You can categorize this post in the context that is perhaps in answer to Covid Amnesty, a Warning from the Wall, a note to future rebuilders of a just civilization, Christian Nationalism, or a message on the good news of the Gospel of salvation by Christ Jesus. The Law of God is far-ranging. None has kept the entire Law, other than Jesus, that is.

First, the good news.

“18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. 22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” – Deuteronomy 21:18-23

You are the stubborn son! You have rebelled against the Father, your creator, and cannot be redeemed in the Law from sinning against Him. You couldn’t stop sinning against God if you wanted to; there’s no escape but the full restitution in the Law, which is death under the penalty of the code for your rebellion; you are a sinner. In rebellion, openly at times and stubborn, yet unknowing at others, you should be hanged on a tree, accursed of God, that all may see and know what becomes of a rebellious and stubborn son.

But God made a way impossible for you under your own strength: He gave His only begotten Son, a sinless perfect testament to God’s holy righteousness; He never broke the Law. Though He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, He fulfilled the law of restitution in perfect obedience to the Law. You owe Holy Father God but could never repay, even with your life, but Christ gave Himself that you might go free.

Jesus was taken outside the city as an unclean thing, treated as the lowest of sinners, and hanged like the accursed upon a tree, yet was He holy and perfect. Jesus was hanged on that cross of wood you deserve; he died for you there and rose again the third day. The whole world is hearing of this; the Law is fulfilled, once for all; the curse of sin is lifted in Christ Jesus.

That is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. Though sacrifices by many millions were made over thousands of years to attempt a temporary stay of judgment, Jesus Christ closed all accounts with holy Father God for those that accept His gracious atoning gift of sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and salvation from eternal hell by the wrath of God. The restitution you could never hope to escape was paid in full.

And next, the Law; the Ten Commandments are an outline or table of contents for the entire Law. The Law is not a list of proverbs.

The God of the Holy Bible is the God of restitution; He is the God of the Just Balance (Proverbs 16:11). God’s Law sets forth just compensation, up to or above 100 percent. In God’s economy, crime must never be allowed to pay; it must cost at least double what it destroys. If crime were allowed to pay, you’d be ruled by criminals extracting the nation’s wealth and leaving it all in shambles of inflationary ruin.

It can be noted that the time and work required to re-establish that which was lost to crime are also a cost that full restitution requires. We’ve often heard that somebody got abused by criminals and then abused again by the criminal justice system. It’s not supposed to be this way; the victim is not supposed to pay. Capital punishment is the ultimate just recourse.

“If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.” – Exodus 22:1

The animals in the Law of God are both literal and examples. It was not the Law’s purpose to provide for every circumstance then or now that requires understanding the value placed on the means by which a man makes a living and cares for his family. An ox was a big deal in the ancient agricultural economies. It plowed your field, threshed your wheat, ground your corn. A family of any size couldn’t grow and prosper without such a tool. Think of whatever you require most today to do your job in order to care for your family; that’s your ox. As many seek a simpler life abandoning the cities and suburbs, there isn’t a rural small farmer or property owner today that doesn’t depend upon his pickup truck or a tractor. Without these tools, all his livelihood is gone. According to the Law of God, you must pay fivefold if you separate a man from his ability to provide for his family. No, God is not a communist!

“2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.” – Exodus 22:2

Note that the source of the so-called Castle Doctrine stems from this verse. Breaking and entering is grounds for lethal force without recourse against the property holder or a tenant. Property and your family have value to God. God is the God of private property; being secure in your persons and effects is a blessing by the Law of God.

Instead of causing a deep sleep or actual coma to come over the reader, we won’t exposit this entire section, but read the following verses with a mind toward allegorical examples of life today, crime, and just recompense.

“3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double. 5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. 6 If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. 7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double. 8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods. 9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.” Exodus 22:3-9

The principle behind these laws is that obedience to God will bring you and your family a humble and quiet life. Want to be left alone? Build a civilization that thrives on the Law of God. There is no salvation from hell in the law.

As constricting as the Law-word of God can seem, to those redeemed by Christ, the word of God is liberty from further sin. Nothing is more freeing than salvation in Christ, to go and sin no more by keeping His commandments. If you know God’s word, you know where you stand with God at all times; this is freedom. Keep short accounts with God so that it may be well with you all your days.

The notion that what a man can imagine or exact upon the guilty would be even the spark of an ember of the wrath God has awaiting the sinner in hell is prideful and thorough foolishness. A man cannot begin to imagine the hell of hell, and all the fury he can dispense on earth is silliness compared to the vengeance of the Almighty. The Laws purpose is to set examples among men, not as final judgment. Dominion has limits; final authority is not ours.

Restitution is the principal payment for one man’s crime against another, providing excellent deterrence. The Law of restitution is the essence of justice and righteousness in God’s created order. That’s why whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7), and those that sew the wind shall reap the whirlwind, strangers shall eat of his substance (Hosea 8:7).

Western civilization used to operate under restitution. The criminal is supposed to pay, not the taxpayers; the criminal is to yield in full and then deliver a number of times again, depending upon the type of crime. The habitual criminal is condemned to death (Deuteronomy 21:18).

“Biblical law has no prison system. A criminal was held in prison only pending a trial, and then either made restitution, or was a bondservant until he worked out his restitution, or was executed.” – Rev. R.J. Rushdoony

Restitution can be no more abolished than God can be eradicated. All things are brought before the throne of the Almighty; a just recompense is His very nature; holy and just is He. America and the west can try to wiggle out of the principles under which God has ordained His created order. In the mercy of His longsuffering, He may, with patience, take a season and leave us to our ways desiring all the while for us to come to our senses again, but if men do not implement justice, He will. It would go so much better if America had a true revival of heart toward the Holy One, and we set about to correct all things in accordance with His word. But short of that, He will set things straight, and when He’s left with little choice, red, black, and pale horses are usually involved.

Rushdoony again:

Without restitution, man’s idea of law loses its center and becomes erratic and unstable. Among the more common eccentricities of law have been emphases on class, caste, race, or status, whereby the law becomes an instrument for inequality. A related eccentricity is the emphasis on equality, so that law and justice are separate from justice as restitution and made the instruments of a drastic levelling of men, circumstances, and institutions. Eccentric law loses its orientation towards righteousness or justice and becomes governed by social standards, mores, and pressures. Law then becomes the product of pressure politics, not of a principle of justice.

Restitution makes the Law focus on the object of the offense, whether it needs to be restored two or four-fold, instead of focusing on the criminal. Today, by way of courtroom illusions, the criminal becomes the aggrieved party in need of restoration that God empowers no State to provide. Only the Church, through the Gospel, can restore a man. The law is the schoolmaster; Christ is the redeemer (Galatians 3:24-25).

And worse it gets, the victim receives no compensation which is due; the taxpayers, who are no party at all to the dispute, pay $60,000 a year to keep the criminal entertained, while the State pretends that it has power over the soul of the criminal to make him whole. This is not God’s ordained way of justice. Its trickery and sleight of hand played against the ignorant.

The cross, where this post started, requires us to see the urgent need for restitution. For it is God’s own way of Law; it’s why Christ had to die on that cross to save your soul; somebody worthy, by the Law of God Almighty, had to pay.

Civilization can only fail where there is no justice. And justice short of restitution is no justice at all. Somebody has to pay; by God’s divine hand, they always will, even if He has to destroy your civilization to get it through your head.

This is interesting.

Despite Christians instructing the magistrate on how they must govern to honor God being the historic protestant position of political theory, many have attempted to malign Christians with the label of “Christian Nationalist” in an attempt to disarm them from public discourse on politics. This term has scared many Christians and caused them to reject Christian Nationalism. This article will respond to some of the major concerns many Christians have with what they perceive Christian Nationalism to be.

Christian nationalism can be summarized by this: God instituted governments to promote good and punish evil and it is a duty of the Christian to inform the magistrate of what God calls good and evil. This is because Romans 13 details that the government is established by God and is His minister. Uncoincidentally, the word “minister” used here is the same word used for both deacon and servant— “diakonos”; the Christian then must inform the rulers on how they are to honor God with laws that promote good and punish evil.

Many have claimed that Christian Nationalism is about instituting a theocracy when nothing could be farther from the truth. God created three institutions, the Family, Church, and Government as distinct institutions with unique roles. The role of the government is detailed in Romans 13:3-4 as “Rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for evil… for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” Governments have been ordained by God to promote good and punish evil and they do this by instituting just laws. Since good and evil are defined by God, it is the Christian’s duty to inform rulers on how laws are to honor Christ.

When discussing God’s ordained created order of Church, Family, and State, a proper understanding is essential. The use of the word Government instead of State detracts from the argument. The Family has a government, and the Church has a government. As the Family is being destroyed by the State, we see that the essential God-ordained government of a family, with the man as the head, is indispensable for a thriving civilization. The correct representation of magisterial or civil authority is State. It’s an important distinction, but the thrust of the message remains solid. All bodies have government, but not every government is State government, despite the communist’s best efforts. Romans 13 is prescriptive, not descriptive.

The distinction between Christian Nationalism and Theocracy can be made because Christian Nationalism is about enforcing the second table of the Law and not the first. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) the laws were divided into two tables. The first table, commandments one through three, dealt with God’s relationship with mankind and proper worship. This is administered through the body of Christ with the Church. The second table of the law, commandments four through ten, deals with man’s relation to his fellow man. This is basic civil law which is the duty of the government to enact. Since Christian Nationalism is about proper enforcement of the second table of the law Christians from varying traditions can unite around it as it does not involve the institution of laws regarding proper worship.

There’s no evidence as to which tablet contained which commandments. The author uses a common Lutheran explanation. The Law of God is a covenant; both tablets probably held a complete set of commandments, as any valid two-party contract would. Also, the ten commandments are a summary or table of contents for the entire Law of God. From that, we understand interpreting any one of the ten as a proverb will always lead to misapplication of the Law of God. “Indeed, The full covenant summary, the Ten Commandments, was inscribed on each of the two tables of stone, one table or copy of the treaty for each party in the treaty, God and Israel” – Rousas John Rushdoony.

I don’t think there’s proof either way from the text of the Bible, but we’re willing to be wrong about that if somebody could indicate the verse(s) that shows which commandments were on what block. It’s not a significant contention.

We also disagree that you can enforce a portion of the Law and not be in violation of the entire code. If an offense exists in just one point, the whole Law is transgressed (James 2:12). What the author describes in partial enforcement will always fail because the Law is perfect, by which we mean both infallible and complete as a single (statutory requirement) body of doctrine. A contract void in any one point is invalid in all. That’s a fundamental legal precept, the source of which, in the west, is the Bible.

It’s readily accepted that civil government flows from culture. But where most balk is to take the logical and ultimate conclusion that the source of culture is derived from that society’s religion. Religion is the first order, penultimate, from which all else flows; despite decades of the communists and other socialists attempting to eradicate this simple truth, it’s still a fact. This campaign of the socialists has been so effective that merely using the word religion gets people’s dander up. You are a religious creature. You have a religion, whether you like it or not, and whether it’s recognized as a religion or not. This religion of yours creates not only a common culture but then also informs the type of State governing apparatus you have. Religion concludes the determination of moral codes, which are a nation’s law.

Rushdoony:

“Law is in every culture religious in origin. Because law governs man and society, because it establishes and declares the meaning of justice and righteousness, law is inescapably religious, in that it establishes in practical fashion the ultimate concerns of a culture. Accordingly, a fundamental and necessary premise in any and every study of law must be, first, a recognition of this religious nature of law. Second, it must be recognized that in any culture the source of law is the god of that society. If law has its source in man’s reason, then reason is the god of that society. If the source is an oligarchy, or in a court, senate, or ruler, then that source is the god of that system. Thus, in Greek culture, law was essentially a religiously humanistic concept… Third, in any society, any change of law is an explicit or implicit change of religion. Nothing more clearly reveals, in fact, the religious change in a society than a legal revolution. When the legal foundations shift from biblical law to humanism, it means that the society now draws its vitality and power from humanism, not from Christian theism. Fourth, no disestablishment of religion as such is possible in any society. A church can be disestablished, and a particular religion can be supplanted by another, but the change is simply to another religion. Since the foundations of law are inescapably religious, no society exists without a religious foundation or without a law system which codifies the morality of its religion. Fifth, there can be no tolerance in a law system for another religion. Toleration is a device used to introduce a new law system as a prelude to a new intolerance…” – Rousas John Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law vol 1

That bolded part explains everything that’s being done to America and the west. And it explains very well why a country can have millions of laws and be a corrupt cesspit of vipers, and we’re not talking about Washington, DC. The religion of America is self, self as god. All are sinners; there’s no way but for evil to abound under this regime. The solution is not to implement Bible Law or a Christian ethic in code; souls must be converted to Christ. That’s His commission. Trying in any way to create a just society outside of the method ordained by the Just One will fail.

The author of the linked piece rightly explains that Christian Nationalism cannot be divorced from the Law or the Great Commission.

While it has been made clear that Christian Nationalism is about instituting just civil laws, some have thrown out the accusation that Christian Nationalists want to force conversions. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to draw sinners to Himself. However, when a government’s laws are based on God’s word those who transgress them will know they have broken God’s law. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:24 that “the law is our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith.” The Law does not save us but it teaches us we need to be saved. This is the first step in telling people they need the Gospel as they cannot know the good news without first understanding their depravity and need for a savior. Having civil laws based on God’s word will in turn teach people they need a savior.

“Only the Holy Spirit has the power to draw sinners to Himself.” And what is a Christian’s role in this?

Christian Nationalism is not uniquely American, nor is it about spreading Americanism. God calls all the nations to honor Him.

[…]

Some have claimed that being a Christian Nationalist means only caring for your own country. This has been a result of the post-war liberal consensus that the only way to properly love other nations is to first hate your own. Scripture does not tell us to love our neighbor by hating our own family, but tells us the exact opposite when the Apostle Paul states in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Paul is saying that even the pagans take care of their own so how much worse is it that Christians don’t take care of their own? This principle can be applied at the national level as well because the nation is a large group of people with common descent and shared culture. If even non-Christian nations take care of their own, how much worse would it be for a Christian nation to not take care of its own?

Timothy is being instructed on being a public Christian, particularly a Pastor and leader, and the context of that passage is about widows. But we don’t argue against the application made in the article. 1 Timothy 5:8 seems to broaden out the principles discussed about the treatment of widows to give general Christian instruction in all cases. It’s apt to Timothy’s congregation perhaps and us today certainly.

The Left has destroyed the very thought processes of Americans, but we’re encouraged to see these truths struggling to come to the fore. There’s a new book on the topic that we have not read. The article is worth reading for its main points, which are valid and poorly understood, if at all, in mainline American Christianity.

Serious Christian men would do well to review a body of work already in place on these very topics. Rushdoony, North, Gentry, and others have laid the profound groundwork in preparation for what is now being called Christian Nationalism. The Kingdom of God is supposed to be the primary influence upon all of mankind under the Great Commission. That doesn’t mean only individual Christians acting outside of civilization; it means a Christian Global Civilization.