"The Law and the Prince"

The following was written by David Moon and is used with permission. I was honored to be friends with his wife and him while we were missionaries in Moscow, Russia. Since his retirement, he seems to have taken up writing with a purpose. Please ponder these words of wisdom.

Lex Rex was a landmark book written in 1644 by the Scottish minister Samuel Rutherford. It was written during during the Scottish struggle against religious and political tyranny in the 1600s. Its subtitle is "The Law and the Prince."

The title Lex Rex is the Latin for the "Law is King," as opposed to the usual practice of Rex Lex - the king is law.

The book makes many able arguments for the limiting of governmental power and having government under the law and not just the common people. It has many lessons geared to godly and good governance.

This book had great influence on the Princeton educator John Witherspoon, who passed on its wisdom to several of his students who were later Founders of the United States.

I doubt any of our governing politicians have read this book or even heard of it. They're mostly operating only on the level of power and perks. Statesmen and statewomen are virtually non-existent today.

The ideas in the book, if adhered to, would go far in promoting true liberty and good government in this country.

* Limited government - even the king must be under the law. This restrains the abuse of power and restrains bad judgment. Any authority given by God to a civil official is necessarily limited and conditional.

* Constitutionalism - the form and function of government should be structured by set laws both people and government must submit to. This protects the rights of the people, the rights of the minority, creates order and prevents government by whim.

* The supremacy of God over the world and He is the One Who instituted human government. He ordains and places civil officials in power for the purpose of protecting the good and punishing the bad. Civil officials are responsible to God and will be held accountable to Him.

* The book defends the "Two Kingdoms" view of Church-State relations, which advocates for distinct realms and roles for church and state; a separation of church and state, but not a separation of God and state.

Our ruling politicians are not students of history and government. They ride roughshod over law and best practice. This has, and is, working to the great detriment of this country.

The current policies, trends and ideology of the deeply flawed ruling elites, are a disaster. A people who are uneducated in the lessons of history and the history of how our institutions developed have enabled the ruling elites and eased their way.

Just a month and a half of the new administration makes it clear that this country is committing suicide. We see the madness on all levels: national, state and local.

"An evil king is God's judgment on a nation." (John Calvin)

Day 215 God's Favor

As we have seen through our reading today, the nation of Israel was not living as the Lord had declared. They had turned from the Lord and worshipped other gods, they had done things their own way and forsaken the Lord. Yet, He is now giving these same people hope, knowing that they will turn away from their wicked ways and he "will look on you with favor" (Eze 36:9b NIV). "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Eze 36:26 NIV).

Even today when so many have fallen into doing their own thing, doing what is right in their own eyes, we must remember that God allows pain and suffering for a purpose. That is, to draw us closer to Him. But once again we are reminded that we must be careful to follow His decrees and laws. (see Eze 37:24) He longs to show Himself holy through us, His people, who have surrendered to Him. We are here to bring glory to Him, not for our own pleasure. We are here to bring His love to the people around us, not what we can get from those around us. He longs for us to open our hearts to Him and to do what He has called each of us to do.

Read: Ezekiel 36-39 Taken from "Faithful Promises of God"

Give Him the Shame of Your Past

What I am about to share, I do so with great trepidation, for I am disclosing a part of my heritage that is full of sin, full of pain and continues to this day. As I continue to read in Genesis, I was struck this past week with something so weighty that it tore at my heart. In my humanness, I would much rather just pass this by and move forward, but in my obedience to my Heavenly Father, I must reflect upon this subject. For, in all my years of reading through the Bible, I had never seen what God is showing me to share.

My longing is for my family to grasp what I am about to reveal, but I cannot force myself nor my God on anyone, I can only communicate through my own experience and genealogy what God has impressed upon my heart. In doing so, I am opening myself up to ridicule, to judgment of those who think they are so much better, and to the shame of my past. But in doing so, my hope is to shed light on the darkness of that shame and as it is exposed, not only my family but perhaps yours, will be set free through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Several years ago, I did a DNA test to check on my heritage. Yes, there was question in my mind as to where I came from and I will leave it at that. As I worked on my family history, I started noticing a pattern. A child is born, not naming a father. In those times, they would have said the child was “born out of wedlock”. Then the mother of that child would pass the child on to her mother and leave. It then appears that several generations not only passed their children on rather than face their sin but then had very little or no communication with their child let alone their own mother, who was caring for that child.

To some extent, I am speculating that these women were strong-willed, did not know the Savior, and chose to go their own way concerning morality. Perhaps they were free women, before their time, not held back by the Biblically strong society of that time. Perhaps…

Then enters Dinah, in Genesis 34, she is the daughter of Jacob and Leah (see Gen. 30:21), who takes liberty and “went out to see the daughters of the land”. She was curious as to how the women of the nearby city lived, seems innocent enough, doesn’t it?

For a little background, Jacob had been living in the land of his ancestors (his mother’s family) for 20 years and God had now called him to “return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.” (see Gen 31:3) After wrestling with God (see Gen 32:22-32), Jacob met with Esau in Chapter 33 and finally came into the land of Canaan and stayed near Padan Aram. It appears he is considering on staying here because he purchased a piece of land. Jacob still had some ways to go to his final destination but it didn’t look like he was going any further.

Now, back to Dinah wanting to see how these people lived. The world lives so much differently than we are called to live and sometimes we just want to see what goes on. To experience just a little of the world. To make that choice to go against God’s Word. For aren’t we strong enough to do so without being burned?

Dinah encountered Shechem, “son of Hamor the Hitite, prince of the country,” he saw her and “took her and lay with her, and violated her.” MacArthur explains in his commentary, “Shechem’s action was forcible rape, no matter how sincerely he might have expressed his love for her afterwards (v3) and desire for marriage (vv11,12).” Then, like a spoiled child who knows no shame, he demands, “get me the young woman as a wife.” (v4) (see Gen 34)

The whole transaction that is about to take place, speaks of a self-centered people, is then accentuated by Jacob’s sons as they pretend to make a treaty with Hamor and Shechem so that Shechem can marry their sister. They added fuel to the fire by their ponderings, “spoke deceitfully, because he defiled Dinah” (34:13), as they plotted their scheme to kill all the men of the city and plunder it.

Two wrong do not make a right!

As we close Chapter 34, Jacob’s sons justify their actions by saying, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?” Somewhere in my reading journey, I put this note in my Bible concerning verse 31: when a man has pre-marital sex with a woman, he is treating the woman as a prostitute. Now, that is powerful words and certainly words we don’t want to hear when so many live in such “freedom”.

As we continue into Chapter 35, we see that God, in his Sovereignty, used the events to move Jacob on. This also happened in Abraham’s life, Lot’s life, Job’s life, Joseph’s life and if we look hard, we will see and understand He works the same way in each of our lives.

It strikes me with severe reality as I contemplate my own family history. How many women in my own family were strong women, going against the instruction of the Lord and their family only to find themselves pregnant and having a child? Never once do we consider that we are going against the Lord’s best for our lives. Oh no, we are strong and free, we can do as we please. But there are consequences for such behavior. Maybe you may not feel the sting of those consequences but perhaps your child or grandchild will suffer for such freedom that you took!

When women do not recognize that pre-marital sex is a violation of God’s intended purpose for such a sacred act and allow men to treat them as a prostitute, you not only violate God’s protection but set your future generations up for further violation, defilement and abuse. And all because we were strong, free women.

All this takes us to a rather depressing low point. We see so many focusing on their self-interests, fulfilling their own desires, falling into deep depression and other health issues. They turn to worldly remedies, as sometimes they should, but not once do they think of looking to God for forgiveness. And that is where the answer is, surrendering your self-will to our Heavenly Father, who will forgive you.

As you continue in that surrender and have a desire to do His will rather than your own, you will find peace. He has been waiting for you, never forcing Himself on you, treating you with a respect but longs so deeply for you! Ask Him to forgive your sin and make a choice to turn to Him daily rather than turning to the sin that is so painful in your heart.