Wow! I ran across a letter I had written to the editor of the Chattanooga Times on the 23rd of October, 1994, and I still agree with myself! That's a good thing! As people mature and especially (as in my case) you go from being a nominal "Christian" to being a born-again Christian, your way of looking at things changes over time, and you find that opinions you held years ago, you don't always agree with now. Following is the text of the letter (which, best I remember the paper printed in a much abbreviated form), which was written in response to a letter from someone from the anti-gun position.
To the Editor:
The following is in response to WHM III (Times, 22 Oct 94). Obviously Mr. M hasn't done his homework on the Second Amendment. The Constitution doesn't read "well-maintained," or "well-disciplined" as stated. It reads "well-regulated," which in the vernacular of the day meant, "well-trained." "...to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them..." (Richard Henry Lee)
The framers of the Constitution knew all too well that a powerful central government prefers unarmed peasants. The 2nd Amendment right to hunt or defend oneself is secondary to giving the citizenry the means to defend themselves against corrupt government. "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive." (Noah Webster
Mr. M also suggests rather sarcastically, that we have no right to military type weapons, and that his neighbor possessing weapons violates his rights. "Who are the militia? Are they nor ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of the American...The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." (Tench Coxe)
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin)
These words are not mine, but those of the men who wrote the Constitution. I hope you are right when you say government will never come for our guns, Mr. M. You obviously trust bureaucrats to tread lightly on your rights far more than our Founding Fathers.
Marty Tate
p.s. If I remember correctly the quotes used were taken from a book titled "That Every Man be Armed" by attorney Stephen Halbrook.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Perilous Times
It's been several days since I've really kept up with any news, so I had a few minutes to sit down and go through the backlog in my inbox and read a few articles. Lot's of interesting stuff in there!
Some of the best news I've found is that U.S. citizens are actually starting to act like free men again! As an aside, in that last sentence I almost used the unwieldy sounding "free men and women" that most folks succumb to these days in order to be considered "inclusive" or "politically correct." Let's stop this nonsense! Let the feminists wet their pants-suits if they want, when I learned English grammar many years ago, we were taught that when a generic reference to "mankind" (notice I didn't say "humankind") was used, it was grammatically correct to use the masculine term. But I digress...
Americans are starting to stand on their hind legs again and say to their government "No Further!" Woe to the member of Congress who has the guts to hold a town-hall type meeting! Ordinary citizens, who are sick and tired of having communism shoved down their throats via the take-over of the health care system, are showing up in droves at these town-hall meetings and shouting down their Congress-critter! Gadsden Flags emblazoned with "Don't Tread on Me" are all the rage at these events! Shoot, I've even got one flying outside my place of business!
But the greatest thing I've seen out of these protests so far has taken place in Arizona: people openly carrying guns. Arizona is an open carry state (may their tribe increase), and folks have been seen at Obama events with ARs slung across their shoulders! In this short video, two liberal CNN bed-wetters wring their hands over free men carrying weapons! One of them astutely notes that none of the weapons "went off." Well, duh...It is mechanically impossible for one of these weapons to just "go off." The guy does admit that it is the first time he's ever been that close (within a couple of feet) to an actual AR 15! This poor fellow is probably in his 40's! Probably town-bred...
The funniest thing I've seen in a while is this video of Dr. James David Manning, in which he rails against the "long-legged mack daddy" in the White House, and prays for the success of white people in the eventuality that get tired enough of being "pushed around" and rise up.
Speaking of health care...in this confidence inspiring piece, it has come to light that Bayer (you know, the aspirin people) has been caught selling AIDS tainted blood overseas, with the tacit approval of the FDA! Makes you want to line up for your swine-flu stick, don't it?
On a more somber note, the financial recovery that is being ballyhooed from the rooftops is most likely still-born. As noted in a previous post the real economists who have been successfully predicting downturns for many years are still saying that this "recovery" is due to nothing more that a trillion dollars worth of "stimulus" (read: inflation). One pointed out (and I can't remember who said it, but I'm sure that it came from someone over at lewrockwell.com) that when the stock market crashed in 1929, it actually "bounced," meaning it rose in the short term but continued its downward spiral until it hit bottom in 1932, three years later! According to this article "Trends analyst Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute and publisher of The Trends Journal, built his reputation by accurately predicting the 1987 stock market crash, the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the “Panic of ’08.” He has attracted both attention and ire in recent months with his increasingly dire projections, which he titled as “Obamageddon.”
Mr. Celente is predicting “Food riots, tax protests, farmer rebellions, student revolts, squatter digins, homeless uprisings, tent cities, ghost malls, general strikes, bossnappings, kidnappings, industrial saboteurs, gang warfare, mob rule, terror” by 2012 in the latest edition of The Trends Journal." Alarmist? Anybody's guess, but given his track record in the forecasting department, I think we ignore him at our peril.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1
Some of the best news I've found is that U.S. citizens are actually starting to act like free men again! As an aside, in that last sentence I almost used the unwieldy sounding "free men and women" that most folks succumb to these days in order to be considered "inclusive" or "politically correct." Let's stop this nonsense! Let the feminists wet their pants-suits if they want, when I learned English grammar many years ago, we were taught that when a generic reference to "mankind" (notice I didn't say "humankind") was used, it was grammatically correct to use the masculine term. But I digress...
Americans are starting to stand on their hind legs again and say to their government "No Further!" Woe to the member of Congress who has the guts to hold a town-hall type meeting! Ordinary citizens, who are sick and tired of having communism shoved down their throats via the take-over of the health care system, are showing up in droves at these town-hall meetings and shouting down their Congress-critter! Gadsden Flags emblazoned with "Don't Tread on Me" are all the rage at these events! Shoot, I've even got one flying outside my place of business!
But the greatest thing I've seen out of these protests so far has taken place in Arizona: people openly carrying guns. Arizona is an open carry state (may their tribe increase), and folks have been seen at Obama events with ARs slung across their shoulders! In this short video, two liberal CNN bed-wetters wring their hands over free men carrying weapons! One of them astutely notes that none of the weapons "went off." Well, duh...It is mechanically impossible for one of these weapons to just "go off." The guy does admit that it is the first time he's ever been that close (within a couple of feet) to an actual AR 15! This poor fellow is probably in his 40's! Probably town-bred...
The funniest thing I've seen in a while is this video of Dr. James David Manning, in which he rails against the "long-legged mack daddy" in the White House, and prays for the success of white people in the eventuality that get tired enough of being "pushed around" and rise up.
Speaking of health care...in this confidence inspiring piece, it has come to light that Bayer (you know, the aspirin people) has been caught selling AIDS tainted blood overseas, with the tacit approval of the FDA! Makes you want to line up for your swine-flu stick, don't it?
On a more somber note, the financial recovery that is being ballyhooed from the rooftops is most likely still-born. As noted in a previous post the real economists who have been successfully predicting downturns for many years are still saying that this "recovery" is due to nothing more that a trillion dollars worth of "stimulus" (read: inflation). One pointed out (and I can't remember who said it, but I'm sure that it came from someone over at lewrockwell.com) that when the stock market crashed in 1929, it actually "bounced," meaning it rose in the short term but continued its downward spiral until it hit bottom in 1932, three years later! According to this article "Trends analyst Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute and publisher of The Trends Journal, built his reputation by accurately predicting the 1987 stock market crash, the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the “Panic of ’08.” He has attracted both attention and ire in recent months with his increasingly dire projections, which he titled as “Obamageddon.”
Mr. Celente is predicting “Food riots, tax protests, farmer rebellions, student revolts, squatter digins, homeless uprisings, tent cities, ghost malls, general strikes, bossnappings, kidnappings, industrial saboteurs, gang warfare, mob rule, terror” by 2012 in the latest edition of The Trends Journal." Alarmist? Anybody's guess, but given his track record in the forecasting department, I think we ignore him at our peril.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1
Monday, August 10, 2009
Yes Virginia, There is an IRS State Church
By Greg Dixon
Because Christmas comes every year, sooner or later most will hear the phrase made famous by Francis P. Church, Editor of the NY Sun in 1897, “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” I’m sure the eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon who had written Church and told him that she would believe in Santa if she could read it in the pages of the Sun found out at some point that Santa was a myth, but most of the preachers and church folks in America still haven’t figured out that, its not a myth, there is an IRS State Church in America even though the IRS has spelled it out loud and clear in two publications – 1828 tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations and IRS Publication 557. Publication 1828 has become the veritable Bible that accountants, lawyers, courts and tax preparers use on a daily basis. Its language is very bold and clear.
“The Internal Revenue Code: Section 501(c)(3) describes charitable organizations, INCLUDING CHURCHES and religious organizations, WHICH QUALIFY for exemption from federal income tax and generally are eligible to receive tax deductible contributions.” (Emphasis mine)
The Great Comparison
Toleration – Licensure
IRS State Church Defined
Publication 1828; pg. 1
“CHURCH – Certain characteristics are generally attributed to churches. These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions. They include a distinct legal existence: Churches and religious organizations may be legally organized …under state law, including as un-incorporated associations, non-profit corporations, corporations sole and charitable trusts.”
Liberty – Non-licensure
U.S. Constitution - First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In reality, each of these guarantees are liberty for public worship, including speech (sermon content inside and outside the building), press (publishing the gospel inside and outside), assembly (worship inside or outside), and to petition for redress of grievances (inside or outside).
However there is no guarantee of religious liberty to the four IRS identified legal entities listed above. They have given up their God given rights for benefits and privileges, i.e. tax-exemptions, tax-deductible gifts and now Faith Based programs. The courts have said many times loud and clear, enter the realm of Caesar, abide by the laws of Caesar. Only court imposed limited freedoms based on the shifting winds of public opinion and federal public policy are available for these IRS State Churches, and believe me, their freedoms are becoming more limited day by day, even including the content of sermons. How many times do we have to say it, the Lord’s churches are not tax exempt but rather non taxable. There is a vast difference.
To find out how we got to such a state as this a little history is necessary. Amazingly even though our Pilgrim fathers escaped England and landed at Plymouth Rock seeking asylum from religious tyranny, it wasn’t long until they had actually founded a State/Church system in Massachusetts that was nearly as repressive against the Baptists, Quakers and other non-conformists as the Anglican State that they had fled from themselves. In the South their “Christian” brothers were also busy establishing State Churches.
On January 11, 1758, the General Assembly, meeting at Savannah (GA), passed a law, making the Church of England the church of the province. In all of the colonies except RI laws were enacted to support an established church by taxes, to compel church attendance, and to forbid the worshipping of dissenting sects. Some type of state church was to be found in all five southern colonies, as well as in three New England provinces: Mass., Conn., and New Hampshire. In S.C. it was the Church of England with support from public funds. In N.C. it was also the church of England from 1732. The Puritans had established a theocracy in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, which was later called Congregational churches, and they persecuted those of different beliefs. But Baptists opposed the concept of a state church.1
This paper is too short to list all of them, but following are a few instances of persecution by these statists among hundreds of examples from the same source.
In the bitter cold winter of 1638, … puritans banned Roger Williams from Massachusetts for his Baptist beliefs and leaving his wife and children he escaped to Rhode Island where he established Providence and it became the citadel for religious liberty in the new land.
The persecution of Baptists continued with unrelenting fury. In 1651 Obadiah Holmes, John Clarke, Witter and others were arrested because they would not subscribe to the doctrine of Congregationalism, i.e. infant baptism. Holmes was beaten until he could not stand. Those who came to his aid were persecuted. Many others were imprisoned and their property confiscated because they would not support the Congregational churches nor pay their pastors salaries.
In Virginia where the Anglican Church was in control things were not much better. That State/Church was as busy persecuting (dissenters) as the Congregationalists in the North.
February 26, 1770, was the beginning of the three-month imprisonment of John Pickett in the Fauquier County, VA Order Book for 1766, pages 242 and 243. Few men in VA. Suffered more persecution than Webber. He was seized in Chesterfield, Co, Dec. 7, 1770 and imprisoned in the Co. jail until March 7, 1771. Seven other Baptist preachers were confined in the same jail which still stands. The Baptists and many others opposed the ratification of the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was secured and it was not an accident that the very first one was a Religious Liberty clause which in reality did not disestablish God as we are being led to believe, but simply declared that there would be no State/Church in the federal jurisdiction. Later as the religious clauses were placed in the various state Bills of Right the state churches were disestablished in the various states, Massachusetts being the last in 1833.
However we have now come full circle and with the permission of Congress and the courts they have now reestablished a State/Church albeit an IRS/State Church in the federal district. This monster is now recognized by the states. For instance, in order for a church to get sales tax exemption at the state level the church has to get a determination letter from the IRS, giving evidence that they fall within one of the above categories of a “legal” existence. They can be the most weird cult like the Babalu’s who sacrifice chickens in downtown Hialeah, FL or even a coven of witches, it makes no difference.
The evidence that we have come full circle is the fact that the various states and the U.S. Justice Department is now protecting this IRS State/Church and persecuting those churches that choose not to be under their “legal” protection. Basically there is little difference between a church and a religious organization in the eyes of the IRS in that both are listed in the IRC under 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Organizations. Churches are listed under Exceptions at 501a. Publication 1828 on page 2 says – “Churches that meet the requirements of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c) (3) are automatically considered exempt, and are not required to apply for and obtain recognition of tax exempt status from the IRS. However, even though churches are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, to qualify for tax exemption, such organizations must meet the following requirements:” In other words the church does not have to file Form 1023 or an annual 990 Form to become and maintain their tax exempt status as a religious organization such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as an example but they still have to meet the same qualifications by meeting the same requirements. If it doesn’t the IRS can take away their tax exemption even though the church never applied in the first place. This is the great deception. It is an automatic exception not an exemption.
It is the demands of the IRS that a true Church of Christ cannot meet. There are six in all.
1. It must have a “distinct legal existence”. The state is not its creator but Christ.
2. It must be organized as an exempt organization. A church is not an organization but a divine organism, the body of Christ.
3. It must be operated as an exempt organization. “…for religious, educational, scientific, or other charitable purposes.” The Lord’s church is not a “Public Charity” equal to the United Fund or UNESCO but a divine institution for the propagation of the gospel of Christ to lost sinners and the discipling of believers.
4. “Net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any private individual.” The Lord’s Church is not a business that earns profits and pays salaries to employees but only has those who serve as true minister shepherds and not hirelings.
5. “No substantial part of its activity may be attempting to influence legislation,” The Lord’s church must not submit its records nor report its activities to the IRS.
6. “The organization may not intervene in political campaigns,” The Lords church cannot be silenced from speaking out on the things that effect society.
Because churches have refused to bow down and accept this imprimatur from the IRS and take this tax exempt legal identity from the IRS they are now experiencing persecution at the state and federal level. Following are some examples.
In the past few years a church has been raided, sold and bull dozed down because it refused relinquish its core doctrine of the Lordship of Christ and become a tax collector and payer for the IRS. A pastor is presently serving a ten year sentence and his wife one year for a made up “crime” involving the complexity of the tax laws regarding a Christian ministry. A boy’s home in Ft. Worth, Texas was closed because the church did not seek licensure from the State. Christian schools have been closed because they did not seek accreditation from the state. Innumerable street preachers have been arrested for preaching without a license. The same is true of abortion protestors. A Church in a Western state is being threatened with fines because they do not have a permit to put up a sign displaying the 10 Commandments on their own land and also displaying the name of their church on the front of their building. Just recently home bible studies have been raided in San Diego and Phoenix. Preachers are now required to register in some states to perform marriages and one has been jailed in one mid-west state for using a marriage covenant instead. FBI agents have already questioned preachers in Illinois and California about sermons deemed harmful to the government, one dealt with abortion and the other with the Iraq war. This was even before the federal hate crime law has passed that is going through Congress at this time which can make criminals of the preachers in America over the sodomy issue as they have in Canada and Sweden. These are just a few examples, we could give many more.
I am the National Director of the Biblical Law Center. The Law Center is not only trying to alert pastors and church leaders as to the problems but also is trying to give practical solutions. The Law Center helps churches to organize and reorganize in a way to take advantage of their First Amendment guarantees and the religious liberty clauses of the various states so that they will not lose their First Amendment guarantees as “legal” entities but rather begin operating under God as lawful congregations, the Lord’s biblical New Testament churches, enjoying all of their God given rights intended by our founding fathers. The lamp of liberty is barely flickering. If there is not a mighty awakening among the pastors and churches of our land to get out of this 501 (c) (3) Covenant of Death it will be too late forever. May God be pleased to have mercy upon us is our prayer.
We can be contacted at the Biblical Law Center: drgregdixon@earthlink.net or if you would like to receive The Trumpet, the voice of the unregistered church movement in America send an e mail to the same address.
__________________
1 This Day in Baptist History – BJU Press
Because Christmas comes every year, sooner or later most will hear the phrase made famous by Francis P. Church, Editor of the NY Sun in 1897, “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” I’m sure the eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon who had written Church and told him that she would believe in Santa if she could read it in the pages of the Sun found out at some point that Santa was a myth, but most of the preachers and church folks in America still haven’t figured out that, its not a myth, there is an IRS State Church in America even though the IRS has spelled it out loud and clear in two publications – 1828 tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations and IRS Publication 557. Publication 1828 has become the veritable Bible that accountants, lawyers, courts and tax preparers use on a daily basis. Its language is very bold and clear.
“The Internal Revenue Code: Section 501(c)(3) describes charitable organizations, INCLUDING CHURCHES and religious organizations, WHICH QUALIFY for exemption from federal income tax and generally are eligible to receive tax deductible contributions.” (Emphasis mine)
The Great Comparison
Toleration – Licensure
IRS State Church Defined
Publication 1828; pg. 1
“CHURCH – Certain characteristics are generally attributed to churches. These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions. They include a distinct legal existence: Churches and religious organizations may be legally organized …under state law, including as un-incorporated associations, non-profit corporations, corporations sole and charitable trusts.”
Liberty – Non-licensure
U.S. Constitution - First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In reality, each of these guarantees are liberty for public worship, including speech (sermon content inside and outside the building), press (publishing the gospel inside and outside), assembly (worship inside or outside), and to petition for redress of grievances (inside or outside).
However there is no guarantee of religious liberty to the four IRS identified legal entities listed above. They have given up their God given rights for benefits and privileges, i.e. tax-exemptions, tax-deductible gifts and now Faith Based programs. The courts have said many times loud and clear, enter the realm of Caesar, abide by the laws of Caesar. Only court imposed limited freedoms based on the shifting winds of public opinion and federal public policy are available for these IRS State Churches, and believe me, their freedoms are becoming more limited day by day, even including the content of sermons. How many times do we have to say it, the Lord’s churches are not tax exempt but rather non taxable. There is a vast difference.
To find out how we got to such a state as this a little history is necessary. Amazingly even though our Pilgrim fathers escaped England and landed at Plymouth Rock seeking asylum from religious tyranny, it wasn’t long until they had actually founded a State/Church system in Massachusetts that was nearly as repressive against the Baptists, Quakers and other non-conformists as the Anglican State that they had fled from themselves. In the South their “Christian” brothers were also busy establishing State Churches.
On January 11, 1758, the General Assembly, meeting at Savannah (GA), passed a law, making the Church of England the church of the province. In all of the colonies except RI laws were enacted to support an established church by taxes, to compel church attendance, and to forbid the worshipping of dissenting sects. Some type of state church was to be found in all five southern colonies, as well as in three New England provinces: Mass., Conn., and New Hampshire. In S.C. it was the Church of England with support from public funds. In N.C. it was also the church of England from 1732. The Puritans had established a theocracy in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, which was later called Congregational churches, and they persecuted those of different beliefs. But Baptists opposed the concept of a state church.1
This paper is too short to list all of them, but following are a few instances of persecution by these statists among hundreds of examples from the same source.
In the bitter cold winter of 1638, … puritans banned Roger Williams from Massachusetts for his Baptist beliefs and leaving his wife and children he escaped to Rhode Island where he established Providence and it became the citadel for religious liberty in the new land.
The persecution of Baptists continued with unrelenting fury. In 1651 Obadiah Holmes, John Clarke, Witter and others were arrested because they would not subscribe to the doctrine of Congregationalism, i.e. infant baptism. Holmes was beaten until he could not stand. Those who came to his aid were persecuted. Many others were imprisoned and their property confiscated because they would not support the Congregational churches nor pay their pastors salaries.
In Virginia where the Anglican Church was in control things were not much better. That State/Church was as busy persecuting (dissenters) as the Congregationalists in the North.
February 26, 1770, was the beginning of the three-month imprisonment of John Pickett in the Fauquier County, VA Order Book for 1766, pages 242 and 243. Few men in VA. Suffered more persecution than Webber. He was seized in Chesterfield, Co, Dec. 7, 1770 and imprisoned in the Co. jail until March 7, 1771. Seven other Baptist preachers were confined in the same jail which still stands. The Baptists and many others opposed the ratification of the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was secured and it was not an accident that the very first one was a Religious Liberty clause which in reality did not disestablish God as we are being led to believe, but simply declared that there would be no State/Church in the federal jurisdiction. Later as the religious clauses were placed in the various state Bills of Right the state churches were disestablished in the various states, Massachusetts being the last in 1833.
However we have now come full circle and with the permission of Congress and the courts they have now reestablished a State/Church albeit an IRS/State Church in the federal district. This monster is now recognized by the states. For instance, in order for a church to get sales tax exemption at the state level the church has to get a determination letter from the IRS, giving evidence that they fall within one of the above categories of a “legal” existence. They can be the most weird cult like the Babalu’s who sacrifice chickens in downtown Hialeah, FL or even a coven of witches, it makes no difference.
The evidence that we have come full circle is the fact that the various states and the U.S. Justice Department is now protecting this IRS State/Church and persecuting those churches that choose not to be under their “legal” protection. Basically there is little difference between a church and a religious organization in the eyes of the IRS in that both are listed in the IRC under 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Organizations. Churches are listed under Exceptions at 501a. Publication 1828 on page 2 says – “Churches that meet the requirements of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c) (3) are automatically considered exempt, and are not required to apply for and obtain recognition of tax exempt status from the IRS. However, even though churches are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, to qualify for tax exemption, such organizations must meet the following requirements:” In other words the church does not have to file Form 1023 or an annual 990 Form to become and maintain their tax exempt status as a religious organization such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as an example but they still have to meet the same qualifications by meeting the same requirements. If it doesn’t the IRS can take away their tax exemption even though the church never applied in the first place. This is the great deception. It is an automatic exception not an exemption.
It is the demands of the IRS that a true Church of Christ cannot meet. There are six in all.
1. It must have a “distinct legal existence”. The state is not its creator but Christ.
2. It must be organized as an exempt organization. A church is not an organization but a divine organism, the body of Christ.
3. It must be operated as an exempt organization. “…for religious, educational, scientific, or other charitable purposes.” The Lord’s church is not a “Public Charity” equal to the United Fund or UNESCO but a divine institution for the propagation of the gospel of Christ to lost sinners and the discipling of believers.
4. “Net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any private individual.” The Lord’s Church is not a business that earns profits and pays salaries to employees but only has those who serve as true minister shepherds and not hirelings.
5. “No substantial part of its activity may be attempting to influence legislation,” The Lord’s church must not submit its records nor report its activities to the IRS.
6. “The organization may not intervene in political campaigns,” The Lords church cannot be silenced from speaking out on the things that effect society.
Because churches have refused to bow down and accept this imprimatur from the IRS and take this tax exempt legal identity from the IRS they are now experiencing persecution at the state and federal level. Following are some examples.
In the past few years a church has been raided, sold and bull dozed down because it refused relinquish its core doctrine of the Lordship of Christ and become a tax collector and payer for the IRS. A pastor is presently serving a ten year sentence and his wife one year for a made up “crime” involving the complexity of the tax laws regarding a Christian ministry. A boy’s home in Ft. Worth, Texas was closed because the church did not seek licensure from the State. Christian schools have been closed because they did not seek accreditation from the state. Innumerable street preachers have been arrested for preaching without a license. The same is true of abortion protestors. A Church in a Western state is being threatened with fines because they do not have a permit to put up a sign displaying the 10 Commandments on their own land and also displaying the name of their church on the front of their building. Just recently home bible studies have been raided in San Diego and Phoenix. Preachers are now required to register in some states to perform marriages and one has been jailed in one mid-west state for using a marriage covenant instead. FBI agents have already questioned preachers in Illinois and California about sermons deemed harmful to the government, one dealt with abortion and the other with the Iraq war. This was even before the federal hate crime law has passed that is going through Congress at this time which can make criminals of the preachers in America over the sodomy issue as they have in Canada and Sweden. These are just a few examples, we could give many more.
I am the National Director of the Biblical Law Center. The Law Center is not only trying to alert pastors and church leaders as to the problems but also is trying to give practical solutions. The Law Center helps churches to organize and reorganize in a way to take advantage of their First Amendment guarantees and the religious liberty clauses of the various states so that they will not lose their First Amendment guarantees as “legal” entities but rather begin operating under God as lawful congregations, the Lord’s biblical New Testament churches, enjoying all of their God given rights intended by our founding fathers. The lamp of liberty is barely flickering. If there is not a mighty awakening among the pastors and churches of our land to get out of this 501 (c) (3) Covenant of Death it will be too late forever. May God be pleased to have mercy upon us is our prayer.
We can be contacted at the Biblical Law Center: drgregdixon@earthlink.net or if you would like to receive The Trumpet, the voice of the unregistered church movement in America send an e mail to the same address.
__________________
1 This Day in Baptist History – BJU Press
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