("Best-of" Edition from 5/2/25) Failure to properly understand our founding documents has set the course for chicanery in our nation.

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28And now the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:32Good evening, everyone.
12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:35Abraham Hamilton III is my name joined by produce extraordinaire, often imitated, never
14. 0:40duplicated.
15. 0:41The real Jay Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's
16. 0:46edition of the program at this very moment.
17. 0:49Many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part-time jobs where
18. 0:53you generate an income to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome.
19. 0:57And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the
20. 1:02primacy that God places on, the family, recognizing that his desire for us to be effective in laboring
21. 1:09in his harvest field is to come from the overflow of what we enjoy in him personally.
22. 1:17We've been talking this week about the fact that God expects maturity in us because that
23. 1:22is God's expectation.
24. 1:24that is God's desire, it should be our desires.
25. 1:29We should not be comfortable living with habitual sins,
26. 1:34living in a manner to where we're not progressing
27. 1:37and growing onto maturity.
28. 1:39And I've said it all the time.
29. 1:41I am not an advocate of the heretical notion of perfectionism.
30. 1:45But what the scripture teaches very plainly,
31. 1:47if that is that if we are in Christ,
32. 1:50we should be growing from glory to glory.
33. 1:54we shouldn't be just as weak.
34. 1:58In year 20 and following the Lord as we were in year one,
35. 2:00we shouldn't have the exact same struggles for 20, 30 years.
36. 2:05That should not be.
37. 2:07The Lord rebuked the believers through the book of Hebrews
38. 2:11in the book of Hebrews chapter five,
39. 2:12and by now you should be able to teach others.
40. 2:17But you can't because you've been having
41. 2:20a lifestyle diet of milk.
42. 2:22You can't handle solid food,
43. 2:23the solifood is for the mature.
44. 2:26You know, when that lack of maturity is made evident
45. 2:29by people cultivating and curating a lifestyle
46. 2:33that resisted the ministry of the Holy Spirit
47. 2:36to respond to his conviction and to grow from there.
48. 2:41That is God's expectation.
49. 2:43It should be our expectation.
50. 2:45And as we walk with the Lord and we are maturing,
51. 2:50you know, the Greek word perfection
52. 2:53that James employs in his epistle is the word teleoise,
53. 2:57which means maturation.
54. 3:00That's something we should desire.
55. 3:02You know, the Hebrew writer gives the picture
56. 3:04that you can't abide solid food
57. 3:06because solid food is for the mature.
58. 3:07Imagine, and this is just such a ridiculous picture,
59. 3:11but you imagine a 40, 50 year old man who can't eat meat.
60. 3:16Not because of a vegan or vegetarian choice.
61. 3:20Because you don't have teeth, can't handle that.
62. 3:25I can't handle solid food.
63. 3:29Maturity is what God desires in us, man.
64. 3:32In contrary to what some people may say,
65. 3:34who use grace as an excuse to live sin-filled lifestyles.
66. 3:41God expects holiness, man, of his people.
67. 3:45He expects holiness in his people.
68. 3:48And it is as we are continuously being transformed,
69. 3:54continuously growing, continuously being matured
70. 3:58that we are more and more effective in being disciple makers.
71. 4:03Outcome cultivation is the trade, if you will, of the mature.
72. 4:10And we should be invested in that way.
73. 4:12And God gives us the blessed privilege
74. 4:15to begin that commitment right in our own home.
75. 4:18So as you're making your transition,
76. 4:21understand income generation is a vital function
77. 4:23that we participate in,
78. 4:25but outcome cultivation is demanding.
79. 4:27the Lord's commission, the great commission,
80. 4:30making disciples of all ethnos is to commission
81. 4:35that God has given us.
82. 4:37All right, to the word of God we go, Joshua chapter four.
83. 4:41I wanna just remind us of something
84. 4:42from the book of Joshua here.
85. 4:44Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven.
86. 4:48You're going to see this is one portion of scripture
87. 4:50that communicates this,
88. 4:51but all throughout the scripture you see,
89. 4:53the Lord highlighting the importance of his people
90. 4:56understanding his story, that is history.
91. 5:02A proper view of history is recognizing God's story
92. 5:06and in interacting with mankind over time.
93. 5:09That's what history is.
94. 5:10It is his story of interacting with mankind over time.
95. 5:17History is important to God.
96. 5:19History is important to God's people.
97. 5:22When we are ignorant of his story of interacting
98. 5:26with mankind over time,
99. 5:28we become more easily susceptible to deception.
100. 5:32Joshua chapter four, this is the account
101. 5:37where the Lord gives instructions to the Israelites
102. 5:39after they cross into the promised land
103. 5:41through the Jordan River.
104. 5:43And God is the one that gives Joshua
105. 5:45a particular instruction here.
106. 5:46Let's note what the word of God says,
107. 5:48Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven.
108. 5:50When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan,
109. 5:54the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people,
110. 5:57from each tribe a man and command them saying,
111. 6:00take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan
112. 6:04from the very place where the priests
113. 6:06feet stood firmly and bring them over with you
114. 6:10and lay them in the place where you lodge tonight.
115. 6:15Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel
116. 6:18whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.
117. 6:21And Joshua said to them,
118. 6:22pass on before the ark of the Lord your God
119. 6:25into the midst of the Jordan
120. 6:26and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,
121. 6:29according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,
122. 6:34that this may be a sign among you
123. 6:38when your children ask in time to come.
124. 6:41What do these stones mean to you?
125. 6:44Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan
126. 6:46were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
127. 6:49When it passed over the Jordan,
128. 6:51the waters of the Jordan were cut off.
129. 6:54So these stones shall be to the people of Israel, a memorial forever.
130. 7:02All right, here you have you notice in the text whose idea was it to create a memorial of the stones
131. 7:07taken from the Jordan River? What Joshua's idea, it was God's idea. Why did God convey this to Joshua?
132. 7:14He tells us very plainly the memorial is to be constructed so that it provokes inquiry from your
133. 7:20future generations, and when your future generations inquire as to what these stones mean, you redirect
134. 7:27them to me as a source of their guidance, protection, and provision. The direction in this regard
135. 7:37was an accurate recording of history, but I want you to notice the function of this accurate recording
136. 7:46of history. God commanded this accurate recording of history because it pointed to a grander,
137. 7:55larger, transcendent theological truth. This is one of the major reasons why it is such
138. 8:08an egregious notion when the discipline of history and the study of history has been
139. 8:15acceded to those who are anti-Christ, to those who are haters of God in his church,
140. 8:25because we miss a vital component of the overarching purpose that history
141. 8:30recordation should serve. Accurate recording of history, accurate records of events that have
142. 8:38transpired in the past, an accurate recounting of things that have transpired, should point us
143. 8:46toward a grander, larger theological truth.
144. 8:51To say it even more simply,
145. 8:54the discipline of historical study
146. 8:57should bring us to behold the face of our God.
147. 9:04But what invariably occurs
148. 9:07when we do not have an accurate recording of history,
149. 9:10when you have people who are revisionist
150. 9:12or they nip and tuck to fit their own purposes,
151. 9:16we end up missing huge components of things
152. 9:18that should be didactic and instruction to us.
153. 9:22And I always use this example, often when I'm talking about, you know,
154. 9:27disciplining children from the home, cultivating the mind and things of that nature,
155. 9:30the majority of people, many of you probably learned this right here in this
156. 9:33program, the majority of people in our nation and around the world rightly
157. 9:38regard Sir Isaac Newton as a scientist, a mathematician, you know, a physicist,
158. 9:45Rightly, scientific experiment is central to who he is.
159. 9:53But if you actually have a broader understanding of who Sir Isaac Newton was, you would be able
160. 9:59to see that Sir Isaac Newton was primarily a theologian.
161. 10:07And it would be an accurate description to say he did science almost as a hobby because
162. 10:13As he wrote twice as much about God's Word, even writing which would be commentaries on
163. 10:22Scripture exponentially more than he conducted scientific experimentation.
164. 10:27In fact, you would find that the impetus for scientific experimentation was what he learned
165. 10:33in Scripture largely.
166. 10:36But why do most people today, why are most of us ignorant of that fact and those facts?
167. 10:43intentional because we have a society that wants to benefit from Newton's scientific contributions
168. 10:51to society while simultaneously concealing from the masses his Christian commitment and
169. 11:01his theological devotion. Why? Because it says the states continue to purport their false
170. 11:07notion like Nietzsche and others have have posited that religion is the opiate of the
171. 11:15masses, that you cannot be an intelligent person, an intellectual person, and also be a person
172. 11:21of faith.
173. 11:22That's just a flat line.
174. 11:24It's demonstrable in history, all the way up to the present.
175. 11:30I saw a dialogue not too long ago, I think it was Charlie Kirk and Bill Maher, Bill Maher
176. 11:35couldn't understand how a person that he's meeting, and he came to the point where he viewed
177. 11:39Charlie Kirk as an intelligent person.
178. 11:42he was mystified by the idea that intelligent people somehow need this
179. 11:47crutch of faith. He couldn't reconcile those two thoughts largely because of
180. 11:56things I could just share about Isaac Newton. I doubt Bill Maher would question
181. 12:01Isaac Newton's intellectual acumen. But when we have a society whose historical
182. 12:10understandings have been manipulated by half-truth, you know, partial truths. This
183. 12:18This is why when I talk to my children and they'll tell you, I say, Hamiltonians, what
184. 12:23is the half truth?
185. 12:24They'll say half truth is a whole lie.
186. 12:26Why?
187. 12:27Because you can deceive by concealing half truth is a whole lie.
188. 12:35The only reason why a person will tell half truth is because they're motivated to conceal
189. 12:40a portion so that they do not want to convey.
190. 12:43The study of history should bring us the students to behold the face of our God.
191. 12:52How to structure Joshua, get the stones, build a memorial.
192. 12:57Why?
193. 12:58So that when your children ask you, what do these stones mean?
194. 13:03You're able to point them to me.
195. 13:08We are experiencing a similar phenomenon in our day and age where you have things like
196. 13:12the 1619 Project flat lie about our country, flat lie.
197. 13:19Well, at the exact same time, we have people on the other side who would be conservatives
198. 13:23who tried to or who described themselves as conservatives,
199. 13:26who kind of try to conceal some of the uglier portions of our history.
200. 13:32Because they seek into humanistically many instances to protect who they view as heroes,
201. 13:37as opposed to telling the whole truth.
202. 13:42See, the one major feature of telling the whole truth is that it fortifies us against creating idols.
203. 13:50When God records history about King David and the Bible,
204. 13:53he doesn't just give us the fire's blue stones and down goes goliath.
205. 13:58That's not all we know about David.
206. 13:59No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
207. 14:02Because the true study of history
208. 14:04should bring us to behold the face of our God.
209. 14:06The whole story fortifies us against creating idols,
210. 14:09deifying human beings, but instead we're able to stand back
211. 14:12and say, oh my goodness, what a mighty God we serve
212. 14:15because he is a master at using crooked sticks
213. 14:18to paint straight lines.
214. 14:21Because the true study of history
215. 14:23should bring us to behold the face of our God.
216. 14:25Because history is his story of interacting with mankind.
217. 14:30over time. The proper recording of history points us to transcendent theological truth.
218. 14:44We would be wise to be voracious learners and students of true history because it is a feature
219. 14:52and an aspect of us drawing near to our God. Three simple words uplift, inspire, and encourage
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227. 15:39radio. Welcome back to the Hamilton corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here. Just a reminder,
228. 15:45May 22nd through the 24th, we will be in Winston Salem, North Carolina at the North Carolinians
229. 15:53for home educations thrive conference. I'm looking forward to being there. I will be providing
230. 15:59several keynote addresses. Well, no, yeah, several keynote addresses and breakout session instruction.
231. 16:05and I will be broadcasting, will be broadcasting a Hamilton Corner program from
232. 16:11North Carolina, May 22nd through the 24th, simply go to nche.com to register. Then
233. 16:20soon thereafter June 5th through the 8th we will be in Illinois. That's right we are
234. 16:26going to the land of JB Pritzker. At Olivette Nazarene University I will be
235. 16:34administering at the Illinois Christian Home Educators Conference June 5th through the 8th
236. 16:40in Burbanay, Illinois. I'm learning how to say that. Burbanay, Illinois will be there as well.
237. 16:47So mark your calendars. I told you it's going to be all over because it's going to be a hot summer.
238. 16:53We'll be all over. To register for the Illinois Conference, simply go to iche.org and again,
239. 17:01And stay tuned because we're going to be all over this summer looking forward to meeting
240. 17:05you there, broadcasting from different places all over the country.
241. 17:08And so it's going to be an amazing, amazing time this summer.
242. 17:12All right.
243. 17:15Consistent with the point that I was making earlier from scripture about the necessity
244. 17:19of having a proper understanding of history, we are watching things happen in our own time.
245. 17:25You know, the, it's commonly called the progressive era, but really it's the regressive era where
246. 17:31kinds of things happen. You saw the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, you know,
247. 17:37where not only do you have the creation of the Federal Reserve System, which is not federal,
248. 17:41in which they have no reserves, you saw in my view the unconstitutional seating of the
249. 17:48coinage authority to the Federal Reserve System, you know, there never should have been a system
250. 17:54that where all of us are waiting with baited breath because we're hamstrung by what type
251. 18:01of interest rate adjustments, the Fed is going to make, you know, it's a shrewdly named private
252. 18:07bank, but that is exactly what it is, a private bank that which has been to this very day as
253. 18:13I'm speaking to you, has still never yet been subjected to an audit.
254. 18:22You had at that exact same time the amendment of our Constitution to change the way that
255. 18:26the United States Senate is elected.
256. 18:29The founders established a bicameral national legislature to where the House of Representatives
257. 18:36is supposed to be reflective of the will of the people individually.
258. 18:40The US Senate is supposed to be the reflection of the will of the states as an entity.
259. 18:45Each individual state as an entity because the House of Representatives was supposed to
260. 18:49carry the weight of the concern of the individual citizen.
261. 18:53Whether US Senate was supposed to carry the weight of the state, the states as organized
262. 18:58entities in requiring a balancing of the state's interests and the individual's interests in
263. 19:04order for legislation to be created.
264. 19:08We lost that as a result of the progressive era, which I call the regressive era.
265. 19:13Not only that, in the halls of America's law schools, the regressive era brought us the
266. 19:20ending of the Black stonion ethic that was taught with Black stones, legal commentaries
267. 19:26and moved toward the case law method, which included within it a side lining of a study
268. 19:35of the history of American Constitution and the Beystet forged it, the articulation of individual
269. 19:41articles into which the study of American Constitution was reduced to nothing more than to evaluate
270. 19:46past opinions of the court.
271. 19:52of these things with the product of the Regressive Era.
272. 19:55One of the foremost and egregious notions that really permeates our society today is
273. 20:05that there is an attempt to navigate the U.S. Constitution with no consideration whatsoever
274. 20:12for the Declaration of Independence.
275. 20:15A proper understanding of our founding documents would have us to realize that the Declaration
276. 20:20of independence is the mission and vision statement for our nation.
277. 20:26That is what the founders sought to accomplish by creating our Constitution.
278. 20:33The U.S. Constitution is the implementation vessel, the vehicle of execution for the vision
279. 20:40articulated in the Declaration of Independence.
280. 20:43It would be a proper exercise in jurisprudential analysis that when constitutional issues arise
281. 20:50before the US Supreme Court, the appellate courts,
282. 20:53the district courts, that we also consider
283. 20:56what was the stated purpose articulated
284. 20:59in the Declaration of Independence.
285. 21:00Does the Declaration of the United thing
286. 21:01have anything to say about this?
287. 21:04That is something that was lost on us.
288. 21:10Now some of you guys know I teach a constitutional law
289. 21:13class, among the things I do, I got a lot to do.
290. 21:16Elon must think, see where there's a lot of hats.
291. 21:18Move over, Elon.
292. 21:20I wear a lot of hats too.
293. 21:22You know, as a father who's we're discipling our children from home, I teach my own children
294. 21:29and some children from our church, both civics and constitutional law.
295. 21:35And one of the things we discussed, this is very principle that I'm articulating to you
296. 21:38right now.
297. 21:40I want to present to you firstly something that should be done in America's schools and
298. 21:46law schools, I would argue, reading from the actual declaration of independence.
299. 21:54And I started the very top in Congress, July 4, 1776, the unanimous declaration of the 13
300. 22:01United States of America, when in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
301. 22:05people to dissolve the political bans, which have connected them with another and to assume
302. 22:10among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature
303. 22:15and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of Vancant requires
304. 22:21that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.
305. 22:28We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
306. 22:35by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the
307. 22:42pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
308. 22:48deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government
309. 22:54becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it
310. 23:00and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
311. 23:06powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
312. 23:14I'll stop right there. I encourage everyone in this audience to read the entire
313. 23:20Declaration of Independence. It's not very long and it'll be insightful for us to understand
314. 23:27our nation's founding documents. But I pose this question to my students in class. In the American
315. 23:36Article 4 guaranteed constitutional Republican form of government,
316. 23:39the structure of our nation who enjoys unalienable rights?
317. 23:47Is it government singular?
318. 23:53Referring to the national government?
319. 23:55Is it government's plural state governments who enjoys unalienable rights?
320. 24:01The answer is very clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence.
321. 24:04We hold these shoes to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
322. 24:09Notice, they didn't say all governments are created equal.
323. 24:12equal, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain
324. 24:18unalienable rights. Notice it doesn't say that governments are
325. 24:23endowed with unalienable rights. So you have explained before
326. 24:28the concept of unalienable rights was derived from the
327. 24:35Reformation revelation rediscovered that the individual is
328. 24:41made in the image of God. It is because the individual is
329. 24:44made in the image of God that the individual has the capacity to navigate God's Holy Word.
330. 24:53He doesn't require an intermediary to understand God's Holy Word. The tutor, if you will,
331. 25:00for interpreting God's Word is God himself via his Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit,
332. 25:05is the one who Jesus said would teach us and remind us of everything Jesus instructed.
333. 25:11The Declaration of Independence articulates that it is the individual who enjoys unalienable
334. 25:22rights that all men are created equal and all men enjoy unalienable rights.
335. 25:27Well, the text that I use to teach my constitutional law class obviously includes a constitution and
336. 25:34commentaries on the Constitution.
337. 25:36And I have one of those commentaries I want to share with you today titled the Meaning of
338. 25:40the Constitution written by former Attorney General Edwin Meese, the third.
339. 25:46You know, some about those thirds now.
340. 25:48Edwin Meese, the third was the United States Attorney General appointed by
341. 25:54former President Ronald Reagan, President Ronald Reagan appointed
342. 25:57at Meese and drawing from the very thing I just read to you from the
343. 26:04Declaration of Independence in his essay titled the meaning of, let me get the
344. 26:08right word, right title for his essay.
345. 26:12Yes, the meaning of the Constitution.
346. 26:19Ed Mies writes the following, quote, the United States Constitution creates a government of
347. 26:28delegated and enumerated powers.
348. 26:32Despite the popular term, states writes, no government, federal, state, county, or local
349. 26:39actually possesses any rights at all.
350. 26:43Recall from the Declaration of Independence that persons are endowed with unalienable
351. 26:49rights.
352. 26:51Governments possess only powers which in legitimate governments are derived from the consent of
353. 26:59the governed.
354. 27:00In particular, governments have only those powers that are given or delegated or enumerated to
355. 27:09them by the people.
356. 27:12The concept of enumerated or listed powers follows from the concept of delegated powers, as the
357. 27:20functional purpose of a constitution is to write down and assign the powers granted to
358. 27:28government.
359. 27:30The delegation of powers to government and a written agreement as to the extent and limits
360. 27:36of those powers are critical elements of limited constitutional government."
361. 27:45When was the last time that we may have pondered individually or even pondered in our public
362. 27:55discourse that truly speaking, there's no such thing as states' rights?
363. 28:02Now, hear what I'm saying.
364. 28:06have authority no doubt about it. But states enjoy powers. The federal government enjoys
365. 28:13powers. Where do those powers come from? This is why I've long said, if I ever have the opportunity
366. 28:23to moderate a presidential debate, the very, very first question that I'm going to ask the
367. 28:27candidates is where do rights come from? Because the answer to that question will tell me an
368. 28:37an extremely large amount as to what I need to know about that understanding of our constitutional
369. 28:46Republican form of government, the formation of our nation, and what their role should
370. 28:51be in our nation if they are campaigning to serve our nation as president.
371. 29:01States have powers, delegated powers, and enumerated powers.
372. 29:10The 10th amendment to our U.S. Constitution explains very plainly.
373. 29:15Whatever powers have not been expressly enumerated within this Constitution.
374. 29:21The word enumerated simply means listed, listed and numbered, listed and numbered.
375. 29:27Whatever powers have not been listed in this Constitution as an overt granting to the national
376. 29:38government, the federal government, those powers are inherently reserved to the states
377. 29:45and to her people. Powers, not rights. This idea of our proper recognition of inalienable rights,
378. 29:57vis-à-vis and versus state power is vitally important because what should become evident
379. 30:03is that the power has is and should rest in the people.
380. 30:16The legitimating factor of government is that its power is derived from the people's consent.
381. 30:25So those who endeavor to serve our nation, in positions of public service, they're continuing
382. 30:32and enduring evaluation should be,
383. 30:35have the people given us the power to do this task?
384. 30:40Have the people given us the power
385. 30:43to exercise this authority?
386. 30:45If the people have not given us the power
387. 30:48to exercise this authority,
388. 30:50to do so in this manner would be
389. 30:53violative of our constitution
390. 30:56and our social contract
391. 31:00of the legitimacy of our government being focused on, the fulcrum of which is a consent
392. 31:05of the governed. It would be a radical reformation as to how we understand what government is
393. 31:13and what it's supposed to do. We would also be forced to confront face to face, face to
394. 31:21face repetitively that inalienable powers are super supersede state, I'm sorry, inalienable
395. 31:31rights. I'm sorry I didn't say they're right. Inalienable rights supersede state-granted,
396. 31:38enumerated, designated, delegated powers. Which is why we should more frequently discuss public servants
397. 31:50than we do. Leaders. Why? Surely they are leaders, but we should use nomenclature to remind ourselves
398. 31:58and to remind them that the only reason why you have the authority that you have is because we
399. 32:02He has given it to you.
400. 32:07Inalienable rights supersede delegated powers.
401. 32:15The main reason for that is the inalienable rights
402. 32:19derived from God that determines these rights
403. 32:23are intrinsic to mankind as a result
404. 32:26of being bearers of his image.
405. 32:30As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others
406. 32:33when we live in a culture where truth is relative?
407. 32:36It all starts with God's Word.
408. 32:38Join us for Activate Summit 2025
409. 32:40at Cadence Bank Conference Center in Tupelo, Mississippi,
410. 32:43June 12th through the 14th, 2025.
411. 32:46The theme is biblical bedrock,
412. 32:48building on the authority of scripture,
413. 32:50and it's designed to help you acknowledge
414. 32:51the Bible's authority and submit
415. 32:53to the clear teaching of scripture.
416. 32:55Here from Frank Turic.
417. 32:56Evolution describes what does behave,
418. 32:58not what ought to behave, right?
419. 33:00It doesn't give you achts,
420. 33:02it just gives you what does happen.
421. 33:03Todd Herman, God always uses evil for good.
422. 33:06He's very intentional, and he intentionally
423. 33:08shows you to live through times of mistakes.
424. 33:10And more.
425. 33:11The main sessions are for ages 13 and up,
426. 33:14while Activate Kids is a separate track for ages 6 through 12.
427. 33:17Register for Activate Summit 2025
428. 33:20by visiting activate.afa.net.
429. 33:23Get your tickets as soon as possible.
430. 33:26Registration closes May 11.
431. 33:34Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terries
432. 33:37available at aFR.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
433. 33:45Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here. Just having a conversation
434. 33:49about inalienable rights versus in vis-a-vis delegated powers, governments, federal government,
435. 33:58state, local, county, municipal city, they enjoy powers. The powers are given by the people.
436. 34:08The touchstone of the inalienability of rights
437. 34:14come from the simple fact that they are God-given.
438. 34:18Hence the description, the right to life
439. 34:21is a God-given right.
440. 34:25The right to liberty is a God-given right.
441. 34:29The right to pursue, not a guarantee of,
442. 34:31but the pursuit of happiness is a God-given right,
443. 34:35which means that no man or man-instituted governing system
444. 34:40can lawfully, rightfully deprive the individual of these rights.
445. 34:48That's what it means, man.
446. 34:51That's what it means.
447. 34:54Can I do so without due process of laws?
448. 34:59Continuing in this notion, and again, I found the documents have all kind of wisdom for us
449. 35:05if we would have put it into practice.
450. 35:12The preamble to our Constitution would simply read, we the people of the United States in
451. 35:18in order to form a more perfect union,
452. 35:20establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility,
453. 35:23provide for the common defense,
454. 35:25promote the general welfare,
455. 35:26and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
456. 35:29and our posterity,
457. 35:30do ordain an established constitution
458. 35:32for the United States of America.
459. 35:34It lists five purposes,
460. 35:38four which the US Constitution was created.
461. 35:40Created.
462. 35:41One, in order to form a more perfect union.
463. 35:47The term perfectly is used in our constitution,
464. 35:49very similar to the biblical usage of the word perfect.
465. 35:53It didn't mean absent of error,
466. 35:54it meant increasingly better.
467. 36:01In order for our union to be better and better and better
468. 36:03over time, we're creating this constitution.
469. 36:07That's purpose one, second purpose, to establish justice.
470. 36:10Third purpose, ensure domestic tranquility.
471. 36:12Fourth purpose, provide for the common defense.
472. 36:15Fifth purpose, I say five, I meant six purposes.
473. 36:18Fifth purpose, to promote the general welfare,
474. 36:20which has nothing to do with entitlement programs.
475. 36:23We'll probably have to do an entire program,
476. 36:26an entire show on that portion alone.
477. 36:29Sixth purpose to secure the blessings of liberty
478. 36:32to ourselves and to our posterity,
479. 36:34from which I've argued numerous times.
480. 36:37How can you secure the blessings of liberty
481. 36:38to your posterity if we are killing our posterity intentionally?
482. 36:48One of the points, and again, going all the way back
483. 36:49to the first segment, the reason why we should study history,
484. 36:53accurate rendering of history points us to transcend the theological truth.
485. 37:00What a lot of us don't realize is that even the phrasing,
486. 37:06many of us continually don't realize,
487. 37:07even the phrasing in the preamble to the constitution was something that was
488. 37:11debated during our founding era. This is, this is just a simple truth.
489. 37:19Turning back to my text, commenting on the constitution says this quote,
490. 37:24appreciation of the preamble begins with a comparison of it to its counterpart in the
491. 37:32compact, the Constitution replaced the articles of confederation.
492. 37:36I'm going to pause right there for a second.
493. 37:40A lot of people fail to remember that the Declaration of Independence signed July 4th,
494. 37:491776 following the Declaration of Independence.
495. 37:56There was a source of governing in the United States of America before the U.S. Constitution
496. 38:01that ever you've been drafted.
497. 38:02It's called the Articles of Confederation.
498. 38:05The U.S. Constitution, in fact, was drafted to replace the Articles of Confederation because
499. 38:12many of the founders, except for states like Rhode Island, found the Articles of Confederation
500. 38:16to be woefully inadequate to serve the purposes that have been articulated in the Declaration
501. 38:22of Independence.
502. 38:26The document that became the U.S. Constitution was an outlier in governing documents of its
503. 38:31It's kind when compared to those not only in our own articles of Confederation, but in
504. 38:36governments around the world.
505. 38:40The preamble to the Constitution diverged from the introductory paragraph or the preamble
506. 38:47to the articles of Confederation back to the text.
507. 38:52In the articles of Confederation, quote, the states joined in a firm league of friendship
508. 38:58with each other for their common defense, security of their liberties, and their mutual and general
509. 39:03welfare and bound themselves to assist one another against all force offered to it against
510. 39:10all force offered to or attacks made upon them or any of them on account of religion, sovereignty,
511. 39:18trade or any other pretense, whatever."
512. 39:21In quote, that's what the introductory paragraph to the Articles of Confederation says.
513. 39:28Notice that it begins with a reference to the states.
514. 39:32It doesn't begin with an assertion, we the people.
515. 39:35It started with a reference to we the states.
516. 39:40The agreement was among the states, not the people.
517. 39:43And the safety and liberties to be secured were the safety and liberties of the states
518. 39:47corporately understood, not the liberties of the individual.
519. 39:56The very opening words of the Constitution, however, says we the people of the United States.
520. 40:03It presumes the language of the Declaration of Independence.
521. 40:07Guys, this is something we have to understand.
522. 40:10The assertion, we the people assumes the language of the Declaration of Independence.
523. 40:17The U.S., sorry, the Declaration of Independence, 1776, when the Revolutionary War is taking
524. 40:25place, the governing authority in America is the Articles of Confederation.
525. 40:29The U.S. Constitution is not drafted until 1787.
526. 40:33All right?
527. 40:34It is ratified thereafter.
528. 40:40When the Constitution is drafted, when the delegates finish at the Constitution Convention
529. 40:43in Philadelphia, the states then gather in their ratifying conventions.
530. 40:48You had an anti-federalist like Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia and Patrick Henry.
531. 40:54Give me liberty, give me death, Patrick Henry.
532. 40:56All right?
533. 40:57Patrick Henry was concerned as an anti-federalist because he wanted to make sure, he opposed
534. 41:04the notion of having an outsized and overbearing, overly powerful national government.
535. 41:10Hint to the description, anti-federalist.
536. 41:15Patrick Henry made the accusation and asserted as one of the reasons why he was objecting
537. 41:22initially to the ratification of the US Constitution, that the very words at the beginning
538. 41:28of the Constitution sought to eviscerate state power, because the very, very words of the
539. 41:33the U.S. Constitution begins with we, the people of the United States, he saw that as
540. 41:39a broad side against state power. In fact, Patrick Henry charged that the failure to follow
541. 41:46the usual form, referring to the states, indicated an intention to create a quote, consolidated
542. 41:54national government instead of the system that James Madison described in the Federalist
543. 41:58number 39 as being neither a national nor a federal constitution, but a composition of both.
544. 42:05Now Patrick Henry, the quote, he didn't refer to federalist 39 by number, but his argument
545. 42:13was that the verbiage we the people is an indication, is evidence that the intention of
546. 42:19the framers was to create a consolidated national government to eviscerate state power.
547. 42:28Patrick Henry's assertion, and he made this argument
548. 42:30doing a ratifying convention, okay?
549. 42:32When Virginia was considering whether or not
550. 42:33they were ratifying the U.S. Constitution.
551. 42:37Patrick Henry's assertion was challenged
552. 42:39by Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph,
553. 42:43in which Governor Randolph responded to Patrick Henry
554. 42:46by saying, quote, the government is for the people,
555. 42:50and the misfortune was that the people had no agency
556. 42:53in the government before,
557. 42:55under the Articles of Confederation, back to the quote.
558. 42:57If the government is to be binding on the people
559. 43:00are not the people, the proper persons
560. 43:03to examine its merits or defects,
561. 43:06that's what Governor Emmon Randolph said, in quote,
562. 43:09Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry,
563. 43:12made it clear, guys, listen up here,
564. 43:15Randolph, in his rebuttal to Patrick Henry,
565. 43:17made it clear that it is the people individually
566. 43:23and not the states acting through their established
567. 43:27governments that were the appropriate ratifying authority.
568. 43:33This was a deliberate move on the part
569. 43:35of the drafters of the Constitution.
570. 43:37In other words, what Governor Evan Randolph argued
571. 43:40is that this is not an attempt to eviscerate state power.
572. 43:44This is an attempt to properly elevate the potency
573. 43:47of the individual, the potency of the image bearer.
574. 43:52That though people gather in their respective states,
575. 43:55it is the people who have the authority
576. 43:57to determine whether or not this constitution
577. 43:59should be ratified.
578. 44:00What I'm saying is that one of the most amazing realities
579. 44:04of this American experiment in individual liberty
580. 44:06is just that.
581. 44:07It is the first time in all of human history
582. 44:11where it was a proper elevation of the concerns
583. 44:14and the considerations and a recognition
584. 44:17of the potency of the individual.
585. 44:27It doesn't deny that states have powers,
586. 44:31But we must be consistently mindful of the fact that the powers that the states enjoy,
587. 44:40it comes from her people.
588. 44:43The power that the national government enjoys comes from the people.
589. 44:50If we had this as a consistent front of the mind consideration in our body politic, that
590. 44:59Chuckie Duck Schumer and occasional core texting and, and, and,
591. 45:05Howdy Sanders, get off my lawn.
592. 45:08President Trump, we're consistently reminded
593. 45:12that you realize you're accountable to the people.
594. 45:15You realize you're accountable to the people.
595. 45:19This is why no matter what you say,
596. 45:21President Trump is doing the very things he campaigned on,
597. 45:24this is what people elected him to do.
598. 45:27Many people in America have been frustrated
599. 45:29because you have candidates who campaign on one thing
600. 45:31and do the exact opposite.
601. 45:33Why? Because there's a frustration
602. 45:36of the potency that provides a source
603. 45:38but the only legitimate understanding
604. 45:41of what government should be.
605. 45:44Now, presenting all of this to you,
606. 45:46because this should be something that should remain
607. 45:49a front of the mind concern.
608. 45:55Because when we consider the potency of the people
609. 45:57in this American experiment in government,
610. 45:59we must also remember, well, where does that potency come from?
611. 46:02Where do men's inalienable rights come from?
612. 46:06Because remember, a proper rendering,
613. 46:08a proper understanding, a proper recording of history
614. 46:11would point us to transcend it the illogical truth.
615. 46:16It is because man is made in the image of God
616. 46:21that people enjoy unalienable rights.
617. 46:24It is because man is made in the image of God
618. 46:26that the only legitimate source
619. 46:30for the just exercise of governmental power
620. 46:32is the consent of the governed.
621. 46:35It is this fact, this reality, this revelation
622. 46:38that led to the founding of Western civilization.
623. 46:40It is why the United States of America
624. 46:42is not Nicholas Maduro's Venezuela.
625. 46:44It is why there is an internal cry
626. 46:51for recalibration of things when government encroaches,
627. 46:54or should I say exceeds its right boundaries.
628. 46:57It is also why we as the people having this continuous
629. 47:02affront of the mind consideration
630. 47:04that our foremost concern when issues arise around us
631. 47:07is not to turn and look to see,
632. 47:08well, what is the government going to do?
633. 47:11No, what is, what are we going to do?
634. 47:14because the government's existence at best
635. 47:18should be to secure to us the blessings of liberty,
636. 47:20should be to protect our ability to pursue happiness.
637. 47:23Government is not the source of the happiness,
638. 47:26it protects our ability to pursue it.
639. 47:29We need to have a radical recalibration in our nation
640. 47:32till we once again revisit the potency
641. 47:35of the individual liberty.
642. 47:37When you understand what people like Frederick Douglass
643. 47:41and Booker T. Washington and others attempted
644. 47:43articulate when you talk about what conservatism is, what it is conservatism, it is a conservation
645. 47:48of the right of the individual to go make and to do. Which is why our foremost consideration
646. 47:55is for government to function within the very limited parameters that have been delegated
647. 48:01to you, that is enumerated to you and let we the people do what we have to do. Without this
648. 48:10consistent understanding, we won't enjoy what the preambo articulates in order to form a
649. 48:15more perfect union, right?
650. 48:17We understood as growing in maturation, becoming being made better and better and better over
651. 48:24time that will not occur.
652. 48:27We don't have a proper understanding that it is the people who enjoy in a right government
653. 48:32and governments enjoy powers that are delegated to them by the people that for our federal
654. 48:40government, they are enumerated in the US Constitution.
655. 48:44And for our states, what is not expressly enumerated to the national government is inherently reserved
656. 48:50to the states and to the people.
657. 48:55We need a radical recalibration to the potency of the individual because it is the individual
658. 49:01who is made in the image of God.
659. 49:10The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
660. 49:15Family Association or American Family Radio.