CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Ontario fuels a call for righteous civil disobedience Pastor says...

Dear Friends,

In light of the abduction of seven Christian children from the home of good parents in Aylmer, Ontario, Canada, simply because they could not promise the CAS (Children's Aid Society) that the would never spank again, I have some pastoral advice to give to those interested.

1. Pray that God almighty, the God of our salvation, will graciously deliver those innocent children from these evil people.

2. Stand united. I had one Pastor shamelessly tell me that we shouldn't overreact and get hysterical. Instead, he suggested that we ought to trust that the authorities will do their job. Well they've done their job alright. This man is a disgrace to himself and the church. We must stand united in support of the parents because this issue affects the church corporate; the body of believers who take seriously the biblical standards of child rearing.

3. Have a family conference and explain to your children, if you haven't already, why you spank. Show them from scripture. Especially show them that you are following the pattern of our Heavenly Father--Hebrews 12:5-11:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives." 

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

There are two principles to glean here:

a.         The Lord scourges every son whom He receives.
b.         If the Lord doesn't chasten you, then you are not His son.

Every parent who loves his child is interested in moulding his character. We call this discipline. Discipline takes many forms: admonition, instruction, correction and if necessary a spanking. If you don't do these things you are neither a loving parent, nor are you imitating God, since you aren't interested in moulding the character of your children according to the biblical pattern.

4. After you've explained to them why you do what you do, VERY CLEARLY and concretely explain to them that they are never to speak to strangers or mere acquaintances about any detail of family discipline. Warn them about "nice" people who will try to approach them at school, or elsewhere, with questions like: "Does your daddy or mommy spank you?" "I'm sure daddy or mommy are good parents, but spanking is bad. We just want to talk to them about spanking."

They are not to answer "nice" people in the least, except to say, "I don't talk to strangers." If the "nice" person persists, train your children to SCREAM for help. Under no circumstances are they to say anything about what happens in the home.

If there is anything we can learn from this sorry display of government tyranny in Aylmer it is that our bother and sister were naive about the CAS's devious intentions. They should never have allowed any questioning to take place. The CAS has NO legal authority to question you or your children. YOUR CHILDREN DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS!

5. To reiterate: If the CAS, or any other such organization wants to speak to you, you are legally permitted to refuse them an audience. They must have a warrant to come into your house or to ask you anything pertaining to your family. As a couple, you must insist on this as a strategic defence. And neither of you should speak to CAS members individually. WHAT YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE HELD AGAINST YOU!

6. If the CAS, or any other authority, comes to your house with a warrant you should have already had a heads up (you would have had them at your door a few times previous to this point), so make sure you have good legal representation and several witnesses. The first time they come get in touch with an informed lawyer--I suggest getting in touch with Dallas Miller's e-mail is hslda@memlane.com. He heads up the Legal defence for Home Schoolers. I also suggest that you become a member of the organization regardless of whether or not you home school.

**What I'm going to suggest here is my theological and philosophical conviction:**

7. If you know ahead of their intention to take your kids, get your kids out of your house and take them somewhere they will be safe and secure. Tell the authorities NOTHING (of course you may decide the risk is to great, and as one family has already done, leave the country for good).

But I firmly believe that in this case it is your solemn obligation before God to defend your family against tyrants. This is no different than hiding Jews from the Nazis. In fact, hiding and defending your children is your MORAL obligation. In this case, if you do not hide your children and lie to the authorities about their whereabouts you will be aiding and abetting a greater evil--even if it is not your wish to do so.

From a theological standpoint the commandment "thou shalt bear no false witness against your neighbour" cannot be held in tension against the command "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not commit murder" (there is enough biblical evidence to argue that kidnapping is a form of murder--but I don't have the time to develop this here).

If you tell the authorities the "TRUTH" you contravene the other two commandments. You don't violate them actively, but passively, because the commandments not only require that you don't break them, but do everything in your power to keep them. This means that you not only ensure that you don't murder, but that you protect and defend innocent life and preserve it to the best of your ability--anything less is breaking the commandment. 

Also, the commandments presume a covenant context. If the "authority" under whose jurisdiction you are, comes to your home with the intent to do evil (even if they believe their motives are sincere. Remember, Nazis sincerely believed in their views) they are no longer entitled to the truth because they cease to be "neigbours," but have become your enemy. They have broken covenant with the citizens under their authority. Certainly the police in this case violated an oath they swore to up hold--they swore to uphold the law and defend innocent citizens. They are no longer police, but paid thugs!

As in war, where the enemy is not entitled to vital national secrets, in this case the "authorities" are not entitled to vital familial secrets. You children's safety and security is vital to the interests of the family and any authority which seeks to harm them is an enemy. Therefore it is suggested that you hide them and lie about their whereabouts (perhaps you might have to hide yourself).

I realize this is controversial, however, to insist on telling the truth to an enemy is insisting on a standard holier than God insists on. Hebrews makes it categorically clear that Rahab's righteousness was directly related to her lying to the authorities of her pagan tribe (she was under their jurisdiction and covenantally bound to them as we are to Canadian authorities, they were her neighbours so to speak). But God says that in hiding the Jewish spies she was righteous. If God says she was righteous, who are we to insist that she still sinned? Sin is never "righteous" in the sight of God.

Also there is the example of Moses's mother who defied the Egyptian authority and hid her child. Had she not, Moses would have been murdered by the Egyptians. But so that the decree of God would be fulfilled She hid her child and the rest is history. These are just two examples, there are others.

We cannot pervert the intent of the law of God to justify pietism. One law cannot be kept against another of God's laws. It is not simply the letter of the law but the spirit of the law that God insist upon. 

I don't mean to sound judgmental of our Aylmer brother and sister, I do believe they sincerely believed they could not lie, but unfortunately they were sincerely wrong. Enemies are not entitled to truth, especially if that "truth" will put innocent people in danger.

My friends, Jesus said, "give unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Caesar (the government and their agencies) is not entitled to our children. 

For Christ and His crown rights,
Rev. Tristan Emmanuel

Pastor of Living Hope OPC