American Family Radio welcomes Abraham Hamilton III to the Hamilton Corner
Abraham Hamilton III Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.
Abraham Hamilton III Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And now the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name. Joined by producer extraordinaire, often imitated, never duplicated, the real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality. Understanding the primacy that God places on the family, recognizing that his desire for us to be effective in laboring in his harvest field is to come from the overflow of what we enjoy in him personally.
We've been talking this week about the fact that God expects maturity in us
We've been talking this week about the fact that God expects maturity in us because that is God's expectation. That is God's desire. It should be our desires. We should not be comfortable living with habitual, sins, living in a manner to where we're not progressing and growing on to maturity. And I've said it all the time, I am not an advocate of the heretical notion of perfectionism. But what the Scripture teaches very plainly, if that is that if we are in Christ, we should be growing from glory to glory. We shouldn't be just as weak, you know, in year 20 and following the Lord as we were in year one, we shouldn't have the exact same struggles for 20, 30 years. That should not be, you know, the Lord, rebuked the believers through the book of Hebrews, in the Book of Hebrews chapter five and saying, that by now you should be able to teach others. But you, you can't because you've been having a lifestyle diet of milk. You can't handle solid food because solid food is for the mature, you know. And that lack of maturity is made evident by people cultivating and curating a lifestyle that resisted the ministry of the Holy Spirit to respond to his conviction and to grow from there. That is God's expectation. It should be our expectation. And as we walk with the Lord and we are maturing you know the Greek word for perfection that James employs in his epistle is the word teleois which means maturation. That's something we should desire. You know the Hebrew writer gives the picture that you can't abide solid food because solid food is for the mature. Imagine, and this is just such a ridiculous picture. But you imagine a 40, 50 year old man who can't eat meat, not because of a vegan or vegetarian choice, because you don't have teeth, can't, can't, can't handle that, can't handle solid food. Maturity is what God desires in us. Man in contrary to what some people may say who use grace as an excuse to live sin filled lifestyles, God expects holiness. Man of his people. He expects holiness in his people. and it is as we are continuously being transformed, continuously growing, continuously being matured, that we are more and more effective in being disciple makers. Outcome cultivation is the trade, if you will, of the mature. And we should be invested in that way. And God gives us the blessed privilege to begin that commitment right in our own home. So as you're making your transition, understand income generation is a vital function that we participate in. But outcome cultivation is the mandate. The Lord's commission, the great commission, making disciples. All ethnos is to commission that God has given us all. Right, to the word of God we go. Joshua chapter four. I want to just remind us of something from the book of Joshua here. Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven. You're going to see this is one portion of scripture that communicates this. But all throughout the scripture you see the Lord highlighting the importance of his people understanding his story, that is history. A proper view of history is recognizing God's story and interacting with mankind over time. That's what history is. It is his story of interacting with mankind over time. History is important to God. History is important to God's people. When we are ignorant of of his story of interacting with mankind over time, we become more easily susceptible to deception. Joshua chapter four. This is the account where the Lord gives instructions to the Israelites after they cross into the promised land through the Jordan River. And God is the one that gives Joshua particular instruction. Here let's note what the word of God says. Joshua, chapter 4 verses 1 through 7. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, from each tribe a man and command them saying take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. All right. Here you have you notice in the text, whose idea was it to create a memorial of the stones taken from the Jordan River? What? Joshua's idea. It was God's idea. Why did God convey this to Joshua? He tells us very plainly the memorial is to be constructed so that it provokes inquiry from your future generations. And when your future generations inquire as to what these stones mean, you redirect them to me as a source of their guidance, protection and provision.
David King: An accurate recording of history should point to a larger theological truth
The direction in this regard was an accurate recording of history. But I want you to notice the function of this accurate recording of history. God commanded this accurate recording of history because it pointed to a grander, larger, transcendent theological truth. This is one of the major reasons why it is such, an egregious notion. When the discipline of history has, and the study of history has been ceded to those who are Antichrist, to those who are haters of God and his church. Because we miss a vital component of the overarching purpose that history recordation should serve. Accurate recording of history, accurate records of events that have transpired in the past. An accurate recounting of, things that have transpired, transpired should point us toward a grander, larger theological truth. To say it even more simply, the discipline of historical study should bring us to behold the face of our God. But what invariably occurs when we do not have an accurate recording of history? When you have people who are revisionist or they nip and tuck to fit their own purposes, we end up missing huge components of things that should be didactic and instruction to us. And I always use this example prime often when I'm talking about, you, know, discipling children from the home, cultivating the mind and things of that nature. The majority of people, many of you probably learned this right here on this program. The majority of people in our nation and around the world rightly regard Sir Isaac Newton as a scientist, a mathematician, you know, a physicist. Rightly, scientific experiment is central to who he is. But if you actually have a broader understanding of who Sir Isaac Newton was, you would be able to see that Sir Isaac Newton was primarily a theologian. And it would be an accurate description to say he did science almost as a hobby because he wrote twice as much about God's word, even writing, which would be commentaries on Scripture, exponentially more than he conducted scientific experimentation. In fact, you would find that the impetus for scientific experimentation was what he learned in scripture, largely. But why do most people today. Why are most of us ignorant of that fact and those facts? It's intentional because we have a society that wants to benefit from Newton's scientific contributions to society while simultaneously concealing from the masses his Christian commitment and his theological devotion. Why? Because it sets the stage. Continue to purport the false notion. Like Nietzsche and others have, posited that religion is the opiate of the masses, that you cannot be an intelligent person, an intellectual person, and also be a person of faith. That's just a flat lie. It's demonstrable in history all the way up to the present. I saw a dialogue not too long ago. I think it was Charlie Kirk and Bill Maher. And Bill Maher couldn't understand how a person that he's meeting, and he came to the point to where he viewed Charlie Kirk as an intelligent person. And he was mystified by the idea that intelligent people somehow need this crutch of faith. He couldn't reconcile those two thoughts, largely because of things like I just shared about Isaac Newton. I doubt Bill Maher would question Isaac Newton's intellectual acumen. But when we have a society whose historical understandings have been manipulated by half truths, you know, partial truths. This is why when I talk to my children and they'll tell you, I'll say, Hamiltonians, what is a half truth? They'll say, half truth is a whole lie. Why? Because you can deceive by concealing. A half truth is a whole lie. The only reason why a person would tell half truths is because they're motivated to conceal a portion that they do not want to convey. The study of history should bring us, the students, to behold the face of our God. God instructed Joshua, get the stones, build a memorial. Why? So that when your children ask you, what do these stones mean, you're able to point them to me. We are experiencing A similar phenomenon in our day and age where you have Things like the 1619 Project Flat Lie about our country. Flat lie. While at the exact same time, we have people on the other side who would be conservatives who try to or who describe themselves as conservatives who kind of try to conceal some of the uglier portions of our history because they're seeking to humanistically, in many instances, to protect who they view as heroes as opposed to telling the whole truth. See, the one major feature of telling the whole truth is that it fortifies us against creating idols. When God records history about King David in the Bible, he doesn't just give us, you know, the five smooth stones and down goes Goliath. That's not all we know about David. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because a true study of history should bring us to behold the face of our God. The whole story fortifies us against creating idols, deifying human beings. But instead we're able to stand back and say, oh, my goodness, what a mighty God we serve. Because he is a man master at using crooked sticks to paint straight lines. Because a true study of history should bring us to behold the face of our God. Because history is his story of interacting with mankind over time, the proper recording of history points us to transcendent theological truth. We would be wise to be voracious learners and students of true history because it is a feature and an aspect of us drawing near to our God.
Jeff Chamblee Three simple words. Uplift, inspire and encourage. Perfectly identify American Family Studios. Since 2011, we've created documentaries, animation, films and audio to uplift, inspire and encourage individuals and audiences worldwide. Reclaiming media from the filth Hollywood and the world. Push on us and our children. See what we have to offer your family when you visit. AmericanFamilyStudios.net AmericanFamilyStudios.net.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness this is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III will be broadcasting from North Carolina this summer
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. Just a reminder, May 22nd through the 24th, we will be in Winston Salem, North Carolina at the North Carolinians for Home Education's Thrive Conference. I'm looking forward to being there. I will be providing several keynote addresses. Well, no. Yeah, several keynote addresses and breakout session instruction. and I will be broadcasting. We'll be broadcasting the Hamilton Corner program from North Carolina May 22nd through the 24th. Simply go to nche.com to register. Then soon thereafter, June 5th through the 8th, we will be in Illinois. That's right. We are going to the land of J.B. Pritzker at Olivet Nazarene University. I will be ministering at the Illinois Christian Home Educators Conference June 5th through the 8th in Bourbon a Illinois. I'm learning how to say that Bourbon A Illinois, will be there as well. So mark your calendars. I told you we're gonna be all over because it's gonna be, it's gonna be a hot summer. We'll be all over. to register for the Illinois Conference, simply go to iche.org and again, stay tuned because we're going to be all over this summer. Looking forward to meeting you there. Broadcasting from different places all over the country. And so it's going to be an amazing, amazing time this summer.
You saw the passage of the Federal Reserve act in 1913
All right. Consistent with the point that I was making earlier from Scripture about the necessity of having a proper understanding of history, we, are watching things happen in our own time. It's commonly called the Progressive era, but really it's the regressive era, where, all kinds of things happen. You saw the passage of the Federal Reserve act in 1913, where not only do you have the creation of the Federal Reserve System, which is not federal, in which they have no reserves, you saw, in my view, the unconstitutional ceding of the coinage authority to the Federal Reserve System. You know, there never should have been, a system to where all of us are waiting with bated breath because we're hamstrung by what type of interest rate adjustments the Fed is going to make. You know, it's a shrewdly named private bank, but that is exactly what it is, a private bank. That which has been to this very day, as I'm speaking to you, has still never yet been subjected to an audit. You had at that exact same time the amendment of our Constitution to change the way that the United States Senate is elected. The founders established a bicameral national legislature to where the House of Representatives is supposed to be reflective of the will of the people individually. The. The U.S. senate is supposed to be the reflection of the will of the states as an entity, each individual state as an entity, because the House of Representatives was supposed to carry the weight of the concern of the individual citizen. Where the US Senate was supposed to carry the weight of the state, the states as organized entities in requiring a balancing of the state's interests and the individual's interests in order for legislation to be created. We lost that as a result of, the Progressive Era, which I call the regressive era. Not only that, in the halls of America's law schools, the regressive era brought us, the ending of the Blackstonian ethic that was taught with Blackstone's legal commentaries and moved toward the case law method, which included within it a sidelining of a study of the history of America's Constitution, the debates that forged it, the articulation of individual articles into which the study of America's Constitution was reduced to nothing more than to evaluate past opinions of the court. All of these things were the product of the regressive era.
There is an attempt to navigate the U.S. constitution without consideration for the Declaration of Independence
One of the foremost and egregious notions that really permeates our society today is that there is an attempt to navigate the U.S. constitution with no consideration whatsoever for the Declaration of Independence. A proper understanding of our founding documents would have us to realize that the Declaration of Independence is the mission and vision statement for our nation. That is what the founders sought to accomplish by creating our Constitution. The US Constitution is the implementation vessel, the vehicle of execution for the vision articulated in the Declaration of Independence. It would be a proper exercise in jurisprudential analysis that when constitutional issues arise before the US Supreme Court, the appellate courts, the district courts, that we also consider what was the stated purpose articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Does the Declaration have anything to say about this? That is something that was law was lost on us. Now, some of you guys know I teach a constitutional, law class. Among the things I do, I got a lot of dude, a lot of dudes. Elon Musk thinks he wears a lot of hats. Move over, Elon. I wear a lot of hats too. You know, as a father who's we're discipling our children from home. I, I teach my own children and some children, from our church, both civics and constitutional law. And one of the things we discussed, this is very principle that I'm articulating to you right now. I want to present to you firstly something that should be done in America's schools and law schools. I would argue reading from the actual Declaration of Independence, and I've started at the very top in Congress. July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unerring alienable rights. That among these are, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. I'll stop right there. I encourage everyone in this audience to read the entire Declaration of Independence. It's not very long and it'll be insightful for us to understand our nation's founding documents. But I pose this question to my students in class in The American Article 4 guaranteed constitutional republican form of government. The structure of our nation. Who enjoys unalienable rights? Is it government? Singular. Referring to the national government. Is it governments, plural state governments, who enjoys unalienable rights? The answer is very clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are, created equal. Notice, didn't say all governments are created equal. That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Unalienable rights. Notice it doesn't say that governments are endowed with unalienable rights. See, I've explained before. The concept of unalienable rights has, was derived from the Reformation revelation rediscovered that the individual is made in the image of God. It is because the individual is made in the image of God that the individual has the capacity to navigate God's holy word. He doesn't require an intermediary to understand God's holy word. The tutor, if you will, for interpreting God's word is God himself via his Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit is the one who Jesus said would teach us and remind us of everything Jesus instructed. The Declaration of Independence articulates that it is the individual who enjoys unalienable rights. That all men are created equal and all men enjoy unalienable, rights. Well, the text that I use to teach my constitutional law class obviously, includes the Constitution and commentaries on the Constitution. And I have one of those commentaries I want to share with you today entitled the Meaning of the Constitution written by former Attorney General Edwin Meese. You know something about those thirds now? Edwin Meese the third was the United States Attorney General appointed by former President Ronald Reagan. President Ronald Reagan appointed Ed Meese. And drawing from the very thing I just read to you from the Declaration of Independence in his Essay titled the Meaning of Let me get the right word, right title. For his essay, yes, the Meaning of the Constitution, Ed Mies writes the following quote. The United States Constitution creates a government of delegated and enumerated powers. Despite the popular term states rights, no government, federal, state, county or local, actually possesses any rights at all. Recall from the Declaration of Independence that persons are endowed with unalienable rights. Governments possess only powers which in legitimate governments are derived from the consent of the governed. In particular, governments have only those powers that are given or delegated or enumerated to them by the people. The concept of enumerated or listed powers follows from the concept of delegated powers. As the functional purpose of a Constitution is to write down and assign the powers granted to government, the delegation of powers to government and a, written agreement as to the extent and limits of those powers are critical elements of limited constitutional government. End quote.
States have authority, no doubt about it. The federal government enjoys powers
When was the last time that we may have pondered individually or even pondered in our public discourse that, truly speaking, there's no such thing as states rights? Now hear what I'm saying? States have authority, no doubt about it. But states enjoy powers. The federal government enjoys powers. Where do those powers come from? This is why I've long said, if I, ever have the opportunity to moderate a presidential debate, the very, very first question that I'm going to ask the candidates is where do rights come from? Because the answer to that question will tell me an extremely large amount as to what I need to know about the understanding of our constitutional republican form of government, the formation of our nation, and what their role should be in our nation if they are campaigning to serve our nation as president.
Inalienable rights supersede state granted delegated powers, Todd Herman says
States have powers, delegated powers, and enumerated powers. The 10th amendment to our US constitution explains very plainly whatever powers have not been expressly enumerated within this Constitution. The word enumerated simply means listed, listed and numbered, listed and numbered. Whatever powers have not been listed in this Constitution as an overt granting to the national government, the federal government, those powers are inherently reserved to the states and to her people. Powers, not rights. This idea of a, proper recognition of inalienable rights vis a vis and versus state power is vitally important because what should become evident is that the power has, is, and should rest in the people. The legitimating factor of government is that its power is derived from the people's consent. So those who endeavor to serve our nation in positions of public service, their continuing and enduring evaluation should be, have the people given us the power to do this task? Have the people given us the power to exercise this authority. If the people have not given us the power to exercise this authority, to do so in this manner would be violative of our Constitution and our social contract, of the legitimacy of our government being focused on the fulcrum of which is the consent of the governed. It will be a radical reformation as to how we understand what government is and what it's supposed to do. We would also be forced to confront, face to face, face to face repetitively that inalienable powers are super supersede state. I'm sorry, Inalienable rights. I'm sorry, I didn't say the right. Inalienable rights supersede state granted enumerated designated delegated powers. Which is why we should more frequently discuss public servants than we do leaders. Why, surely they are leaders. But we should use nomenclature to remind ourselves and remind them that the only reason why you have the authority that you have is because because we have given it to you. Inalienable rights supersede delegated powers. The main reason for that is the inalienable rights derived from, a from God that determines these rights are intrinsic to mankind as a result of being bearers of his image.
Jeff Chamblee As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others when we live in a culture where truth is relative? It all starts with God's Word. Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank Conference center in Tupelo, Mississippi, June 12th through the 14th, 2025. The theme is Biblical Building on the Authority of Scripture and it's designed to help you acknowledge the Bible's authority and submit to the clear teaching of Scripture. Hear from Frank Evolution describes what does.
Abraham Hamilton III Behave, not what ought to behave, right. It doesn't give you oughts, it just gives you what does happen.
Jeff Chamblee Todd Herman God always uses evil for good.
Abraham Hamilton III He is very intentional and he intentionally chose you to live through times such.
Jeff Chamblee As these and more. The main sessions are for ages 13 and up, while Activate Kids is a separate track for ages 6 through 12. Register for Activate Summit 2025 by visiting activate.aca.net summit get your tickets as soon as possible. Registration closes May 11th.
Abraham Hamilton III the Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are [email protected] Back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Warner Abraham Hamilton III talks about inalienable rights and delegated powers
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Warner Abraham Hamilton III here. Just having a conversation about inalienable rights versus in vis a vis delegated powers. Governments, federal government, state, local, county, municipal, city. They enjoy powers. The powers are given by the people. The touchstone of the inalienable inalienability of rights come from the simple fact that they are God given. Hence the description. The right to life is a God given right. The right to liberty is a God given right. The right to pursue, not a guarantee of, but the pursuit of happiness is a God given right. Which means that no man or man instituted governing system can lawfully, rightfully deprive the individual of these rights. That's what it means. Man. That's what it means. Cannot do so without due process of laws continuing in this notion. And again, our founding documents have all kind of wisdom for us if we would have put it into practice. The Preamble to our Constitution which simply reads, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. America. It lists five purposes for which the US Constitution was created. Created one in order to form a more perfect union. The term perfect is used in our Constitution very similar to the biblical usage of the word perfect. It didn't mean absent of error. It meant increasingly better. In order for our union to be better and better and better over time. We're creating this Constitution. That's purpose one. Second purpose to establish justice. Third purpose, ensure domestic tranquility. Fourth purpose, provide for the common defense. Fifth purpose. I said five. I meant six purposes. Fifth purpose to promote the general welfare, which has nothing to do with entitlement programs. We'll probably have to do an entire program, an entire show on that portion alone. 6th purpose to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, from which I've argued numerous times, how can you secure the blessings of liberty to your posterity if we are killing our posterity intentionally? One of the points. And again, going all the way back to the first segment, the reason why we should study history. Accurate rendering of history points us to transcendent theological truth. What a lot of us don't realize is that even the phrasing, many of us contemporarily don't realize even the phrasing in the Preamble to the Constitution was something that was debated during our founding era. This is just a simple truth. Turning back to my text commenting on the Constitution says this quote, an appreciation of the Preamble begins with a comparison of it to its counterpart in the Compact. The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation. I'm going to pause right there for a second. A lot of people fail to remember that the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776 following the declaration of Independence, There was a source of governing in the United States of America before the US Constitution had ever even been drafted. It's called the Articles of Confederation. The US Constitution, in fact, was drafted to replace the Articles of Confederation because many of the Founders, except for states like Rhode island, found the Articles of Confederation to be woefully inadequate to serve the purposes that have been articulated in the Declaration of independence. The DOC, the document that became the U.S. constitution, was an outlier in governing documents of its kind when compared to those not only in our own Articles of Confederation, but but in governments around the world. The preamble to the Constitution diverged from the introductory paragraph or the preamble to the Articles of Confederation back to the text. In the Articles of Confederation, quote, the states joined in a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, security of their liberties and. And their mutual and general welfare, and bound themselves to assist one another against all force offered to it. I'm, sorry. Against all force offered to or attacks made upon them or any of them on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. End quote. That's what the introductory paragraph to the Articles Confederation says. Notice that it begins with a reference to the states. It doesn't begin with an assertion we the people. It started with reference to we the States. The agreement was among the states, not the people. And the safety and liberties to be secured were the safety and liberties of the states corporately understood, not the liberties the individual. The very opening words of the Constitution, however, says we the people of the United States. It presumes the language of the Declaration of Independence. Guys, this is something we have to understand. The assertion we the people assumes the language of the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. sorry. The Declaration of Independence, 1776. When the Revolutionary War is taking place, the governing authority in America is the Articles of Confederation. The U.S. constitution is not drafted until 1787. All right. And is ratified thereafter when the Constitution is drafted. When the delegates finish at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The states didn't gather in their ratifying conventions. You had anti federalists like Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia and Patrick Henry. Give me liberty, give me death. Patrick Henry. All right. Patrick Henry was concerned as an anti federalist because he wanted to make. He. He opposed the notion of having an outsized and overbearing overly powerful national government. Hence the description anti federalist. Patrick Henry made the accusation and asserted as one of the reasons why he was objecting initially to the ratification of the U.S. constitution that the very words at the beginning of the Constitution sought to eviscerate state power. Because the very, very words of the US Constitution begins with we the people of the United States. He saw that as a, broadside against state power. In fact, Patrick Henry charged that the failure to follow the usual form referring to the states indicated an intention to create a, quote, consolidated national government instead of the system that James Madison described in the Federalist number 39 as being neither a national nor a federal constitution, but a composition of both. Patrick Henry, the quote, he didn't refer to federalist39 by, by, by number, but his argument was that the verbiage we the people is an indication is evidence that the intention of the Framers was to create a consolidated national government to eviscerate state power. Patrick Henry's assertion, and he made this argument during the ratifying convention, okay, When Virginia was considering whether or not they would ratify the US Constitution. Patrick Henry's assertion was challenged by Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph, in which Governor Randolph responded to Patrick Henry by saying, quote, the government is for the people. And the misfortune was that the people had no agency in the government before under the Articles of Confederation. Back to the quote. If the government is to be binding on the people, are not the people the proper persons to examine its merits or defects? That's what Governor Edmund Randolph said in quote. Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry, made it clear. Guys, listen up here. Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry, made it clear that it is the people individually and not the states acting through their established government that were the appropriate ratifying authority. This was a deliberate move on the part of the drafters of the Constitution. In other words, what Governor Edmund Randolph argued is that this is not an attempt to eviscerate state power.
We need to revisit the potency of the individual liberty in American government
This is an attempt to properly elevate the potency of the individual, the potency of the image bearer. That though people gather in their respective states, it is the people who have the authority to determine whether or not this Constitution should be ratified. What I'm saying is that one of the most amazing realities of this American experiment in individual liberty is just that it is the first time in all of human history where it was a proper elevation of the concerns and the considerations and a, recognition of, of the potency of the individual. It doesn't deny that states have powers, but we must be consistently mindful.
Jeff Chamblee Of.
Abraham Hamilton III The fact that the powers that the states enjoy. It comes from her People. The power that the national government enjoys comes from the people. If we had this as a consistent front of the mind, consideration in our body polity that Chucky, Duck Schumer and occasional Cortext and Bernie Sanders. Get off my lawn. President Trump were consistently reminded that, you realize you're accountable to the people. You realize you're accountable to the people. This is why no matter what you say, President Trump is doing the very things he campaigned on. This is what people elected him to do. Many people in America have been frustrated because you have candidates who campaign on one thing and do the exact opposite. Why? Because there's a frustration of the potency that provides a source for the only legitimate understanding of what, government should be. Now, I'm presenting all of this to you because this should be something that should remain a front of the mind concern. Because when we consider the potency of the people in this American experiment in government, we must also remember, well, where does that potency come from? Where do men's inalienable rights come from? Because remember, a proper rendering, a proper understanding, a proper recording of history would point us to transcendent theological truth. It is because man is made in the image of God that people enjoy unalienable rights. It is because man is made in the image of God that the only legitimate source for the just exercise of governmental power is the consent of the governed. It is this fact, this reality, this revelation that led to the founding of Western civilization. It is why the United States of America is not Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela. It is why there is an internal cry for recalibration of things when government encroaches, or should I say, exceeds its right boundaries. It is also why we as the people, having this continuous, front of the mind consideration that our foremost concern when issues arise around us, is not to turn and look to see, well, what is the government going to do? No, what are we going to do? Because the government's existence at best should be to secure to us the blessings of liberty, should be to protect our ability to, to pursue happiness. Government is not the source of the happiness. It protects our ability to pursue it. We need to have a radical recalibration in our nation till we once again revisit the potency of the individual liberty. When you understand what people like Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington and others attempted to articulate when you talk about what conservatism is, what is conservatism? It is a conservation of, of the right of the individual to go make and to do. Which is why Our foremost consideration is for government to function within the very limited parameters that have been delegated to you that is enumerated to you. And let we the people do what we have to do. Without this consistent understanding, we won't enjoy what the Preamble articulates in order to form a more perfect union, rightly understood as growing in maturation, being becoming, being made better and better and better over time. That will not occur if we don't have a proper understanding that it is the people who enjoy inalienable rights. Government and governments enjoy powers that are delegated to them by the people. That for our federal government it's they are enumerated in the US Constitution and for our states. What is not expressly enumerated to the national government is inherently reserved to the states and to the people. We need a radical recalibration to the potency of the individual because it is the individual who is made in the image of God. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
American Family Radio welcomes Abraham Hamilton III to the Hamilton Corner
Abraham Hamilton III Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.
Abraham Hamilton III Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And now the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name. Joined by producer extraordinaire, often imitated, never duplicated, the real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality. Understanding the primacy that God places on the family, recognizing that his desire for us to be effective in laboring in his harvest field is to come from the overflow of what we enjoy in him personally.
We've been talking this week about the fact that God expects maturity in us
We've been talking this week about the fact that God expects maturity in us because that is God's expectation. That is God's desire. It should be our desires. We should not be comfortable living with habitual, sins, living in a manner to where we're not progressing and growing on to maturity. And I've said it all the time, I am not an advocate of the heretical notion of perfectionism. But what the Scripture teaches very plainly, if that is that if we are in Christ, we should be growing from glory to glory. We shouldn't be just as weak, you know, in year 20 and following the Lord as we were in year one, we shouldn't have the exact same struggles for 20, 30 years. That should not be, you know, the Lord, rebuked the believers through the book of Hebrews, in the Book of Hebrews chapter five and saying, that by now you should be able to teach others. But you, you can't because you've been having a lifestyle diet of milk. You can't handle solid food because solid food is for the mature, you know. And that lack of maturity is made evident by people cultivating and curating a lifestyle that resisted the ministry of the Holy Spirit to respond to his conviction and to grow from there. That is God's expectation. It should be our expectation. And as we walk with the Lord and we are maturing you know the Greek word for perfection that James employs in his epistle is the word teleois which means maturation. That's something we should desire. You know the Hebrew writer gives the picture that you can't abide solid food because solid food is for the mature. Imagine, and this is just such a ridiculous picture. But you imagine a 40, 50 year old man who can't eat meat, not because of a vegan or vegetarian choice, because you don't have teeth, can't, can't, can't handle that, can't handle solid food. Maturity is what God desires in us. Man in contrary to what some people may say who use grace as an excuse to live sin filled lifestyles, God expects holiness. Man of his people. He expects holiness in his people. and it is as we are continuously being transformed, continuously growing, continuously being matured, that we are more and more effective in being disciple makers. Outcome cultivation is the trade, if you will, of the mature. And we should be invested in that way. And God gives us the blessed privilege to begin that commitment right in our own home. So as you're making your transition, understand income generation is a vital function that we participate in. But outcome cultivation is the mandate. The Lord's commission, the great commission, making disciples. All ethnos is to commission that God has given us all. Right, to the word of God we go. Joshua chapter four. I want to just remind us of something from the book of Joshua here. Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven. You're going to see this is one portion of scripture that communicates this. But all throughout the scripture you see the Lord highlighting the importance of his people understanding his story, that is history. A proper view of history is recognizing God's story and interacting with mankind over time. That's what history is. It is his story of interacting with mankind over time. History is important to God. History is important to God's people. When we are ignorant of of his story of interacting with mankind over time, we become more easily susceptible to deception. Joshua chapter four. This is the account where the Lord gives instructions to the Israelites after they cross into the promised land through the Jordan River. And God is the one that gives Joshua particular instruction. Here let's note what the word of God says. Joshua, chapter 4 verses 1 through 7. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, from each tribe a man and command them saying take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. All right. Here you have you notice in the text, whose idea was it to create a memorial of the stones taken from the Jordan River? What? Joshua's idea. It was God's idea. Why did God convey this to Joshua? He tells us very plainly the memorial is to be constructed so that it provokes inquiry from your future generations. And when your future generations inquire as to what these stones mean, you redirect them to me as a source of their guidance, protection and provision.
David King: An accurate recording of history should point to a larger theological truth
The direction in this regard was an accurate recording of history. But I want you to notice the function of this accurate recording of history. God commanded this accurate recording of history because it pointed to a grander, larger, transcendent theological truth. This is one of the major reasons why it is such, an egregious notion. When the discipline of history has, and the study of history has been ceded to those who are Antichrist, to those who are haters of God and his church. Because we miss a vital component of the overarching purpose that history recordation should serve. Accurate recording of history, accurate records of events that have transpired in the past. An accurate recounting of, things that have transpired, transpired should point us toward a grander, larger theological truth. To say it even more simply, the discipline of historical study should bring us to behold the face of our God. But what invariably occurs when we do not have an accurate recording of history? When you have people who are revisionist or they nip and tuck to fit their own purposes, we end up missing huge components of things that should be didactic and instruction to us. And I always use this example prime often when I'm talking about, you, know, discipling children from the home, cultivating the mind and things of that nature. The majority of people, many of you probably learned this right here on this program. The majority of people in our nation and around the world rightly regard Sir Isaac Newton as a scientist, a mathematician, you know, a physicist. Rightly, scientific experiment is central to who he is. But if you actually have a broader understanding of who Sir Isaac Newton was, you would be able to see that Sir Isaac Newton was primarily a theologian. And it would be an accurate description to say he did science almost as a hobby because he wrote twice as much about God's word, even writing, which would be commentaries on Scripture, exponentially more than he conducted scientific experimentation. In fact, you would find that the impetus for scientific experimentation was what he learned in scripture, largely. But why do most people today. Why are most of us ignorant of that fact and those facts? It's intentional because we have a society that wants to benefit from Newton's scientific contributions to society while simultaneously concealing from the masses his Christian commitment and his theological devotion. Why? Because it sets the stage. Continue to purport the false notion. Like Nietzsche and others have, posited that religion is the opiate of the masses, that you cannot be an intelligent person, an intellectual person, and also be a person of faith. That's just a flat lie. It's demonstrable in history all the way up to the present. I saw a dialogue not too long ago. I think it was Charlie Kirk and Bill Maher. And Bill Maher couldn't understand how a person that he's meeting, and he came to the point to where he viewed Charlie Kirk as an intelligent person. And he was mystified by the idea that intelligent people somehow need this crutch of faith. He couldn't reconcile those two thoughts, largely because of things like I just shared about Isaac Newton. I doubt Bill Maher would question Isaac Newton's intellectual acumen. But when we have a society whose historical understandings have been manipulated by half truths, you know, partial truths. This is why when I talk to my children and they'll tell you, I'll say, Hamiltonians, what is a half truth? They'll say, half truth is a whole lie. Why? Because you can deceive by concealing. A half truth is a whole lie. The only reason why a person would tell half truths is because they're motivated to conceal a portion that they do not want to convey. The study of history should bring us, the students, to behold the face of our God. God instructed Joshua, get the stones, build a memorial. Why? So that when your children ask you, what do these stones mean, you're able to point them to me. We are experiencing A similar phenomenon in our day and age where you have Things like the 1619 Project Flat Lie about our country. Flat lie. While at the exact same time, we have people on the other side who would be conservatives who try to or who describe themselves as conservatives who kind of try to conceal some of the uglier portions of our history because they're seeking to humanistically, in many instances, to protect who they view as heroes as opposed to telling the whole truth. See, the one major feature of telling the whole truth is that it fortifies us against creating idols. When God records history about King David in the Bible, he doesn't just give us, you know, the five smooth stones and down goes Goliath. That's not all we know about David. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because a true study of history should bring us to behold the face of our God. The whole story fortifies us against creating idols, deifying human beings. But instead we're able to stand back and say, oh, my goodness, what a mighty God we serve. Because he is a man master at using crooked sticks to paint straight lines. Because a true study of history should bring us to behold the face of our God. Because history is his story of interacting with mankind over time, the proper recording of history points us to transcendent theological truth. We would be wise to be voracious learners and students of true history because it is a feature and an aspect of us drawing near to our God.
Jeff Chamblee Three simple words. Uplift, inspire and encourage. Perfectly identify American Family Studios. Since 2011, we've created documentaries, animation, films and audio to uplift, inspire and encourage individuals and audiences worldwide. Reclaiming media from the filth Hollywood and the world. Push on us and our children. See what we have to offer your family when you visit. AmericanFamilyStudios.net AmericanFamilyStudios.net.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness this is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III will be broadcasting from North Carolina this summer
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. Just a reminder, May 22nd through the 24th, we will be in Winston Salem, North Carolina at the North Carolinians for Home Education's Thrive Conference. I'm looking forward to being there. I will be providing several keynote addresses. Well, no. Yeah, several keynote addresses and breakout session instruction. and I will be broadcasting. We'll be broadcasting the Hamilton Corner program from North Carolina May 22nd through the 24th. Simply go to nche.com to register. Then soon thereafter, June 5th through the 8th, we will be in Illinois. That's right. We are going to the land of J.B. Pritzker at Olivet Nazarene University. I will be ministering at the Illinois Christian Home Educators Conference June 5th through the 8th in Bourbon a Illinois. I'm learning how to say that Bourbon A Illinois, will be there as well. So mark your calendars. I told you we're gonna be all over because it's gonna be, it's gonna be a hot summer. We'll be all over. to register for the Illinois Conference, simply go to iche.org and again, stay tuned because we're going to be all over this summer. Looking forward to meeting you there. Broadcasting from different places all over the country. And so it's going to be an amazing, amazing time this summer.
You saw the passage of the Federal Reserve act in 1913
All right. Consistent with the point that I was making earlier from Scripture about the necessity of having a proper understanding of history, we, are watching things happen in our own time. It's commonly called the Progressive era, but really it's the regressive era, where, all kinds of things happen. You saw the passage of the Federal Reserve act in 1913, where not only do you have the creation of the Federal Reserve System, which is not federal, in which they have no reserves, you saw, in my view, the unconstitutional ceding of the coinage authority to the Federal Reserve System. You know, there never should have been, a system to where all of us are waiting with bated breath because we're hamstrung by what type of interest rate adjustments the Fed is going to make. You know, it's a shrewdly named private bank, but that is exactly what it is, a private bank. That which has been to this very day, as I'm speaking to you, has still never yet been subjected to an audit. You had at that exact same time the amendment of our Constitution to change the way that the United States Senate is elected. The founders established a bicameral national legislature to where the House of Representatives is supposed to be reflective of the will of the people individually. The. The U.S. senate is supposed to be the reflection of the will of the states as an entity, each individual state as an entity, because the House of Representatives was supposed to carry the weight of the concern of the individual citizen. Where the US Senate was supposed to carry the weight of the state, the states as organized entities in requiring a balancing of the state's interests and the individual's interests in order for legislation to be created. We lost that as a result of, the Progressive Era, which I call the regressive era. Not only that, in the halls of America's law schools, the regressive era brought us, the ending of the Blackstonian ethic that was taught with Blackstone's legal commentaries and moved toward the case law method, which included within it a sidelining of a study of the history of America's Constitution, the debates that forged it, the articulation of individual articles into which the study of America's Constitution was reduced to nothing more than to evaluate past opinions of the court. All of these things were the product of the regressive era.
There is an attempt to navigate the U.S. constitution without consideration for the Declaration of Independence
One of the foremost and egregious notions that really permeates our society today is that there is an attempt to navigate the U.S. constitution with no consideration whatsoever for the Declaration of Independence. A proper understanding of our founding documents would have us to realize that the Declaration of Independence is the mission and vision statement for our nation. That is what the founders sought to accomplish by creating our Constitution. The US Constitution is the implementation vessel, the vehicle of execution for the vision articulated in the Declaration of Independence. It would be a proper exercise in jurisprudential analysis that when constitutional issues arise before the US Supreme Court, the appellate courts, the district courts, that we also consider what was the stated purpose articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Does the Declaration have anything to say about this? That is something that was law was lost on us. Now, some of you guys know I teach a constitutional, law class. Among the things I do, I got a lot of dude, a lot of dudes. Elon Musk thinks he wears a lot of hats. Move over, Elon. I wear a lot of hats too. You know, as a father who's we're discipling our children from home. I, I teach my own children and some children, from our church, both civics and constitutional law. And one of the things we discussed, this is very principle that I'm articulating to you right now. I want to present to you firstly something that should be done in America's schools and law schools. I would argue reading from the actual Declaration of Independence, and I've started at the very top in Congress. July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unerring alienable rights. That among these are, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. I'll stop right there. I encourage everyone in this audience to read the entire Declaration of Independence. It's not very long and it'll be insightful for us to understand our nation's founding documents. But I pose this question to my students in class in The American Article 4 guaranteed constitutional republican form of government. The structure of our nation. Who enjoys unalienable rights? Is it government? Singular. Referring to the national government. Is it governments, plural state governments, who enjoys unalienable rights? The answer is very clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are, created equal. Notice, didn't say all governments are created equal. That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Unalienable rights. Notice it doesn't say that governments are endowed with unalienable rights. See, I've explained before. The concept of unalienable rights has, was derived from the Reformation revelation rediscovered that the individual is made in the image of God. It is because the individual is made in the image of God that the individual has the capacity to navigate God's holy word. He doesn't require an intermediary to understand God's holy word. The tutor, if you will, for interpreting God's word is God himself via his Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit is the one who Jesus said would teach us and remind us of everything Jesus instructed. The Declaration of Independence articulates that it is the individual who enjoys unalienable rights. That all men are created equal and all men enjoy unalienable, rights. Well, the text that I use to teach my constitutional law class obviously, includes the Constitution and commentaries on the Constitution. And I have one of those commentaries I want to share with you today entitled the Meaning of the Constitution written by former Attorney General Edwin Meese. You know something about those thirds now? Edwin Meese the third was the United States Attorney General appointed by former President Ronald Reagan. President Ronald Reagan appointed Ed Meese. And drawing from the very thing I just read to you from the Declaration of Independence in his Essay titled the Meaning of Let me get the right word, right title. For his essay, yes, the Meaning of the Constitution, Ed Mies writes the following quote. The United States Constitution creates a government of delegated and enumerated powers. Despite the popular term states rights, no government, federal, state, county or local, actually possesses any rights at all. Recall from the Declaration of Independence that persons are endowed with unalienable rights. Governments possess only powers which in legitimate governments are derived from the consent of the governed. In particular, governments have only those powers that are given or delegated or enumerated to them by the people. The concept of enumerated or listed powers follows from the concept of delegated powers. As the functional purpose of a Constitution is to write down and assign the powers granted to government, the delegation of powers to government and a, written agreement as to the extent and limits of those powers are critical elements of limited constitutional government. End quote.
States have authority, no doubt about it. The federal government enjoys powers
When was the last time that we may have pondered individually or even pondered in our public discourse that, truly speaking, there's no such thing as states rights? Now hear what I'm saying? States have authority, no doubt about it. But states enjoy powers. The federal government enjoys powers. Where do those powers come from? This is why I've long said, if I, ever have the opportunity to moderate a presidential debate, the very, very first question that I'm going to ask the candidates is where do rights come from? Because the answer to that question will tell me an extremely large amount as to what I need to know about the understanding of our constitutional republican form of government, the formation of our nation, and what their role should be in our nation if they are campaigning to serve our nation as president.
Inalienable rights supersede state granted delegated powers, Todd Herman says
States have powers, delegated powers, and enumerated powers. The 10th amendment to our US constitution explains very plainly whatever powers have not been expressly enumerated within this Constitution. The word enumerated simply means listed, listed and numbered, listed and numbered. Whatever powers have not been listed in this Constitution as an overt granting to the national government, the federal government, those powers are inherently reserved to the states and to her people. Powers, not rights. This idea of a, proper recognition of inalienable rights vis a vis and versus state power is vitally important because what should become evident is that the power has, is, and should rest in the people. The legitimating factor of government is that its power is derived from the people's consent. So those who endeavor to serve our nation in positions of public service, their continuing and enduring evaluation should be, have the people given us the power to do this task? Have the people given us the power to exercise this authority. If the people have not given us the power to exercise this authority, to do so in this manner would be violative of our Constitution and our social contract, of the legitimacy of our government being focused on the fulcrum of which is the consent of the governed. It will be a radical reformation as to how we understand what government is and what it's supposed to do. We would also be forced to confront, face to face, face to face repetitively that inalienable powers are super supersede state. I'm sorry, Inalienable rights. I'm sorry, I didn't say the right. Inalienable rights supersede state granted enumerated designated delegated powers. Which is why we should more frequently discuss public servants than we do leaders. Why, surely they are leaders. But we should use nomenclature to remind ourselves and remind them that the only reason why you have the authority that you have is because because we have given it to you. Inalienable rights supersede delegated powers. The main reason for that is the inalienable rights derived from, a from God that determines these rights are intrinsic to mankind as a result of being bearers of his image.
Jeff Chamblee As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others when we live in a culture where truth is relative? It all starts with God's Word. Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank Conference center in Tupelo, Mississippi, June 12th through the 14th, 2025. The theme is Biblical Building on the Authority of Scripture and it's designed to help you acknowledge the Bible's authority and submit to the clear teaching of Scripture. Hear from Frank Evolution describes what does.
Abraham Hamilton III Behave, not what ought to behave, right. It doesn't give you oughts, it just gives you what does happen.
Jeff Chamblee Todd Herman God always uses evil for good.
Abraham Hamilton III He is very intentional and he intentionally chose you to live through times such.
Jeff Chamblee As these and more. The main sessions are for ages 13 and up, while Activate Kids is a separate track for ages 6 through 12. Register for Activate Summit 2025 by visiting activate.aca.net summit get your tickets as soon as possible. Registration closes May 11th.
Abraham Hamilton III the Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are [email protected] Back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Warner Abraham Hamilton III talks about inalienable rights and delegated powers
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Warner Abraham Hamilton III here. Just having a conversation about inalienable rights versus in vis a vis delegated powers. Governments, federal government, state, local, county, municipal, city. They enjoy powers. The powers are given by the people. The touchstone of the inalienable inalienability of rights come from the simple fact that they are God given. Hence the description. The right to life is a God given right. The right to liberty is a God given right. The right to pursue, not a guarantee of, but the pursuit of happiness is a God given right. Which means that no man or man instituted governing system can lawfully, rightfully deprive the individual of these rights. That's what it means. Man. That's what it means. Cannot do so without due process of laws continuing in this notion. And again, our founding documents have all kind of wisdom for us if we would have put it into practice. The Preamble to our Constitution which simply reads, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. America. It lists five purposes for which the US Constitution was created. Created one in order to form a more perfect union. The term perfect is used in our Constitution very similar to the biblical usage of the word perfect. It didn't mean absent of error. It meant increasingly better. In order for our union to be better and better and better over time. We're creating this Constitution. That's purpose one. Second purpose to establish justice. Third purpose, ensure domestic tranquility. Fourth purpose, provide for the common defense. Fifth purpose. I said five. I meant six purposes. Fifth purpose to promote the general welfare, which has nothing to do with entitlement programs. We'll probably have to do an entire program, an entire show on that portion alone. 6th purpose to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, from which I've argued numerous times, how can you secure the blessings of liberty to your posterity if we are killing our posterity intentionally? One of the points. And again, going all the way back to the first segment, the reason why we should study history. Accurate rendering of history points us to transcendent theological truth. What a lot of us don't realize is that even the phrasing, many of us contemporarily don't realize even the phrasing in the Preamble to the Constitution was something that was debated during our founding era. This is just a simple truth. Turning back to my text commenting on the Constitution says this quote, an appreciation of the Preamble begins with a comparison of it to its counterpart in the Compact. The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation. I'm going to pause right there for a second. A lot of people fail to remember that the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776 following the declaration of Independence, There was a source of governing in the United States of America before the US Constitution had ever even been drafted. It's called the Articles of Confederation. The US Constitution, in fact, was drafted to replace the Articles of Confederation because many of the Founders, except for states like Rhode island, found the Articles of Confederation to be woefully inadequate to serve the purposes that have been articulated in the Declaration of independence. The DOC, the document that became the U.S. constitution, was an outlier in governing documents of its kind when compared to those not only in our own Articles of Confederation, but but in governments around the world. The preamble to the Constitution diverged from the introductory paragraph or the preamble to the Articles of Confederation back to the text. In the Articles of Confederation, quote, the states joined in a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, security of their liberties and. And their mutual and general welfare, and bound themselves to assist one another against all force offered to it. I'm, sorry. Against all force offered to or attacks made upon them or any of them on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. End quote. That's what the introductory paragraph to the Articles Confederation says. Notice that it begins with a reference to the states. It doesn't begin with an assertion we the people. It started with reference to we the States. The agreement was among the states, not the people. And the safety and liberties to be secured were the safety and liberties of the states corporately understood, not the liberties the individual. The very opening words of the Constitution, however, says we the people of the United States. It presumes the language of the Declaration of Independence. Guys, this is something we have to understand. The assertion we the people assumes the language of the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. sorry. The Declaration of Independence, 1776. When the Revolutionary War is taking place, the governing authority in America is the Articles of Confederation. The U.S. constitution is not drafted until 1787. All right. And is ratified thereafter when the Constitution is drafted. When the delegates finish at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The states didn't gather in their ratifying conventions. You had anti federalists like Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia and Patrick Henry. Give me liberty, give me death. Patrick Henry. All right. Patrick Henry was concerned as an anti federalist because he wanted to make. He. He opposed the notion of having an outsized and overbearing overly powerful national government. Hence the description anti federalist. Patrick Henry made the accusation and asserted as one of the reasons why he was objecting initially to the ratification of the U.S. constitution that the very words at the beginning of the Constitution sought to eviscerate state power. Because the very, very words of the US Constitution begins with we the people of the United States. He saw that as a, broadside against state power. In fact, Patrick Henry charged that the failure to follow the usual form referring to the states indicated an intention to create a, quote, consolidated national government instead of the system that James Madison described in the Federalist number 39 as being neither a national nor a federal constitution, but a composition of both. Patrick Henry, the quote, he didn't refer to federalist39 by, by, by number, but his argument was that the verbiage we the people is an indication is evidence that the intention of the Framers was to create a consolidated national government to eviscerate state power. Patrick Henry's assertion, and he made this argument during the ratifying convention, okay, When Virginia was considering whether or not they would ratify the US Constitution. Patrick Henry's assertion was challenged by Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph, in which Governor Randolph responded to Patrick Henry by saying, quote, the government is for the people. And the misfortune was that the people had no agency in the government before under the Articles of Confederation. Back to the quote. If the government is to be binding on the people, are not the people the proper persons to examine its merits or defects? That's what Governor Edmund Randolph said in quote. Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry, made it clear. Guys, listen up here. Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry, made it clear that it is the people individually and not the states acting through their established government that were the appropriate ratifying authority. This was a deliberate move on the part of the drafters of the Constitution. In other words, what Governor Edmund Randolph argued is that this is not an attempt to eviscerate state power.
We need to revisit the potency of the individual liberty in American government
This is an attempt to properly elevate the potency of the individual, the potency of the image bearer. That though people gather in their respective states, it is the people who have the authority to determine whether or not this Constitution should be ratified. What I'm saying is that one of the most amazing realities of this American experiment in individual liberty is just that it is the first time in all of human history where it was a proper elevation of the concerns and the considerations and a, recognition of, of the potency of the individual. It doesn't deny that states have powers, but we must be consistently mindful.
Jeff Chamblee Of.
Abraham Hamilton III The fact that the powers that the states enjoy. It comes from her People. The power that the national government enjoys comes from the people. If we had this as a consistent front of the mind, consideration in our body polity that Chucky, Duck Schumer and occasional Cortext and Bernie Sanders. Get off my lawn. President Trump were consistently reminded that, you realize you're accountable to the people. You realize you're accountable to the people. This is why no matter what you say, President Trump is doing the very things he campaigned on. This is what people elected him to do. Many people in America have been frustrated because you have candidates who campaign on one thing and do the exact opposite. Why? Because there's a frustration of the potency that provides a source for the only legitimate understanding of what, government should be. Now, I'm presenting all of this to you because this should be something that should remain a front of the mind concern. Because when we consider the potency of the people in this American experiment in government, we must also remember, well, where does that potency come from? Where do men's inalienable rights come from? Because remember, a proper rendering, a proper understanding, a proper recording of history would point us to transcendent theological truth. It is because man is made in the image of God that people enjoy unalienable rights. It is because man is made in the image of God that the only legitimate source for the just exercise of governmental power is the consent of the governed. It is this fact, this reality, this revelation that led to the founding of Western civilization. It is why the United States of America is not Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela. It is why there is an internal cry for recalibration of things when government encroaches, or should I say, exceeds its right boundaries. It is also why we as the people, having this continuous, front of the mind consideration that our foremost concern when issues arise around us, is not to turn and look to see, well, what is the government going to do? No, what are we going to do? Because the government's existence at best should be to secure to us the blessings of liberty, should be to protect our ability to, to pursue happiness. Government is not the source of the happiness. It protects our ability to pursue it. We need to have a radical recalibration in our nation till we once again revisit the potency of the individual liberty. When you understand what people like Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington and others attempted to articulate when you talk about what conservatism is, what is conservatism? It is a conservation of, of the right of the individual to go make and to do. Which is why Our foremost consideration is for government to function within the very limited parameters that have been delegated to you that is enumerated to you. And let we the people do what we have to do. Without this consistent understanding, we won't enjoy what the Preamble articulates in order to form a more perfect union, rightly understood as growing in maturation, being becoming, being made better and better and better over time. That will not occur if we don't have a proper understanding that it is the people who enjoy inalienable rights. Government and governments enjoy powers that are delegated to them by the people. That for our federal government it's they are enumerated in the US Constitution and for our states. What is not expressly enumerated to the national government is inherently reserved to the states and to the people. We need a radical recalibration to the potency of the individual because it is the individual who is made in the image of God. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
0:00 - 15:00. Joshua 4:1-7 (ESV). History is important to God. It must be important to us.
15:00 - 31:00. Failure to properly understand our founding documents has set the course for chicanery in our nation.
31:00 - 48:00. The government has “powers.” Only the people have “unalienable rights.”
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