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Additional Titles

A REPUBLICAN FORM

 

by Brother Gregory Williams
August 19, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

We know that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…”[1] but what would that look like? The term republic comes from the words Libera Res Publica, Free from Things Public. Through sophistry the word republic has come to mean more than one form of government.

“Tacitus repeatedly contrasts the res publica under the emperors with the pre-Augustus libera res publica; and in the Germania 37, encountering the disasters which Germans inflicted upon the res publica Romanorum, he distinguishes between the old res publica, which he calls the populus Romanus, and the new res publica, which he calls “Caesar.” The old res publica hardly had the mixed constitution which dreamers assigned it and which actually never can exist, but it was something greater and majestic which lives on as a glorious memory in a mean age.”[2]

A pure Republic allows the people the power or liberty of choice. They may retain their right to choose or waive it for what they believe is profitable or for gain but not without consequences.

“The term republic, res publica, signifies the state independently of its form of government.”[3] That means that the power of the state remains with the people. Therefore the people must maintain their responsibility of being the government of, for and by the people if they wish to retain their rights. They cannot do this if they lack knowledge.

People change and governments change and vice versa. It has been said, “All roads lead to Rome,” but if we turn around all roads lead to the Kingdom of God. It is all about which direction you choose to go, which path you choose to take. “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14

Does God want you to be property of the state or free souls under Him?[4] When the voice of the people[5] elected Saul to fight their battles for them they were rejecting the form of government that Moses had shown them and establishing another form and by so doing were rejecting God and His ways.[6]

“Some scholars regard the ancient confederation of Hebrew tribes that endured in Palestine from the 15th century BC until a monarchy was established about 1020 BC as an embryonic republic. That would make the ancient Israelite commonwealth the earliest republic in history....”[7]

The Levites administered charity and mercy as public servants, but they had no exercising authorityover the choices of the people, nor their liberty. They only had control over what they were given in sacrifice by free will offerings.[8] Essentially their tax system was voluntary. The choice of how much you would pay and who you would pay remained with the people.

The leaders were chosen by ten families in congregations, bound together by love, charity and a common sense of justice and mercy. Such systems, like others, is dependent upon the moral quality of the people. The intrinsic difference compared to what we see today is that the power of the state remained with the people directly and not with the chosen administration. The people held the power of the state individually and independently from the administration of government.

“Republic. A commonwealth; that form of government in which the administration of affairs is open to all the citizens. In another sense, it signifies the state, independently of its government.” Black’s Law Dictionary 3rd Ed. p1536.

There was no power to take the first fruits of their labor, draft their sons and daughters, nor compel taxes until they elected to have a central government.[9] The people remained free souls under God as long as they loved God and one another as much as they loved themselves.

But though they had a republican form of government they altered that form and were changed by their own choice. When Christ came they had become a centralized kingdom that was a part of the corrupted Roman Empire. The still claimed Moses but had twisted the form of his government so much that they could not recognize Christ when he came preaching that kingdom of God at hand.[10]

Somewhere along the way, some people began to believe that we collectively had the right to decide what was good and evil, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbor, as well. We called it democracy. A democracy, direct or indirect, is not a republic. Although you may find a democracy within a republic.

In early America, the success and prosperity of the people was, no doubt in part, due to the fact that “The churches in New England were so many nurseries of freemen, training them in the principles of self-government and accustoming them to the feeling of independence. In these petty organizations were developed, in practice, the principles of individual and national freedom. Each church was a republic in embryo. The fiction became a fact, the abstraction a reality...”[11] Modern American churches have reversed this process.

The first century church provided the entire social welfare of Christians through faith, hope and charity. This was because of Christ's directives including the one concerning benefactors who exercise authority.[12] Modern Americans have moved from a virtuous self reliant republic to covetous democracy. The United States is a democracy within the original republic[13] and it has changed as its citizen's relationships have been altered by choice and consent.

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They may claim the glory and character of their forefathers as the pharisees claimed Moses but they do not know, nor act with that character. They have sold their birth right for a bowl of benefits at their neighbor's expense.[14] They have coveted their neighbor's goods and become human resources.[15] They have sought free education and social welfare at the expense of their neighbor through men who call themselves benefactors but exercise authority one over the other and been snared into a pit of bondage[16] where God the father nor Christ will not hear them.

History will repeat itself if we will not learn from it. If you are not free from things public then you have subscribed to a form of government fashioned after the precepts of Caesar rather than a free society.[17] The dreams and desires of the people may become a nightmare of despair before those who slumber awaken.

If you just want to read article and books little will change for the better. If you would like to turn around and walk another way join the Living Network[18] in your area and find out about real solutions and salvation.

� 2012 Brother Gregory Williams - All Rights Reserved