Law & Government: An Introductory Course

The Law & Government: An Introductory Course is on sale for 50%.  I have not had a chance to listen to my set yet but the speakers are very good.  I will be doing a review of this resource once I finish the set

Here is the VF description:

With America’s legal heritage under attack, are you ready to give biblical answers to the critical cultural debates raging today?

Law & Government: An Introductory Study Course will arm your family to meet this challenge with the foundational concepts of law, ethics, and public policy; a clear understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the proper roles of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, and much more.

Featuring leading Christian attorneys and legal scholars such as Chief Justice Roy Moore, Douglas Phillips, Esq., and Dr. Paul Jehle, this course offers seven easy-to-follow unit studies.

28 hours of audio and video, plus study guide.

Course Includes:

• Study Guide with Answer Key
• 6 Lectures on DVD
• 16 Audio Messages on MP3
• Certificate of Completion

Here are the speakers:

Love and Law

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”  ~  1 John 5:2 (KJV)

Have you ever read a verse over and over and then one day see it differently.  Well that was what happened to me in studying for a sermon on 1 John 5:1-5.  What I had not noticed before was that John does not make the connection of loving the children of God by what we do to the children of God, directly, but by how we love God and obey His commands.   If this does not strike you let me repeat; we show our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ by loving God and obeying His commandments.

What struck me was the connection between love and law, His commandments.  A connection that most believe is nonexistent since most see love and law being at odds with each other.  Ask the average professing believer what they think of the law as it relates to love and you will either get a blank stare or more than likely they will say that they are not connected.  But, John after speaking throughout his letter about the life of the believer, says that love for one another is shown by loving God and being obedient to God’s commandments, living out His law.  

Now most may not have an issue with the connection to loving God and if obeying God’s command is about His call to love one another they may also not see an issue.  However, the passage says “commandments” and thus this is not speaking to only one command of God but about His law, His commands.  How can this be so?  How can obeying God’s law reveal love for each other? 

As I thought through this it became clear that as we love God and obey His commands we do what not only glorifies God, our first duty, but we do what God sees as best for one another.  When we seek to show love for one another by our own standards we end up with all sorts of problems as we try by our own devises to show love.  We need to see that God has set out in His word how we show love for one another and that includes obeying His law.  Not just that part of God’s law we like but all of His law as reveled in His word.  God’s word is sufficient for all of life and that is why we are to obey His commands and when we do so we not only show our love for God but also for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

An example of this is when Paul speaks to the Corinthian church about the man that was having an affair with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5).  Paul tells them that in their efforts to seem accepting they did what not even the world would accept.  To deal with this Paul tells them they should discipline the man as God’s word speaks to dealing with sin and not overlooking it.  That they need to obey God’s word and commands and not come up with their own law.  This is all done not out of retribution but out of love for the man as the goal is reconciliation, to them and God.

We need to regain a view of the law that is not at odds with love and grace.  The opposite of law is lawlessness and that is what God’s law deals with and as believers we need to seek to obey the law and help our brothers and sisters in the Lord do so as well.  Is it not loving to be used by God to help His children stay on the path His law gives us to live on or to let them wander of God’s path.  God will do what is necessary for His children to live lives that glorify Him and we need to seek to help others avoid the discipline that will come from straying.

For more on obeying God’s law and seeing how that work’s itself out as love you can listen to the sermon that led me to look at this subject: Love and Law.  I know that for many this is new since for so long the evangelical world as set up a wall between Love and Law, Grace and Law, but that wall does not exist in scripture.  Yes, the law is not to be seen as a way to salvation but the law is used by God as a means to lead one to salvation and for the child of God His law is used as the path for life.  So let us regain a love for His law and see that this will reveal love, biblical love, for one another.

Where We are Heading as a Country

We have been reading R.J. Rushdoony’s book Law & Liberty during our family worship time and it has been a very good book. Last night we read a chapter called The Family and Property and in that chapter is laid out the 10 planks of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Read them for yourself and see how much they sound like our current state of affairs:

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

This is where we are heading, well we may actually be more there than many want to admit. When man turns from God’s law the only place left to turn to is himself and when man turns to himself to legislate life we end up with tyranny. We cannot turn back the tide of Marxism, Socialism, Fascism or any another “-ism” until we turn back to seeing the word of God as all sufficient for all of life. God has called a people to Himself and we need to realize that He has not done this in a vacuum. He has called us and empowered to follow His commands which most glorify Him and in the end benefit us.

Let us turn back to Him and follow His word and not our sin tainted reason. Yes, reason does still exist for the believer and we are to use it but it is to be used in conjunction with His word and His word is to be the arbiter of our reason.

I will post more from Law & Liberty as time permits.

Keeping Your Way Pure

It was a great day of worship as we looked at Psalm 119:9-16, sermon link here. What a great passage with so many seeking to find ways around God’s law the Psalmist in seeking how to have a pure walk lets us see it is by seeking out God’s commands, statutes, ordinances, testimonies and precepts.

The walk that most glorifies God is one that seeks to live by HIs all sufficient word. He is most glorified by this type of life because it is He who empowers His children to live as such. The Psalmist in V1-8 speaks of how we are to walk and then in V9-16 deals with how we accomplish the walk we are to have. It is about how we are to Keep Our Way Pure.

We see in V9 that we are to Guard our Life by His word and this is to be done in Whole Hearted Submission (V10) that will be used by God to help one not to wander from His commandments. In V11 the Psalmist reveals that the battle against sin is accomplished by Storing up His Word in our heart. Our heart is not to seek after avoiding His precepts and commands but is to be one that has A Desire to be Taught (V12) all God’s word contains. Our lives are to be so impacted by God’s law-word that we can do no other than Proclaim His Law (V13) and reveal that we Find Our Delight in His Word (V14).

Lastly in V15 and v16 we see the Psalmist move towards what he will do. All that has been proclaimed is not simply theoretical or what he has done but it will be part of his life to come. A life that will be Focused (V15) and fixed on God’s ways. The Psalmists life, as ours should be, will find delight in His law, in His statutes. This challenges us to ask if our True Joy is in Him and His word (V16) or is it in something else.

Let us seek to walk the blameless walk God calls us to by the path He sets forth for us in His word by His power.