Documents are written to help people understand what is expected from them and for those in government to know their limits. There is an admonition about taking away the words of the Bible found in revelation Chapter 22:19, 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. The message is simple, take away the teachings and salvation and the inheritance of eternal life will be lost as surely as you are reading these words.

We can apply the teaching in verse 19 to the government of the United States when those elected and appointed to office change the government to suit their human whims. Congressmen have taken away the limits on government and have imposed their own ideas contrary to the Constitution, and by so doing they have and are adding to that which the Constitution never has allowed. In verse 18, another teaching is found that applies: 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: All the social programs enacted since 1933 are patently unconstitutional because those are not an area of government responsibility. Those have been added and constitute the taking away the limits on government.

As pointed out in the previous article, abortion is a fundamental taking away the inheritance of the unborn protected by the Constitution by adding to it that which can’t be found: namely the right to abortion. Blackmun twisted and distorted the clear meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment by adding an interpretation that isn’t there, but he also took away the word posterity by ignoring it. The same is true of other acts of the court and Congress that are counter to the plain language of the document.

The Constitution is the path for government to follow and is only a limit on those who make and apply the laws. It isn’t a document that limits the rights of the people, though some try to make it do so.  Article 6 Clause 3 binds those holding office to honor the Constitution: Clause 3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; Anything that is done not in accordance with the Constitution is a failure to honor their oath. A principle for the foregoing can be found in Romans 1:20 when Paul spoke of knowing God; … so that they are without excuse:  In like manner, the office holders in the nation have the written word of the Constitution and are without excuse. The problem is that they ignore the words and refuse to follow them just as the Pharisees of old refused to follow their laws.

We are seeing the results and reaping the consequences of taking away and adding to the nation’s guide, the Constitution. A nation, whose people were once fiercely independent, is slowly being reduced to dependency on government at the expense of those who produce and provide for themselves. But the real loss is the loss of the rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for everyone as the government encroaches on areas of life that are none of its business. Instead of ensuring that freedom is the watch word of a people guided by the teachings of God, whom the founders honored and revered, we now have the government at all levels telling us what we can and can’t do, and tragically, neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor the average citizen seems to understand or much less care that we are losing our liberty to an overpowering tyranny to a system run by those who care little for the liberty found in limited government.

The loss has come about because of adding to and taking away the great principles of God that guided the founding of the nation. We must return to the old paths that made the nation great and prosperous with opportunity for all. And governmentally that path is the Constitution.

        Next Lesson Survival of a Nation Part XX Conclusion