THE CHURCH'S ROLE IN THE CURRENT CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

The current constitutional crisis, in which district judges are grabbing power not allotted to them in the  Constitution, is an outright attack on the Founders' division of governmental powers. The Founders created this division because they held the Christian view of the flawed nature of humanity because of original sin.

The Moral Basis of the American Republic

They believed that because of fallen human nature, no person or group of persons can be trusted with absolute power. The Founders would all agree with Sir John Dalberg-Acton who said, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” They, therefore, divided the powers of government into three branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

As another check on power, the Founders, in Section 1, Article 9 of the Constitution, forbade the government from issuing honorific titles of nobility and they forbade any government employee from receiving such a title from a foreign state apart from an act of Congress. In Section 10, they forbade the states from issuing honorific titles of nobility. In other words, they outlawed aristocracy in America.

The Founders envisioned a government wherein power resides with the people, not a king, monarch or unelected judges. This is why the U.S. Constitution begins with the words, “We the people . . ..” Abraham Lincoln described America’s government as being “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Since power is to reside with the people, laws are to be passed by the representatives of the people in Congress—the legislative branch. The president—the executive branch—is to execute and enforce those laws passed by the representatives of the people. Judges—the judiciary branch—are to interpret and apply those same laws to individual cases that come before them.

Judges were never meant to make rulings that apply across the board to the entire country. However, that is exactly what is happening as unelected judges legislate from the bench and overturn the will of “we the people.” 

C. S. Lewis expressed the view of America's Founders when he said, “Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows." We must, therefore, remind these unelected judges and every government official that they are flawed individuals, and while they must do their duty, they must reject the temptation to grab more power than has been allotted to them by the Constitution.

The Church’s Role in this Crisis

The church in America played a primary role in electing Donald Trump and we must pray daily for him. He too is flawed and needs God’s wisdom and protection as he decides how to respond to this onslaught of lawsuits against the will of the people, and a host of other issues he faces daily.

We must also educate this generation concerning the nature of our Constitutional Republic and the fact that it emerged out of the First Great Awakening, whose proponents rejected the abuse of power in both the church and state (Hyatt Apostolic Leadership: Recovering the Spirit-Empowered Servant Leadership of Jesus and the New Testament, 79-81). 

This Awakening was rooted in the theology of the Dissenting Protestants who rejected the use of force in matters of faith, which has been a part of Christianity in Europe since the time of Constantine. This led to the founding generation abhorring tyranny and guaranteed that America would be founded on Biblical values of individual and religious liberty.

It was for this reason that the Founders saw a direct link between Christian morality and political freedom. George Washington made this clear in his Farewell Address in which he exhorted the young nation to cling to "religion [Christianity] and morality," which he called “indispensable supports” for political prosperity. Notice he did not say religion and morality should be “tolerated;” but that they are “indispensable” for a stable and prosperous society.

Because of his firm belief that Christian values are necessarily linked to political freedom and human happiness, Washington was not hesitant to share this belief with anyone. For example, in a meeting with Delaware Indian chiefs, Washington said to them, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 172).

John Adams, who succeeded Washington as our second president, agreed and declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious [Christian] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 168).

It was because of the plethora of statements such as these by America’s Founders that the late, Dr. Michael Novak, wrote,

Far from having a hostility toward religion, the Founders counted on religion [Christianity] for the underlying philosophy of the republic, its supporting ethic, and its reliable source of rejuvenation (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 171).

Concluding Word

This political power struggle going on in America actually reflects the erosion of the Christian principles and values on which America was founded. This is serious for all the Founders believed that a loss of Christian morality would lead to a loss of societal peace and political freedom. 

This is why we, as the church, must be about our primary calling of being “salt” and “light” to this generation, calling the nation back to God, rebuking the ungodly pursuits of power, and directing the people to pray and expect another Great Awakening to revive and renew the nation.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's books 1726: The Year that Defined America and Apostolic Leadership: Recovering the Spirit-Empowered Servant Leadership of Jesus and the New Testament. He is the founder of the "1726 Project" whose purpose is to educate America, beginning with the church, of America's overt Christian birth out of the First Great Awakening.