The Gospel is "Not American"

Gary weighs in on Pastor Loran Livingston’s claim that Earth is not his home, as well as his own thoughts about adding extra material to printed Bibles.

The form of civil government the Founders developed was decentralized and specifically designed to limit political power. As Thomas Jefferson stated in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Russell Kirk (1918-1994) confirms Jefferson’s sentiment:

The constitutions of the American commonwealth are intended—and have successfully operated—to restrain political power: to prevent any person or clique or party from dominating permanently the government of the country.

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It is one of the great premises of American political theory that all just authority comes from the people, under God: not from a monarch or a governing class, but from the innumerable individuals who make up the public. The people delegate to government only so much power as they think is prudent for government to exercise; they reserve to themselves all the powers and rights that are not expressly granted to the federal or state or local governments. Government is the creation of the people, not their master. Thus the American political system, first of all, is a system of limited, delegated powers, entrusted to political officers and representatives and leaders for certain well-defined public purposes. Only through the recognition of this theory of popular sovereignty, and only through this explicit delegation of powers, the founders of the American Republic believed, could the American nation keep clear of tyranny or anarchy. The theory and the system have succeeded: America never has endured a dictator or tolerated violent social disorder.[1]

State governments and their courts have jurisdictional authority to “speak the law” to those who reside within the boundaries of their respective states. Their jurisdictional freedom is no different from that of the federal government. That’s each state has its own constitution, courts, and elected officials. An elected official in one state has no jurisdictional authority in or over another state.

The Case for America’s Christian Heritage

It’s not enough, however, to relive history. There’s much work before us to reset the foundation stones of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. We need to heed the words of Benjamin Franklin who quoted Psalm 127:1 during the drafting process of the Constitution: “except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it,” and “that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel.” The principles that were true and necessary centuries ago for building nations are equally true and necessary today.

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Pastor Loran Livingston makes an encore appearance, this time griping about what he calls the “disgusting” Trump Bible, which includes the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Gary weighs in on Pastor Livingston’s claim that Earth is not his home, as well as his own thoughts about adding extra material to printed Bibles.

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[1] Russell Kirk, The American Cause (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, [1957] 2002).

American Vision’s mission is to Restore America to its Biblical Foundation—from Genesis to Revelation. American Vision (AV) has been at the heart of worldview study since 1978, providing resources to exhort Christian families and individuals to live by a Biblically based worldview. Visit www.AmericanVision.org for more information, content and resources