Government

We Have A Representative Government

–By Ben Gilmore

Cicero truly was a man of the times—-His time and OUR time.

"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful, good society’ which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean: more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious."

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

This quote crossed my desk and seemed appropriate. I have not confirmed its authenticity.

We prayed for mercy over justice for America. It appears we will have a period of well deserved “justice.” Who can deny America has turned from honoring justice and righteousness.

God is rejected in a national convention on national television. Fools are acting as if there is no God. It appears we truly have a “representative government.” Limbaugh reports, “3 million fewer Republicans voted this year, than voted for McCain/Palin.”

2nd Chronicles 7:14 spells out four things – Humble ourselves; Pray; Seek God’s direction; and – Turn from our wicked ways. When done – the scripture indicates three responses – God hears our prayers; Forgives our sins; and heals our land.

· Humble ourselves – This requires we acknowledge God exists and offers a way out.

· Pray – Prayer is a conversation between two individuals that love each other. I knew a pastor who believed that was being too intimate with God. My experience proves to me he is mistaken. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage, …but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba (i.e. Daddy), Father.” [Romans 8:15]

· Seek God’s direction

Ben Gilmore
[Contact Ben]

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Liberty

–By Ben Gilmore

My goal – To offer a deeper understanding of “liberty”.

To begin- God exists.  It is absurd to believe intelligence can be created by random chance.  Creation around us demands intelligent design.

Everything seen and unseen has laws (rules of action) that direct, regulate, control, restrain – that is – govern.  Step outside those natural laws – chaos!  Stay within them – peace!

Everything necessary for a human to live a peaceful, healthy life was here before people were placed upon earth.  Inanimate creation is governed by cause and effect.  Plant life is governed by photosynthesis.  Animals are governed by instinct.  Only man is governed by reason and conscienceBoth are God’s gift to humans.

Now, let us focus upon you.  Visualize yourself the only human on earth in the midst of the Garden of Eden.  A state of perfect natural freedom.  Go where you wish. Eat and sleep when you wish.  Use what is here to create as you wish.  You are limited ONLY by the “laws of nature” (gravity, fatigue, etc.).

Cherish that concept – The root of  your “unalienable Right … Liberty.

Now – Let us add another human.  This introduces another limit upon your natural liberty.  Reason and observation, the “law of Nature,” dictate that you should not violate the other person’s liberty if you want him/her not to violate yours. Violation equals chaos.

Perhaps you and the other person make a baby.  Now we have a family.  New obligations are introduced to your “liberty”.  The family unit is in a perfect state of nature, respecting other family units that have been introduced.  Reason and observation discover laws of nature to govern the family unit.

Several families join together to share tasks – hunting, gathering, shelter, etc.  A social unit is formed.  Joining such a unit must be voluntary, else liberty is violated.  Before joining, one must:  (1) Know the rules of the society and – .Once joined, have an equal voice in making and amending those rules;  (2) There must be a set means of judging violation of those rules; (3) The society must have authority to enforce penalties for violation of its rules.  All of this governance is for the purpose of preserving the natural liberty of the individual members.

Because human reason and observation so often misinterpreted the data (once they thought the earth was flat), God in His benevolence gave us the Bible (inspired word of God), which is much more difficult to misinterpret.  Thus we have, “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”.  “Natural law” and “Revealed law,” both from the same source.

The American colonists understood these concepts when they chose to create a society to protect their natural state of God-endowed liberty.

Selfishness is prone to violate other’s liberty.  Americans have permitted those violations to continue too long!  We must repair, rebuild, restore our society if we are once more to enjoy peace and liberty.  That can only be done in cooperation with the God of both Nature and the Bible.  He cannot do it alone.  We cannot do it alone.  It must be a cooperative effort.

How we choose to use our unalienableright to liberty” in governing ourselves will determine the quality of corporate self-government in our family and that of our local, county, state and national society.

America once more, has the blessed Liberty to turn from her steady drift away from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and once more to become a beacon of hope and righteousness for a dark and hurting world.  Let’s not waste the opportunity!

Ben Gilmore
[Contact Ben]

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Limits on Authority

Publish freely-
with attribution

–By Ben Gilmore

Only the Creator God of the Bible is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. With those unlimited attributes, there can be no limits upon God’s authority. Thus all other sources of power and authority must have limits.

For example – Consider the Bible account of King David and his neighbor, Bathsheba. God placed King David on the throne on Judah. In those days kings had lots of authority! Folks are supposed to submit to the authority God places over them – right?

King David sends for Bathsheba. She comes, as she should. He propositions her. Now what does she do? If she agrees, she breaks her marriage vows! If she refuses, she rebels against authority!

She should refuse. When King David propositioned her, he had figuratively stepped out from behind his office desk. God made him king. Certain authority came with that office. David stepped outside that authority and she was free to decline without rebelling against the authority God had given David.

Here is another example from the Book of Esther. The King was named King Ahasuerus. His wife was named Vashti. The king was having a major party with all his V.I.P. types. Everybody was pretty drunk. The king decided he wanted Vashti to come show off her beauty for his drunken friends. (Not a good way to honor one’s wife I’d say.)

Well, Vashti refused and lost her position as Queen. Why? Because the other husbands crowded around the King and pointed out that Vashti’s apparent disrespect for her husband would cause their wives to show disrespect to them.

I think Vashti said, “No” to the wrong request. She should have come to the brawl as requested. She should walk in, wearing a loose fitting turtleneck gown that reached the floor. She should have smiled and said, “You sent for me?” When the King said, “Dance for my buddies, honey.” THEN she should have refused. The King would then have stepped outside his authority as a husband and dishonored his wife.

Some years back we lived in a town called Morgan Hill. The state of California had ruled that, in certain emergencies, towns and cities were free to impose a tax upon city utilities to raise needed emergency funds. The citizens of Morgan Hill petitioned and voted to narrow that rule. They ruled that such a utility tax could not be imposed without a vote of the people (of Morgan Hill).

Several years later, we elected three of my friends to the five-man City Council. The city manager and city treasurer said we had an emergency and needed to impose a utility tax. My friend, the new Mayor, said to the local newspaper, “We can’t put it to a vote, the people will reject it.” The city lawyer said to the councilmen, “You should go ahead and impose the tax. State law says you can.”

My three friends voted to impose the tax. When they did, they had stepped outside the authority we gave them when we voted them into office. Granted: The state said they could levy the tax. BUT the people of Morgan Hill had ruled that they could – only – after a local vote.

Citizens were left with this dilemma: Submit to tyranny, or recall the Councilmen. We voted to recall the Council members who voted for the tax. It sent political shock waves up and down the city administrations of California!

God’s “Law of liberty” imposes limits upon each of us. We discover those limits by observation and reason. Such “Natural Law” indicates, no one should harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. When someone in authority steps outside those limits, they lose their authority.

In modern societies it is necessary to set further limits within those: Slow to 20 mph in a school zone, for example. Step outside those limits and penalty follows.

Our wonderful U.S. Constitution was written by “We the people” and sets limits, NOT upon the people, BUT upon the national government. We vote (i.e. we “hire”) men and women to exercise authority within the limits we have set. Should they step outside those limits they lose their authority and should be voted out of office.

[Contact Ben]

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How to Be Free

–By Ben Gilmore

God once spoke through an ass. I guess He can speak through me!

There is a law of nature – The quality of internal self-government is inversely proportional to the amount of external government imposed upon self. Think of a see-saw. As self-government degrades, external government always moves in to fill the gap.

No one really likes being governed from outside. “Move back the restrictions”. “Give me my space.” But the walls don’t move back! Rather, they are reinforced from the outside as a form of self defense from the spread of anarchy.

Think about it. When you misbehave, the see-saw tips against you and restrictions are imposed by your family. It is the same in church societies and in civil government.

As our American society has degraded, just consider — Big government has imposed itself upon every aspect of our lives. The see-saw is so far tipped that many are saying it can never be righted again. That argument I repudiate!

We have an important election coming up. Suppose, God miraculously raised up perfectly qualified and principled candidates to fill EVERY elected and appointed position across our nation. In just a few years, I believe we would be in worse shape than we are now!

Why?

Because the root problem is internal. Elections and appointments are external. American society must improve its internal self-government if the external government is to be decreased.

How is that accomplished? I was asking the Lord about that.

The answer I believe He gave me — “ONE HEART AT A TIME!”

Real, lasting, self-, family-, church-, civil- improvement begins within each one of us! Each one of us MUST search our hearts with brutal honesty. Once we have repented and confessed our unrighteousness, we must encourage our family members to do the same. I think of a husband and wife as a “threesome” – he, she, and Jesus. As each grows closer to Jesus the triangle shrinks smaller and smaller bringing the couple closer together.

Families in a society who are improving their corporate self-government will influence others. It will not take a majority to set our ship of state back on her proper course. It will take a core, across the nation who are truly humble before God and not embarrassed to stand forth honoring Him.

The Lord of Heaven’s armies said it, “If my people, who are called by my name, will (do four things), humble themselves, pray, seek My face, turn from their wicked ways, Then I will (do three things), hear their prayers, forgive their sins, and heal their land!”
[2nd Chron 7:14]

Ben Gilmore
[Contact Ben]

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Patriotism is Not Enough!

–By Ben Gilmore

We have lots of apathetic patriots! The easiest course is to do nothing!

After reading this – go to the website and become part of the 100 member class! If you can not get away 4 days next week why not send a teen!

YOU need to be there! Your kids and grand kids need to be there!

QUOTE OF THE CENTURY… MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENIUM

Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand
them. This quote came from the Czech Republic . Someone over there has it
figured out. We have a lot of work to do.

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of
entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to
limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the
necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to
have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more
serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming
the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of
fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama,
who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude
of fools such as those who made him their president.”

Fran responded with these golden words words:

“This is so true. Part of the problem is that Americans no longer know their heritage. We no longer teach in school the biblical principles that God established, based on His word, in this nation. Instead, the “fools” are like Esau who was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of stew. Ben and I have dedicated our lives to teaching these principles. Love you all, Fran”

www.ACHStudyGroups.com/seminar

Class begins at 9am a week from tomorrow – Bring someone and join us!

[CONTACT US]

Ben & Fran Gilmore,
ACH Co-founders.

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Significant Moments in His-Story

–By Ben Gilmore

Boston Tea Party

December 7th (Pearl Harbor) was such a moment for America. 9/11 was another. These are dates when major changes in momentum and direction took place for America. I guess you could say that all moments in His-story are significant. “Big doors swing on little hinges!”

One of the things that make tomorrow (Sunday March 21st, 2010) one of those “moments” will never show in the media. I believe there is more focused prayer being sent Heavenward from Americans, than at any time in my 80 years. Those who know Jewish history are familiar with the times when things reached a point that enough members of a society prayed for divine help – and it was granted.

At issue tomorrow, is godliness vs. ungodliness. Liberty is as evangelical as it is political. Are we to be a nation (society) governed by laws that reflect and protect our liberty? – or – Are we to be a nation (society) governed by force and manipulation?

By the time most of you read this, tomorrow’s political events in Washington D.C. will have taken place. I wish to speak to the alternatives. “Pundits” for either side will be busy putting their own “spins” to the results. My council remains unchanged. [Faith & confidence]

If the tide supports what appears to be a treasonous administration, enhanced by a significant portion of the legislature, there appears to be little to avoid chaos. The root question will be, “Do we bow to tyranny and forsake our pretense of liberty?” Apathy (inaction) and ignorance (of the principles that make our system of government work) caused this problem. There will be a danger of rushing out the other side into angry anarchy (uncontrolled rebellion).

If the tide goes against the administration, there will be a renewed sense of confidence in the system and an enhanced momentum focused upon returning our ship of state to its intended course. Following the “Boston Tea Party” Samuel Adams wrote, “You cannot imagine the height of joy that sparks in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the hearts of all we meet on this occasion.” Those who oppose principles of American government have been doing everything they can to prevent a sense of victory. Both camps have taken Sunday’s events for a showdown.

“Success” also carries its share of dangers. After the Boston Tea Party, the colonists remained active. “Apathy” was not a problem! Those colonists were not “ignorant” of the principles that were inspiring them. I fear we are.

Should the good guys win tomorrow (I expect that to happen!), “ignorance and apathy” remain our foes. For several generations, we have not learned our history, or the fundamental principles that make us a great nation. Without those proven principles, our efforts to repair and rebuild will be futile. Further, we must be careful not to take credit for answered prayer. That belongs to heaven. We must remain actively involved, as He directs, and not drift again into inaction.

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Ben Gilmore 1929-2023

On March 30, 2023 Ben Gilmore, the co-founder of ACHStudyGroups (co-founded with his wife Fran), went to be with the Lord in Glory.

A Memorial: https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/BenGilmore/