Truth Academy

11/26/2021

Consent of the Governed
Dr. Rob Covell

Introduction

The best governments are governments that are subject to the will of the people and are under the authority of God. All of the American founding documents from the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence show us that placing God as Sovereign, with the will of the people in the center of governance, creates freedom that brings safety and prosperity to all. It is important to reflect on what makes a good government especially now that Federal, State, and Local governments have arbitrarily erased personal freedoms and rights. In addition to this, in the State of California we pay some of the highest taxes to a State government that offers little in return regarding quality of education, infrastructure, public safety, civil engineering works, public lands, and management of natural resources that benefit the public. There are many other things we could examine regarding our current situation of being ruled by elected officials who look to their own interests and the interests of global corporations before the interests of the people. However, the way forward to correct the current trajectory into tyranny is to look back in history and rediscover the seeds of good governance that built America and then bring a reformation that empowers us to have a better future.

Theistic Thinking

The first building block of a good society is the awareness that all people are subject and accountable to God. Sociologists have identified seven areas of culture that are common to all human populations. These areas are Family, Education, Economy, Government, Religion, Arts, and Media. If we were to look at any culture in the world today, we would see these same interdependent spheres of influence guiding a people towards a collective destiny. Christian theologian and philosopher Abraham Kuyper identified these interdependent spheres of culture and formulated a theistic worldview that placed God at the center of all human pursuits and experiences. This type of worldview brings an awareness to all people that life lives before God and the human experience is a sacred pursuit. Placing God at the center gives people intrinsic value and worth that atheism cannot afford them because people bear Imago Dei. A Theistic worldview also implies a cultural moral ethos that restrains sin, crime, and government tyranny.

Throughout the history of America from Plymouth Rock in 1620 to the 1960’s, elected civil servants have appealed to God to guide their decision-making processes and providentially move America towards a better future for generations to come. Below are some quotes from government documents that make this point.

The Mayflower Compact
“IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid:”

The Declaration of Independence
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and happiness.”

Abraham Lincoln, The Thanksgiving Proclamation
“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to pe*****te and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”

The California State Constitution
“We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.”

There are so many examples of theistic thinking in our nation’s Federal and State civil documents that it cannot be contested. It was theistic thinking that placed the role of government under the authority of God and produced civil servants that governed with an awareness that they were accountable to God for the laws they passed and the policies that they advocated for. John F. Kennedy said, “The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”

Today, the vast majority of our elected civil servants no longer hold to a theistic worldview. The net result has been the passing of laws that are contrary to God’s design for humanity and social policies that erode the moral compass that preserves the common good in our society. Whatever common good remains in American society is a hangover from its theistic worldview that guided its governance. It was theistic thinking that produced the prosperity that made America a unique country that was not founded as race or sectarian identity but founded and sustained by the power of a common worldview and philosophical ideals.

The Right to Govern

In the past, generations of Americans have always believed that the role of government was to serve the common good of the people in ways that agreed with our historical national ethos of personal freedom, civil liberties, common law, and free-market economies. Governments are only legitimate when they govern by the principle of consent. Unfortunately, the political divide in America is the result of the loss of a theistic worldview in the country’s influential institutions. A common worldview of theism no longer transcends our political affiliations and America is headed towards a greater division that is summed up in either belief in God or unbelief in God.

If Americans are ever going to be “E Pluribus Unum”, the way forward is to return to God. As a Christian, I believe that way is to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who made atonement for the sins of humanity, and through faith in Him, we are eternally reconciled to the Father. I advocate for Christian revival, however any theistic thinking provides the cultural awareness that people are accountable to God for their actions in this life and agrees with the historical ethos of appealing to God for wisdom and guidance for how we manage the country that He providentially gave us in the American Revolution. Our system of government was founded on these ideas and not on an atheistic worldview. The right to good governance finds its genesis in a people who are God-aware and then lend their consent to the civil servants. Any laws, regulations, executive orders, or mandates that find their origin in atheistic rationalism are not for the common good of a free people who are governed by God first.

Summary

Today, Americans are at a crossroads. The road of the atheistic worldview leads us away from the ideas enshrined in our historic legal documents and empower an increasing tyranny and denial of the natural order of things that God designed. Even the scientific method that Newton developed that was founded on the pursuit of discovering the genius of God in His creation is being denied. The atheistic worldview road moves us away from critical thinking and the basic philosophical concepts of discerning truth through the process of Ontology, Axiology, and Epistemology. This road drives us farther from the collective wisdom we have found in the Bible, Greek Classics, and Roman History. The atheistic worldview is cultural chaos that will not produce unity but will continue to produce a rebellious people who are morally bankrupt, mentally ill, and live from the limbic desires that deny self-control and responsibility. This is not the road that will bring favor to a nation or people and will certainly not produce a benevolent government.

The other road is a new Christian Reformation. All Christian revivals in American history have produced social change that benefitted the nation and moved America closer to God in its laws and policies. Abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, civil rights, and the repealing of racist laws are all a net result of the effects of Christian resurgence into the American political process. The teachings of Jesus Christ are egalitarian at their core and promote morality, justice, healing, and forgiveness in the people who embrace them. For all the sins and injustices of the American experience, theistic thinking produced by Christianity has corrected them. The return to good government that serves by the consent of the people is a return to Christ at a personal level that produces national goodness in the seven spheres of culture.

The struggle for culture is real, and atheistic thinkers are seeking to move our society farther from God in every one of the seven spheres of culture. Fortunately, the current pandemic policies of Federal, State, and Local governments have caused many to pause and reflect on the roots of the current tyrannies that have manifested and come to the front. This is great because all social change in history begins with an idea. One thing that history teaches us is that truth always prevails over vanity and lies. For those of us who still hold to the theistic worldview, it is time we create micro-cultures that produce spaces of normalcy for ourselves and for our children. It is time to organize, move in proximity to one another, join Bible teaching churches, run for elected office, and build break away educational institutions that prepare and equip our children with knowledge that serves as the weapon that will bring about the New Reformation of America.

11/24/2021

Remembering our history and why we celebrate....Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! 🙏

11/17/2021

https://defendinged.org/incidents/west-hartford-publishes-elementary-social-justice-lessons-standards-and-mentor-texts-transgender-content-introduced-in-kindergarten/

Parents from West Hartford contacted us at Parents Defending Education because of concern over the district’s focus on group identities in grades K through 5, including transgender content in kindergarten. The standards and mentor texts are in the document below: One parent said, “I am troubled ...

11/15/2021

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO 👇
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Building Micro-Cultures
Dr. Rob Covell

Introduction

In the days and years to come, people who value freedom of religion, individual rights, self-government, and free-market economies will be challenged by an increasing authoritative State and Federal governments. As the United States has left the theistic worldview, we are beginning to reap the fruit of chaos, mass mental illness, and the loss of God’s peaceful order in our society. America is under the forsaking and consequential judgments of God. This may seem unhopeful and discouraging, however, the LORD in His Word has made great and glorious promises to those who have endured much more difficult times. Just as God was with Joseph, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, He will be with us as we continue to worship Him and place Him on the throne of our hearts. As God’s people, we have a holy prescription for the sickness in society and we have favor from God to co-labor with Him to bring about His best for our nation.

In this essay, I will outline a basic template for building Micro-Cultures that attract the goodness of God, empower people, and create spaces of blessing and community in the midst of government overreach, mandates, and loss of freedom.

The working definition of Micro-Culture is:
1) A localized aggregate of people who live according to God’s Law and authority over their lives.
2) A localized region that comes under the influence of Christians that has enough authority to nullify unconstitutional State and Federal mandates and government overreach.
3) A region that experiences the blessings associated with goodness of God on a people group, like low crime, financial prosperity, employment, brotherly love and harmony, and healthy lives (emotional and physical).

Reformation Begins with Christ-like Living

The first move toward building a Micro-Culture is evaluating the condition of our hearts. Our society is sick because so many people live as rebels against God and His Laws. The chaos in our homes, high crime rates in our streets, lack of respect for people, racism, and any other societal illness we can point to is a direct result of the sinful choices of the aggregate of the people. Aggregates of moral people create generally safe polite societies and cultures.

Making room for revival in our hearts will anoint us with the Holy Spirit and power to change hearts in ways that please God.

Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

This verse teaches us that our actions and choices have consequences that manifest in our lives. Either we please God by staying in step with the Spirit, or we please the flesh and reap multidimensional death in our lives. The reformation of a nation begins in the hearts of its people. For a city to be redeemed, it begins with the Christians who live there to walk in agreement with God.

Spiritual Warfare Prayer

Perhaps the most overlooked dimension of building a Micro-Culture is Spiritual Warfare Prayer. The late Dr. C. Peter Wagner wrote many amazing books about the theology of spiritual warfare and the strategies used to defeat territorial demonic spirits that exert their authority over cities, regions, and nations. Collective sin in a society provides the right of agreement for territorial spirits to operate freely. We are all aware of the reputations of some cities, regions, and nations. Some cities have high murder rates, some areas are controlled by poverty, some have an abundance of theft and petty crime, some have high instances of drug addiction, and some places are safer than others. Whenever an area has a reputation, it is an indicator that demonic spirits are operating and increasing their influence as the repetitive cycle of corporate sin continues.

Fortunately, Jesus has “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18) and Jesus has extended that authority to His Church. Ephesians 3:10 says, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”. This is an incredible verse because the Church of Jesus Christ has been mandated by Christ to enforce His spiritual authority and defeat demonic rulers and authorities in high places. This cosmic spiritual warfare is necessary for cities, regions, nations to be loosed from their strongholds. Those who wish to build Micro-Cultures must utilize the power of prayer and exercise their spiritual authority over the regional spiritual strongholds.

Faithful Church Attendance and Evangelism

Hebrews 10:25 exhorts Christians to not give up meeting together for worship and teaching. There are so many benefits of meeting together for corporate worship. We are “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) and we are the temple of God as we come together to express our love for God, serve each other, and learn God’s ways on Sunday mornings. It is a beautiful pattern and rhythm of living that teaches our children to prioritize God in their lives when we make the effort to meet together regularly for worship. The average American Evangelical attends Church only once every 4-5 weeks. To build the types of local relationships and tight bonds needed to create autonomous Micro-Cultures, this famine of faith community needs to change.

The other outflow of faithful church attendance is evangelism. Every Christian is a representative of Jesus Christ. Because we are in relationship with the Living God who loves well, heals people, and trains us in goodness, we should desire to share the knowledge of God with our friends, family, and neighbors. The Word of God gives us wisdom for life, and as that wisdom begins to manifest in our lives, people take notice of the change. When the blessings and favor of God abound in us people naturally want to know the reasons. The New Testament Scriptures command us to share our faith in love and truth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most beautiful message of a benevolent Heavenly Father who loves people, sent His Son to die for our sins on a cross, in order to restore humanity back to relationship with Him, is an amazing thing.

Faithful church attendance and evangelism creates headwaters for establishing a Micro-Culture. Church buildings are tools and resources that functions as the base camp to the mobilization of a Micro-Culture.

Build Schools

The current public-school crisis of today has been decades in the making. People like me were warning parents for years to consider educating their children using alternative avenues of education like homeschool or Christian school. Many parents at the time were concerned about socialization, quality of education, or feel like public school was a mission field. The time has long passed for the public schools to be considered a mission field. Children are to be protected from harmful ideologies that birth a spirit rebellion against God, teach and endorse sin, and indoctrinate your children in atheism. The public school is progenitor of the doctrines of demons that have manifested in our current public-school situation.

Deuteronomy 11:18-19 says, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

It is the parent’s responsibility to teach our children to love God, know His ways, and train our children to love righteousness. Fulfilling this command in Scripture is more successful in groups that agree with this commandment.

The foundation of building a Micro-Culture at a systemic level is Christian education. Not only does this empower rapid change at a local level, it empowers inter-generational change at a cultural level. We cannot build a Micro-Culture without educating our children first.

Entrepreneurship

In our modern culture, money is compressed power. The ability to resist government overreach and unconstitutional mandates is to have enough financial power to create systemic change. One of the strategies to build successful Micro-Cultures is to build successful micro-economies.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “but remember that the LORD your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your fathers, as it is today.”

When Christians come together to mentor each other, build business relationships, and make opportunities to employ each other we build financial momentum leading to prosperity. As we marry economic activity with generosity, we empower God’s blessings to flow through us and create Kingdom wealth and resources that can be used to build micro-economic engines that build and sustain Micro-Cultures.

The Arts

One of the most influential tools in building Micro-Cultures is the power aesthetic. Creativity, art, music, fashion, architecture, and design guide the collective ethos of people. So much art and fashion is warped, broken, and malevolent in style. To build successful Micro-Cultures, we need an abundance of Spirit-filled creatives that manifest Imago Dei through their works. Being surrounded by a beautiful aesthetic points the mind toward God thoughts and guides the values of a people group. Christians vastly underestimate the power of art and aesthetic. We at best are typically imitators of the Babylonian system around us and not avant-garde creatives, philosophers, artists, poets, writers, and designers. A Micro-Culture is defined by its aesthetic.

Political Activism

Christians have access to the mind and wisdom of God in the Scriptures and by illumination and revelation in prayer. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to indwell us, teach, and counsel us into grace and truth. Possessing these graces from God empowers Christians to lead society and culture through the revelation of God. Not employing these graces in the leadership of our nation robs society of the goodness of God working through God’s people.

Approximately 50% of self-identifying Christians do not vote in elections. This is a travesty and disobedience of God’s command for us to be good citizens in Romans 13. Not only are we not voting, we are not running for office. In many ways, Christians do not have the right to criticize our secular government representatives because we are not voicing our values by being silent in the voting booth.

The fastest way to the local power of State and Federal nullification is to elect Christians to city council, mayor, county board of supervisors, state representative offices, and federal offices. The direct quality of your daily life depends on the laws that are followed in your city. The current pandemic revealed to us the areas that value self-rule and representative government, and those areas that do not value these things, but promote authoritarian public policies. To build a Micro-Culture of daily quality of life, Christians must run for political office and work as activists in the local community.

Summary

The seven-fold strategic plan outlined in this essay are contingent on a people who want to live in proximity to each other and move forward together in a spirit of unity. This seven-fold strategy of building a Micro-Culture is heavy lifting for sure, and lives in the long-term vision of the people who commit to it. Most importantly, building a Micro-Culture is only attained by the grace of God’s agreement.

Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

The precipitous fall of America is accelerating quickly and the hope of a quick fix or turn around is not in the foreseeable future. But, aggregates of like-minded Christians can decide to move together, build Micro-Cultures, and enjoy a Goshen-type goodness in our daily lives and in the lives of our children. Cities on a hill shine the brightest in the darkness. It is time to apply godly wisdom and begin to be faithful to the call to revive our hearts in Christ and build a Micro-Culture in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.