TULIP GEMS

JURISDICTION VERSUS TYRANNY

 

 

The word "jurisdiction" comes from two Latin words: "juris" meaning of right, of law and "diction" meaning to speak, to declare.  Thus, "jurisdiction" means the right to speak concerning certain things (or to certain areas of life).

 

God is the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all His Creation.  After His Death, Burial and Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ said, "All power has been given unto to me in Heaven and on Earth"  (Matthew 28:18)   Christ has "jurisdiction" over all mankind.

 

All human authority comes from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  All human authority is limited by what God declares in His written Law-Word, the Holy Bible.  No human authority is granted absolute power.

 

There are only three delegations of authority that men have an obligation to obey.  They are family government, church government and civil government.  Each is limited in authority and exclusive from one another.

 

When one form of government exceeds the limits of authority placed on it by God, or interferes with the authority of another form of government, it is an act of tyranny.  It is man trying to play God.  Totalitarian dictatorships are a good example of this.

 

TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIPS

 

They dictate to the family and church what they may teach and do in the education and disciplining of their children and members.  They demand tithes in the form of income taxes and total sacrifice in the form of military draft or mandatory government service.

 

Totalitarian tyranny can be from a civil government, such as Nazi Germany under Hitler, Soviet Russia under Stalin, and Communist China under Mao.  Or it can be religious tyranny such as in Islamic Iran, and in the Medieval Papacy and Spanish Inquisition.

 

When a nation forgets God's Law, it can expect tyranny.  Such tyranny came to England, for example, under the totalitarian rule of William the Conqueror and the Norman Law that displaced the Anglo-Saxon common law of Alfred the Great.

 

In the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell proposed to restore the rights of Englishmen, as to what those rights were before the Norman conquest of England.  But, after the death of Cromwell, the Stuart kings of England restored their own form of tyranny.

 

The Stuart line ended in the Glorious Revolution.  However, the Glorious Revolution reflected the writings of John Locke, which merely transferred power from the king to the people, as represented by Parliament.

 

There were no check or balances placed on Parliament.  It could enact whatever laws it wished.  This eventually led to the American Revolution of 1776.  Had England really returned to proper jurisdiction of family, church and civil government, as Cromwell proposed, America might have still been British today.  And England would have probably enjoyed greater prosperity and freedom than any other nation on earth.

 

This would have been due to the blessing of God upon any nation that closely follows His Law-Word.  Had England honored God in restoring the proper jurisdiction to family, church and civil government, God would have honored England above all nations.

 

 

 

The Influence of George Gillespie on America's Founding Fathers