This building is the capitol of Tennessee government.
The Rev. Steven Bratton demands officials in Texas — from sheriff’s officers, cops, mayors, lieutenant governors, governors, legislators — stand on God-given authority they possess to halt the slayings of boys and girls at abortion clinics. Babies are slain in seven clinics in Tennessee. In the Volunteer State, constitutional government lives whenever an official who swears to uphold the state or U.S. constitution stands on his oath upon the premises and provisions of this law, aimed as it is at government. Constitutions constrain government, while government’s statutes and ordinances are aimed at the people as part of the holy ordinance of civil authority, imposed by God in recognition of Adam’s fall. If lesser magistrates stand upon what is right and godly, they can work to push back lawlessness and invite obedience to God’s laws, particularly those protecting the lives of the innocent. — DJT
By Steven Bratton
In 39 A.D., Publius Petronius, the Roman governor of Syria and Palestine, received an order from his superior, Caligula, the emperor of Rome, to assemble his army and install an image of said ruler in the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem, by force if necessary. This was such an affront to the Jews that they sent delegation after delegation to Petronius protesting this decision and begging Petronius not to enforce this law.
Eventually the army was assembled and the Jews placed themselves in front of it. Caligula had actually ordered the army to war against the Jews and destroy them if resistance was made. However, Petronius placed himself between the army and the Jewish people and stated,
I do not think it just to have such a regard to my own safety and honor, as to refuse to sacrifice them [his own safety and honor] for your preservation, who are so many in number, and endeavor to preserve the regard that is due your law; which as it has come down to you from your forefathers, so do you esteem it worthy of your utmost contention to preserve it.[2]
Because of Petronius’ bravery, there was no slaughter of the Jewish people and the statue of Caligula was never placed in the Jewish Temple.
Publius Petronius was practicing the historical (and biblical[3]) doctrine of interposition: standing in the gap and willingly placing oneself between the oppressor and his victim.
Performing our duty
Almost 2,000 years later, it is time again for those who have been elected to govern and rule the people to perform their duty. It is time for you to stand in the gap between those who would not only allow, but even sanction tyranny and murder.
Today, those who rule over us from the highest level, the Federal government, dismiss our God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The Supreme Court has, by judicial fiat, sanctioned the murder of millions of children that you have been elected to protect[4]. By deciding that Texas law (and the laws of other States) cannot be enforced, they have proven that they are not interested in protecting the lives of women and children, or obeying the rule of law. Moreover, they have explicitly violated their role as rulers which is to be “not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.”[5] Instead, they have begun to celebrate evil while despising those who desire good.
The 10th amendment to the Constitution states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Yet, we have seen those powers usurped by our President, Congress, and, most recently, the Supreme Court.
‘Duty to resist that authority’
When a superior authority makes laws or decrees that are unjust and/or immoral, you have a right and a duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. In this case, you have an active duty to resist that authority. The murder of unborn children through abortion is unjust and immoral. Refusing to follow the constitution by adding “rights” which the authors did not include, nor intend to include, while at the same time excluding the explicit rights of states to govern themselves is also unjust and immoral.
So, we are calling you to do your duty. It is time that our magistrates at lower levels stand in the gap. We are pleading with you, as those who elected you, not to cede your authority over to those who would oppress and, quite literally, kill the people you rule.
The people of the Great State of Texas, and many other states have patiently waited for the laws to change, but the Federal Government simply keeps encroaching on the freedoms of the State for the purpose of installing their own agenda in our communities. This tyranny must stop! We must stop waiting for them to do the right thing and stop this assault ourselves.
No matter who declares that people have the right to murder children, that law is unjust, contrary to natural law, unbiblical, unhealthy, and not in the best interest of the State. We urge you to intercede on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves.
We are calling for our legislators to outlaw abortion in this State.
We are calling for law enforcement to continue enforcing laws “on the books” in Texas by arresting those who would murder unborn children and operate these clinics in ways inconsistent with Texas law.
Are barbaric laws OK if feds say so?
We are calling for the City Council to shut down businesses which profit from the destruction of human life by changing zoning laws.
We are calling for our Governor to resist and actively oppose any Federal law or ruling requiring us to allow such barbaric actions.
And if you are unwilling to take such actions, we are calling for the people of this City, County, and State to elect others who would be willing to stand in that gap.
As our lesser magistrates, you have been granted a duty. You chose to take on the mantle of working for and protecting this people. It is time you place yourself between the army of the Federal Government and the people you have been called to protect.
We, the undersigned, as ministers and/or members of the Church of Jesus Christ, fulfilling the Church’s role as the pillar and buttress of the truth, will continue to remind you of and call you to this duty as our elected officials. Etc.
