Liberty

Matrix Programming

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This article by Jon Rappoport came across my desk. I have not met this author. His reason and logic impressed me. I wanted to share it with you.

January 22, 2013 by Jon Rappoport

Once upon a time, in medieval universities, new students enrolled in the trivium. It was the foundation curriculum. It was required. Its parts were: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

Grammar: the interior construction of language; the parts of speech; the proper agreement of parts of speech.

Logic: the valid and invalid connections in the course of an argument; the method of proper reasoning; the deductive links in a chain, at the end of which is a conclusion.

Rhetoric: oral presentation; the use of language to make a case; the capacity to persuade, even in the face of counter-argument.

Today, the subject matter of the trivium is not only downplayed. It has been shattered.

This article focuses on the death of logic.

When the intensive handling of ideas is seen as a laughable goal for education, indoctrination is plugged in as the only alternative.

The mind of the student shifts from being an active force to being a container.

The destruction of logic is a conscious strategy, a game plan. Its goal is to pervert rational thought at its core and insert ideology masked as insight.

The game plan was cooked up a long time ago at the Carnegie Foundation, where the undermining of American history was the No. 1 pastime.

Instead of merely erasing knowledge of American history, it was decided that the basic way ideas are studied should be torpedoed.

The actual meaning of an idea was firmly placed on the back burner. Front and center would be: Relentlessly assess and attack the people who forwarded those ideas.

And sure enough, this strategy has gained great prominence.

The revered Founders of the Republic? Shysters, con men, slaveholders, monopolists who saw rebellion from England as the way to win greater power for themselves at the expense of everyone else living on American soil.

Therefore, the argument continues — and this is crucial — the Founders’ ideas, as expressed in the Declaration and the Constitution, were rotten to the core. The ideas can be dismissed out of hand as coming from “a bad source.”

If you want to see that sleight-of-hand trick in action, just visit a few American studies classes in universities and catch the wave.

Ideas no longer need to be judged on their sense, merit and alignment with basic principles. Nor are they judged by their position in a well-formed argument. All that is out. Now, you have to “look to the source” and make all your decisions based on “who these people really were who expressed the ideas.”

And since that’s the case, learning to think or reason is unnecessary.

New education, then, once you strip away the old essentials, is really nothing more than learning who the bad guys were and the good guys were. This can be taught by ideologically motivated professors in a few hours.

In logic, this used to be called the fallacious ad hominem argument. Now, it isn’t called anything. It’s praised as the insightful way to do intellectual business.

In the case of the Founders’ ideas, we have, among others: the free market, individual freedom, private property and severely limited central government.

No need to examine these concepts. No need to assess, for instance, the success of the free market — despite its corruption by criminals and monopolists — in providing a better standard of living for millions of people. Forget it. All you have to know is that the free market was proposed by phony American aristocrats who wanted more power for themselves. On that basis alone, you can reject the free market.

How about private property? Same thing. The same phony Founders put that idea forward; therefore, it must be wrong.

Thomas Jefferson? He owned slaves. Therefore, as the night follows day, everything he said or thought or did was wrong.

See how easy education has become?

Individual freedom? Another absurdity proposed by the crooked Founders. Reject it. Don’t bother thinking about what that freedom has allowed you to express. Who cares?

So, one by one, these core ideas fall to the ax; and criticizing America becomes destroying America.

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Housetops In The Wilderness

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I am truly blessed by the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! That is to say, “I am a sinner, forgiven for my sins through the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ – and – I am an American.”

‘This divine power of the gospel revealed itself to the heathen in the lives of Christians, which showed forth the virtues of Him who had called them out of darkness into his marvelous light, and enabled them to walk as the children of God, in the midst of a perverse generation, among whom they shown as lights in the World! … The whole life of the Christian, from the beginning to the end, is a conflict with the world and the powers of darkness, a conflict within and without …” [August Neander “Memorials of a Christian life” 1852] (America was young in 1852, the period of the California gold rush.)

Today’s problems seem overwhelming. Neander was right! We are in a conflict with the world around us (treason, graft, corruption, etc). Even worse, we (each of us) are in a conflict within between personal temptation and what we know to be right (selfishness vs. conscience).

There is within each of us, a desire for liberty. God gave it to us. – BUT – Human nature wants to rule, rather than submit. It is the oldest human conflict. What seems “overwhelming” today manifests that age-long conflict. Will God or man be sovereign?

America is truly exceptional. “We the people” created a government for the specific purpose of preserving and protecting our unalienable (God-given) right to walk in His light. Throughout human history tyranny, oligarchy, and anarchy have fought against individual liberty.

“LIBERTY IS AS EVANGELICAL AS IT IS POLITICAL!”

[Rosalie Slater, “Teaching & Learning America’s Christian History” 1965]

Every generation has cried, “We have the greatest suffering and problems.” It is all part of the age-old war (within and without). However: “We the people” sacrificed their lives, their fortunes, and preserved their sacred honor, to pass down to us, our family-, church-, and civil-liberty. It is unlike that of any other nation in human history! Will we forsake it for a “mess of pottage?”

God has gifted me as a master teacher with a passion for Providential “His-story” and Biblical government. Like John-the-baptist, I am in the wilderness, preaching to the rocks and sand when my soul is screaming from the housetops, “We are about to lose what we do not know, that we do not know and appreciate!”

Yesterday, we began our online course (using Skype for a virtual classroom) “Principles of American Government” (PAG). Only four students rose to the challenge – two grandmothers and two homeschool teens. My call is to teach those God brings to me. He is in charge of the numbers.

I have a dream – Churches, schools, and colleges, catch the vision for such courses. They recognize that without understanding Biblical principles and human history we are about to lose our God-given endowments to tyranny. Like sheep without a shepherd, we are tacitly surrendering that precious liberty, for which our forefathers bled and died.

Were that dream to become reality, I believe America would once more burst into a flame of liberty – Giving faith and hope to a dieing world.

Please set aside two hours (you can and you should!) —http://vimeo.com/52009124

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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
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Musings of an Old Political Warhorse

–By Ben Gilmore

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. It is so easy to get caught up in trivia and miss focusing upon the critical thing(s). If we go into hyper-inflation and trucks and trains no longer deliver goods, we won’t even be able to buy condoms!

The critical focus of the current issue — The president does not have the authority to dictate what can be supplied by stores or insurance companies. His authority and that of his administration is limited by the U.S. Constitution.

The members of Congress and the Supreme Court are failing in their oaths to protect and preserve that Constitution by not yanking on his leash!

One authoritative step outside those limits becomes tyranny. Accepting such tyranny makes slaves of free men. He was “hired” to work within the predefined limits of the job.

The Tea Party freshmen elected in 2010 were not given a vote in their congressional leadership (Speaker John Bohner). Yet he took office because of the majority they created. As a result, they were “neutered” in many respects, by politicians more interested in status quo than “sudden and relentless reform!” ( To quote Gov. Sarah Palin).

Many folks say they are tired of “endless political bickering.” It appears to me they, and most bickering politicians, miss the critical point. America is in the final stages of a decades-long battle between liberty and slavery.

Forget “Politics is the art of compromise”. Liberty and slavery cannot exist at the same time! There is no compromise with slavery!

John Locke [1632 – 1704] had a profound impact upon America, as Colonial pastors preached the truths in his writings.

“… [W]hat state all Men are naturally in, and that is, a State of perfect Freedom, to order their Actions, and dispose of their Possessions, and Persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the Law of Nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the Will of any other man.”

The earth is a stage, upon which God has placed man, to act out his destiny. If you were the only one on the “stage”, you would discover that God had abundantly supplied everything you needed to sustain your life – “A state of Perfect freedom”.

“The State of Nature has a Law of Nature to govern it, which obliges everyone : And Reason, which is that Law, teaches all Mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty or Possessions.”

Another English writer, William Blackstone [1723 – 1780] , “Father of the Legal profession”, wrote of this Law of Nature in “Commentaries”.

“He [God] laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport (i.e. “design or meaning”)of those laws.”

Blackstone continues to define another set of laws – “Revealed Law”.

“The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found upon comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man’s felicity. (i.e. “great happiness”) … Yet undoubtedly the revealed law is of infinitely more authenticity than … natural law.”

Blackstone makes the point that “Natural Law” and “Revealed Law” will never be in conflict, because they come from the same source (God). One more quote from John Locke, that our forefathers understood well.

“For Men being all the Workmanship of one Omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker : whose Workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another’s Pleasure”

Lastly, consider the “Declaration of Independence”:

“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 separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…”

This is a time for every American to set aside bickering and pride. Each of us has a different task to perform in defense of our corporate liberty. No doubt, each task will come with a price. One requiring a change in priorities.

There is no place on the fence. Choose your side and prepare to battle for the soul of America.

For His-story & Government
Ben Gilmore

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Liberty and Morality

–By Ben Gilmore
Written for Harvard alum magazine —

A friend was asked to host an American history event I was to lead. “American History is a Christian thing, isn’t it. I’m Jewish.” I responded, “The one I love most in all the world is Jewish!”

The principles used as foundation for the good things America has produced happen to be Christian principles. One need not accept the lordship of Christ, or even the Mosaic law, to recognize the exceptionalism if such principles.

“Individuality”, “Self-Government”, “Quality Character”, “Private Property”, “American (governmental) Form”, “Local Authority”, “Liberty” are each among “Christian” principles. Each is currently under severe attack.

The last few generations in America have permitted the undermining of that foundation and the dumbing down of our society, such that those who defend such principles are thought to be the “stupid” ones.

Therein, I believe, lies the root to most of the problems you mentioned. Liberty and morality based on religious conviction, cannot exist independent of one another.

Ben & Fran Gilmore – Co-Founders
ACH Study Groups

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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/