The God-given Right to Govern Vested in the Sovereign Authority of the Whole People. 

During the 1600’s the royal families of England were bringing out the principle known as the “DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS.” In other words, it was declared right for them to reign and what they said or did was God-given.

The principle of the “God-given right to govern vested in the Sovereign authority of the whole people,” was a radical idea and one that met much opposition for the reigning kings of that time. A man by the name of Algernon Sidney was beheaded in 1683 by King Charles II because he insisted that the right to rule was invested in the people and that no one can rule without their consent.

John Locke fled out of England to Holland to be able to say the same thing Sidney was saying: “And whoever gets into the exercise of any part of the power by other ways than what the laws of the community have prescribed hath no right to be obeyed, though the form of the commonwealth be still preserved, since he is not the person the laws have appointed, and, consequently not the person THE PEOPLE HAVE CONSENTED TO.”

How we can thank our Founding Fathers for the fact that there was no idea of the divine right of kings in their thinking when they began to lay the foundation of our Republic. Alexander Hamilton said: “The fabric of American empire ought-to-rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE.”

It is interesting to note that in the early days of our Constitution many of the citizens feared that too much power was given to the Federal government and it was through the writings of Madison and Hamilton their fears were put to rest that ultimate authority resides in the people alone.  When I see today the authority that the Federal government is taking upon itself it should cause great alarm. We are now being told what to eat, what to do, where to go, etc., and with the promise of citizens being taken care of by the government from the cradle to grave. Some might like it, but it is always at the cost of our freedom.

This then brings in the question: What happens when the elected officials usurp the authority of the people and begin to impose abusive policies upon them? This brings us to the fundamental principle of our Constitution and the next principle that we will be looking at: THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE MAY ALTER OR ABOLISH A GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS BECOME TYRANNICAL. Here in America we still have the privilege of going to the voting booth to vote in candidates.

This is why I think these 28 principles that have made America strong are important to keep in mind when we go to the voting booth. We need to vote for the one that most exemplifies these principles.

Principle 9

To Protect Man’s Rights, God has Revealed Certain Principles of Divine Law

Exodus 20:1 “And God spoke all these words.”

Unalienable rights (a right that cannot be repudiated or given to another) that have come from God could not remain unalienable unless they are protected by ‘a code of divinely proclaimed law.’

William Blackstone pointed out that the Creator is not only omnipotent (all-powerful), “but as He is also a Being of infinite wisdom, He has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the nature of things… These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such, among others, are these principles; that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to everyone his due.”

The Founding Fathers recognized that human happiness requires recognition of God’s supremacy over all things and this Divine pattern of Law is what the Ten Commandments are all about. What our Founding Fathers thought was so important for securing our unalienable rights – the Ten Commandments – we see how today they are treated with disrespect. They have been removed from every public building and we are seeing our unalienable rights being taken away.

John Locke set forth the principle which carried over into the thinking of the American Founders when he wrote: “The Law of Nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for man’s actions must… be comfortable to the Law of Nature— to the will of God.”

What are these Ten Commandments and how do they relate to us today? Some years ago a survey was taken of 500 men at a Promise Keepers’ conference in Washington DC. The majority could not name the Ten Commandments and only one out of 500 could name them in the order that they appeared in the Bible. American Fathers knew that for a nation to be great it must have the Presence of God and the Law of God.

The first group of commandments deals with man’s relationship to God.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. Since there is only one God, there is only one source of law. This first commandment has to do with the source of authority and law. To modern man with humanistic or evolutionary mindset every man has become a law unto himself. We see today what this has produced: lawlessness.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol. Modern man would not make for himself a golden calf, setting it up in the living room, etc. But the humanists today have created their own idols in their image, creating their own laws and following their own desires, but finding that this idolatry produces bondage, not liberty. They have become a law unto themselves.

3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain or profanely. This is a prohibition against false swearing, or cursing and profanity. Someone said that the word profane means “outside the temple.” Profanity then would be all speech, action and living that is outside of God. This is more than just blaspheming God’s Name, but is wicked and rebellious language directed against God.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Sabbath was a day of rest both physically and spiritually which also points to the eternal rest we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to work six says and rest one day. A physical rest invigorates us to be more productive in the other six days.

The last six commandments deals with man’s relationship to man.

5. Honor your father and your mother. This commandment, along with the seventh, eight and tenth establishes the family as the fundamental authority here on earth. When God (in Genesis1:26-28) gave dominion to man it was to be carried out through the family. Family is the building block of society, but we see how the state has taken away the family’s authority in many cases, and even more so now with same sex marriage becoming institutionalized.

6. You shall not murder. Not only does this commandment prohibit murder it also shows the sanctity of human life. Life is valuable to God and because of that He states that when it comes to murder: a life for a life. The positive activity of this commandment is to bring life to fullness. This is what we, the church are to do – bring life to fullness, to speak words of life and to protect human life from womb to tomb

7. You shall not commit adultery. This law is to protect marriage and in turn it protects the family – that is the basic building block of society. As the family goes – so goes the nation

8. You shall not steal. This commandment implies that man, and not the state, has a God-given right to own property. This commandment speaks as well of the restoration of a fallen world. What Satan has stolen from us – will be restored.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Lying is an abomination to God. We are to speak the truth to our neighbor. Since in our societies we have done away with ultimate truth and now we make up our own truth, or those who have the power like judges, governments, etc., they now tell us what truth is.

10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.  Covet here is dealing with the condition of the heart and actions of man; having a desire to have something that does not belong to us, but to our neighbor.

“And God spoke all these words.”

These Commandments did not come from the inspiration of man, but by revelation from God. Yet we see how they have been downplayed in societies worldwide and worldwide we have suffered for it.  We are not saved by the law, but through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the laws of government are to protect our unalienable rights that come from God.

Men are Endowed by Their Creator with Certain Unalienable Rights.

Acts 17:24-28 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.”

It is obvious from Scripture that our basic rights come from God and not from man, and our Founding Fathers believed also that the basic rights of men did not originate with governments, dictators, kings, but from God and because of the sacredness of those rights they needed to be protected. It was John Locke who said: “No one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”

However, when we speak about unalienable rights it is important that we know what is meant by unalienable. An unalienable right is one that cannot be repudiated or given to another. It is not something that can be taken away or denied. Blackstone, in his commentaries on the laws of England, states that no human authority can take away those rights, but the owner of the rights might on his own free will forfeit those rights. This is why in our Declaration of Independence we declare that people have unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as our Creator gave.

We also have what is known as “vested rights.” A vested right is one that is created or originates with the community, state or our country for our protection and safety, and as the need arises these vested rights can be changed by our law makers. What seems to happen is that the unalienable rights seem to have become vested rights. While we still have the power of the vote we need to make sure that we vote for people who recognize the difference between these two kinds of rights.

Here are some of our natural rights taken out of the book THE 5000 YEAR LEAP. Natural rights which the Founders knew existed but did not enumerate in the Declaration of Independence – are:

The right of self-government.

The right to bear arms for self-defense.

Develop, and dispose of property.

The right to make personal choices.

The right to a free conscience.

The right to choose a profession.

The right to choose a mate.

The right to beget one’s kind.

The right to assemble.

The right to petition.

The right to free speech.

The right to a free press.

The right to enjoy the fruits of one’s labors.

The right to improve one’s position through barter and sale.

The right to contrive and invent.

The right to explore the natural resources of the earth.

The right to privacy.

The right to provide personal security.

The right to provide nature’s necessities—air, food, water, clothing, and shelter.

The right to a fair trial.

The right of free association.

The right to contract.

What did Jefferson mean by the unalienable right: the pursuit of happiness? This was something that was probably well understood when it was written, but for in the 21^st century citizen it brings out the idea of pursuing whatever our heart desires to make us happy whether good or evil.

Perhaps John Adams said it even more clearly: “All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”

Possibly Jefferson took the three unalienable rights that he put into our Declaration of Independence from what Blackstone called the three great natural rights: “right of personal security; the right of personal liberty and the right of private property.” It would seem from what John Adams is saying that the pursuit of happiness mentioned in our Declaration of Independence ties in with “that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”

Here in America we have been given a rich heritage and each generation needs to protect what has been handed down to us. Outside the archive building in Washington, D.C. are inscribed these words: THE COST OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE.