Nathan E. Lewis

You may not appreciate my satirical sentiments, but I am hoping that I will at least get you to read the Declaration of Independence and be thankful for God’s gracious reception of us rebel freedom fighters. As you read, keep echoing in your mind and heart, “America, America, God shed his grace on thee…”

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

(And so it is “separation” that birthed the greatest nation in history, who calls the world to unite, who has overused the rhetoric of “one world empire,” of lights and hands joining everyone together in peace and harmony.)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

(Yes, all human beings are created equal. How quickly has every American institution built class order in opposition to this founding pillar of our nation! Even the Church!)

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

(you have to be born first to get these rights; you have to be born on American soil to get these rights; you have to have a whole lot of spending money to get these rights)

— 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

(here is the argument for just rebellion - taken from Lex Rex, Samuel Rutherford’s argument, as a persecuted Presbyterian Minister of Scotland. The Bible commands us to submit to the Civil Magistrate, who is an instrument of God to do good on our behalf. Rutherford argued that if the Civil Magistrate was no longer an instrument of God to do good, but instead was an instrument of evil, then citizens have the right and duty to rebel and to construct a good government.)

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

(Wait a minute….I’ve never paid much attention to this one. What did you say the King refused to do? Oh, he obstructed the laws for the naturalization of foreigners? You mean, he was making it difficult for people to become citizens of the British Empire? I get it - this is a large sentiment in the nation I now reside in - many of my fellow citizens and people in high office have the same kingly sentiments toward similar obstructions. You mean to tell me that King George was refusing immigration to the colonies?
And what is this last thing he did that was evil? Oh, I get it, he was “raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands,” meaning that he was giving less of the land of the Colonies away for free. Was it his land to give away free in the first place? Oh, I remember, now, he traded glass beads for land and then he was securing it by giving the land freely to colonists who would squat on it. But now we are going to rebel against him, because the free deals are drying up. Viva la rebellion!)

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

(This is a serious impediment to justice and liberty. May we be courageous and diligent Americans to make sure our American judicial system does not fall prey to any obstruction of justice and liberty such as this. Did someone mention money? Are any of us angry when a Supreme Justice fails to act according to the political schemes of the President who made the appointment?)

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

(Bad, bad, big government King George! Take your gluttonous, tax-sucking representatives to India and leave us alone.)

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

(Whoops! We have standing armies all over this globe! Why is it right for us and not for King George?)

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

(Amen! Off with his head!)

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

(This is unthinkable! In our present context of hotels.com and FEMA trailers, why would the king demand home stays?)

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

(”God of the poor and the oppressed, please protect the common people of the world in regions occupied by the American military forces. May it not be said of our armed forces and then proven that they murdered, tortured, or even water-boarded people made in your image. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.)

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

(stupid move, but hardly a reason for rebellion is it? Thankfully, we don’t cut off trade with China just because she has one of the worst human rights records in modern history. Keep the Coke and manufacturing flowing.)

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

(so, let’s develop a complicated system by which we extract the consent of the people and then tax them to a level greater than the crazy King ever dreamed he could pull off to pad his coffers.)

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

(where are the rebels now? hey, Dick, I’m joking; if you’re listening, I love you, sir. I affirm you; keep up the good work for a few more months and then you’ll be off to the happy hunting grounds.)

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

(How do you spell Guatana….? Where is that military prison? Is it on American soil? I’m so confused? Are prisoners tried there for war crimes? I should read more carefully)

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

(Seriously, I agree that the American Revolution had to take place.)

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

(Now, here is some seriously charged political views; How is it that in a Declaration of Independence where the inalienable rights of all men is the starting point for rebellion against tyranny, our fathers would deny such rights to the Native American and thus slander this group of people as warmongers? This is one of the saddest, inconsistent statements in all of our founding documents.)

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

(One of my favorite lines in the whole document - “We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity” And some of my fellow reformed Christians don’t like the doctrine of common grace.)

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

(Like I said, “It had to happen.” As it happened and as it has unfolded, has the gospel flourished in our nation and in our lives? If any governmental reform unfolds it ought to as a servant of the gospel. A king can serve the gospel in this world as well as a representative government. To overthrow one man is much easier than dismantling the government of the people. If the Church ought to be always reforming, should not our government also be subject to regular reform? On this Independence Day 2008 let us shake off our comfort in the status quo and become patriots once again. Stop worrying about towing a party line and find a small place to serve the gospel, even in the realm of civic government. Please don’t hold any of these musings against me. On this July 4, 2008, I once again took up our founding documents to read them, to thank God for the freedoms he has given to us in this United States of America. And, to be honest about our frailty, present crimes of injustice, and our strategic position in history. God bless America, land that I love….don’t make me cry.)