"The State" is an Idol.
"Civil Government" is a False god.
The Bible is an Anarchist Manifesto.

The Bible is intended to lead idolaters "astray."

First, The Hoax of Higher Criticism by Gary North. Jefferson fell for the myths of 18th century German Higher Criticism hook line and sinker. These myths have long since been debunked. Another easy source is Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

Second, The One and The Many, by R.J. Rushdoony. Rushdoony's book shows that the Trinity is the foundation for liberty and humane society. Governments always embody theological error. The problem of "the one and the many" is a vexing philosophical problem that cannot be solved without the doctrine of the Trinity.

Jefferson would see immediately -- taking in the facts of the modern world (socialism, communism, fascism, crony-capitalism, and the complete abandonment of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights) -- that "higher criticism" was a ruse for big government. Big Unitarian Government.

Jefferson was not an enemy of morality. Higher Criticism is. Government is. I believe the modern combination of tyranny and anti-trinitarianism would click in Jefferson's mind. He would realize that the war against the Bible is a war for Big Government.

• View | Thesis 9: Anarcho-Theocracy and the Sanctions of the Covenant
 

 
Skip down to Thesis 10

The Institutes of Biblical Law

The Ten Commandments prohibit:

1.  Idolatry
2.  False Religion
3.  Swearing a false oath
4.  Refusal to work
5.  Disrespecting parents and other authorities
6.  Murder
7.  Cheating on your Wife
8.  Theft
9.  Slander
10. Covetousness

For more than 300 years -- roughly 1600-1900 -- "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" -- that is, the Bible -- permeated America's schools and American culture. These laws are the foundation of civilization.

Ten Principles for a Free Society

The Ten Commandments in a Biblical Worldview

The Ten Commandments Moral Inventory and Meditation Program

• Rules for the Right Understanding of the Ten Commandments
• How to Examine Yourself in the Mirror of the Ten Commandments: Ask "Who?"

Preface to the Ten Commandments

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• Introduction: The Importance of the Law
• The Validity of Biblical Law
• The Law as Revelation and Treaty
• The Direction of the Law

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law
   1. Idolatry and the Ten Commandments

• Day 67: Duties Required in the First Commandment, part 1
• Day 68: Duties Required in the First Commandment, part 2
• Day 69: Sins Forbidden in the First Commandment, part 1
• Day 70: Sins Forbidden in the First Commandment, part 2

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• The First Commandment and the Shema Israel
• The Undivided Word
• God versus Moloch
• The Laws of Covenant Membership
• The Law as Power and Discrimination

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 71: Duties Required in the Second Commandment
• Day 72: Sins Forbidden in the Second Commandment, part 1
• Day 73: Sins Forbidden in the Second Commandment, part 2
• Day 74: Reasons Annexed to the Second Commandment

• What is "Worship?"

• Day 81: Religious Worship, part 1
• Day 82: Religious Worship, part 2
• Day 83: Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience, part 1
• Day 84: Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience, part 2
• Day 85: The Word of God in Worship, part 1
• Day 86: The Word of God in Worship, part 2
• Day 87: The Word of God in Worship, part 3
• Day 88: The Word of God in Worship, part 4
• Day 89: Of the Sacraments, part 1
• Day 90: Of the Sacraments, part 2
• Day 91: Of Baptism, part 1
• Day 92: Of Baptism, part 2
• Day 93: Of Baptism, part 3
• Day 94: Of The Lord's Supper, part 1
• Day 95: Of The Lord's Supper, part 2
• Day 96: Of The Lord's Supper, part 3
• Day 97: Of The Lord's Supper, part 4
• Day 98: Of The Lord's Supper, part 5
• Day 99: Of The Lord's Supper, part 6
• Day 100: Of Communion of Saints, part 1
• Day 101: Of Communion of Saints, part 2

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• The Lawful Approach to God
• The Throne of Law
• The Altar and Capital Punishment
• Sacrifice and Responsibility
• Holiness and Law
• Law as Warfare
• Law and Equality

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 75: Duties Required in the Third Commandment
• Day 76: Sins Forbidden in the Third Commandment, part 1
• Day 77: Sins Forbidden in the Third Commandment, part 2
• Day 78: Reasons Annexed to the Third Commandment
• Day 79: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows, part 1
• Day 80: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows, part 2

• The Oath of Office
• An Oath is an Act of Religious Worship

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• The Negativism of the Law
• Swearing and Revolution
• The Oath and Society
• Swearing and Worship
• The Oath and Authority
• The Name of God

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 102: The Fourth Commandment, part 1
• Day 103: The Fourth Commandment, part 2
• Day 104: The Fourth Commandment, part 3
• Day 105: The Fourth Commandment, part 4

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• The Sign of Freedom
• The Sabbath and Life
• The Sabbath and Work
• The Sabbath and Authority
• The Sabbath and Law
• Appendix 4. The Economics of Sabbath Keeping by Gary North

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 106: The Fifth Commandment, part 1
• Day 107: The Fifth Commandment, part 2
• Day 108: The Fifth Commandment, part 3
• Day 109: The Fifth Commandment, part 4
• Day 110: The Fifth Commandment, part 5
• Day 111: The Fifth Commandment, part 6
• Day 112: The Civil Magistrate, part 1
• Day 113: The Civil Magistrate, part 2
• Day 114: The Civil Magistrate, part 3
• Day 115: Of The Church, part 1
• Day 116: Of The Church, part 2
• Day 117: Of Church Censures, part 1
• Day 118: Of Church Censures, part 2
• Day 119: Of Synods and Councils

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• The Authority of the Family
• The Promise of Life
• The Economics of the Family
• Education and the Family
• The Family and Delinquency
• The Principle of Authority
• The Family and Authority
• The Holy Family
• The Limitation of Man's Authority

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 120: The Sixth Commandment, part 1
• Day 121: The Sixth Commandment, part 2
• Day 122: The Sixth Commandment, part 3 - "Capital Punishment"
• Day 123: The Sixth Commandment, part 4 - "Lawful War" I
• Day 124: The Sixth Commandment, part 5 - "Lawful War" II
• Day 125: The Sixth Commandment, part 6 - "Necessary Defense"
• Day 126: The Sixth Commandment, part 7 - conclusion

• "National Defense" is unBiblical
• "Capital Punishment" is unBiblical
• There is no "Just War"
• A Politician's Moral Inventory

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• "Thou Shalt Not Kill''
• The Death Penalty
• Origins of the State: Its Prophetic Office
  • See also John Frame's Doctrine of the State
• “To Make Alive”
• Hybridization and Law
• Abortion
• Responsibility and Law
• Restitution or Restoration
• Military Laws and Production
• Taxation
• Love and the Law
• Coercion
• Quarantine Laws
• Dietary Rules
• Christ and the Law
• Work
• Amalek
• Amalek and Violence
• Violence as Presumption
• Social Inheritance: Landmarks

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 127: The Seventh Commandment, part 1
• Day 128: The Seventh Commandment, part 2
• Day 129: The Seventh Commandment, part 3
• Day 130: The Seventh Commandment, part 4

Family Values:

• Abortion
• Adoption
• Bio-Ethics
• Taxes Destroy Families
• Child-Labor Laws
• Early Education and Child Care
• Higher Education
• Education
• Euthanasia
• Homosexuality
• Hospitality
• Marriage: A God-Ordained Institution
• "Marriage Amendment"
• Evangelism and Social Order
• Pornography
• Homeschooling
• Sexuality and Culture

• Democracy Assassinated the Family
• Marriage Amendment
• More Republican Support for Homosexuality
• Pink Pistols Survey

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• Marriage
• Marriage and Man
• Marriage and Woman
• Nakedness
• Family Law
• Marriage and Monogamy
• Incest
• The Levirate
• Sex and Crime
• Sex and Religion
• Adultery
• Divorce
• The Family as Trustee
• Homosexuality
• Uncovering the Springs
• The Mediatorial Work of the Law
• The Transvestite
• Bestiality
• The Architecture of Life
• Faithfulness

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 131: The Eighth Commandment, part 1
• Day 132: The Eighth Commandment, part 2
• Day 133: The Eighth Commandment, part 3
• Day 134: The Eighth Commandment, part 4

• A Politician's Moral Inventory

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• Dominion
• Theft
• Restitution and Forgiveness
• Liability of the Bystander
• Money and Measure
• Usury
• Responsibility
• Stealing Freedom
• Landmarks and Land
• The Virgin Birth and Property
• Fraud
• Eminent Domain
• Labor Laws
• Robbing God
• Prison
• Lawful Wealth
• Restitution to God
• The Rights of Strangers, Widows, and Orphans
• Injustice as Robbery
• Theft and Law
• Appendix 3. "Stewardship, Investment, and Usury: Financing the Kingdom of God" by Gary North

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 135: The Ninth Commandment, part 1
• Day 136: The Ninth Commandment, part 2
• Day 137: The Ninth Commandment, part 3
• Day 138: The Ninth Commandment, part 4

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• Tempting God
• Sanctification and the Law
• The False Prophet
• The Witness of the False Prophet
• Corroboration
• Perjury
• Jesus Christ as The Witness
• False Witness
• False Freedom
• The Lying Tongue
• Slander Within Marriage
• Slander
• Slander as Theft
• “Every Idle Word”
• Trials by Ordeal and the Law of Nature
• Judges
• The Responsibility of Judges and Rulers
• The Court
• The Procedure of the Court
• The Judgment of the Court
• Perfection

•  

The Tenth Commandment

 

1. Overview
2. Do I Agree With God's Word?
3. Have I Violated This Commandment?
4. Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
5. How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

• Day 139: The Tenth Commandment
• Day 156: Aggravated Sins, part 1
• Day 157: Aggravated Sins, part 2
• Day 158: Aggravated Sins, part 3
• Day 159: Aggravated Sins, part 4
• Day 160: Aggravated Sins, part 5

From Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law:

• Covetousness
• The Law in Force
• Special Privilege
• Offenses Against Our Neighbor
• The System

Obedience through the Family eliminates tyranny, protects property.

The Tower of Babel has been an inspiration for the United Nations and European Union, yet students in a Bible-free school might not know anything about the Tower of Babel

Tyranny and tower-building receives a great boost from a Bible-free curriculum.

The original architect of "The State" was Satan.
In the Bible, the archetypal origin of "Politics" and "The State" is The Polis of Babel, usually referred to as the tower of Babel. Yes, there was a "tower," but more important than the tower was the political ideology that built it. The State was a Savior.

Genesis 11
4 “Come, let us build ourselves a city.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city 
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.

In the Septuagint, the Greek word for "city" in Genesis 11 is "polis," from which we derive the English word "politics."

Augustine wrote about "The City of God" in contrast to "the city of man." The Polis of Man is the Society of Satan, as Rushdoony observed.

The Apostle Paul writes about the City of Man in Romans 13, calling it "the powers," a word which speaks of demonic power everywhere the word is found in the New Testament.

• God's Law Concerning Money
• The Ungodliest Man in the World!
• Cleansing the Home
• Usury and Unabombers
• What About Borrowing?
• "The Evils of Capitalism" -- Wrong Enemy
• FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING AND VIOLENCE
• Usury and Rewarding the Wicked
• Gary North on Usury, Interest, and Loans
• THE FREEMEN
• R.C. Sproul on Debt
• For Further Reading

• View | Thesis 32: Patriarchy and “Sacraments”: Passover

In his famous "Farewell Address," George Washington said:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness - these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle

The Ron Paul Curriculum cannot afford to neglect "religion and morality." This is why today's politicians cannot be trusted to uphold constitutional government. The issues are theological.

• An Oath is an Act of Religious Worship

Romans 13: A Table of Contents

We have devoted an entire website to Romans 13.  Here are some pages which dig deeper into the background and meaning of Romans 13. They explore God's sovereignty over evil, the work of angelic beings in the Providence of God, and the necessity of abolishing evil in the world, especially the State. These are the lost themes of Romans 13.

We recommend reading them in the order below. The first three pages are foundational. The first page helps us cultivate the heart of a servant and Christian non-archist. The second page is critical to understanding Romans 13, and the reader is urged to spend some time perusing the rest of the pages on that site ("TOTAL Predestination"), particularly the pages on "Baalism" and "Radical Calvinism."

1. Pray for a Servant's Understanding of Romans 13
2. All Evil is Predestined by God
   Reading all these verses puts Romans 13 in a completely new context.
3. Christian "Anarchism" is Our Goal

For those who would like more detail, especially on the cultural background of Romans 13, the following are useful. These essays were written back in the early 1980's, and have not been revised since. We're counting on the reader being delayed by those first three pages (above) long enough for us to get the rest of these pages edited and revised. As you will discover, there are very few original thoughts on this website. Nearly all our ideas are plagiarized from other writers: Reformed, Dispensational, and even secular. Our contribution is putting them all together for the first time. 

4. Angels and God's Throne of Government
   Providence - God Governs through Angels
5. Stars and Idolatry
   God Governs the Evil through demons
6. Why the State Always Encourages Immorality
   Theft, murder, vengeance, fraud, sexual immorality
7. Unlucky 13 -- Romans 13, Revelation 13 and Isaiah 13
   Isaiah 13 and Revelation 13 say the same thing as Romans 13
   The State is evil, but God is sovereign over it.
8. A Roman's-Eye View of Romans 13
   • The State:  The Religion of Man
   • The Liturgical State
   • The Supernatural State
   • The Syncretism of the Universal State
   • The Greco-Roman Background
   • Views of Babylon, Egypt
   • Main Currents in Greco-Roman Statism
          • Power (dunameiV, dynameis)
          • Astrology
          • Monotheism
9. "Principalities and Powers" - Part One: The Old Testament
   • Judaism vs. the Bible
   • The Spirit World of Judaism
   • Deuteronomy 32:8
   • Daniel 10
10. "Principalities and Powers" - Part Two: Powers in the New Testament
    • German Liberals and Conservative Protestants
    • Lords Many and Powers Many
    • Exousiai is plural
11. Lakes of Fire in "Smoke-Filled Rooms"
    • "Demons" (daimones, daimoneV)
    • Pagan Demonology
    • Christian Syncretism 
12. Romans 13: The Burden is on the Archists
    • Romans 13 is Not a Starting Point
    • God's Law is Our Starting Point
    • The State vs. the Family: Monopolization of Powers
    • Why the Decline of Patriarchal Power?
    • If the State is "Ordained," How Can it Be Judged?
13. Taxation, "Consent of the Governed," and the Myth of the State
    • The Myth of "Representative Government"
    • Taxation and Biblical Law - Can the State tax too much?
    • Taxation and "Representation" - Did Christians in Paul's day enjoy representation?
    • Consent of the Self-Governed
14. Why the State is not a "Divine Institution"
    • Some Kind of "Christian Anarchism"?
    • The State and the War of the Powers Against Supernatural Government
    • The State after Nimrod
15. Angels and Autarchy
    • Angelic Government Before the Cross
    • Autarchy and Anarchy
    • Angels Watching Over Me
    • The Church's Witness to the Angels

You'll recognize one of those archists above as Adolph Hitler. Hitler did not kill six million Jews. Name one Jew whom you can prove Hitler killed. Six million Jews were killed by six million Germans who chose to wear a silly uniform, walk a silly goose-step, and follow the orders of a beyond-silly, pathologically evil man. These Germans were archists. They were "ordinary people." Just like you.

The Biblical Doctrine of "Salvation"

The Fall of Man

Man's basic sin against God is the desire to "be as gods."

Genesis 3
⁴  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
⁵ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

An aspect of this rebellion is the desire to get something for nothing, or something without working for it. (James Jordan has argued that Adam and Eve would eventually have been allowed to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, but they were required to work for it first and earn it.)

This is a major motivation for forming "the State" and conquering other people. (The other one being vengeance.)

God is man's Governor. Man rejects God's Government by desiring to be his own governor.

God punishes man for his rebellion by granting him his wishes. When man lusts for political power, God gives it to him.

Then in His mercy, God saves the repentant sinner by delivering him from the political disease.

If we obey God's commandments, we will not have war; God will not send "the sword" against us.

I will argue below that peace is possible only in a state of "an-archy," that is, the absence of "archists." This too is a "paradigm shift."

When we disobey God's Law, God sends archists as a judgment/curse against us.

We see this repeatedly in the Scripture. Israel lusts after gentile archists (false "gods," like Moloch, which means "king"). God delivers Israel into the hand of these false gods, these pagan archists, and Israel cries out for deliverance, and God delivers them by sending a deliverer, or "savior" or "judge" who "saves" Israel from the pagan archists.

Here's how Nehemiah sums up Israel's history of rebelling against God's Law and then being "saved" from the consequences of their disobedience:

Nehemiah 9:23-31

²³ Thou also multipliedst their children as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

²⁴ So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

²⁵ And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

²⁶ Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

²⁷ Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

²⁸ But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;

²⁹ And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

³⁰ Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

³¹ Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

God sent Israel many "saviors." When Bible-believers think of a "savior," they think of someone who will save Israel "out of the hand of their enemies." The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, and said:

Matthew 1:18-23

Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.

A first-century Jew, steeped in the Scriptures, would hear this as a promise to save "His people" from the consequences of their sins, the curses imposed on them by God because of their rebellion against His Law. John the Baptist's father "Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying"

Luke 1:67-80

⁶⁸ “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
⁷⁴ To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
⁷⁹ To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

The Babe born in Bethlehem saved Christians in the first century from their enemies: the Jews who collaborated with Rome. Then the Rock destroyed Rome, and has filled the earth with Christian Civilization -- The City of God. The growing and filling continues.

Consider this classic Christmas text:

Luke 2:8-20

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴        “Glory to God in the highest,
              and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

What would a first-century Israelite think if an angel of the LORD announced the coming of a "savior?" They would doubtless think back to all the saviors in the [Old Testament] Scriptures. Those saviors did not just promise a ticket to heaven when everyone died. They promised to save Israel from the consequences of her sins. Those consequences included "the Sword." Freedom from the sword is one aspect of the holistic Biblical concept of Salvation, and one of the benefits of a Biblical savior. The savior brought the benefits ("blessings") of obedience upon a people who had not been obedient, but who had repented of their disobedience.

Jesus was a Savior in this Biblical tradition. He came to bring Salvation. He came to save His people from their enemies, so they could get on with the work of building the New Jerusalem.

A Biblical "Savior" Brings Biblical "Salvation"

"Salvation" is holistic/cultural/economic, not just a ticket to heaven when you die. We'll see this below in more detail.

1. The word: yasha
2. The deed: what "saviors" did -- they did just not pass out tickets to heaven when you die

1. evil/enemies were raised up by God as "punishment" or incentive to repent
2. evil/enemies are the consequence of unrepentant sin
   1. idolatry - false religion
   2. political alliances with pagans
   3.  trusting in violence/archism
3. Deliverance from evil = saved from sins (and the consequences of sin, which are God's judgments)

The Hebrew word in the Bible

False gods Promise a False Salvation

When Israel rejected the government of God and lusted after Gentile archists, God delivered Israel into the hands of her archist lover/idol. Then Israel cried out for deliverance from these archists. This deliverance is the doorway through which we can gain a larger understanding of the Biblical doctrine of "salvation."

Most Christians think "salvation" means "going to heaven when I die." They focus on a tiny fraction of the Bible, and ignore the vast majority.

"Salvation" -- in the vast majority of Biblical texts -- means "anarchism." "Salvation" means a "libertarian" society. Some would call it an "anarcho-capitalist" society.

The Libertarian Party requires party members to affirm but one proposition:

I do not believe in or advocate
the initiation of force
as a means of achieving political or social goals.

People who will not make this pledge are "archists." They believe they have a right to impose their will on other people by force, usually by "the sword" -- political or military power.

Being an "archist" is un-Christian (Mark 10:42-45). We are not to spread Christianity with the sword. We are not to vote for archists who promise to bring salvation.

What is "Salvation" in the Bible?

Not "What is 'salvation' in the minds of most professing Christians?"

What does the Bible say?

The Hebrew word most frequently translated "salvation" or "save" is yasha'. In various derivatives it can be translated "deliverance," "victory," "safety," "security," and "welfare." (The Greek equivalent also carries the idea of "health.")

What does the government promise? We have a Department of Health, a Welfare Department, a Department of Homeland Security -- all components of the Biblical concept of "salvation." "The Government" (a.k.a. "civil government") is always a substitute for God. God is our Governor (Isaiah 33:22), and He brings salvation.

The Hebrew word for "save" or "bring salvation" is "yasha." Here is how a very mainstream, non-anarcho-preterist scholar defines that Hebrew word:

Yasha and its derivatives are used 353 times. The root meaning . . . is “make wide” or make sufficient: this root is in contrast to sarar, “narrow,” which means “be restricted” or “cause distress.” To move from distress to safety requires deliverance. [T]he majority of references to salvation speak of Yahweh granting deliverance from real enemies and out of real catastrophes. That which is wide connotes freedom from distress and the ability to pursue one’s own objectives. Thus salvation is not merely a momentary victory on the battlefield; it is also the safety and security necessary to maintain life unafraid of numerous dangers.
Hartley, John E. (1999). 929 יָשַׁע ["yasha"], in R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 1, pp. 414-15.

I admit that I say many controversial things. That definition is not one of them. It is thoroughly Biblical. That's a very conservative, mainstream reference work. Let's look at it in more detail.

Consider first the phrase "safety and security necessary to maintain life." This is also the "safety and security necessary to maintain a prosperous and humane society." In order to go to WalMart and buy a shopping cart full of food and household accessories, there has to be a global network of businesses who create and transport millions of products by making billions of economic calculations and transactions. Millions of human beings have to get to work on time, run the trucks on schedule, choose to work instead of stealing and robbing, and work the graveyard shift so that when you get to the store, all the items you want are neatly arranged on the shelf in an order which makes it possible for you to quickly find what you need and get on with life.

Who should we trust for "safety" and "security?" What does the Bible say?

The Bible repeatedly says that if we obey God the Lawgiver by loving our neighbor through productive service, God our Judge and King will "bless" us with peace and prosperity. "Peace" means "safety" and "security." These are all components of the Biblical picture of holistic "salvation."

But there are those who want to supplant God the King by promising to give us salvation if we will vote for them.

• "safety" is part of holistic Biblical "salvation"
  • the government has a "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."
  • it also has an Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  • there's the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
  • don't forget the Consumer Product Safety Commission
  • I'm sure you check the government's FoodSafety website every day, just like Betsy Ross, Dolley Madison, and Abigail Adams used to do.
• "security" is part of "salvation"
  • we've been trained to think the government provides "National Security."
  • or " Homeland Security
  • or Social Security (not)

"Safety" and "security" are blessings from God, not government. We enjoy "safety" and "security" when our nation is Christian and observes "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," that is, the Bible. Nobody enjoys "safety" and "security" when the government becomes a tyranny which bans the Bible and people behave like pagans.

• The Bible promises that as Christianity pervades a society, even pagans will start acting like Christians.
• Then we will all enjoy "salvation."
•  Jesus is "the savior of all men, especially those who believe." 1 Timothy 4:10 (see below)

Here are other key descriptions of Biblical "salvation," according to our mainstream source above:

• being placed in a "wide" space
• having "sufficient" quantities of things needed (God's Covenant promises more than you "need")
• opposite: having your options "narrowed"     \   Q.: Who does these things?
• opposite: being "restricted"                             | A.: Archists
• opposite: experiencing "distress"                   /   "Blessing" = "salvation" = freedom from archists
• "the ability to pursue one’s own objectives" without someone else telling you what to do and imposing their will on you by force
• living life unafraid of "dangers" [dangerous people, i.e., archists who threaten your liberty and prosperity]

The Bible describes "salvation" as being placed onto a large piece of property that supplies everything you need:

• Psalm 118:5 
  I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
• 2 Samuel 22:20 
  He brought me forth also into a large place: He delivered me, because He delighted in me.
• Genesis 26:22 
  He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” 
• Hosea 4:16 
  For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: can now the LORD feed them as a lamb in a large place?
• Psalm 31:8 
  and hast not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; Thou hast set my feet in a broad place.
• Psalm 18:19 
  He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
• Psalm 66:12 
  Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
• Psalm 69:35
  For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

In the Bible, Godly men are shown to be concerned about living in a “large” land. Of course, in a more agrarian society, “large” is better, as far as land goes. But when God promises to save us by putting us into a “large land,” it’s clear that more is included than going to heaven after living for decades in a narrow land before we up and die. What is the modern equivalent of a “large land?” It varies from person to person, but it includes some form of economic prosperity and political Liberty. “Liberty” and “large” are Biblical concepts we are not familiar enough with. Let’s review them and put them in our brains, so that as we read the Bible we will be more aware of them.

• Genesis 34:21
  “These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give them our daughters.
• Exodus 3:8
  So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
• Judges 18:10
  When you go, you will come to a secure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.” 
• 1 Chronicles 4:40
  And they found rich, good pasture, and the land was broad, quiet, and peaceful; for some Hamites formerly lived there.
• Nehemiah 7:4
  Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.
• Nehemiah 9:35
  For they have not served You in their kingdom,
        Or in the many good things that You gave them,
        Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
        Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

One of the blessings promised to the obedient in the Bible is "liberty."

• LEVITICUS XXV.X (25:10)
  proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.
• Psalm 119:45
  And I will walk at liberty,
           For I seek Your precepts.
• Isaiah 61:1
        “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
        Because the LORD has anointed Me
        To preach good tidings to the poor;
        He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
        To proclaim liberty to the captives,
        And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 
• Jeremiah 34:8
  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them:
  Jeremiah 34:15-17
  15 Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 16 Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
  17 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD—’to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17
  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
• James 1:25
  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
• James 2:12
  So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

"Liberty" means "freedom." But "freedom from what?" In the pages of the Bible, the answer is almost always: "freedom from archists."

One of the blessings promised in Leviticus 26 is "peace," or freedom from those who bear the sword. Those who bear the sword are archists. They are also called in the Bible "enemies."

Of course, "freedom from" is always for the purpose of "freedom to" -- freedom to serve and obey the Lord.

The name "Jesus" comes from the Hebrew word Yhowshuwa', which is derived from yasha', which is the Hebrew word most frequently translated "salvation." "Jesus" means God will save. It was said of Jesus at His birth:

Luke 1:71  

That we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hate us;

74 That He would grant unto us, that we
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him [exercise dominion and build His Kingdom] without fear [living under our "vine and fig tree" "with no one to make them afraid" (Micah 4:1-7)]

This is what "salvation" means in the Bible.

The specific enemies Christians had in the first century were of the Jewish establishment, but I believe Jesus the Messiah will save us from our enemies today -- whoever they may be, whenever we live -- if we obey God's Law.

"But isn't the real meaning of salvation 'being forgiven of your sins and going to heaven when you die?'"

Most church-goers ask this.

Forgiveness of sins = restoration to fellowship with God,
Forgiveness of sins = restoration to our original Edenic Mandate to build the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness of sins is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

The overwhelming majority of Christians today agree with Jews who say that Jesus is not the Messiah. The vast majority of Christians believe that Jesus will not reign as Messiah until there is a second Christmas -- a second Advent, or "second coming of Christ" -- which is really the first coming of the Christ, since at His first Advent Jesus came only as "savior," -- that is, someone who secures for us a ticket to heaven when we die -- and not as "Christ" -- that is, someone who delivers us out of the hand of our enemies, sets us in a wide open place, opens the bounties of heaven, and makes our land like Eden, so we can enjoy a  “Vine & Fig Tree” society.

Many Christians in our day say that the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, therefore He could only offer to be their Savior. This is so confused it's hard to know where to begin.

1. Most Jews accepted Jesus as Messiah; only the corrupt upper-crust establishment rejected Jesus (Acts 2:41, 47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7; 12:24; 19:20; 21:20; Matthew 13:31-33; John 12:24,42; 3:2; 11:45; 19:38; Colossians 1:6).
2. Jesus' claim to be a "savior" (i.e., to forgive sins [but not to punish sins as a Messiah would]), was considered blasphemous by the Jews who rejected Jesus as Messiah (Matthew 9:2-8; Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-26)
3. Just because someone does not want Jesus to reign over him as Messiah is no impediment to Jesus (Luke 9:14,27). Jesus reigned as Messiah over the apostate Jews by directing Titus to destroy those who rejected Jesus as Messiah with the Roman legions in AD 70.
4. There is no Biblical distinction between a "Messiah" and a "Savior."
   Most Christians today say Jesus came 2,000 years ago only as "Savior," and only when He comes again (in our future) will He reign as "Messiah." But if you look at how the Scriptures use the words "save" and "savior," you can easily see why no 1st-century Jew would have understood such a distinction. It is not in the Bible. In the Scriptures, "saviors" did the work of "messiahs." We saw above how Nehemiah says God sent many "saviors" to Israel after they became dissatisfied with their Gentile archist lovers:

   Nehemiah 9:27

   Therefore Thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies that vexed them: yet in the time of their affliction, when they cried unto Thee, Thou heardest them from the heaven, and through Thy great mercies thou gavest them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries (cp. Luke 1:71,74).

   The idea that Jesus is only a "savior" but not the Messiah is is not a Biblically tenable position. There is almost no hint in the Bible that any "savior" would do nothing to "save" his people in this life, but only in the next.

A "savior" brings "salvation." Doesn't that make sense? But what is "salvation?" It is not, Biblically speaking, going to heaven after you die, having lived a life without being "saved" in the holistic Biblical sense of that word. In the Bible, saviors brought freedom from archists for God's People. See the discussion of the Hebrew word for "salvation" above.

These "saviors" were sometimes called "judges." The various "kings" of Israel could also serve as "saviors" because they would "save" Israel from her oppressors (1 Samuel 9:16; 2 Samuel 3:18, etc.).

"Saviors" in the Old Testament served what we could call primarily "messianic" functions." Biblically speaking, "savior" is virtually a synonym for "messiah." And "Messiah" is a political term, that is, a term that does not have primary reference to us after death, but reference to our lives today, in their holistic cultural, social, political, civil, economic, recreational, and legal dimensions.

A "Messiah" brings political changes. A "savior" brings "salvation." But the Biblical definition of "salvation" is not just a short-term relief on the battlefield, but long-term liberty from archists. See the definition of the Hebrew word for "salvation," yasha, which we looked at above.

A true "savior" is the Messiah who brings Christian civilization, that is, "salvation" over the long haul, now over twenty centuries.  See the five books listed here: Christian civilization. (That's an important link.)

Jay Wile writes (An Interesting Observation from China | Proslogion):

Recently, I read an article by Dr. Paul Copan entitled, “Jesus-Shaped Cultures.”¹ In that article, he makes the case for how faithful Christians have transformed the societies they have served. For example, he discusses the Ethiopian famine that took place in 1984 and 1985. Brian Stewart, a CBC journalist, noted that it was Christians who were on the front lines of the famine, giving aid to the suffering. Their service was such a powerful witness to him that it started him on his journey to becoming a Christian himself.

While Copan’s article is interesting, it led me to a book that I thought was even more interesting. It is entitled Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China And Changing the Global Balance of Power, and it is written by David Aikman, who served as a journalist for Time Magazine from 1971 to 1994. In his role as a Time correspondent, he visited China several times and even lived in China for two years as Time’s bureau chief. He returned to China in 2002 to gather the information he needed to complete his book.

He begins the book in a dramatic way. It is worth quoting at length:²

The eighteen American tourists visiting China weren’t expecting much from the evening’s lecture. They were already exhausted from a day of touring in Beijing. But what the speaker had to say astonished them.

The Victory of Reason Listen Now | Download

“One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world,” he said. “We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next, we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

This was not coming from some ultra-conservative think tank in Orange County, California or from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. This was a scholar from China’s premier academic research institute, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing in 2002. (emphasis mine)

In his book, Aikman suggests that Christianity will transform China to the point where it won’t even be communist anymore. He suggests that in the next thirty years, nearly one-third of China could be Christian, making it one of the largest Christian nations in the world and a strong ally of the U.S.

2. David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China And Changing the Global Balance of Power, pp. 5-6

See also: The Iona Institute | Christianity the reason for West's success, say the Chinese

In asking whether Habakkuk's prophecy has been or is being fulfilled, and whether the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, don't ask those who should admit that they know the Lord; ask the Scriptures whether they ought to admit it. Sometimes they won't, but many times they will. Truth is truth, whether we admit it or not.

Today, the Chinese are "streaming" to Zion (Micah 4:1-2). So are people in Latin America, Africa, and even India, according to Philip Jenkins. Humanity has been flowing to Zion for 2,000 years, but the rate may be accelerating. This phenomenon is not yet on the radar of archists. It will dramatically increase when Christians become widely recognized as a Dispute Resolution Forum. It will exsanguinate the State by doing so.

Jesus is the Savior of the World

John 4:42
Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

1 John 4:14
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:17
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Isaiah 45:22
“Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.

1 Chronicles 16:23
Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Psalm 65:5
By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas;

Psalm 67:2
That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Psalm 74:12
For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

Psalm 98:3
He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 45:8
“Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.

Isaiah 49:6
Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Isaiah 49:8
Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;

Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.

Isaiah 52:10
The Lord has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.

Acts 13:47
For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

2 Corinthians 5:19
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

1 John 2:2
And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

1 Timothy 4:10
For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

1 Corinthians 15:45
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Romans 5
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one;
21 even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 6:33
33 For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

When the Lord spoke to Isaiah and the prophets, that He would save the whole world, was He announcing a doctrine of "universalism," that every individual would go to heaven when he died? Even universalists would say no -- provided they understand the prophetic meaning of the concept of "salvation." That is, even if eternal paradise after death has been granted universally to all individuals, that's not what the prophets were talking about when they foretold the "salvation" of the entire world.

In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, "salvation" means what economist Murray N. Rothbard described as "anarcho-capitalism" -- a vibrant global network of commerce liberated from the "strife," "war," and coercive regulatory "domination" of the City of Man. The economics of the New Jerusalem rather than the Old Babylon.

Contrary to amillennialists like Michael Horton, Christians best "serve" the world by helping to "save" it. For "serve" see here. For "save" see here. "Save the world" does not mean "preserve the world in a state of rebellion against The City of God." It means convert the whole world into the City of God. "In earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

The Origin of "Civil Government"

The Bible is an infallible history of the human race and the origin of "Civil government."

 "The State" has its origin in rebellion against God and conquest of other human beings.

Nowhere in His inscriptured Law does God command any society to form an empire or a State or a "civil magistrate." 

We must agree with James Benjamin Green who, in his exposition of the chapter on the Civil Magistrate in the Westminster Confession of Faith rightly observes (concerning Romans 13:1), "It is not meant that God directly ordained the state by saying to man, Thou shalt set up a government or organize a commonwealth."

Romans 13 doesn't mean that because it never happened. God never commanded anyone to form "the State."

Franz Oppenheimer, in his book The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically, distinguishes between "Economic Man" and "Political Man."

• "Economic Man" takes natural resources and transforms them into something more useful to human beings, and under a division of labor, trades most or all of what he produces for the fruit of the labor of others. Both producers in such a voluntary trade are better off than they were before the trade.
• "Political Man," on the other hand, uses force to seize the wealth produced by "Economic Man." This was the operating ideology of Imperial Rome and pagan Ireland.

Here is an excerpt from Albert Jay Nock and the Libertarian Tradition - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Daily

One such question was, what is the nature of the state? Where did it come from? If the state was in fact useless for the purpose of improving human society what was it in fact good for? So he wrote a book. It's called Our Enemy, the State. It came out in 1935, after being delivered as a series of lectures at Nock's newly renamed alma mater, Bard College.  Our Enemy, the State is a true libertarian classic, one of those books you simply must read if you have any serious interest at all in the libertarian idea.

The state, Nock wrote,

did not originate in the common understanding and agreement of society; it originated in conquest and confiscation. Its intention, far from contemplating "freedom and security," contemplated nothing of the kind. It contemplated primarily the continuous economic exploitation of one class by another, and it concerned itself with only so much freedom and security as was consistent with this primary intention; and this was, in fact, very little. Its primary function or exercise was … maintaining the stratification of society into an owning and exploiting class, and a propertyless dependent class. The order of interest that it reflected was not social, but purely antisocial; and those who administered it, judged by the common standard of ethics, or even the common standard of law as applied to private persons, were indistinguishable from a professional-criminal class. …

The positive testimony of history is that the State invariably had its origin in conquest and confiscation. No primitive State known to history originated in any other manner … no primitive State could possibly have had any other origin. Moreover, the sole invariable characteristic of the State is the economic exploitation of one class by another.

Nock quotes the German sociologist Franz Oppenheimer, who described the typical primitive state,

in respect of its origin, as an institution "forced on a defeated group by a conquering group, with a view only to systematizing the domination of the conquered by the conquerors, and safeguarding itself against insurrection from within and attack from without. This domination had no other final purpose than the economic exploitation of the conquered group by the victorious group."

Nock wrote,

Any considerable economic accumulation, or any considerable body of natural resources, is an incentive to conquest. The primitive technique was that of raiding the coveted possessions, appropriating them entire, and either exterminating the possessors, or dispersing them beyond convenient reach. Very early, however, it was seen to be in general more profitable to reduce the possessors to dependence, and use them as labour-motors. … [This] modified technique has been in use almost from the beginning, and everywhere its first appearance marks the origin of the State. …

The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.

In essence, then, "taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class."

After all, Nock argued, there are two and only two means of making a living in this world. There's the economic means — earning it. And there's the political means — seizing it from someone else who has earned it. The state, Nock said, is "the organization of the political means."

Does this sound familiar somehow? Does it sound, perhaps, like the rhetoric of Mr. Libertarian, Murray N. Rothbard? Nock had an immense influence on Rothbard. He also had an immense influence, apparently, on another major figure in the contemporary libertarian movement, Ayn Rand. According to Anne C. Heller, whose biography of Rand, Ayn Rand and the World She Made, was published about a year ago, it was the theory Nock had adapted from Franz Oppenheimer that inspired Rand to write The Fountainhead.

Happy Birthday Franz Oppenheimer

Franz Oppenheimer was born on March 30, 1864 in Berlin; he died September 30 1943 in Los Angeles. This is not the Oppenheimer associated with the Atomic Bomb. Our Oppenheimer exposed the mythology of the "social contract" theory of the State, by showing its roots in conquest and violence.

Oppenheimer started out as a physician. Then he studied economics and wrote his PhD dissertation on David Ricardo. After accepting a call to serve as Chair for Sociology and Theoretical Political Economy at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main (the first chair dedicated to Sociology in Germany) a cooperative agricultural community of individual farms (called a "Moshav") was founded by Jews using Oppenheimer's blueprint. Oppenheimer later taught in Palestine. He fled Nazi persecution to Los Angeles, and became a founding member of The American Journal of Economics and Sociology.

Oppenheimer's book The State looks at the origins of this political entity:

"The State, completely in its genesis, essentially and almost completely during the first stages of its existence, is a social institution, forced by a victorious group of men on a defeated group, with the sole purpose of regulating the dominion of the victorious group over the vanquished, and securing itself against revolt from within and attacks from abroad. Teleologically, this dominion had no other purpose than the economic exploitation of the vanquished by the victors." 

"No primitive state known to history originated in any other manner. Wherever a reliable tradition reports otherwise, either it concerns the amalgamation of two fully developed primitive states into one body of more complete organisation, or else it is an adaptation to men of the fable of the sheep which made a bear their king in order to be protected against the wolf. But even in this latter case, the form and content of the State became precisely the same as in those states where nothing intervened, and which became immediately 'wolf states'." (p. 15)

Economic Man and Political Man

Oppenheimer made the compelling observation:

"There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one's own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others. Robbery! Forcible appropriation! These words convey to us ideas of crime and the penitentiary, since we are the contemporaries of a developed civilization, specifically based on the inviolability of property. And this tang is not lost when we are convinced that land and sea robbery is the primitive relation of life, just as the warrior's trade - which also for a long time is only organized mass robbery - constitutes the most respected of occupations. Both because of this, and also on account of the need of having, in the further development of this study, terse, clear, sharply opposing terms for these very important contrasts, I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others, the “economic means" for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the "political means." (pp. 24-25)

Albert Jay Nock introduced these concepts to American readers in his own book Our Enemy, the State.

h/t Wikipedia

The Demonic Origin of "the State"

Start with the essay "Stars and Idolatry" in the Romans 13 essays above.

Then see how the Bible consistently refers to the State as "evil."

More:

• View | Thesis 12: The Fall Of The Angels
• View | Thesis 16: The Demonic Roots of Violent Tyranny
• View | Thesis 21: Demonic Activity At Babel
• View | Thesis 22: The Division of The Nations
• View | Thesis 30: As With All Angelic Activity, No State Action Is Coincidental or Random
• View | Thesis 35: Angels And The Pedagogical Legal Structure
• View | Thesis 41: The Character of “gods” || More here (much more)
• View | Thesis 48: The State "Serves" God by Sinning
• View | Thesis 53: Moloch-Worship and the Nature of Idols
• View | Thesis 60: Christ’s Binding of Satan
• "Unlucky 13": Isaiah 13, Romans 13, Revelation 13
• A Romans-Eye View of Romans 13
• "Principalities and Powers"
• "Principalities and Powers" - part 2
• Lakes of Fire in "Smoke-filled Rooms"
• View | Thesis 69: Sons of God and Pedagogues
• View | Thesis 83: Pedagogy and The Powers
• View | Thesis 84: The End of Archists: The Pedagogues Judged by the Church

Table of Contents

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