letters of the Rev. John Brown, Late Minister of the Gospel in Haddington: On Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery in Britain, and on National Covenanting; In Which the Doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith . . . and of the National Covenant and Solemn League are Candidly Represented and Defended, 1797. Alternate title: THE ABSURDITY AND PERFIDY OF ALL AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION OF GROSS HERESY, BLASPHEMY, IDOLATRY, POPERY, IN BRITAIN. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7, #25, #26.
The Absurdity and Perfidy of all Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain
http://archive.org/details/absurdityperfidy00brow
Brown, John (of Haddington, 1722-1787), Letters on the Constitution, Government, and Discipline, of the Christian Church; Humbly Submitted to the Ensuing Venerable Assembly, of the Church of Scotland, 1767, ISBN: 0921148798 9780921148791. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7.
Brown, John (of Haddington, 1722-1787), Of the Nature, Formation, and Fellowship of the Christian Church, 1796. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7.
Brown, John (of Haddington, 1722-1787), Reformation Attainments Versus Backsliding Religious Professors. Available (THE ABSURDITY AND PERFIDY OF ALL AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7, #25, #26.
"Here Brown deals with three major Reformation attainments (anti-tolerationism, establishmentarianism and the obligations of lawful covenants as they biblically bind posterity), that Satan has always been especially concerned to overthrow -- in every major demonic move to open the floodgates of lawlessness, anarchy and misrule. Fletcher, in the preface to the 1797 edition, relates this truth as it comes to bear on various religious professors, stating, 'Papists were enemies to our covenants because they were a standard lifted up against their system of abominable idolatries. Episcopalians were enemies to them, because they were a standard lifted up against their anti-scriptural church-officers and inventions of men in the worship of God. Some Presbyterians are enemies to them in our day through ignorance of their nature and ends; and others through fear of being too strictly bound to their duty'." (cited in Johnston, Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 486) -- Publisher
The Absurdity and Perfidy of all Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain
http://archive.org/details/absurdityperfidy00brow
Brown, John (of Wamphray, 1610-1679), An Apologetical Relation of the Particular Sufferings of the Faithful Ministers and Professors of the Church of Scotland Since 1660, Wherein Several Questions, Useful for the Time, Are Discussed: The king's prerogative over parliaments and people soberly inquired into; The lawfulness of defensive war cleared; The supreme magistrate's power in church matters examined; Mr. Stillingfleet's notion concerning the divine right or forms of church government considered; The author of "The seasonable case" answered; Other particulars, such as the hearing of the curates appearing before the high commission court, etc., canvassed, etc. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #8.
*Calderwood, David (1600-1666), The Pastor and the Prelate or Reformation and Conformity Shortly Compared, 1844. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. (PB #4, ACL, DVD One, CD #3)
"This 17th century work refutes prelacy. Calderwood, bound by solemn oath to defend the doctrine and discipline of Biblical Presbyterian government and worship, and to oppose the hierarchy, along with all rites and ceremonies added to the worship of God, does a masterful job here. He uses the Word of God and the proceedings of the ancient and Reformation churches to make his points. He deals with controversies over things 'indifferent,' people's souls, state and society, etc. -- as they are affected by these two systems of government. He points out the far-reaching consequences of the implementation of various systems of church government and worship, showing how these specific ideas are eventually mirrored in the culture in general. Summarizing, he notes the classic saying concerning these matters and their consequences in the civil realm, 'no ceremony no bishop, no bishop no king,' and in the ecclesiastical arena, 'no ceremony no prelate, no prelate no pope'." -- Publisher
Campbell, William M., Samuel Rutherfurd [Rutherford], Propagandist and Exponent of Scottish Presbyterianism: An Exposition of his Position and Influence in the Doctrine and Politics of the Scottish Church.
Campbell, William McMaster, The Triumph of Presbyterianism.
Church of Scotland (Alexander Peterkin, editor), The Book of the Universal Kirk of Scotland. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"THE BOOK OF THE UNIVERSAL KIRK OF SCOTLAND contains the earliest official records (acts and proceedings) of the Established Reformed Church in Scotland, covering the period from 1560 to 1616.
"Alexander Peterkin calls them 'the only sure and satisfactory memorials of the course of Ecclesiastical affairs in the times immediately succeeding the Reformation.'
"Lee, Clerk of the General Assembly in 1828 writes (regarding the originals), 'there is no difficulty in proving that the volumes in question were laid on the table of the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638; and that they were pronounced by that Assembly to be true and authentic Registers of the Kirk of Scotland.'
"Concerning this copy of 'The Booke' ('for the first time fully printed from the copies in the Advocates' Library'), Lee further states that these records exhibit,
The real character of the internal government of this national church. They display the operation of the principles by which the first Reformers and their immediate successors were actuated. They demonstrate that these men were not more distinguished by zeal for the truth, than by loyalty to the head of the government, attachment to true principles, (I do not say of toleration -- for that was a term which they certainly did not employ or approve -- of religious liberty and civil subordination."They bear testimony to the strictness and impartiality of ancient discipline. They vindicate the character of those illustrious men whose names have been unjustly aspersed, but who, both by their doctrine and lives, -- by their unwearied exertions and their patient sufferings, -- left an example, not indeed or faultless excellence, but assuredly of the most noble, magnanimous, and fearless adherence to the standards of our constitution.
*Church of Scotland, General Assembly, 1638-1649, The Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, From the Year 1638 to the Year 1649 Inclusive, 1682. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #11.
"Exceedingly rare, these are the acts from what many consider the greatest general assembly gatherings since the days of the apostles. The work accomplished and ratified at these meetings has been called 'the most perfect model' of Presbyterial Church Government 'as yet attained.' Sitting during the momentous days of the Covenants (National and Solemn League), and the Westminster Assembly, this general assembly included the likes of Samuel Rutherford and George Gillespie. Judicially binding on covenanted Presbyterians (WCF 31:3), these Acts demonstrate how these godly leaders officially dealt with individual, family, ecclesiastical and civil Reformation (including national and international matters). Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that these rulings had major national and international ramifications in their day and that they still guide faithful Presbyterians at the close of the twentieth century (as terms of ministerial and Christian communion in the Reformed Presbyterian church). Moreover, they contain 'noble examples to be followed in testifying against all corruptions embodied in the constitutions of either churches or states.' (Reformed Presbytery, Act, Declaration and Testimony for the Whole of our Covenanted Reformation, p. 216). Christ's Kingship has never since been so boldly and clearly proclaimed to the nations by a duly constituted general assembly -- neither has His rule and reign been upheld and actually embodied into the laws of a nation (civil and ecclesiastical), as it was during these days in Scotland. Much of this can be attributed to the work (humanly speaking), done by the ministers present while these Acts were debated and passed. Regarding doctrine, worship, government and discipline there are few books that will be as helpful -- especially to elders and those advanced in the faith. Additionally, if you want a glimpse at the heart of the Second Reformation this is one of the best places to look. It may also be considered 'the eye of the Puritan storm,' seeing that the Scottish Covenanters exerted such a godly influence among their English Presbyterian brothers (and the Westminster Assembly), during these days -- the two nations having covenanted with God (in the Solemn League and Covenant), for the international 'reformation and defense of religion . . . the peace and safety of the three kingdoms . . . the glory of God, and the advancement of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, etc.' Over 500 pages and indexed for easy reference to all major topics." -- Publisher
Copeland, E. Clark, The Church a Covenant Community as Seen in the Jerusalem Council, 1967.
Cunningham, Alexander (d. 1574), Jean Calvin, and Theodore Beza, An Essay Concerning Church Government: Out of the Excellent Writings of Calvin and Beza.
Cunningham, William (1805-1861), Defence of the Rights of the Christian People in the Appointment of Ministers: From the Constitutional Standards and History of the Church of Scotland: With Continuation of Strictures on Mr. Robertson's Observations on the Veto Act, 1840.
Cunningham, William (1805-1861), Discussions on Church Principles: Popish, Erastian, and Presbyterian. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Cunningham, Discussions on Church Principles: Popish, Erastian, and Presbyterian
http://archive.org/details/discussionsonchu00cunnuoft
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), The Westminster Confession on the Relationship Between Church and State. Alternate title: REMARKS ON THE TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, AS BEARING ON EXISTING CONTROVERSIES. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Chapter eight excerpted from DISCUSSIONS ON CHURCH PRINCIPLES. Answers the false claims that the Westminster Divines contradicted themselves on this issue and/or that they were Erastians. Proves that changes made to the original Westminster Confession, concerning church and state issues, were in error -- clearly demonstrating why this is so." -- Publisher
The Westminster Confession on the Relation Between Church and State, William Cunningham
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/a-godly-society/the-westminster-confession-on-the-relation-between-church-and-state.php
De Witt, John R., Jus Divinum: The Westminster Assembly and the Divine Right of Church Government.
Dick, John (d. 1684), A Testimony to the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the Church of Scotland, and the Covenanted Work of Reformation as it was Profess'd in the Three Kingdoms: Together With an Account of the Persecution of Some of the Most Eminent in our Days for Their Adherence to the Same, 1684. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Durham, James (1622-1658), Concerning Scandal. A Christian classic. Alternate title: THE DYING MAN'S TESTAMENT TO THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND: OR, A TREATISE CONCERNING SCANDAL. A Christian classic. Available (1659 edition), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"The Rise of The Following Treatise
"Having had occasion to consider the Book of the Revelation, and being on the Epistle to the Church of Pergamos in the second chapter, ground was given to speak something of Scandal, by reason of several doctrines clearly arising from that place. Upon this occasion I did first essay the writing of something of the doctrine of scandal in general, intending only to have spent a sheet or two thereupon, as elsewhere on some other subjects. When this was brought to a close, I found the place to give ground to speak of public church offenses, as they are the object of church discipline and censures. And being convinced, that that subject was not impertinent to be spoken of, I yielded to spend some thoughts upon it also, which did draw to a greater length than at first was intended or was suitable for a digression. This being finished, as it is, and any more thoughts of this subject laid by, it occurred again to me to think of doctrinal scandals or of scandalous errors. And considering that the scandals mentioned in that place, are of such nature, and that such are very frequent in this time, I yielded also to put together what thoughts the Lord would furnish concerning the same, whereupon followed the third part of this treatise.
"When this was even at the closing, there was a fourth part of the same subject that did occur to me to be thought on, which before that had never been minded, and that was concerning scandalous church divisions. To this my mind and inclination was exceedingly averse at first, as knowing it not only to be difficult in itself to be meddled in, but also exceedingly above me, who am altogether unsuitable to hazard on such a subject. Yet considering the rise of the motion, and how the Lord had helped through the other parts, I did resolve to condescend to follow it, at least so far till it might appear what was his mind to me therein, and accordingly did follow it till it came to the period (whatever it be), that now it is at.
"This is the true rise and occasion of this treatise, and of the several parts thereof, and therefore I have continued its entry in the original mold thereof, to wit, in laying down some general doctrines from that place of Scripture, and if there is afterward any more particular relation to the second and third chapters of the Revelation than to other Scriptures, this simple narration of the rise thereof may satisfy any concerning the same. Whereof we shall say no more, but first lay down grounds of all from that text, and then proceed in the treatise, which is divided in four parts, upon the reasons formerly hinted.
"The Grounds of This Treatise
"Among other things that troubled the church in the primitive times, scandal, or offense, was a chief one. The many directions that are given concerning it, and the reproofs that are of it, show that it is a main piece of a Christian's conversation to walk rightly in reference thereto, and a great evidence of looseness where it is not heeded. On verse 6 [Rev. 2 (Revelation 2:6)], we show that this was a sole fault of the Nicolaitans to be careless of offending, or of giving of offense, and not to regard scandal; and here the Lord holds it forth to be so by comparing it with Balaam's practice (v. 14 [Revelation 5:14]), which is aggreged from this, that he taught Balak to lay a stumbling block before Israel. From which these doctrines may be gathered:
1. That there is such a fault incident to men in their carriage, even to lay stumbling-blocks before others and to offend them."In this work Mr. Durham, in opening and examining the different scandals which deface the visible church, causing both the professed people of God, and the heathen to stumble and fall in the snares of sin and the devil, shows carefully and clearly the various means of avoiding and remedying these offenses, and what the people of God in their various places and stations must do to maintain the beauty of Zion in godliness and holiness, in purity and in peace.
2. That men ought to walk so as not to offend others, or so as to lay no stumbling-block before them. So that it is not enough not to stumble themselves (if this could be separated from the other), but also they ought to be careful not to stumble others.
3. The Lord takes special notice how men do walk in reference to others in this, and is highly provoked where he sees any guilty of it.
4. The Devil has ever endeavored to have offenses abounding in the church, and to make some lay such stumbling-blocks before others.
5. It is most hurtful to the church, and destructive to souls where offenses abound, and men walk not tenderly in reference to these; so that the Lord expresses it with a twofold woe (Matt. 18 [Matthew 18]), as being a woe beyond sword and pestilence.
6. We may gather that corrupt doctrine never [lacks] offenses joined with it, and that ordinarily those who spread that, are untender in this.
7. That offenses often accompany the rise and beginning of any work of Christ's among a people; these tares of offenses are ordinarily then sown.
8. That some offenses are of a public nature, and that church officers should take notice of such, and that it is offensive to Christ when they are overlooked and not taken heed unto.
9. Church officers, even such as other ways are approved in their carriage and ministry, may fall in this fault, as by comparing the Epistles to Pergamos and Thyatira, is clear.
10. When officers fall in this fault, it is yet no reprovable thing in members that are pure in respect of their own personal carriage, to continue in communion with such a church, the ordinances other ways being pure." -- Author's Introduction
Edwards, Thomas (1599-1647), Reasons Against the Independent Government of Particular Congregations: As Also Against the Toleration of Such Churches to be Erected in This Kingdom -- Together With an Answer to Such Reasons as are Commonly Alleged for Such a Toleration, 1641. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24, #26.
Ferguson (Fergusson), James (1621-1667), The Headship of Christ Over His Church and her Independent Jurisdiction, 1841. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Fraser, James (of Brea, 1639-1698), Sermon on Prelacy an Idol and Prelates Idolaters: All Prelatists, Maintainers of, and Complyers With Prelacy, Charg'd With Idolatry, and Proven Guilty. A Sermon [on Hosea ii. 2-5 (Hosea 2:2-5)], 1738.
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-frasers-of-brae-sermon-on-prelacy-an-idol-and-prelates-idolaters
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), CXI Propositions Concerning the Ministerie and Government of the Church, 1647.
*Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Aaron's Rod Blossoming; or, the Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated, 1646. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ARMOURY.
"The remainder of the title reads: 'So as the Present Erastian Controversy Concerning the Distinction of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government, Excommunication and Suspension, is Fully Debated and Discussed, from the Holy Scriptures, for the Jewish and Christian Antiquities, from the Consent of Later Writers, from the True Nature and Rights of Magistracy, and from the Groundlessness of the Chief Objections made Against the Presbyterial Government, in Point of a Domineering Arbitrary Unlimited Power.'
"In short, this book deals with the biblical view of the separation of church and state, and is especially pertinent concerning the modern political climate, in which the old Erastian tree of civil ecclesiastical interference is growing strong and spreading much poisonous fruit. As with just about everything else Gillespie wrote, this book has been widely recognized as THE classic in its field. Three major sections cover 'Of the Jewish Church Government;' 'Of Christian Church Government;' and 'Of Excommunication from the Church, and of Suspension from the Lord's Table.' Lachman, in his Preface writes, 'It presents the classic Reformed point of view, one now little heard and perhaps less understood. Gillespie writes carefully and clearly, in many respects resembling the better know John Owen in the clarity and power of his reasoning.' Bannerman states, 'This famous treatise is unquestionably the most able, learned, systematic, and complete work on the Erastian controversy in existence. It deserves, and will repay, the most careful study.' (The Church of Christ, vol. 2, p. 432). Beattie, (Memorial Volume, p. xxxvi, 1879), called this book, 'the ablest plea for Presbytery ever made'." -- Publisher
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or, The Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated (1844)
http://archive.org/details/aaronsrodblosso00gillgoog
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), An Assertion of the Government of the Church of Scotland in the Points of Ruling-elders and of the Authority of Presbyteries and Synods: With A postscript in Answer to a Treatise Lately Published Against Presbyteriall Government.
Assertion of the Gov't of the Church of Scotland
http://www.truecovenanter.com/gillespie/gillespie_assertion_govt_kirk_scotland.html
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), A Late Dialogue Betwixt a Civilian and a Divine, Concerning the Church of England, 1644.
"Particulars spoken of: 1. The sinne and danger of delaying reformation. 2. That there is a certain form of church-government jure divino. 3. That there was an ecclesiasticall excommunication among the Jews. 4. That excommunication is an ordinance in the New Testament. 5. Concerning the toleration of all sects and heresies. 6. Some answer to a late book come from Oxford. The 'late book come from Oxford' is John Maxwell's AN ANSWER BY LETTER TO A WORTHY GENTLEMAN." Available (THE WORKS OF GEORGE GILLESPIE) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), A Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, Upon the 27th of August, 1645: Being the day Appointed for Solemne and Publique Humiliation: Whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government. [Job 11:20]
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Of Uniformity in Religion, Worship of God, and Church Government. This is chapter 15, "A Treatise of Miscellany Questions," pp. 82-85 in GEORGE GILLESPIE'S WORKS, VOLUME 2. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #19.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Uniformity.htm
*Gillespie, George (1613-1648), George Buchanan, John Brown (of Wamphray), David Hay Fleming, The Presbyterian's Armoury, 3 volumes, 1846. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"In terms of 'bang for your book buying buck,' you will not find more fire-power 'under one roof' than in THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ARMOURY! Can be purchased as the three volume set or individually as listed below."
Volume One of THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ARMOURY
"Contains GILLESPIE'S LIFE AND WRITINGS by Hetherington, plus all of the following works by George Gillespie: A DISPUTE AGAINST ENGLISH POPISH CEREMONIES, 1637; AN ASSERTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 1644; 111 PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING THE MINISTRY AND GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH, 1644; two of Gillespie's sermons, preached before the House of Common (1644), and the House of Lords (1645); and Gillespie's answers to Coleman which defend Presbyterian polity against Erastianism. 'Noted for his erudition, keen mind, powerful debating skills and articulate speech and often called 'Great Mr. Gillespie' in his day, he has been referred to as the prince of Scottish theologians and the supreme defender of Presbyterian church government.' (Nigel Cameron, editor, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, 474 pages)."
Volume Two of THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ARMOURY
"Contains all of the following works by George Gillespie: AARON'S ROD BLOSSOMING, OR THE DIVINE ORDINANCE OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT VINDICATED; A TREATISE OF MISCELLANY QUESTIONS; NOTES OF DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER (February 1644 to January 1645). Gillespie is most famous for his AARON'S ROD which Walker called 'the chef d'oeuvre' of Scottish ecclesiastical theology. (cited in Nigel Cameron, editor, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, pp. 359-360). He was a thundering preacher and a prominent member of the famous Westminster Assembly. Johnston, TREASURY OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANT cites the following concerning Gillespie: 'That is an excellent youth; my heart blesses God in his behalf. There is no man whose parts in a public dispute I do so admire. He has studied so accurately all the points that are yet to come to our Assembly; he has got so ready, so assured, so solid a way of public debating; that however there be in the Assembly divers very excellent men, yet, in my poor judgement, there is not one who speaks more rationally and to the point than that brave youth has done ever (Baillie from his Letters and Journals). He was one of the great men that had a chief hand in penning our most excellent Confession of Faith and Catechisms. He was a most grave and bold man, and had a most wonderful gift given him for disputing and arguing. The end of a dispute held by him with some of the promoters of the Engagement was, that Glencairn said, 'There is no standing before this great and mighty man.' He was called malleus Malignantium, 'the hammer of the Malignants' (Wodrow's Analecta), 558 pages."
Volume Three of THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ARMOURY
"Contains: Samuel Rutherford's LEX, REX, or THE LAW AND THE PRINCE; John Brown of Wamphray's APOLOGETICAL RELATION; David Calderwood's PASTOR AND PRELATE, OR REFORMATION AND CONFORMITY SHORTLY COMPARED; and CAUSES OF THE LORD'S WRATH AGAINST SCOTLAND AGREED UPON BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1651. LEX, REX is 'the great political text of the Covenanters.' (Johnston citing Innes in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 305). 'Rutherford was the first to formulate the great constitutional principle Lex est Rex -- the law is King . . . much of the doctrine has become the constitutional inheritance of all countries in modern times.' Brown's anti-prelatical work deals with the lawfulness of defensive wars, ecclesiastical and civil government, the hearing of curates, etc. Brown's writing has been said to be 'decidedly superior to most of the Scottish writers of his day, and even to Owen.' Calderwood upholds Presbyterianism over and against prelacy. THE CAUSES OF GOD'S WRATH was written anonymously (James Guthrie was the reputed author), and was at one time burnt along with LEX, REX, 615 pages." -- Publisher
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Girardeau, John L., Individual Liberty and Church Authority: A Sermon Preached at Westminster Church, Charleston, Thursday Night, April 11, 1889, During the Sessions of Charleston Presbytery.
Girardeau, John L., and George A. Blackburn, The Discretionary Power of the Church: Sermons. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #20, #23.
The Discretionary Power of the Church, a sermon
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/john-l-girardeaus-sermon-on-the-discretionary-power-of-the-church
Discretionary Power of the Church
http://www.naphtali.com/girard.htm
*Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (in the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men. At the request of his brethren, Goodman subsequently published an expanded version of his exposition, HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED OF THEIR SUBJECTS: AND WHEREIN THEY MAY LAWFULLY BY GOD'S WORD BE DISOBEYED AND RESISTED. WHEREIN ALSO IS DECLARED THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS PRESENT MISERY IN ENGLAND, AND THE ONLY WAY TO REMEDY THE SAME. In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny.
"This new edition of SUPERIOR POWERS includes a scripture index, a subject index, a biographical essay on the life of Christopher Goodman, and the original foreword by William Whittingham." -- Publisher from Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library
"Very rare. One of the dozen most important political writings appearing in English in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Together with THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET and THE APPELLATION (retitled REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM in this catalogue), by John Knox, and Ponet's TREATISE OF POLITIQUE POWER, this book marks the first definite shift of opinion under the pressure of religion, away from the doctrine of almost unlimited obedience which characterized the political thought of the first half of the century laying the foundation for future ideas about civil disobedience. In that day, a proclamation of Philip and Mary had decreed the death of a rebel for anyone found in possession of the book." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
Goold, W.H., Patronage Opposed to the Independence of the Church, and to the Scriptural Rights of the Christian People, 1841.
Guthrie, James (1612?-1661), A Treatise of Ruling Elders and Deacons, In Which These Things Which Belong to the Understanding of Their Office and Duty are Clearly and Shortly set Down.
A Treatise of Ruling Elders and Deacons, In Which, These Things Which Belong to the Understanding of Their Office and Duty, are Clearly and Shortly set Down, James Guthrie
Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour. (1 Timothy 5:17)
They that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:13)
http://www.truecovenanter.com/guthrie/guthrie_james_treatise_elders_and_deacons.html
Guthrie, William (1620-1665), and John Howie (1735-1793), A Collection of Lectures and Sermons, Preached Upon Several Subjects, mostly in the time of the late persecution. Wherein a faithful doctrinal testimony is transmitted to posterity for the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the Church of Scotland against popery, prelacy, Erastianism, &c.
Hall, Archibald, An Humble Attempt to Exhibit a Scriptural View of the Constitution, Order, Discipline, and Fellowship of the Gospel-Church, 1785. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Hall, David W., Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici, or, The Divine Right of Church-government, ISBN: 0941075214 9780941075213 0941075222 9780941075220.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, 1641. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), The Vnlavvfulnes and Danger of Limited Prelacie, or Perpetuall Precidencie in the Church, Briefly Discovered, 1641. Available (WORKS OF ALEXANDER HENDERSON), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), and Charles, I, King of England, 1600-1649, The Papers Which Passed at New-Castle Betwixt his Sacred Majestie and Mr. Al. Henderson: Concerning the Change of Church-government. Anno Dom. 1646.
Henderson, Alexander (1583-1646), Church of Scotland, General Assembly, Commission, Reformation of Church Government in Scotland, Cleared From Some Mistakes and Prejudices by the Commissioners of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, now at London, 1644. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Keyes, Kenneth Scofield, C. Gregg Singer, George Aiken Taylor, E.C. Scott, and B. Hoyt Evans, A Manual for new Members [Presbyterian Church in America -- compiler], 33 pages. "Reprinted from The Presbyterian Journal."
Contents: I. The story of Presbyterianism / C. Gregg Singer -- II. What Presbyterians believe / G. Aiken Taylor -- III. Presbyterian government / E.C. Scott -- IV. Joining the Presbyterian Church / B. Hoyt Evans -- Appendix. The creed of Presbyterians -- The Westminster Assembly, 1643-1648 -- A brief history of the developments in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern) which led to the formation of the Presbyterian Church in America / by Kenneth S. Keys [sic] -- PCA vision 2000 presented to the 1987 General Assembly.
Killen, W.D., William M'Clure, James Denham, A.P. Goudy, et al., Ministers of the General Synod of Ulster, The Plea of Presbytery in Behalf of the Ordination, Government, Discipline, and Worship of the Christian Church, as Opposed to the Unscriptural Character and Claims of Prelacy: in a Reply to the Rev. Archibald Boyd . . . on Episcopacy, 1843. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), and Kevin Reed (editor), The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment [Government], of Women, with the "Summary of the Second Blast" appended (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, 75218-0922]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1993), trade paperback, 96 pages, marginal notes, scripture index, and subject index. This edition appears in three additional formats: SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX: PUBLIC EPISTLES, TREATISES, AND EXPOSITIONS TO THE YEAR 1559, pp. 370-436, the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY, and e-text that includes the marginal notes as endnotes, but does not include the scripture index, and subject index. Citations for these three additional formats are listed below.
"The text of this edition is based on the definitive edition of THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, edited by David Laing (Edinburgh, 1895).
"In this controversial work, John Knox contends that 'to promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, contumely [insult], to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice'." -- Publisher
Subheading used in this edition:
To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature . . . A thing most contrary to His revealed will and approved ordinance. -- John Knox"The 16th century reformer John Knox wrote his famous tract THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET AGAINST THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN to oppose a notorious European female tyrant who sought to stamp out biblical Christianity in his beloved Scotland.
Lee, Francis Nigel, Are the Mosaic laws for Today?: Calvinism and the Westminster Standards on the Relationship Between God's Moral law of Nature for all men and Ancient Israel's Other Laws.
*Luther, Martin (1483-1546), That a Christian Assembly or Congregation has the Right and Power to Judge all Teaching and to Call, Appoint, and Dismiss Teachers, Established and Proven by Scripture. Available in Martin Luther, Conrad John Immanuel Bergendoff, and Eric W. Gritsch, CHURCH AND MINISTRY, 3 volumes. Available in LUTHER'S WORKS, VOLUME 39, CHURCH AND MINISTRY, ISBN: 0800603397 9780800603397.
That a Christian Assembly or Congregation has the Right and Power to Judge all Teaching and to Call, Appoint, and Dismiss Teachers, Established and Proven by Scripture, Martin Luther (accessed 2/27/2016)
https://www.uni-due.de/collcart/es/sem/s6/txt06_1.htm
Mackenzie, Kirsteen M., Presbyterian Church Government and the "Covenanted Interest" in the Three Kingdoms 1649-1660.
McKay, W.D.J., An Ecclesiastical Republic: Church Government in the Writings of George Gillespie, ISBN: 0946068607 9780946068609.
McLagan, James, Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, Spiritual Views of the Divine Government: A Sermon Preached Before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge at Their Anniversary Meeting in St. Andrew's Church, Edinburgh, on Thursday, June 2, 1831.
M'Crie, Thomas (1772-1835), On the Right of Females to Vote in the Election of Ministers and Elders, 1841. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Conduct in Church Judicatories.
"Notes: Photocopy of pp. 18-29 of Naphtali Press v. 2:4 1989.
Reprint of a chapter in: LETTERS ON CLERICAL MANNERS AND HABITS ADDRESSED TO A STUDENT IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, N.J. PHILADELPHIA: PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLIC., 1852.
Chapter heading title: Conduct in church judicatories.
Conduct in church courts.
Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), Presbyterianism: The Truly Primitive and Apostolic Constitution of the Church of Christ Bound Together With Infant Baptism: Scriptural and Reasonable; and Baptism by Sprinkling or Affusion Most Suitable, 1835. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24, #28.
*Miller, Samuel (1769-1850), The Ruling Elder: An Essay on the Warrant, Nature, and Duties of the Office (1832). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23. Available in HOLDING FAST THE FAITHFUL WORD: SERMONS AND ADDRESSES BY SAMUEL MILLER which is included in Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
" 'One of the classics in the field,' notes Morton Smith. G.I. Williamson writes, 'We . . . heartily welcome the reprint of this excellent survey of the biblical data and warmly recommend it to those who are -- or desire to be -- elders in the church.' The most extensive study of its kind available. For ruling elders this is must reading! Over 300 pages of sound biblical guidance." -- Publisher
The Ruling Elder, Samuel Miller
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/RulElder.htm
Muir, George, The Synod of Jerusalem Considered: or, Remarks Upon a Sermon, Preached by the Reverend Mr. George Muir, at the Opening of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, October, 1767. [It is not known if this document includes Muir's sermon in whole. -- compiler].
Muir, George, The Synod of Jerusalem: or, Courts of Review in the Christian Church Considered (Against Independents), 1768.
Muirhead, John, Dissertations on the Federal Transactions Between God and His Church: Both Before and Since the Canon of Scripture was Completed, 1782.
Nye, Philip (1596-1672), Thomas Goodwin, and The Westminster Assembly (1643-1652), et al., The Reasons Presented by the Dissenting Brethren [T. Goodwin and others], Against Certain Propositions Concerning Presbyteriall Government; and the Proofs of Them Voted by the Assembly of Divines . . . Together With the Answer of the Assembly . . . to Those Reasons of Dissent, 1648. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Owen, John (1616-1683), Truth and Innocence Vindicated in a Survey of a Discourse Concerning Ecclesiastical Polity, and the Authority of the Civil Magistrate Over the Consciences of Subjects in Matters of Religion, 1669.
Parker, Samuel (1640-1688), A Discourse of Ecclesiastical Politie Wherein the Authority of the Civil Magistrate . . . is Asserted, the Mischiefs and Inconveniences of Toleration are Represented, and all Pretenses Pleaded in Behalf of Liberty of Conscience are Fully Answered, 1671.
Price, Greg L., Terms of Communion: The Westminster Standards, 5 MP3 files [digital file]. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Explains and defends the second term of communion, which is 'That the whole doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646], and the Catechisms, Larger and Shorter, are agreeable unto, and founded upon the Scriptures.' Price not only explains why we need creeds and confession (answering the question: Isn't the Scripture sufficient?), but he shows how everyone has a creed and how such statements of faith are actually inescapable -- for as soon as one says what he believes the Bible means, he has (by definition), put forth his creed ('credo' in Latin means 'to believe'). There is no neutrality! He also gives a summary of the WESTMINSTER STANDARDS and the history of this august assembly, demonstrating why these standards are agreeable to the word of God. After showing how faithful creeds and confessions (i.e. human testimony), have brought untold blessings to the church he gives a history of the Westminster Assembly (setting the context for the study of the STANDARDS themselves). The doctrines contained in the confessional standards are then summarized. Price also exposes and rebukes much false teaching and false practice (contrary to the STANDARDS), using the specific names associated with each heresy refuted. The following doctrines are covered: sola Scripture (refuting popery, neo-orthodoxy, liberalism and the charismatics), the Doctrine of God (refuting Unitarianism, Oneness theology [Modalism, Sabellianism], and tritheism), God's decrees and predestination (refuting Arminianism, fatalism [Islam]), Creation (refuting Evolutionism, Pantheism and New Age and Eastern mysticism), the covenant of works, Providence (against 'luck' and 'accidents'), the Fall of Man (refuting Arminianism and Pelagianism), the Covenant of Grace (refuting dispensationalism), Christ our mediator (refuting Arianism [JW's], Apollinarianism, Nestorianism, Eutychianism [which led to the transubstantiation and consubstantiation heresies], the free offer of the gospel, Effectual Calling (contra Arminianism), Justification by Faith alone through Christ alone (contra Rome and the Arminians), Sanctification and good works (condemning antinomianism and legalism), Assurance of Faith, Perseverance of the Saints, the Law of God, Christian liberty (against pretended liberty of conscience and the imposition of legalistic standards outside of the law of God), worship (against the anti-regulativists and promoters of will-worship), the Regulative Principle (condemning Arminianism in worship), the Sabbath (taking the high Scottish view), lawful oaths and vows (condemning covenant breaking [churches and nations included], perjury, etc.), the Civil Magistrate (against pluralism, false toleration, Erastianism, and for biblical establishments), marriage, the church (contra popery, prelacy and independency [all of which are forms of sectarianism]), and the resurrection and general judgement." -- Publisher
Covenanter Terms of Communion 1 of 19: The Word of God 1/2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1210510584
Price, Greg L., The Session of the Puritan Reformed Church of Edmonton/Prince George (compiler) Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), George Gillespie (1613-1648), John Brown (of Wamphray, 1610-1679), Greg L. Price, et al., The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2, #27.
Price, Greg L., The Preface and Bibliography to the Rare Bound Photocopy: The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in THE DUTY AND PERPETUAL OBLIGATION OF SOCIAL COVENANTING.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Pref&Bib.htm
The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/SocCov.htm
Reed, Kevin, Biblical Church Government: An Introduction to Presbyterian Polity. Available in Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/BCG_ch00.htm
Reed, Kevin, Presbyterian Government in Extraordinary Times. Available in LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY.
Presbyterian Government in Extraordinary Times
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/PGET_ch0.htm
*Reformed Presbytery, Auchensaugh Renovation of the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant; With the Acknowledgement of sins and Engagement to Duties as They Were Renewed at Auchensaugh in 1712 . . . Also the Renovation of These Public Federal Deeds Ordained at Philadelphia, Oct. 8, 1880, by the Reformed Presbytery, With Accommodation of the Original Covenants, in Both Transactions, to Their Times and Positions Respectively, 1880 edition. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2, #25, #30.
" 'In 1712, at Auchensaugh, the Covenants, National and Solemn League, were renewed . . . At the renewal the covenant bonds were recognized as binding the descendants of those who first entered into those bonds. The Covenanters, however, sought to display the true intent of those Covenants with marginal notes. These notes explained that the Church of Jesus Christ, in Scotland (and around the world), must not join hands with any political power in rebellion to the crown rights of King Jesus. The Covenanters pledged the Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church to the support of lawful magistracy (i.e. magistracy which conformed itself to the precepts of God's Word), and declared themselves and their posterity against support of any power, in Church or State, which lacked biblical authority.' (From 'About the Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church' P.O. Box 131, Pottstown, PA 19464). An excellent introduction (historical and moral), regarding the reasons, motives and manner of fulfilling the duty of covenanting with God. Especially helpful concerning the Biblical view of the blessings (for covenant-keepers), and cursings (for covenant breakers), related to covenanting. As noted on page 37, 'the godly usually in times of great defection from the purity and power of religion, and corruption of the ordinances of God's worship, set about renewing their covenant, thereby to prevent covenant curses, and procure covenant blessing; as we find both in scripture record, 2 Chron. 15:12-13 [2 Chronicles 15:12-13]; 29:10 [2 Chronicles 29:10]; 34:30-31 [2 Chronicles 34:30-31]; Ezra 10:3, and in our own ecclesiastical history.' Times like ours certainly call for a revival of the Scriptural ordinance of covenanting, for 'the nations throughout Christendom, continue in league with Antichrist and give their strength to the beast. They still refuse to profess and defend the true religion in doctrine, worship, government and discipline, contrary to the example of the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland in the seventeenth century'." -- Publisher
McMillan, John, I (1669?-1753), Renovation of Covenants, Auchensaugh
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/19/renovation-of-covenants-auchensaugh-1712
Price, Greg L., The Auchensaugh Renovation, 2 audio cassettes [audio file]. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This is the story of the renewal of the National and Solemn League and Covenant, which took place under the leadership of John Macmillan (cf. The Cameronian Apostle by Reid), at Auchensaugh, July 24, 1712. Events leading up to this renewal are especially pertinent, as they exposé the Satanic tactics which often become most useful to the devil in attacking all revivals and those seeking to return to covenanted attainments. Price notes how Cromwell's tolerationism opened the floodgates of iniquity and helped pave the way (though not intended by the covenant breaking Cromwellians), for the tyranny of Charles II. This set the stage for the corrupted and defective revolution of 1688 and the malignant Revolution church, which left the Covenanted Reformation buried under the debris of William's Erastianism, Prelacy (in England and Ireland), and the compromised Presbyterianism of the Revolution Church in Scotland (cf. Clarkson's Plain Reasons for Presbyterians Dissenting from the Revolution Church of Scotland; this Revolution church was the root of much modern day Presbyterian defection and this book still eloquently denounces this defection). The Auchensaugh Renovation cleared away all the Reformation denying rubbish that had accumulated from 1649 to 1712, and 'being agreeable to the Word of God' became part of the terms of communion of the Reformed Presbyterian church on Nov. 3, 1712 (cf. Terms of Ministerial and Christian Communion in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, point 4 of 6). It is also interesting to note that at the Lord's Supper (on July 27, 1712), following this covenant renewal, Macmillan, in 'fencing the tables' proclaimed, 'I excommunicate and debar from this Holy Table of the Lord, all devisers, commanders, users, or approvers, of any religious worship not instituted by God in His Word, all tolerators and countenancers thereof; and by consequence I debar and excommunicate from this Holy Table of the Lord, Queen and Parliament, and all under them, who spread and propagate or tolerate a false and superstitious worship, ay, and until they repent.' Furthermore, concerning those who opposed the covenants and the work of reformation, Macmillan trumpeted these faithful words, 'I excommunicate and debar all who are opposers of our Covenants and Covenanted Reformation, and all that have taken oaths contrary to our covenants, and such particularly as are takers of the Oath of Abjuration, whether Ministers or others, until they repent.' (Reformed Presbytery, The Auchensaugh Renovation . . . p. 55). Beyond the fascinating and detailed story of the history and reasons for the Auchensaugh renovation of the covenants, these studies also clearly and biblically explain the continuing obligation to renew lawful covenants, makes application to our day, and demonstrates how covenanting was foundational to the Second Reformation. A fine (and unique), set of tapes defending the attainments of our Covenanted Reformation! For more information see our bound photocopy The Auchensaugh Renovation . . . by the Reformed Presbytery." -- Publisher
The Reformed Presbytery, The Auchensaugh Renovation of the National Covenant and: Solemn League and Covenant With the Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties, as They Were Renewed at Auchensaugh, Near Douglas, July 24, 1712. (Compared With the Editions of Paisley, 1820, and Belfast, 1835). Also, The Renovation of These Public Federal Deeds Ordained at Philadelphia, October 8, 1880, by the Reformed Presbytery, with Accommodation of the Original Covenants, in Both Transactions, to Their Times and Positions Respectively
http://archive.org/details/theauchensaughre12381gut
*Reid, H.M.B., A Cameronian Apostle: Being Some Account of John Macmillan of Balmaghie, 1896. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #30.
"The author wrote this book 'considering the renewed interest taken at present in questions of Church government and establishment,' noting that 'there seemed to be some room for a detailed treatment of a career which covers so interesting a period as that embraced between 1690 and 1750.' Macmillan is an important historical link to those who still fight for Christ's Crown and Covenant. 'For many years he fought the battle of the Covenants alone, and he fought it on lines of policy and wisdom.' states Reid. Furthermore, the author continues, 'I have tried to indicate his position among the 'Suffering Remnant' by calling him 'a Cameronian Apostle;' for, during the long period of 36 years, he was the sole ordained minister among the scattered congregations of the 'Society' people. The name seems not unfitting, and it receives a certain sanction from the authority of Dr. Cunningham, who styled him the 'high-priest' of the Societies . . . Further, Macmillan's story is also the record of the development of a most interesting side of Scottish Church life. He may be said, indeed, to have made the history of what, at last, became the Reformed Presbyterian Church. This is so true, that that Church long bore the popular name of the 'Macmillanites.' And the name of Macmillan is bound up with more than one congregation still existing.' An important book for those who would trace the backsliding of modern Presbyterianism (the neopresbyterians), and also be encouraged by the remnant of those who remain faithful to the position of the original Covenanters (the paleopresbyterians). This book's 308 pages includes illustrations and a detailed appendix containing important church documents." -- Publisher
Renwick, James (1662-1688), Form for the Admission of Elders
http://www.truecovenanter.com/renwick/renwick_elders.html
Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), and Larry Birger, The Form and Function of Apostolic Church Government: Excerpted From Chapter Two of The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism." Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #24.
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication: A Peaceable Dispute for the Perfection of the Holy Scripture in Point of Ceremonies and Church Government in Which the Removal of the Service Book is Justified. . . facsimile, 1646, also contains: "Scandal and Christian Libertie." Alternate title: JUS DIVINUM REGIMINIS ECCLESIASTICI. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9 and #24.
"Over 750 pages which Walker says 'contains the amplest exposition and vindication of our old ecclesiastical principles.' Rutherford here gives a classic defense of Presbyterianism, touching on both church government and 'the due and just power of the Magistrate in matters of Religion.' Regarding worship, he touches on imagery, idolatry, things indifferent, ceremonies and will worship. Sherman Isbell describes this book as follows: 'Rutherford asserts that there is delineated in the NT a form of Church government by elders and Presbyteries which is of permanent obligation; more-over, that discipline and suspension from the sacraments are vested with church officers rather than with the Christian civil magistrate. The book also expounds the Westminster Assembly's principle that the mode of acceptable worship is regulated by the will of Christ as King speaking in the Scriptures; the Church is not at liberty to alter or invent anything in worship or government which goes beyond the pattern in God's Word. Rutherford's writings during the London years provide a significant commentary on the theology of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms.' (Nigel Cameron, editor, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, pp. 735-36). An exceedingly rare gem by this celebrated Presbyterian divine and Scottish commissioner to the famous Westminster Assembly." -- Publisher
http://www.naphtali.com/jusextrc.htm
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), The due Right of Presbyteries or a Peaceable Plea for the Government of the Church of Scotland, 1644. Alternate title: THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CHURCH-GOVERNMENT AND EXCOMMUNICATION: OR A PEACABLE DISPUTE FOR THE PERFECTION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE IN POINT OF CEREMONIES AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT; IN WHICH THE REMOVAL OF THE SERVICE-BOOK IS JUSTIFI'D, THE SIX BOOKS OF THO: ERASTUS AGAINST EXCOMMUNICATION ARE BRIEFLY EXAMIN'D; WITH A VINDICATION OF THAT EMINENT DIVINE THEOD: BEZA AGAINST THE ASPERSIONS OF ERASTUS, THE ARGUMENTS OF MR. WILLIAM PRYN, RICH: HOOKER, DR. MORTON, DR. JACKSON, DR. JOHN FORBES, AND THE DOCTORS OF ABERDEEN; TOUCHING WILL-WORSHIP, CEREMONIES, IMAGERY, IDOLATRY, THINGS INDIFFERENT, AN AMBULATORY GOVERNMENT; THE DUE AND JUST POWERS OF THE MAGISTRATE IN MATTERS OF RELIGION, AND THE ARGUMENTS OF MR. PRYN, IN SO FAR AS THEY SIDE WITH ERASTUS, ARE MODESTLY DISCUSSED. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A BRIEF TRACTATE OF SCANDAL; . . . BY SAMUEL RUTHERFURD (sic), PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9 and #24.
"Almost 800 pages long, Rutherford here deals with church membership, separation from the visible church, the civil magistrate and religion, communion among churches, the errors of the independents (specifically in New England), and much more. This could be considered the LEX, REX of church government -- another exceedingly rare masterpiece of Presbyterianism! Characterized by Walker as sweeping 'over a wider field than most. Most essential points which Gillespie has barely touched, Rutherford carefully considers; as, for instance, the nature of the visible church as such, and its constituent elements. Even in the Erastian controversy he is a necessary supplement to his great contemporary. It is something to me altogether amazing, the mass of thinking about Church questions you have in those writings.' Bannerman, in his CHURCH OF CHRIST calls this a 'very learned and elaborate treatise.' Here is a sample of Mr. Rutherford's writing: 'A private subtraction and separation from the Ministry of a known wolf and seducer, . . . this the Law of nature will warrant . . . as Parker saith from Saravia, 'it is lawful to use that blameless and just defence, if the bad church-guide cannot be deposed.' So the son may save himself by a just defence in fleeing from his mad father, or his distracted friend coming to kill him. Now this defence is not an authoritative act, nor a judicial act of authority, but a natural act that is common to any private person, yea to all without the true Church as well as within to take that care in extreme necessity, for the safety of their souls, that they would do for the safety of their bodies' (1642), cited in The Original Covenanter and Contending Witness Magazine." -- Publisher
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience: Tending to Resolve Doubts Moved by Mr. John Goodwin, John Baptist, Dr. Jer. Taylor, the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and Other Authors, 1649. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9, #25, and #26.
"Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, though scarce, is still one of his most important works with maybe only a few copies of the actual book left in existence. Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. A sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment and an affront to the holy God of Scripture). He also deals with conscience, toleration, penology (punishment), and the judicial laws, as related to both the civil and ecclesiastical realms. Excellent sections are also included which address questions related to determining the fundamentals of religion, how covenants bind us, the perpetual obligation of social covenants (with direct application to the Solemn League and Covenant and the covenant-breaking of Cromwell and his sectarian supporters), whether the punishing of seducing teachers be persecution of conscience, and much more. Walker adds these comments and context regarding Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, 'The principle of toleration was beginning to be broached in England, and in a modified shape to find acceptance there. Samuel Rutherford was alarmed, or rather, I should say, he was horrified, for he neither feared the face of man or argument. He rushed to the rescue of the good old view . . . It is not so easy to find a theoretical ground for toleration; and Rutherford has many plausible things to say against it. With the most perfect confidence, he argues that it is alike against Scripture and common sense that you should have two religions side by side. It is outrageous ecclesiastically, it is sinful civilly. He does not, however, take what I call the essentially persecuting ground. He does not hold that the magistrate is to punish religion as religion. Nay, he strongly maintains that the civil magistrate never aims at the conscience. The magistrate, he urges, does not send anyone, whether a heretic (who is a soul murderer -- RB), or a murderer, to the scaffold with the idea of producing conversion or other spiritual result, but to strengthen the foundations of civil order. But if he gives so much power to the king, he is no lover of despotism withal: the king himself must be under law. To vindicate this great doctrine is the object of another book, the celebrated LEX, REX; of which it has been said by one competent to judge, that it first clearly developed the constitutionalism which all men now accept.' (Theology and Theologians . . . pp. 11-12). In our day Francis Schaeffer, and numerous others, have critiqued many of the problems found in modern society, but most have spent little time developing explicitly Biblical solutions especially regarding the theoretical foundations that Rutherford addresses here. Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION provides a detailed blueprint for laying the foundations that must be laid before any lasting, God-honoring solutions will be found. Furthermore, Rutherford and his writings were the enemies of all governments not covenanted with Christ. This book will give you a very clear picture as to why 'the beast' (civil and ecclesiastical), has reserved his special hatred for such teaching. As Samuel Wylie noted 'the dispute, then, will not turn upon the point whether religion should be civilly established . . . but it is concerning what religion ought to be civilly established and protected, -- whether the religion of Jesus alone should be countenanced by civil authority, or every blasphemous, heretical, and idolatrous abomination which the subtle malignity of the old serpent and a heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, can frame and devise, should be put on an equal footing therewith." -- The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis. Can our generation swallow Rutherford's hard, anti-pluralistic, Covenanter medicine, poured forth from the bottle of the first commandment, without choking on their carnal dreams of a free and righteous society divorced from God (and His absolute claims upon everyone and everything)? Not without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit -- that is for sure! In summary, this book answers all the hardest questions theonomists (and their wisest and best opponents), have been asking for the last 20-30 years (and these answers are much more in depth than any we have seen in the last couple of millennia. [less about a century to account for the apostles]). As the reader will discover, Rutherford was a wealthy man when it came to wisdom (and much advanced theologically), and those who take the time to gaze into the King's treasure house, as exhibited in this book, will find that they are greatly rewarded. Furthermore, because of its uncompromising stand upon the Word of God, this book is sure to be unpopular among a wicked and adulterous generation. However, on the other hand, it is sure to be popular among the covenanted servants of King Jesus! This is one of the best books (in the top five anyway), for advanced study of the Christian faith. We have now obtained an easy-to-read, amazingly clear copy of this very rare, old treasure. Great price too, considering that a copy of the 1649 edition, containing this quality of print, would likely cost upwards of $1000 on the rare book market -- though it is unlikely you would ever see a copy for sale!" -- Publisher
A Brotherly and Free Epistle to the Patrons and Friends of Pretended Liberty of Conscience, Samuel Rutherford
http://www.truecovenanter.com/anti_toleration/rutherfurd_epistle_against_pretendedlibertyofconscience.html
Chapter 21 From Samuel Rutherford's 1649 Edition of A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience being Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Of the Samaritans, and of the Non Compelling of Heathens; How the Covenant Bindeth us
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FreeDis21.htm
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Survey of the Survey of That Summe of Church-Discipline Penned by Mr. Thomas Hooker: Wherein the way of the churches of N. England is now re-examined, 1658.
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), George Gillespie, and many others (compiled by Martin A. Foulner), Theonomy and the Westminster Confession: An Annotated Sourcebook (1997). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A compilation of rare citations taken from Puritans, Covenanters, Reformers and others bearing on questions related to God's law, its application to society and the question of negative civil sanctions. Illustrates, on one hand, where the modern Theonomists agree with the older Reformed writers, but on the other hand, clearly shows where the Reconstructionists have fallen short of the historic testimony given by the best Reformed Divines. A great deal of research has gone into this title and quotations are taken from a number of very rare and hard to find books. Sections from the works of Rutherford and Gillespie alone cover pages 11-26. Durham, Dickson, Ferguson, Brown, the London Covenanters (of the Westminster Assembly), Burroughs, Shields, Jenkyn, Usher, Knox, Luther, Calvin, Bullinger, Bucer, Perkins, Shepard, Ridgeley, Dabney, Thornwell, and a host of others all appear in the useful reference manual." -- Publisher
Scot (Scott), William, An Apologetical Narration of the State and Government of the Kirk of Scotland Since the Reformation. Certaine Records Touching the Estate of the Kirk in the Years 1605 and 1606, 1846. Alternate title: APOLOGETICAL NARRATION OF THE STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND SINCE THE REFORMATION.
Smeaton, George, The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments and how far the Theory is Realised: An Address to the Glasgow Conservative Association, April 13, 1875. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
Steele, David (1803-1887), Causes of Infidelity
"A short article discussing the origin and occasions of infidelity, or unfaithfulness, particularly amongst ministers of the Gospel." -- Publisher
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/26/causes-of-infidelity
*Sundry Ministers of London, The Divine Right of Church Government (Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici), c. 1646. Alternate title: THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CHURCH-GOVERNMENT, ASSERTED AND EVIDENCED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTVRES ACCORDING TO THE LIGHT WHEREOF (BESIDES MANY PARTICULARS MENTIONED AFTER THE PREFACE), 1. THE NATURE OF A DIVINE RIGHT IS DELINEATED, 2. THE CHURCH-GOVERNMENT WHICH IS OF DIVINE RIGHT IS DESCRIBED, 3. THIS DESCRIPTION IN THE SEVERAL BRANCHES OF IT IS EXPLICATED AND CONFIRMED, 4. THE DIVINE RIGHT OF ECCLESIASTICAL CENSURES, OFFICERS, AND RULING ASSEMBLIES IS MANIFESTED: IN ALL WHICH IT IS APPARENT THAT THE PRESBYTERIAL GOVERNMENT, BY PREACHING AND RULING PRESBYTERS, IN CONGREGATIONAL, CLASSICAL AND SYNODAL ASSEMBLIES, MAY LAY TRUEST CLAIM TO A DIVINE RIGHT, ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES / BY SUNDRY MINISTERS OF CHRIST WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
"This is one of the all time classic defenses of the divine right of Presbyterianism. David Hall, the editor, states, the book 'was not written as a polemical tract, as if to prop up some moribund tradition; rather it is an exemplar of gentle and reasoned discourse.' Published anonymously, during the sitting of the Westminster Assembly -- because of the Erastian leaning Parliament's 'gag rule' -- this work is considered by some as 'an even truer record of the Westminster divines' views of government than the final (politically suppressed), standards,' notes the editor. Moreover, Hall goes so far as to state that 'perhaps no single work is as illuminating for original intent [of the Westminster Standards], as this rare work printed contemporaneously with the meeting of the Assembly.' It is the third title in a uniform collection of books by 17th century Presbyterians to be published by Naphtali Press. It contains an historical introduction, subject and bibliographic indices, and is retypeset and edited to reflect contemporary spelling, punctuation and usage. David Hall's THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF WESTMINSTER added to this printing, is also very useful. A helpful chart comparing Independency with Presbyterianism is also included." -- Publisher
The Divine Right of Church Government
http://www.naphtali.com/jusextrc.htm
Sundry Ministers of London, A Vindication of the Presbyteriall-government, and Ministry: Together, With an Exhortation, to all the Ministers, Elders, and People, Within the Bounds of the Province of London, whether joyning with us, or separating from us. Published, by the ministers, and elders, met together in a provinciall assembly, Novemb. 2d. 1649. Wherein, amongst other things, these ensuing particulars are contained; 1. That there is a Church-government, by divine right. 2. That the magistrate, is not the fountain of Church-government. 3. That the presbyterial-government, is by divine right. 4. The inconveniencies of the congregationall-way. 5. That the ruling-elder is by divine right. 6. That it is the will of Jesus Christ, that all sorts of persons should give an account of their faith, to the minister, and elders, before admission to the Lords Supper; . . . 7. Directions to the elders, for the right managing of their office. 8. Directions to such as are admitted to the Lords Supper . . . 9. Rules to preserve people, from the errours of these times. 10. That separation . . . , 1650. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23
Thornwell, James Henley (1812-1862), Thornwell Refutes Charles Hodge's Church Polity and Views on Worship. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Warfield, B.B. (1851-1921), Presbyterian Deaconesses.
*Westminster Assembly (1643-1652), The Form of Presbyterial Church Government. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18. Available in THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646).
Form of Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/documents/the-form-of-presbyterial-church-government
Westminster Assembly (1643-1652), Propositions Concerning Church Government and Ordination of Ministers, 1647. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
Westminster Conference Report, The Office and Work of the Minister.
"Papers included: Office in the Church From the Separatist to the Westminster Assembly; The Call to the Ministry in Puritan Teaching; Ministerial Training From Harvard to Princeton; The Pastor as Preacher in 17th Century England; The Puritan Pastor as Counselor; Richard Sibbes, 'The Heavenly Doctor'." -- GCB Includes bibliography.
Whytock, George, and Thomas M'Crie, A Short Vindication of Presbytery: With Twelve Essays on the Church.
Willson, James Mcleod (1809-1866), The Deacon: An Inquiry Into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office of Deacon, in the Christian Church; Bible Magistracy: or Christ's Dominion Over the Nations: With an Examination of the Civil Institutions of the United States; An Essay on Submission to the Powers that be; Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans XIII. 1-7 [Romans 13:1-7], Argumentative Testimony, Witnessing: or the Distinct Denomination Position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church Right and Necessary. Alternate title: PAMPHLET ON THE DEACON.
The Deacon: An Inquiry Into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office of Deacon, in the Christian Church
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/6/1/the-deacon
Willison, John, A Defence of National Churches: And Particularly of the National Constitution of the Church of Scotland, and the Conduct of our Reforming Ancestors, Against the Cavils of Independents. With a Confutation of Independency, and several new opinions vented in some late pamphlets, intituled, A narrative of the rise and progress, &c. An explication of a proposition, &c. A letter from a lover of zion, &c. By a Minister of the Church of Scotland.
" 'A narrative of the rise and progress of the controversy about the natural covenants' and 'A letter from a lover of Zion' are by John Glas; 'An explication of that proposition contain'd in Mr. Glass's answers to the Synod's queries' was published anonymously."
Willison, John (1680-1750) A Letter From a Parochial Bishop to a Prelatical Gentleman in Scotland: Concerning the government of the church; Wherein the controversie anent bishops, and Presbyterian ordination, is set in a true light, and distinctly handled. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
*Witherow, Thomas, The Apostolic Church: Which is it? Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #23.
"One of the best handbooks for church government that has been written. It packs an enormous amount of information into a small book." -- Reader's Comment
Wood, James (1608-1664), A Declaration of the Brethren who are for the Established Government and Judicatories of This Church, Expressing Their Earnest Desires of Union and Peace With Their Dissenting Brethren, 1658.
Wood, James (1608-1664), A Little Stone, Pretended to be out of the Mountain, Tried, and Found to be a Counterfeit, [refutation of an Independent] or, An Examination and Refutation of Mr. Lockyers lecture, preached at Edinburgh, anno 1651, concerning the mater of the visible church: and afterwards printed with an appendix for popular government of single congregations: together with an examination, in two appendices, of what is said on these same purposes in a letter of some in Aberdene, who lately have departed from the communion and government of this church, 1654.
Separation From Corrupt Churches
"Extracts From James Wood, A LITTLE STONE PRETENDED TO BE OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN, TRIED AND FOUND TO BE A COUNTERFEIT."
http://www.naphtali.com/wood.htm
Wood, James (1608-1664), and George Hutcheson, A Review and Examination of a Pamphlet Lately Published, Bearing the Title of Protesters no Subverters, and Presbyterie no Papacy, etc., 1659.
Young, Thomas (1587-1655), An Answer to an Humble Remonstrance by Joseph Hall, 1641. Alternate title: AN ANSWER TO A BOOK ENTITLED, AN HUMBLE REMONSTRANCE, IN WHICH THE ORIGINALL OF LITURGY [AND] EPISCOPACY IS DISCUSSES . . .
Hall, Joseph, and Abraham Scultetus, A Defence of the Humble Remonstrance, Against the Frivolous and False Exceptions of Smectymnvvs: Wherein the right of leiturgie and episcopacie is clearly vindicated from the vaine cavils, and challenges of the answerers.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Pride, ambition, self-aggrandizement, arrogance, ego, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, The local church, Trusting god, The covenant faithfulness of god, The all-sufficiency of christ, Lordship of jesus christ, Christ's kingdom, Church and state, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The covenanted reformation, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Covenanted reformation short title listing, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The one and the many, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Unfaithful reformed ministries, Reform of the church, Churches that abuse, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, Politics, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Conscience, casuistry, cases of conscience, Acts of faithful assemblies, Bible magistracy, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Justifying faith, Forgiveness, Sanctification, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 728, 735, 749-752
Jure Divino Church Government
http://www.covenanter.org/ChurchGovt/churchgovt.htm
Presbyterian Church Government
What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government*Presbyterian Heritage Publications, Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library and Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, Dallas, 75218]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999).
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 48 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12160372131The Departure From the Puritan Heritage
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Puritan Heritage, 52 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=92903104657Presbyterian Church Government #01: Introduction to Biblical Church Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518133Presbyterian Church Government #02: Different Forms of Church Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705181353Presbyterian Church Government #03: The Visible Church Offices #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705181435Presbyterian Church Government #04: The Visible Church Offices #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705181925Presbyterian Church Government #05: The Visible Church Offices #3
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705181547Presbyterian Church Government #06: The Visible Church Offices #4
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705181925Presbyterian Church Government #07: Presbytery
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182013Presbyterian Church Government #08: General Assembly
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182052Presbyterian Church Government #09: Commission and Committee
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182214Presbyterian Church Government #10: Ordination and Candidates
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182250Presbyterian Church Government #11: Licensure and Worship
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182348Presbyterian Church Government #12: Worship
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Presbyterian Church Government
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182423
The Regulative Principle Applied to Church Government, James Henley Thornwell
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/the-church/the-regulative-principle-applied-to-church-government.php
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12)At Sinai the Lord gave his people a religious and national constitution that would provide permanent guidelines for the moral, physical, and spiritual well-being of his people. The directives given pointed to the uniqueness and transparency of their divine Author. -- John Reid, commenting on Psalm 111
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. (1 Samuel 8:4-22)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 72, C.H. Spurgeon
Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. (Psalm 72:1,2,11)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps072.phpSee the Theological Notes: "Christians and Civil Government," at Romans 13:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.
The whole of the prophecies of Isaiah are precious, and should be read by us constantly in private. -- C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Devotional Bible
Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and the end of government . . . therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God . . . (April 25, 1689) -- The Great Law of Pennsylvania
If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him. . . . Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn
Government seems to me a part of religion itself. -- William Penn
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)
A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated [defective] state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom. -- Patrick Henry
Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. I know some say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute them: but let them consider, that though good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or evaded by ill men; but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. -- William Penn
The term "judge," in the Hebrew Scriptures, is often used as equivalent to, "to rule," or "to govern"; and such a use of the term is quite natural (In the early age there was little division of labour. The judicial, legislative, and executive functions were not separated.), for not only does just judgment, in the strict sense of the word, form an important part of good government, but all proper government is the exercise, not of arbitrary will, but of sound judgment. During a considerable period of the Israelitish history, their supreme magistrates, under Jehovah their King, were termed judges. The use I refer to of the word may be understood by one as well as a hundred instances. Speaking of the Divine government, the psalmist, in the sixty-seventh psalm, says, "Thou shalt "judge" the people righteously, and "govern" the nations upon earth. -- John Brown (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), commenting on John 12:31 in Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, II:244,245
The medieval structure of ecclesiastical authority could not withstand the Protestant idea of sola scriptura -- the Bible alone. One Christian man with a Bible was superior to any pope or council or tradition without it. Luther translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into German so the people could read it in their own language and not be subject to an ecclesiastical ruling class. By translating the Bible into the common language, Luther freed the German people from ecclesiastical totalitarianism: The Bible was the written constitution of the church, which the people could now read for themselves. His second major contribution to Western political thought was the idea of a written constitution -- the Bible -- limiting the power and authority of the church (and later political), leaders. There is a direct connection between the Reformation cry of sola scriptura and the American idea of the Constitution -- not any man or body of men -- as the supreme law of the land. -- John W. Robbins, in a tract, Civilization and the Protestant Reformation
Growth of government is the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. -- Gordon H. Clark in A Christian View of Men and Things
If we compare the U.S. Federal Budget to entire economic growth, that is, if we compare Federal Spending as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we find that in 1900 it was 02.8 percent of GDP, but by 1993 it had grown to 27 percent of (GNP). The U.S. economy grew, of course, during this period, but Federal spending grew ten (10) times as fast as the GDP.
Federal spending growing at ten (10) times the economy partially explains growth in the Cost of Health Care.
Health Care Spending in real terms (adjusted for inflation), increased from negligible in real terms in 1900, to 1 billion in 1930, to 210 billion in 1994. That is an increase of over 2,000 times.
This explains, in part, the skyrocketing cost of Health Care. Increased demands of Federal Spending on Health Care drives up the costs for everyone. -- John W. Robbins, in a lecture, "The Growth of Government in the United States"
*Augustine, Saint (Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 AD, author), Philip Schaff (editor), Marcus Dods (translator), St. Augustine's City of God and Christian Doctrine (A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church -- Volume 2), new edition, 624 pages, English. Available (2 volumes, 1872 edition), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Augustine is said to be the greatest Christian thinker next to the Apostle Paul. Luther set the BIBLE and the CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE above all other books.
"One of the classic texts of Western civilization [it explains the fall of Rome in terms of Scripture -- compiler]. . . . DE CIVITATE DEI is an important contribution of interest to students of theology, philosophy, ecclesiastical history, the history of political thought, and late antiquity." -- Publisher (from the Cambridge University Press edition)
"Calvin paraphrased Augustine about 400 times in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"St. Augustine's final sentence of THE CITY OF GOD is 'All things must be referred to the Glory of God.'
"When you see that, then you will see the key to the story, and you will see the key to history. . . .
"The classic exposition of history in terms of Scripture." -- C. Gregg Singer
"Augustine began writing THE CITY OF GOD at age 59 [shortly after the city of Rome had been sacked by the Goths in 410 A.D., much to the surprise, it is said, of both the Romans and the Goths -- compiler], and worked on it, off and on, for much of the next 14 years. The impetus for the beginning of this vast work (and its recurring focus), was the charge of Pagans (polytheists) that Christianity was responsible for the decay and demise of the Roman Empire. The charge put forward the claim that the prosperity and social stability of the state was dependent upon polytheistic worship. In response, Augustine arrays several lines of argument, rebutting the assumed 'goodness' of the Pagan state, as such, and detailing the ethical/moral and logical failings of Paganism. Augustine displays tremendous scholarship, employing the writings of Paganism's greatest historians and philosophers in his case against their religious claims. The result is a giant literary, philosophical, historical, theological and exegetical work. . . .
"Against the 'city', i.e., society, of many gods, there is but one alternate society, this Augustine calls The City of God, adopting the expression found in several of King David's psalms. Not only is the society of many gods the society of polytheists, it is also the 'city' of pantheists, atheistic materialists and philosophical Cynics. In the case of the Cynics and atheists, these false gods are the myriad gods of self, indeed, at least as many gods (selves) as there are believers in them. Thus there are two 'cities,' two loves, two ways to understand the big questions of existence, two destinations. Says Augustine:
"The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self." XIV:13."Augustine reflects deeply here on human nature and the meaning of eternal life and eternal punishment, within an explication of the 'meaning' of history. He writes of all human history as a single narrative. This also a work of Biblical exegesis, as Augustine treats Scripture as a historical document. For Augustine, creation is good, creation exists in time and has a history. Indeed, since God enters into history to show man His love, history itself is sanctified, through the City of God.
"The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3:4). In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity . . ." (XIV:28) -- Reader's Comment
Barrow, Reg, John Knox, Oliver Cromwell, God's Law and the Reformation of Civil Government. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1, #25.
"Many consider Knox one of the greatest Reformers ever and God used him to win the nation of Scotland to Christ. Knox laid the foundations for the Covenanters that followed, and they in turn gave us the clearest foretaste of the millennium glory to come in the magnificent Solemn League and Covenant. Speaking of these Reformation attainments McFeeters notes, 'The fathers are worthy of all praise for this unprecedented effort to build the national government upon the true foundation of God's will, and administer it by men in Covenant with Jesus Christ, the King of kings. This was the first attempt to erect a Christian government, in which the fear of God should pervade every department and characterize every official.' (Sketches of the Covenanters, pp. 155-156). This book deals with some of Knox's most controversial political writings, demonstrating that he was what Barrow calls a 'historic' theonomist (like Rutherford and Gillespie after him). It also offers some fine tuning for 'modern' theonomists, which aims at leading them into the 'footsteps of the flock' and closer to the classic or historic Presbyterian/Covenanter view of law (and away from some of the anabaptist/libertarian tendencies that sometimes arise among modern theonomists). Numerous resources, recently published, dealing with civil disobedience and opposition to tyranny are also listed. The first appendix in this book contains Barrow's letter to Christian Renewal expressing his strong disagreement with an unfavorable and inaccurate review of Michael Wagner's Presbyterian Political Manifesto. In it he shows how the Reformers and their confessions of faith supported the civil establishment of the one true Christian religion, while at the same time publicly excluding Papist's, pagans and other heretics from places of civil rule (in countries blessed with the light of the gospel). The second appendix contains a series of letters dedicated to proving why Barrow calls Cromwell the 'Judas of the Covenant.' It demonstrates Cromwell's reckless abandon in violating his sacred vows to the Lord in the Solemn League and Covenant, while also showing why Cromwell's wicked, anti-Christian views concerning toleration and liberty of conscience led people away from Scriptural standards and helped open the floodgates to modern atheistic pluralism. In short, Cromwell was the prototype of our contemporary pragmatic politician, adept at equivocation and setting his own glory and government above all other concerns, including the glory and government of God. In this vein Barrow contends that Cromwell, unaffectionately dubbed the 'late usurper' by the covenanted Presbyterians of the mid seventeenth-century, was used of the devil to accomplish things in the civil and ecclesiastical realm that he (i.e. Satan), could never have accomplished with the more obviously anti-Christian religions of that day (which were not pluralistic theologically, such Romanism, Episcopalianism, etc.). For Cromwell laid his axe of ungodly toleration and pretended liberty of conscience to the root of the tree of covenanted Reformation in a much more subtle manner than the previous 'midwives to antichrist,' and thus his sectarianism better served the devious designs of the devil during those days. This section also exposes Cromwell as a Erastian tyrant, a liar, and a dictator, who (with the help of his sectarian army), executed the covenanted Presbyterian minister Christopher Love (Cromwell's soldiers even threatened to shoot Thomas Manton for preaching at Love's funeral), sent many other Presbyterian ministers to jail (including Thomas Watson), disbanded the Scottish general assembly (at gunpoint), and eventually began negotiations with Papists (with the intent of granting them a measure of 'liberty' to more freely practice their superstitions and soul murder). This is not the view of Cromwell that you will hear from modern historians and theologians who have abandoned the context of covenanted Reformation (how could it be?), for as Rushdoony has correctly pointed out, 'Men cannot give a meaning to history that they themselves lack, nor can they honor a past which indicts them for their present failures.' (A Biblical Philosophy of History, p. 135)." -- Publisher
John Knox, Oliver Cromwell, God's Law and the Reformation of Civil Government
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Crom.htm
Courtois, Stéphane, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panné, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Margolin, Mark Kramer (editor), Jonathan Murphy (translator), The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression (Harvard University Press, October 15, 1999), 912 pages, ISBN: 0674076087 9780674076082.
"Already famous throughout Europe, this international bestseller plumbs recently opened archives in the former Soviet bloc to reveal the actual, practical accomplishments of Communism around the world: terror, torture, famine, mass deportations, and massacres. Astonishing in the sheer detail it amasses, the book is the first comprehensive attempt to catalogue and analyze the crimes of Communism over seventy years.
" 'Revolutions, like trees, must be judged by their fruit,' Ignazio Silone wrote, and this is the standard the authors apply to the Communist experience." -- Publisher
*Davies, Samuel (1723-1761), The Divine Government the Joy of the World. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Expands upon the reign and rule of King Jesus and the great blessings that this entails." -- Publisher
The Divine Government the Joy of the World, Samuel Davies
http://books.google.com/books?id=q2msGwAACAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Girardeau, John L., College of Charleston, Society of Graduates, Conscience and Civil Government: An Oration Delivered Before the Society of Alumni of the College of Charleston on Commencement day, March 27th, 1860.
*Hall, David W., Savior or Servant? Putting Government in its Place, ISBN: 0965036715 9780965036719.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is the single best volume of Christian thinking on the issue of the increasingly intrusive state . . . Theology at its very best: orthodox, relevant, and provocative." -- George Grant
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? PUTTING GOVERNMENT IN ITS PLACE is an attempt to define the role of the state: Shall it be a minister or a Messiah? Using ancient but timeless information, David W. Hall has surveyed the Bible and arrived at a coherent theology of the state. This study succeeds in identifying the responsibilities that the civil state is mandated to do, permitted to do, and prohibited from doing. Along the way, it is discovered that all political schemes and issues are fraught with theological value. Moreover, the most enduring grid to keep government in its rightful place is found in the Bible. Drawing upon thousands of verses and hundreds of thinkers, this volume is comprehensive yet readable. Theologians from Augustine to Calvin and from Aquinas to Barth are studied and presented in a non-technical manner. The Christian who is interested in politics should absorb these summaries before launching out into unstudied political activism. Rather than adopting a politics-as-usual posture, Hall challenges partisans from the right and from the left. He summons Christians to the old paths, which God's Word has occupied for centuries. Discussed in these chapters are perennial matters of practical importance, such as: taxation; resistance to evil governments; methods of influence; the escalation of rights; limited government; moral qualities for leaders; separation of powers. This book will provide excellent fodder for discussion and guidance. It returns spiritual principles to their place, while seeking to put government in its proper place.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is a revival of a classic approach to limited government. In a time when nations are finally beginning to shrink bloated governments, a surprising source commends itself as an able assistant in reform. The scriptural view of the state, removed from the varied fads of political science, provides an enduring perspective by which to measure all states. This study begins with a survey of biblical teaching on pressing matters of state today. Following the contours of the Old and New Testaments, SAVIOR OR SERVANT? calls all levels of government to a servant posture, rather than allowing officials to dominate. A historical tracing of the best and most pertinent that theology has to offer on the subject is contained in these pages." -- Publisher
*Kelly, Douglas F., The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World: The Influence of Calvin on Five Governments From the 16th Through 18th Centuries, ISBN: 0875522971.
"Examines Calvin's influence on the civil governments of Geneva, Huguenot France, Knox's Scotland, Puritan England, and Colonial America. Shows how Calvin's legacy continues to bear upon the issues that guide and agitate Western nations today." -- Publisher
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth, 1554. Alternate title: A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, and AGAINST ROMISH RITES AND POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL TYRANNY. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #15, #26. Available in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX.
"Formerly titled A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, this letter is said to be 'undoubtedly the most important' of Knox's writings (up to that time), by W. Stanford Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD (p. 114). Furthermore Reid notes that Knox's 'views on the magistrate expressed in the FAITHFUL ADMONITION, were to have an important influence upon much of his future conduct, and upon the development of the Reformation in both England and Scotland.' The editor of KNOX'S WORKS states, 'the object of the ADMONITION was twofold. The one was to animate those who had made a good profession to perseverance, and to avoid the sin of . . . appearing to conform to the 'abominable idolatry' re-established in England; the other, to point out the dangers to be apprehended in when the kingdom became subjected to the dominion of strangers.' Knox uses very strong language here, in the hopes of getting through to those who came to be termed Nicodemites (i.e. those who thought that they could 'keep faith secretly in the heart, and yet do as idolaters do,' in Knox's own words). Written at a time when the true church had been driven underground by Roman Catholic persecution, it was said concerning this letter that 'many other godly men besides have been exposed to the risk of their property, and even life itself, upon the sole ground of either having had this book in their possession, or having read it.' Kevin Reed gives an excellent summary of this letter in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, when, in part, he writes, 'while acknowledging the risk of persecution to the faithful, the reformer perceives a greater danger in compromising with idolatry. Government persecution may bring disfavour of men, loss of personal goods and, in some cases, physical death; but idolatry brings down the wrath of God, resulting in grievous punishments, now and through eternity. Idolatry also invites a curse upon the posterity of the nation. In an intense pastoral appeal, Knox strongly admonishes his readers to avoid conforming to the Romish rites of worship.' (p. 220). For those who would rather read many of these Knox items with contemporary spelling, punctuation, and grammar we highly recommend the SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX." -- Publisher
John Knox: Faithful Admonition (1554)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FaithAdm.htm
*Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland . . . by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline, Glasgow, 1761. A Christian classic. Alternate title: THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND and THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 1 of 6, (Book 1-2). Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Containing, The Manner, and by what Persons, the Light of Christ's Gospel has been manifested unto this Realm, after that horrible and universal Defection from the Truth, which has come by the Means of that Roman Antichrist. Together with the life of the author, and several curious pieces wrote by him, viz. I. His Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him, by the false Bishops and Clergy of Scotland; with his Supplication and Exhortation to the Nobility, States, and Commonality of the same Realm. II. His faithful Admonition to the true Professors of the Gospel of Christ within the Kingdom of England. III. His Letter to Queen Mary, Regent of Scotland. IV. His Exhortation to England for the speedy Embracing of Christ's Gospel. V. The first Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. VI. A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. 13 [Isaiah 26:13], &c. By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, some time Minister of God's Word in Edinburgh. To which is added, I. An admonition to England and Scotland to call them to Repentance, written by Antoni Gilby. II. The first and second books of discipline; together with some Acts of the General Assemblies clearing and confirming the same; And an Act of Parliament. With a large Index to the whole." -- Contents
"It breaths with the spirit of excitement and expectation, being told by the author from his experience as an eyewitness and participant in the unfolding drama of the work of God in 16th century Scotland." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
"Knox portrayed the origins and development of a movement and not a mere chronology of events . . . Knox based his arguments on original sources and he often cited the documents in full. When KNOX'S HISTORY is compared to the contemporary vernacular narratives of Bishop Leslie and Sir James Melville, the superiority of Knox's work becomes evident. For the most part, these writers were preoccupied with petty details and had no conception of the momentous issues that hung on the events they recorded . . . Knox used history to demonstrate his single-track philosophy. And his philosophy said: 'The hearts of men, their thoughts, and their actions are but in the hands of God.' Lee said KNOX'S HISTORY was a sermon without an audience, a preaching book, one long inflammatory speech in behalf of God's truth as the reformer saw it.' (Kyle, The Mind of John Knox, p. 13). Our editions of volumes one and two of KNOX'S WORKS contain the only full, unedited version of Knox's massive HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND available today." -- Publisher
The Works of John Knox (1846), vol. 1 of 6.
http://archive.org/details/worksofjohnkn01knox
Knox, John (1505-1572), John Knox Debates Theonomy, Idolatry and Civil Resistance in the General Assembly of 1564. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. "Excerpted from Knox's THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, BOOK IV. From THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, VOLUME 2, pages 425-461, collected and edited by David Laing, 1854."
" 'Perhaps the most thoroughgoing Calvinist,' writes W. Stanford Reid in (Christian History, Vol. 5, No. 4), 'who took the teacher's (Calvin -- RB), ideas to their logical conclusions, was the Scot, John Knox.' This debate is a perfect example of Knox's consistent Calvinism. In fact one wonders about a person's claim to consistent Calvinism at all if he denies the sovereignty of God in the civil arena (i.e. by denying the applicability of the first table of the law, especially the first two commandments, to the realm of the civil magistrate -- along with their penal sanctions as displayed in the Judicial laws of the Old Testament). Knox certainly did not shrink back from the binding nature of the law on these points. He even openly proclaimed, in this debate, that the death penalty should be carried out against idolaters -- and this was in the context of debating the Queen's Mass and her favoring the idolatry of Romanism. With boldness like this, it is easy to see why it was said over Knox's open grave, 'here lies a man who neither flattered nor feared any flesh.' This debate shows conclusively that Knox was a theonomist, in the sense that he believed in the continuing binding validity of OT penal sanctions. Moreover it demonstrates that it is the duty of all ministers to preach that the civil magistrate is bound to uphold the law of God and promote and protect only the one true Reformed religion. Furthermore Knox argued, from the OT, that to tolerate public idolatry is to disobey God and bring a curse upon the land. Though Knox's REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM is his most important political writing, this debate displays the very same principles, as Knox applied them in 'the heat of battle,' against the queen's secretary, William Maitland of Lethington. This particular debate, as well as many other large sections, are edited out of THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND as presently reprinted by The Banner of Truth Trust. However, this debate can also be found in the bound photocopy edition of volume 2 of KNOX'S WORKS or, with contemporary spelling and punctuation, in ON REBELLION (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994, see page XX in this catalogue). Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD, pp. 234-235), notes that 'the implications of this debate were far-reaching' and that 'as far as Knox personally was concerned, this debate also marked a turning point in his career.' Also of great importance was the situation that occurred 'when Maitland quoted Luther, Musculus, Calvin, and others to support the requirement of absolute obedience, Knox replied that they either spoke in a situation in which they had no power to resist the ruler or they were refuting arguments of Anabaptists who rejected all civil government. Unfaithful rulers could therefore be removed by the people if they had the power to do so. In this position he was supported by John Craig, his colleague in St. Giles, and by most, although not all, of the other ministers.' (Reid, Trumpeter of God, p. 234). As present civil governments continue to promote defiance of the laws of 'the Prince of the kings of the Earth,' our great King the Lord Jesus Christ, these arguments will become more and more useful, among those who seek to obey the Lord in all matters." -- Publisher
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law and much more. The full printed version of this text is free or for sale in Knox's 6 volume WORKS . . ."
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, p. 580, comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son' (cf. Psalm 2)." -- Publisher
*Knox, John (1505-1572), David Laing (editor), The Works of John Knox, 6 volumes. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Here is a chance to touch the flame that ignited whole nations for covenanted Reformation. John Knox is considered by many to have been the most biblically consistent and thoroughgoing of all the great Reformers of the sixteenth century. 'John Knox was in fact the embodiment of the Scottish Reformation as its preacher, theologian, liturgist, historian, and catalyst for reform.' (Hall and Hall [editors], Paradigms in Polity: Classic Readings in Reformed and Presbyterian Church Government [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994], p. 219). 'With this concern for purity of worship,' notes Kevin Reed regarding Knox, 'it is no wonder that the Scottish Reformation was the most thorough among any of the Protestant nations.' (from the introduction to John Knox, True and False Worship: A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry [Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1550 reprinted 1994], p. 14). 'I know not,' states George Smeaton, 'if ever so much piety and genius were lodged in such a frail and weak body. Certain I am, that it will be difficult to find one in whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit shone so bright to the comfort of the church.' (cited in Thomas M'Crie, The Life of John Knox [1831], p. 272). THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX listed here is the complete six volume set collected by David Laing, 1895. Concerning this 6 volume collection, Kyle, in THE MIND OF JOHN KNOX (p. 14), notes, 'The only real basis for a study of Knox's thought must be the writings of the reformer himself. From 1846 to 1864, David Laing collected and edited nearly all of Knox's extant writings. This remarkable collection, which scholars regard highly, is indispensable for any serious study of John Knox.' Contains much that is related to worship questions and the blessings that God pours out upon Churches that keep the second commandment -- as well as the curses that follow those who reject the regulative principle of worship." -- Publisher
MacMillan, III, John, Letter Anent Civil Government and Political Dissent, 1781Knox, John, Unedited History of the Reformation in Scotland Vol. 1 of 6.
"Reid, in his TRUMPETER OF GOD, notes that Knox 'wrote history as a prophet' and that, wherever he could, he used original sources, many of which he reproduced. Furthermore, he proclaims that this 'is still a work that no one interested in this area can afford to neglect.' As W.C. Dickinson has commented, 'it is his monument, for in it he puts flesh and blood on the whole Reformation movement.' Innes (JOHN KNOX, p. 45), says of this work, 'the author who has enabled us to see his own confused and changing age under 'the broad clear light of that wonderful book' the History of the Reformation in Scotland, and who outside that book was the utterer of many an armed and winged word which pursues and smites us to this day, must have been born with nothing less than genius -- genius to observe, to narrate, and to judge. Even had he written as a mere recluse and critic, looking out upon his world from a monk's cell or from the corner of a housetop, the vividness, the tenderness, the sarcasm and the humour would still have been there.' Moreover, Burton writes, 'there certainly is in the English language no other parallel to it in clearness, vigour, and picturesqueness with which it renders the history of a stirring period.' (cited in Innes, John Knox, p. 45). This photocopy edition far surpasses the edited down version that is available in paperback. Over 600 pages of stirring Reformation history." -- Publisher
The Works of John Knox (1846), vol. 1 of 6.
http://archive.org/details/worksofjohnkn01knox
Knox, John, Unedited History of the Reformation in Scotland Vol. 2 of 6.
"Knox portrayed the origins and development of a movement and not a mere chronology of events . . . Knox based his arguments on original sources and he often cited the documents in full. When Knox's History is compared to the contemporary vernacular narratives of Bishop Leslie and Sir James Melville, the superiority of Knox's work becomes evident. For the most part, these writers were preoccupied with petty details and had no conception of the momentous issues that hung on the events they recorded . . . Knox used history to demonstrate his single-track philosophy. And his philosophy said: 'The hearts of men, their thoughts, and their actions are but in the hands of God.' Lee said Knox's History was a sermon without an audience, a preaching book, one long inflammatory speech in behalf of God's truth as the reformer saw it.' (Kyle, The Mind of John Knox, p. 13). Our editions of volumes one and two of Knox's Works contain the only full, unedited version of Knox's massive History of the Reformation in Scotland available today." -- Publisher
Knox, John, Epistles, Admonitions, etc., Vol. 3 of 6
"Includes 'That the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry.' Also, writings on justification by faith, prayer, the Lord's supper, obedience to magistrates, an exposition of the sixth Psalm, letters of warning, comfort and more." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 4 of 6
"Includes 'The Appellation . . . to the Scottish Nobility,' 'The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women,' Answers Concerning Baptism, Form of Prayers/Sacraments in Geneva 1556, 'Letter to the Queen,' 'Summary of the Proposed Second Blast of the Trumpet,' and much more." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 5 of 6
"Includes 'On Predestination, in Answer to the Cavillations by an Anabaptist' (462 pp.), which Boettner, in his REFORMED DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION, calls Knox's 'chief theological work.' Also, A Letter to John Foxe, Names of Martyrs, etc. . . .
"Includes the Life of Knox, Letters Relating to Reformation in Scotland, The Book of Common Order, A Debate Concerning the Mass, Fasting, 'The Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance,' indices of names, places and the general index, etc. 755 pages." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 6 of 6
"Includes 'The Life of Knox,' 'John Knox Debates God's Law, Idolatry and Civil Resistance in the General Assembly of 1564,' 'The Scottish Confession of Faith (1560),' 'John Knox's Only Written Sermon - A Sermon on Isaiah 23:13-21, Preached in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, 19th August 1565,' 'A Letter of Wholesome Counsel Addressed to His Brethren in Scotland Or "What to do When There is no Faithful Church to Attend in Your Local Area" originally published in 1556,' 'Select Practical Writings of John Knox,' 'Against Romish Rites and Political and Ecclesiastical Tyranny, A Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth in England (1554),' 'An Admonition to Flee Idolatry, Romanism and all False Worship (1554),' 'An Answer to a Jesuit: The Marks of a True Church and Ministry: An Answer to a Letter Written by James Tyrie, A Scottish Jesuit, 1572,' 'Against an Anabaptist: In Defense of Predestination,' 'Against Apostasy and Indifference (An Epistle to the Inhabitants of New Castle and Berwick, 1558),' 'On Justification by Faith Alone,' 'National Repentance and Reformation (A Brief Exhortation to England for the Speedy Embracing of the Gospel, 1559),' 'Reformation, Revolution and Romanism: An Appeal to the Scottish Nobility (1558),' 'The Pulpit of the Reformation: "The Last Judgment," by John Welch,' "The Parable of the Householders," and "The Parable of the Tares," by Hugh Latimer.' 'John Knox to the King,' 'The Execution of Servetus for Blasphemy, Heresy, Obstinate Anabaptism,' 'Defended (excerpted from his Treatise on Predestination),' 'A Debate Between John Knox and Secretary Lethington on the Duty of Christian Subjects to Execute Judgement Upon Criminal Magistrates,' 'The Execution of Servetus for Blasphemy, Heresy, Obstinate Anabaptism, Defended (excerpted from John Knox's Treatise on Predestination),' 'It Is I Be Not Afraid,' 'The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558),' and 'Sermon on Isaiah 26.'(sic, all of volume 6)
*Owen, John (1616-1683), God's Presence With a People the Spring of Their Prosperity; With Their Special Interest in Abiding in Him. Alternate title: "GOD'S PRESENCE WITH A PEOPLE, THE SPRING OF THEIR PROSPERITY; WITH THEIR SPECIALL INTEREST IN ABIDING WITH HIM. A SERMON, PREACHED TO THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND, AT WESTMINSTER, OCTOB. 30. 1656. A DAY OF SOLEMN HUMILIATION. BY JOHN OWEN, D.D. A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST, IN THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL. PRINTED BY ORDER OF PARLIAMENT, 1656. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available in various editions of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN. Available in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN, VOL. 8, SERMONS TO THE NATION, sermon 11.
http://johnowenquotes.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/johnowenvol-8.pdf
Owen preaches at length, 21 pages, on God's presence with a people, both individually and corporately, in a sermon on the text And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you, 2 Chronicles 15:2, delivered to Parliament October 30, 1656.
"The great concernment of any people or nation is, to know that all their prosperity is from the presence of God amongst them, and to attend to that which will give continuance thereunto. . . .
"There is a presence of God in respect of providential dispensations. . . . -- attended with peculiar love, favor, good-will, special care towards them with whom he is so present. So Abimelech observed that he was with Abraham, Genesis 21:22, God is with thee in all that thou doest, -- with thee to guide thee, bless thee, preserve thee, as we shall see afterward. So he promised to be with Joshua, I will be with thee, Joshua 1:5; and so he was with Gideon, The Lord is with thee, Judges 6:12, -- to bless him in his great undertaking; and so with Jeremiah, I am with thee, Jeremiah 15:20. This is fully expressed, Isaiah 43:1,2, "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. And this is the presence of God here intimated, -- his presence with the people as to special providential dispensations, as is manifest from the whole discourse of the prophet; and wherein this consists, shall be afterward at large declared. . . .
"There is an abiding with God in national administrations; -- this is a fruit of the other, in those who are called to them. And that this is principally here intended is evident from that use that Asa made of this information and exhortation of the prophet. He did not only look to his personal walking thereupon, but also immediately set upon the work of ordering the whole affairs of the kingdom so as God might be glorified thereby. How this may be effected, shall at large afterward be declared. What hath already been spoken may suffice for a foundation of that proposition which I shall this day insist upon; and it is this, --
"The presence of God with a people, in special providential dispensations for their good, depends on their obediential presence with him in national administrations to his glory: The Lord is with you, while ye be with him. . . .
"What is the rule and measure of God's continuance with his people in the covenant of grace? Plainly this, -- that he will never forsake them; and, on that account, will take care that they shall never forsake him, but abide with him forever. It is not whilst they do so and so, he will abide with them; and when they cease so to do, he will forsake them, as to his federal and covenant presence; -- there is not such a sandy foundation left us of our abiding with God in Christ. See the tenor of the covenant, Jeremiah 31:33; 32:38-40 [Jeremiah 32:38-40]. The sum is, that God will be with them, and take care that they always abide with him; and therefore hath he provided for all interveniences imaginable, that nothing shall violate this union. God lays his unchangeableness as the foundation of the covenant, Malachi 3:6, and he therein makes us unchangeable; -- not absolutely so, for we change every moment; but with respect to the terms and bounds of the covenant, he hath undertaken that we shall never leave him. The law of God's presence in respect of providential dispensations, and all special privileges attending it, is quite of another importance: it is purely conditional, as you may see in my text. The tenor of it is expressed to the height, 1 Samuel 2:30, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Here is no alteration of counsel or purpose in God; but merely an explanation of the rule, law, and tenor of providential dispensations; -- no interpretation of the covenant of grace (Eli held not the priesthood by that covenant); but an explication of the tenor of a privilege given in special providence, Psalm 89:32,33. Hence is that variety of God's dealings with men mentioned in the Scripture; which yet are always righteous, according to one or other of these rules and laws. . . .
"I suppose I need not go for proof beyond the observation of the constant tenor of God's proceedings with his people of old. When did he not deal thus with them? What instance can be given of transgressing this rule? Is the whole story of the nation of the Jews any thing but the illustration of this proposition? Some ruled well, and sought the Lord; and the Lord was with them, and prospered them in all their ways; -- some fell from him, and walked according to their own imaginations; and the Lord cut them short on that account; -- yea, sometimes the same man, as Solomon, Asa, Uzziah, experienced both these states and conditions. Hath not the state of all nations, since they came into the power of men professing the knowledge of him, been the same? Look on the Roman empire; did it not flourish under the hand of men who ruled with God, and were faithful with the saints? Is not the present distraction of it, under the fury and cruelty of Turk and Pope, the issue of the violence, unrighteousness, idolatry, luxury, and persecution of ill governors? Doth not the demonstration of all God's people in the world -- the consideration whereof, in particular, might be insisted on as the ground and reason of the truth insisted on -- require that it should be thus Leviticus 26:1, and almost the whole book of Deuteronomy, are sermons on this text; and every verse, almost, in them would afford a new confirmation of the truth in hand. . . .
"The second use of this pillar was, to give them protection and defense in their ways; so Exodus 14:19,20,24. This protected them from the Egyptians; -- and from thence God troubled their enemies out of the pillar; that is, from his especial presence. This use of it is insisted on, Isaiah 4:5,6. The cloud, that was as smoke by day, and as fire by night, was also a shadow, a place of refuge, and a covert; in one word, a protection or a defense. And this is a second thing which is in God's special presence, -- he will protect or defend them with whom he is so present. He is their dwelling place, Psalm 90:1, then, when in this world they have none; their refuge in the time of trouble: so Isaiah 25:4, 26:1 [Isaiah 26:1], 31:4 [Isaiah 31:4]. Promises and instances to make this good abound; -- they are known to all; the time would fail me to insist upon them. I might go over all the causes, means, and ways of the fears, dangers, ruin of such a people, and show you how a defense is provided against them all. Are their fears from themselves, because of their folly, weakness, and division? or from pretended friends, because of their envy and desertion? or from open enemies, because of their power, cruelty, malice, and revenge? A defense is provided on every account. Heat, rain, tempests, storms, adversity, prosperity, -- all are provided against, where God is present, Isaiah 32:1,2.
"And if any people in the world have experience of this truth, we have it this day. Had not the Lord been with us, who had not destroyed us? Enemies, friends, abroad, at home, our own follies, -- all, any of them, had done the work, had not the Lord himself been with us. . . .
"That we may abide with God, this is indispensably required, -- that we may have peace with him in Jesus Christ. If we are never with him, we cannot abide with him; no man can abide where he never come. The acceptance of our persons lies at the bottom of the acceptance of our duties. As the special presence of God with any, is in and by Christ, and no otherwise, so is our abiding with God in and through him. God with us is the name of Christ: our being with God is in him who is our peace. Two cannot walk together, unless they be agreed, Amos 3:3.
"Now, because this is not to be expected from all the individuals of a nation, yet this thing is to be endeavored, -- that the rulers of it be such as have this interest. I do not divest of a share in government, those who have no share in Christ, if lawfully called thereunto; but I say, when God gives governors whom he intends to make a blessing unto a people, they shall be such as are blessed of him in Christ. And if ever the government of this nation, in this present constitution, -- suppose it the most exactly framed and balanced, in the several parts of it, for the furtherance of public good, -- be devolved into the hands of men not interested in God by Christ, though the constitution may be absolutely good, yet the government will not be blessed, and the nation will be ruined; for God and his glory will depart, Micah 5:5,6. It is Christ that is our peace, even in outward troubles. . . .
"This, then, I say, is pre-required, as a qualification of any person to the performance of this duty of abiding with God. It is the psalmist's advice, Psalm 2:11,12. Let this principle be always owned amongst you; by it honor Christ in the world. Give him the pre-eminence; it is the Father's will he should have it in all things. Expect not the presence of God, but upon this account. Bear testimony herein against the world of profane men, who despise these things. Seeing, then, it cannot be expected to have this qualification diffused universally, as yet, through the body of the people, let the rulers take care that they be not the cause of God's departure from us. . . ." -- John Owen
*Pendlebury, William, National Repentance and Reformation the way to Obtain National Blessings. A sermon preach'd at Rotherham in Yorkshire, on the eleventh of April, 1744, . . . by William Pendlebury, M.A.
*Presbyterian Heritage Publications, Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library and Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, Dallas, 75218]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999).
*Price, Greg L., The Extent of God's Law, Antichrist, Beastly Civil Governments, the Family, Christian Education, Contentment and the Eight Commandment, MP3. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"An amazing unfolding of the eighth commandment, as well as the rest of the decalogue, which includes numerous specific applications to various areas of thought and life (most relevant to the contemporary Christian). Price explains how to avoid the extremes of legalism and antinomianism, while expounding the classic Reformed view of the law as it applies to the individual, family, church and state." -- Publisher
Reed, Kevin, Presbyterian Government in Extraordinary Times. Available in LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY.
Presbyterian Government in Extraordinary Times
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/PGET_ch0.htm
*Renwick, James (1662-1688), The Right of Dissent From an Immoral Civil Government. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18, #26.
"Maintains the hard-core covenanter position, the great principle of dissent and separation from immoral civil governments. Argues that mere existence does not qualify a civil government as the ordinance of God. (Romans 13:2). Answers common objections to this position, including how Joseph, Nehemiah and Daniel could hold office under immoral civil governments. Renwick was a hunted Covenanter minister, who was martyred (at 26 years of age), for his uncompromising defense of the work of covenanted reformation. Willson's book, CIVIL GOVERNMENT and Samuel B. Wylie's softcover book TWO SONS OF OIL: OR, THE FAITHFUL WITNESS FOR MAGISTRACY AND MINISTRY UPON A SCRIPTURAL BASIS, both give much lengthier defenses of this position." -- Publisher
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Treatise on Civil Polity. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF CIVIL POLICY: BEING A RESOLUTION OF FORTY THREE QUESTIONS CONCERNING PREROGATIVE, RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE, IN REFERENCE TO THE SUPREME PRINCE AND THE PEOPLE. / BY SAMUEL RUTHERFORD PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY OF ST ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND; and LEX, REX, OR THE LAW AND THE PRINCE, A DISPUTE FOR THE JUST PREROGATIVE OF KING AND PEOPLE. See also: LEX, REX, OR THE LAW AND THE PRINCE, Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #25.
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Institutes of Biblical Law, 3 volumes, ISBN: 1879998130. Available through Exodus Books.
Volume 1: Institutes of Biblical Law, ISBN: 0875524109.
"A monumental volume . . . Deeply explores the meaning and application of the Ten Commandments for today in civil government, social ethics, and personal conduct." -- GCB
"Many consider this to be the author's most important work. With indices." -- Publisher
Volume 2: Law and Society, ISBN: 1879998238.
"The relationship of Biblical Law to communion and community, the sociology of the Sabbath, the family and inheritance, and much more are covered in the second volume. Contains an appendix by Herbert Titus. With indices." -- Publisher
Volume 3: The Intent of the Law, ISBN: 1879998130.
" 'God's law is much more than a legal code; it is a covenantal law. It establishes a personal relationship between God and man.' The first section summarizes the case laws. The author tenderly illustrates how the law is for our good, and makes clear the difference between the sacrificial laws and those that apply today. The second section vividly shows the practical implications of the law. The examples catch the reader's attention; the author clearly has had much experience discussing God's law. The third section shows that would-be challengers to God's law produce only poison and death. Only God's law can claim to express God's 'covenant grace in helping us'. With indices." -- Publisher
See also: Theft: Commentary and Cases of Conscience. A Listing Excerpted From The Institutes of Biblical Law by Rousas John Rushdoony, 1973 edition
http://www.lettermen2.com/theft.html
Sloane, J.R.W. (James Renwick Willson), The Three Pillars of a Republic: An Address Before the Philo and Franklin Societies of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Penn., Delivered at the Annual Commencement, Aug. 6, 1862.
Spurstowe, William (1605?-1666), England's Patterne and Duty in its Monthly Fasts: Presented in a Sermon, Preached to Both Houses of Parliament Assembled, on Friday the 21. of July, 1643. Being an extraordinary day of publicke humiliation appointed by them, throughout London and Westminster, that everyone might bitterly bewaile his owne sinnes, and crie mightily unto God for Christ his sake, to remove his wrath, and heale the land. Isa. 22:12-14 [Isaiah 22:12-14], 1643.
Willson, James Mcleod (1809-1866), The Deacon: An Inquiry Into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office of Deacon, in the Christian Church; Bible Magistracy: or Christ's Dominion Over the Nations: With an Examination of the Civil Institutions of the United States; An Essay on Submission to the Powers that be; Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans XIII. 1-7 [Romans 13:1-7], Argumentative Testimony, Witnessing: or the Distinct Denomination Position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church Right and Necessary. Alternate title: PAMPHLET ON THE DEACON.
The Deacon: An Inquiry Into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office of Deacon, in the Christian Church
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/6/1/the-deacon
Willson, James McLeod (1809-1866), and The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, Civil Government: Argumentive Testimony.
Argumentative Testimony, available in CIVIL GOVERNMENT: ARGUMENTIVE TESTIMONY.
http://www.covenanter.org/JMWillson/argumentativetestimony.htm
Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), A Sermon on Civil Government, 1821. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #22.
A Sermon on Civil Government
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-civil-government
Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), The Shaking of the Nations, Alias the Anti-Christian Empire Overthrown, 1809. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #29.
The Shaking of the Nations, Alias the Anti-Christian Empire Overthrown
http://www.covenanter.org/JRWillson/jamesrenwickwillson.htm
*Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), History of The Scottish Nation, in 3 volumes. Available (PROTESTANTISM IN SCOTLAND), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (PROTESTANTISM IN SCOTLAND), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
History of The Scottish Nation
http://www.reformation.org/history1.html
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), Protestantism in Scotland (1878), Book 24 (illustrated), from Wylie's THE HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"For the period covered by this book, Scotland went from a nation of uncivilized barbarians to national covenants with Christ, and then through many ups and downs as various factions tried to destroy true Christianity. From darkness to Hamilton, Wishart, Knox, and Melville, through to the Covenanters, the Westminster Assembly and the tragic deception used by Charles II, Wylie's racy style makes it hard to put this book down. Few other nations and periods of history provide such edifying reading. Highlights include Knox's call to the ministry, his interview with Queen Mary, his trial for treason, Melville's work, the National and Solemn League and Covenant, the civil war, the Westminster Assembly, and more." -- Publisher
Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), The Scottish Reformation. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
*Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), Story of the Covenant and the Service of the Covenanters to the Reformation in Christendom and the Liberties of Great Britain, 1880. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A fine historical introduction to the battle for Godly government and liberty against the forces of anti-Christian bondage (to national sin and Satanic deception). The Covenanters are responsible, more than any other group historically, for maintaining 'the crown rights of King Jesus' -- even at peril of severe torture and the loss of their earthly lives. Their covenanting principles are still the purest and most faithful form of Christianity known to man, and the revival of these eminently Biblical views are a sure hope for the future! For a more extensive 'Cameronian' treatment of this subject: Howie's SCOTS WORTHIES." -- Publisher
Wylie, Richard Cameron, and The National Reform Association, The Institution of Civil Government, 1906.
Wylie, Samuel B. (1773-1852), The Obligation of Covenants: A Discourse, Delivered, Monday, June 27, 1803, After the Dispensation of the Lord's Supper, in the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, Glasgow. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Obligation of Covenants
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/samuel-b-wylies-sermon-on-the-obligation-of-covenants
*Wylie, Samuel B. (1773-1852), The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis (1850 edition, reprinted 1995). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13, #26.
"A Covenanter classic opening Revelation 11:3,4 and Zechariah 4:14. It has been hailed as the 'best presentation of the position of the Covenanter Church that has been written.' Noting that the 'time has been, when the whole body of Presbyterians, in Scotland, England, and Ireland, unanimously subscribed' to these principles, 'for civil and ecclesiastical reformation' and that thousands bled and died for the glorious covenanted cause of civil and ecclesiastical reformation; Wylie sets out to explain and defend 'that cause. Not because it is an ancient cause; not because many have sealed it with their blood; but, because,' as he says, 'I thought it the doctrine of the Bible, and the cause of Christ.' This book explains how to tell if a government (especially a civil government), is faithful to Christ and thus to be obeyed for conscience's sake. It also gives direction regarding when and how to resist (and disassociate), yourself from governments which get their power from 'the beast.' Moreover, this book gives clear testimony as to what the Bible requires of civil magistrates, noting 'that civil rulers should exercise their power in protecting and defending the religion of Jesus.' It also gives plain reasons why dissent from the government of the United States (and other covenant breaking nations), is the legitimate Scriptural pattern." -- Publisher
The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis, Samuel B. Wylie
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/two-sons-of-oil.htm
The two Sons of oil, or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis (1850), Samuel Brown Wylie and James McLeod Willson
http://archive.org/details/twosonsofoilorfa00wylirich
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Soteriology, atonement, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Trusting god, Church and state, Civil government, Biblical civil government and the basis for civil resistance, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, Leniency, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Politics and government, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The Scottish Reformation, Covenanting in America, Reformation eschatology, and so forth, and so on.
Christians and Civil Government
http://www.covenanter.org/CivilGovt/civilgovernment.htm
Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Great Movements in Presbyterian History
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=12160372131
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
Noah Webster on Republican Principles
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7947/NoahWeb.html
Religious Test Clauses in Colonial and State Constitutions and Other Documents and Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That There Should be a Religious Test for Positions of Authority and Trust
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc001.html
Tract, Civil Government, Civil Resistance, God's Law, etc., a tract
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/FREEBOOK/civgov.htm
Ideas have consequences. The following works dispel denominational Christianity's "Founder's chick" and "Mount Rushmore Christianity," so prevalent during the last 30 years. The Articles of Confederation provided for Christian government of the Colonies. The intellectually honest acknowledge that the U.S. Constitution did not provide Christian government for the States. . .If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)
A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
Bailyn, Bernard, To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders, ISBN: 0375413774 9780375413773.
"A brilliant, fascinating exploration of issues beyond the mere 'who wrote what and when' of the key American revolutionary texts. Wide-ranging, very well contextualised, written so that a reader with an average interest in the subject (like me) can understand it. Recommended to anyone who wants to get behind and beyond the characters and simple events of the revolution, and explore the thinking, tensions and impacts of it all." -- Reader's Comment
Bailyn, Bernard, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, ISBN: 0674443020 9780674443020.
"This is the critically acclaimed book by Bernard Bailyn that stands in contradistinction to Charles Baird's ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION. With unusual courage, Bailyn attempts to understand the founders as they understood themselves. In the preface, Bailyn recalls the 'intense excitement' and 'sense of discovery' he felt at Harvard University when he studied the ideological themes of revolutionary America. This excitement and sense of discovery is passed along to the reader.
"This is a very scholarly work. The extensive footnotes are fabulous.
"I especially enjoyed the chapter called 'Power and Liberty.' Bailyn develops the pre-revolutionary idea that the ultimate explanation of every political controversy is the disposition of power. Power is defined as 'dominion' or the human control of human life. With dozens of fascinating examples, Bailyn illustrates why power is essential to the maintenance of liberty, but dangerous and in need of restraint, lest it extend itself beyond legitimate boundaries.
"I found it refreshing to read a book about America's founding that didn't condescend or politicize. It wasn't until I read this book that I fully appreciated how impoverished my public school education was on the topic. You wont be disappointed." -- Tom Bouthillet
When it comes to American history, arguably the most important . . . event is the American Revolution. The dates run from about 1764, with the passage of the Sugar Act, to 1783, when the Peace of Paris was decided, or even as late as 1787, when Delaware became the first state in the Union. . . . This is the most thorough and most balanced fusion of primary documents and secondary analysis. . . . It receives my highest recommendation. -- Reader's Comment
"Interestingly, the country's revolutionary thinking originated from the very country we were fighting against -- ENGLAND! In arguing the continuous debates over the tension between liberty and power, the pamphlet writers of the day turned to 17th and 18th century thinkers to make their case. The best parts of the book are the last two chapters. In the second to last . . . Bailyn discusses concepts like democracy, representation, and slavery. In the final chapter, 'Fulfillment,' apparently written much later, Bailyn focuses on the Constitutional Convention and the arguments between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, particularly, what they felt about virtue residing among the country's people, and how best to form a government. One final note: Bailyn's sources from other scholarly journals will lead the read to many interesting gems -- especially a few of the articles from William and Mary Quarterly, a must-have journal for anyone interested in the time-period." -- Jack Lechelt
"His work was based on an extensive survey and analysis of the large number of political pamphlets published in the years leading up to the revolution. His work benefited as well greatly from a number of other significant works of scholarship, such as Caroline Robbins' book on the Commonwealth tradition in 18th century thought. More than anything else, Bailyn succeeded in determining what key terms like 'power', 'liberty', and 'republicanism' meant to the Revolutionary generations. In doing so, he was able to strip away anachronistic accretions from these terms and ideas and to recover the actual thinking of the Revolutionaries and their opponents.
"Bailyn's achievement is manifold. He was able to show that dominant intellectual influence on the Revolutionaries was a compound of classical models, Common Law legal tradition, Enlightenment ideology, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, and a strong tradition of British intellectual and political dissent that had its roots in the Commonwealth period of the 17th century. The latter tradition was especially important and acted as the binding matrix for other traditions and interpretative lens through which other received ideas were focused. Bailyn shows how these ideas were articulated in the specifically American context and how they led inevitably to confrontation with the expanding imperial authority of Britain. This conflict led to new expansions of the basic ideology, some of which would represent completely novel ideas. The traditional ideas of representation and consent, constitutional basis of society, and sovereignty were overthrown and replaced to a very large extent by the concepts we still uphold.
"The development of these new ideas and the necessity to give them practical scope would lead to what Bailyn artfully termed 'The Contagion of Liberty,' the expansion of concepts of rights and freedom well beyond the original categories of thought received by the Revolutionary generations. These would include attacks on slavery, the questioning of establishment of religion, speculation about democracy as a legitimate and potentially stable form of government, and an increasing emphasis on social equality generated from the realization of political equality. As Bailyn remarks, the thinking and writing on these topics provides the bridge between the world of the 18th century intellectuals and what would become the world of Madison and de Toqueville.
"Bailyn's analysis and scholarship are superb. The organization and quality of writing in this book are outstanding. Just as important, Bailyn is very good at supporting his analysis with well chosen excerpts from contemporary political pamphlets. His judicious choice of quotations not only serves to support his conclusions, but gives a fine idea of the words and thoughts of the Revolutionaries and their opponents.
"This is a fundamental book for understanding the American past." -- Roger Albin
"Bailyn discusses in detail how the colonists took English political thought and applied it to the nature of representative government, constitutional thought, and the nature of divided sovereignty. He then explains how the manner in which the colonists transformed thinking about the nature of government had ramifications in the colonists' view of slavery, the disestablishment of religion, a classless society, and the nature of democracy. The intellectual transformation required for an independent United States thus occurred well before the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers.
"Bailyn's book is a work of detailed scholarship and not easy to read. It is a major achievement of intellectual history and will more than repay the effort. John Adams is among the major heroes of this book. Readers that want to follow-up McCollough's popular biography and learn about the ideas of the time might well explore this book. Bailyn's study affirms the power of thought and of the American experiment. In our troubled times, it may help take us back to the origins of our country to learn where we have been so that we may intelligently decide where we are going." -- Robin Friedman
"Of course, the other large conclusion one takes from the book is just how much the thoughts behind the revolution were affected by Enlightenment thought: Montesqui, Locke, the ancient Romans, and how little Christianity influenced it in any substantive way." -- Patrick Luck
"There is an unfortunate, somewhat politically correct, movement today attempting to 'prove' that the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, were motivated by, and the documents based on, the Bible and Christianity.
This forlorn hope relies on tenuous ties to Biblical scripture to illustrate sections of both documents, and the alleged religious piety of the Founders. . . .
"This excellent volume, written before all the present quasi religious whoop-de-do, dispels all of these misbegotten theories and presents in clear, concise, and documented prose what motivated the Founders to start a Revolution against the mother country and set out on 'the noble experiment. . . .'
"What they wrought was not a state founded on religion or religious principles, but on English Common Law, which had as its antecedents Roman Law, Saxon Law, and the Danelaw, none of which were based either on the Bible or on Christianity in any of its forms. What Bailyn has given us is a clear and concise history of the Founders that needs to be read and studied by present and future citizens to understand our beginnings as a nation." -- Kevin F. Kiley
"Bernard Bailyn did his undergraduate work at Williams College and his graduate work at Harvard, where he is currently Adams University Professor Emeritus and director of the International Seminar on the Atlantic World. His previous books include THE NEW ENGLAND MERCHANTS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY; EDUCATION IN THE FORMING OF AMERICAN SOCIETY; PAMPHLETS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1750-1776; THE IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, which received the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prizes in 1968; THE ORDEAL OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, which won the 1975 National Book Award for History; VOYAGERS TO THE WEST, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987; and FACES OF REVOLUTION: PERSONALITIES AND THEMES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. -- Publisher
Beard, Charles Austin (1874-1948), and Forrest McDonald (introduction), An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, ISBN: 0029024803.
"In this classic and controversial interpretation of the economic conditions of the United States between 1783-1787, Beard proposes the thesis that the Framers were motivated by economic concerns. In his landmark work, THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN LAW, Hurst describes AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION . . . as 'one of "the basic works" on the Federal Convention of 1787.' (Hurst, The Growth of American Law: 458). Beard [1874-1948], was a founder of The New School for Social Research." -- Publisher
Beliles, Mark A., and Stephen K. McDowell, America's Providential History: Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life, ISBN: 1887456007 9781887456005.
"Even Newsweek now admits: 'Historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document.' In this enlightening book, you'll discover the remarkable evidence for this truth. Based on the assumption that all history is Providential (i.e., it reflects God's purposes), you'll learn how God's presence was evident at our nation's founding in the hearts and minds of the men who fought for independence and shaped the Constitution. Numerous illustrations, portraits, and visual aids make this book a valuable resource." -- Publisher
Davies, Samuel (1723-1761), Religion and Patriotism the Constituents of a Good Soldier. A Sermon Preached . . . in . . . Virginia, August 17, 1755. By Samuel Davies, [Glasgow], 1756.
Federer, William J. (compiler), America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, ISBN: 1880563053 9781880563052 1880563096 9781880563090 1880563134 9781880563137.
"An invaluable resource highlighting America's noble heritage, profound quotes from founding fathers, presidents, statesmen, scientists, constitutions, court decisions . . . for use in speeches, papers, debates, essays . . ." -- Publisher
Amerisearch
https://americanminute.com/
Ferling, John E., A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic, ISBN: 0195159241 9780195159240.
"It was an age of fascinating leaders and difficult choices, of grand ideas eloquently expressed and of epic conflicts bitterly fought. Now comes a brilliant portrait of the American Revolution, one that is compelling in its prose, fascinating in its details, and provocative in its fresh interpretations. In A LEAP IN THE DARK, John Ferling offers a magisterial new history that surges from the first rumblings of colonial protest to the volcanic election of 1800. Ferling's swift-moving narrative teems with fascinating details. We see Benjamin Franklin trying to decide if his loyalty was to Great Britain or to America, and we meet George Washington when he was a shrewd planter-businessman who discovered personal economic advantages to American independence. We encounter those who supported the war against Great Britain in 1776, but opposed independence because it was a 'leap in the dark.' Following the war, we hear talk in the North of secession from the United States. The author offers a gripping account of the most dramatic events of our history, showing just how closely fought were the struggle for independence, the adoption of the Constitution, and the later battle between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Yet, without slowing the flow of events, he has also produced a landmark study of leadership and ideas. Here is all the erratic brilliance of Hamilton and Jefferson battling to shape the new nation, and here too is the passion and political shrewdness of revolutionaries, such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, and their Loyalist counterparts, Joseph Galloway and Thomas Hutchinson. Here as well are activists who are not so well known today, men like Abraham Yates, who battled for democratic change, and Theodore Sedgwick, who fought to preserve the political and social system of the colonial past. Ferling shows that throughout this period the epic political battles often resembled today's politics and the politicians -- the founders -- played a political hardball attendant with enmities, selfish motivations, and bitterness. The political stakes, this book demonstrates, were extraordinary: first to secure independence, then to determine the meaning of the American Revolution. John Ferling has shown himself to be an insightful historian of our Revolution, and an unusually skillful writer. A Leap in the Dark is his masterpiece, work that provokes, enlightens, and entertains in full measure." -- Jack Rakove, author of Original Meanings
Maier, Pauline, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, ISBN: 0679779086 9780679779087.
"This is a well-written, well-researched, entertaining account of the creation of the United States' Declaration of Independence as well as an analysis of how the declaration has been enshrined as something of a sacred document (a place it did not always hold). Pauline Maier, a history professor at MIT, will no doubt surprise many readers with detective work demonstrating that Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was actually preceded by many local declarations, which have been generally overlooked by historians but which were published throughout the colonies and were well known in their day. American Scripture holds many surprises as it details Jefferson's drafting of the document, the editing process, and the varying regard with which the Declaration of Independence has been held in the past two centuries." -- Publisher
McDonald, Forrest, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, ISBN: 0700603115 9780700603114.
"McDonald does a great job here unwinding the ideas and institutions developed by the founding generation to produce our system of dual sovereignty. He retains a reverence for what our founders accomplished, and constrains himself to an explanation of what happened to bring into operation our 'New Order' which now looks quite old.
"McDonald is critical of the Charles Beard brand of economic reductionism, and has no patience for the relentless deconstruction of the constitutionalist era by modern historians who insist on showing us that they, rather than these founders, are actually superior moral beings with better insights, as well as more slavish devotion to the current strains of academic obsessions.
"This should be on the list of the 10 best books to understand the American system of government." -- Reader's Comment
"Forrest McDonald, widely considered one of the foremost historians of the Constitution and of the early national period, reconstructs the intellectual world of the Founding Fathers -- including their understanding of law, history political philosophy, and political economy, and their firsthand experience in public affairs -- and then analyzes their behavior in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in light of that world. No one has attempted to do so on such a scale before. McDonald's principal conclusion is that, though the Framers brought a variety of ideological and philosophical positions to bear upon their task of building a 'new order of the ages,' they were guided primarily by their own experience, their wisdom, and their common sense." -- Publisher
McDonald, Forrest, and Russell Kirk, We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution, ISBN: 1560005742 9781560005742.
"Few vices are easier to arouse than envy. Politicians and ideologues have had great success exploiting the resentment that arises when pitting rich against the poor.
"From the time of its publication in 1913 until the 1960s, Charles Beard's thesis dominated discussion of the founders' motives. In the mode of the Marxist interpretation of history as class struggle, Beard argued that economic self-interest, rather than concern for the general good, determined the writing and outcome of the Constitution.
"Interestingly, Beard asserted his system of alignment without actually proving it, admitting that his work was fragmentary because it failed to fill in the blanks. The real legwork of research wasn't done until over fifty years later, when historian Forrest McDonald put Beard's thesis to the test. McDonald dug through numerous public records to write economic biographies of the delegates (the 55 who attended the Constitutional Convention and the 1,750 members at the state conventions), analyzing their occupations, income, and assets. By comparing these to how the delegates voted, he found that Beard's thesis was incompatible with the facts.
"In We the People McDonald analyzed the geographical and political factions represented by delegates, their property holdings and occupations, their voting patterns, if any, and whether they benefited directly from the proposed Constitution. For the state conventions he divided chapters into states favorable, divided, and opposed to the Constitution. At the end he re-evaluated Beard's thesis and discussed whether any economic interpretation could be applied to our founding given the complexity and variety of occupations and opinions that existed.
"The result was a remarkable, though at times necessarily tedious, bit of historical detective work. Very likely it came as a great relief to many Americans to learn that the founders had something other than their own economic gain at heart. Probably few were surprised that the founders were a much more diverse group than Beard had realized.
"We may find that independence difficult to believe today, when the forces of selfishness, materialism, and special interest seem so dominant, not merely among political and business leaders but among the general populace. Today propagandists still want to align people into absolutes, much like trial lawyers who portray their clients as angels and their opponents as devils. Our shallow political debates revolve around false dichotomies such as the Party of Business and the Party of the Common Man. But I imagine this adversarial, intellectually dishonest approach will continue to be used as an effective tool as long as there is envy to be harvested in the heart of man. -- Reader's Comment
North, Gary, Blasphemy and Civil Rights. Available in LEVITICUS: AN ECONOMIC COMMENTARY, Gary North.
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gnbd/Chapter23.htm
*North, Gary, Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution, an e-book.
"In addition to primary sources, North relies on the work of the most well respected members of the historical community -- Bailyn, Wood, Mcdonald, Gaustad, Boller, Koch, Adair, and Rakove to name a few.
"The thesis of the book is that the key U.S. Founders -- the ones who pushed through the ideas upon which America declared independence and then constructed the Constitution -- were secret theological unitarians, whose heterodox religious creed inspired them to found American government upon the notion of religious neutrality, and consequently break the tradition of covenanting with the Triune Christian God. His book focuses on Article VI Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution (no religious tests) as the device for achieving secular government.
"From what I have researched, North is correct in his essential claim. Other scholars have noted something similar. For instance, in this post I noted Thomas Pangle and Cushing Stout, whose work North cites, concluding that there is a connection between the U.S. Constitution's benign approach to religion and the key Founders' enlightened and benign personal religious creed. Indeed, one could argue, as does Dr. Gregg Frazer, that the Founders' unitarianism or theistic rationalism was the political theology of the American Founding.
"Ideas have consequences and it was these heterodox unitarian ideas, not orthodox Christianity, that drove the U.S. Founding's approach to religion and government. However, such heterodoxy or heresy wasn't a popular creed, but rather was disproportionately believed in by the elite Whigs. Whatever the religion of a majority of the U.S. population (either nominal Protestant Christianity, which itself can tend towards Deism, or orthodox Protestant Christianity), orthodox Churches held a great deal of institutional power. With such power, they had to essentially consent to the elite Whig's new plan on government. And they did. But not all of them, for instance, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (Covenanters) to whom North dedicates his book. From the very beginning they smelled a rat in Philadelphia.
"So the notion that there was a secret coup, a bait and switch as Michael Zuckert put it, to sell a Christian audience non-authentically Christian ideas is not new. James Renwick Willson was one of those covenanters who in 1832 made arguments very similar to North's. And he was burned in effigy for this sermon which called all of the Presidents from Washington to Jackson infidels and not more than unitarians. I think Willson got at the truth, but did so by shattering a sacred cow -- a social myth. The kernel of truth that David Barton et al. have is that many folks in the 19th century did believe in the Christian America social myth as a cultural prejudice. And many of their bogus, unconfirmed quotations source back to 19th century places that pushed this social myth.
"Now the non-respectable has become the respectable and secular scholars more or less agree with the claims of James Renwick Willson and Gary North that America didn't have an authentically orthodox Christian founding. . . ." -- Jonathan Rowe, June 8, 2008 (http://www.positiveliberty.com/2008/06/gary-norths-ebook.html)
Download a copy at:
Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
https://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, an article by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
*North, Gary, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism, ISBN: 093046432X 9780930464325.
"Political pluralism is not simply a political philosophy; it is a theology. This theology teaches that there must never be a nation that identifies itself with any religion." -- Publisher
"This book presents a new vision of politics and a new vision of America, a vision self-consciously tied to the Bible. . . . Dr. North, a trained historian, seeks to lead us from this downward spiral to full recovery." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
North, Gary, The Sinai Strategy: Economics and the Ten Commandments, ISBN: 0930464079 9780930464073.
"A detailed exploration of the Ten Commandments and their social, political and especially, economic implications for all of mankind. Nations in which the Bible is freely preached tend to adopt a free market economy. The capitalism vs. socialism controversy is really God vs. Satan." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
North, Gary, Victim's Rights: The Biblical View of Civil Justice, ISBN: 0930464176 9780930464172. Alternate title: THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF VICTIM'S RIGHTS.
"A study of what the Bible says our judicial systems should be like. North contends that Scripture clearly shows that (in ancient days), they were 'harsh on criminals' in order to be 'soft on victims' -- the reverse of the modern approach in our culture." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/sidefrm4.htm
Peters, Madison Clinton, The Masons as Makers of America: The True Story of The American Revolution, 80 pages.
It is said that George Washington became a Freemason at an early age, that his lieutenants during the American Revolution were Masons, and that Benjamin Franklin was able to solicit war support during a trip to France because of his Masonic connections among government officials there. It is claimed that a delegation of Masons, headed by President Washington, who was dressed in formal Masonic attire, including apron, laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Capitol and dedicated it as a "Temple of the People" were there would be government by the people and for the people.
Masonry attracted men who rejected the authority of the Church in favor of freedom of conscience and the rule of reason. Of course, both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution excluded the authority of the Triune God in favor of government by men who ignore the highest ethical standard known to mankind.
See: THE ANTI-MASONIC PARTY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1826-1843, and "The Anti-Masonic Party" a Wikipedia article.
Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
https://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, an article by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
Robbins, Caroline, Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman: Studies in the Transmission, Development, and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought From the Restoration of Charles II Until the War With the . . . ISBN: 0865974276 9780865974272.
Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Slavery Christianity: Paul's Letter to Philemon, an article (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, November, 2005), ISBN: 1891777173 9781891777172.
"Slavery. Racism. Rebellion. Civil disobedience. The problems are as pressing today as they were 1900 years ago when the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a slave-owner, Philemon, about his runaway slave -- and the runaway slave carried Paul's letter back to his legal owner.
"What did the letter say? Did Paul -- does Christianity -- approve of slavery? Does Christianity condone slavery? Or does the Gospel abolish slavery and establish freedom wherever it is believed? Jesus said, If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31,32)
"Paul's letter to Philemon is a masterpiece of divinely inspired political philosophy. It provides the basis for the non-violent abolition of slavery wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and believed.
"Dr. John W. Robbins holds the Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University. His most recent book is FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM: ESSAYS ON CHRISTIAN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS." -- Publisher
Sidney, Algernon (1622-1683), Discourses on Government: To Which is Added, an Account of the Author's Life, 3 volumes, ISBN: 1584772093 9781584772095.
"This important work appeared fifteen years after Sidney's execution for treason in 1683. A reply to Filmer's PATRIARCHA, the DISCOURSES is one of the earliest modern statements of republican ideals. He proposes a doctrine of natural justice and governmental order from which all institutions vary at their peril. More important, Sidney asserts that a king's authority is granted by parliament, which has the additional power to depose him, indeed a controversial idea during the Restoration period. Thomas Jefferson, one of several individuals influenced by this text, described it as '. . . probably the best elementary book of the principles of government, as founded in natural right which has ever been published in any language; and it is much to be desired in such a government as ours that it should be put into the hands of our youth as soon as their minds are sufficiently matured for that branch of study.' (Sowerby). Sidney [1622-1683], was beheaded by Charles II in part for his involvement in the Rye House plot. One of the other charges against him was that he had committed treasonable libel in this work, which was still in manuscript at that time. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, III: 12. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 953. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II: 588. Sweet and Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I: 107. Wing, Short Title Catalogue of English Books 1641-1700 S3761." -- Publisher
Sidney, Algernon (author), and Hans W. Blom (editor), Eco Haitsma-Mulier (editor), Ronald Janse (editor), Raymond Geuss (editor), Quentin Skinner (editor), Sidney: Court Maxims, ISBN: 0521467365 9780521467360.
"This remarkable expression of republican thought has never before been published. Algernon Sidney was among the most unrelenting republican partisans of the seventeenth century, and was executed for his opposition to Charles II. Written during Sidney's continental exile, the vivid COURT MAXIMS was only recently rediscovered. The work presents a lively discussion about the principles of government and the practice of politics, articulating a vital tradition of republicanism in an absolutist age." -- Publisher
"Until quite recently, this wonderful book was lost to the world. Sidney was one of the most eloquent advocates for republicanism and liberty in his or any period of history. This work offers a clear and direct exposition of his political philosophy. Although it is no substitute for his great DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT it is certainly a worthy compliment." -- Will Murphy
Trenchard, John, Thomas Gordon, Ronald Hamowy (editor), Cato's Letters or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects: Four Volumes in Two, ISBN: 0865971307 9780865971301 0865971323 9780865971325.
"Cato's Letters are a must have for any lover of liberty. They are filled with enough passion, wisdom, and wit to make them shining gems on any bookshelf. The philosophy expounded in these letters is that of radical liberty according to the laws of nature. It is made clear throughout that governments are the servants of people, not there masters. The only just role of government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of the governed, any other role being usurped and explicitly tyrannical. It was this radical philosophy that made CATO'S LETTERS such a huge influence in America throughout the 18th century. . . . Above all, these letters are classics of reason and resistance. In my opinion, they are the best exposition of libertarian principles ever written." -- Will Murphy
*Weaver, Richard M., Ideas Have Consequences, ISBN: 9780226090061 022609006X.
"Originally published in 1948, at the height of post-World War II optimism and confidence in collective security, IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES uses 'words hard as cannonballs' to present an unsparing diagnosis of the ills of the modern age. Widely read and debated at the time of its first publication, the book is now seen as one of the foundational texts of the modern conservative movement. In its pages, Richard M. Weaver argues that the decline of Western civilization resulted from the rising acceptance of relativism over absolute reality. In spite of increased knowledge, this retreat from the realist intellectual tradition has weakened the Western capacity to reason, with catastrophic consequences for social order and individual rights. But Weaver also offers a realistic remedy. These difficulties are the product not of necessity but of intelligent choice. And, today, as decades ago, the remedy lies in the renewed acceptance of absolute reality and the recognition that ideas-like actions-have consequences. This expanded edition of the classic work contains a foreword by New Criterion editor Roger Kimball that offers insight into the rich intellectual and historical contexts of Weaver and his work and an afterword by Ted J. Smith III that relates the remarkable story of the book's writing and publication." -- Publisher
"Before THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND, there was IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Nearly two decades before Bloom, Richard M. Weaver rhetorician, Southern agrarian sage, and a founding father of the postwar conservative revival published this spirited disquisition on the Western intellectual tradition." -- Reader's Comment
Yates, Robert, John Lansing, and Luther Martin, Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention, 1787. Alternate title: SECRET PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLED AT PHILADELPHIA, IN THE YEAR 1787, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FORMING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISBN: 1410203638 9781410203632.
"One of the most important collections of documents pertaining to the formation of the Constitution of the United States. Notes on the convention taken by Robert Yates, Chief Justice of New York, and copied by John Lansing, Jun. Esquire, late chancellor of that state, members of that convention. Including 'The Genuine Information,' laid before the Legislature of Maryland, by Luther Martin, Esquire, then attorney-general of that state, and member of the same convention. James Madison thought that Yates and Martin 'appear to have reported in angry terms what they observed with jaundiced eyes.' It must be added that in many particulars Yates' notes were fuller than Madison's own. Luther Martin's GENUINE INFORMATION is a general summary of the course of the Debates, with a running criticism on the provisions of the Constitution. Also contains an appendix with documents by Edmund Randolf, and others." -- Publisher
"The delegates, of the free states (in the national convention), in their extreme anxiety to conciliate the ascendancy of the Southern slaveholders, did listen to a compromise between right and wrong -- between FREEDOM and SLAVERY, of the ultimate fruits of which they had no conception, but which already, even now, is urging the Union to its inevitable ruin and depopulation, by a civil, servile, foreign, and Indian war, all combined in one; a war, the essential issue of which will be between freedom and slavery, and in which the unhallowed standard of slavery will be the desecrated banner of the North American Union -- that banner first unfurled to the breeze inscribed with the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence." -- John Quincy Adams, commenting on proceeding in the Constitutional Convention and prophetic of the War Between the States
Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention, Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
http://garynorth.com/phildelphia.pdf
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Soteriology, atonement, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, Trusting god, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Constitutionalism, True Republicanism, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The Destruction of American Liberty, God's deliverance of nations, The biblical solution to terrorism, Idolatry, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, and so forth, and so on.
The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England, May 19, 1643
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/art1613.htm
Biblical Test of Character for Candidates for Public Office and all Civil Servants
http://www.lettermen2.com/bibltest.html
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
National Establishments of Religion
"Hence it ought to be observed that something remarkable is here demanded from princes, besides an ordinary profession of faith; for the Lord has bestowed on them authority and power to defend the Church and to promote the glory of God. This is indeed the duty of all; but kings, in proportion as their power is greater, ought to devote themselves to it more earnestly, and to labor in it more diligently." -- John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah (1550)
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/6/29/national-establishments-of-religion
Religious Test Clauses in Colonial and State Constitutions and Other Documents and Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That There Should be a Religious Test for Positions of Authority and Trust
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc001.html
Rethinking the Articles of Confederation, H.A. Scott Trask
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1296
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
Selling the Birthright: The Ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Appendix H, Tools of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus, by Gary North, pages 1190-1216.
Gary North, Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That Christianity is the Highest Ethical Standard Known to Mankind and, Therefore, Should be the Basis of Law and Government
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc002.html
A Study Guide for the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), (The Westminster Standards), and Related Works
http://www.lettermen2.com/suggest.html
Trinitarianism Verses Polytheism: Unresolved Questions of Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution
http://www.lettermen2.com/trinpoly.html
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/romans-14-12.html
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/romans/14.htmlSee the Theological Notes: "Sanctification: The Spirit and the Flesh," at 1 Corinthians 6:11 in The Reformation Study Bible.
See the Theological Notes: "Christians in the World," at Colossians 2:20 in The Reformation Study Bible.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
See Isaiah 40:1 -- Isaiah 55:13 and annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:25-31). See the annotation in 1599 Geneva Bible.If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers. (1 Samuel 12:14,15)
We get the kind of leadership we deserve.
See the commentary in the Geneva Notes, and the commentary of John Gill, and Matthew Henry.Furthermore, individuals, not corporate bodies, will be finally judged for their actions in this life.
For it is written,
As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11,12).And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27,28)
"Of the Last Judgment," The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), Chapter XXXIII
I. God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ,[1] to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.[2] In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged,[3] but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.[4]
[1] ACT 17:31 [Acts 17:31] Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
[2] JOH 5:27 [John 5:27] And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
[3] 1CO 6:3 [1 Corinthians 6:3] Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? JUD 6 [Jude 6] And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 2PE 2:4 [2 Peter 2:4] For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
[4] 2CO 5:10 [2 Corinthians 5:10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. ECC 12:14 [Ecclesiastes 12:14]For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. ROM 2:16 [Romans 2:16]In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Romans 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. MAT 12:36 [Matthew 12:36] But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/indexf.htmlGreat and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways,
thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?
for though only art holy:
for all the nations shall come and worship before thee;
for thy judgments are made manifest. (Revelation 15:3b,4)For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)
Isaiah's Prophesy after the Angel of the Lord smote Sennacherib's army for good King Hezekiah.The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:3)
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3)
The State, considered in its corporate character, is A MORAL PERSON, with a moral standing and responsibility. It is not the creation of the so-called social compact or of the popular will, but a divine institution based on natural religion. It coheres by a moral and religious bond; and its rulers are the lieutenants of God. If the State is a moral person, capable of performing duty, of committing sin, and suffering punishment, which every one must own who traces the fate of nations according to the divine word, it follows that a nation, acting by its rulers, can accept Christianity and make a public profession of it as the national rule and guide. It had been held together previous to the recognition of Christianity by some form of religion however impure, without which it could not have existed. And the first duty of the civil ruler when brought in contact with Christianity and persuaded of its divine origin is to RECEIVE THE BIBLE AS A REVELATION in a national way. The immediate effect of this is that it constitutes the State a Christian State, and pledges it to purge out its previous religion in the same way as Pagan and Mahommedan nations constituted themselves, according to their false religions, or as the atheistic state was constituted, or rather attempted to be constituted, by the French Convention. A nation must have a religion, and the only question is, which it will adopt. And when Christianity comes to the nation, or to the family, it does not frown on either of these institutions, which also are divine in origin, but enters into them with an elevating purifying power, and sweetly coalesces with all that is purely human in both. These ordinances of God now became vessels by which Christianity is diffused. The national recognition of the Bible as a revelation subjecting the nation to its authority, though a great step gained, does not exhaust the nation's duty, as widely diverging views prevail upon the right interpretation of the Bible. The State must by the necessity of the case ADOPT A CREED which will commonly be prepared by the Church. The same duty that devolves upon an individual Christian confronts a Christian State, and it naturally appends the civil sanction to the Church's creed. It must distinguish between scripture truth and its perversion. The State, by the adoption of a creed, gives utterance to the self-consciousness of a Christian community. It confesses the Christianity it has adopted. . . . The nation, acting by its rulers, must needs adopt a creed, and so distinguish between truth and error in the confession which it makes. It must be Trinitarian or Unitarian, Protestant or Popish, Calvinistic or Arminian, by the necessity of the position. These diverging lines of profession cannot be ignored. More than that; the responsible rulers must proclaim a Christian constitution and adopt a legislation all through the nation's history upon the principles of revelation. A Christian State is competent to make the same confession of its faith that an individual makes. -- George Smeaton, The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments, pp. 4-6
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble, a commentary on 2 Chronicles 7:14
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGoldenSceptreHeldForthToTheHumbleQ. What kind of submission may be rendered to immoral and tyrannical governments, the ordinance of Satan, such as now exist?
A. Christians, in the exercise of their Christian liberty, and in the performance of the duty of proving all things, and holding fast what is good, can submit to such governments for wrath's sake, ONLY, which kind of submission has no respect to the power as legitimate authority, but simply, from dread of the cruelty of the tyrant, who pours forth his fury upon all who oppose his misrule. To God's moral ordinance as described, is allegiance due for conscience sake. Submission to this, is submission to God.
Q. When Christians reside under an immoral government, is not conformity to the general order of society a duty, provided this can be done without violating the divine law?
A. If the constituted authorities of a nation are not in voluntary subserviency to the Mediator, but opposed to his authority, law, and religion, for the sake of peace and order, and for the sake of contributing as much as possible to the ease and happiness of society, and from a spirit of resignation to the Divine providence, and in order to make legitimate provision for themselves and relatives, so much conformity to the prevailing system as is consistent with their oath of allegiance to Messiah, is a duty conscientiously to be practiced, although very distinct from that obedience for conscience sake which they would render to the government of their choice, to the authority which has the sanction of the Divine approbation. Jer. xxix. 4-7 [Jeremiah 29:4-7], Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Q. Whilst it is the duty of Christians thus to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, in conformity to the laws of Christ, which are everywhere, and at all times, obligatory upon them -- is it not their duty publicly to declare their dissent from an immoral constitution of civil government, within the reach of whose power they may reside?
A. This is, indeed, their duty. Because, 1. They are bound to defend God's moral ordinance of civil government, in the purity of which, God's own honor as the Governor of the nations, is deeply involved. Rev. ii. 25,26 [Revelation 2:25,26], That which you have already hold fast till I come; and he that overcometh -- and keepeth my works unto the end -- to him will I give power in the nations, &c. Isa. viii. 16 [Isaiah 8:16], Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 2. The purity of this holy ordinance cannot be preserved, if it is confounded with the existing immoral systems, and by an indiscriminate exercise of allegiance. 3. Christians are witnesses for God among men; and having in their possession the testimony of God, in the Holy Scriptures, respecting the true character of civil government, and the duty of national subjection to Christ and his law, and respect for his holy religion, it is their duty to apply the doctrines of inspiration upon this subject, in stating and defending the truth, and condemning the existing immoral systems, and in bearing public testimony against all who uphold them. Isa. xliii. 10 [Isaiah 43:10], Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. Rev. xi. 3 [Revelation 11:3], I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth; xii. 17 [Revelation 12:17], And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. See also: Rev. xvii. 14 [Revelation 17:14], Acts v. 32 [Acts 5:32], xxvi. 16 [Acts 26:16], Micah iv. 8-18 [Micah 4:8-18], Mark vi. 11 [Mark 6:11]. 4. The witnesses in Revelation are raised up not only to testify against the ecclesiastical apostasy, The scarlet woman, or Roman church -- and the image of the beast, -- the Papacy -- but also against the seven-headed and ten-horned beast -- or the civil powers -- upon which the woman rides. The nations which sustain Antichrist, and are equally, with the man of sin, Anti-christian, and are at war with the Lamb. See: passages last quoted, together with Rev. xiii. 1, 2 [Revelation 13:1,2], xvii. 3-14 [Revelation 17:3-14], and xii. 11 [Revelation 12:11], And they overcame him (the devil embodied in the Roman church papacy, and civil powers), by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; xvii. 14 [Revelation 17:14], These, (the civil powers), shall make war with the Lamb-and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Q. Are not virtuous persons, who, in their private capacity, are endeavoring to further the true end of civil government -- the maintenance of peace and quietness in all godliness and honesty, although they dissent from the constitution of civil government of the nation in which they reside, entitled to protection?
A. They certainly are entitled to protection in their lives, liberties, and property; "but they are not to act inconsistently with their declared dissent, and it would be tyranny to constrain them to such measures." Exod. xxii. 21 [Exodus 22:21], Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him. See also: Rom. xiii. 3 [Romans 13:3], 1 Tim. ii. 2 [1 Timothy 2:2], Jer. xxi. 12 [Jeremiah 21:12], Esther iii. 8, 9 [Esther 3:8,9].
Q. Should not "Christians, testifying against national evils, and striving, in the use of moral means, to effect a reformation, relinquish temporal privileges, rather than do any thing which may appear to contradict their testimony, or lay a stumbling-block before their weaker brethren?"
A. This is unquestionably their duty. Because they cannot convince men of their own sincerity, and of the immorality of a principle or practice, whilst they themselves are found actually maintaining the immoral principle or practice (by oath of allegiance, voting, and holding offices, &c.), and enjoying the emoluments of iniquity decreed by law. Heb. xi. 24, 26, 36 [Hebrews 11:24,26,36], By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Esteeming the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. Numb. xxiii. 9 [Numbers 23:9], Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Rom. xiv. 21 [Romans 14:21], It is good neither to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended.
Q. Will not such a public dissent from immoral governments, and faithful testimony against them, ultimately prevail to their overthrow?
A. Yes. By these means the witnesses will prevail, however much they may suffer in the meantime, and will be the honored instruments of establishing the millennial kingdom of the Lamb. Rev. xii. 11 [Revelation 12:11], And they overcame him, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Dan. vii. 22 [Daniel 7:22], The Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Rev. xx. 4 [Revelation 20:4], And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast (the civil powers), neither his image (the Papacy), neither had received his mark (yielded allegiance), upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." -- William L. Roberts, The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, pp. 130-133You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility for delegating a task to someone else. If you picked the right man, fine, but if you picked the wrong man, the responsibility is yours -- not his. -- Richard E. Krafve, Vice President, Ford Motor Company
The Christ is the only One truly called. . . . The flesh has always struggled against Him, as we see when we survey the history of God's people. The struggle was especially acute at Golgotha. -- S.G. De Graaf in Promise and Deliverance
The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)Experts of every kind are in the perfect position to exploit you. -- from the Contents of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economists Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
*Bugliosi, Vincent, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, ISBN: 9780792756064 0792756061, 352 pages.
We receive what we deserve as citizens. Bugliosi's book offers hope in these ominous times, when practically all of our institutions, including the three branches of government, seem to be broken beyond repair. THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER demonstrates that one person can bring an unfaithful leader to trial in the courtroom of American public opinion, can call for justice, outside the reach of the politicized monopoly that our Court System has become, and without astronomical legal costs and delays -- by publishing a lawsuit.
We hope upright, law-abiding citizens will follow Bugliosi's example and will publish lawsuits calling for justice against unfaithful leaders in the courtroom of American public opinion.
Notice this book is actually a lawsuit. Vince Bugliosi explained in a broadcast interview that his intention is to present all the facts and arguments necessary to win a lawsuit against George W. Bush. He said it is his intention to make it possible for any County or State District Attorney, where a son or daughter has died in the Iraq war, to file a suite against George W. Bush. Furthermore, he is offering to act as a consultant or associate Prosecuting Attorney with any local District Attorney. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
"Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career.
"In THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses -- a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
"As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
"A searing indictment of the President and his administration, THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
"Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.
"Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, HELTER SKELTER, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi's other books -- AND THE SEA WILL TELL and OUTRAGE -- also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, has been heralded as 'epic' and 'a book for the ages.'
"Bugliosi has uncommonly attained success in two separate and distinct fields, as an author and a lawyer. His excellence as a trial lawyer is best captured in the judgment of his peers. 'Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was,' Alan Dershowitz says. F. Lee Bailey calls Bugliosi 'the quintessential prosecutor.' 'There is only one Vince Bugliosi. He's the best,' says Robert Tanenbaum, for years the top homicide prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. Most telling is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a twenty-one-hour televised, scriptless 'docu-trial' of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the Dallas jury returned a guilty verdict in Bugliosi's favor, Spence said, 'No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.'
Bugliosi lives with his wife, Gail, in Los Angeles." -- Publisher
*Gillespie, Patrick (1617-1675), The Ark of the Covenant Opened; or, A Treatise of the Covenant of Redemption Between God and Christ, as the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace, 1677. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
"John Owen, in his preface to this treatise writes, 'I do freely declare my judgement that for order, method, perspicuity in treating, and solidity of argument, the ensuing discourse exceedeth whatsoever single treatise I have seen written with the same design.' (cited in Johnston, Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 337). David Lachman tells us that 'in addition to arranging his brother's papers (published as Miscellany Questions [now found in George Gillespie's two volume Works, -- RB]), Gillespie used his materials also for the beginning of the first of a five-volume work on the covenant. Only two were published: THE ARK OF THE TESTAMENT OPENED . . . (1661), and THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OPENED . . . (1677), respectively treating the nature and kinds of covenants and the Mediator of the covenant. The third, on the condition of the covenant and the instrumentality of faith in justification, was extant in 1707, when the remaining two, respectively on the privileges and duties of the covenant, were believed lost (Analecta, I, 168-9) . . . Gillespie (was a -- RB), Covenanter, Principal of Glasgow University, and leading Protester.' (Nigel Cameron, editor, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, p. 382). In this volume Gillespie proves:
1. That there is such a Covenant (of Redemption)."Owen, in his preface (who also notes his long friendship with Gillespie), further underscores the importance of this work when he writes, 'For the Doctrine hereof, or the truth herein, is the very Center wherein all the lines concerning the Grace of God and our own duty, do meet; wherein the whole of Religion doth consist. Hence unto the understanding, Notions, and Conception, that men have of these Covenants with God, and according as the Doctrines of them is stated in their minds, their Conceptions of all other sacred Truths, or Doctrines, are conformed'." -- Publisher
2. The necessity of it.
3. The nature, properties, and parties thereof.
4. The tenor, articles, subject matter of Redemption.
5. The commands, conditions, and promises annexed.
6. The harmony of the Covenant of suretyship made with Christ, and the Covenant of reconciliation made with sinners: wherein they agree, wherein they differ.
7. Grounds of comfort from the Covenant of suretyship; and, of course, much, much more!
*Gillespie, Patrick (1617-1675), Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December, Prov. XIV. 34; 2 Kings XVII. 22,23; Ezek. XIX. 14, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December 1650. [Proverbs 14:34; 2 Kings 17:22,23; Ezekiel 19:14] Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. (2 Kings 23:26).
"For these in public places of trust and power, that should bear down sin, are they not rather ringleaders in sin?" -- Patrick Gillespie
Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments
http://www.truecovenanter.com/gillespie/gillespie_patrick_rulers_sins_causes_of_judgment.html
*Mason, Archibald (d. 1831), Observations on the Public Covenants Betwixt God and the Church: A Discourse (1799). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
Contents: Observations on the public covenants betwixt God and the church / Archibald Mason -- Paleopresbyterianism vs. neopresbyterianism / Michael Wagner -- Permanence of covenant obligation -- The preface and bibliography to the rare bound photocopy: obligation of social covenanting -- The binding nature of national covenants with God -- The Solemn League and Covenant -- Guide for studying the Westminster Confession, in suggested order of reading -- Terms of ministerial and Christian communion in the Reformed Presbyterian Church -- Corporate sanctification: holding fast the attainments of Reformation / John Brown -- What is a moral person? How God views the church and the nations / David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton -- A hind let loose / Alexander Shields -- Of separation from corrupt churches -- Old landmarks -- confession and testimony.
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Observations on the Public Covenants, Betwixt God and the Church, -- Archibald Mason (d. 1831)
http://archive.org/details/spiritualillumin00maso
*M'Crie, Thomas (the elder, 1772-1835), Life of Knox, 1831. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Iain Murray, in his stirring introduction to Cunningham's HISTORICAL THEOLOGY writes, 'The third event marking the commencement of this spiritual movement was the publication of a book in 1811. It was the biography of John Knox by Thomas M'Crie. All over Scotland this work was used to revive the memory of the great Reformer and nothing could have been a more telling protest against the stifling influence of Moderatism. It brought many a student and minister into the experience once described by James Fraser of Bera in his Memoirs: 'When I read Knox, I thought I saw another scheme of divinity, much more agreeable to the Scriptures and to my experience than the modern.' M'Crie followed this up in 1819 with a biography of Knox's great successor, Andrew Melville, and these two books became known as the 'Iliad and Odyssey of the Scottish Church.' Just as Homer's heroes fired the hearts of many imitators so M'Crie's biographies aroused a holy ambition in many to follow the noble example of these two spiritual giants.
"M'Crie's work is an undisputed classic regarding this fiery reformer. It exhibits information on Knox and the Scottish Reformation which has been hid in manuscripts and books which are now little known or consulted. Knox may be the most pertinent Reformer to study in our day of widespread idolatry, pluralism, anti-Christian government, humanistic law, relativism, and the revival of that 'masterpiece of Satan,' Roman Catholicism. Read everything that you can get your hands on -- either by or about Knox; you'll never be the same again!" -- Publisher
Life of John Knox: Containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland: with Biographical Notices of the Principal Reformers, and Sketches of the Progress of Literature in Scotland During the Sixteenth Century; and an Appendix, Consisting of Original Papers
https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnkno00mcri
Powell, James, The Triumph of Liberty: A 2,000 Year History Told Through the Lives of Freedom's Greatest Champions, ISBN: 068485967X 9780684859675, 574 pages.
"This volume contains the stories of men and women who have overcome great obstacles to give freedom to the world. Through the lives of 65 people, these stories cover the struggle to abolish slavery, stop wars, and overthrow tyrants, as well as the fight for human rights, religious toleration, individualism, the liberation of women and other such freedoms. The entries are based on biographies, diaries and interviews with scholars to provide an instructive narrative." -- Publisher
Price, Greg L., The Session of the Puritan Reformed Church of Edmonton/Prince George (compiler) Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), George Gillespie (1613-1648), John Brown (of Wamphray, 1610-1679), Greg L. Price, et al., The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2, #27.
Price, Greg L., The Preface and Bibliography to the Rare Bound Photocopy: The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in THE DUTY AND PERPETUAL OBLIGATION OF SOCIAL COVENANTING.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/Pref&Bib.htm
The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/SocCov.htm
R.P. (anonymous), Joseph Caryl (1602-1673), and Thomas Manton (1620-1677), The Sole and Soveraign (sic) way of England's Being Saved Humbly Proposed by R.P., 1671.
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
See, in particularly, the Foreword.
"The relationship between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism has been a subject of scholarly study for centuries. In this volume, John Robbins argues that political and economic freedom are the results of Biblical Christianity. Political freedom and capitalism arose in Northwestern Europe and North America after the Christian Reformation of the 16th century, and they are unique in world history. The nations and peoples that heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the Reformers quickly became free and prosperous on a scale previously unimaginable. Some historians and economists have denied any causal connection between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism, but they are able to deny this connection only by ignoring clear philosophical, economic, legal, sociological, and historical evidence demonstrating that Christianity is the source of capitalism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress, editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
"Table of Contents: Foreword | Politics | The Founder of Western Civilization | The Sine Qua Non of Enduring Freedom | Some Problems with Natural Law | The Political Philosophy of the Founding Fathers | The Bible and the Draft | The Messianic Character of American Foreign Policy | Truth and Foreign Policy | Compassionate Fascism | Conservatism: An Autopsy | Rightwing Radical Chic | The Reconstructionist Assault on Freedom | Roman Catholic Totalitarianism | The Relation of Church and State (Charles Hodge) | Abortion, the Christian, and the State | The Ethics and Economics of Health Care | The Chickens' Homecoming (John Whitehead) | The Coming Caesars (John Whitehead) | Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century | The Religious Wars of the Twenty-First Century | Economics: The Failure of Secular Economics | The Promise of Christian Economics | Teaching Economics from the Bible | The Neo-Evangelical Assault on Capitalism | The Reformed Assault on Capitalism | The Roman Catholic Assault on Capitalism | How Romanism Ruined America | Not Yours to Give (Edward Ellis) | Money, Freedom, and the Bible | The Case Against Indexation | Is Christianity Tied to Any Political or Economic System? | Ecology: The Abolition of Man | Scripture Index | Index | The Crisis of Our Time | Intellectual Ammunition."
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), George Gillespie (1613-1648), John Brown (of Wamphray, 1610-1679), Greg L. Price, The Session of the Puritan Reformed Church of Edmonton/Prince George (compiler), et al., The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #2, #27.
"The material found in this bound photocopy addresses a forgotten and neglected ordinance of God: social covenanting. God's people in times of repentance and thanksgiving, trial and blessing have been a covenanting people. In the most pure times of ecclesiastical and civil reformation throughout history, both church and state under the mediatorial rule of Christ have by the grace of God bound themselves together by covenant to promote and defend the true Christian religion. The first document adopted by the Westminster Assembly was in fact, the Solemn League and Covenant (1644). It united the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland in a covenanted reformation of both church and state in order to preserve, promote and defend the true Christian religion (as summarized in the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646], Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Directory For Public Worship, and Form of Church Government), and in order to expose and uproot all false teaching contrary to the Scripture and these standards. Furthermore, it was not only the desire of the Westminster Assembly to unite in covenant the three British kingdoms, but rather to include in this covenanted reformation all of the Reformed Churches throughout Europe. Consider the goal of the Assembly as summarized by Hetherington: 'There was one great, and even sublime idea, brought somewhat indefinitely before the Westminster Assembly, which has not yet been realized, the idea of a Protestant union throughout Christendom, not merely for the purpose of counterbalancing Popery, but in order to purify, strengthen, and unite all true Christian churches, so that with combined energy and zeal they might go forth, in glad compliance with the Redeemer's commands, teaching all nations, and preaching the everlasting gospel to every creature under heaven. This truly magnificent, and also truly Christian idea, seems to have originated in the mind of that distinguished man, Alexander Henderson. It was suggested by him to the Scottish commissioners, and by them partially brought before the English Parliament, requesting them to direct the Assembly to write letters to the Protestant Churches in France, Holland, Switzerland, and other Reformed Churches. . . . and along with these letters were sent copies of the Solemn League and Covenant, a document which might itself form the basis of such a Protestant union. The deep thinking divines of the Netherlands apprehended the idea, and in their answer, not only expressed their approbation of the Covenant, but also desired to join in it with the British kingdoms. Nor did they content themselves with the mere expression of approval and willingness to join. A letter was soon afterwards sent to the Assembly from the Hague, written by Duraeus (the celebrated John Dury), offering to come to the Assembly, and containing a copy of a vow which he had prepared and tendered to the distinguished Oxenstiern, chancellor of Sweden, wherein he bound himself 'to prosecute a reconciliation between Protestants in point of religion'. . . . On one occasion Henderson procured a passport to go to Holland, most probably for the purpose of prosecuting this grand idea. But the intrigues of politicians, the delays caused by the conduct of the Independents, and the narrow-minded Erastianism of the English Parliament, all conspired to prevent the Assembly from entering farther into that truly glorious Christian enterprise. Days of trouble and darkness came; persecution wore out the great men of that remarkable period; pure and vital Christianity was stricken to the earth and trampled under foot. . .' (William Hetherington The History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, pp. 337-339). The material presented herein is commended to the reader with the sincere prayer and confidence that God will again restore the Church of Jesus Christ to a glorious covenanted reformation -- one that will even surpass that one to which she had attained at the time of the Westminster Assembly. However, when the Lord brings that future covenanted reformation it will not be limited to only three kingdoms of the earth, but by the grace and power of Christ our King, it will be a covenanted reformation that will encompass all of the nations of the earth (Psalm 2:6-12; Isaiah 2:1-4; Matthew 28:1-20), and will bring to the church a visible unity and uniformity that (unlike pleas for unity today), is firmly grounded upon the truth." (Greg Price, Preface). The material contained in this compilation was gathered together by the session of the Puritan Reformed Church of Edmonton/Prince George. Its 210 pages contain the following items, as listed in this bibliography for social covenanting:
1. Samuel Rutherford, Due Right of Presbyteries, pp. 130-139.Price, Greg L., The Preface and Bibliography to the Rare Bound Photocopy: The Duty and Perpetual Obligation of Social Covenanting. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in THE DUTY AND PERPETUAL OBLIGATION OF SOCIAL COVENANTING.
2. George Gillespie, The Works of George Gillespie, Vol. 2, pp. 71-88.
3. John Brown of Wamphray, An Apologetic Relation, pp. 167-175, 181-207.
4. David Scott, Distinctive Principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, pp. 14-90.
5. William Roberts, The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, pp. 134-152.
6. The Reformed Presbytery, An Explanation and Defence of the Terms of Communion, pp. 181-187.
7. The Reformed Presbytery, Act, Declaration and Testimony, pp. 11-23.
8. The Reformed Presbytery, The Auchensaugh Renovation, pp. 115-140.
9. The Church of Scotland (1639), The National Covenant of Scotland, pp. 345-354, in the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646] published by Free Presbyterian Publications.
10. The Westminster Assembly (1644), The Solemn League and Covenant, pp. 355-360, in the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646] published by Free Presbyterian Publications.
11. The Church of Scotland (1648), A Solemn Acknowledgement of Publick Sins and Breaches of the Covenant, pp. 361-368 in the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646] published by Free Presbyterian Publications." -- Publisher
*Schwertley, Brian M., and Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States. Publications Committee, National Covenanting and Christ's Victory Over the Nations. Available at Reformed Online.
"This is the first book-length, scholarly exposition and defense of national covenanting since 1843. This comprehensive treatment includes the binding nature of covenants, covenant renewals under the godly kings of Israel, objections to covenanting answered, the unbiblical nature of the U.S. Constitution, the unscriptural alteration of the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1789, the necessity of the Old Testament moral law for a Christian nation and the biblical requirements for civil office. In the book, Rev. Schwertley not only sets forth the biblical case for social or national covenanting in a simple and organized manner but also critiques the modern pluralistic alternatives to the original Presbyterian teaching on this topic." -- Publisher
It was preceded by 'Social Covenanting,' a series of 31 sermons in MP3 format, given by the author starting in the summer of 2012.
Social Covenanting series of 31 sermons [audio files] by Brian Schwertley
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?seriesOnly=true&currSection=sermonstopic&sourceid=ccc&keyword=National+Covenanting&keyworddesc=National+Covenanting
*Scott, David, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton, What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in OBSERVATIONS ON THE PUBLIC COVENANTS BETWIXT GOD AND THE CHURCH: A DISCOURSE.
"A clear and concise summary of the biblical doctrine of the moral person (i.e. that God regards churches and nations as moral entities separate from the individual members of which they are comprised). No Christian can afford not to understand this vital teaching! In many ways this is a crux of the Covenanter position, underlying as it does the issues of separation from backslidden or anti-Christian civil and church governments, the binding nature of lawful Covenants on posterity, eschatology, etc." -- Publisher
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Seibert, Donald V., and William Proctor, The Ethical Executive: A Top C.E.O.'s Program for Success With Integrity in the Corporate World, ISBN: 0346124506 9780346124509.
*Steele, David (1803-1887), The Two Witnesses: Their Cause, Number, Character, Furniture and Special Work, 1859. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #14.
"This is a great companion volume to Steele's NOTES ON THE APOCALYPSE. Here Steele zeros in on and works primarily from the text of Revelation 11:13, I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy. Steele deals with Testimony-bearing, Antichrist, Popery, The beasts of revelation, The mark of the beast, 666, The image of the beast, Civil and ecclesiastical apostasy, Reformation, Covenanting, Heresy, Schism, Terms of communion, Slavery, Sectarianism, Mormonism, Independency, Freemasonry, History, Worship, Idolatry, Britain, The united states, Canada, Mystical babylon, The last days, The ultimate victory of the church, and a host of other subjects!
"As is usually the case with Steele, he makes the doctrines of Scripture eminently practical. For example, note how the faithful witnesses are continually called to testify against open opposition to the Lord's Covenanted Zion and the attainments of biblical Reformation in (the faith which was once delivered unto the saints); and against whom this testimony is directed:
'These witnesses are called and commissioned to testify especially against Antichrist -- a false christ, and therefore an opposing christ. But Christ is to be considered either personally or mystically; either abstractly in his personal rights and prerogatives, or in the concrete, in the rights and immunities of his church. There is this prejudice, too prevalent, against Christians testifying against Christians! This we are often told, is contrary to the law of charity. We have not so learned Christ. They are not all Israel which are of Israel. Much of the business of these two prophets is to oppose prophets -- to prophesy against the shepherds, Ezekiel 34:2. Moses with his miracles must confront the magicians with their enchantments, Exodus 8:19. Elijah must confront the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18:25. Paul must counteract false apostles, 2 Corinthians 11:13. In short, the direct object of these witnesses' testimony is apostate christendom -- those who depart from the faith, 1 Timothy 4:1 -- who have gone out from fellowship and renounced the doctrines of the apostolic church, 1 John 2:19. Their special work is to testify against error and its propagators and abettors, together with ungodliness, the natural fruit of error, rather than against pagans.' -- The Two Witnesses, p. 14"Moreover, having taken his own place 'in the wilderness' (i.e. having separated himself from, and having been ostracized by the 'civilization' of the obstinately defecting RPCNA and other unfaithful denominations of his day [2 Thessalonians 3:6,14-15; Revelation 12:6, Revelation 17:3]), it was given to Steele to see and expound those grand old principles of our covenanted forefathers (who sat at Westminster and in the best Reformed churches during both the first and second Reformations -- the Scottish Presbyterians being granted the greatest measure of light as a settled body from 1638-1649).
'These two witnesses have always testified -- not formally against pagans or infidels as such; but -- against apostate Christians, as comprising an organized and complex system of opposition to the Lord and his Anointed. And just here, the witnesses have detected the secret of Antichrist's successful enterprise among the human family . . .' Many false prophets are gone out into the world. . . this is a deceiver and an Antichrist, (2 John 7). The combination is ostensibly on the side and in the interest of Christ, and the elements of which Antichrist is composed were obviously professing Christians, They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19). Here is the apostasy, and so the witnesses are fully borne out in asserting that Antichrist is a great Christian apostasy! To trace the origin and development, in the organization and modifications of this enemy of all righteousness, is the special work of Christ's witnesses.' -- (The Two Witnesses, pp. 17-18)
Various, Proceedings of the Fourth Calvinistic Congress: Held in Edinburgh 6th to 11th July, 1938.
"Contents: Reformed faith and its ethical consequences: to the individual / E. Sebestyen; W. Childs Robinson | in the family / John Macleod | in the church / G.T. Thomson | in society / R.J.G. M'Knight | in the state / V.H. Rutgers | in economics / J.H.S. Burleigh | in art / Leon Wencelius, and P.R. Musculus | The interrelation of theology and secular knowledge / J. de Saussure | Significance of the Old Testament for the Christian life / W. Vischer | Speeches delivered at public meetings / G.D. Henderson, Auguste Lecerf, M.P. Ramsey, David Read, Dr. Kromsigt, Stewart M. Robinson, J.B. Soucek, and W.H. Hamilton."
Vieira, Edwin, Constitutional Homeland Security: A Call for Americans to Revitalize the Militia of the Several States. Volume I, The Nation in Arms, unabridged, ISBN: 0967175925 9780967175928.
"Presently, our republic is seething with citizen discontent on a range of important issues: the burgeoning police state under a proto-fascist 'homeland security' banner . . . the cultural and economic threat of unchecked Mexican immigration . . . the increasing strictures on our God-given right (reiterated by the Second Amendment) . . . the hokey 'War on Terror.'
"How in the world can the citizens of these 50 sovereign States, return to the liberty and self-government that we supposedly assured ourselves when 'We the People' assented to the U.S. Constitution as our means of limiting the Leviathan State?
"In this trenchant little guidebook for American citizens, constitutional scholar Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. leads us back to the rule of law, step by constitutional step! What an erudite, plain-speaking, and eminently 'do-able' plan the author presents!
"This is no guidebook for rifle-toting 'Montana Freemen' nut-cases; it is a measured, historically documented plan of action for truly reclaiming our liberty and our 'homeland security,' one neighborhood at a time, in concert with local 'first responders' (police, fire dept., EMS, et al.), but entirely on a volunteer basis: orderly, law-abiding, serious-minded citizenship, just as our colonial-era forefathers -- and the framers of the Constitution -- intended!
"After you read this book (believe me, you'll be full of hope and ready to say, 'Let's Roll!'), just imagine the 4th of July, 2010 . . . in 535 American towns and cities, holding an 'AMERICA AGAIN!' rally, to institute the 'Citizens' Homeland Security Associations' that Dr. Vieira introduces in this masterful book! I tell you, never in my life have I had such hope in the future of this republic -- if only people will read such books as this one, and actually take them to heart.
"Are you sick of the repetitive news cycles and foreign wars? Tired of being told that America is inexorably becoming a police state, or will soon be overrun by illegal immigrants?
"Get this book TODAY; you'll finish the last page with more hope than you've had for years." -- Reader's Comment
Welwood, John, Heartwork, Assurance and National Judgment, an MP3 file, audio file. Available (SERMONS DELIVERED IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND and MP3) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (SERMONS DELIVERED IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #29. Also found in SERMONS DELIVERED IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND.
"Although Welwood focuses on personal sanctification, searching out the differences between hypocrites and true believers, he does not leave national issues untouched. He shows how God's anger builds in the life of backsliding individuals, churches and nations and how sometimes faithful individuals are swept away in the deluge that ensues as God's wrath is poured out upon the earth. The situation in Scotland at the time of this sermon (c. 1678), provides a perfect example illustrating this point. The forces of Antichrist (Royalist and Prelatical), were hounding the faithful Covenanters and many were suffering (even unto death), on account of their faithfulness to Second Reformation attainments and covenant engagements (in the battle for the crown rights of King Jesus). At this point Welwood seeks to comfort and strengthen those saints suffering under the hand of these wicked, persecuting, 'incarnate devils' -- as Welwood calls them. Occasional hearing, unlawful authorities in church and state and neutrality in the cause of Christ are all sternly rebuked. There is great edification here as this sermon encourages the Christian in his unrelenting battle against sin and defection (individually and in his duties relative to the church and state). This sermon is read (by Ruling Elder Lyndon Dohms), from the book SERMONS IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND, BY SUFFERS FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST. Regarding the preacher, this arresting account of one of Welwood's last sermons is recounted in SERMONS IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION." -- Publisher
Heartwork, Assurance and National Judgement
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=8250514593
Willson, Samuel McConnell, and Robert Gibson, Truth: A Sermon, on Steadfast Adherence to the Distinctive Doctrines of the Church: Preached on Monday, Dec. 3, 1832, After the Dispensation of the Lord's Supper, in Westerlo Street Church, Albany.
Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. (Philippians 3:16). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Truth: A Sermon, on Steadfast Adherence to the Distinctive Doctrines of the Church
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/willson_samuel_truth_a_sermon_on_3_john_4.html
Wolterstorff, Nicholas P., Educating for Responsible Action, ISBN: 0802818579 9780802818577.
"Helpful theories and strategies for moral education." -- Mark Branson
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The one and the many, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, God's deliverance of nations, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenant of redemption, The covenant faithfulness of god, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Scapegoating and blameshifting, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Ethics, Medical ethics, The national covenant, The solemn league and covenant, The covenanted reformation of scotland author/title listing, Biography of covenanters, Acts of faithful assemblies, Covenanting in america, The scottish covenanting struggle, alexander craighead, and the mecklenburg declaration, Confession of national sin and covenant renewal, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 565, 1228-1239, 2094, 2527, 3078, 3140, 3141, 3142, 3453, 3454
Psychology and Psychiatry
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrrappc.html
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
"Democratic" should be understood as democratic republic, and this not the "pagan republican systems of ancient Greece and Rome," but rather the "biblical republicanism of Old Testament Israel" found in Deuteronomy 1:13-17, and exemplified in a Presbyterian form of government. The U.S. Constitution guarantees a "republican form of government." (US Constitution, Article IV, Section 4)
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3)
The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:3)
Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what sort of government the delegates had created. His reply to the crowd: "A republic, if you can keep it." -- Mitch Daniels in Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans
Pierce, Franklin, Federal Usurpation (Crown Rights Book Company 2002, 1908).
"This book is a plea for the sacredness of the Constitution of the United States.
"The bloated and all-pervasive Federal bureaucracy which now rules the American people from Washington, D.C. did not arise overnight. Instead, as the author of this important volume documents, the usurpations of the Lincoln Administration during the War of 1861 and that of the Radical Republican Congress during Reconstruction were the fundamental causes of the existing political conditions of today. Pierce also discusses the inherent flaws in the Constitution which were the result of compromise between the quarreling factions at the Convention of 1787, and which would later lead to corruptions dangerous to the liberties of the people of the several States. The book concludes with a chapter entitled, 'How to Restore the Democratic Republic'." -- Publisher
Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), The Atheism of the Early Church, ISBN: 1879998181 9781879998186. Available through Exodus Books.
"Early Christians were called 'heretics' and 'atheists' when they denied the gods of Rome, in particular the divinity of the emperor and the statism he embodied in his personality cult. These Christians knew that Jesus Christ, not the state, was their Lord and that this faith required a different kind of relationship to the state than it demanded. Because Jesus Christ was their acknowledged Sovereign, they consciously denied such esteem to all other claimants. Today the church must take a similar stand before the modern state." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), The Nature of the American System. Available through Exodus Books.
"Originally published in 1965, these essays were a continuation of the author's previous work, THIS INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC, and examine the interpretations and concepts which have attempted to remake and rewrite America's past and present. 'The writing of history then, because man is neither autonomous, objective or ultimately creative, is always in terms of a framework, a philosophical and ultimately religious framework in the mind of the historian.' To the orthodox Christian, the shabby incarnations of the reigning historiographies are both absurd and offensive. They are idols, and he is forbidden to bow down to them and must indeed wage war against them." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), This Independent Republic: Studies in the Nature and Meaning of American History. Available through Exodus Books.
"First published in 1964 and out of print for many years, this series of essays gives important insight into American history by one who could trace American development in terms of the Christian ideas which gave it direction.
"These essays will greatly alter your understanding of, and appreciation for, American history. Topics discussed include: The legal issues behind the War of Independence; Sovereignty as a theological tenet foreign to colonial political thought and the Constitution; The desire for land as a consequence of the belief in 'inheriting the land' as a future blessing, not an immediate economic asset; Federalism's localism as an inheritance of feudalism; The local control of property as a guarantee of liberty; Why federal elections were long considered of less importance than local politics; How early American ideas attributed to democratic thought were based on religious ideals of communion and community; and The absurdity of a mathematical concept of equality being applied to people. With index." -- Publisher
Sage, Bernard Janin, The Republic of Republics: or, American Federal Liberty (Crown Rights Book Company, 2003, 1878).
"This is one of the most comprehensive treatises ever published on the doctrine of State sovereignty and the inherent right of a State to secede from the Union. Written by an English barrister who was to have been one of Jefferson Davis' counsel in the treason trial which never occurred, this book compiles extensive quotations from the earliest American statesmen, both before and after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, which prove beyond all argument that the American people were never organized into a consolidated democracy, but had existed in their colonial condition as separate political bodies and continued to do so after their independence from Great Britain. The author singles out the tortured logic of Webster and Lincoln for heavy criticism, and shows that allegiance and treason are terms which have no meaning constitutionally if not in reference to a sovereign State. Also included are nine lengthy appendices outlining the ordaining acts of the original thirteen States in the Union, the changes made to the Constitution by the Southern States in 1861, the original forms of the Tenth Amendment, a review of Alexander Stephens' CONSTITUTIONAL VIEW OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, etc." -- Crown Rights Books Company
Sidney, Algernon (1622-1683), Discourses on Government: To Which is Added, an Account of the Author's Life, 3 volumes, ISBN: 1584772093 9781584772095.
"This important work appeared fifteen years after Sidney's execution for treason in 1683. A reply to Filmer's PATRIARCHA, the DISCOURSES is one of the earliest modern statements of republican ideals. He proposes a doctrine of natural justice and governmental order from which all institutions vary at their peril. More important, Sidney asserts that a king's authority is granted by parliament, which has the additional power to depose him, indeed a controversial idea during the Restoration period. Thomas Jefferson, one of several individuals influenced by this text, described it as '. . . probably the best elementary book of the principles of government, as founded in natural right which has ever been published in any language; and it is much to be desired in such a government as ours that it should be put into the hands of our youth as soon as their minds are sufficiently matured for that branch of study.' (Sowerby). Sidney [1622-1683], was beheaded by Charles II in part for his involvement in the Rye House plot. One of the other charges against him was that he had committed treasonable libel in this work, which was still in manuscript at that time. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, III: 12. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 953. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II: 588. Sweet and Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I: 107. Wing, Short Title Catalogue of English Books 1641-1700 S3761." -- Publisher
Sidney, Algernon (author), and Hans W. Blom (editor), Eco Haitsma-Mulier (editor), Ronald Janse (editor), Raymond Geuss (editor), Quentin Skinner (editor), Sidney: Court Maxims, ISBN: 0521467365 9780521467360.
"This remarkable expression of republican thought has never before been published. Algernon Sidney was among the most unrelenting republican partisans of the seventeenth century, and was executed for his opposition to Charles II. Written during Sidney's continental exile, the vivid COURT MAXIMS was only recently rediscovered. The work presents a lively discussion about the principles of government and the practice of politics, articulating a vital tradition of republicanism in an absolutist age." -- Publisher
"Until quite recently, this wonderful book was lost to the world. Sidney was one of the most eloquent advocates for republicanism and liberty in his or any period of history. This work offers a clear and direct exposition of his political philosophy. Although it is no substitute for his great DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT it is certainly a worthy compliment." -- Will Murphy
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Soteriology, atonement, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Trusting god, Idolatry, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Constitutionalism, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Politics, Church and state, Power, Authority, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Christian scholarship, Servant leadership, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, and so forth, and so on.
John Calvin and Calvinism
John Calvin
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 46 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=92903104854
Speaking on Calvinism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 53 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8110391415
Theology of John Calvin
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 40 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1060385424
The History of Calvinism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, The Christian View of History
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72902195726
Calvinism and the Reformation
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, 76 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8180372910
Church History #28: John Calvin
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Church History, 76 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=4150417057
Church History #29: John Calvin and the Church #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Church History, 43 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=415041727
Church History #30: John Calvin and the Church #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Church History, 67 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=4150417258
See the Theological Notes: "God's Covenant of Grace," at Genesis 12:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.See Isaiah 40:1 -- Isaiah 55:13 and annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
Piety commands that the law and church of God be maintained. Justice requires that tyrants and destroyers of the commonwealth be compelled to reason. Charity challenges the right of relieving and restoring the oppressed. Those who make no account of these things do as much as in them lies to drive piety, justice, and charity out of this world, that they may never more be heard of. -- Junius Brutus
Of course, the influence of theology on corporate bodies has its counterpart in influence of theology on the lives of individuals. For example, see Howie's appendix titled 'The Judgment and Justice of God,' which chronicles God's judgments upon Reformation apostates and those who persecuted the Covenanters. The appendix is found in THE SCOTS WORTHIES. BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA: OR, A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE LIVES, CHARACTERS, AND MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS OF THE MOST EMINENT SCOTS WORTHIES, 2ND EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED, 1781, by John Howie and listed below.
"The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self." XIV:13."Augustine reflects deeply here on human nature and the meaning of eternal life and eternal punishment, within an explication of the 'meaning' of history. He writes of all human history as a single narrative. This also a work of Biblical exegesis, as Augustine treats Scripture as a historical document. For Augustine, creation is good, creation exists in time and has a history. Indeed, since God enters into history to show man His love, history itself is sanctified, through the City of God.
"The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3:4). In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity . . ." (XIV:28) -- Reader's Comment
*Moore, Edwin Nisbet, Our Covenant Heritage: The Covenanters' Struggle for Unity in Truth as Revealed in the Memoir of James Nisbet (1667-1728), and Sermons of John Nevay (d. 1672), ISBN: 1857926188. Includes bibliographical references and index.
"A new book, OUR COVENANT HERITAGE, examines the rise and fall of the Scottish Church. It rose when men placed the rights of God above the rights of man. It fell when men abandoned unity in truth. It is written by Ed Moore, who spent several years examining why the Covenanters, particularly those who lived near Loudoun Castle, were willing to die for their understanding of God's truth. The answer is found in the sermons of their minister John Nevay on God's Covenant of Grace and in the Memoirs of James Nisbet, one of their number who survived their epic battle for truth only to face the age-old struggle of Christ's church for unity in truth." -- Publisher
Our Covenant Heritage, Edwin Nisbet Moore
http://www.covenanters.com/
Pettit, Philip, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, ISBN: 0198296428 9780198296423.
"A full-length presentation of a republican alternative to the liberal and communitarian theories that have dominated political philosophy in recent years. The author opens with an examination of the traditional republican conception of freedom as non-domination, contrasting this with established negative and positive views of liberalism. The book examines what the implementation of the ideal would imply for substantive policy-making, constitutional and democratic design, regulatory control and the relation between state and civil society. Professor Pettit's work offers not only a unified, theoretical overview of the many strands of republican ideas, it also provides a sophisticated perspective on studies in related fields including the history of ideas, jurisprudence, and criminology. The author has included a postscript to this edition, which offers a sketch of the crucial republican ideas, and to reinforce the argument that the republican tradition deserves more attention than it has generally received among contemporary political theorists." -- Editorial Review
Pierce, Franklin, Federal Usurpation (Crown Rights Book Company, 2002, 1908).
"This book is a plea for the sacredness of the Constitution of the United States.
"The bloated and all-pervasive Federal bureaucracy which now rules the American people from Washington, D.C. did not arise overnight. Instead, as the author of this important volume documents, the usurpations of the Lincoln Administration during the War of 1861 and that of the Radical Republican Congress during Reconstruction were the fundamental causes of the existing political conditions of today. Pierce also discusses the inherent flaws in the Constitution which were the result of compromise between the quarreling factions at the Convention of 1787, and which would later lead to corruptions dangerous to the liberties of the people of the several States. The book concludes with a chapter entitled, 'How to Restore the Democratic Republic'." -- Publisher
Sage, Bernard Janin, The Republic of Republics: or, American Federal Liberty (Crown Rights Book Company, 2003, 1878).
"This is one of the most comprehensive treatises ever published on the doctrine of State sovereignty and the inherent right of a State to secede from the Union. Written by an English barrister who was to have been one of Jefferson Davis' counsel in the treason trial which never occurred, this book compiles extensive quotations from the earliest American statesmen, both before and after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, which prove beyond all argument that the American people were never organized into a consolidated democracy, but had existed in their colonial condition as separate political bodies and continued to do so after their independence from Great Britain. The author singles out the tortured logic of Webster and Lincoln for heavy criticism, and shows that allegiance and treason are terms which have no meaning constitutionally if not in reference to a sovereign State. Also included are nine lengthy appendices outlining the ordaining acts of the original thirteen States in the Union, the changes made to the Constitution by the Southern States in 1861, the original forms of the Tenth Amendment, a review of Alexander Stephens' CONSTITUTIONAL VIEW OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, etc." -- Crown Rights Books Company
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before them, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. The thesis being that the Rationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964), ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Soteriology, atonement, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Trusting god, History, "his" story, Church history, The works of c. gregg singer, Lectures by dr. c. gregg singer at the mount olive tape library of reformed theology and sermonaudio.com, Idolatry, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Reform of the Church, The protestant reformation, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The ideology of the american revolution, God's sovereign hand in history, History, "his-story," Church history, The history of reformation of the church, A theological interpretation of american history, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Revisionist history, and so forth, and so on.
Rethinking the Articles of Confederation, H.A. Scott Trask
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1296
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
Works of Saint Augustine (Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 AD)
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#wosagst
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
One of these days the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may declare the Constitution unconstitutional. -- Thomas Sowell
Practically everything that Congress does is unconstitutional. -- Howard Phillips
Bouma, Ralph, The new Authority Without Constitution or law and its Remedy Identified.
Napolitano, Andrew P., The Freedom Answer Book: How the Government is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms, ISBN: 9781400320295 1400320291.
"Answers questions about constitutional freedoms and explains how the government's actions are causing them to erode." -- Publisher
Napolitano, Andrew P., Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom, ISBN: 9781595553515 1595553517.
"Either the Constitution means what it says, or it doesn't." -- Judge Napolitano
"America's founding fathers saw freedom as a part of our nature to be protected -- not to be usurped by the federal government -- and so enshrined separation of powers and guarantees of freedom in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But a little over a hundred years after America's founding, those God-given rights were laid siege by two presidents caring more about the advancement of progressive, redistributionist ideology than the principles on which America was founded.
"THEODORE AND WOODROW is Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's shocking historical account of how a Republican and a Democratic president oversaw the greatest shift in power in American history, from a land built on the belief that authority should be left to the individuals and the states, to a bloated, far-reaching federal bureaucracy, continuing to grow and consume power each day.
"With lessons rooted in history, Judge Napolitano shows the intellectually arrogant, anti-personal freedom, even racist progressive philosophy driving these men to poison the American system of government.
"And Americans still pay for their legacy -- in the federal income, in state-prescribed compulsory education, in the Federal Reserve, in perpetual wars, and in the constant encroachment of a government that coddles special interests and discourages true competition in the marketplace.
"With his attention to detail, deep constitutional knowledge, and unwavering adherence to truth telling, Judge Napolitano moves through the history of these men and their times in office to show how American values and the Constitution were sadly set aside, leaving personal freedom as a shadow of its former self, in the grip of an insidious, Nanny state, progressive ideology." -- Publisher
"Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, currently seen by millions of viewers weeknights on "The Big Story" and "The O'Reilly Factor." Napolitano is the youngest person in New Jersey history to receive a lifetime judgeship. He is bright (graduate of Princeton and Notre Dame Law School), articulate (four times voted most outstanding professor at the two law schools at which he taught), and broadcast-experienced (as a daily fixture on Fox News Channel since 1998). He is the author of CONSTITUTIONAL CHAOS and THE CONSTITUTION IN EXILE." -- Publisher
"This book is an important contribution to the historian who would connect the dots from the early Progressive era to today, in figuring out how and why there was a silent revolution by the radical Left to destroy the Constitution and replace it with a Marxist platform. One can well argue that the Marxists captured the White House BEFORE they captured the Kremlin! Wilson and T. Roosevelt implemented radical ideas that were subsequently built upon by almost every administration since. One can see this Red Thread running through the entire fabric of the national government for more than a century now. So many planks of Karl Marx were accomplished by Wilson and Col. Mandel House that historians of the future will be compelled to ask how such a paradigm shift could occur without a guiding hand behind it (and I do not refer to a Divine Hand). It took two world wars to keep the American People diverted away from what amounted to a coup d'etat. Thanks to Judge Napolitano for this expose. Napolitano should be sitting on the Supreme Court. But then, what SHOULD be, rarely is." -- Reader's Comment
Powell, Jim, Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II, ISBN: 1400082366 9781400082360.
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience: Tending to Resolve Doubts Moved by Mr. John Goodwin, John Baptist, Dr. Jer. Taylor, the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and Other Authors, 1649. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9, #25, and #26.
"Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, though scarce, is still one of his most important works with maybe only a few copies of the actual book left in existence. Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. A sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment and an affront to the holy God of Scripture). He also deals with conscience, toleration, penology (punishment), and the judicial laws, as related to both the civil and ecclesiastical realms. Excellent sections are also included which address questions related to determining the fundamentals of religion, how covenants bind us, the perpetual obligation of social covenants (with direct application to the Solemn League and Covenant and the covenant-breaking of Cromwell and his sectarian supporters), whether the punishing of seducing teachers be persecution of conscience, and much more. Walker adds these comments and context regarding Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, 'The principle of toleration was beginning to be broached in England, and in a modified shape to find acceptance there. Samuel Rutherford was alarmed, or rather, I should say, he was horrified, for he neither feared the face of man or argument. He rushed to the rescue of the good old view . . . It is not so easy to find a theoretical ground for toleration; and Rutherford has many plausible things to say against it. With the most perfect confidence, he argues that it is alike against Scripture and common sense that you should have two religions side by side. It is outrageous ecclesiastically, it is sinful civilly. He does not, however, take what I call the essentially persecuting ground. He does not hold that the magistrate is to punish religion as religion. Nay, he strongly maintains that the civil magistrate never aims at the conscience. The magistrate, he urges, does not send anyone, whether a heretic (who is a soul murderer -- RB), or a murderer, to the scaffold with the idea of producing conversion or other spiritual result, but to strengthen the foundations of civil order. But if he gives so much power to the king, he is no lover of despotism withal: the king himself must be under law. To vindicate this great doctrine is the object of another book, the celebrated LEX, REX; of which it has been said by one competent to judge, that it first clearly developed the constitutionalism which all men now accept.' (Theology and Theologians . . . pp. 11-12). In our day Francis Schaeffer, and numerous others, have critiqued many of the problems found in modern society, but most have spent little time developing explicitly Biblical solutions especially regarding the theoretical foundations that Rutherford addresses here. Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION provides a detailed blueprint for laying the foundations that must be laid before any lasting, God-honoring solutions will be found. Furthermore, Rutherford and his writings were the enemies of all governments not covenanted with Christ. This book will give you a very clear picture as to why 'the beast' (civil and ecclesiastical), has reserved his special hatred for such teaching. As Samuel Wylie noted 'the dispute, then, will not turn upon the point whether religion should be civilly established . . . but it is concerning what religion ought to be civilly established and protected, -- whether the religion of Jesus alone should be countenanced by civil authority, or every blasphemous, heretical, and idolatrous abomination which the subtle malignity of the old serpent and a heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, can frame and devise, should be put on an equal footing therewith." -- The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis. Can our generation swallow Rutherford's hard, anti-pluralistic, Covenanter medicine, poured forth from the bottle of the first commandment, without choking on their carnal dreams of a free and righteous society divorced from God (and His absolute claims upon everyone and everything)? Not without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit -- that is for sure! In summary, this book answers all the hardest questions theonomists (and their wisest and best opponents), have been asking for the last 20-30 years (and these answers are much more in depth than any we have seen in the last couple of millennia. [less about a century to account for the apostles]). As the reader will discover, Rutherford was a wealthy man when it came to wisdom (and much advanced theologically), and those who take the time to gaze into the King's treasure house, as exhibited in this book, will find that they are greatly rewarded. Furthermore, because of its uncompromising stand upon the Word of God, this book is sure to be unpopular among a wicked and adulterous generation. However, on the other hand, it is sure to be popular among the covenanted servants of King Jesus! This is one of the best books (in the top five anyway), for advanced study of the Christian faith. We have now obtained an easy-to-read, amazingly clear copy of this very rare, old treasure. Great price too, considering that a copy of the 1649 edition, containing this quality of print, would likely cost upwards of $1000 on the rare book market -- though it is unlikely you would ever see a copy for sale!" -- Publisher
A Brotherly and Free Epistle to the Patrons and Friends of Pretended Liberty of Conscience, Samuel Rutherford
http://www.truecovenanter.com/anti_toleration/rutherfurd_epistle_against_pretendedlibertyofconscience.html
Chapter 21 From Samuel Rutherford's 1649 Edition of A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience being Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Of the Samaritans, and of the Non Compelling of Heathens; How the Covenant Bindeth us
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FreeDis21.htm
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, ISBN: 0873779517. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF CIVIL POLICY: BEING A RESOLUTION OF FORTY THREE QUESTIONS CONCERNING PREROGATIVE, RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE, IN REFERENCE TO THE SUPREME PRINCE AND THE PEOPLE. / BY SAMUEL RUTHERFORD PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY OF ST ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #25.
" 'Lex, rex' is Latin for 'law is king.'
"LEX, REX is 'the great political text of the Covenanters.' (Johnston citing Innes in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 305). 'Rutherford was the first to formulate the great constitutional principle Lex est Rex -- the law is King . . . much of the doctrine has become the constitutional inheritance of all countries in modern times.'
"Gilmour writes [in SAMUEL RUTHERFORD], 'that, as regards religious fervour, scholastic subtlety of intellect, and intensity of ecclesiastical conviction, Samuel Rutherford is the most distinctively representative Scotsman in the first half of the seventeenth century'." -- Publisher
"Without a doubt one of the greatest books on political philosophy ever written. Rutherford here has penned a great Christian charter of liberty against all forms of civil tyranny -- vindicating the Scriptural duty to resist tyrants as an act of loyalty to God." -- Publisher
"That resistance to lawful authority -- even when that authority so called has, in point of fact, set at nought 'all law' -- is in no instance to be vindicated, will be held by those only who are the devotees of arbitrary power and passive obedience. The principles of Mr. Rutherford's LEX, REX, however obnoxious they may be to such men, are substantially the principles on which all government is founded, and without which the civil magistrate would become a curse rather than a blessing to a country. They are the very principles which lie at the basis of the British Constitution, and by whose tenure the House of Brunswick does at this very moment hold possession of the throne of these realms." -- Rev. Robert Burns, D.D., in his "Preliminary Dissertation" to Wodrow's Church History
Additional sources of text related to LEX REX are as follows:
"Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX, his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked, for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book [A FREE DISPUTATION AGAINST PRETENDED LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE -- compiler] should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. It is a sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment, and an affront to the holy God of Scripture)." -- Publisher
A HIND LET LOOSE by Alexander Shields is sometimes referred to as 'Lex, Rex, Volume Two.'
A Hind let Loose; or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
A Hind let Loose; or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ
"This book sets forth the Crown rights of King Jesus, against all usurpers in both church and state, giving a history of some of faithful sufferings endured by the elect, in maintaining this truth." -- Publisher
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
"This [THE DUE RIGHT OF PRESBYTERIES OR A PEACEABLE PLEA FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], could be considered the LEX, REX of church government -- another exceedingly rare masterpiece of Presbyterianism! Characterized by Walker as sweeping 'over a wider field than most'." -- Publisher
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People (1843)
http://archive.org/details/lexrexlawandpri00ruthgoog
Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, Samuel Rutherford
"Rutherford is to be praised for his teaching that the king is subject to the law of God. The Bible has nothing but condemnation for those who frame mischief by a law and declares rhetorically, Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? (Psalm 94:20). Deuteronomy 17 is the classic passage in defense of LEX, REX, wherein the king is charged to read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 17:19)." -- Publisher
http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htm
Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People, containing the reasons and causes of the defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland, and of their expedition for the ayd and help of their brethren of England. In which a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet, intituled, Sacro-sancta regum majestas, penned by J. Maxwell. By S. Rutherford. [Followed by], De jure regni apud Scotos; a dialogue, tr. by R. Macfarlan (repr. from the ed. of 1799).
http://books.google.com/books?id=jtYDAAAAQAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
*Schwertley, Brian M., and Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States. Publications Committee, National Covenanting and Christ's Victory Over the Nations. Available at Reformed Online.
"This is the first book-length, scholarly exposition and defense of national covenanting since 1843. This comprehensive treatment includes the binding nature of covenants, covenant renewals under the godly kings of Israel, objections to covenanting answered, the unbiblical nature of the U.S. Constitution, the unscriptural alteration of the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1789, the necessity of the Old Testament moral law for a Christian nation and the biblical requirements for civil office. In the book, Rev. Schwertley not only sets forth the biblical case for social or national covenanting in a simple and organized manner but also critiques the modern pluralistic alternatives to the original Presbyterian teaching on this topic." -- Publisher
It was preceded by 'Social Covenanting,' a series of 31 sermons in MP3 format, given by the author starting in the summer of 2012.
Social Covenanting series of 31 sermons [audio files] by Brian Schwertley
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?seriesOnly=true&currSection=sermonstopic&sourceid=ccc&keyword=National+Covenanting&keyworddesc=National+Covenanting
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 by Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pages.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before them, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. The thesis being that the Rationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964), ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
See also: Christianity and democracy, The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Soteriology, atonement, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, Trusting god, The covenant faithfulness of god, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The westminster confession of faith and related documents, The covenanted reformation, Reform of the church, Leniency, Church discipline, Unfaithful reformed ministries, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, The destruction of liberty in america, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The works of c. gregg singer, Lectures by dr. c. gregg singer at the mount olive tape library of reformed theology and sermonaudio.com, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Idolatry, Freedom and property rights: theft, stealing, and fraud, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The ideology of the american revolution, and so forth, and so on.
Rethinking the Articles of Confederation, H.A. Scott Trask
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1296
Top-8 Lies About the Constitution, Michael Boldin, November 27, 2019
"(1) Federal law is always supreme over conflicting state laws.
(2) Only the Supreme Court determines if something violates the Constitution. And their decision is final.
(3) The 'general Welfare' clause means Congress can pass whatever it wants to supposedly 'help' people around the country.
(4) The way to deal with unconstitutional federal programs is 'vote the bums out' or sue in federal court.
(5) The 'necessary and proper' clause means the feds can do just about anything.
(6) The Constitution is 'living and breathing,' and it must be interpreted differently now to change with the times.
(7) Every problem has a federal solution.
(8) The 'commerce clause' empowers the feds to regulate or even prohibit things that in any way 'have an effect' on interstate commerce."
https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2019/11/top-8-lies-about-the-constitution/
Social Covenanting series of 31 sermons [audio files] by Brian Schwertley
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?seriesOnly=true&currSection=sermonstopic&sourceid=ccc&keyword=National+Covenanting&keyworddesc=National+Covenanting
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
Montesquieu scorned the idea that democratic liberty was when "the people seem pretty much to do what they wish," for that was to "confound the power of the people with the liberty of the people.
Lord Acton claimed that freedom is "not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought." Freedom is not the permission to do what we like, but the power to do what we should. -- Os GuinnessHuman beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free. -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
In Calvin's concept of the church you have the seed of the constitutional republic, as over against the democracy. Calvin did not teach democracy, either in government or in the church. What he did teach was a constitutional monarchy in the church, as Christ rules it, and under him a constitutional republic, the rule by the elders and the minister." -- C. Gregg Singer in John Calvin
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. -- Patrick Henry
To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them. -- Jedidiah Morse
Thus, the Puritans believed that all government is ordained by God to carry out His Law in the State. Away with this heresy of democracy. There has been no greater poison in the human mind today than the theory and philosophy, and I might add, the practice of democracy, for democracy today has destroyed itself. It has eaten itself up. It in done. And I might add, unless, unless, somehow Calvinism can be restored to its proper and historical place in American history, in the American society, we are going to see a dictatorship emerge in this country. I don't think there is any question of this.
Law, then, must be carried out by the State in regard to the Word of God. The State does not exist to tickle its citizens, to tickle their fancies. It exists to carry out His Law.
The next great principle, then, is this. That government derives its just powers from God and not from the consent of the governed. When John Locke brought this poison into American history he sowed the seed which we are reaping today in the fruit of anarchy, lawlessness, immoral degeneracy, and what not. I want you to get that very straight. John Locke is not a hero. Jefferson is not a hero. They sow the seeds of destruction. And the textbooks, which some of you were raised upon, and I admit, on which I was raised until I doubted -- [got] it differently, contained this terrible heresy. There is no greater heresy, there is not greater seed of destruction than this idea that government exists by the consent of the governed. And Abraham Lincoln was so horribly wrong when he said "government by the people, for the people, and of the people" in the reverse order. This is wrong! Totally wrong. It has no historical foundation, it has no philosophical foundation, it has no theological foundation -- now it has no justification. Government derives its just powers from God. You know why? Government exists for the glory of God and not for the glory of a political party -- not for the glory of the people, not for the glory of any group within the state. Government exists for the glory of God. The Lord reigneth, let the people rejoice.
The government does not exist for the benefit of the majority or any minority. It exists to maintain justice for the glory of God, to execute his revealed will in the form of statutory law, for the proper government of his people.
You know, a long time ago John Cotton wrote, and he saw this so very clearly, "If the people govern, who shall be governed?" (laughter). You think about that. You think about that and you will see the answer. It is spelled A-N-A-R-C-H-Y. You know, there is a tremendous statement, I think it is in the last verse, or the next to the last verse of the book of Samuel -- of Judges "There was no king in those days and the people did as everyone saw fit in his own eyes." Have we not reached that place today? If we haven't, I don't know what it is which we have. . . . -- C. Gregg Singer in The Christian View of HistoryNow note, we talk about the glories of Greek democracy. Do you know how long democracy lasted. You do not, do you? Thirty years. Thirty years. And what took its place? The word still survives in our language. The tyrant. Hoy kurinoi [sic], the tyrant, which even today has a very sinister implication which we use when we are speaking of people who have put themselves above the law, and have exercised tyrannical power. You see, even in Plato democracy, which he preached, was what? -- a thinly veiled absolutism in which the irrationality of his philosophy gives rise to what? -- absolutism in politics.
And I want you to write this down as a note today that where you have irrationalism in politics, notably the democratic philosophy, you will find that it produces and gives way to an absolutism, because this philosophical irrationalism of which we have been speaking must always create a defense against itself, the antidote to its own lawlessness. And in the political field democracy will always produce tyranny or dictatorship. And you say to me, no, do you not believe in democracy? No, I do not. It is thoroughly pagan concept of government, giving forth perfectly pagan ends or results. I do not believe in democracy. And you look at me as if I am some sort of potential Hitler. No, I am not at all. I believe in a constitutional republic, but I do not believe in democracy. To worship at the shrine of democracy is to worship at your own clay feet. -- C. Gregg Singer in Classical and Medieval Thought #2Simply to say, that Locke set the stage for the degradation of modern man, for the degradation from the rationality in the universe, for the degradation of education, for the degradation of political philosophy, for the degradation of social philosophy, for the degradation of the church.
Now, why do I say this? I say it with good reason, and I would suggest that sometime, when you have time, not for this course, but when you have time, read a very powerful treatment of this basic idea by John H. Hallowell, the very learned and very able professor of Political Philosophy at Duke University [also served as Director of the Lilly Endowment Research Program in Christianity at Duke University -- compiler], a tremendous book called MAIN CURRENTS IN MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT. He also expanded this idea in another book on modern democracy.
And I would add, just in passing, that John Hallowell sees very, very clearly what John Locke has meant to the modern world, passing over for the moment the fact that he [Locke -- compiler], can not prove his own position, and he violates his own position of epistemology in asserting it. Nevertheless, he bases this assertive in the realm of Philosophy, that man has no innate ideas, that man learns only through his senses, and in learning only through his senses, of course, he can only have those areas of knowledge, can only inquire in those areas of knowledge which are immediately apprehensible by the senses.
Now, Locke consciously tried to set forth a new Weltanschauung, or a new world and life view. You will remember that his great work, began in 1690 with his two essays on government. He speedily followed this with an essay on human understanding, and another one in defense of Christianity, a rather feeble defense, but, nevertheless, he did it. . . ." -- C. Gregg Singer in "The Decline of Modern Philosophy" http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=7202144553Now, let me point this out to you, all modern dictatorships have their philosophical origins in Locke. Now, why is this? The answer is very simple, students, Democracy is the mother of Dictatorship. Democracy is the vestibul to Totalitarianism. John Hallowell has written a very, very interesting book on the decline of modern liberalism [THE DECLINE OF LIBERALISM AS AN IDEOLOGY], in which he points out that Democracy digs its own grave. -- C. Gregg Singer in "Apologetics #07: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism," http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105182032
John Marshall, in deciding a case in 1803, Marbury vs. Madison, gave echo, gave voice to this great principle when he said that we are a government of law and not of men. We are a government of law and not of men. Think of that, along with John Cotton, if the people govern, who shall be governed. The answer, of course, is nobody. Anarchy, which is the inevitable result of democracy. Democracy has never done anything except produce dictatorship. You think back. Every democracy has been replaced by the [wavering] hand -- the heavy hand of a despotic government. For when the people govern, it then transforms itself into this question, which people? And of which people, then who, or how small the group?
Thus, Calvinism was the basic form of reference for our political system of government. Steadily this has been whittled away. Unobtrusively at first, and then in the 20th century what was a slow storm, moving very slowly, casting its shadow over the American land. Suddenly it became a hurricane. And the election of 1932 released that hurricane on an unsuspecting public. This was the great pivotal election of this century.
Often times in class my students ask me about the great pivotal elections. I would say that, perhaps of all the elections, 1932 was it. There were actually two Democratic parties running, The Democratic Party and Roosevelt. (laughter). You know, in 1936 the Republican Party hauled out the 1932 Democratic platform and some of the Democrats, sort of, you know, laughed at this. And, ah, ah, Senator Vandenburg of Michigan said, Why not? You haven't used it. It's still in good condition. (laughter). And he was right.
I say this, that Roosevelt marks an epical turning point. While he may not have always realized himself, he was not too smart, he just looked that way (laughter), he brought with him a group of people who knew exactly what they were going to do and why. One of them was Henry Wallace.
Henry Wallace wrote a book and he had it published in London, because it would not have been too wise to publish it here in this country, in which he clearly set forth what he had in mind. And speaking to the National Council of Church, in 1935 and 36 Roosevelt and Henry Wallace and others revealed clearly there great kinship with The Federal Council of Churches and there acceptance of the social creed of that Council which had been revised in 1932, which was a very thinly disguised call for a Christian social collectivism. The easier name was dictatorship.
This was in the wind. This was in the making. We have witled away, we have given up through amendment, through judicial decisions, through party platforms, through popular leaders, through apathy, through ignorance, we have given up the heritage.
You can not have a political dictatorship if you adhere to the principles of Calvinism, because the two are antithetical. It can not be done. It has been done. Why? How? Because of the subtle witling away of our Calvinistic heritage. You take the average school book, high school or college, it makes no difference. What do they do? They laugh at Calvinism. They laugh at the Puritans as if the Puritans never had any fun. How? Because of the subtle witling away of our Calvinistic heritage. You take the average school book, high school or college, it makes no difference. What do they do? They laugh at Calvinism. They laugh at the Puritans, as if the Puritans never had any fun. You know. They lead a dull life. They were orderly people. You know, they obeyed the law and all that. But they were dull. Dull, gloomy.
There is only one little problem. Their literature doesn't reveal that at all. You read the literature. It does not reveal that. It reveals a high degree of political acumen. It reveals a high degree of insight. They were educated people. That . . . I guess that is why our modern leadership thinks they were dull, because our modern leadership certainly is not educated. (laughter). That is one charge that you could never make stick in any House Judiciary Committee, including the Committee. (laughter)
I may sound bitter. I am not. I may sound sarcastic. I am. (laughter). Sometimes sarcasm has a Christian message. I hope it is a Christian sarcasm. -- C. Gregg Singer in The Christian View of HistorySometime ago I found an article in the Journal of Religious Education. The writer of the article was Arthur C. McGifford, Sr. He wrote as follows, I quote, "democracy demands a god who will cooperate with us, but never a god to whom it must submit." That is blasphemy. In other words, for McGifford and the liberals, they either have a god who will cooperate with our modern concept of government or he can be dismissed. They will not have a god that will not cooperate with them.
Now you say, how could he write that? Very easily. All modern thought -- non-Christian -- thought denies this doctrine. But alack and alas, the denial of this doctrine is rampant in the Church. It is rampant in many denominations. It is rampant among those who will deny the sovereignty of Scripture. -- C. Gregg Singer in Theology of John CalvinDemocracy breeds a spirit of lawlessness and the intense opposition to the notion that men must obey higher authority . . . is basic to the democratic concept of life. -- C. Gregg Singer in The Obedient Life
There are three kinds of lies: a lie told, a lie taught, a lie acted out. -- Joseph Caryl
I have endeavored in the following pages, to further biblical faith and life through what I hope is an engaging analysis of key themes in contemporary missiology through a reformed, puritan lens. This is done, not simply out of an academic interest in missiological concerns, but because I genuinely believe that the core elements of Puritan thought must be restated with relevance in our time, as central to both the recovery of the church, and the Western world itself from the brink of disaster -- a cultural auto-homicide (p. 17)."In producing this treatise, Boot does not weave entirely news idea out of thin air, but draws upon historic Christianity, especially the Puritan movement that sprung out of the Protestant Reformation. He shows that Christianity provides a coherent social vision, that it alone can provide a stable foundation for society, and how our present societies will not be able to sustain themselves if they abandon those foundations. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
DeJong, Norman, Christianity and Democracy.
"He will convince you that democracy is foreign to, and is the enemy of Christianity. And in that you will see why the Christians are again facing the lion's den, being overwhelmed by the democratic society that does not consent to their rule, or even to their peaceful existence." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
De Jong, Norman, Christianity vs. Democracy
(Westminster Media), An audio file.
*Hallowell, John H., (1913-1991), Main Currents in Modern Political Thought.
"Contents: Introduction to political philosophy | The background of modern political thought | The transition to modern times | Liberalism | The rise of liberalism | The age of enlightenment | The romantic and conservative reaction | Utilitarianism | Positivism | Changing concepts of law in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries | Socialism | The origins of modern socialism | Karl Marx and the rise of 'scientific' socialism | Socialism after marx | Socialism in the soviet union | The revolution of nihilism | The revolt against reason | Nationalism | Fascism and national socialism | The crisis of our times | Christianity and the social order." -- Publsher
*Hallowell, John H., (1913-1991), The Moral Foundation of Democracy. "Contents: Democracy: fact or fiction? | Democracy as the art of compromise | The institutional framework of democracy | Human nature and politics." -- Publisher
*McFetridge, N.S., Calvinism in History. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A splendid book." -- Loraine Boettner
"The rich Reformation heritage of truth and freedom is set forth in four chapters: 1. Calvinism as a Political Force, 2. Calvinism as a Political Force in the History of the USA, 3. Calvinism as a Moral Force, 4. Calvinism as an Evangelizing Force." -- Publisher
"Arminianism, taking to an aristocratic form of church government, tend toward a monarchy in civil affairs, while Calvinism, taking to a republican form of church government, tends toward a democracy in civil affairs."
Miller, C. John (1928-1996), Calvinistic Critique of a Radical Democracy (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
A lecture as part of the course, Calvinism in American Literature, taught at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.
Audio cassette CM322 [audio file].
North, Gary, Tools of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus, ISBN: 0930464109 9780930464103.
Regarding Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, "the Framers knew that religious oaths were required for testifying in local and state courts. They knew that religious oaths were sometimes required for exercising the franchise in state elections, but they made it clear: Federal jurisdiction is governed by another covenant, and therefore by another god. It is therefore a rival system of hierarchy. It is not a complementary system of courts; it is a rival system, for an oath to the God of the Bible is prohibited by law in one of those hierarchies." -- Gary North in Appendix H: "Selling the Birthright: The Ratification of the U.S. Constitution," pages 1190-1216.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Gary North, Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
*Phillips, Kevin, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, ISBN: 0767905334 9780767905336.
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. His bestselling books, including THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY (1969) and THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990), have influenced presidential campaigns and changed the way America sees itself. Widely acknowledging Phillips as one of the nation's most perceptive thinkers, reviewers have called him a latter-day Nostradamus and our 'modern Thomas Paine.' Now, in the first major book of its kind since the 1930s, he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls 'the Second Gilded Age' at the turn of the twenty-first century.
"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth -- how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
"With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans -- from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders -- Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.
"Finally, WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines -- speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics -- signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century. In a time of national crisis, Phillips worries that the growing parallels suggest the tide may already be turning for us all." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Christianity and the State, ISBN: 9996717755. Available through Exodus Books.
"The need to return to a Biblical doctrine of civil government is evidenced by our century's worldwide drift into tyranny. Humanism invariably rushes in to fill the world's theological vacuums: the need of the hour is to restore a full-orbed, Biblical, theology of the state. This work sets forth that theology." -- GCB
*Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0060915226.
Translated by Henry Reeve and revised by Francis Bowen. Edited by Philip Bradley
"Tocqueville in the early part of the 19th century was commissioned by the French government to travel throughout the United States in order to discover the secret of the astounding success of this experiment in democracy. . . . A classic of political and sociological reporting and analysis . . ." -- Publisher
Democracy in America
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/home.html
See also: The incarnation of our lord (the deity of the lord jesus christ), The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Liberalism and neo-liberalism, Freedom: a gift of the grace of god, Political and economic freedom, Biblical economics, Christian liberty, Freedom with responsibility to god, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Constitutionalism, Christian self-government, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, A theological interpretation of american history, Biblical civil government and the basis for civil resistance, The Christian Foundation of America, Colonial History, Covenanting in America, and so forth, and so on.
Apologetics #07: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 86 min
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105182032
The Christian and Politics #01: The Christian Heritage of America (English Background)The Decline of American Culture 1800-1974, 10 audio tapes [audio file].
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518267The Christian and Politics #02: The Christian Heritage of America (American Background)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518276The Christian and Politics #03: The Essence of Our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182811The Christian and Politics #04: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182945The Christian and Politics #05: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183035The Christian and Politics #06: The Effects of Deism and Democracy on our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183120The Christian and Politics #07: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183227The Christian and Politics #08: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183324The Christian and Politics #09: The Place of Biblical Law in our Society #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183429The Christian and Politics #10: The Place of Biblical Law in Our Society #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183645The Christian and Politics #11: Summary
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183720
Introduction: A Span of History
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72902195856Decline in Theology, #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline in American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9902215956Decline in Theology, #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=91602194147The Departure From the Biblical View in Constitutional Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=82602124719Decline of Jurisprudence
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=82602124432Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), part 1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=819021843Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), part 2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8190218822Decline in the 1830's: Philosophical Revolution in Political Thought
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9202112722Decline Through the 1840's: Philosophical Revolution in Political Thought
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9202112914Decline in Education
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9902215826
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (Deuteronomy 4:34)
John Calvin commenting on Deuteronomy 4:34 and the context of Deuteronomy 4:32-40
https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom03/calcom03.v.viii.html?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=32#v.viii-p20.1If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers. (1 Samuel 12:14,15)
We get the kind of leadership we deserve.
See the commentary in the Geneva Notes, and the commentary of John Gill, and Matthew Henry.And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. (Romans 10:4)
Christ the End of the Law: Being the Preface to the Geneva Bible of 1550 (1850), John Calvin
https://archive.org/details/christendlawbei00calvgoogRighteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach [disgrace] to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)
Personal righteousness in the population (both citizens and leaders) is the single most important commodity that any country can possess!The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 21, C.H. Spurgeon
For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. (Psalm 21:7)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps021.php
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/psalms-21-7.html
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/psalms/21.html
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol08/htm/xxvii.htmThe due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government, I have considered the first arrangement of the judicial department as essential to the happiness of the country, and to the stability of its political system. -- George Washington
A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. -- John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)
Veteran Hollywood star Jon Voight said of Donald Trump, "This is a man who took on evil." Similar is the true story of Frank Serpico, SERPICO, a NYPD officer's crusade against police corruption. One of Serpico's conclusions: Whenever corruption occurs, it is because leadership permits it to occur. Usurpers (The Radical Left, The "Progressives," The Swamp, RHINOS), hold to power by offering leniency (protection) to evil factors in society. This is true in all spheres -- family, church, state, business, academia, and so forth.
"The 1960s was a time of social and generational upheaval felt with particular intensity in the melting pot of New York City. A culture of corruption pervaded the New York Police Department, where payoffs, protection, and shakedowns of gambling rackets and drug dealers were common practice. The so-called blue code of silence protected the minority of crooked cops from the sanction of the majority.
"Into this maelstrom came a working class, Brooklyn-born, Italian cop with long hair, a beard, and a taste for opera and ballet. Frank Serpico was a man who couldn't be silenced -- or bought -- and he refused to go along with the system. He had sworn an oath to uphold the law, even if the perpetrators happened to be other cops. For this unwavering commitment to justice, Serpico nearly paid with his life.
"Peter Maas's is the author of the number one New York Times bestseller UNDERBOSS. His other notable bestsellers include THE VALACHI PAPERS, SERPICO, MANHUNT, and IN A CHILD'S NAME. He lives in New York City." -- Publisher
Serpico, the movie (1973), a DVD
"Acting as a lone force of integrity against the tidal wave of corruption plaguing the NYPD of the 1960s and early 1970s, policeman (and later detective) Frank Serpico caused a national furor and placed his own life in jeopardy just for wanting to work as 'an honest cop'." -- Publisher
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)
And me have they not known, saith Jehovah. He shews here what is the source of all evils; they had cast aside every knowledge and every thought of God. We indeed know that when God is really known, his fear must necessarily influence our hearts; and the knowledge of God begets reverence and a regard for religion. It is indeed true, that God is somewhat known by even the ungodly and the wicked, and that they have some notions respecting him; but it is no more than an empty knowledge. When indeed we are fully persuaded that God is the judge of the world, and when we have also a knowledge of his goodness and paternal favor, we necessarily fear him and spontaneously and willingly worship and serve him. Ignorance of God, then, is a kind of madness which carries men headlong to every sort of impiety. On this account, God complains that he was not known by the people, for the fear of him was not in them. -- John Calvin commenting on Jeremiah 9:3 and context
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. (1 Corinthians 8:1b)
"Nothing is so arrogant as ignorance." -- An old proverb
"We must, therefore, lay it down as a settled principle, that knowledge is good in itself; but as piety is its only foundation, it becomes empty and useless in wicked men: as love is its true seasoning, where that is wanting it is tasteless. And truly, where there is not that thorough knowledge of God which humbles us, and teaches us to do good to the brethren, it is not so much knowledge, as an empty notion of it, even in those that are reckoned the most learned. At the same time, knowledge is not by any means to be blamed for this, any more than a sword, if it falls into the hands of a madman. Let this be considered as said with a view to certain fanatics, who furiously declaim against all the liberal arts and sciences, as if their only use were to puff men up, and were not of the greatest advantage as helps in common life. Now those very persons, who defame them in this style, are ready to burst with pride, to such an extent as to verify the old proverb -- "Nothing is so arrogant as ignorance." -- John Calvin commenting on 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
But if any man love God, the same is known of him. (1 Corinthians 8:1b-3)The left's creed -- identity politics -- is an anti-American, racially charged determination to reject individual accountability and individual freedom, and to establish in their place group privileges, and racial/gender hierarchies. These hierarchies are based on the malicious premise that whites, heterosexuals, and males are oppressors and -- in the words of the Democratic platform -- America is a society governed by "systemic racism," which needs to be fundamentally transformed. -- David Horowitz, "The War Against Trump," Frontpage Magazine, March 8, 2017
Cultural determinism is the parent of identity politics and group solidarity. In its turn, cultural determinism was birthed by the Darwinian idea that man is an ape of evolution, therefore his identity is determined for example, by skin color or sexual and/or erotic appetites. This proposition rejects the concepts of the human soul/spirit, personhood, individuality, free will, and morally informed conscience (paired with personal accountability and responsibility) because it emphatically denies the existence of the Creator God of the Bible. -- Linda Kimball, "Cultural Marxism," American Thinker, February, 2007)I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
John Calvin commenting on 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and contextI will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. (Psalm 119:46)
That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3b)
Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: "Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet." An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: "When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?" City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation). -- John Calvin (1509-1564), Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, in The Institutes of the Christian ReligionAnd it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 28:1,2)
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15,16)
It is a challenge to be tactful with the godless, especially when they usurp government. (James 4:4; Acts 26:18) Men with the courage to stand up to evil in public office will always be needed.Concerning the role of Christians in social and political matters, the Bible instructs us to: 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Ephesians 5:11; Nehemiah 2:17; Isaiah 1:16-17; Daniel 5:27; Matthew 5:13; Matthew 28:19-20, and so forth, and so on.
The "politics" of hatred (written about 1557)
So long as Saul was the enemy of David, the nobles, and such as at that time bore any authority, had (according to the subservient spirit which always prevails in the courts of kings) eagerly conspired to destroy an innocent man. They had also succeeded in inducing the common people to participate with them in their hatred and cruelty, so that all of them, from the highest to the lowest, burned with implacable hatred against him. But as he knew that the greatest part of them were thoughtlessly impelled to this by error and folly, and ignorance of the true state of affairs, he accounts those only his enemies who, from deliberate malice and wickedness, endeavored in this way to please Saul, in order to obtain his favor. Against them he calls upon God for vengeance. And, first, as he was conscious of no crime, he alleges his innocence before God; and, secondly, as they sought to inflict unmerited punishment upon him, he implores God for deliverance. After he has complained of their impious cruelty, he calls down upon them the punishment which they deserved. -- John Calvin in the introduction to his commentary on Psalm 35, in contextHere it may be worth while to meditate on a comparison with our own times. Antichrist, with all his murderous agents, leaves in peace those who by their treacherous silence deny Christ, and are prepared to embrace as slaves every kind of impiety; neither does he exercise his cruelty, insatiable though it be, where he sees no manliness to exist; and he exults and triumphs, as if his end was gained, when he perceives any who had some courage in professing their faith fallen into effeminacy and cowardice. But how much better is it for us to die an hundred times, retaining our manly firmness in death, than to redeem our life for the base service of the devil. -- Calvin commenting on Exodus 1:22
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
[David's time was about 930 B.C. Calvin's description of David's enemies fits the current political situation in 2020.]
It was by a monstrous and outrageous contempt of God that they were driven to such fury against him [King David], as if they made no account whatever of the fact of his having been often wonderfully delivered from the greatest dangers. The ungodly, when they rise up to destroy us, may not openly break forth into such daring presumption as to maintain it to be impossible for us to derive any advantage from the favor of God; yet, as they either ascribe every thing to fortune, or hold the opinion that a man's success will be in proportion to his strength, and therefore fearlessly rush forward to gain their object, by all means, whether right or wrong, as if it would be equally the same, whether God is angry with or favorable towards them, it is evident that they set no value whatever upon the favor of God, and mock at the faithful as if it would avail them nothing to be under the care and protection of God. -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 3:1,2When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers. -- Socrates
Those who resort to ad hominem arguments reveal that they are unable to deal with the issue at hand without resorting to name-calling and character assassination against their opponent. -- Frontline FellowshipThen, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence [harmony -- compiler], and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavored by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Lćlius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be.
Tully [Cicero -- compiler], himself, too, speaking not in the person of Scipio or any one else, but uttering his own sentiments, uses the following language in the beginning of the fifth book, after quoting a line from the poet Ennius, in which he said, "Rome's severe morality and her citizens are her safeguard." "This verse," says Cicero, "seems to me to have all the sententious truthfulness of an oracle. For neither would the citizens have availed without the morality of the community, nor would the morality of the commons without outstanding men have availed either to establish or so long to maintain in vigor so grand a republic with so wide and just an empire. Accordingly, before our day, the hereditary usages formed our foremost men, and they on their part retained the usages and institutions of their fathers. But our age, receiving the republic as a chef-d'oeuvre of another age which has already begun to grow old, has not merely neglected to restore the colors of the original, but has not even been at the pains to preserve so much as the general outline and most outstanding features. For what survives of that primitive morality which the poet called Rome's safeguard? It is so obsolete and forgotten, that, far from practicing it, one does not even know it. And of the citizens what shall I say? Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality. . . ."
For I mean in its own place to show that -- according to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debate -- Rome never was a republic, because true justice had never a place in it. But accepting the more feasible definitions of a republic, I grant there was a republic of a certain kind, and certainly much better administered by the more ancient Romans than by their modern representatives. But the fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ, if at least any choose to call this a republic; and indeed we cannot deny that it is the people's weal.
But if perchance this name, which has become familiar in other connections, be considered alien to our common parlance, we may at all events say that in this city is true justice; the city of which Holy Scripture says, "Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God." -- Augustine in The City of God, Book 2, Chapter 21, Cicero's Opinion of the Roman RepublicThe city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3:4). In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity. . . . (XIV:28) -- Reader's Comment on Augustine's The City of God
All things must be referred to the Glory of God. -- Augustine's final sentence of The City of God
Without justice there can be no liberty.
The magistracy is ordained by God
The Lord has not only testified that the office of magistrate is approved by and acceptable to him, but he also sets out its dignity with the most honorable titles and marvelously commends it to us.(13) To mention a few: Since those who serve as magistrate are called "gods" [Ex. 22:8; Ps. 82:1,6], [Exodus 22:8; Psalm 82:1,6], let no one think that their being so-called is of slight importance. For it signifies that they have a mandate from God, have been invested with divine authority, and are wholly God's representatives, in a manner, acting as his vicegerents. This is no subtlety of mine, but Christ's explanation. "If Scripture," he says, "called them gods to whom the word of God came . . ." [John 13:35]. What is this, except that God has entrusted to them the business of serving him in their office, and (as Moses and Jehoshaphat said to the judges whom they appointed in every city of Judah) of exercising judgment not for Man but for God [Deut. 1:16-17; II Chron. 19:6]? [Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 2 Chronicles 19:6]. To the same purpose is what God's wisdom affirms through Solomon's mouth, that it is his doing "that kings reign, and counselors decree what is just, that princes exercise dominion, and all benevolent judges of the earth" [Prov. 8:14-16], [Proverbs 8:14-16]. This amounts to the same thing as to say: it has not come about by human perversity that the authority over all things on earth is in the hands of kings and other rulers, but by divine providence and holy ordinance. For God was pleased so to rule the affairs of men, inasmuch as he is present with them and also presides over the making of laws and the exercising of equity in courts of justice. Paul also plainly teaches this when he lists "ruling" among God's gifts [Rom. 12:8, KJV or RV], [Romans 12:8], which, variously distributed according to the diversity of grace, ought to be used by Christ's servants for the upbuilding of the church. For even though Paul is there speaking specifically of a council of sober men, who were appointed in the primitive church to preside over the ordering of public discipline (which office is called in the letter to the Corinthians, "government"(14) [I Cor. 12:28]), [1 Corinthians 12:28], yet because we see the civil power serving the same end, there is no doubt that he commends to us every kind of just rule.
But Paul speaks much more clearly when he undertakes a just discussion of this matter. For he states both that power is an ordinance of God [Rom. 13:2], [Romans 13:21], and that there are no powers except those ordained by God [Rom. 13:1]. [Romans 13:1] Further, that princes are ministers of God, for those doing good unto praise; for those doing evil, avengers unto wrath [Rom. 13:3-4], [Romans 13:3,4]. To this may be added the examples of holy men, of whom some possessed kingdoms, as David, Josiah, and Hezekiah; other, lordships, as Joseph and Daniel; other, civil rule among a free people, as Moses, Joshua, and the judges. The Lord has declared his approval of their offices. Accordingly, no one ought to doubt that civil authority is a calling, not only holy and lawful before God, but also the most sacred and by far the most honorable of all callings in the whole life of mortal men. -- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Ford Lewis Battles translation), IV:20:4For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. (Proverbs 28:2). See annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
The government which ignores religion and coolly declares that it doesn't care whether its subjects are Christians or not is guilty of an act of suicidal folly. Irreligion, even in a temporal point of view, is the worst enemy of a nation. -- J.C. Ryle
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? (Psalm 94:16)
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? Such thrones there are, and they plead a right divine, but their claim is groundless, a fraud upon mankind and a blasphemy of heaven. God enters into no alliance with unjust authority, he gives no sanction to unrighteous legislation. Which frameth mischief by a law? They legalize robbery and violence, and then plead that it is the law of the land; and so indeed it may be, but it is a wickedness for all that. With great care men prepare enactments intended to put down all protests, so as to render wrongdoing a permanent institution, but one element is necessary to true Conservatism, viz., righteousness; and lacking that, all their arrangements of the holders of power must come to an end, and all their decrees must in process of time be wiped out of the statute book. Nothing can last for ever but impartial right. No injustice can be permanent, for God will not set his seal upon it, nor have any fellowship with it, and therefore down it must come, and happy shall be the day which sees it fall." -- Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 94:20
See also his comments in the Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings for all of Psalm 94.Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:12)
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
"Ideas have consequences."He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micha 6:8)
We are an illiterate nation incapable of understanding great truth. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999)
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
These things I command you, that ye love one another. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:16,17)You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility for delegating a task to someone else. If you picked the right man, fine, but if you picked the wrong man, the responsibility is yours -- not his. -- Richard E. Krafve, Vice President, Ford Motor Company
For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)
Isaiah's Prophesy after the Angel of the Lord smote Sennacherib's army for good King Hezekiah.See the Theological Notes: "God Reigns: Divine Sovereignty," at Daniel 4:34 in The Reformation Study Bible.
The Christ is the only One truly called. . . . The flesh has always struggled against Him, as we see when we survey the history of God's people. The struggle was especially acute at Golgotha. -- S.G. De Graaf in Promise and Deliverance
Consider, there are but two sorts of men in the world, and you are one of them. There is no neutral, no middle state; there are but two principles that men are influenced by, the flesh and the spirit; and there are but two ends men propound to themselves, either the pleasing of the flesh upon earth, or the enjoyment of God in heaven; and two places they issue into, heaven or hell. The Scripture is peremptory, and tells you who shall go to heaven, and who shall go to hell: Romans 8:13, If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live; Galatians 6:8, He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Or consider that, Proverbs 14:14, The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. There are two different persons commencing and setting forth in the pursuit of happiness, the backslider in heart and the good man. The backslider in heart is one that continues in the apostasy and defection of mankind, that indulgeth his lusts and vain pleasures, and for a seeming good leaves God, who is the chief good. But the good men are those who make it their business to keep their hearts chaste and loyal to God. They both desire to be filled and to be satisfied. The one takes his own way, and the other God's counsel; and in the event both are filled. The backslider in heart hath enough of his own ways when they have brought him to hell; and the good man hath enough when he comes to the enjoyment of the blessed God. And there is one truth more there, they are both filled from themselves, their own ways. The backslider shall have the fruit of his own choice, and a good man is satisfied with that course of godliness that he hath chosen, Proverbs 1:31. Those that turn away from God, it is said, They shall eat of their own ways, and be filled with the fruit of their own devices; and Isaiah 3:10, Say unto the righteous, it shall be well with him, for he shall eat of the fruit of his own doings. -- Thomas Manton (1620-1677)
There are only two types of people in the world, those who say to God, Not my will, but thine be done, and those to whom God says "Not my will, but thine be done." -- Dr. Donald Ewing (1916-1997)
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3)
See the Theological Notes: "Christ the Mediator," at 1 Timothy 2:5 in The Reformation Study Bible. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:5,6a)
See the Theological Notes: "Sanctification: The Spirit and the Flesh," at 1 Corinthians 6:11 in The Reformation Study Bible.
Christ Jesus is the end and perfection of the law. -- John Knox
To me it is enough to say that black is not white, and man's tyranny and foolishness is not God's perfect ordinance. -- John Knox
A man with God is always in the majority. -- John Knox (1505-1572), Inscription on the Reformation Monument, Geneva, Switzerland
1. It is not birth only, nor propinquity of blood, that makes a king lawfully to reign above a people professing Christ Jesus and his eternal verity; but in his election must the ordinance, which God has established in the election of inferior judges, be observed.
2. No manifest idolater, nor notorious transgressor of God's holy precepts, ought to be promoted to any public regiment [government] honour, or dignity, in any realm, province, or city that has subjected itself to his blessed evangel.
3. Neither can oath nor promise bind any such people to obey and maintain tyrants against God and against his truth known.
4. But if either rashly they have promoted any manifestly wicked, or yet ignorantly have chosen such a one, as after declares himself unworthy of regiment above the people of God (and such be all idolaters and cruel persecutors), most justly may the same men depose and punish him, that unadvisedly before they did nominate, appoint, and elect. -- John Knox, Summary of the Proposed Second Blast of the Trumpet, 1558Kings then have not an absolute power in their regiment to do what pleases them; but their power is limited by God's Word. -- John Knox
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6b)
Truth to Christ cannot be treason to Caesar. -- Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) in Lex, Rex (Law is King)
The idea that we are to always obey the state, regardless of what order or laws it makes sets up the State as our god. -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
Men must be governed by God, or they will be governed by tyrants. -- William Penn
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)
Conservatism is a political philosophy that professes to be practical and grounded in reality -- not in ideological or utopian dream worlds -- yet it cannot furnish a coherent answer to a very practical question: What is the proper punishment for a thief? Even ignoring the big questions -- What is the ideal government? Is there an ideal government? Is any government justified? What is the proper relationship between church and state? -- conservatism cannot answer a small question. If conservatism cannot offer a justified answer to a small question, it probably cannot answer larger questions. -- John W. Robbins in Conservatism: An Autopsy
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? (Psalm 94:20)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 2, C.H. Spurgeon
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:10-12)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps002.phpThe best course for nations and states is to kiss the Son (Psa. 2:12 [Psalm 2:12]), and to embrace Christ and his religion; to side with Christ, and to own his cause in the world. His side will prove the stronger side at last. Happy are we if Christ honours us so much as to use our help to fight his battle against the might (Judg. 5:23 [Judges 5:23]). True religion in a state is as the main pillar of a house and the post of a tent that upholds all. So also for families, let Christ be the chief governor of the family. And let every one be as a house of Christ, to dwell familiarly in, and to rule. Where Christ is, all happiness must follow. If Christ goes, all will go. Where Christ's government, in his ordinances and his Spirit, is, there all subordinate government will prosper. Religion inspires life and grace into all other things. All other virtues without it are but as a fair picture without a head. Where Christ's laws are written in the heart, there all other good laws are best obeyed. None despise man's law but those that despise Christ's first. Nemo humanam auctoritatem contemnit, nisi qui divinam prius contempsit (No none despises human authority unless he first despises divine authority). Of all persons, a man guided by Christ is the best; and of all creatures in the world, a man guided merely by will and affection, next to the devil, is the worst. The happiness of weaker things stands in being ruled by stronger. It is best for a blind man to be guided by him that has sight. It is best for sheep, and other feckless creatures, to be guided by man. And it is happiest for man to be guided by Christ, because his government is so victorious that it frees us from the fear and danger of our greatest enemies, and tends to bring us to the greatest happiness that our nature is capable of. This should make us rejoice when Christ reigns in us. When Solomon was crowned, the people rejoiced so that the city rang (1 Kings 1:45). Much more should we rejoice in Christ our king. . . .
If Christ's judgment shall be victorious, then popery, being an opposite frame, set up by the wit of man to maintain stately idleness, must fall. And it is fallen already in the hearts of those on whom the light of Christ has shone. It is a lie, and founded on a lie, on the infallible judgment of a man subject to sin and error. When that which is taken for a principle of truth becomes a principle of error, the more reliance on it, the more danger there is. -- Richard SibbesThe wealthy stand as magistrates in the economic arena and have the same duty of stewardship as do those who hold political office. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. (2 Chronicles 15:2)
See: "God's Presence With a People the Spring of Their Prosperity; With Their Special Interest in Abiding in Him," a sermon by John Owen (1616-1683). It is listed below.Religious relativism is the ground of political absolutism. The conception and demand for an absolute just order is strongest where men are most insistent that Christianity's absolutes are without reality. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001)
The roots of liberty and limited government are in the Protestant Reformation. We believe the key to the maintenance of liberty and limited government is to be found in the Scottish covenanting struggle. -- James A. Dodson
See: "Covenant Theology and the Ordinance of Covenanting"
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#covtheologySo then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/romans-14-12.html
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/romans/14.htmlNot a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:6)
See the Theological Notes: "God's Covenant of Grace" at Genesis 12:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.
The Treasury of David, Psalm 89, C.H. Spurgeon
I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. (Psalm 89:3,4)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps089.phpSee the Theological Notes: "The Fall" at Genesis 3:6 in The Reformation Study Bible.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:3-7)
Matthew Henry commenting on Genesis 3:6-13
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/genesis/3.html
John Gill commenting on Genesis 3:7
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/genesis-3-7.htmlTo promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature . . . A thing most contrary to His revealed will and approved ordinance. -- John Knox
Woman is a rage without reason. -- John Knox, aimed at Mary Tudor "Bloody Mary" for her undisciplined persecution of Christians
Cursed is the nation whose ruler is a queen. -- John Knox, aimed at Mary Queen of Scots
Let it here be noted that the prophets of God sometimes may charge treason against kings. -- John Knox, aimed at Mary Queen of Scots
See the Theological Notes: "Christians and Civil Government," at Romans 13:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.
See the Theological Notes: "Christians in the World," at Colossians 2:20 in The Reformation Study Bible.
The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact. (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21b; Ecclesiastes 9:3b; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3-5) -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990). See John Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah Chapter 33 [Isaiah 33:1-66].
[Pascal] was the first and perhaps is still the most effective voice to be raised in warning of the consequences of the enthronement of the human ego in contradistinction to the cross, symbolizing the ego's immolation. How beautiful it all seemed at the time of the Enlightenment, that man triumphant would bring to pass that earthly paradise whose groves of academe would ensure the realization forever of peace, plenty, and beatitude in practice. But what a nightmare of wars, famines, and folly was to result therefrom. -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), The End of Christendom
All levels of government need leaders willing to bear their own cross in public life.
To be a good leader, in any sphere of society, one must bear his own cross, because man is totally deprave, lusts for power, wealth and sex, and is Machiavellian, and will seek to destroy anyone he can not control.
God sent his Son to walk the face of the earth, and to teach us how to live right. We crucified Him. It is still a Christ hating world. (John 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18a; John 14:19b; Galatians 2:20; John 14:16, and so forth, and so on)They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. (Hosea 7:3)
The Prophet now arraigns all the citizens of Samaria, and in their persons the whole people, because they rendered obedience to the king by flattery, and to the princes in wicked things, respecting which their own conscience convicted them. He had already in the fifth chapter mentioned the defection of the people in this respect, that they had obeyed the royal edict. It might indeed have appeared a matter worthy of praise, that the people had quietly embraced what the king commanded. This is the case with many at this day, who bring forward a pretext of this kind. Under the papacy they dare not withdraw themselves from their impious superstitions, and they adduce this excuse, that they ought to obey their princes. But, as I have already said, the Prophet has before condemned this sort of obedience, and now he shows that the defection which then reigned through all Israel, ought not to be ascribed to the king or to few men, but that it was a common evil, which involved all in one and the same guilt, without exception. How so? "By their wickedness," he says, "they have exhilarated the king, and by their lies the princes"; that is, If they wish to cast the blame on their governors, it will be done in vain; for whence came then such a promptitude? As soon as Jeroboam formed the calves, as soon as he built temples, religion instantly collapsed, and whatever was before pure, degenerated; how was the change so sudden? Even because the people had inwardly concocted their wickedness, which, when an occasion was offered, showed itself; for hypocrisy did lie hid in all, and was then discovered. We now perceive what the Prophet had in view. And this place ought to be carefully noticed: for it often happens that some vice creeps in, which proceeds from one man or from a few; but when all readily embrace what a few introduce, it is quite evident that they have no living root of piety or of the fear of God. They then who are so prone to adopt vices were before hypocrites; and we daily find this to be the case. When pious men have the government of a city, and act prudently, then the whole people will give some hope that they will fear the Lord; and when any king, influenced by a desire of advancing the glory of God, endeavors to preserve all his subjects in the pure worship of God, then the same feeling of piety will be seen in all: but when an ungodly king succeeds him, the greater part will immediately fall back again; and when a magistrate neglects his duty, the greater portion of the people will break out into open impiety. I wish there were no proofs of these things; but throughout the world the Lord has designed that there should exist examples of them. This purpose of God ought therefore to be noticed; for he accuses the people of having made themselves too obsequious and pliant. When king Jeroboam set up vicious worship, the people immediately offered themselves as ready to obey: hence impiety became quite open. They then "delighted the king by their wickedness, and the princes by their lies"; as though he said, "They cannot transfer the blame to the king and princes. Why? Because they delighted them by their wickedness; that is, they haltered the king by their wickedness and delighted the princes by their lies." -- John Calvin in a sermon on Hosea 7:3 in Calvin's Commentary on HoseaThe king is as much bound by his oath not to infringe the legal rights of the people, as the people are bound to yield subjection to him. From whence it follows that as soon as the prince sets himself above the law, he loses the king in the tyrant. He does, to all intents and purposes, un-king himself. -- Jonathan Mayhew, in a sermon in 1765
Christianity is the source of Absolute Truth and Life Everlasting, and it is the highest ethical standard known to mankind.
A religious doctrine involves practical consequences so important, and its effects upon individual and social life are so infallible and so profound, that it can never be contemplated with indifference by the mass of society, and much less by their rulers. . . . -- Alexander Vinet (1797-1847), An Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, pp. 73-81, and Vinet on Freedom
Therefore, behold, I add to do. He threatens that he will punish by blinding not only the ignorant or the ordinary ranks, but those wise men who were held in admiration by the people. From this vengeance we may easily learn how hateful a vice hypocrisy is, and how greatly it is abhorred by God, as the Prophet spoke a little before about human inventions; for what kind of punishment is more dreadful than blindness of mind and stupidity? This indeed is not commonly perceived by men, nor are they aware of the greatness of this evil; but it is the greatest and most wretched of all. -- Calvin commenting on Isaiah 29:1-24
The State, considered in its corporate character, is A MORAL PERSON, with a moral standing and responsibility. It is not the creation of the so-called social compact or of the popular will, but a divine institution based on natural religion. It coheres by a moral and religious bond; and its rulers are the lieutenants of God. If the State is a moral person, capable of performing duty, of committing sin, and suffering punishment, which every one must own who traces the fate of nations according to the divine word, it follows that a nation, acting by its rulers, can accept Christianity and make a public profession of it as the national rule and guide. It had been held together previous to the recognition of Christianity by some form of religion however impure, without which it could not have existed. And the first duty of the civil ruler when brought in contact with Christianity and persuaded of its divine origin is to RECEIVE THE BIBLE AS A REVELATION in a national way. The immediate effect of this is that it constitutes the State a Christian State, and pledges it to purge out its previous religion in the same way as Pagan and Mahommedan nations constituted themselves, according to their false religions, or as the atheistic state was constituted, or rather attempted to be constituted, by the French Convention. A nation must have a religion, and the only question is, which it will adopt. And when Christianity comes to the nation, or to the family, it does not frown on either of these institutions, which also are divine in origin, but enters into them with an elevating purifying power, and sweetly coalesces with all that is purely human in both. These ordinances of God now became vessels by which Christianity is diffused. The national recognition of the Bible as a revelation subjecting the nation to its authority, though a great step gained, does not exhaust the nation's duty, as widely diverging views prevail upon the right interpretation of the Bible. The State must by the necessity of the case ADOPT A CREED which will commonly be prepared by the Church. The same duty that devolves upon an individual Christian confronts a Christian State, and it naturally appends the civil sanction to the Church's creed. It must distinguish between scripture truth and its perversion. The State, by the adoption of a creed, gives utterance to the self-consciousness of a Christian community. It confesses the Christianity it has adopted. . . . The nation, acting by its rulers, must needs adopt a creed, and so distinguish between truth and error in the confession which it makes. It must be Trinitarian or Unitarian, Protestant or Popish, Calvinistic or Arminian, by the necessity of the position. These diverging lines of profession cannot be ignored. More than that; the responsible rulers must proclaim a Christian constitution and adopt a legislation all through the nation's history upon the principles of revelation. A Christian State is competent to make the same confession of its faith that an individual makes. -- George Smeaton, The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments, pp. 4-6
The Treasury of David, Psalm 72, C.H. Spurgeon
Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. (Psalm 72:1,2,11)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps072.phpThe Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:
But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. (2 Samuel 23:2-7 [2 Samuel 23:2-7]), The Last Words of David. (also see Psalms 2 and 72. Psalm 72 is thought to be the last Psalm of David because of verse 20. [Psalm 72:20])For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (Romans 13:4)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 90, C.H. Spurgeon
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. (Psalm 90:1)
This is, of course, a prayer of Moses, who is considered the greatest of the prophets. He wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, and Deuteronomy is the book most referred to by Christ in the New Testament.
"The 90th Psalm might be cited as perhaps the most sublime . . . the deepest in feeling -- the loftiest in theologic conception -- the most magnificent in its imagery." -- Isaac Taylor
"Verse 17 [Psalm 90:17]. And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Let what we do be done in truth, and last when we are in the grave; may the work of the present generation minister permanently to the building tip of the nation. Good men are anxious not to work in vain. They know that without the Lord they can do nothing, and therefore they cry to him for help in the work, for acceptance of their efforts, and for the establishment of their designs. The church as a whole earnestly desires that the hand of the Lord may so work with the hand of his people, that a substantial, yea, an eternal edifice to the praise and glory of God may be the result. We come and go, but the Lord's work abides. We are content to die so long as Jesus lives and his kingdom grows. Since the Lord abides for ever the same, we trust our work in his hands, and feel that since it is far more his work than ours he will secure it immortality. When we have withered like grass our holy service, like gold, silver, and precious stones, will survive the fire." -- C.H. Spurgeon
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps090.phpBe wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:10-12)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. (Psalm 111:10)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)
Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways,
thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?
for though only art holy:
for all the nations shall come and worship before thee;
for thy judgments are made manifest. (Revelation 15:3b,4)Calvin writing about 1557 (462 years ago [2020]) about David rejoicing in the sovereignty of God (about 1050 B.C., or 3,069 years ago, "that notwithstanding his enemies rage [Saul], yet God will continue his kingdom forever, and advance it even to the end of the word." [commentary on Psalm 2, 1599 Geneva Bible])
Let us break, etc. This is a prosopopoeia, in which the prophet introduces his enemies as speaking; and he employs this figure the better to express their ungodly and traitorous design. Not that they openly avowed themselves rebels against God, (for they rather covered their rebellion under every possible pretext, and presumptuously boasted of having God on their side;) but since they were fully determined, by all means, fair or foul, to drive David from the throne, whatever they professed with the mouth, the whole of their consultation amounted to this, how they might overthrow the kingdom which God himself had set up. When he describes his government under the metaphorical expressions of bonds, and a yoke, on the persons of his adversaries, he indirectly condemns their pride. For he represents them speaking scornfully of his government, as if to submit to it were a slavish and shameful subjection, just as we see it is with all the enemies of Christ who, when compelled to be subject to his authority reckon it not less degrading than if the utmost disgrace were put upon them. -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 2:3There is nothing in which all men ought to feel a deeper interest, nothing in which God wishes us to exhibit a more intense zeal, than in endeavoring that the glory of his name may remain unimpaired, his kingdom be advanced, and the pure doctrine, which alone can guide us to true worship, flourish in full vigor. How much more, therefore, does it become princes to make these things their care, to design, commence, and prosecute them to a close, seeing God has honored them with a communication of his name, that they may be on earth the guardians and vindicators of his glory. -- John Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, 1543, p. 146
And Almighty God being the only Lord of conscience, Father of lights and spirits and the author of, as well as object of, all divine knowledge, faith and worship, who only doth enlighten the minds and persuade and convince the understanding of people. . . . And that all persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World shall be capable to serve this government in any capacity both legislatively and executively. -- The First Charter of Pennsylvania
And lest it be thought that this is but the opinion of some few, that the magistrate ought thus by a strong hand, and by civil punishments suppress heretics and sectaries: let it be observed what is held forth and professed concerning this business, by the Reformed Churches in their public confessions of faith. In the latter Confession of Helvetia (cap. 30), it is said that the magistrate ought to 'root out lies and all superstition, with all impiety and idolatry.' And after, 'Let him suppress stubborn heretics.' In the French Confession (art. 39), 'Therefore he hath also delivered the sword into the hands of Magistrates, to wit, that offenses may be repressed, not only those which are committed against the second table, but also against the first.' In the Belgic Confession (art. 36), 'Therefore hath he armed the Magistrate with the sword for punishing them that do evil, and for defending such as do well. Moreover it is their duty not only to be careful and watchful for the preservation of the civil government, but also to defend the holy ministry, and to abolish and overthrow all idolatry, and counterfeit worship of God.' Beza (De Hareticis), tells us in the beginning, that the ministers of Helvetia had declared themselves to be of the same judgment, in a book published of that argument. And toward the end he cites the Saxon Confession, Luther, Melanchthon, Brentius, Bucerus, Wolfgangus Capito, and Bullinger. The Synod of Dordt (ses. 138), in their sentence against the Remonstrants does not only interdict them of all their ecclesiastical and academical functions, but [does] also beseech the States General by their secular power to suppress and restrain them. -- George Gillespie Wholesome Severity Reconciled With Christian Liberty (mid-1640's)
They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. (Hosea 8:4)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (Psalm 106:40-42)The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpThen stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (Psalm 106:30,31)
They were guilty of a great sin in the matter of Peor; and this was the sin of the new generation, when they were within a step of Canaan (v. 28 [Psalm 106:28]): They joined themselves to Baal-peor, and so were entangled both in idolatry and in adultery, in corporeal and in spiritual whoredom, Num. 25:1-3 [Numbers 25:1-3]. Those that did often partake of the altar of the living God now ate the sacrifices of the dead, of the idols of Moab (that were dead images, or dead men canonized or deified), or sacrifices to the infernal deities on the behalf of their dead friends. Thus they provoked God to anger with their inventions (v. 29 [Psalm 106:29]), in contempt of him and his institutions, his commands, and his threatenings. The iniquity of Peor was so great that, long after, it is said, They were not cleansed from it, Jos. 22:17 [Joshua 22:17]. God testified his displeasure at this (1) By sending a plague among them, which in a little time swept away 24,000 of those impudent sinners. (2) By stirring up Phinehas to use his power as a magistrate for the suppressing of the sin and checking the contagion of it. He stood up in his zeal for the Lord of hosts, and executed judgment upon Zimri and Cozbi, sinners of the first rank, genteel sinners; he put the law in execution upon them, and this was a service so pleasing to God that upon it the plague was stayed, v. 30 [Psalm 106:30]. By this, and some other similar acts of public justice on that occasion (Num. 25:4,5 [Numbers 25:4,5]), the guilt ceased to be national, and the general controversy was let fall. When the proper officers did their duty God left it to them, and did not any longer keep the work in his own hands by the plague. Note, National justice prevents national judgments. But, Phinehas herein signalizing himself, a special mark of honour was put upon him, for what he did was counted to him for righteousness to all generations (v. 31 [Psalm 106:31]), and, in recompence of it, the priesthood was entailed on his family. He shall make an atonement by offering up the sacrifices, who had so bravely made an atonement (so some read it, v. 30 [Psalm 106:30]), by offering up the sinners. Note, It is the honour of saints to be zealous against sin. -- Matthew Henry in Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (unabridged)Come now, and let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18a).
The hard-heartedness of the Secular Humanist (man's "liberal, progressive, radical" way, "tax and spend," economic depression, stimulus spending, socialism, tyranny, loss of liberty, gun control, abortion, feminism, globalism, and so forth, and so on), parallels the hard-heartedness ofPharoah (Exodus 7 through Exodus 16 and context) [punished by the river turning to blood . . . locust swarms, thick darkness, the death of Egypt's firstborn, the Red Sea divided for Israel, the Red Sea closed upon the Egyptian army, and so forth.]
Moreover, it deserves to be noticed, that the plague ceased at the very time when Phinehas executed justice. From this we may learn, that the most effectual way to quench the fire of God's anger [evident in the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst since the Swine Flu of 1918-19, a record breaking hurricane season causing massive destruction along the Gulf coast, the August Complex fire, "The single-largest wildfire and the largest fire complex in recorded California history," the largest wildfire in Colorado history, and political corruption and tyranny (October 2020)], is when the sinner willingly sits in judgment upon himself for the punishment of his own transgressions; as Paul says, "If we would judge ourselves, verily we would not be judged of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 11:31)
And surely God confers no small honor upon us, in placing the punishment of our sins within our reach. -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 106:29 and context
Epidemic, Pandemic, Plague, Natural Disaster
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chd.html#epdmcpd
Socialism, Communism, Marxism
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chd.html#sclsm
The Decline of American Society, Irrationality, the Decline of Western Thought
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chd.html#decamerica
and so forth, and so on.
If it is true that God is absolutely sovereign, and that man is totally depraved, then vote for what is true and right. (October 26, 2020)The Treasury of David, Psalm 4, C.H. Spurgeon
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps004.phpThe Treasury of David, Psalm 14, C.H. Spurgeon
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 14:1)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps014.phpThe whole of the prophecies of Isaiah are precious, and should be read by us constantly in private. -- C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Devotional Bible
On the contrary, he charges them with gross and voluntary ignorance, as if he had said that, by their madness, they brought down destruction on themselves. The meaning therefore is, that the people perished because they despised instruction . . . .
Hence we draw a useful doctrine; namely, that the source of all our calamities is, that we do not allow ourselves to be taught by the word of God, and this is what the Prophet chiefly intended that we should observe. . . .
So then it is a true statement, that the reason why the people endure such a variety of afflictions is, that they are ignorant of God, and will not allow themselves to be taught by him. -- John Calvin commenting on Isaiah 5:13A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it: and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. (Proverbs 26:28)
If we listen closely to others, then we may get a warning that they may eventually harm us. The warning, of course, is any falsehood in their words.Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. (Isaiah 19:12)
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? (Isaiah 14:26,27)See Isaiah 41:21-24 and annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), in the Apologetics series of 24 lectures using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979.
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden. (Proverbs 28:12). See annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. (Proverbs 29:26) See annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)
A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty. . . . He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting pure and undefiled religion. -- John Witherspoon
If men would struggle for unity in truth, as they did during the Scottish Covenanted Reformation, then politics would no longer be necessary.
The roots of liberty and limited government are in the Protestant Reformation. We believe the key to the maintenance of liberty and limited government is to be found in the Scottish covenanting struggle. -- James A. Dodson
National security is dependent upon covenant relationship with the Triune God.
Pride makes men pretend to be more just than God; and to think that they could more justly govern the world; and to censure God's threatenings, and the sufferings of the good, and the prosperity of the wicked, as things so unjust, as that they thereby incline to atheism. So James and John would be more just than Christ, and call down fire on the rejecters of the gospel; and the prodigal's brother, Luke xv. [Luke 15] repined at his father's lenity.
Pride maketh men slight the authority and commands of God, and despise his messengers, and choose to be ruled by their own conceits, and lusts, and interests, Jer. xiii. 15,17 [Jeremiah 13:15,17]; xliii. 2,3 [Jeremiah 43:2,3]; when the humble tremble at his word, and readily obey it, Isa. lvii. 15 [Isaiah 57:15]; Neh. ix. 16,29 [Nehemiah 9:16,29]; Isa. ix. 9 [Isaiah 9:9].
A proud man in power will expect that his will be obeyed before the will of God; and that the subjects of God displease their Master rather than him: he will think it a crime for a man to inquire first what God would have him do; or to plead conscience and the commands of the God of heaven, against the obeying of his unjust commands. If he offer you preferment, as Balak did Balaam, he looketh you should be more taken with it, than with God's offer of eternal life: if he threaten you, as Nebuchadnezzar did the three witnesses, he looks that you should be more afraid of him than of God, who threateneth your damnation; and is angry if you be not.
A proud man is more offended with one that would question his authority, or speak diminutively of his power, or displease his will, or cross his interest, than with one that sinneth against the authority, and will, and interest of God. He is much more zealous for himself and his own honour, than for God's; and grieved more for his own dishonour, and hateth his own enemies more than God's; and can tread down the interest of God and souls, if it seem but necessary to his honour or revenge: he is much more pleased and delighted with his own applause, and honour, and greatness, than with the glory of God, or the fulfilling of his will.
Proud men would fain steal from God himself the honour of many of his most excellent works. If they are rulers, they are more desirous that the thanks for the order and peace of societies be given by the people to them, than unto God. If they are preachers, they would fain have more than their due, of the honour of men's conversion and edification: if they are pastors, they would encroach upon Christ's part of the government of his church. . . . -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)Nearly everything that Congress does is unconstitutional. -- Howard Phillips
And ye peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it that ye do not forfeit this favor by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God. -- John Calvin, in his commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel [1 Samuel]
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated [defective] state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom. -- Patrick Henry
Percent of all births to unmarried women: 40.7 percent. . . . Data are for the U.S., 2012. Source: Births: Final Data for 2012, table C
Paul does not regard government as provider of income, health care, education, national parks, money, or any of the other services common to our modern welfare states; its function is quite simple: to punish wrongdoers. -- John W. Robbins
Conservatism is a political philosophy that professes to be practical and grounded in reality -- not in ideological or utopian dream worlds -- yet it cannot furnish a coherent answer to a very practical question: What is the proper punishment for a thief? Even ignoring the big questions -- What is the ideal government? Is there an ideal government? Is any government justified? What is the proper relationship between church and state? -- conservatism cannot answer a small question. If conservatism cannot offer a justified answer to a small question, it probably cannot answer larger questions. -- John W. Robbins in Conservatism: An Autopsy
The budget is the script (real intention), for government. -- Howard Phillips
Remember that the grand design of the devil, and all deceivers, is to delude and corrupt the rulers of the people, knowing how much they signify by their laws, power, and examples; and how sad it will be to be judged as a persecutor, or a captain of iniquity. And therefore you must have a greater self-suspicion, and fear of seduction and sin, than others; and must watch more carefully against wicked counsel and example, but especially the temptations of your own flesh and corrupted nature, and of your wealth and place. -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
The king is as much bound by his oath not to infringe the legal rights of the people, as the people are bound to yield subjection to him. From whence it follows that as soon as the prince sets himself above the law, he loses the king in the tyrant. He does, to all intents and purposes, un-king himself. -- Jonathan Mayhew, in a sermon in 1765
The civil government, as all life, stands under the Law of God. . . . when any office commands that which is contrary to the World of God, those who hold that office abrogate their authority and they are not to be obeyed. -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
Having learnt from the Holy Scriptures that wise, brave, and virtuous men were always friends to liberty -- that God gave the Israelites a king in His anger, because they had not the sense and virtue enough to like a free commonwealth [1 Samuel 8:4-22] -- and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty [2 Corinthians 3:17] -- this made me conclude that freedom was a great blessing. -- Jonathan Mayhew, from his autobiography
It is time we consciously realize that when an office commands what is contrary to God's Law, it abrogates its authority. And our loyalty to the God who gave this law then requires that we make the appropriate response in that situation to such a tyrannical usurping of power. . . . -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants. . . . Those who are willing to trade their essential liberties for a little temporary safety, deserve neither safety nor liberty. -- Benjamin Franklin
True, the state as the policeman can be corrupt; in fact, if the society as a whole is corrupt, the state will also be corrupt. In a healthy and godly society, the state will function successfully to restrain the minority of evildoers. The key to the situation is not the state but the religious health of the society. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), in Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 470
He is first of all God's judgment on our land. According to the Scriptural pattern, a sign that God is displeased with a nation is when he removes competent, righteous, valiant leaders and gives you over to weak, inept, wicked rulers. (Isaiah 3). He is also the Lord's rebuke to the Church of Jesus Christ. Conservative Christians can demonize Clinton all they like, but that doesn't remove God's warning through this corrupt administration that the Church is going the wrong way and was a major contributing factor to Clinton's rise to power. Allegorically, Bill Clinton is Balaam's donkey that God used to speak to a wayward prophet that was about to head into a collision course with the dread Sovereign of the Universe. Balaam thought by beating the donkey that would alleviate his problems. So it is today, many Christian and conservative groups who fill their coffers by beating the President think they can alleviate the problems with America by pursuing this same foolish course. Unfortunately, many of us are just as blind as Balaam when it comes to the understanding that the president is not the problem, we are. The bottom line is, Bill Clinton is God's x-ray into the heart of America that reveals the moral sickness that is plaguing our nation for abandoning God and for trashing His Laws. He is a prophetic warning that the bridge is out up ahead and we need to turn around before it is too late.
I believe it is imperative that the American people understand that Bill Clinton is not the only one being investigated and on trial here today. The truth is our entire nation is on trial. For us to even have a debate whether character counts is an admission of how far we have fallen. It is also an indictment against our inability for self-government (the very cornerstone of our Republic), the breakdown of family government, the failure of church government to be salt and light to the culture, and the abdication of civil government to uphold God's Laws. These sacred institutions that God established for our benefit and for His pleasure were to uphold what is noble and honorable amongst men and to restrain that which is base and destructive. -- Rusty Lee Thomas in Does Character Count?This moral dilemma which has defiled the highest office in the land and made our nation the brunt of every lewd joke is yet another penalty for rejecting the standards of the Bible and the lessons from history. The Bible teaches that God holds leaders, rulers, and to those who instruct others to a higher standard. Their lives come under a greater magnifying glass. That is why there are certain requirements for civil and church leadership that are not required by God for lay people and the common citizens. It is also why God warns in James 3:1, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. According to God, those in leadership are not called to uphold a lesser standard, but to uphold a higher one. They are to be aware that their lives will be subject to greater scrutiny and judgment as one who stands in the place of authority. That is why civil rulers are to be men who are just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3). In Exodus 18:21, the Lord confirms this criteria for civil leaders by declaring, Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men (this reveals a representative form of government), such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness . . . -- Rusty Lee Thomas
Blasphemy against the Almighty is denying his being or providence, or uttering contumelious reproaches on our Savior Christ. It is punished, at common law by fine and imprisonment, for Christianity is part of the laws of the land. -- William Blackstone
Is leadership to blame for our problems?
Lack of individual responsibility (Individual Responsibility for Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification) has a lot to do with the problems of individuals and nation today. (1 Samuel 12:13-15) Sometimes the truth hurts. We humans, with our fuzzy understanding of the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God (The Sovereignty of God) and The Doctrine of Man (Human Nature, Total Depravity) tend to shift blame (Scapegoating and Blameshifting) to leadership. Blinded to the broader perspective we tend to blame our leaders for our problems. We think the enemies of society are elected officials, civil servants, judges, lawyers, and business CEOs. Or we blame church leaders in the visible church who are not true to Christ. After all they repress and suppress the Truth and are instrumental in maintaining a famine of spiritual knowledge. We blame anyone who has usurped power and who is rebellious and idolatrous.
Viewed from a broader perspective, in the Old Testament our Heavenly Father entered into a covenant with us (The Ten Commandments: The Moral Law), (Covenant Theology and the Ordinance of Covenanting). And in the New Testament He has redeemed us by adopting us back into His family on the basis of the finished life and work of Christ (Book-length Presentations of the Free Offer of The Gospel Message of Salvation and the Life to Come: The Means of Grace). But when we as individuals turn our backs on Christ, when we fall into idolatry, then one of the ways He punishes us is to give us leaders like ourselves, who are rebellious and idolatrous. Notice He gives us exacting what we deserve. He gives us exactly what we have willed for ourselves by the lives we live (Psalm 106:40-43; 1 Samuel 12:14,15). Notice also that He is simply being faithful to his covenant with us (The Covenant Faithfulness of God).
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of individual members of society that restrains evil. In other words, in the final analysis it is individual hearts filled with the Holy Spirit that determines the leadership of a nation. We are redeemed and saved by our absolute sovereign God in his covenant faithfulness with us. The consequence is righteous leadership and a renewed and stabilized nation. Our prayer should be Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved (Psalm 80:3), (A Theological Interpretation of American History)Positive good is the real moderating influence, not compromise with evil. -- Roger Pooley
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. -- John Adams, Address to the Militia of Massachusetts, 1798
The upright person can often be identified by a certain beauty about their face, and visa versa.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. (Isaiah 3:9)If God does not exist, everything is permitted. -- Fyodor Dostoevski (1821-1881)
They have the earth in their hands (Job 9:24), who have nothing of heaven in their hearts; they bear sway in the world who are slaves to the world; they govern and order others at their will who are led captive by Satan at his will. Be not offended and troubled to see the reins of government in their hands who know not how to govern themselves, or to see them rule in the world who are unworthy to live in the world. -- Joseph Caryl
George Barna reviewed more than a dozen national surveys related to matters of faith conducted by the Barna Research Group during 2000 and devised three lists of faith-related survey results -- particularly noteworthy insights . . .
Surveys showed the following results:
- Voter turnout in the 2000 presidential election was higher among born again Christians than among non-believers.
- Most Christians' votes were influenced more by their economic self-interest than by their spiritual and moral values.
- Voting place exit polls during the 2000 presidential election indicated that, in generally, men voted for George W. Bush and women voted for Al Gore. -- The Barna Research Group
If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Bible, the God of historic, orthodox Christianity, is in fact Absolute Truth. If in fact Truth is one of His attributes, then political polytheism, pluralism, and political correctness are a myth and false.
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." -- James Madison, "The Father of our Constitution"
James Madison famously quipped that if men were angels no government would be necessary.
A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
Politics is a compromise with the authority of unholy spirits, unholy spirits who know that their lives will not go according to their destructive and self-destructive desires should they chose to be subject to the authority of Christ in his Mediatorial Reign.
Rulers are ministers to God to the people for good; they are revengers to execute upon him that doeth evil (Romans 13:4). They are to be a terror not to good works but to the evil (Romans 13:3). Their Laws are to be conformable to the laws of God. . . . Human laws, therefore, in order to be obeyed, must accord with the laws of God: for where they differ, God is to be obeyed rather than man (Acts 5:29). . . . How can an infidel, who fears not God nor believes His Word nor regards His law, be a minister of God for good? Would not such a man, if made a ruler, in all probability be a terror to good works and not to the evil? . . . Let us resolutely resolve that we will spare no exertions to elect such rulers as God shall approve. This, believe me, is the only course of relief and safety to our afflicted country. Under the rulers of no other character has any Christian nation ever flourished for any length of time. Under rulers of a different stamp, nations have always degenerated and been finally brought to desolation and ruin. . . . -- Jedidiah Morse, A Sermon, Delivered at Charlestown, July 23, 1812, the Day Appointed by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, to be Observed in Fasting and Prayer Throughout the Commonwealth; in Consequence of a Declaration of War With Great Britain
Against the totalitarianism of the pagan world empires, Christ taught the limitation of state power and the separation of church and state: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's (Matthew 22:21). Neither Caesar nor any other mere man was pontifex maximus. Christ himself was the way, the truth, and the life, the only mediator between God and man (John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5). He explicitly denied the political theory and practice of the pagans: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise dominion over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant (Matthew 20:25-26). Christ demanded that rulers -- both civil and ecclesiastical -- serve, not control, the people. He outlined a limited role for civil government, not as the shaper of souls, as in pagan philosophies, but simply as the punisher of criminals. He founded a church whose government was representative and republican, whose officers were elected by the people, and whose constitution -- the Bible -- was written. Inspired by his words, the American Founders made their plans for a new Republic, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.(13)
The early Christians, condemned by pagans such as Celsus and Porphyry(14) as stupid, foolish, and superstitious, were not killed for their stupidity, but because they rejected the highest value of pagan society: worship of the totalitarian state in the person of the Emperor. The Christians rejected Aristotle ('The state is the highest of all. Citizens belong to the state.') and believed Christ. Christ, in dying for the salvation of individual men, exalted both the individual and God. God is eternal and men are immortal; nations and rulers come and go with surprising rapidity, but individual souls live forever. Rome is not an eternal city; only individual men enjoy everlasting life.
Christ taught that man was a creature of God and the lord of creation. Man's ancestry was not animal, but divine, and the Earth was made for man. Individual men were immortal; what they believed and did on Earth would have eternal consequences. After death, they did not descend into some shadowland, but each was required to give an account of his life to his maker and judge. All men were equal before God and his law, and each man would be judged individually. The classes of ancient society -- the nobles, the proletariat, the slaves, the citizens, the men, the women, the Jews, the barbarians -- meant nothing to God. In the new Christian faith, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:8)
Christ's kingdom grows only by persuasion, never by coercion(15) -- it is a republic of knowledge, truth, and doctrine, not an empire of dominion, compulsion, or violence -- and it has taken centuries for some Christian ideas to be understood and believed. Nevertheless, as the anguished wailing of Friedrich Nietzsche in the nineteenth century so clearly indicates, the absorption of Christian ideas has been widespread, though far from complete. -- John W. Robbins in Christ and CivilizationA bad man in a bad system is an untouchable pope simply because he is protected by the system. -- John Reisinger (1924-2018)
The current "lack of moral vigor" in our society has resulted in an unwritten "code red." If a colleague in an organization reports incompetency or error, regardless of how tactful and respectful they are, leadership tends to unite, and to brand the "whistle-blower" as a "troublemaker."
"Code red," as practiced in the military, was dramatized in the movie A Few Good Men (1992).
In healthcare the victim of a "code red" might be either a practitioner or a patient. If practitioner who reports medical error, malpractice, misconduct, or price gouging, then he becomes the victim and may lose his job and have difficult finding another one.
Likewise a patient who reports medical error, malpractice, misconduct, or price gouging, may find that suddenly they are dropped as a patient or "given a hard time" by their previous local healthcare support group. They may be denied medical care in the future.
"Code red" may be thought of as a corollary to the "blue code of silence" that "has protected police officers [and doctors and healthcare workers], from being reported for misconduct. This unwritten rule keeps fellow officers from revealing errors or criminal activity."
The "code red" and "blue code of silence" in government, healthcare, and business are just several reasons why things have gone so horribly wrong and at the same time leadership does not seem to care.
In the Washington metropolitan area it is said that if an individual comes to town with the goal of changing what is not right, then within six months he either "bends his knee to the powers that be," or ends up leaving town.
Reader, ask yourself, what/who is your "primary obligation?"A blue code of silence has protected police officers from being reported for misconduct. This unwritten rule keeps fellow officers from revealing errors or criminal activity. Now a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a similar code of silence prevents many doctors from reporting colleagues who are impaired or incompetent.
Even though the AMA has a code of ethics that states doctors have an ethical obligation to report such behavior, a survey of nearly 3,000 physicians found that many don't comply. In this research, about one third who knew of an incompetent colleague did not report the person to the relevant authorities. Reasons for not reporting included the belief that someone else would take action, the worry that nothing would happen as a result of a report and the fear of retribution. The authors conclude that the current atmosphere results in patients being exposed to unacceptable risks. -- JAMA, July 14, 2010Trusting in men instead of trusting in God results in incompetence and corruption
The unregenerate, the skeptic, regardless of their level in society, look to men for their livelihood and well-being, instead of trusting in God to prepare a table before me in the face of mine enemies, to care for them and to satisfy their needs throughout life, a lesson that King David learned and expressed in Psalm 23:5,6. They are blind to spiritual values and swallowed up by needs of the flesh.
The skeptic, who can not trust God, is more worried about loosing his job than he is worried about job duties, responsibilities, and performance. This inevitably leads to incompetence and corruption in the workplace.
This obsessive preoccupation with job security, whether conscious or sub-conscious, also applies to elected officials, from top to bottom, who make demands on subordinates to not "rock the boat," to not jeopardize their popularity with the electorate, leading to the observation that "all bureaucracies are incompetent and corrupt."
The "savvy" Washington bureaucrat is "hog-tied" because he is more interested in "covering his butt," not jeopardizing his easy, secure, well-paying, lifetime "career" with retirement and benefits, than in carrying out his responsibilities, especially regulatory or enforcement duties (i.e. the Securities and Exchange Commission). The net effect is paralysis in the workplace. Friday evening rush hour in Washington, DC is said to be the most sluggish of any city in the country.
Calvin unfolds Scripture on this fact of the incompetence and corruption of the unregenerate, the blind, in their fearful pursuit of fleshly needs. See: his commentary on Proverbs 1:7, Genesis 4:7, Genesis 25:29-34, Hebrews 2:14,15, and Matthew 16:26.The fundamental problem, which Starr calls the "policy trap," is that important segments of society get enough out of a woefully inefficient system to resist, and to be suspicious of, any reform. The deductibility of health insurance premiums by employers and nationalized healthcare for the elderly via Medicare means that the most important voting blocs in society do well under the system without really appreciating the ridiculously high cost of what they are provided. Middle class people with jobs and senior citizens vote -- and they are invested in the status quo. -- Paul Starr, Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform
Vested interests -- people who make a great deal of money by maintaining the status quo -- have systematically worked to keep Americans clueless about the extent of the health care meltdown, the causes of the meltdown, and the real story about feasible alternatives. -- Robert H. LeBow and C. Rocky White, Health Care Meltdown: Confronting the Myths and Fixing our Failing System
Job security and job performance in healthcare
"Working oneself out of a job," would be the equivalent, in healthcare, of developing a cure for, or preventing major diseases, addictions, or abnormal behaviors -- of fostering a society of healthy individuals who do not need doctors. It would be the equivalent of educating the patient so they know how to prevent disease and stay healthy.
Notice that the "fact of incurability" is built into the business model of most recovery programs. (i.e., "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic"). Yet there is ample documented evidence that this fact is not true.
Not being able to trust God to provide a table before us, to provide a lifetime of employment, leads to a whole array of unethical practices in healthcare, a few of the more egregious being: flip-flopping after taking the Hippocratic Oath and receiving a Medical License from the state (which is essentially a monopoly, and fosters lack of competition and price fixing), and then pursing the personal goal of becoming a "wealthy doctor," performing unnecessary surgery to "keep the mill running," deliberate misdiagnosis in order to perform expensive procedures, "stuffing" hospital bills with costs for "standby equipment" that is not used, recommending procedures or prescribing medicines that involve serious risks without informing the patient of the risks involved, "price fixing" through corporate monopolies and professional "trusts," the $1,000 crown and build-up, the $6,000 orthodontist treatment, the $6,000 hearing aid, $600 for 100 Prozac capsules when the generic version (though not identical and not as effective), is $12.00, $9,500 to $18,850 (January 2007), for prenatal care and delivery (bearing a child is a normal process), depending upon the type of delivery and the geographical location, performing unnecessary C-sections (Washington, DC has one of the highest rates of C-sections in the country) -- without insurance they can run from $14,000 to $25,000, failure to diagnose hypothyroidism which can lead to physiological depression and a constellation of symptoms, resulting in multiple doctor visits and wrong diagnose over a lifetime, and seriously degrading quality of life, public advertising of healthcare organizations, public advertising of prescription drugs, "paper-thin" health insurance, recent changes in bankruptcy laws excluding medical expenses from bankruptcy (medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy), and so forth, and so on, and on, and on, and on -- all because leaders and professionals can not trust in God to provide them with a livelihood throughout their lives.
It is not surprising that doctors have the highest suicide rate of any professional group.
This tendency to be fearful of losing one livelihood is seen in every sphere of the economy. Similarly corrupted business models are found in the oil, the automotive, and the healthcare industries.
In the final analysis, of course, our livelihood and our competence in life depend upon trusting in God and in his commandments, laws, statutes, principles and practices -- in his word, which is the highest ethical standard known to mankind. It has been said "the only lesson we have to learn is to trust in God." Of course, this is a general statement, but it is broadly relevant.Libertarianism: An Irrational, Self-Defeating Philosophy
"Libertarianism, while having a more developed platform than conservatism and liberalism, nevertheless is also internally incoherent. A perfect example is in how Joseph M. Hazlett II, in describing libertarianism, contradicts the philosophy on its own grounds from one paragraph to the next:This freedom from coercion is essential to man's personal and economic well-being. Man has a natural right to life, liberty, and property, just as Locke had stressed, and the libertarians utilize this as a basis for their philosophy. Anything that infringes upon these rights through coercion and or threat, whether it be a man or a government, must be opposed on moral and political grounds."The individual is considered to be a rational creature. In other words, each person through reason can decide their own morals, their path in life, and how to optimize their liberty through rational and voluntary decisions. Libertarians are therefore laissez-faire in individual, religious, and economic matters." (Source: http://theonomyresources.blogspot.com/2012/05/libertarianism-irrational-self.html)Being Peaceably Principled in a Poisonous World
The words most commonly used for the US presidential election campaign have been 'toxic,' 'venomous' and 'poisonous.' Insults seemed to be the sound-bites of choice. Some fear that similar strains have blighted political discourse in the UK. It is not difficult to see that language can be not only divisive but degrading. In a polarized world, how should we respond to the invective directed against our views? How do we avoid worldly spite infecting our response? Disagreements among Christians also arise. Sometime there are necessary differences for the sake of truth, but is it possible to handle them peaceably?
John Brown of Wamphray [1610-1679] gives some answers to these questions in his comments on the wisdom that Paul expresses in Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. He notes how helpful it is that Paul goes on to say in verse 18: live peaceably with all men but qualifies this with if it be possible.
1. You must expect to be treated badly
A Christian should conduct himself as humbly as possible among his fellow brethren. Nevertheless, such is the strength of corruption in the best and the restless maliciousness of Satan (who is always blowing at the coal of strife and dissension) that they must expect bad treatment even at the hands of their fellow Christians. This is why he adds the following to his former exhortations: Recompense no man evil for evil. It supposes that even if the previous exhortations are followed, they will meet with bad treatment.
2. It is not Christian to retaliate in the same way
Whatever evil Christians may experience and whether from friends or foes, they ought to withstand their own heart corruptions (which are ready to seek private revenge) and forbear this unchristian retaliation. Men who are led by an evil spirit may count it their honour not to endure a wrong but to get even with any who injure them. Yet, it is a most unchristian thing and unseemly for the followers of Christ. Recompense to no man evil for evil. (1 Peter 3:9; Proverbs 23:2; Matthew 5:39; 1 Thessalonians 5:15).
3. Christians must avoid stumbling any
Christians ought not to be proud and vain nor scurrilous and dishonourable in their behaviour. Instead they ought to conduct themselves honestly. This means being careful to walk so as we may not stumble any but rather best win them over and in a way best suited to their position and our relation to them. Christians should provide for things honest. (2 Corinthians 8:21)
4. Christians must show respect to all
Christian behaviour means not only avoiding stumbling fellow Christians but also having respect to strangers and seeking not to stumble them in outward things. Provide for things honest in the sight of all men. (2 Corinthians 8:21 and Matthew 5:16)
5. Christians should seek to live peaceably with all
It is not seemly for Christians to be quarrelsome and keeping up arguments among themselves. It is also not becoming for Christians to be striving and contending with the wicked and those who are strangers to Christ; it creates a stumbling block. They should live peaceably with all men.
6. The ungodly will not allow the godly to live in peace
The wicked malicious disposition of some (the seed of the serpent) is so great that they will never allow the godly to live in rest and peace no matter what they may do. The apostle therefore adds this clause: If it be possible, live peaceably with all men.
7. There are some with whom peace is impossible
There is great difficulty in conquering our own corruptions in order to join in peace with others. It may also be impossible to achieve peace and quietness with some. Despite this, it is nevertheless, the duty of Christians to be serious and earnest in using all possible or imaginable means to attain peace. They must be gracious in forgiving the injuries they have received and recompensed good for evil. (1 Peter 3:9) We must do as much as lies in us to live peaceably with all men. (1 Peter 3:11; Hebrews 12:14)
8. We must not pursue peace on sinful or dishonourable terms
In pursuing peace with others, we ought not to descend to sinful, dishonourable or dishonest terms. Even in pursuing peace we should be careful to behave with honesty as befits a Christian. These two duties may and should be aimed at together: Provide things honest in the sight of all men and if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. -- John Brown of Wamphray [1610-1679]
http://www.reformationscotland.org/being-peaceably-principled-in-a-poisonous-world/A search of "political corruption united states" in Worldcat.org yields approximately 7,225 results (10/23/2020).
Personally I find it helpful to begin each day by silently committing that day into God's hands [Matthew 6:5-13; Psalm 37:5,6; Proverbs 16:3; Romans 12:1,2; 1 Peter 2:23b; 1 Peter 4:19; ]. I thank Him that I belong to Him [Galatians 3:26; Galatians 4:4,5; Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:14,16,17,38,39; John 1:12], and I thank Him that He knows what the day holds for me [Providence, omniscience]. I ask Him to take my life that day and use it for His glory [John 15:16,8; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 1:6; John 15:7,8; John 15:10; John 15:4]. I ask Him to cleanse me from anything which would hinder His work [sanctification] in my life. And then I step out in faith [trust, Matthew 6:25-34], knowing that His Holy Spirit is filling me continually as I trust in Him and obey [John 14:15-21; John 14:23; John 15:10; Matthew 16:24; Romans 8:37-39] His Word [Isaiah 11:2; John 15:26-27; John 14:15-17; 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 8:11] -- Billy Graham, from The Holy Spirit: Activating God's Power in Your Life
It would be easy to lose heart and become cynical. But No! There is One who sees all things, knows all things, and will ultimately triumph over all things. There is only one message that addresses the truth as the truth. The Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, came to this earth and was also the victim of hate. Lies sent him to the cross. Power overruled reality, as politics and religious demagogues once again made the lie seem noble. But the Lord who sees the beginning from the end amazingly conquered not in spite of the dark mystery of evil, rather, He conquered through it. James Stewart of Scotland, pointing to the cross, said it in the most powerful terms I have read. Commenting on the verse from Psalm 68:18, He led captivity captive, he said:
It is a glorious phrase -- He led captivity captive. The very triumphs of his foes, it means, he used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to subserve his ends not theirs. They nailed him to a tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to his feet. They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne. They flung him outside the city gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up the gates of the universe, to let the king come in. They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy. They thought they had God with his back to the wall, pinned helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God himself who had tracked them down. "He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it." -- James Stewart (1635-1713)The lie has a shelf life. The truth abides forever. God can even conquer through our perversion.
One more thing. I would be remiss if I left the guilt and darkness out there. That is the seduction of a fake righteousness. We all have to look at our own hearts and see the evil that is within each one of us. Only then can we find the answer from which all other answers flow. Some time ago, I was in Rumania. A sculptor had some of his works on display. One was a horrific, fierce-looking, long nail. When you picked it up, as rusty and jagged as the nail was, the head was polished and shiny. And when you looked at that polished head, you saw a reflection of yourself. It is sobering. Very sobering. . . . More than ever we need the Savior. Lord have mercy! -- Ravi Zacharias in a message, Is Paris Burning? November 18, 2015I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)
Whatever we do within the will of God lasts throughout eternity.The Treasury of David, Psalm 117, C.H. Spurgeon
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Paise ye the Lord. (Psalm 117:1,2)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps117.phpLiberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among the people who have a right . . . and a desire to know: but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge. I mean the character and conduct of their leaders. -- John Adams (1735-1826)
When the Truth is involved, then a spiritual battle always rages. Truth, life, and freedom are interrelated. The strategy of the Adversary, the Father of Lies, is to deceive. He is most successful if he can repress the truth. He loses when truth is known.
Nothing shall be lost that is done for God or in obedience to him. -- John Owen (1616-1683)
Armstrong, Sarah, Voter Fraud, ISBN: 9780737773705 0737773707 9780737773712 0737773715.
A collection of essays.
"These books provide a range of opinions on a social issue; each volume [of the series] focuses on a specific issue and offers a variety of perspectives, e.g., eyewitness accounts, governmental views, scientific analysis, newspaper accounts, to illuminate the issue. Greenhaven Press's At Issue series provides a wide range of opinions on individual social issues. Enhancing critical thinking skills, each At Issue volume is an excellent research tool to help readers understand current social issues and prepare reports." -- Publisher
Assange, Julian (introduction), The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire, ISBN: 9781781688748, 9781784786212, 9781784782719, 1781688745, 1784786217, 1784782718.
"When WikiLeaks first came to prominence in 2010 by releasing 2,325,961 top-secret State Department cables, the world saw for the first time what the US really thought about national leaders, friendly dictators and supposed allies. It also discovered the dark truths of national policies, human rights violations, covert operations and cover-ups. THE WIKILEAKS FILES is the first volume that uses experts to collate the most important cables and shows their historic importance. The book explores in a series of chapters covering the major regions of the world how the US Empire has imposed its will. It reveals how the US imposes its agenda on the world: a new form of imperialism that uses a variety of tactics from torture and military action, to trade deals and 'soft power,' in order to expand its influence. It shows the details of the close relationship between government and big business in promoting US goods around the world. THE WIKILEAKS FILES is the most comprehensive analysis of US State Department cables to date. The introduction by Julian Assange for the first time exposes the on-going debates on freedom of information, international surveillance, and justice. Regional expert contributors include Dan Beeton, Phyllis Bennis, Michael Busch, Peter Certo, Conn Hallinan, Sarah Harrison, Richard Heydarian, Dahr Jamail, Jake Johnston, Alexander Main, Robert Naiman, Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Linda Pearson, Gareth Porter, Tim Shorrock, Russ Wellen, and Stephen Zunes" -- Publisher
"In essays by area specialists that mine information from the 251,287 diplomatic cables brought to light by WikiLeaks' Cablegate publication, THE WIKILEAKS FILES exposes the neo-imperialist machinations of the United States. Below, we present a contribution to the book by journalist, legal researcher and WikiLeaks section editor Sarah Harrison, which explains the construction of the Public Library of US Diplomacy -- WikiLeaks' database of US State Department internal documents -- and offers instructions on how to use it."
Indexing the Empire: How to use WikiLeaks Public Library of US Diplomacy
http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2867-indexing-the-empire-how-to-use-wikileaks-public-library-of-us-diplomacy
Bauckham, Richard, The Bible in Politics: How to Read the Bible Politically, ISBN: 0664250882 9780664250881.
Includes bibliographical references.
Benko, Stephen, and John J. O'Rourke, The Catacombs and the Colosseum, ISBN: 0817004556 9780817004552.
"A scholarly analysis of the social and political forces that resulted in the persecution of the early Christian church." -- Cyril J. Barber
Berkowitz, Peter, Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism, ISBN: 9781400822904 1400822904.
"Virtue has been rediscovered in the United States as a subject of public debate and of philosophical inquiry. Politicians from both parties, leading intellectuals, and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds are addressing questions about the content of our character. Yet many continue to associate virtue with a prudish, Victorian morality or with crude attempts by government to legislate morals. Peter Berkowitz clarifies the fundamental issues, arguing that a certain ambivalence toward virtue reflects the liberal spirit at its best. Drawing on recent scholarship as well as classical political philosophy, he makes his case with penetrating analyses of four central figures in the making of modern liberalism: Hobbes, Locke, Kant, and Mill." -- Publisher
Birch, Bruce C., The Predicament of the Prosperous (Biblical Perspectives on Current Issues. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1978), ISBN: 0664242111 9780664242114.
Black, John (1768-1849), A Sermon on National Righteousness and Sin: Delivered in the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, April 3, 1827, Before a Large Assembly Convened for the Purpose of Adopting Resolutions Against Duelling.
Bolling, Eric, The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and how Trump can Drain it, ISBN: 1250150183 9781250150189
"When Washington D.C. was first built, it was on top of a swamp that had to be drained. Donald Trump says it's time to drain it again.
"In THE SWAMP, bestselling author and Fox News Channel host Eric Bolling presents an infuriating, amusing, revealing, and outrageous history of American politics, past and present, Republican and Democrat. From national political scandals to tempests in a teapot that blew up; bribery, blackmail, bullying, and back-room deals that contradicted public policies; cronyism that cost taxpayers hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars; and personal conduct that can only be described as regrettable, THE SWAMP is a journey downriver through the bayous and marshes of Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom.
"The presidential election of 2016 was ugly, but it exposed a political, media, industry, and elite establishment that desperately wanted to elect a politician who received millions of dollars from terror-funding states over a businessman willing to tell the corrupt or incompetent, 'You're fired.'
"The book concludes with a series of recommendations for President Trump: practical, hard-headed, and concise ways to drain the swamp and force Washington to be more transparent, more accountable, and more effective in how it serves those who have elected its politicians and pay the bills for their decisions.
"Last year President Trump declared WAKE UP AMERICA to be a 'huge' book; Eric Bolling's second book is sure to build on that success. Entertaining and timely, THE SWAMP is the perfect book for today's political climate." -- Publisher
*Bonar, Horatius (1808-1889), The Everlasting Righteousness, or How Shall man be Just With God? A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language.
"First published in 1874, THE EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, may be the best book on the doctrine of justification by faith alone ever written.
"Since the seventeenth century, the church's adherence to the central doctrine of the Christian faith has been weakening; in the twentieth century it has all but disappeared. But to those who remain faithful -- to those who are called of God -- justification by faith alone is the best news there could ever be: that Christ died for our sins, and we shall live forever because of Christ's righteousness.
"Justification by faith alone -- the 'principal hinge of religion,' according to John Calvin, the 'doctrine by which the church stands or falls,' according to Martin Luther -- is salvation. Without it, all hope is lost; with it, Heaven gained. Bonar's discussion is without equal in the English language." -- John W. Robbins
The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar
http://books.google.com/books?id=nQMDAAAAQAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Brown, Guy S., Calhoun's Philosophy of Politics: A Study of the "Disquisition of Government," ISBN: 0865546800 9780865546806.
*Brutus, Junius (attributed to Philippe Duplessis-Mornay [1549-1623] and sometimes to Hubert Languet [1518-1581]), A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, ISBN: 0921148453. Alternate title: VINDICIAE, CONTRA TYRANNOS: OR, CONCERNING THE LEGITIMATE POWER OF A PRINCE OVER THE PEOPLE, AND OF THE PEOPLE OVER A PRINCE, Hubert Languet (author) [also attributed to Stephanus Junius Brutus a pseudonym for Philippe Duplessis-Mornay], George Garnett (editor), ISBN: 0521342090 9780521342094. This [ISBN: 0921148453] is a reprint of a 1689 edition of this work, which was originally written in 1579. A Christian classic. Available [ISBN: 0921148453] on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available [ISBN: 0921148453] on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26.
"Piety commands that the law and church of God be maintained. Justice requires that tyrants and destroyers of the commonwealth be compelled to reason. Charity challenges the right of relieving and restoring the oppressed. Those who make no account of these things do as much as in them lies to drive piety, justice, and charity out of this world, that they may never more be heard of." -- Junius Brutus
"John Adams held this book to be one of the most influential books in America on the eve of the Revolution. This 'defense' manual will help equip you for the battle." -- Publisher
"This book was even more influential than Thomas Payne's COMMON SENSE, in molding the American mind and preparing it for the war for independence. Much of our Declaration of Independence reflects its wisdom and thought. Written by a French Huguenot to give Biblical and civil justification for fighting against a government that was illegally killing it own people during the religious wars on France between the 1540s and late 1700. A must reading for those who want to understand religious and political history of Europe, or want to better understand the Biblical justification sought by our own founding fathers in their fight for independence. A must read!" -- Reader's Comment
Vidiciae Contra Tyrannos: A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, by Junius Brutus, attributed to Philippe Duplessis-Mornay [1549-1623]
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae.htm
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Buchman, Sidney, and Frank Capra, Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, DVD, ISBN: 0767828011 9780767828017.
Buck, Ken, and Bill Blankschaen, Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse Than you Think, ISBN: 9781621576389 1621576388.
"The Republican Congressman from Colorado who serves on multiple judiciary oversight committees reveals how both political parties work together to overtax Americans and force the nation into deeper debt.
"Lavish parties. Committee chairmanships for sale. Pay-to-play corruption. Back-room arm-twisting. Votes on major legislation going to the highest bidder. Congressman Ken Buck blows the whistle on the real-life House of Cards that is our nation's capital. Elected in 2014 in one of the largest Republican freshman classes ever, Buck quickly discovered why nothing gets done in Congress -- and it isn't because of political gridlock. In fact, Republicans and Democrats work together all too well to fleece taxpayers and plunge America deeper into debt. Buck has witnessed first-hand how the unwritten rules of Congress prioritize short-term political gain over principled leadership. When he tangled with Washington power brokers like former Speaker John Boehner, he faced petty retaliation. When he insisted Republicans keep their word to voters, he was berated on the House floor by his own party's leaders. When other members of Congress dared to do what they believed to be right for America instead of what the party bosses commanded, Buck saw them stripped of committee positions and even had to defend his position as freshman class president. In DRAIN THE SWAMP, you'll learn: what really goes on behind congressional closed doors -- and Buck names names; how committee chairmanships are bought; why one-third of the discretionary spending in the federal budget is actually illegal -- and could be cut immediately; the constitutional remedy just waiting to be used that could drain the swamp of Washington corruption faster than anything else; [and] bonus: why you're not powerless -- what you, the American voter, can do to make your voice heard. Shocking in its revelations, but practical in its plans for reform, Ken Buck's book DRAIN THE SWAMP is the one book you need to understand how President Trump's campaign slogan could become a reality." -- Publisher
"Contents: Why Washington is a swamp | Welcome to Washington, Congressman! | Play the game | or else | Crisis of character | Beating the Beltway bullies | Corporate welfare | Swamp-based accounting | Zombie government | Profiteering in the swamp | When Washington takes control | How President Trump can help drain the swamp | Using the Constitution to drain the swamp | Throw the bums out | and other reforms | What you can do to drain the swamp."
Buckley, William F., Alistair Cooke, Robert MacNeil, F. Clifton White (Hoover Institution Archives), The Influence of TV on American Politics, DVD.
"The question for this debate is whether or not television runs America. An example used is the attempted 1968 Republican nomination of California Governor Ronald Reagan. The guests talk about their feelings regarding the televised Reagan-Kennedy debate on Vietnam. Although Reagan failed to get the nomination, his exposure on television helped make him a national political figure." -- Publisher
*Bugliosi, Vincent, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, ISBN: 9780792756064 0792756061, 352 pages.
We receive what we deserve as citizens. Bugliosi's book offers hope in these ominous times, when practically all of our institutions, including the three branches of government, seem to be broken beyond repair. THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER demonstrates that one person can bring an unfaithful leader to trial in the courtroom of American public opinion, can call for justice, outside the reach of the politicized monopoly that our Court System has become, and without astronomical legal costs and delays -- by publishing a lawsuit.
We hope upright, law-abiding citizens will follow Bugliosi's example and will publish lawsuits calling for justice against unfaithful leaders in the courtroom of American public opinion.
Notice this book is actually a lawsuit. Vince Bugliosi explained in a broadcast interview that his intention is to present all the facts and arguments necessary to win a lawsuit against George W. Bush. He said it is his intention to make it possible for any County or State District Attorney, where a son or daughter has died in the Iraq war, to file a suite against George W. Bush. Furthermore, he is offering to act as a consultant or associate Prosecuting Attorney with any local District Attorney. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
"Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career.
"In THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses -- a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
"As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
"A searing indictment of the President and his administration, THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
"Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.
"Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, HELTER SKELTER, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi's other books -- AND THE SEA WILL TELL and OUTRAGE -- also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, has been heralded as 'epic' and 'a book for the ages.'
"Bugliosi has uncommonly attained success in two separate and distinct fields, as an author and a lawyer. His excellence as a trial lawyer is best captured in the judgment of his peers. 'Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was,' Alan Dershowitz says. F. Lee Bailey calls Bugliosi 'the quintessential prosecutor.' 'There is only one Vince Bugliosi. He's the best,' says Robert Tanenbaum, for years the top homicide prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. Most telling is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a twenty-one-hour televised, scriptless 'docu-trial' of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the Dallas jury returned a guilty verdict in Bugliosi's favor, Spence said, 'No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.'
Bugliosi lives with his wife, Gail, in Los Angeles." -- Publisher
*Burges, Cornelius (1589?-1665), The First Sermon Preached to the Honorable House of Commons now Assembled in Parliament at Their Public Fast, Nov. 17, 1640. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #29.
"A beautifully clear facsimile copy of this amazing sermon (published by order of the British House of Commons in 1641), exhorting this Parliament to 'stand to the covenant' of God; by, 'endeavouring of a further Sanction of, and stronger Guard about our true Palladium, the true Religion, already established among us; in the perfecting of the Reformation of it; in the erecting, maintaining, protecting, and encouraging of an able, godly, faithful, zealous, profitable, Preaching Ministry, in every Parish Church and Chapel throughout England and Wales; in interceding to the Kings sacred Majesty for the setting up of a Faithful, Judicious, and Zealous Magistracy, where yet the same is wanting, to be ever at hand to back such a Ministry: without either of which, not only the power of Godliness will sooner degenerate into formality, and zeal into lukewarmness; but Popery, Arminianism, Socinianism, Profaneness, Apostasy, and Atheism itself will more and more crowd in upon us, and prevail against us, do You all You can be all other means.' Points out that where a godly ministry and magistracy are lacking, society degenerates into a godless mob, headed by one of the above named heresies -- as we have seen in our day. Presses national covenant renewal, from Jer. 50:5 [Jeremiah 50:5], and explains from scripture how and why this should take place. Cites many biblical examples of the great Scriptural blessing that has followed previous national covenanting; while making practical application to the situation of the day. This sermon foreshadows chapter 23, of the celebrated Westminster Confession of Faith [1646], on 'the Civil Magistrate,' and gives much insight into this watershed period of Christian political development. It is highly recommended for anyone even remotely interested in seeing their nation prosper politically and ecclesiastically. Furthermore, it will be a great help for anyone seeking to formulate a biblical doctrine explaining the four way relationship between: loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; Jesus Christ as mediator; the everlasting covenant (and covenanting); and the state, as set forth in Scripture. A very rare item. A Covenanter's delight! 70 pages." -- Publisher
Burges, Cornelius (1589?-1665), The Necessity of Agreement With God, a Sermon Preached to the House of Peers, 29th of October, 1645. Alternate title: THE NECESSITY OF AGREEMENT WITH GOD. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Burnham, James, Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism, ISBN: 0895268221 9780895268228.
"Through studious research into past civilizations, Burnham diagnoses the twentieth century and finds it afflicted with destructive, nay, 'suicidal' tendencies -- all of which emit from the 'Liberal syndrome' and its inherent applications. The book explores several important questions including: Why Liberalism clashes with Christianity and how Liberalism is a root cause of race riots and the rapid growth of crime.
"James Burnham has written a book about Liberalism for which the world has been aching. It is worth more to the West than the year's gross national product, more than all the planes and bombs . . ." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.
Burroughs, Jeremiah (1599-1646), A Sermon on Proverbs 14:34, 1646. Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) Available in THE SAINTS TREASURY: BEING SUNDRY SERMONS PREACHED IN LONDON.
Butler, Paul, What the Bible Says About Civil Government, ISBN: 0899002668 9780899002668.
Buzzard, Lynn R., and Paula Campbell, Holy Disobedience: When Christians Must Resist the State, ISBN: 0892831847 9780892831845.
Calamy, Edmund (1600-1666), An Indictment Against England Becavse of her Selfe-mvrdering Divisions: Together With an Exhortation to an England-preserving Unity and Concord: Presented in a Sermon Preached Before the . . . House of Lords in the Abby Church at Westminster, at the Late Solemne Fast, Matt. 12:25, December 25. 1644. [Matthew 12:25] Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Callahan, David, The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to get Ahead, ISBN: 0156030055 9780156030052.
"While there have always been those who cut corners, the author shows that cheating on every level -- from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud -- has risen dramatically in the last two decades. Why all the cheating? Why now? Callahan pins the blame on the dog-eat-dog economic climate of the past two decades. An unfettered market and unprecedented economic inequality have corroded our values, he argues -- and ultimately threaten the level playing field so central to American democracy itself. Through revealing interviews and extensive data, he takes us on a gripping tour of cheating in America and offers a powerful argument for why it matters.
"David Callahan is cofounder and director of research at the public policy center Demos. The author of five books, he has published articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and has been a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He received a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and lives in New York City." -- Publisher
"I recommend that this book be read together with John Perkins, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN and William Greider's, THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: OPENING PATHS TO A MORAL ECONOMY. As a preamble, I would note that a Nobel Prize was given in the late 1990's to a man that demonstrates that trust lowers the cost of doing business. Morality matters -- immorality imposes a pervasive sustained, insidious, long-term, and ultimately fatal cost on any community, any Republic, and that is the core message of this book that most reviewers seem to be missing.
"Any student of national security can tell you that one of the most important sources of national power is the population, followed by the economy, natural resources, and then the more traditional sources of national power: diplomacy, military, law enforcement, and government policies generally.
"What this author makes clear is that our population has become a cheating population, one that cheats in school, cheats their employer, and cheats their clients (lawyers, accountants, doctors, all cheating). Such a population is literally undermining national security by creating false values, and undermining true values. Some simple examples: an estimated $250 Billion a year in individual tax avoidance; an estimated $600 Billion a year in theft from employers; an estimated $250 Billion a year in legalized corporate tax avoidance and investor fraud; and an additional $250 Billion a year in legalized theft form the individual taxpayers through Congressional support for unnecessary and ill-advised 'subsidies' for agriculture, fishing, and forestry, as well as waivers of environmental standards that ultimately result in long-term external diseconomies . . .
"At root, the author observes that pervasive cheating ensues from the perception by the majority that 'everyone does it' and that the rules are not being enforced -- that 'the system' lacks legitimacy. In other countries, illegitimacy might lead to revolution, a revolt of the masses. In the USA, still a very rich country, the poor are cheating on the margins while the rich are looting the country, and we are not yet at a 'tipping point' [This book was written before the Meltdown of 2008. -- compiler], such as a new Great Depression might inspire. . . .
"Cheating diminishes trust and reduces value. America has become corrupt across all the professions, within Congress, within the media, within the political level of government (the civil service remains a bastion of propriety).
"What price freedom? What price the Republic? You may or may not choose to agree with this author's diagnosis and prescription, but in my view, he gets to the heart of the matter. It's about integrity. We've lost it. [Callahan's solutions come from a liberal, humanistic position, nevertheless the bulk of the book is an extensive analysis of cheating in society that is well documented -- 32 pages of endnotes -- and should be enlightening to most readers. -- compiler]
"See also, with reviews: THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: HOW THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDERMINED SOCIAL IDEALS, DAMAGED TRUST IN THE MARKETS, ROBBED INVESTORS OF TRILLIONS -- AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT; THE FIFTY-YEAR WOUND: HOW AMERICA'S COLD WAR VICTORY HAS SHAPED OUR WORLD; THE GLOBAL CLASS WAR: HOW AMERICA'S BIPARTISAN ELITE LOST OUR FUTURE -- AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO WIN IT BACK; WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: HOW THE GOVERNMENT, BIG BUSINESS, AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ARE WAGING WAR ON THE AMERICAN DREAM AND HOW TO FIGHT BACK; THE WORKING POOR: INVISIBLE IN AMERICA; and OFF THE BOOKS: THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY OF THE URBAN POOR." -- Reader's Comment
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah, 4 books, published in 2 volumes in CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES (vols. 7, 8). Spine title: CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES, VOLUME VII: ISAIAH 1-32; CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES, VOLUME VIII: ISAIAH 33-66. A Christian classic.
Several factors combine to make CALVIN'S COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH particularly significant.
I have a study ready for public -- well, not ready for publication, but hopefully someday, on Calvin's use of Augustine [apparently never published -- compiler]. There are at least 400 references to Augustine in John Calvin. Anybody who says that Calvin got his theology of the top of his head knows no Calvin. Calvin knew Augustine probably better than anybody else, including Luther. Calvin went back to all the Early Western Fathers. I would say that next to Augustine, his theology is based upon Bernard of Clairvaux and Anselm, and he had a higher respect for Saint Thomas Aquinas than many people are willing to admit. But he is in the Western theological tradition.Calvin's work is in four books, with a Scripture Index and a General Index. The Baker publication prints the four books in two volumes.
Charles Hodge, in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY of three volumes, very often refers to Calvinism as Augustinianism, and you can see why. . . . [Charles Hodge], declares that you might as well call Calvinism revived and revitalized Augustinianism.
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews -- compiler], by John Calvin, to the Most Mighty and Most Serene Prince, Sigismund Augustus, by the Grace of God, the King of Poland, Great Duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia, and Lord and Heir of Muscovy, etc.
"You kingdom is extensive and renowned, and abounds in many excellencies, but its happiness will then only be solid, when it adopts Christ as its chief ruler and governor, so that it may be defended by his safeguard and protection; for to submit your sceptre to him, is not inconsistent with that elevation in which you are placed; but it would be far more glorious than all the triumphs of the world." -- John Calvin
Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol44/htm/v.htm
Calvin, Jean (John, 1509-1564), On God and Political Duty.
"Selections from the author's INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, COMMENTARIES ON ROMANS, and COMMENTARIES ON DANIEL." -- Publisher
Calvin, On God and Political Duty
http://archive.org/details/ongodpoliticaldu00calv
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Proverbs 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Campbell, Tracy, Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, an American Political Tradition, 1742-2004, ISBN: 9780786715916 078671591X 9780786718436 0786718439.
"If elections are the lifeblood of a democracy, then we have an ailing body politic. From ballot stuffing and intimidating voters, to buying votes, suppressing turnout and manipulating returns, DELIVER THE VOTE is an intensive examination into the hidden interiors of American politics that casts a provocative new light on how power in America is often obtained. Drawing on hundreds of elections from the colonial era to the 2004 election, historian Tracy Campbell reveals how a long-standing culture of corruption is alive and well in local, state, and national elections. Among those whose stories are central to this book are Boss Tweed, William Randolph Hearst, Huey Long, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, as well as countless local and state politicians of every stripe. Combining social and political history in a vivid narrative, DELIVER THE VOTE reveals how fraud has been a persistent and corrosive presence in American history, and is not confined to one party, location, or time period. Campbell explores every major reform to cleanse fraud and corruption -- paper ballots, the secret ballot, or voting machines -- and explains how they have only changed the way the game is played, sadly showing how American elections have never been in order." -- Publisher
Cant, Andrew (1590?-1663), A Sermon Preached After the Renovation of the National Covenant, and Celebration of the Lord's Supper, at Glasgow, Anno. 1638. Alternate title: A SERMON PREACHED AT A GENERAL MEETING IN THE GRAY-FRIAR-CHURCH OF EDINBURGH, UPON THE 13 DAY OF JUNE, 1638, and THE NATIONAL COVENANT. SERMON AT GLASGOW (1638). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Preaching of Matthew 22:2-6, immediately after the renovation of the National Covenant and the administration of the Lord's Supper, Andrew Cant pointed out that ministers are servants, not lords over the flock of God:
'We are servants and not lords. I see never a word in this text, nay, in all the scripture that the Master of the feast sent out lords to woo home his bride; He "sent out His servants," but not His lords. Read all the Bible from the beginning to the ending, you shall not find it. Daft men may dispute, and by respect may carry it away; but read all the Old and New Testament both, and let me see if ever this lord prelate, or that lord bishop, was sent to woo home his bride'." -- Andrew Cant, "The National Covenant. Sermon at Glasgow (1638)" in James Kerr (editor), The Covenants and the Covenanters: covenants, sermons, and documents of the Covenanted Reformation, p. 94
Cawdrey, Daniel (1588-1664), The Good man a Publick Good, 1. Passively, 2. Actively. As it was Manifested in a Sermon Preached to the Honourable House of Commons, at the Late Solemne Fast: January 31. 1643. By Daniel Cavvdrey, Minister of the Gospell at Great Billing in Northhamptonshire, and one of the Assembly of Divines. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Chambers, Whittaker, Witness, ISBN: 0895267896 9780895267894.
This is the book that directed D. James Kennedy's attention to the problem of International Communism. It is the story of the governments cooperation with Communism.
"First published in 1952, WITNESS was at once a literary effort, a philosophical treatise, and a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America's trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case, but also reveals much more. . . -- went on to help make political conservatism a national force." -- Editorial Review
"Whittaker Chambers has written one of the really significant American autobiographies . . . penetrating and terrible insights into America in the early twentieth century." -- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Chellis, William, Origins of American Covenanter Political Theology (National Reform Association). Probably available in a publication of the National Reform Association. However, NRA is currently dormant (May 3, 2018).
Author's Note: "This article is an excerpt from a larger paper on the place of God's law in Anglo-American Christendom."
Clark, Gordon H. (1902-1985), Essays on Ethics and Politics, ISBN: 094093132X 9780940931329.
"A collection of 43 essays. Clark is regarded by some as one of the greatest Christian theologians/philosophers ever produced in America." -- GCB
Clark, William Roberts, Capitalism, not Globalism: Capital Mobility, Central Bank Independence, and the Political Control of the Economy, ISBN: 0472112937 9780472112937.
Codevilla, Angelo, The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility, ISBN: 9780465028009 0465028004.
"In this cross-cultural study, Angelo M. Codevilla illustrates that as people shape their governments, they shape themselves. Drawing broadly from the depths of history, from the Roman republic to de Tocqueville's America, as well as from personal and scholarly observations of the world in the twentieth century, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS reveals remarkable truths about the effects of government on a society's economic arrangements, moral order, sense of family life, and ability to defend itself.
"Codevilla argues that in present-day America, government has had a profound negative effect on societal norms. It has taught people to seek prosperity through connections with political power; it has fostered the atrophy of civic responsibility; it has waged a Kulturkampf against family and religion; and it has dug a dangerous chasm between those who serve in the military and those who send it in harm's way. Informative and provocative, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS shows how the political decisions we make have higher stakes than simply who wins elections." -- Publisher
"Angelo M. Codevilla has taught political theory and international relations at Stanford, Princeton, and Georgetown University and is presently a professor of international relations at Boston University. He is the author of nine books, including THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS, THE ARMS CONTROL DELUSION, and a new translation of Machiavelli's THE PRINCE. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts." --- Publisher
"Reading this book I feel like one of Mr. Codevilla's students: 'We have read the published version of this event. Please tell us the real story.' To me this book was a revelation, as much for the data inside as for the author, whom I would describe as another Thomas Sowell, for the clarity and immediacy of his speech. After reading this I am more than ever convinced that the love that elite America has always felt for Europe is one of the main causes of the political and social divides inside American society today: Like an extra-marital affair with a high class prostitute. A fatal attraction.
"I would recommend to the reader that he combine the reading of this book with Dick Morris's CATASTROPHE, for a more detailed analysis of how insiders to the regime play their lucrative parts in Obama's America. Thus you get to understand the big picture as well as the day to day money-dealings inside the U.S. regime.
"Here's all you want to know about the world, socially and politically. There is no better book to travel all over the world with and understand how the common folks in those places must feel.
"The nature of our western regimes:
The most economically profitable thing you can do, whether in Europe or in Argentina, or China or Chicago, is to worry less about producing than about building a profitable relationship with the regime. Because exchanging economic privilege for political support is the essence of modern government."Our military:
Regimes have added a new twist . . . that government must depend on science, which dictates that people must surrender to their betters plenary powers over where and how they live, how much and what kind of energy or even food they consume, in order to 'save the planet' from human habitation's effects."
The change began in the 1950's, as the social groups that make of the regime began to look down on their fellow citizens' revulsion to communism . . . our regime, scornful of the traditional military goal of victory, became accustomed to using the armed forces in ventures from the Balkans to Iraq that were neither war nor peace, that were more obviously related to regime goals than to American interests -- but that got a lot of people killed nevertheless."Russia
Mafia oligarchies such as post-Communist Russia, where the rulers regard others' property as a threat to their own and where friendship is restricted to families."Singapore
defenseless free ports, like Singapore, where the rulers thrive within systems of law and low taxes that encourage large numbers of people to think of nothing but making money."China
Business in China consists effectively of granting and using the privilege to hire labor for next to nothing. The system runs . . . on the expectation that various officials will be content with the bribes they have received."Europe
All Europeans accept their roles as subjects -- as entitled consumers of government services. The real citizens of Europe, from whom power and to whom privilege flow, are society's corporations, whether big business, unions, political parties, or the complex of bureaucrats and the interest groups they finance."And here's where the U.S. could have had the upper hand in its dealings with Europe, but dismissed it.
It is difficult to imagine Europeans nowadays offering their lives for their country. Contemporary Europe's way of life has been possible only because it was protected by the United States.
In Catholic Europe, the Christian Democratic movement, the principal reaction to militant liberalism, gave up advocacy of Christian causes, refused to take clear stands on the major issues of the day, immersed itself in day-to-day administration, and died. Throughout the European continent, then, politics has trained people to forget the soul."Sound like the story of Republicanism since . . . Lincoln? "Germany in a few slides:
In their most vigorous years, these people lived by Nazi standards. They spent their middle age trying to approach the ideals of the Adenauer republic -- bourgeois respectability . . . their old age has been passed in a country characterized by sex shops, welfare and environmentalism, where the ways of the Adenauer republic are ridiculed. Their last impressions must be of Muslim neighbors whom it is dangerous to displease."How the regime works
Scientific management, its success depending on maintaining a pretense of neutrality on the issues, but there is "massive evidence that those who hawk certain kinds of social or environmental policies in the name of science are partisans of those policies."Sounds like paganism and superstition are here again.
Today's tycoons have more power over ordinary people than the trusts of a century ago, because while the old robber barons had to do the robbing themselves, today's CEOs can count on the government to do it for them by manufacturing markets for them, by tailoring rules that stifle competition, and by bailing out their blunders.
"The regimes rule more by fashion . . . than by statute. It defines itself by its icons and taboos.
The new path to riches is knowing what the government wants . . . though lawyers produce nothing, they are paid more than engineers because government makes their services really more valuable . . . such high salaries are passed on to the public through higher prices."Affirmative action:
is about neither race nor sex. It is about politics . . . it is about patrons and clients . . . about adding to the power of those who already have power and obliging those under them to build the personal political relationships that override objective criteria and immunize against New Age accusations."You get a lot of information here, from almost every corner of the world and every facet of society. If a businessman came from outer space, this would be the book he should need. And that seems also as far as we -- rather serfs than citizens -- are from the ruling bureaucrats in the West." -- Reader's Comment
*Coit, Margaret L. (1919-2003), John C. Calhoun: American Portrait, ISBN: 0877971854, 9780877971856.
"This heavily documented 593-page biography is a fascinating glimpse into secular American life in the times of John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), including southern plantation life, and the intricacies of political diplomacy in Washington, D.C.
For any reader who has been immersed in the Reformed Presbyterian Church History of this period, this biography offers a fresh and rewarding diversion into the parallel secular and political history.
"There is a lot to learn here. Human nature was the same in Calhoun's day as it is today. The selfishness of men in power was creating a serious imbalance in the economy. Calhoun understood this, and he fought heroically for political solutions to prevent a split in the union (Ecclesiastes 1:9,10). It informs about much of what was going on in the South prior to 'The War Between the States: The War of Northern Aggression, The War for Southern Independence,' information that revisionist historians often leave out of textbooks.
"The book has been criticized as a weak analysis of Calhoun as a political theorist, but this is probably an unfair criticism. Much is discussed about Calhoun's political position. The politician or the scholar of political science should read John C. Calhoun, et al., A DISQUISITION ON GOVERNMENT AND A DISCOURSE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, PAPERS, 28. Both his works and his correspondence also have been published.
"The biography does discuss the various causes of the split in the union: the decline of the federal character of our government with the resulting dominance of Northern industrial majority over the minority interests of the South, tariff regulations favoring the North, economic exploitation of the South, unbalanced growth, states rights, slavery, and so forth, and so on.
"The issue of Southern slavery is not as 'cut and dried' as abolitionists and the Northern sympathizers would have the public believe. For example, the similarities between Southern slavery and the 'wage slavery' of Northern industrialists is mentioned." -- Reader's Comment
The question of slavery has perplexed this writer for years. This biography, and the lecture, "Biblical Slavery: Its Meaning and Necessity," have helped clear up questions about the position of pro-unreconstructed Southern Evangelicals, the apparent "paradox" of the social benefits of Biblical slavery, conflicting motives for the Civil War, Robert L. Dabney's (1820-1898) "unbelievable blind spot" in the midst of excellent theology, and Dabney being branded a "racist."
Calhoun is said to be one of the most able statesmen and politicians ever to serve in Washington. This work by Margaret Coit received the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1951. It accounts for why Calhoun is held in such high esteem in the South, even today. He has been praised as a politician by C. Gregg Singer, the church historian.
There is scant mention of Calhoun's religious convictions, and their influence on his politics. See: A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
"The former Vice-President [under John Quincy Adams and the first term of Andrew Jackson -- compiler], was able to become the spokesman of the minority within that era. In doing so, he offered a vigorous justification of why the majority should be limited in what they can do to the minority. His explanation is as sound today for any minority as it was for defending the South in his time." -- Reader's Comment
"His influence during four decades of national life cannot be denied, which is one of the reasons why scholars to this day argue over whether there are two distinct periods to Calhoun's career: his earlier years when he seemed more inclined to support national-oriented legislation, and his later years when he appears as an early 'states rights' man.
"Coit, who clearly admires him and is determined to unearth the person behind the stony legend, argues that Calhoun's devotion to nation and state were as one, and that in his view only through a determined affirmation of the rights of the states could the larger national confederation succeed. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"Coit hints at a distant personal connection to John C. Calhoun on page 306, saying the Reverend John C. Coit, a Presbyterian clergyman, was a friend of Calhoun's.
"Coit has a very vivid style and sometimes she comes dangerously close to crossing the line into writing fiction (such as when she enters the mind of a dying Calhoun and offers a series of flashback sketches)." -- Reader's Comment
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), John Calvin. Available in THE REFORMERS AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"As Cunningham states, 'John Calvin was by far the greatest of the Reformers with respect to the talents he possessed, the influence he exerted, and the services he rendered in the establishment and diffusion of important truth.' Here we have a succinct account of Calvin's works and the leading principles that he maintained. Calvin is without a doubt one of the great men in all of human history, and as he often pointed out, he owed everything to the Lord Jesus Christ -- all his talents, all his influence, his very salvation, etc. -- for that is the nature of 'Calvinism,' giving God all the glory!" -- Publisher
Cunningham, William (1805-1861), Politics and Economics: An Essay on the Nature of the Principles of Political Economy Together With a Survey of Recent Legislation.
D'Souza, Dinesh, Stealing America: What my Experience With Criminal Gangs Taught me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party, ISBN: 9780062366719 0062366718 9780062366726 0062366726.
"I had won -- for now. But I knew I still had an ordeal ahead. Little did I know what was in store for me at the confinement center. Let me say that it was not overpopulated with dentists, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. Rather, I was destined to spend every night for the next eight months sleeping in a dormitory with more than a hundred rapists, armed robbers, drug smugglers, and murderers.
"I learned how the hoodlums think and how they operate, how they organize themselves in gangs, how they rip people off and crush their enemies. I understood, for the first time, the psychology of crookedness. Suddenly I had an epiphany: this system of larceny, corruption, and terror that I encountered firsthand in the confinement center is exactly the same system that has been adopted and perfected by modern progressivism and the Democratic Party.
"This book is an exposé of Obama, Hillary, and modern liberalism, not as a defective movement of ideas, but as a crime syndicate. . . .
"Dinesh D'Souza is a number one New York Times bestselling author and the filmmaker behind the hit documentaries "2016: Obama's America" and "America," which are respectively the second-highest- and the sixth-highest-grossing political documentaries of all time.
"In his thirty-year career as a writer, scholar, and public intellectual, D'Souza has been a policy analyst in the Reagan White House and a John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"His bestselling books include AMERICA, OBAMA'S AMERICA, THE ROOTS OF OBAMA'S RAGE, WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CHRISTIANITY, and ILLIBERAL EDUCATION." -- Publisher
Dabney, Robert L. (1820-1898), The Practical Philosophy: Being the Philosophy of the Feelings, of the Will, and of the Conscience, With the Ascertainment of Particular Rights and Duties.
"Dabney . . . gives a thorough discussion of liberty, and the totalitarian corruption of freedom." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
*Dabney, Robert Lewis (1820-1898), Systematic Theology.
"Regarded as the finest theologian of his day. . . . Dabney possessed the ability to integrate the teaching of the Bible on theology with his Reformed beliefs, a clear application of truth to civil government, plus a clarion call for Christian involvement in all walks of life." -- Cyril J. Barber
An R.L. Dabney Anthology
http://www.gty.org/~phil/dabney.htm
*Davies, Samuel (1723-1761), The Divine Government the Joy of the World. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Expands upon the reign and rule of King Jesus and the great blessings that this entails." -- Publisher
The Divine Government the Joy of the World, Samuel Davies
http://books.google.com/books?id=q2msGwAACAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Deace, Steve, and Todd Erzen, Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History, ISBN: 9781637581124 1637581122.
". . . while states that pursued an Eisenhower-style approach, like Florida, protected freedom and performed better in education, economy and health outcomes. Executives are elected to lead and make tough decisions, and such leadership cannot be outsourced to health bureaucrats like Fauci." -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
"In this important book the authors do the job our uninquisitive media has failed to do throughout this ordeal, confirming with cited and sourced details the enemy of both liberty and logic the lockdowns have proven to be. Which also proves too much power in the hands of an unelected bureaucrat, regardless of his intentions, can no longer be our new normal." -- U.S. Senator Rand Paul (KY)
"Can liberty survive in the hands of one all-powerful, unchallenged, and unelected bureaucrat? It wasn't too long ago that the average American didn't know who Anthony Fauci was. Now, after the coronavirus has spread nationwide, he's arguably the most powerful bureaucrat in American history. But is it dangerous for a free society to concentrate so much power in the hands of an unelected official? Who or what holds Fauci accountable?" -- Publisher
Desbois, Patrick, and Paul A. Shapiro (foreword), The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews, ISBN: 0230617573 9780230617575.
"In this very personal and affecting account of his gradual discovery of the events of the Holocaust in the Ukraine Patrick Desbois, a French priest, gives us a widened perspective of the extraordinarily complex manipulation of the local population by the Nazis, who forcibly requisitioned Ukrainian citizens of all ages to assist in the killings. In village after village, more than 60 years after the horrific events, the inhabitants, many of whom had been children at the time, came forward to bear witness. From the many interviews in the text, it is clear that the personal trauma of forced involvement in the mass executions has never diminished. And indeed, the stories of what they saw takes one's breath away. This is a significant addition to the history of the Holocaust that sheds new light on events in the Nazi occupied areas of the former USSR." -- Lynn H. Nicholas, author of Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web and The Rape of Europa: Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War
Dill, David, William Gazecki, G. Edward Griffin, Aviel D. Rubin, and American Media (firm), Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud, ISBN: 0912986425 9780912986425.
"Governments are installing computerized voting systems with no paper record to verify accuracy. Elections will be controlled by companies that do not allow voters to inspect their software. If vote counting becomes privatized, there may be no way to get it back." -- Publisher
Dill, James Renwick, Christian Government and the Sabbath.
Dodds, Josiah, Essay on Civil Government, 1851.
http://www.covenanter.org/CivilGovt/doddsessay.htm
*Domhoff, G. William, Who Rules America? Power and Politics, 4th edition, ISBN: 0767416376 9780767416375.
"Professor Domhoff poses (and answers), these questions:
Donohue, William A., The New Freedom: Individualism and Collectivism in the Social Lives of Americans. ISBN: 0887382983 9780887382987.
"How liberals are unraveling our social fabric via loose morals, the 'rights industry,' and big government."
Douglas, James, Essay on Civil Government
Includes: "An Essay Detecting Some of the Errors Concerning God's Ordinance of Civil Magistracy."
http://www.covenanter.org/CivilGovt/douglasessay.htm
Downes, Stephen, Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.
"Stephen Downes, an information architect with a background in philosophy, created this site with the aim of identifying, indexing, and describing 'all known logical fallacies.' A logical fallacy can be defined as an error in reasoning in which a conclusion appears to follow from a set of premises but in reality does not. Downes groups the fallacies into thirteen categories, such as Fallacies of Distraction, Inductive Fallacies, and Syllogistic Errors. Each fallacy (over 50 in all), is described with its name, definition, examples of how it might be used in an argument, and how the argument can be proven fallacious. The How to Use this Guide section of the site provides a helpful introduction, and a robust bibliography offers possibilities for further study of logic. In addition, users may register at the site (no fee), to gain access to discussion boards on the topic. The author notes that his Guide "is intended to help you in your own thinking, not to help you demolish someone else's argument." Regardless of how a reader uses the information, however, the site remains an interesting and fun investigation of how logical arguments are constructed."
"Lists all known logical fallacies, with definitions, examples, and the steps needed to prove that the fallacy is committed. Site also includes links to logic references and resources."
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
http://www.fallacies.ca/welcome.htm
Elazar, Daniel Judah, Covenant and Commonwealth: From Christian Separation Through the Protestant Reformation, ISBN: 1560002085 9781560002086.
Elliott, Delbert H., Doom of the Dictators.
Elliott, Delbert H., Six Great Certainties, 1920, a tract.
Elliott, Delbert H., Trail of the Totalitarian, 1939.
*Ellul, Jacques (1912-1994), The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, ISBN: 0802814425 9780802814425.
"Basing his political theory on the fact that the problems of our times are theological and not sociological, the writer shows from a study of 2 Kings how God has provided a blueprint for self-government in the Bible. Rewarding reading." -- Cyril J. Barber
Feldman, Steve, Compartments: How the Brightest, Best Trained, and Most Caring People can Make Judgments That are Completely and Utterly Wrong, ISBN: 1441526331 9781441526335 9781441526328 1441526323.
"Dr. Steven Feldman has written an extraordinary book. Provocative and often brilliant, Dr. Feldman has examined his own thinking and that of the medical profession in general, critically looking for patterns of misunderstanding between medical specialties and between physicians and others concerned with public health. Dr. Feldman courageously applies his paradigm of conceptual 'compartments' beyond medicine to contemporary political conflicts, searching for new, more hopeful and productive ways of engaging with previously intractable conflicts. Regardless of occupational or political loyalties, all will benefit from reading 'Compartments'. Dr. Feldman's book contains many stimulating ideas, an unflagging idealism, a willingness to question received wisdom and the potential to shock readers into thinking outside the box of his or her own 'compartment'." -- Michael Sugrue, Ph.D.
*Ferguson, Charles H., Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America, ISBN: 9780307952554 030795255X.
"Charles H. Ferguson, who electrified the world with his Oscar-winning documentary "Inside Job," now explains how a predator elite took over the country, step by step, and he exposes the networks of academic, financial, and political influence, in all recent administrations, that prepared the predators' path to conquest.
"Over the last several decades, the United States has undergone one of the most radical social and economic transformations in its history.
Fitton, Thomas, A Republic Under Assault: The Left's Ongoing Attack on American Freedom, ISBN: 9781982163655 1982163658 9781982163662 1982163666.
"In this explosive new book, New York Times bestselling author and president of Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, explains how the Radical Left and the Deep State are trying to destroy the Trump presidency." -- Publisher
*Frederick II, King of Prussia, Frederick of Prussia Anti-Machiavel, ISBN: 0821405594 9780821405598. Alternate title: THE REFUTATION OF MACHIAVELLI'S PRINCE OR, ANTI-MACHIAVEL.
"This delightful and hard to find book, translated with only minor variations, does include the 2nd chapter from Voltaire, as it was missing from the original manuscript. Frederick is threatened, it would seem, by the writings of THE PRINCE in the hands of mere political overachievers. He is constantly referring to the difference in the beliefs of Kings and 'would be' princes. Frederick picks Machiavelli's writing apart line by line and deserves a second read with THE PRINCE close at hand. An integral link to the real Frederick of Prussia." -- Reader's Comment
Frederick the Great's ANTI-MACHIAVEL
http://www.geocities.com/danielmacryan/antimac.html
Fund, John H., Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy, ISBN: 1594030715 9781594030710 1594030618 9781594030611.
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope THE PREDATOR STATE stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
*Geller, Pamela, Robert Spencer, and John Bolton (foreword), The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, ISBN: 9781439189306 1439189307 9781439189900 1439189900 9781439190364 1439190364.
"Popular conservative blogger Pamela Geller, and New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer team up to expose the Obama administration's destructive agenda -- largely ignored by the mainstream media -- and rally Americans to protect the sovereignty of a country that is under siege by the highest levels of its own government.
"America is being tested in a way that she has never been tested before. Since taking the oath of office in January 2009, President Barack Obama has cheered our enemies and demoralized our allies. He is hard at work 'remaking' America by destroying the free-market system and nationalizing major segments of our economy, demonizing dissent and restricting freedom of speech, turning against our longtime friends, and above all, subjecting us to the determinations of foreign authorities.
"As Americans see their paychecks shrinking every day, Obama ignores our forefathers' founding principle: individual rights. Instead, he seeks to level the playing field -- to transform both the global and national landscape in favor of our enemies -- even if it means cutting America off at the knees. He envisions himself as more than just a president of the United States, but as a shaper of the new world order, an internationalist energetically laying the groundwork for global government: the president of the world.
"A vital guide to helping conservatives prepare for the tough battles ahead, THE POST-AMERICAN PRESIDENCY critically examines the Obama administration's ominous and revealing moves against our basic freedoms, particularly as he seizes control of the three engines of the American economy: health care, energy, and education. The Shining City on a Hill has gone dark. But America is not dead. The time is NOW to stand up and fight. -- Publisher
Gill, Anthony, The Political Origins of Religious Liberty, ISBN: 9780511367458 0511367457 0521848148 9780521848145 052161273X 9780521612739 0511366868 9780511366864 0511365594 9780511365591 9780511790805 0511790805.
"The issue of religious liberty has gained ever-increasing attention among policy makers and the public. Whereas politicians have long championed the idea of religious freedom and tolerance, the actual achievement of these goals has been an arduous battle for religious minorities. What motivates political leaders to create laws providing for greater religious liberty? In contrast to scholars who argue that religious liberty results from the spread of secularization and modern ideas, Anthony Gill argues that religious liberty results from interest-based calculations of secular rulers. Using insights from political economists, Gill develops a theory of the origins of religious liberty based upon the political and economic interests of governing officials. Political leaders are most likely to permit religious freedom when it enhances their own political survival, tax revenue, and the economic welfare of their country. He explores his theory using cases from British America, Latin America, Russia, and the Baltic states." -- Publisher
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Assembly, Glasgow, 11th Session, 1638, Sermon, Prov. 21:1 [Proverbs 21:1], The King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord. Available in THE WORKS OF MR. GEORGE GILLESPIE.
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), George Gillespie's Usefull Case of Conscience Discussed and Resolved, Concerning Associations and Confederacies With Idolaters, Infidels, Hereticks or any Other Known Enemies of Truth and Godlinesse
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/19/george-gillespies-usefull-case-of-conscience-discussed-and-resolved-concerning-associations-and-confederacies-with-idolaters-infidels-hereticks-or-any-other-known-enemies-of-truth-and-godlinesse
*Gillespie, Patrick (1617-1675), Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December, Prov. XIV. 34; 2 Kings XVII. 22,23; Ezek. XIX. 14, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December 1650. [Proverbs 14:34; 2 Kings 17:22,23; Ezekiel 19:14] Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. (2 Kings 23:26).
"For these in public places of trust and power, that should bear down sin, are they not rather ringleaders in sin?" -- Patrick Gillespie
Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments
http://www.truecovenanter.com/gillespie/gillespie_patrick_rulers_sins_causes_of_judgment.html
*Gingrich, Newt, Trump's America: The Truth About our Nation's Great Comeback, 2019, ISBN: 1546077073 9781546077077.
"No one understands the "Make America Great Again" effort with more insight and more experience than former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
"Gingrich helped President Ronald Reagan 'Make America Great Again' in 1980. He authored the Contract with America and spearheaded the 1994 Republican Revolution that brought the House of Representatives under Republican control after 40 years. He knows what it is like to fight the Washington swamp and challenge the establishment -- he has done it his entire career.
"Now, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller UNDERSTANDING TRUMP is back to illustrate how our nation's 45th President is leading our country's great comeback.
"From the fight of over the Southern Border Wall, to the Republican tax cuts, to the swamp's unending efforts to undermine and oppose the President, Trump's America lays out the truth about the Trump presidency -- the truth the mainstream media won't tell you.
"In this book, Gingrich -- who has been called the President's chief explainer -- presents a clear picture of this historic presidency and the tremendous, positive impact it is having on our nation and the world. Gingrich unmasks the various branches of the anti-Trump coalition that are trying to stop America's great comeback. He reveals the flaws in their ideological assaults on the President and offers a battle plan for those in Trump's America to help the President defeat these attacks.
Throughout Trump's America, Gingrich distills decades of experience fighting Washington with a lifetime of studying history to help every American understand how we can all keep working to make America great." -- Publisher
*Gingrich, Newt, and Eric Trump (foreword),
Understanding Trump, ISBN: 9781478923084, 1478923083.
"The presidency of Donald Trump marks a profound change in the trajectory of American government, politics, and culture. He is the only person ever elected to be commander in chief who has not first held public office or served as a general in the military. His principles grow out of five decades of business and celebrity success -- not politics -- so he behaves differently than do traditional politicians. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich analyzes how President Trump thinks and makes decisions. He also presents Trump-style solutions for national security, education, health care, economic growth, government reform, and other important topics. Gingrich identifies the forces in the Washington establishment, media, and bureaucracy that will oppose the president at every turn. Finally, he explains the president's actions so far and lays out a vision for what Americans can do to help make President Trump's agenda a success.
"In UNDERSTANDING TRUMP, Newt Gingrich shares what he learned from more than two years helping Trump and his team throughout the campaign, the election, and during the first months of the presidency.
"Mr. Gingrich provides unique insight into how the new president's past experiences have shaped his life and style of governing. This book also includes Mr. Gingrich's thorough analysis of how President Trump thinks and makes decisions, as well as the president's philosophy, doctrine, and political agenda going forward.
"Newt Gingrich is the former House Speaker and 2012 Presidential Candidate. GETTYSBURG, PEARL HARBOR and TO SAVE AMERICA: STOPPING OBAMA'S SECULAR-SOCIALIST MACHINE are three of his 14 New York Times bestsellers. He is a regular guest on national political shows. -- Publisher
"Further, these pages hold a detailed discussion of Trump-style solutions for national security, education, health care, economic growth, government reform, and other important topics. Mr. Gingrich also identifies the forces in the Washington establishment, media, and bureaucracy that will oppose the president at every turn.
"Finally, UNDERSTANDING TRUMP explains the president's actions so far and lays out a vision for what Americans can do to help make President Trump's agenda a success.
"The president owes his position to the people who believed in him as a candidate, not to the elites in government and media who have expressed contempt for him since he began his campaign to become president. The very essence of Trump's mission is a willingness to enact policies and set goals that send our country in a bold new direction -- one that may be 'unreasonable' to Washington but is sensible to millions of Americans outside the Beltway. Only with the country's help will President Trump be able to overcome the entrenched interests in Washington and fulfill his promise to make America great again for all Americans." -- Publisher
*Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (in the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men. At the request of his brethren, Goodman subsequently published an expanded version of his exposition, HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED OF THEIR SUBJECTS: AND WHEREIN THEY MAY LAWFULLY BY GOD'S WORD BE DISOBEYED AND RESISTED. WHEREIN ALSO IS DECLARED THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS PRESENT MISERY IN ENGLAND, AND THE ONLY WAY TO REMEDY THE SAME. In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny.
"This new edition of SUPERIOR POWERS includes a scripture index, a subject index, a biographical essay on the life of Christopher Goodman, and the original foreword by William Whittingham." -- Publisher from Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library
"Very rare. One of the dozen most important political writings appearing in English in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Together with THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET and THE APPELLATION (retitled REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM in this catalogue), by John Knox, and Ponet's TREATISE OF POLITIQUE POWER, this book marks the first definite shift of opinion under the pressure of religion, away from the doctrine of almost unlimited obedience which characterized the political thought of the first half of the century laying the foundation for future ideas about civil disobedience. In that day, a proclamation of Philip and Mary had decreed the death of a rebel for anyone found in possession of the book." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
*Grant, George, Bringing in the Sheaves: Transforming Poverty Into Productivity, ISBN: 0915815036 9780915815036 0915815044 9780915815043. Alternate title: PRAYING IN THE SHEAVES: TRANSFORMING POVERTY INTO PRODUCTIVITY.
"The Biblical mandate is to care for the poor, the oppressed, and the disenfranchised -- to take the salve of Gospel love to the stranger, the hungry, and the misbegotten. Rev. Grant knows the dismal failures and the Biblical solutions. He believes the Bible and the blueprint it offers can transform poverty into productivity. Unlike most other books on poverty, it is not primarily theory; it is primarily practice, Biblical practice. This is the single most helpful book on the subject." -- Publisher
Griffin, Edward (moderator), Loose Change -- Voting Hanky-Panky, DVD. A video that may be viewed online.
"Governments are installing computerized voting systems with no paper record to verify accuracy. Elections will be controlled by companies . . . that do not allow voters to inspect their software. If vote counting becomes privatized, there may be no way to get it back. High-tech vote fraud is already a reality [for example, the South Dakota vote on the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law]. If you value your vote, you must get this information to your friends -- and fast!"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1940566667864847724&q=Bev+Harris
Griffith, Leonard, Illusions of our Culture, ISBN: 0340107138 9780340107133.
"Analyzes the 'appearance of reality' of our present culture and shows how these illusions degenerate into the 'leafy trees of a desert mirage.' Among the topics considered are affluence, security, independence, happiness, and freedom." -- Cyril J. Barber
Grigg, William Norman, America's Engineered Decline, ISBN: 1881919102 9781881919100.
Grigg, William Norman, Freedom on the Altar: the U.N.'s Crusade Against God and Family, ISBN: 0964567903 9780964567900.
Grigg, William Norman, Liberty in Eclipse, (The Welch Foundation, 2007), ISBN: 0979985900 9780979985904.
Grigg's books are no longer available from The John Birch Society for some reason. "He stated that he was fired by JBS on October 3, 2006, officially for unstated reasons." --
William Norman Grigg
"LIBERTY IN ECLIPSE is a 320-page exposé and indictment of our nation's descent into the early stages of police state tyranny. Topics discussed include the militarization and federalization of law enforcement; the establishment of a quasi-dictatorial 'war presidency;' the evisceration of the Bill of Rights, and due process guarantees going back to the Magna Carta; the increasingly commonplace surveillance of Americans; the institutionalization of torture; and the likely restoration of conscription, including a military draft in this Country." -- Publisher
Gurudas, Treason: The new World Order, ISBN: 0945946147 9780945946144.
"This book examines the who, what, where when of the crimes of the U.S. government. I have read 200 non-Orwellian history and political science books. I have written two Masters Theses myself, and I can say the research in this book is impeccable. Details that Democrats and Republicans work together: we have a one party system: a Bicephalous beast with two heads that snarl and spit at one another to delude the masses into thinking there is a debate . . . This book traces the origins and the crimes of the ruling elite in near chronological order, PhD quality research and detail. Buy one for everyone you know." -- Reader's Comment
Hackett, David A., Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Psychological Warfare Division. Intelligence Team, The Buchenwald Report, ISBN: 0813317770 9780813317779 0813333636 9780813333632 0827604998 9780827604995.
Extreme evil may be an excellent negative guide to correct theology, the righteousness which is of God, redemption, and immortality.
"After their liberation in April 1945, the inmates of Buchenwald told their stories to a special team of U.S. Army intelligence officers. One of the most important and unique documents of the Holocaust, this priceless eyewitness account was nearly lost forever and appears here in published form and in English for the first time." -- Publisher
*Hall, David W., and David J. Vaughan, A Heart Promptly Offered: The Revolutionary Leadership of John Calvin, ISBN: 9781581825053 1581825056.
"Few today realize the extent to which John Calvin, the great Genevan reformer, and his work have shaped modern culture. Few know that it was John Calvin who pioneered the effort to decentralize government by calling for checks and balances against the rule of the few or the king. Equally unknown are his efforts to establish a productive social safety net for immigrants, create educational models that were far ahead of his time, and instill a sense of self-worth in all citizens (regardless of their occupations or class). He was also known for his support of free markets, the rise of private enterprise, and the advancement of publishing and knowledge beyond its medieval confines. The result of his efforts was an explosion of culture and liberty, a story that often is lost or ignored in the rush to offer criticism of the man. A HEART PROMPTLY OFFERED presents the basic story of Calvin's life, along with numerous excerpts from his own pen -- writings from his letters, commentaries, and sermons. In addition to summarizing the main topics of CALVIN'S INSTITUTES, it lays out his ground-breaking political theory." -- Publisher
*Hall, David W., Savior or Servant? Putting Government in its Place, ISBN: 0965036715 9780965036719.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is the single best volume of Christian thinking on the issue of the increasingly intrusive state . . . Theology at its very best: orthodox, relevant, and provocative." -- George Grant
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? PUTTING GOVERNMENT IN ITS PLACE is an attempt to define the role of the state: Shall it be a minister or a Messiah? Using ancient but timeless information, David W. Hall has surveyed the Bible and arrived at a coherent theology of the state. This study succeeds in identifying the responsibilities that the civil state is mandated to do, permitted to do, and prohibited from doing. Along the way, it is discovered that all political schemes and issues are fraught with theological value. Moreover, the most enduring grid to keep government in its rightful place is found in the Bible. Drawing upon thousands of verses and hundreds of thinkers, this volume is comprehensive yet readable. Theologians from Augustine to Calvin and from Aquinas to Barth are studied and presented in a non-technical manner. The Christian who is interested in politics should absorb these summaries before launching out into unstudied political activism. Rather than adopting a politics-as-usual posture, Hall challenges partisans from the right and from the left. He summons Christians to the old paths, which God's Word has occupied for centuries. Discussed in these chapters are perennial matters of practical importance, such as: taxation; resistance to evil governments; methods of influence; the escalation of rights; limited government; moral qualities for leaders; separation of powers. This book will provide excellent fodder for discussion and guidance. It returns spiritual principles to their place, while seeking to put government in its proper place.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is a revival of a classic approach to limited government. In a time when nations are finally beginning to shrink bloated governments, a surprising source commends itself as an able assistant in reform. The scriptural view of the state, removed from the varied fads of political science, provides an enduring perspective by which to measure all states. This study begins with a survey of biblical teaching on pressing matters of state today. Following the contours of the Old and New Testaments, SAVIOR OR SERVANT? calls all levels of government to a servant posture, rather than allowing officials to dominate. A historical tracing of the best and most pertinent that theology has to offer on the subject is contained in these pages." -- Publisher
*Halperin, James, Truth Machine, didactic fiction, ISBN: 0345412885 9780345412881.
"I believe that James Halperin is an extraordinarily talented futurist. The concepts put forth in this plea for sanity in our world dangerously teetering into the new millenium are important and beautifully stated and played out by the characters in THE TRUTH MACHINE.
"It is a remarkable first novel. The characterization is excellent and compelling. The story is an equal partner to the ideas that abound. There are several sub-plots that are almost as satisfying as the major theme about the societal impact of a device that compells truthfulness in all aspects of human interaction. Pete's complex character and his relationships with women and with his lifelong friends David and Diana West are well portrayed as are his relationships and interaction with his demons Reece and Scoggins. I even enjoyed the character of 22g CP-TLMos, the super computer reporter who relates the major part of this work.
"My great regret is that we don't have our own phenomenally gifted Pete Robinson to create a Truth Machine for us and to usher in the new era of world wide understanding and communication.
"This is a thoughtful, absorbing, highly readable and most important statement about our possible future or lack thereof.
Very highly recommended." -- Reader's Comment
*Hannity, Sean, Live Free or die: America (and the World) on the Brink, ISBN: 9781982149994 198214999X.
Available as a book, e-book, and audiobook.
The Trump Campaign is using this book as a gift offer in its fund raising, August 2020.
"America's top rated cable news host and New York Times bestselling author offers his first book in ten years, a rousing look at contemporary politics in his trademark take-no-prisoners style." -- Publisher
Contents:
Intro | Title Page | Dedication | Introduction: A Warning | Chapter One: "A Republic -- If You Can Keep It" | Chapter Two: Rise of the Radicals | Chapter Three: Welcome to Fantasyland: The Democrats' 2020 Agenda | Chapter Four: Socialism: A History of Failure | Chapter Five: Deep State I: Russian Collusion -- The Hoax of the Century | Chapter Six: Deep State II: Impeachment -- The Failed Attempt to Decapitate the Trump Presidency | Chapter Seven: Enemy of the People: The Hate-Trump Media Mob | Chapter Eight: "Organized Destruction": The Left's Assault on Free Speech | Chapter Nine: Trump Triumphs | Chapter Ten: Trump's Response to the Coronavirus and America's Great Comeback | Conclusion | Acknowledgments | About the Author | Notes.
Haselden, Kyle, Morality and the Mass Media, ISBN: 0805461116.
"An important, revealing study of the effect of radio, TV, newspapers, and novels on the moral climate." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Hasen, Richard L., Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown, ISBN: 9780300184211 0300184212.
"Richard L. Hasen, THE VOTING WARS: FROM FLORIDA 2000 TO THE NEXT ELECTION MELTDOWN, looking at these questions: How did we get here? Why haven't things improved since 2000? How has the rise of the Internet and social media made the potential for a catastrophic electoral meltdown much worse? . . . . The public is hearing a lot of information and misinformation now about states adopting new, tough voter identification wars. THE FRAUDULENT FRAUD SQUAD: UNDERSTANDING THE BATTLE OVER VOTER ID presents an excerpt from THE VOTING WARS for readers who want to get an immediate handle on the partisan fight over these controversial new voting requirements. Are they really needed to prevent fraud? Will they suppress the votes of thousands of Democratic voters? The answers might surprise you." -- Publisher
Heath, Charles C., The Blessing of Liberty: Restoring the City on the Hill, ISBN: 1563840057 9781563840050.
"Presents a case for limited government, decentralized and self-governing communities, and the return to traditional values." -- GCB
Includes bibliography.
Herle, Charles (1598-1659), Detvr Sapienti: In a Treatise of the Excellency of Christian Wisdome, Above That of Worldly Policy and Morall Prvdence (sic), in two Former Treatises. Alternate title: WORLDLY POLICY AND MORAL PRUDENCE. THE VANITY AND FOLLY OF THE ONE, THE SOLIDITY AND USEFULNESS OF THE OTHER, IN A MORAL DISCOURSE. Available (WORLDLY POLICY AND MORAL PRUDENCE), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Himmelfarb, Gertrude, Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics, ISBN: 1558152709 9781558152700.
A scholarly work on the politics of the Reformation and Counter-reformation.
Includes bibliography and index.
It was Acton who stated:
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. -- John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902), in a letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887, quoted by Gertrude Himmelfarb in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power, pp. 335-36 (1972)See also:
*Horowitz, David, Dark Agenda: The war to Destroy Christian America, ISBN: 1630061131 9781630061135.
"In DARK AGENDA, New York Times bestselling author David Horowitz exposes not only the progressive war against Christianity, but also a war against America and its founding principles, which are Christian in their origin. DARK AGENDA is about an embattled religion, but most of all, it is about our imperiled nation. Tackling a broad range of issues from prayer in the schools to the globalist mindset, Horowitz traces the anti-Christian movement to its roots in communism. When the communist empire fell, progressives did not want to give up their utopian anti-God illusions, so instead they merely changed the name of their dream. Instead of 'communism,' progressives have re-branded their movement as 'social justice.' DARK AGENDA shows how the progressives are prepared to use any means necessary to stifle their opponents who support the concepts of religious liberty that America was founded on, and how the battle to destroy Christianity is really the battle to destroy America." -- Publisher
*Howard-Browne, Rodney, and Paul L. Williams, The Killing of Uncle Sam: The Demise of the United States of America, ISBN: 1640070974 978-1640070974.
"Pride, greed, and power have driven men to do the unthinkable -- including selling out their nations and unsuspected citizens to the most corrupt and destructive 'invisible' global leaders on Earth. But how did this happen on American soil? How did the downfall begin and who were the predators that the 'land of the free and home of the brave' fell victim to? And is all hope lost?
"This book captures details of the last 200 years of American history that mainstream media does not want you to know. It dissects the 'legalized' system of the private central banks that has gone unchecked, and delivers gut-wrenching truths about the real domestic and foreign enemies of the United States. With over 1000 footnotes and quotes from former presidents, prime ministers, and state officials, it will equip you with the facts that the elites have covered up for centuries and empower you to stand up for the truth. -- Publisher
"This book is so well-documented that fact-checking proves an arduous and ultimately fruitless venture. Finally, someone has the courage to expose this corrupted government and financial system citing each wicked malpractice from America's inception to present day. The theme is simple yet highly logical . . . follow the money. We have been saying things like 'follow the money' to one another for years! In downtrodden conversations, we have attempted to identify the root of the injustice that has since thrived in America, and hurts each one of us to witness. But we typically fail to reach a verdict free of conjecture. With this book, we are armed with genuine facts that follow the timeline of our nation. Now we know exactly how our government and economy have been repeatedly perverted by tyrannical greed. On this knowledge, we citizens of America, all of us together, can finally build a viable solution." -- Reader's Comment
"What the book is about? The Money Trail. Money doesn't lie. People lie, but the money exposes their true intentions. And from what I've read so far in the pre-release, it's much worse than any of us could have imagined. The book shows that the 'select' few who actually control the money, these men and women are the ones who determine how we live, or who doesn't. They are the ones who make the laws and decide who will be in power. They control and own the media outlets. They control the information, the money and the military complex. They start wars in places like Iraq and Kosovo to control their natural resources. They puppeteer government agencies like the CIA, and even the Office of the President. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"This book is a must-read for every American citizen. It is extremely eye-opening to what has gone on in our country for last 200 years. It walks you through how things were set in place many, many years ago by very powerful people and how it effects everything today in our current society. It is incredible the cabal of people that have planned and strategised for decades to pillage the American people of their wealth and to erode American Christian values and morality. The footnotes were also very helpful to be able to go and verify all of the information and see it for myself. -- Reader's Comment
"Lays out clearly what would require dozens of other books to connect all the dots. Outrageous, yet global-deep-state conspiracies we've heard about for years, that used to seem far-fetched, are finally laid out in logical progression and substantially supported. . . .
"The timing of this book [2018] cannot be overstated. . . . for the current U.S. political environment, and for what is happening on the world stage. . . . it really exposes what Trump is up against, and why the establishment hates him so. . . .
"Financial systems and banking are at the core of what is exposed. . . . America has been deceived for very long time, and many people have no idea what has happened. This book reveals the secret hidden agendas of the money system in our country. No other book explains it the way this does. . . . Line by line, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne and Dr. Paul Williams unveil the corruption and wickedness that starts and ends with money. . . . See the history and the outright greed of individuals who have woven their influence and control over our country by controlling the money. . . .
"It amazed me to learn that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE Bank that is NOT answerable to Congress, the Judicial branch nor the White House. . . . There is no question left in my mind as to the utter and total corruption of our banking system. . . ." -- Excerpts from various readers comments
Chapter 38, "War Without End," in THE KILLING OF UNCLE SAM
https://revival.lpages.co/killingunclesambook/
Huck, Susan, Legal Terrorism: The Truth About the Christic Institute, ISBN: 0962427330 9780962427336.
"Legal terrorism is defined by the author as 'a form of political warfare by the use of the law through the courts.' Its methodology is to discredit by politically motivated civil suits."
*Johnson, Chalmers, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, ISBN: 0805070044 9780805070040.
"From the author of the prophetic national bestseller BLOWBACK, a startling look at militarism, American style, and its consequences abroad and at home.
"In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe's lone superpower, then as a reluctant sheriff, next as the indispensable nation, and now, in the wake of 9/11, as a New Rome. Here, Chalmers Johnson thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and compelling its people to pick up the burden of empire.
"Reminding us of the classic warnings against militarism -- from George Washington's farewell address to Dwight Eisenhower's denunciation of the military-industrial complex -- Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. Turning to the present, he maps America's expanding empire of military bases and the vast web of services that supports them. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional warriors who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as secret everything they do, and for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest.
"Among Johnson's provocative conclusions is that American militarism is putting an end to the age of globalization and bankrupting the United States, even as it creates the conditions for a new century of virulent blowback. THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE suggests that the former American republic has already crossed its Rubicon -- with the Pentagon leading the way." -- Publisher
Jones, Gordon S. (editor), and John Marini (editor), The Imperial Congress: Crisis in the Separation of Powers, ISBN: 0886874084 9780886874087.
"This book outlines the stranglehold Congress has on the nation, and then proposes workable solutions. . . . House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich writes a foreword that may shock you." -- Publisher
Includes a 10-page summary of all the key solutions the book offers. Prepared by the Heritage Foundation and The Claremont Institute.
*Klein, Edward, All out war: The Plot to Destroy Trump, ISBN: 9781621576983, 1621576981.
"With ferocity not seen since the Civil War, the Washington establishment and the radical Left are joining forces in an attempted coup d'etat to overturn the will of the people and return power to the political and media elites who have never been more unhinged. In ALL OUT WAR: THE PLOT TO DESTROY TRUMP, investigative reporter and national bestselling author Edward Klein reveals: how the plot to destroy Trump was initiated in the Obama White House; two EXCLUSIVE FBI reports that prove the existence of 'the Deep State' working against the Trump agenda, warn of ISIS ties to the anti-Trump 'resistance,' and highlight the danger of domestic terrorism from the anti-Trump radicals; the scandal you don't yet know about: why Hillary Clinton could still be facing investigation by the FBI and prosecution by the Justice Department. 'In America, you are entitled to your own opinion,' Klein writes. 'But you are not entitled to overthrow the democratically elected president of the United States and inflict irreparable damage on our country. That, however, is what Donald Trump's enemies on the Left and Right are doing. Through a variety of underhanded tactics -- lies, leaks, obstruction, and violence -- they are working to delegitimize President Trump and drive him from office before he can drain the swamp and take away their power.' Stunning in its revelations, meticulous in its reporting, there can be no timelier or more important political book than ALL OUT WAR." -- Publisher
Knight, Robert, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites who are Pushing America Toward Socialism, updated edition (Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2010).
"After reading Robert Knight's RADICAL RULERS, I just had to pause, take a deep breath and say -- WOW!" -- Tim Wildmon, President, American Family Association
"President Obama has brought more radicals into his administration than any president in history. This administration has more czars than the Romanovs. Fortunately, Robert Knight helps you sort them out." -- Kerby Anderson, Host, Point of View Radio Talk Show
"As I read it, I found myself thinking: How can one U.S. President surround himself with so many radicals?" -- Dr. Jerry Newcombe, author and host of The Coral Ridge Hour
"Robert Knight is Senior Writer and Washington, D.C. Correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. A widely quoted journalist and family policy expert, Mr. Knight formerly directed the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute, and is currently a Senior Fellow for the American Civil Rights Union. He is the author of THE SILENCERS: HOW LIBERALS ARE TRYING TO SHUT DOWN MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE U.S. and FIGHTING FOR AMERICA'S SOUL: HOW SWEEPING CHANGE THREATENS OUR NATION AND WHAT WE MUST DO." -- Publisher
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), and Kevin Reed (editor), The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment [Government], of Women, with the "Summary of the Second Blast" appended (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, 75218-0922]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1993), trade paperback, 96 pages, marginal notes, scripture index, and subject index. This edition appears in three additional formats: SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX: PUBLIC EPISTLES, TREATISES, AND EXPOSITIONS TO THE YEAR 1559, pp. 370-436, the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY, and e-text that includes the marginal notes as endnotes, but does not include the scripture index, and subject index. Citations for these three additional formats are listed below.
"The text of this edition is based on the definitive edition of THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, edited by David Laing (Edinburgh, 1895).
"In this controversial work, John Knox contends that 'to promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, contumely [insult], to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice'." -- Publisher
Subheading used in this edition:
To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature . . . A thing most contrary to His revealed will and approved ordinance. -- John Knox"The 16th century reformer John Knox wrote his famous tract THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET AGAINST THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN to oppose a notorious European female tyrant who sought to stamp out biblical Christianity in his beloved Scotland.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in The Scottish Reformation (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX (p. 580), comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son' (cf. Psalm 2)." -- Publisher
*Knox, John (1505-1572), David Laing (editor), The Works of John Knox, 6 volumes. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
"Here is a chance to touch the flame that ignited whole nations for covenanted Reformation. John Knox is considered by many to have been the most biblically consistent and thoroughgoing of all the great Reformers of the sixteenth century. 'John Knox was in fact the embodiment of the Scottish Reformation as its preacher, theologian, liturgist, historian, and catalyst for reform.' (Hall and Hall [editors], Paradigms in Polity: Classic Readings in Reformed and Presbyterian Church Government [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994], p. 219). 'With this concern for purity of worship,' notes Kevin Reed regarding Knox, 'it is no wonder that the Scottish Reformation was the most thorough among any of the Protestant nations.' (from the introduction to John Knox, True and False Worship: A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry [Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1550 reprinted 1994], p. 14). 'I know not,' states George Smeaton, 'if ever so much piety and genius were lodged in such a frail and weak body. Certain I am, that it will be difficult to find one in whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit shone so bright to the comfort of the church.' (cited in Thomas M'Crie, The Life of John Knox [1831], p. 272). THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX listed here is the complete six volume set collected by David Laing, 1895. Concerning this 6 volume collection, Kyle, in THE MIND OF JOHN KNOX (p. 14), notes, 'The only real basis for a study of Knox's thought must be the writings of the reformer himself. From 1846 to 1864, David Laing collected and edited nearly all of Knox's extant writings. This remarkable collection, which scholars regard highly, is indispensable for any serious study of John Knox.' Contains much that is related to worship questions and the blessings that God pours out upon Churches that keep the second commandment -- as well as the curses that follow those who reject the regulative principle of worship." -- Publisher
Kondracke, Morton, and Fred Barnes, Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative who Changed America, ISBN: 1591847435, 9781591847434.Knox, John, Unedited History of the Reformation in Scotland Vol. 1 of 6.
"Reid, in his TRUMPETER OF GOD, notes that Knox 'wrote history as a prophet' and that, wherever he could, he used original sources, many of which he reproduced. Furthermore, he proclaims that this 'is still a work that no one interested in this area can afford to neglect.' As W.C. Dickinson has commented, 'it is his monument, for in it he puts flesh and blood on the whole Reformation movement.' Innes (JOHN KNOX, p. 45), says of this work, 'the author who has enabled us to see his own confused and changing age under 'the broad clear light of that wonderful book' the History of the Reformation in Scotland, and who outside that book was the utterer of many an armed and winged word which pursues and smites us to this day, must have been born with nothing less than genius -- genius to observe, to narrate, and to judge. Even had he written as a mere recluse and critic, looking out upon his world from a monk's cell or from the corner of a housetop, the vividness, the tenderness, the sarcasm and the humour would still have been there.' Moreover, Burton writes, 'there certainly is in the English language no other parallel to it in clearness, vigour, and picturesqueness with which it renders the history of a stirring period.' (cited in Innes, John Knox, p. 45). This photocopy edition far surpasses the edited down version that is available in paperback. Over 600 pages of stirring Reformation history." -- Publisher
The Works of John Knox (1846), vol. 1 of 6.
http://archive.org/details/worksofjohnkn01knox
Knox, John, Unedited History of the Reformation in Scotland Vol. 2 of 6.
"Knox portrayed the origins and development of a movement and not a mere chronology of events . . . Knox based his arguments on original sources and he often cited the documents in full. When Knox's History is compared to the contemporary vernacular narratives of Bishop Leslie and Sir James Melville, the superiority of Knox's work becomes evident. For the most part, these writers were preoccupied with petty details and had no conception of the momentous issues that hung on the events they recorded . . . Knox used history to demonstrate his single-track philosophy. And his philosophy said: 'The hearts of men, their thoughts, and their actions are but in the hands of God.' Lee said Knox's History was a sermon without an audience, a preaching book, one long inflammatory speech in behalf of God's truth as the reformer saw it.' (Kyle, The Mind of John Knox, p. 13). Our editions of volumes one and two of Knox's Works contain the only full, unedited version of Knox's massive History of the Reformation in Scotland available today." -- Publisher
Knox, John, Epistles, Admonitions, etc., Vol. 3 of 6
"Includes 'That the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry.' Also, writings on justification by faith, prayer, the Lord's supper, obedience to magistrates, an exposition of the sixth Psalm, letters of warning, comfort and more." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 4 of 6
"Includes 'The Appellation . . . to the Scottish Nobility,' 'The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women,' Answers Concerning Baptism, Form of Prayers/Sacraments in Geneva 1556, 'Letter to the Queen,' 'Summary of the Proposed Second Blast of the Trumpet,' and much more." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 5 of 6
"Includes 'On Predestination, in Answer to the Cavillations by an Anabaptist' (462 pp.), which Boettner, in his REFORMED DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION, calls Knox's 'chief theological work.' Also, A Letter to John Foxe, Names of Martyrs, etc. . . .
"Includes the Life of Knox, Letters Relating to Reformation in Scotland, The Book of Common Order, A Debate Concerning the Mass, Fasting, 'The Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance,' indices of names, places and the general index, etc. 755 pages." -- Publisher
Knox, John, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 6 of 6
"Includes 'The Life of Knox,' 'John Knox Debates God's Law, Idolatry and Civil Resistance in the General Assembly of 1564,' 'The Scottish Confession of Faith (1560),' 'John Knox's Only Written Sermon - A Sermon on Isaiah 23:13-21, Preached in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, 19th August 1565,' 'A Letter of Wholesome Counsel Addressed to His Brethren in Scotland Or "What to do When There is no Faithful Church to Attend in Your Local Area" originally published in 1556,' 'Select Practical Writings of John Knox,' 'Against Romish Rites and Political and Ecclesiastical Tyranny, A Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth in England (1554),' 'An Admonition to Flee Idolatry, Romanism and all False Worship (1554),' 'An Answer to a Jesuit: The Marks of a True Church and Ministry: An Answer to a Letter Written by James Tyrie, A Scottish Jesuit, 1572,' 'Against an Anabaptist: In Defense of Predestination,' 'Against Apostasy and Indifference (An Epistle to the Inhabitants of New Castle and Berwick, 1558),' 'On Justification by Faith Alone,' 'National Repentance and Reformation (A Brief Exhortation to England for the Speedy Embracing of the Gospel, 1559),' 'Reformation, Revolution and Romanism: An Appeal to the Scottish Nobility (1558),' 'The Pulpit of the Reformation: "The Last Judgment," by John Welch,' "The Parable of the Householders," and "The Parable of the Tares," by Hugh Latimer.' 'John Knox to the King,' 'The Execution of Servetus for Blasphemy, Heresy, Obstinate Anabaptism,' 'Defended (excerpted from his Treatise on Predestination),' 'A Debate Between John Knox and Secretary Lethington on the Duty of Christian Subjects to Execute Judgement Upon Criminal Magistrates,' 'The Execution of Servetus for Blasphemy, Heresy, Obstinate Anabaptism, Defended (excerpted from John Knox's Treatise on Predestination),' 'It Is I Be Not Afraid,' 'The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558),' and 'Sermon on Isaiah 26.'(sic, all of volume 6)
Lachman, Gary, Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen, ISBN: 9780835608572 0835608573.
"Gary Lachman has carved himself a niche as popular historian of counter-culture. In his TURN OFF YOUR MIND, a critical view of Sixties counter-culture, he was not afraid to remind us of the dark and even silly side of the Age of Aquarius. His general stance is liberal, steering a fine line between genuine sympathy for the search for meaning in the irrational and an urbane anxiety about where the irrational may lead once it leaves the commune and enters the wider culture.
"In his books, Lachman has placed counter cultural thinking in a much wider historical context. We can now see it as a more normal response to the world than we have assumed. He has, with perhaps only very occasional slips into credulity, set the gold standard for sympathetic yet critical rational description of these cultures. And he has brought the conclusions of a wide range of more academic investigators and thinkers to a much wider audience.
"POLITICS AND THE OCCULT looks at those who believe in 'occult' forces at work in society and who then seek to act on society in accordance with them. Lachman has decided wisely not to look into secret societies. There are many other interesting books on such societies and on the mythology of secret government. We recommend David V. Barrett's fair minded (perhaps excessively so) A BRIEF HISTORY OF SECRET SOCIETIES which we reviewed in Oracle magazine earlier this year (2008).
"Some very serious academic historians have been looking into the history of the occult as a cultural phenomenon in recent years, notably the incomparable Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. They have been uncovering more and more about specific groups at nodal points of history and society who have held occult views. Awareness of these movements has been limited by one great truth of history -- the winners write it. The pragmatic and materialist view of history, indeed of existence as a whole, is always the winner because it works. . . .
"With occultists there is rarely a proven connection between one set of occult interventions and another. This either looks like the same phenomenon of resistance to the prevailing current repeating itself in a parody of the 'eternal return' or history degenerates into one of those stories where every occult intervention is linked to its predecessor until the whole process becomes a conspiracy theory in which the 'Hidden Masters' can be traced back to the dawn of time." -- Reader's Comment
Lawson, George (1749-1820), and Conal Condren, Politica Sacra et Civilis: or, A Modell of Civil and Ecclesiasticall Government: Wherein, besides the positive doctrine concerning state and church in general, are debated the principall controversies of the times. Concerning the constitution of the state and Church of England, tending to righteousness, truth and peace. ISBN: 0521392489 9780521392488.
Lean, Garth, God's Politician: William Wilberforce's Struggle, ISBN: 0939443031 9780939443031.
Lee, Francis Nigel, Communism, a Christian Evaluation, ISBN: 0949762016 9780949762016.
Lee, Francis Nigel, Communism Versus Christianity.
*Limbaugh, David, Guilty by Reason of Insanity: Why the Democrats Must not win, ISBN: 1621579883 978-1621579885.
"David Limbaugh's GUILTY BY REASON OF INSANITY: WHY THE DEMOCRATS MUST NOT WIN is an eye-opener -- even for octogenarians like myself who have witnessed first-hand most of the last one hundred years of sociocommunist societal rot in the US. To keep up with shape-shifting Neo-Marxist sophistries -- or to gauge the full extent of their insidious corruption of US educational and governmental institutions and mass media, one must become familiar with their constantly evolving disguises, which is no mean feat when the sophistries -- following in the tradition of the Marxist dialectic -- are cloaked in psychobabble such as 'intersectionality,' 'critical race theory,' etc. Consequently, this book -- which is a tutorial on the existential threat posed by the long-established take-over of the Democrat party by subversive Neo-Marxist zealots hell-bent on overthrowing constitutional US government -- should be required reading for every patriotic US citizen. From the introduction: 'This book chronicles the left's proliferating insanity, born of its extremism and its own frustration with the formidable opposition it is now encountering. It is a wake-up call to anyone who believes the leftists' endgame is anything short of the wholesale conversion of this nation to something only they could love --and something America's founding fathers would abhor'." -- Readers Comment
"Today's Democrats are pushing policies that are simply insane, and David Limbaugh proves it in his terrific, and tremendously important, new book, GUILTY BY REASON OF INSANITY." -- Mark Levin
"Few pundits can match David Limbaugh for research, depth of knowledge, and political insight, and in this book, perhaps his best political book, he shows how the Democrat Party has completely lost its mind." -- Sean Hannity
*Litvinenko, Alexander, and Yuri Felshtinsky, Blowing up Russia: Terror From Within. Alternate title: BLOWING UP RUSSIA: THE SECRET PLOT TO BRING BACK KGB POWER. ISBN: 190393396X 9781903933961.
"Strikingly written and based on Litvinenko's 20 years of insider's knowledge of Russian spy campaigns, Blowing up Russia describes how the successor of the KGB fabricated terrorist attacks and launched war to have the unknown Putin -- Litvinenko's former superior at the Russian secret service -- elected with a landslide victory." -- Publisher
As they say "it is unbelievable," yet well documented (just search "Litvinenko" and see the links below).
The events show that the Democrat's Russian collusion investigation (a coup attempt from within the FBI/CIA) is a totally, utterly, depraved, and is just as treasonous a plot within the US intelligence community as Putin's strategy of corruption within the intelligence community in Russia.
Litvinenko, the KGB/FSB defector, in his two books exposes the strategy of Putin to usurp leadership of Russia by corruption within the KGB/FSB, of which he was a member.
Sound familiar? Cultures and governments vary around the globe, but human nature is the same worldwide. As the reader probably knows, Litvinenko was poisoned by Russian agents in Great Britain. The present Democrat Party is more a part of Putin's world than our world.
Alexander Litvinenko: Wikis
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Alexander_Litvinenko
Lubyanka Criminal Group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubyanka_Criminal_Group
An Extended Review [Blowing up Russia] With Chapter Abstracts
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13002775-blowing-up-russia
London, Herbert Ira, and Albert L. Weeks, Myths That Rule America, ISBN: 0819114464 9780819114464.
"A candid look at American life and culture based on an astute assessment of our contemporary milieu." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Lord, Jeffrey, What America Needs: The Case for Trump, ISBN: 9781621575238 1621575233.
". . . Jeffrey Lord makes a convincing case that Donald Trump -- the straight-talking billionaire businessman-turned-candidate -- is exactly the man America needs as our president right now.
"He's controversial, colorful, and occasionally crass. But there's no denying that billionaire businessman Donald Trump has struck a chord with the American electorate. Right now the economy is floundering; college students are protesting; undocumented immigrants are settling in; ISIS is growing; and Russia is plotting. It's time for a bold leader in the White House. It's time . . . Jeffrey Lord says, for President Donald Trump.
"In WHAT AMERICA NEEDS, Lord makes a powerful case that Trump -- often denigrated even by other Republicans as too outrageous for the White House -- is actually exactly the president our country needs right now: one who will reverse the damages done during the Obama administration and do what it takes to make America great again." -- Publisher
*Machen, J. Gresham, Christianity and Liberalism, ISBN: 0802811213.
"Machen's classic was written in the height of the battle for control over the Presbyterian Church USA (the most prominent of the "mainline denominations), and defines with brilliance the battle lines between liberal (so-called), Christianity and the orthodox faith. Moreover, it points out exactly what is at stake: the true faith, or a perverse shadow of that faith, a shadow based on subjectivism which elevates man's sovereignty over God's and ends in believing nothing at all.
"The one problem with this book (and it made good rhetorical sense at the time, but is somewhat misleading concerning the true nature of the struggle), is Machen's categories. Machen deals with theological conservatives and liberals (legitimate in terms of the Bible's own theological dichotomy between saved and lost), but misses the inescapable fact that there was a third faction at work (a fact which eventually resulted in his defrocking). That third faction was a great mushy evanjellyfish middle, a pietistic/mystical majority which was neither willing to accept the liberal position nor fight for the conservative one. As Machen rightly pointed out two years earlier in his address to incoming students at Princeton (and again, much later, in the last two years of the struggle), these were the Christians who said '"Peace, peace",' when there was no peace,' and elevated that 'peace' over truth. As in all other endeavors, 'peace at any price' resulted in defeat, and in the end, it was that great mushy middle which delivered the PCUSA to the left and off the cliff.
"But it wasn't them alone. To see the mistakes of the conservative side, I strongly recommend North's CROSSED FINGERS, the only definitive history of this fight.
"Yet at the end of the day, you must read Machen. This book is vital for Christians defending their churches and denominations against increasing liberal encroachment, and indeed more so by the day. A great read." -- Reader's Comment
"Still stands, after many years, as one of the strongest books ever written against liberalism. A complete and thorough critique." -- GCB
*Machen, Gresham J., Education, Christianity and the State, ISBN: 0940931192 9780940931190.
"Machen was one of the foremost educators, theologians, and defenders of Christianity in the twentieth century. The author of numerous scholarly books, Machen saw clearly that if Christianity is to survive and flourish, a system of Christian grade schools must be established. This collection of essays captures his thought on education over nearly three decades.
"What role does the government have to play in education? What is the relationship between faith and knowledge? Is scholarship important, or is education the same as training? This book has been adopted as required reading by a large college in Florida. It may be studied with profit by teachers, parents, and students. Contents include: Faith and Knowledge, The Importance of Christian Scholarship, Christianity and Culture, Reforming the Government Schools, The Necessity of The Christian School, Shall We Have a Federal Department of Education? Proposed Department of Education, The Christian School: The Hope of America, Westminster Theological Seminary: Its Purpose and Plan." -- The Trinity Foundation
*Machiavelli, Niccolň (1469-1527), The Prince, ISBN: 0192833979 9780192833976.
This famous analysis of statesmanship and power, lauded by the world system and read by practically all politicians, will give insight to those who may still not understand power politics in Washington. But to fully understand the current situation in the Federal government even the discerning person must work in a Federal office or within the corporate limits of the District of Columbia for at least a year. A secular author.
The Prince, Niccolň Machiavelli
http://books.mirror.org/gb.machiavelli.html
Machiavelli, Niccolň (1469-1527), Ellis Farneworth (d. 1763), Frederick II (King of Prussia, [1712-1786], Anti-Machiavel), and John Adams (1735-1826), The Works of Nicholas Machiavel: Translated From the Originals: Illustrated With Notes, Annotations, Dissertations, and Several new Plans on the art of war (1775)
Includes the Anti-Machiavel of Frederick II, King of Prussia.
http://archive.org/details/worksofnicholasm02mach
Frederick the Great's ANTI-MACHIAVEL
http://www.geocities.com/danielmacryan/antimac.html
Margarot, Maurice, Thomas Hardy, and the London Corresponding Society, Address of the London Corresponding Society to the Other Societies of Great Britain, United for Obtaining a Reform in Parliament, 1792.
*Marshall, Walter (1628-1680), The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union With Christ, ISBN: 189277724X. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Reformation Heritage Books edition is a reprint of the 1954 edition set by Oliphants and includes an introduction by Joel R. Beeke. Also includes the author's famous sermon on "The Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied."
See the WorldCat record for various foreign language editions.
Other editions:
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1597520543 9781597520546.
"This is by far the best book on the doctrine of Sanctification in print. It was originally written in the 17th century, but has been put into modern English with this edition. This book will help you better understand the Gospel and its power not only for our Justification, but our Sanctification as well." -- Reader's Comment
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1589600630 9781589600638.
"Here you will read the most closely reasoned defense of scriptural sanctification to be found anywhere. . . . Fourteen directions are given to the reader, all perfected with the aim of explaining to sincere souls what sanctification is, what it is not, and how to attain a holy walk before God. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-mystery of Sanctification, Opened, in Sundry Practical Directions: Suited Especially to the Case of Those who Labor Under the Guilt and Power of Indwelling Sin. To Which is Added a Sermon on Justification (1859)
http://archive.org/details/gospelmysteryofs02mars
Mayhew, Jonathan, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers,
http://www.founding.com/library/lbody.cfm?id=230&parent=52
McAllister, David, The Moral Ends of the State, 1906.
McChesney, Fred S., Money for Nothing: Politicians, Rent Extraction, and Political Extortion, ISBN: 0674583302 9780674583306, 240 pages.
"Surveys reveal that a majority of Americans believe government is run for special interests, not public interest. The increased presence and power of lobbyists in Washington and the excesses of PAC and campaign contributions, in-kind benefits, and other favors would seem to indicate a government of weak public servants corrupted by big private-interest groups.
"But as Fred McChesney shows, this perspective affords only a partial understanding of why private interests are paying, and what they are paying for. Consider, for example, Citicorp, the nation's largest banking company, whose registered lobbyists spend most of their time blocking legislation that could hurt any one of the company's credit-card, loan, or financial-service operations. What this scenario suggests, the author argues, is that payments to politicians are often made not for political favors, but to avoid political disfavor, that is, as part of a system of political extortion or 'rent extraction.'
"The basic notion of rent extraction is simple: because the state can legally take wealth from its citizens, politicians can extort from private parties payments not to expropriate private wealth. In that sense, rent (that is, wealth), extraction is 'money for nothing' -- money paid in exchange for politicians' inaction. After constructing this model of wealth extraction, McChesney tests it with many examples, including several involving routine proposals of tax legislation, followed by withdrawal for a price. He also shows how the model applies more generally to regulation. Finally, he examines how binding contracts are written between private interests and politicians not to extract wealth.
"This book, standing squarely at the intersection of law, political science, and economics, vividly illustrates the patterns of legal extortion underlying the current fabric of interest-group politics.
"Fred S. McChesney is Professor of Law at the Cornell Law School." -- Publisher
"To support his view that rent extraction imposes enormous costs on the economy, McChesney provides a wealth of evidence from recent policy debates. For example, he cites the United States Federal Trade Commission's efforts -- at the request of Congress -- to impose warranty and defect disclosure requirements on used car dealers as an attempt by individual members of Congress to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for voiding the rules. In this instance, he provides statistics on contributions made by the National Auto Dealers' Association to members of Congress who voted to repeal the regulations. In discussing the Supreme Court's response to the wheeling and dealing, he points out that the dealers were essentially tricked into paying to repeal legislation that Congress never intended to enact anyway.
"On the Clinton health care plan, he states that stock prices of pharmaceutical firms began to fall before the policy was formally proposed. He emphasizes that investors knew that once price controls became an issue, the firms involved would have to spend money fighting the legislation by making campaign contributions. Thus, the firms were expected to lose enormous sums of money whether or not the bill was actually passed. Most importantly, he points out that the firms were never able to recover any of the money they lost in the process.
"In addition to legislative threats to impose price caps, he cites situations in which politicians threaten to repeal existing price caps to obtain contributions. For example, he states that proposals to raise admission fees at Yellowstone National Park have met with resistance from local merchants and users who benefit from lower prices. In other words, politicians can even threaten regulatory systems that they inherited from previous regimes in order to extract contributions from the firms that benefit from those systems. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
McCullough, David G., The American Spirit: Who we are and What we Stand for, ISBN: 9781501174216, 1501174215.
"This collection of speeches by historian David McCullough reminds us of fundamental American principles. Over the course of his distinguished career, David McCullough has spoken before Congress, the White House, colleges and universities, historical societies, and other esteemed institutions. Now, as many Americans engage in self-reflection following a bitter election campaign that has left the country divided, McCullough has collected some of his most important speeches in a brief volume that articulates important principles and characteristics that are particularly American." -- Publisher
McKnight, William John (1865-1951), The Scriptures the Supreme Guide in the Affairs of Men.
*McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander (1774-1833), Messiah: Governor of the Nations of the Earth: A Discourse. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available
(MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH and THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR; THE RULE OF DUTY TO CHRISTIAN NATIONS TO CIVIL INSTITUTIONS) at Covenanter.org. Available (the pamphlet, MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, which includes THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR) at Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets.
"The doctrine of the Mediatorial Reign of Christ has formed the subject of those principles accounted distinctive to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Christ's kingship over the nations and the implications of this doctrine will not be popular amongst a people deeply compromised with the spirit of the age. The prescription may seem tough, but the results of centuries of ignoring this doctrine have left the church effete and gutted when it comes to addressing matters concerning church and state relations. In the various modern debates one viewpoint has been left out, and it is the only one which presents a serious and rigorous biblical vision -- the Covenanter position on civil government.
"In the first discourse, Alexander McLeod explains the biblical basis and the importance of professing that Christ is the head over all nations. McLeod moves from an explanation of what is meant by confessing that Christ rules as Mediator, to a discussion of his administrations as ruler over the nations. Afterward he addresses numerous objections that are raised against the doctrine, in which he explains many finer points respecting Christ's Mediatorial administration.
"The second discourse, THE WRITTEN LAW, by Dr. James Renwick Willson (1780-1853), takes up a number of matters of great practical concern and application of the doctrine of this Mediatorship over the nations. Willson is particularly concerned with the place of the written law of God in the constitution of civil governments. Willson often courts controversy, and does not shy away from consistency. It is a blueprint for how things ought to be, if we would submit to Christ as a nation." -- Publisher
McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander, Messiah, Governor of the Nations of the Earth
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/alexander-mcleods-sermon-on-messiah-governor-of-the-nations-of-the-earth
Willson, James Renwick, The Written Law, or The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures, by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations to Civil Institutions
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-the-written-law
Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets
http://www.covenanter.org/pamphlets/
*McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander (1774-1833), A Scriptural View of the Character, Causes, and Ends of the Present War (1815), 224 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Though having the war of 1812 (to 1815), between the United States and Britain, in view, the author notes that 'the principles which I have laid down, and enforced in these sermons, are not, however, of mere temporary interest. Whether in peace, or at war, they are of importance to a Christian community. There are the permanent principles of social order and public equity.'
Chapter headings include: 'The Right Discussing of Public Affairs,' dealing with why 'Ministers have the right of discussing from the pulpit those political question which affect Christian morals' and 'The Moral Character of the U.S. Federal Constitution;' The Moral Character of the Two Belligerents' (i.e. the national character, as moral persons, of both the United States and Britain); 'The Lawfulness of Defensive War;' 'The Present War,' dealing with how 'War in Defence of Property, Liberty, and National Independence and Honour is Lawful: and (How) Defensive War May Be for Precaution, Resistance, or Redress;' and 'The Ends for Which God in His Providence Permits the Existence of this War.' M'Leod concludes this work with these stirring words, 'the most faithful of Reformers with patriotic ardour contended with the sword in defence of their civil and religious liberties. Ulric Zwingle, the morning-star of the reformation, fell in battle at Zurich, 1530, at the commencement of the strife against arbitrary power; and towards the close of the struggle which terminated in the overthrow of the purest of the churches (i.e. the covenanted Presbyterian Church of Scotland -- RB), Richard Cameron fell at Airsmoss, 1680, while defending, as a Christian hero, the religion and liberties of his country, against the tyranny of the bishops, and the royal house of Stuart . . . If I claim a place among consistent Protestants, I must testify against all the acts of anti-Christian power. If I follow the steps which are died by the blood of the Martyrs, I must raise my voice against the thrones which shed that blood. If the Bible is my system of religion, and of social order, I must disclaim attachment to those powers that are hostile to evangelical doctrine'." -- Publisher
Miller, C. John (1928-1996), Calvinistic Critique of a Radical Democracy (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation).
A lecture as part of the course, Calvinism in American Literature, taught at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.
Audio cassette CM322 [audio file].
Miller, Darrow L., and Stan Guthrie, Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures, ISBN: 1576580156 9781576580158.
"In DISCIPLING NATIONS, Darrow Miller walks us through the ever-unfolding nature of the relationship between God and man-the Scriptures-revealing a very clear, evidential and logical Development Ethic that can only be understood, and therefore, realized, in the context of the Biblical worldview. Unveiling the other prevailing worldviews, Miller exposes the inevitable implications and consequences they have on human development and boldly builds a case for intolerance of these lies -- lies that impoverish individual souls and entire nations.
"Having implications not only upon Relief and Development, DISCIPLING NATIONS is a must-read for every Christian! Pastors, Counselors, Educators, Scientists, Mathematicians, Physicists, Astronomers and Technologists, as well as Christian Fundamentalists and Apologist, can all derive benefit from the continuity and comprehensiveness of this book. I think they will find many ground-breaking, certainly thought-provoking, and, hopefully, transformational, Truths and ideas, that, to this point, and for many reasons, have not yet had the impact that God intended on their lives and/or their vocations. Such has been the case for me. For others, especially those already engaged in Relief and Development work, it will be controversial -- challenging their worldviews and calling for the transformation of their own minds before even considering developing others." -- Reader's Comment
*Mokhiber, Russell, and Robert Weissman, Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Mega-profits and the Attack on Democracy, ISBN: 1567511589 9781567511581.
"For the past twenty years, after a decade and a half of populist resurgence against corporate abuses by consumer, environmental, women's rights and civil rights forces, big business has been on a rampage to control our society. Whether these business supremacies are called corporatization, commercialism, monopolies or the corporate state, the overall concentration of power and wealth in ever fewer multinational corporate centers is a matter of record.
"In arena after arena -- government, workplace, marketplace, media, environment, education, science, technology -- the dominant players are large corporations. What countervailing forces that our society used to depend upon for some balance are not in retreat against the aggressive expansion of corporate influence far beyond its traditional mercantile boundaries?
"The enlarged power that corporations deploy to further increase their revenues and socialize their costs comes from many sources -- old and new. Roughly eighty percent of the money contributed to federal candidates come from business interests. The mobility to export capital has given transnational companies major leverage against local, state and federal officials, not to mention against organized and unorganized labor. The swell of corporate welfare handouts has reached new depths. The contrived complexity of many financial and other services serves to confuse, deplete and daunt consumers who lose significant portions of their income in a manipulative marketplace. Alliances, joint ventures and other complex collaborations between should-be competitors have made a mockery of what is left of antitrust enforcement.
"The opportunities to control or defeat governmental attempts for corporate accountability that flow from transcending national jurisdictions into globalized strategies to escape taxation and pit countries and their workers against one another appear to be endless. The autocratic systems of governance called GATT and NAFTA reflect to the smallest detail ways that giant corporations wish to control the world. These firms are on a collision course against democratic processes, and the merging of states and businesses, to the latter's advantage, weakens relentlessly both the restraints of the law and the willingness of legislators to do anything about it.
"Taken together, the world is witnessing its subjugation to the large corporate model of economic development, the large corporate model of technology and the large corporate model of culture itself. These accelerating trend lines invite accelerating comprehension and response. History demonstrates that commercialism knows few boundaries that are not externally imposed. All the major religions have warned their adherents against the excesses of commercial value systems, albeit with different languages, images and metaphors.
"Specific descriptions of corporate misbehavior do nourish proper generalizations that in turn lead to more just movements and practices. Here, columnists Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman provide a distinct service in CORPORATE PREDATORS. It is not just the versatility of their writings -- covering bribery, pollution, corporate crime, fraud and abuse, failure of law enforcement, union-busting, the mayhem inflicted by product defects and toxics, the deep gap between the rich and the rest of America, corporate front groups, the media censorship and self-censorship, the profiteering, the pillaging overseas and more -- but it is also the impact on the reader that comes from aggregating evidence. Our country does not collect statistics on corporate crime the way it does on street crime. For it to do so would begin to highlight a little-attended agenda for law enforcement and other corporate reforms. Neither Congress nor the White House and its Justice Department have made any moves over the years to assemble from around the country the abuses of corporations in quantifiable format so as to drive policy.
"So, description -- accurate, representational description -- must now suffice. As the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter (Mokhiber) and the editor of the Multinational Monitor (Weissman), the authors know well the difference between anecdotes that are illustrative and that are idiosyncratic. This volume of their weekly columns carries the evidence that illustrates patterns of continuing corporate derelictions, not lonely deviations from a more congenial norm.
"The authors' experience over the years with the impact of disclosures has led them to the conclusion that the facts must be linked to civic engagement and democratic activity for change. If disclosure produced its own dynamic imperatives for change, the recurrent exposure of corporate abuses in such mainstream publications as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and some national television programs like 'Sixty Minutes' would have caused these changes. Such, unfortunately has not been the case. The linkages between knowledge and action have not been sufficient. But readers of Common Courage Press published books tend towards citizen activism. They want to know because they want to do. Some may even agree with the ancient Chinese saying that 'To know and not to do is not to know.'
"So, go forward readers who wish to be leaders in the advancement of justice -- what Daniel Webster once called 'the great work of men on Earth' -- and savor the writings that will motivate more and more women and men to band together in organizations that build a more just democracy." [Constitutional Republic -- compiler] -- Ralph Nader, 1999
Monsma, Stephen V., The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s, ISBN: 0060152249 9780060152246.
"This critical analysis of government traces the origins of the unraveling of the American dream, and after showing the weaknesses of the various political ideologies, proposes an alternative -- a progressive realism. Most helpful when read in conjunction with R.D. Culver's TOWARDS A BIBLICAL VIEW OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT and A.J. McClain's THE GREATNESS OF THE KINGDOM." -- Cyril J. Barber
Mooney, S.C., Usury: Destroyer of Nations.
"Nothing quite like this book to be found anywhere which thoroughly covers this important topic of usury (charging interest), from a foundation of God's Word. A definition and history of usury is given along with a survey of Biblical texts and popular excuses for usury. Mooney concludes with a call to repentance." -- GCB
Includes bibliographical references.
Moots, Glenn A., Politics Reformed: The Anglo-American Legacy of Covenant Theology.
"Many studies have considered the Bible's relationship to politics, but almost all have ignored the heart of its narrative and theology: the covenant. In this book, Glenn Moots explores the political meaning of covenants past and present by focusing on the theory and application of covenantal politics from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Moots demands that we revisit political theology because it served as the most important school of politics in early modern Europe and America. He describes the strengths of the covenant tradition while also presenting its limitations and dangers. Contemporary political scientists such as Eric Voegelin, Daniel Elazar, and David Novak are called on to provide insight into both the covenant's history and its relevance today. Moots's work chronicles and critiques the covenant tradition while warning against both political ideology and religious enthusiasm. It provides an inclusive and objective outline of covenantal politics by considering the variations of Reformed theology and their respective consequences for political practice. This includes a careful account of how covenant theology took root on the European continent in the sixteenth century and then inspired ecclesiastical and civil politics in England, Scotland, and America. Moots goes beyond the usual categories of Calvinism or Puritanism to consider the larger movement of which both were a part. By integrating philosophy, theology, and history, Moots also invites investigation of broader political traditions such as natural law and natural right. POLITICS REFORMED demonstrates how the application of political theology over three centuries has important lessons for our own dilemmas about church and state. It makes a provocative contribution to understanding foundational questions in an era of rising fundamentalism and emboldened secularism, inspiring readers to rethink the importance of religion in political theory and practice, and the role of the covenant tradition in particular." -- Publisher
*Morris, Benjamin Franklin, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic, 1864, ISBN: 0243184069 9780243184064.
"This volume is committed to the American people, in the firm assurance that the invaluable facts which it records will be grateful to every patriotic and pious heart. In it, as from the richest mines, has been brought out the pure gold of our history. Its treasures have been gathered and placed in this casket for the instruction and benefit of the present and future. We have a noble historic life; for our ancestors were the worthies of the world. We have a noble nation, full of the evidences of the molding presence of Christian truth, and of the power and goodness of Divine wisdom in rearing up a Christian republic for all time. That this was the spirit and aim of the early founders of our institutions, the facts in this volume fully testify.
"The field through which the reader will walk, in this work, must give wider expansion to his political views, quicken the pulses of his loyalty, add to his conscious dignity as an American citizen, strengthen his confidence in our future, and impart a higher tone to his piety.
"The single object of the compiler was to link, in a connected form, the golden chain of our Christian history, and to reveal the basis on which our institutions stand.
"The documents and facts are authentic, and have been collected, with laborious diligence, from standard historical works and from the political and Christian annals of the nation. The volume is the voice of the best and wisest men of the republic. It must, therefore, have weight with the American people, and be a political and Christian thesaurus and text-book to the scholar, the teacher, the patriot, the politician, the statesman, the jurist, the legislator, the divine, and, in a word, to all classes of American citizens. The work is not speculative or theoretical, but a series of facts to unfold and establish the Christian life and character of the civil institutions of the United States, in the light of which every American citizen can trace to its source the true glory of the nation and learn to appreciate its institutions and to venerate and imitate the great and good men who founded them. . . .
"It has been a delightful task of patriotism and piety to the compiler to prepare the volume, and to lay it as a grateful offering upon the common altar of his country and of Christianity.
"It is also the ardent hope of the compiler that the facts and principles recorded in this volume, and in which, in our early struggle, all denominations of Christians uttered with such harmony their convictions that the only sure and stable basis of our civil institutions was in the Christian religion, may contribute to strengthen the union of patriotism and piety in all parts of the country, to save the nation from the perils of a wicked rebellion, and be the brightest hope of the future. . . .
"The volume is committed to the blessing of God and to the judgment and favor of the American people, in humble trust that it may aid in preserving and perpetuating to future generations the Union of the States, the integrity of the best government ever instituted by the wisdom of men, and the nationality of the American Republic." -- Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D., late Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington City, and Chaplain to the Senate of the United States in the Thirty-Seventh Congress, from the Preface
Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, 1864
https://ia800205.us.archive.org/27/items/christianlifecha00morr/christianlifecha00morr_bw.pdf
Morton, Oliver P., United States. Congress. Senate. Democratic Violence, Proscription, and Intolerance; Spirit of the White-line Democracy; Duty of the Republican Party to Maintain the Rights of Colored men; Startling Democratic Defalcations; Unparalleled Corruption and Maladministration: Speech of Honorable O.P. Morton, Delivered in the United States Senate, January 19, 1876, on the Mississippi Election.
*Mullins, Eustace Clarence, Secrets of the Federal Reserve: The London Connection, ISBN: 9992967595.
"The greatest financial monopoly the world has ever known, is also responsible for worldwide moral decay, world wars, financial panics and revolutions." -- Eustace Mullins
"As an attorney I was impressed with the documentation by the author of the history of the development of the Federal Reserve. My undergraduate degree 25 years ago was in economics and I had to read much further to truly understand how our monetary system was unnecessarily based upon debt. Debt is bondage and central banks as the heart of fractional reserve banking hold the key to control of the world. If you do not believe this look at the policies of the IMF and realize that economic imperialism through central banking essentially controls the world today. A great companion book to read is THE CREATURE FROM JEKYELL ISLAND which explains our monetary system in more depth, and the video "Capital Crimes" is an excellent four hour treatise on the history of central banking beginning with the money changers in the temple whom Christ confronted and ending with a brilliant plan to gradually increase bank reserves while issuing Constitutional 'money' such that banks become mere vaults and the Federal Reserve is put to rest." -- Reader's Comment
Murray, Charles, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980, ISBN: 0465042317 9780465042319.
*Murray, Iain, The Reformation of the Church: A Collection of Reformed and Puritan Documents on Church Issues, ISBN: 085151118X 9780851511184.
"First published in 1965 and once again available. Documents are drawn largely from the 16th and 17th centuries and presents the finest thinking of the fathers on authority and freedom, the need for reformation, the nature of the government, unity, and membership of the Church of Jesus Christ." -- GCB
*Napolitano, Andrew P., and Ron Paul (foreword), Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History, ISBN: 9781595552662 1595552669.
"Centuries of government deception have suspended our freedom and replaced it with a mythology rich in the ideals we are promised but do not actually experience.
"The government's lies have become our country's heritage, passed down generationally and accepted over time as status quo. We allow our leaders to regulate, under false pretenses, every area of our supposedly free lives: What we eat, how our money is spent, how we protect ourselves. The basic tenets of living in a free society -- the primacy of the individual and limited government -- are violated routinely and with little objection from those most affected.
"Judge Napolitano traces the deterioration of American freedom year by year, event by event, from the birth of the U.S. government to the economic and military crises of today. He illustrates how this distorted interpretation of government translates to loss for Americans -- loss of life, loss of property, loss of freedom. The cost is staggering.
"Amid the bleak revelation is a call to action. Judge Napolitano offers a blueprint to salvage our freedom and restore the government to its intended role as an instrument to protect the freedoms of the people." -- Publisher
Nash, Ronald H., Social Justice and the Christian Church, ISBN: 0880620080 9780880620086.
*North, Gary, Unholy Spirits: Occultism and New Age Humanism, ISBN: 0930462025 9780930462024.
"According to this in-depth analysis by renowned historian and author Dr. Gary North, the New Age movement is indeed a serious threat and its adherents are no laughing matter. By tracing the historical and theological roots of modern occultic practices, Dr. North paints a frightening portrait of just exactly what we are up against. It's not a pretty sight. Fortunately though, UNHOLY SPIRITS is not simply another 'doom and gloom' forecast. He offers parents, teachers, pastors, and other committed Christians practical steps of action to nullify and ultimately eliminate the effects of the New Age infiltration into our homes, our schools, our communities, and our nation." -- Publisher
A revision of his earlier work NONE DARE CALL IT WITCHCRAFT, published in 1974. Includes bibliographic footnotes, index, and Scripture index.
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
North, Oliver L., with William Novak, Under Fire: An American Story, ISBN: 0060183349 9780060183349.
"In this revealing book, the man who has been the center of the 'Iran Contra controversy' details what he did and why he did it. This is an astonishing look at how Washington's wheels of power turn. And much, much more!" -- GCB
*O'Neil, Cathy, Weapons of Math Destruction: How big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, ISBN: 9780141985411 0141985410.
"In today's world, if you want to change your fate you've got to pray at the altar of the algorithm . . . As math guru Cathy O'Neil argues in her newest book, these models are just the latest way America's institutions perpetuate bias and prejudice to reward the rich and keep the poor, well, poor. It's a nuanced reminder that big data is only as good as the people wielding it." -- Wired
"Data is not going away. Nor are computers -- much less mathematics. Predictive models are, increasingly, the tools we will be relying on to run our institutions, deploy our resources, and manage our lives. But as I've tried to show throughout this book, these models are constructed not just from data, but from the choices we make about which data to pay attention to -- and which to leave out. Those choices are not just about logistics, profits, and efficiency. They are fundamentally moral." -- Cathy O'Neil
"Cathy O'Neil has seen Big Data from the inside, and the picture isn't pretty. WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION opens the curtain on algorithms that exploit people and distort the truth while posing as neutral mathematical tools. This book is wise, fierce, and desperately necessary." -- Jordan Ellenberg, author of How not to be Wrong
"Often we don't even know where to look for those important algorithms, because by definition the most dangerous ones are also the most secretive. That's why the catalogue of case studies in O'Neil's book are so important; she's telling us where to look." -- Guardian
"O'Neil has become a whistle-blower for the world of Big Data . . . Her work makes particularly disturbing points about how being on the wrong side of an algorithmic decision can snowball in incredibly destructive ways." -- Time
"O'Neil is an ideal person to write this book . . . She is one of the strongest voices speaking out for limiting the ways we allow algorithms to influence our lives and against the notion that an algorithm, because it is implemented by an unemotional machine, cannot perpetrate bias or injustice . . . While WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION is full of hard truths and grim statistics, it is also accessible and even entertaining." -- Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American
*Owen, John (1616-1683), God's Presence With a People the Spring of Their Prosperity; With Their Special Interest in Abiding in Him. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN, VOL. 8, SERMONS TO THE NATION, sermon 11.
http://johnowenquotes.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/johnowenvol-8.pdf
Owen preaches at length, 21 pages, on God's presence with a people both individually and corporately in a sermon on the text And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you, 2 Chronicles 15:2, delivered to Parliament October 30, 1656.
"The great concernment of any people or nation is, to know that all their prosperity is from the presence of God amongst them, and to attend to that which will give continuance thereunto. . . .
"There is a presence of God in respect of providential dispensations. . . . -- attended with peculiar love, favor, good-will, special care towards them with whom he is so present. So Abimelech observed that he was with Abraham, Genesis 21:22, God is with thee in all that thou doest, -- with thee to guide thee, bless thee, preserve thee, as we shall see afterward. So he promised to be with Joshua, I will be with thee, Joshua 1:5; and so he was with Gideon, The Lord is with thee, Judges 6:12, -- to bless him in his great undertaking; and so with Jeremiah, I am with thee, Jeremiah 15:20. This is fully expressed, Isaiah 43:1,2, "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. And this is the presence of God here intimated, -- his presence with the people as to special providential dispensations, as is manifest from the whole discourse of the prophet; and wherein this consists, shall be afterward at large declared. . . .
"There is an abiding with God in national administrations; -- this is a fruit of the other, in those who are called to them. And that this is principally here intended is evident from that use that Asa made of this information and exhortation of the prophet. He did not only look to his personal walking thereupon, but also immediately set upon the work of ordering the whole affairs of the kingdom so as God might be glorified thereby. How this may be effected, shall at large afterward be declared. What hath already been spoken may suffice for a foundation of that proposition which I shall this day insist upon; and it is this, -- "The presence of God with a people, in special providential dispensations for their good, depends on their obediential presence with him in national administrations to his glory: The Lord is with you, while ye be with him. . . ."
"What is the rule and measure of God's continuance with his people in the covenant of grace? Plainly this, -- that he will never forsake them; and, on that account, will take care that they shall never forsake him, but abide with him forever. It is not whilst they do so and so, he will abide with them; and when they cease so to do, he will forsake them, as to his federal and covenant presence; -- there is not such a sandy foundation left us of our abiding with God in Christ. See the tenor of the covenant, Jeremiah 31:33; 32:38-40 [Jeremiah 32:38-40]. The sum is, that God will be with them, and take care that they always abide with him; and therefore hath he provided for all interveniences imaginable, that nothing shall violate this union. God lays his unchangeableness as the foundation of the covenant, Malachi 3:6, and he therein makes us unchangeable; -- not absolutely so, for we change every moment; but with respect to the terms and bounds of the covenant, he hath undertaken that we shall never leave him. The law of God's presence in respect of providential dispensations, and all special privileges attending it, is quite of another importance: it is purely conditional, as you may see in my text. The tenor of it is expressed to the height, 1 Samuel 2:30, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Here is no alteration of counsel or purpose in God; but merely an explanation of the rule, law, and tenor of providential dispensations; -- no interpretation of the covenant of grace (Eli held not the priesthood by that covenant); but an explication of the tenor of a privilege given in special providence, Psalm 89:32,33. Hence is that variety of God's dealings with men mentioned in the Scripture; which yet are always righteous, according to one or other of these rules and laws. . . .
"I suppose I need not go for proof beyond the observation of the constant tenor of God's proceedings with his people of old. When did he not deal thus with them? What instance can be given of transgressing this rule? Is the whole story of the nation of the Jews any thing but the illustration of this proposition? Some ruled well, and sought the Lord; and the Lord was with them, and prospered them in all their ways; -- some fell from him, and walked according to their own imaginations; and the Lord cut them short on that account; -- yea, sometimes the same man, as Solomon, Asa, Uzziah, experienced both these states and conditions. Hath not the state of all nations, since they came into the power of men professing the knowledge of him, been the same? Look on the Roman empire; did it not flourish under the hand of men who ruled with God, and were faithful with the saints? Is not the present distraction of it, under the fury and cruelty of Turk and Pope, the issue of the violence, unrighteousness, idolatry, luxury, and persecution of ill governors? Doth not the demonstration of all God's people in the world -- the consideration whereof, in particular, might be insisted on as the ground and reason of the truth insisted on -- require that it should be thus Leviticus 26:1, and almost the whole book of Deuteronomy, are sermons on this text; and every verse, almost, in them would afford a new confirmation of the truth in hand. . . .
"The second use of this pillar was, to give them protection and defense in their ways; so Exodus 14:19,20,24. This protected them from the Egyptians; -- and from thence God troubled their enemies out of the pillar; that is, from his especial presence. This use of it is insisted on, Isaiah 4:5,6. The cloud, that was as smoke by day, and as fire by night, was also a shadow, a place of refuge, and a covert; in one word, a protection or a defense. And this is a second thing which is in God's special presence, -- he will protect or defend them with whom he is so present. He is their dwelling place, Psalm 90:1, then, when in this world they have none; their refuge in the time of trouble: so Isaiah 25:4, 26:1 [Isaiah 26:1], 31:4 [Isaiah 31:4]. Promises and instances to make this good abound; -- they are known to all; the time would fail me to insist upon them. I might go over all the causes, means, and ways of the fears, dangers, ruin of such a people, and show you how a defense is provided against them all. Are their fears from themselves, because of their folly, weakness, and division? or from pretended friends, because of their envy and desertion? or from open enemies, because of their power, cruelty, malice, and revenge? A defense is provided on every account. Heat, rain, tempests, storms, adversity, prosperity, -- all are provided against, where God is present, Isaiah 32:1,2.
"And if any people in the world have experience of this truth, we have it this day. Had not the Lord been with us, who had not destroyed us? Enemies, friends, abroad, at home, our own follies, -- all, any of them, had done the work, had not the Lord himself been with us. . . .
"That we may abide with God, this is indispensably required, -- that we may have peace with him in Jesus Christ. If we are never with him, we cannot abide with him; no man can abide where he never come. The acceptance of our persons lies at the bottom of the acceptance of our duties. As the special presence of God with any, is in and by Christ, and no otherwise, so is our abiding with God in and through him. God with us is the name of Christ: our being with God is in him who is our peace. Two cannot walk together, unless they be agreed, Amos 3:3.
"Now, because this is not to be expected from all the individuals of a nation, yet this thing is to be endeavored, -- that the rulers of it be such as have this interest. I do not divest of a share in government, those who have no share in Christ, if lawfully called thereunto; but I say, when God gives governors whom he intends to make a blessing unto a people, they shall be such as are blessed of him in Christ. And if ever the government of this nation, in this present constitution, -- suppose it the most exactly framed and balanced, in the several parts of it, for the furtherance of public good, -- be devolved into the hands of men not interested in God by Christ, though the constitution may be absolutely good, yet the government will not be blessed, and the nation will be ruined; for God and his glory will depart, Micah 5:5,6. It is Christ that is our peace, even in outward troubles. . . .
"This, then, I say, is pre-required, as a qualification of any person to the performance of this duty of abiding with God. It is the psalmist's advice, Psalm 2:11,12. Let this principle be always owned amongst you; by it honor Christ in the world. Give him the pre-eminence; it is the Father's will he should have it in all things. Expect not the presence of God, but upon this account. Bear testimony herein against the world of profane men, who despise these things. Seeing, then, it cannot be expected to have this qualification diffused universally, as yet, through the body of the people, let the rulers take care that they be not the cause of God's departure from us. . . ." -- John Owen
This sermon is also available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
The sermons is also found in the various editions of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN.
*Owen, John (1616-1683), The Complete Works of John Owen, 16 volumes, ISBN: 0851513921 ISBN: 9780851513928. Alternate title: THE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN. See Chapter 1 for annotation on all 16 volumes. Many separate works by Owen may be found on the Puritan Hard Drive. Many separate works by Owen may be found in the Reformation Bookshelf 30 CD Set.
John Owen (1616-1683), "is by common consent not the most versatile, but the greatest among Puritan theologians. For solidity, profundity, massiveness and majesty in exhibiting from Scripture God's ways with sinful mankind there is no one to touch him. . . ." -- J.I. Packer in A Quest for Godliness, p. 81
"To master his works is to be a profound theologian." -- C.H. Spurgeon
*Palast, Greg, The Best Democracy Money can buy: An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons, and High Finance Fraudsters, ISBN: 0745318460 9780745318462.
"Muckraking has a long, storied tradition, and Palast is evidently proud to be part of it. In this polemical indictment of globalization and political corruption, Palast (a reporter with the BBC and London's Observer), updates the muckraking tradition with some 21st-century targets: the IMF, World Bank and WTO, plus oil treaties, energy concerns and corporate evildoers of all creeds. Some of Palast's reports are downright shocking (if familiar). He shows, for example, how the WTO prevents cheap AIDS drugs from reaching victims in Africa and how World Bank loan policies have crippled the economies of Tanzania and other developing countries. On the home front, he details Exxon's horrific safety record before the Valdez disaster and reveals the price-gouging by Texas power companies during the California energy crisis. In Britain, Palast exposes the 'cash for access' policies of the Blair administration, and blasts the legal system for shielding Pfizer Pharmaceuticals from lawsuits by victims who had defective Pfizer valves installed in their hearts. These are all good, important stories. Most of them, however, have been published before. This book is essentially a collection of Palast's newspaper articles, hastily stitched together with some commentary and exposition. As such, it lacks cohesiveness and the depth his subjects deserve. In addition, Palast's bombastic style and one-sided perspective do much to undermine his own credibility. How seriously should readers take a journalist who labels former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers an 'alien' and dismisses Wal-Mart shareholders as 'Wal-Martians?' There is much of value here, but readers who want a full-bodied, serious analysis of how globalization is affecting developing countries or how corporate giants pay for political favors should look elsewhere." -- Publishers Weekly
*Parker, Star, and Richard Manning, Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture war and why This is Good News for America, ISBN: 9781546076582 1546076581.
"Popular conservative commentator Star Parker explains why today's noisy political rhetoric is good for you and provides specifics on why Trump's presidency is vital for America's future." -- Publisher
"The ongoing noise of debate can seem overwhelming, but our country needs the authentic and candid dialogue of its people. And Trump's presidency provides us with an opportunity, like never before, to engage and work to preserve the values upon which America was built. NECESSARY NOISE honestly examines the crossroads where we find ourselves and suggests ways of moving toward resolution and restoration. Tackling a wide range of topics on which citizens should get noisy -- from immigration, to education, to abortion, to welfare -- NECESSARY NOISE provides the framework for how to take part in this important time in history using our voices." -- Star Parker
"Star Parker's insight, that we've been involved in a 50-year Culture War 'parallels' my own. It's been an anti-Constitutional, anti-Christian war. Republicans, on account of their secularism (dismissal of the 'theological' as relevant) gave in again and again in the name of 'bipartisanship.' I'm 71 years old and have lived through this. It's only with the more radical fruits of this slide (like the de-sexing of public bathrooms and the plague of abortion), and DONALD TRUMP's refusal to continue this surrender, that things have turned ugly. I believe Star's new book captures some of this process! Looks good." -- Dick Knodel
"Parker is a columnist and commentator and founded the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) whose mission is to: 'Fight poverty and restore dignity through the message of faith, freedom, and personal responsibility.'
"Star Parker left her life of drugs, abortions, and welfare abuse to become a leading advocate for the family." -- Today's Christian Woman
Other works by Star Parker:
*Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662), The Provincial Letters, ISBN: 1579100961.
"In 1654, Pascal, a man of the world and a noted mathematician. . . . issued the famous Lettres Ecrites par Louis de Montalte a un Provincial de ses Amis, eighteen tracts directed with the keenest irony against the casuistry of the Jesuits. These LETTERS appeared between January 23, 1656, and March 24, 1657. They were published without the author's real name, had a large circulation, and created an immense sensation throughout Europe."
"Containing an exposure of the reasoning and morals of the Jesuits." -- Publisher
The Provincial Letters, Blaise Pascal
http://archive.org/details/theprovinciallet00pasciala
Patterson, Robert, Dereliction of Duty: An Eyewitness Account of how Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security, ISBN: 0895261405 9780895261403.
"A retired Air Force colonel shares his personal insights into the foreign affairs failures of the Clinton administration, from his inattention to basic presidential duties to his scorn for men in uniform." -- Publisher
*Phillips, Kevin, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, ISBN: 0767905334 9780767905336.
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. His bestselling books, including THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY (1969) and THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990), have influenced presidential campaigns and changed the way America sees itself. Widely acknowledging Phillips as one of the nation's most perceptive thinkers, reviewers have called him a latter-day Nostradamus and our 'modern Thomas Paine.' Now, in the first major book of its kind since the 1930s, he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls 'the Second Gilded Age' at the turn of the twenty-first century.
"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth -- how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
"With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans -- from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders -- Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.
"Finally, WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines -- speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics -- signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century. In a time of national crisis, Phillips worries that the growing parallels suggest the tide may already be turning for us all." -- Publisher
*Pike, Samuel (1717-1773), and Samuel Hayward (1718-1757), The Character of an Honest Man. In RELIGIOUS CASES OF CONSCIENCE ANSWERED IN AN EVANGELICAL MANNER . . . TO WHICH IS ADDED THE SPIRITUAL COMPANION; OR, THE PROFESSING CHRISTIAN TRIED AT THE BAR OF GOD'S WORD; AND CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY MAN, 1866.
The Character of an Honest Man
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/godly-living/the-character-of-an-honest-man.php
Power, Sam, Party Funding and Corruption, ISBN: 9783030375805 3030375803.
"This book systematically explores the relationship between party funding and corruption, and addresses fundamental concerns in the continued consideration of how democracy should function. The book analyses whether parties funded primarily through private donations are necessarily more corrupt than those funded by the state, and whether different types of corruption are evident in different funding regimes. Drawing on a comparison of Great Britain and Denmark, the author argues that levels of state subsidy are, in fact, unrelated to the type of corruption found. Subsidies are not a cure for corruption or, importantly, perceived corruption, so if they are to be introduced or sustained, this should be done for other reasons. Subsidies can, for example, be justified on grounds of public utility. Meanwhile, anti-corruption measures should focus on other regulations, but even then we should not expect such measures to impact on perceptions of corruption in the short term. Sam Power is Lecturer in Corruption Analysis at the University of Sussex, UK. Previously he was Associate Lecturer in Politics at the University of Exeter and Research Associate at the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield. Sam has written extensively on issues related to the financing of politics in both academic and non-academic publications and regularly provides expert interviews and analyses on TV, on the radio, and online." -- Publisher
Reisman, George, Gold: The Solution to our Monetary Dilemma.
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008, editor), Christ and Civilization, ISBN: 1891777246 9781891777240.
"A new 48-page booklet. Includes a complete listing (in an additional 16 pages), of the books currently available from The Trinity Foundation."
Christ and Civilization
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/200a-ChristandCivilization.pdf
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation), ISBN: 0940931753 9780940931756.
"This book is a detailed examination of the official statements of the Vatican on economic and political matters. It demonstrates the collectivism and totalitarianism of the Roman Catholic Church-State. It is the only such book written by a Christian in the twentieth century.
"This book explores the conflict between Roman Catholic social thought and human freedom, relying on official pronouncements from the Vatican to show that the political and economic theory of the Roman Church-State justifies feudalism, corporativism [corporatism -- compiler], liberation theology, the welfare state, and fascism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress [Ron Paul of Texas], editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
The Roman Catholic Institution is the ultimate "negative guide to the positive," the reformers ultimate "opposite guide to political and economic reform."
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
See, in particularly, the Foreword.
"The relationship between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism has been a subject of scholarly study for centuries. In this volume, John Robbins argues that political and economic freedom are the results of Biblical Christianity. Political freedom and capitalism arose in Northwestern Europe and North America after the Christian Reformation of the 16th century, and they are unique in world history. The nations and peoples that heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the Reformers quickly became free and prosperous on a scale previously unimaginable. Some historians and economists have denied any causal connection between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism, but they are able to deny this connection only by ignoring clear philosophical, economic, legal, sociological, and historical evidence demonstrating that Christianity is the source of capitalism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress, editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
"Table of Contents: Foreword | Politics | The Founder of Western Civilization | The Sine Qua Non of Enduring Freedom | Some Problems with Natural Law | The Political Philosophy of the Founding Fathers | The Bible and the Draft | The Messianic Character of American Foreign Policy | Truth and Foreign Policy | Compassionate Fascism | Conservatism: An Autopsy | Rightwing Radical Chic | The Reconstructionist Assault on Freedom | Roman Catholic Totalitarianism | The Relation of Church and State (Charles Hodge) | Abortion, the Christian, and the State | The Ethics and Economics of Health Care | The Chickens' Homecoming (John Whitehead) | The Coming Caesars (John Whitehead) | Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century | The Religious Wars of the Twenty-First Century | Economics: The Failure of Secular Economics | The Promise of Christian Economics | Teaching Economics from the Bible | The Neo-Evangelical Assault on Capitalism | The Reformed Assault on Capitalism | The Roman Catholic Assault on Capitalism | How Romanism Ruined America | Not Yours to Give (Edward Ellis) | Money, Freedom, and the Bible | The Case Against Indexation | Is Christianity Tied to Any Political or Economic System? | Ecology: The Abolition of Man | Scripture Index | Index | The Crisis of Our Time | Intellectual Ammunition."
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), The Grand Inquisitor's Second Coming.
"Totalitarianism is historically the most prevalent form of human government, from the tribal society in which all activities are regulated by the tribe or its rulers, the council, and witch doctor, to the totalitarianism of the Middle Ages when the Roman Church ruled all of life. . . . It is these more enduring forms of totalitarianism that will still be with us when the ghosts of Marx and Lenin are finally busted. . . . It is this new religiosity that will threaten the political, economic, religious, and social freedom of men in the twenty-first century. . . ." -- John W. Robbins
See also: The Grand Inquisitor, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/reviews/journal.asp?ID=070a.html
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century.
"This article was originally written in 1996. It was first published in 2006 in FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM: ESSAYS ON CHRISTIAN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS by John W. Robbins.
"By almost any measure, by virtually any criterion one selects, our fathers were freer and more civilized than we are, and their fathers had been freer and more civilized than they were."
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/281-Rebuilding_Freedom_in_America.pdf
Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of her System, 382 pages, ISBN: 0940931745 9780940931749.
"WITHOUT A PRAYER has been praised by U.S. Representative Ron Paul ("A brilliantly insightful analysis of Ayn Rand's influential philosophy"); Edmund Opitz of the Foundation for Economic Education ("A well-structured argument is a work of art; to follow this one is an exhilarating experience"); D. James Kennedy ("This is a powerful book -- a book of strong reasoning, sound apologetics, passionate persuasion, and brilliant logic"); and Jay E. Adams ("His chapters on epistemology and on values are worth the price of the book"). Dr. Robbins discusses not only the philosophy of Ayn Rand, but also criticizes the principal books of her disciples." -- The Trinity Foundation
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, ISBN: 0524065543 9780524065549. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. ATLA 1991-2638.
A magnificent catechism that sets forth the Crown Rights of The King of Glory and Lord of Lords. It also presents incontrovertible evidence that the United States Constitution is not a Christian document, and that it is, in fact, a slavery document.
"A manual of instruction, drawing from such notable authors as William Symington and J.R. Willson, presenting arguments and facts confirming and illustrating the 'Distinctive Principles' of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Chapters deal with: 'Christ's Mediatorial Dominion in general;' Christ's exclusive Headship over the Church;' 'The Supreme and Ultimate Authority of the Word of God in the Church;' Civil Government, the Moral Ordinance of God;' Christ's Headship over the Nations;' 'The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ;' The Word, or Revealed Will of God, the Supreme Law in the State;' 'The Duty of Nations, in their National Capacity, to acknowledge and support the True Religion:' 'The Spiritual Independence of the Church of Christ:' 'The Right and Duty of Dissent from an immoral Constitution of Civil Government;' 'The Duty of Covenanting, and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants;' 'The Application of these Principles to the Governments, where Reformed Presbyterians reside, in the form of a Practical Testimony;' and finally 'Application of the Testimony to the British Empire.' A most important book, as we approach (possibly) the end of the great apostasy and will be in need of preparing for the dawning of the glorious millennial blessings to come; the days prophesied in which the church 'shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings'." (Isa. 60:16), [Isaiah 60:16] -- Publisher
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from Section IV of THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM, by William Roberts
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_04_civil_government.html
See also: THE SCOTTISH COVENANTING STRUGGLE, ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD, AND THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION, SECRET PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, CONSPIRACY IN PHILADELPHIA: THE ORIGINS OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, and A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
*Rogers, Richard (1550?-1618), Judges, ISBN: 0851513778.
Richard Rogers was a contemporary of William Perkins (1558-1602).
"This for the Puritan period is THE work upon Judges. It is thoroughly plain and eminently practical. . . ." -- C.H. Spurgeon
"It [THE BOOK OF JUDGES -- compiler], provides a dramatic illustration of the effect of apostasy upon every aspect of life. The root cause of Israel's decline was that the covenant relationship with the Lord, with its requirement of absolute and loyal obedience to His commands, was broken. This led to disintegration in the political, religious, social, and family spheres and to a sharp increase in immorality. THE BOOK OF JUDGES serves as a reminder that a nation cannot live on its past glories. The author of JUDGES was, of course, a preacher to his own generation, but his message has a permanent and universal application, and may be summed up in the words of Proverbs 14:34:
Righteousness exalts a nation,"Israel's chronic inability to profit by its own bitter history is a solemn exhortation to profit from the lessons of experience, whether observed or experienced." -- A.E. Cundall
but sin in a reproach to any people. [Proverbs 14:34 ]
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Christianity and the State, ISBN: 9996717755. Available through Exodus Books.
"The need to return to a Biblical doctrine of civil government is evidenced by our century's worldwide drift into tyranny. Humanism invariably rushes in to fill the world's theological vacuums: the need of the hour is to restore a full-orbed, Biblical, theology of the state. This work sets forth that theology." -- GCB
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), The Politics of Pornography, ISBN: 0868840025 9780868840024. Available through Exodus Books.
"A detailed exposé of pornography with important chapters on such matters as its history and legal battles. . . . He includes in his discussion an examination of the underlying philosophical presuppositions, the pagan origin of the movement, and the violence that it fosters. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), The Glory, Majesty, Dominion and Power of Jesus Christ, 1643. Alternate title: A SERMON PREACHED TO THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS: AT THEIR LATE SOLEMNE FAST, WEDNESDAY, JANU. 31. 1643. BY SAMUEL RUTHERFURD (sic), PROFESSOR OF DIVINITIE IN THE UNIVERSITIE OF ST. ANDREWS. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. [Daniel 6:26], 1644. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available [THE GLORY, MAJESTY, DOMINION AND POWER OF JESUS CHRIST, 1643] on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9, #25, and #29.
"Here Rutherford covers a wide range of topics including Christ's kingship and dominion over civil governments, what lawful power (civil and ecclesiastical), is, God's providence, suffering (especially among those covenanted to Him), the oppression and martyrdom of the saints, the wrath of God, apologetics, the fear of God, the visible church, assurance and the weak believer, the free offer of the Gospel, the sovereignty of God, antinomianism, Arminianism, and much more. However, whatever the subject, Rutherford can be found focusing on and exalting the Lord Jesus Christ and His truth in a way that few others have been granted the ability to do -- notwithstanding the fact that he himself wrote, 'I have neither tongue nor pen to express to you the happiness of such as are in Christ.' (Letters of Samuel Rutherford, p. 47). Classic Rutherford, preached before some of the most powerful civil leaders of his day!" -- Publisher
"It hath been the sin of this Land, that when Episcopacy, anti-Christian Ceremonies, Superstition, and Will-worship were enjoined by Law, to pleasure an earthly King, you willingly followed after the command, against the direction of the King of Kings: and now hath the Lord delivered the people of the Land into the hand of their KING. And for this the Sword of the Lord hath gone through the Land." -- Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, ISBN: 0873779517. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF CIVIL POLICY: BEING A RESOLUTION OF FORTY THREE QUESTIONS CONCERNING PREROGATIVE, RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE, IN REFERENCE TO THE SUPREME PRINCE AND THE PEOPLE. / BY SAMUEL RUTHERFORD PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY OF ST ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #25.
" 'Lex, rex' is Latin for 'law is king.'
"LEX, REX is 'the great political text of the Covenanters.' (Johnston citing Innes in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 305). 'Rutherford was the first to formulate the great constitutional principle Lex est Rex -- the law is King . . . much of the doctrine has become the constitutional inheritance of all countries in modern times.'
"Gilmour writes [in SAMUEL RUTHERFORD], 'that, as regards religious fervour, scholastic subtlety of intellect, and intensity of ecclesiastical conviction, Samuel Rutherford is the most distinctively representative Scotsman in the first half of the seventeenth century'." -- Publisher
"Without a doubt one of the greatest books on political philosophy ever written. Rutherford here has penned a great Christian charter of liberty against all forms of civil tyranny -- vindicating the Scriptural duty to resist tyrants as an act of loyalty to God." -- Publisher
"That resistance to lawful authority -- even when that authority so called has, in point of fact, set at nought 'all law' -- is in no instance to be vindicated, will be held by those only who are the devotees of arbitrary power and passive obedience. The principles of Mr. Rutherford's LEX, REX, however obnoxious they may be to such men, are substantially the principles on which all government is founded, and without which the civil magistrate would become a curse rather than a blessing to a country. They are the very principles which lie at the basis of the British Constitution, and by whose tenure the House of Brunswick does at this very moment hold possession of the throne of these realms." -- Rev. Robert Burns, D.D., in his "Preliminary Dissertation" to Wodrow's Church History
Additional sources of text related to LEX REX are as follows:
"Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX, his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked, for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book [A FREE DISPUTATION AGAINST PRETENDED LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE -- compiler] should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. It is a sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment, and an affront to the holy God of Scripture)." -- Publisher
A HIND LET LOOSE by Alexander Shields is sometimes referred to as 'Lex, Rex, Volume Two.'
A Hind let Loose; or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
A Hind let Loose; or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ
"This book sets forth the Crown rights of King Jesus, against all usurpers in both church and state, giving a history of some of faithful sufferings endured by the elect, in maintaining this truth." -- Publisher
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
"This [THE DUE RIGHT OF PRESBYTERIES OR A PEACEABLE PLEA FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], could be considered the LEX, REX of church government -- another exceedingly rare masterpiece of Presbyterianism! Characterized by Walker as sweeping 'over a wider field than most'." -- Publisher
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People (1843)
http://archive.org/details/lexrexlawandpri00ruthgoog
Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, Samuel Rutherford
"Rutherford is to be praised for his teaching that the king is subject to the law of God. The Bible has nothing but condemnation for those who frame mischief by a law and declares rhetorically, Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? (Psalm 94:20). Deuteronomy 17 is the classic passage in defense of LEX, REX, wherein the king is charged to read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 17:19)." -- Publisher
http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htm
Lex, rex: the law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People, containing the reasons and causes of the defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland, and of their expedition for the ayd and help of their brethren of England. In which a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet, intituled, Sacro-sancta regum majestas, penned by J. Maxwell. By S. Rutherford. [Followed by], De jure regni apud Scotos; a dialogue, tr. by R. Macfarlan (repr. from the ed. of 1799).
http://books.google.com/books?id=jtYDAAAAQAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
http://www.constitution.org/vct/vindiciae1a.htm
Sandoz, Ellis, A Government of Laws: Political Theory, Religion, and the American Founding, ISBN: 082621360X 9780826213600.
Sandoz, Ellis (editor), Political Theory Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805), ISBN: 0865971765 9780865971769.
Sandoz, Ellis, The Politics of Truth and Other Untimely Essays: The Crisis of Civic Consciousness, ISBN: 0826212131 9780826212139.
"THE POLITICS OF TRUTH AND OTHER UNTIMELY ESSAYS explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of personal liberty and free government and provides a trenchant analysis of the crisis of civic consciousness endangering both of them today. The book addresses a range of issues in contemporary political philosophy and constitutional theory. These are seen to be all the more urgent in importance because of the surging aspirations for liberty in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet empire and the post-Cold War anomaly of crisis, malaise, and disarray in free government itself in America and in other bastions of modern democracy." -- Publisher
*Schuettinger, Robert, Lord Acton: Historian of Liberty, ISBN: 0875482945 9780875482941.
Includes appendix, bibliography, and index.
*Shipp, Kevin, From the Company of Shadows: With Excerpts From IN FROM THE COLD -- CIA SECRECY AND OPERATIONS, ISBN: 9780692017968 0692017968.
"According to Kevin Shipp, a former CIA Anti-Terrorism Specialist, our country is no longer a constitutionalist nation run by a government that abides by the rules. He claims it has been hijacked by the deep state and the shadow government, which he says is not one of the same, as many believe. He also claims that this has been going on since the assassination of President Kennedy. . . .
"Shipp explains that our 17 intelligence agencies fall under the deep state, and they often contribute to the cover ups committed by corrupt government officials. He used Hillary Clinton as an example. She was allowed to run weapons to terrorists in Benghazi through the secrecies of the shadow government, who covered up everything she did, and controlled the judicial system that would attempt to hold her accountable. More and more we are witnessing politicians and intelligence agents getting away with crimes, and the excuses for their release are so ridiculous that it makes you want to scream. But they don't care, because they know there is nothing we can do about it. . . .
"Wall Street plays a big part in the deep state as it also helps to fund the Military Industrial Complex. Wall Street attorneys helped form the CIA and it has been involved in the deep state and the shadow government since 1947." -- From "Deep State Beware"
"This is a detailed exposé covering multiple facets of government intelligence and secrecy." -- Publisher
"Kevin Shipp, a decorated CIA officer, held several sensitive high level positions, operating in over twenty foreign countries and participating in life threatening assignments. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"From 1953 to the present the federal government, and most notoriously the CIA, has used the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege to block cases of negligence, discrimination, shut down whistle-blower claims, prevent other branches of government from conducting investigations . . . and block contractors from resolving business conflicts. . ." -- Reader's Comment
"Shipp provides a stunning example of the CIA's concealment of negligence by including excerpts from his book on the subject, blacked out by CIA censors. He spent months going back and forth, line by line, word by word, negotiating with the CIA for the book's release. . . .
"Shipp courageously exposes the current stealth jihad movement operating in the US and lays out the techniques terrorist organizations use to carry out their attacks." -- Reader's Comment
"It's difficult to understand the treatment by the CIA of one of their officials and long time employee. His treatment by them was 'off the charts,' and some of his co-workers, superiors and others were 'off the reservation.'
"I recommend this work to anyone interested in how our loyal, patriotic public servants are treated when they don't adhere to a direction that is contrary to our Country. -- Reader's Comment
Sider, Ronald J., and Diane Knippers, Toward an Evangelical Public Policy: Political Strategies for the Health of the Nation, ISBN: 0801065380 9780801065385.
"Contents: Foreword / Ted Haggard | Introduction / Ronald J. Sider and Diane Knippers
Part I. Learning from the past. Seeking a place / John C. Green | A history of the public policy resolutions of the National Association of Evangelicals / Richard Cizik | Evangelical denominations at the foundations of modern American and British social-political structures and policies / Paul de Vries | The mainline protestant tradition in the twentieth century / Max L. Stackhouse and Raymond R. Roberts | Insights from Catholic social ethics and political participation / Kristen E. Heyer
Part II. Toward an evangelical methodology. Toward an evangelical ethical methodology / David P. Gushee and Dennis P. Hollinger -- Foundations for an evangelical political philosophy / Nicholas Wolterstorff | Justice, human rights, and government / Ronald J. Sider | Citizenship, civil society, and the church / Joseph Loconte
Part III. Central themes for an evangelical framework. The sanctity of life in the twenty-first century / Nigel M. de S. Cameron | Caring for the vulnerable / Clive Calver and Galen Carey | Family integrity / Tom Minnery and Glenn T. Stanton | Stewardship / R. Scott Rodin | The ethics of war and peacemaking / Glen H. Stassen | Human rights / Paul Marshall | pt. IV. Implementation. In the arena / Stephen Monsma and Mark Rodgers."
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), On the Doctrine of Human Rights, a series of messages [digital files].
"Every futile attempt to create rights which do not exist results in the lose of rights which do exist. The modern theory of political rights has no philosophic or theological foundation. It rests upon human democratic assumptions concerning the nature of man, which conception has absolutely no foundation in the political, or the social, or the religious philosophy which produced it." -- C. Gregg Singer commenting on "human rights" in general, and the right to abortion in particular, in his lecture
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1, the first in a series of 24 lectures entitled "Apologetics" delivered in November 1979 in Decatur, Georgia, which follow his book FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979).
For more from Singer on the doctrine of human rights see also:
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.Apologetics #06: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism #2 Apologetics #07: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism Apologetics #12: The Impact of Darwin and Social Darwinism #1 Church History #05: The Early Church #4 Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
"Human rights emerge from human duty and from no other place. And beginning with Locke and Jefferson they removed them from their Biblical foundation. . . .
"What are our real rights? We have the right to life because God created us in his image. . . .
"Our duties to God are the source of our rights. And any other concept of human rights will inevitably, by their very nature, destroy that which they seek to protect. Man was created to glorify God, and in his glorification of God he receives his rights because they are the product, they spring from his duty."Decline of American Culture #06: Decline in the 1830's: Philosophical Revolution in Political Thought
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964), ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
Smith, Guy, Guns and Control: A Nonpartisan Guide to Understanding Mass Public Shootings, Gun accidents, Crime, Public Carry, Suicides, Defensive use, and More, an e-book, ISBN: 9781510760080 1510760083.
"A Nonpartisan guide that arms both sides of the gun control debate. The slogan of the Gun Facts Project is 'We are neither pro-gun nor anti-gun. We are pro-math and anti-BS.' From project creator Guy Smith comes GUNS AND CONTROL: A NONPARTISAN GUIDE TO MASS PUBLIC SHOOTINGS, GUN ACCIDENTS, CRIME, PUBLIC CARRY, SUICIDES, DEFENSIVE USE, AND MORE. No matter what side of the aisle one is on, people are baffled by gun control. This book is designed to be a guide to thoughtful discussion; it arms readers with facts and the logic behind conflicting arguments and leaves emotional rhetoric to the pundits and focuses on the thorny issues of the debate. GUNS AND CONTROL will: Guide readers step-wise through each of the major gun control topics: mass public shootings, assault weapons, street crime, suicide, private carry, defensive gun use, gun availability, and more. Help readers gain the broad perspective and the full set of important, true facts, just in time for the 2020 Presidential Election. Arm readers against some of the more egregious misinformation. Support readers in formulating their own conclusions. GUNS AND CONTROL will grant high-level perspectives 'for example, that mass public shootings are a global phenomenon, occurring in nearly all developed nations' and explore details to understand the causes, and thus possible cures, of gun violence-related problems. Was the push for de-institutionalization in mental health management a contributing factor to the rise in mass public shootings? GUNS AND CONTROL will help readers find answers to such questions. What the public lacks is a clear, unbiased, broad perspective on the realities of guns, explained in simple, straightforward, and entertaining ways. GUNS AND CONTROL will demystify these misunderstood aspects of who uses and misuses guns." -- Publisher
*Smith, Lee, The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President, 2020, ISBN: 1546059555 9781546059554.
"The impeachment of Donald Trump and the unsuccessful attempt to remove him from office is a continuation of the four-year-long plot against the president. Beginning in late 2015, political operatives, intelligence officials, and the press pushed a conspiracy theory about Trump -- he was a Russian asset and they spied on his campaign and his presidency in order to undo an election. Because the ultimate goal of the anti-Trump operation is not simply to topple the president but rather to change the character and constitution of the country, the Deep State's machinations didn't stop even after Trump was cleared of charges of 'colluding' with Moscow. Their efforts became even more fierce, more desperate, and more divisive, threatening to scar America permanently. In their zeal to bring down President Trump, Deep State conspirators had unwittingly revealed the origins of the anti-Trump operation and exposed corruption at the very highest levels of the Democratic party -- including former Vice President Biden and his boss, Barack Obama. Lee Smith brings to this story the same incisive reporting and commentary that distinguished his runaway bestseller, THE PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. His investigation, identifying crimes and abuses committed by senior US officials, was later confirmed by a major Department of Justice report. For THE PERMANENT COUP, Smith again enjoys unrivaled and exclusive access to the main players defending America and uncovering Deep State crimes -- including Congressman Devin Nunes and the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani." -- Publisher
Snider, Noah, When There's no Place Like Home, ISBN: 0840733240 9780840733245.
"Snider, once a homeless individual, writes of the plight of the homeless and presents some solutions." -- GCB
The Homeless Handbook
http://www.infoxchange.net.au/hhb/index.html
Solt, Leo F., Saints in Arms: Puritanism and Democracy in Cromwell's Army.
*Sowell, Thomas, A Conflict of Visions, ISBN: 9780465002054 0465002056.
"Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or for centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. The analysis of this pattern is the purpose of A CONFLICT OF VISIONS. Its theme is that the enduring political controversies of the past two centuries reflect radically different visions of the nature of man. Issues as diverse as criminal justice, income distribution, or war and peace repeatedly show those with one vision lining up on one side and those with another vision lining up on the other.
"Dr. Thomas Sowell describes A CONFLICT OF VISIONS as 'the culmination of thirty years of work in the history of ideas' -- a field in which he established his professional reputation years before writing any of his well-known books on ethnicity and other social issues. Dr. Sowell and his books have received a number of awards and honors, and have been translated into several languages. He has been a consultant to three administrations of both parties, as well as scholar-in-residence at three "think tanks." He is now a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, California." -- Publisher
*Spencer, Robert, Rating America's Presidents: An America-first Look at who is Best, who is Overrated, and who was an Absolute Disaster, ISBN: 1642935352 9781642935356.
"This book rates the presidents not on the basis of criteria developed by socialist internationalist historians, but on their fidelity to the United States Constitution and to the powers, and limits to those powers, of the president as delineated by the Founding Fathers. America's presidents are rated on the extent to which they put America First -- not in the sense of a narrow isolationism, but whether they really advanced the interests of the American people.
"This upends the conventional wisdom about a great deal of American history and present-day reality, and is intended to do so. This book offers what should be the only criteria for rating the occupants of the White House: were they good for America?" -- Publisher
Starr, Paul, Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform, ISBN: 9780300171099 0300171099.
"Tracing healthcare reform from its beginnings to its current uncertain prospects, Paul Starr argues that the United States ensnared itself in a trap through policies that satisfied enough of the public and so enriched the healthcare industry as to make the system difficult to change." -- Publisher
"This is a succinct and subtle exploration of the long-time debate over nationalized healthcare in the U.S. and about why 'HillaryCare' lost and 'ObamaCare' was enacted. The fundamental problem, which Starr calls the 'policy trap,' is that important segments of society get enough out of a woefully inefficient system to resist, and to be suspicious of, any reform. The deductibility of health insurance premiums by employers and nationalized healthcare for the elderly via Medicare means that the most important voting blocs in society do well under the system without really appreciating the ridiculously high cost of what they are provided. Middle class people with jobs and senior citizens vote -- and they are invested in the status quo.
"Starr also probes into the darker side of American society -- the tolerance of suffering by others rationalized by the notion that I earned what I'm getting. Unlike any other advanced Western society, Americans question the right of citizens to get some minimum level of healthcare. And the polarization on this issue has gotten worse -- e.g., Starr cites polls showing that the percentage of Republicans who agreed with some such right has fallen from 37 percent to the low double digits.
"While Starr does not espouse an explicitly Marxian message, the implication of his argument is that the healthcare debate is simply class warfare by other means. The political branches protect, respond to, and even subsidize the economically powerful in society, while the dispossessed are frozen out, and then are blamed for their own predicament (in American mythology all can be obtained by effort and hard work, so if you can't provide healthcare to your family it's only because you're not applying yourself). The healthcare debate brings together all the contradictions of the American character and sets the stage for a raw battle between the haves and the dispossessed in an increasingly polarized economy and society.
"Whether or not you agree with Starr's progressive-left point of view, his recounting of the history of reform and the still uncertain future of that reform is excellent." -- Reader's Comment
"Paul Starr is professor of sociology and public affairs, Princeton University, and cofounder and coeditor of The American Prospect. His 1984 book THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN MEDICINE won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and the Bancroft Prize in American history. A senior advisor on health policy in the Clinton White House, he writes frequently on national politics." -- Publisher
Stavely, William, An Appeal to Light, or, The Tenets of Deists Examined and Disapproved: And the Authority of the Holy Scriptures Asserted and Vindicated. Alternate title: APPEAL TO LIGHT: REPLY TO THOMAS PAINE'S AGE OF REASON.
Stewart, Alexander, Roman Dogma and Scripture Truth. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #16.
Stormer, John A., None Dare Call it Treason: The Carefully Documented Story of America's Retreat From Victory.
"The thoroughly documented warnings concerning the inroads of communism in America should have been enough to stir millions of Americans to action. Many of us were so awakened and stirred that we recognized that we needed to be involved as never before. We will never forget this reading and how it answered so many questions that had plagued us. My main question was why we had allowed communism to take control of Cuba, a nation just 90 miles from our shores. Answer: The American press was already sufficiently leftist that this action was condoned and accepted by the media. Fidel Castro was promoted as an 'agrarian reformer,' not a communist. Our State Department covered his communist connections.
"Stormer is a dedicated man who spent four years researching his 236-page book. It was not to be discredited. He was unbiased, as a former editor and general manager of a leading electrical engineering magazine, enriching his conclusions through some 800 references from a multitude of sources including major newspapers, Congressional documents, speeches, hearings of Department of Justice, National Review, Time magazine, Senate reports, Newsweek, Human Events, House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, Sports Afield, The Worker, Reece Committee, and dozens more." -- Jack McLain
None Dare Call it Treason
https://archive.org/details/NoneDareCallItTreasonJohnStormer
Swancara, Frank, Thomas Jefferson Versus Religious Oppression.
"Swancara was a journalist, wrote book in his old age, apparently had an obsession with 'religious oppression,' Jefferson was a hero of his, he actually studied the collection of Jefferson's library, Jefferson gave it to the Library of Congress when it was formed.
"Swancara was godless and argued everything from the wrong side, but it is the best listing of public documents and legislation calling for religious tests for office holders that I have seen, goes back to English law which prohibited a man from being a member of Parliament unless he believed there was going to be a final judgment and our actions have eternal consequences. Swancara unwittingly produced a valuable work for the reformer." -- Reader's Comment
Syfert, Scott, The First American Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775, ISBN: 9780786475599 0786475595.
"The author Syfert is a corporate attorney and one of the co-founders of the May 20th Society. It is one of two organizations working admirably to preserve the history of 'MecDeck,' and advancing the study of the North Carolina backcountry's role in the American Revolution.[1] Syfert believes that the Mecklenburg delegates did indeed declare independence on May 20, 1775, although he readily acknowledges that the existing evidence does not easily lead to a conclusion one way or another. The inconclusive documentation, his legal training, and his desire to engage with a popular audience inform the structure of his book. Unlike a prosecutor tasked with proving a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, Syfert adopts the posture of a defense lawyer seeking to cast suspicion on the declaration's doubters, a group that includes academic historians. The author presents evidence from both sides of the argument. We, the readers, are the jury, and it is up to us to decide who is right.
"Where Syfert is more successful and on very engaging ground is in pursuing his book's second goal. Parts 3 through 5 explore the contested history of the Mecklenburg Declaration from the late eighteenth century into the modern era. What the author shows in these chapters is that questions over the document's authenticity became a proxy for the ways in which a local community and state far from Philadelphia, Boston, or Williamsburg laid claim to the legacy of the American Revolution. This is the book's most valuable contribution. Like the early nineteenth-century debate between Virginians and the nation over whether or not George Washington's mortal remains should slumber at Mount Vernon or in the United States Capitol building, citizens of Charlotte and North Carolinians more broadly envisioned the declaration as their great contribution to the revolutionary movement.[2] In fact, Virginians touting their central role in the revolution led to the 1819 publication of a copy of the alleged declaration in the Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette. McNitt's son had transcribed it from his father's suspect notes." -- James Ambuske
James Ambuske. Review of Syfert, Scott, The First American Declaration of Independence?: The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775. H-War, H-Net Reviews. May, 2016.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=44251
Worldcat.org search "su:Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence"
Over 180 citations.
https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=su%3AMecklenburg+Declaration+of+Independence.&qt=hot_subject
*Thoburn, Robert, The Christian and Politics.
"In Part II he develops a Biblical view of civil government. He analyzes economics, education, welfare, tax policy, planning and zoning, and foreign policy from a Biblical Perspective. . . .
The author "served in the Virginia house of Delegates from 1978-1980." -- Publisher
Thomas, Cal, Uncommon Sense: A Layman's Briefing Book on the Issues, ISBN: 0943497922 9780943497921,
*Tocqueville, Alexis de, Seymour Drescher (translator), Gertrude Himmelfarb (introduction), Memoir on Pauperism, ISBN: 156663167X 9781566631679.
"In this neglected memoir, written just after the first volume of DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, Tocqueville seeks to understand why the most impoverished countries of Europe in his time had the fewest paupers, while the most opulent nation -- England -- had the most." -- Publisher
*Trump, Donald J., Crippled America: How to Make America Great, ISBN: 1501137964 9781501137969.
"Look at the state of the world right now. It's a terrible mess, and that's putting it mildly. There has never been a more dangerous time. The politicians and special interests in Washington, DC, are directly responsible for the mess we are in. So why should we continue listening to them?
"It's time to bring America back to its rightful owners -- the American people.
"I'm not going to play the same game politicians have been playing for decades -- all talk, no action, while special interests and lobbyists dictate our laws. I am shaking up the establishment on both sides of the political aisle because I can't be bought. I want to bring America back, to make it great and prosperous again, and to be sure we are respected by our allies and feared by our adversaries.
"It's time for action. Americans are fed up with politics as usual. And they should be! In this book, I outline my vision to make America great again, including: how to fix our failing economy; how to reform health care so it is more efficient, cost-effective, and doesn't alienate both doctors and patients; how to rebuild our military and start winning wars -- instead of watching our enemies take over -- while keeping our promises to our great veterans; how to ensure that our education system offers the resources that allow our students to compete internationally, so tomorrow's job-seekers have the tools they need to succeed; and how to immediately bring jobs back to America by closing our doors to illegal immigrants, and pressuring businesses to produce their goods at home.
"This book is my blueprint for how to Make America Great Again. It's not hard. We just need someone with the courage to say what needs to be said. We won't find that in Washington, DC." -- Publisher
Trump, Donald, Our Journey Together, ISBN: 9781735503721 173550372X.
"Donald J. Trump launched the most extraordinary political movement in history, dethroning political dynasties, defeating the Washington Establishment, and becoming the first true outsider elected as President of the United States. For this first time, this incredible journey is documented in an incredible photo book featuring over 300 photographs!
"Relive the unforgettable moments of President Trump's time in the White House: building the southern border wall; cutting America's taxes; confirming almost 300 federal judges and 3 Supreme Court justices; rebuilding our military; creating Space Force; dealing with Kim Jong-Un, President Xi, President Putin, and many other world leaders; and battling liberals on two impeachment witch hunts!" -- Publisher
"President Donald J. Trump's first official book since leaving the White House. This photo book captures the greatness of the last four years unlike anything else that has been published. Every photograph has been hand-picked by President Donald J. Trump, every caption written by him, some in his own handwriting!" -- Publisher
45 Books
https://45books.com/
*Trump, Donald J., Time to Get Tough: Make America Great Again! ISBN: 1621574954 9781621574958.
"A New York Times bestseller!
"2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has a plan to make America great again.
"President Obama has been a disaster for this country. He's wrecked our economy, opened our borders to violent criminals, saddled our children with debt, and gone around the world apologizing for America--as if the greatest nation in the world needed to apologize for being the land of opportunity and freedom that we were before Obama became president.
"Now, America looks like a broken country -- stripped of jobs, stripped of wealth, stripped of respect. And what does President Obama do about it? He plays nice with the very same foreign governments who are eager to watch America burn.
"This can't go on. And if Donald J. Trump has anything to say about it, it won't.
"In his New York Times bestselling book, TIME TO GET TOUGH, Trump has the answers America has been looking for, including:
*Truth in Accounting, Financial State of the Union 2021.
*The National Debt is Worse Than Advertised
"When you include unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare, that actual US debt stands at $123.11 trillion, according to the 'Financial State of the Union 2021' published by Truth in Accounting.
"In order to pay off all of Uncle Sam's liabilities, every taxpayer in the US would have to write a check for $796,000. . . .
"The federal government has $5.95 trillion in assets and $129.06 trillion in liabilities. If it were a private company, the US government would be bankrupt."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2021/04/23/the-national-debt-is-worse-than-advertised/
About our National Debt
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt
Ubel, Peter A., Free Market Madness: Why Human Nature is at Odds With Economics -- And why it Matters, ISBN: 1422126099 9781422126097.
"In this book, Peter Ubel argues that the combination of human nature and free markets can be downright dangerous for our health and well-being. That government must step in and further regulate the markets that reward those who exploit our weaknesses. He shows that by understanding and controlling the factors that go into our decisions, we can all begin to stop the damage we do to our bodies, our finances, and our economy as a whole." -- Publisher
Vincent, Lynn, and Robert Stacy McCain, Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party, ISBN: 1595550240 9781595550248.
"The corruption of the Democratic Party is so pervasive, so routine, that each crime in itself is often a mere footnote on the evening news. But taken together, the party's history points up a criminal breeding ground, more than a century old, that incubates corruption, nurtures blind loyalty, and spawns policy decisions rooted in the subversion of liberty and the rule of law. From bribery, kickbacks, and sex scandals to espionage, terrorism, and rape, DONKEY CONS chronicles, for the first time, the panorama of Democratic crime and corruption, showing how the party developed a 'criminal personality' that hatches policies hazardous to the constitutional rights of every American.
"Thoroughly researched, using anecdotes and intimate details, this book shows the serial corruption of the Clinton presidency wasn't an anomaly, but the logical legacy of the modern Democratic ethos. As author McCain says, 'The Democratic Party is like the Gambino mob with matching federal funds'." -- Publisher
"DONKEY CONS reveals:
*Vinet, Alexandre Rodolphe (1797-1847), An Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, and upon the separation of church and state considered with reference to the fulfilment of that duty (London: Jackson and Walford, 1843), Microfiche (Non-circulating) Call Number: Microfiche 1989-0709
"This duty [public acknowledgement of faith in Christ by leaders] is, even in our own times, very imperfectly understood. The best illustration of its importance and obligation ever given, is to be found in [Alexandre] Vinet's masterly treatise, "On the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction." -- John Brown (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, II:339
"A religious doctrine involves practical consequences so important, and its effects upon individual and social life are so infallible and so profound, that it can never be contemplated with indifference by the mass of society, and much less by their rulers. We pray you to observe, amongst other things, that the stronger the feeling of dependence to which religion reduces the individual, the more she invests him, on the other hand, with a lofty independence. All religion is freedom. By introducing us into the service of one master, she emancipates us from the dominion of all others. If she does not altogether do away with dependencies of another order, she transforms them from absolute into relative ones. We still belong to society, we are perhaps linked to it by closer ties than before; but it is in a mediate manner, for man cannot serve two masters. It is this independence which exasperates the rulers of this world, and indeed, for the most part, all those who do not share in it. It is this sacred retreat of liberty which they would invade -- this freedom, of which they would deprive us; as if the numerous sacrifices which from time to time liberty has made for the common weal were insufficient, as if it were not enough, or rather as if it were nothing, for us to have devoted all our bodily powers and all our worldly goods to the service of society, so long as this offering is not completed by the sacrifice of the soul. It is spiritual domination, dominion over the soul, of which despotism, whether of princes or of the people, is especially desirous. Thus, when a tyrant has bereft a nation of all its liberties, until throughout the realm his will has become law, his ambition having nothing else wherewith to satiate its appetite, directs itself against religion. Thenceforward, having subjugated the bodies of men, he directs his attacks against their souls. It is because he cannot but be sensible that dominion over souls -- what do you say? -- over one single soul, is as much superior to that over bodies, as the soul itself is superior to its envelope of clay. He cannot endure the humiliation of knowing that there is a sphere in which the most obscure man, by the force of sympathy alone, wields a greater power than his own. A deep-rooted and bitter feeling of envy takes possession of him; he can enjoy no more repose, until moral force shall have yielded to the pressure of physical force -- until the second Mordecai shall have bowed down to this second Haman -- until the soul, by dethroning itself, shall have delivered him from this odious rivalry. And should he encounter in this enterprise an unlooked-for resistance, his impatience becomes fury, and he destroys those whom he cannot subdue. This has been the origin of many religious persecutions, and it discloses the secret motives of those atrocities by which some have been distinguished.
"It does not follow, however, that all the evils with which the world has been inundated in the name of religion, are to be referred to this cause alone. They have originated in that preeminently just idea, that religion gives the true signification of every man, and of the whole of society; that there is nothing more deeply seated in us, nothing which more decisively determines what we are; and that to declare what we believe, is at the same time, and as a matter of necessity, to declare what we wish to be. The influence of a lordly spirit apart, it is not astonishing that the social power has everywhere, more or less, attempted to regulate the faith of the citizens and the instructions of the priesthood. Nor is it surprising that the priesthood, in aid of the state, have themselves attempted to dictate in a matter of this importance. For the suppression of this evil, the assistance of ages has been necessary, and this has not proved sufficient; the veto of public opinion has been also needed. Perhaps in certain countries something further has been required -- the progress of religious indifference. But nowhere is the fire extinguished, because nowhere is man changed; he will never witness unmoved, the energetic manifestation of religious principle; he may be indulgent to philosophical religions, or to religious philosophy, which penetrates not to the very sources of will and of action; but he will be, with his own full knowledge and consent, severe upon genuine faith. And why? because man possessing genuine faith, rises to his highest elevation; an elevation to which it is necessary that others should rise also, not indeed to rule over him (for this is impossible), but to treat with him, and to be at peace together. This is the true position and individuality of each renewed man, and everything is put in requisition to annul, subdue, and modify it.
"We dwell no longer upon these different attempts, but return to the principle. We find that in the judgment of the community, the religious conviction of a man moulds his character, estimates his worth, and foretells his life. It is the invisible source of many efforts, and often of much violence. Well, then, we infer [sic] unhesitatingly, that the faith of a member of society cannot remain either a mystery or a matter of doubt to those who surround him. If, as we have sought to establish a former part of this work, the spiritual unity of society, its reality in the elevated sense of that word, depends on the mutual interchange of sentiments; and if that individual only can be said to belong to the community, with whose character she is acquainted, it must be especially in the sphere of religious convictions that this truth is apparent; we may even go further, and say, that although we might keep our sentiments on other subjects to ourselves, those that we entertain respecting religion could not be concealed. For our religious convictions imbue us so thoroughly and practically, that society knows not what she possesses in us, except as she knows what we are with respect to God.
"This fact is more conspicuous, we admit, with reference to the Christian religion than to any other. In comparison with it, all other systems of faith are superficial; and we may remark in passing, that this is the reason why Christianity has drawn upon itself, and even excited among its followers, more intolerance than any other religion. The experimental character of its doctrines, coming in contact with the diverse passions of the human heart, has enkindled in the midst of society an active and devouring flame; and its profession has occasioned a host of outrages and calamities. Christianity is radical in the highest degree; radical in morals. It uproots one life, it implants another. Of all religions, it alone is in direct hostility with human nature in its fallen condition, as it is also the only religion which coincides with that same nature in all that sin has not polluted; at once the most human, and the least human of all systems; appearing to grant us everything, and to refuse us everything, but, in reality, granting everything to humanity, and refusing everything to sin. No religion consequently so effectually reforms the moral being; in such a manner, that the complexion of our life and conduct depends on whether we are or are not Christians, and upon what sort of Christians we are.
"We should find it impracticable to attempt to distinguish between the doctrines of Christianity and its morals; between what is called its natural and universal morality, and its peculiar and arbitrary doctrines. Christian doctrine is morality -- Christian morality; to wish to distinguish between the two is to desire to divide a stream from its source. Christian doctrine is no sooner received than it regulates the conduct; the character of God becomes a model for man; what God is, man ought to be; and inasmuch as God in the Scriptures is invested with attributes which belong not to human nature, so also man, by means of the Gospel, is invested with a character which nature had not impressed upon him; it makes him a new man in every sense of the term: a man peculiar and extraordinary in the eyes of nature, but in every case a man, who, by the judgment of that very nature, is approved and esteemed. To declare our opinion upon Christian doctrine avails much; it is in fact to profess certain principle of conduct, and to attach ourselves to one or another system of morality; it is to reveal our inward man, to publish the operations of conscience; it is to give the standard of our judgments, and the rule of our actions.
"We do well to avow it: whenever we revert to the considerations which most forcibly recommend a duty, we revert to the greatest difficulties in the way of its accomplishment; indeed, in most cases, to point out the motive, is to recognize the difficulty. In the present case, for example, nothing can render candour more difficult than that which enforces its obligation. It is just because such a religious doctrine, of necessity involves such a principle of morality, and such a rule of conduct; it is precisely because it is a disclosure of inward man, that so many persons are averse to declare to what doctrine they adhere. And it is sometimes because their opinion condemns them, sometimes because it elevates them, not so much in itself as in the characteristics and practical consequences with which public opinion has invested it. It is painful to excite repugnance or aversion, and it is sometimes still more painful to excite expectations which we feel but too conscious we cannot fulfill. If it were not so, why should we make a secret of our religious opinions, when we are at no pains to conceal any other? Why, when we are open and unreserved upon all the rest, should we not allow free expression to our thoughts upon this, the noblest of subjects? Why should communications of this nature be so generally regarded as the acme of candour and the pledge of intimacy? Why is there no real union, no true communion of soul, until both parties have expressed what they think, and above all, what they feel upon invisible and infinite subjects? Why do beings long united by the closest ties of affection, as soon as spiritual communion is formed between them, discover with surprise, that up to that period they had really never known, understood, or loved each other? -- that, as Montaigne expresses it, there was wanting to their friendship 'a certain inexplicable, yet essential power, the mediatrix of that union;' or that (as is really the fact), 'God is the true medium of true friendship?' All such instance go to confirm the truth of what we have said. A great effect supposes a powerful force -- a powerful force is employed only against a formidable resistance, and a formidable resistance has no place but in opposition to an urgent necessity. Here the necessity is a moral one -- it is a duty; an evident, and urgent, but a painful duty; for the consequences, even limiting them to their narrowest range, and considering none but those which are developed in the bosom of private relations, these consequences are, it must be confessed, of a startling character.
"Nevertheless, if regarded only in the light of morality and natural reason, this candour, which appears so difficult and dangerous, would be found to possess real advantages, whilst reserve would have none but what are false and deceptive. Candour would break the ice which dissimulation thickens and consolidates from day to day; it would procure a more lasting peace; it would put the seal to confidence and friendship. You dread a storm: any storm would be preferable to the dead calm in which you live, -- a calm without peace and without security; for since no one can suppose that you are altogether destitute of religious prepossessions, that you have not some inward conviction to disclose, it will become a matter either of dread or of desire that you should disclose it. This very feeling of anxiety will be an evil in your social relations; if your connexions are desirous of it, when you are averse to making it, their importunity will disturb your peace; on the contrary, if they are averse to its manifestation, when you yourself desire it, they will avoid your company; there will of necessity be in your social relations something painful, constrained, and, in the end, insupportable. If they neither desire nor fear it, it must be because they are not acquainted with your character, and have no desire to become so, because they are not solicitous about your most important interests -- in other words, because they do not love you. And as between a mind occupied with spiritual things and one that is not, there is a wide gulf fixed, as true intimacy between two persons so different is altogether impossible, it is the duty of the more serious of the two, to sound the mind of his friend by disclosing his own, to provide a declaration by declaring himself. Every connexion founded upon a voluntary and designedly prolonged misunderstanding, every factitious union between minds pursuing directly opposite courses, is contrary to human dignity. . . ." -- Alexander Vinet (1797-1847), and Charles Theodore Jones (translator), An Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, pp. 73-81, and Vinet on Freedom
Watson, Thomas (1620-1686), Religion our True Interest, or, Practical Notes Upon the Third Chapter of Malachy the Sixteen, Seventeen and Eighteen Verses [Malachi 3:16,17,18]: Seasonable for the Times / by Thomas Watson . . . 1682.
Watts, Duncan, Dictionary of American Government and Politics, ISBN: 9781782683780 178268378X.
"This DICTIONARY offers a fresh, up-to-date look at US government and politics, explaining and where necessary demystifying the key terms used in discussion of the political system. Major figures, events, ideas, movements and Supreme Court cases relevant to a study of the American political system are included with the aim of allowing readers to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the area. The DICTIONARY also raises key issues and areas of contention and academic debate. Coverage is comprehensive, with c. 400 entries, each providing analysis of the subject. Terms are presented in an A-Z format with cross-referencing where appropriate." -- Publisher
Weaver, John, The Christian and Civil Government (Marlborough, NH [Plymouth Rock Foundation, Inc., Fisk Mill, P.O. Box 577, Marlborough 03455]: Plymouth Rock Foundation), ISBN: 0962637920 9780962637926.
Available on video or audio cassettes [audio file]. Seven lectures include:
The Institution and Nature of Government"These lectures on THE CHRISTIAN AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT are powerful. Powerful in the tradition of those early American pastors whose pulpits were the cradle of America's liberty." -- Publisher
"God is The Supreme Sovereign, all authority rests with Him, lesser authorities are accountable and responsible to Him."
The Covenantal Nature of Government
"We are responsible to stop wickedness in high places. If we do not strive to do so, we will be judged along with the wicked."
The Purpose of Government
"Government is to serve and glorify God. It's twofold purpose is (a) to protect those who do good and (b) to punish those who do evil."
Are we Always Required to Obey our Rulers?
"When man's law goes against God's law 'we must obey God rather than men'."
Is it Always Rebellion to Resist Authority?
"Resistance is rebellion only when it goes against lawful authority (Acts 4:19)."
Methods of Resistance
"Covers verbal defiance, legislation and the courts, flight, self-defense."
The Pastor as Magistrate
"The pastor is the spiritual magistrate. In his responsibility and accountability to the higher authority he is the equal of the civil magistrate.
*Weaver, Richard M., Ideas Have Consequences, ISBN: 9780226090061 022609006X.
"Originally published in 1948, at the height of post-World War II optimism and confidence in collective security, IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES uses 'words hard as cannonballs' to present an unsparing diagnosis of the ills of the modern age. Widely read and debated at the time of its first publication, the book is now seen as one of the foundational texts of the modern conservative movement. In its pages, Richard M. Weaver argues that the decline of Western civilization resulted from the rising acceptance of relativism over absolute reality. In spite of increased knowledge, this retreat from the realist intellectual tradition has weakened the Western capacity to reason, with catastrophic consequences for social order and individual rights. But Weaver also offers a realistic remedy. These difficulties are the product not of necessity but of intelligent choice. And, today, as decades ago, the remedy lies in the renewed acceptance of absolute reality and the recognition that ideas-like actions-have consequences. This expanded edition of the classic work contains a foreword by New Criterion editor Roger Kimball that offers insight into the rich intellectual and historical contexts of Weaver and his work and an afterword by Ted J. Smith III that relates the remarkable story of the book's writing and publication." -- Publisher
"Before THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND, there was IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Nearly two decades before Bloom, Richard M. Weaver rhetorician, Southern agrarian sage, and a founding father of the postwar conservative revival published this spirited disquisition on the Western intellectual tradition." -- Reader's Comment
Wells, William V., The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, 3 volumes, ISBN: 0836950321 9780836950328.
*Whitehead, John W., Battlefield America: The war on the American People, ISBN: 9781590793091 1590793099.
"Author paints a portrait of an evolving American police state as police authority expands into extensions of the military, and government's intrusions undermine basic freedoms guaranteed to American citizens under the Constitution, turning Americans into enemy combatants who are spied upon, raided, manhandled, silenced, locked up, shot at, and denied due process of the law." -- Publisher
John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org.
Wildmon, Donald E., The Home Invaders, ISBN: 0896935213 9780896935211.
"An analysis of TV and the media, and how you can help stem the mind-polluting tide seeking to submerge us all. . . ." -- GCB
Wildmon, Donald, and R. Nulton, The Man the Networks Love to Hate, ISBN: 0917851145 9780917851148.
"How he fights media porn -- and how you can, too."
Willard, Samuel (1639-1707), The Character of a Good Ruler as it was Recommended in a Sermon Preached Before His Excellency the Governour, and the Honourable Counsellors, and Assembly of the Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New-England, May 30, 1694: Which was the day for election of counsellors for that province, by Samuel Willard.
Samuel Willard was pastor of a Church of Christ in Boston and Vice-President of Harvard College. See his other works.
*Willson, James McLeod (1809-1866), Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans 13:1-7 (1853), ISBN: 0524079293 9780524079294. Alternate title: THE ESTABLISHMENT AND LIMITS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT: AN EXPOSITION OF ROMANS 13:1-7. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available in THE DEACON: AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE, DUTIES AND EXERCISE OF THE OFFICE OF DEACON, IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans 13:1-7
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/6/2/civil-government-an-eexposition-of-romans-xiii-1-7
Wines, E.C., and Paul R. McDade, The Roots of the American Republic, ISBN: 0942516230 9780942516234.
"Wines' work is eminently practical and thoroughly spiritual as it gives us systematic exposition of the divine principles and everlasting truths that under girded the Old Testament Hebrew Commonwealth. This book baptizes the U.S. Constitution in Scripture, but fails to recognize fatal omissions in the realm of covenant and the religious test oath. Extremely valuable nonetheless." -- Publisher
Wines, E.C., and Louis F. DeBoer, The Hebrew Republic. Alternate title: BOOK II OF COMMENTARY ON THE LAWS OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A fascinating treatise in political science showing that the ideological origins of the American Republic lie in the ancient Hebrew Republic, in the institutions that God gave Moses at Mount Sinai." -- Publisher
" 'I confess that before I read this book I misapprehended that the American republic was founded on the models of Greece and Rome. Wines clearly and ineluctably shows that the model for the United States constitution and form of government was none other than that of the Hebrew Republic,' writes Franklin Sanders in HEILAND (Bermuda: Machrihanish Ltd, 1986, p. 275). But though the Hebrew Republic may have been a model for the U.S. constitution in general, some of the most important and foundational specifics of the Hebrew model have clearly been ignored or even set aside totally (as Willson's Prince Messiah, above, demonstrates). Samuel Wylie, in his TWO SONS OF OIL also outlines many reasons why the U.S. federal government is not modelled after the Hebrew Republic. Among them he lists: 'The federal constitution, or instrument of national union, does not even recognize the existence of God, the Kings of the Nations;' 'the State constitutions (are allowed to -- RB) contain positive immorality;' 'the government gives a legal security and establishment to gross heresy, blasphemy, and idolatry (Romanism and other false religions -- RB), under the notion of liberty of conscience;' 'its officers are sworn, by necessary implication, to support what God Almighty forbids;' 'they make no provision for the interest of true religion;' 'Deists, and even atheists may be chief magistrates;' and they overtly reject the law of God -- especially the first commandment as it applies to national leaders and the constitution (cf. pp. 7-42 in the 1995 reprint, of the 1850 edition, by Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Publishing). On the other hand, some useful insights can be gleaned from this title as this book demonstrates the impossibility of pluralistic polytheism (many gods -- many laws) ever bringing real peace and blessing to any society. It also shows that Christian monotheism (the one true and living God and His one absolute law) is the only road to blessing -- but as noted above has muted is point considerably. Wines also proclaims the foundational nature of self-government to all the other spheres of government (i.e. family, church and state)." -- Publisher
Wood, Stephen D., Christ and Civil Government: An Exposition of Psalm 2, an article.
"The author answers questions concerning authority. Rather than go to the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, rulings of the Supreme Court, the laws of the land, or the President he goes to the second Psalm [Psalm 2]. Here is where true authority resides; in the Word of God and the Christ He has placed on His throne!" -- GCB
Woodiwiss, Michael, Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime, 1st edition, ISBN: 0786716711 9780786716715.
"Everyone knows what organized crime is. Each year dozens of feature films, hundreds of books, and thousands of news stories explain to an eager public that organized crime is what gangsters do -- closely knit, ethnically distinct, and ruthlessly efficient, the Mafia's control of the drugs trade, people trafficking, and other serious crimes. If only states would take the threat seriously and recognize the global nature of modern organized crime, the FBI's success against the Italian Mafia could be replicated throughout the world. The wicked trade in addictive drugs could be brought to a halt.
"The trouble is, as Woodiwiss demonstrates in shocking and surprising detail, what everyone knows about organized crime is pretty much completely wrong. In reality the most important figures in organized crime are employees of multinational companies, politicians and bureaucrats. Gangsters are certainly a problem, but much of their strength comes from attempts to prohibit the market for certain drugs. Even here they are minor players when compared with the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that selectively enforce prohibition and profit from it. Woodiwiss shows how respectable businessmen and revered statesmen have seized these opportunities in an orgy of fraud and illegal violence." -- Reader's Comment
Woodiwiss, Michael, The Return of Gangster Capitalism: The Global Rise of Organised Crime, ISBN: 9780745332024 0745332021.
*Wurmbrand, Richard, Marx and Satan, ISBN: 0891073795 9780891073796.
"While Communism portrays itself as a noble endeavor for the good of mankind, and claims an Atheistic view, Wurmbrand exposes its true roots, revealing that Karl Marx and the fathers of the modern Communist/Socialist movements were inspired by the powers of darkness.
"By examining the confessions, writings, and poetry of Marx and his followers, the author demonstrates how the 'prince of darkness' gave these men the 'sword' by which they have terrorized the nations. Wurmbrand proves that this movement is not simply the work of greedy men, hungry for wealth and power, but is 'after the working of Satan' with the intent of destroying mankind. . . .
"The late Reverend Richard Wurmbrand spent 14 years as a prisoner of the Communist government in Rumania, where he was persecuted for his faith in Jesus Christ. His experience led him to spend further years researching Karl Marx and the Communist doctrines he developed. While Communism portrays itself as a noble endeavor for the good of mankind, and claims an Atheistic view, Wurmbrand exposes its true roots, revealing that Karl Marx and the fathers of the modern Communist/Socialist movements were inspired by the powers of darkness." -- Publisher
Yang, Michael B., Reconsidering Ayn Rand, 394 pages, ISBN: 1579212182 9781579212186 1579212557 9781579212551.
"Dr. Michael Yang was an ardent Objectivist when he was a student at The Johns Hopkins University, but at Harvard Medical School he became a Christian. RECONSIDERING AYN RAND is a semi-auto-biographical account of how and why he changed his mind -- or rather, how and why God changed it for him. This book is one of the best books written by a Christian on Rand's philosophy of Objectivism." -- The Trinity Foundation
See also: The incarnation of our lord (the deity of the lord jesus christ), The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Pride, ambition, self-aggrandizement, arrogance, ego, Glory in iniquity, the temptation of vainglory, Liberalism and neo-liberalism, Absolute truth and relativism, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Secret societies, Ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, Machiavellianism, The counter-reformation, Lying, deceit, self-deception, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Freedom and property rights: theft, stealing, and fraud, Gambling, Bribery, Taxation, property and liberty, Authority, Power, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The counter-reformation, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, Islam (muslim/moslim), muhammadanism/mohammadanism, The biblical solution to terrorism, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy,
Church and state, Civil government, Spiritual discernment, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, Sermons preached before governing bodies, Wisdom, Logic based on god's truth, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate sanctification, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, Impeachment, Servant leadership, The Utter Failure of the U.S. Constitution as a Social Deed of Covenant, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Resolutions, The covenant faithfulness of god, Background, foundation, and history of the covenanted reformation of scotland, National repentance, An Introduction to the Covenanted Reformation, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, The mediatorial reign of christ: the crown rights of christ, Trinitarian oath, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The Bible magistracy, Christian scholarship, The works of c. gregg singer, Lectures by dr. c. gregg singer at the mount olive tape library of reformed theology and at sermonaudio.com, A theological interpretation of american history, The works of gordon haddon clark, Unfaithful reformed ministries, God's deliverance of nations, The theology of freedom, Freedom: a gift of the grace of god, Political and economic freedom, Biblical economics,
Scapegoating and blameshifting, Self-Justification, Self-righteousness, works righteousness, Hypocrisy, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, Leniency, The one and the many, National repentance, Christian biography, Christian character, Submission, surrender, Idolatry, Spiritual warfare, Evil, the problem of avoiding, eschewing, shunning, The media, Reform of the church, Power religion, Churches that abuse, Priestcraft, Ethics, computer ethics, cyberethics, Sex ethics, sex education, Medical ethics, War, Taxation and war, The civil war of the united states, the war for southern independence, the war between the states: the war of northern aggression, Healthcare reform, Healthcare horror stories, Tyranny,
Mind control, intimidation, and coercion, The media, Public schools, public education, Theater, sports, and entertainment, Modern myths and fallacies, Healing of the mind, Appendix c: psychology and psychiatry, and so forth, and so on.
Affirmative Action is Racism, [audio file] Livingstone Fellowship
One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.
One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. (Numbers 15:15,16)
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3251914707932
Agenda47: President Trump's Plan to Dismantle the Deep State and Return Power to the American People, March 21, 2023
"I will shatter the Deep State, and restore government that is controlled by the People." -- President Donald J. Trump
"CLEAN OUT THE DEEP STATE: President Trump has announced a ten-point plan to dismantle the deep state and reclaim our democracy from Washington corruption:
1. On Day One, re-issue 2020 executive order restoring the president's authority to fire rogue bureaucrats.The American Colonist's Library. Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History.
2. Overhaul federal departments and agencies, firing all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus.
3. Fundamentally reform the FISA courts, ensuring that corruption is rooted out.
4. Establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to declassify and publish all documents on Deep State spying, censorship, and abuses of power.
5. Launch a major crackdown on government leakers who collude with the media to create false narratives, pressing criminal charges when appropriate.
6. Make every Inspector General's Office independent from the departments they oversee, so that they do not become protectors of the deep state.
7. Establish an independent auditing system to continually monitor our intelligence agencies to ensure that they are not spying on our citizens or running disinformation campaigns against the American people.
8. Continue Trump administration effort to move parts of the federal bureaucracy outside of the Washington Swamp, just like President Trump moved the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado.
Up to 100,000 government positions could be moved out of Washington.
9. Ban federal bureaucrats from taking jobs at the companies they deal with and regulate, such as Big Pharma.
10. Push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. -- Agenda47,
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/videos/agenda47-president-trumps-plan-to-dismantle-the-deep-state-and-return-power-to-the-american-people
Americans say America's Biggest Problem is Government, Jon Miltimore, December 12, 2017
"So there's really no getting around the fact that a plurality of Americans see government as America's biggest problem -- regardless of which party holds power.
"The irony, of course, is that government growth has been perhaps the most reliable fact of the last half-century, right behind death and taxes. Interestingly, as the graph below shows, it's a trend that has continued regardless of which party holds power in Washington, D.C. . . . .
"But their faith in government, the great equalizer, likely remains strong. I suspect most have forgotten Bertrand de Jouvenel's famous warning: 'There is a tyranny in the womb of every Utopia'."
Notice that the unavoidable deduction is that "corruption and incompetence of government is America's biggest problem." And going below that we must confront the Total Depravity of Mankind. It follows that the only solution is the Gospel, The Sovereign Grace of God.
https://fee.org/articles/americans-say-americas-biggest-problem-is-government/
The Anti-Voluntary Associations and Unlawful Confederacies Homepage
George Gillespie's Usefull Case of Conscience Discussed and Resolved, Concerning Associations and Confederacies with Idolaters, Infidels, Hereticks or any other known Enemies of Truth and Godlinesse, Hugh Binning's An Useful Case of Conscience, Learnedly and Accurately Discussed and Resolved, Concerning Associations and Confederacies with Idolaters, Infidels, Heretics, Malignants or any other Known Enemies of Truth and Godliness, Tract on the Primary Reform, William Milroy's Pamphlet The Testimony of the Church Respecting Military Associations, &c., With the Wicked and Profane, An Article from the Reformation Advocate Magazine containing the Testimony of Rev. William Gibson Against Voluntary Associations, An Article from the Reformation Advocate Magazine on Voluntary Associations, Another Article from the Reformation Advocate Magazine on Voluntary Associations.
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/6/30/voluntary-associations-and-unlawful-confederacies
Apologetics #18: Transitional Thinkers #3
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 42 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3205141954
Biblical Test of Character for Candidates for Public Office and all Civil Servants
http://www.lettermen2.com/bibltest.html
Bush Scandals
An extensive resource. Includes websites for the Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980s, considered the largest theft in the history of the world, involving Neil Bush, a brother of George W., the Florida's Voting Scandal of 2001 in which Al Gore lost the presidential election. Jeb Bush, another brother of George W., was Governor of Florida and had promised to deliver the state for his brother. Other sites treat George W. Bush's suspected involvement in 911 [911 is, of course, analogous to Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor]. Note particularly "Bush Family Machinations, 1918-2000," a timeline of Bush Family crimes prior to Election 2000.
http://news4florida.tripod.com/index1.html
The Panic of '08. Lew Rockwell Interviews Ron Paul, September 18, 2008
A podcast.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2008-09-18_029_ron_paul_talks_to_lew_rockwell.mp3
Calvin's Commentary on Hosea
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/m.sion/calvhose.htm
Christian Exclusivism, W. Gary Crampton
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/reviews/journal.asp?ID=196a.html
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from Section IV of THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM, by William RobertsThe Christian and Politics #01: The Christian Heritage of America (English Background)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518267The Christian and Politics #02: The Christian Heritage of America (American Background)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518276The Christian and Politics #03: The Essence of Our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182811The Christian and Politics #04: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182945The Christian and Politics #05: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183035The Christian and Politics #06: The Effects of Deism and Democracy on our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183120The Christian and Politics #07: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183227The Christian and Politics #08: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183324The Christian and Politics #09: The Place of Biblical Law in our Society #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183429The Christian and Politics #10: The Place of Biblical Law in Our Society #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183645The Christian and Politics #11: Summary
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183720
Conservatism: An Autopsy, John W. Robbins
"Conservatism is a political philosophy that professes to be practical and grounded in reality -- not in ideological or utopian dream worlds -- yet it cannot furnish a coherent answer to a very practical question: What is the proper punishment for a thief? Even ignoring the big questions -- What is the ideal government? Is there an ideal government? Is any government justified? What is the proper relationship between church and state? -- conservatism cannot answer a small question. If conservatism cannot offer a justified answer to a small question, it probably cannot answer larger questions."
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=115
Conservative Petitions
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/
Courage, Martyrdom and the Triumph of Truth, a sermon on Matthew 10 by Greg Price
A definition of Biblical courage and an exposure of the false courage of the faithless.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=11501182424
Cultural Relativism and the Emasculation of Truth, Ravi Zacharias, February 7, 2015.
" 'What is truth? It can be difficult to know in today's world where truth can depend on who you ask. How did we get to that point, and is there anything we can do about it?' . . . Ravi Zacharias answers these questions as he explores the steps we've taken to reject truth and the impact it's is having on our society.
"The 19th century writer George Macdonald once said, 'To give truth to him who loves it not is but to give him plentiful material for misinterpretation.' Indeed, Ravi argues that the ideas of rationalism and agnosticism and the institution of the media have altered our social landscape, such that belief in God's revelation seems wholly implausible for many individuals. Without such an understanding, proclamation is pointless."
https://www.christianbook.com/biblical-authority-and-our-cultural-crisis/ravi-zacharias/9781612560823/pd/1187BD?event=ESRCG
Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), part 1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=819021843
Defy Tyrants
http://www.DefyTyrants.com
Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate
http://www.LesserMagistrate.com
Does Character Count? Rusty Lee Thomas
http://www.mttu.com/elijahmin/Tracts/DOES%20CHARACTER%20COUNT.htm
*Election Fraud in the United States
http://www.lettermen2.com/vfraud.html
The Electoral College Still Makes Sense Because We're not a Democracy
" 'Pure democracy' is just another phrase for 'mob rule.' Dictatorship of the majority means 51 percent of the citizenry rule the other 49 percent. That minority has no rights except those the condescending majority grants. It works well for those in the 51 percent, not so much for those in the 49. Plato knew it, and James Madison, who knew his Plato, did too. Plato and Madison both recognized that justice and liberty for the minority is possible only when power is shared between groups in society." -- Donna Carol Voss
http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/16/the-electoral-college-still-makes-sense-because-were-not-a-democracy/
The Festivus Report 2021, Senator Ran Paul
The listing of wasteful government spending in 2021.
https://www.paul.senate.gov/sites/default/files/page-attachments/Festivus%20Report%202021_0.pdf
Floor Watch
Want to know what the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on next week? When session, the Floor Report offers a detailed look at upcoming legislation.
http://freedom.gov/floorwatch/2001/0222.asp
Freedom of Speech in the United States
"Time, place, and manner restrictions and the First Amendment
"Traditional public forums include public areas, such as parks and sidewalks. These areas have the strongest protections under the First Amendment."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States
Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Great Movements in Presbyterian History
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=12160372131
The Growing Tax Bite
http://freedom.gov/taxcut/charts/taxbite.asp
Here's Where the Most Psychopaths Live in the U.S.
The answer may or may not surprise you, Melissa Matthews, June 21, 2018
"Washington, D.C., may be known for its countless politicians, but a new study says our nation's capital also houses the most psychopaths in the United States.
"Published in the Social Science Research Network, a new paper ranked the 48 continental states and District of Columbia by the degree of psychopathic personality traits found in the residents of each state. Using data from personality surveys conducted nationally in 2013, researchers determined that Washington, D.C., has the most psychopaths, while West Virginia has the fewest.
"According to the study author, this isn't entirely surprising, given that people with psychopathic personalities tend to enjoy politics, Newsweek reported.
"Thankfully you don't have to worry too much about living next door to a psychopath. Estimates show they only make up about 0.6 percent to 4 percent of the population, reported Scientific American, June 21, 2018."
https://www.menshealth.com/health/a21748745/heres-which-state-has-the-most-psychopaths/
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
The History of Calvinism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, The Christian View of History
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72902195726
LewRockwell.com
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
Liberal Violence in America is Becoming Commonplace -- A Non-exhaustive List of Examples, Onan Coca, June 15, 2017
http://constitution.com/liberal-violence-america-becoming-commonplace-non-exhaustive-list-examples/
Managing the Ethics of Algorithms
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-intelai/2019/03/27/managing-the-ethics-of-algorithms/
National Establishments of Religion
"Hence it ought to be observed that something remarkable is here demanded from princes, besides an ordinary profession of faith; for the Lord has bestowed on them authority and power to defend the Church and to promote the glory of God. This is indeed the duty of all; but kings, in proportion as their power is greater, ought to devote themselves to it more earnestly, and to labor in it more diligently." -- John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah (1550)
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/6/29/national-establishments-of-religion
National Legal and Policy Center
"promoting ethics in government"
http://www.nlpc.org/
New England Articles of Confederation (1643)
http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/1643.html
Noah Webster on Republican Principles
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7947/NoahWeb.html
Our National Debt is Trillions of Dollars More Than you Think, Merrill Matthews, February 9, 2016,
"Thus, when Federal Reserve Bank debt is included, total federal debt rises to $21 trillion -- and that doesn't include the additional long-term Social Security and Medicare obligations the country has incurred. . . .
"When Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff added those obligations to total federal debt, he came up with $222 trillion."
http://rare.us/story/our-national-debt-is-trillions-of-dollars-more-than-you-think/
Paine Relief! Rebuttals to Thomas Paine's Age of Reason
http://www.classicapologetics.com/special/painerelief.html
The Personal and Cultural Benefits of Truthfulness, Ralph Drollinger
Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 16:6; Proverbs 17:20; and Proverbs 20:28.
https://capmin.org/personal-cultural-benefits-truthfulness/
Ponzi Scheme
"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator, an individual or organization, pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors, rather than from profit earned by the operator. Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to sustain the scheme."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
Pope's Visit Means 3 White House Firsts
President says 'man of faith' and conviction deserves the special treatment, Associated Press, April 13, 2008
"Washington -- The leader of the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics has been to the White House only once in history. That changes this week, and President Bush is pulling out all the stops: driving out to a suburban military base to meet Pope Benedict XVI's plane, bringing a giant audience to the South Lawn and hosting a fancy East Room dinner.
"These are all firsts.
"A crowd of up to 12,000 is due at the White House on Wednesday morning for the pope's official, pomp-filled arrival ceremony. It will feature the U.S. and Holy See anthems, a 21-gun salute, and the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Both men will make remarks before their Oval Office meeting and a send-off for his Popemobile down Pennsylvania Avenue.
"The president explained the special treatment -- particularly the airport greeting.
" 'One, he speaks for millions. Two, he doesn't come as a politician; he comes as a man of faith,' Bush told the EWTN Global Catholic Network in an interview aired Friday. He added that he wanted to honor Benedict's conviction that 'there's right and wrong in life, that moral relativism has a danger of undermining the capacity to have more hopeful and free societies. . . .' "
"This week makes Bush the record-holder, with a total of five meetings with two popes. . . .
"The current pope's approach may be softer than that of John Paul, who turned from Bush's presentation to him of the Medal of Freedom in 2004 to read a statement about his 'grave concern' over events in Iraq."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24096388/
Religious Test Clauses in Colonial and State Constitutions and Other Documents and Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That There Should be a Religious Test for Positions of Authority and Trust
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc001.html
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
The Scottish Parliament Bringing the Bible Into Scottish Politics -- Updated Weekly
http://www.scottishparliament.freeserve.co.uk/
Solomon on Righteousness in Governmental Leadership
"Whereas Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people says the wisest man who ever lived in Proverbs 14:34. Accordingly, sin -- both in the lives of governmental leaders and the citizens -- is, according to the Bible, the greatest weakness in any nation. Ultimately, to the degree sin is muffled, a culture prospers; whereas sin can overthrow the whole system when it proliferates.
"Herein we will examine the Book of Proverbs pertaining to what Solomon instructed his son Rehoboam regarding righteousness in governmental leadership. Akin and in contrast is what he teaches him about sin; what follows is a topical study from the book of Proverbs on sin as well. -- Ralph Drollinger
https://capmin.org/solomon-on-righteousness-in-governmental-leadership/
Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That Christianity is the Highest Ethical Standard Known to Mankind and, Therefore, Should be the Basis of Law and Government
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc002.html
Unmarried Childbearing
"Percent of all births to unmarried women: 40.7 percent. . . .
"Data are for the U.S., 2012. Source: Births: Final Data for 2012, Table C."
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarry.htm
The way it is, Paul Hein
"Some truths -- probably most of them -- are not subject to scientific proof. Thus, when we ponder modern life, and the role of government, we may find ourselves puzzled. It is obvious that government is an organization that, in its actions, varies between terrible malignancy, and breathtaking inanity. We wonder why that should be, and seek an answer. But the answer, if we find it at all, is not scientifically demonstrable, as is the fact that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
"The answer is something that most of us already know; it was first put forth by Lord Action (1834-1902). 'Power corrupts.' The full quote is: 'Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. -- Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. -- Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' And that's it! That's the way it is." [see: Chapter 9: "Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification," "Selection of Covenant Heads for Positions of Leadership," "Reform of the Church," "Ethics, Computer Ethics, Cyberethics," and so forth, and so on -- compiler]
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/hein88.html
Why a Truly Christian People CANNOT be Subjugated by a Lawless State, a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRFPNFt4xNs&lc=UgyfL4e2as0gY8qy7bN4AaABAg
Your Worldview in Action, (part 2 of 2), Ravi Zacharias, June 24, 2017
"Do your actions match what you said you believe? What is the foundation of your faith built on? Can you live out your faith when things get tough? Ravi Zacharias looks at the challenges Christians face in living out their faith during the difficult times."
Tips well worth listening to, for those who may arrive in a position of power.
http://rzim.org/let-my-people-think-broadcasts/your-worldview-in-action-part-2-of-2/
In them [Exodus 34:11,12,15,16 -- compiler] God applied a remedy to all external and manifest superstitions, which might easily have insinuated themselves had they not been anticipated in good time. All will run eagerly into idolatry, even though there be none to impel us from without; but where the ungodly act upon us also like fans, and this must needs be the case, when the people of God entangle themselves in their society, this disease is increasingly inflamed. And truly the closer our familiarity is with them, it is like a yoke, whereby they draw others with them. In order then that the people, when they entered the land, might preserve themselves pure and thoroughly devoted to God, care must be taken lest they should contract pollution from other nations; . . . All will run eagerly into idolatry, even though there be none to impel us from without; but where the ungodly act upon us also like fans, and this must needs be the case, when the people of God entangle themselves in their society, this disease is increasingly inflamed. And truly the closer our familiarity is with them, it is like a yoke, whereby they draw others with them. . . . care must be taken lest they should contract pollution from other nations; . . .
We must carefully remark what I lately adverted to, that those, who voluntarily unite themselves with the ungodly, impose as it were a yoke on themselves to draw them to destruction. And in fact Paul embraced in this comparison all the grounds upon which unbelievers insinuate themselves into familiarity with us, to ensnare us by their corrupting influence. (2 Corinthians 6:14) As much as possible, therefore, must all ties of connection be rather broken, than that by union with God's enemies we should allow ourselves to be drawn away from Him by their allurements; for they will always be attempting, by all the artifices they can, to make a divorce between us and God. Besides, if we desire faithfully to serve God, there ought to be a perpetual quarrel between us and them. God then would have us not only separate ourselves from open communion with them, but since we are too much given to depravity, He also commands us to fly from all the snares which might gradually induce us to participate in their sins. But inasmuch as Paul justly reminds us, that if we are not permitted to have any dealings with unbelievers, we must needs go out of the world, (1 Corinthians 5:10,) it is proper for us to distinguish between the contracts which associate us with them and those which do not at all diminish our liberty. . . . .
As long as we live among unbelievers, we cannot escape those dealings with them which relate to the ordinary affairs of life; but if we approach nearer, so that a greater intimacy should arise, we open the door as it were to Satan. Such are alliances between kings and nations, and marriages amongst private persons; . . . But that they may cleave more earnestly to their duty, the danger I have spoken of is declared; otherwise such rejoinders as these would have been straightway in their mouths: "Although my wife is altogether averse from true piety, still I will stand firm; although my husband is not subject to God, yet I will never decline from the true course; although religion is not dear to our allies, still it shall not cease to be sacredly held in honor amongst ourselves. . . ." -- John Calvin commenting on Exodus 34:11,12,15,16 and contextElse if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. (Joshua 23:12,13)
A nation without borders is not a nation. -- Donald J. Trump
Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. (Joshua 23:12,13)
Walid Shoebat, a former terrorist now on our side, was asked what is the solution to terrorism. He answered that one important factor is isolation. Terrorist nations must be isolated by peaceful nations. We believe Shoebat's answer has historic precedent. Terrorists are wicked men. Nobody has ever had a solution for what to do with wicked men, whether society labels them as terrorists, criminals, rebellious, irrational, incompetent, substance abusers, sexual offenders, mentally ill, or heretics. What does one do with a suicide bomber or other terrorist who is bent on killing other and on killing himself? Traditionally society has dealt with rebellious individuals by isolating them, taking them out of society. In the past they have been incarcerated, institutionalized, executed, and excommunicated. Isolate them and they will eventually destroy themselves. The rebellious are self-destructive, they know they will eventually destroy themselves, especially if they are isolated with other rebellious individuals. Therefore, isolation is what they most dread. More importantly isolation stops them from harming and killing other innocent people. That way innocent people do not suffer from them for a lifetime.
In terms of foreign policy that means isolationism. That means no diplomatic ties, no trade, no presence in terrorist nations by the United States or any other peaceful nations.
The law of God clearly forbids voluntary alliances with the ungodly nations or groups. Time and time again in the Old Testament God visited his wrath upon a people for mixing with, and joining in alliance with wicked nations.
Bello, Walden, with Shea Cunningham and Bill Pau, Dark Victory: The United States, Structural Adjustment, and Global Poverty, ISBN: 0935028765 9780935028768.
"Best short work on the role of the IMF in global misery. Bello provides a clear, concise and well evidenced argument that the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World Bank have sunk the countries of the global south into deeper and deeper debt and impoverishment. Bello sets this argument in the historical frame of the northern backlash against the rising economic power of the south. He also links the economic philosophy behind adjustment to the widening prosperity gap and falling real wages in the north.
"A must read for all those curios about the World Bank and IMF and why people are against them." -- Reader's Comment
*Brown, John (of Haddington, 1722-1787), The Absurdity and Perfidy of all Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain. In two letters to a friend in which the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith [1646] relative to Toleration of a False Religion, and the power of the civil magistrate about sacred matters; and the nature, origin, ends and obligation of the National Covenant and Solemn League are candidly represented and defended, 1797. Alternate title: A COMPEND OF THE LETTERS OF THE REV. JOHN BROWN, LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN HADDINGTON: ON AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION OF GROSS HERESY, BLASPHEMY, IDOLATRY, POPERY IN BRITAIN, AND ON NATIONAL COVENANTING; IN WHICH THE DOCTRINE OF THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH . . . AND OF THE NATIONAL COVENANT AND SOLEMN LEAGUE ARE CANDIDLY REPRESENTED AND DEFENDED, 1797, and "REFORMATION ATTAINMENTS VERSUS BACKSLIDING RELIGIOUS PROFESSORS," appears to be an excerpt. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7, #25, #26.
The Absurdity and Perfidy of all Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain
http://archive.org/details/absurdityperfidy00brow
"Reformation Attainments Versus Backsliding Religious Professors (excerpt from THE ABSURDITY AND PERFIDY OF ALL AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION . . .
"Here Brown deals with three major Reformation attainments (anti-tolerationism, establishmentarianism and the obligations of lawful covenants as they biblically bind posterity), that Satan has always been especially concerned to overthrow -- in every major demonic move to open the floodgates of lawlessness, anarchy and misrule. Fletcher, in the preface to the 1797 edition, relates this truth as it comes to bear on various religious professors, stating, 'Papists were enemies to our covenants because they were a standard lifted up against their system of abominable idolatries. Episcopalians were enemies to them, because they were a standard lifted up against their anti-scriptural church-officers and inventions of men in the worship of God. Some Presbyterians are enemies to them in our day through ignorance of their nature and ends; and others through fear of being too strictly bound to their duty.' (cited in Johnston, Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 486)
"A History of Heresy
"It is also interesting to note the long list of backsliders and heretics that often oppose one or more of these points. 'The ancient Donatists, a sect of Arian separatists, who appeared about the beginning of the 4th century, seem to have been among the first who held out these opinions to the Christian world. Feeling the weight of the arm of power for their schismatical practices, by way of reprisal, they stripped the magistrate of all power in religion; -- maintaining that he had no more power about religious matters than any private person, and refusing him the right of suppressing the propagators of doctrines different from those professed by the Church, or the observers of a different form of worship. From them the German Anabaptists adopted the same views. Then the Socinians (i.e. an early form of Scripture-denying liberals -- RB), and remonstrant Arminians, whenever the magistrate ceased to patronize their cause. The English Independents during the time of the Long Parliament were the zealous supporters of the same opinions. In their rage for liberty of conscience, they formed the strongest opposition in the Westminster Assembly which the Presbyterians had to encounter. Through their influence that venerable body was much embarrassed (hindered -- RB), in their proceeding; and by their means (in collusion with that "Judas of the Covenant," Cromwell -- RB), certain passages of the Confession of Faith never obtained the ratification of the English Parliament. The English Dissenters of the present age are generally in the same views, especially the Socinians, the Arians, and the Quakers, who have most to dread from the Laws of the Land against their blasphemies. And who knows not that the high reputation of Mr. Locke as a Philosopher . . . has given these opinions such an air of respectability, that many youth in the Universities have been thereby inclined to embrace them?' (Preface, pp. vi-vii).
"The Covenantal Hammer Smashing the Idols of our day
"In our day the tree of toleration (and the anti-Scriptural principles which logically grow out of it), has spread its branches in ways that could have never been envisioned by those that took the first steps away from biblical and covenanted uniformity. What Brown is fighting against here is an error so foundational that when left unchecked it permeates all of society, cutting out the foundational roots that are necessary for all national Reformations. And if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3 [Psalm 11:3]). Furthermore, as the preface notes 'liberty of conscience and of opinion' are 'the great idols of the day.' Here Brown takes out his covenantal hammer and smashes these idols with an inconoclastic zeal worthy of our earlier Reformed forefathers. This book is especially useful in answering the persistent fear and questions that always arise when these old Reformed views are discussed: that is, the questions dealing with religious persecution. Brown spends much time in clearing the Westminster Divines of such false charges, while also setting these controversial Reformed teachings on a thoroughly biblical foundation.
"Westminster's View of the 'Everlasting' Solemn League and Covenant
"Interestingly, in the section defending the continuing obligation of the National and Solemn League and Covenant, we also note that the Westminster Assembly considered the Solemn League and Covenant an 'everlasting covenant.' Brown cites the following as proof, 'That the body of the English nation also swore the Solemn League and Covenant, is manifest. The Westminster Assembly and English Parliament, affirm, 'The honourable house of Parliament, the Assembly of Divines, the renowned city of London, and multitudes of other persons of all ranks and quality in this nation, and the whole body of Scotland, have all sworn it, rejoicing at the oath so graciously seconded from heaven. God will, doubtless, stand by all those, who with singleness of heart shall now enter into an everlasting covenant with the Lord.' (p. 161, emphasis added). The footnote tells us that the words Brown was quoting were taken from 'Exhortation to take the Covenant, February, 1644.'
"Our Modern Day Malignants
"Brown also includes a helpful section on a point some modern day malignants are once again attempting to use to overthrow the biblical attainments of the Covenanted Reformation. This section shows that 'the intrinsic obligation of promises, oaths, vows, and covenants which constitutes their very essence or essential form, is totally and manifestly distinct from the obligation of the law of God in many respects.' (p. 120)
"Brown's Dying Testimony to his Children
"Finally, we cite a portion of Brown's dying testimony to his children given in the introduction (p. xix). Such testimonies, from notable Christian leaders, often contain singularly pertinent charges to their hearers. (For another notable example of this see James Renwick's dying testimony, as he was about to be martyred for his adherence to the Solemn League and Covenant, when he recounts what was later to become most of the terms of communion in Covenanted Presbyterian churches. This testimony can be found in Thompson's A CLOUD OF WITNESSES FOR THE ROYAL PREROGATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST BEING THE LAST SPEECHES AND TESTIMONIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE TRUTH IN SCOTLAND SINCE . . . 1680. Here are Brown's dying words to his children: 'Adhere constantly, cordially and honestly to the Covenanted Principles of the Church of Scotland, and to that Testimony which hath been lifted up for them. I fear a generation is rising up which will endeavour silently,' (O how prophetic!), 'to let slip these matters, as if they were ashamed to hold them fast, or even to speak of them' (as with many "reformed" publishers and preachers today, who dare not touch the topics Brown deals with in this book -- RB). 'May the Lord forbid that any of you should ever enter into this confederacy against Jesus Christ and his cause! This from a dying father and minister, and a witness for Christ' (Signed) 'John Brown'."
"Do you Have What it Takes?
"If you have the courage to compare the original Reformed faith with that which is often promoted under its name today (and in many ways the old Reformed faith bears little resemblance to the 'new light' Reformers and innovators of our day), then this is an ideal book to obtain and study." -- Reg Barrow
Following are three works related to THE ABSURDITY AND PERFIDY OF ALL AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION OF GROSS HERESY, BLASPHEMY, IDOLATRY, POPERY, IN BRITAIN by John Brown of Wamphray.
1. Barrow, Reg, Calvin, Covenanting, Close Communion and the Coming Reformation, 1996, a book review of ALEXANDER AND RUFUS . . . by John Anderson, 1862. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Shows how Calvin practiced covenanting and close communion and how the biblical view of these ordinances is intended to purify the individual, church and nation. Refutes the Popish, Independent and paedocommunion heresies -- as well as all views of open communion (so common in our day). Also argues that Arminians, anti-paedobaptists, anti-regulativists, and all those who openly violate the law of God (and are unrepentant), should be barred from the Lord's table -- as a corrective measure ordained of God for their recovery. Also demonstrates that those that would not swear to uphold the Geneva Confession (or 'human constitution,' as it was agreeable to the Word of God), of 1536 in Calvin's day were to be excommunicated and exiled from Geneva. This is Reformation History Notes number two." -- Reg Barrow
Calvin, Covenanting and Close Communion
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/CalvinCC.htm
2. Price, Greg L., Terms of Communion: Covenants and Covenanting, a series of 7 audio cassettes [audio file]. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Explains and defends the fourth term of communion, which is 'That public, social covenanting is an ordinance of God, obligatory on churches and nations under the New Testament; that the National Covenant and the Solemn League are an exemplification of this divine institution; and that these Deeds are of continued obligation upon the moral person; and in consistency with this, that the Renovation of these Covenants at Auchensaugh, Scotland, 1712 was agreeable to the word of God.' Includes the studies offered separately on the National Covenant (2 tapes), the Solemn League and Covenant (1 tape), the Auchensaugh Renovation (2 tapes), as well as two introductory lectures (only available in this set), on the biblical principles related to the ordinance of covenanting, the descending obligation of lawful covenants, objections against covenanting, etc. Roberts, in his REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM, catches the spirit of this tape set in the following question and answer:
"Q. May we not indulge the hope, that, in the goodness of our covenant God, and by the promised outpouring of his Holy Spirit, 'the kingdoms of the world' at large, and the British empire in particular, will dedicate themselves to God in a covenant not to be forgotten -- animated by the example of our covenant fathers exhibited in these memorable deeds?
"A. Yes. We have the most cheering grounds for this blessed hope; for it is written, that the nations at large in the spirit of devoted loyalty, shall cry -- 'Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten': and it cannot be well doubted, that the death-cry of the martyred Guthrie has been heard on high, and shall be verified -- 'The covenants, the covenants, shall yet be Scotland's (and the world's -- RB), reviving.' (p. 151)
"A thoroughly amazing set of tapes -- among our best!" -- Publisher
3. Cunningham, John (1819-1893), The Ordinance of Covenanting, 1843. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #3, #27.
"This book is considered by many as the classic work on covenanting. 'The theology of Covenanting is here unfolded with a richness of scriptural research and a maturity of intellectual strength which would have made the grey eye of Peden glisten with delight. The treatise is a valuable addition to that solid theological literature of which the Reformed Presbyterian Church has produced repeated and enduring specimens, and stamps Mr. Cunningham as a distinguished disciple of the thoughtful and scriptural school of Mason and the Symingtons' (Presbyterian Review (1844), as cited by Johnston, Treasury of the Scottish Covenant).
"The author himself notes that 'prayer and the offering of praise are universally admitted to be duties of religion. The Scriptures announce a place among these for the exercise of solemn Covenanting . . . What the word of God unfolds concerning it, is addressed to the most resolute consideration of all, and is capable of engaging the most extensive and prolonged investigation. And yet, though none have found this subject, like all God's judgments, else than a great deep, still in meditating upon it, the ignorant have been brought to true knowledge, and the wise have increased in wisdom. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14). Mutual federal engagements, concerning things religious and civil, whether entered into merely by simple promise, or confirmed by the solemn oath, have been made from the highest antiquity to the present. The hostility to some such engagements, and also the proud disregard for their obligation, which have been evinced by some in all ages, demand a most careful examination into their nature and design . . . Furnished with the key of Scripture, approaching the subject, we are enabled to open the mysteries in which ignorance and prejudice had shut it up; and equipped with the armour of light shooting forth its heavenly radiance, in safety to ourselves we assail the darkness thrown around it, and behold the instant flight of the spirits of error which that darkness contains. Standing alone in beauteous attractions descended from heaven upon it, this service beckons us to approach it, and engages to connect extensive good with a proper attention to its claims. The observance, under various phases, is described in Scripture as an undisputed and indisputable reality.'
"In this book Cunningham exhaustively covers the subject of covenanting in over 400 pages. He deals with the manner, duty and nature of covenanting (including personal and social covenanting), the obligation covenanting confers, how covenanting is provided for in the everlasting covenant, how it is adapted to the moral constitution of man and how it is according to the purposes of God. Numerous Divine examples are cited from Scripture and covenanting is shown to be one of the great privileges of the Christian life.
"An interesting chapter covers 'Covenanting Enforced By the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals;' which touches on circumcision, baptism, the Sabbath, the Priesthood, the new heart and the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this book demonstrates how God's approbation rested upon Covenanters in former ages, how covenanting is predicted in prophecy, how it is recommended by the practice of the New Testament Church and at what seasons it is appropriate. The appendices touch on the relationship of covenanting to immoral and unscriptural civil governments, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the British constitution and the apostasy of the Revolution settlement.
"Additionally, Cunningham acknowledges that the true church is 'bound by the obligations of the Church of God is past times' and is still obligated to pay what it has vowed to the Lord in those magnificent attainments of the Second Reformation (the epitome of these attainments being embodied in the Solemn League and Covenant and the Westminster Standards).
"If you are interested in the ordinance of covenanting this is the most extensive treatment you will find in one book. It is a gold mine of Scriptural references and should be read at least once by everyone who calls upon the name of Christ." -- Publisher
"David Steele dedicated this work [NOTES ON THE APOCALYPSE -- compiler], to John Cunningham (1819-1893), author of THE ORDINANCE OF COVENANTING." -- Publisher
The Ordinance of Covenanting
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/6/29/ordinance-of-covenanting
Buchanan, Patrick J., State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, ISBN: 9781429921015 1429921013.
"Pat Buchanan is sounding the alarm. Since 9/11, more than four million illegal immigrants have crossed our borders, and there are more coming every day. Our leaders in Washington lack the political will to uphold the rule of law. The Melting Pot is broken beyond repair, and the future of our nation is at stake.
In this important book, Pat Buchanan reveals that, slowly but surely, the great American Southwest is being reconquered by Mexico. These lands -- which many Mexicans believe are their birthright -- are being detached ethnically, linguistically, and culturally from the United States by a deliberate policy of the Mexican regime. This is the 'Aztlan Plot' for 'La Reconquista,' the recapture of the lands lost by Mexico in the Texas War of Independence and Mexican-American War.
"Comparing the immigrant invasion of America from across the Mexican border -- and of Europe from across the Mediterranean -- to the barbarian invasions that ended the Roman Empire, the author writes with passion and conviction that we have begun the final chapter of the DEATH OF THE WEST. Unless the invasion is halted now, Buchanan argues, by midcentury America will be a country unrecognizable to our parents, the Third World dystopia that Theodore Roosevelt warned against when he said we must never let America become a 'polyglot boardinghouse' for the world.
"President Bush's failure to halt the invasion and secure America's border, Buchanan writes, is a dereliction of constitutional duty that, in other times, would have called forth articles of impeachment. In the final chapter, "Last Chance," he lays out a sweeping immigration reform and border security plan, which, he contends, if not pursued, means George W. Bush's legacy will be to have lost for America a Southwest that was the legacy of Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk. With an estimated ten to fifteen million 'illegals' already here and tens of millions more poised to pour across our borders, few books could be as timely -- or important -- as STATE OF EMERGENCY. It is essential reading for all Americans." -- Publisher
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Commentaries of the Minor Prophets, 5 volumes, ISBN: 0851514774 9780851514772. Also available in CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin commenting on Micah 2:11, "In short, Micah intimates that the Israelites rejected all sound doctrine, for they sought nothing but flatteries, and wished to be cherished in their vices; yea, they desired to be deceived by false adulation to their own ruin. It hence appears that they were not the people they wished to be deemed, that is, the people of God: for the first condition in God's covenant was, -- that he should rule among his people. Inasmuch then as these men would not endure to be governed by Divine power, and wished to have full and unbridled liberty, it was the same as though they had banished God far from them. Hence, by this proof, the Prophet shows that they had wholly departed from God, and had no intercourse with him. If there be then any man walking in the spirit, let him, he says, keep far from the truth; for he will not otherwise be borne by this people. -- How so? Because they will not have honest and faithful teachers. What is then to be done? Let flatterers come, and promise them plenty of wine and strong drink, and they will be their best teachers, and be received with great applause: in short, the suitable teachers of that people were the ungodly; the people could no longer bear the true Prophets; their desire was to have flatterers who were indulgent to all their corruptions." -- John Calvin commenting on Micah 2:11
Calvin's Commentary on Micah
http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/comment3/comm_vol28/htm/iv.2.xi.htm
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews -- compiler], by John Calvin, to the Most Mighty and Most Serene Prince, Sigismund Augustus, by the Grace of God, the King of Poland, Great Duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia, and Lord and Heir of Muscovy, etc.
"You kingdom is extensive and renowned, and abounds in many excellencies, but its happiness will then only be solid, when it adopts Christ as its chief ruler and governor, so that it may be defended by his safeguard and protection; for to submit your sceptre to him, is not inconsistent with that elevation in which you are placed; but it would be far more glorious than all the triumphs of the world." -- John Calvin
Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol44/htm/v.htm
Chandler, Joseph, and John B. Miner, The Confederacy of Judah With Assyria: A Sermon Preached in the Congregational Church, West Brattleboro, Vt., July 4th, 1852.
Codevilla, Angelo, The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility, ISBN: 9780465028009 0465028004.
"In this cross-cultural study, Angelo M. Codevilla illustrates that as people shape their governments, they shape themselves. Drawing broadly from the depths of history, from the Roman republic to de Tocqueville's America, as well as from personal and scholarly observations of the world in the twentieth century, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS reveals remarkable truths about the effects of government on a society's economic arrangements, moral order, sense of family life, and ability to defend itself.
"Codevilla argues that in present-day America, government has had a profound negative effect on societal norms. It has taught people to seek prosperity through connections with political power; it has fostered the atrophy of civic responsibility; it has waged a Kulturkampf against family and religion; and it has dug a dangerous chasm between those who serve in the military and those who send it in harm's way. Informative and provocative, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS shows how the political decisions we make have higher stakes than simply who wins elections." -- Publisher
"Angelo M. Codevilla has taught political theory and international relations at Stanford, Princeton, and Georgetown University and is presently a professor of international relations at Boston University. He is the author of nine books, including THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS, THE ARMS CONTROL DELUSION, and a new translation of Machiavelli's THE PRINCE. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts." --- Publisher
"Reading this book I feel like one of Mr. Codevilla's students: 'We have read the published version of this event. Please tell us the real story.' To me this book was a revelation, as much for the data inside as for the author, whom I would describe as another Thomas Sowell, for the clarity and immediacy of his speech. After reading this I am more than ever convinced that the love that elite America has always felt for Europe is one of the main causes of the political and social divides inside American society today: Like an extra-marital affair with a high class prostitute. A fatal attraction.
"I would recommend to the reader that he combine the reading of this book with Dick Morris's CATASTROPHE, for a more detailed analysis of how insiders to the regime play their lucrative parts in Obama's America. Thus you get to understand the big picture as well as the day to day money-dealings inside the U.S. regime.
"Here's all you want to know about the world, socially and politically. There is no better book to travel all over the world with and understand how the common folks in those places must feel.
"The nature of our western regimes:
The most economically profitable thing you can do, whether in Europe or in Argentina, or China or Chicago, is to worry less about producing than about building a profitable relationship with the regime. Because exchanging economic privilege for political support is the essence of modern government."Our military:
Regimes have added a new twist . . . that government must depend on science, which dictates that people must surrender to their betters plenary powers over where and how they live, how much and what kind of energy or even food they consume, in order to 'save the planet' from human habitation's effects."
The change began in the 1950's, as the social groups that make of the regime began to look down on their fellow citizens' revulsion to communism . . . our regime, scornful of the traditional military goal of victory, became accustomed to using the armed forces in ventures from the Balkans to Iraq that were neither war nor peace, that were more obviously related to regime goals than to American interests -- but that got a lot of people killed nevertheless."Russia
Mafia oligarchies such as post-Communist Russia, where the rulers regard others' property as a threat to their own and where friendship is restricted to families."Singapore
defenseless free ports, like Singapore, where the rulers thrive within systems of law and low taxes that encourage large numbers of people to think of nothing but making money."China
Business in China consists effectively of granting and using the privilege to hire labor for next to nothing. The system runs . . . on the expectation that various officials will be content with the bribes they have received."Europe
All Europeans accept their roles as subjects -- as entitled consumers of government services. The real citizens of Europe, from whom power and to whom privilege flow, are society's corporations, whether big business, unions, political parties, or the complex of bureaucrats and the interest groups they finance."And here's where the U.S. could have had the upper hand in its dealings with Europe, but dismissed it.
It is difficult to imagine Europeans nowadays offering their lives for their country. Contemporary Europe's way of life has been possible only because it was protected by the United States.
In Catholic Europe, the Christian Democratic movement, the principal reaction to militant liberalism, gave up advocacy of Christian causes, refused to take clear stands on the major issues of the day, immersed itself in day-to-day administration, and died. Throughout the European continent, then, politics has trained people to forget the soul."Sound like the story of Republicanism since . . . Lincoln? "Germany in a few slides:
In their most vigorous years, these people lived by Nazi standards. They spent their middle age trying to approach the ideals of the Adenauer republic -- bourgeois respectability . . . their old age has been passed in a country characterized by sex shops, welfare and environmentalism, where the ways of the Adenauer republic are ridiculed. Their last impressions must be of Muslim neighbors whom it is dangerous to displease."How the regime works
Scientific management, its success depending on maintaining a pretense of neutrality on the issues, but there is "massive evidence that those who hawk certain kinds of social or environmental policies in the name of science are partisans of those policies."Sounds like paganism and superstition are here again.
Today's tycoons have more power over ordinary people than the trusts of a century ago, because while the old robber barons had to do the robbing themselves, today's CEOs can count on the government to do it for them by manufacturing markets for them, by tailoring rules that stifle competition, and by bailing out their blunders.
The regimes rule more by fashion . . . than by statute. It defines itself by its icons and taboos.
The new path to riches is knowing what the government wants . . . though lawyers produce nothing, they are paid more than engineers because government makes their services really more valuable . . . such high salaries are passed on to the public through higher prices."Affirmative action:
is about neither race nor sex. It is about politics . . . it is about patrons and clients . . . about adding to the power of those who already have power and obliging those under them to build the personal political relationships that override objective criteria and immunize against New Age accusations."You get a lot of information here, from almost every corner of the world and every facet of society. If a businessman came from outer space, this would be the book he should need. And that seems also as far as we -- rather serfs than citizens -- are from the ruling bureaucrats in the West." -- Reader's Comment
Graham, Bob, and Jeff Nussbaum, Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America's war on Terror, ISBN: 1400063523 9781400063529.
"In this explosive, controversial, and profoundly alarming insider's report, Senator Bob Graham reveals faults in America's national security network severe enough to raise fundamental questions about the competence and honesty of public officials in the CIA, the FBI, and the White House.
"For ten years, Senator Graham served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he had access to some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Graham co-chaired a historic joint House-Senate inquiry into the intelligence community's failures. From that investigation and his own personal fact-finding, Graham discovered disturbing evidence of terrorist activity and a web of complicity:
Gurudas, Treason: The new World Order, ISBN: 0945946147 9780945946144.
"This book examines the who, what, where when of the crimes of the U.S. government. I have read 200 non-Orwellian history and political science books. I have written two Masters Theses myself, and I can say the research in this book is impeccable. Details that Democrats and Republicans work together: we have a one party system: a Bicephalous beast with two heads that snarl and spit at one another to delude the masses into thinking there is a debate . . . This book traces the origins and the crimes of the ruling elite in near chronological order, PhD quality research and detail. Buy one for everyone you know." -- Reader's Comment
Hoover, Herbert, and George H. Nash, Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and its Aftermath, ISBN: 9780817912345 0817912347 9780817912369 0817912363.
"The culmination of an extraordinary literary project that Herbert Hoover launched during World War II, his magnum opus -- at last published nearly fifty years after its completion -- offers a revisionist reexamination of the war and its cold war aftermath and a sweeping indictment of the 'lost statesmanship' of Franklin Roosevelt." -- Publisher
"Historian George H. Nash, the dean of Herbert Hoover studies, has brought forth a very rare manuscript in FREEDOM BETRAYED. Here is Hoover unplugged, delineating on everything from the lost statesmanship of FDR to the Korean War. A truly invaluable work of presidential history. Highly recommended." -- Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and editor of THE REAGAN DIARIES
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in The Scottish Reformation (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, p. 580 comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son'." (cf. Psalm 2) -- Publisher
Lederer, William J. and Eugene Burdick, The Ugly American, ISBN: 9780393318678 0393318672, didactic fiction.
"The story(ies) centers on a fictional country in Southeast Asia named Sarkhan. The book's chapters compare and contrast the competence and incompetence on the part of the diplomats, politicos, military officers, and ex-pats in Sarkham. Heroes include Ambassador Gilbert McWhite, John Colvin, and Homer Atkins (THE ugly American) -- all men who took the time to learn the culture in which they were being planted.
"It is easy (now, with 20/20 hindsight) to see this book as a parable stemming from the Vietnam War. However, the book was written well before American stepped up its involvement in Vietnam (in 1958) and was purportedly read by President Eisenhower and responsible for many of the reforms that he introduced into America's foreign aid programs. The general thesis of the authors was that US diplomats (and other foreign station workers/advisors) who failed to study and adapt to the cultures they were entering, were doomed to failure (or worse). Worse still, the American bureaucracy wasn't interested in the opinions of the Foreign Service staff that did study and understand the cultures into which they were placed.
"Given that this book was written at the tail end of the McCarthy era, the insights of Lederer and Burdick are quite exceptional (if fact, some government agencies sought to ban the book in Asia and in many ways that (failed) effort can be seen as one of the last "scenes" of the McCarthy era). Burdick and Lederer are at once, tongue in cheek, cynical and satirical in their views of American foreign policy.
"Every time that I read this book, I can't put it down. Despite its age, it is still a fine read and certainly has additional significance in today's world as the U.S. fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although some parts of the book are antiquated (in particular the parochial way the authors treat the few female characters (in particular the Marie MacIntosh character). However that small niggle can be forgiven to a book that retains its readability and relevance 50 years after it was first published." -- Reader's Comment
Lefever, Ernest W., Ethics and United States Foreign Policy.
McFeeters, James Calvin (1848-1928), America in the Coming Crisis; An Appeal to Christian Patriots to Align our Country With Jesus for her Safety in the Next War, 1922.
*McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander (1774-1833), A Scriptural View of the Character, Causes, and Ends of the Present War (1815), 224 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Though having the war of 1812 (to 1815), between the United States and Britain, in view, the author notes that 'the principles which I have laid down, and enforced in these sermons, are not, however, of mere temporary interest. Whether in peace, or at war, they are of importance to a Christian community. There are the permanent principles of social order and public equity.'
Chapter headings include: 'The Right Discussing of Public Affairs,' dealing with why 'Ministers have the right of discussing from the pulpit those political question which affect Christian morals' and 'The Moral Character of the U.S. Federal Constitution;' The Moral Character of the Two Belligerents' (i.e. the national character, as moral persons, of both the United States and Britain); 'The Lawfulness of Defensive War;' 'The Present War,' dealing with how 'War in Defence of Property, Liberty, and National Independence and Honour is Lawful: and (How) Defensive War May Be for Precaution, Resistance, or Redress;' and 'The Ends for Which God in His Providence Permits the Existence of this War.' M'Leod concludes this work with these stirring words, 'the most faithful of Reformers with patriotic ardour contended with the sword in defence of their civil and religious liberties. Ulric Zwingle, the morning-star of the reformation, fell in battle at Zurich, 1530, at the commencement of the strife against arbitrary power; and towards the close of the struggle which terminated in the overthrow of the purest of the churches (i.e. the covenanted Presbyterian Church of Scotland -- RB), Richard Cameron fell at Airsmoss, 1680, while defending, as a Christian hero, the religion and liberties of his country, against the tyranny of the bishops, and the royal house of Stuart . . . If I claim a place among consistent Protestants, I must testify against all the acts of anti-Christian power. If I follow the steps which are died by the blood of the Martyrs, I must raise my voice against the thrones which shed that blood. If the Bible is my system of religion, and of social order, I must disclaim attachment to those powers that are hostile to evangelical doctrine'." -- Publisher
*Owen, John (1616-1683), God's Presence With a People the Spring of Their Prosperity; With Their Special Interest in Abiding in Him. Alternate title: "GOD'S PRESENCE WITH A PEOPLE, THE SPRING OF THEIR PROSPERITY; WITH THEIR SPECIALL INTEREST IN ABIDING WITH HIM. A SERMON, PREACHED TO THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND, AT WESTMINSTER, OCTOB. 30. 1656. A DAY OF SOLEMN HUMILIATION. BY JOHN OWEN, D.D. A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST, IN THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL. PRINTED BY ORDER OF PARLIAMENT, 1656. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available in various editions of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN. Available in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN, VOL. 8, SERMONS TO THE NATION, sermon 11.
http://johnowenquotes.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/johnowenvol-8.pdf
Owen preaches at length, 21 pages, on God's presence with a people, both individually and corporately, in a sermon on the text And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you 2 Chronicles 15:2, delivered to Parliament October 30, 1656.
"The great concernment of any people or nation is, to know that all their prosperity is from the presence of God amongst them, and to attend to that which will give continuance thereunto. . . .
"There is a presence of God in respect of providential dispensations. . . . -- attended with peculiar love, favor, good-will, special care towards them with whom he is so present. So Abimelech observed that he was with Abraham, Genesis 21:22, God is with thee in all that thou doest, -- with thee to guide thee, bless thee, preserve thee, as we shall see afterward. So he promised to be with Joshua, I will be with thee, Joshua 1:5; and so he was with Gideon, The Lord is with thee, Judges 6:12, -- to bless him in his great undertaking; and so with Jeremiah, I am with thee, Jeremiah 15:20. This is fully expressed, Isaiah 43:1,2, "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. And this is the presence of God here intimated, -- his presence with the people as to special providential dispensations, as is manifest from the whole discourse of the prophet; and wherein this consists, shall be afterward at large declared. . . .
"There is an abiding with God in national administrations; -- this is a fruit of the other, in those who are called to them. And that this is principally here intended is evident from that use that Asa made of this information and exhortation of the prophet. He did not only look to his personal walking thereupon, but also immediately set upon the work of ordering the whole affairs of the kingdom so as God might be glorified thereby. How this may be effected, shall at large afterward be declared. What hath already been spoken may suffice for a foundation of that proposition which I shall this day insist upon; and it is this, --
"The presence of God with a people, in special providential dispensations for their good, depends on their obediential presence with him in national administrations to his glory: The Lord is with you, while ye be with him. . . .
"What is the rule and measure of God's continuance with his people in the covenant of grace? Plainly this, -- that he will never forsake them; and, on that account, will take care that they shall never forsake him, but abide with him forever. It is not whilst they do so and so, he will abide with them; and when they cease so to do, he will forsake them, as to his federal and covenant presence; -- there is not such a sandy foundation left us of our abiding with God in Christ. See the tenor of the covenant, Jeremiah 31:33; 32:38-40 [Jeremiah 32:38-40]. The sum is, that God will be with them, and take care that they always abide with him; and therefore hath he provided for all interveniences imaginable, that nothing shall violate this union. God lays his unchangeableness as the foundation of the covenant, Malachi 3:6, and he therein makes us unchangeable; -- not absolutely so, for we change every moment; but with respect to the terms and bounds of the covenant, he hath undertaken that we shall never leave him. The law of God's presence in respect of providential dispensations, and all special privileges attending it, is quite of another importance: it is purely conditional, as you may see in my text. The tenor of it is expressed to the height, 1 Samuel 2:30, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Here is no alteration of counsel or purpose in God; but merely an explanation of the rule, law, and tenor of providential dispensations; -- no interpretation of the covenant of grace (Eli held not the priesthood by that covenant); but an explication of the tenor of a privilege given in special providence, Psalm 89:32,33. Hence is that variety of God's dealings with men mentioned in the Scripture; which yet are always righteous, according to one or other of these rules and laws. . . .
"I suppose I need not go for proof beyond the observation of the constant tenor of God's proceedings with his people of old. When did he not deal thus with them? What instance can be given of transgressing this rule? Is the whole story of the nation of the Jews any thing but the illustration of this proposition? Some ruled well, and sought the Lord; and the Lord was with them, and prospered them in all their ways; -- some fell from him, and walked according to their own imaginations; and the Lord cut them short on that account; -- yea, sometimes the same man, as Solomon, Asa, Uzziah, experienced both these states and conditions. Hath not the state of all nations, since they came into the power of men professing the knowledge of him, been the same? Look on the Roman empire; did it not flourish under the hand of men who ruled with God, and were faithful with the saints? Is not the present distraction of it, under the fury and cruelty of Turk and Pope, the issue of the violence, unrighteousness, idolatry, luxury, and persecution of ill governors? Doth not the demonstration of all God's people in the world -- the consideration whereof, in particular, might be insisted on as the ground and reason of the truth insisted on -- require that it should be thus Leviticus 26:1, and almost the whole book of Deuteronomy, are sermons on this text; and every verse, almost, in them would afford a new confirmation of the truth in hand. . . .
"The second use of this pillar was, to give them protection and defense in their ways; so Exodus 14:19,20,24. This protected them from the Egyptians; -- and from thence God troubled their enemies out of the pillar; that is, from his especial presence. This use of it is insisted on, Isaiah 4:5,6. The cloud, that was as smoke by day, and as fire by night, was also a shadow, a place of refuge, and a covert; in one word, a protection or a defense. And this is a second thing which is in God's special presence, -- he will protect or defend them with whom he is so present. He is their dwelling place, Psalm 90:1, then, when in this world they have none; their refuge in the time of trouble: so Isaiah 25:4, 26:1 [Isaiah 26:1], 31:4 [Isaiah 31:4]. Promises and instances to make this good abound; -- they are known to all; the time would fail me to insist upon them. I might go over all the causes, means, and ways of the fears, dangers, ruin of such a people, and show you how a defense is provided against them all. Are their fears from themselves, because of their folly, weakness, and division? or from pretended friends, because of their envy and desertion? or from open enemies, because of their power, cruelty, malice, and revenge? A defense is provided on every account. Heat, rain, tempests, storms, adversity, prosperity, -- all are provided against, where God is present, Isaiah 32:1,2.
"And if any people in the world have experience of this truth, we have it this day. Had not the Lord been with us, who had not destroyed us? Enemies, friends, abroad, at home, our own follies, -- all, any of them, had done the work, had not the Lord himself been with us. . . .
"That we may abide with God, this is indispensably required, -- that we may have peace with him in Jesus Christ. If we are never with him, we cannot abide with him; no man can abide where he never come. The acceptance of our persons lies at the bottom of the acceptance of our duties. As the special presence of God with any, is in and by Christ, and no otherwise, so is our abiding with God in and through him. God with us is the name of Christ: our being with God is in him who is our peace. Two cannot walk together, unless they be agreed, Amos 3:3.
"Now, because this is not to be expected from all the individuals of a nation, yet this thing is to be endeavored, -- that the rulers of it be such as have this interest. I do not divest of a share in government, those who have no share in Christ, if lawfully called thereunto; but I say, when God gives governors whom he intends to make a blessing unto a people, they shall be such as are blessed of him in Christ. And if ever the government of this nation, in this present constitution, -- suppose it the most exactly framed and balanced, in the several parts of it, for the furtherance of public good, -- be devolved into the hands of men not interested in God by Christ, though the constitution may be absolutely good, yet the government will not be blessed, and the nation will be ruined; for God and his glory will depart, Micah 5:5,6. It is Christ that is our peace, even in outward troubles. . . .
"This, then, I say, is pre-required, as a qualification of any person to the performance of this duty of abiding with God. It is the psalmist's advice, Psalm 2:11,12. Let this principle be always owned amongst you; by it honor Christ in the world. Give him the pre-eminence; it is the Father's will he should have it in all things. Expect not the presence of God, but upon this account. Bear testimony herein against the world of profane men, who despise these things. Seeing, then, it cannot be expected to have this qualification diffused universally, as yet, through the body of the people, let the rulers take care that they be not the cause of God's departure from us. . . ." -- John Owen
Patterson, Robert, Dereliction of Duty: An Eyewitness Account of how Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security, ISBN: 0895261405 9780895261403.
"A retired Air Force colonel shares his personal insights into the foreign affairs failures of the Clinton administration, from his inattention to basic presidential duties to his scorn for men in uniform." -- Publisher
Peck, Joseph E., Soul Problems, With Other Papers, 1875.
Subject: Church and State.
*Pendlebury, William, National Repentance and Reformation the way to Obtain National Blessings. A sermon preach'd at Rotherham in Yorkshire, on the eleventh of April, 1744, . . . by William Pendlebury, M.A.
*Preston, John (1587-1628), The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble, ISBN: 1877611174 9781877611179. A Christian classic.
This book is comprised of six sermons on 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land, just one verse that succinctly gives the Biblical solution to terrorism. Sermons are on Affliction, Humiliation, Seeking god's face, Turning from evil, Forgiveness to those who forsake sin, and Sin as the cause of all calamities.
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGoldenSceptreHeldForthToTheHumble
The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble
http://www.lettermen2.com/goldensceptre.pdf
Prestwich, Menna, International Calvinism, 1541-1715, ISBN: 0198219334 9780198219330.
Pullen, L. Larry, Christian Ethics and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Helsinki Accords and Human Rights, ISBN: 0739101102 9780739101100.
*Rogers, Richard (1550?-1618), Judges, ISBN: 0851513778.
Richard Rogers was a contemporary of William Perkins (1558-1602).
"This for the Puritan period is THE work upon Judges. It is thoroughly plain and eminently practical. . . ." -- C.H. Spurgeon
"It [the book of JUDGES -- compiler], provides a dramatic illustration of the effect of apostasy upon every aspect of life. The root cause of Israel's decline was that the covenant relationship with the Lord, with its requirement of absolute and loyal obedience to His commands, was broken. This led to disintegration in the political, religious, social, and family spheres and to a sharp increase in immorality. The book of JUDGES serves as a reminder that a nation cannot live on its past glories. The author of JUDGES was, of course, a preacher to his own generation, but his message has a permanent and universal application, and may be summed up in the words of Proverbs 14:34:
Righteousness exalts a nation,"Israel's chronic inability to profit by its own bitter history is a solemn exhortation to profit from the lessons of experience, whether observed or experienced." -- A.E. Cundall
but sin in a reproach to any people. [Proverbs 14:34 ]
Shaull, Richard, Naming the Idols: Biblical Alternatives for U.S. Foreign Policy, ISBN: 0940989328: 9780940989320.
Shoebat, Walid, Why I Left Jihad: The Root of Terrorism and the Return of Radical Islam, ISBN: 0977102114 9780977102112.
Shoebat, Walid, Why we Want to Kill you: The Jihadist Mindset and how to Defeat it, ISBN: 9780977102143 0977102149.
"The number one book to read on understanding the threat of Islamic fundamentalist inspired terror.
"It clearly defines Islamic fundamenatlist goals and makes arguments that need to be taken very seriously concerning the number one problem concerning the freedoms we now enjoy but are under serious threat.
"A great follow up to Mr. Shoebat's previous book, WHY I LEFT JIHAD: THE ROOT OF TERRORISM AND THE RETURN OF RADICAL ISLAM. It has fascinating incites into the thinking of terrorists and terror sympathizers.
"A former terrorist now on our side is a must read for everyone." -- Reader's Comment
Smith, Daniel Malloy, Major Problems in American Diplomatic History: Documents and Readings.
Toland, John, Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath, ISBN: 042509040X 9780425090404.
"John Toland has been fearless in his pursuit of truth . . . INFAMY is not only readable and suspenseful; it is probably his most controversial book to date." -- John S.D. Eisenhower
"Pearl Harbor and its cover-up ranks right up there with President Johnson's escalation in Vietnam and Nixon's Watergate. A fascinating account." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch
"In meticulous detail, Toland shows that Navy and Army commanders were not adequately informed by Washington of the likelihood of a Pear Harbor attack." -- Booklist
*Williams, Daniel (1643?-1716), What Repentance of National Sins God Doth Require, as Ever we Expect National Mercies? [Sermon on Hosea x. 12. (Hosea 10:12)], 1690. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, Ethics, computer ethics, cyberethics, Sex ethics, sex education, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Commitment, surrender, The commandments of christ, An introduction to the covenanted reformation, God's deliverance of nations, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Treason and impeachment, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, and so forth, and so on.
Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. -- James Madison (1751-1836)No reasonably informed person can now believe that Japan made a villainous unexpected attack on the United States. An attack was not only fully expected, but was actually desired. It is beyond doubt that President Roosevelt wanted to get his country into the war, but for political reasons, was most anxious to ensure that the first act of hostility came from the other side; for which reason he caused increasing pressure to be put on the Japanese, to a point that no self-respecting nation could endure without resort to arms. Japan was meant, by the American President, to attack the United States. As Mr Oliver Lyttelton, then British Minister of Production, said in 1944: "Japan was provoked into attacking America's Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty of history to say that America was forced into the war." -- British Historian, Captain Russell Grenfell, Main Fleet to Singapore, as quoted by President Herbert Hoover in Freedom Betrayed
*Beard, Charles (1874-1948, author), and Campbell Craig (introduction), President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War, 1941: Appearances and Realities, new edition, ISBN: 0765809982 9780765809988, 614 pages.
"This is a great and important book. It was not Beard's last book, but one that subjected him to a veritable witch hunt and his removal from his position in historical societies and organization. A progressive of the old LaFollette type, Beard simply sought to tell the truth about how Roosevelt plunged the USA into World War II before any declaration of war or attacks on the USA by Germany, Italy, or Japan.
"Most of the material here comes from hearings in the U.S. Congress, some during World War II, and other shortly afterward.
"It is unfortunate that Beard did not have access to the materials that have been available in the last 10 or 20 years as war time records has become declassified. His concentration is on Pearl Harbor and the naval war against Italy and Germany (most who write about submarine warfare in the Atlantic neglect the fact that there was a substantial force of Italian submarines as well as German submarines), that Roosevelt launched in 1940. Yet, this is but the tip of the iceberg in Roosevelt's illegal war against Germany and Italy and Japan in 1940 and in 1941.
"Roosevelt ran the 1940 election under the slogan 'I hate war' and on his many pledges not to send Americans to fight in the Second World War. [the same scenario of Woodrow Wilson and the First World War -- compiler]. As soon as Roosevelt won the 1940 election he secretly began to send American sailors, marines, and soldiers into the war.
"In November 1940, Roosevelt sent the U.S. Navy into the Atlantic to attack and sink German and Italian submarines in complete cooperation with the British. This was despite the fact that the German and Italian submariners were ordered to stay out of the Western Atlantic and to avoid American ports and ships so they would not provoke U.S. public opinion. What the Axis submariners could have done if they targeted American shipping was shown in 1941 and 1942 after Pearl Harbor. Hundreds of ships were sunk within sight of the East Coast. Britain was seriously threatened with strangulation.
"The evidence that Beard prints in this book chiefly from Congressional hearings explains major incidents like the sinking of the Reuben James and the Kearny that were used to claim Germany was sinking American ships without provocation. Congressional hearings reported on in this book show both incidents were provoked by aggressive U.S. Navy attacks on German submarines either separate from or in direct cooperation with the British and Canadian navies.
"Roosevelt had the U.S. in a worldwide naval war with Germany and Italy by 1941. American Navy pilots worked directly with the British. In fact it was an U.S. Navy pilot, not a British pilot who flew the plane that torpedoed the Bismark and left it unable to steer. The destroyer for bases deal not only supplied the British with destroyers, but sent U.S. troops to the bases that protected British colonies in the Americas and Africa so British troops there could be sent to the war in the Arab East.
"The U.S. Navy began to build a major base in Northern Ireland. By 1941 U.S. Navy ships would attack, sink, or seize any German vessel they encountered on the high seas, not just in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific and Indian Ocean as well. The U.S. fleet and 'neutral' American shipping were used to convoy Australian, New Zealand, and British colonial troops from the Pacific to the U.S. and Canada to be shipped to the British war in North Africa.
"American Marines relieved the British troops who had essentially invaded and occupied Iceland, an action not really favored by the Icelandic government which had tried to stay neutral. Those same Marines were originally to have invaded Vichy-controlled Martinique and Guadeloupe, but the Vichy governor of the islands agreed to allow U.S. Navy officers to control passage of naval vessels to those islands, keeping French warships in port on these islands until the end of the War.
"In Asia, Roosevelt launched the Flying Tigers. Rather than being a mercenary program paid for by the Chaing Kai Shek government as the public was told until the relevant documents were released in the 1980s, the Flying Tigers were totally financed by the United States Army Air Force. All of the Tigers were serving Navy or Army pilots who were ordered to leave the Navy and the Army to accept positions with the Tigers. Generally, Army and Navy officers are not usually allowed to simply quit and take other positions before the end of their service, let alone in a period of coming war. Plans for the Tigers included building a huge American-staffed and paid for air force that would possess long range bombers to attack Japan. They barely had begun functioning in China before WWII began.
"In late 1940 joint commissions of the U.S. military and naval general staffs and their British counterparts were set up in both Washington and London to plan a US-British war against both Germany and Japan. Similar arrangements were worked out with Britain, Canada, and the Dutch colonial government of what is now knows as Indonesia for naval and military action against Japan.
"Those who do not know the information Beard provides and the rest that has come out since his times, wonder why Germany declared war on the USA. They picture the German declaration of war as an erroneous and gratuitous act of solidarity with Japan. They miss the real question. The real question is why did Germany wait so long to declare war on the USA when the USA had been carrying on what American and international law clearly defined as illegal warfare against Germany since the fall of 1940.
"Beard's courage on this issue was symptomatic of his rigor and independence, his relentless desire to find the truth. Just as we are ignorant of the real origins of U.S. involvement in WWII without this pioneering work, we are ignorant of who the founders of the U.S. government were, and what they were afraid of unless we read his ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. Beard was not just a learned man, a diligent scholar, and pretty good writer, he was a brave man who demanded to tell the truth no matter how unpopular it was. We should all be more like Beard!" -- Reader's Comment
Apologetics #09: The Enlightenment in Western Thought #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 69 min.
Dr. Singer on Roosevelt's maneuvering of the U.S. into World War II. An extraordinary lecture.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105182230
Lewin, Leonard C., Report From Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace, ISBN: 068482390X 9780684823904.
"From 1963 to 1966 the U.S. government assembled a team of prominent thinkers from all walks of life to determine what would happen if 'peace broke out.' The group, surprisingly but with unassailable logic, determined that war was necessary and desirable and that the government should do all it could to maintain the status quo. If peace became inevitable, the report suggested everything from creating an outer-space menace to setting up some new, socially acceptable form of slavery. The report was leaked in 1967 by a conference member harboring a guilty conscience, and it scandalized Washington.
"The ultimate compliment for any form of political satire is to be taken seriously by the people it is skewering. On that scale REPORT FROM IRON MOUNTAIN, which has been a lightning rod for both Right and Left since its appearance, could hardly be more successful. The hoax, written in perfect think-tankese, captures the mix of Olympian detachment and awesome cynicism that has flowed out of Washington for much of the American Century. Lewin's book (and he really did write it), exposes the mindset that we can thank for Vietnam and so much else.
"Report from Iron Mountain was bolstered, if not trumped, by reality -- the PENTAGON PAPERS and the PAX AMERICANA, a Defense Department plan to take over Latin America, emerged soon after. But the book's enduring popularity, particularly among those who never got the joke (apparently Lewin had to sue to get right-wing groups convinced of the book's authenticity to stop printing and selling copies), suggests that the governmental worldview that REPORT FROM IRON MOUNTAIN lampoons -- as well as the paranoia that that immorality unleashes in the citizenry -- is very much with us." -- Michael Gerber
The Report From Iron Mountain: E-text
http://www-douzzer.ai.mit.edu:8080/conspiracy/ironmtn.html
North, Gary, Marx's Religion of Revolution: Regeneration Through Chaos, ISBN: 093046415X 9780930464158.
"Primarily Karl Marx was a man filled with the hatred for God and for humanity and only secondarily an economic theorist, according to Dr. North. This book, first published in 1968, returns to print in our day of 'liberation theology' which is gaining support in surprising areas of Christendom." -- GCB
Includes bibliography.
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
*Stinnett, Robert B., Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor, ISBN: 0684853396 9780684853390.
Contents: The biggest story of my life -- FDR's back door to war -- The White House decides -- We are alert for an attack on Hawaii -- The splendid arrangement -- The outside man -- All clear for a surprise attack -- An unmistakable pattern -- Watch the wide sea -- A night with a princess -- War may come quicker than anyone dreams -- The Japs are blasting away on the frequencies -- A pretty cheap price -- This means war -- The escape was north -- Epilogue: Destroy anything in writing.
"Historians have long debated whether President Roosevelt had advance knowledge of Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Using documents pried loose through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides overwhelming evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The heart of his argument is even more inflammatory: Stinnett argues that FDR, who desired to sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, instigated a policy intended to provoke a Japanese attack. The plan was outlined in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo of October 1940; Roosevelt immediately began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan's economy), all of which, according to Stinnett, climaxed in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, substantiates his charges with a wealth of persuasive documents, including many government and military memos and transcripts. Demolishing the myth that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence, he shows that several Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers in the 10 days before December 7, confirmed that Japan intended to start the war at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett convincingly demonstrates that the U.S. top brass in Hawaii -- Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short -- were kept out of the intelligence loop on orders from Washington and were then scapegoated for allegedly failing to anticipate the Japanese attack (in May 1999, the U.S. Senate cleared their names). Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific, actively searching for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters ordered him to turn back. Stinnett's meticulously researched book raises deeply troubling ethical issues. While he believes the deceit built into FDR's strategy was heinous, he nevertheless writes: 'I sympathize with the agonizing dilemma faced by President Roosevelt. He was forced to find circuitous means to persuade an isolationist America to join in a fight for freedom.' This, however, is an expression of understanding, not of absolution. If Stinnett is right, FDR has a lot to answer for -- namely, the lives of those Americans who perished at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett establishes almost beyond question that the U.S. Navy could have at least anticipated the attack. The evidence that FDR himself deliberately provoked the attack is circumstantial, but convincing enough to make Stinnett's bombshell of a book the subject of impassioned debate in the months to come." -- Publishers Weekly, subject to copyright
Sutton, Antony C., Energy: The Created Crisis, ISBN: 0916728048 9780916728045.
Sutton, Antony C., How the Order Creates war and Revolution, ISBN: 094966782X 9780949667823.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, ISBN: 0914981013 9780914981015.
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and FDR, ISBN: 0870003283 9780870003288.
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and the Rise of Hilter, ISBN: 0892450045 9780892450046.
"Sutton makes that case that several Wall Street firms were deeply involved in financing the rise to power of the National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e., the Nazis), in pre-World War II Germany. Sutton shows that first, Wall Street financed the German cartels in the 1920's, second, that Wall Street indirectly financed Hitler and the Nazi Party, prior to their rise in power in Germany, third, that Wall Street firms profited from the build-up to war and the war itself, even after the U.S. got involved, and finally, that U.S. firms worked to cover up their complicity after the war.
"This book is the third in a trilogy. The two other books chronicle Wall Street's involvement in the rise of FDR and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathies of businessmen like Henry Ford is no secret, so it's surprising that this subject gets so little play. Given modern leftist thought on big business, one would think that they would leap at the chance to link Wall Street to the Nazis. The reason they don't is no doubt due to Sutton's larger effort at showing that Wall Street supported 'corporate socialism' not only in Germany, but in Russia and the U.S. as well. Since leftists still idealize FDR and the brutal regime that arose to become the U.S.S.R., they probably prefer to forget about the businessmen who connect them all. Sutton himself is no anti-business left-winger, instead he is a conservative concerned with the actions of an 'unelected power elite,' controlling events/governments/societies behind the scenes, to the detriment of freedom everywhere.
"It makes for rather dry reading, but Sutton goes into extensive details about the persons, funds and timelines that show the deep connection between certain American Big Businesses and the Nazis. Why would Big Business embrace such a horrid political movement? Although Sutton does not go into details about motivation, there is a good case to be made that many businesses were not fond of the untrammeled free market and instead yearned for the security of government guaranteed profits, regardless of the expense to others in terms of loss of freedom. These businesses saw themselves as the contractors running the government machinery of what was thought to be the inevitable march to socialism. Sutton doesn't mention it, but many in the early twentieth century thought that some form of socialism was unavoidable, and that it was a choice between that and corporate domination through monopoly. Thus these businesses saw themselves as merely working towards what was almost predestined to happen, and ensuring that they would be the ones running the show and reaping the benefit.
"The book turns a bit conspiratorial in the end. Sutton invokes the Kennedy Assassination, the Korean War and Vietnam War and the Council on Foreign Relations all in an attempt to suggest that we are being ruled by an unelected power elite, bent on societal domination at all costs, in the name of profit. There's no need to invoke conspiracy, though. The selfish acts of business men, tempted by access to the levers of power, is as good an explanation as any.
"The case that Sutton makes is compelling. If his evidence is able to withstand scrutiny, it's hard to come to any other conclusion than that Big Business was willing to deal with the worst of the worst in order to profit via the coercive powers of government." -- Publisher
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Toland, John, Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath, ISBN: 042509040X 9780425090404.
"John Toland has been fearless in his pursuit of truth . . . INFAMY is not only readable and suspenseful; it is probably his most controversial book to date." -- John S.D. Eisenhower
"Pearl Harbor and its cover-up ranks right up there with President Johnson's escalation in Vietnam and Nixon's Watergate. A fascinating account." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch
"In meticulous detail, Toland shows that Navy and Army commanders were not adequately informed by Washington of the likelihood of a Pear Harbor attack." -- Booklist
*Vance, Laurence M., Christianity and war and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, ISBN: 0976344807 9780976344803.
"These thirteen essays have one thing in common -- they were all published on the premier anti-state, anti-war, pro-market website, LewRockwell.com. Ten of them were written exclusively for that website and have never appeared in print until now. Each essay is reprinted verbatim.
"LewRockwell.com is the brainchild of Lew Rockwell, the founder and president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and a leading opponent of the central state, its wars, and its socialism.
"Because they were published on the Internet, most of the essays originally contained numerous links to documentation and further information on the Web that the reader could click on if he desired. Because this feature is not possible in a printed format, the reader is encouraged to consult the online versions of each essay at LewRockwell.com, where, thanks to the wonders of technology, they are archived.
"These thirteen essays, organized under the headings of Christianity and War, The Evils of War, Specific Wars, and The U.S. Global Empire, have one underlying theme: opposition to the warfare state that robs us of our liberty, our money, and in some cases our life. Although many of these essays reference contemporary events, the principles discussed in all of them are timeless: war, militarism, empire, interventionism, the warfare state, and the Christian attitude toward these things. It is the author's contention that Christian enthusiasm for the state, its wars, and its politicians is an affront to the Saviour, contrary to Scripture, and a demonstration of the profound ignorance many Christians have of history." -- Publisher
*Weisman, Steven R., The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson -- The Fierce Battles Over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation, ISBN: 0684850680 9780684850689.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Politics, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Betrayal, Freedom and property rights: theft, stealing, and fraud, Treason and impeachment, Corruption and conspiracy, War and taxes, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, The military, The destruction of american liberty, Constitutionalism, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Servant leadership, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, God's deliverance of nations, The biblical solution to terrorism, and so forth, and so on.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
"Ideas have consequences."The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpThen, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence [harmony -- compiler], and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavored by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Lćlius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be. . . .
Tully [Cicero -- compiler], himself, too, speaking not in the person of Scipio or any one else, but uttering his own sentiments, uses the following language in the beginning of the fifth book, after quoting a line from the poet Ennius, in which he said, "Rome's severe morality and her citizens are her safeguard." "This verse," says Cicero, "seems to me to have all the sententious truthfulness of an oracle. For neither would the citizens have availed without the morality of the community, nor would the morality of the commons without outstanding men have availed either to establish or so long to maintain in vigor so grand a republic with so wide and just an empire. Accordingly, before our day, the hereditary usages formed our foremost men, and they on their part retained the usages and institutions of their fathers. But our age, receiving the republic as a chef-d'oeuvre of another age which has already begun to grow old, has not merely neglected to restore the colors of the original, but has not even been at the pains to preserve so much as the general outline and most outstanding features. For what survives of that primitive morality which the poet called Rome's safeguard? It is so obsolete and forgotten, that, far from practicing it, one does not even know it. And of the citizens what shall I say? Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality. . . ."
For I mean in its own place to show that -- according to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debate -- Rome never was a republic, because true justice had never a place in it. But accepting the more feasible definitions of a republic, I grant there was a republic of a certain kind, and certainly much better administered by the more ancient Romans than by their modern representatives. But the fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ, if at least any choose to call this a republic; and indeed we cannot deny that it is the people's weal.
But if perchance this name, which has become familiar in other connections, be considered alien to our common parlance, we may at all events say that in this city is true justice; the city of which Holy Scripture says, "Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God." -- Augustine in The City of God, Book 2, Chapter 21, Cicero's Opinion of the Roman RepublicThe wicked is a very coward, and is afraid of everything; of God, because He is his enemy; of Satan, because he is his tormentor; of God's creatures, because they, joined with their Maker, fight against him: of himself, because he bears about with him his own accuser and executioner. The godly man contrarily is afraid of nothing; not of God, because he knows Him his best friend, and will not hurt him; not of Satan, because he cannot hurt him; not of afflictions, because he knows they come from a loving God, and end in his good; not of the creatures, since "the very stones in the field are a league with Him;" [Job 5:23], not of himself, since his conscience is at peace. -- Joseph Hall (1574-1656)
As theological modernism swept through the Church over a century ago, in deference to the prevailing philosophical and scientific climate of the day, belief in the supernatural was regarded as an old, medieval relic. Modern churchmen were in the vanguard of those intellectuals who "laid" [apparently as in "laid-back" relaxed and easy-going -- compiler], the supernatural. Modern man, it was argued, could not be expected to believe in spirits in a world in which the wonders and triumphs of science increased almost daily. Philosophy, logic and psychiatry had all the answers. To ask twentieth-century man to accept Biblical dogmas was an insult to his intelligence. The bible must be "demythologized."
All seemed to be going well until modern man became difficult. In an age in which the tenets of humanism were more consistently applied that at any previous time, there occurred what is now termed the "occult explosion." The spiritual nature of man cannot be suppressed indefinitely, and frequently it will express itself in the most bizarre fashion accompanied with the strangest aberrations. Liberal churchmen suddenly found themselves out of fashion in a day when ouija boards, seances, witches' covens and exorcisms became quite common and stole the headlines in newspapers and periodicals. Embarrassed churchmen spoke unconvincingly in televised interviews. At the same time a number of their colleagues urged a return to exorcism in the old medieval style." -- Frederick S. Leahy in Satan Cast out, p. 136John Locke (1632-1704)
"John Locke (29 August 1632 -- 28 October 1704), widely known as the Father of Liberalism,[2][3][4] was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.[5]
"Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_LockeSo many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), in the Apologetics series of 24 lectures using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979.
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453Wherever and whenever liberalism gains a foothold there is a corresponding appearance of tyranny and despotism. See: Apologetics #05: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism #1
Radical individualism, radical egalitarianism, omnipresent and omni-incompetent government, the politicization of the culture, and the battle for advantages through politics shatter a society into fragments of isolated individuals and angry groups. -- Robert H. Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline
The left's creed -- identity politics -- is an anti-American, racially charged determination to reject individual accountability and individual freedom, and to establish in their place group privileges, and racial/gender hierarchies. These hierarchies are based on the malicious premise that whites, heterosexuals, and males are oppressors and -- in the words of the Democratic platform -- America is a society governed by "systemic racism," which needs to be fundamentally transformed. -- David Horowitz, "The War Against Trump," Frontpage Magazine, March 8, 2017
Cultural determinism is the parent of identity politics and group solidarity. In its turn, cultural determinism was birthed by the Darwinian idea that man is an ape of evolution, therefore his identity is determined for example, by skin color or sexual and/or erotic appetites. This proposition rejects the concepts of the human soul/spirit, personhood, individuality, free will, and morally informed conscience (paired with personal accountability and responsibility) because it emphatically denies the existence of the Creator God of the Bible. -- Linda Kimball, "Cultural Marxism," American Thinker, February, 2007)"Wokeness" has become the nomenclature for the ideology or mentality of radical leftist activists on college campuses, at protests, and on social media.
Brethren, if we are to win great victories we must have greater courage. Some of you hardly dare speak about the blood of Christ in any but the most godly company; and scarcely there. You are very retiring. You love yourselves too much to get into trouble through your religion. Surely you cannot be of that noble band that love not their own lives unto the death! Many dare not hold the old doctrine nowadays because they would be thought narrow and bigoted, and this would be too galling. They call us old fools. It is very likely we are; but we are not ashamed to be fools for Christ's sake, and the truth's sake. We believe in the blood of the Lamb, despite the discoveries of science. We shall never give up the doctrine of atoning sacrifice to please modern culture. What little reputation we have is as dear to us as another man's character is to him; but we will cheerfully let it go in this struggle for the central truth of revelation. It will be sweet to be forgotten and lost sight of, or to be vilified and abused, if the old faith in the substitutionary sacrifice can be kept alive. This much we are resolved on, we will be true to our convictions concerning the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus; for if we give up this, what is there left?
God will not do anything by us if we are false to the cross. He uses the men who spare not their reputations when these are called for in defense of truth. Oh to be at a white heat! Oh to flame with zeal for Jesus! O my brethren, hold you to the old faith, and say, "As for the respect of men, I can readily forfeit it; but as for the truth of God, that I can never give up." This is the day for men to be men; for, alas! the most are soft, molluscous creatures. Now we need backbones as well as heads. To believe the truth concerning the Lamb of God, and truly to believe it, this is the essential of an overcoming life. Oh for courage, constancy, fixedness, self-denial, willingness to be made nothing of for Christ! God give us to be faithful witnesses to the blood of the Lamb in the midst of this ungodly world! -- C.H. Spurgeon in a sermon, The Blood of the Lamb, the Conquering WeaponA wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
"The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self." XIV:13."Augustine reflects deeply here on human nature and the meaning of eternal life and eternal punishment, within an explication of the 'meaning' of history. He writes of all human history as a single narrative. This also a work of Biblical exegesis, as Augustine treats Scripture as a historical document. For Augustine, creation is good, creation exists in time and has a history. Indeed, since God enters into history to show man His love, history itself is sanctified, through the City of God.
"The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3:4). In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity . . ." (XIV:28) -- Reader's Comment
Berkowitz, Peter, Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism, ISBN: 9781400822904 1400822904.
"Virtue has been rediscovered in the United States as a subject of public debate and of philosophical inquiry. Politicians from both parties, leading intellectuals, and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds are addressing questions about the content of our character. Yet many continue to associate virtue with a prudish, Victorian morality or with crude attempts by government to legislate morals. Peter Berkowitz clarifies the fundamental issues, arguing that a certain ambivalence toward virtue reflects the liberal spirit at its best. Drawing on recent scholarship as well as classical political philosophy, he makes his case with penetrating analyses of four central figures in the making of modern liberalism: Hobbes, Locke, Kant, and Mill." -- Publisher
*Bork, Robert H., Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline, ISBN: 0060391634 9780060391638.
"In Robert H. Bork's SLOUCHING TOWARDS GOMORRAH, one of our nation's most distinguished conservative scholars offers a prophetic and unprecedented view of a culture in decline, a nation in such serious moral trouble that its very foundation is crumbling. Of our own President, Bork writes: 'Thirty years ago, Clinton's behavior would have been absolutely disqualifying. Since the 1992 election, the public has learned far more about what is known, euphemistically, as the 'character issue.' Yet none of this appears to affect Clinton's popularity. It is difficult not to conclude that something about our moral perceptions and reactions has changed profoundly. If that change is permanent, the implication for our future is bleak.'
"The root of our decline, Bork argues, is the rise of modern liberalism, which stresses the dual forces of radical egalitarianism (the equality of outcomes rather than opportunities) and radical individualism (the drastic reduction of limits to personal gratification). The roots of modern liberalism are deeply embedded in the past two and a half centuries -- and perhaps -- arise from the very nature of Western civilization itself. From the collapse of popular culture to the general weakening of intellect, from the role of the Supreme Court as an agent of modern liberalism to the trouble in religion, from the assault of radical feminism on American institutions and freedoms to the 'killing for convenience' of abortion and euthanasia, Bork has brilliantly encapsulated a nation and a culture on the brink. He courageously sounds an alarm for all Americans.
"To understand our current plight and the direction in which we are moving, Bork believes we must look to the Sixties, a decade in which the moral integrity of our nation came under full-blown assault. We have never recovered from that attack because the radicals of the Sixties have taken over or heavily modified the cultural institutions they once sought to destroy. . . .
"Robert H. Bork received his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Chicago. He has been a partner at a major law firm, taught constitutional law as the Alexander M. Bickell Professor of Public Law at the Yale law school, served as Solicitor General and as Acting Attorney General of the United States and served as a United States Court of Appeals judge. Author of the bestselling THE TEMPTING OF AMERICA: THE POLITICAL SEDUCTION OF THE LAW, he and his wife live in Washington DC, where he is the John M. Olin Scholar in Legal Studies at the American Enterprise Institute." -- Publisher
Bozell, L. Brent, III, and Brent H. Baker, And That's The Way It Is(n't): A Reference Guide to Media Bias, ISBN: 0962734802 9780962734809.
An exposé of the liberal anti-American, anti-Christian hold on the media. Reviewed by Loren Mitchel in Letter From Plymouth Rock, January 1991. David Burke, the President of CBS News, was formerly the Chief of Staff for Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
*Burnham, James, Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism, ISBN: 0895268221 9780895268228.
"Through studious research into past civilizations, Burnham diagnoses the twentieth century and finds it afflicted with destructive, nay, 'suicidal' tendencies -- all of which emit from the 'Liberal syndrome' and its inherent applications. The book explores several important questions including: Why Liberalism clashes with Christianity and how Liberalism is a root cause of race riots and the rapid growth of crime.
"James Burnham has written a book about Liberalism for which the world has been aching. It is worth more to the West than the year's gross national product, more than all the planes and bombs . . ." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.
D'Souza, Dinesh, America: Imagine a World Without her, ISBN: 1621574016 9781621574019.
"Is America a source of pride, as Americans have long held, or shame, as Progressives allege? Beneath an innocent exterior, are our lives complicit in a national project of theft, expropriation, oppression, and murder, or is America still the hope of the world? D'Souza offers a passionate and sharply reasoned defense of America, knocking down every important accusation made by Progressives against our country." -- Publisher
Donohue, William A., The New Freedom: Individualism and Collectivism in the Social Lives of Americans, ISBN: 0887382983 9780887382987.
"How liberals are unraveling our social fabric via loose morals, the 'rights industry,' and big government."
Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758), A Preservative Against Socinianism, Shewing the direct and plain opposition between it, and the religion revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures, 1693.
*Elliott, Paul M., Christianity and Neo-Liberalism: The Spiritual Crisis in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Beyond (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation; October, 2005), ISBN: 0940931680 9780940931688.
"Paul M. Elliott, a former Ruling Elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, carefully traces the origin of the spiritual crisis in the OPC and similar denominations to the pernicious teaching of Westminster Theological Seminary. That teaching is that God is unknowable, that Scripture is contradictory, and that salvation is by faith-plus-works. Elliott provides copious quotations from faculty members, from the Westminster Theological Journal, and from pastors in OPC congregations to document his analysis. This book is must reading for all Presbyterians.
"Elliott's book is a massive documentation of Liberalism at Westminster Seminary (Philadelphia) and in the OPC on the doctrines of Scripture, God, salvation, and hermeneutics. Officers of the OPC should not even begin to think, 'We are the children of Machen,' for if they were, they would do the deeds of Machen." -- The Trinity Foundation
" 'The Marks of Neo-liberalism' is taken from chapter 2 of . . . CHRISTIANITY AND NEO-LIBERALISM: THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS IN THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND BEYOND.
"In this chapter Mr. Elliot lists the marks of Neo-liberalism -- they are the principles of the Liberalism that Machen opposed -- and shows how the OPC displays those marks, even while claiming that 'there's no one here but us Reformed folks.'
The Marks of Neo-liberalism, Paul M. Elliott
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=219
"I would like to recommend Paul Elliot's new book, CHRISTIANITY AND NEO-LIBERALISM. This is a book that everyone who loves Jesus Christ, loves the truth, and loves the Gospel must read.
"It is a riveting and horrifying story. Elliot explains in great detail how the enemies of the faith have been able to surreptitiously supplant the true Gospel with a clever fraud and, more importantly, how they were able to succeed in the OPC. The track Elliot outlines in the OPC is mirrored in many respects in the PCA as well. Further, the politics involved and how these enemies of Christ have positioned themselves in places of power and influence over the years and their success in neutralizing their opposition is a lesson all of us need to learn, but I'm afraid few of us have. The incredible gullibility and complacency of countless churchmen recounted in this book is frightening. The comparison to Machen's CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERALISM is more than fitting. I would argue Elliot's book is considerably better on a number of counts. His account of the Kinnaird affair alone is worth the price of the book. Yet, there is so much I haven't even considered, like the 'hermeneutic of trust' which has supplanted the Reformed hermeneutic in many circles is an eye-opener. This is simply an amazing book." -- Sean Gerety
Contents:
Part One: Liberalism and Neo-liberalism: A Little Leaven; The Marks of Neo-liberalism.
Part Two: Historical Background: Those Who Ignore the Errors of History; Embracing the Principles of the Auburn Affirmation.
Part Three: The Growth of Neo-liberalism: The Shepherd Controversy: Entry of Another Gospel; Richard Gaffin's New Perspective on Paul; The Kinnaird Case and its Aftermath; The Hermeneutic of Trust: Prescription for Doctrinal Anarchy; How Did It Happen?
Part Four: How Shall We Respond?: The Biblical Imperative.
Appendices: The Auburn Affirmation; Kinnaird Memorandum; Proposed (Rejected) Overture to the 2004 OPC General Assembly; Scripture Index; Index.
Grudem, Wayne, Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? ISBN: 1581347340 9781581347340.
"By critically examining the writings of egalitarians, Grudem shows that, while egalitarian leaders claim to be subject to Scripture in their thinking, what is increasingly evident in their actual scholarship and practice is an effective rejection of the authority of Scripture.
"Egalitarianism is heading toward an Adam who is neither male nor female, a Jesus whose manhood is not important, and a God who is both Father and Mother, and then maybe only Mother. The common denominator in all of this is a persistent undermining of the authority of Scripture in our lives. Grudem's conclusion is that we must choose either evangelical feminism or biblical truth. We can't have it both ways!" -- Publisher
"Biblical authority is at stake in the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism -- because if you can get egalitarianism from the Bible, you can get anything from the Bible. The weight of Grudem's cumulative argument is considerable, and cannot easily be dismissed." -- J. Ligon Duncan III, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, Adjunct Professor, Reformed Theological Seminary
"Grudem describes this book as 'an expression of deep concern about a widespread undermining of the authority of Scripture in the arguments that are frequently used to support feminism. It is also a way of posing a question: can a movement that espouses this many ways of undermining the authority of Scripture possible be right?' The book's contention is that evangelical feminism sets those who affirm it on a dangerous path leading ultimately to liberalism." -- Reader's Comment
Hallowell, John H. (1913-1991), The Decline of Liberalism as an Ideology: With Particular Reference to German Politico-legal Thought, ISBN: 9780415175401 0415175402 9780415178389 041517838X 9780415178204 0415178207.
"Locke begins the downfall of modern thought in Britain and America . . . Locke's attempt to define Christianity in terms of Deistic epistemology . . . Hegel's dialect of change is a negation of biblical absolutes . . ." -- Publisher
*Hallowell, John H., (1913-1991), Main Currents in Modern Political Thought.
"Contents: Introduction to political philosophy | The background of modern political thought | The transition to modern times | Liberalism | The rise of liberalism | The age of enlightenment | The romantic and conservative reaction | Utilitarianism | Positivism | Changing concepts of law in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries | Socialism | The origins of modern socialism | Karl Marx and the rise of 'scientific' socialism | Socialism after marx | Socialism in the soviet union | The revolution of nihilism | The revolt against reason | Nationalism | Fascism and national socialism | The crisis of our times | Christianity and the social order." -- Publsher
*Hallowell, John H., (1913-1991), The Moral Foundation of Democracy. "Contents: Democracy: fact or fiction? | Democracy as the art of compromise | The institutional framework of democracy | Human nature and politics." -- Publisher
Himmelfarb, Gertrude, Past and Present: The Challenges of Modernity, From the Pre-Victorians to the Postmodernists, ISBN: 9781594039256 1594039259.
"PAST AND PRESENT brings together almost two dozen newly collected essays by the distinguished American historian and cultural critic, Gertrude Himmelfarb. Their common theme is the intriguing, often unexpected ways in which the past illuminates the present. The novelist William Faulkner wrote that 'The past is never dead. It's not even past.' In these essays, Himmelfarb shows the truth of this statement. She helps us find a new perspective on contemporary issues by bringing to bear a trenchant analysis of debates and thinkers of the past. She allows the past to inform the present without distorting either past or present. The essays, unified by the common theme of present and past, are varied. The topics range from the disorders of modern democracy to the challenges of postmodernism, from the Victorian ethos to the Jewish question. The thinkers range from Edmund Burke to Leo Strauss, from Cardinal Newman to Lionel Trilling. The political figures range from Benjamin Disraeli to Winston Churchill, from the American founders to Queen Elizabeth II. The underlying premise and principle of the essays is the conviction that the pursuit of knowledge and truth, however difficult or discomforting, eminently matters, in the 'practical life,' as Trilling put it, as in the 'moral life.' PAST AND PRESENT is a notable contribution to this endeavor -- to understanding where we have been, where we are now, and where we may be -- or should be going." -- Publisher
Horowitz, David, Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America, ISBN: 1630060879 9781630060879.
". . . Horowitz does not really get around to what, specifically, Trump should do until the conclusion of the book which deals with his first 100 days in office. The rest of the book is basically David Horowitz painting the Democratic Party as evil, progressive liberals whose goal is to destroy the country while making themselves wealthy. The Republican Party is a lackadaisical, do nothing party who is more afraid of being called names and being seen as NOT politically correct than they are concerned with stopping the evil progressive Democrats in their tracks.
His book is almost entirely concerned with what the Democratic Party is doing to destroy American values and what Republicans need to do to turn things around and restore America to what it once was. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Horowitz, David, Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America, ISBN: 9781974925988 1974925986.
"One of the most intellectually compelling and rational defenses of Christianity's role in America." -- Mike Huckabee
"New York Times bestselling author David Horowitz exposes not only the progressive war against Christianity but also a war against America and its founding principles -- which are Christian in their origin. DARK AGENDA is about an embattled religion, but, most of all, it is about our imperiled nation. Tackling a broad range of issues from prayer in the schools to the globalist mindset, Horowitz traces the anti-Christian movement to its roots in communism. When the communist empire fell, progressives did not want to give up their utopian anti-God illusions, so instead they merely changed the name of their dream. Instead of 'communism,' progressives have re-branded their movement as 'social justice.' DARK AGENDA shows how progressives are prepared to use any means necessary to stifle their opponents who support the concepts of religious liberty that America was founded on, and how the battle to destroy Christianity is really the battle to destroy America." -- Publisher
Jackson, Gregg, Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies: Issue by Issue Responses to the Most Common Claims of the Left from A to Z, ISBN: 9780977227907, 0977227901.
"This book addresses key issues being addressed by the liberal press, including: abortion, terrorism, the Patriot Act, separation of church and state, illegal immigration, the environment, same-sex marriage, taxes, media bias, and President Bush's real record of achievement, and presents what the liberal media is not telling you about each of them." -- Reader's Comment
Knight, Robert, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites who are Pushing America Toward Socialism, updated edition (Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2010).
"After reading Robert Knight's Radical Rulers, I just had to pause, take a deep breath and say -- WOW!" -- Tim Wildmon, President, American Family Association
"President Obama has brought more radicals into his administration than any president in history. This administration has more czars than the Romanovs. Fortunately, Robert Knight helps you sort them out." -- Kerby Anderson, Host, Point of View Radio Talk Show
"As I read it, I found myself thinking: How can one U.S. President surround himself with so many radicals?" -- Dr. Jerry Newcombe, author and host of The Coral Ridge Hour
"Robert Knight is Senior Writer and Washington, D.C. Correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. A widely quoted journalist and family policy expert, Mr. Knight formerly directed the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute, and is currently a Senior Fellow for the American Civil Rights Union. He is the author of THE SILENCERS: HOW LIBERALS ARE TRYING TO SHUT DOWN MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE U.S. and FIGHTING FOR AMERICA'S SOUL: HOW SWEEPING CHANGE THREATENS OUR NATION AND WHAT WE MUST DO." -- Publisher
Levin, Mark R., Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism, ISBN: 9781476773087 1476773084 9781476773452 1476773459 9781508236221 1508236224.
"In stunning fashion, Levin revisits the Founders' ideal of limited government based on natural law -- and their frequent warnings about the perils of overreach by the federal government -- and he concludes that the Founders would be outraged and disappointed to see where we've ended up. Levin condemns the scourge of creeping progressivism and excoriates the statists and progressives for making the Founders' ideals less and less achievable with each year and each so-called victory. He shows how progressivism seeks to refute the American heritage of individual liberty and completely overhaul modern life, growing into a government with no limits and leading us into a new age of authoritarianism, far from the Founders' dream of a limited government as delineated in the Constitution. Levin returns to the impassioned question he's explored in each of his . . . books: How do we save our exceptional country? Because our values are in such a precarious state, he argues that a restoration to the essential truths on which our country was founded has never been more urgent. Understanding these principles, in Levin's words, can 'serve as the antidote to tyrannical regimes and governments.' Rediscovering Americanism is not an exercise in nostalgia, but an appeal to his fellow citizens to reverse course. In this crucial thesis, Mark R. Levin brings his celebrated, sophisticated analysis to the troubling question of America's future, and reminds us of what we are losing and what we must restore for the sake of our children and our children's children." -- Publisher
Loudon, Trevor, Rodney R. Stubbs, and Glenn Beck, Barack Obama and the Enemies Within, ISBN: 9780615490748 0615490743.
"A history about those who advise, mentor, and operate behind the throne of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. From early childhood to the present day the President chose to keep his personal life a secret. Those who surround him fall into a wide category of radicals, marxists, communists, and Americans who have joined together in a coordinated effort to overthrow capitalism and the Republic of the United States of America. -- Publisher
"I'm a political researcher from Christchurch New Zealand. I believe in freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. My ideal society is one in which government is confined to protecting its citizens from criminals and external enemies. I believe in working with all those who are moving in broadly the same direction. The views expressed in this book are strictly my own." Trevor is the founder and editor of KeyWiki.org, a rapidly growing website with the goal of unlocking the covert side of U.S. and Global politics." -- Publisher
*Machen, J. Gresham, Christianity and Liberalism, ISBN: 0802811213.
"Machen's classic was written in the height of the battle for control over the Presbyterian Church USA (the most prominent of the 'mainline' denominations), and defines with brilliance the battle lines between liberal (so-called), Christianity and the orthodox faith. Moreover, it points out exactly what is at stake: the true faith, or a perverse shadow of that faith, a shadow based on subjectivism which elevates man's sovereignty over God's and ends in believing nothing at all.
"The one problem with this book (and it made good rhetorical sense at the time, but is somewhat misleading concerning the true nature of the struggle), is Machen's categories. Machen deals with theological conservatives and liberals (legitimate in terms of the Bible's own theological dichotomy between saved and lost), but misses the inescapable fact that there was a third faction at work (a fact which eventually resulted in his defrocking). That third faction was a great mushy evanjellyfish middle, a pietistic/mystical majority which was neither willing to accept the liberal position nor fight for the conservative one. As Machen rightly pointed out two years earlier in his address to incoming students at Princeton (and again, much later, in the last two years of the struggle), these were the Christians who said '"Peace, peace",' when there was no peace,' and elevated that 'peace' over truth. As in all other endeavors, 'peace at any price' resulted in defeat, and in the end, it was that great mushy middle which delivered the PCUSA to the left and off the cliff.
"But it wasn't them alone. To see the mistakes of the conservative side, I strongly recommend North's CROSSED FINGERS, the only definitive history of this fight.
"Yet at the end of the day, you must read Machen. This book is vital for Christians defending their churches and denominations against increasing liberal encroachment, and indeed more so by the day. A great read." -- Reader's Comment
"Still stands, after many years, as one of the strongest books ever written against liberalism. A complete and thorough critique." -- GCB
*Marshall, Walter (1628-1680), The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union With Christ, ISBN: 189277724X. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Reformation Heritage Books edition is a reprint of the 1954 edition set by Oliphants and includes an introduction by Joel R. Beeke. Also includes the author's famous sermon on "The Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied."
See the WorldCat record for various foreign language editions.
Other editions:
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1597520543 9781597520546.
"This is by far the best book on the doctrine of Sanctification in print. It was originally written in the 17th century, but has been put into modern English with this edition. This book will help you better understand the Gospel and its power not only for our Justification, but our Sanctification as well." -- Reader's Comment
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1589600630 9781589600638.
"Here you will read the most closely reasoned defense of scriptural sanctification to be found anywhere. . . . Fourteen directions are given to the reader, all perfected with the aim of explaining to sincere souls what sanctification is, what it is not, and how to attain a holy walk before God. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-mystery of Sanctification, Opened, in Sundry Practical Directions: Suited Especially to the Case of Those who Labor Under the Guilt and Power of Indwelling Sin. To Which is Added a Sermon on Justification (1859)
http://archive.org/details/gospelmysteryofs02mars
Monsma, Stephen V., The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s, ISBN: 0060152249 9780060152246.
"This critical analysis of government traces the origins of the unraveling of the American dream, and after showing the weaknesses of the various political ideologies, proposes an alternative -- a progressive realism. Most helpful when read in conjunction with R.D. Culver's TOWARDS A BIBLICAL VIEW OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT and A.J. McClain's THE GREATNESS OF THE KINGDOM." -- Cyril J. Barber
North, Gary, Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church, ISBN: 0930464745 9780930464745.
Many of Gary North's works contain research of value to the Reformed church. CROSSED FINGERS is valuable in documenting the decline of the Presbyterian church. However, we take strong exception to the content in Appendix C: "The Strange Legacy of the Westminster Assembly."
Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church, by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/table_of_contents.htm
*North, Gary, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism, ISBN: 093046432X 9780930464325.
"Political pluralism is not simply a political philosophy; it is a theology. This theology teaches that there must never be a nation that identifies itself with any religion." -- Publisher
"This book presents a new vision of politics and a new vision of America, a vision self-consciously tied to the Bible. . . . Dr. North, a trained historian, seeks to lead us from this downward spiral to full recovery." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
Pestritto, Ronald J., Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism, ISBN: 0742515176 9780742515178.
"WOODROW WILSON AND THE ROOTS OF MODERN LIBERALISM highlights Wilson's sharp departure from the traditional principles of American government, most notably the Constitution. Ronald J. Pestritto persuasively argues that Wilson's unfailing criticism places him clearly in line with the Progressives' assault on the original principles of American constitutionalism. Drawing primarily from early writings and speeches that Wilson made during his years as a scholar, Pestritto examines the future president's clear and consistent ideologies that laid the foundation for later actions taken as a public leader." -- Publisher
"The title of the book tells all: WOODROW WILSON AND THE ROOTS OF MODERN LIBERALISM. Dr Pestritto does not say that 'Liberalism is a good thing.' Nor does he say that it is a bad thing. He merely states that it is, and shows how it came to be in these States, largely due to the efforts of one Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins). It is not Dr P's desire or intent to pass judgment on Dr W's cogitations or the value of them; all he does is track their evolution, and convolutions, and how they grew and bore something akin to fruit. Whatever your political preferences, and mine will become increasingly obvious as you read this review, you will learn from this volume how Dr Wilson's largely derivative political thought evolved, and how he influenced 'progressive' politicians amongst his contemporaries, and continues so to do until this very now. It is interesting to note that as an hundred years ago, so to-day: that those who would rule us have taken to calling themselves 'progressive' rather than 'liberal;' as the latter has become a term of opprobrium, whilst 'progress' is still thought of as a Good Thing though toward what we are progressing is left undefined. Progressives owe Dr. Wilson an immense debt of gratitude, and should erect a statue in his honour. Conservatives, on the other hand -- those who love the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and appreciate liberty -- might do well to learn from him, however much they may yearn to see him hanged, for if one knows the plans of one's foes, one is far better equipped to foil them. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Reed, Kevin, The Decline of American Presbyterianism, a book review of Gary North's CROSSED FINGERS: HOW THE LIBERALS CAPTURED THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/decline.htm
Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church, by Gary North
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/html/gncf/table_of_contents.htm
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, November, 2006), 650 pages, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
Contains "The Ethics and Economics of Health Care" a lecture delivered at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1994. It is 36 pages in length and is documented with footnotes and in text bibliography.
We believe this is the definitive statement on "Single Payer Guaranteed, Quality National Health Insurance in the United States" and is a must-read for individuals whose lives are impacted by the unavailability of affordable health care in the United States. It is a must read for individuals who do not have the knowledge to make an informed decision about H.R. 676, yet recognize the profound importance of taking the right stand on the issue. -- compiler
"One can agree that there are serious problems with the present health care and health insurance systems in the United States [writing in 1994 -- compiler]. Nothing in this paper should be construed as a defense of the status quo. But those serious problems arose because of government interference in the insurance and care systems."
From the author's nine concluding points: "any political health-car plan is subversive of the fundamental moral values that have given the United States whatever moral authority it has in the world. Government planning is incompatible with freedom of choice in health care, freedom of contract, private planning, limited government, federalism, the rule of law, individual responsibility, the work ethic, and Christian charity. . . . is inimical to the Biblical ideas of sovereignty of God; the primacy of the individual; the proper function of the state; the sinfulness of theft, idleness, and envy; and the exercise of Christian charity. . . . The creation of a political-medical complex . . . is a necessary condition of a totalitarian state, as illustrated in the history of Germany. . . . involves the sinful use of force against patients, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies, and taxpayers. . . ."
The concluding points are followed by seven suggested steps to reform the present system.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969) and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress [Ron Paul of Texas], editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
"So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
"I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Decline of Modern Philosophy, audio file.
"Simply to say, that Locke set the stage for the degradation of modern man, for the depredation from the rationality in the universe, for the depredation of education, for the degradation of political philosophy, for the degradation of social philosophy, for the degradation of the church.
"Now, why do I say this? I say it with good reason, and I would suggest that sometime, when you have time, not for this course, but when you have time, read a very powerful treatment of this basic idea by John H. Hallowell, the very learned and very able professor of Political Philosophy at Duke University [also served as Director of the Lilly Endowment Research Program in Christianity at Duke University -- compiler] a tremendous book called MAIN CURRENTS IN MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT. He also expanded this idea in another book on modern democracy.
"And I would add, just in passing, that John Hallowell sees very, very clearly what John Locke has meant to the modern world, passing over for the moment the fact that he [Locke -- compiler] can not prove his own position, and he violates his own position of epistemology in asserting it. Nevertheless, he bases this assertive in the realm of Philosophy, that man has no innate ideas, that man learns only through his senses, and in learning only through his senses, of course, he can only have those areas of knowledge, can only inquire in those areas of knowledge which are immediately apprehensible by the senses.
"Now, Locke consciously tried to set forth a new Weltanschauung, or a new world and life view. You will remember that his great work, began in 1690 with his two essays on government. He speedily followed this with an essay on human understanding, and another one in defense of Christianity, a rather feeble defense, but, nevertheless, he did it. . . ." -- C. Gregg Singer in "The Decline of Modern Philosophy,"
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=7202144553
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.
"Now, frankly students, this course is presented from obviously the Reformed Theology. I hold unabashedly, unashamedly to the whole of Reformed Theology as we find it specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms.
"At the same time I hold to a position in regard to Apologetics generally known as Presuppositionalism, and particularly that view held by Cornelius Van Til.
"This book is an attempt to enlarge and to broaden the scope of Van Til's own Apologetical system, and also his Epistemology. By that I mean, and I worked this book with him, so anything that I say is not to be construed as a criticism of Cornelius Van Til. I might add he wrote me a letter. He is delighted with this book. But what I did was to take his principles, both of Apologetics and of Epistemology, and apply them to all realms of modern thought.
"Dr. Van Til, for good and sufficient reason, sought to limit to the main stream of what we might call pure Philosophy, that is from Saint Thomas, well even before them, back to the Greeks, but particularly in the more modern period, from Saint Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham (Occam), down through Descartes, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, down to Kant and Hegel, and of course Modern Philosophy and Modern Theology. Very seldom has he gone into what we might call the arena of Political Philosophy, or the arena of Social Thought, or the arena of Psychology and Psychiatry, the realm of Educational Philosophy, and into Art, Music, and so on, to the Fine Arts.
"This book is an attempt to apply his system, and show what happens when the Western mind has forsaken his principles, or the principles which he has espoused, and turned into its own way. And thus the book called FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY. The thesis being that the Rationalism inherent in Saint Thomas and the post-Thomists, and more particularly, and more openly, in the Philosophy of the Renaissance, and Descartes, and Spinosa, and Leibniz has, as it's gained momentum in the modern world, brought Western Culture to its knees. We are living, as I would think, in the death throws of the Western Cultures, the Western Civilization." -- Dr. C. Gregg Singer, in the introductory address to his course in Apologetics soon after FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY came off the press in 1979
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
"Locke endeavored to set forth a political philosophy which would anchor his democratic political thought on what he felt were the firm foundations of his empiricism. However, his insistence that nature has bestowed upon mankind certain basic and inalienable rights was an assumption quite contrary to his empiricism. His denial of conscience as an innate possession or quality makes it impossible for men to know that they possess the rights of life, liberty, and property. The very concept of a human right is moral in nature and has its basis of authority in the human conscience. It is thus impossible for men to know through the senses that they have these cherished human rights. Granted that it was far from Locke's intention to undermine or destroy the traditional English concept of personal rights, his empiricism removed from his political thought the necessary foundations on which a government could be built for the protection of these rights. His empiricism supported neither the idea that men have such rights nor that they are inalienable. (p. 61)
"Underlying the secular and naturalistic assumptions of the thought of the Enlightenment was a related and equally serious problem. In their political and economic thought the leaders of this era were passionately devoted to the pursuit of freedom, and yet they seemed to be completely unaware of this incompatibility between their quest for freedom on the one hand and their reliance upon natural law on the other. How can an impersonal and deterministic concept of law produce and sustain a meaningful concept of freedom? Blindly convinced that there was no problem involved in the contradiction, the leaders of the Enlightenment pushed boldly ahead in the quest for political and economic liberty. However, their failure to recognize the issues involved in this quest led not only to the disaster of the French Revolution but to the growth of the totalitarian political and economic philosophies which first appeared in Hegel and Marx during the nineteenth century and reached their culmination in the totalitarianism of the twentieth century." (p. 73) -- quoted at the blog, Imago Veritatis: Post-modern Reformed Paleo-orthodoxy
Singer used this as textbook for his course in Apologetics. Epistemology is a recurring theme throughout the textbook and the course. The series of 24 addresses on Apologetics is available free online. See: "Apologetics" under:
Works of C. Gregg Singer
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr3ch.html#cgsinger
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Patristic Foundations of Calvinism in JOHN CALVIN: HIS ROOTS AND FRUITS, (1-6).
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages (Greenville, SC: A Press, 1994, 1981, 1975, 1974, 1964), ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
Smith, F. LaGard, ACLU: The Devil's Advocate: The Seduction of Civil Liberties in America, ISBN: 1886547033 9781886547032.
"Taking a close look at the wider liberal-Left agenda, Smith explores the moral context in which battles over issues like free speech, religious liberty, and sexual expression are being fought." -- Publisher
See also: The incarnation of our lord (the deity of the lord jesus christ), The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Christianity and democracy, The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, Theodicy, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Lying, deceit, self-deception, Idolatry, Betrayal, Freedom and property rights: theft, stealing, and fraud, Politics, Power, Authority, Feminism, Church and state, The one and the many, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy, The destruction of american liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Political and economic freedom, Covenanted reformation, Servant leadership, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Sin and its consequence: physical and spiritual death, Leniency, Unfaithful reformed ministries, Toleration the enemy of truth, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, and so forth, and so on.
The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England; May 19, 1643
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/art1613.htm
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School, Pre 18th Century Documents
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/pre18.htm
Conservatism: An Autopsy, John W. Robbins
"Conservatism is a political philosophy that professes to be practical and grounded in reality -- not in ideological or utopian dream worlds -- yet it cannot furnish a coherent answer to a very practical question: What is the proper punishment for a thief? Even ignoring the big questions -- What is the ideal government? Is there an ideal government? Is any government justified? What is the proper relationship between church and state? -- conservatism cannot answer a small question. If conservatism cannot offer a justified answer to a small question, it probably cannot answer larger questions."
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=115
The Departure From the Puritan Heritage
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Puritan Heritage, 52 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=92903104657
The Non-duality of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother: A Profile
http://www.lettermen2.com/syncret.html
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation. -- John Marshall, in McCullough v. Maryland, 1819
The wealthy stand as magistrates in the economic arena and have the same duty of stewardship as do those who hold political office. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
No corporation on earth comes close to the accounting fraud practiced year after year by the federal government. In fact, there is no real accountability at all for the trillions in tax dollars raised and spent annually by Congress and our entrenched federal agencies. The official 'accounting' that does take place is a sham. Every year Congress creates a meaningless budget, the Fed prints phony money, the Budget office issues false revenue forecasts, and the administrative agencies waste billions in the most unproductive ways imaginable. Literally tens of billions of dollars go unaccounted for every year, simply disappearing down bureaucratic black holes [and the banking system is controlled by the Federal Reserve]. This hardly represents a standard against which corporations should be judged! -- Texas Congressman, Ron Paul in What About Government Accountability?
The Grace Commission, which President Reagan created in a 1982 executive order, was comprised of private sector leaders tasked with identifying government waste. It made nearly 2,500 recommendations for a total of $424 billion in savings. But Congress never acted on the commission's recommendations. -- Mosychuk of Citizens Against Government Waste
Abolition of individual income taxes would remove substantial stress from American society. Restored personal income would allow individuals to better provide for the needs of their families.
*Berle, Adolf, The Modern Corporation and Private Property, ISBN: 0887388876 9780887388873.
"Arguably the most influential book in U.S. business history." -- Peter Drucker
"This monumental work on the corporation is one of those enduring classics that many cite but few have read. Graced with a new introduction by Weidenbaum and Jensen, this new edition makes this classic available to a new generation. Written in the early 1930s, THE MODERN CORPORATION AND PRIVATE PROPERTY remains the fundamental introduction to the internal organization of the corporation in modern society. Combining the analytical skills of an attorney with those of an economist, Berle and Means raise the central questions, even when their answers have been superseded by changing circumstances.
"The book's most enduring theme is the separation of ownership from control of the modern corporation and its consequences. Berle and Means display keen awareness of the divergent interests of directors and managers, and of each from owners of the firm. Among their predictions are the characteristic increase in size of the modem corporation and concentration of the economy. The authors view stock exchanges and stock markets as essential by-products of the rise of the modem corporation, and explore how these function. They address the difficult questions of whether corporations operate for the benefit of owners or managers, and explore what motivates managers to make effective use of corporate assets. Finally, they examine the role of the corporation as the prevailing form of organizing the production and distribution of goods and services.
"In their new introduction, Weidenbaum and Jensen, co-directors of the Center for the Study of American Business at Washington University, critically assess the impact of developments not fully anticipated by Berle and Means, such as the rise of the service sector, and the significant role played by institutional investors in the owner/manager equation. They note the authors' prescient observations, including the complex role of and motivating influences on professional managers, and the significance of inside information on stock markets. As they note, The Modern Corporation and Private Property remains of central value to all those concerned with the evolution of this major social institution of the twentieth century. Scholar and practitioner alike will find it of enduring significance." -- Publisher
Bethell, Tom, Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, ISBN: 0312223374 9780312223373.
"The phenomenal success of Western civilization and the remarkable economic expansion fueled by modern capitalism, says Tom Bethell, depend chiefly [see "Christ's Influence on Western Civilization," "The Ten Commandments," Robbins, Christ and Civilization, Smith's The Wealth of Nations, and so forth -- compiler], on the institution of private property and the development of secure property rights, yet this simple, striking idea is misunderstood by elite opinion leaders in the United States and around the world. Bethell, a reporter for the American Spectator, offers a history of property as an idea and a reality around the world. His sweeping narrative will appeal to fans of David Landes's THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS and Jared Diamond's GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL. Yet, in many crucial respects, THE NOBLEST TRIUMPH (the title comes from British philosopher Jeremy Bentham's line that property laws represent 'the noblest triumph of humanity over itself'), is better than both, displaying a keener understanding of human nature and of how incentives shape behavior. In a chapter sure to inspire controversy, Bethell argues that the Irish potato famines of the 1840s were due primarily to Ireland's lack of stable property rights in the 19th century. Full of astute observations and written with real clarity, THE NOBLEST TRIUMPH makes a unique and welcome contribution to the debate over why some countries thrive while others languish." -- John J. Miller
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope THE PREDATOR STATE stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
McWard (M'Ward), Robert (1633-1687), The Poor Man's cup of Cold-water: Ministered to the Saints and Sufferers for Christ in Scotland who are Amidst the Scorching Flames of the Fiery Trial, 1676. Available in A COVENANTER'S RESPONSE TO WICKED RULERS IN CHURCH AND STATE (AND UNJUST TAXATION), CONTAINING SOME COMFORTING WORDS TO THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING AT THE HAND OF THESE BEASTS, FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST AND TRUTH. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
McWard (M'Ward), Robert, A Poor Man's cup of Cold Water Ministered to the Saints and Sufferers for Christ in Scotland, who are Amidst the Scorching Flames of the Fiery Trial
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/robert-mwards-a-poor-mans-cup-of-cold-water-ministered-to-the-saints-and-sufferers-for-christ-in-scotland-who-are-amidst-the-scorching-flames-of-the-fiery-trial
Poor Man's cup of Cold Water
http://www.truecovenanter.com/covenants/coldwater.html
Pipes, Richard, Property and Freedom, ISBN: 0375704477 9780375704475.
"While the bulk of the book compares England and Russia, showing how varying attitudes toward private property led these two nations in totally different directions, the final section examines the broad theme of property rights in the late 20th century -- a period when they have come under assault, and have been made increasingly conditional, by the growing strength of the welfare state. Pipes concludes with a broadside against New Deal and Great Society programs. Although liberal readers may bristle, none can deny that PROPERTY AND FREEDOM is the product of a great mind tackling a big theme with great enthusiasm." -- John J. Miller
Richman, Sheldon, Richard M. Ebeling (introduction), and Walter E. Williams, Your Money or Your Life: Why we Must Abolish the Income Tax, ISBN: 0964044781 9780964044784.
"Sheldon Richman's concise and informative book, YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE, explains how the income tax is one of the greatest threats to the liberty of the American people ever devised. By making our employers surrogate federal tax collectors, most Americans don't feel the pain because they really don't know what they're losing. But even worse, as Richman points out, by having access to our paychecks, the government can tap into an almost limitless pool of money to expand its size and scope. We need to scrap the income tax and replace it with a tax on consumption." -- Reader's Comment
Consider this the essential argument of the anti-income tax movement." -- Reader's Comment
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
See, in particularly, the Foreword.
"The relationship between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism has been a subject of scholarly study for centuries. In this volume, John Robbins argues that political and economic freedom are the results of Biblical Christianity. Political freedom and capitalism arose in Northwestern Europe and North America after the Christian Reformation of the 16th century, and they are unique in world history. The nations and peoples that heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the Reformers quickly became free and prosperous on a scale previously unimaginable. Some historians and economists have denied any causal connection between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism, but they are able to deny this connection only by ignoring clear philosophical, economic, legal, sociological, and historical evidence demonstrating that Christianity is the source of capitalism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress, editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
"Table of Contents: Foreword | Politics | The Founder of Western Civilization | The Sine Qua Non of Enduring Freedom | Some Problems with Natural Law | The Political Philosophy of the Founding Fathers | The Bible and the Draft | The Messianic Character of American Foreign Policy | Truth and Foreign Policy | Compassionate Fascism | Conservatism: An Autopsy | Rightwing Radical Chic | The Reconstructionist Assault on Freedom | Roman Catholic Totalitarianism | The Relation of Church and State (Charles Hodge) | Abortion, the Christian, and the State | The Ethics and Economics of Health Care | The Chickens' Homecoming (John Whitehead) | The Coming Caesars (John Whitehead) | Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century | The Religious Wars of the Twenty-First Century | Economics: The Failure of Secular Economics | The Promise of Christian Economics | Teaching Economics from the Bible | The Neo-Evangelical Assault on Capitalism | The Reformed Assault on Capitalism | The Roman Catholic Assault on Capitalism | How Romanism Ruined America | Not Yours to Give (Edward Ellis) | Money, Freedom, and the Bible | The Case Against Indexation | Is Christianity Tied to Any Political or Economic System? | Ecology: The Abolition of Man | Scripture Index | Index | The Crisis of Our Time | Intellectual Ammunition."
Rockwell, Llewellyn H. Jr., Speaking of Liberty, ISBN: 0945466382 9780945466383.
"Ludwig von Mises said that teaching the public was just as important as addressing scholars -- maybe more so. That is what Lew Rockwell specializes in: history and theory and analysis in defense of the free society, written in clear prose to reach a broad audience. Rockwell's new book is as pro-liberty as it is brutally critical of government. It is relentlessly forthright yet hopeful about the prospects for liberty. It is rigorous enough to withstand the enemy's closest scrutiny, and chock full of the energy and enthusiasm that will keep you reading.
"SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is a collection of speeches delivered by Rockwell over a period of ten years. The book begins with economics, and explains why Austrian economics matters, how the Federal Reserve brings on the business cycle, why we need private property and free enterprise, the unrecognized glories of the capitalist economy, and why the gold standard is still the best monetary system. Other sections deal with war, Mises and his work, other important thinkers in the libertarian tradition, and the culture and morality of liberty.
"The book is united by a set of fixed principles: the corruption of politics, the universality and immutability of the ideas of freedom, the centrality of sound money and free enterprise, the moral imperative of peace and trade, the importance of hope and tenacity in the struggle for liberty, and the need for everyone to join the intellectual fight. We all have searched for the book we could give to friends and neighbors, business associates and family members, to explain why we believe in the cause of liberty. SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is that book." -- Publisher
*Roth, William V., Jr., and William H. Nixon, The Power to Destroy, ISBN: 0871137488 9780871137487.
"William V. Roth, Jr. (R-Delaware), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was elected to Congress in 1966. In 1970 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he is currently in his fifth term. He is widely known as an expert on trade and tax policy, and as co-author, with Jack Kemp, of Ronald Reagan's economic-recovery program. Senator Roth and his wife, Jane, a federal appeals court judge, have two children.
"William H. Nixon has served as Executive Assistant to Senator Roth since 1985. A former Reagan administration speech writer, he is the author of several novels and has published articles and short stories in such diverse publications as The Wall Street Journal, academic quarterlies, and literary reviews. He and his wife, Tammy, have three children." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy. Available through Exodus Books.
"The author deals with an age-old problem: the question of the one and the many and their relationship. As you might guess, the way one answers (or avoids), this question will affect views of justice, government, taxes, welfare, war, property, and freedom in general." -- GCB
See also: The Question of the One and the Many
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#onemany
Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), and Edward A. Powell, Tithing and Dominion. Available through Exodus Books.
"Discusses Biblical tithing, government taxation, and the validity of each. Under the tithe, Powell discusses taxation, firstfruits, firstborn, the tithe, the social tithe, the rejoicing tithe, the poor tithe, and enforcing God's taxes." -- GCB
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
*Steele, David (1803-1887), The U.S. Constitution, Taxation, Slavery, Antichrist, Church Discipline and the Covenanters (was "Circular No. 2,"), 1885. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18, #26.
Circular No. 2
http://www.covenanter.org/Steele/Circulartwo.htm
Trenchard, John, Thomas Gordon, Ronald Hamowy (editor), Cato's Letters or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects: Four Volumes in Two, ISBN: 0865971307 9780865971301 0865971323 9780865971325.
"Cato's Letters are a must have for any lover of liberty. They are filled with enough passion, wisdom, and wit to make them shining gems on any bookshelf. The philosophy expounded in these letters is that of radical liberty according to the laws of nature. It is made clear throughout that governments are the servants of people, not there masters. The only just role of government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of the governed, any other role being usurped and explicitly tyrannical. It was this radical philosophy that made CATO'S LETTERS such a huge influence in America throughout the 18th century. . . . Above all, these letters are classics of reason and resistance. In my opinion, they are the best exposition of libertarian principles ever written." -- Will Murphy
Van Deusen, John G., Economic Bases of Disunion in South Carolina (Crown Rights Book Company, 2003, 1928).
"As most wars have been throughout history, the War Between the States was at bottom a financial conflict. More precisely, it was a fatal clash between the politically-diverse nations within the greater Republic which resulted from a gradual departure on the part of the North from the old ways toward large-scale industry, toward giant capitalism, and toward a centralized, national economy, and a firm resistance to such change on the part of the South. Drawing from a plethora of antebellum editorials and congressional records, the author focuses on the economic factors which ultimately forced South Carolinians to choose the perils of independence over continued subjugation within the Union." -- Publisher
*Von Mises, Ludwig, Liberty and Property, ISBN: 9781579703783 157970378X.
"Originally delivered as a lecture at Princeton University, October 1958, at the 9th meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society." Includes bibliographical references.
Weisman, Steven R., The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson -- The Fierce Battles Over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation, ISBN: 0684850680 9780684850689.
See also: The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Taxation and War, Betrayal, Politics, Power, Authority, Church and state, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy, The one and the many, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Reform of the church, The destruction of american liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Political and economic freedom, Leadership by crisis, Covenanted reformation, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Political and economic freedom, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 2530
*Biblical Slavery: It's Meaning and Necessity, a sermon [audio file], by Brian Schwertley
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=74101315272
Bland Leaders of the Bland Leviathan, Gary North
"Leonard E. Read, the godfather of the American libertarian movement, used to say in his 'old faithful' speech that American voters in less than one lifetime, 1910 to 1970, went from a system of civil government that extracted about 5 percent of their wealth to over 40 percent, yet they could not tell the difference.
"I honestly believe this is the heart of the political problem. Voters understand so little of what liberty means that they cannot tell the difference."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north17.html
The Ethics and Economics of Private Property, Hans-Hermann Hoppe
"Hans-Hermann Hoppe, whom Lew Rockwell calls 'an international treasure,' is senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and editor of The Journal of Libertarian Studies. DEMOCRACY: THE GOD THAT FAILED is his eighth book."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe11.html
The Growing Tax Bite
http://freedom.gov/taxcut/charts/taxbite.asp
Privatizing Social Security Could Give you Five Times as Much, by Tom Barrett, Editor@ConservativeTruth.org
http://conservativetruth.org/archives/08-04-01.html
*Steele, David (1803-1887), A Case of Conscience. Alternate title: THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, TAXATION, SLAVERY, ANTICHRIST, CHURCH DISCIPLINE AND THE COVENANTERS and CIRCULAR NO. 2. Available (THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, TAXATION, SLAVERY . . .) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, TAXATION, SLAVERY . . .) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18, #26.
Circular No. 2, David Steele
"On Covenanter identity, the American 'civil' war and matters of taxation." -- Publisher
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/25/circular-no-2
Steele, David (1803-1887), A Case of Conscience
"An short article on the question of covenanters and taxation." -- Publisher
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/26/a-case-of-conscience
The Tortoise and the Hare: A Modern Revision, Gary North
"You are not significantly better off economically than your parents were in 1973, and you are significantly worse off culturally."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north216.html
Transformation of American Opinion, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"We shell out 40 percent and more of our income to fund a government to oppress us with its regulations and routine invasions of our private life, to erect and run schools to which we are loathe to send our children, to engage in far-flung wars that create nothing but wreckage and death, to gouge us with their mail and utility services, to seize our guns, to fund welfare schemes and entitlements that drain life from economic affairs."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/americanopinion.html
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Bovard, James, Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen, ISBN: 0312229674 9780312229672.
"Bovard (LOST RIGHTS), throws more red meat to angry libertarians in this anti-government jeremiad. While he provides some frightening examples of how governments -- mostly the U.S. federal -- do more harm than good, his passion leads him to some hyperbolic conclusions. There are many passages that will make readers -- not only welfare-state liberals but also moderate Democrats and Republicans -- wonder whether they live in the same country as Bovard. One of his biggest targets is the notion of state sovereignty: 'The doctrine of "sovereignty" often does nothing more than provide a respectable gloss for some people's lust to control other people's behaviors, or to seize the fruits of other people's labor.' That last clause is telling, for it could just as well be turned against Bovard. It is precisely to stop nongovernmental entities (e.g., factory owners), from seizing the fruit of other people's labor (e.g., factory workers), that so many of the regulations and laws Bovard decries (e.g., a minimum wage or corporate taxes), were instituted. But Bovard is well-read and makes entertaining use of Rousseau, Hegel, Hobbes (he's very fond of Leviathan), and other thinkers. He's also consistent and intellectually honest enough to follow his own ideology to its logical conclusion about, for instance, marijuana (legalize it, he says). Few readers will agree with Bovard that the dominant spirit in America today is one that idolizes the state, but most will find that he makes a rousing theoretical case against statism." -- Publishers Weekly
*Brown, E. Richard, Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in America, ISBN: 0520038177 9780520038172.
This book is as relevant today (2015) as it was in 1979. The players are still the same: foundations, corporations, and government. If anything the political-economic process of healthcare reform is even more complex today.
"This book explains how controlled the medicine industry is, how it became that way, and why America has the highest costs in the world for less than adequate medical care." -- Reader's Comment
"Historical epidemiological evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that medical science has played a relatively small role in reducing morbidity and mortality." (p. 219)
"Medical science rescued the medical profession, in particular the practitioners, from the widespread lack of confidence in their effectiveness." (p. 77)
Capitalists and corporate managers "embraced scientific medicine as an ideological weapon in their struggle to formulate a new culture appropriate to and supportive of industrial capitalism." (p. 10)
"For members of the corporate class, technological medicine has legitimized their economic and political dominance by diverting attention from the consequences of their control -- that is, from such 'social costs' as class inequalities, domination based on race or sex, occupational hazards, and environmental degradation. For the medical profession, the knowledge generated by medical science and the techniques of medical technology provided the basis for physicians' claims to a monopoly of authority over the practice of medicine." (p. 239)
"As medical science won public and professional credibility, it also solved the second and fundamentally more serious problem facing the profession in the nineteenth century: competition. . . . The overall impact of scientific medicine within the profession was to legitimize control by elite practitioners and medical school faculty." (p. 80)
"Health care could be more effective in improving health if its research and action were directed at environmental conditions in about the same proportion that those conditions contribute to sickness and death." (p. 240)
"If you have read and 'got' anything by Noam Chomsky, or Howard Zinn, you will 'get' this book.
"After being awarded an MBA from Stanford (hence, I can confidently say I very well understand the 'business' of medicine), and practicing medicine for 20 years in both the public and private sector, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Brown's thesis is on the money. -- Reader's Comment
Chomsky, Noam, and Edward S. Herman, The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism (Political Economy of Human Rights, Vol. 1), ISBN: 0896080919 9780896080911.
"Chomsky and Herman present a brilliant, shattering, and convincing account of United States-backed suppression of political and human rights in the Third World. The 'best and brightest' pundits of the status quo emerge from this book thoroughly denuded of their credibility." -- Publisher
*Domhoff, G. William, Who Rules America? Power and Politics, 4th edition, ISBN: 0767416376 9780767416375.
"Professor Domhoff poses (and answers), these questions:
Ellul, Jacques (1912-1994), Money and Power, ISBN: 0551013923 9780551013926.
"Discusses the ethics of wealth and incidentally elucidates the Biblical teaching on money and its use. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
"In this one of many brilliant books by Ellul, he exposes the folly of a purely collective, societal approach, such as that offered by communism, or capitalism. Instead, through a study of various Biblical references in the Old and New Testament, puts the responsibility on the individual. The new covenant of Jesus is compared to the Old Testament pattern of wealth as a sign of blessing. He examines the teaching of Jesus on God and Mammon. Contemporary models of stewardship are exposed as inadequate. Further, he clearly shows the underlying power money has over a person, despite any feelings of control we may think we have. The teachings of Jesus about giving and trusting provide the path to freedom -- every hair is numbered. Only by God's grace and transforming love are we able to overcome this subtle and insidious power. Highly recommended, especially at a time in our history when many have lost faith in the market." -- Reader's Comment
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope THE PREDATOR STATE stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
Grigg, William Norman, America's Engineered Decline, ISBN: 1881919102 9781881919100.
Gross, Bertram Myron, Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America, ISBN: 0896081494 9780896081499.
"Illuminates the increasing collusion between Big Government and Big Business to 'manage' our society in the interests of the elite." -- Publisher
"For anyone familiar with modern social theory, it is apparent that the author's thesis is a quite clever and accurate extension of sociologist C. Wright Mills' well known notions of what came to be known as the 'mass society' theory. This was an essential aspect of Mills' famous theory of THE POWER ELITE as forwarded in a book with the same title. Like social theorist G. William Domhoff (THE HIGHER CIRCLES), Professor Gross shows how the deceptively friendly and engaging style of the powers that be actually constitute an increasingly dangerous threat to the democratic process and to the long-term survival of our precious civil liberties. Of course, for Americans used to the association between the term 'fascism' and the image of angry totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany and the Italy of the same period of time, it is perhaps difficult to associate with the notion that clever and systematic manipulation of the general population through use of the mass media is a form of fascistic influence. Yet, as Gross argues so persuasively, that is exactly what it is. The term that pops to mind is that process that M.I.T. scholar Noam Chomsky would refer to as 'manufacturing consent,' a dangerous propensity which dangerously influences the perceptions of individual citizens by continually immersing the populace in an electronic stream of messages, both blatant and subliminal, that serves to condition them to a particular way of experiencing, participating, and perceiving the world around them. We find ourselves constantly bombarded by powerful and suggestive images, message-laden icons which deliver consistent themes regarding the nature of the environment we are living in, one we come to employ more and more exclusively as our preferred method of interacting in both the civil and legal aspects of contemporary society. As Professor Gross so prophetically forecasted, the mergers of all commercial news sources, both electronic and other, have come under the ownership and control of corporate America, one of the leading edges of the power elite. Amazingly, all of this also rings a responsive chord with the single most prophetic work of fiction in the 20th century, Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD. Lost in our petty diversions and self-absorbed in a pool of trivial pursuits, we become increasingly more vulnerable to the solid wall of subliminal and other messages all conveying a message regarding he nature of the world and our social, economic, and political place in it.
"As our experience with the several successful Presidents ranging from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, the artful use of personal charisma to cover a mean-spirited political agenda has worked amazingly well. In the twenty years since the book was originally published, many aspects of our collective socioeconomic well-being have been profoundly changed, almost exclusively to the favor of the rich and well placed and to the increasing detriment of the average man and woman on the street. The statistics available are overwhelming in detailing the levels to which ordinary citizens have been stripped of most of the socioeconomic gains of the last century. In every area of contemporary life, from the cost and extent of health coverage to the responsibility for a variety of aspects such as providing for individual retirements, the vastly expanding future tax liability, and the use of the federal treasury to provide for subsidies to corporate America, the story is the same. Increasingly we are being manipulated into surrendering our voice in the democratic process and to playing a more limited role as consumers, which the elite evidently sees as our only crucial civic responsibility. As George W. Bush said with a booming voice and a congenial charismatic smile, post 911 Americans just had to get out to do their patriotic duty by once again buying things, to get the economy going once more. Indeed, it is becoming a brave new world. This is a wonderful book, and one that is a great, thought-provoking read. Enjoy!" -- Barron Laycock
*Hartmann, Thom, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, ISBN: 1579546277 9781579546274.
"This extraordinary book combines meticulous historical and legal research with a clear and compelling writing style to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt the incompatibility of corporate personhood with democracy, the market economy, and the well-being of society. Complete with a practical program for essential reform to restore the rights of real persons -- including model legislation -- it is essential reading and an invaluable reference work for every citizen who cares about democracy, justice, and the human future." -- David C. Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies." -- Paul Hawken, author of Natural Capitalism and The Ecology of Commerce
"Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal privacy, and unequal access to natural resources and our commons -- these inequalities and more are the effects of corporations winning the rights of persons while simultaneously being given the legal protections to avoid the responsibilities that come with these rights. Hartmann tells the intriguing story of how it got this way -- from the colonists' rebellion against the commercial interests of the British elite to the distorted application of the Fourteenth Amendment -- and how to get back to a government of, by, and for the people.
"Over the past two centuries, those playing the corporate game at the very highest levels seem to have won a victory for themselves -- a victory that is turning bitter in the mouths of many of the six billion humans on planet Earth. It's even turning bitter in unexpected ways for those who won it, as they find their own lives and families touched by an increasingly toxic environment, fragile and top-heavy economy, and hollow culture -- all traceable back to the frenetic systems of big business that resulted from the doctrine that corporations are persons."
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel. I intended to take a first quick glance and then couldn't put it down." -- David C. Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
"UNEQUAL PROTECTION should be in the hands of every thinking American. If we do not awaken soon, democracy will be replaced by a new 'Third Reich' of corporate tyranny. To be aware of the danger is the responsibility of each of us. No one has told us the truth better than Thom Hartmann. Read it!" -- Gerry Spence, author of Give Me Liberty
"Essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of democracy, both here and abroad. With devastating precision and well-reasoned passion, Thom Hartmann shows the reader precisely how the corporate entity gained such a perilously dominant role in the life of a nation whose founders meant for its politics to respond to the concerns of people and communities, not return-seeking corporations." -- Jeff Gates, president, Shared Capitalism Institute, author, Democracy at Risk
Thom Hartmann's, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. A Review by Richard W. Behan
"UNEQUAL PROTECTION may prove to be the most significant book in the history of corporate personhood, a doctrine which dates to 1886. For 116 years, corporate personhood has been scrutinized and criticized, but never seriously threatened. Now Thom Hartmann has discovered a fatal legal flaw in its origin: corporate personhood is doomed."
http://www.main.nc.us/pace/18_corporate/
La Boétie, Etienne de (1530-1563), and Murray N. Rothbard, The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, ISBN: 0914156101 9780914156109.
"Properly pronounced not, as might be thought, La Bo-ay-see, but rather La Bwettie (with the hard 't')."
"THE DISCOURSE OF VOLUNTARY SERVITUDE has influenced some of the world's greatest social thinkers; from Leo Tolstoy to Mohandus Gandhi to Ayn Rand. Written in the 1550s, as something of an underground tract or pamphlet by a young French student and friend of essayist Michelle de Montaigne, this short work remains a timeless exposé of the psychology and inherent corruption involved in social or political power. The work has been in and out of print in English (Some of its various titles over the years were SLAVES BY CHOICE, ANTI-DICTATOR, THE WILL TO BONDAGE, and THE POLITICS OF OBEDIENCE: THE DISCOURSE OF VOLUNTARY SERVITUDE). In North America it has been out of print for some time now, unfortunately. Since its original circulation in the early 1550s as de la servitude volontaire ou contr'un, this short but powerful work seems to find its way back into print whenever the winds of social change began blowing toward tyranny." -- Reader's Comment
Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, Etienne de La Boétie
https://archive.org/details/PoliticsOfObedienceTheDiscourseOfVoluntaryServitude
McGowan, David L., Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion, ISBN: 0595186408 9780595186402.
"By offering a radical review of the last one hundred years of U.S. history, this work is intended as a counterpoint to the rampant revisionism of the flurry of books glorifying the 'American Century.' Beginning with the rather bold and decidedly controversial assertion that the current political system in place in the United States at the dawn of the twenty-first century is fascism, the first part of this book attempts to justify that claim by first defining exactly what fascism is -- correcting various widely-held misconceptions -- and then analyzing how closely we as a nation conform to that definition. Also included is a review of some of the hidden history and key events of World War II.
"Part II offers a retrospective of the twentieth century American presidential administrations, to demonstrate that the steady and inexorable march towards overt fascism was a defining characteristic that remained unchanged. The final section looks at the still very much alive eugenics movement, and analyzes the role played by the psychiatric establishment in validating the fascist state. This book will surely find no shortage of detractors, but if read with an open mind, it just may change the way you view the world." -- Publisher
*Phillips, Kevin, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, ISBN: 0767905334 9780767905336.
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. His bestselling books, including THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY (1969) and THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990), have influenced presidential campaigns and changed the way America sees itself. Widely acknowledging Phillips as one of the nation's most perceptive thinkers, reviewers have called him a latter-day Nostradamus and our 'modern Thomas Paine.' Now, in the first major book of its kind since the 1930s, he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls 'the Second Gilded Age' at the turn of the twenty-first century.
"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth -- how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
"With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans -- from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders -- Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.
"Finally, WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines -- speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics -- signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century. In a time of national crisis, Phillips worries that the growing parallels suggest the tide may already be turning for us all." -- Publisher
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation), ISBN: 0940931753 9780940931756.
"This book is a detailed examination of the official statements of the Vatican on economic and political matters. It demonstrates the collectivism and totalitarianism of the Roman Catholic Church-State. It is the only such book written by a Christian in the twentieth century.
"This book explores the conflict between Roman Catholic social thought and human freedom, relying on official pronouncements from the Vatican to show that the political and economic theory of the Roman Church-State justifies feudalism, corporativism [corporatism -- compiler], liberation theology, the welfare state, and fascism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress [Ron Paul of Texas], editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Samuel Rutherford, John Owen, Thomas Manton, The Westminster Assembly, James Renwick, Archibald Mason, Christopher Ness, Francis Turretin, The Reformed Presbytery, David Steel, James R. Willson, Alexander M'Leod, William L. Roberts, James Aiken Wylie, Andrew Wilet, Henry Wilkinson, James Wylie, Patrick Fairbairn, James Aiken, Andrew Wilet, Alexander Hislop, Francis Nigel Lee, Arthur W. Pink, and so forth, and so on, have all believed and argued in print that the seated Pope is the Antichrist of the Bible.
The Roman Church-State is "the world's oldest, largest, most powerful and most influential politico-ecclesiastical institution" and it "may also be the world's wealthiest."
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, November, 2006), 650 pages, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
"The relationship between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism has been a subject of scholarly study for centuries. In this volume, John Robbins argues that political and economic freedom are the results of Biblical Christianity. Political freedom and capitalism arose in Northwestern Europe and North America after the Christian Reformation of the 16th century, and they are unique in world history. The nations and peoples that heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the Reformers quickly became free and prosperous on a scale previously unimaginable. Some historians and economists have denied any causal connection between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism, but they are able to deny this connection only by ignoring clear philosophical, economic, legal, sociological, and historical evidence demonstrating that Christianity is the source of capitalism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress, editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
"Table of Contents: Foreword | Politics | The Founder of Western Civilization | The Sine Qua Non of Enduring Freedom | Some Problems with Natural Law | The Political Philosophy of the Founding Fathers | The Bible and the Draft | The Messianic Character of American Foreign Policy | Truth and Foreign Policy | Compassionate Fascism | Conservatism: An Autopsy | Rightwing Radical Chic | The Reconstructionist Assault on Freedom | Roman Catholic Totalitarianism | The Relation of Church and State (Charles Hodge) | Abortion, the Christian, and the State | The Ethics and Economics of Health Care | The Chickens' Homecoming (John Whitehead) | The Coming Caesars (John Whitehead) | Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century | The Religious Wars of the Twenty-First Century | Economics: The Failure of Secular Economics | The Promise of Christian Economics | Teaching Economics from the Bible | The Neo-Evangelical Assault on Capitalism | The Reformed Assault on Capitalism | The Roman Catholic Assault on Capitalism | How Romanism Ruined America | Not Yours to Give (Edward Ellis) | Money, Freedom, and the Bible | The Case Against Indexation | Is Christianity Tied to Any Political or Economic System? | Ecology: The Abolition of Man | Scripture Index | Index | The Crisis of Our Time | Intellectual Ammunition."
*Sirota, David, Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered our Government -- And how we Take it Back, ISBN: 0307237346.
"Do you ever wonder if there's a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?
"Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?
"Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?
"Do you ever want to fight back?
"Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that just sends more cash to the HMOs. Wages have been stagnant for thirty years, even as corporate profits skyrocket. Politicians say they want to fix the problem and then pass bills written by lobbyists that drive wages even lower and punish those crushed by debt. Jobs are being shipped overseas, pensions are being cut, and energy is becoming unaffordable. And our government, more concerned about maintaining its corporate sponsorship than protecting its citizens, does nothing about it.
"In HOSTILE TAKEOVER, David Sirota, a major new voice in American politics, seeks to open the eyes of ordinary Americans to the fact that corporate interests have undermined democracy, aided and abetted by their lackeys in our allegedly representative government. At a time when more and more of America's major political leaders are being indicted or investigated for corruption, Sirota takes readers on a journey that shows how all of this nefarious behavior happened right under our noses -- and how the high-profile scandals are merely one product of a political system and debate wholly owned by Big Money interests. Sirota considers major public issues that feel intractable -- like spiraling health care costs, the outsourcing of jobs, the inequities of the tax code, and out-of-control energy prices -- and shows how in each case workable solutions are buried under the lies of lobbyists, the influence of campaign cash, and the ubiquitous spin machine financed by Big Business.
"With fiery passion, pinpoint wit, and lucid analysis, HOSTILE TAKEOVER reveals the true enemies of reform and their increasingly sophisticated -- and hostile -- tactics. It's an essential guidebook for those of us tired of the government selling us out -- and determined to take our country back.
"David Sirota is a campaign strategist, political operative, and writer. Sirota has served as the press secretary for Independent Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont and was recently a senior strategist for Brian Schweitzer, Montana's first Democratic governor in sixteen years. He is a senior editor at In These Times, a regular contributor to The Nation, the blogger for Working Assets, and a twice-weekly guest on the Al Franken Show. Sirota is also the co-chairperson of the Progressive Legislative Action Network. He lives in Helena, Montana, with his wife." -- Publisher
"A summary of Sirota's book would point out that millions lack health care, and even more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that provides more profits for drug companies and insurers. At the same time, inflation-adjusted wages have been largely stagnant, while corporate profits have skyrocketed. In this instance, politicians 'help out' by further depressing wages by continuing to allow millions of illegal and temporary legal immigrants into the U.S., and additional millions of jobs outsourced overseas. Despite an obvious need for energy conservation, our government takes its lead from V.P. Dick Cheney and does nothing. Welcome to today's world of lobbyists', lies, and legislation for sale.
"The 'really bad news' is that they're not satisfied. Possible future legislation includes a flat income tax (a huge tax cut for the wealthy, and a huge tax increase for everyone else -- per Reagan's '82 Treasury Dept.), permanent elimination of the estate tax (only 2 percent were paying, and half the receipts came from the top .1 percent with estates over $5 million), and reducing corporate taxes from their 35 percent level -- 'fourth highest' in the industrialized world (a '04 GAO report concluded that 94 percent paid less than 5 percent, and that 60,000 government contractors owed $6 billion in unpaid taxes), more personal tax cuts (to justify further cuts in veterans' healthcare, inadequate/non-funding of Army armor and New Orleans' levees -- the pre-Katrina official protesting the latter was immediately fired).
"Not upset yet -- read on. USA Today reported in late '05 that while the 60 worst performing companies in America lost 4769 billion in market value in the prior five years, their top five executives were paid an average of $8 million/year. Meanwhile, University of California researchers in '04 found that jobs in the bottom third of the pay scale were growing almost twice as fast as those in the middle.
"HOSTILE TAKEOVER also puts to rest the myth of 'free' trade. Provisions include insuring U.S. access to potentially hepatitis-carrying Mexican vegetables and Canadian beef with mad-cow disease, while banning importation of cheaper drugs and limiting other nations' ability to produce generic medicines. In '01, economists estimated that three-fourths of U.S. workers lost about 12 percent of current wages because of trade deals. At least we still have some -- the New York Times reported the loss of over 2 million manufacturing jobs between '01 -- '04, while Gartner Research estimated over 30 percent of high-tech jobs could be shipped overseas by '15 and University of California researchers estimated up to 14 million jobs are now at risk of outsourcing.
"There's more: Harvard researchers found that 90 percent of personal bankruptcies were due to illness, medical bills, job loss, death in the family, and/or divorce. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation's '05 study concluded that 20 percent of recent bankrupts had been operating a small business. No matter -- the myth of deadbeat debtors ruining credit card companies persists, and Congress recently made personal bankruptcy laws much tougher.
"At least we can count on retirement -- not! In '02 AP reported that 8 million workers saw their retirement plans converted to 'cash balance' payouts only -- a loss of up to $200 million, according to government sources. As for Social Security, a top University of Chicago economist estimates Wall St. would make $400 billion -- $1 trillion in fees under the Bush privatization plan. No matter you say -- Chile and Galveston, Texas have proven the concept's superiority. Unfortunately, the World Bank found that up to one-third of Chileans' retirement money went to fees (the public version went bankrupt -- hence, no comparisons are available), and several government reports have concluded that many/most/all Galveston employees will receive LESS than they would have from Social Security.
"Well, at least some of us have our health. Hopefully the growing number without health insurance will not get sick; as for universal governmental coverage -- private insurance made over $10 billion in '03, with top executives raking in $85 million each. As for the innovative drugs many can't afford because of high prices 'required for research' -- the former New England Journal of Medicine's editor states that they 'come almost entirely from publicly funded research done in government and university labs." Further evidence: Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt says that 'R&D spending (as a percentage of drug industry revenues), is equal or higher in Europe (with price controls), as here' -- specifically, 20 percent in Britain, vs. 14 percent in the U.S.
"Finally, 'fuel efficiency kills people,' or so opponents say. On the other hand, University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers and a government panel all have concluded that cars can be made as safe/safer than most SUVs, and especially better than most pickups.
"Truly an encyclopedic work documenting how business has stolen and perverted American democracy. While Sirota offers specific recommendations in each area, the biggest problem involves providing a means for voters to see through all the lies and misstatements. Publicly funded elections may be the answer." -- Reader's Comment
Sutton, Antony C., National Suicide: Military Aid to the Soviet Union, ISBN: 0870002074 9780870002076.
Van Deusen, John G., Economic Bases of Disunion in South Carolina (Crown Rights Book Company, 2003, 1928).
"As most wars have been throughout history, the War Between the States was at bottom a financial conflict. More precisely, it was a fatal clash between the politically-diverse nations within the greater Republic which resulted from a gradual departure on the part of the North from the old ways toward large-scale industry, toward giant capitalism, and toward a centralized, national economy, and a firm resistance to such change on the part of the South. Drawing from a plethora of antebellum editorials and congressional records, the author focuses on the economic factors which ultimately forced South Carolinians to choose the perils of independence over continued subjugation within the Union." -- Publisher
Woodiwiss, Michael, Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime, 1st edition, ISBN: 0786716711 9780786716715.
"Everyone knows what organized crime is. Each year dozens of feature films, hundreds of books, and thousands of news stories explain to an eager public that organized crime is what gangsters do -- closely knit, ethnically distinct, and ruthlessly efficient, the Mafia's control of the drug trade, people trafficking and other serious crimes. If only states would take the threat seriously and recognize the global nature of modern organized crime, the FBI's success against the Italian Mafia could be replicated throughout the world. The wicked trade in addictive drugs could be brought to a halt.
"The trouble is, as Woodiwiss demonstrates in shocking and surprising detail, what everyone knows about organized crime is pretty much completely wrong. In reality the most important figures in organized crime are employees of multinational companies, politicians and bureaucrats. Gangsters are certainly a problem, but much of their strength comes from attempts to prohibit the market for certain drugs. Even here they are minor players when compared with the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that selectively enforce prohibition and profit from it. Woodiwiss shows how respectable businessmen and revered statesmen have seized these opportunities in an orgy of fraud and illegal violence." -- Reader's Comment
Woodiwiss, Michael, The Return of Gangster Capitalism: The Global Rise of Organised Crime, ISBN: 9780745332024 0745332021.
*Yeadon, Glen, and John Hawkins, The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century, Wall Street and the Rise of the Fourth Reich, ISBN: 9780930852443 0930852443.
The Nazi Hydra in America
"Nearly 700 pages detailing the subversion of democracy leading to the creation of a fascist state is now available in HTML format on CD. Included is a proposed amendment that will stop corporate fascism dead in its tracks."
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/noon.html
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Reform, state sovereignty, and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Monopoly and anti-trust law enforcement, The destruction of american liberty, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy, human autonomy, and so forth, and so on.
Ending Tyranny Without Violence, Murray N. Rothbard
"It was a medieval tradition to justify tyrannicide of unjust rulers who break the divine law, but La Boétie's doctrine, though non-violent, was in the deepest sense far more radical. For while the assassination of a tyrant is simply an isolated individual act within an existing political system, mass civil disobedience, being a direct act on the part of large masses of people, is far more revolutionary in launching a transformation of the system itself. It is also more elegant and profound in theoretical terms, flowing immediately as it does from La Boétie's insight about power necessarily resting on popular consent; for then the remedy to power is simply to withdraw that consent.[17]"
"Thus, the hierarchy of privilege descends from the large gainers from despotism, to the middling and small gainers, and finally down to the mass of the people who falsely think they gain from the receipt of petty favors. In this way the subjects are divided, and a great portion of them induced to cleave to the ruler, 'just as, in order to split wood, one has to use a wedge of the wood itself.' Of course, the train of the tyrant's retinue and soldiers suffer at their leader's hands, but they 'can be led to endure evil if permitted to commit it, not against him who exploits them, but against those who like themselves submit, but are helpless.' In short, in return for its own subjection, this order of subordinates is permitted to oppress the rest of the public.[47]" -- La Boétie, The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, (pp. 79-80), and
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard78.html#_ftn47
Fascism: A Definition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definition
Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (Jail) 4 Judges
"The Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, J.A.I.L., is a single-issue national grassroots organization designed to end the rampant and pervasive judicial corruption in the legal system of the United States. J.A.I.L. recognizes this can be achieved only through making the Judicial Branch of government answerable and accountable to an entity other than itself. At this time it isn't, resulting in the judiciary's arbitrary abuse of the doctrine of judicial immunity, leaving the People without recourse when their inherent rights are violated by judges."
http://www.jail4judges.org/
*Judicial Watch
http://www.judicialwatch.org
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)Growth of government is the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. -- Gordon H. Clark in A Christian View of Men and Things
If we compare the U.S. Federal Budget to entire economic growth, that is, if we compare Federal Spending as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we find that in 1900 it was 02.8 percent of GDP, but by 1993 it had grown to 27 percent of (GNP). The U.S. economy grew, of course, during this period, but Federal spending grew ten (10) times as fast as the GDP.
Federal spending growing at ten (10) times the economy partially explains growth in the Cost of Healthcare.
Healthcare Spending in real terms (adjusted for inflation) increased from negligible in real terms in 1900, to 1 billion in 1930, to 210 billion in 1994. That is an increase of over 2,000 times.
This explains, in part, the skyrocketing cost of Healthcare. Increased demands of Federal Spending on Healthcare drives up the costs for everyone. -- John W. Robbins, in a lecture, "The Growth of Government in the United States"The wealthy stand as magistrates in the economic arena and have the same duty of stewardship as do those who hold political office. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
*Beard, Charles (1874-1948, author), and Campbell Craig (introduction), President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War, 1941: Appearances and Realities, new edition, ISBN: 0765809982 9780765809988, 614 pages.
"This is a great and important book. It was not Beard's last book, but one that subjected him to a veritable witch hunt and his removal from his position in historical societies and organization. A progressive of the old LaFollette type, Beard simply sought to tell the truth about how Roosevelt plunged the USA into World War II before any declaration of war or attacks on the USA by Germany, Italy, or Japan.
"Most of the material here comes from hearings in the U.S. Congress, some during World War II, and other shortly afterward.
"It is unfortunate that Beard did not have access to the materials that have been available in the last 10 or 20 years as war time records has become declassified. His concentration is on Pearl Harbor and the naval war against Italy and Germany (most who write about submarine warfare in the Atlantic neglect the fact that there was a substantial force of Italian submarines as well as German submarines), that Roosevelt launched in 1940. Yet, this is but the tip of the iceberg in Roosevelt's illegal war against Germany and Italy and Japan in 1940 and in 1941.
"Roosevelt ran the 1940 election under the slogan 'I hate war' and on his many pledges not to send Americans to fight in the Second World War. [the same scenario of Woodrow Wilson and the First World War -- compiler]. As soon as Roosevelt won the 1940 election he secretly began to send American sailors, marines, and soldiers into the war.
"In November 1940, Roosevelt sent the U.S. Navy into the Atlantic to attack and sink German and Italian submarines in complete cooperation with the British. This was despite the fact that the German and Italian submariners were ordered to stay out of the Western Atlantic and to avoid American ports and ships so they would not provoke U.S. public opinion. What the Axis submariners could have done if they targeted American shipping was shown in 1941 and 1942 after Pearl Harbor. Hundreds of ships were sunk within sight of the East Coast. Britain was seriously threatened with strangulation.
"The evidence that Beard prints in this book chiefly from Congressional hearings explains major incidents like the sinking of the Reuben James and the Kearny that were used to claim Germany was sinking American ships without provocation. Congressional hearings reported on in this book show both incidents were provoked by aggressive U.S. Navy attacks on German submarines either separate from or in direct cooperation with the British and Canadian navies.
"Roosevelt had the U.S. in a worldwide naval war with Germany and Italy by 1941. American Navy pilots worked directly with the British. In fact it was an U.S. Navy pilot, not a British pilot who flew the plane that torpedoed the Bismark and left it unable to steer. The destroyer for bases deal not only supplied the British with destroyers, but sent U.S. troops to the bases that protected British colonies in the Americas and Africa so British troops there could be sent to the war in the Arab East.
"The U.S. Navy began to build a major base in Northern Ireland. By 1941 U.S. Navy ships would attack, sink, or seize any German vessel they encountered on the high seas, not just in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific and Indian Ocean as well. The U.S. fleet and 'neutral' American shipping were used to convoy Australian, New Zealand, and British colonial troops from the Pacific to the U.S. and Canada to be shipped to the British war in North Africa.
"American Marines relieved the British troops who had essentially invaded and occupied Iceland, an action not really favored by the Icelandic government which had tried to stay neutral. Those same Marines were originally to have invaded Vichy-controlled Martinique and Guadeloupe, but the Vichy governor of the islands agreed to allow U.S. Navy officers to control passage of naval vessels to those islands, keeping French warships in port on these islands until the end of the War.
"In Asia, Roosevelt launched the Flying Tigers. Rather than being a mercenary program paid for by the Chaing Kai Shek government as the public was told until the relevant documents were released in the 1980s, the Flying Tigers were totally financed by the United States Army Air Force. All of the Tigers were serving Navy or Army pilots who were ordered to leave the Navy and the Army to accept positions with the Tigers. Generally, Army and Navy officers are not usually allowed to simply quit and take other positions before the end of their service, let alone in a period of coming war. Plans for the Tigers included building a huge American-staffed and paid for air force that would possess long range bombers to attack Japan. They barely had begun functioning in China before WWII began.
"In late 1940 joint commissions of the U.S. military and naval general staffs and their British counterparts were set up in both Washington and London to plan a US-British war against both Germany and Japan. Similar arrangements were worked out with Britain, Canada, and the Dutch colonial government of what is now knows as Indonesia for naval and military action against Japan.
"Those who do not know the information Beard provides and the rest that has come out since his times, wonder why Germany declared war on the USA. They picture the German declaration of war as an erroneous and gratuitous act of solidarity with Japan. They miss the real question. The real question is why did Germany wait so long to declare war on the USA when the USA had been carrying on what American and international law clearly defined as illegal warfare against Germany since the fall of 1940.
"Beard's courage on this issue was symptomatic of his rigor and independence, his relentless desire to find the truth. Just as we are ignorant of the real origins of U.S. involvement in WWII without this pioneering work, we are ignorant of who the founders of the U.S. government were, and what they were afraid of unless we read his ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. Beard was not just a learned man, a diligent scholar, and pretty good writer, he was a brave man who demanded to tell the truth no matter how unpopular it was. We should all be more like Beard!" -- Reader's Comment
Apologetics #09: The Enlightenment in Western Thought #2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 69 min.
Dr. Singer on Roosevelt's maneuvering of the U.S. into World War II. An extraordinary lecture.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=3105182230
Bovard, James, The Bush Betrayal, ISBN: 140396727X 9781403967275.
"In January 2001, George W. Bush assumed the Presidency of the United States promising peace, prosperity, and a renewed sense of integrity. In the Bush Betrayal, James Bovard vividly illustrates how Bush abandoned both his campaign promises an his oath to uphold the Constitution, leaving instead a nation at war, in massive debt, and in service to the special interests of big business. The Bush Betrayal is a seething indictment of a presidency far removed from the will of the people and is destined to be another classic from Washington's most outspoken critic." -- Publisher
"Jim Bovard is a one-man policy think tank, or, rather, a one-man version of what a policy think tank ought to be. Instead of cozying up to the state, the Beltwayites ought to be trying to copy Bovard: doing meticulous and meticulously documented analysis of the crimes of government. Who ever looks, really looks, with the right attitude, at the budget and programs of a federal agency? Or records, with great wit, all the felonies against freedom of the Clinton and Bush administrations? Not that they could copy Bovard, but they ought to try. [THE BUSH BETRAYAL], is the handbook of our revolution." -- Lew Rockwell, www.lewrockwell.com
Review of THE BUSH BETRAYAL by former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga., 1995-2003)
http://www.amconmag.com/2004_09_13/review.html
*Johnson, Chalmers, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, ISBN: 0805070044 9780805070040.
"From the author of the prophetic national bestseller BLOWBACK, a startling look at militarism, American style, and its consequences abroad and at home.
"In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe's lone superpower, then as a reluctant sheriff, next as the indispensable nation, and now, in the wake of 9/11, as a New Rome. Here, Chalmers Johnson thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and compelling its people to pick up the burden of empire.
"Reminding us of the classic warnings against militarism -- from George Washington's farewell address to Dwight Eisenhower's denunciation of the military-industrial complex -- Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. Turning to the present, he maps America's expanding empire of military bases and the vast web of services that supports them. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional warriors who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as secret everything they do, and for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest.
"Among Johnson's provocative conclusions is that American militarism is putting an end to the age of globalization and bankrupting the United States, even as it creates the conditions for a new century of virulent blowback. THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE suggests that the former American republic has already crossed its Rubicon -- with the Pentagon leading the way." -- Publisher
*Kennedy, Walter Donald, Myths of American Slavery, ISBN: 1589800478 9781589800472.
"I agree. The Civil War created the foundation for the New Slavery, called Federal Slavery. Modern American slaves are victims to more confiscation than 19th century slaves.
"I do not agree with all author Kennedy's points. Slavery was certainly a partial cause shown by reading Jefferson Davis's first inaugural speech in the 'new' confederate union. It had slavery all over it. But, agreed, the primary cause was taxation, likewise with most wars. The history of the world is one group living off the labor of another. I love how Kennedy speaks the truth here.
"Even today, we are forced to choose between being a slave or a master. Parents, teach your children not to be the slave. Books like this give profound historical insight. The game never ends.
"This book further highlights that the master and slave relationship has not, and will not go away until people, black and white, have the courage to leave the modern Federal plantation. When forced, like in the USA, choose the master but embrace liberty. Great book!" -- Reader's Comment
Rockwell, Llewellyn H. Jr., Speaking of Liberty, ISBN: 0945466382 9780945466383.
"Ludwig von Mises said that teaching the public was just as important as addressing scholars -- maybe more so. That is what Lew Rockwell specializes in: history and theory and analysis in defense of the free society, written in clear prose to reach a broad audience. Rockwell's new book is as pro-liberty as it is brutally critical of government. It is relentlessly forthright yet hopeful about the prospects for liberty. It is rigorous enough to withstand the enemy's closest scrutiny, and chock full of the energy and enthusiasm that will keep you reading.
"SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is a collection of speeches delivered by Rockwell over a period of ten years. The book begins with economics, and explains why Austrian economics matters, how the Federal Reserve brings on the business cycle, why we need private property and free enterprise, the unrecognized glories of the capitalist economy, and why the gold standard is still the best monetary system. Other sections deal with war, Mises and his work, other important thinkers in the libertarian tradition, and the culture and morality of liberty.
"The book is united by a set of fixed principles: the corruption of politics, the universality and immutability of the ideas of freedom, the centrality of sound money and free enterprise, the moral imperative of peace and trade, the importance of hope and tenacity in the struggle for liberty, and the need for everyone to join the intellectual fight. We all have searched for the book we could give to friends and neighbors, business associates and family members, to explain why we believe in the cause of liberty. SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is that book." -- Publisher
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.
"What then is the role of the state in economic matters? Is it to stand idly by and take no steps or initiate no policies to defend the poor? The state, in the economic realm, is under a mandate to enforce the moral law and to punish those who break it for the sake of economic gain. It may prevent monopolistic and other business practices which are contrary to the Biblical ethic, as well as stealing and other forms of dishonesty and may pass laws for this purpose. It is certain that Calvin would support more statutes of this kind than some advocates of free enterprise would tolerate today. In general, however, Calvin agreed that the state had no right to undertake schemes of redistributing wealth in order to achieve economic equality. The legislative taking of wealth under the guise of legality is no less stealing than if it is done by robbers and thieves. Such schemes, rather than being an application of Christian principles, are actually a form of human rebellion against the will of God for the right ordering of society." -- C. Gregg Singer in "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice"
Notes: "Appeared in volume II of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY . . . and was later printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company . . . 1967, for their Philosophical and historical studies series."
Contents: The author; Preface; I. The patristic foundations of calvinism; II. Calvinism: the summit of reformation theology; III. The later history of calvinism; IV. Influence of calvinism on western history and culture; V. Calvinism and economic thought and practice; VI. Calvinism and Philosophy; VII. Calvinism and education; VIII. Calvinism and social thought and practice; Bibliography.
*Vance, Laurence M., Christianity and war and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, ISBN: 0976344807 9780976344803.
"These thirteen essays have one thing in common -- they were all published on the premier anti-state, anti-war, pro-market website, LewRockwell.com. Ten of them were written exclusively for that website and have never appeared in print until now. Each essay is reprinted verbatim.
"LewRockwell.com is the brainchild of Lew Rockwell, the founder and president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and a leading opponent of the central state, its wars, and its socialism.
"Because they were published on the Internet, most of the essays originally contained numerous links to documentation and further information on the Web that the reader could click on if he desired. Because this feature is not possible in a printed format, the reader is encouraged to consult the online versions of each essay at LewRockwell.com, where, thanks to the wonders of technology, they are archived.
"These thirteen essays, organized under the headings of Christianity and War, The Evils of War, Specific Wars, and The U.S. Global Empire, have one underlying theme: opposition to the warfare state that robs us of our liberty, our money, and in some cases our life. Although many of these essays reference contemporary events, the principles discussed in all of them are timeless: war, militarism, empire, interventionism, the warfare state, and the Christian attitude toward these things. It is the author's contention that Christian enthusiasm for the state, its wars, and its politicians is an affront to the Saviour, contrary to Scripture, and a demonstration of the profound ignorance many Christians have of history." -- Publisher
Weisman, Steven R., The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson -- The Fierce Battles Over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation, ISBN: 0684850680 9780684850689.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Leadership by crisis, Friendly fascism, secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, Power, Authority, Politics, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Theft: commentary and cases of conscience, Taxation, property and liberty, The war between the states, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 2530
Bush Family Crime: A Short Bibliography, 2004
http://lettermen2.com/bushcri.html
A Capitalist War? Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Some people dispute the claim that the U.S. attack on Iraq is motivated -- at least in part -- by the desire for Iraq's oil. What can we say about them? They may be hopelessly naive about the public sector in general. Some of the same people who are pleased to finger greed and avarice as the root cause of all accounting problems on Wall Street are loath to consider that similar impulses might inspire politicians and bureaucrats as well."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/capitalistwar.html
Government Contractors versus Real Business, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Halliburton makes a mockery of the term private enterprise. The profits are private, to be sure, but the risk is socialized. It has very little to sell you and me or any other member of the consumer class. It has vast amounts of stuff to sell the state, and what it produces it does with that goal in mind.
Call it the leading industry in the military-industrial complex. Regard it as the prime player in the great government-business partnership. View it as illustrative of the reality that the real scandals in government are not what is illegal but what is considered wholly legitimate. But whatever you do, don't call it private enterprise."
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1643
Guarding the Empire, Laurence M. Vance
"If any country ever had an overgrown military establishment, it is the United States and its military juggernaut. Before the recent Iraq war, the United States outspent the 'evil' rogue nations of Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Libya, and Cuba on defense spending by a ratio of twenty-two to one. The actual amount that the United States spent on 'defense' during fiscal year 2004 has been estimated by Robert Higgs to be about $695 billion. The United States is also the biggest arms exporter, accounting for about half of all global arms exports.
"Most of this spending could be eliminated if the United States returned to the foreign policy ideas of the Founders. Current U.S. foreign policy can only be described as reckless, interventionist, militaristic, and belligerent. This can lead to severe consequences, as Chalmers Johnson has pointed out in his incredible book BLOWBACK: THE COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICAN EMPIRE, 'The suicidal assassins of September 11, 2001, did not attack America, as political leaders and news media in the United States have tried to maintain; they attacked American foreign policy.'
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance20.html
The Military and the Market, Scott M. Rosen
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/rosen-scott1.html
National Priorities Project
About half a trillion (500 billion), have been spent on the war in Iraq (April 2008).
The media frequently gives the current number of U.S. troops killed in action in Iraq since the beginning of the war (4026 as of April 2008). The media seldom gives the number of U.S. troops who come home injured. (29,395 as of April 2008) -- "U.S. Casualties in Iraq."
Recently (March 2008), there have been reports of an alarming increase in the number of U.S. troops who commit suicide while on duty in Iraq. More Viet Nam veterans have committed suicide than were killed in the Vietnamese war.
"National Priorities Project analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent.
"Taxpayers can take stock of how the federal government spent their 2007 income tax dollars: over 40 percent went towards military spending, while education received just over 4 percent. This publication shows how the median income family's 2007 income tax dollars were spent for every state and 200 cities, towns and counties."
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/
The Origin of the Income Tax, Adam Young
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?control=1597
America's National Security: The Greatest Danger, Steven LaTulippe
"It may seem a bit odd, and perhaps ironic, that the greatest danger to America derives from the attitudes of our own rulers, but I am nevertheless convinced that this is so. Since the end of the cold war, America's elites have become imbued with the idea that we are 'the last remaining superpower' and that we should strive for 'benevolent world hegemony.' This policy has numerous inevitable negative repercussions with which we are now coping on a daily basis."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/latulippe/latulippe31.html
Our Enemy, Leviathan, Anthony Gregory
"Developing a theme from his earlier book, CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN (1987), Higgs documents countless cases in which wars have provided major opportunities for the American government to grow. He shows how America's biggest wars have brought on the most significant increases in taxation and inflation in the nation's history, as well as the oppressive institution of conscription. Conscription, as Higgs calls it, is 'the keystone' to war and Leviathan: 'The formula, applied again and again, was quite simple: if it is acceptable to draft men, then it is acceptable to do X, where X is any government violation of individual rights whatsoever. Once the draft has been adopted, then, as Justice Louis Brandeis put it, all bets are off.' (166). Higgs shows that government has always grown fastest and become most despotic during wartime, and never fully shrinks back to prewar levels. War allows for nationalization of the economy, price controls, an abandonment of many of the Constitutional limits on government that operate during peacetime, and massive corporate welfare, all masked under a façade of necessity, establishing precedents for future government expansion during wars and other 'crises.' In one chapter, 'The Cold War Is Over, but U.S. Preparation for It Continues,' Higgs examines a 'military-industrial-congressional complex' 'replete with foolishness, corruption, and cupidity' that shamelessly wastes resources and grows inexorably on its own inertia (260); in 'The Era of Big Government Is Not Over,' he reports that the government is still growing, and fast, and offers some scenarios in which it might, one day, decline."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory35.html
Tyrannus in Titula, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Query: what lesson has mass death, destruction, bloodshed, and all-around living hell taught the U.S. government about its war in Iraq? Nothing. Or barely nothing. Or maybe just a little bit of something. In any case, it needs to learn that the U.S. is not necessarily God on Earth, and that there is some limit to what rivers of blood can accomplish."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/titula.html
US Casualties in Iraq
A running tally.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
US Militarizing Latin America, Jim Lobe
"Less than 15 years after the end of the Cold War, the United States government is increasingly militarizing its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new report released here this week."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe135.html
Why Conservatives Love war and the State, Murray N. Rothbard
"Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995), the founder of modern libertarianism and the dean of the Austrian School of economics, was the author of THE ETHICS OF LIBERTY and FOR A NEW LIBERTY and many other books and articles. He was also academic vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and the Center for Libertarian Studies, and the editor -- with Lew Rockwell -- of The Rothbard-Rockwell Report."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard16.html
All the decrees of popes and councils, all the resolutions of assemblies, synods, presbyteries, and associations, and all the ordinances of men as individuals, however great they be, when they are all put together, if they at all differ from the law of Christ, are mere wind and waste paper, nay, worse, they are treasonable insults to the majesty of King Jesus. Those who build apart from the authority of Christ build off of the foundation, and their fabric will fall. There is no law and no authority in a true church but that of Christ himself; we who are his ministers are his servants and the servants of the church, and not lords or lawmakers. To his law a faithful church brings all things as to the sure test. As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein.
"Let us put this, our first point, in a few sentences. It is not the union of men with men that makes a church if Jesus Christ be not the centre and the bond of the union. The best of men may come into bonds of amity, and they may form a league, or a federation, for good and useful purposes, but they are not a church unless Jesus Christ be the basis upon which they rest. He must be the ground and foundation of the hope of each and of all." -- C.H. Spurgeon in a sermon, "The One Foundation"
Jacoby, Stewart Olin, The Religious Amendment Movement: God, People, and Nation in the Gilded Age, 2 volumes, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1984).
"On March 6, 1894, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on a Joint Resolution (H. Res. 120), 'proposing an Amendment to the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States "Acknowledging the Supreme Authority and Just Government of Almighty God in all the Affairs of Men and Nations".'(12. Hearings on the Joint Resolution [H. Res. 120, Washington: U.S. Government Printing office, 1894].)"
Various, Resolution of Wisconsin Ministers Denouncing the Unconstitutional Decrees of Governor Evers
"It has long been the history of Christianity for pastors to speak to the issues and incidents of the day. As historian Will Durant wrote in his work The Reformation,
In Protestantism the preachers became journals of news and opinion; they told their congregation the events of the week or day; and religion was then so interwoven with life that nearly every occurrence touched the faith or its ministers. They denounced the vices and errors of their parishioners, and instructed the government as to its duties and faults.http://wisconsinchurchmenresolutions.com/resolutions/mask-work-worship-resolution.pdf
Watkins, William J., Jr., Reclaiming the American Revolution: The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy, ISBN: 1403963037 9781403963031.
"Reclaiming the American Revolution examines the struggles for political ascendancy between Federalists and the Republicans in the early days of the American Republic viewed through the lens of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Jefferson and Madison saw the Alien and Sedition Acts as a threat to states' rights, as well as indicative of a national government that sought unlimited power. The Resolutions sought to return the nation to the tenets of the Constitution, in which rights for all were protected by checking the power of the national government. Watkins examines the two sides of this important controversy in early American history and demonstrates the Resolutions' relevance to current politics.
"William J. Watkins, Jr. is an attorney who specializes in constitutional law. He has written several articles on legal history, and is a research fellow at the Independent Institute." -- Publisher
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Church discipline, Reform of the church, Healthcare reform, Reform, state sovereignty, and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Conscience, casuistry, cases of conscience, and so forth, and so on.
American Bar Association (ABA) Resolution 302
http://www.abanet.org/op/greco/memos/aba_house302-0206.pdf
A Christmas Gift From James Madison: The Virginia Resolutions of 1798, Mike Maharrey, Dec 21, 2018
"Resolutions drafted by James Madison and passed by Virginia on Dec 21. and 24, 1798, answer a timeless question: What do we do when the federal government oversteps its constitutional bounds?
"All too often, we simply ignore unconstitutional federal overreach. But James Madison had other ideas. The man known as 'The Father of the Constitution' insisted states are 'duty bound, to interpose' and arrest 'the progress of the evil.'
"Madison made this emphatic statement in the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, a document he drafted in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2018/12/21/a-christmas-gift-from-james-madison-the-virginia-resolutions-of-1798/
A Concurrent Resolution (1995) Memorializing Congress to Refrain From Passing any Legislation That Would Infringe Upon States' Rights
http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess111_1995-1996/bills/3720.htm
A Draft Resolution of Congressional Censure Against United States Supreme Court Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas for Their Betrayal of the American People and the United States Constitution Displayed in the Decisions of Bush v. Gore
http://www.censurethefive.org/resolved.html
Homeschooling Program -- Southern Baptist Convention Resolution
The resolution by the Southern Baptist Convention calling members to pull their childen out of government schools and either homeschool them or send them to Christian schools.
http://www.thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/convention_resolution.php
House Joint Resolution 390 Designating November 13-19, 1988 as "National Cult Awareness Week"
http://www.holysmoke.org/wb/wb0069.htm
Impeachment in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States
The Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/declare.htm
The Mecklenburg Resolves
http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/resolves.htm
Pledge to America, September, 2010
http://pledge.gop.gov/
The "Preamble and Resolutions" and The Reformed Presbytery's "Deed of Constitution" of 1840
http://www.truecovenanter.com/deedcons.html
Privileged Resolution on Iraq
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2005_cr/h110305.html
A Redneck Resolution Against Self-destruction
http://www.lettermen2.com/redneck.html
Resolution Against H.R. 2738 and H.R. 2739
"Two so-called 'free trade' bills with Singapore and Chile are scheduled for an up-or-down vote on Capitol Hill this week. Both bills (H.R. 2738, H.R. 2739), will have disastrous effects upon our economy, and increase the displacement of American high-tech workers. The bills' immigration worker provisions will increase the numbers of H-1B and L-1 visa workers."
http://www.citizenslobby.com/congress.htm
A Resolution Calling on President Bush to Begin the Withdrawal of American Troops by the Sacramento City Council
http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=418
A Resolution to Combat Mind Control With Truth
http://www.lettermen2.com/mindc.html
Resolution to Establish the Society of Presbyteries and Reformed Churches
http://www.refcm.org/crpc%20web%20stuff/CRPC--SPARC%20documents.pdf
A Resolution That Walmart Stores, Inc. Disprove the Modern Myth That Sunday Work Maximizes Profits
http://http://www.lettermen2.com/wmresol1.html
A Resolution to the Eleventh General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, O. Palmer Robertson (Justification)
http://www.fpcjackson.org/resources/apologetics/Covenant%20Theology%20&%20Justification/robertson.htm
Resolution to Establish the Society of Presbyteries and Reformed Churches
http://www.refcm.org/crpc%20web%20stuff/CRPC--SPARC%20documents.pdf
The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1722-1723), by Jonathan Edwards
http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/articles/full.asp?id=38|38|45
A Resolution That Walmart Stores, Inc. Disprove the Modern Myth That Sunday Work Maximizes Profits
http://http://www.lettermen2.com/wmresol1.html
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions on Abortion
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/baptist/sbcabres.html
University of Virginia Medical Center Corporate Compliance Program
http://www.virginia.edu/bov/meetings/97nov/hlthaffagenda.html
Vermont Independence Resolution
Sign the Resolution at the PetitionSite.com.
www.vermontrepublic.org/
Conservative Petitions
Go here to sign a petition for the "Constitution Restoration Act of 2004," H.R. 3799 and S. 2082 now before Congress.
Register and use the site to inform friends of CRA and to invite them to sign the petition.
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/
Early Virginia Religious Petitions
"Early Virginia Religious Petitions presents images of 423 petitions submitted to the Virginia legislature between 1774 and 1802 from more than eighty counties and cities. Drawn from the Library of Virginia's Legislative Petitions collection, the petitions concern such topics as the historic debate over the separation of church and state championed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, the rights of dissenters such as Quakers and Baptists, the sale and division of property in the established church, and the dissolution of unpopular vestries. The collection provides searchable access to the petitions' places of origin and a brief summary of each petition's contents, as well as summaries of an additional seventy-four petitions that are no longer extant. The collection complements the Library of Congress exhibition Religion and the Founding of the American Republic and is a collaborative venture between the Library of Congress and The Library of Virginia."
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/petitions/
George W. Bush Charged With High Treason for Complicity in the Attack of 911
http://www.petitiononline.com/bush911/petition.html
How the Judiciary Stole the Right to Petition, John E. Wolfgram
http://www.constitution.org/abus/wolfgram/ptnright.htm
The People's Recall Petition to Recall California Governor Gray Davis
http://www.RecallGrayDavis.com
Petition to Abolish H-1B, L-1 Visas
"Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) recently introduced H.R. 2688, a bill that would eliminate H-1B visas for foreign workers. Hundreds of thousands of American workers have been displaced in the job market in recent years due to H-1B visas. Citizens Lobby strongly supports this legislation and is urging citizens to contact their members of Congress and demand they co-sponsor H.R. 2688."
http://www.citizenslobby.com/jobpetition.htm
A Petition Against Sunday Opening of Christian Bookstores
http://www.petitiononline.com/FCS/petition.html
Petition for American Justice
"Calls for a moratorium on all visas to Arab/Muslim nationals."
http://www.citizenslobby.com/petitions.htm#terrorism
Petition to Congress: Restore Constitution, Religious Liberty
This petition "supports the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 now before Congress. 'I urge you to stand against judicial dictatorship and government-sanctioned religious persecution! Support this legislation as a crucial first step in restoring Constitutional order in America.' Keyes said the actions taken in Alabama are a direct violation of the First Amendment's explicit prohibition against federal law respecting an establishment of religion, because they wrongly enforce federal judicial review of actions reserved to the people and the states. 'This federal encroachment also absurdly equates prohibition of any mention of God with "neutrality" toward religion,' he said. 'Such overt pro-atheistic hostility toward public religious expression is unconstitutional, and must be actively rejected by us, the sovereign American electorate'."
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php?id=266
Petition for the "Constitution Restoration Act of 2004"
Sign a petition for the "Constitution Restoration Act of 2004," H.R. 3799 and S. 2082 now before Congress.
Register and use the site to inform friends of the CRA and to invite them to sign the petition.
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/
A Petition Demanding Checks and Balances Over Judges
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php?id=252
PetitionOnline.com
"Provides free online hosting of public petitions for responsible public advocacy."
http://www.petitiononline.com/
A Petition to President Bush Against Amnesty and Illegal Immigration
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php?id=254
Petition to Reform our Tax Code, Shut Down the IRS, and Eliminate the Marriage Penalty
Authored by Congressman Bill Redmond.
"When you add up all the taxes, hidden or otherwise, you end up paying over half your income in taxes. No wonder families have to have both spouses working more hours and still it seems so difficult just to make ends meet.
"A recently published Congressional Budget Report (CBO) report found that in 1996 alone, 21 million American working married couples paid an average marriage tax penalty of $1,400."
http://www.billredmond.com/irspetition.html
The Truth About the war on Terrorism! Philip Zodhiates
"According to Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the British House of Lords, more than 160,000 Christians will be martyred this year. And Islamic authorities and governments will kill most of those."
http://www.christianpetitions.com/petition.html?name=terrorism_truth&rpid=232768
Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (Jail) 4 Judges
"The Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, J.A.I.L., is a single-issue national grassroots organization designed to end the rampant and pervasive judicial corruption in the legal system of the United States. J.A.I.L. recognizes this can be achieved only through making the Judicial Branch of government answerable and accountable to an entity other than itself. At this time it isn't, resulting in the judiciary's arbitrary abuse of the doctrine of judicial immunity, leaving the People without recourse when their inherent rights are violated by judges."
http://www.jail4judges.org/
*Judicial Watch
http://www.judicialwatch.org
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
Set your minds on things above!
Many of God's children are ensnared by Satan today, by getting them unduly concerned with what is happening in the world. He persuades them that it is their duty to be well informed upon current events -- that it is necessary for them to "keep up with the times" and take an intelligent interest in what is occurring in different parts of the earth, and particularly with the political and social conditions in their own country. He would fix their minds on the sensational items recorded in the newspapers, devoting much time to reading and listening to the news of the day.
And what good is accomplished thereby? Your concern over the doings of the Kremlin, and your dismay at the successes of the Vatican, will not affect either of them one iota! No, but it will injuriously affect you -- it will get you absorbed with carnal things, and take the edge off your appetite for spiritual things!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2) -- Arthur Pink, Look Upward 1947Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislative power, the executive, and the judiciary. And one would then like to ask: By what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the communist East a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has granted Western journalists their power, for how long a time, and with what prerogatives? -- Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), in A World Split Apart, his commencement address to Harvard University, delivered 8 June 1978
A description of the dissolute, and their irreverent language, does injure. Nor is it even necessary for literature to be specifically immoral to have this effect. Books that constantly convey a purely secular mindset, that treat the present world as though it were the only world, that studiously avoid truths revealed in Scripture (unless to scoff) -- such books impart a godless view of life, and teach their readers to regard this world as the only "reality." -- Iain Murray, in The Undercover Revolution: How Fiction Changed Britain, p. 69
God cannot be heard until we have put off our earthly thoughts. . . . The remedy of the first evil is to reflect on the nature of God. . . . For since the nature of God is spiritual, it is not allowable to imagine respecting him anything earthly or gross. -- John Calvin commenting on Exodus 3:4
Merriam-Webster Online states that the first known use of the word "amuse" in the 15th century was "to divert the attention of so as to deceive." It's obsolete meaning was to "distract" or to "bewilder."
Notice the drift of meaning is to define amusement (entertainment) as fiction that deceives, distracts, bewilders, and deludes the individual. The Greek etymology (from mousa/muse) is "a," anti, and "muse," Greek goddess.
So, why are we attracted by amusements and entertainment? One somewhat enigmatic answer, they, in part, offer an escape from the reality of total human depravity.If opinions were always truthful, everybody would be intelligent. -- Aristotle (c.350 B.C.), Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI, p. 175
A Facebook member's comments directed to members of the political "Round Table Discussion" on ABC's "This Week" broadcast December 16, 2012.
"Of course, the media's coverage of the event [another in a string of mass shooting -- compiler], is disturbingly inadequate and highly suspicious [the media's standard comment 'the motive of the shooter is unknown' followed by calls for gun control -- compiler], a good reason to stop listening to media news coverage.
"Gun control seems to me to be among the least significant issues to focus on in saving human life in America today. A few additional thoughts, mostly written after the Aurora theater shooting, however incomplete and however inadequate. (Notice that probably 'ten thousand times' more lives could be saved by banning abortion and breaking up healthcare corporations and healthcare insurance corporations, the regulation of all of which are responsibilities of the Federal Government who, seemingly, would prefer to enact gun control legislation instead. -- compiler). -- A Facebook member
Some scholars would hold that a string of mass murders is only a sign that society is destabilizing, therefore, reformers must focus on broader causes to find the solution.
Scholarship has always been the foundation of reformation. We very respectfully submit that there is no political solution to the problem of a destabilizing society, or to the secondary problem of mass murder. The solution to the problems is outside any "political bubble" swallowed up by the irrationality of Western Thought.
Here are just a few suggested starting points for anyone with the will to attain to a lasting solution. Others have devoted volumes to the subject.1. Mortimer Adler, in GREAT BOOKS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, concluded that more problems are caused by the denial of God than by anything else -- it changes the whole tenure of life. This was also the message of Augustine (5th century), in CITY OF GOD, and Calvin (16th century), in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.Watching what God is doing in the world around us can be far more fascinating to the Christian than anything that the entertainment industry has to offer.
2. The Federal Government has banned God from both government and the public schools. Today schools are frequently the scene of violent crime.
3. The media floods the mind of the public with violence on TV, on cable, and in the theaters. Violent crime is rampant on the streets of America. "Warner Brothers stopped showing a trailer for the film 'Gangster Squad,' a trailer which was shown prior to the Aurora screening at which the shooting occurred, because of a scene involving a mass shooting in a movie theater.
4. A medical student was the murderer in the Aurora theater shooting. At the same time, at last estimate (2007), 50 million children have been aborted by mothers, doctors, and fathers in American since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 [56 million American babies from 1973 to 2014, annual rate continues at 1.2 million babies a year]. This is approximately the population of Canada.
5. "Health care screwups are one of the leading causes of death in America, killing as many as 750,000 people annually. . . . That is the equivalent of more than three jumbo jets crashing every day of the year (or over 1,000 jets annually)." -- Joe and Terry Graedon in the introduction to TOP SCREWUPS DOCTORS MAKE AND HOW TO AVOID THEM.
6. Currently there is no end in sight for the increasing corruption and theft, at high levels of society, for consequent prolonged and deepening economic depression, and for a continued drop in the standard of living in America. The Federal Government is allowing theft, corruption, economic depression, and crime to continue. One of their few legitimate functions is to punish wrongdoers.
7. The principle causes of the French Revolution were fiscal crisis, "the state's effective bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of previous wars," and the resulting poverty and hunger among the "destitute segments of the population." During the Revolution mobs went berserk and beat victims to death, and the Revolutionaries guillotined the leaders in the establishment. The Revolution was overthrown with military force and the Consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte began.
8. John Owen (1616-1683), observes in his work, God's Presence With a People the Spring of Their Prosperity; With Their Special Interest in Abiding in Him, that it is the presence of God among a people that restrains evil, and, it might be added, terrorism.
9. Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758), A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections (1898).
10. Abortion was the 20th century's biggest killer of mankind worldwide, far surpassing disease, war, governments, natural disasters, genocide, and so forth, and so on. (Jeremiah 17:9,10) "Around 43.8 million abortions [2008 figures] occur each year in the world, with a little under half done unsafely."
11. And so forth, and so on, and on, and on . . . with many more examples of irrationalism in modern society caused by "the decline of the Western mind from the Renaissance to the present," the denial of God in the public arena, and the resultant failed epistemology and false presuppositions of leadership. See: FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT, and the supplemental lecture series, Apologetics.
*Baehr, Ted, The Christian Family Guide to Movies and Videos: Volumes I and II, ISBN: 0943497612 9780943497617.
"This is a very helpful guide. . . ." -- GCB
Baehr, Ted, Hollywood's Reel of Fortune: A Winning Strategy to Redeem the Entertainment Industry.
"Explains the power and impact of the movie industry upon our society and analyzes the moral problems currently besetting our nation. He outlines specific remedial actions we can all take to correct a situation that has long been allowed to exist." -- CRM
"A critique that is both professionally informed and Biblically reasoned. . . ." -- George Grant
Bozell, L. Brent, III, and Brent H. Baker, And That's the Way it Is(n't): A Reference Guide to Media Bias, ISBN: 0962734802 9780962734809.
An exposé of the liberal anti-American, anti-Christian hold on the media. Reviewed by Loren Mitchel in Letter From Plymouth Rock, January 1991. David Burke, the President of CBS News, was formerly the Chief of Staff for Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Buckley, William F., Alistair Cooke, Robert MacNeil, F. Clifton White (Hoover Institution Archives), The Influence of TV on American Politics, DVD.
"The question for this debate is whether or not television runs America. An example used is the attempted 1968 Republican nomination of California Governor Ronald Reagan. The guests talk about their feelings regarding the televised Reagan-Kennedy debate on Vietnam. Although Reagan failed to get the nomination, his exposure on television helped make him a national political figure." -- Publisher
Doner, Colonel V., The Responsible Parent's Guide to TV: A Noted Expert Looks at Television's Role in Changing our Children's Values, ISBN: 0910311501 9780910311502.
"Drawn from scientific surveys, expert opinion, and insightful commentary the evidence indicates the media has become the cutting edge of a new anti-family revolution."
Downes, Stephen, Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.
"Stephen Downes, an information architect with a background in philosophy, created this site with the aim of identifying, indexing, and describing 'all known logical fallacies.' A logical fallacy can be defined as an error in reasoning in which a conclusion appears to follow from a set of premises but in reality does not. Downes groups the fallacies into thirteen categories, such as Fallacies of Distraction, Inductive Fallacies, and Syllogistic Errors. Each fallacy (over 50 in all), is described with its name, definition, examples of how it might be used in an argument, and how the argument can be proven fallacious. The How to Use this Guide section of the site provides a helpful introduction, and a robust bibliography offers possibilities for further study of logic. In addition, users may register at the site (no fee), to gain access to discussion boards on the topic. The author notes that his Guide "is intended to help you in your own thinking, not to help you demolish someone else's argument." Regardless of how a reader uses the information, however, the site remains an interesting and fun investigation of how logical arguments are constructed."
"Lists all known logical fallacies, with definitions, examples, and the steps needed to prove that the fallacy is committed. Site also includes links to logic references and resources."
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
http://www.fallacies.ca/welcome.htm
Goldacre, Ben, Bad Science, ISBN: 9780007284870 000728487X.
"Everyone has their own 'bad science' moments, encompassing everything from the useless pie charts on the back of cereal boxes to the use of the word 'visibly' in cosmetics adverts. Full of spleen, Ben Goldacre takes the reader on a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of bad science. BAD SCIENCE is a book by Ben Goldacre, criticizing mainstream media reporting on health and science issues." -- Publisher
*Lichter, S. Robert, and Stanley Rothman, The Media Elite: America's New Power Brokers, ISBN: 0803893507 9780803893504.
The media is very powerful in molding the political attitudes and minds of the nation. The media has, in fact, reversed our thinking on many things.
Medved, Michael, Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the war Against Traditional Values, ISBN: 0060924357 9780060924355.
"The author exposes the attacks by the motion picture industry, television, and music stars against the church and Christians. He expresses our frustrations. He not only suggests a way out for Hollywood, but also concrete suggestions for concerned citizens who want to protect themselves and their children." -- GCB
*Mokhiber, Russell, and Robert Weissman, Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Mega-profits and the Attack on Democracy, ISBN: 1567511589 9781567511581.
"For the past twenty years, after a decade and a half of populist resurgence against corporate abuses by consumer, environmental, women's rights and civil rights forces, big business has been on a rampage to control our society. Whether these business supremacies are called corporatization, commercialism, monopolies or the corporate state, the overall concentration of power and wealth in ever fewer multinational corporate centers is a matter of record.
"In arena after arena -- government, workplace, marketplace, media, environment, education, science, technology -- the dominant players are large corporations. What countervailing forces that our society used to depend upon for some balance are not in retreat against the aggressive expansion of corporate influence far beyond its traditional mercantile boundaries?
"The enlarged power that corporations deploy to further increase their revenues and socialize their costs comes from many sources -- old and new. Roughly eighty percent of the money contributed to federal candidates come from business interests. The mobility to export capital has given transnational companies major leverage against local, state and federal officials, not to mention against organized and unorganized labor. The swell of corporate welfare handouts has reached new depths. The contrived complexity of many financial and other services serves to confuse, deplete and daunt consumers who lose significant portions of their income in a manipulative marketplace. Alliances, joint ventures and other complex collaborations between should-be competitors have made a mockery of what is left of antitrust enforcement.
"The opportunities to control or defeat governmental attempts for corporate accountability that flow from transcending national jurisdictions into globalized strategies to escape taxation and pit countries and their workers against one another appear to be endless. The autocratic systems of governance called GATT and NAFTA reflect to the smallest detail ways that giant corporations wish to control the world. These firms are on a collision course against democratic processes, and the merging of states and businesses, to the latter's advantage, weakens relentlessly both the restraints of the law and the willingness of legislators to do anything about it.
"Taken together, the world is witnessing its subjugation to the large corporate model of economic development, the large corporate model of technology and the large corporate model of culture itself. These accelerating trend lines invite accelerating comprehension and response. History demonstrates that commercialism knows few boundaries that are not externally imposed. All the major religions have warned their adherents against the excesses of commercial value systems, albeit with different languages, images and metaphors.
"Specific descriptions of corporate misbehavior do nourish proper generalizations that in turn lead to more just movements and practices. Here, columnists Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman provide a distinct service in CORPORATE PREDATORS. It is not just the versatility of their writings -- covering bribery, pollution, corporate crime, fraud and abuse, failure of law enforcement, union-busting, the mayhem inflicted by product defects and toxics, the deep gap between the rich and the rest of America, corporate front groups, the media censorship and self-censorship, the profiteering, the pillaging overseas and more -- but it is also the impact on the reader that comes from aggregating evidence. Our country does not collect statistics on corporate crime the way it does on street crime. For it to do so would begin to highlight a little-attended agenda for law enforcement and other corporate reforms. Neither Congress nor the White House and its Justice Department have made any moves over the years to assemble from around the country the abuses of corporations in quantifiable format so as to drive policy.
"So, description -- accurate, representational description -- must now suffice. As the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter (Mokhiber) and the editor of the Multinational Monitor (Weissman), the authors know well the difference between anecdotes that are illustrative and that are idiosyncratic. This volume of their weekly columns carries the evidence that illustrates patterns of continuing corporate derelictions, not lonely deviations from a more congenial norm.
"The authors' experience over the years with the impact of disclosures has led them to the conclusion that the facts must be linked to civic engagement and democratic activity for change. If disclosure produced its own dynamic imperatives for change, the recurrent exposure of corporate abuses in such mainstream publications as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and some national television programs like 'Sixty Minutes' would have caused these changes. Such, unfortunately has not been the case. The linkages between knowledge and action have not been sufficient. But readers of Common Courage Press published books tend towards citizen activism. They want to know because they want to do. Some may even agree with the ancient Chinese saying that 'To know and not to do is not to know.'
"So, go forward readers who wish to be leaders in the advancement of justice -- what Daniel Webster once called 'the great work of men on Earth' -- and savor the writings that will motivate more and more women and men to band together in organizations that build a more just democracy." [Constitutional Republic -- compiler] -- Ralph Nader, 1999
*Muggeridge, Malcolm (1903-1990), Christ and the Media, 127 pages, ISBN: 0802835082 9780802835086.
"Malcom Muggeridge is one of the funniest, most insightful and downright stubborn authors of the twentieth century. He was funny in Punch, the British humor magazine, he was funny on the BBC in "That Was the Week That Was," and even funny in a Monte Python meets real life sort of way when he got kicked off the BBC for allegedly mocking the Queen. Of course it was all a misunderstanding, like the misunderstanding that got writer P.G. Wodehouse denounced as a traitor for making those wartime broadcasts from Germany. Malcom Muggeridge was the man who straightened that all out and got PGW repatriated, and later PG (Plum) Wodehouse was knighted as one of Britain's best. Surely there were no hard feelings toward Malcom as well.
"Then Muggeridge did an interview with Mother Teresa for the BBC, and made a series of TV shows called 'A Third Testament about St. Augustine, Pascal, Tolstoy . . .' and other figures who had influenced him. At the same time that priests and bishops in England were leaving orders and losing faith, Muggeridge was somehow finding it. That would have been forgivable, but he remained subversively funny. The essays collected in THE MOST OF MALCOM MUGGERIDGE and TREAD SOFTLY FOR YOU TREAD ON MY JOKES are side-splittingly funny and rank among the best of Punch's drollery. His two volume autobiography even has a funny title: THE CHRONICLES OF WASTED TIME. CHRIST AND THE MEDIA doesn't have a funny title (which may be why it originally went out of print so soon), but it contains a funny essay called "The Fourth Temptation." In a humorous role-reversal, journalist Muggeridge is also interviewed by the BBC. His roasts of the media in his many books are so funny that his opponents had no recourse but to put his books out of print. Thanks to Regent College, their little trick didn't work, and this subversive little volume is once again at large. Get it while you can and write your own review." -- Reader's Comment
Murray, Iain H., The Undercover Revolution: How Fiction Changed Britain, ISBN: 9781848710122 1848710127.
"Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain saw a mega-change in reading habits. For the first time fiction took the primary place in book publishing, and the medium was taken up by brilliant and entertaining authors with an agenda for 'a brave new world.' Such men as Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were the opinion-makers for coming generations." -- Publisher
This book . . . focused on a particular class and era of novelists such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Hardy. It devotes a chapter to each of those two men and seeks to show that their lives tell a very different story than their books. Their books paint the 'new morality' or rather immorality of 'free love' and other sins in glowing colors and soft lights. They make sin look happy. But when you look at their lives as they seek to live this way, the picture is very different. Their lives are not like the lives of their characters. Reality shows sin in all of its ugly colors and there is nothing happy about it. I think this is a danger in much of fiction. It is dangerous to be able to write the world anyway we want. Even Christian fiction writers can fall into describing the world the way they want it to be (i.e. Christians always prosper) and not the way God in his wisdom allows it to be." -- Reader's Comment
Phillips, Peter (editor), Gary Webb (introduction), and Tom Tomorrow (illustrator), Censored 1999: The News That Didn't Make the News, the Year's Top 25 Censored Stories, ISBN: 1888363797 9781888363791.
Apparently one volume each year, has been issued in this series since 1997.
"Compiled by the Project Censored staff under the directorship of Peter Phillips, with over 150 student researchers, faculty, media scholars, and critics, Censored 1999 stands in stark contrast to the news reported by the major networks or the daily newspapers. This year's collection features: Luke Hiken with the National Lawyers Guild on the First Amendment and pirate radio stations in the U.S.; Steve Wilson and Jane Akre on Fox News and the controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) story; 'Censored Dja Vu' -- Censored stories from previous years that have since received mainstream coverage; and 'Junk Food News' -- The most over-covered, least newsworthy stories that dominated the media at the expense of real news. Also included are the 'Censored Resource Guide,' 'Censored Guide to On-line Resources,' and 'Alternative Writer's Market'." -- Publisher
Phillips, Peter (editor), et al., Censored 2000: The Years Top 25 Censored Stories, ISBN: 1583220232 9781583220238.
Apparently one volume each year, has been issued in this series since 1997.
See: "THE HABITS OF HIGHLY DECEPTIVE MEDIA: DECODING SPIN AND LIES IN MAINSTREAM NEWS by Norman Solomon, Tom Tomorrow (illustrator). CORPORATE PREDATORS: THE HUNT FOR MEGA-PROFITS AND THE ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY, by Russell Mokhiber, et al." -- Publisher
Phillips, Peter, and Project Censored (U.S.), Censored 2007: The top 25 Censored Stories, ISBN: 1583227377 9781583227374.
Apparently one volume each year, has been issued in this series since 1997.
Phillips, Peter, Mickey Huff, Dahr Jamail, Khalil Bendib, and Project Censored (U.S.), Censored 2010: The top 25 Censored Stories, ISBN: 9781583228906 158322890X.
Apparently one volume each year, has been issued in this series since 1997.
Proctor, William, The Gospel According to the New York Times: How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values, ISBN: 0805423478 9780805423471.
"The New York Times is the nation's recognized newspaper of record. Through its unparalleled status as the nation's journalistic "bible," and the frequent replication of its views and articles in other media, the Times is literally on our doorstep every day. However, what is not known is that the Times, far from being "objective," is subtly promulgating its own comprehensive worldview and value system, which runs counter to the personal beliefs of many Americans. In THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, author Bill Proctor exposes the Times' belief system unveiling the mechanism of 'Culture Creep,' which the Times uses to promote its views. . . .
"Bill Proctor is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and has worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News. He has written or co-authored more than 70 nonfiction books, including several national bestsellers. Leaders and celebrities he has interviewed or collaborated with include Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Billy Graham, Charles Colson, Art Linkletter, Willard Scott, Pat Boone, and George Gallup, Jr. Proctor is the author of the Broadman and Holman title THE RESURRECTION REPORT, and also two novels. He currently lives in Vero Beach, Florida." -- Publisher
Seiden, Martin H., Access to the American Mind: The Damaging Impact of the New Mass Media, ISBN: 0944007716 9780944007716.
A secular author.
Seiden, Martin H., Who Controls the Mass Media? Popular Myths and Economic Realities, ISBN: 0465091814 9780465091812.
Solomon, Norman, and Tom Tomorrow (illustrator), The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media: Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream News, ISBN: 1567511554 9781567511550.
"Norman Solomon's compilation of media essays analyzing and skewering the corporate media is not just an excellent historical journey, it make us look at ourselves and remember how the corporate media spin stories and successfully deceive a majority of the American people who are seduced by the slickness and gloss of the air brushed Barbie doll couple inhabiting the surreal world of the media and those behind the scenes, like the Wizard of Oz, who control what Americans see and read.
"One of the best essays was one titled "Orwellian Logic 101" in which Solomon defines terms currently adrift in the media universe and what they really mean. Terms such as terrorist, propaganda effort and responsible journalism.
"Solomon's compilation is an excellent opportunity to awaken oneself from the media induced sleep which is too easily entered and from which it is difficult to awaken.
"Solomon practices the important notion of viewing the world not as one thinks it ought to be but how it really is -- full of lying politicians, seducers, PR men, and media sycophants who willingly and cheerfully participate as U.S. government spokesman and flag waving supporters for global hegemony supporting without question or critique American foreign policy." -- Reader's Comment
Whyte, Kenneth, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst, ISBN: 1582434670 9781582434674 9780679313434 0679313435 9781582435541 1582435545.
"Reveals how an unheralded young newspaperman from San Francisco arrived in New York and created the most successful daily of his time, pushing the medium to an unprecedented level of influence and excitement, and leading observers to wonder if newspapers might be more powerful than kings and popes and presidents. Journalist Kenneth Whyte offers a window onto the media world at the turn of the 20th century as he chronicles Hearst's rivalry with Joseph Pulitzer, the undisputed king of New York journalism, in the most spectacular newspaper war of all time. They battled head-to-head through the thrilling presidential election campaign of 1896 and the Spanish-American War -- a conflict that Hearst was accused of fomenting and that he covered in person. By 1898, Hearst had supplanted Pulitzer as the dominant force in New York publishing, and was on his way to becoming one of the most powerful private citizens in 20th-century America." -- Publisher
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Theater, sports, and entertainment, Mind control, intimidation, and coercion, Healing of the mind, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Modern myths and fallacies, Politics, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Pornography, The environment, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, The counter-reformation, Systematic theology, Books considered to be among the ten greatest in the English language, Christian classics short title list, The best books in this bibliography, and so forth, and so on.
Bible Broadcasting Network: Programs for Children
https://bbn1.bbnradio.org/english/home/categories/for-children/
The Christian and the Theatre
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/6/30/theatre
Fallacy Files
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/
A Nation in Decay (Part 1 of 4), Ravi Zacharias
"I don't care how powerful your economy could end up being. All I know is that if the moral fiber has collapsed, there is not a nation in this world that can stand." -- Ravi Zacharias
"Have you neglected the inner core of Christianity? Do you feel like morality is disappearing in our nation? Ravi Zacharias explores the dangers of this gradual change and the similarities between ancient Israel and our society today."
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/a-nation-in-decay-part-
1-of-4
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/a-nation-in-decay-part-
2-of-4
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/a-nation-in-decay-part-
3-of-4
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/a-nation-in-decay-part-
4-of-4
On Dangerous Reading: A Warning Against the Reading of Novels, Fiction, and Other Poisonous Literature, Robert L. Dabney
http://www.truecovenanter.com/against_the_world/dabney_on_dangerous_reading.html
CV Outreach
"CV Outreach exists to connect the community to the local church. Through our digital marketing campaigns and CV Outreach platform, we're able to reach non-Christians who use the internet every day to find answers to their difficult situations and questions. If you're passionate about sharing the gospel and want to help people become true followers of Jesus, connect with us at hello@cvoutreach.com or learn more through our website "
https://cvoutreach.com/
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
Social Media has given extraordinary power to a group of Big Tech Giants that are working with government, the mainstream media, and a large segment of a political party to silence and suppress the views of the American people. -- Right Side BroadcastingThe website name "Biblical Counsel" is a Googlewhack (a term that apparently is now obsolete). To this day, August, 2022, a Google search for "biblical counsel" yields results for "biblical counseling" ahead of "biblical counsel" contrary to the rules of alphabetization. "Biblical counsel" could also be described as a retronym and neologism.
TruthSocial.com
"Truth Social is a social media platform created by Trump Media and Technology Group, an American media and technology company founded in October 2021 by former U.S. president Donald Trump."
https://truthsocial.com/
See the Theological Notes: "Christians in the World," at Colossians 2:20 in The Reformation Study Bible.The U.S. Forest Service says approximately 90 percent of forest fires are caused by humans.
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -- John Muir (1848-1914)
Estes, Ralph W., Tyranny of the Bottom Line: Why Corporations Make Good People do bad Things, ISBN: 1881052753 9781881052753.
"TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE tells how the corporate system, originally created to serve the public interest, has acquired immense power over the public. Largely unconstrained by a captive regulatory bureaucracy, corporations today exercise a silent dominance over much of our society. This dominion can produce substantial good, but can also bring injury and death to employees, financial and personal loss to customers, desolation to communities, poisonous pollution and hazardous waste to the nation.
"In TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE, Ralph Estes tells the story of corporate power gone awry: permanent layoffs affecting millions of people while CEO salaries go through the roof; toxic waste poisoning the land, water, and air; unhealthy and dangerous products on the market; injury and death on the job; white-collar hustles in the S&Ls and on Wall Street that ultimately cost us all.
"Emphasizing the notion that all of us are stakeholders in the large corporation -- with an investment, an interest in its performance, and a right to accountability -- Ralph Estes offers proposals for creating more effective and humane companies, restoring the original public purpose of the corporate system, and allowing managers to make choices that effectively and ethically balance the interests of everyone. Estes lays out a practical, specific plan for the development of a new, fair score-keeping system that shows the effects of a corporation's actions on all its stakeholders, not merely its stockholders, and then tells managers that they will be responsible for these effects.
"Based on the author's many years of research and experience, TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE lays out this prescription in an effective and workable program that can make corporations safer and more rewarding for all of us, and more enjoyable, more honorable, for the people who run them." -- Midwest Book Review
Kjos, Berit, and Evelyn Christenson (foreword), Under the Spell of Mother Earth, ISBN: 0896938506 9780896938502.
"Concern for the environment has joined with mysticism to spark a return to ancient forms of nature worship. Paganism is on the rise, and the 'Earth Goddess' is beckoning. Indeed, pagan beliefs are subtly entering peoples' lives through media, schools, and even the church." -- Publisher
North, Gary, The Biblical View of Pollution.
"Dr. North examines the Biblical teaching regarding pollution and sets forth what our responsibility should be in light of this. A refreshing view compared to what we read in the daily newspapers." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
Schaeffer, Francis A. (1912-1984), and Udo Middlemann, Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology, ISBN: 0842348409 9780842348409.
"A study of the relationship between man and nature in respect to worldviews. How this effects our view of ecology is set forth (in this reissue of an earlier book), from a Christian perspective. A subject of continual discussion." -- GCB
Sheldon, Joseph K., Rediscovery of Creation: A Bibliographical Study of the Church's Response to the Environmental Crisis, ISBN: 0810825392 9780810825390.
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, The inspiration and infallibility of scripture (the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of plenary inspiration, the doctrine of divine inspiration, the doctrine of verbal inspiration, theopneustia, sufficiency of scripture), The ten commandments: the moral law, Church and state, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Trusting god, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Selection of covenant heads for positions of authority, Servant leadership, and so forth, and so on.
World Population
"World population has increased from 1 billion in 1800 to an estimated 6.92 billion in 2010.
"Current projections show a continued increase of population (but a steady decline in the population growth rate) with the population expected to reach between 7.5 and 10.5 billion in the year 2050."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population
Question 4, Westminster Shorter Catechism With Proof Texts
Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit,[7] infinite,[8] eternal,[9] and unchangeable,[10] in his being,[11] wisdom,[12] power,[13] holiness,[14] justice,[15] goodness,[16] and truth.[17]
Scripture proofs:
[7] Deuteronomy 4:15-19. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. Luke 24:39. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. John 1:18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John 4:24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Acts 17:29. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
[8] 1 Kings 8:27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? Psalm 139:7-10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 145:3. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 147:5. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. Jeremiah 23:24. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. Romans 11:33-36. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
[9] Deuteronomy 33:27. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Psalm 90:2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psalm 102:12,24-27. But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations. . . . I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. Revelation 1:4,8. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne. . . . I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
[10] Psalm 33:11. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Malachi 3:6. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Hebrews 1:12. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Hebrews 6:17-18. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Hebrews 13:8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. James 1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
[11] Exodus 3:14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Psalm 115:2-3. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. 1 Timothy 1:17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:15-16. Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
[12] Psalm 104:24. O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Romans 11:33-34. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Hebrews 4:13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 1 John 3:20. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
[13] Genesis 17:1. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Psalm 62:11. God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Jeremiah 32:17. Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Matthew 19:26. But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Revelation 1:8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
[14] Hebrews 1:13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 1 Peter 1:15-16. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 John 3:3,5. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. . . . And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Revelation 15:4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
[15] Genesis 18:25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Exodus 34:6-7. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Deuteronomy 32:4. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Psalm 96:13. Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. Romans 3:5,26. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man). . . . To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
[16] Psalm 103:5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 107:8. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Matthew 19:7. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? Romans 2:4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
[17] Exodus 34:6. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Deuteronomy 32:4. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Psalm 86:15. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Psalm 117:2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD. Hebrews 6:18. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. -- Westminster Shorter Catechism With Proof TextsConcerning the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we must hold, that it was prohibited to man, not because God would have him to stray like a sheep, without judgment and without choice; but that he might not seek to be wiser than became him, nor by trusting to his own understanding, cast off the yoke of God, and constitute himself an arbiter and judge of good and evil. His sin proceeded from an evil conscience; whence it follows, that a judgment had been given him, by which he might discriminate between virtues and vices. Nor could what Moses relates be otherwise true, namely, that he was created in the image of God; since the image of God comprises in itself the knowledge of him who is the chief good. Thoroughly insane, therefore, and monsters of men are the libertines, who pretend that we are restored to a state of innocence, when each is carried away by his own lust without judgment. We now understand what is meant by abstaining from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; namely, that Adam might not, in attempting one thing or another, rely upon his own prudence; but that, cleaving to God alone, he might become wise only by his obedience. Knowledge is here, therefore, taken disparagingly, in a bad sense, for that wretched experience which man, when he departed from the only fountain of perfect wisdom, began to acquire for himself. And this is the origin of freewill, that Adam wished to be independent, and dared to try what he was able to do. -- John Calvin commenting on Genesis 2:9 and context
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:9-12)
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. (Ephesians 4:17-21)
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 15:14)
Then, when he had expatiated somewhat more fully, and had more copiously illustrated the benefits of its presence [harmony -- compiler], and the ruinous effects of its absence upon a state, Pilus, one of the company present at the discussion, struck in and demanded that the question should be more thoroughly sifted, and that the subject of justice should be freely discussed for the sake of ascertaining what truth there was in the maxim which was then becoming daily more current, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice." Scipio expressed his willingness to have this maxim discussed and sifted, and gave it as his opinion that it was baseless, and that no progress could be made in discussing the republic unless it was established, not only that this maxim, that "the republic cannot be governed without injustice," was false, but also that the truth is, that it cannot be governed without the most absolute justice. And the discussion of this question, being deferred till the next day, is carried on in the third book with great animation. For Pilus himself undertook to defend the position that the republic cannot be governed without injustice, at the same time being at special pains to clear himself of any real participation in that opinion. He advocated with great keenness the cause of injustice against justice, and endeavored by plausible reasons and examples to demonstrate that the former is beneficial, the latter useless, to the republic. Then, at the request of the company, Lćlius attempted to defend justice, and strained every nerve to prove that nothing is so hurtful to a state as injustice; and that without justice a republic can neither be governed, nor even continue to exist.
When this question has been handled to the satisfaction of the company, Scipio reverts to the original thread of discourse, and repeats with commendation his own brief definition of a republic, that it is the weal of the people. "The people" he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from these definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or "weal of the people," then exists only when it is well and justly governed, whether by a monarch, or an aristocracy, or by the whole people. But when the monarch is unjust, or, as the Greeks say, a tyrant; or the aristocrats are unjust, and form a faction; or the people themselves are unjust, and become, as Scipio for want of a better name calls them, themselves the tyrant, then the republic is not only blemished (as had been proved the day before), but by legitimate deduction from those definitions, it altogether ceases to be.
Tully [Cicero -- compiler], himself, too, speaking not in the person of Scipio or any one else, but uttering his own sentiments, uses the following language in the beginning of the fifth book, after quoting a line from the poet Ennius, in which he said, "Rome's severe morality and her citizens are her safeguard." "This verse," says Cicero, "seems to me to have all the sententious truthfulness of an oracle. For neither would the citizens have availed without the morality of the community, nor would the morality of the commons without outstanding men have availed either to establish or so long to maintain in vigor so grand a republic with so wide and just an empire. Accordingly, before our day, the hereditary usages formed our foremost men, and they on their part retained the usages and institutions of their fathers. But our age, receiving the republic as a chef-d'oeuvre of another age which has already begun to grow old, has not merely neglected to restore the colors of the original, but has not even been at the pains to preserve so much as the general outline and most outstanding features. For what survives of that primitive morality which the poet called Rome's safeguard? It is so obsolete and forgotten, that, far from practicing it, one does not even know it. And of the citizens what shall I say? Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality. . . ."
For I mean in its own place to show that -- according to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debate -- Rome never was a republic, because true justice had never a place in it. But accepting the more feasible definitions of a republic, I grant there was a republic of a certain kind, and certainly much better administered by the more ancient Romans than by their modern representatives. But the fact is, true justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ, if at least any choose to call this a republic; and indeed we cannot deny that it is the people's weal.
But if perchance this name, which has become familiar in other connections, be considered alien to our common parlance, we may at all events say that in this city is true justice; the city of which Holy Scripture says, "Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God." -- Augustine in The City of God, Book 2, Chapter 21, Cicero's Opinion of the Roman RepublicCalvin's Commentary on Daniel, the Calvin Translation Society edition of 1852-1853, "is one of the greatest writings to come from Calvin's pen."
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
[David's time was about 930 B.C. Calvin's description of David's enemies fits the current political situation.]
It was by a monstrous and outrageous contempt of God that they were driven to such fury against him [King David], as if they made no account whatever of the fact of his having been often wonderfully delivered from the greatest dangers. The ungodly, when they rise up to destroy us, may not openly break forth into such daring presumption as to maintain it to be impossible for us to derive any advantage from the favor of God; yet, as they either ascribe every thing to fortune, or hold the opinion that a man's success will be in proportion to his strength, and therefore fearlessly rush forward to gain their object, by all means, whether right or wrong, as if it would be equally the same, whether God is angry with or favorable towards them, it is evident that they set no value whatever upon the favor of God, and mock at the faithful as if it would avail them nothing to be under the care and protection of God. -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 3:1,2[Pascal] was the first and perhaps is still the most effective voice to be raised in warning of the consequences of the enthronement of the human ego in contradistinction to the cross, symbolizing the ego's immolation. How beautiful it all seemed at the time of the Enlightenment, that man triumphant would bring to pass that earthly paradise whose groves of academe would ensure the realization forever of peace, plenty, and beatitude in practice. But what a nightmare of wars, famines, and folly was to result therefrom. -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), The End of Christendom
The Christ is the only One truly called. . . . The flesh has always struggled against Him, as we see when we survey the history of God's people. The struggle was especially acute at Golgotha. -- S.G. De Graaf in Promise and Deliverance
It has been said by someone that "the proper study of mankind is man." I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with the solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. -- C.H. Spurgeon in a sermon on Malachi 3:6
Oh that our souls would so fall at odds with the love of this world, as to think of it as a traveller doth of a drink of water, which is not any part of his treasure, but goeth away with the using! For ten miles'journey maketh that drink to him as nothing. Oh that we had as soon done with this world, and could as quickly dispatch the love of it! But as a child cannot hold two apples in his little hand, but the one putteth the other out of its room, so neither can we be masters and lords of two loves. Blessed were we, if we could make ourselves master of the invaluable treasure, the love of Christ; or rather suffer ourselves to be mastered and subdued to Christ's love, so as Christ were our all things, and all other things our nothings, and the refuse of our delights. -- The Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Letter 195, p. 383
Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7)
More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people [a peasant he heard as a boy -- compiler] offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), from Men Have Forgotten God, his speech upon receiving the Templeton Award, May 10, 1983So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), in the Apologetics series of 24 lectures using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979.
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453The First Amendment clearly was intended to, and has lead to, pluralism in this country, not just acceptance of multiple Christian denominations, but also of false religions.
Furthermore, the explicit rejection of a religious test oath to hold office [Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution] is telling as to the Framers' intent. -- A social media postThe fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God.
They are corrupt,
they have done abominable works,
there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 14:1)
See the Theological Notes: "Mankind's Guilty Knowledge of God" at Romans 1:29 and the note at Psalm 14:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.The Treasury of David, Psalm 89, C.H. Spurgeon
I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. (Psalm 89:3,4)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps089.phpWhat is man? . . . Ask the prophet Isaiah . . . and he answers, man is "grass. . . ." Ask David, he answers, man is a "lie," not a liar only, or a deceiver, but a "lie" and a deceit. All the answers the Holy Ghost gives concerning man, are to humble man . . . The sinful nature of man is an enemy to the nature of God, and would pull God out of heaven; yet God even at that time is raising man to heaven; sin would lessen the great God, and yet God greatens sinful man. -- Joseph Caryl
A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty. . . . He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting pure and undefiled religion. -- John Witherspoon
Beware the mystery of iniquity creeping in, when men substitute their own standards for those of God. . . . -- John Sinclair
1 John 5:21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Here you had need be exceeding cautelous [cautious], and circumspect, (1.) Because it is a creeping thing which works in itself by plausible pretences and insinuations, 2 Peter 2:1; Ephesians 4:14; Colossians 2:23. In which respect [mystery] is written in the whore's forehead, Revelation 17:5. For as Dr. Usher well observes, "The Roman apostasy stole into the church disguised, and by degrees." It is a mystery of iniquity (saith the apostle) and a working mystery, 2 Thessalonians 2:7. Iniquitas, sed mystica, pietatis, et fidelitatis nomine palliata; i.e. iniquity, but a mystical iniquity, because palliated and cloaked under the name and pretence of piety and fidelity. Idolatrous practices have a shew of wisdom, Colossians 2:23 (i.e. saith Davenant in loco [on the place]) "They are more modest than to pretend an immediate revelation of the Spirit:" Yet lest their placets [votes of assent or sanction] and inventions should want a pretext of Divine wisdom, they are wont to say, that their doctrines and traditions are not indeed consigned to writing by the apostles, but delivered by lively voice, according to that, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect: And by the name of this wisdom, every one calls his own fictions. Saith Irenćus, lib. 3. cap. 3. "Thus sometimes under the pretext of wisdom, order, decency, apostolical traditions, antiquity, the power of the church, &c. it steals upon men insensibly, especially being so advantaged by the proneness of corrupt nature to it." To this purpose it is observable, that Babylon, the mother of harlots, is said, Revelation 17:4 to give the wine of her fornication in a golden cup. Wine in itself is temptingly pleasant, but more so when presented in a golden cup; the brims whereof are sugared and sweetened to make it the more grateful. Therefore, little children, I mean you simple, plain, credulous souls, apt to be taken with fine glittering things, look to yourselves; (2.) Because nothing more provokes and inflames the fiery wrath of the Lord, who is a jealous God, than this doth; it makes his anger come up in his face, as that expression is, Ezekiel 38:18 and kindles consuming wrath, Ezekiel 43:7,8,9. Upon this account the blessed God complains, after the manner of men, as if his heart were broken, Ezekiel 6:9. I am [broken] with their whorish heart, and with their [eyes] which go a whoring after their idols. If it be but an unchaste glance upon an idol, it goes to the very heart of God: When he seeth his people yielding to the temptations of it, he shrieks, as it were, and cries out, Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate: Oh! if there be in you the hearts of children, do not that which doth, as it were, break the heart of your father. -- John Flavel (1627-1691)But it [humanism] is nothing new; it is very old. It goes back to the garden of Eden. There, Satan deceived Eve, with that delusive promise: "Ye shall be as gods." There is the vain dream of man -- to throw off his creaturehood and become God. That was the delusion of Satan and that is the same delusion that he would pass upon us. That delusion caused him to be cast out of Paradise into the pit and will do the same to every nation which follows in his train. In one form or another, from the garden to that ancient Sophist, Protagorus, man has put forth every effort to make himself the measure of all things. Man would usurp the throne of the Almighty and become his own god. And, logically, from there to the French Revolution was really simply a small step. In the French Revolution humanism came to its flower and the streets of Paris ran with blood. -- D. James Kennedy (1930-2007)
As theological modernism swept through the Church over a century ago, in deference to the prevailing philosophical and scientific climate of the day, belief in the supernatural was regarded as an old, medieval relic. Modern churchmen were in the vanguard of those intellectuals who "laid" [sic, apparently as in "laid-back" relaxed and easygoing -- compiler], the supernatural. Modern man, it was argued, could not be expected to believe in spirits in a world in which the wonders and triumphs of science increased almost daily. Philosophy, logic and psychiatry had all the answers. To ask twentieth-century man to accept Biblical dogmas was an insult to his intelligence. The bible must be "demythologized."
All seemed to be going well until modern man became difficult. In an age in which the tenets of humanism were more consistently applied that at any previous time, there occurred what is now termed the "occult explosion." The spiritual nature of man cannot be suppressed indefinitely, and frequently it will express itself in the most bizarre fashion accompanied with the strangest aberrations. Liberal churchmen suddenly found themselves out of fashion in a day when ouija boards, seances, witches' covens and exorcisms became quite common and stole the headlines in newspapers and periodicals. Embarrassed churchmen spoke unconvincingly in televised interviews. At the same time a number of their colleagues urged a return to exorcism in the old medieval style." -- Frederick S. Leahy in Satan Cast out, p. 136The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)The frightening thing about a humanist and atheistic state is that there is nothing beyond man to which one can make an appeal. The founders of this country said that men have been created equal and have been endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Therefore, our rights are not given to us by the State, which can extend or withhold them as it pleases, but rather they have been inalienably given to us by God. We have an appeal beyond man, beyond the State, to God Himself, whereas in the humanist state there is nothing but man. The humanist state inevitably leads to tyranny and despotism. As Dostoevsky said, "If God is dead, then all things are permissible." -- D. James Kennedy (1930-2007) and Jerry Newcombe, What if Jesus had Never Been Born, p. 225
To forsake Christ for the world is to leave a treasure for a trifle. . . . eternity for a moment, reality for a shadow. -- William Jenkyn
Humanism thus has come full circle. It began by replacing restitution with the prison system. It concludes now by restoring restitution, by requiring that society make restitution to the criminal for its supposed neglect. Because of its environmentalism, humanism blames a lack in the environment for a man's crimes. This means that society must atone for that lack by restitution. Both criminology and welfarism rest on this humanistic doctrine of restitution. Restitution must thus be made to all who are criminals, perverts, or lazy, to all who will not work, or who are failures, to all who give birth to illegitimate children, and to all who in any way are substandard. Restitution has once again become the social standard, but it is a humanistic restitution which works in total opposition to God's order. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), Institutes of Biblical Law, page 517
Truth is very beautiful; more so, as I consider, than justice -- today's pursuit -- which easily puts on a false face. In the nearly seven decades I have lived through, the world has overflowed with bloodshed and explosions whose dust has never had time to settle before others have erupted; all in purportedly just causes. The quest for justice continues, and the weapons and hatred pile up; but truth was an early casualty. The lies on behalf of which our wars have been fought and our peace treaties concludes! The lies of revolution and of counter-revolution! The lies of advertising, of news, of salesmanship, of politics! The lies of the priest in his pulpit, the professor at his podium, the journalist at his typewriter! The lie stuck like a fish-bone in the throat of the microphone, the hand-held lies of the prowling cameraman! Ignazio Silone told me once how, when he was a member of the old Comintern, some strategem was under discussion, and the delegate, a newcomer who had never attended before, made the extraordinary observation that if such and such statement were to be put out, it wouldn't be true. There was a moment of dazed silence, and then everyone began to laugh. They laughed and laughed until tears ran down their cheeks and the Kremlin walls seemed to shake. The same laughter echoes in every council chamber and cabinet room, wherever two or more are gathered together to exercise authority. It is truth that has died, not God. -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Chronicles of Wasted Time, (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2006), 19-20.
The government which ignores religion and coolly declares that it doesn't care whether its subjects are Christians or not is guilty of an act of suicidal folly. Irreligion, even in a temporal point of view, is the worst enemy of a nation. -- J.C. Ryle
When the Truth is involved, then a spiritual battle always rages. Truth, life, and freedom are interrelated. The strategy of the Adversary, the Father of Lies, is to deceive. He is most successful if he can repress the truth. He loses when truth is known.
To "game the system," to separate souls from their Redeemer (who offers souls immortality in His Kingdom), to usurp the power of soul for the sake of the honor and worship of men ("playing God"), is as the sins of abortion and murder . . . spiritual treason. (Jeremiah 17:9) Is not this, motivated by the lust for power, is not this what has been going on since the Fall of Mankind (Genesis 3:6), and in Washington, with increasing intensity, since 1776?
How sobering to realize that, after the war on international terrorism, this nation will then have to face the enemy within.
Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), Back to the Blackboard: Design for a Biblical Christian School: A Book for Parents, Teachers, and Administrators, 154 pages, ISBN: 0875520758 9780875520759.
"For parents, teachers and administrators of elementary and secondary Christian day schools (with implications for colleges and seminaries). 'Christian schools, on all levels, are little more than adaptations of pagan schools,' built on an academic model rather than a discipleship model. Educators must give God his proper weight as they design schools. A radical rethinking of education must occur: everything from abolishing grades and homework, to learning 'subjects' in the context of real life projects." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
Alexander, Archibald B.D. (Browning Drysdale, 1855-1931), A Short History of Philosophy.
Alexander, Archibald B.D. (Browning Drysdale, 1855-1931), Some Problems of Philosophy.
Alexander, Archibald B.D. (Browning Drysdale, 1855-1931), Theories of the Will in the History of Philosophy.
*Bowers, Curtis, Agenda 2: Masters of Deceit, DVD documenatry.
"This is an important documentary with an important message for all. If you're looking for a film that will tell the truth about the state of our country unashamedly, then you need to see AGENDA 2: MASTERS OF DECEIT. This film will wake you up and expose the truth about communism in our government. If this is a subject simply to blow off or make fun of, we are only allowing those in power to win and continue pushing their agenda. This is a critical film to watch and discuss. And more importantly, we must take action, fighting for what we believe in. If we watch this film and vow to help Curtis Bowers on his quest to help America again, we can turn our country back. AGENDA 2: MASTERS OF DECEIT is a must-see film for all American Christians." -- Publisher
https://www.fishflix.com/products/agenda-2-masters-of-deceit-dvd-christian-movies?variant=34362795473
*Bowers, Curtis, Agenda: Grinding America Down, DVD documentary (2010).
"When Idaho Legislator Curtis Bowers wrote a 'letter to the editor' about the drastic changes in America's culture, it became the feature story on the evening news, people protested at the Capitol, and for weeks the local newspapers were filled with responses. He realized then . . . he'd hit on something. Ask almost anyone and you'll hear, 'Communism is dead! The Berlin Wall came down.' Thought the word communism isn't used anymore, this film will show the ideas behind it are alive and well. Join Bowers for a fascinating look at the people and groups that have successfully targeted America's morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. It's a well documented AGENDA." -- Publisher
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2360880/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Daniel, ISBN: 0851510922 9780851510927.
"This edition, from the Calvin Translation Society edition of 1852-1853, is one of the greatest writings to come from Calvin's pen." -- GCB
Commentary on Daniel, Volume 1
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom24.html
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews -- compiler], by John Calvin, to the Most Mighty and Most Serene Prince, Sigismund Augustus, by the Grace of God, the King of Poland, Great Duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia, and Lord and Heir of Muscovy, etc.
"You kingdom is extensive and renowned, and abounds in many excellencies, but its happiness will then only be solid, when it adopts Christ as its chief ruler and governor, so that it may be defended by his safeguard and protection; for to submit your sceptre to him, is not inconsistent with that elevation in which you are placed; but it would be far more glorious than all the triumphs of the world." -- John Calvin
Epistle Dedicatory [to Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_vol44/htm/v.htm
Cameron, James K., and James Kirk (editor), Humanism and Reform: The Church in Europe, England, and Scotland, 1400-1643: Essays in Honour of James K. Cameron, ISBN: 0631179216 9780631179214.
See J. Kirk, THE RELIGION OF EARLY SCOTTISH PROTESTANTS.
*Chambers, Claire, The SIECUS Circle: A Humanist Revolution, ISBN: 0882791192 9780882791197.
THE SIECUS CIRCLE: A HUMANIST REVOLUTION established a clear connection between the socialist agenda and sexual immorality of the general population.
"THE SIECUS CIRCLE said, in the 1960s, that the population control crowd targeted the RCC [Roman Catholic Church], the LCMS [Lutheran Church Missouri Synod], and the SBC [Southern Baptist Church], as they all had leaders in charge of major publishing operations who could easily be 'bought off.' I remember as a child, my father coming home one day from Rotary Club livid that the local LCMS pastor had spoken on the need for classroom sex talk (sex ed) in the local schools. It worked. . . . setting up the foundations for abortion." -- Reader's Comment
"This book was an eye opener, written years ago, and relevant and prophetic for today. I am glad I re-read it again. If you want to know where the culture is headed, read this . . ." -- Reader's Comment
*Church of Scotland, Covenantal Lawsuits of the Church of Scotland.
"The consequences of disobeying the covenant of God was suffering the severity of God's judgment. If the persecutors of the Scottish Church refused to repent, they would suffer excommunication. Knox and his followers knew that God himself would give victory to the Church. The sovereign judgment of God would come on their oppressors in some manner. Armed uprising was not the first priority of the Church. They were first to dispense with all effective means of Church discipline. But armed resistance, as a last means of self-defense, was never ruled out." -- see John Knox, The Reformation in Scotland, pp. 168,169,171,172.
*Conn, Harry, Four Trojan Horses of Humanism, ISBN: 0880620099 9780880620093. Alternate title: FOUR TROJAN HORSES.
"This is one of the most important works to be published on this subject. The recollections brought before the reader of the fall of Troy are intentional. This time, however, it is the citadels of psychology, sociology, politics, and theology that have taken the deceptive 'trophy' in their midst. The result is the overthrow of the truth in these disciplines." -- Cyril J. Barber
"Includes the Humanist Manifesto I and II."
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, ISBN: 9780521197991 0521197996, didactic fiction.
Conrad was not a Christian author to our knowledge, but he offers the reader evidence of the Total and Utter Depravity of Mankind.
The basis of value in society is the evil in the heart of man. (Romans 3:10-11, and so forth.)
"The most authoritative scholarly edition of Conrad's most important narratives, this edition includes detailed explanatory and contextual notes, a glossary of nautical terms, maps and illustrations. This volume will allow scholars to see these familiar stories in a fresh light, by returning to Conrad's original texts." -- Publisher
" 'Restoring HEART OF DARKNESS to the more traditional context of Conrad's works as a whole . . . the Cambridge Edition becomes controversial since it now offers us a version of HEART OF DARKNESS that readers have never before encountered.'-- John Lyon, University of Bristol Review
" 'The Cambridge edition of THE WORKS OF JOSEPH CONRAD aims to be definitive, and [the books] have both scholarly and physical weight . . . The explanatory notes are compendious and thoughtfully arranged . . . invaluable to scholars of Conrad, modernist literary composition and late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary practices and processes . . . These elegant and comprehensive volumes are a must for university libraries . . . [the series] is without question a definitive piece of scholarship'." -- Andrew Frayn, Variants: The Journal of the European Society for Textual Scholarship Review" -- Publisher
"The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. HEART OF DARKNESS exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters -- the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. . . ." -- Publisher
Dabney, Robert L. (1820-1898), Caution Against Anti-Christian Science: a Sermon on Colossians, II. 8 [Colossians 2:8]: Preached in the Synod of Virginia, October 20, 1871.
Dabney, Robert L. (1820-1898), Secularized Education. Available (DISCUSSIONS OF ROBERT LEWIS DABNEY, VOL. 3) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Contains much that is thought-provoking, including some excellent points that can be used to defend faithful parents from unrighteous civil encroachment (in Christian home or private schools). However, this work falls far short of the whole truth because of its anti-establishmentarian stance. That the state honour and glorify God by keeping all of His commandments is a first principle, which if denied in any manner, leads to much error and eternal suffering. See Samuel B. Wylie's TWO SONS OF OIL: OR, THE FAITHFUL WITNESS FOR MAGISTRACY AND MINISTRY UPON A SCRIPTURAL BASIS or Willson's CIVIL GOVERNMENT for a the consistent Biblical view of the state." -- Publisher
Dabney, Robert Lewis (1820-1898), The Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century Considered, ISBN: 0941075354 9780941075350.
Contains a biographical Sketch of R.L. Dabney.
Dima, Nicholas, Journey to Freedom, ISBN: 0944273041 9780944273043.
"This book is Dima's autobiographical description of the effects of communism on a nation, a family, and an individual. His description will haunt you. Communism loses any pretension of benevolence when you see the child hungry and hear his mother crying. The grandfatherly veil drops when you look in the prisons and labor camps and see the life of the people beaten, starved, and murdered. . . . We highly recommend this book. It is beautifully written. Like the Holocaust, it teaches lessons we must never forget." -- Susan Alder
Duncan, Homer, Humanism in the Light of Holy Scripture.
Duncan, Homer, Secular Humanism: The Most Dangerous Religion in America.
Geisler, Norman L., Is man the Measure? An Evaluation of Contemporary Humanism, ISBN: 0801037875 9780801037870.
*Hall, David W., Savior or Servant? Putting Government in its Place, ISBN: 0965036715 9780965036719.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is the single best volume of Christian thinking on the issue of the increasingly intrusive state . . . Theology at its very best: orthodox, relevant, and provocative." -- George Grant
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? PUTTING GOVERNMENT IN ITS PLACE is an attempt to define the role of the state: Shall it be a minister or a Messiah? Using ancient but timeless information, David W. Hall has surveyed the Bible and arrived at a coherent theology of the state. This study succeeds in identifying the responsibilities that the civil state is mandated to do, permitted to do, and prohibited from doing. Along the way, it is discovered that all political schemes and issues are fraught with theological value. Moreover, the most enduring grid to keep government in its rightful place is found in the Bible. Drawing upon thousands of verses and hundreds of thinkers, this volume is comprehensive yet readable. Theologians from Augustine to Calvin and from Aquinas to Barth are studied and presented in a non-technical manner. The Christian who is interested in politics should absorb these summaries before launching out into unstudied political activism. Rather than adopting a politics-as-usual posture, Hall challenges partisans from the right and from the left. He summons Christians to the old paths, which God's Word has occupied for centuries. Discussed in these chapters are perennial matters of practical importance, such as: taxation; resistance to evil governments; methods of influence; the escalation of rights; limited government; moral qualities for leaders; separation of powers. This book will provide excellent fodder for discussion and guidance. It returns spiritual principles to their place, while seeking to put government in its proper place.
"SAVIOR OR SERVANT? is a revival of a classic approach to limited government. In a time when nations are finally beginning to shrink bloated governments, a surprising source commends itself as an able assistant in reform. The scriptural view of the state, removed from the varied fads of political science, provides an enduring perspective by which to measure all states. This study begins with a survey of biblical teaching on pressing matters of state today. Following the contours of the Old and New Testaments, SAVIOR OR SERVANT? calls all levels of government to a servant posture, rather than allowing officials to dominate. A historical tracing of the best and most pertinent that theology has to offer on the subject is contained in these pages." -- Publisher
Henry, Carl F.H., The Christian Mindset in a Secular Society: Promoting Evangelical Renewal and National Righteousness, ISBN: 0880700416 9780880700412.
Jones, Gordon S. (editor), and John Marini (editor), The Imperial Congress: Crisis in the Separation of Powers, ISBN: 0886874084 9780886874087.
"This book outlines the stranglehold Congress has on the nation, and then proposes workable solutions. . . . House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich writes a foreword that may shock you." -- Publisher
Includes a 10-page summary of all the key solutions the book offers. Prepared by the Heritage Foundation and The Claremont Institute.
Kaplan, David A., The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court's Assault on the Constitution, ISBN: 9781524759902 1524759902.
"Taking us inside the secret world of the Supreme Court, [this book] is an incisive look at how the justices undermine the rule of the other branches of government -- and how we've come to accept it at our peril. Never before has the Supreme Court been more central in American life. It is the nine justices who too often now decide the controversial issues of our time -- from abortion and same-sex marriage to gun control, campaign finance, and voting rights. The Court is so crucial that many voters in 2016 made their choice for president based on whom they thought their candidate would name to the Court. Donald Trump picked Neil Gorsuch -- the key decision of his new administration. The next justice -- replacing Anthony Kennedy -- will be even more important, holding the swing vote over so much social policy. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work? Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and dozens of their law clerks, prize-winning legal journalist David A. Kaplan provides fresh details about life behind the scenes at the Court -- Clarence Thomas's simmering rage, Antonin Scalia's death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's celebrity, Breyer Bingo, the petty feuding between Gorsuch and the chief justice, and what John Roberts thinks about his critics. In the bestselling tradition of THE NINE and THE BRETHREN, Kaplan presents a sweeping narrative of the justices' aggrandizement of power over the decades -- from Roe v. Wade to Bush v. Gore to Citizens United to the rulings of the 2017-18 term. But the arrogance of the Court isn't partisan: Conservative and liberal justices alike are guilty of overreach. Challenging conventional wisdom about the Court's transcendent power, [this book] is sure to rile both sides of the political aisle." -- Publisher
*Kennedy, D. James (1930-2007), Humanism vs. Communism (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries).
"As someone has put it very well, Communism is nothing other than Humanism in political garb. Or, let's put it another way. Humanism which is being taught from kindergarten through graduate school, and in all the public schools of this country, is nothing other than Communism waiting to be crowned with its political rights." -- D. James Kennedy (1930-2007)
*Kuyper, Abraham, Lectures on Calvinism, ISBN: 9781598564440 1598564447. Alternate title: CHRISTIANITY AS A LIFE-SYSTEM: THE WITNESS OF A WORLD VIEW.
"A reprint of the Stone Lectures delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898 focusing attention on the fundamental problem facing Christianity in Europe and America: the secularization of church and society."
Lee, Francis Nigel, Communist Eschatology: A Christian Philosophical Analysis of the Post-capitalistic Views of Marx, Engels, and Lenin: A Chalcedon study.
Leming, James S. (compiler), Foundations of Moral Education: An Annotated Bibliography, ISBN: 0313241651 9780313241659.
"This bibliography is designed to be used in two ways. The first, through the author and subject indexes, should enable the user to identify items and subjects of interest. The second approach may be more efficient. The arrangement of the bibliography allows the user to peruse related items of interest and determine the amount of information available on a given subject. Whichever method is chosen, the information contained within these covers would help to facilitate research on the all-important issue of moral education." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Luther, Martin (1483-1546), Commentary on Galatians, English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge, ISBN: 0825431247. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"I prefer this book of Martin Luther's (except the Bible), before all the books I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded soul." -- John Bunyan
"This is a great, historic work, and is beyond criticism on account of its great usefulness. As a comment its accuracy might be questioned; but for emphatic utterances and clear statements of the great doctrine of the Epistle it remains altogether by itself, and must be judged per se." -- C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"The reissue of a famous series of lectures delivered at Wittenberg University in 1553." -- Cyril J. Barber
Commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther
http://archive.org/details/cu31924029294133
Luther's Commentary on Galatians, That He might deliver us from the present evil world. (Galatians 1:4 excerpt), English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge
http://www.lettermen2.com/luther2.html
Luther's Commentary on Galatians, Who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth. (Galatians 3:1 excerpt), English translation by Erasmus Middleton, B.D., edited by John Prince Fallowes, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge
http://www.lettermen2.com/luther1.html
Lyon, David, The Steeple's Shadow: On the Myths and Realities of Secularization, ISBN: 0802802613 9780802802613.
"Lyon argues that there is a fundamental fault in the sociology which predicts an inevitable withering away of the Church's influence in people's lives. Although secularization is an interesting concept for understanding the apparent decline and isolation of churches, it is misleading to assume that religion is dying." -- GCB
*McClure, Alexander D., The First Amendment: A Master Piece of Satan Contra Anti-establishmentarianism. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This article was sent to 278 members of the Canadian Parliament. It debunks the idea that it is right for majorities to determine law through their elected officials in opposition to God's holy law. It also opposes the false theories of human rights found in the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In short, and in agreement with both the Belgic and Westminster Confessions, it opposes 'the presumption that a government, ordained of God, can be neutral, and can make no law stating that Jesus Christ is King of the Nation, and that it can hold all religions, which are repugnant to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, equal before it'." -- Publisher
Miller, C. John (1928-1996), A Christian Perspective on Literature.
*Mitchell, Arnold, The Nine American Lifestyles: Who we are and Where We're Going, ISBN: 0025853104 9780025853102.
"A penetrating and, in many respects, disturbing account of the values, beliefs, needs, and trends of our contemporary society. May prove to be as significant a work as Riesmann's THE LONELY CROWD, Toffler's FUTURE SHOCK, and Nasibitt's MEGATRENDS." -- Cyril J. Barber
*North, Gary, Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution, an e-book.
"In addition to primary sources, North relies on the work of the most well respected members of the historical community -- Bailyn, Wood, Mcdonald, Gaustad, Boller, Koch, Adair, and Rakove to name a few.
"The thesis of the book is that the key U.S. Founders -- the ones who pushed through the ideas upon which America declared independence and then constructed the Constitution -- were secret theological unitarians, whose heterodox religious creed inspired them to found American government upon the notion of religious neutrality, and consequently break the tradition of covenanting with the Triune Christian God. His book focuses on Article VI Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution (no religious tests) as the device for achieving secular government.
"From what I have researched, North is correct in his essential claim. Other scholars have noted something similar. For instance, in this post I noted Thomas Pangle and Cushing Stout, whose work North cites, concluding that there is a connection between the U.S. Constitution's benign approach to religion and the key Founders' enlightened and benign personal religious creed. Indeed, one could argue, as does Dr. Gregg Frazer, that the Founders' unitarianism or theistic rationalism was the political theology of the American Founding.
"Ideas have consequences and it was these heterodox unitarian ideas, not orthodox Christianity, that drove the U.S. Founding's approach to religion and government. However, such heterodoxy or heresy wasn't a popular creed, but rather was disproportionately believed in by the elite Whigs. Whatever the religion of a majority of the U.S. population (either nominal Protestant Christianity, which itself can tend towards Deism, or orthodox Protestant Christianity), orthodox Churches held a great deal of institutional power. With such power, they had to essentially consent to the elite Whig's new plan on government. And they did. But not all of them, for instance, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (Covenanters) to whom North dedicates his book. From the very beginning they smelled a rat in Philadelphia.
"So the notion that there was a secret coup, a bait and switch as Michael Zuckert put it, to sell a Christian audience non-authentically Christian ideas is not new. James Renwick Willson was one of those covenanters who in 1832 made arguments very similar to North's. And he was burned in effigy for this sermon which called all of the Presidents from Washington to Jackson infidels and not more than unitarians. I think Willson got at the truth, but did so by shattering a sacred cow -- a social myth. The kernel of truth that David Barton et al. have is that many folks in the 19th century did believe in the Christian America social myth as a cultural prejudice. And many of their bogus, unconfirmed quotations source back to 19th century places that pushed this social myth.
"Now the non-respectable has become the respectable and secular scholars more or less agree with the claims of James Renwick Willson and Gary North that America didn't have an authentically orthodox Christian founding. . . ." -- Jonathan Rowe, June 8, 2008 (http://www.positiveliberty.com/2008/06/gary-norths-ebook.html)
Download a copy at:
Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
https://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, an article by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
*North, Gary, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism, ISBN: 093046432X 9780930464325.
"Political pluralism is not simply a political philosophy; it is a theology. This theology teaches that there must never be a nation that identifies itself with any religion." -- Publisher
"This book presents a new vision of politics and a new vision of America, a vision self-consciously tied to the Bible. . . . Dr. North, a trained historian, seeks to lead us from this downward spiral to full recovery." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/
Packer, J.I. (1926-2020), and Thomas Howard, Christianity: The True Humanism, ISBN: 0849903165 9780849903168.
*Parker, Star, and Richard Manning, Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture war and why This is Good News for America, ISBN: 9781546076582 1546076581.
"Popular conservative commentator Star Parker explains why today's noisy political rhetoric is good for you and provides specifics on why Trump's presidency is vital for America's future." -- Publisher
"The ongoing noise of debate can seem overwhelming, but our country needs the authentic and candid dialogue of its people. And Trump's presidency provides us with an opportunity, like never before, to engage and work to preserve the values upon which America was built. NECESSARY NOISE honestly examines the crossroads where we find ourselves and suggests ways of moving toward resolution and restoration. Tackling a wide range of topics on which citizens should get noisy -- from immigration, to education, to abortion, to welfare -- NECESSARY NOISE provides the framework for how to take part in this important time in history using our voices." -- Star Parker
"Star Parker's insight, that we've been involved in a 50-year Culture War 'parallels' my own. It's been an anti-Constitutional, anti-Christian war. Republicans, on account of their secularism (dismissal of the 'theological' as relevant) gave in again and again in the name of 'bipartisanship.' I'm 71 years old and have lived through this. It's only with the more radical fruits of this slide (like the de-sexing of public bathrooms and the plague of abortion), and DONALD TRUMP's refusal to continue this surrender, that things have turned ugly. I believe Star's new book captures some of this process! Looks good." -- Dick Knodel
"Parker is a columnist and commentator and founded the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) whose mission is to: 'Fight poverty and restore dignity through the message of faith, freedom, and personal responsibility.'
"Star Parker left her life of drugs, abortions, and welfare abuse to become a leading advocate for the family." -- Today's Christian Woman
Other works by Star Parker:
*Perks, Stephen C., The Christian Philosophy of Education Explained, ISBN: 0951889907 9780951889909.
"The editor of Calvinism Today magazine has written a book which, in the words of Samuel L. Blumenfeld, demonstrates with simplicity the cogent argument that the Christian and humanist worldviews are mutually exclusive, and that it is 'treason against God' to put children in the hands of non-believers for their education. Every Christian parent should read this challenging, forthright, insightful book before deciding where and how to educate his or her children." -- GCB
Powlison, David (1949-2019), Mike Bobick, John Bettler, Ed Welch, and Bill Smith, Theology and Secular Psychology, 20 sound cassettes [audio file].
*Pride, Mary, The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality, ISBN: 0891073450 9780891073451.
"By establishing the proper relationship of a woman to God, to her husband, and to her children, THE WAY HOME is nothing less than a declaration of independence." -- GCB
"Mary Pride was a radical feminist and an insider in the movement. She says feminism is really a religion that sees women as the measure of all things." -- Publisher
Reid, Steven J., Humanism and Calvinism: Andrew Melville and the Universities of Scotland, 1560-1625, ISBN: 9781409400059 1409400050 9780754698463 0754698467.
"This book surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. It also assesses the contribution of religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader social and cultural developments." -- Publisher
Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of her System, 382 pages, ISBN: 0940931745 9780940931749.
"WITHOUT A PRAYER has been praised by U.S. Representative Ron Paul ("A brilliantly insightful analysis of Ayn Rand's influential philosophy"); Edmund Opitz of the Foundation for Economic Education ("A well-structured argument is a work of art; to follow this one is an exhilarating experience"); D. James Kennedy ("This is a powerful book -- a book of strong reasoning, sound apologetics, passionate persuasion, and brilliant logic"); and Jay E. Adams ("His chapters on epistemology and on values are worth the price of the book"). Dr. Robbins discusses not only the philosophy of Ayn Rand, but also criticizes the principal books of her disciples." -- The Trinity Foundation
Roche, George Charles, A World Without Heroes: The Modern Tragedy, ISBN: 0916308898 9780916308896.
"Harshly rebukes secular humanism as the most dehumanizing force in our modern age. This ringing defense of Christianity, humorous, insightful, and uncompromising, takes careful and timeless aim at those ideas which have shriveled the will of the West and the faith of millions." -- Publisher
Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), The Atheism of the Early Church, ISBN: 1879998181 9781879998186. Available through Exodus Books.
"Early Christians were called 'heretics' and 'atheists' when they denied the gods of Rome, in particular the divinity of the emperor and the statism he embodied in his personality cult. These Christians knew that Jesus Christ, not the state, was their Lord and that this faith required a different kind of relationship to the state than it demanded. Because Jesus Christ was their acknowledged Sovereign, they consciously denied such esteem to all other claimants. Today the church must take a similar stand before the modern state." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Christianity and the State, ISBN: 9996717755. Available through Exodus Books.
"The need to return to a Biblical doctrine of civil government is evidenced by our century's worldwide drift into tyranny. Humanism invariably rushes in to fill the world's theological vacuums: the need of the hour is to restore a full-orbed, Biblical, theology of the state. This work sets forth that theology." -- GCB
*Rushdoony, Rousas John (1916-2001), Ern Baxter, Howard Carter, Robert Grant, and Bob Sutton, Secular Humanism: Man Striving to be God.
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience: Tending to Resolve Doubts Moved by Mr. John Goodwin, John Baptist, Dr. Jer. Taylor, the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and Other Authors, 1649. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #9, #25, and #26.
"Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, though scarce, is still one of his most important works with maybe only a few copies of the actual book left in existence. Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. A sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment and an affront to the holy God of Scripture). He also deals with conscience, toleration, penology (punishment), and the judicial laws, as related to both the civil and ecclesiastical realms. Excellent sections are also included which address questions related to determining the fundamentals of religion, how covenants bind us, the perpetual obligation of social covenants (with direct application to the Solemn League and Covenant and the covenant-breaking of Cromwell and his sectarian supporters), whether the punishing of seducing teachers be persecution of conscience, and much more. Walker adds these comments and context regarding Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION, 'The principle of toleration was beginning to be broached in England, and in a modified shape to find acceptance there. Samuel Rutherford was alarmed, or rather, I should say, he was horrified, for he neither feared the face of man or argument. He rushed to the rescue of the good old view . . . It is not so easy to find a theoretical ground for toleration; and Rutherford has many plausible things to say against it. With the most perfect confidence, he argues that it is alike against Scripture and common sense that you should have two religions side by side. It is outrageous ecclesiastically, it is sinful civilly. He does not, however, take what I call the essentially persecuting ground. He does not hold that the magistrate is to punish religion as religion. Nay, he strongly maintains that the civil magistrate never aims at the conscience. The magistrate, he urges, does not send anyone, whether a heretic (who is a soul murderer -- RB), or a murderer, to the scaffold with the idea of producing conversion or other spiritual result, but to strengthen the foundations of civil order. But if he gives so much power to the king, he is no lover of despotism withal: the king himself must be under law. To vindicate this great doctrine is the object of another book, the celebrated LEX, REX; of which it has been said by one competent to judge, that it first clearly developed the constitutionalism which all men now accept.' (Theology and Theologians . . . pp. 11-12). In our day Francis Schaeffer, and numerous others, have critiqued many of the problems found in modern society, but most have spent little time developing explicitly Biblical solutions especially regarding the theoretical foundations that Rutherford addresses here. Rutherford's FREE DISPUTATION provides a detailed blueprint for laying the foundations that must be laid before any lasting, God-honoring solutions will be found. Furthermore, Rutherford and his writings were the enemies of all governments not covenanted with Christ. This book will give you a very clear picture as to why 'the beast' (civil and ecclesiastical), has reserved his special hatred for such teaching. As Samuel Wylie noted 'the dispute, then, will not turn upon the point whether religion should be civilly established . . . but it is concerning what religion ought to be civilly established and protected, -- whether the religion of Jesus alone should be countenanced by civil authority, or every blasphemous, heretical, and idolatrous abomination which the subtle malignity of the old serpent and a heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, can frame and devise, should be put on an equal footing therewith." -- The two Sons of oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry Upon a Scriptural Basis. Can our generation swallow Rutherford's hard, anti-pluralistic, Covenanter medicine, poured forth from the bottle of the first commandment, without choking on their carnal dreams of a free and righteous society divorced from God (and His absolute claims upon everyone and everything)? Not without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit -- that is for sure! In summary, this book answers all the hardest questions theonomists (and their wisest and best opponents), have been asking for the last 20-30 years (and these answers are much more in depth than any we have seen in the last couple of millennia. [less about a century to account for the apostles]). As the reader will discover, Rutherford was a wealthy man when it came to wisdom (and much advanced theologically), and those who take the time to gaze into the King's treasure house, as exhibited in this book, will find that they are greatly rewarded. Furthermore, because of its uncompromising stand upon the Word of God, this book is sure to be unpopular among a wicked and adulterous generation. However, on the other hand, it is sure to be popular among the covenanted servants of King Jesus! This is one of the best books (in the top five anyway), for advanced study of the Christian faith. We have now obtained an easy-to-read, amazingly clear copy of this very rare, old treasure. Great price too, considering that a copy of the 1649 edition, containing this quality of print, would likely cost upwards of $1000 on the rare book market -- though it is unlikely you would ever see a copy for sale!" -- Publisher
A Brotherly and Free Epistle to the Patrons and Friends of Pretended Liberty of Conscience, Samuel Rutherford
http://www.truecovenanter.com/anti_toleration/rutherfurd_epistle_against_pretendedlibertyofconscience.html
Chapter 21 From Samuel Rutherford's 1649 Edition of A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience being Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Of the Samaritans, and of the Non Compelling of Heathens; How the Covenant Bindeth us
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FreeDis21.htm
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY.
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), The Apologetics lecture series using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979) as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979, 17 MP3 files.
"So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
"I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- C. Gregg Singer, from this cited lecture series
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), Christian Approaches: To Philosophy; To History, 38 pages. Alternate title: A CHRISTIAN INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY.
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), On the Doctrine of Human Rights, a series of messages [digital files].
"Every futile attempt to create rights which do not exist results in the lose of rights which do exist. The modern theory of political rights has no philosophic or theological foundation. It rests upon human democratic assumptions concerning the nature of man, which conception has absolutely no foundation in the political, or the social, or the religious philosophy which produced it." -- C. Gregg Singer commenting on "human rights" in general, and the right to abortion in particular, in his lecture
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1, the first in a series of 24 lectures entitled "Apologetics" delivered in November 1979 in Decatur, Georgia, which follow his book FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979).
For more from Singer on the doctrine of human rights see also:
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), From Rationalism to Irrationality: The Decline of the Western Mind From the Renaissance to the Present, ISBN: 0875524281 9780875524283 and a reprint of the P&R Publishing edition of 1979 (Wipf and Stock, 2006), 479 pp.Apologetics #06: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism #2 Apologetics #07: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism Apologetics #12: The Impact of Darwin and Social Darwinism #1 Church History #05: The Early Church #4 Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
"Human rights emerge from human duty and from no other place. And beginning with Locke and Jefferson they removed them from their Biblical foundation. . . .
"What are our real rights? We have the right to life because God created us in his image. . . .
"Our duties to God are the source of our rights. And any other concept of human rights will inevitably, by their very nature, destroy that which they seek to protect. Man was created to glorify God, and in his glorification of God he receives his rights because they are the product, they spring from his duty."Decline of American Culture #06: Decline in the 1830's: Philosophical Revolution in Political Thought
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), A Theological Interpretation of American History, 1994 edition, 354 pages, ISBN: 0875524265 9780875524269. A Christian classic.
This book portrays "the influence of theology and the changing doctrines in the life of the church on the pattern of American political, constitutional, social and economic development.
"The author shows that the decline of constitutional government in this country is the result of the departure from historical Christian faith and the resulting rise of alien political philosophies. Particularly does he emphasize the intimate relationship between theological liberalism on the one hand and political, social, and economic liberalism on the other. This theological liberalism has been a major agent in the decline of the Constitution in the political life of the people and in the appearance of a highly centralized government." -- Publisher
"There is between the democratic philosophy and theological liberalism a basic affinity which has placed them in the same camp in many major political struggles.
"This condition exists because theological liberalism shares the basic postulates of the democratic philosophy. . . .
"Theological liberalism at heart has been a continuing protest against Calvinism, particularly against its insistence on the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of the race. These two Biblical doctrines have often proved to be a stumbling block to theologians within the church as well as to the unbelieving world.
"The result of theological liberalism has been the movement away from constitutionalism and away from liberty, and a movement toward collectivistic society and totalitarian regime." -- C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, p. 290
See also: John Knox, the Scottish Covenanters, and the Westminster Assembly (tape 3 of 5), in a series of addresses, History Notes on Presbyterianism, Reformation, and Theology by Dr. C. Gregg Singer on SermonAudio.com
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12607114250
Dr. C. Gregg Singer at SermonAudio.com (161 messages)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Dr.^C.^Gregg^Singer
Swancara, Frank, Thomas Jefferson Versus Religious Oppression.
"Swancara was a journalist, wrote book in his old age, apparently had an obsession with 'religious oppression,' Jefferson was a hero of his, he actually studied the collection of Jefferson's library, Jefferson gave it to the Library of Congress when it was formed.
"Swancara was godless and argued everything from the wrong side, but it is the best listing of public documents and legislation calling for religious tests for office holders that I have seen, goes back to English law which prohibited a man from being a member of Parliament unless he believed there was going to be a final judgment and our actions have eternal consequences. Swancara unwittingly produced a valuable work for the reformer." -- Reader's Comment
Unwin, J.D., Sex and Culture.
"Both Unwin and Eberstadt provide substantial evidence that a sexual revolution has long-term, devastating consequences for culture and civilization. As Unwin states, 'The history of these societies consists of a series of monotonous repetitions,' and it appears that our civilization is following the same, well-travelled road to collapse." -- Publisher
Various, Proceedings of the Fourth Calvinistic Congress: Held in Edinburgh 6th to 11th July, 1938.
"Contents: Reformed faith and its ethical consequences: to the individual / E. Sebestyen; W. Childs Robinson | in the family / John Macleod | in the church / G.T. Thomson | in society / R.J.G. M'Knight | in the state / V.H. Rutgers | in economics / J.H.S. Burleigh | in art / Leon Wencelius, and P.R. Musculus | The interrelation of theology and secular knowledge / J. de Saussure | Significance of the Old Testament for the Christian life / W. Vischer | Speeches delivered at public meetings / G.D. Henderson, Auguste Lecerf, M.P. Ramsey, David Read, Dr. Kromsigt, Stewart M. Robinson, J.B. Soucek, and W.H. Hamilton."
White, Andrew Dickson, A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christendom, ISBN: 0585012024 9780585012025.
Andrew Dickson White, A secular author, was the first President of Cornell, and its cofounder. He refused to give students at Cornell religious tests. He wrote A HISTORY OF THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE WITH RELIGION IN CHRISTENDOM, 2 volumes (1869) "in angry response" to critics. "As noble as his intentions may have been, the resulting book is a travesty and is largely responsible for creating the common Warfare Myth that has plagued the relationship between science and faith since the nineteenth century."
Yang, Michael B., Reconsidering Ayn Rand, 394 pages, ISBN: 1579212182 9781579212186 1579212557 9781579212551.
"Dr. Michael Yang was an ardent Objectivist when he was a student at The Johns Hopkins University, but at Harvard Medical School he became a Christian. RECONSIDERING AYN RAND is a semi-auto-biographical account of how and why he changed his mind -- or rather, how and why God changed it for him. This book is one of the best books written by a Christian on Rand's philosophy of Objectivism." -- The Trinity Foundation
*Zacharias, Ravi (1946-2020), Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality, ISBN: 1455508608 9781455508600.
"Ravi Zacharias is a very gifted communicator. Whether he is discussing literature, philosophy, religion, or everything in between -- he makes it interesting, engaging, and thought provoking. In this book he tackles the search for meaning in the West and in the East and how that ultimately all searches are empty if they do not lead to truth. He gives a very solid case for how all truth is God's truth and that the ultimate truth that we all long for leads us to the person and work of the historical Jesus revealed in the Bible and the accounts of His life, death, resurrection, ascension and future return.
"In chapter one after a scintillating discussing of movie making agendas in the East and the West he writes, 'Why are we always beguiled by something foreign? In the West, Eastern mysticism is 'in' -- chants, sounds, and practices with foreign words have made an appeal of culture -- shifting proportions -- while in the East, where these very same techniques have been tried for centuries, many are disillusioned and seeking solace somewhere else. Before me the entertainment elite of the East gave their full attention to a talk on 'Why Jesus Is the Ultimate,' while in the West, entertainers are looking toward the East for their answers.'
"In the first half to about seventy percent of the way into the book Ravi tackles what he calls 'Western' thought -- a hybrid of western and eastern thought blended into one. He takes the time to demonstrate how eastern thought has penetrated the west, and how western thought has penetrated the east. He cogently and brilliantly synthesizes how this has taken place through the medium of television, philosophy, religion, and irreligion and highlights old and modern voices alike. Zacharias weaves the themes of induction, seduction, deduction, and reduction among these differing mediums of communication resulting in a 'New Spirituality.'
"Ravi makes so many excellent observations with reference to the 'New Spirituality' that it would make for a very long review were I to recount the excellencies of his presentation. On the postmodern influences of the likes of Michael Foucault and Jacques Derrida on 'Westernism' he writes about the authority of the 'New Spirituality' in this fashion by way of a modern tale:
" 'In the beginning, God. God spoke. But that was a long time ago. We wanted certainty -- now. For this, only Reason and Rationalism would do. But that was not enough. We wanted to 'test.' So we went into the senses and found the empirical. But that's not what we meant by testing. We really meant 'feeling.' So we found a way to generate feeling into the picture. Truth was framed into a scene. But the scene was left open to interpretation. Scenes are not absolute. So the story was told as an art form. But the reader still didn't like it, because he was not the author. So he read the story while he sat in a reconstructed and deconstructed cubicle to make of the story whatever he wished. But what does one do with the long reach of the empirical? The best way was to find a blend between the empirical and the satirical and end up with God again. The only difference was that God could not be the storyteller. We still needed God. So we became God.'
"Ravi talks about Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and various other 'isms' and demonstrates how people in the East like Deepak Chopra, and people in the West like Oprah Winfrey have developed syncretistic systems of thought that have blended eastern and western thinking and religion. One interesting example of this mixing is when he quotes Elizabeth Lesser when she writes of the difference between the 'Old Spirituality' and the 'New Spirituality'.":
'AUTHORITY: In the 'old' spirituality authority is held by the church; in the 'new' spirituality the individual worshiper has authority to determine what is best for him or her.
'SPIRITUALITY: In the old spirituality God and the way to worship have already been defined and the worshiper just follows the rules; in the new spirituality the worshiper defines spirituality for him -- or herself.
'THE PATH TO GOD: In the old spirituality there is only one way to God, all else is wrong; in the new spirituality there are unlimited paths or combinations of paths one can follow . . . you can string a necklace all your own making.
'SACRED: In the old spirituality parts of yourself are considered evil (the body, ego, emotions), and must be denied, transcended, or sublimated; in the new spirituality anything goes.
'TRUTH: In the old spirituality truth is knowable and constant. Leading to the same answers at every stage of life; in the new spirituality you never quite arrive at the truth as it is constantly changing to accommodate your growth.'
"Zacharias responds to Lesser in this manner, 'With the safety net she has provided for determining truth, who can ever fall?' "The evangelist from the Old Spirituality pleaded with his audiences to 'invite Jesus into your heart;' the New Spirituality tell you to invite yourself into your heart.
"Ravi spends the rest of the book answering the following questions: Why Jesus? What difference does it make what you believe? Is truth really even knowable? Could it be that postmodern spirituality is really the expression of a universal hunger rather than an answer to anything? What are the deep-seated questions that drive the quest for spirituality? Why is it that in the West we seem to have discarded the message of Christ, while in the East they have begun to realize that he is the one they are looking for?
"Ultimately all worldviews and religions need to examine their beliefs and views and answer these three unavoidable questions: 1) How do they handle the question of exclusivity as it relates to their own belief? 2) What is the ultimate source of their authority for belief and behavior? And 3) How relevant is what they believe to the common experience and what difference does it make?
"According to Zacharias correspondence to facts and systematic coherence are the test for any worldview. In constructing a good worldview they must consist of the following eight components:
'A good worldview must have a strong basis in fact. This point alone has a two-edged reality: First, can the assertion being made be tested against reality? And second, is the assertion clearly false? If one assertion in the system is clearly false or cannot be tested against reality, there is a failure to meet the test of truth.
'A good worldview must have a high degree of coherence or internal consistency.
'A good worldview must give a reasonable and logical explanation for the various undeniable realities that we sense all around us.
'A good worldview will avoid the two extremes of either being too complex or too simplistic.
'A good worldview is not explained by just one line of evidence.
'A good worldview must explain contrary worldviews without compromising its own essential beliefs.
'A good worldview cannot argue just on the basis of private experience, but must have some objective standard of measurements.
'A good worldview must justifiably explain the essential nature of good and evil, since those two alternatives are principal characteristics differentiating human beings from all other entities or quantities.'
"Two thousand years ago when Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah in Luke 4 on the Sabbath day in the Synagogue, and stood up and read, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed be to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled back the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
"Ravi comments on this passage and concludes in this manner, 'This is the message of freedom for those in bondage, a message that will open the eyes of our darkened spirituality to the bright light of his grace, that will convince a Church to live the love of God by taking care of the poor and taking up the cause of the oppressed, that assures us there is an end of time where eternity awaits, and that all who long for his presence will live in the fulfillment of their faith to the grand consummation of seeing the Ultimate One, face-to-face. . . . It is in him [Jesus] that we find it all.'
"Zacharias meticulously and clearly shows in this book the miserable failure of the 'New Spirituality' to deliver on any of these eight components that make up for a coherent and compelling worldview. On the other hand, in a very captivating manner he demonstrates how all of the best thinking of the west and east when brought together converge in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth -- and the worldview known throughout the world as 'Christianity.'
"I highly recommend this book because it makes a compelling case for the cogency of Christianity, and helps you to understand where eastern and western thought have large 'holes' that can only be filled with the water of life by the same Jesus who said that in Him we will never thirst again -- spiritually." -- Reader's Comment
"For over thirty-five years, Ravi Zacharias has spoken all over the world in great halls and universities, notably Harvard, Princeton, and numerous universities internationally. He is listed as a Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford university. He has appeared on CNN and other international broadcasts. The author of several books for adults and children, he powerfully mixes biblical teaching and Christian apologetics. His most recent works include WALKING FROM EAST TO WEST, a memoir; THE GRAND WEAVER, an exploration of God's intention in both the ordinary and the startling elements of life; and THE END OF REASON, a rebuttal of the claims of the so-called New Atheists. His weekly radio program, 'Let My People Think,' is broadcast on 1,692 stations worldwide, and his weekday program, 'Just Thinking,' is on 412. He is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Zacharias and his wife, Margie, have three grown children and reside in Atlanta." -- Publisher
See also: The incarnation of our lord (the deity of the lord jesus christ), The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Idolatry, syncretism, Absolute truth and relativism, Epistemology of theology, the theory of knowledge, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Church discipline, Church and state, The religion of secular humanism: man as god, human autonomy, Statism (hellenic thought), institutionalism, and corporatism, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Christianity and democracy, The counter-reformation, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, Ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Liberalism and neo-liberalism, Feminism, Secret societies and ungodly alliances, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Heresy and apostasy, Idolatry, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, Heaven, Hell, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Sexual wholeness, Public schools, public education, Absolute truth and relativism, Modern myths and fallacies, Psychology and psychiatry, Mind control, intimidation, and coercion, The destruction of american liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Atheism, Biblical creationism (intelligent design), and evolutionism,
Will and recalcitrance, Epistemology, Calvinism, Apologetics, Freedom: a gift of the grace of god, The question of the one and the many, Logic based on god's truth, The mediatorial reign of christ and the crown rights of christ, Background, foundation, and history of the covenanted reformation of scotland, An introduction to the covenanted reformation, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, Confession of national sin and covenant renewal, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Servant leadership, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, and so on, and so forth.
TCRB5: 3928-3951
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
A Deliverer is Born (part 1), a message by Ravi Zacharias
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
"The breaking of the ego is the first thing that God wants to do in you life and mine." -- Ravi Zacharias
Politicians | Indoctrination of Christians | Military anti-Christian indoctrination | The Witch is called philosophy | The fall of big Christians in the 70's | and so forth, and so on
https://www.rzim.org/listen/let-my-people-think/a-deliverer-is-born-part-1
The Departure From the Puritan Heritage
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Puritan Heritage, 52 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=92903104657
Hate Speech Bill Threat to Free Speech in South Africa, a sermon, Peter Hammond
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=31819152996997
*Living in Critical Times (part 1), Ravi Zacharias
"We live in a society that wants nothing to do with God however once you do away with the existence of God, where do you turn for your absolutes? . . . Where do we find our moral framework?"
https://www.rzim.org/listen/let-my-people-think/living-in-critical-times-part-1
Living in Critical Times (part 2), Ravi Zacharias
https://www.rzim.org/listen/let-my-people-think/living-in-critical-times-part-2
*Love not the World (FGB #163)
The World Passeth Away | The Scriptures and the World | The Christian and the World | Love not the World | What art Thou? | Which World am I a Citizen of? | The Saint and the World
https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/lntwfg/love-not-the-world
Man vs. God, Ravi Zacharias
"A recent article in the Wall Street Journal asked 'Where does evolution leave God?' The people the paper arranged to answer the question suggest God is an afterthought for the editors. Hear what Ravi Zacharias has to say about their thoughts."
https://www.christianbook.com/man-vs-god-ravi-zacharias/pd/DA24348-CP?event=ESRCG
Religious Test Clauses in Colonial and State Constitutions and Other Documents and Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That There Should be a Religious Test for Positions of Authority and Trust
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc001.html
*Secularism and the Illusion of Neutrality, Ravi Zacharias
"Can a culture be considered neutral if it is stripped of all traces of religion, guilt and morality? Ravi Zacharias addresses these issues before an audience at Penn State University.
"When religion and objective morality are put on the sidelines . . . who comes out to play? Ravi Zacharias continues his message with deeper look into the philosophical quagmire that is the 21st century.
"What does it mean to be human? What does the answer to that question say about our culture? How did secularism become so popular in America -- a supposedly 'Christian' nation?
"Pluralism is a good thing. But when extrapolated to moral relativism it is an evil thing." -- Ravi Zacharias
https://www.christianbook.com/secularism-and-the-illusion-of-neutrality/ravi-zacharias/9781612560632/pd/1171BD
The Unholy Alliance
"Down through the centuries, much of Christendom has become a synthesis of humanism and Biblical semantics -- an unholy alliance," states Dan S., author of this paper, and web curator for the Miles J. Stanford website.
The paper demonstrates that even an anti-Calvinist, anti-Covenantalist, dispensationalist can articulate the unholy alliance of Pelagianism, Roman Catholicism, Semi-Pelagianism, Anglicanism/Episcopal, Arminianism, Methodism, Renaissance/Enlightenment, Wesleyan/Holiness Movement, Deism/Unitarianism, Pentacostalism, Transcendentalism, Charismatic Movement, Modernism/Liberalism, Third Wave Movement, Postmodernism/Humanism, New Age "Christianity," New World Order, and One World Church
http://withchrist.org/unholy.htm
Unplugging Truth in a Morally Suicidal Culture (parts 1-3), Ravi Zacharias
" 'We are living today not in the delicious intoxication of the early successors of science, rather in the grisly morning after,' wrote Aldous Huxley. The process of secularization, pluralization, and privatization have contributed to a morally falling society, yet Ravi counters this reality with the truth of the Scriptures: We are not orphaned in this world, for God has created us with dignity and invites us to worship and serve Him. Ravi's message was the opening presentation at a bioethics conference held at the Center for Bioethics in Human Dignity."
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/unplugging-truth-in-a-morally-suicidal-culture-part-1
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/unplugging-truth-in-a-morally-suicidal-culture-part-2
https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-thinking/unplugging-truth-in-a-morally-suicidal-culture-part-3
*The Uniqueness of Christ in World Religions (part 1 of 2), a sermon by Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020)
This is a very sensitive presentation of major differences between Islam and Christianity.
The address also applies to a wide array of other issues such as "duality" (the Western position), logic, the law of non-contradiction, "either/or," absolutism verses relativism, etc. -- and "non-duality" (the Eastern position), "both/and," the Hegelian dialectic (the synthesis of opposites into a "higher truth"), situational ethics, values clarification, political compromise, democracy, "have your cake and eat it too," and so forth, and so on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJHUOmOpd4U
The Uniqueness of Christ in World Religions (part 2 of 2)
"The reality of human nature is best portrayed in the teaching of Christ."
Christianity alone explains the questions of unity in diversity, the one and the many, The Trinity, and spiritual oneness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYCdlk67lWY
*Secularism and the Illusion of Neutrality, Ravi Zacharias
"Can a culture be considered neutral if it is stripped of all traces of religion, guilt and morality? Ravi Zacharias addresses these issues before an audience at Penn State University.
"When religion and objective morality are put on the sidelines . . . who comes out to play? Ravi Zacharias continues his message with deeper look into the philosophical quagmire that is the 21st century.
"What does it mean to be human? What does the answer to that question say about our culture? How did secularism become so popular in America -- a supposedly 'Christian' nation?
"Pluralism is a good thing. But when extrapolated to moral relativism it is an evil thing." -- Ravi Zacharias
https://www.christianbook.com/secularism-and-the-illusion-of-neutrality/ravi-zacharias/9781612560632/pd/1171BD
The ABCD of Freedom, Ravi Zacharias
https://rziminindia.wordpress.com/2016/08/23/the-abcd-of-freedom/
Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways,
thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?
for though only art holy:
for all the nations shall come and worship before thee;
for thy judgments are made manifest. (Revelation 15:3b,4)For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. (Romans 10:4)
Christ the End of the Law: Being the Preface to the Geneva Bible of 1550 (1850), John Calvin
https://archive.org/details/christendlawbei00calvgoogNevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:7-15)I endeavoured to show you that "judgment" there [John 12:31], refers to the rule and government of the world, to be conferred on the Son by the Father, as the merited reward of his labours and sufferings in the cause of righteousness, and as the means of his carrying out, to entire accomplishment, his plans for promoting the glory of God and the happiness of mankind, [emphasis added] -- a sense in which the term is very often used in the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, and in which our Lord uses it in reference to himself when, unfolding the character of the new economy, he says, The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; (John 5:22), and in which the apostle Paul also employs it, when he says that Jesus Christ is appointed to judge the world [John 5:22. Acts 17:31]. -- John Brown (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, III:418
He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. (Psalm 33:5). See also: Psalm 45:7; Psalm 99:4; Jeremiah 9:24; Psalm 1:5; Psalm 7:6; Psalm 11:3; Psalm 119:142; Psalm 145:17; Psalm 36:6; Hebrews 1:9; Revelation 15:3,4; Genesis 18:25; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 8:3; Job 34:12; Job 37:23. Genuine love does not ignore injustice or evil, and particularly apostasy.
It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. (Proverbs 18:5)
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. (Amos 5:15b,24)Calvin taught that the office of civil magistrate was the highest "calling" that a Christian man could receive. (Institutes, IV:20:4) -- W. Gary Crampton in What Calvin Says
The magistracy is ordained by God
The Lord has not only testified that the office of magistrate is approved by and acceptable to him, but he also sets out its dignity with the most honorable titles and marvelously commends it to us.(13) To mention a few: Since those who serve as magistrate are called "gods" [Ex. 22:8; Ps. 82:1,6], [Exodus 22:8; Psalm 82:1,6], let no one think that their being so-called is of slight importance. For it signifies that they have a mandate from God, have been invested with divine authority, and are wholly God's representatives, in a manner, acting as his vicegerents. This is no subtlety of mine, but Christ's explanation. "If Scripture," he says, "called them gods to whom the word of God came . . ." [John 13:35]. What is this, except that God has entrusted to them the business of serving him in their office, and (as Moses and Jehoshaphat said to the judges whom they appointed in every city of Judah) of exercising judgment not for Man but for God [Deut. 1:16-17; II Chron. 19:6]? [Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 2 Chronicles 19:6]. To the same purpose is what God's wisdom affirms through Solomon's mouth, that it is his doing "that kings reign, and counselors decree what is just, that princes exercise dominion, and all benevolent judges of the earth" [Prov. 8:14-16], [Proverbs 8:14-16]. This amounts to the same thing as to say: it has not come about by human perversity that the authority over all things on earth is in the hands of kings and other rulers, but by divine providence and holy ordinance. For God was pleased so to rule the affairs of men, inasmuch as he is present with them and also presides over the making of laws and the exercising of equity in courts of justice. Paul also plainly teaches this when he lists "ruling" among God's gifts [Rom. 12:8, KJV or RV], [Romans 12:8], which, variously distributed according to the diversity of grace, ought to be used by Christ's servants for the upbuilding of the church. For even though Paul is there speaking specifically of a council of sober men, who were appointed in the primitive church to preside over the ordering of public discipline (which office is called in the letter to the Corinthians, "government"(14) [I Cor. 12:28]), [1 Corinthians 12:28], yet because we see the civil power serving the same end, there is no doubt that he commends to us every kind of just rule.
But Paul speaks much more clearly when he undertakes a just discussion of this matter. For he states both that power is an ordinance of God [Rom. 13:2], [Romans 13:21], and that there are no powers except those ordained by God [Rom. 13:1]. [Romans 13:1] Further, that princes are ministers of God, for those doing good unto praise; for those doing evil, avengers unto wrath [Rom. 13:3-4], [Romans 13:3,4]. To this may be added the examples of holy men, of whom some possessed kingdoms, as David, Josiah, and Hezekiah; other, lordships, as Joseph and Daniel; other, civil rule among a free people, as Moses, Joshua, and the judges. The Lord has declared his approval of their offices. Accordingly, no one ought to doubt that civil authority is a calling, not only holy and lawful before God, but also the most sacred and by far the most honorable of all callings in the whole life of mortal men. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), Institutes of the Christian Religion (Ford Lewis Battles translation), IV:20:4Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, and bad leaders are a visitation of God's wrath upon a rebellious nation. (Psalm 106:37-41. See the scripture quoted here, and the cross references following this listing)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (Psalm 106:40-42)For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:26)
For nothing is more dangerous than to live where the public license of crime prevails; yea, there is no pestilence so destructive, as that corruption of morals, which is opposed neither by laws nor judgments, nor any other remedies. And although Moses, in the next chapter, explains the most filthy crime which reigned in Sodom, we must nevertheless remember what Ezekiel teaches (Ezekiel 16:48,49), that the men of Sodom did not fall at once into such execrable wickedness; but that in the beginning, luxury from the fullness of bread prevailed, and that, afterwards, pride and cruelty followed. At length, when they were given up to a reprobate mind, they were also driven headlong into brutal lusts. Therefore if we dread this extreme of inordinate passion, let us cultivate temperance and frugality; and let us always fear, lest a superfluity of food should impel us to luxury; lest our minds should be infected with pride on account of our wealth, and lest delicacies should tempt us to give the reins to our lusts. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), commenting on Genesis 18:27 and context
Where there is no religion, and no fear of God, whatever is said concerning the punishment of the wicked, vanishes as a vain and illusory thing. And hence we perceive how fatal an evil security is, which so inebriates, yea, fascinates, the minds of the wicked, that they no longer think God sits as Judge in heaven; and thus they stupidly sleep in sin, till, while they're saying, Peace and safety, they are overwhelmed in sudden ruin. And especially, the nearer the vengeance of God approaches, the more does their obstinacy increase and become desperate. There is nothing more full of fear, and even of terror, than wicked men are, when the hand of God presses closely on them; but until, constrained by force, they perceive their destruction to be imminent, they either reject all threats with proud scorn, or contemptuously pass them by. But their indolence ought to awaken us to the fear of God, so that we may be always careful; but more especially when some token of the wrath of God presents itself before us. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), commenting on Genesis 19:14 and context
My petition is, that you whom God has appointed heads in your commonwealth, with single eye, do study to promote the glory of God, to provide that your subjects be rightly instructed in his true religion; that they be defended from all oppression and tyranny; that true teachers may be maintained; and such as blind and deceive the people, together also with all idle bellies which do rob and oppress the flock, may be removed and punished as God's law prescribes. And to the performance of every one of these do your offices and names, the honours and benefits which you receive, the law of God universally given to men, and the examples of most godly princes, bind and oblige you. . . .
To wit, first, that in conscience you are bound to punish malefactors, and to defend innocents imploring your help; secondarily, that God requires of you to provide that your subjects be rightly instructed in his true religion, and that the same by you be reformed whensoever abuses do creep in by [the] malice of Satan and negligence of men; and last, that you are bound to remove from honour, and to punish with death (if the crime so requires) such as deceive the people, or defraud them of that food of their souls, I mean God's lively word. . . .
And therefore I fear not to affirm, that which God shall one day justify: that by your offices you are bound, not only to repress their tyranny, but also to punish them as thieves and murderers, as idolaters and blasphemers of God, and in their rooms you are bound to place true preachers of Christ's evangel, for the instruction, comfort, and salvation of your subjects, above whom else the Holy Ghost never shall acknowledge that you rule in justice for their profit. . . .
Of which histories it is evident, that the reformation of religion in all points, together with the punishment of false teachers, does appertain to the power of the civil magistrate. For what God required of them, his justice must require of others having the like charge and authority; what he did approve in them, he cannot but approve in all others who, with like zeal and sincerity, do enterprise to purge the Lord's temple and sanctuary. What God required of them, it is before declared: to wit, that most diligently they should observe his law, statutes, and ceremonies. And how acceptable were their facts to God, he does himself witness (2 Chron. 32) [2 Chronicles 32]. . . .
For now the common song of all men is, "We must obey our kings, be they good or be they bad; for God has so commanded." But horrible shall the vengeance be, that shall be poured forth upon such blasphemers of God's holy name and ordinance. For it is no less blasphemy to say that God has commanded kings to be obeyed, when they command impiety, than to say that God by his precept is author and maintainer of all iniquity.
True it is, God has commanded kings to be obeyed; but likewise true it is, that in things which they commit against his glory -- or when cruelly without cause they rage against their brethren, the members of Christ's body -- he has commanded no obedience, but rather he has approved, yea, and greatly rewarded, such as have opposed themselves to their ungodly commandments and blind rage; as in the example of the three children, of Daniel, and Ebed-melech, it is most evident. The three children would neither bow nor stoop before the golden image at the commandment of the great King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel did openly pray, his windows being open, against the established law of Darius and of his council; and Ebed-melech feared not to enter in before the presence of Zedekiah, and boldly to defend the cause and innocence of Jeremiah the prophet, whom the king and his council had condemned to death (Jer. 38) [Jeremiah 38]. Every one of these facts should this day be judged foolish by such as will not understand what confession God does require of his children, when his verity is oppugned, or his glory is called in doubt. Such men, I say, as prefer man to God, and things present to the heavenly inheritance, should have judged every one of these facts, stubborn disobedience, foolish presumption, and singularity, or else bold controlling of the king and his wise council. . . .
And the same, I say, is the duty of every man in his vocation, but chiefly of the nobility which are joined with their kings, to bridle and repress their folly and blind rage. Which thing, if the nobility do not, neither yet labour to do: as they are traitors to their kings, so do they provoke the wrath of God against themselves and against the realm in which they abuse the authority which they have received of God to maintain virtue and to repress vice. . . .
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of his Holy Spirit, so rule and dispose your hearts, that with simplicity you may consider the things that are offered, and that you may take such order in the same, as God in you may be glorified, and Christ's flock by you may be edified and comforted, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose omnipotent Spirit rule your hearts in his true fear to the end. Amen. -- John Knox (1505-1572), The Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland, in the Works of John Knox and Works of John Knox, also, The Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and ClergyAnd whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. (Ezra 7:26)
My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both? (Proverbs 24:21,22)
When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9b)
Christ Jesus is the end and perfection of the law. -- John Knox
See the Theological Notes: "The Law of God," at Exodus 20:1 in The Reformation Study Bible.
See the Theological Notes: "God is Light: Divine Holiness and Justice" at Leviticus 11:44 in The Reformation Study Bible.
Rulers are ministers to God to the people for good; they are revengers to execute upon him that doeth evil (Romans 13:4). They are to be a terror not to good works but to the evil (Romans 13:3). Their Laws are to be conformable to the laws of God. . . . Human laws, therefore, in order to be obeyed, must accord with the laws of God: for where they differ, God is to be obeyed rather than man (Acts 5:29). . . . How can an infidel, who fears not God nor believes His Word nor regards His law, be a minister of God for good? Would not such a man, if made a ruler, in all probability be a terror to good works and not to the evil? . . . Let us resolutely resolve that we will spare no exertions to elect such rulers as God shall approve. This, believe me, is the only course of relief and safety to our afflicted country. Under the rulers of no other character has any Christian nation ever flourished for any length of time. Under rulers of a different stamp, nations have always degenerated and been finally brought to desolation and ruin. . . . -- Jedidiah Morse, A Sermon, Delivered at Charlestown, July 23, 1812, the Day Appointed by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, to be Observed in Fasting and Prayer Throughout the Commonwealth; in Consequence of a Declaration of War With Great Britain
He chiefly reprobates and condemns their [magistrates, powers in high places -- compiler] madness as manifested in this, that although they see heaven and earth involved in confusion, they are no more affected at the sight than if the care of the interests of mankind did not belong to them, of which they are, notwithstanding, in an especial manner the chosen and appointed conservators. I have stated a little before, that what chiefly deprives them of understanding is, that, being dazzled with their own splendor, and perversely shaking off every yoke, no religious considerations have the effect of inclining them to moderation. All sound knowledge and wisdom must commence with yielding to God the honor which is his due, and submitting to be restrained and governed by his word. The last clause of the verse, 'Although all the foundations of the earth are moved,' is almost universally understood by interpreters in a different sense from that in which I have rendered it. They explain it as implying, that of all the calamities in the world the greatest is when princes neglect to execute the duties of their office; for it is the observance and prevalence of justice which constitutes the foundation on which the fabric of human society rests. Thus the sense, according to them, is, that the world is undermined and overthrown by the unjust tyranny of princes. I am far from rejecting this interpretation; but, as I have already hinted, I am more inclined to think, that we have here condemned the monstrous stupidity of judges, who can remain indifferent and unmoved in beholding the horrible confusion of civil society, yea even the very earth shaken to its foundations." -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 82:5 and context
He now subjoins the punishment of such as should creep in under the name of a prophet to draw away the people into rebellion. . . . those who are the authors of apostasy, and so who pluck up religion by the roots. . . . no pardon could be granted to such impious contempt, since God had abundantly proved the glory of His Godhead by the miracle of their redemption, and had manifested His will in the Law. . . .
Thus, whilst their severity is preposterous who defend superstitions with the sword, so also in a well constituted polity, profane men are by no means to be tolerated, by whom religion is subverted. . . .
What insolence is this! As to their denial that the truth of God stands in need of such support, it is very true; but what is the meaning of this madness, in imposing a law upon God, that He should not make use of the obedience of magistrates in this respect? And what avails it to question about the necessity of this, since so it pleases God? God might, indeed, do without the assistance of the sword in defending religion; but such is not His will. And what wonder if God should command magistrates to be the avengers of His glory, when He neither wills nor suffers that thefts, fornications, and drunkenness should be exempt from punishment. . . . Finally, the magistracy, if its own authority be assailed, shall take severe vengeance upon that contempt; and shall it suffer the profanation of God's holy name to be unavenged? What can be more monstrous! But it is superfluous to contend by argument, when God has once pronounced what is His will, for we must needs abide by His inviolable decree. . . .
Nor was it causelessly that Paul, when he enjoins prayers to be made for kings and other worldly rulers, added the reason that under them we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. (1 Timothy 2:2.) Christ, indeed as He is meek, would also, I confess, have us to be imitators of His gentleness, but that does not prevent pious magistrates from providing for the tranquillity and safety of the Church by their defense of godliness; since to neglect this part of their duty, would be the greatest perfidy and cruelty. And assuredly nothing can be more base than, when we see wretched souls drawn away to eternal destruction by reason of the impunity conceded to impious, wicked, and perverse impostors, to count the salvation of those souls for nothing. . . ." -- John Calvin commenting on Deuteronomy 13:5 and contextWe must remember what I have elsewhere stated, that the priests were not armed with tyrannical authority, so that it was sinful to reject whatever they might have decreed according to their own fancy. For neither did God dethrone Himself when He appointed them, nor did He bind men's consciences to obey their ordinances without distinction, but only would put reins on the audacity of those who have no scruple in undervaluing the government of the Church. . . . God was the author of the priesthood: He, too, ordained judges. What could be more absurd than that they should be despised and laughed at with impunity, who presided in the name and by the command of God? But He has never exalted a mortal man so high as to abdicate His own rights. . . . In fine, the priests of old were to be obeyed, as far as it concerned the public peace that the pastors ordained by God should be reverently honored; yet so as that there should be no departure from God Himself, the one Head and Prince of all pastors. . . .
And, assuredly, when He commands that the whole people should be inspired with terror, it is a hint that, unless presumption should be corrected, and the bold and wicked should be restrained by severe discipline, the door would be opened to them to destroy the Church. . . . -- John Calvin commenting on Deuteronomy 17:12,13 and context1 Corinthians 2:11 [1]For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the [2]spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the [1]spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; [2]that we might [3]know the things that are freely given to us of God.[the highest ethical standard known to mankind -- compiler]
13 [1]Which things also we speak, not in the [1 Corinthians 1:17; 2 Peter 1:16]words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; [2]comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 [1]But the [2]natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are [3]spiritually discerned. 15 [1]But he that is spiritual [2]judgeth all things, ye [3]he himself is judged of [4]no man. (1 Corinthians 2:11-15, AKJV)
2:11 1 He setteth that forth by a similitude, which he spake of the inspiration of the Spirit. As the force of man's wit searcheth out things pertaining to man, so doth our mind by that power of the holy Ghost, understand heavenly things.
2 The mind of man, which is endued with ableness to understand and judge.
2:12 1 The Spirit which we have received, doth not teach us things of this world, but lifteth us up to God, and this place teacheth us against the Papists, what faith is, from whence it cometh, and what force it is of.
2 That which he spake generally, he restraineth now to those things which God hath opened unto us of our salvation in Christ: lest that any man should separate the Spirit from the preaching of the word and Christ: or should think that those fantastical men are governed by the Spirit of God, which wandering besides the word, thrust upon us their vain imaginations for the secrets of God.
3 This word (know) is taken here in his proper sense, for true knowledge, which the Spirit of God worketh in us.
2:13 1 Now he returneth to his purpose, and concludeth the argument which he began verse 6, and it is thus: the words must be applied to the matter, and the matter must be set forth with words which are meet and convenient for it: now this wisdom is spiritual and not of man, and therefore it must be delivered by a spiritual kind of teaching, and not by enticing words of man's eloquence, that the simple, and yet wonderful majesty of the holy Ghost may therein appear.
2 Applying the words unto the matter, to wit, that as we teach spiritual things, so [must] our kind of teaching be spiritual.
2:14 1 Again he preventeth an offence or stumbling block: how cometh it to pass that so few allow these things? This is not to be marveled at, sayeth the Apostle, seeing that men in their natural powers (as they termed them) are not endued with that faculty, whereby spiritual things are discerned (which faculty cometh another way) and therefore they accompt [account] spiritual wisdom as folly: and it is as if he should say, It is no marvel that blind men cannot judge of colors, seeing that they lack the light of their eyes, and therefore light is to them as darkness.
2 The man that hath no further light of understanding than that which he brought with him, even from his mother's womb, as Jude defineth it, Jude 19.
3 By the virtue of the holy Ghost.
2:15 1 He amplifieth the matter by contraries.
2 Understandeth and discerneth.
3 The wisdom of the flesh, saith Paul, determined nothing certainly, no not in its own affairs, much less can it discern strange, that is, spiritual things. But the Spirit of God, wherewith spiritual men are endued, can be deceived by no means, and therefore be reproved of no man.
4 Of no man: for when the Prophets are judged of the Prophets, it is the Spirit that judges, and not the man. -- Geneva Notes, 1599 Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege editionThere is such an accent and such an emphasis put by the Lord on this act (as the Jewish Rabbis observe), that here they begin the forty-first section or lecture of the Law, or (as Vatablus saith), the seventh section of the book, which they call Phinehas. Moreover, it teacheth us, that zeal of justice in the cause of God is an hopeful means to remove God's wrath from, and to procure his mercy to, man. -- Christopher Ness quoted in "Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings" for Psalm 106:30, Spurgeon's Treasury of David
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:12)
"It is not over until leaders meet their Maker."The Lord's judgments are made manifest. (Revelation 15:4b)
The Lord will deal with all of us.See the Theological Notes: "God is Light: Divine Holiness and Justice" at Leviticus 11:44 in The Reformation Study Bible.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:22,23)It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. (Proverbs 18:5)
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
So many times people in the pew and the pulpit say, well how did all this get started? How did psychology descend to its present level? . . . How did political science produce our political thought, produce the dictatorships which are engulfing the modern world? Why are we in the economic mess in which we are today? Why is sociology such a jumble of immorality? Why is education as it is today? Why is art so meaningless? . . . Why is modern music an affront to the modern ears as well as to the mind and ear of God? . . . Why are all these things!? . . .
I would suggest to you that if you will follow this course with thought and care, you will finally come to see the answer to the questions which haunt us today in Western society." -- Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), in the Apologetics series of 24 lectures using FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT as the text, and delivered in Decatur, Georgia, beginning November, 1979.
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 56 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2250511453One other case must be mentioned for its importance in showing how far the Supreme Court has wandered from its original purpose as stated in the Constitution and has become the mouthpiece of the most radical elements in the country. This is the famous, or infamous, Keylishian Case, which declared unconstitutional a New York law which sought to prohibit communists from either teaching or holding administrative positions in the schools of the state. (72. Adler vs. the Borard of Regents, 1952. Curiously enough, the Supreme Court had upheld this very same act.) In speaking for the court in this decision, Justice Brennan gave as the excuse for the over-ruling of a previous decision of the Court that "pertinent constitutional doctrines have since 1952 rejected the premises upon which the conclusion rests." (73. Ibid.) Actually no new constitutional doctrine worthy of the name had been developed since 1952 which would justify such a reversal. The truth of the matter was that the Court was determined to drive God out of the classroom and replace teachers who believed in him with communists and give them permanent tenure. It is now clear that the whole course of decisions by the Supreme Court since the Vashti-McCollum case of 1948 has been to remove the God of the Scriptures from the government and educational system of this country. Thus, through this Court, even more than through the Congress or the Presidents who have served since 1948, humanism has been crowding our Christian heritage out of the picture. The Supreme Court, at one time the citadel of Christian orthodoxy and political conservatism, has now become the vehicle through which both our Christian and constitutional heritages are being destroyed. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999), in A Theological Interpretation of American History pp. 322, 323
But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)
Sin will find a nation out. Sin will find an individual out in conscience, in body, in character, and in court.
It is uncanny how often cold cases are solved, sometimes decades later.These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16-19)
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Deuteronomy 16:20)
"Psalm 101 treats the subject of servant leadership, laying out what a Godly magistrate should look like."
He [David] prepares himself for exercising the government in the best manner. And he not only stirs up himself to perform faithfully the duties of his kingly office by devoutly meditating on this subject, but also engages by a solemn vow to be God's faithful servant . . .
In short, David protests that he will not be like other kings who are infatuated by their own dignity; but that according to the greatness of the charge imposed upon him, he would endeavor wisely to perform his duty. It is to be observed, that he represents wisdom as consisting in a perfect way, or in uprightness. From this we learn that tyrants who employ their talents in forming wicked devices, and who are daily contriving new methods for burdening and oppressing their subjects; in short, who are ingenious only in doing mischief, are not wise towards God. -- John Calvin commenting on Psalm 101:2 and contextThe works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. (Psalm 111:7,8)
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. (Isaiah 48:17-19). See the annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7-9)O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. (Psalm 119:97-100)
They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them. (Proverbs 28:4)
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micha 6:8)
The Decalogue is God's constitution. No society should permit the codification of law in violation of the Decalogue.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:22-23)I endeavoured to show you that "judgment" there [John 12:31], refers to the rule and government of the world, to be conferred on the Son by the Father, as the merited reward of his labours and sufferings in the cause of righteousness, and as the means of his carrying out, to entire accomplishment, his plans for promoting the glory of God and the happiness of mankind, [emphasis added] -- a sense in which the term is very often used in the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, and in which our Lord uses it in reference to himself when, unfolding the character of the new economy, he says, The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; (John 5:22), and in which the apostle Paul also employs it, when he says that Jesus Christ is appointed to judge the world [John 5:22. Acts 17:31]. -- John Brown (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, III:418
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? (Psalm 94:16)
There is such a thing as judicial blindness. If men can see, and yet will not see, God is at last so provoked by their wickedness that He takes away the light altogether, and removes from them the very faculty of sight. -- C.H. Spurgeon
Western society has given itself the organization best suited to its purposes, based, I would say, on the letter of the law. The limits of human rights and righteousness are determined by a system of laws; such limits are very broad. People in the West have acquired considerable skill in using, interpreting and manipulating law, even though laws tend to be too complicated for an average person to understand without the help of an expert. Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the supreme solution. If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is required, nobody may mention that one could still not be entirely right, and urge self-restraint, a willingness to renounce such legal rights, sacrifice and selfless risk: it would sound simply absurd. One almost never sees voluntary self-restraint. Everybody operates at the extreme limit of those legal frames. An oil company is legally blameless when it purchases an invention of a new type of energy in order to prevent its use. A food product manufacturer is legally blameless when he poisons his produce to make it last longer: after all, people are free not to buy it.
I have spent all my life under a communist regime and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulses. And it will be simply impossible to stand through the trials of this threatening century with only the support of a legalistic structure. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, from A World Split Apart, a commencement speech given at Harvard University, June 8, 1978Do you know that the Descent of the Spirit on Pentecost (the 50th day after Passover) corresponded with both the Old Testament Feast of Weeks AND THE GIVING OF THE LAW TO MOSES ON HOREB? Law and Spirit are friends and go together! They are not antagonists, but intimate friends! If we want to be spiritual, we must be lawful (in the deepest sense), and if we want to be lawful -- we must be spiritual! Romans 7:14 says, We know that the law is spiritual. -- Dick Knodel
The view of the secular humanism is that law is opinion, sociopsychological jurisprudence. Thus many decisions of the Supreme Court are 5-4. But if the Supreme Court Justices were all Trinitarian Christians, and if the law of the land was The Decalogue, and if the constitution was The Holy Bible, then practically all decisions would be 9-0.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? Such thrones there are, and they plead a right divine, but their claim is groundless, a fraud upon mankind and a blasphemy of heaven. God enters into no alliance with unjust authority, he gives no sanction to unrighteous legislation. Which frameth mischief by a law? They legalize robbery and violence, and then plead that it is the law of the land; and so indeed it may be, but it is a wickedness for all that. With great care men prepare enactments intended to put down all protests, so as to render wrongdoing a permanent institution, but one element is necessary to true Conservatism, viz., righteousness; and lacking that, all their arrangements of the holders of power must come to an end, and all their decrees must in process of time be wiped out of the statute book. Nothing can last for ever but impartial right. No injustice can be permanent, for God will not set his seal upon it, nor have any fellowship with it, and therefore down it must come, and happy shall be the day which sees it fall." -- Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 94:20
See also his comments in the Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings for all of Psalm 94.And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. (Isaiah 59:14,15)When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms (regna) but a vast banditry (magna latocinia)? -- Augustine in City of God, IV. iv (MPL [Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series], II. 66).
There are many ways of abetting, or taking part in the sins of others; by commendation, counsel, consent, or concealment. And if we share with others in their sins, we must expect to share in their plagues. If we do not reprove the sins of others, we have fellowship with them. -- Matthew Henry
To me it is enough to say that black is not white, and man's tyranny and foolishness is not God's perfect ordinance. -- John Knox
Kings then have not an absolute power in their regiment to do what pleases them; but their power is limited by God's Word. -- John Knox
Men must be governed by God, or they will be governed by tyrants. -- William Penn
Truth to Christ cannot be treason to Caesar. -- Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) in Lex, Rex (Law is King)
The idea that we are to always obey the state, regardless of what order or laws it makes sets up the State as our god. -- Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)
In too many churchmen we find the exemption of the state from the law, and from judgment in terms of the law. The roots of this position go back to pagan divinization of the state. (See: Rushdoony, Christianity and the State). Practically, where men exempt the state from the law of God, they make it an instrument of Satan.
The law is the law for everyone. If the citizen has no moral right to steal, neither does the state. If the citizen cannot expropriate his neighbor's property, neither can the state. Thou shalt not steal applies to corporations, governments, and men equally. It forbids socialism, communism, [fascism], inflation, bad checks, and every other form of theft. It forbids false advertising, and dishonest processing and adulteration of foods. It forbids featherbedding by workers' associations, and it forbids the cheating of workers. All men, their institutions, corporations, and forms of government, are equally under the law of God. The reduction of the Ten Commandments to the status of a moral code only [from that of a Biblical criminal code], is the destruction of the law.
If all authority is not under God, then, instead of a universe, we have a multiverse; instead of one Creator and Law-giver, we have many gods acting as creators and law-givers in their realms. If all authority comes from God, then all authority is plainly under God's law-word, and entirely subject to it. Thou shalt not steal cannot then be restricted to the individual man, but must be applied to every area of life. . . .
In the 20th century, educators have spoken of the university at times as a multiversity, having room for a variety of ideas and faiths. The teaching of witchcraft, astrology [Astrology is being considered as a college major in California state colleges. (September 2003)], and related concepts by some schools is related to this concept of the multiversity. High schools in a major city have introduced yoga and palmistry. If the world is a multiverse, then all things are permissible except a sovereign God and a universal law-order. Hence our polytheistic world is tolerant of almost every kind of belief except orthodox Christianity. A universal law-order and a sovereign God rule out the possibility of a polytheistic multiverse. But, because the sovereign and triune God of Scripture rules, there is no multiverse, but rather a universe and a unified law-order.
The law, Thou shalt not steal, applies therefore not only to the state but to the church as well. Where the church does not faithfully teach the whole counsel of God, His entire law-word, it is then plainly guilty of theft. It is robbing the people and the social order of its vital nerve; it is undercutting all authority when it limits the law on which all authority rests.
As Nymeyer has observed "What gold is to money, the law of God is to liberty." (Frederick Nymeyer, Progressive Calvinism [South Holland, IL: Libertarian Press, 1957], III, 209). Without the law of God, men, unions, corporations, and states feel free to be a law unto themselves, to play god. Failure to teach the law of God is thus to pave the way for tyranny.
James Madison said of God's law:We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. -- James Madison, "The father of our Constitution"The above quote is from Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, pp. 539-541The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9,10)
Because the wicked have ever some excuse to defend their doings, he showeth that their own lewd imaginations deceive them, and bring them to these inconveniences: but God will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts, 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 7:10; Jeremiah 11:20 and Jeremiah 20:12; Revelation 2:13. -- 1599 Geneva Bible NotesShall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? (Psalm 94:20)
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:18,19)Modern civil law foresees only civil enforcement. Biblical law requires civil enforcement and declares the certainty of ultimate divine judgment in history for failure to enforce His Laws [Isaiah 17:14; Jeremiah 17:11]. Biblical criminal law is thus essentially religious law, and it has in mind two courts, the God-ordained courts of the social order, and the Supreme Court of Almighty God.
Ehrlich's comment is to the point:It is difficult to compare Biblical sins with statutory crimes since in the former all are based on moral and spiritual values whereas in the latter only that is a crime which fits into the structure of the statute sought to be enforced. -- J.W. Ehrlich, The Holy Bible and The Law, p. 92)Precisely. Biblical law is the word of God; it therefore represents an ultimate order which is written into the texture of all creation and into the heart of man. Hence, a jury system is valid in terms of Biblical law, since the decision is in terms of a fundamental law which all men know, whether they acknowledge it or not. Civil statutes represent only the will of the state, not an objective and absolute moral order. Statutory law creates lawlessness, because society is then no longer governed by an absolute standard of justice but rather by the fiat will of the state. Like fiat money, fiat law lacks substance, and it quickly destroys itself, and all who rely on it. It is a form of fraud, and a major form. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), The Institutes of Biblical Law, pp. 498-499Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:12-14)
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)
See the Theological Notes: "God Reigns: Divine Sovereignty," at Daniel 4:34 in The Reformation Study Bible.
The prophets are advocates for God in a covenantal lawsuit. For their arguments for the continued obligation of covenantal faithfulness and the hope of God's covenantal faithfulness see:
Isaiah, a covenant prosecutor, Jeremiah's theme of judgment for covenant breaking, The themes of the wrath, severity, covenant faithfulness, trustworthiness, and ultimate goodness of God in the book of Lamentations, Ezekiel's message of judgment against Israel, then judgment against foreign nations, and then grace and mercy to Israel, and the themes of the holiness, transcendence, grace, mercy, and sovereignty of God along with individual responsibility, Daniel, the covenant head, with his theme of the absolute sovereignty of God in the affairs of man, Hosea's theme of covenant relationship, Joel's themes of covenant, the day of the Lord, and repentance unfeigned, Amos furthering the prosecution's case for the covenantal lawsuit with themes of idolatry and social injustice, The emphasis on God's sovereign justice by Obadiah, Jonah's themes of the sovereignty of God and the universality of God's goodness, The themes of Micah, covenant relationship, salvation is of the Lord, the church rebellious and perverse, and judgment followed by restoration, Nahum's theme of God's government of history according to his covenant, Habakkuk, the forefather of the Reformation, and his themes of God is sovereign in history and persistence in prayer, Zephaniah's themes of covenant, the day of the Lord, and the restorative nature of God's wrath, Haggai's theme of covenant, Zechariah's themes of the presence, kingship and deliverance of God and Christ, and Christ dwelling among his people, and Malachi, another advocate of God in the covenant lawsuit, with his themes of the continued obligation of covenantal faithfulness, and hope. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)
Isaiah's Prophesy after the Angel of the Lord smote Sennacherib's army for good King Hezekiah.The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:3)
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3)
Since no one can describe an approach more equitable and wholesome to the commonwealth than that which God describes in his law, it is certainly the duty of all kings and princes who recognize that God has put them over his people that they follow most studiously his own method of punishing evildoers . . . insofar as the substance and proper end of these commandments are concerned, and especially those which enjoin the discipline that is necessary for the whole commonwealth, whoever does not reckon that such commandments are to conscientiously observed is certainly not attributing to God either supreme wisdom or a righteous care for our salvation.
Accordingly, in every state sanctified to God Capital punishment must be ordered for all who have dared to injure religion, either by introducing a false and impious doctrine about the worship of God or by calling people away from the true worship of God (Deut. 13:6-10 [Deuteronomy 13:6-10]), and 17:2-5 [Deuteronomy 17:2-5]); for all who blaspheme the name of God and his solemn services (Lev. 24:15-16 [Leviticus 24:15-16]); who violate the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14-15 [Exodus 31:14-15], and 35:2 [Exodus 35:2]; Num. 15:32-36 [Numbers 15:32-36]); who rebelliously despise the authority of parents and live their own life wickedly (Deut. 21:18-21 [Deuteronomy 21:18-21]; who are unwilling to submit to the sentence of a supreme tribunal (Deut. 17:8-12 [Deuteronomy 17:8-12]); who have committed bloodshed (Ex. 21:12 [Exodus 21:12]; Lev. 24:17 [Leviticus 24:17]; Deut. 19:11-13 [Deuteronomy 19:11-13]), adultery (Lev. 20:10 [Leviticus 20:10]), rape (Deut. 22:20-25 [Deuteronomy 22:20-25]), kidnapping (Deut. 24:7 [Deuteronomy 24:7]); who have given false testimony in a capital case (Deut. 19:16-21 [Deuteronomy 19:16-21]).
No on knows better or provides more diligently what is for man's salvation than God. In these sanctions of God, we see that he judges that the death penalty should eliminate from his people whoever has openly defected from him or held him in contempt or persuades others to do the same, to the betrayal and vitiation of true religion; those who have done injury to his mane and who have obstinately detracted from the authority of God as it is administered through his ordinary agents, fathers of families or of country; or finally, those who have attempted to take the life of a neighbor or of his wife or children. For those who are involved is such enormous crimes cannot but inflict great ruin on mankind. By the responsible cooperation of all good men, these pests are therefore to be exterminated from human society no less than fierce wolves, lions, tigers, dragons, and crocodiles which occasionally attack men in order to tear them to pieces and devour them. . . . -- Martin Bucer, De Regno Christi (On the Kingdom of Christ), in Wilhelm Pauck (editor), Melanchthon and Bucer (Westminster Press, 1969), pp. 378-379For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
And thou shalt take no gift. This kind of theft is the worst of all, when judges are corrupted either by bribes, or by affection, and thus ruin the fortunes which they ought to protect: for, since their tribunal is as it were a sacred asylum, to which those who are unjustly oppressed may fly, nothing can be more unseemly than that they should there fall amongst robbers. Judges are appointed to repress all wrongs and offenses; if therefore they shew favour to the wicked, they are harbourers of thieves; than which there is no more deadly pest. And besides, since their authority excludes every other remedy, they are themselves like robbers with arms in their hands. The greater, therefore, their power of injury is, and the greater the damage committed by their unjust sentences, the more diligently are they to be beware of iniquity; and thus it was necessary to keep them in the path of duty by special instructions, lest they should conceal and encourage thievery by their patronage. Now, as avarice is the root al all evils, when it thus lays hold of the mind of judges, no integrity can continue to exist. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), commenting on Exodus 23:8 in Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, p. 136
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
The State, considered in its corporate character, is A MORAL PERSON, with a moral standing and responsibility. It is not the creation of the so-called social compact or of the popular will, but a divine institution based on natural religion. It coheres by a moral and religious bond; and its rulers are the lieutenants of God. If the State is a moral person, capable of performing duty, of committing sin, and suffering punishment, which every one must own who traces the fate of nations according to the divine word, it follows that a nation, acting by its rulers, can accept Christianity and make a public profession of it as the national rule and guide. It had been held together previous to the recognition of Christianity by some form of religion however impure, without which it could not have existed. And the first duty of the civil ruler when brought in contact with Christianity and persuaded of its divine origin is to RECEIVE THE BIBLE AS A REVELATION in a national way. The immediate effect of this is that it constitutes the State a Christian State, and pledges it to purge out its previous religion in the same way as Pagan and Mahommedan nations constituted themselves, according to their false religions, or as the atheistic state was constituted, or rather attempted to be constituted, by the French Convention. A nation must have a religion, and the only question is, which it will adopt. And when Christianity comes to the nation, or to the family, it does not frown on either of these institutions, which also are divine in origin, but enters into them with an elevating purifying power, and sweetly coalesces with all that is purely human in both. These ordinances of God now became vessels by which Christianity is diffused. The national recognition of the Bible as a revelation subjecting the nation to its authority, though a great step gained, does not exhaust the nation's duty, as widely diverging views prevail upon the right interpretation of the Bible. The State must by the necessity of the case ADOPT A CREED which will commonly be prepared by the Church. The same duty that devolves upon an individual Christian confronts a Christian State, and it naturally appends the civil sanction to the Church's creed. It must distinguish between scripture truth and its perversion. The State, by the adoption of a creed, gives utterance to the self-consciousness of a Christian community. It confesses the Christianity it has adopted. . . . The nation, acting by its rulers, must needs adopt a creed, and so distinguish between truth and error in the confession which it makes. It must be Trinitarian or Unitarian, Protestant or Popish, Calvinistic or Arminian, by the necessity of the position. These diverging lines of profession cannot be ignored. More than that; the responsible rulers must proclaim a Christian constitution and adopt a legislation all through the nation's history upon the principles of revelation. A Christian State is competent to make the same confession of its faith that an individual makes. -- George Smeaton, The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments, pp. 4-6
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:12)
The term "judge," in the Hebrew Scriptures, is often used as equivalent to, "to rule," or "to govern"; and such a use of the term is quite natural (In the early age there was little division of labour. The judicial, legislative, and executive functions were not separated.), for not only does just judgment, in the strict sense of the word, form an important part of good government, but all proper government is the exercise, not of arbitrary will, but of sound judgment. During a considerable period of the Israelitish history, their supreme magistrates, under Jehovah their King, were termed judges. The use I refer to of the word may be understood by one as well as a hundred instances. Speaking of the Divine government, the psalmist, in the sixty-seventh psalm, says, "Thou shalt "judge" the people righteously, and "govern" the nations upon earth. -- John Brown (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), commenting on John 12:31 in Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, II:244,245
The reforms of a state which denies God are no more to be trusted than the reforms of a man with a gun in his hand, robbing us of our money. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), The Institutes of Biblical Law, 1973 edition, p. 638 (see Frederic Bastiat, The Law)
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. God is faithful, and will be true to his covenant; it is no agreement for days and years, its tenure is everlasting. The salvation which this covenant promises shall not be hidden in a corner, afar off it shall be published, even as it is at this day in our own fair island of the sea. Nothing can be more delightful than to have this salvation in possession, and to see its stable foundation in the covenant of grace.
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Fear not dying man, trust in the ever-living God.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab or Egypt, and wounded the dragon? or the crocodile, the emblem of Egypt
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? This is a bold prayer. It lays hold upon that glorious arm which wrought such marvels in Egypt on behalf of the Lord's elect, and its plea is that he can do like deeds again, and that the time has come for him to do them.
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Assured faith here quotes the promise which had been given in a previous prophecy, and confidently asserts that it will be ever so. It is always well to have a promise at our fingers' end.
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? It is in God's hands. No oppressor can rage against us unless the Lord permits; why then do we fear? He who gives our foe permission to annoy us in measure, holds the other end of his chain and will keep him within bounds. In holy confidence let us stand still and see the salvation of God. (Isaiah 51:5-13) -- Spurgeon's Devotional BibleMoreover, He lays down this rule to these judges and officers: they are to judge justly, that is, according to the Law of God and not according to their own understanding. Then He forbids corrupt feelings; they are not to leave the Law behind and be led and motivated by the consideration of persons and bribes. These two things tend to distort and misdirect all justice, and therefore he here adds this aphorism: Bribes blind the eyes of the wise and subvert the cause of the righteous (v. 19). Partiality towards persons includes such things as these: fear of persons great, might, or wealthy; love of relatives; regard for friends; contempt for the lowly; sympathy toward those stricken by calamity; and fear of peril to one's own life, reputation, and property. "Bribes," however, include gain, advantage, ambition, and the insatiable and boundless gulf of greed. Therefore, in Exodus 18:21 Jethro advises Moses to choose men who are without greed, that is, birds that are as rare as a black swan. -- Martin Luther, Deuteronomy, in Jeroslav Pelikan and Daniel Poellot [editors], Luther's Works, (St. Louis: Concordia, 1960, p. 163)
But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:8-11)
One of the besetting sins of mankind is to use the law to oppress his fellowman. Frederic Bastiat unfolds this sin in, The Law.The lawyer order, being alien to law, becomes a social order managed by social scientists. Since environment rather than sin is blamed for crime, treatment of the offenders and restitution to them becomes the order of the day. . . . These facts are not surprising. A prison holds in enforced community a large number of incorrigible criminals who deserve death, and a number of offenders who should be required to work out restitution. To keep such a collection of people from evil would require more guards than most prisons can afford. Instead of dealing with the root problem, the departure from the Biblical principle of restitution, humanistic reformers compound the evil. As radical legal positivists, they deny any absolute concept of justice and concern themselves instead with the individual, the person of the criminal. Humanistic restitution then functions to give every possible advantage to the criminal. -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), Institutes of Biblical Law, page 518, 519
The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! -- Frederic Bastiat, from the Introduction to The Law.
Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the Lord understand all things. (Proverbs 28:5)
The Treasury of David, Psalm 85, C.H. Spurgeon
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps085.phpThe Treasury of David, Psalm 96:93-99, C.H. Spurgeon
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps096.phpThere is such an accent and such an emphasis put by the Lord on this act (as the Jewish Rabbis observe), that here they begin the forty-first section or lecture of the Law, or (as Vatablus saith), the seventh section of the book, which they call Phinehas. Moreover, it teacheth us, that zeal of justice in the cause of God is an hopeful means to remove God's wrath from, and to procure his mercy to, man. -- Christopher Ness quoted in "Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings" for Psalm 106:30, Spurgeon's Treasury of David
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (Psalm 106:40-42)The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpAfter compiling GREAT BOOKS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Mortimer Adler concluded that "more problems are caused by the denial of God than by anything else" -- it changes the whole tenure of life.
Christianity is the source of Absolute Truth and Life Everlasting, and it is the highest ethical standard known to mankind.
Without the belief in a Creator there is no basis for theology and law.
When God is denied, then there is no "source or correction or ultimate justice."
If God does not exist, everything is permitted. -- Fyodor Dostoevski (1821-1881)
Leviticus 19 teaches that we ought to be kind to the alien in our midst AS LONG AS THEY ARE WILLING TO ABIDE BY OUR LAWS. They could not become Israelites and own property unless they converted to Jehovah worship and were circumsized -- they and all the males of their family. Without this they were free to pass through Israel and do business -- as long as they respected Israeli civil and religious laws! But if they transgressed, they could be arrested and tried . . . . -- Dick Knodel
Cornelius Van Til makes the theologically valid point that "irrationality in the mind of man, that is, insanity, must be the result of a deflection of man from the source of absolute rationality," God, and consequently "all men have merited insanity because of their departure from God." [Or, not until man repents is he truly sane. -- compiler]. Eternal punishment is "the abyss of irrationalism," and what we call rational or normative experience is a gift of God's common grace. No man is worthy of it. -- Frederick Leahy
The wealthy stand as magistrates in the economic arena and have the same duty of stewardship as do those who hold political office. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:13,14)
The four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah are Isaiah 42:1-9; Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-11; and Isaiah 52:13 -- Isaiah 53:12. See the annotations in The Reformation Study Bible.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:12)
"It is not over until leaders meet their Maker."Our Triune God has ordained that the preeminent leader of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, Our Righteousness. (John 1:1-18; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 49:7; Colossians 1:16-19; Colossians 2:9,10; Hebrews 12:1,2; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 19:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:12, and so forth, and so on). Human leadership is also divinely ordained and tends to devolve to those who are most perfectly at one with Christ, and to those who also know the most Truth (the Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Puritan leaders, The Scots Worthies, and so forth, and so on).
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:28). See: (Matthew 19:28, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then his master said unto him, It is well done good servant and faithful, Thou hast been faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy master's joy. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:21) (Matthew 25:21 1599 Geneva Bible)
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:34). See: (Matthew 25:34, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he said unto him, Well, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little thing, take thou authority over ten cities. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:17) (Luke 19:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:29) (Luke 22:29, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17). See: (Romans 8:17, 1599 Geneva Bible)
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3). See: (1 Corinthians 6:3, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6). See: (Ephesians 2:6, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and corrections among the people:
To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: this honor shall be to all his Saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:7-9) (Psalm 149:7-9, 1599 Geneva Bible)
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12), (1 Timothy 2:12, 1599 Geneva Bible)
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:26). See: (Revelation 2:26, 1599 Geneva Bible)
To serve God is to reign. -- Seneca (4 BC -- 65 AD)See the Theological Notes: "The Three Purposes of the Law," at Deuteronomy 13:10 in The Reformation Study Bible.
If terrorism within the borders of the United States of America is seen as the wrath of God punishing a wayward people, then zealous execution of Christian Magistracy, by leaders in the Church, and by leaders in the State, is the biblical solution to the problem of domestic terrorism. It is also the solution to the myriad of other serious problems besetting our declining society.
Scripture is clear. The zealous execution of Christian Magistracy by Covenant Heads in the Church, and in the State, turns back the wrath of God. In fact, this is an underlying theme throughout the entire Bible. See particularly: the books of Judges, and Micah.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. (Numbers 25:10,11)Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (Psalm 106:30,31)
They were guilty of a great sin in the matter of Peor; and this was the sin of the new generation, when they were within a step of Canaan (v. 28 [Psalm 106:28]): They joined themselves to Baal-peor, and so were entangled both in idolatry and in adultery, in corporeal and in spiritual whoredom, Num. 25:1-3 [Numbers 25:1-3]. Those that did often partake of the altar of the living God now ate the sacrifices of the dead, of the idols of Moab (that were dead images, or dead men canonized or deified), or sacrifices to the infernal deities on the behalf of their dead friends. Thus they provoked God to anger with their inventions (v. 29 [Psalm 106:29]), in contempt of him and his institutions, his commands, and his threatenings. The iniquity of Peor was so great that, long after, it is said, They were not cleansed from it, Jos. 22:17 [Joshua 22:17]. God testified his displeasure at this (1) By sending a plague among them, which in a little time swept away 24,000 of those impudent sinners. (2) By stirring up Phinehas to use his power as a magistrate for the suppressing of the sin and checking the contagion of it. He stood up in his zeal for the Lord of hosts, and executed judgment upon Zimri and Cozbi, sinners of the first rank, genteel sinners; he put the law in execution upon them, and this was a service so pleasing to God that upon it the plague was stayed, v. 30 [Psalm 106:30]. By this, and some other similar acts of public justice on that occasion (Num. 25:4,5 [Numbers 25:4,5]), the guilt ceased to be national, and the general controversy was let fall. When the proper officers did their duty God left it to them, and did not any longer keep the work in his own hands by the plague. Note, National justice prevents national judgments. But, Phinehas herein signalizing himself, a special mark of honour was put upon him, for what he did was counted to him for righteousness to all generations (v. 31 [Psalm 106:31]), and, in recompence of it, the priesthood was entailed on his family. He shall make an atonement by offering up the sacrifices, who had so bravely made an atonement (so some read it, v. 30 [Psalm 106:30]), by offering up the sinners. Note, It is the honour of saints to be zealous against sin. -- Matthew Henry in Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (unabridged)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (Joshua 7:12)
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. (Jonah 1:12-15)And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and [unto] magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 12:11,12)Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
For it is written,
As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11,12)Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:10-12)
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:9,10)
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15). See the note for Revelation 20:11-15, page 2031, in The Reformation Study Bible.
See also: David Steele, Notes on the Apocalypse which is also available in the Project Gutenberg, and James Durham, A Complete Commentary Upon the Book of Revelation, and Alexander M'Leod, Lectures Upon the Principal Prophecies of the Revelation.An advocate for constitutional government says activist judges could be dealt a fatal blow if Congress would follow its mandate and use the authority granted to the legislature by the Constitution to keep the courts in check. Many conservatives feel that liberal judges who make law rather than interpret the Constitution have been leading an assault on the traditional values on which America was founded. But Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus says that could all end if the U.S. Congress would act. "Article Three gives Congress the power to abolish every federal court except the Supreme Court, and to limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court," he says. He goes on to explain that this empowers Congress to prevent the courts by statute from ruling against the public display of the Ten Commandments, the inclusion of "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, prayer in schools, and similar religious freedom and freedom of expression issues. Phillips says these rights are guaranteed. "You don't need a Constitutional Amendment -- it's in the Constitution." Unfortunately, he says, Congress has been derelict in its duty to protect these rights by failing to oversee the courts more closely. -- Bill Fancher
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. -- Frederic Bastiat, The Law, p. 20
That the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses . . . be a rule to all the courts in this jurisdiction . . ." (April 3, 1644) -- The New Haven Colony Charter
The laws of nature are the laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from Whose punishment they cannot protect us. All human constitutions which contradict His Laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey. -- George Mason, in 1772
Paul does not regard government as provider of income, health care, education, national parks, money, or any of the other services common to our modern welfare states; its function is quite simple: to punish wrongdoers. -- John W. Robbins
An unrighteous judge doth condemn the cause of God himself; for every righteous cause is his. 2. Yea, he condemneth Christ himself in his members; for in that he doth it to one of the least of those whom he calleth brethren, he doth it to himself, Matt. xxv [Matthew 25]. It is a damnable sin, not to relieve the innocent and imprisoned in their distress, when we have power: what is it then to oppress them and unrighteously condemn? 3. It is a turning of the remedy into a double misery, and taking away the only help of oppressed innocency. What other defense hath innocency, but law and justice? And when their refuge itself doth fall upon them and oppress them, whither shall the righteous fly? 4. It subverteth laws and government, and abuseth it to destroy the ends which it is appointed for. -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691, I:857)
Is leadership to blame for our problems?
Lack of individual responsibility (Individual Responsibility for Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification) has a lot to do with the problems of individuals and nation today. (1 Samuel 12:13-15) Sometimes the truth hurts. We humans, with our fuzzy understanding of the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God (The Sovereignty of God) and The Doctrine of Man (Human Nature, Total Depravity) tend to shift blame (Scapegoating and Blameshifting) to leadership. Blinded to the broader perspective we tend to blame our leaders for our problems. We think the enemies of society are elected officials, civil servants, judges, lawyers, and business CEOs. Or we blame church leaders in the visible church who are not true to Christ. After all they repress and suppress the Truth and are instrumental in maintaining a famine of spiritual knowledge. We blame anyone who has usurped power and who is rebellious and idolatrous.
Viewed from a broader perspective, in the Old Testament our Heavenly Father entered into a covenant with us (The Ten Commandments: The Moral Law), (Covenant Theology and the Ordinance of Covenanting). And in the New Testament He has redeemed us by adopting us back into His family on the basis of the finished life and work of Christ (Book-length Presentations of the Free Offer of The Gospel Message of Salvation and the Life to Come: The Means of Grace). But when we as individuals turn our backs on Christ, when we fall into idolatry, then one of the ways He punishes us is to give us leaders like ourselves, who are rebellious and idolatrous. Notice He gives us exacting what we deserve. He gives us exactly what we have willed for ourselves by the lives we live (Psalm 106:40-43; 1 Samuel 12:14,15). Notice also that He is simply being faithful to his covenant with us (The Covenant Faithfulness of God).
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of individual members of society that restrains evil. In other words, in the final analysis it is individual hearts filled with the Holy Spirit that determines the leadership of a nation. We are redeemed and saved by our absolute sovereign God in his covenant faithfulness with us. The consequence is righteous leadership and a renewed and stabilized nation. Our prayer should be Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved (Psalm 80:3), (A Theological Interpretation of American History)All of history is under the sovereign control of God. And both the account in Scripture of ancient nations and current events prove that He is faithful to his covenant with us. So it may be said, from this broader perspective, that there are no problems. In fact, all the problems we experience as individuals and as a nation prove the same thing. They prove that His covenant faithfulness is sure (The Covenant Faithfulness of God), and His mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:40-43). Everything is guided by his providential (The Providence of God), hand, and everything that happens in history has meaning. There are no tragedies in God's world. God's mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:40-43).
Problems prove the infinite wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth of the Triune God. When we stray from our Heavenly Father, then He judges us and punishes us in order to draw us back to Himself. His chastisement should open our eyes, it should call us back to our senses, and it should point us again to His salvation and to His redemption through the Gospel. ("The Argument on the Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke" at "Book-length Presentations of the Free Offer of The Gospel Message of Salvation and the Life to Come: The Means of Grace"). The Gospel itself is evidence of His covenant faithfulness.
This is the witness of Scripture, the Gospel, history, and current events (A Theological Interpretation of American History).
Therefore, we should take heed of His word and just punishment of individuals and nations in ancient times and today. We should view leadership that is rebellious and idolatrous as a punishment from God for our own rebellion and idolatry. Consequently, we should fear Him, heed His word, and strive faithfully in loving obedience to serve Him all the days of our lives, "so that having finished this life we may partake of the blessed rest prepared for us in eternity by His Only Begotten Son."There never has been a period in which Common Law did not recognize Christianity as laying at its foundation. -- Joseph Story, Dane Professor of Law at Harvard University in his 1829 inaugural address
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." -- John Philpot Curran, Speech Upon the Right of Election, 1790. (Speeches. Dublin, 1808)
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. -- John Adams, Address to the Militia of Massachusetts, 1798
Most people agreed that our law was rooted, as John Adams had said, in a common moral and religious tradition, one that stretched back to the time Moses went up on Mount Sinai. Similarly almost everyone agreed that our liberties were God-given and should be exercised responsibly. There was a distinction between liberty and license. -- Terry Eastland
Pride makes men pretend to be more just than God; and to think that they could more justly govern the world; and to censure God's threatenings, and the sufferings of the good, and the prosperity of the wicked, as things so unjust, as that they thereby incline to atheism. So James and John would be more just than Christ, and call down fire on the rejecters of the gospel; and the prodigal's brother, Luke xv. [Luke 15] repined at his father's lenity.
Pride maketh men slight the authority and commands of God, and despise his messengers, and choose to be ruled by their own conceits, and lusts, and interests, Jer. xiii. 15,17 [Jeremiah 13:15,17]; xliii. 2,3 [Jeremiah 43:2,3]; when the humble tremble at his word, and readily obey it, Isa. lvii. 15 [Isaiah 57:15]; Neh. ix. 16,29 [Nehemiah 9:16,29]; Isa. ix. 9 [Isaiah 9:9].
A proud man in power will expect that his will be obeyed before the will of God; and that the subjects of God displease their Master rather than him: he will think it a crime for a man to inquire first what God would have him do; or to plead conscience and the commands of the God of heaven, against the obeying of his unjust commands. If he offer you preferment, as Balak did Balaam, he looketh you should be more taken with it, than with God's offer of eternal life: if he threaten you, as Nebuchadnezzar did the three witnesses, he looks that you should be more afraid of him than of God, who threateneth your damnation; and is angry if you be not.
A proud man is more offended with one that would question his authority, or speak diminutively of his power, or displease his will, or cross his interest, than with one that sinneth against the authority, and will, and interest of God. He is much more zealous for himself and his own honour, than for God's; and grieved more for his own dishonour, and hateth his own enemies more than God's; and can tread down the interest of God and souls, if it seem but necessary to his honour or revenge: he is much more pleased and delighted with his own applause, and honour, and greatness, than with the glory of God, or the fulfilling of his will.
Proud men would fain steal from God himself the honour of many of his most excellent works. If they are rulers, they are more desirous that the thanks for the order and peace of societies be given by the people to them, than unto God. If they are preachers, they would fain have more than their due, of the honour of men's conversion and edification: if they are pastors, they would encroach upon Christ's part of the government of his church. . . . -- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)Under the guise of various rhetorical devices, American jurists are more and more openly taking power into their hands. Robert H. Bork, when he was Federal Court of Appeals Judge, described the situation well when he said of constitutional interpretation, "What we get then is neither constitutional law nor moral philosophy but simplistic and idiosyncratic legislation by judges that claim the finality accorded to constitutional law." The "net effect" of this, says Bork, is "simply to free judges from restraints many of them would otherwise feel bound to honor" and to produce a malaise of "unguided and expanding judicial power." -- Virginia Armstrong and Michael Farris, editors, The Christian World View of Law
Usurpation of God's authority is the besetting sin of mankind (Usurping the authority to establish what is Truth and what is Falsehood enables one to manipulate the world to his own liking. This is the temptation of Eve. It is the essence of liberalism). To suppose that mankind has the authority to establish Truth and Falsehood, to establish what is good and what is evil, is also the sin of Eden, the Cardinal sin, and a violation of the summation of the Ten Commandments found in Matthew 22:38-40. It is rebellion against the holiness and majesty of God, and is a breaking of the conditions of the Sinai Covenant between God and man, a continuation of the Covenant of Grace (Exodus 3:15; Deuteronomy 7:7,8; 9:5,6). Usurpation of God's authority by humanly reformulating law recrucifies Christ, and abrogates all justice. This liberal, willful disobedience, negates God's law given to sustain life and to maintain social order, and brings the Second Death upon mankind.
The nominal Christian, the conservative, and the pagan give the appearance of being blind to the distinction between God's law and law created by man. God wholly enforces his law, man is helpless to enforce the law he creates. Man can do noting except labor for the perfect justice of God's law.
We content ourselves in the only word of God; and do therefore simply believe and teach, that God by his providence doth govern all things. -- Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575)
You can not break the Law of God, you can only be broken by it. -- Anonymous
I come in the might of the Lord Jehovah,
I mention Thy righteousness -- Thine only. (Psalm 71:16, YLTHB)
The only testimony that the Psalmist was going to bear for the rest of his life would be a testimony to the righteousness of the Lord Jehovah. Here was enough work for a lifetime, and here was the one who was at home in the work.
Bear your testimony to the righteousness of God in providence. Stand to it that the Lord never does wrong. He is never mistaken. Whatever He ordains is, and must be, unquestionably right: Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. (Rev. 16:7 [Revelation 16:7], YLTHB). Next, bear witness to His righteousness in salvation. Declare that He does not save without an atonement; that He does not put away sin without being strictly just; that He does not spare the guilty, but has laid on Christ that which was due to the sins of His chosen ones, that He might be just and the Justifier of one who believes. Go on to tell everybody that the righteousness which saves you is the righteousness of God, not your own righteousness. There is no such thing as human righteousness. The two words make up a contradiction. Any righteousness that you could gain by your own works would be as filthy rags, and filthy rags are not righteousness. We have no personal merit, but we are justified by imputed righteousness. Make mention of the righteousness of Christ which covers you entirely.
Declare the righteousness of God as to a future state. Declare that whatever Scripture speaks of the ungodly is true, and that God is righteous in it. Never mind the cavils and the inventions of this present age. God's character can never be harmed by these dreamers. Stand by your God, and you may rest assured that time will never change the essential truth that He is a holy and a righteous God, and that He will justify His ways to men." -- Morning and Evening II, A Second Year of Daily Devotions by C.H. Spurgeon With Selected Devotion From Many Famed Men of God, Including Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, Martin Luther, William Gurnall, Thomas Goodwin, John Owen, Joseph Alleine, John Flavel, Thomas Brooks, John Gill, Thomas Manton, Joseph Caryl, and many others (Lafayette, Indiana: Sovereign Grace Trust Fund, 1990), November 8, EveningThe Pagan/Occult Revival and the rise in Violent/Destructive Crime can be stopped by the punishment of individuals and organizations who violate first God's Law, The Ten Commandments, and then man's law. But man has corrupted law to take the liberty and property of his neighbors as Frederic Bastiat has so beautifully articulated in his 19th century work THE LAW.
The difference between God's law and man's laws? God enforces his law. Man's law is corrupted, and man is unable to enforce his law.
The administration of justice in the legal system depends upon being true to the Trinitarian God who has taught mankind the difference between right and wrong in The Holy Bible.
Punishment does not change the heart of depraved man. Only God can change the heart. However, punishment changes behavior, and, if it is based upon God's Law as revealed in The Holy Bible, both represses and suppresses evil, and protects the innocent who suffer at the hands of the wrongdoer.
The State was divinely ordained to punish wrongdoers. There is an evident correlation between the decline of historic, orthodox, Reformed Christianity and the politicization, the secularizing, and the corruption of the Legal Sector and the Court System for the purpose of taking the property and the liberty of the individual. Departure of the State from the Law of God is analogous to non-duality, polytheism, heresy, syncretism, toleration, temporization, invasiveness, bondage, loss of liberty, declension, and destruction. (See Frederick Bastiat, The Law and C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History).The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all. -- Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 -- March 15, 1998), from his autobiography
Permissiveness did not work with our youth (see SPOCK ON SPOCK). What reasons do churchmen, judges, and Federal, State, and Local government officials have to expect that their leniency, permissiveness, and lack of justice will work with adult society?Western society has given itself the organization best suited to its purposes, based, I would say, on the letter of the law. The limits of human rights and righteousness are determined by a system of laws; such limits are very broad. People in the West have acquired considerable skill in using, interpreting and manipulating law, even though laws tend to be too complicated for an average person to understand without the help of an expert. Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the supreme solution. If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is required, nobody may mention that one could still not be entirely right, and urge self-restraint, a willingness to renounce such legal rights, sacrifice and selfless risk: it would sound simply absurd. One almost never sees voluntary self-restraint. Everybody operates at the extreme limit of those legal frames. An oil company is legally blameless when it purchases an invention of a new type of energy in order to prevent its use. A food product manufacturer is legally blameless when he poisons his produce to make it last longer: after all, people are free not to buy it.
I have spent all my life under a communist regime and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulses.
And it will be simply impossible to stand through the trials of this threatening century with only the support of a legalistic structure. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), from A World Split Apart, a commencement speech given at Harvard University, June 8, 1978Truth is very beautiful; more so, as I consider, than justice -- today's pursuit -- which easily puts on a false face. In the nearly seven decades I have lived through, the world has overflowed with bloodshed and explosions whose dust has never had time to settle before others have erupted; all in purportedly just causes. The quest for justice continues, and the weapons and hatred pile up; but truth was an early casualty. The lies on behalf of which our wars have been fought and our peace treaties concludes! The lies of revolution and of counter-revolution! The lies of advertising, of news, of salesmanship, of politics! The lies of the priest in his pulpit, the professor at his podium, the journalist at his typewriter! The lie stuck like a fish-bone in the throat of the microphone, the hand-held lies of the prowling cameraman! Ignazio Silone told me once how, when he was a member of the old Comintern, some strategem was under discussion, and the delegate, a newcomer who had never attended before, made the extraordinary observation that if such and such statement were to be put out, it wouldn't be true. There was a moment of dazed silence, and then everyone began to laugh. They laughed and laughed until tears ran down their cheeks and the Kremlin walls seemed to shake. The same laughter echoes in every council chamber and cabinet room, wherever two or more are gathered together to exercise authority. It is truth that has died, not God. -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Chronicles of Wasted Time, (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2006), 19-20.
Without Bible magistracy -- law enforcement, judgment, justice, criminal prosecution, civil prosecution, punishment of wrongdoers, equal justice for the "insane" and "mentally ill" (who in most cases are demoniacs), regulation of finance, business, and just regulation in all spheres of human activity -- in the absence of law enforcement, and regulation there is no government in church or in state. Punishment of wrongdoers is the primary function of a nation's government. Likewise, without church discipline there is no church government and, of course, no church.
The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact. (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21b; Ecclesiastes 9:3b; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3-5) -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990). See John Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah Chapter 33 [Isaiah 33:1-66].
A. Crimes against God: religious offenses (punishable by the death penalty)
[Surprisingly covetousness and theft do not appear specifically in the following listings. Yet the 10th of the Decalogue summarizes the previous nine. -- compiler]1. IdolatryB. Crimes against man: civil offenses (also punishable by the death penalty)
2. Infant sacrifice
3. Witchcraft, divination and spiritualism
4. Blasphemy (taking the name of the Lord in vain)
5. False prophecy
6. Sabbath-breaking
7. Defiance of the authority of God's law1. Homicide [this would include abortion, infanticide, physician assisted suicide, some "iatrogenic" deaths, killing the elderly, genocide, and so forth -- compiler]The above quotes from G.L. Archer, "Crimes and Punishments," in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 1, pp. 1030-1036
2. Assault and battery against one's own parents
3. Sodomy or homosexuality
4. Adultery
5. Fornication by the daughter of a priest
6. Rape out-of-doors
7. Incest (see the article for degrees of relatedness)
8. Cursing of one's mother or father
9. Consistent disobedience and willfulness of a young man toward his parents
10. Kidnapping for the purpose of selling into slavery
11. Malicious prosecution and perjury in a charge of murderPolice say the occult, drugs, sexual perversion, and crime are typically found together -- unregenerate man's lust for power, wealth, and sex.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:3b)
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. (Psalm 119:53)
Abadinsky, Howard, The Criminal Elite: Professional and Organized Crime, ISBN: 0313238332 9780313238338.
*Achbar, Mark, and Jennifer Abbott (directors), The Corporation (2004), DVD encoded Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only), Zeitgeist Video DVD; April 5, 2005. Run Time: 145.
"This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit.
"The Corporation" was spawned from Joel Bakan's in depth book, THE CORPORATION: A PATHOLOGICAL PURSUIT OF PROFIT AND POWER (See annotation above). The film and book begins in the 18th century, in the establishment of the 14th Amendment. Initially the 14th Amendment was designed after the Civil War to give ex-slaves' legal rights, like any other citizen of the United States, but through a maze of legal precedents, the business corporation organization model was now deemed a 'legal person' with all the civil rights accorded to a citizen. This highly absurd precedent has paved the way for corporations to literally get away with murder, because a 'corporation' is not an individual that you can put in jail. In effect, a corporation has no moral or social obligations; their only obligation is the pursuit of profit. This film offers numerous examples of unethical practices resulting in death for many people, and because of their [corporations] status under the 14th Amendment, and endless legal loopholes, [they] have gotten away with terrible crimes against humanity and the environment with no more than a fine, a mere slap on the wrist.
"As the law treats corporations as 'persons,' Bakan thought it appropriate to put the various behaviors of these companies under psychological examination. What this psychological study illustrated is that corporations, as 'persons' behave and display the symptoms of the clinical psychopath. A psychopath typically does not have a social conscience, is guilt free after committing heinous acts, and will destroy anything or anybody that prevents them from attaining the object of their particular obsession -- in this case, the relentless pursuit of profit.
"This documentary took several years to produce with over 650 hours of footage directors, Jennifer Abbot and Mark Achbar, had to chisel down this amazing amount of material into a comprehensible film. What is most astounding is the range of people interviewed for this film, that argue from all sides of the 'corporation issue:' Ira Jackson, Ray Anderson -- CEO of Interface, the world's largest carpet manufacturer; Noam Chomsky, Richard Grossman, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Milton Freidman, Noble Prize winning economist; Jeremy Rifkin, President, Foundation of Economic Trends; Dr. Robert Hare, Consultant to the FBI on psychopaths, and many more individuals from all sides of the debate.
"When Bakan wrote his book and then collaborated with Mark Achbar to produce this film, what they did not want was the film to appear as just some left-wing diatribe, attacking the corporations, but to illustrate to people how the corporation began, how they have evolved and what they could well turn into if the people do not become involved in the democratic process, ensuring our governments take back the reigns of power.
"After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line.
"I believe this is one of the best and most important documentary films to be made in many years. This work is an "exposé of legal tyranny." -- C. Middleton
"An epic in length and breadth, this documentary aims at nothing less than a full-scale portrait of the most dominant institution on the planet Earth in our lifetime -- a phenomenon all the more remarkable, if not downright frightening, when you consider that the corporation as we know it has been around for only about 150 years. It used to be that corporations were, by definition, short-lived and finite in agenda. If a town needed a bridge built, a corporation was set up to finance and complete the project; when the bridge was an accomplished fact, the corporation ceased to be. Then came the 19th-century robber barons, and the courts were prevailed upon to define corporations not as get-the-job-done mechanisms but as persons under the 14th Amendment with full civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (i.e., power and profit) -- ad infinitum.
"The Corporation defines this endlessly mutating life-form in exhaustive detail, measuring the many ways it has not only come to dominate but to deform our reality. The movie [Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott], performs a running psychoanalysis of this entity with the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath: a callous unconcern for the feelings and safety of others, an incapacity to experience guilt, an ingrained habit of lying for profit, etc. We are swept away on a demented odyssey through an altered cosmos, in which artificial chemicals are created for profit and incidentally contribute to a cancer epidemic; in which the folks who brought us Agent Orange devise a milk-increasing drug for a world in which there is already a glut of milk; in which an American computer company leased its systems to the Nazis -- and serviced them on a monthly basis -- so that the Holocaust could go forward as an orderly process. . . ." -- Richard T. Jameson
The Corporation
Website for the documentary movie and DVD, "The Corporation."
http://www.thecorporation.com/
*Adams, Jay E. (1929-2020), The Big Umbrella and Other Essays and Addresses on Christian Counseling, ISBN: 0801000580 9780801000584. Alternate title: ESSAYS ON COUNSELING.
"A dozen lectures meant to orient people to the basic ideas of Christian counseling. The 'Big Umbrella' is the notion that mental illness explains any and every difficulty in life. Organic mental malfunction is a much smaller -- and legitimate -- umbrella, but it must not be confused with the vast turf of problems in living. Psychiatrists and others who illegitimately counsel are squatters on the pastor's turf. 'What I wrote [in COMPETENT TO COUNSEL], is only a frail beginning. It is going to take dozens and dozens of us years and years to develop counseling that is fully Christian, clearly defined and articulated.' Treats evangelism in counseling, grief counseling, demon possession, marital and familial communication, abuses of small groups, drugs, masturbation, and homosexuality. 'The kind of counseling that we have been discussing may be structured, but it also is an informal pervasive force among the people of God'." -- David Powlison (1949-2019)
*Anderson, James N.D., Morality, Law and Grace, ISBN: 0877845468 9780877845461.
"Faces the pressing problems of the present day and provides perceptive counsel and sane solutions to the moral confusion of our contemporary society. Also underscores the relevancy of the Christian message, the uniqueness of its ethic, and the richness of its liberty. An admirable blending of scientific logic, legal expertise, and Biblical knowledge." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Anonymous, (attributed to George Gillespie), The Mystery of Magistracy Unvailed: or, God's Ordinance of Magistracy Asserted, Cleared, and Vindicated, From Heathenish Dominion, Tyrannous and anti-Christian Usurpation, Despisers of Dignities, and Contemners of Authorities, by an Unworthy Servant and Subject of Jesus Christ. Available (PDF and 2 MP3 files) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Though the author is unknown, this work has been thought by some to have been written by George Gillespie. It is a fine introduction to Second Reformation thought on civil government. Some sample headings extracted from its pages include: 'Of the qualifications required in the Judge or Ruler;' 'Of the promised blessing that is to attend the latter days in a righteous rule and ruler;' 'Of the judgement and curse attending no rule, or an evil ruler;' 'Of the people's duty under wicked rulers, both towards God and them." -- Publisher
Available from Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Publishing (covenanter.org/pamphlets/) as a pamphlet, #17.
The Mystery of Magistracy Unvailed
"THE MYSTERY OF MAGISTRACY UNVAILED sets forth in short compass the proper parameters of the civil magistrate. It also considers several related questions: What are the proper qualifications of rulers? May Christians appoint unbelievers to rule over them? What are the duties of magistrates? What are the duties of the people under magistrates? But, most importantly for us, living as we do under a government increasingly hostile to the Christian religion, what are the duties of the people to wicked rulers? To this interesting and engaging manual for believers, whether under a godly or an ungodly ruler, is added a short essay on the subject of taxation by David Steele. . . . There is also an extract from the 1761 Testimony of the Reformed Presbytery concerning this matter." -- Publisher
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2017/1/16/the-mystery-of-magistracy-unvailed?rq=Mystery%20of%20Magistracy
The Mystery of Magistracy Unvailed: or, God's Ordinance of Magistracy Asserted, Cleared, and Vindicated from heathenish dominion, tyrannous and anti-Christian usurpation, despisers of dignities and contemners or authorities, by an unworthy servant and subject of Jesus Christ, the King of saints and nations (1708)
http://archive.org/details/magistr00edin
Archer, Gleason L., Ethical Obligations of the Lawyer, ISBN: 0837702070 9780837702070.
*Bakan, Joel, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, ISBN: 9780743247467 0743247469.
"Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world's dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.
"In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character, and globalization of the modern business corporation, Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:
*Barton, David, Impeachment: Restraining an Overactive Judiciary, ISBN: 0925279552 9780925279552.
"The American judicial branch is out of control, dominating both the executive and legislative branches. This book reveals how the Founders restrained overactive courts, utilizing the only Constitutional tool available -- impeachment. With concise clarity, the historical perspective on impeachment is described, and aptly compared with the current misconceptions on impeachable offenses with the Constitution's original intentions." -- Publisher
*Bastiat, Frederic (1801-1850), The Law. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language.
"Full of truths that are not merely relevant, but are absolutely vital to our future." -- Dick Armey
"If ever there was a concise and powerful argument for defending Liberty and the Law against every social engineer, this has to be it (only 75 pages!). Bastiat is a master of words and the analogy. Every lover of freedom who wishes to get a nutshell understanding of why Liberty and Law matters ought to read this book. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
The Law, by Frederic Bastiat (part 1 of 10)
"The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! " -- Frederic Bastiat, from the Introduction
The Law, Frederic Bastiat
http://archive.org/details/law00fredguat
Blackstone, Sir William, with essays by William Bentley Ball, John Brabner-Smith, J. Robert Brame, III, Neil Markva, J. Shelby Sharpe, and Herbert W. Titus, The Laws of Nature and Nature's God: The Ultimate Law.
"According to the great early American statesman, George Mason, 'The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.' THE ULTIMATE LAW reprints Blackstone's key words concerning the true source and nature of law for man and society . . . and presents a collection of excellent essays by six prominent Christian attorneys who delve into the facts concerning the higher law." -- Plymouth Rock Foundation
Bologna, G. Jack, and Robert J. Lindquist, Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting: New Tools and Techniques, 2nd edition, ISBN: 0471106461 9780471106463.
"Fraud, in the words of the authors, is no simple vice. Recent years have seen it grow both in size and complexity, to the point where some estimates place losses due to fraud at well over $100 billion a year. And, with the increasing complexity of financial structures and the intensity of business competition, fraud has become harder to detect and more tempting to commit.
"Since much of the responsibility for detecting fraud has been assumed by the accounting profession, accountants need to learn how to recognize its signs and investigate it. FRAUD AUDITING AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, SECOND EDITION focuses on the investigation, detection, documentation, and prevention of accounting frauds, stock frauds, and employee theft and embezzlement. Written by recognized experts in the field of white-collar crime, this comprehensive book provides an incisive, in-depth analysis of how fraud occurs within an organization and explains the latest techniques for fighting it. The authors have brought together up-to-date material to show practicing professionals how to:
"G. Jack Bologna, BBA, JD, CFE, is President of Computer Protection Systems, Inc., and Associate Professor of Management at Siena Heights College. Among his numerous publications are THE ACCOUNTANT'S HANDBOOK OF FRAUD AND COMMERCIAL CRIME (Wiley), FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK, and HANDBOOK ON CORPORATE FRAUD. He is also editor of two newsletters, Forensic Accounting Review and Computer Security Digest. Mr. Bologna is a recipient of the Thomas J. Fitzgerald Award for significant contribution to the field of information security.Recognize the characteristics of organizations in which fraud is likely to occur
Detect and deter accounting fraud, using the most recently developed techniques
Conduct an efficient, systematic fraud investigation
Use the latest methods for documenting fraud and preparing evidence -- and much more
In addition, this timely, authoritative book presents new case studies, drawn from a wide variety of actual incidents, that demonstrate industry-tested methods for dealing with fraud.
Bork, Robert H. (1927-2012), Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges, ISBN: 0844741620 9780844741628.
"With a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California outlawing our Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the words, 'one nation under God,' and the case of Lawrence v. Texas in which a constitutionally protected 'right' to sodomy was discovered, there couldn't be a more informative and timely book or a better author on the subject of law, precedent, and the role of the judiciary in America. Robert Bork presents factual evidence of worldwide judicial tyranny.
"While the 11th Circuit puts the 10 Commandments in the closet in Alabama and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finds that a 4-year-old had no right to give out pencils that said 'Jesus loves the little children' as Easter presents to classmates, we must ask ourselves: are we ruled by Law or by Men? To quote the author from one interview, 'The nations in the West are increasingly governed not by law or elected representatives, but by unelected, unrepresentative, unaccountable committees of lawyers applying the law in accordance with nothing other than their own will.'
"How will you decide this issue of judicial activism? Will you champion various court decisions because they align with your worldview, despite the consequences to our unique constitutional form of government in America and the delicate balance of power and culture between nations? U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cited foreign court rulings as a basis (in part), for his decision in Lawrence v. Texas, and Ruth Bater Ginsberg was later quoted affirming and defending that practice. The New York Times has reported openly and approvingly that judges are engaging in a 'worldwide constitutional conversation.'
"Research through the pages of this book what in the world is going on with the judiciary. Become informed about why the unique foundations of American law and jurisprudence are vital to the freedoms we all hold dear and to civilization as we know it." -- Reader's Comment
Bork, Robert H., The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law, ISBN: 0684843374 9780684843377.
"The primary function of this book is as a brilliant defense of Judge Bork's philosophy of original understanding and an excoriating polemic against judicial intervention. Surveying the entire history of American jurisprudence, Bork takes on interventionists of the Left and of the Right and makes an irrefutable case for the proposition that judicial intervention is a threat to the very functioning of the Republic. As you read his arguments and watch him marshal the facts, it's easy to understand why his nomination to the Supreme Court became such a political crucible. We lost the opportunity to have a really first class mind shape the Court for a generation when he was defeated." -- Reader's Comment
Borkin, Joseph, The Corrupt Judge: An Inquiry Into Bribery and Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors in the Federal Courts.
Bouma, Ralph, The new Authority Without Constitution or law and its Remedy Identified.
*Brown, John (of Edinburgh, 1784-1858), Keeping Christ's Commandments: A True Manifestation of Love to Him. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #7.
*Bugliosi, Vincent, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, ISBN: 9780792756064 0792756061.
We receive what we deserve as citizens. Bugliosi's book offers hope in these ominous times, when practically all of our institutions, including the three branches of government, seem to be broken beyond repair. THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER demonstrates that one person can bring an unfaithful leader to trial in the courtroom of American public opinion, can call for justice, outside the reach of the politicized monopoly that our Court System has become, and without astronomical legal costs and delays -- by publishing a lawsuit.
We hope upright, law-abiding citizens will follow Bugliosi's example and will publish lawsuits calling for justice against unfaithful leaders in the courtroom of American public opinion.
Notice this book is actually a lawsuit. Vince Bugliosi explained in a broadcast interview that his intention is to present all the facts and arguments necessary to win a lawsuit against George W. Bush. He said it is his intention to make it possible for any County or State District Attorney, where a son or daughter has died in the Iraq war, to file a suite against George W. Bush. Furthermore, he is offering to act as a consultant or associate Prosecuting Attorney with any local District Attorney. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
"Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career.
"In THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses -- a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
"As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
"A searing indictment of the President and his administration, THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
"Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.
"Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, HELTER SKELTER, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. Two of Bugliosi's other books -- AND THE SEA WILL TELL and OUTRAGE -- also reached #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. No other American true-crime writer has ever had more than one book that achieved this ranking. His latest book, RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, has been heralded as 'epic' and 'a book for the ages.'
"Bugliosi has uncommonly attained success in two separate and distinct fields, as an author and a lawyer. His excellence as a trial lawyer is best captured in the judgment of his peers. 'Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was,' Alan Dershowitz says. F. Lee Bailey calls Bugliosi 'the quintessential prosecutor.' 'There is only one Vince Bugliosi. He's the best,' says Robert Tanenbaum, for years the top homicide prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. Most telling is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a twenty-one-hour televised, scriptless 'docu-trial' of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the Dallas jury returned a guilty verdict in Bugliosi's favor, Spence said, 'No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.'
Bugliosi lives with his wife, Gail, in Los Angeles." -- Publisher
*Bunyan, John (1628-1688), and Robert Philip (1791-1858), The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate. Alternate title: THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF: WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT: FIRST PREACHED AT PINNERS HALL, AND NOW ENLARGED, AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available (THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"In the 1660s, Charles II, King of England, asked John Owen (1616 -- 83), why he went to hear the preaching of an uneducated tinker. [John Bunyan -- compiler]. Looking the King in the eye, Owen answered, 'May it please your Majesty, could I possess the tinker's ability for preaching, I would willingly relinquish all my learning'." -- Andrew Thomson, John Owen, Prince of Puritans
Owen would not have been surprised to learn that Bunyan's most influential work, PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, would be translated into more languages over the next 400 years than any book except the Bible.
The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate
http://archive.org/details/greatnessofsoulu00bunyuoft
Pilgrim's Page: A John Bunyan Archive
This is the complete set of THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN, George Offor edition, reprinted by The Banner of Truth. It is free online, and is downloadable in the following formats: HTML, RTF, TEXT, and PDF.
http://www.chapellibrary.org/literature/bunyan/
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN is also available at Project Gutenberg.
*Burgess, Anthony (d. 1664?), Vindiciae Legis: or, A Vindication of the Moral Law and the Covenants, From the Errors of Papists, Arminians, Socinians, and More Especially, Antinomians (1646). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
" 'A nonconformist clergyman,' Burgess 'was a member of the [Westminster] Assembly of Divines. Ejected at the Restoration . . . his works are much valued and have become very scarce' (Darling, Cyclopedia Bibliographica, p. 439). This book contains 30 lectures preached at London 'against the antinomian errors of the times.' It is the second edition corrected and augmented. Burgess says that he wrote to 'maintain the dignitie and use of the Morall Law against late errors about it.' Taking on all the errorists listed in the subtitle Burgess also notes that he has 'endeavoured to give the Law its due, and the Gospel its due, remembering that of Luther . . . He that knoweth how to distinguish between Law and Gospel, let him give thanks to God, and know he is a Divine' [i.e. a scholar of Scripture -- RB].
"An exceedingly rare item that sells for over $300 a copy on the rare book market. This book should be read by everyone in the Protestant Reformed church (or anyone who must deal with them), as it demolishes their (i.e. Protestant Reformed), errors concerning covenants -- especially in regard to their denial (and disregard for the biblical, 'Westminster' view), of the covenant of works. Some of its 62 chapter heads include: 'What a man cannot do by the power of nature;' 'Whether there are any antecedaneous works upon the heart before grace;' 'What does this Image [of God in man -- RB], consist;' 'Whether God did enter into a covenant with Adam;' 'How God can be said to covenant, or enter into a promise with man;' What Law this delivered in Mount Sinai is, and what kind of laws there are, and why it's called the Moral Law;' Whether this Law repeated by Moses, be the same with the law of nature implanted in us;' 'Why God gave the Moral Law;' Whether the Law be an instrument of sanctification;' 'Whether the Law be a covenant of grace;' Wherein the Law and Gospel do oppose or differ from each other; under which is handled the false differences between the Law and Gospel made by Anabaptists, Papists, and Antinomians;' 'Whether the Law command faith;' 'How Christ is the end of the Law.' Indexed." -- Publisher
Burgess, Heidi, and Guy M. Burgess, Encyclopedia of Conflict Resolution, ISBN: 0874368391 9780874368390.
Burnside, Jonathan P., God, Justice, and Society: Aspects of law and Legality in the Bible, ISBN: 9780199759217 0199759219.
"It is a well-researched and well-argued text, which gives a detailed, and at the same time comprehensible, account of the nature of Biblical law, its interpretation and operation and the possible ways it might have shaped, challenged, and continues to challenge, modern legal approaches to a range of legal subjects. This makes the book essential for law students, legal historians and theologians." -- Rebecca White, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion
Buzzard, Lynn R., and Paula Campbell, Holy Disobedience: When Christians Must Resist the State, ISBN: 0892831847 9780892831845.
Buzzard, Lynn R., and Christian Legal Society, Law and Theology: An Annotated Bibliography
Buzzard, Lynn R., and Laurence Eck, Readiness for Reconciliation: A Biblical Guide
Buzzard, Lynn R., Robert Buzzard, Ronald S. Kraybill, Christian Conciliation Service, Christian Legal Society, and Mennonite Central Committee, Mediation, A Reader. Alternate title: MEDIATION-ARBITRATION: A READER.
*Callahan, David, The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to get Ahead, ISBN: 0156030055 9780156030052.
"While there have always been those who cut corners, the author shows that cheating on every level -- from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud -- has risen dramatically in the last two decades. Why all the cheating? Why now? Callahan pins the blame on the dog-eat-dog economic climate of the past two decades. An unfettered market and unprecedented economic inequality have corroded our values, he argues -- and ultimately threaten the level playing field so central to American democracy itself. Through revealing interviews and extensive data, he takes us on a gripping tour of cheating in America and offers a powerful argument for why it matters.
"David Callahan is cofounder and director of research at the public policy center Demos. The author of five books, he has published articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and has been a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He received a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and lives in New York City." -- Publisher
"I recommend that this book be read together with John Perkins, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN and William Greider's, THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: OPENING PATHS TO A MORAL ECONOMY. As a preamble, I would note that a Nobel Prize was given in the late 1990's to a man that demonstrates that trust lowers the cost of doing business. Morality matters -- immorality imposes a pervasive sustained, insidious, long-term, and ultimately fatal cost on any community, any Republic, and that is the core message of this book that most reviewers seem to be missing.
"Any student of national security can tell you that one of the most important sources of national power is the population, followed by the economy, natural resources, and then the more traditional sources of national power: diplomacy, military, law enforcement, and government policies generally.
"What this author makes clear is that our population has become a cheating population, one that cheats in school, cheats their employer, and cheats their clients (lawyers, accountants, doctors, all cheating). Such a population is literally undermining national security by creating false values, and undermining true values. Some simple examples: an estimated $250 Billion a year in individual tax avoidance; an estimated $600 Billion a year in theft from employers; an estimated $250 Billion a year in legalized corporate tax avoidance and investor fraud; and an additional $250 Billion a year in legalized theft form the individual taxpayers through Congressional support for unnecessary and ill-advised 'subsidies' for agriculture, fishing, and forestry, as well as waivers of environmental standards that ultimately result in long-term external diseconomies . . .
"At root, the author observes that pervasive cheating ensues from the perception by the majority that 'everyone does it' and that the rules are not being enforced -- that 'the system' lacks legitimacy. In other countries, illegitimacy might lead to revolution, a revolt of the masses. In the USA, still a very rich country, the poor are cheating on the margins while the rich are looting the country, and we are not yet at a 'tipping point' [this book was written before the Meltdown of 2008. -- compiler], such as a new Great Depression might inspire. . . .
"Cheating diminishes trust and reduces value. America has become corrupt across all the professions, within Congress, within the media, within the political level of government (the civil service remains a bastion of propriety).
"What price freedom? What price the Republic? You may or may not choose to agree with this author's diagnosis and prescription, but in my view, he gets to the heart of the matter. It's about integrity. We've lost it. [Callahan's solutions come from a liberal, humanistic position, nevertheless the bulk of the book is an extensive analysis of cheating in society that is well documented -- 32 pages of endnotes -- and should be enlightening to most readers. -- compiler]
"See also, with reviews: THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: HOW THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDERMINED SOCIAL IDEALS, DAMAGED TRUST IN THE MARKETS, ROBBED INVESTORS OF TRILLIONS -- AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT; THE FIFTY-YEAR WOUND: HOW AMERICA'S COLD WAR VICTORY HAS SHAPED OUR WORLD; THE GLOBAL CLASS WAR: HOW AMERICA'S BIPARTISAN ELITE LOST OUR FUTURE -- AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO WIN IT BACK; WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: HOW THE GOVERNMENT, BIG BUSINESS, AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ARE WAGING WAR ON THE AMERICAN DREAM AND HOW TO FIGHT BACK; THE WORKING POOR: INVISIBLE IN AMERICA; and OFF THE BOOKS: THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY OF THE URBAN POOR." -- Reader's Comment
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah, 4 books, published in 2 volumes in CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES (vols. 7, 8). Spine title: CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES, VOLUME VII: ISAIAH 1-32; CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES, VOLUME VIII: ISAIAH 33-66. A Christian classic.
Several factors combine to make CALVIN'S COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH particularly significant.
I have a study ready for public -- well, not ready for publication, but hopefully someday, on Calvin's use of Augustine. [apparently never published -- compiler]. There are at least 400 references to Augustine in John Calvin. Anybody who says that Calvin got his theology of the top of his head knows no Calvin. Calvin knew Augustine probably better than anybody else, including Luther. Calvin went back to all the Early Western Fathers. I would say that next to Augustine, his theology is based upon Bernard of Clairvaux and Anselm, and he had a higher respect for Saint Thomas Aquinas than many people are willing to admit. But he is in the Western theological tradition.Calvin's work is in four books, with a Scripture Index and a General Index. The Baker publication prints the four books in two volumes.
Charles Hodge, in his SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY of three volumes, very often refers to Calvinism as Augustinianism, and you can see why. . . . [Charles Hodge], declares that you might as well call Calvinism revived and revitalized Augustinianism.
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Commentaries of the Minor Prophets, 5 volumes ISBN: 0851514774 9780851514772.
"Not only superior to any that preceded it, but it has continued ever since, and continues to this day, to be regarded by all competent judges as a work of the highest value." -- William Cunningham
"Calvin's work stands out as honest, sensible, and full of evangelical warmth. He opens up the rich contents to our hearts and minds. These are not relics of the past, but priceless jewels to be enjoyed even more as they are compared to others, and found rare prizes." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Calvin's Commentary on Hosea
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/m.sion/calvhose.htm
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Epistle to the Faithful Showing That Christ is the end of the law. Alternate title: CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW; CALVIN'S PREFACE TO OLIVETAN'S NEW TESTAMENT; PREFACE TO THE GENEVA BIBLE OF 1550; or, informally, CALVIN ON THE GOSPEL. (Not to be confused with Calvin's "The Argument on the Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke," in the front matter of CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES: MATTHEW, MARK AND LUKE [volume 16 of the Baker edition], which is [THE ARGUMENT], also sometimes referred to as CALVIN ON THE GOSPEL).
Calvin wrote "Christ is the end of the law," in 1534, "about the year of his conversion. . . . It is his first statement of faith as a Protestant, and an eloquent defense of it." -- Joseph Haroutunian
Therefore, it is sometimes thought of as Calvin's testimony.
Available in Desideius Erasmus, Robert Olivetan, and John Calvin (reviser and preface), OLIVETAN'S NEW TESTAMENT.
"The New Testament in the Latin of Erasmus' version, and in the French of Olivetan, revised by Calvin."
Also available in English and somewhat abridged in Jean Calvin (1509-1564), and T. Weedon (translator), Christ the end of the law: Being the Preface to the Geneva Bible of 1550.
Calvin (1509-1564), Jean, and T. Weedon (translator), Christ the End of the Law: Being the Preface to the Geneva Bible of 1550 (1850)
https://archive.org/details/christendlawbei00calvgoog
Also available in another English translation in John Calvin (1509-1564), and Joseph Haroutunian (editor, translator), CALVIN: COMMENTARIES. This is a single volume in the Library of Christian Classics Series (Volume 23). It is composed of "Extracts from Calvin's commentaries topically arranged."
"The present text, from the Opera, C.R. 9, pp. 791 f., contains additions Calvin made after 1534."
John Calvin (1509-1564), and Joseph Haroutunian (translator), Epistle to the Faithful Showing that Christ is the end of the law
http://books.google.com/books?id=NJ7UJGX8otkC&pg=PA58&dq=calvin+preface+Pierre+Robert+Oliv%C3%A9tan%E2%80%99s+French+translation+of+the+New+Testament#v=onepage&q=calvin%20preface%20Pierre%20Robert%20Oliv%C3%A9tan%E2%80%99s%20French%20translation%20of%20the%20New%20Testament&f=false
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Prov. 29:18 [Proverbs 29:18]), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), Sermons on Deuteronomy. A Christian classic. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This quality facsimile is of the 1583 edition. The Elizabethan text has small print but the 200 sermons provides us with the greatest and best volume of Calvin's sermons on the Old Testament. A Scripture index is included. Many today think that unless a commentary is new it has little value. Calvin is one of the best arguments against that view." -- GCB
"Everything that Calvin wrote by way of exposition is priceless, even those who differ from him in theology admit this." -- C.H. Spurgeon
Sermons on Deuteronomy by John Calvin
http://www.reformed.com/publications/johncalvinsabbath1of2.php
Covenant Enforced: Sermons on Deuteronomy 27 and 28, John Calvin
http://entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/2212_47e.htm
Clark [Clarke], Harold Ballard, Biblical law, Being a Text of the Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments Established in the Holy Bible -- With Many Allusions to Secular Laws: Ancient, Medieval and Modern -- Documented to the Scriptures, Judicial Decisions and Legal Literature.
"Long out of print, with original copyright in 1944 . . . The whole animating story of non-ceremonial Biblical law is clearly and concisely told in this 360-page volume. You will be astonished to find how completely Biblical law covers the entire field of civil, domestic and even social life. Thoughtful persons are discovering for themselves, anew, the truth known to our fathers: that the Bible is, not only the source of spiritual guidance, but also the most authoritative code for determining questions as to temporal conduct, whether in respect of personal, national or world affairs." -- Publisher
Coleman, James William, The Criminal Elite: Understanding White-Collar Crime, ISBN: 0716787342 9780716787341.
Commager, Henry S., Civil Liberties Under Attack: Publications of the William J. Cooper Foundation, Swarthmore College.
*Coral Ridge Ministries, Taking Liberties: The Betrayal of our Heritage (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries).
A one-hour television special available in the form of a transcript, audio cassette [audio file], video cassette, or CD.
"Perhaps there is no other concept more important than liberty in understanding America."
A brilliant presentation of the concepts of liberty by a wide range of authorities.
*Culverwel, Nathanael, An Elegant and Learned Discourse of the Light of Nature With Severall Other Treatises: viz. The Schisme, The act of Oblivion, The Childes Returne, The Panting Soul, Mount Ebal, The White Stone, Spiritual Opticks, The Worth of Souls, 1654. Alternate title: OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
" 'The work here reprinted is chiefly remarkable on three grounds, as a literary curiosity, as a monument of philosophical genius, and as a masterly discussion of the subject of which it treats, hardly surpassed in the course of British Ethics,' writes Cairns in his critical essay prefaced to this volume. Moreover, Cairns continues by calling this book a 'series of most important utterances upon all the fundamental questions of philosophy and theology . . . the theory of knowledge, the theory of conscience, and the theory of faith.'
"John Brown, in his preface, notes that 'the design of the DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE was, on the one hand to vindicate the use of reason, in matters of religion.'
"Furthermore, Brown calls Culverwel 'a decided Parliament-man, and a friend of the Solemn League and Covenant,' and speaks of his 'Calvinism, Puritanism, and deep spiritual religion.' He also calls him 'a man of genius, learning, eloquence, and piety.' This is a classic Puritan resource for anyone interested in advanced ethics, epistemology or a myriad of other pressing questions related to God's law and philosophy." -- Publisher
*Cunningham, William (1805-1861), John Calvin. Available in THE REFORMERS AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"As Cunningham states, 'John Calvin was by far the greatest of the Reformers with respect to the talents he possessed, the influence he exerted, and the services he rendered in the establishment and diffusion of important truth.' Here we have a succinct account of Calvin's works and the leading principles that he maintained. Calvin is without a doubt one of the great men in all of human history, and as he often pointed out, he owed everything to the Lord Jesus Christ -- all his talents, all his influence, his very salvation, etc. -- for that is the nature of 'Calvinism,' giving God all the glory!" -- Publisher
D'Souza, Dinesh, Stealing America: What my Experience With Criminal Gangs Taught me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party, ISBN: 9780062366719 0062366718 9780062366726 0062366726.
"I had won -- for now. But I knew I still had an ordeal ahead. Little did I know what was in store for me at the confinement center. Let me say that it was not overpopulated with dentists, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. Rather, I was destined to spend every night for the next eight months sleeping in a dormitory with more than a hundred rapists, armed robbers, drug smugglers, and murderers.
"I learned how the hoodlums think and how they operate, how they organize themselves in gangs, how they rip people off and crush their enemies. I understood, for the first time, the psychology of crookedness. Suddenly I had an epiphany: this system of larceny, corruption, and terror that I encountered firsthand in the confinement center is exactly the same system that has been adopted and perfected by modern progressivism and the Democratic Party.
"This book is an exposé of Obama, Hillary, and modern liberalism, not as a defective movement of ideas, but as a crime syndicate. . . .
"Dinesh D'Souza is a number one New York Times bestselling author and the filmmaker behind the hit documentaries "2016: Obama's America" and "America," which are respectively the second-highest- and the sixth-highest-grossing political documentaries of all time.
"In his thirty-year career as a writer, scholar, and public intellectual, D'Souza has been a policy analyst in the Reagan White House and a John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"His bestselling books include AMERICA, OBAMA'S AMERICA, THE ROOTS OF OBAMA'S RAGE, WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CHRISTIANITY, and ILLIBERAL EDUCATION." -- Publisher
Dent, Harry, and Betty Dent, Right vs. Wrong: Solutions to the American Nightmare, ISBN: 0840734387 9780840734389.
Dornan, Bob, and Casaba Vedlick, Judicial Supremacy: The Supreme Court on Trial, ISBN: 0913124389 9780913124383.
"While it takes three fourths of the states of the union to change the Constitution legally, yet as few as five men who have never been elected to office can. . . foist upon this nation laws which even Congress could not constitutionally pass." -- Supreme Court of Utah, 1968 (Dyett v. Turner 20 Utah 2nd 403).
"Makes a clear, historic, and legal case against 'Judicial Activism' and argues for the 'original intent' of the framers of the Constitution. . . ."
Downes, Stephen, Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.
"Stephen Downes, an information architect with a background in philosophy, created this site with the aim of identifying, indexing, and describing 'all known logical fallacies.' A logical fallacy can be defined as an error in reasoning in which a conclusion appears to follow from a set of premises but in reality does not. Downes groups the fallacies into thirteen categories, such as Fallacies of Distraction, Inductive Fallacies, and Syllogistic Errors. Each fallacy (over 50 in all), is described with its name, definition, examples of how it might be used in an argument, and how the argument can be proven fallacious. The How to Use this Guide section of the site provides a helpful introduction, and a robust bibliography offers possibilities for further study of logic. In addition, users may register at the site (no fee), to gain access to discussion boards on the topic. The author notes that his Guide "is intended to help you in your own thinking, not to help you demolish someone else's argument." Regardless of how a reader uses the information, however, the site remains an interesting and fun investigation of how logical arguments are constructed."
"Lists all known logical fallacies, with definitions, examples, and the steps needed to prove that the fallacy is committed. Site also includes links to logic references and resources."
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
http://www.fallacies.ca/welcome.htm
Eidsmoe, John, The Christian Legal Advisor, ISBN: 0880621184 9780880621182.
Includes bibliography.
*Fairbairn, Patrick (1805-1874), The Revelation of Law in Scripture, ISBN: 0875528686 9780875528687. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"Fairbairn expounds the biblical teaching dealing with the law of God in creation, throughout the Mosaic administration, in the teaching of our Lord, and in the life of the Christian believer. John Murray said of this book, 'THE REVELATION OF LAW IN SCRIPTURE places the law of God in its proper perspective. The careful perusal of this volume should correct the misconceptions which have afflicted the thought of many, and should promote the understanding of the sanctity of God's law without which the gospel of grace is meaningless'." -- Publisher
"These lectures, first published in 1869, treat the moral law implanted in the heart of man and trace its use throughout the Bible. Complete with supplementary dissertations. Excellent. Reformed." -- Cyril J. Barber
Farris, Michael P., Where do I Draw the Line? When Your Legal Rights are Ignored or Violated, ISBN: 155661229X 9781556612299.
What do I do "when my boss wants me to attend a New Age seminar? When my teen is required to view explicit materials in class? When home schooling my children is denied? And other situations where Christians' rights are ignored.
"Michael Farris is a constitutional lawyer who is on the cutting edge of what is happening to Christians in society today. He has represented Christians in many of the best-known religious freedom cases of the 1980's and early '90s.
"Farris alerts readers as to what they can expect to face in our society and provides practical suggestions and solid spiritual guidance on how to respond effectively." -- Publisher
Folger, Janet L., The Criminalization of Christianity: Read This Book Before it Becomes Illegal!, ISBN: 1590524683 9781590524688.
"There is a war going on for the future of our country. Most people know that. What they may not know is that if Christians lose, the result won't merely be enduring public policy we disagree with -- it will be a prison sentence for those who oppose it. We've all seen the attack coming. First the Supreme Court said kids can't pray in school. Then the Ten Commandments were ripped from the classrooms. Now pastors are being removed from their pulpits and put in jail for speaking out against homosexuality (Sweden). And things are only getting worse. How in the world did we get to this place? And why is it that Christians are singled out in this assault on morality? Serving as a wake-up call for America, this book will expose the truth that Christianity is being criminalized -- and that we must stand up against it now. . . .
"Janet L. Folger is the president of Faith2Action, which works together with the most effective organizations in America to win the cultural war for faith and family. She also served as the national director of the Center for Reclaiming America, founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy, where she launched an online effort that resulted in one of the largest pro-family grassroots armies in the nation -- more than five hundred thousand strong. One of her previous books, True to Life, describes her experiences as a pro-life advocate who successfully lobbied for the passage of the nation's first partial-birth abortion ban." -- Publisher
Galaway, Burt, and Joe Hudson, Criminal Justice, Restitution, and Reconciliation, ISBN: 0960696067 9780960696062.
*Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Wholesome Severity Reconciled With Christian Liberty, or, The True Resolution of a Present Controversie Concerning Liberty of Conscience: here you have the question stated, the middle way betwixt popish tyrannie and schismatizing liberty approved and also confirmed from Scripture and the testimonies of divines, yea of whole churches: the chiefe arguments and exceptions used in the bloudy tenent, the compassionate samaritane, M.S. to A.S. &c., examined: eight distinctions added for qualifying and clearing the whole matter: and in conclusion a parćnetick to the five apologists for choosing accommodation rather than toleration, 1645. Available (PDF and MP3 files [audio file]), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Gillespie was a major force at the Westminster Assembly. This rare item gives great insight into the original intent of the framers of the Westminster documents concerning matters of conscience, liberty, law, and government. Dr. Greg Bahnsen has noted how sections mirror modern theonomic thought. Read on cassette for the first time ever! This item can also be found in written form in volume four of Naphtali Press' Anthology of Presbyterian and Reformed Literature." -- Publisher
Wholesome Severity Reconciled With Christian Liberty, or, The True Resolution of a Present Controversy Concerning Liberty of Conscience, 1645
http://www.naphtali.com/severity.htm
Wholesome Severity Reconciled With Christian Liberty
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/21/wholesome-severity-reconciled-with-christian-liberty
*Gillespie, Patrick (1617-1675), Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December, Prov. XIV. 34; 2 Kings XVII. 22,23; Ezek. XIX. 14, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December 1650. [Proverbs 14:34; 2 Kings 17:22,23; Ezekiel 19:14] Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. (2 Kings 23:26).
"For these in public places of trust and power, that should bear down sin, are they not rather ringleaders in sin?" -- Patrick Gillespie
Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments
http://www.truecovenanter.com/gillespie/gillespie_patrick_rulers_sins_causes_of_judgment.html
Golden, Thomas W., Steven L. Skalak, and Mona M. Clayton, A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation, ISBN: 9780471469070 0471469076.
"Today's demanding marketplace expects auditors to take responsibility for fraud detection, and this expectation is buoyed by such legislation as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Auditing Standard (SAS99), which requires increased performance on the part of the auditor to find material financial statement fraud.
"Written by three of the best forensic accountants and auditors, Thomas W. Golden, Steven L. Skalak, and Mona M. Clayton, THE AUDITOR'S GUIDE TO FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION explores exactly what assurances auditors should provide and suggests alternatives to giving the capital markets more of what they are requiring-greater assurances that the financial statements they rely upon for investment decisions are free of material error, including fraud. It reveals the surprising complexity of fraud deterrence, detection, and investigation, and offers a step-by-step approach to understanding that complexity.
"From basic techniques to intricate tests and technologies, THE AUDITOR'S GUIDE TO FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION is a rich, multifaceted, and fascinating answer to the need for wiser, savvier, better-trained financial statement and internal auditors who are thoroughly familiar with fraud detection techniques and the intricate, demanding work of forensic accounting specialists.
"Thomas W. Golden, CPA, CFE, specializes in providing consulting and expert witness testimony in both civil and criminal matters with special expertise in forensic accounting, fraud investigation, and financial statement accounting. He is a former Chairman of the Board of Regents for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the current President of the Better Government Association, a citizen watchdog group in Chicago, IL. Mr. Golden is an adjunct professor at DePaul University.
"Steven L. Skalak, CPA, is the National Practice Leader for PWC Investigations and Forensic Services of Price, Waterhouse, Coopers, LLP. He has participated in a variety of corporate investigations relating to allegations that the Securities and Exchange Acts were violated, and of accounting or auditing improprieties. Steve has represented Audit Committees, Directors, Officers, Auditors, and Companies in class action litigation with shareholders and SEC investigations.
"Mona M. Clayton, CPA, CFE, specializes in international fraud investigations with particular emphasis in Latin America where she has conducted investigations. She has designed investigative practice aids providing for consistent methodologies to be incorporated across common scheme investigations. Ms. Clayton is an adjunct professor at DePaul University." -- " -- Publisher
*Grant, George, Trial and Error: The American Civil Liberties Union and its Impact on Your Family, ISBN: 0943497663 9780943497662.
"The ACLU is having a profound impact on America's Legal System. A superbly written and well researched book on the ACLU, considered by some to be Public Enemy #1."
Green, Steven K., The Fount of Everything Just and Right? The Ten Commandments as a Source of American Law, Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 14, No. 2 (1999-2000), pp. 525-558 (34 pages)
https://doi.org/10.2307/3556579
*Greenwald, Glenn, With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, ISBN: 9780805092059 0805092056.
"From 'the most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years' (Bill Moyers), a scathing critique of the two-tiered system of justice that has emerged in America.
"From the nation's beginnings, the law was to be the great equalizer in American life, the guarantor of a common set of rules for all. But over the past four decades, the principle of equality before the law has been effectively abolished. Instead, a two-tiered system of justice ensures that the country's political and financial class is virtually immune from prosecution, licensed to act without restraint, while the politically powerless are imprisoned with greater ease and in greater numbers than in any other country in the world.
"Starting with Watergate, continuing on through the Iran-Contra scandal, and culminating with Obama's shielding of Bush-era officials from prosecution, Glenn Greenwald lays bare the mechanisms that have come to shield the elite from accountability. He shows how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying, and financial fraud.
"Cogent, sharp, and urgent, this is a no-holds-barred indictment of a profoundly un-American system that sanctions immunity at the top and mercilessness for everyone else." -- Publisher
Hate Speech Bill Threat to Free Speech in South Africa, a sermon, Peter Hammond
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=31819152996997
*Hichborn, Franklin The System: As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution, ISBN: 0875850383 9780875850382.
" 'The system' is the organization of corruption and graft into a form of political order. Labor, business, and civil government unite to form a system of entrenched theft and covetousness which exploits the people. 'The system' however, rests on the fact of the already existing corruption of the people. Where 'the system' exists reform is much talked about, but never or rarely ever desired, because every man has a vested interest in loose law enforcement, in corruption, and in perpetuating evil. See: Ovid Demaris, THE CAPTIVE CITY; Lincoln Steffens, THE SHAME OF THE CITIES (New York: Sagamore Press, 1904, 1957); Walter Bean, BOSS RUEF'S SAN FRANCISCO (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952, 1967); Frank Gibney, THE OPERATORS (New York: Harper, 1960); the important study is Hitchborn's. . . .
"Thus, the covetous man has his 'system' too; he seeks a state of affairs where by lawless means the consequences of law are obtained. He wants a society to further his lawlessness and yet to protect him in it. Just as the political 'system' is the organization of corruption and graft into a form of political order, so the personal 'system' is the use of covetousness and lawlessness as the means to a new form of personal and social order. Instead of order the result is moral anarchism and social collapse." -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), in The Institutes of Biblical Law, 647-649
*House, H. Wayne (general editor), et al., The Christian and American law: Christianity's Impact on America's Founding Documents and Future Direction, ISBN: 0825428750 9780825428753.
"Contents: God's revelation: foundation for the common law / Herbert W. Titus | The philosophical and biblical perspectives that shaped the declaration of independence / Gary Amos | Operation josiah: rediscovering the biblical roots of the american constitutional republic / John Eidsmoe | Civil authority and the bible / Harold O.J. Brown | The Biblical view of submission to constituted authority / R.C. Sproul | The Christian's duty of civil disobedience to the government: contemporary struggles between Christians and the state / H. Wayne House | The religious roots of western liberty: cut them or renew them? / Douglas Kelly | The abiding value of biblical law / Larry Walker | Sin, rights, and equality / William J. Stuntz | Mission and civil law / Arthur F. Glasser | The kingdom, the church, and the gospel in an age of pluralism / Edmund P. Clowney | Appendix: a summary statement of the consultation on theology and Civil Law / Carl F.H. Henry."
Huck, Susan, Legal Terrorism: The Truth About the Christic Institute, ISBN: 0962427330 9780962427336.
"Legal terrorism is defined by the author as 'a form of political warfare by the use of the law through the courts.' Its methodology is to discredit by politically motivated civil suits."
Kaplan, David A., The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court's Assault on the Constitution, ISBN: 9781524759902 1524759902.
"Taking us inside the secret world of the Supreme Court, [this book] is an incisive look at how the justices undermine the rule of the other branches of government -- and how we've come to accept it at our peril. Never before has the Supreme Court been more central in American life. It is the nine justices who too often now decide the controversial issues of our time -- from abortion and same-sex marriage to gun control, campaign finance, and voting rights. The Court is so crucial that many voters in 2016 made their choice for president based on whom they thought their candidate would name to the Court. Donald Trump picked Neil Gorsuch -- the key decision of his new administration. The next justice -- replacing Anthony Kennedy -- will be even more important, holding the swing vote over so much social policy. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work? Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and dozens of their law clerks, prize-winning legal journalist David A. Kaplan provides fresh details about life behind the scenes at the Court -- Clarence Thomas's simmering rage, Antonin Scalia's death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's celebrity, Breyer Bingo, the petty feuding between Gorsuch and the chief justice, and what John Roberts thinks about his critics. In the bestselling tradition of THE NINE and THE BRETHREN, Kaplan presents a sweeping narrative of the justices' aggrandizement of power over the decades -- from Roe v. Wade to Bush v. Gore to Citizens United to the rulings of the 2017-18 term. But the arrogance of the Court isn't partisan: Conservative and liberal justices alike are guilty of overreach. Challenging conventional wisdom about the Court's transcendent power, [this book] is sure to rile both sides of the political aisle." -- Publisher
Kennedy, D. James, Herbert W. Titus, Steven W. Fitschen, God Save This Honorable Court: Live Recordings of Landmark Supreme Court Cases With Commentary, 1994, 3 audio cassettes. Accompanied by a companion guide by Steven W. Fitschen with Herbert W. Titus.
Contents:
"Tape 1: a. Abington v. Schempp; b. Edwards v. Aguillard
Tape 2: a. Roe v. Wade; b. Bowers v. Hardwick
Tape 3: a. Miller v. California; b. Allegheny v. ACLU."
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), John Knox Debates Theonomy, Idolatry and Civil Resistance in the General Assembly of 1564. Available (singly or in WORKS OF JOHN KNOX on the Puritan Hard Drive. The full printed version of this text is free online. "Excerpted from Knox's THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, BOOK IV. From THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, VOLUME 2, pages 425-461, collected and edited by David Laing, 1854."
" 'Perhaps the most thoroughgoing Calvinist,' writes W. Stanford Reid in (Christian History, Vol. 5, No. 4), 'who took the teacher's (Calvin -- RB), ideas to their logical conclusions, was the Scot, John Knox.' This debate is a perfect example of Knox's consistent Calvinism. In fact one wonders about a person's claim to consistent Calvinism at all if he denies the sovereignty of God in the civil arena (i.e. by denying the applicability of the first table of the law, especially the first two commandments, to the realm of the civil magistrate -- along with their penal sanctions as displayed in the Judicial laws of the Old Testament). Knox certainly did not shrink back from the binding nature of the law on these points. He even openly proclaimed, in this debate, that the death penalty should be carried out against idolaters -- and this was in the context of debating the Queen's Mass and her favoring the idolatry of Romanism. With boldness like this, it is easy to see why it was said over Knox's open grave, 'here lies a man who neither flattered nor feared any flesh.' This debate shows conclusively that Knox was a theonomist, in the sense that he believed in the continuing binding validity of OT penal sanctions. Moreover it demonstrates that it is the duty of all ministers to preach that the civil magistrate is bound to uphold the law of God and promote and protect only the one true Reformed religion. Furthermore Knox argued, from the OT, that to tolerate public idolatry is to disobey God and bring a curse upon the land. Though Knox's REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM is his most important political writing, this debate displays the very same principles, as Knox applied them in 'the heat of battle,' against the queen's secretary, William Maitland of Lethington. This particular debate, as well as many other large sections, are edited out of THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND as presently reprinted by The Banner of Truth Trust. However, this debate can also be found in the bound photocopy edition of volume 2 of KNOX'S WORKS or, with contemporary spelling and punctuation, in ON REBELLION (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994). Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD, pp. 234-235, notes that 'the implications of this debate were far-reaching' and that 'as far as Knox personally was concerned, this debate also marked a turning point in his career.' Also of great importance was the situation that occurred 'when Maitland quoted Luther, Musculus, Calvin, and others to support the requirement of absolute obedience, Knox replied that they either spoke in a situation in which they had no power to resist the ruler or they were refuting arguments of Anabaptists who rejected all civil government. Unfaithful rulers could therefore be removed by the people if they had the power to do so. In this position he was supported by John Craig, his colleague in St. Giles, and by most, although not all, of the other ministers.' (Reid, Trumpeter of God, p. 234). As present civil governments continue to promote defiance of the laws of 'the Prince of the kings of the Earth,' our great King the Lord Jesus Christ, these arguments will become more and more useful, among those who seek to obey the Lord in all matters." -- Publisher
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law and much more."
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
*Kurtz, David R., Paul Kurtz, and David R Koepsell, Science and Ethics: Can Science Help us Make Wise Moral Judgments? ISBN: 9781591025375 1591025370.
Lee, Francis Nigel, Are the Mosaic laws for Today?: Calvinism and the Westminster Standards on the Relationship Between God's Moral law of Nature for all men and Ancient Israel's Other Laws.
Lee, Francis Nigel, Common Law: The Roots of Common law in Biblical, Iro-Scotic, Brythonic and English Jurisprudence -- And Some of Their Fruits in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia, 3 volumes.
Levicoff, Steve, Christian Counseling and the Law. Includes bibliographical references and index.
*Lichtblau, Eric, Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice, ISBN: 9780375424922 037542492X.
"In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush and his top advisers declared that the struggle against terrorism would be nothing less than a war -- a new kind of war that would require new tactics, new tools, and a new mind-set. BUSH'S LAW is the unprecedented account of how the Bush administration employed its war on terror to mask the most radical remaking of American justice in generations.
"On orders from the highest levels of the administration, counterterrorism officials at the FBI, the NSA, and the CIA were asked to play roles they had never played before. But with that unprecedented power, administration officials butted up against -- or disregarded altogether -- the legal restrictions meant to safeguard Americans' rights, as they gave legal sanction to covert programs and secret interrogation tactics, a swept up thousands of suspects in the drift net.
"Eric Lichtblau, who has covered the Justice Department and national security issues for the duration of the Bush administration, details not only the development of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program -- initiated by the vice president's office in the weeks after 9/11 -- but also the intense pressure that the White House brought to bear on The New York Times to thwart his story on the program.
"BUSH'S LAW is an unparalleled and authoritative investigative report on the hidden internal struggles over secret programs and policies that tore at the constitutional fabric of the country and, ultimately, brought down an attorney general.
"Eric Lichtblau received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, for his stories on the NSA's wiretapping program. He has worked in the Washington bureau of The New York Times, covering the Justice Department, since 2002. From 1999 to 2002 he covered the Justice Department for the Los Angeles Times. He is a graduate of Cornell University and lives in the Washington, D.C., area." -- Publisher
Limbaugh, David Scott, Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel, ISBN: 1621574113 9781621574118.
"In JESUS ON TRIAL, David Limbaugh applies his lifetime of legal experience to a unique new undertaking: making a case for the gospels as hard evidence of the life and work of Jesus Christ. Limbaugh, a practicing attorney and former professor of law, approaches the canonical gospels with the same level of scrutiny he would apply to any legal document and asks all the necessary questions about the story of Jesus told through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. His analysis of the texts becomes profoundly personal as he reflects on his own spiritual and intellectual odyssey from determined skeptic to devout Christian. Ultimately, Limbaugh concludes that the words Christians have treasured for centuries stand up to his exhaustive inquiry -- including his examination of historical and religious evidence beyond the gospels -- and thereby affirms Christian faith, spirituality, and tradition. . . .
"David Limbaugh is a conservative political commentator, lawyer, and New York Times bestselling author of ABSOLUTE POWER, PERSECUTION, BANKRUPT, CRIMES AGAINST LIBERTY, and THE GREAT DESTROYER. [David Scott Limbaugh is the younger brother of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh -- compiler]. Limbaugh publishes a nationally syndicated column that is carried by Creators Syndicate, Townhall.com, Jewish World Review, The Washington Times, and Newsmax." -- Publisher
Magnuson, Roger J., Are gay Rights Right? ISBN: 0880703369 9780880703369.
"Magnuson is a trial lawyer in Minneapolis. He has authored a 3-volume legal treatise, SHAREHOLDER LITIGATION, that is used in law schools. He often is called on to debate homosexuals. It is to the shame of everyone of us that homosexuals have come to the point where they can flaunt their perversion, and call on the courts to protect their imaginary 'rights.' In God's law they have no rights, but instead are condemned to be executed.
"In Maine and in Oregon this book was consulted by legislators before rejecting a so-called 'gay rights bill.' Now we have an updated edition, and it is hoped it will continue to be of use in defeating the aims of these vicious and abusive persons. For they are everywhere attempting to intimidate city councils, state and federal legislatures. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Manton, Thomas (1620-1677), Loving God by Loving his Law. In THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON, Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #5.
Contents: "Twelve sermons from Psalm 119:165-176 on the love of God's Law by believers."
Jesus said, If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) John points out, and hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4). Manton uses these themes, as a departure point, relative to Psalm 119, to show the proper relationship between law, love and loving the law -- as it relates to the greatest law lover, the Lord Jesus Christ!" -- Publisher
*Manton, Thomas (1620-1677), Psalm 119, ISBN: 0851515762. See: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON (Volumes 1 to 11). Available (THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #4.
Marshall, John Lewis, Natural Law and the Covenant: The Place of Natural Law in the Covenantal Framework of Samuel Rutherford's "Lex, Rex."
A dissertation. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Theological Seminary, 1995.
*Marshall, Walter (1628-1680), The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union With Christ, ISBN: 189277724X. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The Reformation Heritage Books edition is a reprint of the 1954 edition set by Oliphants and includes an introduction by Joel R. Beeke. Also includes the author's famous sermon on "The Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied."
See the WorldCat record for various foreign language editions.
Other editions:
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1597520543 9781597520546.
"This is by far the best book on the doctrine of Sanctification in print. It was originally written in the 17th century, but has been put into modern English with this edition. This book will help you better understand the Gospel and its power not only for our Justification, but our Sanctification as well." -- Reader's Comment
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-Mystery of Sanctification, ISBN: 1589600630 9781589600638.
"Here you will read the most closely reasoned defense of scriptural sanctification to be found anywhere. . . . Fourteen directions are given to the reader, all perfected with the aim of explaining to sincere souls what sanctification is, what it is not, and how to attain a holy walk before God. . . ." -- Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-2008)
Marshall, Walter, The Gospel-mystery of Sanctification, Opened, in Sundry Practical Directions: Suited Especially to the Case of Those who Labor Under the Guilt and Power of Indwelling Sin. To Which is Added a Sermon on Justification (1859)
http://archive.org/details/gospelmysteryofs02mars
McKnight, William John (1865-1951), The Scriptures the Supreme Guide in the Affairs of Men.
*McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander (1774-1833), Messiah: Governor of the Nations of the Earth: A Discourse. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available
(MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH and THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR; THE RULE OF DUTY TO CHRISTIAN NATIONS TO CIVIL INSTITUTIONS) at Covenanter.org. Available (the pamphlet, MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, which includes THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR) at Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets.
"The doctrine of the Mediatorial Reign of Christ has formed the subject of those principles accounted distinctive to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Christ's kingship over the nations and the implications of this doctrine will not be popular amongst a people deeply compromised with the spirit of the age. The prescription may seem tough, but the results of centuries of ignoring this doctrine have left the church effete and gutted when it comes to addressing matters concerning church and state relations. In the various modern debates one viewpoint has been left out, and it is the only one which presents a serious and rigorous biblical vision -- the Covenanter position on civil government.
"In the first discourse, Alexander McLeod explains the biblical basis and the importance of professing that Christ is the head over all nations. McLeod moves from an explanation of what is meant by confessing that Christ rules as Mediator, to a discussion of his administrations as ruler over the nations. Afterward he addresses numerous objections that are raised against the doctrine, in which he explains many finer points respecting Christ's Mediatorial administration.
"The second discourse, THE WRITTEN LAW, by Dr. James Renwick Willson (1780-1853), takes up a number of matters of great practical concern and application of the doctrine of this Mediatorship over the nations. Willson is particularly concerned with the place of the written law of God in the constitution of civil governments. Willson often courts controversy, and does not shy away from consistency. It is a blueprint for how things ought to be, if we would submit to Christ as a nation." -- Publisher
McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander, Messiah, Governor of the Nations of the Earth
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/alexander-mcleods-sermon-on-messiah-governor-of-the-nations-of-the-earth
Willson, James Renwick, The Written Law, or The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures, by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations to Civil Institutions
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-the-written-law
Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets
http://www.covenanter.org/pamphlets/
*Nace, Ted, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, ISBN: 1576752607 9781576752609.
"Surpassing even the State and the Church, the corporation has become the core institution of the modern world, exercising might and muscle without regard to the often destructive effects on individuals, the environment, society, and the world. How did this happen? In this compelling expose, noted entrepreneur and activist Ted Nace scrutinizes the legal framework of the corporation and untangles questions about how and why the corporation evolved as it did. Nace traces the evolution of this institution through the behind-the-scenes figures who shaped it, including Thomas Scott, an obscure genius who invented the holding company; Stephen Field, the Supreme Court judge who developed corporate personhood rights; and many others. Including the latest research by historians, sociologists, political scientists, and legal scholars, this book is a dramatic narrative, an invaluable reference, and a blueprint for regaining control before it's too late." -- Publisher
"Corporations aren't like us. Since their powers are determined by the framework of laws, it is possible to engineer them with all sorts of qualities, including some attributes outside the realm of human possibility. In theory, that programming can go either way: Society can make corporations stronger by removing restraints and adding new legal powers, or weaker by doing the reverse. The key lesson is this: corporations are only as powerful as they are legally designed to be.
"As described in the previous chapters, the engineers of the American political system deliberately created a framework of laws to keep corporations politically weak. That framework was subsequently undermined by the ingenious maneuvers of Tom Scott and other businessmen, lawyers, and sympathetic legislators." -- Publishers Weekly
"Nace nurtured Peachpit Press from a home-based operation, writing and publishing computer guides, to a business worthy of acquisition by the Pearson conglomerate. The experience inspired him to study the nature of corporate power. He offers a breezy summary of the legal history surrounding the formation of corporations and the parameters of their power, putting an anti-corporate spin on the American Revolution and discussing how the early republic limited corporate power by enabling state governments to issue restrictive charters. But the tight controls didn't remain in place: after the Supreme Court's decision in an 1886 case involving the Santa Clara Railroad, corporations were assumed to be the legal equivalent of people entitled to equal protection under the law and, in subsequent cases, were guaranteed a growing range of constitutional rights. One of Nace's central arguments is that Santa Clara doesn't mean what everybody thinks it means: the original decision doesn't take any stand on whether corporations have constitutional rights; the question comes up in a subsequent version of the decision, but the Chief Justice acts as if it had been resolved in earlier decisions. Although Nace blames the Court's reporter for the shift in emphasis, he illustrates how another justice, Stephen Field, was already buttressing politicians' and financial titans' efforts to eliminate all restraints on corporate power, making their legal supremacy inevitable. Later chapters examine how corporations continue to wield their influence to prevent the government from regulating them too closely, but while the book offers plenty of details about the problem's existence and deftly introduces it, it offers little more than generalities about where to go from there." -- Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gangs of America
http://www.gangsofamerica.com/7.html
Napolitano, Andrew P., Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its own Laws, ISBN: 0785260838 9780785260837.
"In this alarming book, Judge Napolitano makes the solid case that there is a pernicious and ever-expanding pattern of government abuse in America's criminal justice system, leading him to establish his general creed: The government is not your friend. As an attorney, a law professor, a commentator, a judge, and now a successful television personality, Judge Napolitano has studied the system inside and out, and his unique voice has resonance and relevance. Whether in the big, headliner criminal cases or in the thousands of small-town trials no one ever hears about (but should), the police, the prosecutors, the politicians, the judges, and the machinery of government are inexorably grinding away at the individual liberties guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. But in this sensational new book, Napolitano sets the record straight, speaking frankly from his own experiences and careful, thorough investigation and revealing how government agencies will often arrest without warrant, spy without legal authority, imprison without charge, and kill without cause." -- Publisher
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900), Walter Kaufmann (translator), Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, ISBN: 0585110875 9780585110875.
"Represents Nietzsche's attempt to sum up his philosophy. In nine parts the book is designed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of Nietzche's thought and style. With an inclusive index of subjects and persons." -- Publisher
Non-dualism was a basic tenet of the philosophy of Nietzsche. See: The Non-duality of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother: A Profile.
North, Gary, Victim's Rights: The Biblical View of Civil Justice, ISBN: 0930464176 9780930464172. Alternate title: THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF VICTIM'S RIGHTS.
"A study of what the Bible says our judicial systems should be like. North contends that Scripture clearly shows that (in ancient days), they were 'harsh on criminals' in order to be 'soft on victims' -- the reverse of the modern approach in our culture." -- GCB
Institute for Christian Economics Freebooks.com
http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/sidefrm4.htm
Palmer, B.M. (Benjamin Morgan, 1818-1902), Christianity and Law: or The Claims of Religion Upon the Legal Profession. A Discourse upon the occasion of the death of the late Alfred Hennen, the Patriarch of the New Orleans Bar, delivered in the First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, February 27th, 1870.
Patterson, James, and Peter Kim, The day America Told the Truth: What People Really Believe About Everything That Really Matters, ISBN: 0452268087 9780452268081.
In effect, we're all making up our own moral codes.
"Contents: America's moral regions | Private lives, ethics, values, and dilemmas | The sex lives of Americans | Men and women in the 1990s | American violence | Work | Community lives | God and other heroes | America and the world.
"This book is a brutal look at the fallen nature of humanity. I actually didn't finish it because it was so depressing." -- Reader's Comment
Perks, Stephen C., Alfred, King of England, Christianity and Law: An Enquiry Into the Influence of Christianity on the Development of English Common Law: With an Appendix Containing a Translation of The laws of King Alfred the Great, ISBN: 0951889915 9780951889916.
*Powell, Sidney K., Licensed to lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, ISBN: 9781732767607 1732767602.
"This true legal thriller debunks everything the media and the government told us about the Department of Justice's destruction and prosecution of the venerable accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Merrill Lynch executives who did one business transaction with Enron, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and more. The common thread through it all is a cabal of narcissistic federal prosecutors who broke all the rules and rose to great power. Still in the news today? Robert Mueller's 'pitbull,' Andrew Weissmann, and other members of Obama's inner circle are wreaking havoc on our Republic. This is the book that began exposing 'the Deep State'." -- Publisher
"So many lives ruined because a few (or many) justice department lawyers apparently valued their own upward career mobility over the very reason for their existence in their positions: JUSTICE. To lie, to cheat, to win at all costs (not their's) is the game. To treat defendants as numbers instead of human beings who deserve the presumption of innocence and the right to a speedy defense (that doesn't take years from someone's life) seems the rule. To spend millions of taxpayer dollars to drag out lengthy trials over many years is just an advantage to be taken while the lies continue and the defendant's bank accounts are emptied. The 'liberty and justice for all' that we believe is available to us is just an empty promise today. This is a wonderfully informative book, but oh, so, sad. Ms. Powell is owed a debt of gratitude from the citizens of this country for exposing the wrongs she witnessed." -- Reader's Comment
"Former federal prosecutor under nine US attorneys from both political parties over ten years and three districts, Sidney Powell was lead counsel in 350 criminal appeals for the United States and more than 150 since in private practice." -- Publisher
*Price, Greg L., Christian Love is Intolerant (of Sin, Rev. 2 [Revelation 2]). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #8.
Robb, John D., Lawyers' Quest I -- Twelve Notions About Lawyers: An Introduction to Discipleship.
Roberts, William Louis, D.D. (1798-1864), The Higher Law, or, The Law of the Most High: A Discourse, Delivered at the Baptist Church, in Sterling Centre, Wednesday Evening, Jan. 22d, 1851.
*Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), The Nature of the American System. Available through Exodus Books.
"Originally published in 1965, these essays were a continuation of the author's previous work, THIS INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC, and examine the interpretations and concepts which have attempted to remake and rewrite America's past and present. 'The writing of history then, because man is neither autonomous, objective or ultimately creative, is always in terms of a framework, a philosophical and ultimately religious framework in the mind of the historian.' To the orthodox Christian, the shabby incarnations of the reigning historiographies are both absurd and offensive. They are idols, and he is forbidden to bow down to them and must indeed wage war against them." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), Salvation and Godly Rule, ISBN: 999144789X. Available through Exodus Books.
"The Christian is commissioned to bring all things into captivity to Christ. Godly rule in our personal, family, social, vocation, political, and economic life is a consequence of salvation. Includes 72 short chapters, over 500 pages." -- GCB
*Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, ISBN: 0873779517. Alternate title: A TREATISE OF CIVIL POLICY: BEING A RESOLUTION OF FORTY THREE QUESTIONS CONCERNING PREROGATIVE, RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE, IN REFERENCE TO THE SUPREME PRINCE AND THE PEOPLE. / BY SAMUEL RUTHERFORD PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY OF ST ANDREWS IN SCOTLAND. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #10, #25.
" 'Lex, rex' is Latin for 'law is king.'
"LEX, REX is 'the great political text of the Covenanters.' (Johnston citing Innes in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, p. 305). 'Rutherford was the first to formulate the great constitutional principle Lex est Rex -- the law is King . . . much of the doctrine has become the constitutional inheritance of all countries in modern times.'
"Gilmour writes [in SAMUEL RUTHERFORD], 'that, as regards religious fervour, scholastic subtlety of intellect, and intensity of ecclesiastical conviction, Samuel Rutherford is the most distinctively representative Scotsman in the first half of the seventeenth century'." -- Publisher
"Without a doubt one of the greatest books on political philosophy ever written. Rutherford here has penned a great Christian charter of liberty against all forms of civil tyranny -- vindicating the Scriptural duty to resist tyrants as an act of loyalty to God." -- Publisher
"That resistance to lawful authority -- even when that authority so called has, in point of fact, set at nought 'all law' -- is in no instance to be vindicated, will be held by those only who are the devotees of arbitrary power and passive obedience. The principles of Mr. Rutherford's LEX, REX, however obnoxious they may be to such men, are substantially the principles on which all government is founded, and without which the civil magistrate would become a curse rather than a blessing to a country. They are the very principles which lie at the basis of the British Constitution, and by whose tenure the House of Brunswick does at this very moment hold possession of the throne of these realms." -- Rev. Robert Burns, D.D., in his "Preliminary Dissertation" to Wodrow's Church History
Additional sources of text related to LEX REX are as follows:
"Though Rutherford is affectionately remembered in our day for his LETTERS, or for laying the foundations of constitutional government (against the divine right of kings), in his unsurpassed LEX, REX, his FREE DISPUTATION should not be overlooked, for it contains the same searing insights as LEX, REX. In fact, this book [A FREE DISPUTATION AGAINST PRETENDED LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE -- compiler] should probably be known as Rutherford's 'politically incorrect' companion volume to LEX, REX. It is a sort of sequel aimed at driving pluralists and antinomians insane. Written against 'the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other Authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious Tolerations of Sects and Heresies,' Rutherford explains the undiluted Biblical solution to moral relativism, especially as it is expressed in ecclesiastical and civil pluralism! (Corporate pluralism being a violation of the first commandment, and an affront to the holy God of Scripture)." -- Publisher
A HIND LET LOOSE by Alexander Shields is sometimes referred to as 'Lex, Rex, Volume Two.'
A Hind let Loose; or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
A Hind let Loose; or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ
"This book sets forth the Crown rights of King Jesus, against all usurpers in both church and state, giving a history of some of faithful sufferings endured by the elect, in maintaining this truth." -- Publisher
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
"This [THE DUE RIGHT OF PRESBYTERIES OR A PEACEABLE PLEA FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], could be considered the LEX, REX of church government -- another exceedingly rare masterpiece of Presbyterianism! Characterized by Walker as sweeping 'over a wider field than most'." -- Publisher
Rutherford, Samuel (1600-1661), Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People (1843)
http://archive.org/details/lexrexlawandpri00ruthgoog
Lex, rex, or The law and the Prince, Samuel Rutherford
"Rutherford is to be praised for his teaching that the king is subject to the law of God. The Bible has nothing but condemnation for those who frame mischief by a law and declares rhetorically, Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? (Psalm 94:20). Deuteronomy 17 is the classic passage in defense of LEX, REX, wherein the king is charged to read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 17:19)." -- Publisher
http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htm
Lex, rex: The law and the Prince, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People, containing the reasons and causes of the defensive wars of the kingdom of Scotland, and of their expedition for the ayd and help of their brethren of England. In which a full answer is given to a seditious pamphlet, intituled, Sacro-sancta regum majestas, penned by J. Maxwell. By S. Rutherford. [Followed by], De jure regni apud Scotos; a dialogue, tr. by R. Macfarlan (repr. from the ed. of 1799).
http://books.google.com/books?id=jtYDAAAAQAAJ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY.
Sandoz, Ellis, A Government of Laws: Political Theory, Religion, and the American Founding, ISBN: 082621360X 9780826213600.
*Scott, David, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton, What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in OBSERVATIONS ON THE PUBLIC COVENANTS BETWIXT GOD AND THE CHURCH: A DISCOURSE.
"A clear and concise summary of the biblical doctrine of the moral person (i.e. that God regards churches and nations as moral entities separate from the individual members of which they are comprised). No Christian can afford not to understand this vital teaching! In many ways this is a crux of the Covenanter position, underlying as it does the issues of separation from backslidden or anti-Christian civil and church governments, the binding nature of lawful Covenants on posterity, eschatology, etc." -- Publisher
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Shaw, Paul, and Jack Bologna, Preventing Corporate Embezzlement, ISBN: 0750672544 9780750672542.
"Internal loss is one of the most costly forms of loss. Embezzlement is one of the least detected and prosecuted forms of internal theft. PREVENTING CORPORATE EMBEZZLEMENT is a professional reference that offers solutions.
"Practical tool for detecting and combating embezzlement: checklists, forms and evaluations. Offers how-to advice on avoiding lawsuits by practicing preventive law. Lists further resources, publications and directories on embezzlement, internal controls and security, risk management, insurance, auditors, and security services and equipment.
"Paul Shaw is Editor and publisher of Computing and Communications: Law and Protection, Financial Fraud, and Assets Protection, the latter periodical covering organizational integrity compliance. He is the co-author of CORPORATE CRIME INVESTIGATION, FRAUD AWARENESS MANUAL, and FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK.
"Jack Bologna is an Associate Professor of Management at Siena Heights College in Adrian, Michigan, and is the publisher of the monthly newsletters Forensic Accounting Review and Computer Security Digest. Mr. Bologna has authored and co-authored a number of books including ACCOUNTANT'S HANDBOOK ON FRAUD and COMMERCIAL CRIME AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK, 2nd Edition." Publisher
*Shipp, Kevin, From the Company of Shadows: With Excerpts From IN FROM THE COLD -- CIA SECRECY AND OPERATIONS, ISBN: 9780692017968 0692017968.
"According to Kevin Shipp, a former CIA Anti-Terrorism Specialist, our country is no longer a constitutionalist nation run by a government that abides by the rules. He claims it has been hijacked by the deep state and the shadow government, which he says is not one of the same, as many believe. He also claims that this has been going on since the assassination of President Kennedy. . . .
"Shipp explains that our 17 intelligence agencies fall under the deep state, and they often contribute to the cover ups committed by corrupt government officials. He used Hillary Clinton as an example. She was allowed to run weapons to terrorists in Benghazi through the secrecies of the shadow government, who covered up everything she did, and controlled the judicial system that would attempt to hold her accountable. More and more we are witnessing politicians and intelligence agents getting away with crimes, and the excuses for their release are so ridiculous that it makes you want to scream. But they don't care, because they know there is nothing we can do about it. . . .
"Wall Street plays a big part in the deep state as it also helps to fund the Military Industrial Complex. Wall Street attorneys helped form the CIA and it has been involved in the deep state and the shadow government since 1947." -- From "Deep State Beware"
"This is a detailed exposé covering multiple facets of government intelligence and secrecy." -- Publisher
"Kevin Shipp, a decorated CIA officer, held several sensitive high level positions, operating in over twenty foreign countries and participating in life threatening assignments. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"From 1953 to the present the federal government, and most notoriously the CIA, has used the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege to block cases of negligence, discrimination, shut down whistle-blower claims, prevent other branches of government from conducting investigations . . . and block contractors from resolving business conflicts. . ." -- Reader's Comment
"Shipp provides a stunning example of the CIA's concealment of negligence by including excerpts from his book on the subject, blacked out by CIA censors. He spent months going back and forth, line by line, word by word, negotiating with the CIA for the book's release. . . .
"Shipp courageously exposes the current stealth jihad movement operating in the US and lays out the techniques terrorist organizations use to carry out their attacks." -- Reader's Comment
"It's difficult to understand the treatment by the CIA of one of their officials and long time employee. His treatment by them was 'off the charts,' and some of his co-workers, superiors and others were 'off the reservation.'
"I recommend this work to anyone interested in how our loyal, patriotic public servants are treated when they don't adhere to a direction that is contrary to our Country. -- Reader's Comment
Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), On the Doctrine of Human Rights, a series of messages [digital files].
"Every futile attempt to create rights which do not exist results in the lose of rights which do exist. The modern theory of political rights has no philosophic or theological foundation. It rests upon human democratic assumptions concerning the nature of man, which conception has absolutely no foundation in the political, or the social, or the religious philosophy which produced it." -- C. Gregg Singer commenting on "human rights" in general, and the right to abortion in particular, in his lecture
Apologetics: #01: Classical and Medieval Thought #1, the first in a series of 24 lectures entitled "Apologetics" delivered in November 1979 in Decatur, Georgia, which follow his book FROM RATIONALISM TO IRRATIONALITY: THE DECLINE OF THE WESTERN MIND FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT (1979).
For more from Singer on the doctrine of human rights see also:
*Singer, C. Gregg (1910-1999), John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits (A Press, 1989), 78 pages.Apologetics #06: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism #2 Apologetics #07: Irrationalism and Theistic Rationalism Apologetics #12: The Impact of Darwin and Social Darwinism #1 Church History #05: The Early Church #4 Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
"Human rights emerge from human duty and from no other place. And beginning with Locke and Jefferson they removed them from their Biblical foundation. . . .
"What are our real rights? We have the right to life because God created us in his image. . . .
"Our duties to God are the source of our rights. And any other concept of human rights will inevitably, by their very nature, destroy that which they seek to protect. Man was created to glorify God, and in his glorification of God he receives his rights because they are the product, they spring from his duty."Decline of American Culture #06: Decline in the 1830's: Philosophical Revolution in Political Thought
Smith, F. LaGard, ACLU: The Devil's Advocate: The Seduction of Civil Liberties in America, ISBN: 1886547033 9781886547032.
"Taking a close look at the wider liberal-Left agenda, Smith explores the moral context in which battles over issues like free speech, religious liberty, and sexual expression are being fought." -- Publisher
Smith, Russell G., Peter Grabosky, Gregor Urbas, Cyber Criminals on Trial, ISBN: 0521840473 9780521840477.
"This book comprises an international study of the manner in which cyber criminals are currently handled by the judicial system. As computer-related crime becomes more important globally, both scholarly and journalistic accounts tend to focus on the ways in which the crime has been committed and how it could have been prevented. Very little has been written about the capture, possible extradition, prosecution, sentencing and incarceration of the cyber criminal -- until now.
"Russell G. Smith, BA (honors), LLM, DipCrim (Melborne), Ph.D. (London), Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Courts of Australia, is Deputy Director of Research at the Australian Institute of Criminology. He is co-author of the books ELECTRONIC THEFT: UNLAWFUL ACQUISITION IN CYBERSPACE and CRIME IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
"Peter Grabosky, BA (Colby), MA, Ph.D. (Northwestern), FASSA, is a Professor in the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University, a former Deputy Director at the Australian Institute of Criminology, and current Deputy Secretary General of the International Society of Criminology. He is a co-author of ELECTRONIC THEFT: UNLAWFUL ACQUISITION IN CYBERSPACE and CRIME IN THE DIGITAL AGE, and co-editor of THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF AUSTRALIAN CRIMINOLOGY.
"Gregor Urbas, BA (Honors), LLB (Honors), Ph.D. (ANU), Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and the Federal Courts of Australia, is a Lecturer in Law at the Australian National University and a former Research Analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology. With Russell Smith, he is a co-author of CONTROLLING FRAUD ON THE INTERNET." -- Publisher
"I am convinced that every prosecutor should read it, whether he or she is directly concerned by the issue or not, since even in cases where cybercrime is not directly involved, some techniques related to it may have been used or may have triggered off the commission of other offenses." -- International Association of Prosecutors Newsletter
"Definitely a reference book giving us a thorough analysis of cybercrime. I am convinced that every prosecutor should read it, whether he or she is directly concerned by the issue or not, since even in cases where cybercrime is not directly involved, some techniques related to it may have been used or may have triggered off the commission of other offenses." -- International Association of Prosecutors
*Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich (1918-2008), One Word of Truth: The Nobel Speech on Literature 1970, ISBN: 0060139439 9780060139438. A Christian classic.
The author saw the Christian faith as "the only force capable of undertaking the spiritual healing of Russia."
Translated from the Russian by the members of the BBC Russian Service.
One Word of Truth . . .
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-lecture.html
*Solzhenitsyn, Alexandr (1918-2008), A World Split Apart, his Harvard University commencement address, delivered 8 June 1978.
"It is feasible and easy everywhere to undermine administrative power and in fact it has been drastically weakened in all Western countries. The defense of individual rights has reached such extremes as to make society as a whole defenseless against certain individuals. It's time, in the West -- It is time, in the West, to defend not so much human rights as human obligations. . . .
"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislative power, the executive, and the judiciary. And one would then like to ask: By what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the communist East a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has granted Western journalists their power, for how long a time, and with what prerogatives?"
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/alexandersolzhenitsynharvard.htm
Spock, Benjamin (1903-1998), and Mary Morgan, Spock on Spock: A Memoir of Growing up With the Century, ISBN: 0394578139 9780394578132.
"Spock married Mary Morgan, whom he collaborated with to write his book."
"Dr. Spock's book BABY AND CHILD CARE was a runaway success and remains a bestseller today. With over 50 million copies in print, it has become one of the world's bestselling non-fiction publications (second only to the Bible in that category)." -- Publisher
Spock was considered the "father of permissiveness." However, when writing this book, he confessed, "The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.
"The weight of evidence suggests that ultimately Spock's ideas have not helped to produce more secure and well-adjusted children and adults. He saw the need for morals and values, but he failed to recognize that they stem from a godly perspective. What he never understood is that the positive changes he sought are simply unachievable on the basis of humanism." -- John Meakin and Kae Tattersall
"We went to Dr. Spock to find out how to rear children and produced the most rebellious generation of kids this country has ever seen. . . . I think that since we believe that "this is my Father's world," we ought to go to God and find out how He would like to have His world run." -- D. James Kennedy (1930-2007)
*Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), The One Foundation, a sermon
Preaching on the text For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1879, Sermon 1494.
"As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein. If any portion of a church be not based upon Christ it is a mere deforming addition to the plan of the great Architect, and mars the temple which God has built, and not man. What a blessed thing it is to feel that you belong to a church which has a rock under it, because it is constituted by Christ's authority. We feel safe in following an ordinance which is of his commanding, but we should tremble if we had only custom and human authority for it. . . .
"When sermons are preached without so much as the mention of Christ's name, it takes more than charity, it requires you to tell a lie to say 'That was a Christian sermon;' and if any people find their joy in a teaching which casts the Lord Jesus into the background, they are not his church, or else such teaching would be an abomination to them. . . .
"All the decrees of popes and councils, all the resolutions of assemblies, synods, presbyteries, and associations, and all the ordinances of men as individuals, however great they be, when they are all put together, if they at all differ from the law of Christ, are mere wind and waste paper, nay, worse, they are treasonable insults to the majesty of King Jesus. Those who build apart from the authority of Christ build off of the foundation, and their fabric will fall. There is no law and no authority in a true church but that of Christ himself; we who are his ministers are his servants and the servants of the church, and not lords or lawmakers. To his law a faithful church brings all things as to the sure test. As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein.
"Let us put this, our first point, in a few sentences. It is not the union of men with men that makes a church if Jesus Christ be not the centre and the bond of the union. The best of men may come into bonds of amity, and they may form a league, or a federation, for good and useful purposes, but they are not a church unless Jesus Christ be the basis upon which they rest. He must be the ground and foundation of the hope of each and of all." -- C.H. Spurgeon
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols25-27/chs1494.pdf
Strawn, Brent A., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law, 2 volumes, ISBN: 9780190204907 0190204907 9780190204914 0190204915 9780199843305 0199843309.
"The Encyclopedia contains 130 entries, ranging in length from 3,000 to 7,000 words. It is organized in an A-to-Z format. Each entry is signed, contains a bibliography for further reading, and is cross-referenced to other useful points of interest within the ENCYCLOPEDIA. It also features a topical outline of contents and an extensive index." -- Publisher
"THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BIBLE AND LAW (OEBL) provides the most up-to-date and extensive treatment of the Bible and law yet attempted, both updating and expanding the scope of previous scholarship in the field. In comprehensive overviews, scholars at the forefront of biblical studies and law address three foci: biblical law itself -- its nature, collections, and genres; the ancient contexts of biblical law, throughout the ancient Mediterranean (ancient Near Eastern, Greco-Roman, and Early Jewish); and the afterlife and influence of biblical law in antiquity and in modern jurisprudence around the world. Essays include treatments of the Book of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, Greek Law, and the Laws of Hammurapi, but also testimony and witness, property, ritual, rhetoric, gender, and sexual legislation." -- Publisher
Swancara, Frank, Thomas Jefferson Versus Religious Oppression.
"Swancara was a journalist, wrote book in his old age, apparently had an obsession with 'religious oppression,' Jefferson was a hero of his, he actually studied the collection of Jefferson's library, Jefferson gave it to the Library of Congress when it was formed.
"Swancara was godless and argued everything from the wrong side, but it is the best listing of public documents and legislation calling for religious tests for office holders that I have seen, goes back to English law which prohibited a man from being a member of Parliament unless he believed there was going to be a final judgment and our actions have eternal consequences. Swancara unwittingly produced a valuable work for the reformer." -- Reader's Comment
Swinnock, George (1627-1673), The Gods are Men: or The Mortality of Persons in Places of Magistracy. As it was explained and applied in a sermon preached at the assize holden at Hertford for that county on March 15. 1656/7. By George Swinnock M.A. last Fellow of Bailiol College in Oxford, and now preacher of the gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire. Available (THE WORKS OF GEORGE SWINNOCK), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Works of George Swinnock, M.A (1868)
http://archive.org/details/worksofgeorgeswi01swin
*Thoburn, Robert, The Christian and Politics.
"In Part II he develops a Biblical view of civil government. He analyzes economics, education, welfare, tax policy, planning and zoning, and foreign policy from a Biblical Perspective. . . .
The author "served in the Virginia house of Delegates from 1978-1980." -- Publisher
Urofsky, Melvin, The Public Debate Over Controversial Supreme Court Decisions, ISBN: 1568029373 9781568029375.
"THE PUBLIC DEBATE OVER CONTROVERSIAL SUPREME COURT DECISIONS explores public reaction to over forty of the most well known and contentious cases ruled upon by the Court. The renowned cases covered begin with those from early in U.S. history, such as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and the Dred Scott decision (1857), to recent cases that have fanned the flames of debate over current highly-charged issues such as abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973) and homosexual rights (Lawrence v. Texas, 2003). The book presents information through a unique integration of essays and primary source documents that bring both context and a sense of immediacy to the cases discussed. . . .
"Melvin I. Urofsky is a professor emeritus of history at Virginia Commonwealth University, earning his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. at Columbia University and his J.D. at University of Virginia. Urofsky is the author or editor of more than two dozen books on constitutional law, Supreme Court history, and religious freedoms." -- Publisher
"The book follows two other CQ Press reference works that provide students and other general interest readers with knowledge and understanding about the Supreme Court and its decisions. The first volume, LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT (2003), by Paul Finkelman and Melvin I. Urofsky, provides synopses of the 1,000 most important decisions that the Court had handed down. The volume 100 AMERICANS MAKING CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY: A BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY (2004), edited by Melvin I. Urofsky, profiles many of the people at the heart of the most important Supreme Court cases -- the men, women, and children who were willing to fight their legal battles up to the Supreme Court. This book, PUBLIC DEBATE OVER CONTROVERSIAL SUPREME COURT DECISIONS, shows how the public reacted to some of those decisions." -- Preface
Umbreit, Mark, Crime and Reconciliation: Creative Options for Victims and Offenders, ISBN: 0687098858 9780687098859.
Wall, David, Crime and the Internet, ISBN: 0415244285 9780415244282.
"We have seen the astounding potential of the Internet as an informational tool, but we are also beginning to encounter the infinite questions it unfurls about legal issues and crimes committed with its aid. David Wall and his stellar cast of contributors address the various criminological debates that are emerging over cybercrime. Essays examine the general problem of crime and the Internet, what is understood by the term 'cybercrime', the different types of cybercrimes, and the challenges they give rise to for both criminology and the criminal justice system.
"David Wall is the Director of the Center of Criminal Justice Studies, Department of Law at the University of Leeds." -- Publisher
"David Wall is the preeminent cybercriminologist and he has assembled many of the world's most prolific writers on cybercrime for this book. You could not have a better line up." -- Charles Davis, University of Missouri
Wells, Joseph T., Encyclopedia of Fraud, loose leaf, 916 pages, ISBN: 1889277371 9781889277370.
"A wealth of anti-fraud information exists today, but until now the material was scattered in thousands of sources and locales. Written for practitioners, academics and anyone with an interest in fraud, the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FRAUD, 2005 EDITION provides the user with easy access to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' vast body of fraud knowledge.
"Organized by both topic and type of fraud scheme, users will find:
Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), The Written Law: or, The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures by Christ as Mediator: The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations in Civil Institutions.
Willson, James Renwick, The Written Law, or The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures, by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations to Civil Institutions
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-the-written-law
Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets
http://www.covenanter.org/pamphlets/
Wilson, John F. (editor), Church and State in America: A Bibliographic Guide -- The Civil War to the Present, ISBN: 031325236X 9780313252365.
Wines, E.C., and Louis F. DeBoer, The Hebrew Republic. Alternate title: BOOK II OF COMMENTARY ON THE LAWS OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"A fascinating treatise in political science showing that the ideological origins of the American Republic lie in the ancient Hebrew Republic, in the institutions that God gave Moses at Mount Sinai." -- Publisher
" 'I confess that before I read this book I misapprehended that the American republic was founded on the models of Greece and Rome. Wines clearly and ineluctably shows that the model for the United States constitution and form of government was none other than that of the Hebrew Republic,' writes Franklin Sanders in HEILAND (Bermuda: Machrihanish Ltd, 1986, p. 275). But though the Hebrew Republic may have been a model for the U.S. constitution in general, some of the most important and foundational specifics of the Hebrew model have clearly been ignored or even set aside totally (as Willson's Prince Messiah, above, demonstrates). Samuel Wylie, in his TWO SONS OF OIL also outlines many reasons why the U.S. federal government is not modelled after the Hebrew Republic. Among them he lists: 'The federal constitution, or instrument of national union, does not even recognize the existence of God, the Kings of the Nations;' 'the State constitutions (are allowed to -- RB) contain positive immorality;' 'the government gives a legal security and establishment to gross heresy, blasphemy, and idolatry (Romanism and other false religions -- RB), under the notion of liberty of conscience;' 'its officers are sworn, by necessary implication, to support what God Almighty forbids;' 'they make no provision for the interest of true religion;' 'Deists, and even atheists may be chief magistrates;' and they overtly reject the law of God -- especially the first commandment as it applies to national leaders and the constitution (cf. pp. 7-42 in the 1995 reprint, of the 1850 edition, by Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Publishing). On the other hand, some useful insights can be gleaned from this title as this book demonstrates the impossibility of pluralistic polytheism (many gods -- many laws) ever bringing real peace and blessing to any society. It also shows that Christian monotheism (the one true and living God and His one absolute law) is the only road to blessing -- but as noted above has muted is point considerably. Wines also proclaims the foundational nature of self-government to all the other spheres of government (i.e. family, church and state)." -- Publisher
Wines, E.C., and Paul R. McDade, The Roots of the American Republic, ISBN: 0942516230 9780942516234.
"Wines' work is eminently practical and thoroughly spiritual as it gives us systematic exposition of the divine principles and everlasting truths that under girded the Old Testament Hebrew Commonwealth. This book baptizes the U.S. Constitution in Scripture, but fails to recognize fatal omissions in the realm of covenant and the religious test oath. Extremely valuable nonetheless." -- Publisher
*Wolterstorff, Nicholas, Justice: Rights and Wrongs, ISBN: 9780691129679 0691129673 9780691146300 0691146306.
"This book is an attempt to speak up for the wronged of the world . . . . My speaking up for the wrong of the world takes the form, in this book, of doing what I can to undermine those frameworks of conviction that prevent us from acknowledging that the other comes before us bearing a claim on us, and of offering an alternative framework, one that opens up to such acknowledgements." -- the author, p. ix
"Nicholas Wolterstorff discusses what it is to have a right, and he locates rights in the respect due the worth of the rights-holder. After contending that socially-conferred rights require the existence of natural rights, he argues that no secular account of natural human rights is successful; he offers instead a theistic account.
"Wolterstorff prefaces his systematic account of justice as grounded in rights with an exploration of the common claim that rights-talk is inherently individualistic and possessive. He demonstrates that the idea of natural rights originated neither in the Enlightenment nor in the individualistic philosophy of the late Middle Ages, but was already employed by the canon lawyers of the twelfth century. He traces our intuitions about rights and justice back even further, to Hebrew and Christian scriptures. After extensively discussing justice in the Old Testament and the New, he goes on to show why ancient Greek and Roman philosophy could not serve as a framework for a theory of rights." -- Publisher
Woodiwiss, Michael, Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime, ISBN: 0786716711 9780786716715.
"Everyone knows what organized crime is. Each year dozens of feature films, hundreds of books, and thousands of news stories explain to an eager public that organized crime is what gangsters do. Closely knit, ethnically distinct, and ruthlessly efficient, these mafias control the drugs trade, people trafficking and other serious crimes. If only states would take the threat seriously and recognize the global nature of modern organized crime, the FBI's success against the Italian mafia could be replicated throughout the world. The wicked trade in addictive drugs could be brought to a halt.
"The trouble is, as Woodiwiss demonstrates in shocking and surprising detail, what everyone knows about organized crime is pretty much completely wrong. In reality the most important figures in organized crime are employees of multinational companies, politicians and bureaucrats. Gangsters are certainly a problem, but much of their strength comes from attempts to prohibit the market for certain drugs. Even here they are minor players when compared with the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that selectively enforce prohibition and profit from it. Woodiwiss shows how respectable businessmen and revered statesmen have seized these opportunities in an orgy of fraud and illegal violence." -- Reader's Comment
Woodiwiss, Michael, The Return of Gangster Capitalism: The Global Rise of Organised Crime, ISBN: 9780745332024 0745332021.
See also: Epistemology, Absolute truth and relativism, The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Church discipline, The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Treason and impeachment, Divine and human rights, Imprisonment, Restitution, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The ten commandments: the moral law, The teachings of our lord jesus christ, Bible magistracy, Ethics, computer ethics, cyberethics, Sex ethics, sex education, Medical ethics, Conscience, casuistry, cases of conscience, Christ's influence on western civilization, Church and state, Politics, Power, Authority, Christianity and democracy, Constitutionalism, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Trusting god, Loving and obeying god, The covenant faithfulness of god, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, God's deliverance of nations, The covenanted reformation, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Sermons preached before governing bodies, Christian scholarship, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, The government's role of punishing wrongdoers, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary alliances, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Leniency, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, The counter-reformation, The Protestant Reformation, Freedom: a gift of the grace of God, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Treason and impeachment, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Justice, judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, Antinomianism, Arminianism, The destruction of american liberty, Gratuitous sex, a cause of violence, Modern myths and fallacies, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Meltdown 2008, the greatest depression in history, and so forth, and so on.
American Bar Association Black Letter Guidelines for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/jd/lawyersconf/performanceresource/guidelines/ABABlackLetterGuidelinesforJudicialPerformanceEvaluation.authcheckdam.pdf
American Bar Association Judicial Performance Resources
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/judicial/conferences/lawyers_conference/resources/judicial_performance_resources.html
American Injustice
http://www.fa-ir.org/ai/begin.htm
Apologetics #24: The Recovery of Christian Theism
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Apologetics, 58 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=3205142039
Biblical Test of Character for Candidates for Public Office and all Civil Servants
http://www.lettermen2.com/bibltest.html
The Christian Common Law Institute
http://lawgiver.org/
Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification (part 2)
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chb.html
Decline of Jurisprudence
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=82602124432
Decline (Political, Economic, Cultural), part 2
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=8190218822
The Departure From the Biblical View in Constitutional Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Decline of American Culture
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=82602124719
*Election Fraud in the United States
http://www.lettermen2.com/vfraud.html
An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police use of Force
"This paper explores racial differences in police use of force. . . . On the most extreme use of force -- officer-involved shootings -- we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account."
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf
Fallacy Files
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/
Finding Data and Statistics on Judges
http://www.llsdc.org/assets/LLL/53/53-4.pdf
Four Reasons the Magistrates Have a Duty to Criminalize Homosexual Acts
http://www.wisconsinchristiannews.com/view.php?sid=6348
Free Congress Judicial Selection Monitoring Project (JSMP)
http://www.freecongress.org/centers/lawdemocracy/jsmp/index.htm
The Full Truth About Race and Policing, Jason L. Riley, June 9, 2020
"The media likes to break down cops' behavior by race, but doesn't do the same for civilian crime."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-full-truth-about-race-and-policing-11591744223
General Equity
http://www.girs.com/library/theology/syllabus/nom1.html
Great Moments in Presbyterian History #8: What the Bible has to say About the Nature of Government
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Great Movements in Presbyterian History
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?ID=12160372131
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
How Federal Courts Gave us Qualified Immunity, Michael Maharrey, June 13, 2020
"There's been a lot of talk lately about qualified immunity. Did you know it's a product of federal judicial overreach?"
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/06/13/how-federal-courts-gave-us-qualified-immunity/
How the Judiciary Stole the Right to Petition, John E. Wolfgram
http://www.constitution.org/abus/wolfgram/ptnright.htm
The Impact of Judicial Reforms on Economic Activity in Texas by The Perryman Group
http://www.cse.org/informed/867.html
The Imperial Judiciary, Rep. Ron Paul, MD.
"The ultimate solution to the problem of unbridled judicial activism at the federal level is clear: Congress must reassert its constitutional authority to define and restrict the jurisdiction of federal courts. This power is plainly granted in Article III, and no constitutional amendments are required. On the contrary, any constitutional amendment addressing judicial activism would only grant legitimacy to the dangerous idea that social issues are federal matters. Remember, when social issues are federalized, conservatives always lose. Giving more authority over social matters to any branch of the federal government is a mistake, because a centralized government is unlikely to reflect local sentiment for long. If anything, the marriage amendment would have given the secular left an excuse to impose gay marriage on all of us in future years, as the issue would have been irrefutably federalized.
Congressional cowardice enables judicial activism. Just as Congress ceded far too much legislative authority to presidents throughout the 20th century, it similarly has allowed federal judges to operate wildly beyond their constitutional role. In fact, many current members of Congress apparently accept the false notion that federal court judgments are superior to congressional statutes. Unless and until Congress asserts itself by limiting federal court jurisdiction, judges will continue to act as de facto lawmakers."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul208.html
It Can't Happen Here, Rep. Ron Paul, MD.
"The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer -- always at the expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many Americans, don't understand that a society with no constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the people and private institutions."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul225.html
James Otis on the Rule of Law
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7947/RuleLaw.html
Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (Jail) 4 Judges
"The Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, J.A.I.L., is a single-issue national grassroots organization designed to end the rampant and pervasive judicial corruption in the legal system of the United States. J.A.I.L. recognizes this can be achieved only through making the Judicial Branch of government answerable and accountable to an entity other than itself. At this time it isn't, resulting in the judiciary's arbitrary abuse of the doctrine of judicial immunity, leaving the People without recourse when their inherent rights are violated by judges."
http://www.jail4judges.org/
*Judicial Watch
http://www.judicialwatch.org
The Laws of Virginia (1610-1611)
http://longman.awl.com/history/primarysource_2_2.htm
Legal Justice Reform Network Links
http://www.usa.net/uclr/links.html
Licensure: A Lawyer Protection Racket, Jacob G. Hornberger
As the criminal-justice crisis in Virginia perfectly reflects, occupational licensure does not ensure competence or, for that matter, ethics. Instead, it seduces the public into believing that because a lawyer is licensed by the state, he must be competent and ethical.
"So what is the purpose and effect of occupational licensure? It's very simple -- licensure operates as a protection racket for attorneys, protecting them from unbridled competition. By limiting the supply of attorneys through a rigorous and expensive system involving getting into and attending law schools and then passing an extremely difficult, state-administered bar exam, lawyers are able to keep the number of practitioners artificially low, thereby enabling them to charge higher prices to the public. In fact, as J. Gordon Hylton, professor of law at Marquette University, pointed out at a law conference at the University of Virginia School of Law, the reason Virginia imposed bar exams in the first place as a prerequisite to practicing law was to impede blacks from becoming attorneys, especially since the number of black attorneys was increasing during Reconstruction, when there were no state-imposed impediments to practicing law."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger14.html
The Majesty of God (FGB #171)
The Majesty of God in Providence, Watson, George D. (1845-1924) | The Great Work of God: Rain, Piper, John | The Majestic Voice, Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892) | The Pleasures of God in Creation, Piper, John | The Righteous Man's Refuge, Flavel, John (1628-1691) | The Pistol Star and the Power of God, Piper, John | Majesty Come Down, Chalmers, Thomas 1780-1847
https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/mogofg/majesty-of-god
Nave's Topical Bible -- Commandments
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Concordances/naves-topical-bible/ntb.cgi?number=T1189
Nave's Topical Bible -- The Justice of Christ
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Concordances/naves-topical-bible/ntb.cgi?number=T2806
Policing for Profit: Jeff Sessions and Company's Thinly Veiled Plot to rob us Blind
"Most recently, under the guise of 'fighting crime,' Sessions gave police the green light to rob, pilfer, steal, thieve, swipe, purloin, filch, and liberate American taxpayers of even more of their hard-earned valuables (especially if it happens to be significant amounts of cash) using any means, fair or foul.
"In this case, the foul method favored by Sessions and Company is civil asset forfeiture, which allows police and prosecutors to 'seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets -- all without so much as charging you with a crime.'
"Under a federal equitable sharing program, police turn asset forfeiture cases over to federal agents who process seizures and then return 80 percent of the proceeds to the police. (In Michigan, police actually get to keep up to 100 percent of forfeited property.)"
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2017/07/27/policing-for-profit-jeff-sessions-co-s-thinly-veiled-plot-to-rob-us-blind/
Rasmussen Poll: 33 Percent of Americans Believe it is Time for the States to Openly Defy the Federal Judiciary
"A Rasmussen poll conducted in July of this year [2016] found that 33% of Americans now believe it is time for the states to openly defy the federal judiciary -- that was a nine percent increase from its previous polling just four months earlier.
"The reason for such a huge number of Americans holding this view is because the federal judiciary continues to behave lawlessly. The latest opinions on Obamacare and homosexual marriage have fueled the fire of discontent. When such injustice and immorality can be decreed to be just and moral by the mere whims of a court's opinion -- the credibility of the court is destroyed."
https://lessermagistrate.com/rasmussen-poll-33-of-americans-believe-it-is-time-for-the-states-to-openly-defy-the-federal-judiciary/
Rating Sheet for Judge Gaylord Finch
http://www.liamsdad.org/hall_of_shame/gay_finch/Judge_Gaylord_Finch_ratings.pdf
Recall of Judicial Decisions
http://www.constitution.org/norton/norton_01.txt
The Relationship Between Justice and Truth, John Prothro, September 16, 2009
"Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) was a British born journalist popular in the nineteen hundreds. Initially attracted by Communism, Muggeridge and his wife lived in Moscow in the 1930's where he acted as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. Increasingly, Muggeridge recognized the failings of Communism and Stalin's regime, but his writings exposing the widespread famine in the Soviet Union were censored by his editors and refuted by other journalists and publications (most notably, the New York Times). Below is an excerpt from CHRONICLES OF WASTED TIME, a collection of Muggeridge's publications. In it, Muggeridge rebukes immoral policies enacted under the 'false face' of justice and provides a chilling example of the cynicism that can exist in government."
http://lastingliberty.com/timeless/2009/9/16/feature-topic-the-relationship-between-justice-and-truth.html
Religious Test Clauses in Colonial and State Constitutions and Other Documents and Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That There Should be a Religious Test for Positions of Authority and Trust
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc001.html
The Robing Room: Where Judges are Judged -- Virginia
http://www.therobingroom.com/virginia/Default.aspx?state=VA
RobeProbe.com World's Most Trusted Judge Rating Site
http://www.robeprobe.com/
The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration
http://www.lettermen2.com/craig.html
Servants and Masters in the Plymouth Colony, Appendices I, II, and III on Plymouth Colony Laws, Court Orders, and Descriptive Statistics
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/Galleapp.html
Special Counsel Robert Mueller Implicated: Bombshell Scandal American Patriots Left Speechless
"As Obama's promotion of radical Islamic terrorism became a major concern within our intelligence community Robert Mueller did nothing to protect Americans.
"According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, Mueller reportedly assured the Islamic groups in attendance ['On February 8, 2013, Mueller hosted a coalition of Islamist apologists and propagandists at F.B.I. headquarters. At that time Mueller was still the F.B.I. director. Among those that attended were various Islamist and militant Arabic groups who had in the past defended Hamas and Hezbollah and that had also issued blatantly anti-Semitic statements. Among those Mueller hosted was the Muslim Brotherhood.'], that the agency had ordered the removal of presentations and curricula on Islam from FBI offices around the country that were deemed 'offensive'."
https://www.usasupreme.com/game-special-counsel-robert-mueller-implicated-bombshell-scandal-american-patriots-left-speechless/
Statements Supporting the Original Consensus That Christianity is the Highest Ethical Standard Known to Mankind and, Therefore, Should be the Basis of Law and Government
http://www.lettermen2.com/agc002.html
STOP THIEF! What Happens When a Citizen Takes on the Federal Fraud Machine, Carol A. Valentine
Useful, detailed guide for anyone considering legal action.
http://public-action.com/Just-Us/StopThief.html
The Temptation of Eve (part 1 of 2), a sermon on Genesis 3:1-6 by Brian Schwertley
The Satanic Worldview, as a secondary point, is exegeted from Genesis 3
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=720081817191
The Temptation of Eve (part 2 of 2), a sermon on Genesis 3:1-6 by Brian Schwertley
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72008182576
Ten Commandments Defense Fund
http://www.tencommandmentsdefense.org/
The Ten Commandments: The Moral Law
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr2cha.html#tcmdnts
The Truth About the Ten Commandments in American Law; An Historical Perspective
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/issues/booklets/10commandmentsbooklet.php
King Solomon, who reigned from c. 970-931 BC, made the following observation.
If a ruler hearkens to lies, all his servants are wicked. (Proverbs 29:12)
"Corruption in society tends to start at the top. The dishonest ruler not only attracts evil officials, but encourages subordinates to become corrupt." -- Annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
John Gill commenting on the passage:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/proverbs-29-12.html
Matthew Henry commenting on the passage:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/proverbs/29.htmlAnd the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2)
You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility for delegating a task to someone else. If you picked the right man, fine, but if you picked the wrong man, the responsibility is yours -- not his. -- Richard E. Krafve, Vice President, Ford Motor Company
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:25-31). See the annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.
The "politics" of hatred (written about 1557)
So long as Saul was the enemy of David, the nobles, and such as at that time bore any authority, had (according to the subservient spirit which always prevails in the courts of kings) eagerly conspired to destroy an innocent man. They had also succeeded in inducing the common people to participate with them in their hatred and cruelty, so that all of them, from the highest to the lowest, burned with implacable hatred against him. But as he knew that the greatest part of them were thoughtlessly impelled to this by error and folly, and ignorance of the true state of affairs, he accounts those only his enemies who, from deliberate malice and wickedness, endeavored in this way to please Saul, in order to obtain his favor. Against them he calls upon God for vengeance. And, first, as he was conscious of no crime, he alleges his innocence before God; and, secondly, as they sought to inflict unmerited punishment upon him, he implores God for deliverance. After he has complained of their impious cruelty, he calls down upon them the punishment which they deserved. -- John Calvin (1509-1564) in the introduction to his commentary on Psalm 35, in contextWe are a prodigal nation. See the entire commentary of John Calvin on Psalm 78, and see particularly his comments on Psalm 78:10,36,40,55,70,72.
Therefore, behold, I add to do. He threatens that he will punish by blinding not only the ignorant or the ordinary ranks, but those wise men who were held in admiration by the people. From this vengeance we may easily learn how hateful a vice hypocrisy is, and how greatly it is abhorred by God, as the Prophet spoke a little before about human inventions; for what kind of punishment is more dreadful than blindness of mind and stupidity? This indeed is not commonly perceived by men, nor are they aware of the greatness of this evil; but it is the greatest and most wretched of all. -- Calvin commenting on Isaiah 29:1-24
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (Romans 13:4)
Corporativism is not Capitalism. Corporativism is the destruction of the free market and the creation of corporative monopolies achieved through the regulatory and monopoly power of strong central government.
The wealthy stand as magistrates in the economic arena and have the same duty of stewardship as do those who hold political office. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
The Ten Commandments not only safeguard the right of private property, but are also additional evidence that the right is divinely ordained. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
It is quite evident that in all of this Calvin was setting forth a view of free enterprise which is strictly Biblical. Free enterprise is that means adapted for man by which he fulfills the conditions of his stewardship. Enterprise that is truly free is constantly governed by the law of God. -- C. Gregg Singer, "Calvinism and Economic Thought and Practice" in John Calvin: His Roots and Fruits, p. 46
We are an illiterate nation incapable of understanding great truth. -- C. Gregg Singer (1910-1999)
Experts of every kind are in the perfect position to exploit you. -- from the Contents of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economists Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact. (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21b; Ecclesiastes 9:3b; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3-5) -- Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990). See John Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah Chapter 33 [Isaiah 33:1-66].
Here it may be worth while to meditate on a comparison with our own times. Antichrist, with all his murderous agents, leaves in peace those who by their treacherous silence deny Christ, and are prepared to embrace as slaves every kind of impiety; neither does he exercise his cruelty, insatiable though it be, where he sees no manliness to exist; and he exults and triumphs, as if his end was gained, when he perceives any who had some courage in professing their faith fallen into effeminacy and cowardice. But how much better is it for us to die an hundred times, retaining our manly firmness in death, than to redeem our life for the base service of the devil. -- Calvin commenting on Exodus 1:22
The State, considered in its corporate character, is A MORAL PERSON, with a moral standing and responsibility. It is not the creation of the so-called social compact or of the popular will, but a divine institution based on natural religion. It coheres by a moral and religious bond; and its rulers are the lieutenants of God. If the State is a moral person, capable of performing duty, of committing sin, and suffering punishment, which every one must own who traces the fate of nations according to the divine word, it follows that a nation, acting by its rulers, can accept Christianity and make a public profession of it as the national rule and guide. It had been held together previous to the recognition of Christianity by some form of religion however impure, without which it could not have existed. And the first duty of the civil ruler when brought in contact with Christianity and persuaded of its divine origin is to RECEIVE THE BIBLE AS A REVELATION in a national way. The immediate effect of this is that it constitutes the State a Christian State, and pledges it to purge out its previous religion in the same way as Pagan and Mahommedan nations constituted themselves, according to their false religions, or as the atheistic state was constituted, or rather attempted to be constituted, by the French Convention. A nation must have a religion, and the only question is, which it will adopt. And when Christianity comes to the nation, or to the family, it does not frown on either of these institutions, which also are divine in origin, but enters into them with an elevating purifying power, and sweetly coalesces with all that is purely human in both. These ordinances of God now became vessels by which Christianity is diffused. The national recognition of the Bible as a revelation subjecting the nation to its authority, though a great step gained, does not exhaust the nation's duty, as widely diverging views prevail upon the right interpretation of the Bible. The State must by the necessity of the case ADOPT A CREED which will commonly be prepared by the Church. The same duty that devolves upon an individual Christian confronts a Christian State, and it naturally appends the civil sanction to the Church's creed. It must distinguish between scripture truth and its perversion. The State, by the adoption of a creed, gives utterance to the self-consciousness of a Christian community. It confesses the Christianity it has adopted. . . . The nation, acting by its rulers, must needs adopt a creed, and so distinguish between truth and error in the confession which it makes. It must be Trinitarian or Unitarian, Protestant or Popish, Calvinistic or Arminian, by the necessity of the position. These diverging lines of profession cannot be ignored. More than that; the responsible rulers must proclaim a Christian constitution and adopt a legislation all through the nation's history upon the principles of revelation. A Christian State is competent to make the same confession of its faith that an individual makes. -- George Smeaton, The Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments, pp. 4-6
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1812
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. -- Abraham Lincoln, Dec. 3, 1861, First Annual Message to Congress
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. -- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins), Ref: "The Lincoln Encyclopedia," Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)
The major corporation "represents private enterprise become a kind of private government which is a power unto itself." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Capitalism has been only a vestige in the American economy for the last 150 years. A capitalistic economy can not function with levanthian governmental budgets, fascism, "friendly fascism," monopoly, trusts, cartels, huge corporations with economic size that exceeds that of individual states, and parts of the federal government, legal immunity of corporations, enormous concentration of power in business and government, financial institutions that risk investors money, secret alliances, corruption, and lack of law enforcement. In the absence of an environment for free enterprise there must be government control "governed by the law of God."
During this time the United States experienced unprecedented corporate fraud, corporate bankruptcies, and stock market manipulation including some of the largest companies in the world -- Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, ImClone, Global Communications, Xerox, Merck, and HealthSouth, and many others, costing shareholders, employees, and the public multiplied billions of dollars in losses. -- Arianna Huffington, Pigs at the Trough
Alan Greenspan, speaking to the annual meeting of the Reserve Board, stated "stock options were the direct cause of string of corporate accounting scandals." His statement was broadcast on CSB News, July 18, 2002.
The moral degeneracy of Exxon executives was broadcast to the nation on "Good Morning America" (12/02) in the incriminating home videos of an Enron retirement party for the CEO in charge in 2000, a year before their bankruptcy.
"Wall Street's most reputable firms -- Merrill Lynch, Arthur Andersen, Morgan Stanley -- are on the carpet for deceiving the public."
Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, and bad leaders are a visitation of God's wrath upon a rebellious nation. (Psalm 106:37-41. See the scripture quoted here, and the cross references following this listing)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (Psalm 106:40-42)The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpThe feminine characteristics are gentleness, abundance, generosity, love, nurture, tolerance, acceptance, encouragement, and so forth. If male leadership becomes effeminate, then they may gain political favor with women and effeminate men, but their enemies will destroy them, and the society they lead. (Isaiah 3:12; 19:16; Nahum 3.13; Jeremiah 50:37; 51:30). If too many effeminate individuals have the vote, then society destabilizes and goes into decline.
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice reveal that females have always been characterized by crimes of theft and embezzlement, and men have been characterized by crimes of physical assault and violence.
We note the increase in arrests of women for fraud and embezzlement between 1995-1999 (Five-Year Arrest Trends, All Women, 1995-1999 below), an increase of 39.7 percent for all women, and an increase of 74.6 percent for women under 18.
The loss of moral restrain of women has historically signalled the decline of a society. The current increase in the rate of theft and embezzlement by women, pales in comparison to the fraud perpetrated by male ["girlie men"], corporate CEOs and male leaders in practically all spheres of society. Again, this is a predictable result of cowardice and effeminacy among American male leaders, in particularly in the church, which must be the moral compass of society, because Christianity is the highest ethical standard known to mankind.Five-Year Arrest Trends, All Women, 1995-1999 (6,622 agencies)
One sign of the decline in society is an increase in crimes committed by women.
The remarkable increase in arrests of women could be due to the effeminate leadership by men in all spheres of society including the church.
Percentage increases in arrests of all women, select crimes. (Women under 18 only indicated by "under 18")http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/1999/99sec4.pdf
- Aggravated assault, +6.0
- Violent crime, +2.3
- Other assaults, +12.0
- Fraud Embezzlement, +39.7, +74.6 (under 18)
- Prostitution and commercialized vice, +8.4 (under 18)
- Sex offenses (except forcible rape and prostitution), +34.7 (under 18)
- Drug abuse violations, +11.4, +12.3 (under 18)
- Gambling, +20.1
- Offenses against the family and children, +7.9, +16.6 (under 18)
- Driving under the influence, +11.3, +48.1 (under 18)
- Liquor laws, +44.4, +42.3 (under 18)
- Drunkenness, +14.6 (under 18)
- Disorderly conduct, +17.0 (under 18)
- All other offenses (except traffic), +19.4, +20.2 (under 18)
- Suspicion, +18.8
- Curfew and loitering law violations, +13.6, +13.6 (under 18)
Five-Year Arrest Trends by Sex, 2015-2019
"9,656 agencies; 2019 estimated population 201,599,471; 2015 estimated population 197,695,401"
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-35#Incarcerated Women and Girls (1980-2020)
"Between 1980 and 2020, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 475 percent, rising from a total of 26,326 in 1980 to 152,854 in 2020. . . .
"The number of incarcerated women was nearly five times higher in 2020 than in 1980.
" 'Incarcerated Women and Girls' examines female incarceration trends and finds areas of both concern and hope. While the imprisonment rate for African American women was nearly twice that of white women in 2020, this disparity represents a sharp decline from 2000 when Black women were six times as likely to be imprisoned. Since then Black women's imprisonment rate has decreased by 68 percent while white women's rate has increased by 12 percent."
https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Incarcerated-Women-and-Girls.pdfNo corporation on earth comes close to the accounting fraud practiced year after year by the federal government. In fact, there is no real accountability at all for the trillions in tax dollars raised and spent annually by Congress and our entrenched federal agencies. The official 'accounting' that does take place is a sham. Every year Congress creates a meaningless budget, the Fed prints phony money, the Budget office issues false revenue forecasts, and the administrative agencies waste billions in the most unproductive ways imaginable. Literally tens of billions of dollars go unaccounted for every year, simply disappearing down bureaucratic black holes. [and the banking system is controlled by the Federal Reserve]. This hardly represents a standard against which corporations should be judged! -- Texas Congressman, Ron Paul in What About Government Accountability?
A. Crimes against God: religious offenses (punishable by the death penalty)
[Surprisingly covetousness and theft do not appear specifically in the following listings. Yet the 10th of the Decalogue summarizes the previous nine. -- compiler]1. IdolatryB. Crimes against man: civil offenses (also punishable by the death penalty)
2. Infant sacrifice
3. Witchcraft, divination and spiritualism
4. Blasphemy (taking the name of the Lord in vain)
5. False prophecy
6. Sabbath-breaking
7. Defiance of the authority of God's law1. Homicide [this would include abortion, infanticide, physician assisted suicide, some "iatrogenic" deaths, killing the elderly, genocide, and so forth -- compiler]The above quotes from G.L. Archer, "Crimes and Punishments," in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 1, pp. 1030-1036
2. Assault and battery against one's own parents
3. Sodomy or homosexuality
4. Adultery
5. Fornication by the daughter of a priest
6. Rape out-of-doors
7. Incest (see the article for degrees of relatedness)
8. Cursing of one's mother or father
9. Consistent disobedience and willfulness of a young man toward his parents
10. Kidnapping for the purpose of selling into slavery
11. Malicious prosecution and perjury in a charge of murder
*Achbar, Mark, and Jennifer Abbott (directors), The Corporation (2004), DVD encoded Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only), Zeitgeist Video DVD; April 5, 2005. Run Time: 145.
"This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit.
"The Corporation" was spawned from Joel Bakan's in depth book, THE CORPORATION: A PATHOLOGICAL PURSUIT OF PROFIT AND POWER (See annotation above). The film and book begins in the 18th century, in the establishment of the 14th Amendment. Initially the 14th Amendment was designed after the Civil War to give ex-slaves' legal rights, like any other citizen of the United States, but through a maze of legal precedents, the business corporation organization model was now deemed a 'legal person' with all the civil rights accorded to a citizen. This highly absurd precedent has paved the way for corporations to literally get away with murder, because a 'corporation' is not an individual that you can put in jail. In effect, a corporation has no moral or social obligations; their only obligation is the pursuit of profit. This film offers numerous examples of unethical practices resulting in death for many people, and because of their [corporations] status under the 14th Amendment, and endless legal loopholes, [they] have gotten away with terrible crimes against humanity and the environment with no more than a fine, a mere slap on the wrist.
"As the law treats corporations as 'persons,' Bakan thought it appropriate to put the various behaviors of these companies under psychological examination. What this psychological study illustrated is that corporations, as 'persons' behave and display the symptoms of the clinical psychopath. A psychopath typically does not have a social conscience, is guilt free after committing heinous acts, and will destroy anything or anybody that prevents them from attaining the object of their particular obsession -- in this case, the relentless pursuit of profit.
"This documentary took several years to produce with over 650 hours of footage directors, Jennifer Abbot and Mark Achbar, had to chisel down this amazing amount of material into a comprehensible film. What is most astounding is the range of people interviewed for this film, that argue from all sides of the 'corporation issue:' Ira Jackson, Ray Anderson -- CEO of Interface, the world's largest carpet manufacturer; Noam Chomsky, Richard Grossman, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Milton Freidman, Noble Prize winning economist; Jeremy Rifkin, President, Foundation of Economic Trends; Dr. Robert Hare, Consultant to the FBI on psychopaths, and many more individuals from all sides of the debate.
"When Bakan wrote his book and then collaborated with Mark Achbar to produce this film, what they did not want was the film to appear as just some left-wing diatribe, attacking the corporations, but to illustrate to people how the corporation began, how they have evolved and what they could well turn into if the people do not become involved in the democratic process, ensuring our governments take back the reigns of power.
"After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line.
"I believe this is one of the best and most important documentary films to be made in many years. This work is an "exposé of legal tyranny." -- C. Middleton
"An epic in length and breadth, this documentary aims at nothing less than a full-scale portrait of the most dominant institution on the planet Earth in our lifetime -- a phenomenon all the more remarkable, if not downright frightening, when you consider that the corporation as we know it has been around for only about 150 years. It used to be that corporations were, by definition, short-lived and finite in agenda. If a town needed a bridge built, a corporation was set up to finance and complete the project; when the bridge was an accomplished fact, the corporation ceased to be. Then came the 19th-century robber barons, and the courts were prevailed upon to define corporations not as get-the-job-done mechanisms but as persons under the 14th Amendment with full civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (i.e., power and profit) -- ad infinitum.
"The Corporation defines this endlessly mutating life-form in exhaustive detail, measuring the many ways it has not only come to dominate but to deform our reality. The movie [Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott], performs a running psychoanalysis of this entity with the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath: a callous unconcern for the feelings and safety of others, an incapacity to experience guilt, an ingrained habit of lying for profit, etc. We are swept away on a demented odyssey through an altered cosmos, in which artificial chemicals are created for profit and incidentally contribute to a cancer epidemic; in which the folks who brought us Agent Orange devise a milk-increasing drug for a world in which there is already a glut of milk; in which an American computer company leased its systems to the Nazis -- and serviced them on a monthly basis -- so that the Holocaust could go forward as an orderly process. . . ." -- Richard T. Jameson
The Corporation
Website for the documentary movie and DVD, "The Corporation."
http://www.thecorporation.com/
Anderson, Sarah, Sara Grusky, Food and Water Watch (Organization), Institute for Policy Studies, Challenging Corporate Investor Rule: How the World Bank's Investment Court, Free Trade Agreements, and Bilateral Investment Treaties Have Unleashed a New Era of Corporate Power and What to do About it.
*Bakan, Joel, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, ISBN: 9780743247467 0743247469.
"Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world's dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.
"In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character, and globalization of the modern business corporation, Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:
*Barofsky, Neil, Bailout: An Inside Account of how Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street, ISBN: 9781451684933 1451684932.
"In this bracing, page-turning account of his stranger-than-fiction baptism into the corrupted ways of Washington, Neil Barofsky offers an irrefutable indictment, from an insider of the Bush and Obama administrations, of the mishandling of the $700 billion TARP bailout fund. In vivid behind-the-scenes detail, he reveals proof of the extreme degree to which our government officials bent over backward to serve the interests of Wall Street firms at the expense of the broader public -- and at the expense of effective financial reform.
"During the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Barofsky gave up his job as a prosecutor in the esteemed U.S. Attorney's Office in New York City, where he had convicted drug kingpins, Wall Street executives, and perpetrators of mortgage fraud, to become the special inspector general in charge of oversight of the spending of the bailout money. From his first day on the job, his efforts to protect against fraud and to hold the big banks accountable for how they spent taxpayer money were met with outright hostility from the Treasury officials in charge of the bailouts.
"Barofsky discloses how, in serving the interests of the banks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his team worked with Wall Street executives to design programs that would funnel vast amounts of taxpayer money to their firms and would have allowed them to game the markets and make huge profits with almost no risk and no accountability, while repeatedly fighting Barofsky's efforts to put the necessary fraud protections in place. His investigations also uncovered abject mismanagement of the bailout of insurance giant AIG and Geithner's decision to allow the payment of millions of dollars in bonuses -- including $7,700 to a kitchen worker and $7,000 to a mail room assistant -- and that the Obama administration's 'TARP czar' lobbied for the executives to retain their high pay.
"Providing stark details about how, meanwhile, the interests of homeowners and the broader public were betrayed, Barofsky recounts how Geithner and his team steadfastly failed to fix glaring flaws in the Obama administration's homeowner relief program pointed out by Barofsky and other bailout watchdogs, rejecting anti-fraud measures, which unleashed a wave of abuses by mortgage providers against homeowners, even causing some who would not have lost their homes otherwise to go into foreclosure. Ultimately only a small fraction (just $1.4 billion at the time he stepped down), of the $50 billion allocated to help homeowners was spent, while the funds expended to prop up the financial system -- as Barofsky discloses -- totaled $4.7 trillion. As Barofsky raised the alarm about the bailout failures, he met with obstruction of his investigations, and he recounts in blow-by-blow detail how an increasingly aggressive war was waged against his efforts, with even the White House launching a broadside against him. Bailout is a riveting account of his plunge into the political meat grinder of Washington, as well as a vital revelation of just how captured by Wall Street our political system is and why the too-big-to-fail banks have only become bigger and more dangerous in the wake of the crisis.
"Neil Barofsky is currently a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law. From December 2008 until March 2011, he served as the Special Inspector General in charge of oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Before that he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. This is his first book." -- Publisher
"The further we dug into the way TARP was being administered, the more obvious it became that Treasury applied a consistent double standard. In the late fall of 2009, as I began receiving the results of two of our most important audits, the contradiction couldn't have been more glaring. When providing the largest financial institutions with bailout money, Treasury made almost no effort to hold them accountable, and the bounteous terms delivered by the government seemed to border on being corrupt. For those institutions, no effort was spared, with government officials often defending their generosity by kneeling at the altar of the 'sanctity of contracts.' Meanwhile, an entirely different set of rules applied for home-owners and businesses that were most assuredly small enough to fail.
"Nowhere was the favoritism toward Wall Street more evident than with the government's approach to AIG, where inviolable contract terms were cited to justify the absurd executive bonus payments as well as far richer payouts provided to the megabank counterparties to AIG's CDS deals, honoring even their most reckless bets. For homeowners and small business owners, though, contracts went from being sacrosanct to inconvenient irrelevancies. So when mortgage servicers blatantly disregarded HAMP contracts by trampling over homeowners' rights, Treasury turned to an endless series of excuses to justify its refusal to hold them accountable. Similarly, for more than two thousand auto dealerships, Treasury's auto bailout team sought to void the contractual rights granted them under state franchise laws to shut them down." -- An excerpt from Bailout
Beachler, Donald W, and Thomas C. Shevory, When Good Companies go bad: 100 Corporate Miscalculations and Misdeeds, ISBN: 9781610694056 1610694058.
"Covering the entire world of business from heavy industry to the financial houses of Wall Street, this book shines a spotlight on 100 of the most infamous cases of misconduct and malfeasance in corporate history." -- Publisher
*Bell, Robert, Impure Science: Fraud, Compromise, and Political Influence in Scientific Research, ISBN: 0471529133 9780471529132, 320 pages.
"The author lifts the veil of secrecy from scientific research conducted in this country. He presents a shattering indictment of the scientific community from the halls of government to the research centers at major universities and corporations. Documents case after case of influence peddling, doctored research and outright fraud, and reveals how the twin forces of money and status compromise and corrupt the pursuit of scientific truth." -- Publisher
Bello, Walden, with Shea Cunningham, and Bill Pau, Dark Victory: The United States, Structural Adjustment, and Global Poverty, ISBN: 0935028765 9780935028768.
"Best short work on the role of the IMF in global misery. Bello provides a clear, concise and well evidenced argument that the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World Bank have sunk the countries of the global south into deeper and deeper debt and impoverishment. Bello sets this argument in the historical frame of the northern backlash against the rising economic power of the south. He also links the economic philosophy behind adjustment to the widening prosperity gap and falling real wages in the north.
"A must read for all those curios about the World Bank and IMF and why people are against them." -- Reader's Comment
*Berle, Adolf, The Modern Corporation and Private Property, ISBN: 0887388876 9780887388873.
"Arguably the most influential book in U.S. business history." -- Peter Drucker
"This monumental work on the corporation is one of those enduring classics that many cite but few have read. Graced with a new introduction by Weidenbaum and Jensen, this new edition makes this classic available to a new generation. Written in the early 1930s, THE MODERN CORPORATION AND PRIVATE PROPERTY remains the fundamental introduction to the internal organization of the corporation in modern society. Combining the analytical skills of an attorney with those of an economist, Berle and Means raise the central questions, even when their answers have been superseded by changing circumstances.
"The book's most enduring theme is the separation of ownership from control of the modern corporation and its consequences. Berle and Means display keen awareness of the divergent interests of directors and managers, and of each from owners of the firm. Among their predictions are the characteristic increase in size of the modem corporation and concentration of the economy. The authors view stock exchanges and stock markets as essential by-products of the rise of the modem corporation, and explore how these function. They address the difficult questions of whether corporations operate for the benefit of owners or managers, and explore what motivates managers to make effective use of corporate assets. Finally, they examine the role of the corporation as the prevailing form of organizing the production and distribution of goods and services.
"In their new introduction, Weidenbaum and Jensen, co-directors of the Center for the Study of American Business at Washington University, critically assess the impact of developments not fully anticipated by Berle and Means, such as the rise of the service sector, and the significant role played by institutional investors in the owner/manager equation. They note the authors' prescient observations, including the complex role of and motivating influences on professional managers, and the significance of inside information on stock markets. As they note, The Modern Corporation and Private Property remains of central value to all those concerned with the evolution of this major social institution of the twentieth century. Scholar and practitioner alike will find it of enduring significance." -- Publisher
Bethell, Tom, Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, ISBN: 0312223374 9780312223373.
"The phenomenal success of Western civilization and the remarkable economic expansion fueled by modern capitalism, says Tom Bethell, depend chiefly [see "Christ's Influence on Western Civilization," "The Ten Commandments," Robbins, Christ and Civilization, Smith's The Wealth of Nations, and so forth -- compiler], on the institution of private property and the development of secure property rights, yet this simple, striking idea is misunderstood by elite opinion leaders in the United States and around the world. Bethell, a reporter for the American Spectator, offers a history of property as an idea and a reality around the world. His sweeping narrative will appeal to fans of David Landes's THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS and Jared Diamond's GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL. Yet, in many crucial respects, THE NOBLEST TRIUMPH (the title comes from British philosopher Jeremy Bentham's line that property laws represent 'the noblest triumph of humanity over itself'), is better than both, displaying a keener understanding of human nature and of how incentives shape behavior. In a chapter sure to inspire controversy, Bethell argues that the Irish potato famines of the 1840s were due primarily to Ireland's lack of stable property rights in the 19th century. Full of astute observations and written with real clarity, THE NOBLEST TRIUMPH makes a unique and welcome contribution to the debate over why some countries thrive while others languish." -- John J. Miller
Bologna, G. Jack, and Robert J. Lindquist, Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting: New Tools and Techniques, ISBN: 0471106461 9780471106463.
"Fraud, in the words of the authors, is no simple vice. Recent years have seen it grow both in size and complexity, to the point where some estimates place losses due to fraud at well over $100 billion a year. And, with the increasing complexity of financial structures and the intensity of business competition, fraud has become harder to detect and more tempting to commit.
"Since much of the responsibility for detecting fraud has been assumed by the accounting profession, accountants need to learn how to recognize its signs and investigate it. FRAUD AUDITING AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, SECOND EDITION focuses on the investigation, detection, documentation, and prevention of accounting frauds, stock frauds, and employee theft and embezzlement. Written by recognized experts in the field of white-collar crime, this comprehensive book provides an incisive, in-depth analysis of how fraud occurs within an organization and explains the latest techniques for fighting it. The authors have brought together up-to-date material to show practicing professionals how to:
"G. Jack Bologna, BBA, JD, CFE, is President of Computer Protection Systems, Inc., and Associate Professor of Management at Siena Heights College. Among his numerous publications are THE ACCOUNTANT'S HANDBOOK OF FRAUD AND COMMERCIAL CRIME (Wiley), FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK, and HANDBOOK ON CORPORATE FRAUD. He is also editor of two newsletters, Forensic Accounting Review and Computer Security Digest. Mr. Bologna is a recipient of the Thomas J. Fitzgerald Award for significant contribution to the field of information security.Recognize the characteristics of organizations in which fraud is likely to occur
Detect and deter accounting fraud, using the most recently developed techniques
Conduct an efficient, systematic fraud investigation
Use the latest methods for documenting fraud and preparing evidence -- and much more
In addition, this timely, authoritative book presents new case studies, drawn from a wide variety of actual incidents, that demonstrate industry-tested methods for dealing with fraud.
Bowen, Russell S., The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed, ISBN: 0922356807 9780922356805.
"This is perhaps the most shocking book written this century about treason committed by the highest leaders within the U.S. Government. This disturbing and thought provoking expose, which few American know about, shows the truth about the drug running activities in behalf of the 'secret government.' You will learn about the unsavory past of George Bush and his family, and well as the unscrupulous activities in which he has been involved." -- Publisher
"General Bowen is a retired Brigadier General whose position with the Office of Security Services (OSS) and his drug running activities in behalf of the government are revealed. He has courageously come forward with the truth about his association." -- Publisher
"When you read THE IMMACULATE DECEPTION subtitled THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY EXPOSED, you will have to keep reminding yourself that you are NOT reading about George W. Bush, our current President. But, the information in this book about George H.W. Bush and his father Prescott Bush will make you look at today's 'war on terrorism' and relationship with Iraq in an entirely different light, despite the fact that this book was written in the late 1980s -- seemingly long before today's post 9/11 conflict(s).
"You remember George Bush (Sr.) of 'Read my lips! No new taxes!' fame. He was the Head of the CIA before he was President of the United States and a member of the Skull and Bones Club at Yale before that. He was also the Director of the U.S. 'War on Terrorism' and 'War on Drugs' at the same time, the only person to ever hold both jobs simultaneously.
"This book describes senior George Bush's career and aspirations through the U.S. efforts in 1982-83 to BUILD UP IRAQ by supplying Saddam Hussein with weapons including chemicals needed to manufacture chemical weapons of mass destruction and how Hussein's power has been kept in place by U.S. policies 'in order to be a perceived threat to Israel.' (p. 92). It also describes George senior's role in the Bay of Pigs, the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, the Martin Luther King assassination, the Iran hostages trade for weapons 'deal,' and the near assassination of Ronald Reagan.
"In short, if you want to understand today's 'War on Terrorism' and dealings with Iraq, Israel, the PLO, and Afghanistan, simply 'follow the money.' You'll find, as this book outlines, that most of it leads to the Bush family, in one form or another." -- Reader's Comment
Bush Family Crime: A Short Bibliography, 2004
http://lettermen2.com/bushcri.html
Impeachment in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States
*Brown, John (of Wamphray, 1610-1679), Corporate Sanctification: Holding Fast the Attainments of Reformation. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1. Available in OBSERVATIONS ON THE PUBLIC COVENANTS BETWIXT GOD AND THE CHURCH: A DISCOURSE.
"An overview of the Covenanter doctrine of reformation attainments by one of the great Covenanter theologians. Helpful in dispelling false charges of Anabaptism and perfectionism laid at the feet of faithful Covenanters by schismatics. John Brown was one of Samuel Rutherford's best students." -- Publisher
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/attain.htm
*Bunyan, John (1628-1688), and Robert Philip (1791-1858), The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate. Alternate title: THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL, AND UNSPEAKABLENESS OF THE LOSS THEREOF: WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT: FIRST PREACHED AT PINNERS HALL, AND NOW ENLARGED, AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available (THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"In the 1660s, Charles II, King of England, asked John Owen (1616 -- 83), why he went to hear the preaching of an uneducated tinker. [John Bunyan -- compiler]. Looking the King in the eye, Owen answered, 'May it please your Majesty, could I possess the tinker's ability for preaching, I would willingly relinquish all my learning'." -- Andrew Thomson, John Owen, Prince of Puritans
Owen would not have been surprised to learn that Bunyan's most influential work, PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, would be translated into more languages over the next 400 years than any book except the Bible.
The Greatness of the Soul: and The Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; No way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ; The Strait Gate
http://archive.org/details/greatnessofsoulu00bunyuoft
Pilgrim's Page: A John Bunyan Archive
This is the complete set of THE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN, George Offor edition, reprinted by The Banner of Truth. It is free online, and is downloadable in the following formats: HTML, RTF, TEXT, and PDF.
http://www.chapellibrary.org/literature/bunyan/
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN BUNYAN is also available at Project Gutenberg.
Burroughs, Jeremiah (1599-1646), The Excellency of Holy Courage in Evil Times, in Which (Besides Many Other Seasonable Truths), There is Shewed: 1. That Wicked Men in Power are Fierce in Their Wrath. 2. That Faith Will Keep a Gracious Heart From Immoderate Fear of men of Authority and Power. 3. Directions in our Fear of authority, etc., 1661. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Calvin, Jean (John, 1509-1564), On God and Political Duty.
"Selections from the author's INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, COMMENTARIES ON ROMANS, and COMMENTARIES ON DANIEL." -- Publisher
Calvin, On God and Political Duty
http://archive.org/details/ongodpoliticaldu00calv
*Calvin, John (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, ISBN: 0664220207 9780664220204. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. A Christian classic.
"Edited by John McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, this is the definitive English language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church -- Calvin's INSTITUTES.
"Still considered by many to be the finest explanation and defense of the Protestant Reformation available.
"The work is divided into four books: I. The Knowledge of God the Creator, II. The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, III. The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ, IV. The External Means or Helps by Which God Allures us Into Fellowship With Christ and Keeps us in it. . . . THE INSTITUTES is praised by the secular philosopher, Will Durant, as one of the ten books that shook the world." -- GCB
Calvin spent a lifetime writing and perfecting INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION. His Prefatory Address makes it clear that he intended the work to be a defense of Christianity to the King of France.
Therefore, plainly stated, one of the most influential works ever published in the English language is a defense of Christianity to leaders of State.
Prefatory Address to His Most Christian Majesty, The Most Mighty and Illustrious Monarch, Francis, King of the French, His Sovereign, John Calvin. Available in THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Indeed, this consideration makes a true king: to recognize himself a minister of God in governing his kingdom. Now, that king, who in ruling over his realm does not serve God's glory, exercises not kingly rule but brigandage. [Footnote: 'Nec iam regnum ille sed latrocinium exercet.' An echo of Augustine's famous phrase: 'When justice is taken away, what are kingdoms [[regna]] but a vast banditry [[magna latocinia]]?' City of God, IV. iv (MPL [[Migne, J.P., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina]], 41. 115; tr. NPNF [[A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series]], II. 66)]. Furthermore, he is deceived who looks for enduring prosperity in his kingdom when it is not ruled by God's scepter, that is, his Holy Word; for the heavenly oracle that proclaims that where prophecy fails the people are scattered [Prov. 29:18 (Proverbs 29:18)], cannot lie." (Battles translation)
"The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word. For the heavenly oracle is infallible which has declared, that where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18), (Beveridge translation)."
See the entire Prefatory Address, Beveridge translation. Considered to be one of the greatest prefaces ever written.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.ii.viii.html
"The doctrines of covenant liberty were rediscovered in the Reformation. John Calvin went further than anyone else in defining liberty and what Christians need to do to maintain it. Includes bibliographies."
It is recommended that INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION be used for daily devotions and may be used in combination with Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, AN ANALYSIS OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION OF JOHN CALVIN and with CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES.
Calvin's Commentaries at BibleStudyGuide.org
http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin/comm_index.htm
Calvin's Commentaries, complete
From the Calvin Translation Society edition.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html
One Hundred Aphorisms, Containing, Within a Narrow Compass, the Substance and Order of the Four Books of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
http://www.lettermen2.com/pringle.html
Contents and Chapter Sections for Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559 (McNeill/Battles)
http://www.lettermen2.com/icrcont.html
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 1
http://archive.org/details/instituteschrist01calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; A New Translation by Henry Beveridge (1845), Volume: 2
http://archive.org/details/institutesofreli02calvuoft
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Beveridge translation
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.vii.html
Monergism: Commentaries
From Mongergism.com search "commentaries."
http://www.monergism.com
Cheyney, Edward Potts, Documents Illustrative of Feudalism, ISBN: 0404089747 9780404089740.
Chomsky, Noam, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, ISBN: 0805074007 9780805074000 0965806340 9780965806343.
"Reading Chomsky today is sobering and instructive . . . He is a global phenomenon . . . perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet." -- The New York Times Book Review
"An immediate national bestseller, HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL demonstrates how, for more than half a century the United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy with the aim of staking out the globe. Our leaders have shown themselves willing -- as in the Cuban missile crisis -- to follow the dream of dominance no matter how high the risks. World-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky investigates how we came to this perilous moment and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species.
"With the striking logic that is his trademark, Chomsky tracks the U.S. government's aggressive pursuit of 'full spectrum dominance' and vividly lays out how the most recent manifestations of the politics of global control -- from unilateralism to the dismantling of international agreements to state terrorism -- cohere in a drive for hegemony that ultimately threatens our existence. Lucidly written, thoroughly documented, and featuring a new afterword by the author, HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL is a definitive statement from one of today's most influential thinkers." -- Publisher
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include AT WAR WITH ASIA, TOWARDS A NEW COLD WAR, FATEFUL TRIANGLE: THE U. S., ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS, NECESSARY ILLUSIONS, HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL, DETERRING DEMOCRACY, FAILED STATES: THE ABUSE OF POWER AND THE ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY, and MANUFACTURING CONSENT: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE MASS MEDIA. -- Publisher
Clark, William Roberts, Capitalism, not Globalism: Capital Mobility, Central Bank Independence, and the Political Control of the Economy, ISBN: 0472112937 9780472112937.
Codevilla, Angelo, The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility, ISBN: 9780465028009 0465028004.
"In this cross-cultural study, Angelo M. Codevilla illustrates that as people shape their governments, they shape themselves. Drawing broadly from the depths of history, from the Roman republic to de Tocqueville's America, as well as from personal and scholarly observations of the world in the twentieth century, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS reveals remarkable truths about the effects of government on a society's economic arrangements, moral order, sense of family life, and ability to defend itself.
"Codevilla argues that in present-day America, government has had a profound negative effect on societal norms. It has taught people to seek prosperity through connections with political power; it has fostered the atrophy of civic responsibility; it has waged a Kulturkampf against family and religion; and it has dug a dangerous chasm between those who serve in the military and those who send it in harm's way. Informative and provocative, THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS shows how the political decisions we make have higher stakes than simply who wins elections." -- Publisher
"Angelo M. Codevilla has taught political theory and international relations at Stanford, Princeton, and Georgetown University and is presently a professor of international relations at Boston University. He is the author of nine books, including THE CHARACTER OF NATIONS, THE ARMS CONTROL DELUSION, and a new translation of Machiavelli's THE PRINCE. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts." --- Publisher
"Reading this book I feel like one of Mr. Codevilla's students: 'We have read the published version of this event. Please tell us the real story.' To me this book was a revelation, as much for the data inside as for the author, whom I would describe as another Thomas Sowell, for the clarity and immediacy of his speech. After reading this I am more than ever convinced that the love that elite America has always felt for Europe is one of the main causes of the political and social divides inside American society today: Like an extra-marital affair with a high class prostitute. A fatal attraction.
"I would recommend to the reader that he combine the reading of this book with Dick Morris's CATASTROPHE, for a more detailed analysis of how insiders to the regime play their lucrative parts in Obama's America. Thus you get to understand the big picture as well as the day to day money-dealings inside the U.S. regime.
"Here's all you want to know about the world, socially and politically. There is no better book to travel all over the world with and understand how the common folks in those places must feel.
"The nature of our western regimes:
The most economically profitable thing you can do, whether in Europe or in Argentina, or China or Chicago, is to worry less about producing than about building a profitable relationship with the regime. Because exchanging economic privilege for political support is the essence of modern government."Our military:
Regimes have added a new twist . . . that government must depend on science, which dictates that people must surrender to their betters plenary powers over where and how they live, how much and what kind of energy or even food they consume, in order to 'save the planet' from human habitation's effects."
The change began in the 1950's, as the social groups that make of the regime began to look down on their fellow citizens' revulsion to communism . . . our regime, scornful of the traditional military goal of victory, became accustomed to using the armed forces in ventures from the Balkans to Iraq that were neither war nor peace, that were more obviously related to regime goals than to American interests -- but that got a lot of people killed nevertheless."Russia
Mafia oligarchies such as post-Communist Russia, where the rulers regard others' property as a threat to their own and where friendship is restricted to families."Singapore
defenseless free ports, like Singapore, where the rulers thrive within systems of law and low taxes that encourage large numbers of people to think of nothing but making money."China
Business in China consists effectively of granting and using the privilege to hire labor for next to nothing. The system runs . . . on the expectation that various officials will be content with the bribes they have received."Europe
All Europeans accept their roles as subjects -- as entitled consumers of government services. The real citizens of Europe, from whom power and to whom privilege flow, are society's corporations, whether big business, unions, political parties, or the complex of bureaucrats and the interest groups they finance."And here's where the U.S. could have had the upper hand in its dealings with Europe, but dismissed it.
It is difficult to imagine Europeans nowadays offering their lives for their country. Contemporary Europe's way of life has been possible only because it was protected by the United States.
In Catholic Europe, the Christian Democratic movement, the principal reaction to militant liberalism, gave up advocacy of Christian causes, refused to take clear stands on the major issues of the day, immersed itself in day-to-day administration, and died. Throughout the European continent, then, politics has trained people to forget the soul."Sound like the story of Republicanism since . . . Lincoln? "Germany in a few slides:
In their most vigorous years, these people lived by Nazi standards. They spent their middle age trying to approach the ideals of the Adenauer republic -- bourgeois respectability . . . their old age has been passed in a country characterized by sex shops, welfare and environmentalism, where the ways of the Adenauer republic are ridiculed. Their last impressions must be of Muslim neighbors whom it is dangerous to displease."How the regime works
Scientific management, its success depending on maintaining a pretense of neutrality on the issues, but there is "massive evidence that those who hawk certain kinds of social or environmental policies in the name of science are partisans of those policies."Sounds like paganism and superstition are here again.
Today's tycoons have more power over ordinary people than the trusts of a century ago, because while the old robber barons had to do the robbing themselves, today's CEOs can count on the government to do it for them by manufacturing markets for them, by tailoring rules that stifle competition, and by bailing out their blunders.
The regimes rule more by fashion . . . than by statute. It defines itself by its icons and taboos.
The new path to riches is knowing what the government wants . . . though lawyers produce nothing, they are paid more than engineers because government makes their services really more valuable . . . such high salaries are passed on to the public through higher prices."Affirmative action:
is about neither race nor sex. It is about politics . . . it is about patrons and clients . . . about adding to the power of those who already have power and obliging those under them to build the personal political relationships that override objective criteria and immunize against New Age accusations."You get a lot of information here, from almost every corner of the world and every facet of society. If a businessman came from outer space, this would be the book he should need. And that seems also as far as we -- rather serfs than citizens -- are from the ruling bureaucrats in the West." -- Reader's Comment
*Coit, Margaret L. (1919-2003), John C. Calhoun: American Portrait, ISBN: 0877971854, 9780877971856.
"This heavily documented 593-page biography is a fascinating glimpse into secular American life in the times of John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), including southern plantation life, and the intricacies of political diplomacy in Washington, D.C.
For any reader who has been immersed in the Reformed Presbyterian Church History of this period, this biography offers a fresh and rewarding diversion into the parallel secular and political history.
"There is a lot to learn here. Human nature was the same in Calhoun's day as it is today. The selfishness of men in power was creating a serious imbalance in the economy. Calhoun understood this, and he fought heroically for political solutions to prevent a split in the union (Ecclesiastes 1:9,10). It informs about much of what was going on in the South prior to 'The War Between the States: The War of Northern Aggression, The War for Southern Independence,' information that revisionist historians often leave out of textbooks.
"The book has been criticized as a weak analysis of Calhoun as a political theorist, but this is probably an unfair criticism. Much is discussed about Calhoun's political position. The politician or the scholar of political science should read John C. Calhoun, et al., A DISQUISITION ON GOVERNMENT AND A DISCOURSE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, PAPERS, 28. Both his works and his correspondence also have been published.
"The biography does discuss the various causes of the split in the union: the decline of the federal character of our government with the resulting dominance of Northern industrial majority over the minority interests of the South, tariff regulations favoring the North, economic exploitation of the South, unbalanced growth, states rights, slavery, and so forth, and so on.
"The issue of Southern slavery is not as 'cut and dried' as abolitionists and the Northern sympathizers would have the public believe. For example, the similarities between Southern slavery and the 'wage slavery' of Northern industrialists is mentioned." -- Reader's Comment
The question of slavery has perplexed this writer for years. This biography, and the lecture, "Biblical Slavery: Its Meaning and Necessity," have helped clear up questions about the position of pro-unreconstructed Southern Evangelicals, the apparent "paradox" of the social benefits of Biblical slavery, conflicting motives for the Civil War, Robert L. Dabney's (1820-1898) "unbelievable blind spot" in the midst of excellent theology, and Dabney being branded a "racist."
Calhoun is said to be one of the most able statesmen and politicians ever to serve in Washington. This work by Margaret Coit received the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1951. It accounts for why Calhoun is held in such high esteem in the South, even today. He has been praised as a politician by C. Gregg Singer, the church historian.
There is scant mention of Calhoun's religious convictions, and their influence on his politics. See: A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
"The former Vice-President [under John Quincy Adams and the first term of Andrew Jackson -- compiler], was able to become the spokesman of the minority within that era. In doing so, he offered a vigorous justification of why the majority should be limited in what they can do to the minority. His explanation is as sound today for any minority as it was for defending the South in his time." -- Reader's Comment
"His influence during four decades of national life cannot be denied, which is one of the reasons why scholars to this day argue over whether there are two distinct periods to Calhoun's career: his earlier years when he seemed more inclined to support national-oriented legislation, and his later years when he appears as an early 'states rights' man.
"Coit, who clearly admires him and is determined to unearth the person behind the stony legend, argues that Calhoun's devotion to nation and state were as one, and that in his view only through a determined affirmation of the rights of the states could the larger national confederation succeed. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"Coit hints at a distant personal connection to John C. Calhoun on page 306, saying the Reverend John C. Coit, a Presbyterian clergyman, was a friend of Calhoun's.
"Coit has a very vivid style and sometimes she comes dangerously close to crossing the line into writing fiction (such as when she enters the mind of a dying Calhoun and offers a series of flashback sketches)." -- Reader's Comment
Collins, Chuck, and Felice Yeskel, Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Security, ISBN: 1565845943 9781565845947.
"The authors, social activists rather than economists, explain the growing economic insecurity and inequality in the U.S. While they do not have a comprehensive blueprint for change, they offer an analysis of the problems that they believe threaten human values and our quality of life. The first three chapters explain the impact of the growing inequality on daily living; examine trends in income, wages, savings, and wealth; and consider the causes of inequality, such as the rise of corporate power and the decline of worker power. While chapter four discusses the building of a fair-economy movement, the final chapter offers an action plan for reducing inequality with ideas such as lifting the income and wealth floor for people at the bottom; progressive taxation on income and wealth; and policies that fundamentally redistribute power and wealth. While many will not agree with the ideas in this book, all voices should be heard in a democracy searching for solutions to economic problems." -- Mary Whaley in Booklist
Corey, Lewis, The Decline of American Capitalism, 1934, ISBN: 0405041160 9780405041167.
Includes bibliography.
D'Souza, Dinesh, Stealing America: What my Experience With Criminal Gangs Taught me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party, ISBN: 9780062366719 0062366718 9780062366726 0062366726.
"I had won -- for now. But I knew I still had an ordeal ahead. Little did I know what was in store for me at the confinement center. Let me say that it was not overpopulated with dentists, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. Rather, I was destined to spend every night for the next eight months sleeping in a dormitory with more than a hundred rapists, armed robbers, drug smugglers, and murderers.
"I learned how the hoodlums think and how they operate, how they organize themselves in gangs, how they rip people off and crush their enemies. I understood, for the first time, the psychology of crookedness. Suddenly I had an epiphany: this system of larceny, corruption, and terror that I encountered firsthand in the confinement center is exactly the same system that has been adopted and perfected by modern progressivism and the Democratic Party.
"This book is an exposé of Obama, Hillary, and modern liberalism, not as a defective movement of ideas, but as a crime syndicate. . . .
"Dinesh D'Souza is a number one New York Times bestselling author and the filmmaker behind the hit documentaries "2016: Obama's America" and "America," which are respectively the second-highest- and the sixth-highest-grossing political documentaries of all time.
"In his thirty-year career as a writer, scholar, and public intellectual, D'Souza has been a policy analyst in the Reagan White House and a John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"His bestselling books include AMERICA, OBAMA'S AMERICA, THE ROOTS OF OBAMA'S RAGE, WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CHRISTIANITY, and ILLIBERAL EDUCATION." -- Publisher
Derber, Charles, Regime Change Begins at Home: Freeing America From Corporate Rule, ISBN: 1576752925 9781576752920.
Dicker, John, The United States of Wal-Mart, ISBN: 1585424226 9781585424221.
"Although it's getting too big to be a microcosm, Wal-Mart is a fair representation of many of the most troubling aspects of the American economy, according to this lively and insightful profile of the big box retail leviathan. Former Colorado Springs Independent staff writer Dicker admirably sums up the conventional complaints against Wal-Mart, detailing poverty-level wages, skimpy benefits, scorched-earth anti-union policies, shuttered small town Main Streets, suburban sprawl abetment and rampant outsourcing. Behind the façade of 'corn-pone populism' fostered by folksy but steely founder Sam Walton, Dicker asserts, Wal-Mart has become a 'global despot.' Dicker's analysis is unsparing but balanced. He sympathizes (and sometimes strategies), with Wal-Mart opponents, but also chides them for ignoring the appeal of the company's cheap, convenient offerings to cash-strapped customers and undeserved communities. And Wal-Mart's sins, he argues, are America's; the company merely caters to the national religion of consumer entitlement that assumes shoppers have no interests in common with workers and puts low prices ahead of any social consequences. Aside from some pointless and tiresome lapses into prison-chic posturing ('we're all Wal-Mart's bitches'), Dicker conveys a wealth of information in a lucid and light-handed style. (June)" -- Publishers Weekly
"Though I'm not easily impressed by books, having been a reviewer for Choice, which is the premier university-libraries' reviewing service, I must say that Dicker's book is simply first class; it 'has it all.' Dicker describes Wal-Mart's history, blood-from-turnip buying practices, management practices, hiring-and-firing practices, insider personnel issues, supplier nightmares, promotion-and-demotion manipulations, regional and national sales and growth-rate figures, political maneuvering, foreign-intrigue issues, and more. And he does it with exceptionally intelligent and witty humor.
"What's especially fascinating is that he accomplishes the above while maintaining balance and sensibility. In other words, this isn't just a crass hatchet job; it is, instead, a highly competent analysis done in an engagingly entertaining way. To achieve that while laying out so many potentially dry facts and figures is a feat that only the most able writers can pull off.
"I honestly don't know how this book could have been better written, more credibly written, or more wittily written. To achieve all of that is quite an accomplishment.
"I had already written the above review, and then decided to edit it to add this comment: If you know anyone who is thinking of working for the Wal-Mart corporation, at any level from management to doorway greeter, be sure to have them read this eye-opening masterpiece (in addition to which, it's just one hell of a lot of fun to read. Unexpected laughs pop up everywhere.)" -- Reader' Comment
WakeUpWalMart.com
"WakeUpWalMart.com is about Americans joining together in common purpose to change Wal-Mart. There is only one force powerful enough to change the #1 Fortune 500 company in the world -- the American people. [Former Associates, their friends and families, other retail worker's who have lost job or have been asked to work for less to compete with Wal-Mart, disenfranchised small businessmen, neighbors whose property value has gone down when a store was built, textile workers and other individuals who have lost their jobs because of globalization -- this amounts to around 30 percent of the population of many rural counties in America. -- compiler]
"WakeUpWalMart.com is about giving Americans the tools to empower themselves to change the world's largest employer. We are Wal-Mart's customers and we have the power to make Wal-Mart live up to its responsibility to its employees, our families, our communities and the nation.
"We are 150,000 Americans and growing. We are grassroots leaders, community groups and activists who have woken up to the high costs of Wal-Mart and recognize Wal-Mart's negative impact on our jobs, our wages, our health care and our communities.
"We will be a vehicle through which millions of Americans can join together, from neighborhoods all across our nation, to harness the power of our consumer behavior and use it to reform a company. America's largest corporation must reflect America's values.
"WakeUpWalMart.com is your campaign. It is a grassroots movement which will represent the best America has to offer.
"For more information or to contact WakeUpWalMart.com please send us an e-mail at info@wakeupwalmart.com."
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com
The Real Facts About Wal-Mart
A good summation of Wal-Mart High Costs.
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/
Dill, James Renwick, Christian Government and the Sabbath.
Dobranich, James J., Sr., Reparations: Fleecing America, ISBN: 1410737659 9781410737656.
Dowd, Douglas, U.S. Capitalist Development Since 1776: Of, by, and for Which People? ISBN: 1563241668 9781563241666.
"In many respects an update of the author's THE TWISTED DREAM (1974, 1977), with (in the wake of the end of the Cold War and consequent celebration of the 'free market'), an increased emphasis on the ideology and the realities of the free market in our past. A critical inquiry into the nature of and the reasons for the developing social crisis in the U.S. -- 'at once economic, political, and moral, simultaneously domestic and international'." -- Book News
Ellul, Jacques (1912-1994), Money and Power, ISBN: 0551013923 9780551013926.
"Discusses the ethics of wealth and incidentally elucidates the Biblical teaching on money and its use. . . ." -- Cyril J. Barber
"In this one of many brilliant books by Ellul, he exposes the folly of a purely collective, societal approach, such as that offered by communism, or capitalism. Instead, through a study of various Biblical references in the Old and New Testament, puts the responsibility on the individual. The new covenant of Jesus is compared to the Old Testament pattern of wealth as a sign of blessing. He examines the teaching of Jesus on God and Mammon. Contemporary models of stewardship are exposed as inadequate. Further, he clearly shows the underlying power money has over a person, despite any feelings of control we may think we have. The teachings of Jesus about giving and trusting provide the path to freedom -- every hair is numbered. Only by God's grace and transforming love are we able to overcome this subtle and insidious power. Highly recommended, especially at a time in our history when many have lost faith in the market." -- Reader's Comment
Estes, Ralph W., Tyranny of the Bottom Line: Why Corporations Make Good People do bad Things, ISBN: 1881052753 9781881052753.
"TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE tells how the corporate system, originally created to serve the public interest, has acquired immense power over the public. Largely unconstrained by a captive regulatory bureaucracy, corporations today exercise a silent dominance over much of our society. This dominion can produce substantial good, but can also bring injury and death to employees, financial and personal loss to customers, desolation to communities, poisonous pollution and hazardous waste to the nation.
"In TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE, Ralph Estes tells the story of corporate power gone awry: permanent layoffs affecting millions of people while CEO salaries go through the roof; toxic waste poisoning the land, water, and air; unhealthy and dangerous products on the market; injury and death on the job; white-collar hustles in the S&Ls and on Wall Street that ultimately cost us all.
"Emphasizing the notion that all of us are stakeholders in the large corporation -- with an investment, an interest in its performance, and a right to accountability -- Ralph Estes offers proposals for creating more effective and humane companies, restoring the original public purpose of the corporate system, and allowing managers to make choices that effectively and ethically balance the interests of everyone. Estes lays out a practical, specific plan for the development of a new, fair score-keeping system that shows the effects of a corporation's actions on all its stakeholders, not merely its stockholders, and then tells managers that they will be responsible for these effects.
"Based on the author's many years of research and experience, TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE lays out this prescription in an effective and workable program that can make corporations safer and more rewarding for all of us, and more enjoyable, more honorable, for the people who run them." -- Midwest Book Review
Feldman, Steve, Compartments: How the Brightest, Best Trained, and Most Caring People can Make Judgments That are Completely and Utterly Wrong, ISBN: 1441526331 9781441526335 9781441526328 1441526323.
"Dr. Steven Feldman has written an extraordinary book. Provocative and often brilliant, Dr. Feldman has examined his own thinking and that of the medical profession in general, critically looking for patterns of misunderstanding between medical specialties and between physicians and others concerned with public health. Dr. Feldman courageously applies his paradigm of conceptual 'compartments' beyond medicine to contemporary political conflicts, searching for new, more hopeful and productive ways of engaging with previously intractable conflicts. Regardless of occupational or political loyalties, all will benefit from reading 'Compartments'. Dr. Feldman's book contains many stimulating ideas, an unflagging idealism, a willingness to question received wisdom and the potential to shock readers into thinking outside the box of his or her own 'compartment'." -- Michael Sugrue, Ph.D.
Fettke, Steven M., Messages to a Nation in Crisis: An Introduction to the Prophecy of Jeremiah, ISBN: 0819128392 9780819128393.
Forbes, Steve, A New Birth of Freedom: Vision for America, ISBN: 0895263203 9780895263209.
"America today has the potential for the greatest economic boom and spiritual renewal in our history. Presidential candidate and publishing magnate Steve Forbes shows how we can once again brighten economic prospects for everyone, reform our corrupt political institutions, and restore the severely weakened moral foundations of our country." -- Publisher
Friedman, Milton, Capitalism and Freedom.
Includes bibliographical references.
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope The Predator State stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
Gillespie, George (1613-1648), Assembly, Glasgow, 11th Session, 1638, Sermon, Prov. 21:1 [Proverbs 21:1], The King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord. Available in THE WORKS OF MR. GEORGE GILLESPIE.
*Gingrich, Newt, and Eric Trump (foreword),
Understanding Trump, ISBN: 9781478923084, 1478923083.
"The presidency of Donald Trump marks a profound change in the trajectory of American government, politics, and culture. He is the only person ever elected to be commander in chief who has not first held public office or served as a general in the military. His principles grow out of five decades of business and celebrity success -- not politics -- so he behaves differently than do traditional politicians. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich analyzes how President Trump thinks and makes decisions. He also presents Trump-style solutions for national security, education, health care, economic growth, government reform, and other important topics. Gingrich identifies the forces in the Washington establishment, media, and bureaucracy that will oppose the president at every turn. Finally, he explains the president's actions so far and lays out a vision for what Americans can do to help make President Trump's agenda a success.
"In UNDERSTANDING TRUMP, Newt Gingrich shares what he learned from more than two years helping Trump and his team throughout the campaign, the election, and during the first months of the presidency.
"Mr. Gingrich provides unique insight into how the new president's past experiences have shaped his life and style of governing. This book also includes Mr. Gingrich's thorough analysis of how President Trump thinks and makes decisions, as well as the president's philosophy, doctrine, and political agenda going forward.
"Newt Gingrich is the former House Speaker and 2012 Presidential Candidate. GETTYSBURG, PEARL HARBOR and TO SAVE AMERICA: STOPPING OBAMA'S SECULAR-SOCIALIST MACHINE are three of his 14 New York Times bestsellers. He is a regular guest on national political shows. -- Publisher
"Further, these pages hold a detailed discussion of Trump-style solutions for national security, education, health care, economic growth, government reform, and other important topics. Mr. Gingrich also identifies the forces in the Washington establishment, media, and bureaucracy that will oppose the president at every turn.
"Finally, UNDERSTANDING TRUMP explains the president's actions so far and lays out a vision for what Americans can do to help make President Trump's agenda a success.
"The president owes his position to the people who believed in him as a candidate, not to the elites in government and media who have expressed contempt for him since he began his campaign to become president. The very essence of Trump's mission is a willingness to enact policies and set goals that send our country in a bold new direction -- one that may be 'unreasonable' to Washington but is sensible to millions of Americans outside the Beltway. Only with the country's help will President Trump be able to overcome the entrenched interests in Washington and fulfill his promise to make America great again for all Americans." -- Publisher
Girardeau, John L., College of Charleston, Society of Graduates, Conscience and Civil Government: An Oration Delivered Before the Society of Alumni of the College of Charleston on Commencement day, March 27th, 1860.
Golden, Thomas W., Steven L. Skalak, and Mona M. Clayton, A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation, ISBN: 9780471469070 0471469076.
"Today's demanding marketplace expects auditors to take responsibility for fraud detection, and this expectation is buoyed by such legislation as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Auditing Standard (SAS99), which requires increased performance on the part of the auditor to find material financial statement fraud.
"Written by three of the best forensic accountants and auditors, Thomas W. Golden, Steven L. Skalak, and Mona M. Clayton, THE AUDITOR'S GUIDE TO FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION explores exactly what assurances auditors should provide and suggests alternatives to giving the capital markets more of what they are requiring-greater assurances that the financial statements they rely upon for investment decisions are free of material error, including fraud. It reveals the surprising complexity of fraud deterrence, detection, and investigation, and offers a step-by-step approach to understanding that complexity.
"From basic techniques to intricate tests and technologies, THE AUDITOR'S GUIDE TO FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION is a rich, multifaceted, and fascinating answer to the need for wiser, savvier, better-trained financial statement and internal auditors who are thoroughly familiar with fraud detection techniques and the intricate, demanding work of forensic accounting specialists.
"Thomas W. Golden, CPA, CFE, specializes in providing consulting and expert witness testimony in both civil and criminal matters with special expertise in forensic accounting, fraud investigation, and financial statement accounting. He is a former Chairman of the Board of Regents for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the current President of the Better Government Association, a citizen watchdog group in Chicago, IL. Mr. Golden is an adjunct professor at DePaul University.
"Steven L. Skalak, CPA, is the National Practice Leader for PWC Investigations and Forensic Services of Price, Waterhouse, Coopers, LLP. He has participated in a variety of corporate investigations relating to allegations that the Securities and Exchange Acts were violated, and of accounting or auditing improprieties. Steve has represented Audit Committees, Directors, Officers, Auditors, and Companies in class action litigation with shareholders and SEC investigations.
"Mona M. Clayton, CPA, CFE, specializes in international fraud investigations with particular emphasis in Latin America where she has conducted investigations. She has designed investigative practice aids providing for consistent methodologies to be incorporated across common scheme investigations. Ms. Clayton is an adjunct professor at DePaul University." -- Publisher
Graham, Bob, and Jeff Nussbaum, Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America's war on Terror, ISBN: 1400063523 9781400063529.
"In this explosive, controversial, and profoundly alarming insider's report, Senator Bob Graham reveals faults in America's national security network severe enough to raise fundamental questions about the competence and honesty of public officials in the CIA, the FBI, and the White House.
"For ten years, Senator Graham served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he had access to some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Graham co-chaired a historic joint House-Senate inquiry into the intelligence community's failures. From that investigation and his own personal fact-finding, Graham discovered disturbing evidence of terrorist activity and a web of complicity:
Greenwald, Robert (director), Wal-Mart -- The High Cost of Low Price, DVD, a documentary.
"Plot Synopsis: This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
"Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?
" 'WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price' takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel . . . and shop." -- Publisher
"A powerful documentary that contrasts the public persona of Walmart with the human toll of their behind-the-scenes business practices. Deeply personal vignettes from small business owners, Walmart managers, workers, attorneys and environmentalists review the tragic consequences of one of the world's largest, most venal corporations running amok on rural America -- subsidized by our own tax dollars. This is a movie was Walmart does NOT want you to see -- so tell all your friends!" -- Viewer's review
*Greider, William, Who Will Tell the People? The Betrayal of American Democracy, ISBN: 0671867407 9780671867409.
"WHO WILL TELL THE PEOPLE is a passionate, eye-opening challenge to American democracy. Here is a tough-minded exploration of why we're in trouble, starting with the basic issues of who gets heard, who gets ignored, and why. Greider shows us the realities of power in Washington today, uncovering the hidden relationships that link politicians with corporations and the rich, and that subvert the needs of ordinary citizens.
"How do we put meaning back into public life? Greider shares the stories of some citizens who have managed to crack Washington's 'Grand Bazaar' of influence peddling as he reveals the structures designed to thwart them. Without naivete or cynicism, Greider shows us how the system can still be made to work for the people, and delineates the lines of battle in the struggle to save democracy. By showing us the reality of how the political decisions that shape our lives are made, William Greider explains how we can begin to take control once more." -- Publisher
"Written in the era of Ross Perot and Jerry Brown and focused on the Savings and Loan scandal that cost taxpayers at least $200 billion dollars, this insightful book identifies many factors behind the growing power of transnational corporations to set the national agenda. Villains include an expanding executive branch, the collusion of both major parties with Wall Street interests, the increasing use of technical jargon in the halls of power, and a press that seems more focused on selling celebrities than examining policies.
"Greider's prophetic book, written in 1992, anticipates how NAFTA, GATT, and the most favored trade status with China all passed - could be pushed through by a Democratic president (Clinton) and a Republican Congress in a bipartisan effort. Polls, by the way, showed the vast majority of Americans opposed to all three pieces of legislation. A populist political critic, Greider suspects what is good for Wall Street might not be good for Main Street. (Of course, many people living on Main Street owe some stock too.)
"I first read this book in 1992, and wondered if Greider was exaggerating to make more compelling copy. Re-reading parts today and knowing the disaster caused by NAFTA, Greider emerges as one of the few political analysts aware of the significance of trade to Wall Street and the negative influence on corporate money on both parties.
" 'We're perilously close to not having a democracy,' warms Greider, noting that while many elements are involved in disenfranchising the American public, none are buried secrets and all are familiar features. Campaign finance reform, of course, remains the preferred euphemism for legalized bribery used to win Congressional votes and manipulate regulatory decisions. Incumbents like the system (shock, shock) and reformers seem to lose in primaries (McCain, Bradley). Greider makes a few common sense suggestions: more press coverage of how government actually works, campaign finance reform, and elections on the weekends.
"Unfortunately, this witty tirade, written with outrage and fury, seems more relevant today than ever. Both moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats support unrestricted trade leaving true outsiders like Nader and Buchanan to articulate the fair trade argument. Greider suggests that the possibilities for renewing American democracy are dwindling despite technological advances that could revitalize citizen activism.
"A fascinating, sobering book for the 2000 election season." -- Reader's Comment
Gurudas, Treason: The new World Order, ISBN: 0945946147 9780945946144.
"This book examines the who, what, where, when of the crimes of the U.S. government. I have read 200 non-Orwellian history and political science books. I have written two Masters Theses myself, and I can say the research in this book is impeccable. Details that Democrats and Republicans work together: we have a one party system: a Bicephalous beast with two heads that snarl and spit at one another to delude the masses into thinking there is a debate . . . This book traces the origins and the crimes of the ruling elite in near chronological order, PhD quality research and detail. Buy one for everyone you know." -- Reader's Comment
*Hall, David W., and David J. Vaughan, A Heart Promptly Offered: The Revolutionary Leadership of John Calvin, ISBN: 9781581825053 1581825056.
"Few today realize the extent to which John Calvin, the great Genevan reformer, and his work have shaped modern culture. Few know that it was John Calvin who pioneered the effort to decentralize government by calling for checks and balances against the rule of the few or the king. Equally unknown are his efforts to establish a productive social safety net for immigrants, create educational models that were far ahead of his time, and instill a sense of self-worth in all citizens (regardless of their occupations or class). He was also known for his support of free markets, the rise of private enterprise, and the advancement of publishing and knowledge beyond its medieval confines. The result of his efforts was an explosion of culture and liberty, a story that often is lost or ignored in the rush to offer criticism of the man. A HEART PROMPTLY OFFERED presents the basic story of Calvin's life, along with numerous excerpts from his own pen -- writings from his letters, commentaries, and sermons. In addition to summarizing the main topics of CALVIN'S INSTITUTES, it lays out his ground-breaking political theory." -- Publisher
Hamilton, James (editor), Ted Trautmann (editor), United States. President (2001-2009: Bush), Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: Law and Explanation: As Signed by President George W. Bush on July 30, 2002, ISBN: 0808008404 9780808008408.
"Contents:
Part 1: Explanation
1. Overview | 2. Accounting oversight board | 3. Auditor independence | 4. Corporate governance and responsibility | 5. Issuer and management disclosure | 6. Analyst conflicts of interest | 7. SEC resources and authority | 8. Studies and reports | 9. Fraud and criminal penalties
Part 2: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
1. Public company accounting oversight board | 2. Auditor independence | 3. Corporate responsibility | 4. Enhanced financial disclosures | 5. Analyst conflicts of interest | 6. Commission resources and authority | 7. Studies and reports | 8. Corporate and criminal fraud accountability | 9. White collar crime penalty enhancements | 10. Corporate tax returns | 11. Corporate fraud accountability
Part 3: Legislative history."
*Hartmann, Thom, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, ISBN: 1579546277 9781579546274.
"This extraordinary book combines meticulous historical and legal research with a clear and compelling writing style to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt the incompatibility of corporate personhood with democracy, the market economy, and the well-being of society. Complete with a practical program for essential reform to restore the rights of real persons -- including model legislation -- it is essential reading and an invaluable reference work for every citizen who cares about democracy, justice, and the human future." -- David C. Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies." -- Paul Hawken, author of Natural Capitalism and The Ecology of Commerce
"Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal privacy, and unequal access to natural resources and our commons -- these inequalities and more are the effects of corporations winning the rights of persons while simultaneously being given the legal protections to avoid the responsibilities that come with these rights. Hartmann tells the intriguing story of how it got this way -- from the colonists' rebellion against the commercial interests of the British elite to the distorted application of the Fourteenth Amendment -- and how to get back to a government of, by, and for the people.
"Over the past two centuries, those playing the corporate game at the very highest levels seem to have won a victory for themselves -- a victory that is turning bitter in the mouths of many of the six billion humans on planet Earth. It's even turning bitter in unexpected ways for those who won it, as they find their own lives and families touched by an increasingly toxic environment, fragile and top-heavy economy, and hollow culture -- all traceable back to the frenetic systems of big business that resulted from the doctrine that corporations are persons."
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel. I intended to take a first quick glance and then couldn't put it down." -- David C. Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
"UNEQUAL PROTECTION should be in the hands of every thinking American. If we do not awaken soon, democracy will be replaced by a new 'Third Reich' of corporate tyranny. To be aware of the danger is the responsibility of each of us. No one has told us the truth better than Thom Hartmann. Read it!" -- Gerry Spence, author of Give Me Liberty
"Essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of democracy, both here and abroad. With devastating precision and well-reasoned passion, Thom Hartmann shows the reader precisely how the corporate entity gained such a perilously dominant role in the life of a nation whose founders meant for its politics to respond to the concerns of people and communities, not return-seeking corporations." -- Jeff Gates, president, Shared Capitalism Institute, author, Democracy at Risk
Thom Hartmann's, Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. A Review by Richard W. Behan
"UNEQUAL PROTECTION may prove to be the most significant book in the history of corporate personhood, a doctrine which dates to 1886. For 116 years, corporate personhood has been scrutinized and criticized, but never seriously threatened. Now Thom Hartmann has discovered a fatal legal flaw in its origin: corporate personhood is doomed."
http://www.main.nc.us/pace/18_corporate/
Hauter, Wenonah, Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America, ISBN: 9781595587909 159558790X.
"Wenonah Hauter owns an organic family farm that provides healthy vegetables to hundreds of families as part of the growing nationwide Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. Yet, as one of the nation's leading healthy food advocates, Hauter believes that the local food movement is not enough to solve America's food crisis and the public health debacle it has created. In FOODOPOLY, she takes aim at what she sees as the real culprit: the control of food production by a handful of large corporations -- backed by political clout -- that prevents farmers from raising healthy crops and limits the choices that people can make in the grocery store. Blending history, reporting, and a deep understanding of American faming and food production, FOODOPOLY is an account of the business behind the meat, vegetables, grains, and milk that most Americans eat every day. Hauter also pulls the curtain back from the little-understood but vital realm of agricultural policy, showing how it has been hijacked by lobbyists, driving out independent farmers and food processors in favor of the likes of Cargill, Tyson, Kraft, and ConAgra. FOODOPOLY demonstrates how the impacts ripple far and wide, from economic stagnation in rural communities at home to famines overseas. In the end, Hauter argues that solving this crisis will require a complete structural shift -- a change that is about politics, not just personal choice." -- Publisher
Henry, Carl F.H., The Christian Mindset in a Secular Society: Promoting Evangelical Renewal and National Righteousness, ISBN: 0880700416 9780880700412.
Herle, Charles (1598-1659), Detvr Sapienti: In a Treatise of the Excellency of Christian Wisdome, Above That of Worldly Policy and Morall Prvdence (sic), in two Former Treatises. Alternate title: WORLDLY POLICY AND MORAL PRUDENCE. THE VANITY AND FOLLY OF THE ONE, THE SOLIDITY AND USEFULNESS OF THE OTHER, IN A MORAL DISCOURSE. Available (WORLDLY POLICY AND MORAL PRUDENCE), on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Hichborn, Franklin The System: As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution, ISBN: 0875850383 9780875850382.
" 'The system' is the organization of corruption and graft into a form of political order. Labor, business, and civil government unite to form a system of entrenched theft and covetousness which exploits the people. 'The system' however, rests on the fact of the already existing corruption of the people. Where 'the system' exists reform is much talked about, but never or rarely ever desired, because every man has a vested interest in loose law enforcement, in corruption, and in perpetuating evil. See: Ovid Demaris, THE CAPTIVE CITY; Lincoln Steffens, THE SHAME OF THE CITIES (New York: Sagamore Press, 1904, 1957); Walter Bean, BOSS RUEF'S SAN FRANCISCO (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952, 1967); Frank Gibney, THE OPERATORS (New York: Harper, 1960); the important study is Hitchborn's.
"Thus, the covetous man has his 'system' too; he seeks a state of affairs where by lawless means the consequences of law are obtained. He wants a society to further his lawlessness and yet to protect him in it. Just as the political 'system' is the organization of corruption and graft into a form of political order, so the personal 'system' is the use of covetousness and lawlessness as the means to a new form of personal and social order. Instead of order the result is moral anarchism and social collapse." -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), in The Institutes of Biblical Law, 647-649
*Hightower, Jim, Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen our Country -- And its Time to Take it Back, ISBN: 0670031410 9780670031412.
"Hightower defines 'Kleptocrat Nation' as 'a body of people ruled by thieves . . . a government characterized by the practice of transferring money and power from the many to the few . . . [and] a ruling class of moneyed elites that usurps liberty, justice, sovereignty, and other, democratic rights from the people.' His catalogue of corporate greed and governmental complicity is breathtaking in scope, and though he admits that the fusion of business and government is not new, he persuasively states that 'never have so few done so much for so few.' Unfortunately, Hightower's serious message is delivered in such a 'down home' style, it may lose its impact on the more brainy among us. Also, one wishes there were more documentation for the copious examples and facts in the book. Still, Hightower's call to action is sincere, and his descriptions of the triumphs of average people over corporate power might give some fledgling activists some hope. THIEVES IN HIGH PLACES urges Americans to reclaim control of our government -- Hightower thinks we can with community organization and grass-roots movements. However, judging from his description of the current power structure, we are going to need all the help we can get." -- Reader's Comment
"While he covers much that is available in the public domain, he covers in a comprehensive way the whole set of misdeeds perpetrated by Walmart on its employees and those who make its products. You will come away wanting to do something about the behavior of the world's largest corporation after reading it. That alone is worth the price of the book." -- Reader's Comment
*Hodge, Charles (1797-1878), The Relation of Church and State, by Charles Hodge, in the Trinity Review, July/August, 1988.
"Hodge was one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in America during the 19th century." He was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878.
Charles Hodge "has been called the 'prince of American theologians.' Hodge was perhaps the most influential Presbyterian theologian of the nineteenth century, an instructor at Princeton Seminary for decades, and the author of many books, including his three volume SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY." (John W. Robbins)
Read what Charles Hodge says in THE RELATION OF CHURCH AND STATE -- THE AMERICAN CHURCH, in support of the newly discovered "novel, yet sound, doctrine" of the relationship between Church and State in America. Then decide for yourself if he unscripturally conceded to delivering the Church into the hands of the State in the "American Version, 1789" of THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH.
The Biblical doctrine of Christian Magistracy (Bible Magistracy Turns Back the Wrath of God) functions correctly only when State leadership is Christian, and when the State can be depended upon to wield their sword to protect true religion. The history of the human depravity in State leadership (secular leaders who destroy true religion instead of protecting it), should not cause theologians to abandon sound doctrine as stated in the original WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646). Treachery in State leadership would be far less of a problem if the writers of the U.S. Constitution had not removed the religious test clause of Colonial constitutions. This was done in America with the adoption of the "AMERICAN VERSION" OF THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH and THE U.S. CONSTITUTION in 1789.
Besides arguing in support of the "AMERICAN VERSION" OF THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION "he [Charles Hodge], repudiated the unhistorical position of those who denied the validity of Roman Catholic baptism . . . Hodge supported slavery in the 1830s, and while he condemned the mistreatment of slaves he did not condemn the institution of slavery itself. The background to this attitude, however, was not primarily his understanding of the Bible's teaching on the matter, but rather his churchmanship.
"In 1846, however, he became convinced that slavery was wrong, reversing his earlier anti-abolitionist stance, and he then publicly denounced slavery and supported both the Abolitionist movement and President Lincoln (Adams, 2003)." -- New World Encyclopedia, February 15, 2014
American Covenanters decried the "American Version." See the Covenanter document:
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
We love Gordon Clark, and we hold him in highest esteem, one of the great minds of the 20th century. However, astonishingly, he seems to have adopted Hodge's position on the "American Version." This relieves the State of judicial responsibilities to preserve true religion, and delivers the Church into the hands of the State. Hence, today we have the "church effeminate" and, consequently, a destabilization of every sphere of society, including that of the Reformed Church. Could this be one reason for the failure of Church courts today?
The Relation of Church and State -- The American Church, Charles Hodge
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=92
*Howie, John (1735-1793, collector and transcriber), Michael Shields, James Guthrie, John Kid, John King, et al., Faithful Contendings Displayed: Being an Historical Relation of the State and Actings of the Suffering Remnant in the Church of Scotland Subsisted in Select Societies, and Were United in General Correspondencies During the Hottest Time of the Late Persecution, viz. From the Year 1681 to 1691: Together with an account of the State of the land in general, and of the society people in particular, in the intervals betwixt each of their general meetings, with some pertinent remarks upon these historical occurrences, and many letters to and from the general correspondent meetings, 1780, ISBN: 1171237324 9781171237327 0548345945 9780548345948. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
The long title continues: "Collected and kept in record by Mr. Michael Shields, who was clerk unto these general societies, and personally present at most of their meetings. To which is added, ten considerations on the danger of apostacy and defection from a covenanted work of reformation. By Mr. James Guthrie, sometime minister of the Gospel at Stirling. As also, a collection of very valuable sermons, preached by these faithful and eminent servants of Jesus Christ, Messrs. John Kid, John King, John Welch, John Blackadder, John Dickson, and Gabriel Semple. Collected and transcribed by John Howie, and published at the desire of some of those who desire to own the same testimony that some of those authors owned and sealed with their blood." -- long title continued
"Howie is famous for his BIOGRAPHIA SCOTICANA: OR, A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE LIVES, CHARACTERS, AND MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS OF THE MOST EMINENT SCOTS WORTHIES (often just called SCOTS WORTHIES), but this work is just as valuable. A massive, rare classic, in which Howie aims at 'the gaining of friends unto, or confirming them in the covenanted interest, in a subserviency to God's glory and the good of His church' (preface, p. xxiv). Contains much information on the Reformation and the sufferings of the Covenanters which is found nowhere else (to our knowledge)." -- Publisher
Howse, Brannon, Reclaiming a Nation at Risk: The Battle for Your Faith, Family and Freedoms, ISBN: 1563712369.
"RECLAIMING A NATION AT RISK makes a compelling case that America's cultural elite and government bureaucrats are sabotaging the faith, families, and freedoms of the American population. Indeed, 52 percent of Americans believe that government represents a threat to their basic, inalienable rights. RECLAIMING A NATION AT RISK directly engages the issues of who is really in control of America's schools, why we have such poor literacy and logic scores among our school age children, the preparation of American students to take their place in a socialized national workforce, how the National Education Association became so powerful and what their agenda (including Outcome Based Education), is for our children's future. Parental rights are under sag and the federal government is in the beginnings of creating a national database of the nation's children. RECLAIMING A NATION AT RISK discusses what will happen if the American economy collapses and the implications for religious freedom given today's alarming national trends. RECLAIMING A NATION AT RISK is 'must' reading for any concerned parent needing to reclaim a child from these 'agents of change.' Insightful, controversial, candid, RECLAIMING A NATION AT RISK deserves the widest readership possible in today's political, social, cultural, and economic climate." -- Midwest Book Review
Huffington, Arianna, Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America, ISBN: 1400047714 9781400047710.
"Who filled the trough? Who set the table at the banquet of greed? How has it been possible for corporate pigs to gorge themselves on grossly inflated pay packages and heaping helpings of stock options while the average American struggles to make do with their leftovers?
"Provocative political commentator Arianna Huffington yanks back the curtain on the unholy alliance of CEOs, politicians, lobbyists, and Wall Street bankers who have shown a brutal disregard for those in the office cubicles and on the factory floors. As she puts it: 'The economic game is not supposed to be rigged like some shady ring toss on a carnival midway.' Yet it has been, allowing corporate crooks to bilk the public out of trillions of dollars, magically making our pensions and 401(k)s disappear and walking away with astronomical payouts and absurdly lavish perks-for-life.
"The media have put their fingers on pieces of the sordid puzzle, but Pigs at the Trough presents the whole ugly picture of what's really going on for the first time -- blistering, wickedly witty portrait of exactly how and why the worst and the greediest are running American business and government into the ground.
"Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, Adelphia's John Rigas, and the Three Horsemen of the Enron Apocalypse -- Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow -- are not just a few bad apples. They are manifestations of a megatrend in corporate leadership -- the rise of a callous and avaricious mind-set that is wildly out of whack with the core values of the average American. WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, AOL, Xerox, Merrill Lynch, and the other scandals are only the tip of the tip of the corruption iceberg.
"Making the case that our public watchdogs have become little more than obedient lapdogs, unwilling to bite the corporate hand that feeds them, Arianna Huffington turns the spotlight on the tough reforms we must demand from Washington. We need, she argues, to go way beyond the lame Corporate Responsibility Act if we are to stop the voracious corporate predators from eating away at the very foundations of our democracy.
"Devastatingly funny and powerfully indicting, PIGS AT THE TROUGH is a rousing call to arms and a must-read for all those who are outraged by the scandalous state of corporate America." -- Publisher
"The gluttony continues! Every day brings another jaw-dropping new example of precisely the kind of political and corporate outrages that prompted me to write Pigs at the Trough. As I wrote in the book, our representatives in Washington have tried to fool us with a Madison Avenue version of reform, featuring glitzy bill signings and execs-in-chains photo-ops but pitifully little substance. The president's assertion in his State of the Union address that one of the greatest accomplishments of his presidency was reforming corporate America was outrageous. The ongoing march of corporate sleaze proves otherwise.
"In just the last few weeks alone, as we prepare our own taxes, we've learned that the Wall Street firms who've agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle conflict-of-interest charges will actually be able to claim the vast majority of those payments as tax deductions. Think of that: not only do these financial flimflam artists escape criminal indictment, they get a massive write-off to boot! Then there's the astounding story of how Sprint's top two executives paid no taxes on $288 million in stock-option profits thanks to highly imaginative tax shelters dreamed up by the accounting alchemists at Ernst and Young. And you were worried about whether you could deduct that $42 dollar business lunch you had with a friend?
"PIGS AT THE TROUGH shows how and why such appalling abuses continue to happen -- and why Washington continues to turn a blind eye.
"Normally, it's satisfying to be right. But in this case, it's just plain nauseating." -- Arianna Huffington
*Joseph, R. Gabriel (editor), America Betrayed: Bush, Bin Laden, 9/11 . . . AIDs, Anthrax, Iraq . . . , ISBN: 0971644578 9780971644571.
"Prescott Bush and Rockefeller's Standard Oil had been in business with the Hitler regime and the Nazis since 1933, and in 1942, three Bush businesses were seized by the U.S. government, for violation of the Trading With the Enemies Act.
"Three generations of the Bush clan became members of a German secret society: the Yale chapter of the 'Order of Skull and Bones.' In Germany, the 'Order of Skull of Bones' -- also known as 'The Brotherhood of Death' -- gave rise to Hitler and the dreaded SS. Prescott Bush, through his shipping company, became a special 'Friend' of Himmler's SS -- the same SS which, in conjunction with IG Farbin, ran the concentration and slave labor camps.
"The Bush clan and Rockefeller's Standard Oil, were in business with IG Farbin, as well as with the Saudis who had also partnered with Hitler.
"At the conclusion of WWII, and Germany's defeat, thousands of high ranking Nazis and SS agents were recruited, by Bush-Rockefeller lawyer, Allen Dulles, into what would later become the CIA. Allen Dulles, and later, George Bush, would become directors of the CIA . . .
"IG Farbin, a consortium of companies that included Bayer, conducted horrible experiments on concentration camp inmates to discover an 'ethnic biological weapon' -- a deadly disease that would target specific ethnic groups . . . Drs. funded by the Rockefeller Foundation directed this research.
"In 1957, a scientist who completed his medical training in Nazi-occupied Poland, and who was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, injected 300,000 Central African men, women, and children, with an experimental polio vaccine -- a vaccine that contained a deadly AIDS-like virus, monkey HSIV. Years later, Central Africa would become 'Ground Zero' for the AIDS/HIV epidemic . . .
"Three generations of the Bush clan have been in business with governments and people who kill Americans, and on the morning of 9-11-2001, Bush Sr. was in business with the bin Ladens and other Saudis who had helped fund Osama bin Laden and the attack of 9-11-2001 . . .
"The attack of 9-11, would transform an inept, seemingly incompetent president into a war time leader who would attack not Saudi Arabia but Iraq and then steal its oil . . . as well as attack American Civil Liberties and the U.S. constitution . . .
" 'Key FBI Headquarters personnel had to be spies or moles . . . who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden. . . . Key FBI HQ personnel . . . continued to, almost inexplicably, throw up roadblocks and undermine Minneapolis' desperate efforts . . . to stop terrorists. . . .' who planned 'to take control of a plane and fly it into the World Trade Center.' -- FBI supervisor, and Coleen M. Rowley, FBI Special Agent and Chief Division Counsel. . . . and it goes on and on . . . .
"In researching and writing this book, we relied on numerous sources, including those within the intelligence community. Prior to and after 9-11, hundreds of pages of secret documents were provided, including reports written by the FBI. However, rather than asking the reader to accept the word of 'confidential sources,' Dr. Joseph and his research team have sought out and he has cited corroborating evidence that is either part of the public record, or buried within government files that can only be accessed with the help of the Freedom of Information Act. Every chapter in this book is extensively referenced.
"Much of the information in this book was obtained prior to 9-11-2001. We at University Press, had been working on an academically oriented text, called: TERRORISM, FUTURE WARS AGAINST AMERICA. Based on the data collected, Dr. Joseph began predicting, in the weeks prior to 9-11, that we could expect a major terrorist attack on New York or Washington before the end of 2001.
"Because we at University Press had so much advanced information related to 9-11, we hired several New York journalists, and were able to publish, within 30 days of this tragedy, a rather extensive account of what led up to 9-11 as well as what transpired on that horrible day. Indeed, long before the mass media found out, we obtained and provided details on the Zacarias Moussaoui case and the inexplicable behavior of top FBI and CIA officials who failed to heed the warnings of lower level FBI agents. We also detailed how the CIA and FBI allowed Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi to enter and move about freely in the U.S., despite their connections to al-Qaeda. Indeed, this material appeared in our book, AMERICA ATTACKED, which was published on October 11, 2001 -- 30 days after 9-11. Six months later, the American mass media and the joint Congressional committee examining the so called intelligence failures leading up to 9-11, confirmed our reports.
"We beat the media again in March of 2002, when we published the book, JOHN WALKER LINDH, AMERICAN TALIBAN, and revealed that John Walker Lindh was 'gay' and that he may have been seduced and recruited by an older man, who we named. Six months later, our observations were confirmed by Time magazine.
"Yet another source of information that found its way into this current book, was the research conducted on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. This research was for a future book, and a future documentary film, titled: HITLER'S DIARIES. We learned, a long time ago, that the Bush family fortune traces its roots to Hitler's Germany. Doing business with murderers, terrorists, and the enemies of America, seems to be a Bush family tradition." -- Publisher
Kah, Gary, En Route to Global Occupation: A High Ranking Government Liaison Exposes the Secret Agenda for World Unification, ISBN: 0910311978 9780910311977.
"Concerned about the economic and political crises facing our nation? Get an 'insider's' viewpoint on the plans of the geo-political globalists and the New Age leaders. Gary Kah was a high-ranking government official who was invited to join the World Constitution and Parliament Association, which oversees the planning and implementation of the one-world government. Gary provides effective proof of the drive to create an international order and to destroy the independence of individual nations. He also shows disturbing links between the New Age groups, Freemasons, and the globalists -- and their common goals of the destruction of religious and political sovereignty worldwide. Already, in our country, Christian preachers and teachers are being threatened with prosecution for 'hate crimes.' And the promotion of so-called 'genocide' has begun. This is an important book which will help to arm you with knowledge." -- Publisher
Gary Kah served in the Reagan Administration as a high ranking official and became a infiltrator of the World Parliament and Constitution Association. Written from a Christian perspective with a slant on Bible Prophecy. Well documented. Read in conjunction with William Jaspers' GLOBAL TYRANNY STEP BY STEP to see the same story from a secular point of view. -- Reader's Comment
*Kelly, Marjorie, The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy, ISBN: 1576752372 9781576752371.
First published just prior to the Enron debacle, the new paperback edition, includes new material on Enron.
"Wealth inequality, corporate welfare, and industrial pollution are symptoms -- the fevers and chills of the economy. The underlying illness, says Business Ethics magazine founder Marjorie Kelly, is shareholder primacy: the corporate drive to make profits for shareholders, no matter who pays the cost. In THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL, Kelly argues that focusing on the interests of stockholders to the exclusion of everyone else's interests is a form of discrimination based on property or wealth. She shows how this bias is held by our institutional structures, much as they once held biases against blacks and women. THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL exposes six aristocratic principles that corporations are built on, principles that we would never accept in our modern democratic society but which we accept unquestioningly in our economy. Wealth bias is a holdover from our pre-democratic past. It has enabled shareholders to become a kind of economic aristocracy. Kelly shows how to design more equitable alternatives -- new property rights, new forms of corporate governance, new ways of looking at corporate performance -- that build on both free-market and democratic principles. We think of shareholder primacy as the natural law of the free market, much as our forebears thought of monarchy as the most natural form of government. But in THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL, Kelly brilliantly demonstrates that it is no more 'natural' than any other human creation. People designed this system and people can change it. We need a change of mind as profound as that of the American Revolution. We must question the legitimacy of a system that gives the wealthy few -- the ten percent of Americans who own ninety percent of all stock -- a disproportionate power over the many. In so doing, we can fulfill the democratic principles of our nation not only in the political sphere, but in the economic sphere as well." -- Publisher
"Brilliant. So simple. So direct. And so beautifully written. I think we have found our Thomas Paine for the new millennium." -- David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
"Marjorie Kelly is the cofounder and editor of Business Ethics, a national publication on corporate social responsibility. Kelly's writing has appeared in publications such as The Utne Reader, The Progressive Populist, Tikkun, Earth Island Journal, Hope Magazine, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Her work has been anthologized in a half-dozen books, including THE NEW ENTREPRENEURS and THE NEW PARADIGM IN BUSINESS. Kelly is a regular speaker and commentator on business ethics and corporate social responsibility featured in The Wall Street Journal, quoted in the New York Times, and interviewed frequently on NPR and other radio networks." -- Publisher
Divine Right of Capital
http://www.divinerightofcapital.com/
Business Ethics Magazine
http://www.business-ethics.com/
An Opening for Change: Understanding the Enron Crisis
Excerpted from THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL: DETHRONING THE CORPORATE ARISTOCRACY, by Marjorie Kelly, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, paperback edition 2003
http://www.divinerightofcapital.com/new_agenda.htm
Corporate Accountability Project
http://www.corporations.org/
Corporate Governance
http://corpgov.net/
Code for Corporate Responsibility
http://www.c4cr.org/
Kenner, Robert, Richard Pearce, Eric Schlosser, Magnolia Pictures (Firm), and et al., Food, Inc., DVD. Alternate title: FOOD INCORPORATED.
"Explores the U.S. commercial food industry, examining corporate control of supply and market. The film seeks to demonstrate how the incentive for corporate profit can overwhelm consumer health needs, as well as the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and the environment. Reveals various details of food ingredients and additives, and how contemporary mass production methods of food affects U.S. culture." -- Publisher
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland. Alternate title: THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX FROM THE CRUELL . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE FALSE BISHOPPES AND CLERGEY OF SCOTLAND, WITH HIS SUPPLICATION AND EXHORTATION TO THE NOBILITIE, ESTATES, AND COMMUNALTIE OF THE SAME REALME, and THE APPELLATION . . . TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: AN APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND, and THE APPELLATION. Cover title: REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM: APPEAL TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY (1558). Available (singly as REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM, in which key text have been underlined by a previous reader), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 (MP3), #26. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library. Available (APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND), in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4. [John Knox; David Laing ((collector and editor)), THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, Vol. 4, reprint of the 1855 edition printed for Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (New York: AMS Press, 1966)].
"David Chilton notes, 'Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers, John Knox remains the most ardently loved and fiercely hated. No other leader of his day saw so clearly the political issues in the light of Scripture. Nor has any of his contemporaries had so much direct influence upon the subsequent history of the world. He transformed a land of barbarians into one of the most hard-headly Calvinistic cultures ever to exist, and his doctrines lie at the core of all Protestant revolutionary activity. While he is often considered merely one of Calvin's lieutenants, he was actually a Reformer in his own right. In some respects he was the greatest of them all.' ("John Knox," in The Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on Puritanism and Law [Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon], Vol. V, No. 2, Winter, 1978-79, p. 194).
"Furthermore, R.L. Greaves has noted that 'it has even been suggested -- and not altogether without merit -- that Knox was a key link in the development of political ideology that culminated in the American Revolution.' (Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation: Studies in the Thought of John Knox [Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press, 1980], p. 156).
"Moreover, Mason [Roger A. Mason -- compiler], states that this APPEAL [APPELLATION FROM THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED BY THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY: ADDRESSED TO THE NOBILITY AND ESTATES OF SCOTLAND -- compiler], 'is the most important . . . of Knox's political writings.' (in the Introduction to his compilation of Knox's political writings entitled KNOX: ON REBELLION). [see annotation for KNOX: ON REBELLION elsewhere in this bibliography -- compiler]. It shows in a conclusive manner that Knox wanted a Theonomic Establishment which was careful to 'disapprove, detest, oppose and remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry' (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism, #108). It also clearly demonstrates that Knox believed in and promoted the continuing binding validity of the Old Testament case laws and the penal sanctions attached to them, including the death penalty.
"Kevin Reed, in a editor's note, introducing this piece in his newly published SELECTED WRITING OF JOHN KNOX [available on the Puritan Hard Drive. -- compiler], also points out that 'the Westminster Confession provides a distinct echo of Knox, when it states that the magistrate ""hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed"" (Ch. 23:3, original wording). One secular historian once described Knox as 'Calvin with a sword,' making one wonder if he had not just been reading this very book. For 'where Calvin merely permitted disobedience to an ungodly ruler or immoral law, Knox championed armed rebellion -- a type of Calvinism that made religious revolution in Scotland possible.' (Christian History, Issue 46, p. 35). This is the best of the best; don't miss it!" -- Publisher
Knox, John, Appellation From the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland
This is a character scan (OCR) of the modernized text published by Protestant Heritage Press. While text may be cut and pasted it is subject to copyright.
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/appellat.htm
The Works of John Knox (1846), Vol. 4.
http://archive.org/stream/worksjohnknox07laingoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Reformation, Revolution and Romanism (1558), John Knox, MP3 file.
"This has been called John Knox's most important political writing. It also deals with Romanism, God's law, and much more.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=1030075041
See also:
Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available (HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED), on the Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men'. . . . In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
See also annotation for:
Knox, John (1505-1572), The History of the Reformation of Religion Within the Realm of Scotland. . . . Together With the Life of the Author, and Several Curious Pieces Wrote by him, . . . By the Reverend Mr. John Knox, . . . To Which is Added, I. An Admonition to England and Scotland . . . BY Antoni Gilby. II. The First and Second Books of Discipline, Glasgow, 1761. Alternate title: THE HISTORIE OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CONTAINING FIVE BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SOME TREATISES CONDUCING TO THE HISTORY. EDITED, WITH A LIFE OF KNOX AND A PREFACE, BY DAVID BUCHANAN. INCLUDES: "THE APPELLATION OF JOHN KNOX, FROM THE . . . SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM (pp. 1-33); "THE ADMONITION OF JOHN KNOX TO HIS BELOVED BRETHREN THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 34-42); "A FAITHFULL ADMONITION MADE BY JOHN KNOX TO THE TRUE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITHIN THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, 1554" (pp. 43-79); "THE COPIE OF A LETTER DELIVERED TO QUEEN MARY, REGENT OF SCOTLAND" (pp. 80-97); AND "A SERMON PREACHED BY JOHN KNOX [AUGUST 19, 1565]," ISBN: 0851513581 9780851513584. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
*Knox, John (1505-1572), Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth, 1554. Alternate title: A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, and AGAINST ROMISH RITES AND POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL TYRANNY. Available (WORKS OF JOHN KNOX) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #15, #26. Available in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX.
"Formerly titled A FAITHFUL ADMONITION TO THE PROFESSORS OF GOD'S TRUTH IN ENGLAND, this letter is said to be 'undoubtedly the most important' of Knox's writings (up to that time), by W. Stanford Reid in TRUMPETER OF GOD (p. 114). Furthermore Reid notes that Knox's 'views on the magistrate expressed in the FAITHFUL ADMONITION, were to have an important influence upon much of his future conduct, and upon the development of the Reformation in both England and Scotland.' The editor of KNOX'S WORKS states, 'the object of the ADMONITION was twofold. The one was to animate those who had made a good profession to perseverance, and to avoid the sin of . . . appearing to conform to the 'abominable idolatry' re-established in England; the other, to point out the dangers to be apprehended in when the kingdom became subjected to the dominion of strangers.' Knox uses very strong language here, in the hopes of getting through to those who came to be termed Nicodemites (i.e. those who thought that they could 'keep faith secretly in the heart, and yet do as idolaters do,' in Knox's own words). Written at a time when the true church had been driven underground by Roman Catholic persecution, it was said concerning this letter that 'many other godly men besides have been exposed to the risk of their property, and even life itself, upon the sole ground of either having had this book in their possession, or having read it.' Kevin Reed gives an excellent summary of this letter in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, when, in part, he writes, 'while acknowledging the risk of persecution to the faithful, the reformer perceives a greater danger in compromising with idolatry. Government persecution may bring disfavor of men, loss of personal goods and, in some cases, physical death; but idolatry brings down the wrath of God, resulting in grievous punishments, now and through eternity. Idolatry also invites a curse upon the posterity of the nation. In an intense pastoral appeal, Knox strongly admonishes his readers to avoid conforming to the Romish rites of worship.' (p. 220). For those who would rather read many of these Knox items with contemporary spelling, punctuation, and grammar we highly recommend the SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX." -- Publisher
John Knox: Faithful Admonition (1554)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/FaithAdm.htm
*Knox, John (1505-1572), and Roger A. Mason (editor), Knox: On Rebellion, ISBN: 0521390893 9780521390897 0521399882 9780521399883.
"John Knox's FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET AGAINST THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN, one of the most notorious political tracts of the sixteenth century, has been more often referred to than read. Its true significance as one of a series of pamphlets which Knox wrote in 1558 on the theme of rebellion is therefore easily overlooked. This new edition of his writings includes not only THE FIRST BLAST, but the three other tracts of 1558 -- THE LETTER TO THE REGENT OF SCOTLAND, THE APPELLATION TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, and THE LETTER TO THE COMMONALTY OF SCOTLAND -- in which Knox confronted the problem of resistance to tyranny. Related material, mostly drawn from Knox's own HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, illuminates the development of his views before 1558 and illustrates their application in the specific circumstances of the Scottish Reformation and the rule of Mary Queen of Scots. This edition thus brings together for the first time all of Knox's most important writings on rebellion." -- Publisher
The editor, Roger A. Mason, has written extensively: SCOTS AND BRITONS: SCOTTISH POLITICAL THOUGHT AND THE UNION OF 1603, 1994 | JOHN KNOX AND THE BRITISH REFORMATIONS, 1998 | GEORGE BUCHANAN: POLITICAL THOUGHT IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN AND EUROPE (co-author, Caroline Erskine), 2012 | SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND, 1286-1815, 1987 | KINGSHIP AND THE COMMONWEAL: POLITICAL THOUGHT IN RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION SCOTLAND, 1998 | PEOPLE AND POWER IN SCOTLAND: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF T.C. SMOUT (co-authors, Norman Macdougall and T.C. Smout), 1992 | ANDREW MELVILLE (1545-1622): HUMANIST AND REFORMER (co-author, Steven J. Reid), 2013 | EMPIRE, UNION AND REFORM, 2007 | THE GLASGOW ASSEMBLY 1638, 1988. He is from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
"This compilation brings together, for the first time, all of Knox's most important political writings. It shows, in Knox's own words, how he directly and faithfully confronted the problem of resistance to tyranny. It is especially illustrative in regard to how Knox made application of Scripture to the specific circumstances of the Scottish Reformation and the rule of Mary, Queen of Scots. It includes his FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET AGAINST THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN, THE APPELLATION TO THE SCOTTISH NOBILITY, his confrontations with Lethington (the Queens's secretary), during the General Assembly [A DEBATE BETWEEN JOHN KNOX AND SECRETARY LETHINGTON ON THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS TO EXECUTE JUDGEMENT UPON CRIMINAL MAGISTRATES -- compiler], and much more. Reconstructionists, and all serious students of the Reformation, will welcome this volume, as it conclusively proves that Knox held to some very specific points related to Theonomic ethics. Knox even went so far as to call for the execution of the Queen, because she was publicly promoting sedition (against Christ the King), in her celebration of the idolatrous Popish Mass. He based his reasoning, including negative civil penal sanctions, on Old Testament case law. B.K. Kuiper says of him, 'After Knox returned to Scotland the Reformation in that land swept forward . . . The preaching of Knox was like a spark in a keg of gunpowder.' Wherever he preached there followed an iconoclastic explosion. Images were broken and monasteries stormed by the mob. He wrote: 'The places of idolatry were made level with the ground, the monuments of idolatry consumed with fire, and priests were commanded under pain of death to desist from their blasphemous mass . . . The pope's authority and all jurisdiction by Catholic prelates was abolished, and the celebration of the mass was forbidden. Maintenance of the true religion was declared to be the prime duty of government . . .' (The Church in History, pp. 217-18). This book will leave no doubt in your mind as to why Knox has been called 'Calvin with a sword.' It will light a fire in your soul for righteousness in civil matters -- something the Reformers often addressed!" -- Publisher
Some of the tracts included in this work are available singly in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX on the Puritan Hard Drive and the Reformation Bookshelf. Available (THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX), on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
See also the following political writings of John Knox single on both the Puritan Hard Drive and in The Reformation Bookshelf: CD #1, John Knox Debates God's Law, Idolatry and Civil Resistance in the General Assembly of 1564 | CD #1, Select Practical Writings of John Knox | CD #15, Against Romish Rites and Political and Ecclesiastical Tyranny (1554) | CD #26, Against Romish Rites and Political and Ecclesiastical Tyranny (1554) | CD #17, An Admonition to Flee Idolatry, Romanism and All False Worship (1554) | CD #25, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (This book is on the first CD in this set). | CD #26, Reformation, Revolution and Romanism: An Appeal to the Scottish Nobility (1558).
*Knox, John (1505-1572), National Repentance and Reformation. Alternate title: A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Available in THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Formerly titled A BRIEF EXHORTATION TO ENGLAND FOR THE SPEEDY EMBRACING OF THE GOSPEL, 1559. Mitchell in THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION (p. 80), cites Dr. Merle D'Aubigné on Knox: 'The blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of the most intrepid champions of Christ's army . . . He was active, bold, thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and full of heartiness for his comrades.' The warrior in Knox was certainly roused for battle in this production. Kevin Reed in SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX, p. 580 comments, 'Some historians have reflected negatively on the vehemence of Knox's remarks. Perhaps they should peruse the long list of the martyrs named in the appendix to this work. Critics may then find a clue for understanding the reformer's zeal. Knox is discussing serious matters of life and death -- spiritual issues which affect us deeply in this life, and for eternity.' Magistrates everywhere today need to hear this message again; God has not changed -- there are still corporate curses for disobedience at a national level and corporate blessings for those nations 'that kiss the Son'." (cf. Psalm 2) -- Publisher
*Korten, David C., When Corporations Rule the World, 2nd edition, ISBN: 1887208046 9781887208048.
"WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD explains how economic globalization has concentrated the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their own narrow ends. It also reveals why and how millions of people are acting to reclaim their political and economic power from these elitist forces and presents a policy agenda for restoring democracy and rooting economic power in people and communities. This new edition is expanded with new information, including a new preface, a new introduction, a new chapter on The Global Democracy Movement, and a new epilogue.
"David C. Korten is board chair of the Positive Futures Network, publishers of YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, and founder and president of The People-Centered Development Forum. He is a former faculty member of the Harvard Business School and the author of nine previous books including the bestselling WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD and THE POST-CORPORATE WORLD." -- Publisher
Yes! Magazine
http://www.yesmagazine.org/
Krebs, A.V., Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness, ISBN: 0962125938 9780962125935.
Lansing, Isaac J., Rome's Avowed Purpose to Control the State, and her Success in Great Cities.
Leach, William, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, ISBN: 0679754113 9780679754114.
"An extraordinary work of history, imaginatively conceived, thoroughly researched and absorbingly written. William Leach allows us to see the production of mass consumer culture and to see it whole, in its richness and its poverty. It is a fascinating and troubling tale, and Leach tells it with exceptional skill and sensitivity." -- Jean-Christophe Agnew, Yale University
Lee, Grant, Wal-militia: The Conspiracy of Wal-Mart and the Government: A National Report, ISBN: 1413454127 9781413454123.
"I'm not sure about the conspiracy, but I love the information about how to buy merchandise (especially holiday merchandise), for $1.50 that was originally sold for $30.00.
"The author was a former employee that had worked for the company for six years and knows what he is taking about! Five stars!" -- Reader's Comment
*Levitt, Steven, and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, ISBN: 9780062132345 0062132342 9788466645775 8466645772.
"Nothing is more powerful than information, especially when its power is abused. . . .
"Though extraordinarily diverse, these crimes all have a common trait: they were sins of information. Most of them involved an expert, or a gang of experts, promoting false information or hiding true information; in each case the experts were trying to keep the information asymmetry as asymmetrical as possible.
"The practitioners of such acts, especially in the realm of high finance, inevitably offer this defense: 'Everybody else was doing it.' Which may be largely true. One characteristic of information crimes is that very few of them are detected." -- Levitt and Dubner
"More than 4 million copies sold worldwide. Published in 35 languages. . . . Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life 'from cheating and crime to parenting and sports' and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head. FREAKONOMICS is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more." -- Publisher
Lichtenstein, Nelson, The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business, ISBN: 9780805079661 0805079661.
"Insightful, original, and steeped in the culture of retail life, THE RETAIL REVOLUTION draws on first-hand reporting from coastal China to rural Arkansas to give a fresh and necessary understanding of how Wal-Mart has transformed international commerce."
Lichtenstein, Nelson, Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-first-century Capitalism, ISBN: 1595580352 9781595580351. Alternate title: WAL-MART: A FIELD GUIDE TO AMERICA'S LARGEST COMPANY AND THE WORLD'S LARGEST EMPLOYER.
"An indispensable introduction to the company that will define the twenty-first century economy.
"Edited by one of the nation's preeminent labor historians, this book marks an ambitious effort to dissect the full extent of Wal-Mart's business operations, its social effects, and its role in the U.S. and world economy. Wal-Mart is based on a spring 2004 conference of leading historians, business analysts, sociologists, and labor leaders that immediately attracted the attention of the national media, drawing profiles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Review of Books. Their contributions are adapted here for a general audience.
"At the end of the nineteenth century the Pennsylvania Railroad declared itself 'the standard of the world.' In more recent years, IBM and then Microsoft seemed the template for a new, global information economy. But at the dawn of the twenty-first century, Wal-Mart has overtaken all rivals as the world-transforming economic institution of our time.
"Presented in an accessible format and extensively illustrated with charts and graphs, WAL-MART examines such topics as the giant retailer's managerial culture, revolutionary use of technological innovation, and controversial pay and promotional practices, to provide the most complete guide yet available to America's largest company.
"Nelson Lichtenstein is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of WALTER REUTHER, LABOR'S WAR AT HOME, and STATE OF THE UNION." -- Publisher
*Machen, J. Gresham, Education, Christianity, and the State, ISBN: 0940931192 9780940931190.
"Machen was one of the foremost educators, theologians, and defenders of Christianity in the twentieth century. The author of numerous scholarly books, Machen saw clearly that if Christianity is to survive and flourish, a system of Christian grade schools must be established. This collection of essays captures his thought on education over nearly three decades." -- The Trinity Foundation
Mahar, Maggie, Money-driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs so Much, ISBN: 0060765348 9780060765347.
"A straightforward, credible and comprehensive survey of contemporary American medical care. As a physician with many years of experience with our medical system, I can attest to its accuracy. Its major thrust is the elucidation of how our medical system has been taken over by those who seek profit rather than the welfare of the patient. The author explores the methods used by insurance companies, pharmaceutical houses, device manufacturers, hospitals and some physicians to capitalize on the vulnerability of the sick.
"She points out the gross inefficiencies that contribute to the high cost of medical care and suggests ways to improve that care. With information such as this we may be able to change the 'Health Care Industry' back to the medical care of the patient." -- Reader's Comment
Fredericks, Andrew (director), Money-Driven Medicine: What's Wrong With America's Healthcare and how to fix it, DVD, 86 minutes. Writers: Maggie Mahar; Producers: Peter Bull, Alex Gibney, Chris Matonti.
"Money-driven Medicine provides the essential introduction Americans need to become knowledgeable and vigorous participants in healthcare reform.
"Produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM), and based on Maggie Mahar's acclaimed book of the same title, MONEY DRIVEN MEDICINE offers an accessible, journalistically rigorous explanation of how the U.S. healthcare system went so terribly wrong and what it will take to fix it.
"Americans spend twice per capita for healthcare than the average rich country, one-sixth of our GDP. What do we get for that money? The U.S. ranks 29th in life expectancy and the World Health Organization ranks our health system 37th in the world, behind Slovenia and Costa Rica. Money-Driven Medicine reveals how the profit-driven 'medical-industrial complex' has over-built the healthcare sector and produce a powerful, distorting incentive for billions of dollars of pointless, even risky, tests, prescriptions and procedures. This pay-per-service system drives doctors into lucrative specialities, while primary care physicians have become an endangered species; million dollar diagnostic machines stand idle while emergency rooms overflow.
"In Money-Driven Medicine frustrated doctors and outraged patients testify to the often tragic consequences of fragmented, impersonal assembly-line medicine, designed more for churning out profits than life-long health management. Veteran physicians stress that change begins with the doctor-patient partnership: consistent family-centered primary care built on informed, shared decision-making. Dr. Donald Berwick of Harvard, Dr. James Weinstein of Dartmouth and other leading researchers explain the path-breaking studies (featured in Dr. Atul Gawande's recent New Yorker article), which prove that results-based rather than procedure-based medicine can pay-off in less extravagant yet more effective care.
"Money-Driven Medicine alerts Americans that universal care is just the first shot in a hotly-contested, years-long battle for comprehensive healthcare reform. It will encourage the public to become savvy medical 'consumers' and empower health professionals to rescue their vocation from the corporate bottom line. It will teach students why a sound, sustainable medical infrastructure is crucial not just to their future but that of the economy and society as a whole. 'Money-Driven Medicine' makes clear that curing America's healthcare crisis is a matter of national life and death." -- Publisher
Margarot, Maurice, Thomas Hardy, and the London Corresponding Society, Address of the London Corresponding Society to the Other Societies of Great Britain, United for Obtaining a Reform in Parliament, 1792.
*Mason, Archibald (d. 1831), Observations on the Public Covenants Betwixt God and the Church: A Discourse (1799). Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #27.
Contents: Observations on the public covenants betwixt God and the church / Archibald Mason -- Paleopresbyterianism vs. neopresbyterianism / Michael Wagner -- Permanence of covenant obligation -- The preface and bibliography to the rare bound photocopy: obligation of social covenanting -- The binding nature of national covenants with God -- The Solemn League and Covenant -- Guide for studying the Westminster Confession, in suggested order of reading -- Terms of ministerial and Christian communion in the Reformed Presbyterian Church -- Corporate sanctification: holding fast the attainments of Reformation / John Brown -- What is a moral person? How God views the church and the nations / David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton -- A hind let loose / Alexander Shields -- Of separation from corrupt churches -- Old landmarks -- confession and testimony.
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Observations on the Public Covenants, Betwixt God and the Church, -- Archibald Mason (d. 1831)
http://archive.org/details/spiritualillumin00maso
Mason, Edward S. (editor), The Corporation in Modern Society, ISBN: 0689701365 9780689701368.
*Matthews, Steven T., The Fed, Fiat Currency, and Feckless Keynesian Economics
The creation of the Fed [The Federal Reserve -- compiler], is "the most tragic blunder ever committed by Congress. The day it [the Federal Reserve Act of 1913] was passed, old America died and a new era began. A new institution was born that was to cause, or greatly contribute to, the unprecedented economic instability in the decades to come." -- Hans F. Sennholz in Money and Freedom, quoted in End the Fed, p. 23
The Fed, Fiat Currency, and Feckless Keynesian Economics, Steven T. Matthews
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=316
McKenzie, Richard B., Bound to be Free, ISBN: 0817975519 9780817975517.
"Why is it that in the land of the free, special interests control what we eat, wear, and drive, whereas government tells us how our children will be educated and how much we will pay for life's essentials? In this book McKenzie identifies the forces destroying us bit by bit, and shows what can be done now to stop the erosion of individual and marketplace freedom before it's too late. In a daring departure, he argues that the key to each person's freedom is a business community free of government favor and interference. Only a reassertion of the principles of constitutional democracy will really speak to the people's deeply felt need to 'get the government off our backs.' This book goes beyond a tough, objective delineation of our economic malaise. It provides a hard-hitting, multifaceted program that includes a free market constitutional amendment, an enforceable way to limit the government's ability to levy taxes and print money, and a novel procedure to eliminate the control of Congress by special interests. The result is a message of hope and freedom for all Americans." -- Cyril J. Barber
*McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander (1774-1833), Messiah: Governor of the Nations of the Earth: A Discourse. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25. Available
(MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH and THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR; THE RULE OF DUTY TO CHRISTIAN NATIONS TO CIVIL INSTITUTIONS) at Covenanter.org. Available (the pamphlet, MESSIAH: GOVERNOR OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, which includes THE WRITTEN LAW, OR THE LAW OF GOD REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES, BY CHRIST AS MEDIATOR) at Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets.
"The doctrine of the Mediatorial Reign of Christ has formed the subject of those principles accounted distinctive to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Christ's kingship over the nations and the implications of this doctrine will not be popular amongst a people deeply compromised with the spirit of the age. The prescription may seem tough, but the results of centuries of ignoring this doctrine have left the church effete and gutted when it comes to addressing matters concerning church and state relations. In the various modern debates one viewpoint has been left out, and it is the only one which presents a serious and rigorous biblical vision -- the Covenanter position on civil government.
"In the first discourse, Alexander McLeod explains the biblical basis and the importance of professing that Christ is the head over all nations. McLeod moves from an explanation of what is meant by confessing that Christ rules as Mediator, to a discussion of his administrations as ruler over the nations. Afterward he addresses numerous objections that are raised against the doctrine, in which he explains many finer points respecting Christ's Mediatorial administration.
"The second discourse, THE WRITTEN LAW, by Dr. James Renwick Willson (1780-1853), takes up a number of matters of great practical concern and application of the doctrine of this Mediatorship over the nations. Willson is particularly concerned with the place of the written law of God in the constitution of civil governments. Willson often courts controversy, and does not shy away from consistency. It is a blueprint for how things ought to be, if we would submit to Christ as a nation." -- Publisher
McLeod (M'Leod), Alexander, Messiah, Governor of the Nations of the Earth
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/alexander-mcleods-sermon-on-messiah-governor-of-the-nations-of-the-earth
Willson, James Renwick, The Written Law, or The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures, by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations to Civil Institutions
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-the-written-law
Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets
http://www.covenanter.org/pamphlets/
McMaster (M'Master), Gilbert (1778-1854), Moral Character of Civil Government: Considered With Reference to the Political Institutions of the United States, in Four Letters, 1832.
http://archive.org/details/moralcharacterc00mcmagoog
Megalli, Mark, and Andy Friedman, Masks of Deception: Corporate Front Groups in America, ISBN: 9993828858.
*Milton, John (1570-1643), The Rights of Nations to Depose Their Kings, and to Change or Amend Their Systems of Government; With a Vindication of the Killing of Tyrants: Being an Abridgement of Milton's Celebrated Tract, Entitled, "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates." And a new and Abridged Translation of his Great Work, Called "A Defence of the People of England, in Answer to Salmasius's Defence of the King," 1649. Alternate title: EIKONOKLASTES.
"The rights of nations to depose their kings, and to change or amend their systems of government."
http://archive.org/details/tenurekingsandm01alligoog
Milton, John, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/Tenure.HTM
Milton, John, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 1649
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/tenure/notes.shtml#title
Mitchell, Stacy, Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses, ISBN: 0807035009 9780807035009.
"An expert's in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailers -- and what communities and independent businesses can do.
"A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight.
"Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement.
"Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities comprised of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.
"More than a critique, THE BIG BOX SWINDLE draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approaches -- from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives -- that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future." -- Publisher
"The author of this book has gone way past good authorship -- the business reporting in this book has achieved meme status and BIG BOX SWINDLE is now a term that leads to all sorts of interesting findings when one searches the web and the literature.
"I recommend the other book listed above [other reader comments in Amazon.com], as part of the literature on 'True Cost,' a meme that is resonating with the public much more than is 'inconvenient truth.' True cost covers water (4000 liters in a T-Shirt), fuel (hundreds of gallons to move Walmart toys from China), sweatshop and child labor (Wal-Mart again), and tax avoidance as well as convictions for breaking various laws.
"Although they do not appear in the list above, I recommend the varied books on Wal-Mart, especially the one focusing on the high cost of low price.
"This author and the literature surrounding this author will shortly be matched by a point of sale ability for buyers to photograph any bar code, send it to Amazon or other sources, and get back the 'True Cost' as well as comparable prices and alternative purchase suggestions.
"This book could represent a turning point in the public mind, and is therefore of considerable importance to how we choose to react to its findings so that our children and grandchildren are not swindled -- however, and the author would among the first to agree, it is not enough that we eradicate these unethical companies; we must also educate our future generations so that they do not lose sight of the 'True Cost' of the 'Big Box Swindle.' -- Reader's Comment
"If one or more of the big box stores have set up shop in your town, chances are that they are the beneficiary of one or quite possibly several government handouts. Since the mid 1950's federal, state and local governments have devised a plethora of ill-conceived programs designed to benefit retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target and Lowe's, all to the detriment of locally owned and operated independent retailers. These giveaway programs take many forms. There are property tax breaks, sales tax rebates, low interest loans, infrastructure and site improvements, free or reduced price land, job training credits etc. etc. etc. In BIG BOX SWINDLE author Stacy Mitchell tries to alert a largely unsuspecting public to the tactics and schemes used by these major chains to try to extort money from the rest of us. This is an important subject with far-reaching implications that most folks are simply unaware of.
"To get a quick overview of the subject at hand it might be best to immediately turn to page 211 of BIG BOX SWINDLE. There you will find a graphic depicting the average sizes of various stores. It should then become quite clear to you just how serious the problem posed by these mega-retailers really is. As we can all see by simple observation, there is a gross overcapacity of retail space in this country. Fueled by dubious tax policies that benefit developers and new construction only, retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target have been gobbling up precious open spaces at an alarming rate for decades to accommodate their mammoth stores. And as Stacy Mitchell correctly points out there are all sorts of costs that a city or town must incur when a big box retailer comes to town. Local businesses lay off employees or fold while downtown areas become abandoned and blighted. And as the big chains proliferate there is also the loss of genuine community that exists when we meet and greet our neighbors in the local coffee shop or hardware store. Local charities suffer as well when locally based businesses are replaced by the big chains whose home office may be 2000 miles away. These stores have very little interest in anything but maximizing profits.
"BIG BOX SWINDLE does an outstanding job of educating the reader to most of these important issues. Stacy Mitchell also introduces us to a number of people and organizations around the country who have devised strategies to successfully fight off big box retailers from invading and destroying their towns. Surely, there is a lot of stake for all of us here. If you are not familiar with these issues then BIG BOX SWINDLE would be a great way to get up to speed. Recommended." -- Reader's Comment
"If you think the big boxes help the working man and woman, you really need to read this book. Mitchell details the drop in wages and living standards throughout the affected areas, loss of support for local development, increase in abandoned buildings and water pollution, and the blackmail of civic leaders. As for the prices, she illustrates that prices do not stay low once the competition has been dealt with. I really appreciate the variety of ways she measures community, e.g. Costco rates well for putting money into an area through good wages but poorly for its failure to offer local products." -- Reader's Comment
Model, David, Corporate Rule: Understanding and Challenging the New World Order, ISBN: 1551642085 9781551642086.
*Mokhiber, Russell, and Robert Weissman, Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Mega-profits and the Attack on Democracy, ISBN: 1567511589 9781567511581.
"For the past twenty years, after a decade and a half of populist resurgence against corporate abuses by consumer, environmental, women's rights and civil rights forces, big business has been on a rampage to control our society. Whether these business supremacies are called corporatization, commercialism, monopolies or the corporate state, the overall concentration of power and wealth in ever fewer multinational corporate centers is a matter of record.
"In arena after arena -- government, workplace, marketplace, media, environment, education, science, technology -- the dominant players are large corporations. What countervailing forces that our society used to depend upon for some balance are not in retreat against the aggressive expansion of corporate influence far beyond its traditional mercantile boundaries?
"The enlarged power that corporations deploy to further increase their revenues and socialize their costs comes from many sources -- old and new. Roughly eighty percent of the money contributed to federal candidates come from business interests. The mobility to export capital has given transnational companies major leverage against local, state and federal officials, not to mention against organized and unorganized labor. The swell of corporate welfare handouts has reached new depths. The contrived complexity of many financial and other services serves to confuse, deplete and daunt consumers who lose significant portions of their income in a manipulative marketplace. Alliances, joint ventures and other complex collaborations between should-be competitors have made a mockery of what is left of antitrust enforcement.
"The opportunities to control or defeat governmental attempts for corporate accountability that flow from transcending national jurisdictions into globalized strategies to escape taxation and pit countries and their workers against one another appear to be endless. The autocratic systems of governance called GATT and NAFTA reflect to the smallest detail ways that giant corporations wish to control the world. These firms are on a collision course against democratic processes, and the merging of states and businesses, to the latter's advantage, weakens relentlessly both the restraints of the law and the willingness of legislators to do anything about it.
"Taken together, the world is witnessing its subjugation to the large corporate model of economic development, the large corporate model of technology and the large corporate model of culture itself. These accelerating trend lines invite accelerating comprehension and response. History demonstrates that commercialism knows few boundaries that are not externally imposed. All the major religions have warned their adherents against the excesses of commercial value systems, albeit with different languages, images and metaphors.
"Specific descriptions of corporate misbehavior do nourish proper generalizations that in turn lead to more just movements and practices. Here, columnists Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman provide a distinct service in CORPORATE PREDATORS. It is not just the versatility of their writings -- covering bribery, pollution, corporate crime, fraud and abuse, failure of law enforcement, union-busting, the mayhem inflicted by product defects and toxics, the deep gap between the rich and the rest of America, corporate front groups, the media censorship and self-censorship, the profiteering, the pillaging overseas and more -- but it is also the impact on the reader that comes from aggregating evidence. Our country does not collect statistics on corporate crime the way it does on street crime. For it to do so would begin to highlight a little-attended agenda for law enforcement and other corporate reforms. Neither Congress nor the White House and its Justice Department have made any moves over the years to assemble from around the country the abuses of corporations in quantifiable format so as to drive policy.
"So, description -- accurate, representational description -- must now suffice. As the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter (Mokhiber) and the editor of the Multinational Monitor (Weissman), the authors know well the difference between anecdotes that are illustrative and that are idiosyncratic. This volume of their weekly columns carries the evidence that illustrates patterns of continuing corporate derelictions, not lonely deviations from a more congenial norm.
"The authors' experience over the years with the impact of disclosures has led them to the conclusion that the facts must be linked to civic engagement and democratic activity for change. If disclosure produced its own dynamic imperatives for change, the recurrent exposure of corporate abuses in such mainstream publications as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and some national television programs like 'Sixty Minutes' would have caused these changes. Such, unfortunately has not been the case. The linkages between knowledge and action have not been sufficient. But readers of Common Courage Press published books tend towards citizen activism. They want to know because they want to do. Some may even agree with the ancient Chinese saying that 'To know and not to do is not to know.'
"So, go forward readers who wish to be leaders in the advancement of justice -- what Daniel Webster once called 'the great work of men on Earth' -- and savor the writings that will motivate more and more women and men to band together in organizations that build a more just democracy." [Constitutional Republic -- compiler] -- Ralph Nader, 1999
Mulford, Charles W., and Eugene E. Comiskey, The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices, ISBN: 0471770736 9780471770732.
"To hide falling profits, some managers ply the flexibility found in accounting principles to alter their financial reports. Others go further and use fraud in their deception. It is vitally important that investors, analysts, and other users of financial statements detect these creative accounting practices as early as possible in order to avoid negative earnings surprises and potential share-price declines. THE FINANCIAL NUMBERS GAME identifies the steps businesses may take to misstate financial performance and helps its readers to identify those situations where reported results may not be what they seem.
"Authors Mulford and Comiskey also describe the flexibility built into the GAAP principles and discuss ways companies can take advantage of that flexibility while remaining within the rules of proper reporting. The role of the SEC in enforcing securities laws is explored, as are the specific statutes the SEC uses to prosecute those it deems to have gone too far. The authors present the results of a survey of important financial professionals on their views of the propriety of many financial reporting practices and on the steps they use to detect creative accounting practices. This survey shows a wide range of opinions on what is allowable and the best methods for detecting what is not allowable.
"THE FINANCIAL NUMBERS GAME presents an expert analysis of creative accounting procedures, as well as:
*Nace, Ted, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, ISBN: 1576752607 9781576752609.
"Surpassing even the State and the Church, the corporation has become the core institution of the modern world, exercising might and muscle without regard to the often destructive effects on individuals, the environment, society, and the world. How did this happen? In this compelling expose, noted entrepreneur and activist Ted Nace scrutinizes the legal framework of the corporation and untangles questions about how and why the corporation evolved as it did. Nace traces the evolution of this institution through the behind-the-scenes figures who shaped it, including Thomas Scott, an obscure genius who invented the holding company; Stephen Field, the Supreme Court judge who developed corporate personhood rights; and many others. Including the latest research by historians, sociologists, political scientists, and legal scholars, this book is a dramatic narrative, an invaluable reference, and a blueprint for regaining control before it's too late." -- Publisher
"Corporations aren't like us. Since their powers are determined by the framework of laws, it is possible to engineer them with all sorts of qualities, including some attributes outside the realm of human possibility. In theory, that programming can go either way: Society can make corporations stronger by removing restraints and adding new legal powers, or weaker by doing the reverse. The key lesson is this: corporations are only as powerful as they are legally designed to be.
"As described in the previous chapters, the engineers of the American political system deliberately created a framework of laws to keep corporations politically weak. That framework was subsequently undermined by the ingenious maneuvers of Tom Scott and other businessmen, lawyers, and sympathetic legislators." -- Publishers Weekly
"Nace nurtured Peachpit Press from a home-based operation, writing and publishing computer guides, to a business worthy of acquisition by the Pearson conglomerate. The experience inspired him to study the nature of corporate power. He offers a breezy summary of the legal history surrounding the formation of corporations and the parameters of their power, putting an anti-corporate spin on the American Revolution and discussing how the early republic limited corporate power by enabling state governments to issue restrictive charters. But the tight controls didn't remain in place: after the Supreme Court's decision in an 1886 case involving the Santa Clara Railroad, corporations were assumed to be the legal equivalent of people entitled to equal protection under the law and, in subsequent cases, were guaranteed a growing range of constitutional rights. One of Nace's central arguments is that Santa Clara doesn't mean what everybody thinks it means: the original decision doesn't take any stand on whether corporations have constitutional rights; the question comes up in a subsequent version of the decision, but the Chief Justice acts as if it had been resolved in earlier decisions. Although Nace blames the Court's reporter for the shift in emphasis, he illustrates how another justice, Stephen Field, was already buttressing politicians' and financial titans' efforts to eliminate all restraints on corporate power, making their legal supremacy inevitable. Later chapters examine how corporations continue to wield their influence to prevent the government from regulating them too closely, but while the book offers plenty of details about the problem's existence and deftly introduces it, it offers little more than generalities about where to go from there." -- Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gangs of America
http://www.gangsofamerica.com/7.html
Napolitano, Andrew P., and Ron Paul (foreword), Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History, ISBN: 9781595552662 1595552669.
"Centuries of government deception have suspended our freedom and replaced it with a mythology rich in the ideals we are promised but do not actually experience.
"The government's lies have become our country's heritage, passed down generationally and accepted over time as status quo. We allow our leaders to regulate, under false pretenses, every area of our supposedly free lives: What we eat, how our money is spent, how we protect ourselves. The basic tenets of living in a free society -- the primacy of the individual and limited government -- are violated routinely and with little objection from those most affected.
"Judge Napolitano traces the deterioration of American freedom year by year, event by event, from the birth of the U.S. government to the economic and military crises of today. He illustrates how this distorted interpretation of government translates to loss for Americans -- loss of life, loss of property, loss of freedom. The cost is staggering.
"Amid the bleak revelation is a call to action. Judge Napolitano offers a blueprint to salvage our freedom and restore the government to its intended role as an instrument to protect the freedoms of the people." -- Publisher
Napolitano, Andrew P., Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom, ISBN: 9781595553515 1595553517.
"Either the Constitution means what it says, or it doesn't." -- Judge Napolitano
"America's founding fathers saw freedom as a part of our nature to be protected -- not to be usurped by the federal government -- and so enshrined separation of powers and guarantees of freedom in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But a little over a hundred years after America's founding, those God-given rights were laid siege by two presidents caring more about the advancement of progressive, redistributionist ideology than the principles on which America was founded.
"THEODORE AND WOODROW is Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's shocking historical account of how a Republican and a Democratic president oversaw the greatest shift in power in American history, from a land built on the belief that authority should be left to the individuals and the states, to a bloated, far-reaching federal bureaucracy, continuing to grow and consume power each day.
"With lessons rooted in history, Judge Napolitano shows the intellectually arrogant, anti-personal freedom, even racist progressive philosophy driving these men to poison the American system of government.
"And Americans still pay for their legacy -- in the federal income, in state-prescribed compulsory education, in the Federal Reserve, in perpetual wars, and in the constant encroachment of a government that coddles special interests and discourages true competition in the marketplace.
"With his attention to detail, deep constitutional knowledge, and unwavering adherence to truth telling, Judge Napolitano moves through the history of these men and their times in office to show how American values and the Constitution were sadly set aside, leaving personal freedom as a shadow of its former self, in the grip of an insidious, Nanny state, progressive ideology." -- Publisher
"Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, currently seen by millions of viewers weeknights on "The Big Story" and "The O'Reilly Factor." Napolitano is the youngest person in New Jersey history to receive a lifetime judgeship. He is bright (graduate of Princeton and Notre Dame Law School), articulate (four times voted most outstanding professor at the two law schools at which he taught), and broadcast-experienced (as a daily fixture on Fox News Channel since 1998). He is the author of CONSTITUTIONAL CHAOS and THE CONSTITUTION IN EXILE." -- Publisher
"This book is an important contribution to the historian who would connect the dots from the early Progressive era to today, in figuring out how and why there was a silent revolution by the radical Left to destroy the Constitution and replace it with a Marxist platform. One can well argue that the Marxists captured the White House BEFORE they captured the Kremlin! Wilson and T. Roosevelt implemented radical ideas that were subsequently built upon by almost every administration since. One can see this Red Thread running through the entire fabric of the national government for more than a century now. So many planks of Karl Marx were accomplished by Wilson and Col. Mandel House that historians of the future will be compelled to ask how such a paradigm shift could occur without a guiding hand behind it (and I do not refer to a Divine Hand). It took two world wars to keep the American People diverted away from what amounted to a coup d'etat. Thanks to Judge Napolitano for this expose. Napolitano should be sitting on the Supreme Court. But then, what SHOULD be, rarely is." -- Reader's Comment
Niskanen, William A., After Enron Lessons for Public Policy, ISBN: 9780742544345 0742544346.
"Addresses the major lessons about accounting, auditing, taxation, and corporate governance that are illustrated by the collapse of Enron and other major corporate scandals." -- Publisher
Norman, Al, The Case Against Wal-Mart, ISBN: 0971154236 9780971154230.
"Al Norman, who has been called the 'guru of the anti-Wal-Mart movement' by '60 Minutes,' has just written a new book calling for a national consumer boycott of the giant retailer.
"The timing couldn't be better.
"Wal-Mart is drawing more heat than ever in its 42-year history. It has become perhaps the most disliked retailer in America today.
"THE CASE AGAINST WAL-MART is presented as a legal brief against Wal-Mart -- with 'counts' against the company ranging from its employment practices to its 'Made in America' mythology.
It presents evidence to make its case that Wal-Mart:
Norman, Al, Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart! How you can Stop Superstore Sprawl in Your Hometown, ISBN: 096248086X 9780962480867.
"SLAM-DUNKING WAL-MART is a call for the preservation of all the qualities we love about hometown America. It is one man's David versus Goliath story. It can also be a road map for your community's fight to keep its downtown businesses and core values.
"The book is written in two parts. The first part describes why Wal-Mart, Home Depot and their kin are a threat to small community life in America.
"The second part gives you a game plan to stop Wal-Mart and other big box retailers in your home town, much the way Al Norman and other concerned citizens kept Wal-Mart out of Greenfield." -- Publisher
"The guru of the Anti-Cal-Mart movement." -- CBS "60 Minutes"
*O'Neil, Cathy, Weapons of Math Destruction: How big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, ISBN: 9780141985411 0141985410.
"In today's world, if you want to change your fate you've got to pray at the altar of the algorithm . . . As math guru Cathy O'Neil argues in her newest book, these models are just the latest way America's institutions perpetuate bias and prejudice to reward the rich and keep the poor, well, poor. It's a nuanced reminder that big data is only as good as the people wielding it." -- Wired
"Data is not going away. Nor are computers -- much less mathematics. Predictive models are, increasingly, the tools we will be relying on to run our institutions, deploy our resources, and manage our lives. But as I've tried to show throughout this book, these models are constructed not just from data, but from the choices we make about which data to pay attention to -- and which to leave out. Those choices are not just about logistics, profits, and efficiency. They are fundamentally moral." -- Cathy O'Neil
"Cathy O'Neil has seen Big Data from the inside, and the picture isn't pretty. WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION opens the curtain on algorithms that exploit people and distort the truth while posing as neutral mathematical tools. This book is wise, fierce, and desperately necessary." -- Jordan Ellenberg, author of How not to be Wrong
"Often we don't even know where to look for those important algorithms, because by definition the most dangerous ones are also the most secretive. That's why the catalogue of case studies in O'Neil's book are so important; she's telling us where to look." -- Guardian
"O'Neil has become a whistle-blower for the world of Big Data . . . Her work makes particularly disturbing points about how being on the wrong side of an algorithmic decision can snowball in incredibly destructive ways." -- Time
"O'Neil is an ideal person to write this book . . . She is one of the strongest voices speaking out for limiting the ways we allow algorithms to influence our lives and against the notion that an algorithm, because it is implemented by an unemotional machine, cannot perpetrate bias or injustice . . . While WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION is full of hard truths and grim statistics, it is also accessible and even entertaining." -- Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American
*Owen, John (1616-1683), The Mortification of sin in Believers: Containing the necessity, nature, and means of it. With a resolution of sundry cases of conscience thereunto belonging. By John Owen, D.D. . . . A new edition London, 1783.
"I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern; and I owe more to [THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN] than to anything else he wrote." -- J.I. Packer
"John Owen's treatises on INDWELLING SIN IN BELIEVERS [in TEMPTATION AND SIN, Vol. 6 of Works] and THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written." -- Jerry Bridges
The Works of John Owen, Vol. 6 (including THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN, Goold edition, 1862)
https://archive.org/details/theworksofowen06owenuoft
The Mortification of sin, an e-book
https://www.monergism.com/mortification-sin-believers-ebook-0
On the Mortification of Sin in Believers, John Owen (1 of 6), an audio file reading
Currently (February 2009), there are 63 readings of John Owen by SWRB and Reformed Baptist of Holland (Michigan), (Thomas Sullivan), at SermonAudio.com available for listening online, downloading as MP3 files, and listening on iPhone or Mobile Phones.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=62906111628
*Palast, Greg, The Best Democracy Money can buy: An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons, and High Finance Fraudsters, ISBN: 0745318460 9780745318462.
"Muckraking has a long, storied tradition, and Palast is evidently proud to be part of it. In this polemical indictment of globalization and political corruption, Palast (a reporter with the BBC and London's Observer), updates the muckraking tradition with some 21st-century targets: the IMF, World Bank and WTO, plus oil treaties, energy concerns and corporate evildoers of all creeds. Some of Palast's reports are downright shocking (if familiar). He shows, for example, how the WTO prevents cheap AIDS drugs from reaching victims in Africa and how World Bank loan policies have crippled the economies of Tanzania and other developing countries. On the home front, he details Exxon's horrific safety record before the Valdez disaster and reveals the price-gouging by Texas power companies during the California energy crisis. In Britain, Palast exposes the 'cash for access' policies of the Blair administration, and blasts the legal system for shielding Pfizer Pharmaceuticals from lawsuits by victims who had defective Pfizer valves installed in their hearts. These are all good, important stories. Most of them, however, have been published before. This book is essentially a collection of Palast's newspaper articles, hastily stitched together with some commentary and exposition. As such, it lacks cohesiveness and the depth his subjects deserve. In addition, Palast's bombastic style and one-sided perspective do much to undermine his own credibility. How seriously should readers take a journalist who labels former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers an 'alien' and dismisses Walmart shareholders as 'Wal-Martians?' There is much of value here, but readers who want a full-bodied, serious analysis of how globalization is affecting developing countries or how corporate giants pay for political favors should look elsewhere." -- Publishers Weekly
*Parker, Star, and Richard Manning, Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture war and why This is Good News for America, ISBN: 9781546076582 1546076581.
"Popular conservative commentator Star Parker explains why today's noisy political rhetoric is good for you and provides specifics on why Trump's presidency is vital for America's future." -- Publisher
"The ongoing noise of debate can seem overwhelming, but our country needs the authentic and candid dialogue of its people. And Trump's presidency provides us with an opportunity, like never before, to engage and work to preserve the values upon which America was built. NECESSARY NOISE honestly examines the crossroads where we find ourselves and suggests ways of moving toward resolution and restoration. Tackling a wide range of topics on which citizens should get noisy -- from immigration, to education, to abortion, to welfare -- NECESSARY NOISE provides the framework for how to take part in this important time in history using our voices." -- Star Parker
"Star Parker's insight, that we've been involved in a 50-year Culture War 'parallels' my own. It's been an anti-Constitutional, anti-Christian war. Republicans, on account of their secularism (dismissal of the 'theological' as relevant) gave in again and again in the name of 'bipartisanship.' I'm 71 years old and have lived through this. It's only with the more radical fruits of this slide (like the de-sexing of public bathrooms and the plague of abortion), and DONALD TRUMP's refusal to continue this surrender, that things have turned ugly. I believe Star's new book captures some of this process! Looks good." -- Dick Knodel
"Parker is a columnist and commentator and founded the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) whose mission is to: 'Fight poverty and restore dignity through the message of faith, freedom, and personal responsibility.'
"Star Parker left her life of drugs, abortions, and welfare abuse to become a leading advocate for the family." -- Today's Christian Woman
Other works by Star Parker:
*Pendlebury, William, National Repentance and Reformation the way to Obtain National Blessings. A sermon preach'd at Rotherham in Yorkshire, on the eleventh of April, 1744, . . . by William Pendlebury, M.A.
*Phillips, Kevin, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, ISBN: 0767905334 9780767905336.
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. His bestselling books, including THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY (1969) and THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990), have influenced presidential campaigns and changed the way America sees itself. Widely acknowledging Phillips as one of the nation's most perceptive thinkers, reviewers have called him a latter-day Nostradamus and our 'modern Thomas Paine.' Now, in the first major book of its kind since the 1930s, he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls 'the Second Gilded Age' at the turn of the twenty-first century.
"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth -- how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
"With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans -- from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders -- Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.
"Finally, WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines -- speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics -- signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century. In a time of national crisis, Phillips worries that the growing parallels suggest the tide may already be turning for us all." -- Publisher
Pierce, Franklin, Federal Usurpation (Crown Rights Book Company, 2002, 1908).
"This book is a plea for the sacredness of the Constitution of the United States.
"The bloated and all-pervasive Federal bureaucracy which now rules the American people from Washington, D.C. did not arise overnight. Instead, as the author of this important volume documents, the usurpations of the Lincoln Administration during the War of 1861 and that of the Radical Republican Congress during Reconstruction were the fundamental causes of the existing political conditions of today. Pierce also discusses the inherent flaws in the Constitution which were the result of compromise between the quarreling factions at the Convention of 1787, and which would later lead to corruptions dangerous to the liberties of the people of the several States. The book concludes with a chapter entitled, 'How to Restore the Democratic Republic'." -- Publisher
Pipes, Richard, Property and Freedom, ISBN: 0375704477 9780375704475.
"Richard Pipes offers a vigorous defense of a fundamental freedom -- private property -- in this engaging mix of history, economics, and political theory. Western historians 'take property for granted,' complains the acclaimed scholar of Russian history (and author of the masterful THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION). Pipes argues that a greater appreciation for this institution is necessary if liberty is to survive in the 21st century. 'While property in some form is possible without liberty, the contrary is inconceivable,' he says. Property rights give rise to the political and legal institutions that secure freedom. Their absence practically invites atrocity. The sinister regimes of Communist Russia and Nazi Germany were fiercely opposed to private property. Those regimes' 'simultaneous violation of property rights and destruction of human lives,' he emphasizes, 'were not mere coincidences'." -- Bookseller
"While the bulk of the book compares England and Russia, showing how varying attitudes toward private property led these two nations in totally different directions, the final section examines the broad theme of property rights in the late 20th century -- a period when they have come under assault, and have been made increasingly conditional, by the growing strength of the welfare state. Pipes concludes with a broadside against New Deal and Great Society programs. Although liberal readers may bristle, none can deny that PROPERTY AND FREEDOM is the product of a great mind tackling a big theme with great enthusiasm." -- John J. Miller
Powell, Jim, Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II, ISBN: 1400082366 9781400082360.
Pullen, L. Larry, The Corporate Captivity of the Church: Myths, Multinationals, and the Church's Response.
*Quarter, Jack, Beyond the Bottom Line: Socially Innovative Business Owners, ISBN: 1567204147 9781567204148.
"Quarter analyzes the contribution of business people who use their business to develop and promote an idealistic social vision. He provides eleven case studies of contemporary innovators from six countries and an historical analysis of this phenomenon." -- Publisher
Quinn, Bill, How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and the World and What you can do About it, ISBN: 1580082319 9781580082310.
"An updated and expanded continuation of detailed accounts of Wal-Mart's questionable business practices, their not-so-ethical tactics, and their expansion into the global market. Shows concerned citizens how to fight to keep Wal-Mart from invading their towns." -- Publisher
Richter, Robert, For Export Only: Pesticides, The "Circle of Poison" Exposed, DVD. Alternate title: PESTICIDES AND PILLS: FOR EXPORT ONLY (series title), written, directed, and produced by Robert Richter, 57 minutes.
"Part One of two one-hour CDs on this global practice. Part Two is 'For Export Only: Pharmaceuticals'.
"Documents the 'circle of poison' of banned and restricted pesticides used on products we import, such as coffee, bananas and cotton. A fishing village in Ghana shines through as an example of both problem and solution.
"The first national PBS telecast created an international sensation. United Nations delegates who saw the program demanded an end to the practices documented; this led to an international monitoring system. It is a rare example of a documentary that truly made a difference.
"If you ever wanted to know how human beings behave in the absence of rules, in an open unregulated market, these films provide the answer." -- Washington Post
"A global horror story with ugly implications . . . Watch this . . . You may never want to eat again!" -- Indianapolis Times
"For students and other viewers facing a world of globalization, free markets and deregulation, 'For Export Only' documents shocking information about corporations that export products to developing countries that are prohibited or severely restricted in the countries where they are made.
"The products are banned or restricted because they cause cancer, liver disease, central nervous system diseases, sterility and death.
"Specific products and manufacturers are named as the two documentaries clearly depict their use and abuse in Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Bangladesh and Malaysia. The brand names may be changed, but the practices documented in these powerful reports have not.
"Students could be assigned to research and report about: What changes have occurred since the documentary's original release? What new products have come on the market with similar problems? What has happened with efforts to deal with this issue?
"An extraordinary report." -- London Observer
"After nearly three decades of legal struggle a Los Angeles jury awarded $3.2 million to Nicaraguan farm workers who argued they were made sterile by exposure to a specific pesticide. Dole Food Company was accused of exposing the workers to pesticides made by Dow Chemical Company that caused permanent sterility." -- Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2007
"More of a piece of investigative journalism than any other program honored. And what made it special was that it was produced not by a major station or network, but by Robert Richter, an independent producer. He beat the networks, with all their money, at their own game." -- New York Times report on DuPont Columbia award
"American Film Festival Red Ribbon
"Audubon International Environmental Film Festival
"International Consumer Film Competition"
http://www.richtervideos.com/ForExportOnlyPesticides/
Richter, Robert, WNET (Television station: New York, N.Y.). Television Laboratory, For Export Only: Pharmaceuticals, DVD. Alternate title: PESTICIDES AND PILLS: FOR EXPORT ONLY (series title), DVD video, Thesis/dissertation.
"Part Two of two one-hour CDs on this global practice. Part One is 'For Export Only: Pesticides, The "Circle of Poison" Exposed'."
Richter, Robert, A Plague on our Children: Dioxins, PCBs and Public Health v. Profit, DVD in two parts by Robert Richter.
"Corporate defenders, scientists and victims appear, including U.S. veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, factory workers exposed to PCBs, housewives exposed to toxic spray in logging areas, people exposed to the poisons at Love Canal and other waste disposal sites.
"Part One focuses on dioxin. 57 minutes.
"Part Two focuses on PCBs. 57 minutes.
http://www.richtervideos.com/APlagueonOurChildren/
Robbins, David, Council of Canadians, Polaris Institute, International Forum on Globalization, Operation 2000 (Organization), Beyond McWorld: Challenging Corporate Rule, DVD.
"This video is the first of many materials to come from Operation 2000, a program designed to equip student and youth activists with the tools necessary to tackle the issues of economic justice and environmental sustainability in this era of globalization and corporate rule."
*Robbins, John W. (1949-2008), Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation), ISBN: 0940931753 9780940931756.
"This book is a detailed examination of the official statements of the Vatican on economic and political matters. It demonstrates the collectivism and totalitarianism of the Roman Catholic Church-State. It is the only such book written by a Christian in the twentieth century.
"This book explores the conflict between Roman Catholic social thought and human freedom, relying on official pronouncements from the Vatican to show that the political and economic theory of the Roman Church-State justifies feudalism, corporativism [corporatism -- compiler], liberation theology, the welfare state, and fascism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress [Ron Paul of Texas], editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Samuel Rutherford, John Owen, Thomas Manton, The Westminster Assembly, James Renwick, Archibald Mason, Christopher Ness, Francis Turretin, The Reformed Presbytery, David Steel, James R. Willson, Alexander M'Leod, William L. Roberts, James Aiken Wylie, Andrew Wilet, Henry Wilkinson, James Wylie, Patrick Fairbairn, James Aiken, Andrew Wilet, Alexander Hislop, Francis Nigel Lee, Arthur W. Pink, and so forth, and so on, have all believed and argued in print that the seated Pope is the Antichrist of the Bible.
The Roman Church-State is "the world's oldest, largest, most powerful and most influential politico-ecclesiastical institution" and it "may also be the world's wealthiest."
*Robbins, John W., (1949-2008), Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century.
"This article was originally written in 1996. It was first published in 2006 in FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM: ESSAYS ON CHRISTIAN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS by John W. Robbins.
"By almost any measure, by virtually any criterion one selects, our fathers were freer and more civilized than we are, and their fathers had been freer and more civilized than they were."
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/281-Rebuilding_Freedom_in_America.pdf
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, ISBN: 0524065543 9780524065549. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available from ATLA 1991-2638.
A magnificent catechism that sets forth the Crown Rights of The King of Glory and Lord of Lords. It also presents incontrovertible evidence that the United States Constitution is not a Christian document, and that it is, in fact, a slavery document.
"A manual of instruction, drawing from such notable authors as William Symington and J.R. Willson, presenting arguments and facts confirming and illustrating the 'Distinctive Principles' of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Chapters deal with: 'Christ's Mediatorial Dominion in General;' Christ's Exclusive Headship Over the Church;' 'The Supreme and Ultimate Authority of the Word of God in the Church;' Civil Government, the Moral Ordinance of God;' Christ's Headship Over the Nations;' 'The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ;' The Word, or Revealed Will of God, the Supreme Law in the State;' 'The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion:' 'The Spiritual Independence of the Church of Christ:' 'The Right and Duty of Dissent From an Immoral Constitution of Civil Government;' 'The Duty of Covenanting, and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants;' 'The Application of These Principles to the Governments, Where Reformed Presbyterians Reside, in the Form of a Practical Testimony;' and finally 'Application of the Testimony to the British Empire. . . '." -- Publisher
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
On the Mediatorial Dominion of The Lord Jesus Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_01_mediatorial_dominion.html
The Exclusive Headship of The Lord Jesus Christ Over the Church of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_02_christs_headship_over_the_church.html
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_04_civil_government.html
On Christ's Headship Over the Nations, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_05_christs_headship_over_nations.html
The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_06_subjection_of_nations_to_christ.html
See also: The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration, SECRET PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; CONSPIRACY IN PHILADELPHIA: THE ORIGINS OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, and A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
Robinson, Jeffrey, The Laundrymen: Inside Money Laundering, the World's Third-Largest Business, ISBN: 155970330X 9781559703307.
"Money laundering has been a major part of the American criminal landscape since the days of its patron saint, Meyer Lansky. Watergate was essentially a money-laundering operation; so was Irangate. It is the one thing that Richard Nixon, the CIA, and Pablo Escobar have in common with Heidi Fleiss, BCCI, and the IRA. Some political action committees (PACs) have used dirty money, if unwittingly, to help elect politicians and then to keep them in office. Even the most sober and upright Wall Street bankers will admit that some of their banking assets derive from laundered money.
"And who are the laundrymen? As Jeffrey Robinson proves in this blistering and up-to-the-minute exposé, they are not the gun-toting Mafiosi of cliché; they are white-collar accountants, lawyers, and bankers -- certified professionals who use sophisticated systems of layering, loopholes in banking laws, and professional privilege to do their dirty work. Gone are the days of briefcases stuffed with cash. Money laundering 1990s style has diversified. Drug traffickers moving the drugs no longer move the money, and their laundrymen don't need to know about the drugs. Corrupting everyone and everything it touches, the money gradually seeps into the foundations of the world's financial institutions, ready to fuel an ever-widening cycle of violence." -- Abstract
"Almost every dollar bill in circulation contains minute traces of cocaine -- part of a worldwide money-laundering process involving up to 300 billion dollars a year. In this book, Robinson explains how the system works, from the basics of laundering small amounts of cash to the elaborate process by which literally mounds of dirty money can be made clean." -- Publisher
Ross, Robert Gaylon, Sr. Who's who of the Elite: Members of the Bilderbergs, Council on Foreign Relations, and Trilateral Commission, ISBN: 0964988801 9780964988804.
"The January 2000 revision brings an all-new source of information about the international banking cabal that is dominating the entire world, both politically and economically. Every page is new and improved over the 1996 edition, which was very good, as well." -- Robert Gaylon Ross, Sr.
Rushdoony, R.J. (1916-2001), The Atheism of the Early Church, ISBN: 1879998181 9781879998186. Available through Exodus Books.
"Early Christians were called 'heretics' and 'atheists' when they denied the gods of Rome, in particular the divinity of the emperor and the statism he embodied in his personality cult. These Christians knew that Jesus Christ, not the state, was their Lord and that this faith required a different kind of relationship to the state than it demanded. Because Jesus Christ was their acknowledged Sovereign, they consciously denied such esteem to all other claimants. Today the church must take a similar stand before the modern state." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy. Available through Exodus Books.
"The author deals with an age-old problem: the question of the one and the many and their relationship. As you might guess, the way one answers (or avoids), this question will affect views of justice, government, taxes, welfare, war, property, and freedom in general." -- GCB
See also: The Question of the One and the Many
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#onemany
Salerno, Joseph, and Stephen J. Rivele, The Plumber: The True Story of How one Good man Helped Destroy the Entire Philadelphia Mafia, ISBN: 1561290513 9781561290512.
"The story of one small-time man who brought down a large powerful organization. Details the struggle the plumber and his family went through. Includes appendix of the court transcripts." -- Reader's Comment
Schrader, David E., Corporations as Anomaly, ISBN: 0521412412 9780521412414.
"The marginalist theory of the corporation or firm, whose characteristics were formally developed in the 1930s, represents a major change in the development of traditional economic theory. In this book, Professor Schrader, a philosopher of economics, discusses the rise of the marginalist conception of the firm in the context of economic thought over the past two centuries, and explains why economists continue to defend a theory with demonstrable shortcomings: the marginalist view of the firm retains its support not through any comparative advantage in empirical or predictive power, but by virtue of its being a part of the predominant marginalist economic program. The clear problems that beset the marginalist approach to the firm signal a general dilemma for economic theory as a whole. Although economists generally remain committed to both a methodological individualism and a preference for non-intentional coordination of economic endeavor, Schrader observes that the modern corporation by its very nature is both a social collective and a locus of intentional coordination of economic activity. An economic theory that does justice to a world in which managerial corporations are among the key agents of production and distribution must generate a theory of collective action to bolster the theory of individual action that forms the present basis for most economic thinking." -- Publisher
*Scott, David, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton, What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available in OBSERVATIONS ON THE PUBLIC COVENANTS BETWIXT GOD AND THE CHURCH: A DISCOURSE.
"A clear and concise summary of the biblical doctrine of the moral person (i.e. that God regards churches and nations as moral entities separate from the individual members of which they are comprised). No Christian can afford not to understand this vital teaching! In many ways this is a crux of the Covenanter position, underlying as it does the issues of separation from backslidden or anti-Christian civil and church governments, the binding nature of lawful Covenants on posterity, eschatology, etc." -- Publisher
What is a Moral Person? How God Views the Church and the Nations, David Scott, John Cunningham, and George Smeaton
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/moral.htm
Seibert, Donald V., and William Proctor, The Ethical Executive: A Top C.E.O.'s Program for Success With Integrity in the Corporate World, ISBN: 0346124506 9780346124509.
Shaw, Paul, and Jack Bologna, Preventing Corporate Embezzlement, ISBN: 0750672544 9780750672542.
"Internal loss is one of the most costly forms of loss. Embezzlement is one of the least detected and prosecuted forms of internal theft. PREVENTING CORPORATE EMBEZZLEMENT is a professional reference that offers solutions.
"Practical tool for detecting and combating embezzlement: checklists, forms and evaluations. Offers how-to advice on avoiding lawsuits by practicing preventive law. Lists further resources, publications and directories on embezzlement, internal controls and security, risk management, insurance, auditors, and security services and equipment.
"Paul Shaw is Editor and publisher of Computing and Communications: Law and Protection, Financial Fraud, and Assets Protection, the latter periodical covering organizational integrity compliance. He is the co-author of CORPORATE CRIME INVESTIGATION, FRAUD AWARENESS MANUAL, and FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK.
"Jack Bologna is an Associate Professor of Management at Siena Heights College in Adrian, Michigan, and is the publisher of the monthly newsletters Forensic Accounting Review and Computer Security Digest. Mr. Bologna has authored and co-authored a number of books including ACCOUNTANT'S HANDBOOK ON FRAUD and COMMERCIAL CRIME AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK, 2nd Edition." Publisher
*Shils, Edward B., The Shils Report. Measuring the Economic and Sociological Impact of the Mega-Retail Discount Chains on Small Enterprise in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities, Study Director, Edward B. Shils, Ph.D., J.D., LL.M., George W. Taylor Emeritus Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Director Emeritus, Wharton Entrepreneurial Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, February 7, 1997.
Includes bibliography.
http://www.lawmall.com/rpa/rpashils.htm
*Sirota, David, Hostile Takeover: How big Money and Corruption Conquered our Government -- And how we Take it Back, 384 pages, ISBN: 0307237346 9780307237347.
"Do you ever wonder if there's a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?
"Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?
"Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?
"Do you ever want to fight back?
"Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that just sends more cash to the HMOs. Wages have been stagnant for thirty years, even as corporate profits skyrocket. Politicians say they want to fix the problem and then pass bills written by lobbyists that drive wages even lower and punish those crushed by debt. Jobs are being shipped overseas, pensions are being cut, and energy is becoming unaffordable. And our government, more concerned about maintaining its corporate sponsorship than protecting its citizens, does nothing about it.
"In HOSTILE TAKEOVER, David Sirota, a major new voice in American politics, seeks to open the eyes of ordinary Americans to the fact that corporate interests have undermined democracy, aided and abetted by their lackeys in our allegedly representative government. At a time when more and more of America's major political leaders are being indicted or investigated for corruption, Sirota takes readers on a journey that shows how all of this nefarious behavior happened right under our noses -- and how the high-profile scandals are merely one product of a political system and debate wholly owned by Big Money interests. Sirota considers major public issues that feel intractable -- like spiraling health care costs, the outsourcing of jobs, the inequities of the tax code, and out-of-control energy prices -- and shows how in each case workable solutions are buried under the lies of lobbyists, the influence of campaign cash, and the ubiquitous spin machine financed by Big Business.
"With fiery passion, pinpoint wit, and lucid analysis, HOSTILE TAKEOVER reveals the true enemies of reform and their increasingly sophisticated -- and hostile -- tactics. It's an essential guidebook for those of us tired of the government selling us out -- and determined to take our country back.
"David Sirota is a campaign strategist, political operative, and writer. Sirota has served as the press secretary for Independent Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont and was recently a senior strategist for Brian Schweitzer, Montana's first Democratic governor in sixteen years. He is a senior editor at In These Times, a regular contributor to The Nation, the blogger for Working Assets, and a twice-weekly guest on the Al Franken Show. Sirota is also the co-chairperson of the Progressive Legislative Action Network. He lives in Helena, Montana, with his wife." -- Publisher
"A summary of Sirota's book would point out that millions lack health care, and even more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that provides more profits for drug companies and insurers. At the same time, inflation-adjusted wages have been largely stagnant, while corporate profits have skyrocketed. In this instance, politicians 'help out' by further depressing wages by continuing to allow millions of illegal and temporary legal immigrants into the U.S., and additional millions of jobs outsourced overseas. Despite an obvious need for energy conservation, our government takes its lead from V.P. Dick Cheney and does nothing. Welcome to today's world of lobbyists', lies, and legislation for sale.
"The 'really bad news' is that they're not satisfied. Possible future legislation includes a flat income tax (a huge tax cut for the wealthy, and a huge tax increase for everyone else -- per Reagan's '82 Treasury Dept.), permanent elimination of the estate tax (only 2 percent were paying, and half the receipts came from the top .1 percent with estates over $5 million), and reducing corporate taxes from their 35 percent level -- 'fourth highest' in the industrialized world (a '04 GAO report concluded that 94 percent paid less than 5 percent, and that 60,000 government contractors owed $6 billion in unpaid taxes), more personal tax cuts (to justify further cuts in veterans' healthcare, inadequate/non-funding of Army armor and New Orleans' levees -- the pre-Katrina official protesting the latter was immediately fired).
"Not upset yet -- read on. USA Today reported in late '05 that while the 60 worst performing companies in America lost 4769 billion in market value in the prior five years, their top five executives were paid an average of $8 million/year. Meanwhile, University of California researchers in '04 found that jobs in the bottom third of the pay scale were growing almost twice as fast as those in the middle.
"HOSTILE TAKEOVER also puts to rest the myth of 'free' trade. Provisions include insuring U.S. access to potentially hepatitis-carrying Mexican vegetables and Canadian beef with mad-cow disease, while banning importation of cheaper drugs and limiting other nations' ability to produce generic medicines. In '01, economists estimated that three-fourths of U.S. workers lost about 12 percent of current wages because of trade deals. At least we still have some -- the New York Times reported the loss of over 2 million manufacturing jobs between '01 -- '04, while Gartner Research estimated over 30 percent of high-tech jobs could be shipped overseas by '15 and University of California researchers estimated up to 14 million jobs are now at risk of outsourcing.
"There's more: Harvard researchers found that 90 percent of personal bankruptcies were due to illness, medical bills, job loss, death in the family, and/or divorce. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation's '05 study concluded that 20 percent of recent bankrupts had been operating a small business. No matter -- the myth of deadbeat debtors ruining credit card companies persists, and Congress recently made personal bankruptcy laws much tougher.
"At least we can count on retirement -- not! In '02 AP reported that 8 million workers saw their retirement plans converted to 'cash balance' payouts only -- a loss of up to $200 million, according to government sources. As for Social Security, a top University of Chicago economist estimates Wall St. would make $400 billion -- $1 trillion in fees under the Bush privatization plan. No matter you say -- Chile and Galveston, Texas have proven the concept's superiority. Unfortunately, the World Bank found that up to one-third of Chileans' retirement money went to fees (the public version went bankrupt -- hence, no comparisons are available), and several government reports have concluded that many/most/all Galveston employees will receive LESS than they would have from Social Security.
"Well, at least some of us have our health. Hopefully the growing number without health insurance will not get sick; as for universal governmental coverage -- private insurance made over $10 billion in '03, with top executives raking in $85 million each. As for the innovative drugs many can't afford because of high prices 'required for research' -- the former New England Journal of Medicine's editor states that they 'come almost entirely from publicly funded research done in government and university labs." Further evidence: Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt says that 'R&D spending (as a percentage of drug industry revenues), is equal or higher in Europe (with price controls), as here' -- specifically, 20 percent in Britain, vs. 14 percent in the U.S.
"Finally, 'fuel efficiency kills people,' or so opponents say. On the other hand, University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers and a government panel all have concluded that cars can be made as safe/safer than most SUVs, and especially better than most pickups.
"Truly an encyclopedic work documenting how business has stolen and perverted American democracy. While Sirota offers specific recommendations in each area, the biggest problem involves providing a means for voters to see through all the lies and misstatements. Publicly funded elections may be the answer." -- Reader's Comment
*Smith, Adam, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2 volumes in 1, ISBN: 0226763749.
"While it has been pointed to time and again by governments promoting laissez-faire economics, THE WEALTH OF NATIONS actually shows that Smith viewed capitalism with a deep suspicion." -- Publisher
"Planned economies do not work, because they fail to take into account man's sinfulness."
"The Scottish Adam Smith is certainly the most important economists of all times, and is the founder of modern economic thought. THE WEALTH OF THE NATIONS (1776), his major work, introduced new concepts and ideas such as 'competitive advantage,' 'division of labor,' 'the power of the invisible hand,' and other concepts that explain current changes in world economics and politics. From this starting point, the beginning of the industrialization in England, many economists and social scientists developed their theories. Karl Marx, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and others acknowledged the importance of Adam Smith's work to their theories. Smith also wrote in the field of philosophy. However, he was to become known as the Father of the Classic School of Economics. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
Many modern editions of this work are abridged and edited by modern economists. Be sure to read an unabridged edition.
*Smith, Rebecca, and John R. Emshwiller, 24 Days: How two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies That Destroyed Faith in Corporate America, ISBN: 0060520736 9780060520731.
"This is the story of two Wall Street Journal beat reporters -- one covering the energy industry just after the chaotic California electricity crisis; the other chasing stock swindlers. Together these journalists were ideally placed to uncover one of the great cons of the century. Here is a story about the fall of a great company, and the practice of journalism, marked by skill, luck, and determination.
"24 DAYS is the gripping, untold chronicle of the investigative process -- often haphazard but imbued with insight and commitment -- that broke through Enron's stonewalling and exposed its inner workings, setting in motion a chain of events that shook the public's trust in big business, Wall Street, and the accounting profession.
"In August 2001, Jeffrey Skilling unexpectedly resigned from his job as CEO of Enron after only six months in the top job. While Smith -- who had been covering the California energy crisis -- was away, the Wall Street Journal Los Angeles bureau chief drafted Emshwiller to interview Skilling. During a rambling conversation, Emshwiller stumbles onto an unlikely admission from the corporate prodigy, which partly confirms the journalists' suspicions that Skilling didn't quit for "personal reasons." This odd revelation raised ominous questions about Enron's much-bragged-about success.
"The two reporters pick and pull at the mystery, and with the help of confidential sources, who understood Enron's inner workings, expose an audacious scheme: Andrew Fastow's off-balance-sheet partnerships that hid Enron's failings and inflated its value by billions of dollars. . . ." -- Publisher
Smith, Russell G., Peter Grabosky, Gregor Urbas, Cyber Criminals on Trial, ISBN: 0521840473 9780521840477.
"This book comprises an international study of the manner in which cyber criminals are currently handled by the judicial system. As computer-related crime becomes more important globally, both scholarly and journalistic accounts tend to focus on the ways in which the crime has been committed and how it could have been prevented. Very little has been written about the capture, possible extradition, prosecution, sentencing and incarceration of the cyber criminal -- until now.
"Russell G. Smith, BA (honors), LLM, DipCrim (Melborne), Ph.D. (London), Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Courts of Australia, is Deputy Director of Research at the Australian Institute of Criminology. He is co-author of the books ELECTRONIC THEFT: UNLAWFUL ACQUISITION IN CYBERSPACE and CRIME IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
"Peter Grabosky, BA (Colby), MA, Ph.D. (Northwestern), FASSA, is a Professor in the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University, a former Deputy Director at the Australian Institute of Criminology, and current Deputy Secretary General of the International Society of Criminology. He is a co-author of ELECTRONIC THEFT: UNLAWFUL ACQUISITION IN CYBERSPACE and CRIME IN THE DIGITAL AGE, and co-editor of THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF AUSTRALIAN CRIMINOLOGY.
"Gregor Urbas, BA (Honors), LLB (Honors), Ph.D. (ANU), Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and the Federal Courts of Australia, is a Lecturer in Law at the Australian National University and a former Research Analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology. With Russell Smith, he is a co-author of CONTROLLING FRAUD ON THE INTERNET." -- Publisher
"I am convinced that every prosecutor should read it, whether he or she is directly concerned by the issue or not, since even in cases where cybercrime is not directly involved, some techniques related to it may have been used or may have triggered off the commission of other offenses." -- International Association of Prosecutors Newsletter
"Definitely a reference book giving us a thorough analysis of cybercrime. I am convinced that every prosecutor should read it, whether he or she is directly concerned by the issue or not, since even in cases where cybercrime is not directly involved, some techniques related to it may have been used or may have triggered off the commission of other offenses." -- International Association of Prosecutors
*Sowell, Thomas, Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas, ISBN: 0029303303 9780029303306.
"An indictment of the American educational system criticizes the fact that the system has discarded the traditional goals of transmitting knowledge and fostering cognitive skills in favor of building self-esteem and promoting social harmony. Our educational establishment -- a vast tax-supported empire existing quasi-independently within American society -- is morally and intellectually bankrupt, charges distinguished economist and social critic Thomas Sowell. And in this top-to-bottom tour of the mismanaged institutions, cynical leadership, and tendentious programs of American education, Sowell exposes the numerous 'deceptions and dogmas' that have concealed or sought to justify the steep and very dangerous decline in our educational standards and practices across the board. Among the more serious ills of American education are the technically sophisticated brainwashing techniques now being applied to children and teenagers in so-called 'affective education' programs; the special 'peace' and 'nuclear' education programs that actively promote 'politically correct' attitudes; the 'values clarification' and sex education curricula that portray parental and religious authority figures as agents of a repressive and unjust social and political orthodoxy; and the racial 'mini-establishments' created on college campuses by minority demagogues and complaisant administrators that enshrine a self-serving ideological double standard, thus betraying the real interests of minority students. Sowell's exhaustively researched investigation draws particular attention to the wide array of textbooks and other instructional materials, promoted with astonishing success by a multi-million dollar industry styling itself a 'secular humanist' movement, which fosters these ideas -- ideas that are not just anti-American, Sowell maintains, but essentially totalitarian in character. These sinister curricular developments, combined with often cowardly and irresponsible management more concerned about institutional image and ranking than with fiscal integrity or a commitment to educate our youth, will breed disaster unless immediate steps are taken to reform the entire educational system." -- Publisher
Sowell, Thomas, Jeff Riggenbach, and Blackstone Audio, Inc, A Personal Odyssey, ISBN: 9781441784117 144178411X.
"Here is the gritty, powerful story of Thomas Sowell's life-long education in the school of hard knocks, as the journey took him from Harlem to the Marines, the Ivy League, and a career as a controversial writer, teacher, and economist in government and private industry. It is also the story of the dramatically changing times in which this personal odyssey took place. The vignettes of the people and places that made an impression on Thomas Sowell at various stages of his life range from the poor and powerless to the mighty and the wealthy, from a home for homeless boys to the White House, as well as ranging across the United States and around the world. It also includes Sowell's startling discovery of his own origins during his teenage years. More than a story of the life of Sowell himself, this is also about the people who gave him their help, their support, and their loyalty, as well as those who demonized him and knifed him in the back. It is a study not just of one life but also of life in general, with all its exhilaration and pain of constant striving and deserved success." -- Publisher
Spannaus, Nancy (editor), and Christopher White (editor), The Political Economy of the American Revolution, ISBN: 0943235146 9780943235141.
"Do you Know What the American System of Economics is all About?
"Most Americans actually don't -- and it's not because they are stupid. It's because there's been a systematic suppression of the truth, to the point where it's been written out of the history books and schools throughout the nation. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was first published in 1977 in order to revive the truth about American history. Newspaper editor Nancy Spannaus and historian Christopher White assembled the crucial writings which defined the American System, as a continuation of the Italian Golden Renaissance tradition, and a war against British imperialism and free trade. They produced a book of readings which served as an assault on the Treason School of American history. This new edition adds some crucial materials, but its guts are the same: the works of Alexander Hamilton and his French predecessor, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. These are writings you either can't find anywhere else, or which are hard to find. They are supplemented by introductory essays by Spannaus and White. The scholar and the conscientious citizen will find this book indispensable. The American war against British imperialist methods continues today, and must be won." -- Publisher
Starr, Paul, Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform, ISBN: 9780300171099 0300171099.
"Tracing healthcare reform from its beginnings to its current uncertain prospects, Paul Starr argues that the United States ensnared itself in a trap through policies that satisfied enough of the public and so enriched the healthcare industry as to make the system difficult to change." -- Publisher
"This is a succinct and subtle exploration of the long-time debate over nationalized healthcare in the U.S. and about why 'HillaryCare' lost and 'ObamaCare' was enacted. The fundamental problem, which Starr calls the 'policy trap,' is that important segments of society get enough out of a woefully inefficient system to resist, and to be suspicious of, any reform. The deductibility of health insurance premiums by employers and nationalized healthcare for the elderly via Medicare means that the most important voting blocs in society do well under the system without really appreciating the ridiculously high cost of what they are provided. Middle class people with jobs and senior citizens vote -- and they are invested in the status quo.
"Starr also probes into the darker side of American society -- the tolerance of suffering by others rationalized by the notion that I earned what I'm getting. Unlike any other advanced Western society, Americans question the right of citizens to get some minimum level of healthcare. And the polarization on this issue has gotten worse -- e.g., Starr cites polls showing that the percentage of Republicans who agreed with some such right has fallen from 37 percent to the low double digits.
"While Starr does not espouse an explicitly Marxian message, the implication of his argument is that the healthcare debate is simply class warfare by other means. The political branches protect, respond to, and even subsidize the economically powerful in society, while the dispossessed are frozen out, and then are blamed for their own predicament (in American mythology all can be obtained by effort and hard work, so if you can't provide healthcare to your family it's only because you're not applying yourself). The healthcare debate brings together all the contradictions of the American character and sets the stage for a raw battle between the haves and the dispossessed in an increasingly polarized economy and society.
"Whether or not you agree with Starr's progressive-left point of view, his recounting of the history of reform and the still uncertain future of that reform is excellent." -- Reader's Comment
"Paul Starr is professor of sociology and public affairs, Princeton University, and cofounder and coeditor of The American Prospect. His 1984 book THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN MEDICINE won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and the Bancroft Prize in American history. A senior advisor on health policy in the Clinton White House, he writes frequently on national politics." -- Publisher
Stormer, John A., None Dare Call it Treason: The Carefully Documented Story of America's Retreat From Victory.
"The thoroughly documented warnings concerning the inroads of communism in America should have been enough to stir millions of Americans to action. Many of us were so awakened and stirred that we recognized that we needed to be involved as never before. We will never forget this reading and how it answered so many questions that had plagued us. My main question was why we had allowed communism to take control of Cuba, a nation just 90 miles from our shores. Answer: The American press was already sufficiently leftist that this action was condoned and accepted by the media. Fidel Castro was promoted as an 'agrarian reformer,' not a communist. Our State Department covered his communist connections.
"Stormer is a dedicated man who spent four years researching his 236-page book. It was not to be discredited. He was unbiased, as a former editor and general manager of a leading electrical engineering magazine, enriching his conclusions through some 800 references from a multitude of sources including major newspapers, Congressional documents, speeches, hearings of Department of Justice, National Review, Time magazine, Senate reports, Newsweek, Human Events, House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, Sports Afield, The Worker, Reece Committee, and dozens more." -- Jack McLain
None Dare Call it Treason
https://archive.org/details/NoneDareCallItTreasonJohnStormer
Terrill, John R., Notes: Vita. An Integrative Paper Submitted to the Faculty of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Religion, 55 pages.
"A critique of ethics training in the secular graduate business academy and a pedagogical approach for character formation in the lives of Christian MBA students."
*Tocqueville, Alexis de, Seymour Drescher (translator), Gertrude Himmelfarb (introduction), Memoir on Pauperism, ISBN: 156663167X 9781566631679.
"In this neglected memoir, written just after the first volume of DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, Tocqueville seeks to understand why the most impoverished countries of Europe in his time had the fewest paupers, while the most opulent nation -- England -- had the most." -- Publisher
United States. President's Commission on Organized Crime, The Edge: Organized Crime, Business, and Labor Unions: Report to the President and the Attorney General, ISBN: 9997384156.
Accompanied by a 356 page Appendix dated October 1985. Includes bibliographies. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. Available online, Hathi Trust Digital Library.
United States Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Multinationals and the National Interest: Playing by Different Rules (US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1993), OTA-ITE-569, NTIS order #PB93-231314, ISBN: 0160419433 9780160419430.
Multinationals and the National Interest: Playing by Different Rules
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/ns20/alpha_f.html
*Von Mises, Ludwig, Liberty and Property, ISBN: 9781579703783 157970378X.
"Originally delivered as a lecture at Princeton University, October 1958, at the 9th meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society." Includes bibliographical references.
Wasserman, Harvey, America Born and Reborn, ISBN: 0020381107 9780020381105.
Watson, Robert A., The Most Effective Organization in the U.S.: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army, ISBN: 060960869X 9780609608692.
"Most of us know the Salvation Army from its fund raising efforts and philanthropic programs, but the $2 billion-a-year transcontinental institution, now serving more than 30 million people with a vastly underpaid and overworked staff, is also a model business structure. Under a title taken from the description applied to it by management guru Peter Drucker, THE MOST EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION in the U.S. outlines the fundamental tenets that the group has prospered under since its founding in the mid- to late 1800s. Written by former National Commander Robert A. Watson and freelancer Ben Brown, the book details eight principles that allow the Army to do so much with so little: focus on 'a purpose that transcends quarterly earnings;' make 'what you do serve human needs;' stay publicly accountable to visible standards; encourage feedback and act upon it; 'invest real power and real responsibility' in top personnel; 'accept the inevitability of change;' take calculated risks; and motivate employees by ensuring their jobs are both valuable and enjoyable. Some readers may not be comfortable with the organization's overt ties to Christian teachings, but few can argue with the success it consistently enjoys." -- Howard Rothman
"According to Watson, the central tenet of The Salvation Army's leadership effectiveness is to, 'engage the spirit'." -- Reader's Comment
Wells, Joseph T., Encyclopedia of Fraud, 2005 Edition, 916 pages, ISBN: 1889277371 9781889277370.
"A wealth of anti-fraud information exists today, but until now the material was scattered in thousands of sources and locales. Written for practitioners, academics and anyone with an interest in fraud, the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FRAUD, 2005 EDITION provides the user with easy access to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' vast body of fraud knowledge.
"Organized by both topic and type of fraud scheme, users will find:
*Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over all Governments: and the Disregard of His Authority by the United States in the Federal Constitution, 1832. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (PRINCE MESSIAH'S CLAIMS TO DOMINION, PDF and MP3) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #12, #13, #25.
"Why treat thus all religion? Why disfranchise, by a solemn act the church of the living God? Is the benevolent, pure, holy, heaven born religion of Emmanuel, hostile to the happiness of the republic? Shall commerce, agriculture, the arts, literature -- all the other lawful pursuits, be countenanced, fostered, protected, and established on as permanent a basis, as possible and the true religion be put under the ban of the empire? But they say, let religion alone. Do they, however, adopt the laissez nous faire, in relation to manufactures and trade? No. We cherish all, but respecting the advancement of religion, Congress shall never do any thing. When the child is born, were the father and mother to say, laissez l'infant faire -- leave the babe to itself -- would that lie to act as a nursing father and mother? Surely no. There must be a far different kind of constitution among the nations, when the promise is fulfilled, that 'Kings shall be nursing fathers.' God Almighty says, in the text quoted above, that civil rulers shall nurse the church -- the Constitution says they shall not. Which is right? 'Ah! sinful nation, laden with iniquity.' God spares thee for the sake of his redeemed, that his moral subjects on earth may be, by the gospel of his Son, reclaimed from sin and rebellion -- that on the earth, through his own holy religion, he may expatiate the glories of redemption. The Constitution says religion shall be discountenanced by the Congress of the United States." -- James Renwick Willson
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath be kindled but a little. (Psalm 2:12). This book will go a long way to exposing the fact, as Willson writes, that 'ungodly men have occupied, and do now occupy, many of the official stations, in the government,' and that 'Tyrants are yet on their thrones, and unholy republics refuse to acknowledge Him (Christ -- RB), as Lord of all'." -- Publisher
Willson, James Renwick, Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over all Governments
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/24/prince-messiahs-claims-to-dominion-over-all-governments-and-the-disregard-of-his-authority-by-the-united-states-in-the-federal-constitution
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Treason and impeachment, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, Ethics, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Reform of the Church, The protestant reformation, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Christian scholarship, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Church and state, Biblical economics, Suffrage, reproductive rights, Male responsibility, Gender equality, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The westminster confession of faith (1646), Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, Power, Glory in iniquity, the temptation of vainglory, Public education, Suffrage and reproductive rights, Medical ethics, Healthcare reform, Bribery, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Friendly fascism, Prosperity and wealth, the snare of, Taxation, liberty, and property rights, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Taxation and war, The government role of punishing wrongdoers, Monopoly and anti-trust law enforcement, Antinomianism, Political and economic freedom, Conscience, casuistry, cases of conscience, Courage, The question of the one and the many, Idolatry, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Carnality and flesh pleasing: lust, desires, ambition, Will and recalcitrance, Statism (hellenic thought) institutionalism, and corporatism, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Computer crime, Church government, Civil government, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The destruction of american liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, God's deliverance of nations, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Christ our example, Affliction, adversity, trials, suffering, chastisement, Manhood, A theological interpretation of american history, Cowardice, Feminism, Effeminacy, the effeminate, The civil war of the united states, The Biblical Solution to terrorism, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, and so forth, and so on.
Abuses and Usurpations of the U.S. Constitution
http://www.constitution.org/cs_abuse.htm
Americans say America's Biggest Problem is Government, Jon Miltimore, December 12, 2017
"So there's really no getting around the fact that a plurality of Americans see government as America's biggest problem -- regardless of which party holds power.
"The irony, of course, is that government growth has been perhaps the most reliable fact of the last half-century, right behind death and taxes. Interestingly, as the graph below shows, it's a trend that has continued regardless of which party holds power in Washington, D.C. . . . .
"But their faith in government, the great equalizer, likely remains strong. I suspect most have forgotten Bertrand de Jouvenel's famous warning: 'There is a tyranny in the womb of every Utopia'."
Notice that the unavoidable deduction is that "corruption and incompetence of government is America's biggest problem." And going below that we must confront the Total Depravity of Mankind. It follows that the only solution is the Gospel, The Sovereign Grace of God.
https://fee.org/articles/americans-say-americas-biggest-problem-is-government/
Baobab's Corporate Power Information Center
http://baobabcomputing.com/corporatepower/Essays_on_Corporate_Power/
Business Ethics at Business.com
http://www.business.com/directory/management/business_ethics/
Business Ethics Magazine
http://www.business-ethics.com/
Business Reform Magazine
http://www.business-reform.com/
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from Section IV of THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM, by William Roberts
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_04_civil_government.html
Codes of Conduct
http://www.iit.edu/departments/csep/PublicWWW/codes/codes.html
Computer Crime and Corporate Crime
http://www.lettermen2.com/ccrime.html
CorpWatch
http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/index.html
CorpWatch's Resources on Human Rights
http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/humanrts/resources/index.html
Corporate Accountability Project
http://www.corporations.org/
The Corporate Republic
http://slashdot.org/features/00/04/26/108242.shtml
The Era of Corporate Rule Naomi Klein, a Canadian writer working on a book about anti-corporate activism
"The verdict is in: transnationals have pulled off nothing short of a corporate coup d'etat, ushering in what American author David Korten calls 'the era of Corporate Rule.' In this context, a growing consensus is emerging among progressive intellectuals and activists in the North which holds that if citizens are to have any input into their communal futures, they must deal directly with the real power brokers -- no longer just the politicians but the people pulling their strings: the transnational corporations themselves." -- Naomi Klein
http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/humanrts/resistance/klein.html
The Federal Government Should not be of the Corporations, by the Corporations, and for the Corporations
http://ruralparty.com/noframes.htm#1
Five-Year Arrest Trends, All Women, 1995-1999 (6,622 agencies)
One sign of the decline in society is an increase in crimes committed by women.
The remarkable increase in arrests of women could be due to the effeminate leadership by men in all spheres of society including the church.
Percentage increases in arrests of all women, select crimes. (Women under 18 only indicated by "under 18")
Five-Year Arrest Trends by Sex, 2015-2019
"9,656 agencies; 2019 estimated population 201,599,471; 2015 estimated population 197,695,401"
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-35#
Here's Where the Most Psychopaths Live in the U.S., Melissa Matthews, June 21, 2018
"Washington, D.C., may be known for its countless politicians, but a new study says our nation's capital also houses the most psychopaths in the United States. . . .
"According to the study author, this isn't entirely surprising, given that people with psychopathic personalities tend to enjoy politics, Newsweek reported."
https://www.menshealth.com/health/a21748745/heres-which-state-has-the-most-psychopaths/
How Facebook's Master Algorithm Powers the Social Network
"The algorithm behind Facebook's News Feed, a 'modular layered cake,' extracts meaning from every post and photo.
" 'Artificial intelligence permeates everything at Facebook Inc.,' the social network's head of applied machine learning says -- 'and humans are bound to understand Facebook less than ever'."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-facebooks-master-algorithm-powers-the-social-network-1508673600
How the Judiciary Stole the Right to Petition, John E. Wolfgram
http://www.constitution.org/abus/wolfgram/ptnright.htm
Incarcerated Women and Girls (1980-2020)
"Between 1980 and 2020, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 475 percent, rising from a total of 26,326 in 1980 to 152,854 in 2020. . . .
"The number of incarcerated women was nearly five times higher in 2020 than in 1980.
" 'Incarcerated Women and Girls' examines female incarceration trends and finds areas of both concern and hope. While the imprisonment rate for African American women was nearly twice that of white women in 2020, this disparity represents a sharp decline from 2000 when Black women were six times as likely to be imprisoned. Since then Black women's imprisonment rate has decreased by 68 percent while white women's rate has increased by 12 percent."
https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Incarcerated-Women-and-Girls.pdf
International Institute for Corporate Governance at Yale University
http://iicg.som.yale.edu/
Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (Jail) 4 Judges
"The Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, J.A.I.L., is a single-issue national grassroots organization designed to end the rampant and pervasive judicial corruption in the legal system of the United States. J.A.I.L. recognizes this can be achieved only through making the Judicial Branch of government answerable and accountable to an entity other than itself. At this time it isn't, resulting in the judiciary's arbitrary abuse of the doctrine of judicial immunity, leaving the People without recourse when their inherent rights are violated by judges."
http://www.jail4judges.org/
*Judicial Watch
http://www.judicialwatch.org
Justice for Sale: Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain, Alliance for Justice
http://www.afj.org/
Managing the Ethics of Algorithms
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-intelai/2019/03/27/managing-the-ethics-of-algorithms/
Reinventing the Government Corporation by A. Michael Froomkin
http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/reinvent.htm
A Resolution That Walmart Stores, Inc. Disprove the Modern Myth That Sunday Work Maximizes Profits
http://http://www.lettermen2.com/wmresol1.html
Solomon on Righteousness in Governmental Leadership
"Whereas Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people says the wisest man who ever lived in Proverbs 14:34. Accordingly, sin -- both in the lives of governmental leaders and the citizens -- is, according to the Bible, the greatest weakness in any nation. Ultimately, to the degree sin is muffled, a culture prospers; whereas sin can overthrow the whole system when it proliferates.
"Herein we will examine the Book of Proverbs pertaining to what Solomon instructed his son Rehoboam regarding righteousness in governmental leadership. Akin and in contrast is what he teaches him about sin; what follows is a topical study from the book of Proverbs on sin as well. -- Ralph Drollinger
https://capmin.org/solomon-on-righteousness-in-governmental-leadership/
Sprawl Busters
www.sprawl-busters.com
Theft: Commentary and Cases of Conscience. A Listing Excerpted From The Institutes of Biblical Law by Rousas John Rushdoony, 1973 edition
http://www.lettermen2.com/theft.html
WakeUpWalMart.com
"WakeUpWalMart.com is about Americans joining together in common purpose to change Walmart. There is only one force powerful enough to change the #1 Fortune 500 company in the world -- the American people. [Former Associates, their friends and families, other retail worker's who have lost job or have been asked to work for less to compete with Walmart, disenfranchised small businessmen, neighbors whose property value has gone down when a store was built, textile workers and other individuals who have lost their jobs because of globalization -- this amounts to around 10 percent of the population of many rural counties in America. -- compiler]
"WakeUpWalMart.com is about giving Americans the tools to empower themselves to change the world's largest employer. We are Walmart's customers and we have the power to make Walmart live up to its responsibility to its employees, our families, our communities and the nation.
"We are 150,000 Americans and growing. We are grassroots leaders, community groups and activists who have woken up to the high costs of Walmart and recognize Walmart's negative impact on our jobs, our wages, our health care and our communities.
"We will be a vehicle through which millions of Americans can join together, from neighborhoods all across our nation, to harness the power of our consumer behavior and use it to reform a company. America's largest corporation must reflect America's values.
"WakeUpWalMart.com is your campaign. It is a grassroots movement which will represent the best America has to offer.
"For more information or to contact WakeUpWalMart.com please send us an e-mail at info@wakeupwalmart.com."
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com
The Real Facts About Wal-Mart
A good summation of Wal-Mart High Costs.
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/
The way it is, Paul Hein
"Some truths -- probably most of them -- are not subject to scientific proof. Thus, when we ponder modern life, and the role of government, we may find ourselves puzzled. It is obvious that government is an organization that, in its actions, varies between terrible malignancy, and breathtaking inanity. We wonder why that should be, and seek an answer. But the answer, if we find it at all, is not scientifically demonstrable, as is the fact that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
"The answer is something that most of us already know; it was first put forth by Lord Action (1834-1902). 'Power corrupts.' The full quote is: 'Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. -- Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. -- Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' And that's it! That's the way it is." [See: Chapter 9: "Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification," "Selection of Covenant Heads for Positions of Leadership," "Reform of the Church," "Ethics, Computer Ethics, Cyberethics," and so forth, and so on. -- compiler]
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/hein88.html
Barlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele, Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became big Business -- And bad Medicine, ISBN: 0767910753.
"For those people who vaguely remember when healthcare and insurance was generally a manageable aspect of our lives (as opposed to being a source of stress and potential financial ruin), this book will explain very well how healthcare in U.S. arrived at the point where it is today. For younger readers, this book will remind them that once upon a time, there was a country where insurance was fairly comprehensive and affordable, hospitals were oriented towards community rather than being part of a bottom-line-obsessed corporation, and pharmaceutical commercials were not littering the airwaves.
"The authors do an excellent job of showing that the shift, on every level of healthcare, to a market-based economic model has achieved exactly the opposite of what the proponents of the free market claimed would happen. Instead of streamlining healthcare and making it as a whole more efficient and affordable, the shift to the free market has actually created a massive bureaucracy (which conservatives claim to loath), and a far less efficient healthcare system. Certainly it is not any more affordable. Anyone who is familiar with medical collections and with the stunning increase in bankruptcies over the last few years can attest to this. The authors underscore their arguments with a litany of horror stories of patients dying or suffering hugely at the hands of a hopelessly tangled system which emphasizes the bottom line over the welfare of the patient.
"All of this is well and good, and mighty depressing. However, only a minimal amount of time is devoted to what might be done about it. The authors' suggestion -- the adoption of a single-payer system -- is fine as far as it goes, but they offer only a cursory examination of the benefits of such a system and do not delve into any of the criticisms of the same. Neither do they discuss other proposals such as tort reform, which is the Bush administration's answer seemingly to every healthcare crisis. In interviews, the authors have observed that capping jury awards would only make a tiny dent in the overall costs of insurance, and certainly tort reform has had mixed results at best, depending on which of the states that have passed tort reform legislation one examines. Yet the authors barely touch on it their text. At the very end of their book, the authors mention the fact that Big Business (aside from the healthcare industry), certainly has good reason to want a single-payer system, since healthcare costs cut deeply into THEIR profits, thus setting up a contest of sorts between two powerful for-profit entities. It is probably the fact that the combined power of multiple U.S. industries outweighs the power of the insurance and healthcare industries that will ultimately force genuine changes in how this country manages healthcare, but the authors for whatever reason prefer not to explore this particular topic. This is unfortunate.
"Overall, this book provides some good detail on issues we all need to know more about, but if you are looking for detailed solutions, you will need to look elsewhere." -- Reader's Comment
Himmelstein, David (author), Steffie Woolhandler (author), Bleeding the Patient: The Consequences of Corporate Healthcare, 1st edition (Common Courage Press, May 2001), 256 pages, ISBN: 1567512062.
"The system we rely on to protect our health is seriously diseased. The structure of ownership and management creates perverse incentives that hurt patients and demoralize doctors and nurses who struggle to provide high quality care.
"We need to change this system. To do that, we need to inform as many people as possible about its failures and develop alternatives to corporate 'for profit' managed care.
"BLEEDING THE PATIENT can help us do that. It is clear, concise, full of facts and figures. It's more of a user-friendly reference book than a narrative, but that's OK. The choice of topics and level of information is excellent. It ranges from issues of prenatal care to so-called 'capitation' agreements to details regarding the hugely inefficient medical insurance bureaucracy. My only complaint is that it's sometimes difficult to figure out the references, which are abbreviated.
"Everyone who cares about the well-being of our society -- as well as their personal health -- should buy several copies of this book, and hand one personally to every doctor, nurse and health practitioner that they meet. Don't leave it in the waiting room! Corporate health care managers do their best to keep this kind of information out of their 'clients' hands'." -- Reader's Comment
*Shils, Edward B., The Shils Report. Measuring the Economic and Sociological Impact of the Mega-Retail Discount Chains on Small Enterprise in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities, Study Director, Edward B. Shils, Ph.D., J.D., LL.M., George W. Taylor Emeritus Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Director Emeritus, Wharton Entrepreneurial Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, February 7, 1997.
Includes bibliography.
http://www.lawmall.com/rpa/rpashils.htm
*Sirota, David, Hostile Takeover: How big Money and Corruption Conquered our Government -- And how we Take it Back, 384 pages, ISBN: 0307237346 9780307237347.
"Do you ever wonder if there's a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?
"Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?
"Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?
"Do you ever want to fight back?
"Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that just sends more cash to the HMOs. Wages have been stagnant for thirty years, even as corporate profits skyrocket. Politicians say they want to fix the problem and then pass bills written by lobbyists that drive wages even lower and punish those crushed by debt. Jobs are being shipped overseas, pensions are being cut, and energy is becoming unaffordable. And our government, more concerned about maintaining its corporate sponsorship than protecting its citizens, does nothing about it.
"In HOSTILE TAKEOVER, David Sirota, a major new voice in American politics, seeks to open the eyes of ordinary Americans to the fact that corporate interests have undermined democracy, aided and abetted by their lackeys in our allegedly representative government. At a time when more and more of America's major political leaders are being indicted or investigated for corruption, Sirota takes readers on a journey that shows how all of this nefarious behavior happened right under our noses -- and how the high-profile scandals are merely one product of a political system and debate wholly owned by Big Money interests. Sirota considers major public issues that feel intractable -- like spiraling health care costs, the outsourcing of jobs, the inequities of the tax code, and out-of-control energy prices -- and shows how in each case workable solutions are buried under the lies of lobbyists, the influence of campaign cash, and the ubiquitous spin machine financed by Big Business.
"With fiery passion, pinpoint wit, and lucid analysis, HOSTILE TAKEOVER reveals the true enemies of reform and their increasingly sophisticated -- and hostile -- tactics. It's an essential guidebook for those of us tired of the government selling us out -- and determined to take our country back.
"David Sirota is a campaign strategist, political operative, and writer. Sirota has served as the press secretary for Independent Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont and was recently a senior strategist for Brian Schweitzer, Montana's first Democratic governor in sixteen years. He is a senior editor at In These Times, a regular contributor to The Nation, the blogger for Working Assets, and a twice-weekly guest on the Al Franken Show. Sirota is also the co-chairperson of the Progressive Legislative Action Network. He lives in Helena, Montana, with his wife." -- Publisher
"A summary of Sirota's book would point out that millions lack health care, and even more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that provides more profits for drug companies and insurers. At the same time, inflation-adjusted wages have been largely stagnant, while corporate profits have skyrocketed. In this instance, politicians 'help out' by further depressing wages by continuing to allow millions of illegal and temporary legal immigrants into the U.S., and additional millions of jobs outsourced overseas. Despite an obvious need for energy conservation, our government takes its lead from V.P. Dick Cheney and does nothing. Welcome to today's world of lobbyists', lies, and legislation for sale.
"The 'really bad news' is that they're not satisfied. Possible future legislation includes a flat income tax (a huge tax cut for the wealthy, and a huge tax increase for everyone else -- per Reagan's '82 Treasury Dept.), permanent elimination of the estate tax (only 2 percent were paying, and half the receipts came from the top .1 percent with estates over $5 million), and reducing corporate taxes from their 35 percent level -- 'fourth highest' in the industrialized world (a '04 GAO report concluded that 94 percent paid less than 5 percent, and that 60,000 government contractors owed $6 billion in unpaid taxes), more personal tax cuts (to justify further cuts in veterans' healthcare, inadequate/non-funding of Army armor and New Orleans' levees -- the pre-Katrina official protesting the latter was immediately fired).
"Not upset yet -- read on. USA Today reported in late '05 that while the 60 worst performing companies in America lost 4769 billion in market value in the prior five years, their top five executives were paid an average of $8 million/year. Meanwhile, University of California researchers in '04 found that jobs in the bottom third of the pay scale were growing almost twice as fast as those in the middle.
"HOSTILE TAKEOVER also puts to rest the myth of 'free' trade. Provisions include insuring U.S. access to potentially hepatitis-carrying Mexican vegetables and Canadian beef with mad-cow disease, while banning importation of cheaper drugs and limiting other nations' ability to produce generic medicines. In '01, economists estimated that three-fourths of U.S. workers lost about 12 percent of current wages because of trade deals. At least we still have some -- the New York Times reported the loss of over 2 million manufacturing jobs between '01 -- '04, while Gartner Research estimated over 30 percent of high-tech jobs could be shipped overseas by '15 and University of California researchers estimated up to 14 million jobs are now at risk of outsourcing.
"There's more: Harvard researchers found that 90 percent of personal bankruptcies were due to illness, medical bills, job loss, death in the family, and/or divorce. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation's '05 study concluded that 20 percent of recent bankrupts had been operating a small business. No matter -- the myth of deadbeat debtors ruining credit card companies persists, and Congress recently made personal bankruptcy laws much tougher.
"At least we can count on retirement -- not! In '02 AP reported that 8 million workers saw their retirement plans converted to 'cash balance' payouts only -- a loss of up to $200 million, according to government sources. As for Social Security, a top University of Chicago economist estimates Wall St. would make $400 billion -- $1 trillion in fees under the Bush privatization plan. No matter you say -- Chile and Galveston, Texas have proven the concept's superiority. Unfortunately, the World Bank found that up to one-third of Chileans' retirement money went to fees (the public version went bankrupt -- hence, no comparisons are available), and several government reports have concluded that many/most/all Galveston employees will receive LESS than they would have from Social Security.
"Well, at least some of us have our health. Hopefully the growing number without health insurance will not get sick; as for universal governmental coverage -- private insurance made over $10 billion in '03, with top executives raking in $85 million each. As for the innovative drugs many can't afford because of high prices 'required for research' -- the former New England Journal of Medicine's editor states that they 'come almost entirely from publicly funded research done in government and university labs." Further evidence: Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt says that 'R&D spending (as a percentage of drug industry revenues), is equal or higher in Europe (with price controls), as here' -- specifically, 20 percent in Britain, vs. 14 percent in the U.S.
"Finally, 'fuel efficiency kills people,' or so opponents say. On the other hand, University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers and a government panel all have concluded that cars can be made as safe/safer than most SUVs, and especially better than most pickups.
"Truly an encyclopedic work documenting how business has stolen and perverted American democracy. While Sirota offers specific recommendations in each area, the biggest problem involves providing a means for voters to see through all the lies and misstatements. Publicly funded elections may be the answer." -- Reader's Comment
Sklar, Martin J., The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890-1916: The Market, the Law, and Politics, 500 pages, ISBN: 0521313821 9780521313827.
"This is a major work, its insights and reconceptualizations comparable to those of such books as Morton J. Horwitz's THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF AMERICAN LAW, 1790-1860 (Cambridge, 1977), and Ellis W. Hawley's THE NEW DEAL AND THE PROBLEM OF MONOPOLY (Princeton, 1966). Like these works, Martin J. Sklar's book fuses legal history with economic and intellectual history. In addition, Sklar provides a powerful overlay of political theory. The result is the most arresting reinterpretation of the Progressive Era to appear in two decades. . . .
"Here Sklar exhibits rich and original insight grounded in political theory and also in an appreciation of the gravity of what was going on within the economy and the inordinate difficulty of coming to terms with it. . . . Here Sklar has engaged, with remarkable wisdom and originality, the most difficult questions in one of the most complex periods of American history; and he has written a masterpiece that places us all in his debt." -- Thomas K. McCraw, The American Journal of Legal History
"This book is a judicious, immensely learned, thorough, and, in many places, brilliant analysis of the regulatory response to the corporate transformation of American capitalism." -- Donald J. Pisani, Texas A&M University, in The Journal of American History
"Of all the theories of contemporary society we have, Sklar's, it seems to me, is the only one that even begins to give adequate attention to the continued play of private interests, not only in the economy but in politics and culture as well. If his interpretation is correct, he has certainly provided a key to understanding the twentieth century." -- Eli Zaretsky, Journal of Social History
"The opening portion of the book deals also, as background, with the impetus in America toward economic imperialism beginning not later than the post-Civil War era and in doing so presents another means of understanding it, in addition to that presented by the British economist John A. Hobson in his 1902 book, IMPERIALISM, and especially in its chapter "The Economic Taproot of Imperialism." Hobson's work was well known to the players in Sklar's work, and the topic was discussed frankly and openly by mainstream capitalists and theorists of the day." -- Reader's Comment
Sloan, Don, Practicing Medicine Without a License! The Corporate Takeover of Healthcare in America, ISBN: 0974524549.
"By controlling medical services and policies nationwide, insurance conglomerates and pharmaceutical companies are literally practicing medicine without a license. Don Sloan, M.D., exposes how the medical community has fallen prey to these corporations and makes the case for the real solution: a universal, federally mandated health plan for everyone." -- Publisher
See also: Politics, Friendly fascism, Reform, state sovereignty, and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Statism (hellenic thought), institutionalism, and corporatism, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Treason and impeachment, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Carnality and flesh pleasing: lust, desires, ambition, Will and recalcitrance, The question of the one and the many, Reform of the church, Computer crime, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Power, Authority, Bribery, Prosperity and wealth, the snare of, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Taxation and war, The destruction of american liberty, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, God's deliverance of nations, Political and economic freedom, The government role of punishing wrongdoers, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The one and the many, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Healthcare horror stories, Healthcare reform, and so forth, and so on.
Prescription Drug Prices Skyrocketing
April 4, 2011 in Editorial. "Popular brand name drugs are already expensive and getting pricier. Despite the sluggish economy and low rate of inflation, top-selling medications have soared in price.
"The cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor is up more than 11 percent over last year. According to Thomson Reuters MarketScan, a day's supply went from $3.17 in 2009 to $3.53 in 2010.
"Lipitor is not alone. The anti-clotting drug Plavix rose in price by more than 13 percent, so a month's supply runs about $195. The psychiatric drug Seroquel jumped 16.5 percent over last year. And the price of the leukemia drug Gleevec went up more than 20 percent, to over $4,800 for a bit less than a month's supply.
"Why are drug prices climbing so quickly? Big brand name manufacturers point to the high cost of research and development for new medications. The trouble with this argument is that many companies have been cutting back on their R&D budgets. [See: Marcia Angell, THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DRUG COMPANIES: HOW THEY DECEIVE US AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. 'Most of the R&D work is done by colleges and universities funded by the government,' thus the drug companies receive windfall profits from public research. -- compiler]. They also have very little to show for their investment over the last decade. Breakthroughs for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's or other hard-to-treat conditions have been few and far between.
"Many analysts blame the dramatic price increases on coming generic competition. Both Lipitor and Plavix will soon lose their exclusive patents. That means insurance companies are likely to encourage patients to take atorvastatin instead of Lipitor and clopidogrel instead of Plavix.
"Insurance companies have created penalties for patients who want brand name medications. Many health insurance plans use tiers to discourage brand name use. Generic versions, when available, are usually tier 1 with low co-pays of $10 to $15. Brand name drugs not on the formulary may not be covered at all or require a co-pay over $100.
"Take the popular sleeping pill Ambien, for example. It is now available as generic zolpidem. If you had to pay out of pocket for the brand, the cost could be as high as $190 for a month's supply. The generic is often around $10 to $20.
"If generic drugs were always identical to the brand name products, as FDA maintains, this would be only good news for consumers. There are questions, however. Experts estimate that 80 percent of active ingredients now come from countries like India, China, Brazil and Mexico. There is very little oversight of manufacturing plants.
"Many readers of this column have reported problems with zolpidem, as this story demonstrates: 'Ambien worked great for me. I fell asleep within 30 minutes and stayed asleep for eight hours. I was excited about generic zolpidem when it became available. Money in my pocket! The first generic I tried did not work at all. No sleep! A different generic zolpidem resulted in only four hours of sleep and it took me more than an hour to fall asleep'."
People who would like to learn about saving money on brand name drugs from online pharmacies may find useful information at www.PharmacyChecker.com. We have also prepared a 'Guide to Saving Money on Medicine'."
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2011/04/04/prescription-drug-prices-skyrocketing/
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attained. -- The Constitution of the United States of America, Article III, Section 3But hereof be assured, that all is not lawful nor just that is statute by civil laws; neither yet is everything sin before God, which ungodly persons allege to be treason. -- John Knox
Truth to Christ cannot be treason to Caesar. -- Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), Lex, Rex
Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is the treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself. -- R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, p. 116.
People pleasers make traitors. -- Peter Hammond (John 12:43)
For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For, if I yet pleased men, I sould not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)Murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21:5-15 cf. 2 Kings 9:26). This incident which displays the worst side of Ahab's weak character shows his wife as a true daughter of a pagan court -- intrigue, treason, deception, public display of legality and virtue to cover subvert unrighteousness. The scrupulosity of apparent observance of legal (Mosaic law, for it was still official constitution), details, while perpetrating murder and theft, is a lesson in betrayal of public trust by official persons.
What have corrupt judges done, and what is their penalty? Josephus, reported on the penalty: "If any judge takes bribes, his punishment is death: he that overlooks one that offers him a petition, and this when he is able to relieve him, he is a guilty person." (Favius Josephus, Against Apion, II, 27; in William Whiston, The Works of Favius Josephus). Why this penalty? If a judge accepts a $50 bribe, why should he die for it, and the bribe giver suffer no penalty? The point at issue is more than $50: it is the life of the society. Is the society dedicated to furthering justice in terms of God's law order, or is it a thieves' order and court? Every corrupt official of state, and especially the judge, is guilty of using his office to destroy the foundations of social order, to kill godly society, and to replace it with a society of polite and legal thieves and murderers. Hence, the principle inherent in the golden rule, 'as thou has done, it shall be done unto thee,' requires his death. First and last, the major form of treason to any civil order is to destroy it as a representative of justice. Injustice therefore is not only robbery but murder. It robs individuals and murders the social order. (536) -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), commenting on the Eighth Commandment in The Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 536
Articles of Impeachment, February 12, 2019
"This is a citizen's duty!
"When a politician or a government agent or employee takes their oath of office and swears to uphold and to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, they are stating that they agree with the contract of the Constitution of the United States of America that Limits their Scope of Power as a Government Agent or official, And employee Of the people.
"When those individuals denounce or reject the conditions of that contract either verbally or by physically acceding those Limits and conditions of control, they have committed and impeachable offense, and by doing so they have violated the terms of their employment by exceeding the powers granted to them by the peoples contract, known as the Constitution of the United States of America.
"In doing so they are stating that the powers granted to them through the contract, no longer apply to them! and they are not content with those powers, and are basically attempting a hostile takeover of the employers Assets and treasures, from the people who they work for, and now are committing and performing treason against those for whom they Swore and promised by oath or affirmation that they would uphold and defend these terms of this contract.
"And every act to infringe upon our liberties, rights and freedoms is a deliberate act by these bad actors and violators to assume more powers by limiting ours, the more of our liberties and rights they removed from us the more powerful they become, that's why this is an impeachable offense! it is a Subversive act To strip away our powers and the overreach of their powers By the theft of ours.
"By violating these conditions of employment, they have performed a criminal act Of piracy, and are Performing a unlawful attempt to overthrow and to achieve total power over the owners of this Nation and governing body, this is an impeachable act punishable up to death!
"The only individuals who can enforce these infractions of this contract and law, are we the people! who voted for these people to Hold this office, at this time the people must use their right to remove these hostile foreign agents from this status of employment, and to remove all the emoluments, powers and immunities from these criminals actors.
"When any government politician employee, elected or appointed violates these terms and conditions of employment they are committing treason! if they Fail to Perform their Duties, and Tried To Change ,Infringe Alter in Any Way Shape or Form the contract, known as the Constitution of United States of America, They Have Violated Their Oath Of Office, and Their commitment to the people, and are now Publicly stating Verbally or by action that they denounce that oath of office and will no longer be bound by it!
"And are forcibly changing all terms and condition of that binding contract, which is an criminal act of war by those individuals! against the people of the United States of America.
"By violating the contract They do not care what the people's contract says or limits are, they are proclaiming to claim whatever office and position they hold, that they are, King, Commodore or tyrant and will treat the people as they wish, With no controls, restrictions Or regards to the will or safety of the people.
"And their intent is to remove all liberties rights and freedoms of the people to achieve total control and to reestablish slavery, By piracy! "The Declaration of Independence states!
" '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 separation 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 cause with impel them to the separation.
" 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed- that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.'
"A notarized Affidavit of truth under penalties of perjury by two witnesses stating the violations of the accused with evidence place, dates and times of the violations or attempted violations to our constitutional rights, signed and notarized along with the above document, and present it or send it to Congress state or federal, or both." -- Kirks Law CornerIf I could show you a picture of a starving Christian, I would. But the starvation is not physical, it is invisible: the starvation of the spirit, of the soul: the starvation caused by the failure of the churches and their leaders in the United States to feed their sheep the Gospel. Not since the Middle Ages has there been such a spiritual famine in the West.
It is not that the sheep aren't being fed; they are -- junk food, scraps, husks, and poison.
For the past century ordinary American Christians have been betrayed by the treason of the clergy and the churches, by men who have defected from the truth, by men who do not teach the truth because there is no truth in them. -- John W. RobbinsThe United Nations is comprised of nations such as communist, socialist, fascist, slave states, terrorist states, Third World countries and many countries that just plain hate the United States. As one can quickly discern, for the most part the aforementioned nations are of the type we have opposed throughout our nation's history. If we did not oppose their form of government, we at least opposed many of them for their repressive treatment of their people.
Now that all these countries have come together under the banner of the United Nations, they have somehow gained respectability. So much so that we, the United States, must get their approval before our government can take the appropriate action to safeguard our citizens.
In short, we must now subjugate our form of government to the whims and will of a conglomeration of nations that cannot even serve their own citizens, but as a group have acquired the power to tell us how we should behave.
Many of our own citizens have bought into this, the idea that certain countries (which are), antagonistic toward our country, should somehow now have the right to tell us how and when we can act in our own defense. In short, we have surrendered our nation's sovereignty to countries of all stripes and persuasions, called the United Nations.
Why are we, as the greatest nation on the face of the planet, now subjugating the rule of our nation, our laws, our liberties and such to those that sill harbor a resentment and hatred of everything we stand for?
Is this how we want to be governed -- by a mob/group with the mentality such as outlined above? The recently displayed mentality of the "peaceniks" parading across our country is the kind of representation we are getting from the U.N. How low can we go? -- James Dobranich in National Sovereignty Vote Index for CongressHaving done a little reading on the subject, Barry [short for Barack Hussein Obama -- compiler] fails on several counts. First, where he was born is irrelevant since the requirement is that he be natural born, which at the time of the founding meant two citizen parents, his father being a British national under the law of nations imparted British citizenship onto him. (Note: The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws about naturalization, to alter Natural Born requirement would take a Constitutional Amendment.) Second. Barry attended a school in Indonesia that only allowed citizens, he was adopted by his stepfather and became a citizen in a country that did not allow dual citizenship. Third. Since he became a foreign national, he would have to be naturalized to become a U.S. citizen. No such documentation has been shown leaving the obvious observation that he is not a U.S. citizen. The treasonous politicians and media ignore these facts and I must conclude that their intent is the destruction of our Constitutional Republic. As former CIA head George H.W. Bush stated, "A new world order". Intent is plain, forcing the U.S. into a one world government and destroying our independence. -- Facebook User
A diamond is perfectly showcased in black velvet. The horrendous cameo of total depravity of Islamic miscreants [and, apparently, treasonous factions within our own government -- compiler], on September 11, 2001, showcased, possibly better than any single event in history, the diametrically opposite teachings of The Lord Jesus Christ, the highest ethical standard known to mankind -- the basis of law and justice, and the teachings of Mohammed.
Recall
Webster's 1913 Dictionary definition:
Re*call, n. (Political Science), (a) The right or procedure by which a public official, commonly a legislative or executive official, may be removed from office, before the end of his term of office, by a vote of the people to be taken on the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters. (b) Short for [recall of judicial decisions], the right or procedure by which the decision of a court may be directly reversed or annulled by popular vote, as was advocated, in 1912, in the platform of the Progressive party for certain cases involving the police power of the state.Since, then, it is more difficult to lead all the rest than to follow a leader, it is necessary that he, who is set over many, should far excel them. But, inasmuch as no one can do anything of himself, we must seek of God whatever we want. Wherefore that, which Moses had enjoined upon the whole people, he now repeats to a single individual, because upon him the burden of ruling them was thrown. And this must be more carefully observed, because, in proportion to the degree of honor, in which a man is placed, so does he disdainfully look down upon all admonitions; whence it is the case that those, who are eminent in the world, carelessly reject the exhortations of God's servants. But Moses thoroughly overthrows all such fastidiousness, when he shows that all, who are in authority, should not only be instructed together with others, but even more urgently dealt with. -- John Calvin commenting on Deuteronomy 31:7 and context
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interests of sedition. ALSO: Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. -- George Washington, 1793
The Democrat Party is a rogue, seditious, treasonous and violent political party whose members caused genocide, instituted slavery, defended slavery, tortured the enslaved, promoted secession, separated from the Union, fomented revolution, waged civil war, impeded reconstruction, started the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized former slaves, enacted Jim Crow laws, lynched white Republicans, murdered opponents, lynched black Republicans, enforced Jim Crow laws, discriminated against Negroes, assisted the Nazi's, contributed to the Holocaust, impeded civil rights, created the welfare state, CHEATED IN ELECTIONS, DEFRAUDED ELECTORS, championed abortion, fostered bartering/sale of aborted baby body parts, instigated urban unrest, and facilitated riots.
The Democrat Party should be deemed seditious, designated treasonous, declared illegal, disbanded, demolished and disallowed from ever operating in the United States of America! -- Facebook UserA bad man in a bad system is an untouchable pope simply because he is protected by the system. -- John Reisinger (1924-2018)
Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
Anonymous, The Grand Indictment of High-treason Exhibited Against the Marques of Argyle, 1661.
Archer, Jules, and Brianna DuMont, Treason in America: Disloyalty Versus Dissent, ISBN: 9781634506281 1634506286.
"Explores the question of treason in America, from pre-Revolutionary War days through the protests and violence of the sixties." -- Publisher
*Barton, David, Impeachment: Restraining an Overactive Judiciary, ISBN: 0925279552 9780925279552.
"The American judicial branch is out of control, dominating both the executive and legislative branches. This book reveals how the Founders restrained overactive courts, utilizing the only Constitutional tool available -- impeachment. With concise clarity, the historical perspective on impeachment is described, and aptly compared with the current misconceptions on impeachable offenses with the Constitution's original intentions." -- Publisher
Bowen, Russell S., The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed, ISBN: 0922356807 9780922356805.
"This is perhaps the most shocking book written this century about treason committed by the highest leaders within the U.S. Government. This disturbing and thought provoking expose, which few American know about, shows the truth about the drug running activities in behalf of the 'secret government.' You will learn about the unsavory past of George Bush and his family, and well as the unscrupulous activities in which he has been involved." -- Publisher
"General Bowen is a retired Brigadier General whose position with the Office of Security Services (OSS) and his drug running activities in behalf of the government are revealed. He has courageously come forward with the truth about his association." -- Publisher
"When you read THE IMMACULATE DECEPTION subtitled THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY EXPOSED, you will have to keep reminding yourself that you are NOT reading about George W. Bush, our current President. But, the information in this book about George H.W. Bush and his father Prescott Bush will make you look at today's 'war on terrorism' and relationship with Iraq in an entirely different light, despite the fact that this book was written in the late 1980s -- seemingly long before today's post 9/11 conflict(s).
"You remember George Bush (Sr.) of 'Read my lips! No new taxes!' fame. He was the Head of the CIA before he was President of the United States and a member of the Skull and Bones Club at Yale before that. He was also the Director of the U.S. 'War on Terrorism' and 'War on Drugs' at the same time, the only person to ever hold both jobs simultaneously.
"This book describes senior George Bush's career and aspirations through the U.S. efforts in 1982-83 to BUILD UP IRAQ by supplying Saddam Hussein with weapons including chemicals needed to manufacture chemical weapons of mass destruction and how Hussein's power has been kept in place by U.S. policies 'in order to be a perceived threat to Israel.' (p. 92). It also describes George senior's role in the Bay of Pigs, the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, the Martin Luther King assassination, the Iran hostages trade for weapons 'deal,' and the near assassination of Ronald Reagan.
"In short, if you want to understand today's 'War on Terrorism' and dealings with Iraq, Israel, the PLO, and Afghanistan, simply 'follow the money.' You'll find, as this book outlines, that most of it leads to the Bush family, in one form or another." -- Reader's Comment
*Bowers, Curtis, Agenda 2: Masters of Deceit, DVD documenatry.
"This is an important documentary with an important message for all. If you're looking for a film that will tell the truth about the state of our country unashamedly, then you need to see AGENDA 2: MASTERS OF DECEIT. This film will wake you up and expose the truth about communism in our government. If this is a subject simply to blow off or make fun of, we are only allowing those in power to win and continue pushing their agenda. This is a critical film to watch and discuss. And more importantly, we must take action, fighting for what we believe in. If we watch this film and vow to help Curtis Bowers on his quest to help America again, we can turn our country back. AGENDA 2: MASTERS OF DECEIT is a must-see film for all American Christians." -- Publisher
https://www.fishflix.com/products/agenda-2-masters-of-deceit-dvd-christian-movies?variant=34362795473
*Bowers, Curtis, Agenda: Grinding America Down, DVD documentary (2010).
"When Idaho Legislator Curtis Bowers wrote a 'letter to the editor' about the drastic changes in America's culture, it became the feature story on the evening news, people protested at the Capitol, and for weeks the local newspapers were filled with responses. He realized then . . . he'd hit on something. Ask almost anyone and you'll hear, 'Communism is dead! The Berlin Wall came down.' Thought the word communism isn't used anymore, this film will show the ideas behind it are alive and well. Join Bowers for a fascinating look at the people and groups that have successfully targeted America's morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. It's a well documented AGENDA." -- Publisher
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2360880/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
*Chambers, Whittaker, Witness, ISBN: 0895267896 9780895267894.
This is the book that directed D. James Kennedy's attention to the problem of International Communism. It is the story of the governments cooperation with Communism.
"First published in 1952, WITNESS was at once a literary effort, a philosophical treatise, and a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America's trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case, but also reveals much more. . . -- went on to help make political conservatism a national force." -- Editorial Review
"Whittaker Chambers has written one of the really significant American autobiographies . . . penetrating and terrible insights into America in the early twentieth century." -- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Chapin, Bradley, The American Law of Treason: Revolutionary and Early National Origins.
Cobbett, William, Thomas Bayly Howell, Thomas Jones Howell, David Jardine, Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. (vol. 11-21. A Complete Collection of State Trials . . . with notes and other illustrations compiled by T.B. Howell. -- vol. 22-33. A Complete Collection of State Trials . . . from the earliest period to the year 1783 with notes and other illustrations: compiled by T.B. Howell . . . and continued from the year 1783 to the present time: by Thomas Jones Howell), 33 volumes.
*Coleman, John, Diplomacy by Deception, ISBN: 0964010488 9780964010482.
"True and accurate account of the treasonous conduct by the British and American governments. An account of how their citizens are deceived by policies provoking actions that are totally detrimental to the well-being of their citizens.
"Thoroughly research, the book provides unpublished information on the gulf war and the Bolshevik Revolution. The chapter on covert actions throws new light on the murder of Martin Luther King, Pope John Paul, and other notables marked for elimination.
"The bloodshed that resulted from the creation of an artificial 'Saudi Arabia;' the foreign policy making role of the petroleum industry; the rape of Mexico by British and American oil barons; the revolutions they ignited which cost thousands upon thousands of lives; British conquest of India, the pernicious Indian 'apartheid' caste system. These are some of the subjects dealt with in this historic exposé of how our governments deceive us under the color of diplomacy.
"DIPLOMACY BY DECEPTION tells us that the United Nations is a war-making body, not a peace-keeping organization, and how the Rockefellers and Alger Hiss, aided by the top Illuminati Dulles family, got the United States involved with the United Nations. There is a masterly analysis of constitutional roadblocks barring U.S. membership of the United Nations that will come as a surprise and leave no doubt that we are not now, nor can we ever be, a member of the United Nations.
"DIPLOMACY BY DECEPTION will forever alter your perception of the two leading governments in Western civilization. This is an excellent companion book to the COMMITTEE OF 300 by the same author." -- Publisher
Coulter, Ann, Treason: Liberal Treachery From the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, ISBN: 9781400050321 1400050324.
" 'Liberals' loyalty to the United States is off-limits as a subject of political debate. Why is the relative patriotism of the two parties the only issue that is out of bounds for rational discussion?
"In a stunning follow-up to her number one bestseller SLANDER, leading conservative pundit Ann Coulter contends that liberals have been wrong on every foreign policy issue, from the fight against Communism at home and abroad, the Nixon and the Clinton presidencies, and the struggle with the Soviet empire right up to today's war on terrorism. 'Liberals have a preternatural gift for always striking a position on the side of treason,' says Coulter. 'Everyone says liberals love America, too. No, they don't.' From Truman to Kennedy to Carter to Clinton, America has contained, appeased, and retreated, often sacrificing America's best interests and security. With the fate of the world in the balance, liberals should leave the defense of the nation to conservatives.
"Reexamining the sixty-year history of the Cold War and beyond -- including the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Whittaker Chambers -- Alger Hiss affair, Ronald Reagan's challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall,' the Gulf War, and our present war on terrorism -- Coulter reveals how liberals have been horribly wrong in all their political analyses and policy prescriptions. McCarthy, exonerated by the Venona Papers if not before, was basically right about Soviet agents working for the U.S. government. Hiss turned out to be a high-ranking Soviet spy (who consulted Roosevelt at Yalta). Reagan, ridiculed throughout his presidency, ended up winning the Cold War. And George W. Bush, also an object of ridicule, has performed exceptionally in responding to America's newest threats at home and abroad.
"Coulter, who in SLANDER exposed a liberal bias in today's media, also examines how history, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, has been written by liberals and, therefore, distorted by their perspective. Far from being irrelevant today, her clearheaded and piercing view of what we've been through informs us perfectly for challenges today and in the future.
"With SLANDER, Ann Coulter became the most recognized and talked-about conservative intellectual of the year. TREASON, in many ways an even more controversial and prescient book, will ignite impassioned political debate at one of the most crucial moments in our history." -- Publisher
Downes, Stephen, Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.
"Stephen Downes, an information architect with a background in philosophy, created this site with the aim of identifying, indexing, and describing 'all known logical fallacies.' A logical fallacy can be defined as an error in reasoning in which a conclusion appears to follow from a set of premises but in reality does not. Downes groups the fallacies into thirteen categories, such as Fallacies of Distraction, Inductive Fallacies, and Syllogistic Errors. Each fallacy (over 50 in all), is described with its name, definition, examples of how it might be used in an argument, and how the argument can be proven fallacious. The How to Use this Guide section of the site provides a helpful introduction, and a robust bibliography offers possibilities for further study of logic. In addition, users may register at the site (no fee), to gain access to discussion boards on the topic. The author notes that his Guide "is intended to help you in your own thinking, not to help you demolish someone else's argument." Regardless of how a reader uses the information, however, the site remains an interesting and fun investigation of how logical arguments are constructed."
"Lists all known logical fallacies, with definitions, examples, and the steps needed to prove that the fallacy is committed. Site also includes links to logic references and resources."
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
http://www.fallacies.ca/welcome.htm
*Gillespie, Patrick (1617-1675), Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December, Prov. XIV. 34; 2 Kings XVII. 22,23; Ezek. XIX. 14, or a Sermon Preached at the Fast, Upon the 26th Day of December 1650. [Proverbs 14:34; 2 Kings 17:22,23; Ezekiel 19:14] Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. (2 Kings 23:26).
"For these in public places of trust and power, that should bear down sin, are they not rather ringleaders in sin?" -- Patrick Gillespie
Rulers Sins: The Causes of National Judgments
http://www.truecovenanter.com/gillespie/gillespie_patrick_rulers_sins_causes_of_judgment.html
Gingrich, Newt, Pete Earley, and Robert Fass, Treason, audio book, didactic fiction, 2016, ISBN: 9781478912989 1478912987.
"Major Brooke Grant has been waging war against terrorism since her parents were murdered during 9/11, keenly aware that her enemy transcends borders. But a coordinated attack on the president at the funeral of a Washington power broker leads her to a terrifying revelation: the enemy is closer than she'd ever imagined and is hiding in plain sight. The Falcon has gained a weapon no terrorist has ever wielded before: an American-born traitor burrowed inside the U.S. government itself." -- Publisher
Gregory, William L.S. (W.L.S.G.), The Trial of Antichrist, Otherwise, The Man of Sin, for High Treason Against the Son of God, 1830. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #17.
"The Pope is charged with High Treason against the King of Heaven, for usurping his Supremacy, dignified Titles, Power, etc. The indictment goes as far back as the year 606, when he first was acknowledged as the Universal Bishop, and some of the principal circumstances recorded in History from that time to the present are brought forward to support the charge. The form of a State Trial is almost if not altogether constantly attended to, and such legal phrases used, as to keep up the idea of a Court of Justice." -- Preface
The Trial of Antichrist
http://archive.org/details/trialofantichris00gregiala
Griffin, G. Edward, Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations, ISBN: 0882791028.
"Shows how the United Nations evolved . . . up to the year 1964 . . . including the final goal of the New World Order. Includes index and glossary." -- Reader's Comment
Gurudas, Treason: The new World Order, ISBN: 0945946147 9780945946144.
"This book examines the who, what, where when of the crimes of the U.S. government. I have read 200 non-Orwellian history and political science books. I have written two Masters Theses myself, and I can say the research in this book is impeccable. Details that Democrats and Republicans work together: we have a one party system: a Bicephalous beast with two heads that snarl and spit at one another to delude the masses into thinking there is a debate . . . This book traces the origins and the crimes of the ruling elite in near chronological order, Ph.D. quality research and detail. Buy one for everyone you know." -- Reader's Comment
Howard, Robert, Sir (1626-1698), A Free Discourse Wherein the Doctrines Which Make for Tyranny are Display'd, 1697.
*Howard-Browne, Rodney, and Paul L. Williams, The Killing of Uncle Sam: The Demise of the United States of America, ISBN: 1640070974 978-1640070974.
"Pride, greed, and power have driven men to do the unthinkable -- including selling out their nations and unsuspected citizens to the most corrupt and destructive 'invisible' global leaders on Earth. But how did this happen on American soil? How did the downfall begin and who were the predators that the 'land of the free and home of the brave' fell victim to? And is all hope lost?
"This book captures details of the last 200 years of American history that mainstream media does not want you to know. It dissects the 'legalized' system of the private central banks that has gone unchecked, and delivers gut-wrenching truths about the real domestic and foreign enemies of the United States. With over 1000 footnotes and quotes from former presidents, prime ministers, and state officials, it will equip you with the facts that the elites have covered up for centuries and empower you to stand up for the truth. -- Publisher
"This book is so well-documented that fact-checking proves an arduous and ultimately fruitless venture. Finally, someone has the courage to expose this corrupted government and financial system citing each wicked malpractice from America's inception to present day. The theme is simple yet highly logical . . . follow the money. We have been saying things like 'follow the money' to one another for years! In downtrodden conversations, we have attempted to identify the root of the injustice that has since thrived in America, and hurts each one of us to witness. But we typically fail to reach a verdict free of conjecture. With this book, we are armed with genuine facts that follow the timeline of our nation. Now we know exactly how our government and economy have been repeatedly perverted by tyrannical greed. On this knowledge, we citizens of America, all of us together, can finally build a viable solution." -- Reader's Comment
"What the book is about? The Money Trail. Money doesn't lie. People lie, but the money exposes their true intentions. And from what I've read so far in the pre-release, it's much worse than any of us could have imagined. The book shows that the 'select' few who actually control the money, these men and women are the ones who determine how we live, or who doesn't. They are the ones who make the laws and decide who will be in power. They control and own the media outlets. They control the information, the money and the military complex. They start wars in places like Iraq and Kosovo to control their natural resources. They puppeteer government agencies like the CIA, and even the Office of the President. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"This book is a must-read for every American citizen. It is extremely eye-opening to what has gone on in our country for last 200 years. It walks you through how things were set in place many, many years ago by very powerful people and how it effects everything today in our current society. It is incredible the cabal of people that have planned and strategised for decades to pillage the American people of their wealth and to erode American Christian values and morality. The footnotes were also very helpful to be able to go and verify all of the information and see it for myself. -- Reader's Comment
"Lays out clearly what would require dozens of other books to connect all the dots. Outrageous, yet global-deep-state conspiracies we've heard about for years, that used to seem far-fetched, are finally laid out in logical progression and substantially supported. . . .
"The timing of this book [2018] cannot be overstated. . . . for the current U.S. political environment, and for what is happening on the world stage. . . . it really exposes what Trump is up against, and why the establishment hates him so. . . .
"Financial systems and banking are at the core of what is exposed. . . . America has been deceived for very long time, and many people have no idea what has happened. This book reveals the secret hidden agendas of the money system in our country. No other book explains it the way this does. . . . Line by line, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne and Dr. Paul Williams unveil the corruption and wickedness that starts and ends with money. . . . See the history and the outright greed of individuals who have woven their influence and control over our country by controlling the money. . . .
"It amazed me to learn that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE Bank that is NOT answerable to Congress, the Judicial branch nor the White House. . . . There is no question left in my mind as to the utter and total corruption of our banking system. . . ." -- Excerpts from various readers comments
Chapter 38, "War Without End," in THE KILLING OF UNCLE SAM
https://revival.lpages.co/killingunclesambook/
Howell, Thomas Bayly, Thomas Jones Howell, William Cobbett, and David Jardine A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors From the Earliest Period to the Year 1783, With Notes and Other Illustrations, 34 volumes.
Hurst, James Willard, The Law of Treason in the United States: Collected Essays, ISBN: 0837146666 9780837146669.
*Joseph, R. Gabriel (editor), America Betrayed: Bush, Bin Laden, 9/11 . . . AIDs, Anthrax, Iraq . . . , ISBN: 0971644578 9780971644571.
"Prescott Bush and Rockefeller's Standard Oil had been in business with the Hitler regime and the Nazis since 1933, and in 1942, three Bush businesses were seized by the U.S. government, for violation of the Trading With the Enemies Act.
"Three generations of the Bush clan became members of a German secret society: the Yale chapter of the 'Order of Skull and Bones.' In Germany, the 'Order of Skull of Bones' -- also known as 'The Brotherhood of Death' -- gave rise to Hitler and the dreaded SS. Prescott Bush, through his shipping company, became a special 'Friend' of Himmler's SS -- the same SS which, in conjunction with IG Farbin, ran the concentration and slave labor camps.
"The Bush clan and Rockefeller's Standard Oil, were in business with IG Farbin, as well as with the Saudis who had also partnered with Hitler.
"At the conclusion of WWII, and Germany's defeat, thousands of high ranking Nazis and SS agents were recruited, by Bush-Rockefeller lawyer, Allen Dulles, into what would later become the CIA. Allen Dulles, and later, George Bush, would become directors of the CIA . . .
"IG Farbin, a consortium of companies that included Bayer, conducted horrible experiments on concentration camp inmates to discover an 'ethnic biological weapon' -- a deadly disease that would target specific ethnic groups . . . Drs. funded by the Rockefeller Foundation directed this research.
"In 1957, a scientist who completed his medical training in Nazi-occupied Poland, and who was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, injected 300,000 Central African men, women, and children, with an experimental polio vaccine -- a vaccine that contained a deadly AIDS-like virus, monkey HSIV. Years later, Central Africa would become 'Ground Zero' for the AIDS/HIV epidemic . . .
"Three generations of the Bush clan have been in business with governments and people who kill Americans, and on the morning of 9-11-2001, Bush Sr. was in business with the bin Ladens and other Saudis who had helped fund Osama bin Laden and the attack of 9-11-2001 . . .
"The attack of 9-11, would transform an inept, seemingly incompetent president into a war time leader who would attack not Saudi Arabia but Iraq and then steal its oil . . . as well as attack American Civil Liberties and the U.S. constitution . . .
" 'Key FBI Headquarters personnel had to be spies or moles . . . who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden. . . . Key FBI HQ personnel . . . continued to, almost inexplicably, throw up roadblocks and undermine Minneapolis' desperate efforts . . . to stop terrorists. . . .' who planned 'to take control of a plane and fly it into the World Trade Center.' -- FBI supervisor, and Coleen M. Rowley, FBI Special Agent and Chief Division Counsel. . . . and it goes on and on . . . .
"In researching and writing this book, we relied on numerous sources, including those within the intelligence community. Prior to and after 9-11, hundreds of pages of secret documents were provided, including reports written by the FBI. However, rather than asking the reader to accept the word of 'confidential sources,' Dr. Joseph and his research team have sought out and he has cited corroborating evidence that is either part of the public record, or buried within government files that can only be accessed with the help of the Freedom of Information Act. Every chapter in this book is extensively referenced.
"Much of the information in this book was obtained prior to 9-11-2001. We at University Press, had been working on an academically oriented text, called: TERRORISM, FUTURE WARS AGAINST AMERICA. Based on the data collected, Dr. Joseph began predicting, in the weeks prior to 9-11, that we could expect a major terrorist attack on New York or Washington before the end of 2001.
"Because we at University Press had so much advanced information related to 9-11, we hired several New York journalists, and were able to publish, within 30 days of this tragedy, a rather extensive account of what led up to 9-11 as well as what transpired on that horrible day. Indeed, long before the mass media found out, we obtained and provided details on the Zacarias Moussaoui case and the inexplicable behavior of top FBI and CIA officials who failed to heed the warnings of lower level FBI agents. We also detailed how the CIA and FBI allowed Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi to enter and move about freely in the U.S., despite their connections to al-Qaeda. Indeed, this material appeared in our book, AMERICA ATTACKED, which was published on October 11, 2001 -- 30 days after 9-11. Six months later, the American mass media and the joint Congressional committee examining the so called intelligence failures leading up to 9-11, confirmed our reports.
"We beat the media again in March of 2002, when we published the book, JOHN WALKER LINDH, AMERICAN TALIBAN, and revealed that John Walker Lindh was 'gay' and that he may have been seduced and recruited by an older man, who we named. Six months later, our observations were confirmed by Time magazine.
"Yet another source of information that found its way into this current book, was the research conducted on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. This research was for a future book, and a future documentary film, titled: HITLER'S DIARIES. We learned, a long time ago, that the Bush family fortune traces its roots to Hitler's Germany. Doing business with murderers, terrorists, and the enemies of America, seems to be a Bush family tradition." -- Publisher
*Klein, Joseph A., Lethal Engagement: Barack Hussein Obama, The United Nations, and Radical Islam, ISBN: 9781617392252 1617392251.
"Full constitutional rights for foreign Islamic terrorist detainees. Apologies to the Muslim world for American 'misdeeds,' and promises to make amends even if the security of the American people is placed in peril. Welcoming radical Muslim sympathizers into high positions of authority. Abridging freedom of expression. And much, much more. LETHAL ENGAGEMENT documents how in these and other ways President Barack Hussein Obama has forsaken the oath of office he took to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.' LETHAL ENGAGEMENT exposes how radical Muslims are re-branding their barbaric ideology to fool their gullible audience in the West and how they play the racism victim card, all with President Obama's help. LETHAL ENGAGEMENT systematically lays out the dangerous entanglement of Obama with the United Nations, which radical Muslims are manipulating to promulgate international law to their liking, and how his nomination of more activist judges, willing to throw away the Constitution, allows radical Muslims to subvert American law. LETHAL ENGAGEMENT also reveals the radical Muslim plan to destroy the value of the dollar and use The United Nations to replace it with a new global reserve currency, all helped along by the Obama administration's disastrous economic policies. After connecting all these dots, Joseph Klein explains the steps 'we the people' must take to rescue our country." -- Publisher
Lance, Peter, 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI: The Untold Story, ISBN: 006054354X 9780060543549.
The gist of this work is that the CIA and FBI had ample information to stop 9/11.
*Lindorff, Dave, and Barbara Olshansky, The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush From Office, ISBN: 0312360169 9780312360160, 288 pages.
"It's time to act -- and this is the guide. Now in paperback to meet a rising public demand, here is a hard-hitting argument for the impeachment of George W. Bush -- and top members of his administration. Events since the book's hardcover release -- including court decisions regarding war crimes and violations of the FISA law on wiretapping -- have only heightened the urgency.
"Methodically detailing the Bush regime's offenses and refuting its lies and deceptions, investigative reporter Dave Lindorff and constitutional rights specialist Barbara Olshansky explain why the president and his inner circle should be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. Among the most grievous harms:
Marcus, Paul, The Prosecution and Defense of Criminal Conspiracy Cases, ISBN: 0820513652 9780820513652.
"Continually updated resource: Updating loose-leaf."
See also: Conspiracy, Bibliography
http://law.jrank.org/pages/723/Conspiracy-BIBLIOGRAPHY.html#ixzz0bZaNg7La
*McClellan, Scott, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, ISBN: 9781586485566 1586485563.
"Scott McClellan was one of a few Bush loyalists from Texas who became part of his inner circle of trusted advisers, and remained so during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Drawn to Bush by his commitment to compassionate conservatism and strong bipartisan leadership, McClellan served the president for more than seven years, and witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course.
"In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington's bitter partisanship, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides. Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.
"Scott McClellan served as White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006. Before that he served as the principal deputy White House press secretary and as traveling press secretary for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. Earlier in his career, Mr. McClellan served as deputy communications director in the Texas governor's office and campaign manager for three successful statewide campaigns. He is now a senior adviser to a global technology firm and communications strategist. Born in Austin, Texas, he now lives near Washington, D.C." -- Publisher
"It was as certain as heat in a Texas summer that Bush's choke hold on those who know the ugly truth about his administration would not last forever. We are finally realizing as a nation how badly Bush's criminally incompetent, arrogant, dishonest presidency has come to destroying our prosperity and our very way of life. The fact that gas will surely hit $6-$8 in the near future is only the tip of the iceberg. The price crunch was inevitable, but predictable, and Bush wasted 7 1/2 years on policies based on the assumption that oil would forever be cheap and plentiful. We've only begun to experience the consequences of this single major blunder. The biggest Bush legacies will be a trillion-dollar pointless and endless "war," and the crippling effects that two terms without a realistic energy policy has only begun to bring.
"Those who continue to ignore reality and dismiss McClellan as an opportunist need to rethink the meaning of patriotism: Country and government are NOT the same. Opposing and exposing bad government is a DUTY of patriotism. If anything, McClellan should have written the book much sooner. Yes, he'll make millions, but so what? It's the American way.
"I can't wait to see what General Coin Powell has to say about the Bush administration's inner workings. At least he had the decency to quit after one term, which is a big clue that he smelled rats all around. I bring up Powell because to those who would dismiss my comments as partisan, I can honestly say I would have loved to see Powell run for President. At this point, I'd settle for HIS version of the disaster that was the Bush administration." -- Reader's Comment
Here are a few of his observations:"Simply put -- Bush looted the community chest and killed thousands in the process. Convicting him of multiple felonies, rather than being a national shame, would be a first step in restoring our global credibility. -- Reader's Comment
Bush believes his own spin (better knows as bullet), and demonstrates a remarkable lack of inquisitiveness.
Bush favored propaganda over honesty in selling the war, leading us down the primrose path.
Chalcedon steered war policy behind the scenes, leaving no fingerprints.
Bush and his team repeatedly shaded the truth, manipulated public opinion, and sold the Iraq situation in such a way that the use of force appeared to be the only feasible option.
Contradictory evidence was ignored or discarded, caveats or qualifications to arguments were downplayed or dropped, and a dubious al-Qaida connection to Iraq was played up.
The Bush administration didn't check their political maneuverings in at the door after the win -- instead, they maintained a permanent campaign mode, run largely by Rove.
Presidential initiatives from health care programs to foreign invasions were regularly devised, named, timed and launched with one eye (or both eyes), on the electoral calendar.
Operating in the campaign mode means never explaining, never apologizing, never retreating. Unfortunately, that strategy also means never reflecting, never reconsidering, never compromising.
Bush is out of touch, operates in a political bubble, and stubbornly refuses to admit mistakes.
The press is partially responsible for giving Bush soft questions and enabling the president." -- Reader's Comment
*Milton, John (1570-1643), The Rights of Nations to Depose Their Kings, and to Change or Amend Their Systems of Government; With a Vindication of the Killing of Tyrants: Being an Abridgement of Milton's Celebrated Tract, Entitled, "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates." And a new and Abridged Translation of his Great Work, Called "A Defence of the People of England, in Answer to Salmasius's Defence of the King," 1649. Alternate title: EIKONOKLASTES.
"The rights of nations to depose their kings, and to change or amend their systems of government."
http://archive.org/details/tenurekingsandm01alligoog
Milton, John, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/Tenure.HTM
Milton, John, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 1649
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/tenure/notes.shtml#title
*Perks, Stephen C., The Christian Philosophy of Education Explained, ISBN: 0951889907 9780951889909.
"The editor of Calvinism Today magazine has written a book which, in the words of Samuel L. Blumenfeld, demonstrates with simplicity the cogent argument that the Christian and humanist worldviews are mutually exclusive, and that it is 'treason against God' to put children in the hands of non-believers for their education. Every Christian parent should read this challenging, forthright, insightful book before deciding where and how to educate his or her children." -- GCB
Pierce, Franklin, Federal Usurpation (Crown Rights Book Company, 2002, 1908).
"This book is a plea for the sacredness of the Constitution of the United States.
"The bloated and all-pervasive Federal bureaucracy which now rules the American people from Washington, D.C. did not arise overnight. Instead, as the author of this important volume documents, the usurpations of the Lincoln Administration during the War of 1861 and that of the Radical Republican Congress during Reconstruction were the fundamental causes of the existing political conditions of today. Pierce also discusses the inherent flaws in the Constitution which were the result of compromise between the quarreling factions at the Convention of 1787, and which would later lead to corruptions dangerous to the liberties of the people of the several States. The book concludes with a chapter entitled, 'How to Restore the Democratic Republic'." -- Publisher
*Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Andrew Symington (editor), Lectures on the Principles of the Second Reformation. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #18.
"Contents: Second Reformation / Andrew Symington
Headship of Christ Over His church / James Ferguson
Evils, Constitutional and Practical of the Prelatic Establishment of the British Empire / Thomas Neilson
The Revolution Settlement of the Church of Scotland / John Graham
Patronage Opposed to the Independence of the Church and to the Scriptural Rights of Christian people / W.H. Goold
Headship of Christ Over the Nations / Andrew Symington
Nature and Obligation of Public Vows / William Symington
The sin and Danger of Union Between the Church of Christ and the Immoral or Anti-christian Civil Government / Stewart Bates."
Lectures on the Principles of the Second Reformation
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/the-reformed-presbyterian-churchs-of-scotland-lectures-on-the-principles-of-the-second-reformation
Sage, Bernard Janin, The Republic of Republics: or, American Federal Liberty (Crown Rights Book Company, 2003, 1878).
"This is one of the most comprehensive treatises ever published on the doctrine of State sovereignty and the inherent right of a State to secede from the Union. Written by an English barrister who was to have been one of Jefferson Davis' counsel in the treason trial which never occurred, this book compiles extensive quotations from the earliest American statesmen, both before and after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, which prove beyond all argument that the American people were never organized into a consolidated democracy, but had existed in their colonial condition as separate political bodies and continued to do so after their independence from Great Britain. The author singles out the tortured logic of Webster and Lincoln for heavy criticism, and shows that allegiance and treason are terms which have no meaning constitutionally if not in reference to a sovereign State. Also included are nine lengthy appendices outlining the ordaining acts of the original thirteen States in the Union, the changes made to the Constitution by the Southern States in 1861, the original forms of the Tenth Amendment, a review of Alexander Stephens' CONSTITUTIONAL VIEW OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, etc." -- Crown Rights Books Company
Sidney, Algernon (1622-1683), Discourses on Government: To Which is Added, an Account of the Author's Life, 3 volumes, ISBN: 1584772093 9781584772095.
"This important work appeared fifteen years after Sidney's execution for treason in 1683. A reply to Filmer's PATRIARCHA, the DISCOURSES is one of the earliest modern statements of republican ideals. He proposes a doctrine of natural justice and governmental order from which all institutions vary at their peril. More important, Sidney asserts that a king's authority is granted by parliament, which has the additional power to depose him, indeed a controversial idea during the Restoration period. Thomas Jefferson, one of several individuals influenced by this text, described it as '. . . probably the best elementary book of the principles of government, as founded in natural right which has ever been published in any language; and it is much to be desired in such a government as ours that it should be put into the hands of our youth as soon as their minds are sufficiently matured for that branch of study.' (Sowerby). Sidney [1622-1683], was beheaded by Charles II in part for his involvement in the Rye House plot. One of the other charges against him was that he had committed treasonable libel in this work, which was still in manuscript at that time. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, III: 12. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 953. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II: 588. Sweet and Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations I: 107. Wing, Short Title Catalogue of English Books 1641-1700 S3761." -- Publisher
*Smith, Lee, The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President, 2020, ISBN: 1546059555 9781546059554.
"The impeachment of Donald Trump and the unsuccessful attempt to remove him from office is a continuation of the four-year-long plot against the president. Beginning in late 2015, political operatives, intelligence officials, and the press pushed a conspiracy theory about Trump -- he was a Russian asset and they spied on his campaign and his presidency in order to undo an election. Because the ultimate goal of the anti-Trump operation is not simply to topple the president but rather to change the character and constitution of the country, the Deep State's machinations didn't stop even after Trump was cleared of charges of 'colluding' with Moscow. Their efforts became even more fierce, more desperate, and more divisive, threatening to scar America permanently. In their zeal to bring down President Trump, Deep State conspirators had unwittingly revealed the origins of the anti-Trump operation and exposed corruption at the very highest levels of the Democratic party -- including former Vice President Biden and his boss, Barack Obama. Lee Smith brings to this story the same incisive reporting and commentary that distinguished his runaway bestseller, THE PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. His investigation, identifying crimes and abuses committed by senior US officials, was later confirmed by a major Department of Justice report. For THE PERMANENT COUP, Smith again enjoys unrivaled and exclusive access to the main players defending America and uncovering Deep State crimes -- including Congressman Devin Nunes and the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani." -- Publisher
Spannaus, Nancy (editor), and Christopher White (editor), The Political Economy of the American Revolution, ISBN: 0943235146 9780943235141.
"Do you Know What the American System of Economics is all About?
"Most Americans actually don't -- and it's not because they are stupid. It's because there's been a systematic suppression of the truth, to the point where it's been written out of the history books and schools throughout the nation. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was first published in 1977 in order to revive the truth about American history. Newspaper editor Nancy Spannaus and historian Christopher White assembled the crucial writings which defined the American System, as a continuation of the Italian Golden Renaissance tradition, and a war against British imperialism and free trade. They produced a book of readings which served as an assault on the Treason School of American history. This new edition adds some crucial materials, but its guts are the same: the works of Alexander Hamilton and his French predecessor, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. These are writings you either can't find anywhere else, or which are hard to find. They are supplemented by introductory essays by Spannaus and White. The scholar and the conscientious citizen will find this book indispensable. The American war against British imperialist methods continues today, and must be won." -- Publisher
*Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), The One Foundation, a sermon
Preaching on the text For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1879, Sermon 1494.
"As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein. If any portion of a church be not based upon Christ it is a mere deforming addition to the plan of the great Architect, and mars the temple which God has built, and not man. What a blessed thing it is to feel that you belong to a church which has a rock under it, because it is constituted by Christ's authority. We feel safe in following an ordinance which is of his commanding, but we should tremble if we had only custom and human authority for it. . . .
"When sermons are preached without so much as the mention of Christ's name, it takes more than charity, it requires you to tell a lie to say 'That was a Christian sermon;' and if any people find their joy in a teaching which casts the Lord Jesus into the background, they are not his church, or else such teaching would be an abomination to them. . . .
"All the decrees of popes and councils, all the resolutions of assemblies, synods, presbyteries, and associations, and all the ordinances of men as individuals, however great they be, when they are all put together, if they at all differ from the law of Christ, are mere wind and waste paper, nay, worse, they are treasonable insults to the majesty of King Jesus. Those who build apart from the authority of Christ build off of the foundation, and their fabric will fall. There is no law and no authority in a true church but that of Christ himself; we who are his ministers are his servants and the servants of the church, and not lords or lawmakers. To his law a faithful church brings all things as to the sure test. As churches we are not legislators, but subjects; it is not for us to frame constitutions, invent offices, and decree rites and ceremonies, but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ, and to do what he bids us, as he bids us, and when he bids us. Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the church, but Christ alone rules therein.
"Let us put this, our first point, in a few sentences. It is not the union of men with men that makes a church if Jesus Christ be not the centre and the bond of the union. The best of men may come into bonds of amity, and they may form a league, or a federation, for good and useful purposes, but they are not a church unless Jesus Christ be the basis upon which they rest. He must be the ground and foundation of the hope of each and of all." -- C.H. Spurgeon
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols25-27/chs1494.pdf
Stillman, Arthur M., and Frederick R. Arner, Federal Case Law Concerning the Security of the United States. 83d Congress, 2d session. Printed for use of the Special Subcommittee on Security Affairs.
See also: Treason, Bibliography
http://law.jrank.org/pages/2197/Treason-BIBLIOGRAPHY.html
Stone, Roger J., Saint John Hunt, and John LeBoutillier, The Bush Crime Family: The Inside Story of an American Dynasty, ISBN: 9781510721401 1510721401.
"Smashes through the layers of lies and secrecy that have surrounded and protected our country's most successful political dynasty for nearly two centuries. New York Times bestselling author Roger Stone lashes out with a blistering indictment, exposing the true history and monumental hypocrisy of the Bushes. In Stone's usual 'go for the jugular' style, this is a no-holds-barred history of the Bush family, composed of smug, entitled autocrats who both use and hide behind their famous name. They got a long-overdue taste of defeat and public humiliation when Jeb's 2016 limp presidential bid went down in flames. Besides detailing the vast litany of Jeb's misdeeds -- including receiving a four-million-dollar taxpayer bailout when his father was vice president as well as his startlingly close alignment with supposed 'enemy' Hillary Clinton -- Stone travels back to Bush patriarchs Samuel and Prescott, right on through to presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush to weave an epic story of privilege, greed, corruption, drug profiteering, assassination, and lies. The book has been updated throughout, and includes a new chapter on the family's Machiavellian plan to propel Jeb's son George Prescott Bush forward as the family's next political contender." -- Publisher
The Bush Crime Family: Four Generations of Wall Street War-Making and War-Profiteering, Dr. Eric Karlstrom, August, 2004
http://www.communitycurrency.org/BushCrimeFamily.html
Bush Family Crime: A Short Bibliography, 2004
http://lettermen2.com/bushcri.html
Impeachment in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States
Stormer, John A., None Dare Call it Treason: The Carefully Documented Story of America's Retreat From Victory.
"The thoroughly documented warnings concerning the inroads of communism in America should have been enough to stir millions of Americans to action. Many of us were so awakened and stirred that we recognized that we needed to be involved as never before. We will never forget this reading and how it answered so many questions that had plagued us. My main question was why we had allowed communism to take control of Cuba, a nation just 90 miles from our shores. Answer: The American press was already sufficiently leftist that this action was condoned and accepted by the media. Fidel Castro was promoted as an 'agrarian reformer,' not a communist. Our State Department covered his communist connections.
"Stormer is a dedicated man who spent four years researching his 236-page book. It was not to be discredited. He was unbiased, as a former editor and general manager of a leading electrical engineering magazine, enriching his conclusions through some 800 references from a multitude of sources including major newspapers, Congressional documents, speeches, hearings of Department of Justice, National Review, Time magazine, Senate reports, Newsweek, Human Events, House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, Sports Afield, The Worker, Reece Committee, and dozens more." -- Jack McLain
None Dare Call it Treason
https://archive.org/details/NoneDareCallItTreasonJohnStormer
*Symington, Andrew (1785-1853), Headship of Christ Over the Nations, 1841. Alternate title: INTRODUCTORY LECTURE ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13, #25.
"Provides Scriptural evidences for Christ's headship over the nations and the church, demonstrating the importance of this doctrine to the kingdom of Christ. A lecture excerpted from the book LECTURES ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SECOND REFORMATION, edited by Andrew Symington." -- Publisher
Lectures on the Principles of the Second Reformation
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/the-reformed-presbyterian-churchs-of-scotland-lectures-on-the-principles-of-the-second-reformation
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Treason and impeachment, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Church discipline, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, The government role of punishing wrongdoers,
The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Selection of covenant heads for positions of authority, Pseudo-christian movements: a selection of works, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, Secret societies, ungodly alliances, voluntary associations, Individual responsibility for corporate sanctification, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, The duty of nations, God's deliverance of nations, A theological interpretation of american history, Biblical civil government and the basis for civil resistance, The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation of scotland, The covenant of redemption, The covenant faithfulness of god, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Leadership by crisis, Taxation and war, Oaths, ensnaring vows, promises, and covenants, bonds with the ungodly, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Leniency, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, The federal reserve, The banking system, Christian economics, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 2552
Articles of Impeachment, Bill Sharpe, February 12, 2019
"This is a citizen's duty!
"When a politician or a government agent or employee takes their oath of office and swears to uphold and to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, they are stating that they agree with the contract of the Constitution of the United States of America that Limits their Scope of Power as a Government Agent or official, And employee Of the people.
"When those individuals denounce or reject the conditions of that contract either verbally or by physically acceding those Limits and conditions of control, they have committed and impeachable offense, and by doing so they have violated the terms of their employment by exceeding the powers granted to them by the peoples contract, Known as the Constitution of the United States of America.
"In doing so they are stating that the powers granted to them through the contract, no longer apply to them! and they are not content with those powers, and are basically attempting a hostile takeover of the employers Assets and treasures,from the people who they work for, and now are committing and performing treason against those for whom they Swore and promised by oath or affirmation that they would uphold and defend these terms of this contract.
"And every act to infringe upon our liberties, rights and freedoms is a deliberate act by these bad actors and violators to assume more powers by limiting ours, the more of our liberties and rights they removed from us the more powerful they become, that's why this is an impeachable offense! it is a Subversive act To strip away our powers and the overreach of their powers By the theft of ours.
"By violating these conditions of employment, they have performed a criminal act Of piracy, and are Performing a unlawful attempt to overthrow and to achieve total power over the owners of this Nation and governing body, this is an impeachable act punishable up to death!
"The only individuals who can enforce these infractions of this contract and law, are we the people! who voted for these people to Hold this office, at this time the people must use their right to remove these hostile foreign agents from this status of employment, and to remove all the emoluments, powers and immunities from these criminals actors.
"When any government politician employee, elected or appointed violates these terms and conditions of employment they are committing treason! if they Fail to Perform their Duties,and Tried To Change,Infringe Alter in Any Way Shape or Form the contract, known as the Constitution of United States of America, They Have Violated Their Oath Of Office, and Their commitment to the people,and are now Publicly stating Verbally or by action that they denounce that oath of office and will no longer be bound by it!
"And are forcibly changing all terms and condition of that binding contract, which is an criminal act of war by those individuals! against the people of the United States of America.
"By violating the contract They do not care what the people's contract says or limits are, they are proclaiming to claim whatever office and position they hold, that they are, King, Commodore or tyrant and will treat the people as they wish,With no controls, restrictions Or regards to the will or safety of the people.
"And their intent is to remove all liberties rights and freedoms of the people to achieve total control and to reestablish slavery, By piracy!
"The Declaration of Independence states!
" '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 separation 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 cause with impel them to the separation.
" 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed- that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it'.
"A notarized Affidavit of truth under penalties of perjury by two witnesses stating the violations of the accused with evidence place, dates and times of the violations or attempted violations to our constitutional rights, signed and notarized along with the above document, and present it or send it to Congress state or federal, or both."
https://www.facebook.com/KirksLawCorner/
The Assassination of General George Patton, an address by Peter Hammond
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9221589279
The Biggest Controversies of Barack Obama's Presidency
"From Benghazi to ObamaCare to IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups."
http://uspolitics.about.com/od/Obama-Administration/tp/List-Of-Obama-Scandals-And-Controversies.htm
Bush Scandals
An extensive resource. Includes websites for the Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980s, considered the largest theft in the history of the world, involving Neil Bush, a brother of George W., the Florida's Voting Scandal of 2001 in which Al Gore lost the presidential election. Jew Bush, another brother of George W., was Governor of Florida and had promised to deliver the state for his brother. Other sites treat George W. Bush's suspected involvement in 911 [911 is, of course, analogous to Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor]. Note particularly "Bush Family Machinations, 1918-2000," a timeline of Bush Family crimes prior to Election 2000.
http://news4florida.tripod.com/index1.html
Code of Virginia, Section 24.2-233. Removal of elected and certain appointed officers by courts.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+24.2-233
Corrupt Clintons: Bribery, Treason, and Racketeering with Mainstream Media Complicit
"Lou Dobbs offered a few thoughts on the 'overwhelming evidence, the weight of that evidence against the Clintons. Their collusion with the Obama State Department'."
http://truthfeed.com/lou-dobbs-corrupt-clintons-bribery-treason-and-racketeering-with-mainstream-media-complicit/32400/
Courage, Martyrdom and the Triumph of Truth, a sermon on Matthew 10 by Greg Price
A definition of Biblical courage and an exposure of the false courage of the faithless.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=11501182424
Brutus, Junius, The Covenant Between God and Kings, from A DEFENSE OF LIBERTY.
Democrats: Party of Treason
http://pamelageller.com/category/democrats-dhimmicrats-the-fifth-column/
Defy Tyrants
http://www.DefyTyrants.com
The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#dlmagstrs
*Election Fraud in the United States
http://www.lettermen2.com/vfraud.html
False flag
"The term 'false flag' originally referred to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise to prevent their victims from fleeing or preparing for battle. Sometimes the flag would remain and the blame for the attack be laid incorrectly on another country. The term today extends beyond naval encounters to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression and foreign military aggression."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
FBI Confirms Hillary Gave Classified Material to Foreign Governments! This is Treason 101
"Hillary Clinton has not only betrayed the Democrats she has betrayed the entire country. The FBI now has announced that they are '99 percent sure' that at least 5 foreign intelligence agencies were able to hack into Clinton's private server and acquire items of national security."
http://patriothangout.com/gave-class-mat/
Fox News Fires Judge Napolitano After he Proved Obama Treason Live on the air
https://conservativedailypost.com/breaking-fox-news-fires-judge-napolitano-after-he-proved-obama-treason-live-on-the-air/
From Whitewater to Benghazi: A Clinton-Scandal Primer
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
Impeach the Six Supreme Court Justices
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937019/posts
Impeachment in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States
Liberty Links, American Policy Center
http://www.americanpolicy.org/LibertyLinks.htm
List of people convicted of treason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_convicted_of_treason
The Logan Act
"(1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the government's position. The Act was passed following George Logan's unauthorized negotiations with France in 1798 and was signed into law by President John Adams on January 30, 1799. The Act was last amended in 1994, and violation of the Logan Act is a FELONY."
https://www.thetrumptimes.com/2017/12/04/treason-under-the-radar/
The Panic of '08. Lew Rockwell Interviews Ron Paul, September 18, 2008
A podcast.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2008-09-18_029_ron_paul_talks_to_lew_rockwell.mp3
People Convicted of Treason Against the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_convicted_of_treason_against_the_United_States
The People's Recall Petition to Recall California Governor Gray Davis
http://www.RecallGrayDavis.com
Sedition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition
Special Counsel Robert Mueller Implicated: Bombshell Scandal American Patriots Left Speechless
"As Obama's promotion of radical Islamic terrorism became a major concern within our intelligence community Robert Mueller did nothing to protect Americans.
"According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, Mueller reportedly assured the Islamic groups in attendance ['On February 8, 2013, Mueller hosted a coalition of Islamist apologists and propagandists at F.B.I. headquarters. At that time Mueller was still the F.B.I. director. Among those that attended were various Islamist and militant Arabic groups who had in the past defended Hamas and Hezbollah and that had also issued blatantly anti-Semitic statements. Among those Mueller hosted was the Muslim Brotherhood.'], that the agency had ordered the removal of presentations and curricula on Islam from FBI offices around the country that were deemed 'offensive'."
https://www.usasupreme.com/game-special-counsel-robert-mueller-implicated-bombshell-scandal-american-patriots-left-speechless/
Treason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason#United_States
Treason laws in the United States
"In the United States, there are both federal and state laws prohibiting treason.[1] It was defined in Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution. Most state constitutions include similar definitions of treason, specifically limited to levying war against the state, "adhering to the enemies" of the state, or aiding the enemies of the state, and requiring two witnesses or a confession in open court.[2] However, fewer than thirty people have ever been charged with treason under these laws.[3]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_States
Truth is Treason, Associated Press, Kevin Hayden, February 16, 2011
"Global food prices have hit 'dangerous levels' that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank.
"The bank released a report Tuesday that said global food prices have jumped 29 percent in the past year, and are just 3 percent below the all-time peak hit in 2008. Bank President Robert Zoellick said the rising prices have hit people hardest in the developing world because they spend as much as half their income on food."
http://www.truthistreason.net/food-prices-at-dangerous-levels-haydens-note-on-corn-health-and-ethanol
U.S. Sovereignty's "Defenders" and "Enemies" Named
http://americanpolicy.org/2003/06/30/us-sovereigntys-defenders-threat-to-american-independence-cited/
"The United Nations is comprised of nations such as communist, socialist, fascist, slave states, terrorist states, Third World countries and many countries that just plain hate the United States. As one can quickly discern, for the most part the aforementioned nations are of the type we have opposed throughout our nation's history. If we did not oppose their form of government, we at least opposed many of them for their repressive treatment of their people.
"Now that all these countries have come together under the banner of the United Nations, they have somehow gained respectability. So much so that we, the United States, must get their approval before our government can take the appropriate action to safeguard our citizens.
"In short, we must now subjugate our form of government to the whims and will of a conglomeration of nations that cannot even serve their own citizens, but as a group have acquired the power to tell us how we should behave.
"Many of our own citizens have bought into this, the idea that certain countries (which are), antagonistic toward our country, should somehow now have the right to tell us how and when we can act in our own defense. In short, we have surrendered our nation's sovereignty to countries of all stripes and persuasions, called the United Nations.
"Why are we, as the greatest nation on the face of the planet, now subjugating the rule of our nation, our laws, our liberties and such to those that sill harbor a resentment and hatred of everything we stand for?
"Is this how we want to be governed -- by a mob/group with the mentality such as outlined above? The recently displayed mentality of the "peaceniks" parading across our country is the kind of representation we are getting from the U.N. How low can we go?" -- James Dobranich in National Sovereignty Vote Index for the 107th Congress
Was the Attack on Pearl Harbor Really an Unprecedented Surprise? Reformation Society
http://reformationsa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=416&catid=75
fiat: a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort.fiat money: money (as paper currency), not convertible into coin or specie of equivalent value.
counterfeit: made in imitation of something else with intent to deceive: forged: marked by false pretense: sham, pretended: something counterfeit: forgery: something likely to be mistaken for something of higher value.
inflation: an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods resulting in a substantial and continuing rise in the general price level.
Conservatism is a political philosophy that professes to be practical and grounded in reality -- not in ideological or utopian dream worlds -- yet it cannot furnish a coherent answer to a very practical question: What is the proper punishment for a thief? Even ignoring the big questions -- What is the ideal government? Is there an ideal government? Is any government justified? What is the proper relationship between church and state? -- conservatism cannot answer a small question. If conservatism cannot offer a justified answer to a small question, it probably cannot answer larger questions. -- John W. Robbins in Conservatism: An Autopsy
It is illegal and punishable to counterfeit the U.S. dollar.
Greenspan, Alan, Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Board's Semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, July 16, 2002.
Chairman Greenspan presented identical testimony before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, on July 17, 2002.
"Well-functioning markets require accurate information to allocate capital and other resources, and market participants must have confidence that our predominately voluntary system of exchange is transparent and fair. Although business transactions are governed by laws and contracts, if even a modest fraction of those transactions had to be adjudicated, our courts would be swamped into immobility. Thus, our market system depends critically on trust -- trust in the word of our colleagues and trust in the word of those with whom we do business. Falsification and fraud are highly destructive to free-market capitalism and, more broadly, to the underpinnings of our society. In recent years, shareholders and potential investors would have been protected from widespread misinformation if any one of the many bulwarks safeguarding appropriate corporate evaluation had held. In too many cases, none did. Lawyers, internal and external auditors, corporate boards, Wall Street security analysts, rating agencies, and large institutional holders of stock all failed for one reason or another to detect and blow the whistle on those who breached the level of trust essential to well-functioning markets. Why did corporate governance checks and balances that served us reasonably well in the past breakdown? At root was the rapid enlargement of stock market capitalizations in the latter part of the 1990s that arguably engendered an outsized increase in opportunities for avarice. An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community. Our historical guardians of financial information were overwhelmed. Too many corporate executives sought ways to 'harvest' some of those stock market gains. As a result, the highly desirable spread of shareholding and options among business managers perversely created incentives to artificially inflate reported earnings in order to keep stock prices high and rising. This outcome suggests that the options were poorly structured, and, consequently, they failed to properly align the long-term interests of shareholders and managers, the paradigm so essential for effective corporate governance. The incentives they created overcame the good judgment of too many corporate managers. It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously." -- Allan Greenspan
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/july/testimony.htm
Hilsenrath, Jon, Academics Spar With Populists Over Fed Audits.
"A group of academic economists -- including several Nobel Prize winners, leaders of respected economic journals and former Fed officials -- is dialing up its call for lawmakers to drop plans to subject the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress.
"In a letter to leaders on the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee, the economists say a bill proposed by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Tex.), and Alan Grayson (D., Fla.), to let the GAO review Fed monetary policy would do serious harm to the economy. They warn increased congressional oversight would harm the Fed's independence and ability to fight inflation."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl/fed-audit-panic.html
Paul, Ron, What the Price of Gold is Telling us
This is a 4865 word article. Just a few quotes follow.
"The dollar price of gold reflects dollar depreciation [devaluation, inflation -- compiler]. . . ."
The gold price has risen "from $250 per ounce in 2001 [the year of 9/11 -- compiler], to over $1000 today . . . .
"Since 2001 the dollar has been devalued by 60 percent . . . .
"Though our inflation -- i.e., the depreciation of the U.S. dollar -- has been insidious, average Americans are unaware of how this occurs. For instance, few Americans know nor seem concerned that the 1913 pre-Federal Reserve dollar is now worth only four cents. . . .
"Forget about the lip service given to transparency by new Fed Chairman Bernanke. Not only is this administration one of the most secretive across the board in our history, the current Fed firmly supports denying the most important measurement of current monetary policy to Congress, the financial community, and the American public. Because of a lack of interest and poor understanding of monetary policy, Congress has expressed essentially no concern about the significant change in reporting statistics on the money supply.
"Beginning in March [2008 -- compiler], though planned before Bernanke arrived at the Fed, the Central Bank discontinued compiling and reporting the monetary aggregate known as M3. M3 is the best description of how quickly the Fed is creating new money and credit. Common sense tells us that a government central bank creating new money out of thin air depreciates the value of each dollar in circulation. Yet this report is no longer available to us and Congress makes no demands to receive it. . . . [could this complex policy issue also be the Feds' "solution" to the impending financial crisis in the Social Security fund? -- compiler]
"A soaring gold price is a vote of -- no confidence -- in the central bank and the dollar. This certainly was the case in 1979 and 1980. Today, gold prices reflect a growing restlessness with the increasing money supply, our budgetary and trade deficits, our unfunded liabilities, and the inability of Congress and the administration to rein in runaway spending. . . .
"Special interest groups, who vigorously compete for federal dollars, want to perpetuate the system rather than admit to a dangerous addiction. Those who champion welfare for the poor, entitlements for the middle class, or war contracts for the military industrial corporations, all agree on the so-called benefits bestowed by the Fed's power to counterfeit fiat money. Bankers, who benefit from our fractional reserve system, likewise never criticize the Fed, especially since it's the lender of last resort that bails out financial institutions when crises arise. And it's true, special interests and bankers do benefit from the Fed, and may well get bailed out -- just as we saw with the Long-Term Capital Management fund crisis a few years ago. In the past, companies like Lockheed and Chrysler benefited as well. But what the Fed cannot do is guarantee the market will maintain trust in the worthiness of the dollar. Current policy guarantees that the integrity of the dollar will be undermined. Exactly when this will occur, and the extent of the resulting damage to the financial system, cannot be known for sure -- but it is coming. There are plenty of indications already on the horizon.
"Foreign policy plays a significant role in the economy and the value of the dollar. A foreign policy of militarism and empire building cannot be supported through direct taxation. The American people would never tolerate the taxes required to pay immediately for overseas wars, under the discipline of a gold standard. Borrowing and creating new money is much more politically palatable. It hides and delays the real costs of war, and the people are lulled into complacency -- especially since the wars we fight are couched in terms of patriotism, spreading the ideas of freedom, and stamping out terrorism. Unnecessary wars and fiat currencies go hand-in-hand, while a gold standard encourages a sensible foreign policy.
"The cost of war is enormously detrimental; it significantly contributes to the economic instability of the nation by boosting spending, deficits, and inflation. Funds used for war are funds that could have remained in the productive economy to raise the standard of living of Americans now unemployed, underemployed, or barely living on the margin. . . ." and so forth (another 2495 words follow) -- Ron Paul in What the Price of Gold is Telling us
"Dr. Paul is the author of several books, including CHALLENGE TO LIBERTY; THE CASE FOR GOLD; and A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT. He has been a distinguished counselor to the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and is widely quoted by scholars and writers in the fields of monetary policy, banking, and political economy. He has received many awards and honors during his career in Congress, from organizations such as the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Council for a Competitive Economy, Young Americans for Freedom, and countless others."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul445.html
Rothbard, Murray N., What has Government Done to our Money, ISBN: 0945466102 9780945466109.
"Rothbard's most famous monetary essay. It has appeared in multiple editions and influenced two generations of economists, investors, and businessmen. After presenting the basics of money and banking theory, he traces the decline of the dollar from the 18th century to the present, and provides lucid critiques of central banking, New Deal monetary policy, Nixonian fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. He also provides a blueprint for a return to a 100 percent reserve gold standard." -- Publisher
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Treason and impeachment, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of Christ, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Trusting god, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The federal reserve, Idolatry, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Repentance the key to salvation and change, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Statism (hellenic thought), institutionalism and corporatism, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Monopoly and anti-trust law enforcement, Treason and impeachment, Monetary policy, The banking system and financial markets, The federal reserve, Christianity and democracy, The destruction of american liberty, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Justice, judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, day of judgment, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Meltdown: the depression of 2008, Political and economic freedom, Biblical economics, Freedom with responsibility to god, Slavery, our systems of enslavement, economic enslavement, The aristocracy of wealth, Feudalism, Tyranny, Biblical civil government and the basis for civil resistance, The civil war of the united states, the war for southern independence, the war between the states: the war of northern aggression, Modern myths and fallacies, and so forth, and so on.
TCRB5: 481, 576-581, 1232, 2129-2133, 2806, 3198-3214, 3222-3227, 3447, 3448, 4070
MGTP: Stealing, God -- Law of [Ten Commandments], Covetousness, God -- Law of [Ten Commandments]
The Federal Reserve: History of Lies, Thievery, and Deceit, Dr. Ken Matto
http://www.scionofzion.com/federalreserve.htm
The Great Depression as Moral Failure: Presbyterian Industrialists and a Religious Rationale for Opposing the New Deal, Tyler Flynn, Assistant Professor of History, Eastern University, St. Davids, PA.
"For these business-friendly Presbyterians, the economy was in a free-fall because of human failure, not the failure of capitalism. As one Presbyterian clergyman wrote, capitalism was the 'oldest social order in the world' that 'came down to us through thousands of years;' it was the 'outgrowth of trial and experience.' The problem of the Great Depression was not capitalism, they claimed, but the foolishness and greed of the individuals at the helm of this economic system, captains of industry who pursued personal wealth at the expense of workers and the public." -- Tyler Flynn
Theft: Commentary and Cases of Conscience. A Listing Excerpted From The Institutes of Biblical Law by Rousas John Rushdoony, 1973 edition
http://www.lettermen2.com/theft.html
Thomas Watson on the Eighth Commandment
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/ipb-e/epl-09/wat10-16.txt
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. (Isaiah 48:17-19). See the annotation in The Reformation Study Bible.Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:19,20)For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretyship is sure. (Proverbs 11:15)
A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend. (Proverbs 17:18)
Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. (Proverbs 22:26)
Rules for determining what is lawful and unlawful in the lending of money
The first is that no one should take interest [usury] from the poor, and no one, destitute by virtue or indigence or some affliction or calamity, should be forced into it. The second exception is that whoever lends should not be so preoccupied with gain as to neglect his necessary duties, nor, wishing to protect his money, disdain his poor brothers. The third exception is that no principle be followed that is not in accord with natural equity, for everything should be examined in the light of Christ's precept: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This precept is applicable every time. The fourth exception is that whoever borrows should make at least as much, if not more, than the amount borrowed. In the fifth place, we ought not to determine what is lawful by basing it on the common practice or in accordance with the iniquity of the world, but should base it on a principle derived from the word of God. In the sixth place, we ought not to consider only the private advantage of those with whom we deal, but should keep in mind what is best for the common good. For it is quite obvious that the interest a merchant pays is a public fee. Thus we should see that the contract will benefit all rather than hurt. In the seventh place, one ought not to exceed the rate that a country's public laws allow. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), Letter on UsuryFirst, there is no scriptural passage that totally bans all usury. For Christ's statement, which is commonly esteemed to manifest this, but which has to do with lending [Luke 6:35], has been falsely applied to usury. Furthermore, as elsewhere, when he rebukes the sumptuous guests and the ambitious invitations of the rich, he commands us to call instead the blind, the lame, and the other poor of the streets, who cannot repay. In so doing he corrects the world's vicious custom of lending money [only to those who can repay] and urges us, instead, to lend to those from whom no hope of repayment is possible. -- John Calvin (1509-1564), Letter on Usury
Half of the Population of the World is Dirt Poor -- And the Global Elite Want to Keep it That way, ZeroHedge.com, November 2016
"Don't get me wrong -- I am a very big believer in working hard and contributing something of value to society, and those that work the hardest and contribute the most should be able to reap the rewards. In this article I am in no way, shape or form criticizing true capitalism, because if true capitalism were actually being practiced all over the planet we would have far, far less poverty today. Instead, our planet is dominated by a heavily socialized debt-based central banking system that systematically transfers wealth from hard-working ordinary citizens to the global elite. Those at the very top of the pyramid know that they are impoverishing everyone else, and they very much intend to keep it that way. Let's start with some of the hard numbers. According to Zero Hedge, Credit Suisse had just released their yearly report on global wealth, and it shows that 45.6 percent of all the wealth in the world is controlled by just 0.7 percent of the people." -- ZeroHedge.comEach year, some 30 million Americans are defrauded of more than $50 billion, according to a 2011 report by the Financial Fraud Research Center, a joint project of the Stanford Center on Longevity and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation." -- Mitch Lipka in "Devious by Design: Spotting the Telltale Signs of Shady Deals, Scams, and Fraudulent Investment Offers," in USAA Magazine, Spring 2014, volume 50, number 1.
The "Devious by Design" article offers basic information and lists warning signs for uninformed investors.
According to the FBI, securities fraud includes false information on a company's financial statement and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings; lying to corporate auditors; insider trading; stock manipulation schemes, and embezzlement by stockbrokers.
Securities regulators and other prominent groups estimate civil securities fraud totals approximately $40 billion per year. . . .
Securities fraud is becoming more complex as the industry develops more complicated investment vehicles. In addition, white collar criminals are expanding the scope of their fraud and are looking outside the United States for new markets, new investors, and banking secrecy havens to hide unjust enrichment. . . .
Any investor can become a victim, but persons aged fifty years or older are most often victimized, whether as direct purchasers in securities or indirect purchasers through pension funds. Not only do investors lose but so can creditors, taxing authorities, and employees.
Potential perpetrators of securities fraud within a publicly-traded firm include any dishonest official within the company who has access to the payroll or financial reports that can be manipulated to: overstate assets, overstate revenues, understate costs, understate liabilities. -- Securities FraudNot knowing the expected rate of return for an particular investment is one of the greatest weaknesses of the investor. This leaves them vulnerable to fraud by unscrupulous advisers who promise unrealistic high rates of return. These promises are often a sign of a typical Ponzi scheme. Such schemes have been extensively reported in the television series American Greed: Scams, Schemes, and Broken Dreams.
Devious by Design: Spotting the Telltale Signs of Shady Deals, Scams, and Fraudulent Investment Offers
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pace/usaa_2014spring/#/18The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is now the only Self-Regulatory Organization in the United States for the financial industry. FINRA operates BrokerCheck where investors may view online the disciplinary record of their stock broker or prospective stock broker. However, see also: FINRA Criticism.
Our world today has abandoned the doctrines of salvation and rest in their Biblical meanings. To understand what has happened, let us turn our attention to the work of John Law (1671-1729), the father of modern banking and of modern monetary policies. He is thus a father of both modern commerce and of the modern state. Although not a Christian, Law should perhaps be called also a father of the modern church, because he has so radically altered the idea of rest.
Law developed the modern use of paper money, in particular, a paper currency unbacked by either gold or silver. We hear it commonly said today that the American dollar is sound, because it has behind it the wealth and productivity of America. This is simply a statement of Law's doctrine that money should be established upon the evidences of commercial wealth, actually or potential, upon land and its potential, or upon the potentials of industrial productivity. This means a non-convertible currency; it also means a restless society. Such a view of money mean that society must forever boom or face collapse. The economics of Law is inflationary: it requires a continual boom [as do the Federal Tax Laws deferring tax on capital growth -- compiler], and any abatement thereof leads to a bust or collapse. Because of the inflation of the money (i.e., of a paper assurance of potential production), the economy moves forward rapidly. But the paper money assumes a 'potential production;' it produces, however, an 'actual consumption,' so that it creates a consuming rather than a producing economy. It capitalizes instead of capitalizing. Its end is destruction.
In the process, it destroys 'rest' [see the entire chapter cited below -- compiler]. It becomes impossible to relax and enjoy one's wealth, or to rejoice in accomplished goals, because a consuming, inflationary economy eats up capital accumulated from the past. Man is, economically and emotionally, on a hopeless treadmill. An inflationary economy, or, more broadly, a paper-money economy, is marked by emotional and mental instability among the people. It begins with a false religious premise, namely, that man as god can create something out of nothing. It ends with man making nothing out of something and turning himself into a mental, emotional, and moral shambles in the process. As Isaiah makes clear,But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:20-21) -- R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001), "Sabbath and Property," Law and Society, Volume II of the Institutes of Biblical Law, pp. 560-561No corporation on earth comes close to the accounting fraud practiced year after year by the federal government. In fact, there is no real accountability at all for the trillions in tax dollars raised and spent annually by Congress and our entrenched federal agencies. The official 'accounting' that does take place is a sham. Every year Congress creates a meaningless budget, the Fed prints phony money, the Budget office issues false revenue forecasts, and the administrative agencies waste billions in the most unproductive ways imaginable. Literally tens of billions of dollars go unaccounted for every year, simply disappearing down bureaucratic black holes [and the banking system is controlled by the Federal Reserve]. This hardly represents a standard against which corporations should be judged! -- Texas Congressman, Ron Paul in What About Government Accountability?
*Barofsky, Neil, Bailout: An Inside Account of how Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street, ISBN: 9781451684933 1451684932.
"In this bracing, page-turning account of his stranger-than-fiction baptism into the corrupted ways of Washington, Neil Barofsky offers an irrefutable indictment, from an insider of the Bush and Obama administrations, of the mishandling of the $700 billion TARP bailout fund. In vivid behind-the-scenes detail, he reveals proof of the extreme degree to which our government officials bent over backward to serve the interests of Wall Street firms at the expense of the broader public -- and at the expense of effective financial reform.
"During the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Barofsky gave up his job as a prosecutor in the esteemed U.S. Attorney's Office in New York City, where he had convicted drug kingpins, Wall Street executives, and perpetrators of mortgage fraud, to become the special inspector general in charge of oversight of the spending of the bailout money. From his first day on the job, his efforts to protect against fraud and to hold the big banks accountable for how they spent taxpayer money were met with outright hostility from the Treasury officials in charge of the bailouts.
"Barofsky discloses how, in serving the interests of the banks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his team worked with Wall Street executives to design programs that would funnel vast amounts of taxpayer money to their firms and would have allowed them to game the markets and make huge profits with almost no risk and no accountability, while repeatedly fighting Barofsky's efforts to put the necessary fraud protections in place. His investigations also uncovered abject mismanagement of the bailout of insurance giant AIG and Geithner's decision to allow the payment of millions of dollars in bonuses -- including $7,700 to a kitchen worker and $7,000 to a mail room assistant -- and that the Obama administration's 'TARP czar' lobbied for the executives to retain their high pay.
"Providing stark details about how, meanwhile, the interests of homeowners and the broader public were betrayed, Barofsky recounts how Geithner and his team steadfastly failed to fix glaring flaws in the Obama administration's homeowner relief program pointed out by Barofsky and other bailout watchdogs, rejecting anti-fraud measures, which unleashed a wave of abuses by mortgage providers against homeowners, even causing some who would not have lost their homes otherwise to go into foreclosure. Ultimately only a small fraction (just $1.4 billion at the time he stepped down), of the $50 billion allocated to help homeowners was spent, while the funds expended to prop up the financial system -- as Barofsky discloses -- totaled $4.7 trillion. As Barofsky raised the alarm about the bailout failures, he met with obstruction of his investigations, and he recounts in blow-by-blow detail how an increasingly aggressive war was waged against his efforts, with even the White House launching a broadside against him. Bailout is a riveting account of his plunge into the political meat grinder of Washington, as well as a vital revelation of just how captured by Wall Street our political system is and why the too-big-to-fail banks have only become bigger and more dangerous in the wake of the crisis.
"Neil Barofsky is currently a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law. From December 2008 until March 2011, he served as the Special Inspector General in charge of oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Before that he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. This is his first book." -- Publisher
"The further we dug into the way TARP was being administered, the more obvious it became that Treasury applied a consistent double standard. In the late fall of 2009, as I began receiving the results of two of our most important audits, the contradiction couldn't have been more glaring. When providing the largest financial institutions with bailout money, Treasury made almost no effort to hold them accountable, and the bounteous terms delivered by the government seemed to border on being corrupt. For those institutions, no effort was spared, with government officials often defending their generosity by kneeling at the altar of the 'sanctity of contracts.' Meanwhile, an entirely different set of rules applied for home-owners and businesses that were most assuredly small enough to fail.
"Nowhere was the favoritism toward Wall Street more evident than with the government's approach to AIG, where inviolable contract terms were cited to justify the absurd executive bonus payments as well as far richer payouts provided to the megabank counterparties to AIG's CDS deals, honoring even their most reckless bets. For homeowners and small business owners, though, contracts went from being sacrosanct to inconvenient irrelevancies. So when mortgage servicers blatantly disregarded HAMP contracts by trampling over homeowners' rights, Treasury turned to an endless series of excuses to justify its refusal to hold them accountable. Similarly, for more than two thousand auto dealerships, Treasury's auto bailout team sought to void the contractual rights granted them under state franchise laws to shut them down." -- An excerpt from Bailout
Black, William K., The Best way to rob a Bank is to own one: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry, ISBN: 0292706383 9780292706385 9780292721395 0292721390.
"The catastrophic collapse of companies such as Enron, WorldCom, ImClone, and Tyco left angry investors, employees, reporters, and government investigators demanding to know how the CEOs deceived everyone into believing their companies were spectacularly successful when in fact they were massively insolvent. Why did the nation's top accounting firms give such companies clean audit reports? Where were the regulators and whistle-blowers who should expose fraudulent CEOs before they loot their companies for hundreds of millions of dollars?
"In this expert insider's account of the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s, William Black lays bare the strategies that corrupt CEOs and CFOs -- in collusion with those who have regulatory oversight of their industries -- use to defraud companies for their personal gain. Recounting the investigations he conducted as Director of Litigation for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Black fully reveals how Charles Keating and hundreds of other S&L owners took advantage of a weak regulatory environment to perpetrate accounting fraud on a massive scale. He also authoritatively links the S&L crash to the business failures of the early 2000s, showing how CEOs then and now are using the same tactics to defeat regulatory restraints and commit the same types of destructive fraud.
"Black uses the latest advances in criminology and economics to develop a theory of why 'control fraud' -- looting a company for personal profit -- tends to occur in waves that make financial markets deeply inefficient. He also explains how to prevent such waves. Throughout the book, Black drives home the larger point that control fraud is a major, ongoing threat in business that requires active, independent regulators to contain it. His book is a wake-up call for everyone who believes that market forces alone will keep companies and their owners honest." -- Publisher
"Take it from someone who was toiling down in the trenches chasing the bad guys, this book is a first-hand account of how the Reagan administration and Speaker Wright fiddled while the savings and loan crisis burned. It explains how, and why, the government for years did not try to stop the corporate criminals who went on one of the largest financial crime sprees in the history of the United States. This is an important work, not only for its historic value in explaining this particular outbreak of white collar crime in the savings and loan industry, but also because it carefully lays out the patterns of control fraud that will continue to recur in different corporate venues as long as people are willing to steal and lie to try and gain an economic advantage. This should be required reading for every financial regulator in the United States. Alan Greenspan, who recently argued that personal reputation in business practices should be more important than enforcing rules, should read it twice (or as many times as it takes until Mr. Greenspan can remember why he trusted Charles Keating)." -- Reader's Comment
Bologna, G. Jack, and Robert J. Lindquist, Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting: New Tools and Techniques, 2nd edition (Wiley, January 15, 1995), 249 pages, ISBN: 0471106461 9780471106463.
"Fraud, in the words of the authors, is no simple vice. Recent years have seen it grow both in size and complexity, to the point where some estimates place losses due to fraud at well over $100 billion a year. And, with the increasing complexity of financial structures and the intensity of business competition, fraud has become harder to detect and more tempting to commit.
"Since much of the responsibility for detecting fraud has been assumed by the accounting profession, accountants need to learn how to recognize its signs and investigate it. FRAUD AUDITING AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, SECOND EDITION focuses on the investigation, detection, documentation, and prevention of accounting frauds, stock frauds, and employee theft and embezzlement. Written by recognized experts in the field of white-collar crime, this comprehensive book provides an incisive, in-depth analysis of how fraud occurs within an organization and explains the latest techniques for fighting it. The authors have brought together up-to-date material to show practicing professionals how to:
In addition, this timely, authoritative book presents new case studies, drawn from a wide variety of actual incidents, that demonstrate industry-tested methods for dealing with fraud.Recognize the characteristics of organizations in which fraud is likely to occur
Detect and deter accounting fraud, using the most recently developed techniques
Conduct an efficient, systematic fraud investigation
Use the latest methods for documenting fraud and preparing evidence -- and much more
*Bookstaber, Richard, A Demon of our own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation, ISBN: 9780470393758 0470393750.
"Why do markets keep crashing and why are financial crises greater than ever before? As the risk manager to some of the leading firms on Wall Street -- from Morgan Stanley to Salomon and Citigroup -- and a member of some of the world's largest hedge funds, from Moore Capital to Ziff Brothers and FrontPoint Partners, Rick Bookstaber has seen the ghost inside the machine and vividly shows us a world that is even riskier than we think. The very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design tells the story of man's attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and highly leveraged hedge funds.
"Richard Bookstaber runs an equity hedge fund in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the director of risk management at Ziff Brothers Investments and at Moore Capital Management, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. He served as the managing director in charge of firm-wide risk management at Salomon Brothers and was a member of Salomon's powerful Risk Management Committee. Mr. Bookstaber also spent ten years at Morgan Stanley in quantitative research and as a proprietary trader, concluding his tenure there as Morgan Stanley's first market risk manager. He is the author of three books and scores of articles on finance topics ranging from options theory to risk management. Bookstaber received a Ph.D. in economics from MIT.
"In recounting his time as risk manager at a number of prominent houses (Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers, Citigroup etc.), Bookstaber completes the i-banking trifecta. First there was the Michael Lewis classic, Liar's Poker, detailing the juvenile bravado and macho antics of the trading floor. Then Jonathan Knee gave an intimate portrait of the i-banker deal making culture with The Accidental Investment Banker." -- Publisher
"Bright sparks like Mr. Bookstaber ushered in a revolution that fuelled the boom in financial derivatives and Byzantine 'structured products.' The problem, he argues, is that this wizardry has made markets more crisis-prone, not less so. It has done this in two ways: by increasing complexity, and by forging tighter links between various markets and securities, making them dangerously interdependent." -- The Economist
"Like many pessimistic observers, Richard Bookstaber thinks financial derivatives, Wall Street innovation and hedge funds will lead to a financial meltdown. What sets Mr. Bookstaber apart is that he has spent his career designing derivatives, working on Wall Street and running a hedge fund." -- The Wall Street Journal
"Exactly WHY do markets misbehave? Rick Bookstaber draws on his extensive knowledge of today's complex financial markets to set forth many of the reasons endogenous risk is so large AND so ominous. He understands one of the most sobering aspects of this risk: its sources are far too complex to be meaningfully assessed. This gives lie to current regulatory bromides that 'everything will be OK provided that we better assess and manage risk,' for the risks that matter most are non-assessable!" -- "Woody" Brock, President, Strategic Economic Decisions, Inc.
Capel, Richard (1586-1656), and Sibbes, Richard (1577-1635), Tentations [Temptations]: Their Nature, Danger, Cure. By Richard Capel, sometimes fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford. To which is added a briefe dispute, as touching restitution in the case of vsury, 1635.
Cheyney, Edward Potts, Documents Illustrative of Feudalism, ISBN: 0404089747 9780404089740.
Clark, William Roberts, Capitalism, not Globalism: Capital Mobility, Central Bank Independence, and the Political Control of the Economy, ISBN: 0472112937 9780472112937.
Clouse, Robert G., William E. Diehl, et al., Wealth and Poverty: Four Christian Views of Economics, ISBN: 0877843473 9780877843474.
Daniel, John, Scarlet and the Beast: English Freemasonry, Banking, and the Illegal Drug Trade, 3 volumes, ISBN: 096350794X 9780963507945.
Ferguson, Charles, Inside Job, (2010) a DVD.
"Inside Job provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China." -- Anonymous
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/
"Derivatives and credit swaps are ingenious, computer-driven schemes in which good money can be earned from bad debt, and Wall Street's Masters of the Universe pocket untold millions while they bankrupt their investors and their companies. This process is explained in Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, an angry, well-argued documentary about how the American financial industry set out deliberately to defraud the ordinary American investor. The crucial error was to allow financial institutions to trade on their own behalf. Today, many large trading banks are betting against their own customers.
"In the real estate market, banks aggressively promoted mortgages to people who could not afford them. These were assembled in packages. They were carried on the books as tangible assets when they were worthless. The institutions assembling them hedged their loans by betting against them. A Chicago group named Magnetar was particularly successful in creating such poisoned instruments for the sole purpose of hedging against them. Most of the big Wall Street players knew exactly what the 'Magnetar Trade' was and welcomed it. The more mortgages failed, the more money they made. They actually continued to sell the bad mortgages to their clients as good investments.
"Gene Siskel, who was a wise man, gave me the best investment advice I've ever received. 'You can never outsmart the market, if that's what you're trying to do,' he said. 'Find something you love, for reasons you understand, that not everyone agrees with you about, and put your money in it.' The stocks I thought of were Apple, Google and Steak 'n Shake. I bought some shares. That was a long time ago. Reader, if I had invested every penny I had on Gene's advice, today I would be a Master of the Universe." -- Reader's Comment
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., The FEE Summer School at Grove City College (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY [The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 30 South Broadway, Irvington-on-Hudson 10533]: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.).
The FEE Summer School at Grove City College. . . "will offer six credit hours of Principles of Economics in the classical tradition, enabling college students everywhere to meet course requirements. At last, they will be able to take an introductory course in economics with professors who support the free-market, private-property order."
FEE also sponsors an annual seminar schedule. Instructors in 1992 were Drs. John W. Robbins and Hans Sennholz. Write for details.
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.
http://www.fee.org/
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope The Predator State stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
*Goodson, Stephen Mitford, A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind, ISBN: 1912759217 9781912759217.
"Economist, Stephen Mitford Goodson, once Director of the South African Reserve Bank, catalogues the 'hidden hand' of moneylenders throughout history in fomenting wars, revolutions, depressions, recessions and other social upheavals to retain and extend their power and profits." -- Publisher
"This is one book I highly recommend to anyone on planet Earth! The author explains throughout his work the evil of the practice of usury. He also reveals the dangers of trying or actually ending the practice in their country, be it Libya, Iraq, Tsarist Russia, National Socialist Germany, et al. One success story of doing this can be pointed directly at the State of North Dakota in the United States of America! And in that case of North Dakota the usurers haven't yet thrown in the towel, i.e., they ain't done yet! Time will tell if the Dakota experience will be allowed to succeed on a long-term basis.
"How do the usurers take total control over the people of a nation? One example is explained in note 14 at the bottom of page 112: 'The deliberate collapse of the American agricultural sector may be compared to the destruction of agricultural production in the 1930s in the Ukraine (Russian for borderland) by Stalin and the subsequent Holodomor (Russian for death by starvation) in which an estimated six million Kulaks (Russian for fist) were either executed or died of hunger. . . .'
"Chapter Five, "The Great Depression," includes some very interesting topics like that of the work of Congressman Louis T. McFadden (R-Pennsylvania) who exposed the Federal Reserve System as the diabolical monster that it is. And his speeches delivered on the floor of the U.S. Congress in 1932 lead to his elimination (murder) in 1936. I have a book of his speeches which this author, Goodson, references in note 24 on page 115 of this book. In 208 pages you will not be disappointed in the wealth of knowledge gained by reading this book. All the evil described in this book is taking place in many countries around the entire planet Earth today! Check it out! Then educate your friends and relatives and try to put together a plan to take back what is rightfully the planet bequeathed to us by God Almighty!" -- Reader's Comment
Without Central Banking, the massive Overreaching Federal Government Wouldn't be Possible, Michael Maharrey
"The Federal Reserve serves as the engine that makes all of the U.S. government's unconstitutional spending possible. Without The Fed, the entire system would collapse. . . .
"In March and April [2020], the U.S. Treasury Department issued $1.56 trillion in debt securities to fund Uncle Sam's massive coronavirus spending spree. Meanwhile, in March, The Fed bought $1.2 trillion in Treasury bonds. The central bank slowed its roll a bit in April, but till purchased $526 billion in U.S. bonds. That brought the two-month total to $1.56 trillion.
"In effect, the Federal Reserve bought all of the debt issued by the U.S. government in March and April with money created out of thin air."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/06/17/the-federal-reserve-the-engine-that-powers-the-most-powerful-government-in-history/
*Griffin, G. Edward, The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, ISBN: 0912986212 9780912986210.
"This is a story about limitless money and hidden global power. The good news is that it is as fascinating as any work of fiction could be, and this, I trust, will add both pleasure and excitement to the learning process. The bad news is that every detail of what follows is true." -- G. Edward Griffin
The CREATURE makes the fundamental political issues surrounding the Federal Reserve understandable to the American people -- hard-working citizens like you and me -- who are its victims." -- The New American
"This book is about the most blatant scam of all history. It's all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. . . ." -- Publisher
Griffiths, Brian, The Creation of Wealth: A Christian's Case for Capitalism, ISBN: 0877845662 9780877845669.
"Few people have attempted a Biblical approach to economics. Griffiths considers the theological implications after divesting contemporary theories of their humanistic values. The result is a major step forward and the proposal of solutions to the abuses that presently prevail." -- Cyril J. Barber
*Howard-Browne, Rodney, and Paul L. Williams, The Killing of Uncle Sam: The Demise of the United States of America, ISBN: 1640070974 978-1640070974.
"Pride, greed, and power have driven men to do the unthinkable -- including selling out their nations and unsuspected citizens to the most corrupt and destructive 'invisible' global leaders on Earth. But how did this happen on American soil? How did the downfall begin and who were the predators that the 'land of the free and home of the brave' fell victim to? And is all hope lost?
"This book captures details of the last 200 years of American history that mainstream media does not want you to know. It dissects the 'legalized' system of the private central banks that has gone unchecked, and delivers gut-wrenching truths about the real domestic and foreign enemies of the United States. With over 1000 footnotes and quotes from former presidents, prime ministers, and state officials, it will equip you with the facts that the elites have covered up for centuries and empower you to stand up for the truth. -- Publisher
"This book is so well-documented that fact-checking proves an arduous and ultimately fruitless venture. Finally, someone has the courage to expose this corrupted government and financial system citing each wicked malpractice from America's inception to present day. The theme is simple yet highly logical . . . follow the money. We have been saying things like 'follow the money' to one another for years! In downtrodden conversations, we have attempted to identify the root of the injustice that has since thrived in America, and hurts each one of us to witness. But we typically fail to reach a verdict free of conjecture. With this book, we are armed with genuine facts that follow the timeline of our nation. Now we know exactly how our government and economy have been repeatedly perverted by tyrannical greed. On this knowledge, we citizens of America, all of us together, can finally build a viable solution." -- Reader's Comment
"What the book is about? The Money Trail. Money doesn't lie. People lie, but the money exposes their true intentions. And from what I've read so far in the pre-release, it's much worse than any of us could have imagined. The book shows that the 'select' few who actually control the money, these men and women are the ones who determine how we live, or who doesn't. They are the ones who make the laws and decide who will be in power. They control and own the media outlets. They control the information, the money and the military complex. They start wars in places like Iraq and Kosovo to control their natural resources. They puppeteer government agencies like the CIA, and even the Office of the President. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"This book is a must-read for every American citizen. It is extremely eye-opening to what has gone on in our country for last 200 years. It walks you through how things were set in place many, many years ago by very powerful people and how it effects everything today in our current society. It is incredible the cabal of people that have planned and strategised for decades to pillage the American people of their wealth and to erode American Christian values and morality. The footnotes were also very helpful to be able to go and verify all of the information and see it for myself. -- Reader's Comment
"Lays out clearly what would require dozens of other books to connect all the dots. Outrageous, yet global-deep-state conspiracies we've heard about for years, that used to seem far-fetched, are finally laid out in logical progression and substantially supported. . . .
"The timing of this book [2018] cannot be overstated. . . . for the current U.S. political environment, and for what is happening on the world stage. . . . it really exposes what Trump is up against, and why the establishment hates him so. . . .
"Financial systems and banking are at the core of what is exposed. . . . America has been deceived for very long time, and many people have no idea what has happened. This book reveals the secret hidden agendas of the money system in our country. No other book explains it the way this does. . . . Line by line, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne and Dr. Paul Williams unveil the corruption and wickedness that starts and ends with money. . . . See the history and the outright greed of individuals who have woven their influence and control over our country by controlling the money. . . .
"It amazed me to learn that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE Bank that is NOT answerable to Congress, the Judicial branch nor the White House. . . . There is no question left in my mind as to the utter and total corruption of our banking system. . . ." -- Excerpts from various readers comments
Chapter 38, "War Without End," in THE KILLING OF UNCLE SAM
https://revival.lpages.co/killingunclesambook/
*Levitt, Steven, and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, ISBN: 9780062132345 0062132342 9788466645775 8466645772.
"Nothing is more powerful than information, especially when its power is abused. . . .
"Though extraordinarily diverse, these crimes all have a common trait: they were sins of information. Most of them involved an expert, or a gang of experts, promoting false information or hiding true information; in each case the experts were trying to keep the information asymmetry as asymmetrical as possible.
"The practitioners of such acts, especially in the realm of high finance, inevitably offer this defense: 'Everybody else was doing it.' Which may be largely true. One characteristic of information crimes is that very few of them are detected." -- Levitt and Dubner
"More than 4 million copies sold worldwide. Published in 35 languages. . . . Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life 'from cheating and crime to parenting and sports' and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head. FREAKONOMICS is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more." -- Publisher
Lilley, Peter Dirty Dealing: The Untold Truth About Money Laundering, ISBN: 0749431431 9780749431433.
Mayer, Martin, The Greatest-ever Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry, ISBN: 0684191520 9780684191522.
"Brilliantly, wittily and pitilessly, Mayer details the dereliction and dishonesty not only of the thrift industry operators but also of its supporting cadre of venal accountants, lawyers, and government authorities. A searching narrative retracing the fiasco that jeopardizes the entire banking system." -- Publisher
Mooney, S.C., Usury: Destroyer of Nations.
"Nothing quite like this book to be found anywhere which thoroughly covers this important topic of usury (charging interest), from a foundation of God's Word. A definition and history of usury is given along with a survey of Biblical texts and popular excuses for usury. Mooney concludes with a call to repentance." -- GCB
Includes bibliographical references.
*Mullins, Eustace Clarence, Secrets of the Federal Reserve: The London Connection, ISBN: 9992967595.
"The greatest financial monopoly the world has ever known, is also responsible for worldwide moral decay, world wars, financial panics and revolutions." -- Eustace Mullins
"As an attorney I was impressed with the documentation by the author of the history of the development of the Federal Reserve. My undergraduate degree 25 years ago was in economics and I had to read much further to truly understand how our monetary system was unnecessarily based upon debt. Debt is bondage and central banks as the heart of fractional reserve banking hold the key to control of the world. If you do not believe this look at the policies of the IMF and realize that economic imperialism through central banking essentially controls the world today. A great companion book to read is THE CREATURE FROM JEKYELL ISLAND which explains our monetary system in more depth, and the video "Capital Crimes" is an excellent four hour treatise on the history of central banking beginning with the money changers in the temple whom Christ confronted and ending with a brilliant plan to gradually increase bank reserves while issuing Constitutional 'money' such that banks become mere vaults and the Federal Reserve is put to rest." -- Reader's Comment
Nash, Ronald H., Poverty and Wealth: The Christian Debate Over Capitalism, ISBN: 0891074023 9780891074021.
"This book demonstrates that of all economic systems that are in use on this planet capitalism is the one based on the Bible's whole teaching. Some systems emphasize one teaching of the Bible to the exclusion of the others. True capitalism takes the whole of the Bible into view. Nash is right-on!" -- GCB
Partnoy, Frank, FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street, ISBN: 9780393336818 0393336816.
" 'Applies an intelligent, clinical eye to [an] excruciatingly complex corner of the financial world.' -- New York Times
"A classic of its kind, Frank Partnoy's bestselling FIASCO takes readers inside the rollicking world of derivatives on Wall Street during the mid-1990s. The book tracks Partnoy's success as a young Morgan Stanley employee who quickly becomes steeped in a culture that treats client as targets to be 'blown up' or have their faces 'ripped off.' A decade later FIASCO remains one of the most damning and prescient pictures of the speculative frenzies that grip Wall Street and the victims they can leave in their wake. In Partnoy's case they include well-publicized losses at Orange County, Barings, and Procter and Gamble, among others. A new epilogue written for this edition brings Partnoy's story -- as well as the story of derivatives -- up to the present.
"Frank Partnoy is the author of INFECTIOUS GREED and THE MATCH KING. He has written for the Financial Times, the New York Times, and Portfolio. He teaches law at the University of San Diego, where he lives." -- Publisher
"There are several very interesting parts of this book, the most notable being the chapters (4,7-10), in which Mr. Partnoy gives a high level description of some of the transactions that he was involved in. Some of his anecdotes, particularly those in which he discusses the atmosphere in an investment bank around bonus time (pg. 40-42,202-205), are pretty amusing and dead on accurate. The author's descriptions of some of his deals are clearly told from a junior banker's perspective, but they do a good job of putting forth what was being done, how it was being done, what everyone's perceived incentives for the transaction were, the work required to get the deal done, what kind of money, and importantly what kind of fees were involved. In this regard, the book offers more than both LIAR'S POKER by Lewis and WHEN GENIUS FAILED by Lowenstein.
"Like all books written by former investment bankers the book contains liberally sprinkled anecdotes regarding job interviews from hell, the ridiculous daily escapades that can occur on a trading floor, strip clubs, the lack of personal lives, gambling trips and other stories which could easily have been pulled from the pages of Mr. Lewis's book or MONKEY BUSINESS by Rolfe and Troob. All of these shenanigans culminate around the bank's (in this case Morgan Stanley), or more specifically, his group's annual sporting clay outing, FIASCO. The book also suffers from a somewhat poorly defined timeline and the lack of a defining event which drives the story. Due to these faults, it is at times little more than a book about the evils of investment bankers, the ignorance of their customers, all put forward to enforce Mr. Partnoy's somewhat guarded thesis; Derivatives are used by organizations that are legally prevented from investing in certain areas in order to skirt those laws." -- Reader's Comment
Reisman, George, Gold: The Solution to our Monetary Dilemma.
*Robbins, John W., (1949-2008), Money, Freedom and the Bible.
"Paul does not regard government as provider of income, health care, education, national parks, money, or any of the other services common to our modern welfare states; its function is quite simple: to punish wrongdoers." A lecture given at the Gold Standard Corporation Conference, August 1989.
Robinson, Jeffrey, The Laundrymen: Inside Money Laundering, the World's Third-Largest Business, ISBN: 155970330X 9781559703307.
"Money laundering has been a major part of the American criminal landscape since the days of its patron saint, Meyer Lansky. Watergate was essentially a money-laundering operation; so was Irangate. It is the one thing that Richard Nixon, the CIA, and Pablo Escobar have in common with Heidi Fleiss, BCCI, and the IRA. Some political action committees (PACs) have used dirty money, if unwittingly, to help elect politicians and then to keep them in office. Even the most sober and upright Wall Street bankers will admit that some of their banking assets derive from laundered money.
"And who are the laundrymen? As Jeffrey Robinson proves in this blistering and up-to-the-minute exposé, they are not the gun-toting Mafiosi of cliché; they are white-collar accountants, lawyers, and bankers -- certified professionals who use sophisticated systems of layering, loopholes in banking laws, and professional privilege to do their dirty work. Gone are the days of briefcases stuffed with cash. Money laundering 1990s style has diversified. Drug traffickers moving the drugs no longer move the money, and their laundrymen don't need to know about the drugs. Corrupting everyone and everything it touches, the money gradually seeps into the foundations of the world's financial institutions, ready to fuel an ever-widening cycle of violence." -- Publisher
"Almost every dollar bill in circulation contains minute traces of cocaine -- part of a worldwide money-laundering process involving up to 300 billion dollars a year. In this book, Robinson explains how the system works, from the basics of laundering small amounts of cash to the elaborate process by which literally mounds of dirty money can be made clean." -- Publisher
Rose, Tom, Economics: The American Economy From a Christian Perspective, ISBN: 0961219807 9780961219802.
Rothbard, Murray N., What has Government Done to our Money, ISBN: 0945466102 9780945466109.
"Rothbard's most famous monetary essay. It has appeared in multiple editions and influenced two generations of economists, investors, and businessmen. After presenting the basics of money and banking theory, he traces the decline of the dollar from the 18th century to the present, and provides lucid critiques of central banking, New Deal monetary policy, Nixonian fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. He also provides a blueprint for a return to a 100 percent reserve gold standard." -- Publisher
Scheer, Robert, The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street, ISBN: 9781568584348 1568584342.
"In THE GREAT AMERICAN STICKUP, celebrated journalist Robert Scheer uncovers the hidden story behind one of the greatest financial crimes of our time: the Wall Street financial crash of 2008 and the consequent global recession. Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story -- the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms -- Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.
"This is a story largely forgotten or overlooked by the mainstream media, who wasted more than two decades with their boosterish coverage of Wall Street. Scheer argues that the roots of the disaster go back to the free-market propaganda of the Reagan years and, most damagingly, to the bipartisan deregulation of the banking industry undertaken with the full support of "progressive" Bill Clinton.
"In fact, if this debacle has a name, Scheer suggests, it is the "Clinton Bubble," that era when the administration let its friends on Wall Street write legislation that razed decades of robust financial regulation. It was Wall Street and Democratic Party darling Robert Rubin along with his clique of economist super-friends -- Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Summers, and a few others -- who inflated a giant real estate bubble by purposely not regulating the derivatives market, resulting in the pain and hardship millions are experiencing now.
"THE GREAT AMERICAN STICKUP is both a brilliant telling of the story of the Clinton financial clique and the havoc it wrought -- informed by whistle-blowers such as Brooksley Born, who goes on the record for Scheer -- and an unsparing anatomy of the American business and political class. It is also a cautionary tale: those who form the nucleus of the Clinton clique are now advising the Obama administration." -- Publisher
Sutton, Antony C., The War on Gold, ISBN: 0892450088 9780892450084.
*Truth in Accounting, Financial State of the Union 2021.
*The National Debt is Worse Than Advertised
"When you include unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare, that actual US debt stands at $123.11 trillion, according to the 'Financial State of the Union 2021' published by Truth in Accounting.
"In order to pay off all of Uncle Sam's liabilities, every taxpayer in the US would have to write a check for $796,000. . . .
"The federal government has $5.95 trillion in assets and $129.06 trillion in liabilities. If it were a private company, the US government would be bankrupt."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2021/04/23/the-national-debt-is-worse-than-advertised/
About our National Debt
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt
United States Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Information Technologies for the Control of Money Laundering (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1995), ISBN: 0160482941 9780160482946.
Information Technologies for the Control of Money Laundering (September 1995)
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/ns20/year_f.html
*Weiss, Gary, Wall Street Versus America: The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments, ISBN: 1591840945 9781591840947.
"For several years high-profile corporate wrongdoers have been vilified by the media. Yet the problem, according to investigative journalist Weiss, is not just a few isolated instances of malfeasance. The problem is in the very fabric of Wall Street and its practices that enable and even encourage corruption -- practices that are so pervasive and so difficult to combat that they are in effect perfect crimes, with the small investor left holding the bag. Weiss describes how the ethos of Mafia chophouses, boiler rooms, and penny stock peddlers now permeates all of Wall Street. Protected from investor lawsuits by laughably corrupt arbitration systems, Wall Street firms are free to fleece unsuspecting clients with little or no risk. But as this book shows, ordinary investors can fight back and come out on top -- if they learn to recognize warning signs, filter media chatter, and spot looming corporate meltdowns in advance." -- Publisher
"One more book about how scamster's on Wall Street rip-off the rest of America. For more than a quarter of a century Wall Street has had one scam after another. Portfolio insurance that led to the 509 point drop in October 1987, IPO's (Initial Public Offerings) of rotten companies in the 1990's, companies the insiders called POS (pile of shit) when talking to each other.
"Long-term capital making a Trillion dollar bet, heads they win tails America loses. Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Tyco, Adelphia, and all the other accounting frauds in the early 00's. And right after them the prime slime mortgage mess.
"With each scam the stakes get higher and risk that financial disaster will ruin the American economy grows greater. Wall Street criminal's get MILLION dollar a year bonuses, America gets 10 percent unemployment." -- Reader's Comment
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Church and state, Treason and impeachment, The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Covetousness, greed, and selfishness, Ethics, computer ethics, cyberethics, Sex ethics, sex education, Conscience, casuistry, cases of conscience, Medical ethics, Church and state, Statism (hellenic thought), institutionalism, and corporatism, State sovereignty and corporate immunity: reform of corporations, Computer crime, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Friendly fascism, Prosperity and wealth, the snare of, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Power, Authority, Politics, Gambling, The government role of punishing wrongdoers, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, The Federal Reserve, Political and economic freedom, Biblical economics, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, Monopoly and anti-trust law enforcement, Antinomianism, Meltdown: the depression of 2008, Civil government, Leniency, Bible magistracy turns back the wrath of god, The doctrine of the lesser magistrates, Justice, the theology of judgment, god's final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the day of the lord, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, TThe sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, and so forth, and so on.
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.
http://www.fee.org/
Free Banking Homepage
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~var/free-banking/index.html
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
The Panic of '08. Lew Rockwell Interviews Ron Paul, September 18, 2008
A podcast.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2008-09-18_029_ron_paul_talks_to_lew_rockwell.mp3
Truth is Treason, Associated Press, Kevin Hayden, February 16, 2011
"Global food prices have hit 'dangerous levels' that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank.
"The bank released a report Tuesday that said global food prices have jumped 29 percent in the past year, and are just 3 percent below the all-time peak hit in 2008. Bank President Robert Zoellick said the rising prices have hit people hardest in the developing world because they spend as much as half their income on food."
http://www.truthistreason.net/food-prices-at-dangerous-levels-haydens-note-on-corn-health-and-ethanol
I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man that controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply. -- Baron Nathan Mayer RothschildI am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world, no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -- Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, three years after signing the Federal Reserve into existence
The notion that additional government expenditures magically increase national output is ingrained in the national psyche. Keynesian economics professors can certainly take credit for this mindset; it is they who have schooled multiple generations of college students in Keynesian multiplier analysis.
The professors' counter intuitive tease in this effort has always been what is called the 'balanced budget multiplier.' (BBM) That is, even with equal increases in government spending and taxes increase output, output should supposedly rise by the same amount that spending and taxes rise . . .
The BBM is so at odds with simple economic logic that it should be an embarrassment for the economics profession. Strong words? Yes. But how else to describe economic nonsense? If output and taxes rise by the same amount, producers' after-tax income is unaltered by the fiscal action. -- T. Norman Van Cott, "Keynesian Multipliers are Like Dogs Chasing Their Tails"It has been 50 years since President Nixon proclaimed that 'We are all Keynesians now.' The results of allowing government (via its central bank -- The Federal Reserve) to create dollars out-of-thin-air. Decade after decade we experience relentless inflation, coupled with an expansion in the size and scope of government, the likes of which humanity has never seen before. The Keynesian dream is coming to an end. -- Ron Paul
If the American people ever wish to regain control of the government, we must understand the monetary system and materially alter the banking system so as to replace our debt based money-out-of-thin air economy with an economy based on production, savings, capitalism, and competition. Only then, can true prosperity return. If we ever get to audit the Fed and its money lenders, the demand to End the Fed will become overwhelming. -- Andrew Napolitano
*Goodson, Stephen Mitford, A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind, ISBN: 1912759217 9781912759217.
"Economist, Stephen Mitford Goodson, once Director of the South African Reserve Bank, catalogues the 'hidden hand' of moneylenders throughout history in fomenting wars, revolutions, depressions, recessions and other social upheavals to retain and extend their power and profits." -- Publisher
"This is one book I highly recommend to anyone on planet Earth! The author explains throughout his work the evil of the practice of usury. He also reveals the dangers of trying or actually ending the practice in their country, be it Libya, Iraq, Tsarist Russia, National Socialist Germany, et al. One success story of doing this can be pointed directly at the State of North Dakota in the United States of America! And in that case of North Dakota the usurers haven't yet thrown in the towel, i.e., they ain't done yet! Time will tell if the Dakota experience will be allowed to succeed on a long-term basis.
"How do the usurers take total control over the people of a nation? One example is explained in note 14 at the bottom of page 112: 'The deliberate collapse of the American agricultural sector may be compared to the destruction of agricultural production in the 1930s in the Ukraine (Russian for borderland) by Stalin and the subsequent Holodomor (Russian for death by starvation) in which an estimated six million Kulaks (Russian for fist) were either executed or died of hunger. . . .'
"Chapter Five, "The Great Depression," includes some very interesting topics like that of the work of Congressman Louis T. McFadden (R-Pennsylvania) who exposed the Federal Reserve System as the diabolical monster that it is. And his speeches delivered on the floor of the U.S. Congress in 1932 lead to his elimination (murder) in 1936. I have a book of his speeches which this author, Goodson, references in note 24 on page 115 of this book. In 208 pages you will not be disappointed in the wealth of knowledge gained by reading this book. All the evil described in this book is taking place in many countries around the entire planet Earth today! Check it out! Then educate your friends and relatives and try to put together a plan to take back what is rightfully the planet bequeathed to us by God Almighty!" -- Reader's Comment
Without Central Banking, the massive Overreaching Federal Government Wouldn't be Possible, Michael Maharrey
"The Federal Reserve serves as the engine that makes all of the U.S. government's unconstitutional spending possible. Without The Fed, the entire system would collapse. . . .
"In March and April [2020], the U.S. Treasury Department issued $1.56 trillion in debt securities to fund Uncle Sam's massive coronavirus spending spree. Meanwhile, in March, The Fed bought $1.2 trillion in Treasury bonds. The central bank slowed its roll a bit in April, but till purchased $526 billion in U.S. bonds. That brought the two-month total to $1.56 trillion.
"In effect, the Federal Reserve bought all of the debt issued by the U.S. government in March and April with money created out of thin air."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2020/06/17/the-federal-reserve-the-engine-that-powers-the-most-powerful-government-in-history/
*Griffin, G. Edward, The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, ISBN: 0912986212 9780912986210.
"This is a story about limitless money and hidden global power. The good news is that it is as fascinating as any work of fiction could be, and this, I trust, will add both pleasure and excitement to the learning process. The bad news is that every detail of what follows is true." -- G. Edward Griffin
The CREATURE makes the fundamental political issues surrounding the Federal Reserve understandable to the American people -- hard-working citizens like you and me -- who are its victims." -- The New American
"This book is about the most blatant scam of all history. It's all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. . . ." -- Publisher
*Howard-Browne, Rodney, and Paul L. Williams, The Killing of Uncle Sam: The Demise of the United States of America, ISBN: 1640070974 978-1640070974.
"Pride, greed, and power have driven men to do the unthinkable -- including selling out their nations and unsuspected citizens to the most corrupt and destructive 'invisible' global leaders on Earth. But how did this happen on American soil? How did the downfall begin and who were the predators that the 'land of the free and home of the brave' fell victim to? And is all hope lost?
"This book captures details of the last 200 years of American history that mainstream media does not want you to know. It dissects the 'legalized' system of the private central banks that has gone unchecked, and delivers gut-wrenching truths about the real domestic and foreign enemies of the United States. With over 1000 footnotes and quotes from former presidents, prime ministers, and state officials, it will equip you with the facts that the elites have covered up for centuries and empower you to stand up for the truth. -- Publisher
"This book is so well-documented that fact-checking proves an arduous and ultimately fruitless venture. Finally, someone has the courage to expose this corrupted government and financial system citing each wicked malpractice from America's inception to present day. The theme is simple yet highly logical . . . follow the money. We have been saying things like 'follow the money' to one another for years! In downtrodden conversations, we have attempted to identify the root of the injustice that has since thrived in America, and hurts each one of us to witness. But we typically fail to reach a verdict free of conjecture. With this book, we are armed with genuine facts that follow the timeline of our nation. Now we know exactly how our government and economy have been repeatedly perverted by tyrannical greed. On this knowledge, we citizens of America, all of us together, can finally build a viable solution." -- Reader's Comment
"What the book is about? The Money Trail. Money doesn't lie. People lie, but the money exposes their true intentions. And from what I've read so far in the pre-release, it's much worse than any of us could have imagined. The book shows that the 'select' few who actually control the money, these men and women are the ones who determine how we live, or who doesn't. They are the ones who make the laws and decide who will be in power. They control and own the media outlets. They control the information, the money and the military complex. They start wars in places like Iraq and Kosovo to control their natural resources. They puppeteer government agencies like the CIA, and even the Office of the President. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
"This book is a must-read for every American citizen. It is extremely eye-opening to what has gone on in our country for last 200 years. It walks you through how things were set in place many, many years ago by very powerful people and how it effects everything today in our current society. It is incredible the cabal of people that have planned and strategised for decades to pillage the American people of their wealth and to erode American Christian values and morality. The footnotes were also very helpful to be able to go and verify all of the information and see it for myself. -- Reader's Comment
"Lays out clearly what would require dozens of other books to connect all the dots. Outrageous, yet global-deep-state conspiracies we've heard about for years, that used to seem far-fetched, are finally laid out in logical progression and substantially supported. . . .
"The timing of this book [2018] cannot be overstated. . . . for the current U.S. political environment, and for what is happening on the world stage. . . . it really exposes what Trump is up against, and why the establishment hates him so. . . .
"Financial systems and banking are at the core of what is exposed. . . . America has been deceived for very long time, and many people have no idea what has happened. This book reveals the secret hidden agendas of the money system in our country. No other book explains it the way this does. . . . Line by line, Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne and Dr. Paul Williams unveil the corruption and wickedness that starts and ends with money. . . . See the history and the outright greed of individuals who have woven their influence and control over our country by controlling the money. . . .
"It amazed me to learn that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE Bank that is NOT answerable to Congress, the Judicial branch nor the White House. . . . There is no question left in my mind as to the utter and total corruption of our banking system. . . ." -- Excerpts from various readers comments
Chapter 38, "War Without End," in THE KILLING OF UNCLE SAM
https://revival.lpages.co/killingunclesambook/
*Matthews, Steven T., The Fed, Fiat Currency, and Feckless Keynesian Economics
The creation of the Fed [The Federal Reserve -- compiler], is "the most tragic blunder ever committed by Congress. The day it [the Federal Reserve Act of 1913] was passed, old America died and a new era began. A new institution was born that was to cause, or greatly contribute to, the unprecedented economic instability in the decades to come." -- Hans F. Sennholz in Money and Freedom, quoted in End the Fed, p. 23
The Fed, Fiat Currency, and Feckless Keynesian Economics, Steven T. Matthews
http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=316
*Mullins, Eustace Clarence, Secrets of the Federal Reserve: The London Connection, ISBN: 9992967595.
"The greatest financial monopoly the world has ever known, is also responsible for worldwide moral decay, world wars, financial panics and revolutions." -- Eustace Mullins
"As an attorney I was impressed with the documentation by the author of the history of the development of the Federal Reserve. My undergraduate degree 25 years ago was in economics and I had to read much further to truly understand how our monetary system was unnecessarily based upon debt. Debt is bondage and central banks as the heart of fractional reserve banking hold the key to control of the world. If you do not believe this look at the policies of the IMF and realize that economic imperialism through central banking essentially controls the world today. A great companion book to read is THE CREATURE FROM JEKYELL ISLAND which explains our monetary system in more depth, and the video "Capital Crimes" is an excellent four hour treatise on the history of central banking beginning with the money changers in the temple whom Christ confronted and ending with a brilliant plan to gradually increase bank reserves while issuing Constitutional 'money' such that banks become mere vaults and the Federal Reserve is put to rest." -- Reader's Comment
Napolitano, Andrew P., Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom, ISBN: 9781595553515 1595553517.
"Either the Constitution means what it says, or it doesn't." -- Judge Napolitano
"America's founding fathers saw freedom as a part of our nature to be protected -- not to be usurped by the federal government -- and so enshrined separation of powers and guarantees of freedom in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But a little over a hundred years after America's founding, those God-given rights were laid siege by two presidents caring more about the advancement of progressive, redistributionist ideology than the principles on which America was founded.
"THEODORE AND WOODROW is Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's shocking historical account of how a Republican and a Democratic president oversaw the greatest shift in power in American history, from a land built on the belief that authority should be left to the individuals and the states, to a bloated, far-reaching federal bureaucracy, continuing to grow and consume power each day.
"With lessons rooted in history, Judge Napolitano shows the intellectually arrogant, anti-personal freedom, even racist progressive philosophy driving these men to poison the American system of government.
"And Americans still pay for their legacy -- in the federal income, in state-prescribed compulsory education, in the Federal Reserve, in perpetual wars, and in the constant encroachment of a government that coddles special interests and discourages true competition in the marketplace.
"With his attention to detail, deep constitutional knowledge, and unwavering adherence to truth telling, Judge Napolitano moves through the history of these men and their times in office to show how American values and the Constitution were sadly set aside, leaving personal freedom as a shadow of its former self, in the grip of an insidious, Nanny state, progressive ideology." -- Publisher
"Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, currently seen by millions of viewers weeknights on "The Big Story" and "The O'Reilly Factor." Napolitano is the youngest person in New Jersey history to receive a lifetime judgeship. He is bright (graduate of Princeton and Notre Dame Law School), articulate (four times voted most outstanding professor at the two law schools at which he taught), and broadcast-experienced (as a daily fixture on Fox News Channel since 1998). He is the author of CONSTITUTIONAL CHAOS and THE CONSTITUTION IN EXILE." -- Publisher
"This book is an important contribution to the historian who would connect the dots from the early Progressive era to today, in figuring out how and why there was a silent revolution by the radical Left to destroy the Constitution and replace it with a Marxist platform. One can well argue that the Marxists captured the White House BEFORE they captured the Kremlin! Wilson and T. Roosevelt implemented radical ideas that were subsequently built upon by almost every administration since. One can see this Red Thread running through the entire fabric of the national government for more than a century now. So many planks of Karl Marx were accomplished by Wilson and Col. Mandel House that historians of the future will be compelled to ask how such a paradigm shift could occur without a guiding hand behind it (and I do not refer to a Divine Hand). It took two world wars to keep the American People diverted away from what amounted to a coup d'etat. Thanks to Judge Napolitano for this expose. Napolitano should be sitting on the Supreme Court. But then, what SHOULD be, rarely is." -- Reader's Comment
Paul, Ron, End the Fed, ISBN: 9780446549196 0446549193 9780446559973 0446559970.
"The author draws on American history, economics and fascinating stories from his own long political life to argue that the Federal Reserve is both corrupt and unconstitutional, inflating currency and threatening to put us into an inflationary depression. He also tells us where we went wrong and what we need to do to fix America's economic policy for future generations." - Publisher
Paul, Ron, What the Price of Gold is Telling us
This is a 4865 word article. Just a few quotes follow.
"The dollar price of gold reflects dollar depreciation [devaluation, inflation -- compiler]. . . ."
The gold price has risen "from $250 per ounce in 2001 [the year of 9/11 -- compiler], to over $1000 today . . . .
"Since 2001 the dollar has been devalued by 60 percent . . . .
"Though our inflation -- i.e., the depreciation of the U.S. dollar -- has been insidious, average Americans are unaware of how this occurs. For instance, few Americans know nor seem concerned that the 1913 pre-Federal Reserve dollar is now worth only four cents. . . .
"Forget about the lip service given to transparency by new Fed Chairman Bernanke. Not only is this administration one of the most secretive across the board in our history, the current Fed firmly supports denying the most important measurement of current monetary policy to Congress, the financial community, and the American public. Because of a lack of interest and poor understanding of monetary policy, Congress has expressed essentially no concern about the significant change in reporting statistics on the money supply.
"Beginning in March [2008 -- compiler], though planned before Bernanke arrived at the Fed, the Central Bank discontinued compiling and reporting the monetary aggregate known as M3. M3 is the best description of how quickly the Fed is creating new money and credit. Common sense tells us that a government central bank creating new money out of thin air depreciates the value of each dollar in circulation. Yet this report is no longer available to us and Congress makes no demands to receive it. . . . [could this complex policy issue also be the Feds' "solution" to the impending financial crisis in the Social Security fund? -- compiler]
"A soaring gold price is a vote of -- no confidence -- in the central bank and the dollar. This certainly was the case in 1979 and 1980. Today, gold prices reflect a growing restlessness with the increasing money supply, our budgetary and trade deficits, our unfunded liabilities, and the inability of Congress and the administration to rein in runaway spending. . . .
"Special interest groups, who vigorously compete for federal dollars, want to perpetuate the system rather than admit to a dangerous addiction. Those who champion welfare for the poor, entitlements for the middle class, or war contracts for the military industrial corporations, all agree on the so-called benefits bestowed by the Fed's power to counterfeit fiat money. Bankers, who benefit from our fractional reserve system, likewise never criticize the Fed, especially since it's the lender of last resort that bails out financial institutions when crises arise. And it's true, special interests and bankers do benefit from the Fed, and may well get bailed out -- just as we saw with the Long-Term Capital Management fund crisis a few years ago. In the past, companies like Lockheed and Chrysler benefited as well. But what the Fed cannot do is guarantee the market will maintain trust in the worthiness of the dollar. Current policy guarantees that the integrity of the dollar will be undermined. Exactly when this will occur, and the extent of the resulting damage to the financial system, cannot be known for sure -- but it is coming. There are plenty of indications already on the horizon.
"Foreign policy plays a significant role in the economy and the value of the dollar. A foreign policy of militarism and empire building cannot be supported through direct taxation. The American people would never tolerate the taxes required to pay immediately for overseas wars, under the discipline of a gold standard. Borrowing and creating new money is much more politically palatable. It hides and delays the real costs of war, and the people are lulled into complacency -- especially since the wars we fight are couched in terms of patriotism, spreading the ideas of freedom, and stamping out terrorism. Unnecessary wars and fiat currencies go hand-in-hand, while a gold standard encourages a sensible foreign policy.
"The cost of war is enormously detrimental; it significantly contributes to the economic instability of the nation by boosting spending, deficits, and inflation. Funds used for war are funds that could have remained in the productive economy to raise the standard of living of Americans now unemployed, underemployed, or barely living on the margin. . . ." and so forth (another 2495 words follow) -- Ron Paul in What the Price of Gold is Telling us
"Dr. Paul is the author of several books, including [END THE FED, 2016 -- compiler] CHALLENGE TO LIBERTY; THE CASE FOR GOLD; and A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT. He has been a distinguished counselor to the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and is widely quoted by scholars and writers in the fields of monetary policy, banking, and political economy. He has received many awards and honors during his career in Congress, from organizations such as the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Council for a Competitive Economy, Young Americans for Freedom, and countless others."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul445.html
Reisman, George, Gold: The Solution to our Monetary Dilemma.
Rickards, James, The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System, ISBN: 9781591846703 1591846706 9781591847410 1591847419.
" 'The next financial collapse will resemble nothing in history. Deciding upon the best course to follow will require comprehending a minefield of risks, while poised at a crossroads, pondering the death of the dollar.' The international monetary system has collapsed three times in the past hundred years, in 1914, 1939, and 1971. Each collapse was followed by a period of tumult: war, civil unrest, or significant damage to the stability of the global economy. Now James Rickards, the acclaimed author of CURRENCY WARS, shows why another collapse is rapidly approaching -- and why this time, nothing less than the institution of money itself is at risk. The American dollar has been the global reserve currency since the end of the Second World War. If the dollar fails, the entire international monetary system will fail with it. No other currency has the deep, liquid pools of assets needed to do the job. Optimists have always said, in essence, that there's nothing to worry about -- that confidence in the dollar will never truly be shaken, no matter how high our national debt or how dysfunctional our government. But in the last few years, the risks have become too big to ignore. While Washington is gridlocked and unable to make progress on our long-term problems, our biggest economic competitors -- China, Russia, and the oil producing nations of the Middle East -- are doing everything possible to end U.S. monetary hegemony. The potential results: Financial warfare. Deflation. Hyperinflation. Market collapse. Chaos. Rickards offers a bracing analysis of these and other threats to the dollar. The fundamental problem is that money and wealth have become more and more detached. Money is transitory and ephemeral, and it may soon be worthless if central bankers and politicians continue on their current path. But true wealth is permanent and tangible, and it has real value worldwide. The author shows how everyday citizens who save and invest have become guinea pigs in the central bankers' laboratory. The world's major financial players -- national governments, big banks, multilateral institutions -- will always muddle through by patching together new rules of the game. The real victims of the next crisis will be small investors who assumed that what worked for decades will keep working. Fortunately, it's not too late to prepare for the coming death of money. Rickards explains the power of converting unreliable money into real wealth: gold, land, fine art, and other long-term stores of value. As he writes: 'The coming collapse of the dollar and the international monetary system is entirely foreseeable. Only nations and individuals who make provision today will survive the maelstrom to come'." -- Publisher
Rockwell, Llewellyn H. Jr., Speaking of Liberty, ISBN: 0945466382 9780945466383.
"Ludwig von Mises said that teaching the public was just as important as addressing scholars -- maybe more so. That is what Lew Rockwell specializes in: history and theory and analysis in defense of the free society, written in clear prose to reach a broad audience. Rockwell's new book is as pro-liberty as it is brutally critical of government. It is relentlessly forthright yet hopeful about the prospects for liberty. It is rigorous enough to withstand the enemy's closest scrutiny, and chock full of the energy and enthusiasm that will keep you reading.
"SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is a collection of speeches delivered by Rockwell over a period of ten years. The book begins with economics, and explains why Austrian economics matters, how the Federal Reserve brings on the business cycle, why we need private property and free enterprise, the unrecognized glories of the capitalist economy, and why the gold standard is still the best monetary system. Other sections deal with war, Mises and his work, other important thinkers in the libertarian tradition, and the culture and morality of liberty.
"The book is united by a set of fixed principles: the corruption of politics, the universality and immutability of the ideas of freedom, the centrality of sound money and free enterprise, the moral imperative of peace and trade, the importance of hope and tenacity in the struggle for liberty, and the need for everyone to join the intellectual fight. We all have searched for the book we could give to friends and neighbors, business associates and family members, to explain why we believe in the cause of liberty. SPEAKING OF LIBERTY is that book." -- Publisher
Sutton, Antony C., The Federal Reserve Conspiracy, ISBN: 0944379087 9780944379080.
"Antony C. Sutton, D.Sc. was born in London, England, in 1925, spent most of his life in the United States, and has been a citizen for 40 years.
"With an academic background in economics and engineering, Sutton has worked in mining exploration, iron and steel industries before graduate school at UCLA. In the 1960's he was Professor of Economics at California State University, Los Angeles, followed by seven years as a Research Fellow at Stanford University. . . .
"This is the first book that details hour by hour the events that led up to passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 -- and the many decades of work and secret planning that private bankers had invested to obtain their money monopoly." -- Publisher
Sutton, Antony C., The War on Gold, ISBN: 0892450088 9780892450084.
*Truth in Accounting, Financial State of the Union 2021.
*The National Debt is Worse Than Advertised
"When you include unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare, that actual US debt stands at $123.11 trillion, according to the 'Financial State of the Union 2021' published by Truth in Accounting.
"In order to pay off all of Uncle Sam's liabilities, every taxpayer in the US would have to write a check for $796,000. . . .
"The federal government has $5.95 trillion in assets and $129.06 trillion in liabilities. If it were a private company, the US government would be bankrupt."
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2021/04/23/the-national-debt-is-worse-than-advertised/
About our National Debt
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt
Vieira, Edwin, Pieces of Eight: The Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the United States Constitution, ISBN: 9780967175911, 0967175917.
"This book gives a detailed legal (constitutional) argument demonstrating that our present monetary system is a contradiction of what was intended and what is expressed in the U.S. Constitution. The book also describes the legal history of the Supreme Court cases that brought the system to this point." -- Publisher
Woods, Thomas E., Jr., Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, ISBN: 9781596985872 1596985879.
"If you are fed up with Washington boondoggles, and you like the small-government, politically-incorrect thinking of Ron Paul, then you'll love Tom Woods's MELTDOWN. In clear, no-nonsense terms, Woods explains what led up to this economic crisis, who's really to blame, and why government bailouts won't work. Woods will reveal:
"With a foreword from Ron Paul, MELTDOWN is the free-market answer to the Fed-created economic crisis. As the new Obama administration inevitably calls for more regulations, Woods argues that the only way to rebuild our economy is by returning to the fundamentals of capitalism and letting the free market work.Which brave few economists predicted the economic fallout -- and why nobody listened
What really caused the collapse
Why the Fed -- not taxpayers -- should have to answer for the current economic crisis
Why bailouts are band-aids that will only provide temporary relief and ultimately make things worse
What we should do instead, to put our economy on a healthy path to recovery
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Church and state, Treason and impeachment, Theft, fraud, stealing: property rights and freedom, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Christian economics, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, The application of scripture to the corporate bodies of church and state, and so forth, and so on.
FIAT EMPIRE: Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K41O2QfpjA&feature=youtu.be
Free Banking Homepage
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~var/free-banking/index.html
Half of the Population of the World is Dirt Poor -- And the Global Elite Want to Keep it That way, ZeroHedge.com, November 1916
"Don't get me wrong -- I am a very big believer in working hard and contributing something of value to society, and those that work the hardest and contribute the most should be able to reap the rewards. In this article I am in no way, shape or form criticizing true capitalism, because if true capitalism were actually being practiced all over the planet we would have far, far less poverty today. Instead, our planet is dominated by a heavily socialized debt-based central banking system that systematically transfers wealth from hard-working ordinary citizens to the global elite. Those at the very top of the pyramid know that they are impoverishing everyone else, and they very much intend to keep it that way. Let's start with some of the hard numbers. According to Zero Hedge, Credit Suisse had just released their yearly report on global wealth, and it shows that 45.6 percent of all the wealth in the world is controlled by just 0.7 percent of the people." -- ZeroHedge.com
A Hammer That Broke the Constitution, Michael Maharrey, July 12, 2021
"The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the biggest, most powerful government in the history of the world.
"Central banking is one of the hammers that broke the Constitution.
https://mailchi.mp/51f593a77a73/a-hammer-that-broke-the-constitution
Here's why we Should Audit the Fed, Rand Paul (contributor)
"Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh refers to the Fed's easy-money policies as the reverse Robin Hood effect. 'If you have access to credit -- if you've got a big balance sheet -- the Fed has made you richer,' he said in an interview. 'This is a way to make the well-to-do even more well-to-do'."
http://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-heres-why-we-should-audit-the-fed-2015-12
How the Federal Reserve Wrecks the Economy
You simply cannot grasp the economic big-picture without understanding how Federal Reserve monetary policy drives the boom-bust cycle. The effects of all other government policies work within the Fed's monetary framework. Money-printing and interest rate manipulations fuel booms and the inevitable attempt to return to 'normalcy' precipitates busts.
In simplest terms, easy money blows up bubbles. Bubbles pop and set off a crisis. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. -- Michael Maharrey
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2019/05/23/how-the-fed-wrecks-the-economy/
The Panic of '08. Lew Rockwell Interviews Ron Paul, September 18, 2008
A podcast.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2008-09-18_029_ron_paul_talks_to_lew_rockwell.mp3
Ron Paul on CNBC: Thanks to The Fed, The Economy is in Bad Shape
"The U.S. economy is bifurcated. Those closest to the Fed's monetary spigot are doing quite well for themselves. However, the economy that the middle class lives in is much more fragile. Income inequality? Point fingers at the Fed. Economic booms & busts? Again, the Fed is the culprit. Rising prices? The Fed. Central planning doesn't work."
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/ron-paul-on-cnbc-thanks-to-the-fed-the-economy-is-in-bad-shape
U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
What did Fed Chairman Yellen Tell Obama? Ron Paul, April 17, 2016
"The no-win situation the Fed finds itself in is a sign that we are reaching the inevitable collapse of the fiat currency system. Unless immediate steps are taken to manage the transition, this collapse could usher in an economic catastrophe dwarfing the Great Depression. Therefore, those of us who know the truth must redouble our efforts to spread the ideas of liberty." -- Ron Paul
https://www.facebook.com/ronpaul/photos/a.10150115112081686.277590.6233046685/10154641015416686/?type=3&theater
Why Donald Trump Must Shut Down the Federal Reserve and Start Issuing Debt-free Money
"If Donald Trump truly wants to fix the economy, he must shut down the Federal Reserve. If he just tries to patch up our current system, he will fail, because it has been fundamentally flawed from the very beginning. A little over a century ago, very powerful forces on Wall Street convinced Congress to completely restructure our financial system. An immensely powerful central bank known as the Federal Reserve was created, and the goal was to transform the U.S. dollar into a debt-based currency that would continuously be inflated and to create an endless debt spiral from which the federal government could never possibly escape. Sadly, they were successful on both counts. Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by approximately 98 percent and our national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger. Americans tend to give most of the credit or most of the blame for the performance of the U.S. economy to our presidents, but the truth is that an unelected, unaccountable group of central bankers has far more power over our economy than anyone else does. The Federal Reserve has become known as 'the fourth branch of government,' but unlike the other branches of government we are told that the Fed's decisions are 'above politics' because they are 'too important.' Fed officials fiercely guard their 'independence,' and they fiercely resist any 'interference' from Congress, the President, or the American people." -- Michael Snyder
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/why-donald-trump-must-shut-down-the-federal-reserve-and-start-issuing-debt-free-money
The righteousness of God is a prerequisite of true freedom, as explained briefly by John Calvin.
See The Institutes of the Christian Religion, (Battles translation, vol. 1), Book II, CHAPTER III.
Chapter III: Only Damnable Things Come Forth From Man's Corrupt Nature
(Corruption of man's nature is such as to require total renewal of his mind and will, 1-5)
1. The whole man is flesh
2. Romans, ch. 3 [Romans 3], as witness for man's corruption
3. God's grace sometimes restrains where it does not cleanse
4. Uprightness is God's gift; but man's nature remains corrupted
5. Man sins of necessity, but, without compulsion
(Conversion of the will is the effect of divine grace inwardly bestowed, 6-14)
6. Men's inability to do good manifests itself above all in the work of redemption, which God does quite alone
7. It is not a case of the believer's "co-operation" with grace; the will is first actuated through grace
8. Scripture imputes to God all that is for our benefit
9. The prayers in Scripture especially show how the beginning, continuation, and end of our blessedness come from God alone
10. God's activity does not produce a possibility that we can exhaust, but an actuality to which we cannot add
11. Perseverance is exclusively God's work; it is neither a reward nor a complement of our individual act
12. Man cannot ascribe to himself even one single good work apart from God's grace
13. Augustine also recognizes no independent activity of the human will
14. Augustine does not eliminate man's will, but makes it wholly dependent upon grace
See also the surrounding chapters.It is this author's contention that the modern churches have let go of this important piece of the faith [Christ's Kingship over the nations -- compiler], once for all delivered to the saints. Thereby they have delivered the church, not to kings as nursing fathers, but to the cruel civil domination of the enemies of the true religion, their sheep being taught that they must submit passively to every pretended civil authority as the ordinance of God. By this defection, these leaders of the flock have also undermined the magistracy, allowing and even encouraging wicked men to remove this blessed ordinance from its foundation in God its creator, and from its subjection to Christ His King, thereby directly opposing God's benevolent ends in instituting civil government: Thus have [they] made the commandment of God of none effect by [their] tradition. . . . teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:6,9). Furthermore, by their false teaching regarding civil government, they have made themselves guilty of the very sin of which we are often accused: opposing the ordinance of God. If this wasn't enough, however, consider that their sin is worse than that of the garden variety rebel, inasmuch as their opposition to God's institution is not so much practical as it is principal; and because of their position as teachers and guides of the flock of God. Be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. . . . For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. (James 3:1; 2 Cor. 13:8 [2 Corinthians 13:8]) -- Greg Price, Biblical Civil Government Verses the Beast, p. 64
A simple democracy is the devil's own government. -- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
If the people be governors, who shall be governed? -- John Cotton (1584-1652)
Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (Psalm 106:40-42)The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpIs leadership to blame for our problems?
Lack of individual responsibility (Individual Responsibility for Corporate Faithfulness and Sanctification) has a lot to do with the problems of individuals and nation today. (1 Samuel 12:13-15) Sometimes the truth hurts. We humans, with our fuzzy understanding of the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God (The Sovereignty of God) and The Doctrine of Man (Human Nature, Total Depravity) tend to shift blame (Scapegoating and Blameshifting) to leadership. Blinded to the broader perspective we tend to blame our leaders for our problems. We think the enemies of society are elected officials, civil servants, judges, lawyers, and business CEOs. Or we blame church leaders in the visible church who are not true to Christ. After all they repress and suppress the Truth and are instrumental in maintaining a famine of spiritual knowledge. We blame anyone who has usurped power and who is rebellious and idolatrous.
Viewed from a broader perspective, in the Old Testament our Heavenly Father entered into a covenant with us (The Ten Commandments: The Moral Law), (Covenant Theology and the Ordinance of Covenanting). And in the New Testament He has redeemed us by adopting us back into His family on the basis of the finished life and work of Christ (Book-length Presentations of the Free Offer of The Gospel Message of Salvation and the Life to Come: The Means of Grace). But when we as individuals turn our backs on Christ, when we fall into idolatry, then one of the ways He punishes us is to give us leaders like ourselves, who are rebellious and idolatrous. Notice He gives us exacting what we deserve. He gives us exactly what we have willed for ourselves by the lives we live (Psalm 106:40-43; 1 Samuel 12:14,15). Notice also that He is simply being faithful to his covenant with us (The Covenant Faithfulness of God).
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of individual members of society that restrains evil. In other words, in the final analysis it is individual hearts filled with the Holy Spirit that determines the leadership of a nation. We are redeemed and saved by our absolute sovereign God in his covenant faithfulness with us. The consequence is righteous leadership and a renewed and stabilized nation. Our prayer should be Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved (Psalm 80:3), (A Theological Interpretation of American History)All of history is under the sovereign control of God. And both the account in Scripture of ancient nations and current events prove that He is faithful to his covenant with us. So it may be said, from this broader perspective, that there are no problems. In fact, all the problems we experience as individuals and as a nation prove the same thing. They prove that His covenant faithfulness is sure (The Covenant Faithfulness of God), and His mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:40-43). Everything is guided by his providential (The Providence of God), hand, and everything that happens in history has meaning. There are no tragedies in God's world. God's mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:40-43).
Problems prove the infinite wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth of the Triune God. When we stray from our Heavenly Father, then He judges us and punishes us in order to draw us back to Himself. His chastisement should open our eyes, it should call us back to our senses, and it should point us again to His salvation and to His redemption through the Gospel. ("The Argument on the Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke" at "Book-length Presentations of the Free Offer of The Gospel Message of Salvation and the Life to Come: The Means of Grace"). The Gospel itself is evidence of His covenant faithfulness.
This is the witness of Scripture, the Gospel, history, and current events. (A Theological Interpretation of American History).
Therefore, we should take heed of His word and just punishment of individuals and nations in ancient times and today. We should view leadership that is rebellious and idolatrous as a punishment from God for our own rebellion and idolatry. Consequently, we should fear Him, heed His word, and strive faithfully in loving obedience to serve Him all the days of our lives, so that having finished this life we may partake of the blessed rest prepared for us in eternity by His Only Begotten Son.If citizens have arms, then they can easily be mobilized by lower magistrates (like Sheriffs) if need be -- for their common defense. The first constitutional justification for the 2nd Amendment involves self-defense from the tyrannical state. I'm not a radical for knowing and supporting that rationale.
Melchizedek blessed Abraham for doing nothing less than this in Genesis 14:14-20. A clear case of self-defense -- perceived and executed. -- A Comment on Social Media
*Achbar, Mark, and Jennifer Abbott (directors), The Corporation (2004), DVD encoded Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only), Zeitgeist Video DVD; April 5, 2005. Run Time: 145.
"This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit.
"The Corporation" was spawned from Joel Bakan's in depth book, THE CORPORATION: A PATHOLOGICAL PURSUIT OF PROFIT AND POWER (See annotation above). The film and book begins in the 18th century, in the establishment of the 14th Amendment. Initially the 14th Amendment was designed after the Civil War to give ex-slaves' legal rights, like any other citizen of the United States, but through a maze of legal precedents, the business corporation organization model was now deemed a 'legal person' with all the civil rights accorded to a citizen. This highly absurd precedent has paved the way for corporations to literally get away with murder, because a 'corporation' is not an individual that you can put in jail. In effect, a corporation has no moral or social obligations; their only obligation is the pursuit of profit. This film offers numerous examples of unethical practices resulting in death for many people, and because of their [corporations] status under the 14th Amendment, and endless legal loopholes, [they] have gotten away with terrible crimes against humanity and the environment with no more than a fine, a mere slap on the wrist.
"As the law treats corporations as 'persons,' Bakan thought it appropriate to put the various behaviors of these companies under psychological examination. What this psychological study illustrated is that corporations, as 'persons' behave and display the symptoms of the clinical psychopath. A psychopath typically does not have a social conscience, is guilt free after committing heinous acts, and will destroy anything or anybody that prevents them from attaining the object of their particular obsession -- in this case, the relentless pursuit of profit.
"This documentary took several years to produce with over 650 hours of footage directors, Jennifer Abbot and Mark Achbar, had to chisel down this amazing amount of material into a comprehensible film. What is most astounding is the range of people interviewed for this film, that argue from all sides of the 'corporation issue:' Ira Jackson, Ray Anderson -- CEO of Interface, the world's largest carpet manufacturer; Noam Chomsky, Richard Grossman, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Milton Freidman, Noble Prize winning economist; Jeremy Rifkin, President, Foundation of Economic Trends; Dr. Robert Hare, Consultant to the FBI on psychopaths, and many more individuals from all sides of the debate.
"When Bakan wrote his book and then collaborated with Mark Achbar to produce this film, what they did not want was the film to appear as just some left-wing diatribe, attacking the corporations, but to illustrate to people how the corporation began, how they have evolved and what they could well turn into if the people do not become involved in the democratic process, ensuring our governments take back the reigns of power.
"After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line.
"I believe this is one of the best and most important documentary films to be made in many years. This work is an "exposé of legal tyranny." -- C. Middleton
"An epic in length and breadth, this documentary aims at nothing less than a full-scale portrait of the most dominant institution on the planet Earth in our lifetime -- a phenomenon all the more remarkable, if not downright frightening, when you consider that the corporation as we know it has been around for only about 150 years. It used to be that corporations were, by definition, short-lived and finite in agenda. If a town needed a bridge built, a corporation was set up to finance and complete the project; when the bridge was an accomplished fact, the corporation ceased to be. Then came the 19th-century robber barons, and the courts were prevailed upon to define corporations not as get-the-job-done mechanisms but as persons under the 14th Amendment with full civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (i.e., power and profit) -- ad infinitum.
"The Corporation defines this endlessly mutating life-form in exhaustive detail, measuring the many ways it has not only come to dominate but to deform our reality. The movie [Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott], performs a running psychoanalysis of this entity with the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath: a callous unconcern for the feelings and safety of others, an incapacity to experience guilt, an ingrained habit of lying for profit, etc. We are swept away on a demented odyssey through an altered cosmos, in which artificial chemicals are created for profit and incidentally contribute to a cancer epidemic; in which the folks who brought us Agent Orange devise a milk-increasing drug for a world in which there is already a glut of milk; in which an American computer company leased its systems to the Nazis -- and serviced them on a monthly basis -- so that the Holocaust could go forward as an orderly process. . . ." -- Richard T. Jameson
The Corporation
Website for the documentary movie and DVD, "The Corporation."
http://www.thecorporation.com/
Anderson, Sarah, Sara Grusky, Food and Water Watch (Organization), Institute for Policy Studies, Challenging Corporate Investor Rule: How the World Bank's Investment Court, Free Trade Agreements, and Bilateral Investment Treaties Have Unleashed a New Era of Corporate Power and What to do About it.
*Bakan, Joel, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, ISBN: 9780743247467 0743247469.
"Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world's dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.
"In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character, and globalization of the modern business corporation, Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:
*Bastiat, Frederic (1801-1850), The Law. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language.
"Full of truths that are not merely relevant, but are absolutely vital to our future." -- Dick Armey
"If ever there was a concise and powerful argument for defending Liberty and the Law against every social engineer, this has to be it (only 75 pages!). Bastiat is a master of words and the analogy. Every lover of freedom who wishes to get a nutshell understanding of why Liberty and Law matters ought to read this book. . . ." -- Reader's Comment
The Law, by Frederic Bastiat (part 1 of 10)
"The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! " -- Frederic Bastiat, from the Introduction
The Law, Frederic Bastiat
http://archive.org/details/law00fredguat
*Bovard, James, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, ISBN: 0312123337 9780312123338.
"A scathing examination of the current state of American society and a exposé of how the government is seizing property, suppressing free speech, and subjugating the citizenry. An entertaining and outrageous analysis of America's eroding rights from the author of THE FAIR TRADE FRAUD. -- Publisher
"Remarkable . . . Mr. Bovard's unrivaled research has resulted in a virtual encyclopedia of modern government abuse." -- The Wall Street Journal
"A gold mine . . . a virtually bottomless pit of government incompetence, dishonesty or outright repression at all levels." -- The Washington Times
*Callahan, David, The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to get Ahead, ISBN: 0156030055 9780156030052.
"While there have always been those who cut corners, the author shows that cheating on every level -- from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud -- has risen dramatically in the last two decades. Why all the cheating? Why now? Callahan pins the blame on the dog-eat-dog economic climate of the past two decades. An unfettered market and unprecedented economic inequality have corroded our values, he argues -- and ultimately threaten the level playing field so central to American democracy itself. Through revealing interviews and extensive data, he takes us on a gripping tour of cheating in America and offers a powerful argument for why it matters.
"David Callahan is cofounder and director of research at the public policy center Demos. The author of five books, he has published articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and has been a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He received a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and lives in New York City." -- Publisher
"I recommend that this book be read together with John Perkins, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN and William Greider's, THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: OPENING PATHS TO A MORAL ECONOMY. As a pre-amble, I would note that a Nobel Prize was given in the late 1990's to a man that demonstrates that trust lowers the cost of doing business. Morality matters -- immorality imposes a pervasive sustained, insidious, long-term, and ultimately fatal cost on any community, any Republic, and that is the core message of this book that most reviewers seem to be missing.
"Any student of national security can tell you that one of the most important sources of national power is the population, followed by the economy, natural resources, and then the more traditional sources of national power: diplomacy, military, law enforcement, and government policies generally.
"What this author makes clear is that our population has become a cheating population, one that cheats in school, cheats their employer, and cheats their clients (lawyers, accountants, doctors, all cheating). Such a population is literally undermining national security by creating false values, and undermining true values. Some simple examples: an estimated $250 Billion a year in individual tax avoidance; an estimated $600 Billion a year in theft from employers; an estimated $250 Billion a year in legalized corporate tax avoidance and investor fraud; and an additional $250 Billion a year in legalized theft form the individual taxpayers through Congressional support for unnecessary and ill-advised 'subsidies' for agriculture, fishing, and forestry, as well as waivers of environmental standards that ultimately result in long-term external diseconomies . . .
"At root, the author observes that pervasive cheating ensues from the perception by the majority that 'everyone does it' and that the rules are not being enforced -- that 'the system' lacks legitimacy. In other countries, illegitimacy might lead to revolution, a revolt of the masses. In the USA, still a very rich country, the poor are cheating on the margins while the rich are looting the country, and we are not yet at a 'tipping point' [this book was written before the Meltdown of 2008 -- compiler], such as a new Great Depression might inspire. . . .
"Cheating diminishes trust and reduces value. America has become corrupt across all the professions, within Congress, within the media, within the political level of government (the civil service remains a bastion of propriety).
"What price freedom? What price the Republic? You may or may not choose to agree with this author's diagnosis and prescription, but in my view, he gets to the heart of the matter. It's about integrity. We've lost it. [Callahan's solutions come from a liberal, humanistic position, nevertheless the bulk of the book is an extensive analysis of cheating in society that is well documented -- 32 pages of endnotes -- and should be enlightening to most readers. -- compiler]
"See also, with reviews: THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: HOW THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDERMINED SOCIAL IDEALS, DAMAGED TRUST IN THE MARKETS, ROBBED INVESTORS OF TRILLIONS -- AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT; THE FIFTY-YEAR WOUND: HOW AMERICA'S COLD WAR VICTORY HAS SHAPED OUR WORLD; THE GLOBAL CLASS WAR: HOW AMERICA'S BIPARTISAN ELITE LOST OUR FUTURE -- AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO WIN IT BACK; WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: HOW THE GOVERNMENT, BIG BUSINESS, AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ARE WAGING WAR ON THE AMERICAN DREAM AND HOW TO FIGHT BACK; THE WORKING POOR: INVISIBLE IN AMERICA; and OFF THE BOOKS: THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY OF THE URBAN POOR." -- Reader's Comment
*Coleman, John, Diplomacy by Deception, ISBN: 0964010488 9780964010482.
"True and accurate account of the treasonous conduct by the British and American governments. An account of how their citizens are deceived by policies provoking actions that are totally detrimental to the well-being of their citizens.
"Thoroughly research, the book provides unpublished information on the gulf war and the Bolshevik Revolution. The chapter on covert actions throws new light on the murder of Martin Luther King, Pope John Paul, and other notables marked for elimination.
"The bloodshed that resulted from the creation of an artificial 'Saudi Arabia;' the foreign policy making role of the petroleum industry; the rape of Mexico by British and American oil barons; the revolutions they ignited which cost thousands upon thousands of lives; British conquest of India, the pernicious Indian 'apartheid' caste system. These are some of the subjects dealt with in this historic exposé of how our governments deceive us under the color of diplomacy.
"DIPLOMACY BY DECEPTION tells us that the United Nations is a war-making body, not a peace-keeping organization, and how the Rockefellers and Alger Hiss, aided by the top Illuminati Dulles family, got the United States involved with the United Nations. There is a masterly analysis of constitutional roadblocks barring U.S. membership of the United Nations that will come as a surprise and leave no doubt that we are not now, nor can we ever be, a member of the United Nations.
"DIPLOMACY BY DECEPTION will forever alter your perception of the two leading governments in Western civilization. This is an excellent companion book to the COMMITTEE OF 300 by the same author." -- Publisher
Derber, Charles, Regime Change Begins at Home: Freeing America From Corporate Rule, ISBN: 1576752925 9781576752920.
*Faria, Miguel A., America, Guns, and Freedom: A Journey Into Politics and the Public Health and Gun Control Movements, ISBN: 9781643072173 164307217X.
"AMERICA, GUNS, AND FREEDOM outlines why the Second Amendment and armed self-defense are still needed in modern society, debunks the arguments that the U.S. should follow the path of European social democracies by enforcing draconian gun control, and expounds on how civilian disarmament in Australia and Great Britain, despite media hype, has not decreased violent crime in those countries. In AMERICA, GUNS, AND FREEDOM, the author warns us of the five essential ingredients required for the creation and sustenance of tyrannical governments, one of which has been civilian disarmament via gun registration followed by gun bans and confiscation. Faria discusses mass shooting incidents and the role of mental illness. Special attention is given to the problem of how media sensationalism may encourage deranged individuals and madmen to become mass shooters seeking celebrity status, even in death. While gun control advocates decry America's 'gun culture,' Faria informs us of the significant role that this 'gun culture' played in saving England during World War II. American traditions have been and remain beacons of liberty, and this is most evident in AMERICA, GUNS, AND FREEDOM. Totalitarian governments that deny their citizens the right to keep and bear arms are a threat to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness." -- Amazon.com
*Galbraith, James, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and why Liberals Should too, ISBN: 141656683X 9781416566830.
"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else), for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)
"The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.
"Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a 'corporate republic,' bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.
"Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to 'make markets work'? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?
"The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.
"A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, THE PREDATOR STATE will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive." -- Publisher
"James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope The Predator State stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now." -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
*Goodman, Christopher (1520-1603), How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects: And Wherein They may Lawfully by God's Word be Disobeyed and Resisted, 1558. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (in the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY), on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26. Available on Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library.
"From 1555 to 1558, Christopher Goodman served as co-pastor, with John Knox, of the congregation of English exiles in Geneva. During the course of his ministry, Goodman preached upon Acts 4:19 and 5:29: Whether it be right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, judge ye. We ought rather to obey God than men. At the request of his brethren, Goodman subsequently published an expanded version of his exposition, HOW SUPERIOR POWERS OUGHT TO BE OBEYED OF THEIR SUBJECTS: AND WHEREIN THEY MAY LAWFULLY BY GOD'S WORD BE DISOBEYED AND RESISTED. WHEREIN ALSO IS DECLARED THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS PRESENT MISERY IN ENGLAND, AND THE ONLY WAY TO REMEDY THE SAME. In this book, Goodman contends against both ecclesiastical and political tyranny.
"This new edition of SUPERIOR POWERS includes a scripture index, a subject index, a biographical essay on the life of Christopher Goodman, and the original foreword by William Whittingham." -- Publisher from Library of Presbyterian Heritage Publications and Protestant Heritage Press CD-ROM Library
"Very rare. One of the dozen most important political writings appearing in English in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Together with THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET and THE APPELLATION (retitled REFORMATION, REVOLUTION AND ROMANISM in this catalogue), by John Knox, and Ponet's TREATISE OF POLITIQUE POWER, this book marks the first definite shift of opinion under the pressure of religion, away from the doctrine of almost unlimited obedience which characterized the political thought of the first half of the century laying the foundation for future ideas about civil disobedience. In that day, a proclamation of Philip and Mary had decreed the death of a rebel for anyone found in possession of the book." -- Publisher
How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed of Their Subjects
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/goodman/obeyed.htm
Gray, Andrew (1633-1656), The Duty and the Liberty of a Christian Church: Asserted Against Popery, Puseyism and Erastianism, ISBN: 1113347295 9781113347299.
Greenwald, Robert (director), Wal-Mart -- The High Cost of Low Price, DVD, a documentary.
"Plot Synopsis: This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
"Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?
" 'WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price' takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel . . . and shop." -- Publisher
"A powerful documentary that contrasts the public persona of Wal-Mart with the human toll of their behind-the-scenes business practices. Deeply personal vignettes from small business owners, Wal-Mart managers, workers, attorneys and environmentalists review the tragic consequences of one of the world's largest, most venal corporations running amok on rural America -- subsidized by our own tax dollars. This is a movie was Wal-Mart does NOT want you to see -- so tell all your friends!" -- Viewer's Comment
*Hightower, Jim, Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen our Country -- And its Time to Take it Back, ISBN: 0670031410 9780670031412.
"Hightower defines 'Kleptocrat Nation' as 'a body of people ruled by thieves . . . a government characterized by the practice of transferring money and power from the many to the few . . . [and] a ruling class of moneyed elites that usurps liberty, justice, sovereignty, and other, democratic rights from the people.' His catalogue of corporate greed and governmental complicity is breathtaking in scope, and though he admits that the fusion of business and government is not new, he persuasively states that 'never have so few done so much for so few.' Unfortunately, Hightower's serious message is delivered in such a 'down home' style, it may lose its impact on the more brainy among us. Also, one wishes there were more documentation for the copious examples and facts in the book. Still, Hightower's call to action is sincere, and his descriptions of the triumphs of average people over corporate power might give some fledgling activists some hope. THIEVES IN HIGH PLACES urges Americans to reclaim control of our government -- Hightower thinks we can with community organization and grass-roots movements. However, judging from his description of the current power structure, we are going to need all the help we can get." -- Silvana Trop
"While he covers much that is available in the public domain, he covers in a comprehensive way the whole set of misdeeds perpetrated by Walmart on its employees and those who make its products. You will come away wanting to do something about the behavior of the world's largest corporation after reading it. That alone is worth the price of the book." -- Reader's Comment
*Joseph, R. Gabriel (editor), America Betrayed: Bush, Bin Laden, 9/11 . . . AIDs, Anthrax, Iraq . . . , ISBN: 0971644578 9780971644571.
"Prescott Bush and Rockefeller's Standard Oil had been in business with the Hitler regime and the Nazis since 1933, and in 1942, three Bush businesses were seized by the U.S. government, for violation of the Trading With the Enemies Act.
"Three generations of the Bush clan became members of a German secret society: the Yale chapter of the 'Order of Skull and Bones.' In Germany, the 'Order of Skull of Bones' -- also known as 'The Brotherhood of Death' -- gave rise to Hitler and the dreaded SS. Prescott Bush, through his shipping company, became a special 'Friend' of Himmler's SS -- the same SS which, in conjunction with IG Farbin, ran the concentration and slave labor camps.
"The Bush clan and Rockefeller's Standard Oil, were in business with IG Farbin, as well as with the Saudis who had also partnered with Hitler.
"At the conclusion of WWII, and Germany's defeat, thousands of high ranking Nazis and SS agents were recruited, by Bush-Rockefeller lawyer, Allen Dulles, into what would later become the CIA. Allen Dulles, and later, George Bush, would become directors of the CIA . . .
"IG Farbin, a consortium of companies that included Bayer, conducted horrible experiments on concentration camp inmates to discover an 'ethnic biological weapon' -- a deadly disease that would target specific ethnic groups . . . Drs. funded by the Rockefeller Foundation directed this research.
"In 1957, a scientist who completed his medical training in Nazi-occupied Poland, and who was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, injected 300,000 Central African men, women, and children, with an experimental polio vaccine -- a vaccine that contained a deadly AIDS-like virus, monkey HSIV. Years later, Central Africa would become 'Ground Zero' for the AIDS/HIV epidemic . . .
"Three generations of the Bush clan have been in business with governments and people who kill Americans, and on the morning of 9-11-2001, Bush Sr. was in business with the bin Ladens and other Saudi who had helped fund Osama bin Laden and the attack of 9-11-2001 . . .
"The attack of 9-11, would transform an inept, seemingly incompetent president into a war time leader who would attack not Saudi Arabia but Iraq and then steal its oil . . . as well as attack American Civil Liberties and the U.S. constitution . . .
" 'Key FBI Headquarters personnel had to be spies or moles . . . who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden. . . . Key FBI HQ personnel . . . continued to, almost inexplicably, throw up roadblocks and undermine Minneapolis' desperate efforts . . . to stop terrorists. . . .' who planned 'to take control of a plane and fly it into the World Trade Center.' -- FBI supervisor, and Coleen M. Rowley, FBI Special Agent and Chief Division Counsel. . . . and it goes on and on . . . .
"In researching and writing this book, we relied on numerous sources, including those within the intelligence community. Prior to and after 9-11, hundreds of pages of secret documents were provided, including reports written by the FBI. However, rather than asking the reader to accept the word of 'confidential sources,' Dr. Joseph and his research team have sought out and he has cited corroborating evidence that is either part of the public record, or buried within government files that can only be accessed with the help of the Freedom of Information Act. Every chapter in this book is extensively referenced.
"Much of the information in this book was obtained prior to 9-11-2001. We at University Press, had been working on an academically oriented text, called: TERRORISM, FUTURE WARS AGAINST AMERICA. Based on the data collected, Dr. Joseph began predicting, in the weeks prior to 9-11, that we could expect a major terrorist attack on New York or Washington before the end of 2001.
"Because we at University Press had so much advanced information related to 9-11, we hired several New York journalists, and were able to publish, within 30 days of this tragedy, a rather extensive account of what led up to 9-11 as well as what transpired on that horrible day. Indeed, long before the mass media found out, we obtained and provided details on the Zacarias Moussaoui case and the inexplicable behavior of top FBI and CIA officials who failed to heed the warnings of lower level FBI agents. We also detailed how the CIA and FBI allowed Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi to enter and move about freely in the U.S., despite their connections to al-Qaeda. Indeed, this material appeared in our book, AMERICA ATTACKED, which was published on October 11, 2001 -- 30 days after 9-11. Six months later, the American mass media and the joint Congressional committee examining the so called intelligence failures leading up to 9-11, confirmed our reports.
"We beat the media again in March of 2002, when we published the book, JOHN WALKER LINDH, AMERICAN TALIBAN, and revealed that John Walker Lindh was 'gay' and that he may have been seduced and recruited by an older man, who we named. Six months later, our observations were confirmed by Time magazine.
"Yet another source of information that found its way into this current book, was the research conducted on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. This research was for a future book, and a future documentary film, titled: HITLER'S DIARIES. We learned, a long time ago, that the Bush family fortune traces its roots to Hitler's Germany. Doing business with murderers, terrorists, and the enemies of America, seems to be a Bush family tradition." -- Publisher
*Kennedy, Walter Donald, Myths of American Slavery, ISBN: 1589800478 9781589800472.
"I agree. The Civil War created the foundation for the New Slavery, called Federal Slavery. Modern American slaves are victims to more confiscation than 19th century slaves.
"I do not agree with all author Kennedy's points. Slavery was certainly a partial cause shown by reading Jefferson Davis's first inaugural speech in the 'new' confederate union. It had slavery all over it. But, agreed, the primary cause was taxation, likewise with most wars. The history of the world is one group living off the labor of another. I love how Kennedy speaks the truth here.
"Even today, we are forced to choose between being a slave or a master. Parents, teach your children not to be the slave. Books like this give profound historical insight. The game never ends.
"This book further highlights that the master and slave relationship has not, and will not go away until people, black and white, have the courage to leave the modern Federal plantation. When forced, like in the USA, choose the master but embrace liberty. Great book!" -- Reader's Comment
*Knox, John (1505-1572), and Kevin Reed (editor), The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment [Government], of Women, with the "Summary of the Second Blast" appended (Dallas, TX [Presbyterian Heritage Publications, P.O. Box 180922, 75218-0922]: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1993), trade paperback, 96 pages, marginal notes, scripture index, and subject index. This edition appears in three additional formats: SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN KNOX: PUBLIC EPISTLES, TREATISES, AND EXPOSITIONS TO THE YEAR 1559, pp. 370-436, the LIBRARY OF PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE PUBLICATIONS AND PROTESTANT HERITAGE PRESS CD-ROM LIBRARY, and e-text that includes the marginal notes as endnotes, but does not include the scripture index, and subject index. Citations for these three additional formats are listed below.
"The text of this edition is based on the definitive edition of THE WORKS OF JOHN KNOX, edited by David Laing (Edinburgh, 1895).
"In this controversial work, John Knox contends that 'to promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, contumely [insult], to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice'." -- Publisher
Subheading used in this edition:
To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature . . . A thing most contrary to His revealed will and approved ordinance. -- John Knox"The 16th century reformer John Knox wrote his famous tract THE FIRST BLAST OF THE TRUMPET AGAINST THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN to oppose a notorious European female tyrant who sought to stamp out biblical Christianity in his beloved Scotland.
*McClellan, Scott, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, ISBN: 9781586485566 1586485563.
"Scott McClellan was one of a few Bush loyalists from Texas who became part of his inner circle of trusted advisers, and remained so during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Drawn to Bush by his commitment to compassionate conservatism and strong bipartisan leadership, McClellan served the president for more than seven years, and witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course.
"In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington's bitter partisanship, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides. Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.
"Scott McClellan served as White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006. Before that he served as the principal deputy White House press secretary and as traveling press secretary for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. Earlier in his career, Mr. McClellan served as deputy communications director in the Texas governor's office and campaign manager for three successful statewide campaigns. He is now a senior adviser to a global technology firm and communications strategist. Born in Austin, Texas, he now lives near Washington, D.C." -- Publisher
"It was as certain as heat in a Texas summer that Bush's chokehold on those who know the ugly truth about his administration would not last forever. We are finally realizing as a nation how badly Bush's criminally incompetent, arrogant, dishonest presidency has come to destroying our prosperity and our very way of life. The fact that gas will surely hit $6-$8 in the near future is only the tip of the iceberg. The price crunch was inevitable, but predictable, and Bush wasted 7 1/2 years on policies based on the assumption that oil would forever be cheap and plentiful. We've only begun to experience the consequences of this single major blunder. The biggest Bush legacies will be a trillion-dollar pointless and endless "war," and the crippling effects that two terms without a realistic energy policy has only begun to bring.
"Those who continue to ignore reality and dismiss McClellan as an opportunist need to rethink the meaning of patriotism: Country and government are NOT the same. Opposing and exposing bad government is a DUTY of patriotism. If anything, McLellan should have written the book much sooner. Yes, he'll make millions, but so what? It's the American way.
"I can't wait to see what General Colin Powell has to say about the Bush administration's inner workings. At least he had the decency to quit after one term, which is a big clue that he smelled rats all around. I bring up Powell because to those who would dismiss my comments as partisan, I can honestly say I would have loved to see Powell run for President. At this point, I'd settle for HIS version of the disaster that was the Bush administration." -- Reader's Comment
"Here are a few of his observations:
"Simply put -- Bush looted the community chest and killed thousands in the process. Convicting him of multiple felonies, rather than being a national shame, would be a first step in restoring our global credibility. -- Reader's CommentBush believes his own spin (better known as bulls**t), and demonstrates a remarkable lack of inquisitiveness.
Bush favored propaganda over honesty in selling the war, leading us down the primrose path.
Cheney steered war policy behind the scenes, leaving no fingerprints.
Bush and his team repeatedly shaded the truth, manipulated public opinion, and sold the Iraq situation in such a way that the use of force appeared to be the only feasible option.
Contradictory evidence was ignored or discarded, caveats or qualifications to arguments were downplayed or dropped, and a dubious al-Qaida connection to Iraq was played up.
The Bush administration didn't check their political maneuverings in at the door after the win -- instead, they maintained a permanent campaign mode, run largely by Rove.
Presidential initiatives from health care programs to foreign invasions were regularly devised, named, timed and launched with one eye (or both eyes), on the electoral calendar.
Operating in the campaign mode means never explaining, never apologizing, never retreating. Unfortunately, that strategy also means never reflecting, never reconsidering, never compromising.
Bush is out of touch, operates in a political bubble, and stubbornly refuses to admit mistakes.
The press is partially responsible for giving Bush soft questions and enabling the president." -- Reader's Comment
Mitchell, Stacy, Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses, ISBN: 0807035009 9780807035009.
"An expert's in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailers -- and what communities and independent businesses can do.
"A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight.
"Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement.
"Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Walmart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities comprised of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.
"More than a critique, THE BIG BOX SWINDLE draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approaches -- from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives -- that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future." -- Publisher
"The author of this book has gone way past good authorship -- the business reporting in this book has achieved meme status and BIG BOX SWINDLE is now a term that leads to all sorts of interesting findings when one searches the web and the literature.
"I recommend the other book listed above [other reader comments in Amazon.com], as part of the literature on 'True Cost,' a meme that is resonating with the public much more than is 'inconvenient truth.' True cost covers water (4000 liters in a T-Shirt), fuel (hundreds of gallons to move Walmart toys from China), sweatshop and child labor (Walmart again), and tax avoidance as well as convictions for breaking various laws.
"Although they do not appear in the list above, I recommend the varied books on Walmart, especially the one focusing on the high cost of low price.
"This author and the literature surrounding this author will shortly be matched by a point of sale ability for buyers to photograph any bar code, send it to Amazon or other sources, and get back the 'True Cost' as well as comparable prices and alternative purchase suggestions.
"This book could represent a turning point in the public mind, and is therefore of considerable importance to how we choose to react to its findings so that our children and grandchildren are not swindled -- however, and the author would among the first to agree, it is not enough that we eradicate these unethical companies; we must also educate our future generations so that they do not lose sight of the 'True Cost' of the 'Big Box Swindle.' -- Reader's Comment
"If one or more of the big box stores have set up shop in your town, chances are that they are the beneficiary of one or quite possibly several government handouts. Since the mid 1950's federal, state and local governments have devised a plethora of ill-conceived programs designed to benefit retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, Target and Lowe's, all to the detriment of locally owned and operated independent retailers. These giveaway programs take many forms. There are property tax breaks, sales tax rebates, low interest loans, infrastructure and site improvements, free or reduced price land, job training credits etc. etc. etc. In BIG BOX SWINDLE author Stacy Mitchell tries to alert a largely unsuspecting public to the tactics and schemes used by these major chains to try to extort money from the rest of us. This is an important subject with far-reaching implications that most folks are simply unaware of.
"To get a quick overview of the subject at hand it might be best to immediately turn to page 211 of BIG BOX SWINDLE. There you will find a graphic depicting the average sizes of various stores. It should then become quite clear to you just how serious the problem posed by these mega-retailers really is. As we can all see by simple observation, there is a gross overcapacity of retail space in this country. Fueled by dubious tax policies that benefit developers and new construction only, retailers like Walmart, Home Depot and Target have been gobbling up precious open spaces at an alarming rate for decades to accommodate their mammoth stores. And as Stacy Mitchell correctly points out there are all sorts of costs that a city or town must incur when a big box retailer comes to town. Local businesses lay off employees or fold while downtown areas become abandoned and blighted. And as the big chains proliferate there is also the loss of genuine community that exists when we meet and greet our neighbors in the local coffee shop or hardware store. Local charities suffer as well when locally based businesses are replaced by the big chains whose home office may be 2000 miles away. These stores have very little interest in anything but maximizing profits.
"BIG BOX SWINDLE does an outstanding job of educating the reader to most of these important issues. Stacy Mitchell also introduces us to a number of people and organizations around the country who have devised strategies to successfully fight off big box retailers from invading and destroying their towns. Surely, there is a lot of stake for all of us here. If you are not familiar with these issues then BIG BOX SWINDLE would be a great way to get up to speed. Recommended." -- Reader's Comment
"If you think the big boxes help the working man and woman, you really need to read this book. Mitchell details the drop in wages and living standards throughout the affected areas, loss of support for local development, increase in abandoned buildings and water pollution, and the blackmail of civic leaders. As for the prices, she illustrates that prices do not stay low once the competition has been dealt with. I really appreciate the variety of ways she measures community, e.g. Costco rates well for putting money into an area through good wages but poorly for its failure to offer local products." -- Reader's Comment
*Mullins, Eustace Clarence, Secrets of the Federal Reserve: The London Connection, ISBN: 9992967595.
"The greatest financial monopoly the world has ever known, is also responsible for worldwide moral decay, world wars, financial panics and revolutions." -- Eustace Mullins
"As an attorney I was impressed with the documentation by the author of the history of the development of the Federal Reserve. My undergraduate degree 25 years ago was in economics and I had to read much further to truly understand how our monetary system was unnecessarily based upon debt. Debt is bondage and central banks as the heart of fractional reserve banking hold the key to control of the world. If you do not believe this look at the policies of the IMF and realize that economic imperialism through central banking essentially controls the world today. A great companion book to read is THE CREATURE FROM JEKYELL ISLAND which explains our monetary system in more depth, and the video "Capital Crimes" is an excellent four hour treatise on the history of central banking beginning with the money changers in the temple whom Christ confronted and ending with a brilliant plan to gradually increase bank reserves while issuing Constitutional 'money' such that banks become mere vaults and the Federal Reserve is put to rest." -- Reader's Comment
*Nace, Ted, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, ISBN: 1576752607 9781576752609.
"Surpassing even the State and the Church, the corporation has become the core institution of the modern world, exercising might and muscle without regard to the often destructive effects on individuals, the environment, society, and the world. How did this happen? In this compelling expose, noted entrepreneur and activist Ted Nace scrutinizes the legal framework of the corporation and untangles questions about how and why the corporation evolved as it did. Nace traces the evolution of this institution through the behind-the-scenes figures who shaped it, including Thomas Scott, an obscure genius who invented the holding company; Stephen Field, the Supreme Court judge who developed corporate personhood rights; and many others. Including the latest research by historians, sociologists, political scientists, and legal scholars, this book is a dramatic narrative, an invaluable reference, and a blueprint for regaining control before it's too late." -- Publisher
"Corporations aren't like us. Since their powers are determined by the framework of laws, it is possible to engineer them with all sorts of qualities, including some attributes outside the realm of human possibility. In theory, that programming can go either way: Society can make corporations stronger by removing restraints and adding new legal powers, or weaker by doing the reverse. The key lesson is this: corporations are only as powerful as they are legally designed to be.
"As described in the previous chapters, the engineers of the American political system deliberately created a framework of laws to keep corporations politically weak. That framework was subsequently undermined by the ingenious maneuvers of Tom Scott and other businessmen, lawyers, and sympathetic legislators." -- Publishers Weekly
"Nace nurtured Peachpit Press from a home-based operation, writing and publishing computer guides, to a business worthy of acquisition by the Pearson conglomerate. The experience inspired him to study the nature of corporate power. He offers a breezy summary of the legal history surrounding the formation of corporations and the parameters of their power, putting an anti-corporate spin on the American Revolution and discussing how the early republic limited corporate power by enabling state governments to issue restrictive charters. But the tight controls didn't remain in place: after the Supreme Court's decision in an 1886 case involving the Santa Clara Railroad, corporations were assumed to be the legal equivalent of people entitled to equal protection under the law and, in subsequent cases, were guaranteed a growing range of constitutional rights. One of Nace's central arguments is that Santa Clara doesn't mean what everybody thinks it means: the original decision doesn't take any stand on whether corporations have constitutional rights; the question comes up in a subsequent version of the decision, but the Chief Justice acts as if it had been resolved in earlier decisions. Although Nace blames the Court's reporter for the shift in emphasis, he illustrates how another justice, Stephen Field, was already buttressing politicians' and financial titans' efforts to eliminate all restraints on corporate power, making their legal supremacy inevitable. Later chapters examine how corporations continue to wield their influence to prevent the government from regulating them too closely, but while the book offers plenty of details about the problem's existence and deftly introduces it, it offers little more than generalities about where to go from there." -- Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gangs of America
http://www.gangsofamerica.com/7.html
*North, Gary, Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution, an e-book.
"In addition to primary sources, North relies on the work of the most well respected members of the historical community -- Bailyn, Wood, Mcdonald, Gaustad, Boller, Koch, Adair, and Rakove to name a few.
"The thesis of the book is that the key U.S. Founders -- the ones who pushed through the ideas upon which America declared independence and then constructed the Constitution -- were secret theological unitarians, whose heterodox religious creed inspired them to found American government upon the notion of religious neutrality, and consequently break the tradition of covenanting with the Triune Christian God. His book focuses on Article VI Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution (no religious tests) as the device for achieving secular government.
"From what I have researched, North is correct in his essential claim. Other scholars have noted something similar. For instance, in this post I noted Thomas Pangle and Cushing Stout, whose work North cites, concluding that there is a connection between the U.S. Constitution's benign approach to religion and the key Founders' enlightened and benign personal religious creed. Indeed, one could argue, as does Dr. Gregg Frazer, that the Founders' unitarianism or theistic rationalism was the political theology of the American Founding.
"Ideas have consequences and it was these heterodox unitarian ideas, not orthodox Christianity, that drove the U.S. Founding's approach to religion and government. However, such heterodoxy or heresy wasn't a popular creed, but rather was disproportionately believed in by the elite Whigs. Whatever the religion of a majority of the U.S. population (either nominal Protestant Christianity, which itself can tend towards Deism, or orthodox Protestant Christianity), orthodox Churches held a great deal of institutional power. With such power, they had to essentially consent to the elite Whig's new plan on government. And they did. But not all of them, for instance, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (Covenanters) to whom North dedicates his book. From the very beginning they smelled a rat in Philadelphia.
"So the notion that there was a secret coup, a bait and switch as Michael Zuckert put it, to sell a Christian audience non-authentically Christian ideas is not new. James Renwick Willson was one of those covenanters who in 1832 made arguments very similar to North's. And he was burned in effigy for this sermon which called all of the Presidents from Washington to Jackson infidels and not more than unitarians. I think Willson got at the truth, but did so by shattering a sacred cow -- a social myth. The kernel of truth that David Barton et al. have is that many folks in the 19th century did believe in the Christian America social myth as a cultural prejudice. And many of their bogus, unconfirmed quotations source back to 19th century places that pushed this social myth.
"Now the non-respectable has become the respectable and secular scholars more or less agree with the claims of James Renwick Willson and Gary North that America didn't have an authentically orthodox Christian founding. . . ." -- Jonathan Rowe, June 8, 2008 (http://www.positiveliberty.com/2008/06/gary-norths-ebook.html)
Download a copy at:
Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
https://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, an article by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
Peters, Madison Clinton, The Masons as Makers of America: The True Story of The American Revolution, 80 pages.
It is said that George Washington became a Freemason at an early age, that his lieutenants during the American Revolution were Masons, and that Benjamin Franklin was able to solicit war support during a trip to France because of his Masonic connections among government officials there. It is claimed that a delegation of Masons, headed by President Washington, who was dressed in formal Masonic attire, including apron, laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Capitol and dedicated it as a "Temple of the People" were there would be government by the people and for the people.
Masonry attracted men who rejected the authority of the Church in favor of freedom of conscience and the rule of reason. Of course, both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution excluded the authority of the Triune God in favor of government by men who ignore the highest ethical standard known to mankind.
See: THE ANTI-MASONIC PARTY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1826-1843, and "The Anti-Masonic Party" a Wikipedia article.
Conspiracy in Philadelphia: The Origins of the U.S. Constitution
https://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf
Conspiracy in Philadelphia, an article by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north291.html
*Phillips, Kevin, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, ISBN: 0767905334 9780767905336.
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. His bestselling books, including THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY (1969) and THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990), have influenced presidential campaigns and changed the way America sees itself. Widely acknowledging Phillips as one of the nation's most perceptive thinkers, reviewers have called him a latter-day Nostradamus and our 'modern Thomas Paine.' Now, in the first major book of its kind since the 1930s, he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls 'the Second Gilded Age' at the turn of the twenty-first century.
"The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great riches are as vulnerable as they have ever been. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth -- how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.
"With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans -- from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders -- Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.
"Finally, WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines -- speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics -- signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century. In a time of national crisis, Phillips worries that the growing parallels suggest the tide may already be turning for us all." -- Publisher
Quinn, Bill, How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and the World and What you can do About it, ISBN: 1580082319 9781580082310.
"An updated and expanded continuation of detailed accounts of Wal-Mart's questionable business practices, their not-so-ethical tactics, and their expansion into the global market. Shows concerned citizens how to fight to keep Wal-Mart from invading their towns." -- Publisher
*Robbins, John (1949-2008), Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics, ISBN: 1891777157 9781891777158.
See, in particularly, the Foreword.
"The relationship between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism has been a subject of scholarly study for centuries. In this volume, John Robbins argues that political and economic freedom are the results of Biblical Christianity. Political freedom and capitalism arose in Northwestern Europe and North America after the Christian Reformation of the 16th century, and they are unique in world history. The nations and peoples that heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the Reformers quickly became free and prosperous on a scale previously unimaginable. Some historians and economists have denied any causal connection between Christianity, freedom, and capitalism, but they are able to deny this connection only by ignoring clear philosophical, economic, legal, sociological, and historical evidence demonstrating that Christianity is the source of capitalism.
"Dr. John W. Robbins attended Grove City College (A.B. 1969), and The Johns Hopkins University (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a Member of Congress, editor of The Freeman magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School." -- Publisher
"Table of Contents: Foreword | Politics | The Founder of Western Civilization | The Sine Qua Non of Enduring Freedom | Some Problems with Natural Law | The Political Philosophy of the Founding Fathers | The Bible and the Draft | The Messianic Character of American Foreign Policy | Truth and Foreign Policy | Compassionate Fascism | Conservatism: An Autopsy | Rightwing Radical Chic | The Reconstructionist Assault on Freedom | Roman Catholic Totalitarianism | The Relation of Church and State (Charles Hodge) | Abortion, the Christian, and the State | The Ethics and Economics of Health Care | The Chickens' Homecoming (John Whitehead) | The Coming Caesars (John Whitehead) | Rebuilding American Freedom in the Twenty-first Century | The Religious Wars of the Twenty-First Century | Economics: The Failure of Secular Economics | The Promise of Christian Economics | Teaching Economics from the Bible | The Neo-Evangelical Assault on Capitalism | The Reformed Assault on Capitalism | The Roman Catholic Assault on Capitalism | How Romanism Ruined America | Not Yours to Give (Edward Ellis) | Money, Freedom, and the Bible | The Case Against Indexation | Is Christianity Tied to Any Political or Economic System? | Ecology: The Abolition of Man | Scripture Index | Index | The Crisis of Our Time | Intellectual Ammunition."
Roberts, William L., D.D. (1798-1864), Submission to "the Powers That be" Scripturally Illustrated: A Discourse in Three Parts, 1828. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26.
Rothbard, Murray N., What has Government Done to our Money, ISBN: 0945466102 9780945466109.
"Rothbard's most famous monetary essay. It has appeared in multiple editions and influenced two generations of economists, investors, and businessmen. After presenting the basics of money and banking theory, he traces the decline of the dollar from the 18th century to the present, and provides lucid critiques of central banking, New Deal monetary policy, Nixonian fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. He also provides a blueprint for a return to a 100 percent reserve gold standard." -- Publisher
*Rushdoony, Rousas J. (1916-2001), The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy. Available through Exodus Books.
"The author deals with an age-old problem: the question of the one and the many and their relationship. As you might guess, the way one answers (or avoids), this question will affect views of justice, government, taxes, welfare, war, property, and freedom in general." -- GCB
See also: The Question of the One and the Many
http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrr9chc.html#onemany
Schaff, Philip (1819-1893), Church and State in the United States; or, The American Idea of Religious Liberty and its Practical Effects, ISBN: 0405040830 9780405040832.
"Distinctly unimpressed by this peculiar current in the stream of American culture, the immigrant theologian and church-state historian Philip Schaff commented that in the United States 'every theological vagabond and peddler may drive here his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure'." -- Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism as Related to the Present State of the Church
The social consequences of the "American Idea of Religious Liberty," can be likened to the "idea of permissiveness in child rearing" in the minds of unregenerate, indifferent parents. The result is rebellious children who have no respect for authority, and leave home early with no wisdom about how to live in a cold, cruel world, destined for self-destruction. See: Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, 'religious freedom,' and neutrality.
"This monograph, written during the centennial celebration of the United States Constitution, charts the historical relationship between church and state. Schaff writes from the unique position of a theologian and a historian who has lived on both sides of the Atlantic. Citing examples from Presidential addresses, court cases, and European observers such as Alexis de Tocqueville, Philip Schaff describes the genesis and growth of American Christianity and the unique historical context from which it sprang. He also outlines its historical connection with the church in Europe, and offers possibilities for the American church's future mission within this unique political climate." -- Publisher
Schaff, Church and State in the United States
https://archive.org/details/churchstateinuni00scharich
Schaff, Philip, The Principle of Protestantism as Related to the Present State of the Church, 1845, ISBN: 1177859289 9781177859288.
"Distinctly unimpressed by this peculiar current in the stream of American culture [American religious freedom -- compiler], the immigrant theologian and church-state historian Philip Schaff commented that in the United States 'every theological vagabond and peddler may drive here his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure'." -- Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism as Related to the Present State of the Church
The social consequences of the "American Idea of Religious Liberty," can be likened to the "idea of permissiveness in child rearing" in the minds of unregenerate, indifferent parents. The result is rebellious children who have no respect for authority, and leave home early with no wisdom about how to live in a cold, cruel world, destined for self-destruction. See: Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, 'religious freedom,' and neutrality.
*Schuettinger, Robert, Lord Acton: Historian of Liberty, ISBN: 0875482945 9780875482941.
Includes appendix, bibliography, and index.
*Sirota, David, Hostile Takeover: How big Money and Corruption Conquered our Government -- And how we Take it Back, 384 pages, ISBN: 0307237346 9780307237347.
"Do you ever wonder if there's a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?
"Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?
"Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?
"Do you ever want to fight back?
"Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that just sends more cash to the HMOs. Wages have been stagnant for thirty years, even as corporate profits skyrocket. Politicians say they want to fix the problem and then pass bills written by lobbyists that drive wages even lower and punish those crushed by debt. Jobs are being shipped overseas, pensions are being cut, and energy is becoming unaffordable. And our government, more concerned about maintaining its corporate sponsorship than protecting its citizens, does nothing about it.
"In HOSTILE TAKEOVER, David Sirota, a major new voice in American politics, seeks to open the eyes of ordinary Americans to the fact that corporate interests have undermined democracy, aided and abetted by their lackeys in our allegedly representative government. At a time when more and more of America's major political leaders are being indicted or investigated for corruption, Sirota takes readers on a journey that shows how all of this nefarious behavior happened right under our noses -- and how the high-profile scandals are merely one product of a political system and debate wholly owned by Big Money interests. Sirota considers major public issues that feel intractable -- like spiraling health care costs, the outsourcing of jobs, the inequities of the tax code, and out-of-control energy prices -- and shows how in each case workable solutions are buried under the lies of lobbyists, the influence of campaign cash, and the ubiquitous spin machine financed by Big Business.
"With fiery passion, pinpoint wit, and lucid analysis, HOSTILE TAKEOVER reveals the true enemies of reform and their increasingly sophisticated -- and hostile -- tactics. It's an essential guidebook for those of us tired of the government selling us out -- and determined to take our country back.
"David Sirota is a campaign strategist, political operative, and writer. Sirota has served as the press secretary for Independent Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont and was recently a senior strategist for Brian Schweitzer, Montana's first Democratic governor in sixteen years. He is a senior editor at In These Times, a regular contributor to The Nation, the blogger for Working Assets, and a twice-weekly guest on the Al Franken Show. Sirota is also the co-chairperson of the Progressive Legislative Action Network. He lives in Helena, Montana, with his wife." -- Publisher
"A summary of Sirota's book would point out that millions lack health care, and even more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that provides more profits for drug companies and insurers. At the same time, inflation-adjusted wages have been largely stagnant, while corporate profits have skyrocketed. In this instance, politicians 'help out' by further depressing wages by continuing to allow millions of illegal and temporary legal immigrants into the U.S., and additional millions of jobs outsourced overseas. Despite an obvious need for energy conservation, our government takes its lead from V.P. Dick Cheney and does nothing. Welcome to today's world of lobbyists', lies, and legislation for sale.
"The 'really bad news' is that they're not satisfied. Possible future legislation includes a flat income tax (a huge tax cut for the wealthy, and a huge tax increase for everyone else -- per Reagan's '82 Treasury Dept.), permanent elimination of the estate tax (only 2 percent were paying, and half the receipts came from the top .1 percent with estates over $5 million), and reducing corporate taxes from their 35 percent level -- 'fourth highest' in the industrialized world (a '04 GAO report concluded that 94 percent paid less than 5 percent, and that 60,000 government contractors owed $6 billion in unpaid taxes), more personal tax cuts (to justify further cuts in veterans' healthcare, inadequate/non-funding of Army armor and New Orleans' levees -- the pre-Katrina official protesting the latter was immediately fired).
"Not upset yet -- read on. USA Today reported in late '05 that while the 60 worst performing companies in America lost 4769 billion in market value in the prior five years, their top five executives were paid an average of $8 million/year. Meanwhile, University of California researchers in '04 found that jobs in the bottom third of the pay scale were growing almost twice as fast as those in the middle.
"HOSTILE TAKEOVER also puts to rest the myth of 'free' trade. Provisions include insuring U.S. access to potentially hepatitis-carrying Mexican vegetables and Canadian beef with mad-cow disease, while banning importation of cheaper drugs and limiting other nations' ability to produce generic medicines. In '01, economists estimated that three-fourths of U.S. workers lost about 12 percent of current wages because of trade deals. At least we still have some -- the New York Times reported the loss of over 2 million manufacturing jobs between '01 -- '04, while Gartner Research estimated over 30 percent of high-tech jobs could be shipped overseas by '15 and University of California researchers estimated up to 14 million jobs are now at risk of outsourcing.
"There's more: Harvard researchers found that 90 percent of personal bankruptcies were due to illness, medical bills, job loss, death in the family, and/or divorce. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation's '05 study concluded that 20 percent of recent bankrupts had been operating a small business. No matter -- the myth of deadbeat debtors ruining credit card companies persists, and Congress recently made personal bankruptcy laws much tougher.
"At least we can count on retirement -- not! In '02 AP reported that 8 million workers saw their retirement plans converted to 'cash balance' payouts only -- a loss of up to $200 million, according to government sources. As for Social Security, a top University of Chicago economist estimates Wall St. would make $400 billion -- $1 trillion in fees under the Bush privatization plan. No matter you say -- Chile and Galveston, Texas have proven the concept's superiority. Unfortunately, the World Bank found that up to one-third of Chileans' retirement money went to fees (the public version went bankrupt -- hence, no comparisons are available), and several government reports have concluded that many/most/all Galveston employees will receive LESS than they would have from Social Security.
"Well, at least some of us have our health. Hopefully the growing number without health insurance will not get sick; as for universal governmental coverage -- private insurance made over $10 billion in '03, with top executives raking in $85 million each. As for the innovative drugs many can't afford because of high prices 'required for research' -- the former New England Journal of Medicine's editor states that they 'come almost entirely from publicly funded research done in government and university labs." Further evidence: Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt says that 'R&D spending (as a percentage of drug industry revenues), is equal or higher in Europe (with price controls), as here' -- specifically, 20 percent in Britain, vs. 14 percent in the U.S.
"Finally, 'fuel efficiency kills people,' or so opponents say. On the other hand, University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers and a government panel all have concluded that cars can be made as safe/safer than most SUVs, and especially better than most pickups.
"Truly an encyclopedic work documenting how business has stolen and perverted American democracy. While Sirota offers specific recommendations in each area, the biggest problem involves providing a means for voters to see through all the lies and misstatements. Publicly funded elections may be the answer." -- Reader's Comment
Sutton, Antony C., How the Order Controls Education.
Sutton, Antony C., National Suicide: Military Aid to the Soviet Union, ISBN: 0870002074 9780870002076.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, ISBN: 0914981013 9780914981015.
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and FDR, ISBN: 0870003283 9780870003288.
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Sutton, Antony C., Wall Street and the Rise of Hilter, ISBN: 0892450045 9780892450046.
"Sutton makes that case that several Wall Street firms were deeply involved in financing the rise to power of the National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e., the Nazis), in pre-World War II Germany. Sutton shows that first, Wall Street financed the German cartels in the 1920's, second, that Wall Street indirectly financed Hitler and the Nazi Party, prior to their rise in power in Germany, third, that Wall Street firms profited from the build-up to war and the war itself, even after the U.S. got involved, and finally, that U.S. firms worked to cover up their complicity after the war.
"This book is the third in a trilogy. The two other books chronicle Wall Street's involvement in the rise of FDR and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathies of businessmen like Henry Ford is no secret, so it's surprising that this subject gets so little play. Given modern leftist thought on big business, one would think that they would leap at the chance to link Wall Street to the Nazis. The reason they don't is no doubt due to Sutton's larger effort at showing that Wall Street supported 'corporate socialism' not only in Germany, but in Russia and the U.S. as well. Since leftists still idealize FDR and the brutal regime that arose to become the U.S.S.R., they probably prefer to forget about the businessmen who connect them all. Sutton himself is no anti-business left-winger, instead he is a conservative concerned with the actions of an 'unelected power elite,' controlling events/governments/societies behind the scenes, to the detriment of freedom everywhere.
"It makes for rather dry reading, but Sutton goes into extensive details about the persons, funds and timelines that show the deep connection between certain American Big Businesses and the Nazis. Why would Big Business embrace such a horrid political movement? Although Sutton does not go into details about motivation, there is a good case to be made that many businesses were not fond of the untrammeled free market and instead yearned for the security of government guaranteed profits, regardless of the expense to others in terms of loss of freedom. These businesses saw themselves as the contractors running the government machinery of what was thought to be the inevitable march to socialism. Sutton doesn't mention it, but many in the early twentieth century thought that some form of socialism was unavoidable, and that it was a choice between that and corporate domination through monopoly. Thus these businesses saw themselves as merely working towards what was almost predestined to happen, and ensuring that they would be the ones running the show and reaping the benefit.
"The book turns a bit conspiratorial in the end. Sutton invokes the Kennedy Assassination, the Korean War and Vietnam War and the Council on Foreign Relations all in an attempt to suggest that we are being ruled by an unelected power elite, bent on societal domination at all costs, in the name of profit. There's no need to invoke conspiracy, though. The selfish acts of business men, tempted by access to the levers of power, is as good an explanation as any.
"The case that Sutton makes is compelling. If his evidence is able to withstand scrutiny, it's hard to come to any other conclusion than that Big Business was willing to deal with the worst of the worst in order to profit via the coercive powers of government." -- Publisher
Part of a trilogy: WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WALL STREET AND FDR, and WALL STREET AND THE RISE OF HITLER.
Trenchard, John, Thomas Gordon, Ronald Hamowy (editor), Cato's Letters or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects: Four Volumes in Two, ISBN: 0865971307 9780865971301 0865971323 9780865971325.
"Cato's Letters are a must have for any lover of liberty. They are filled with enough passion, wisdom, and wit to make them shining gems on any bookshelf. The philosophy expounded in these letters is that of radical liberty according to the laws of nature. It is made clear throughout that governments are the servants of people, not there masters. The only just role of government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of the governed, any other role being usurped and explicitly tyrannical. It was this radical philosophy that made CATO'S LETTERS such a huge influence in America throughout the 18th century. . . . Above all, these letters are classics of reason and resistance. In my opinion, they are the best exposition of libertarian principles ever written." -- Will Murphy
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), The root cause of criminal acts of extreme depravity, Theodicy, Treason and impeachment, The ten commandments: the moral law, The commandments of christ, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, Bible magistracy, The covenant faithfulness of god, Trusting god, Rebellion and lawlessness: wickedness, demonic possession, substance abuse, abnormal behavior, insanity, mental illness, mental retardation, Conspiracy, corruption, organized crime, Church and state, The counter-reformation, Civil government, The courts, the law base, and the judicial system, The banking system, Monopoly and anti-trust law enforcement, Leniency, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The decline of american society, irrationality, the decline of western thought, Male role and responsibility, gender equality, suffrage, reproductive rights, and the decline of american society, God's deliverance of nations, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, The utter failure of the u.s. constitution as a social deed of covenant, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The covenanted reformation, Christian liberty, Freedom: a gift of the grace of god, Political and economic freedom, The scottish covenanting struggle, alexander craighead, and the mecklenburg declaration, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Sexual relationship, Spiritual adultery (spiritual whoredom/harlotry), Idolatry, syncretism, Sexual wholeness, Taxation, property, and liberty, and so forth, and so on.
The Christian and Politics #01: The Christian Heritage of America (English Background)Conservatism: An Autopsy, John W. Robbins
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518267The Christian and Politics #02: The Christian Heritage of America (American Background)
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1270518276The Christian and Politics #03: The Essence of Our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182811The Christian and Politics #04: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705182945The Christian and Politics #05: Enemies of our Christian Heritage #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183035The Christian and Politics #06: The Effects of Deism and Democracy on our Christian Heritage
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183120The Christian and Politics #07: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183227The Christian and Politics #08: Evaluating Political Positions in Light of the Sovereign Word of God #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183324The Christian and Politics #09: The Place of Biblical Law in our Society #1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183429The Christian and Politics #10: The Place of Biblical Law in Our Society #2
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183645The Christian and Politics #11: Summary
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12705183720
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
Presbyterianism in the 20th Century
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, History of the American Presbyterian Church, 42 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12160371916
Synopsis of Scriptural Magistracy and Evaluation of the U.S. Constitution, Appendix B: The United States Constitution: and Classic Verses Modern Reformed Teachings Concerning Magistracy and Religion. Found in BIBLICAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT VERSUS THE BEAST; AND, THE BASIS FOR CIVIL RESISTANCE.
Theological Tensions of the 19th Century: Old School -- New School
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, History of the American Presbyterian Church, 34 min.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1216037188
The Treasury of David, Psalm 106, commentary by C.H. Spurgeon
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. (v. 7)
Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (v. 8)
And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. (v. 10)
They soon forgat his works. (v. 13)
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (v. 15)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. (v. 19)
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. (v. 20)
They forgat God their saviour. (v. 21)
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. (v. 29)
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. (v. 30)
And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. (v. 31)
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. (v. 34)
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. (v. 35)
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. (v. 37)
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. (v. 39)
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. (v. 40)
And he gave them into the hands of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. (v. 41)
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. (v. 42)
Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. (v. 43)
Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry. (v. 44)
And he remembered for them his covenant. (v. 45)
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. (v. 47)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. (v. 48)
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.phpHe hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micha 6:8)
Anonymous, The Whole Duty of Nations, 1681.
Arrowsmith, John (1602-1659), The Covenant Avenging Sword Brandished . . . Matt. 10:34 [Matthew 10:34], (1643). Alternate title: THE COVENANT-AVENGING SWORD BANISHED . . . 1643. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"This famous sermon (of 32 pages), on Leviticus 26:25, I shall bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant, (by one of the more prominent men that was shortly thereafter called to the Westminster Assembly), was preached 'Before the Honorable (English -- RB), House of Commons, At Their Late Solemn Fast, January 25 (1643).' It demonstrates that it is the Scriptural duty of nations and their rulers to covenant with Christ and to seek God's glory in all things -- which is especially important in the case of civil leaders in their office as civil leaders. For, as Arrowsmith shows, if this is not done (with godly zeal), God's wrath (in the form of blindness to the truth, in a lack of fear of the judgment that is to come, in storms and wars and other calamities, etc.), will be poured out upon those nations which refuse to kiss the Son by obeying and covenanting with Him.
" Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psa. 2:10-12 [Psalm 2:10-12])
"In this sermon Arrowsmith also summons the English parliament to new obedience to Christ. Some suggest that Arrowsmith may have been the main shaper of the Shorter Catechism. 'Cotton Mather says . . . "everything of Arrowsmith is admirable . . ." He was clearly respected as both a preacher and a scholar by the (Westminster -- RB), Assembly, which he repeatedly summoned to unity and diligence in its work'." (Barker, Puritan Profiles, p. 148) -- Publisher
Defoe, Daniel, John Dunton, John Somers, Baron Somers, and Solomon Southwick, The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations: Concerning the Rights, Power, and Prerogative of Kings, and the Rights, Privileges and Properties of the People: Shewing the Nature of Government in General, Both From God and man. Alternate title: VOX POPULI, VOX DEI, BEING TRUE MAXIMS OF GOVERNMENT.
Title extension: An account of the British government; and the rights and privileges of the people in the time of the Saxons, and since the Conquest. The government which God ordained over the children of Israel; and that all magistrates and governors proceed from the people, by many examples in Scripture and history; and the duty of magistrates from Scripture and reason. An account of eleven emperors, and above fifty kings, depriv'd for their evil government. The right of the people and Parliament of Britain, to resist and deprive their kings for evil government, by King Henry's charter; and likewise in Scotland, by many examples. . . . By Lord Sommers."
*Houston, Thomas (1803-1882), The Duty of Nations Favoured With Divine Revelation to Promote Scriptural Education: In two Discourses, 1853. Available (WORKS: DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL, Vol. 2 of 4) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*Houston, Thomas (1803-1882), The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion, 1853. Available (WORKS: DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL, Vol. 2 of 4) on the Puritan Hard Drive.
*McMaster (M'Master), Gilbert (1778-1854), The Duty of Nations: A Sermon, Delivered on the First Thursday of November, 1809: Being a day of Public Thanks-giving, Appointed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1809. Available from Covenanter Pamphlets.
The pamphlet includes TESTIMONY TO THE COVENANTED WORK OF REFORMATION (FROM 1638 TO 1649), IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND by Samuel Rutherfurd [Rutherford].
Covenanter Monthly Pamphlets
http://covenanter.org/pamphlets/
The Duty of the Nations, 1810, a sermon.
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/gilbert-mcmasters-sermon-on-the-duty-of-nations
Perkins, William (1558-1602), The Whole Duty of man, Containing a Practical Table of the Ten Commandments Wherein the Sins Forbidden, and the Duties Commanded, or Implied are Clearly Discovered / by famous Mr. Will. Perkins, 1674.
Ritchie, E., Question of the day, the Duty of Nations to the True Religion and the Church of Christ, 1868.
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion, 1853. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #25.
"Excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM below, this book deals with the inescapable necessity, of the demand found in the Word of God, for the Civil establishment of Christ as King and Lawgiver over every nation on earth. If you are sick of the cease-fire with humanism, set forth by the syncretistic, Satanic and pragmatic pagan politicians of our day (those who bargain with votaries of Antichrist [the Pope], publicly tolerate all manner of false religions (e.g. Islam), and idolatry, and comprise their policy and draw their pretended authority from the beast [and not the Word of God], this book is for you! For all pagan politics is summed up in the words of the Cameronian (Covenanter) political philosopher Alexander Shields, as 'rotting away under the destructive distempers of detestable neutrality, loathsome lukewarmness, declining, and decaying in corruptions, defections, divisions, distractions, confusions; and so judicially infatuated with darkness and delusions, that they forget and forego the necessary testimony of the day' (A Hind let Loose, 1797 edition, p. 20). Pick up this book and begin the political walk in the 'footsteps of the flock,' traveling the covenanting road of Reformation and Scripture (with the magisterial Reformers of the past)!" -- Publisher
On the Duty of Covenanting and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants.
Being Section 11 in THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM by William L. Roberts
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/PresCatCov.htm
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
A Hind let Loose; Or An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland. . . . by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel, in St. Andrews
http://www.truecovenanter.com/shields/
A Hind let Loose: or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ: With the True State Thereof in all its Periods, Shields, Alexander
http://archive.org/details/hindletlooseorhi00shie
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
Roberts, William Louis, D.D. (1798-1864), The Higher Law, or, The Law of the Most High: A Discourse, Delivered at the Baptist Church, in Sterling Centre, Wednesday Evening, Jan. 22d, 1851.
*Roberts, William Louis (1798-1864), The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, ISBN: 0524065543 9780524065549. A Christian classic. Considered to be among the ten greatest books in the English language. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available from ATLA 1991-2638.
A magnificent catechism that sets forth the Crown Rights of The King of Glory and Lord of Lords. It also presents incontrovertible evidence that the United States Constitution is not a Christian document, and that it is, in fact, a slavery document.
"A manual of instruction, drawing from such notable authors as William Symington and J.R. Willson, presenting arguments and facts confirming and illustrating the 'Distinctive Principles' of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Chapters deal with: 'Christ's Mediatorial Dominion in General;' Christ's Exclusive Headship Over the Church;' 'The Supreme and Ultimate Authority of the Word of God in the Church;' Civil Government, the Moral Ordinance of God;' Christ's Headship Over the Nations;' 'The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ;' The Word, or Revealed Will of God, the Supreme Law in the State;' 'The Duty of Nations, in Their National Capacity, to Acknowledge and Support the True Religion:' 'The Spiritual Independence of the Church of Christ:' 'The Right and Duty of Dissent From an Immoral Constitution of Civil Government;' 'The Duty of Covenanting, and the Permanent Obligations of Religious Covenants;' 'The Application of These Principles to the Governments, Where Reformed Presbyterians Reside, in the Form of a Practical Testimony;' and finally 'Application of the Testimony to the British Empire. . . '." -- Publisher
Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, William L. Roberts D.D.
http://archive.org/details/ReformedPresbyterianCatechism
On the Mediatorial Dominion of The Lord Jesus Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_01_mediatorial_dominion.html
The Exclusive Headship of The Lord Jesus Christ Over the Church of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_02_christs_headship_over_the_church.html
Civil Government the Moral Ordinance of God, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_04_civil_government.html
On Christ's Headship Over the Nations, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_05_christs_headship_over_nations.html
The Subjection of the Nations to God and to Christ, excerpted from THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CATECHISM.
http://www.truecovenanter.com/reformedpresbyterian/roberts_rp_catechism_section_06_subjection_of_nations_to_christ.html
See also: The Scottish Covenanting Struggle, Alexander Craighead, and the Mecklenburg Declaration, SECRET PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; CONSPIRACY IN PHILADELPHIA: THE ORIGINS OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, and A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
Roberts, William L., D.D. (1798-1864), Submission to "the Powers That be" Scripturally Illustrated: A Discourse in Three Parts, 1828. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #26.
Steele, David (1826-1906), The Duty of Nations to the Church
"An article explaining that nations must serve the Mediator Christ in their national capacity by giving their support to national establishments of religion." -- Publisher
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/26/the-duty-of-nations-to-the-church
Wagner, Michael, A Presbyterian Political Manifesto: Presbyterianism and Civil Government. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1 and #25.
"Philosophical considerations alone should not be considered sufficient to prove that an establishment of religion is a moral obligation. For Christians only the Bible can be accepted as the foundation for any belief, not only those beliefs related to 'spiritual' matters, but also those related to political issues. The critical question, then, for Christians is, 'Does the Bible teach the necessity of the establishment of the Christian religion?' The Bible does indeed demonstrate the need for an establishment of Christianity, and the Old Testament in particular provides the Biblical basis for the concept of an established church. In Old Testament times there was a pervasive cooperation between church and state, and that pattern was not abrogated in the New Testament.
"In the New Testament the passage with the most explicit teaching on civil government is probably Romans 13. In that chapter it is explained that political rulers 'are ordained of God' (v. 1 [Romans 13:1]); 'they are God's ministers' (v. 6 [Romans 13:6]), who must reward good and punish evil (vv. 3-4 [Romans 13:3,4]). This raises an important question: by what standard is the ruler to distinguish 'good' from 'evil?' Clearly, that standard can only be the Bible. How can rulers be God's ministers and yet not rule according to God's will? In other words, Romans 13:1-6 teaches not only that God has instituted civil government, but also that the rulers must govern according to the Word of God. The Bible is not only the exclusive rule of faith and practice for the church, but also for the state. With the Bible being the standard for the civil authorities, it is unmistakable that Christianity is the foundation of the law order, i.e., the established religion in this sense. Romans 13, then, at least in a general way, teaches the necessity of the establishment of Christianity.
"At this point it is important to be more specific about what is being proposed as the Biblical concept of established religion. The Bible teaches a cooperation between church and state that has been variously called the 'Scottish Theory of Ecclesiastical Establishments' (Smeaton 1875), the 'Establishment Principle' (Brown n.d., 1), and other similar terms.
"The Establishment Principle, or the Principle of the National Recognition of Religion maintains the scriptural view of the universal supremacy of Christ as King of Nations as well as King of saints, with the consequent duty of nations as such, and civil rulers in their official capacity, to honour and serve Him by recognizing His Truth and promoting His cause (Brown n.d., 1).
"As William Cunningham explains it, 'an obligation lies upon nations and their rulers to have respect, in the regulation of their national affairs, and in the application of national resources, to the authority of God's word, to the welfare of the church of Christ, and the interests of true religion.' ([1882], 1991a, 391). What is being maintained here is that the true church of Christ, and the civil authorities (both in submission to their common Lord), have as their goal the promotion of God's glory and true Christianity, and that they should work together for the promotion of this common goal. On the one hand, they should be allied together, but on the other hand, they should remain completely sovereign in their respective jurisdictions."
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/presbpol.htm
Wallace, James, The Amendment of the Federal Constitution. An Address Before the Christian Association for National Reformation of Southern Illinois, November 8, 1864, 15 pages. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive.
"An address before the Christian Association for National Reformation, of Southern Illinois. Wallace contends, 'The duty of nations to acknowledge the true God, and submit themselves to Jesus Christ as their Lawgiver and King, is of the highest importance, and underlies all moral and political questions.' Though of historical interest, this short piece sets forth a somewhat muted 'Covenanter' stance." -- Publisher
*Westminster Assembly (1643-1652), The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), [completed and first printed in 1646, approved by the Assembly, August 27, 1647, Session 23 -- compiler] (Glasgow, Scotland: Free Presbyterian Publication [133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6LE], 1994), ISBN: 0902506080 (case-bound), and ISBN: 0902506358 (paperback). Among the ten greatest works in the English language. Available (THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) with all its subordinate documents in searchable format) on the Puritan Hard Drive. Also available (THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) with all its subordinate documents in searchable format) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #1.
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) With Scripture Proofs
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/
The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, With the Scripture Proofs at Large: Together With The sum of Saving Knowledge (contained in the Holy Scriptures, and held forth in the said Confession and Catechisms), and Practical use Thereof, Covenants National and Solemn League, Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties, Directories, Form of Church-government, &c. of Public Authority in the Church of Scotland, With Acts of Assembly and Parliament, Relative to, and Approbative of the Same (1757) [the original version of 1646, prior to the changes of the "American Version" of 1789 -- compiler]
http://archive.org/details/confessionofscot00chur
" 'The product of Puritan conflict,' stated Shedd, reaching 'a perfection of statement never elsewhere achieved.' All that learning the most profound and extensive, intellect the most acute and searching, and piety the most sincere and earnest, could accomplish, was thus concentrated in the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith, which may be safely termed the most perfect statement of Systematic Theology ever framed by the Christian Church,' writes Hetherington. (The History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, p. 345).
"Concerning The Shorter Catechism, which is one of the items also included in this book, Mitchell notes: 'it is a thoroughly Calvinistic and Puritan catechism, the ripest fruit of the Assembly's thought and experience, maturing and finally fixing the definitions of theological terms to which Puritanism for half a century had been leading up and gradually coming closer and closer to in its legion of catechisms.' (Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards, p. 431).
"THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) is the greatest of all the creeds of the Christian church. The church of Christ cannot be creedless and live. Especially in an age of doubt and confusion, it is her duty to define and proclaim the one true faith. Nowhere has the Reformed church done this so effectively as in the WESTMINSTER CONFESSION, and family of documents. This book represents Reformed thinking at its purest and best. It was intended, as part of the Covenanted Reformation taking place during its compilation, to be adopted as the binding confessional standard for every individual, family, court, church, and legislature in the British Isles." -- Publisher
This is considered to be the definitive publication of the Westminster family of documents. It includes the following:
*Willson, James McLeod (1809-1866), Bible Magistracy: or, Christ's Dominion Over the Nations: With an Examination of the Civil Institutions of the United States, 1842. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #12.
"A Covenanter examination of the Biblical doctrine of the Kingship of Christ and the Civil Magistrate. Written in 1842 by James McLeod Willson, the son of James Renwick Willson, this book also contains a critique of the United States' Constitution in Light of Scripture." -- Publisher
Willson, James McLeod, Bible Magistracy
http://archive.org/details/BibleMagistracyChristsDominionOverTheNations
Willson, James McLeod, Bible Magistracy
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/6/29/bible-magistracy-or-christs-dominion-over-the-nations-with-an-examination-of-the-civil-institutions-of-the-united-states
*Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over all Governments: and the Disregard of His Authority by the United States in the Federal Constitution, 1832. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available (PRINCE MESSIAH'S CLAIMS TO DOMINION, PDF and MP3) on Reformation Bookshelf CD #12, #13, #25.
"Why treat thus all religion? Why disfranchise, by a solemn act the church of the living God? Is the benevolent, pure, holy, heaven born religion of Emmanuel, hostile to the happiness of the republic? Shall commerce, agriculture, the arts, literature -- all the other lawful pursuits, be countenanced, fostered, protected, and established on as permanent a basis, as possible and the true religion be put under the ban of the empire? But they say, let religion alone. Do they, however, adopt the laissez nous faire, in relation to manufactures and trade? No. We cherish all, but respecting the advancement of religion, Congress shall never do any thing. When the child is born, were the father and mother to say, laissez l'infant faire -- leave the babe to itself -- would that lie to act as a nursing father and mother? Surely no. There must be a far different kind of constitution among the nations, when the promise is fulfilled, that 'Kings shall be nursing fathers.' God Almighty says, in the text quoted above, that civil rulers shall nurse the church -- the Constitution says they shall not. Which is right? 'Ah! sinful nation, laden with iniquity.' God spares thee for the sake of his redeemed, that his moral subjects on earth may be, by the gospel of his Son, reclaimed from sin and rebellion -- that on the earth, through his own holy religion, he may expatiate the glories of redemption. The Constitution says religion shall be discountenanced by the Congress of the United States." -- James Renwick Willson
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath be kindled but a little. (Psalm 2:12). This book will go a long way to exposing the fact, as Willson writes, that 'ungodly men have occupied, and do now occupy, many of the official stations, in the government,' and that 'Tyrants are yet on their thrones, and unholy republics refuse to acknowledge Him (Christ -- RB), as Lord of all'." -- Publisher
Willson, James Renwick, Prince Messiah's Claims to Dominion Over all Governments
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/4/24/prince-messiahs-claims-to-dominion-over-all-governments-and-the-disregard-of-his-authority-by-the-united-states-in-the-federal-constitution
*Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), The Subjection of Kings and Nations to Messiah, 1820. Available on the Puritan Hard Drive. Available on Reformation Bookshelf CD #13, #29.
"A lengthy sermon of 64 pages preached Dec. 6, 1819. Based on the text: All Kings shall bow down before him: all nations shall serve him. (Psalm 72:11). Maintains that this text refers to a commanded duty, concerning Christ not Solomon, and should be translated Let all kings bow down before him: Let all nations serve him. Explains this national duty, inquires as to how it is to be nationally preformed, then proceeds to make practical application of the subject. Shows that nations have a duty, as nations, to bind themselves to Christ by covenant, to consecrate themselves to Him, to swear allegiance to Him (as their King and Lord), and to obey all His holy law! Furthermore, Willson maintains that it is a great sin for nations to remain in rebellion against Christ by not performing these duties. He also demonstrates how and why a high-handed sin of this nature brings corporate guilt upon the nation. Moreover, this sin provokes God to wrath (as seen in an escalation of national calamities), until the day, barring repentance, that the national 'cup of wrath' overflows. Also contains helpful direction regarding the individual's social responsibility as a Christian in times of national corporate defection from Christ's crown and covenant (i.e in times exactly like those that we live in)." -- Publisher
The Subjection of Kings and Nations to Messiah, 1820
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-subjection-of-kings-and-nations-to-messiah
Willson, James Renwick (1780-1853), The Written Law: or, The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures by Christ as Mediator: The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations in Civil Institutions.
Willson, James Renwick, The Written Law, or The Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures, by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty to Christian Nations to Civil Institutions
http://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2015/8/18/james-r-willsons-sermon-on-the-written-law
Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian Pamphlets
http://www.covenanter.org/pamphlets/
See also: The sovereignty of god, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Treason and impeachment, The ten commandments, the moral law, The commandments of christ, Foreign affairs, foreign policy, international relationships, Repentance the key to salvation and change, Justification, Justifying faith, The one and the many, God's deliverance of nations, The covenant of redemption, The covenant faithfulness of god, Covenant theology and the ordinance of covenanting, The all-sufficiency of christ, Lordship of jesus christ, Christ's kingdom, Constitutionalism, The Westminster confession of faith (1646), The works of samuel rutherford, Confession of national sin and covenant renewal, The covenanted reformation of scotland background and history, The national covenant, The solemn league and covenant, The covenanted reformation of scotland author/title listing, Biography of covenanters, The works of david steele, Acts of faithful assemblies, The reformed presbytery, Covenanting in america, The scottish covenanting struggle, alexander craighead, and the mecklenburg declaration, Toleration, liberty of conscience, pluralism, "religious freedom," and neutrality, The government role of punishing wrongdoers, Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Individual responsibility for corporate faithfulness and sanctification, Calvinism, Systematic theology, A theological interpretation of american history, and so forth, and so on.
Arminianism/Pelagianism Refutations
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3505/arminianism_refuted.html
The Blue Banner (color image)
http://www.lettermen2.com/bbanner.html
Books Considered to be Among the ten Greatest in the English Language
http://www.lettermen2.com/tengreat.html
Calvinistic Quotations
http://www.swrb.com/quotes/quotes.htm
The Catalog of the Mount Olive Tape Library in PDF Format
http://www.lettermen2.com/olivecat.pdf
Classic Covenanter, Presbyterian, Puritan and Reformed Quotes From Various Authors -- Arranged by Topic
http://www.swrb.com/covqsgb.htm
Combined Interactive Contents for The Web Edition of Biblical Counsel: Resources for Renewal
http://www.lettermen2.com/combtoc.html
Early English Books Online
http://wwwlib.umi.com/eebo/
Early English Books Text Creation Partnership
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/eebo/
Fallacy Files
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/
The Google Advanced Search
This feature may be used to search one specific domain/website. For example, to search for "John 3:16" in "lettermen2.com," (THE WEB EDITION OF BIBLICAL COUNSEL: RESOURCES FOR RENEWAL), enter the search terms on the search screen in "this exact word or phrase:" and "site or domain:".
A link to Google Advanced Search may be added to the Internet Explorer toolbar, so that any favorite website may be conveniently searched.
https://www.google.com/advanced_search
Helps: Key, Acronyms, Permissions, Information for Librarians and Booksellers
http://www.lettermen2.com/help.html
Hi-tech Polygraphy as a Means of Broadscale Reform
http://www.lettermen2.com/polytech.html
How to Find a Book
http://www.lettermen2.com/findbook.html
*Idolatry is the Most Condemned sin in the Bible, [audio file], Peter Hammond, 8/21/2016
"When we start to worship anyone other than God, if we put anything as central in our lives, other than God, we are opening ourselves up to demonic influence, demonic deception and demonic possession, which explains why so many people today are so irrational, so immune to logic, so resistant to facts and logical explanations."
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=97161019341
Mount Olive Tape Library of Reformed Theology
This collection has been in the custody of the Greenville Presbyterian Seminary since 2006. It appears (September 8, 2016) that the Media Center at the Seminary have digitized practically none of the audio cassette and video tape addresses.
"The following listing was developed by George Calhoun, the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library, over the course of some thirty years. This catalog reflects the personal quest of Mr. Calhoun for a balanced education in Reformed Theology. The speakers herein have been scrutinized for their faithfulness to the Bible. These tapes will enable students to pursue the study of Reformed theology at a minimum of financial expense.
"FOR YOUR INFORMATION . . . [from the introduction to the Mount Olive Tape Catalog -- compiler]
"The tapes included in this catalog are recordings of sermons and lectures given by various pastors, theologians, Bible teachers, and conference speakers who confess adherence to the broad perspectives of historic Reformed theology. We have diligently tried to screen all the materials as to their basic commitment to the Biblical perspectives reflected in the Reformed creeds and confessions.
"Since, however, no human interpreter of God's Word is infallible, it is the prayer of those responsible for sending forth these tapes that all who listen to them will cultivate the spirit of the Bereans, who 'searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.'
"Also, it should be emphasized that the tapes included in this catalog have been evaluated in terms of their basic content as they were originally given, and the inclusion of them in this catalog should not be construed as an unreserved approval of the men who originally gave them. Christians grow in grace and knowledge with the passing of time, yet it must be recognized that some turn aside from the norms of Scripture. It is our hope, therefore, that no one will attach himself to any of the men whose tapes are included in this catalog on the basis of the tapes alone. We are all commanded to be discerning toward those who would instruct us in the faith.
"Finally, it would be a tragic abuse of the intent in providing these sermons and lectures should they in any way cultivate a party spirit so clearly condemned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul reminded the Corinthians that all things were theirs -- Paul, Cephas, and Apollos included. We, too, may recognize that the various servants of Christ whose voices are heard on these tapes are God's gifts to us and that we are to follow them only insofar as they follow Christ and the clear teachings of His holy and infallible Word! Since not all men have the same gifts, learn to drink from the gifts of many men -- not just one fountain."
Dr. C. Gregg Singer, Mount Olive Tape Library lectures (MP3 audio files), approximately 161 of 171
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&currsection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Dr._C._Gregg_Singer
The Catalog of the Mount Olive Tape Library in PDF Format
http://www.lettermen2.com/olivecat.pdf
Mt. Olive Audio Library, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
http://gpts.edu/media/index.php?currpage=1&sa_action=
Greenville Seminary and Mt. Olive
http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=gpts
Puritan Downloads, The Puritan Hard Drive
http://www.puritandownloads.com/swrb-puritan-hard-drive.html
Reformation Eschatology at Still Waters Revival Books
http://www.swrb.com/Puritan/reformation-eschatology.htm
Reformed Publishers and Booksellers Online
http://www.lettermen2.com/refpub.html
SermonAudio.com
"SermonAudio.com is the largest library of audio sermons on the web from conservative Christian churches and ministries with over 438,500 FREE MP3 sermons which can be streamed online for immediate listening or downloaded to your computer or MP3 player for listening at a later time. You can easily search through the entire sermon library by broadcaster, Bible reference, topic, speaker, date preached, language, or any keyword.
"The mission of SermonAudio.com is to help faithful, local churches broadcast their audio sermons to the maximum amount of people with the least amount of cost. Our chief purpose is for the preservation and propagation of great Bible preaching and teaching in its audio form for this generation and the next.
"Additionally, through our Transcription and Translation service, any sermon that is available on SermonAudio.com can be professionally and accurately transcribed by a real human and then machine-translated into 20 plus foreign languages."
http://www.sermonaudio.com/
Ten Best Classics for Advanced Studies From Still Waters Revival Books
http://www.swrb.com/ten-best.htm
The Treasury of David, Psalm 106
http://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps106.php
Treasury of Reformed Literature
http://www.westminsterconfession.org/literature/
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) With Scripture Proofs
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/
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