On the subject of God and Government...

Ultimate authority in this nation, whereas the law is concerned, lies neither with those who enforce the law, nor with those who it is enforced upon, but rather by those our society has elected and/or appointed to interpret and rule upon the law as written.

What can this possibly mean? Am I going to allow a small group of idiots in black robes to determine my way of life? Absolutely not!

This stems, of course, from my general disdain of law enforcement officers as a matter of principle. I, like many other people who feel this way, have actually met a "good cop" or three in the course of my life, and I count these people in the "friend" column. The majority of the law enforcers I have come across in my day shall never be counted as such, and with good reason. They receive their paycheck from the tax coffers as compensation for performing the task of enforcing the laws as written in a manner according to the laws as written, and have as a general rule in my own personal experiences failed miserably to do this...and, as if this wasn't enough, they like to make excuses as to why they can't, won't, or shouldn't have to because us peons "don't know what it's like".

And then we have a certain person who chose to question my relationship with The Almighty, and did so using Romans 13:1-7 as their reasoning for this. While it certainly took a great deal of testicular fortitude for him to make this claim, he seems to lack either the knowledge or the memory of the fact that I do not live in Red China or Berlin circa 1939. I live in the United States of America, and have for the entirety of my life, having never once left this nation for any purpose whatsoever.

In these United States, we have this nifty little document called the Constitution. In it, it clearly spells out the lawful authorities of all three branches of government, and is universally considered by everyone in America as the ultimate law of this nation. It was written by those appointed by the people, and ratified by those appointed by the people.

In this document, it specifically states that this nation is to be governed by three distinct branches of government...the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The legislature's authority, as far as the law is concerned, is merely to enact legislation in accordance with its duties and restrictions put forth in the United States Constitution. The executive branch, also where the law is concerned, is tasked merely with enforcing the laws as written in accordance with the United States Constitution and any other legal restrictions they may be bound by in their respective jurisdictions. Obviously, our legislative branch's dealings with the law effectively end as soon as a law is passed or shot down on the congressional floor, so we'll focus on the executive and judicial branches.

When a bill passes, and is signed by the president of these United States, it is the executive branch under direct control of the president that is tasked with enforcing them. The same holds true in the individual states, with minor differences that vary from state to state. Even at the state level, however, the Constitution of these United States is still the ultimate law of the land. As such, all legislation enacted into law must pass muster of our Constitution.

While the states are given great constitutional leeway as to what may or may not be enacted into law, there are still certain conditions that must be met. In addition to our obvious Bill of Rights, there are other restrictions upon the states found within the actual original body of our Constitution. Anything beyond these restrictions is considered "fair game".

Now, let's talk about our wonderful judiciary system. In the design of our constitution, our supreme court is not directly involved with writing the laws, nor is it involved with their enforcement, with two major exceptions. These exceptions, of course, are not even brought into play until the court is petitioned.

With the writing and enacting of a law, our legislature is forced to be aware of the manner in which its laws are written, because one of the Supreme Court's major functions is to determine whether a law enacted by our legislature passes muster of the constitution.

Likewise, our government's executive branch is forced to be aware of its limitations found within the constitution, because the Supreme Court's primary role in dealing with cases of a criminal nature is to determine whether the enforcement of a constitutionally sound law was conducted using constitutionally sound means.

Our executive branch is given a great deal of autonomy with regard to how these laws may be enforced, so long as their methods do not violate the laws of the Constitution, the prior rulings of the Supreme Court and other courts, and the laws of their respective jurisdictions.

Because of this, the ultimate authority concerning the laws passed (and the enforcement of said laws) in this land is NOT the legislative branch who authors and passes our laws, nor is it those who are tasked with enforcing our laws, but rather those people we as a society appoint and/or elect to determine whether these laws and their respective enforcements are just and constitutionally sound. On this front, there is no higher authority but my Almighty God himself. Since I've never heard God speak out about our Constitution, I'm forced to leave this authority in the hands of our courts where the rule of law reigns supreme.

The ultimate authority over my life is, and shall always be, my Creator. The Almighty One True God of Abraham, the Father of Christ. The disciple Paul, speaking on behalf of the Son in Romans 13, states that we should submit to the "governing authorities", as there is no authority but that established by God.

When a man in a position of power acts beyond the boundaries of the law, what authority does he possess? Not only is this my moral obligation to object to, resist, and emphatically reject such actions for the protection of the liberties belonging to myself, my family, my friends, and my fellow countrymen, but it is also fully justified and reconcilable in the eyes of both the law AND my Almighty God.