“So, as kings are constituted by the people, it seems definitely to follow that the whole people [Populus universus] is more powerful than the king.” —Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos
Kings and their governments are created for the benefit of the people and not people for the benefit of their rulers. Or, to put it into the exact words of the author of Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, “Kings were instituted on account of the people. You cannot say that all men together as a whole [universi*] were created for the sake of more or less a hundred simple men.”[1]
This view accords with the Apostle Paul’s teaching. In Romans 13:4 Paul declares government rulers to be “God’s servant for your good.” The Apostle writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit declared that rulers are God’s servants. Paul uses diakonos. This is the same word he used for deacon.
This is important. Government exists not for its own purpose but for the good of the people it serves. This is something pastors have understood and taught to their people.
Pastor Samuel West quoted in Daniel L. Dreisbach’s Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers explains, “If magistrates are ministers of God only because the law of God and reason points out the necessity of such an institution for the good of mankind; it follows that whenever they pursue measures directly destructive of the publick good, they cease being God’s ministers; they forfeit their right to obedience from the subject, they become the pests of society; and the community is under the strongest obligation of duty both to GOD and to its own members to resist and oppose them, which will be so far from resisting the ordinance of GOD, that it will be strictly obeying his commands.”[2]
It is worth restating this: governments are created for the good of the people not the aggrandizement of tyrants.
If government stops fulfilling its function and becomes an oppressor of the people, then as Rev. West rightly explains, it ceases being God’s servant and becomes a pest. It is the duty of the people to resist such pests to the commonwealth.
Justin Trudeau, Canada, and a long train of abuses
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”—The Declaration of Independence
Now that we understand government is only legitimate when it pursues the good of the people, what happens when a government becomes abusive of the people? What test can we use to judge if a government has lost its legitimacy?
A good place to start is the American experience. One bad action is usually not enough to justify wholesale disobedience. However, a train of abuses is a good indicator of a tyrant. Justin Trudeau fits this perfectly.
Justin Trudeau’s government has repeatedly harassed pastors during the pandemic. Pastor Artur Pawlowski is but one example.
Truckers launched a convoy to protest Trudeau’s pandemic restrictions.
Trudeau would not even meet with the protestors. Instead, after the protest grew, Trudeau authorized an immoral crackdown on protesters—who sought only a redress of grievances. This resulted in brutality. Trudeau is response for an elderly woman being trampled by police horsemen.
There are other examples of the authoritarian actions of Trudeau’s government. One chief indicator that Trudeau is a tyrant and wants to destroy the people he rules can be seen in the financial attack on citizens protesting his government. Trudeau is seizing bank accounts, crypto wallets, and even threatened protestors with taking their pets. And don’t forget Pastor Artur Pawlowski. He was arrested on Feb. 10 for the crime of “Mischief.” His bad action? He was going to preach at a border protest.
These are not the actions of a ruler seeking the good of his people. These are the actions of a man drunk with power.
Trudeau is a tyrant. His actions undermine the good that is the chief purpose of government. As such, not only are Christians released of their duty to obedience, but they have a duty to join resistance against the tyrant.
What happens in the coming days will determine the liberty of the people in Canada and likely throughout the West. it is time for Christians to do their duty. Do not be found like the people of Meroz.
[1] Stephanius Jurius Brutus, “The Third Question.” In Brutus: Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: Or, Concerning the Legitimate Power of a Prince over the People, and of the People over a Prince, edited by George Garnett, 67-172. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511558689.008.
[2] Dreisbach, p. 129.