By, Michelle Hazekamp
February 9, 2022
"You Cannot Appease a Tyrant, You Have to Defeat a Tyrant"
Tuesday we were privileged to host Pastor Matt Trewhella speak at Transformation Life Church on his book, "The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates." Earlier in the day, the Muskegon GOP hosted a special luncheon where pastors and community leaders were invited to hear Pastor Trewhella speak, and then the main event Tuesday evening opened to the public. Pastor Trewhella gave an extremely educational speech about our civic duty to defy tyranny instructed to us by God Himself, and how to use this knowledge against the tyranny we are facing today. "You cannot appease a tyrant, You have to defeat a tyrant!"
Who is Matt Trewhella?
Matt Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the author of "The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates." He grew up in Detroit, Mi as a juvenile delinquent, steeling cars, burning buildings, etc., as well as a gang member until he was sent to Teen Challenge. It was there he was saved, just before turning 18 years old, and turned his life over to Jesus. Him and his wife have 11 children and 25 grandchildren. You can read about how Jesus changed his life here.
The State is Purposely Destroying the Family
Matt began his introduction to the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by first mentioning family, "Hold your spouse dear and put everything into your children, because the state is out to destroy the family." He added that the state is purposely designed to weaken the family structure by way of no fault divorce, legalized abortion, same sex marriage, etc, This is all meant to demean marriage and family. We know this is not a recent problem as we have witnessed the destruction of the family for decades. we have also seen this pattern in societies through out history with the Roman and Greek states. In order to strengthen the state, you have to weaken the family.
Referencing a book written in 1947 by Carle Zimmerman, "Family and Civilization," he predicted how exactly the downfall of the family in America would occur. The author explains how the tipping point of a nation down sliding is when people no longer want to have children, or large numbers of children, but only wanting one or two. When men and woman want to be mothers and fathers, it produces a sense of virtue. When they dont, it produces in people, vice. And the number one thing that drives people to not want children is the desire for wealth and ease. It feeds on the culture of selfishness and decadence and immorality soon follows. The decline in the amount of children has drastically declined over the last 150 years in America, with the average now at 1.69 kids per household. It takes 2.1 children per household to replace yourself.
Interposition of The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates
Our Founding Fathers when drafting the Constitution made sure to protect us from government overreach. "They gave us free speech, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box (2nd Amendment)," Trewhella said. But there is another protection they pillared for us. It's known as the Doctrine of The Lesser Magistrates. This doctrine was written by Christian men and passed down through the ages to our Founders here in America. It defines how when higher civil ranking authority (the higher magistrates) makes unjust or immoral law or court opinion, the lesser ranking civil authority (the lesser magistrates) has the God given right to be disobedient and if necessary, actively resist. Their duty is not blind compliance, but "interposition". The lesser magistrates include state leaders, county leaders, precinct delegates, school boards, etc.,, who will stand in-between tyrants and the people they represent. For example, during the Revolutionary War, George Washington and the Militia's interposed for the people against the King of England. It is our civil duty to defy tyrants when our leaders are in disobedience to God's law and we are not to separate God from government. The doctrine works for all forms of government, whether it is a democracy, dictatorship, monarchy, etc., because tyranny can raise it's ugly head in any form of government created by man.
There are three situations when the interposition of the lesser magistrates is need and necessary.
They are to oppose and resist any laws from the higher authority which oppose the law of God.
They are to protect the people, property and liberty of those who reside within their jurisdiction from tyranny by the higher authority.
They are not to implement any laws, policies or court opinions made by the higher authority that violate the Constitution.
Written Centuries Ago by Christian Pastors
The first Doctrine suggesting interposition through biblical principles was written centuries ago and is known as the Magdeburg Confession, written in 1550 A.D. by local pastors of Magdeburg, Germany. It supplies Biblical principles by which men may justly override those in positions of higher authority to quell an abuse of power. Mr. Trewhella discovered the book several years ago while researching to write a book on restraining tyranny. At the time there was no English translation of the doctrine in existence, so he hired someone to translate it.
All Men and Governments are Accountable to God
Mr. Trewhella explained to us how ALL men and governments are accountable to Gods law. In the Bible, God gives us three forms of government; family, church and civil government and He purposely limits the powers of rulers and authority by declaring that it is His law that is the standard. The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates explains why we have a biblical, civil duty to interpose when our government is opposing the standard laws of God. It gives us authority by God to defy tyranny. This is why our Founding Fathers formed a "True Federalism," where checks and balances were put in place to prevent each branch from gaining more power over another as well as giving the states sovereignty because they anticipated the states would have to oppose the federal government at times. And further, why the state governments are also set up with checks and balances. After the Constitution was written, it only took 11 years for congress to yield power outside of the Constitution by way of abusing the "necessary and proper" clause in creating debt, carriage taxes and other abuses. James Maddison retaliated with the Virginia Resolution of 1798, where by he rallied the states to "interpose" to stop federal overreach.
Interposition in the Past
Interposition has been effective through out history and many historical figures have used it successfully when governments have overstepped their authority . The Scottish reformer, John Knox quoted seventy passages from the Bible on interposition in his famous treatise called Appellation to convince the Scottish nobles to interpose against the tyranny of the King of England to secure Scottish freedom. In medieval times,John of Salisbury writes in his book, Policraticus, that even Kings are not exempt from the divine law and "in order to curtail their natural desire for expansion of power beyond its natural sphere, rulers must be bound to a higher law."
We are at War with Washington D.C.
Mr. Trewhella went on to talk about the tyranny we are facing today. Over the last two years, we have found that we are at war with Washington D.C. and there has been virtually no interposition by our state and local leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic against the federal government. The federal government has attacked our 1st Amendment and 2nd Amendment rights, our medical freedoms, our businesses, schools along with their continuous attacks on the family with abortion, same sex marriage, and promotion of homosexuality in every aspect of our lives. And if our state leaders will not protect us, it is the duty of our local leaders to do so. Local governments can interpose and resist all illegal, tyrannical authority coming from the higher magistrates. There are a few counties through out the U.S. where local leaders stood together in interposition and resisted all Covid-19 measures during these past two years resulting in the higher levels of government backing down. Our county officials can refuse vaccine and mask mandates. They can even make it illegal for local business's to force mandates on their employees and make their counties sanctuary cities for the unborn, as Muskegon did a few years ago by removing Planned Parenthood.
SCOTUS: The American Idol
The event came to a close with a discussion about "the Idol" we have in America, which is judicial supremacy. There are three great fictions concerning the U.S. Supreme Court that we have been brainwashed into believing and has granted them unequivalbe powers:
1.) When SCOTUS issues and opinion, that opinion becomes the "Law of the Land."
This is not true as only Congress can make laws.
2.) SCOTUS is the final Arbitrator of what is constitutional and resolute.
SCOTUS is not the final Arbitrator, the Constitution is according to Article 6, section 2. SCOTUS is not even mentioned and neither is the fudiciary, What is mentioned is the oath taken to uphold the Constitution as the law of the land.
3.) All other authorities in the nation must bow down to SCOTUS
Our Founding Fathers designed our system of government whereby the judicial system would have the least amount of powers. Alexander Hamilton said, "The judiciary system is the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution." In other words, they have no policing powers. John Adams also claimed it to be the weakest branch. Thomas Jefferson in his anger after seeing the judicial branch begin to take powers not delegated to them said, "Experience has shown us the judicial branch has become the most dangerous." It only took six years after the writing of the Constitution for SCOTUS to write opinions giving to themselves powers that were not delegated to them by the Constitution. This was the reason Congress passed the 11th Amendment. In the first 35 years of the Constitution, SCOTUS gave themslves non delegated powers 35 times.
We Must Obey God Rather than Men
Mr. Trewhella was a wealth of information on the subject of God's laws, civic duty and biblical justification for being disobedient towards tyrannical authority amongst our leaders. Civil disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands. It is our God given duty, so get out there with the full armor on and lets Defy the Tyrants!
Acts 5:29; But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
If you missed this event, there is another opportunity to hear Matt Trewhella. He will be speaking Thursday, February 10 at the American Decency building, 203 E. Main St., Fremont MI at 7:00pm (Meet & greet at 6:30pm).
I highly recommend you read his book, "The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates." You can purchase it on his website along with "The Magdeburg Confession" here.
You can also watch sermons and educational videos on his YouTube channel by clicking the link below.
Michelle Hazekamp is a Muskegon County business owner, Chair of the Communications Committee for the Muskegon GOP and a delegate. She is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a bachelor of Science and a minor in History.
