Commonwealth
By Walter Giddings
May 25, 2025
Keynote Scripture: Philippians 3:20
“For our conversation is in heaven.”
Do Christians make the best citizens in any country? Would you prefer a Christian who is commanded by The God of The Bible to “love thy neighbour as thyself” for a neighbor? Or would you prefer a Muslim who is commanded by the god of the Koran to kill every Infidel? Would you prefer a Christian who is commanded by The God of The Bible “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”? Or would you prefer an atheist who believes he is God?! And, yes, most self-declared atheists are hypocrites [doubleminded] in order to clear the field of all competitors! (Psalm 94:20). As a god, does the atheist believe he is the rightful owner to all your property, and works tirelessly to organize a throne of iniquity to frame laws of mischief to seize the property of others? Does he?!
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have
fellowship with thee, which frameth
mischief by a law?
Psalms chapter ninety-four.
Would you prefer a Christian who is commanded by The God of The Bible, “Honour thy father and thy mother” to be your neighbor? Or would you prefer to have a man released into your neighborhood who murdered both his parents, and was not tried as an adult, and has attained the age of eighteen mandating his release from juvenile reformatory? Is that a choice or a mandate?
Is citizenship a meaningful part of government?
(Romans 13:3-4). What does The God of The Bible think of both government and citizenship?
p 3 For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not
then be afraid of the power? do that
Commonwealth.
which is good, and thou shalt have
praise of the same:
c 4 For he is the minister of God to
thee for good. But if thou do that
which is evil, be afraid; for he bear-
eth not the sword in vain: for he is
the minister of God, a revenger to
execute wrath upon him that doeth
evil.
Romans chapter thirteen
Is a revenger that executes wrath upon those that do good “a minister of God”? If rulers praise those that do evil, are they ministers “of God to thee for good”? Did the “selected, but not elected rulers” of the Biden Regime praise the unlawfully constituted “January 6 Committee” whose members orchestrated the denial of every element of Due Process against the January 6ers? And then these same members of that unlawful Committee rage against President Trump’s release of them from prison!! Has American Israel even heard of “the fruit of the poisonous tree”? Is that a reference back to “the garden of God”? [Genesis 2] If any element of due process is breached, is the conviction reversible?
According to The God of the Bible are “rulers” supposed to be “ministers of God”?!
(Romans 13:1). If rulers punish good and reward evil, are they exercising powers “ordained of God”?
Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers. For there is no power
but of God: the powers that be are
ordained of God.
Did God ordain the Biden Regime? Did He? Was the Biden Regime God’s Will? or Adam’s Choice? Did God respect Adam’s Choice in the Garden? Or did He overrule it?
(The Declaration of Independence). Have we seen that God’s idea of government is rulers punishing evil and rewarding good? Have we seen that God’s idea of what is good and what is evil is better than ours? If I declare “I am wrong; Jesus is right(!)” who would bother to challenge my Declaration? How did our Forefathers who framed the Republic view The Scriptures on good and evil, and what rulers should do?
If you happen to have The Constitution booklet from the National Center for Constitutional Studies, we begin with the 1st complete sentence at the top of page 36.
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
What follows this declaration are 27 Accusations of criminal conduct on the part of a King on the world stage who commanded the greatest Naval and Land Forces of the 18th Century!
(1) He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
(3) He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
(5) He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
(8) He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
(9) He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
(10) He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
Does that picture the 4 Years of the Biden Regime? The FBI, the ATFE, the IRS, the EPA, and Others are all armed and loaded for bear with armaments and ammunition budgets in the millions!
(18) For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
Did the Biden Regime, the unlawful January 6 Committee, and the DC Federal District Court and the DC Court of Appeals go one better than the King? Did they subject our People to a Jury Trial of Mockers and FBI Informants?
(19) For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
Did the Regime et al. go one better than the King? Did they subject our People to be jailed and tried, far from their houses, in the District of Criminals?
(21) For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
Did all 13 Colonies have Charters or Covenants of Government from The Monarchy of Great Britain? Were these Charters or Covenants intended to be Perpetual? Did the Regime et al. eliminate every element of Due Process for our People hauled away from their houses to the District of Criminals?
(23) He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection and waging war against us.
Where did our Forefathers who framed the Republic get the idea that, if the King refused to protect His Colonies, the subjects of King George III ceased to have duty of allegiance to His Majesty?! On the very day Congress unanimously approved The Declaration of Independence, July 2, 1776, expeditionary forces began to land on American shores!
(25) He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
The 27th and last Accusation cannot fail to be familiar to American Israel who lived through the 4 years of the Biden Regime!
(27) He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America draws this Conclusion in this next Paragraph:
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Action of Second Continental Congress July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.
Does this call to our minds that famous Quote from Thomas Jefferson, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God”? Does this mean that our forefathers who framed the Republic were rebels, in rebellion against a duly constituted Monarchy? Or were our forefathers engaged in a counterrevolution against a King on the world stage who broke all 13 Covenants with his 13 Colonies and disavowed His Protection over them and persecuted His kindred with Warfare?
To anyone having difficulty deciding between these 2 Narratives, consider this: American Israel succeeded by Miracles of God in preserving all 13 Governments!!!
Indeed, can we admit that our Forefathers were so mature and balanced in “all the counsel of God” [Acts 20:27] that they freely admitted that Tyranny has its Place and Use? What do these words picture for us?
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters.”
Benjamin Franklin.
(Romans 11:22). Is this part of “all the counsel of God”?
22 Behold therefore the goodness
and severity of God: on them which
fell, severity; but toward thee, good-
ness, if thou continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Romans chapter eleven.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Adams.
(Galatians 5:22-23). Is this part of “all the counsel of God”?
p 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith,
c 23 Meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law.
Galatians chapter five.
“…if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in reality be the most abject slaves.”
Samuel Adams.
(Jeremiah 17:4) If American Israel becomes “universally vicious and debauched in our manners” would Jesus Christ the Righteous root up the weeds from His Garden?
4 And thou, even thyself shalt dis-
continue from thine heritage that I
gave thee; and I will cause thee to
serve thine enemies in the land
which thou knowest not: for ye
have kindled a fire in mine anger,
which shall burn for ever.
Jeremiah chapter seventeen.
“Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice.”
George Washington, Farewell Address.
(Hebrews 10:30-31). Is this part of “all the counsel of God”?
p 30 For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will
recompense, saith the Lord. And again,
The Lord shall judge his people.
c 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.
Hebrews chapter ten.
Who can tell me from where our Forefathers got Authority to make this conclusion in The Declaration of Independence? How is it even civilized for the subjects of a king to call His Majesty a tyrant, unfit to rule a free people?!
“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
The Declaration of Independence.
Who can tell me from where such Authority comes? Or to ask the Question in another way, How did our Forefathers know they possessed the Authority to make the conclusion above concerning their Prince’s “character”?
On July 10, 1723, a son, William, was born in Cheapside, England. His Father Charles, a silkman and bowyer (an archer and maker of Bows) died some months before William’s arrival into the world. His mother was left with 3 boys to raise. At the age of seven William started school at the Charterhouse. At age 12 his mother died, and his maternal uncle Dr. Thomas Bigg, an eminent surgeon in London took the 3 boys under his kind and wise charge. Upon the nomination of Sir Robert Walpole, William was admitted to the foundation of Charterhouse, a school made famous by graduates Addison, Steele, and John Wesley. It meant that William, a boy of poverty, was to be maintained and educated at this famous school. William achieved a distinct success in the classics and displayed, at the age of 15, poetic instincts when he composed Latin stanzas on Milton. He matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford. He studied architecture and wrote a treatise on it. It was never published but clearly trained his mind in exact statement. In 1741, William entered the Inns of Court at the Middle Temple as a student of law at the age of 18. He divided his time between the University and the Inns of Court. In 1743 (aged 20) he was elected into the society of All Souls College. The next year 1744 he became a Fellow of the College and took chambers in the Temple to attend the courts at Westminster. In 1745 he received his Bachelor of Civil Law degree. In 1746 he was admitted to the Bar.
William spent seven years after his Bar admission attending the courts at Westminster. His profits were unsatisfactory. History records that his disposition was more academic than contentious. In 1750 William received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law. He gave up his metropolitan practice in favor of being a provincial counsel and retired from academic life. Here is where God led him to His Life Work. He had already planned his lectures on the Laws of England. He returned to Oxford to revive professorial instruction and to exhibit the whole law of England as an adequate literary form. He made English Law a part of English literature and English thought! William posted a public notice at Oxford, 23 June 1753 announcing, “a Course of Lectures on the Laws of England by Dr. Blackstone of All Souls College” and describing their purpose in these words:
“This Course is calculated not only for the Use of such Gentlemen of the University, as are more immediately designed for the Profession of the Common Law; but of such others also, as are desirous to be in some Degree acquainted with the Constitution and Polity of their own Country.”
Commentaries on the Laws of England by Sir William Blackstone, KT., Edited by William Carey Jones, Director of The School of Jurisprudence, University of California. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Claitor’s Publishing Division, Reprinted 1976.
The 2016 Election of Donald John Trump as President of the United States produced an onslaught of revelations concerning the faithlessness of public figures to their Sacred Oaths of Public Office. The Selection of Biden Harris, instead of the Election of Trump in 2020 made manifest to American Israel that We the People (as a Body Politic) were no longer sovereign!!! It prompted the realization that without our direct involvement in local, state and federal government we would be ruled with rigor by a foul command!!!
On October 25, 1760, the Crown of the British Empire was placed on the head of King George III. When Blackstone’s Commentaries, published in 1765, became available in America in 1766 they became a bestseller! American Israel became alarmed at the realization that their participation in their own colonial governments was no longer welcome. The Colonists considered themselves Loyal Subjects of The King. They considered themselves Englishmen. They accounted themselves as American Kindred having ties of consanguinity to their brothers in England. They opened Blackstone’s Commentaries and read the following:
“Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being.”
“... as man depends absolutely upon his Master for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points, conform to his Master’s will.”
“$39. 3. Law of Nature---This will of his Maker is called the law of nature.”
*39 “This law of nature, [The will of the Maker] being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.”
Blackstone further notes, subsequent to the Fall of Adam:
“... every man...finds…his reason is corrupt, and his understanding full of ignorances and error.”
Must “every man” also include your Herald of the Gospel of the Kingdom in this Pulpit right this moment? Has Pastor Don on several occasions preached that none of us has it altogether?! Blackstone cites fallibility as the occasions for God’s Law!
“$40. 4. Revealed law. ---This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of divine providence; which, in compassion to the frailty, the imperfection, and the blindness of human reason hath been pleased, at sundry times and in diverse manners, to discover and enforce its laws by an immediate and direct revelation.
The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures...Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
What was that again?! “No human laws should be suffered to contradict...the law of nature and the law of revelation.” [Galatians 5:22-23 discussing the fruit of the Spirit]
We read these two Verses responsively less than a quarter hour ago: “…against such there is no law.”
Does William demonstrate a familiarity with The Holy Scriptures?
Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England sold far more copies in America than in England! Our Forefathers who framed The Republic opened the 1st Volume and read this:
“$329. Constitutional duties of the king. ---I proceed next to the duties, incumbent on the king by our constitution; in consideration of which duties his dignity and prerogative are established by the laws of the land: it being a maxim of law, that protection and subjection are reciprocal. [*a] And these reciprocal duties are what, I apprehend, were meant by the convention in 1688, when they declared that King James had broken the original contract between king and people... ”
$330. King’s duty to govern according to the law. ---The principal duty of the king is to govern his people according to law. Nec regibus infinita aut libera potestas (the power of kings should be neither free nor unlimited), was the Constitution of our German ancestors on the continent. [*b] And this is not only consonant to the principles of nature, of liberty, of reason, of society, but has always been esteemed an express part of the common law of England, even when prerogative was at the highest. “The king,” saith Bracton, [*c] who wrote under Henry III, “ought not to be subject to man, but to God, and to the law; for the law maketh the king.” ...
*a 7 Rep. 5 *c L. 1. c. 8.
*b Tac. de Mor. Germ. c. 7.
Commentaries pp. 233-234.
“An express part of the common law of England.” (Turn to the Law of the King, Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Is the common law the law common to Israel? Did our Forefathers who framed The Republic know and understand that Blackstone understood The Law of the King in The Scriptures?
c 18 And it shall be, when he sitteth
upon the throne of his kingdom, that
he shall write him a copy of this law
in a book out of that which is before
the priests, the Levites.
p 19 And it shall be with him, and he
shall read therein all the days of his
life: that he may learn to fear the
LORD his God, to keep all the words
of this law and these statutes, to do
them:
c 20 That his heart be not lifted up
above his brethren, and that he turn
not aside from the commandment, to
the right hand, or to the left: to the
end that he may prolong his days, in
his kingdom, he, and his children, in
the midst of Israel.
Deuteronomy chapter seventeen.
Were our Forefathers wrong to insist on their Inheritance as Englishmen, and to petition “for Redress in the most humble terms” [Declaration of Independence 1776] to preserve the Peace of their 13 governments? Did Blackstone show “an express part of the common law of England” that where Protection ceases, the duty of Allegiance ceases also?!! Were The 13 Charters Covenants“between king and people”? Did our Forefathers appeal to “the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude (of their) intentions”? Was that Appeal answered in The Framing of The Republic?
(2 Samuel 23:3). What were the Last Words of King David?
3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of
Israel said to me, He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God.
Second Samuel chapter twenty-three.
“He that ruleth over men must be just.” Was David “a man after God’s own heart” except “in the matter of Uriah the Hittite”?
(Ecclesiastes 5:8-9). During the Biden Regime and into the Trump Administration has Federal bureaucracy conspired to destroy the People’s Food, chicken and egg production, and deer herds by Plandemics (Avian flu and Chronic Wasting Disease)?
p 8 If thou seest the oppression of the
poor, and violent perverting of justice
and judgment in a province, marvel
not at the matter: for he that is higher
than the highest regardeth; and there
be higher than they.
c 9 Moreover the profit of the earth is
for all: the king himself is served by
the field.
Ecclesiastes chapter five.
(Ephesians 2:12). Our Lesson is titled Commonwealth, a word appearing in Ephesians 2:12. The 1st Question we asked is Do Christians make the best citizens in any country? This Lesson then is obviously a Lesson on Citizenship! Were the Citizens of the 13 Colonies the best Citizens unto King George III in the whole of The British Empire? The sun never set on The British Empire! It was worldwide!! A book written about King George III was made into a movie with the same name: The Madness of King George! What makes Rulers mad?! Ephesians 2 speaks of a time past when Gentiles in the flesh were “called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands” and describes their lot as the lost sheep of The House of Israel:
12 That at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the common-
wealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope,
and without God in the world:
Ephesians chapter two.
According to Paul, the least of the Apostles, verse 13, the Ephesians were “the far off” and “the Uncircumcision” being called that by “the near” who were called “the Circumcision”. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Does Ephesians 2 explain that the House of Israel and the House of Judah are now made “one”?! Speaking of Jesus in verse 14, “For he is our peace who hath made both one.” Does “the commonwealth of Israel” now represent the Unity of both Houses?
The word “citizenship appears nowhere in The Authorized Version 1611 King James Bible, American Edition! Does the word “commonwealth” incorporate the concept of citizenship? Commonwealth is translated from G4174 politeia, pol-ee-ti’-ah. from G4177 (“polity”), citizenship; concretely a community: -commonwealth, freedom. G4177 polites, pol-ee’-tace, townsman, is translated citizen and sources from G4172 polis translated town or city.
What does The God of the Bible think about government and citizenship?
(Acts 22:28). We noted above that the 2nd of 2 Translations of G4174 politeia pol-ee-ti’-ah, from G4177 “polity”; citizenship, is “freedom.” Did Paul tell the Captain of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem that he was “free born”?
28 And the chief captain answered,
With a great sum obtained I this free-
dom. And Paul said, But I was free
born.
Acts chapter twenty-two.
“I was free born.” “Freedom” is the 2nd listed Translation of G4174 politeia, pol-ee-ti’-ah; citizenship; concretely a community.
[Romans 1:1]. Is this the same Paul, who, announcing himself as composer and sender of The General Epistle to the Romans, says he is “a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ”? Is Paul doubleminded? Is he free, or a slave? To what is Paul referencing? Who among the pew sitters can give us understanding?
Another way to ask the question is: from what was Paul free? From what two Witnesses can we get Testimony that Paul is not double-minded? Is it written in The Word of God, “At the mouth of at least two if not three witnesses is a matter established”?
(Philippians 3:20). And how do we reconcile all this with Paul’s declaration in Philippians 3:20? The word “conversation” in Verse 20 is G4175 politeuma, pol-eet’- yoo-mah; a community, that is (abstractly) citizenship (figuratively): -conversation. Is Paul saying our citizenship is in heaven?
20 For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians chapter three.
American Israel: Is it our turn to bless The LORD God of Israel?
Bibliography
Commonwealth
Psalms 94:20. “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee?”
Romans 13:3-4. “rulers are not a terror to good works.”
Romans 13:1. If rulers punish good, are they ministers of God?
The Declaration of Independence. “the history of the present king of Great Britain.”
27 Accusations against King George III: 1,3,5,8,9,10,18,19,21,23,25,27.
Conclusion based upon Facts submitted: “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
Thomas Jefferson Quote: “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
[Acts 20:27] “all the counsel of God”
Benjamin Franklin Quote: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”
Romans 11:22. “if thou continue in his goodness”
John Adams Quote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral...people.”
Galatians 5:22-23. “against such there is no law.”
Samuel Adams Quote: “the most abject slaves.”
Jeremiah 17:4. “Thou shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee.”
George Washington Farewell Address Quote: “if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths”
Hebrews 10:30-31. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The Declaration of Independence. “a Tyrant is unfit to be the Ruler of a free people”
The Story of William.
Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 1766:
Section 33. “Man, considered as a creature...is an entirely dependent being.”
“he should in all points conform to his Master’s Will.”
$39 3. The Law of Nature The Will of Man’s Maker.
“every man...his reason is corrupt...”
$40 4. Revealed Law. --- “.. to found only in The Holy Scriptures.”
$329. Constitutional duties of the king. “...protection and subjection are reciprocal.”
$330. King’s duty to govern according to the law. ---“…an express part of the common law of England.”
Deuteronomy 17:18-20. “...that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren.”
2 Samuel 23:3. “He that ruleth over men must be just.”
Ecclesiastes 5:8-9. “the profit of the earth is for all.”
Ephesians 2:12. “the commonwealth of Israel.”
G4174 politeia, pol-ee-ti’-ah; citizenship, concretely a community: -commonwealth, freedom.
Acts 22:28. “I was free born.”
[Romans 1;1]. “a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 3:20. “our conversation is in heaven.”
