In March 1765, in spite of many dissonant voices from the Colonies, the British Parliament passed and began enforcing the Stamp Act. In May of 1765 the Virginia House of Burgesses took the first official American action to repulse this law.

A brilliant backcountry lawyer named Patrick Henry, freshman legislator, led the charge.

A series of events in British politics, including expensive wars, led King George and Parliament to conclude that the American Colonies needed to be taxed to cover these expenses.

Hum! Change the terms to President and Congress and the story sounds familiar. Henry declared that day that taxation without representation was an attempt to “Destroy British as well as American freedom.”

From the northeast came another thunderous proclamation from the (for his day) liberal pastor, Jonathan Mayhew. In a famous sermon that was published and dispersed widely, he proclaimed two principles to guide Christians in addressing the issues of government extending its reach beyond God-given parameters.

Those two principles can be summarized this way. First, civil rulers are to be obeyed when their operations are consistent with the commands of God. Second, submission to government cannot be at the sacrifice of God’s intention for government, “the common good and safety of society.”

He went on to conclude that to not live by these two principles “’tis treason against mankind, ‘tis treason against common sense, ‘tis treason against God.”

Yes, the circumstances are somewhat different in modern American.

Our Washington officials are elected officials. However, when those elected officials trample on the very documents (the Bible, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights) that justify their existence and the existence of this nation, and they begin thereby to erode the rights of our citizens granted by those documents, we must publicly question at what point have our elected officials begun to slip towards culpability for exceeding the powers granted to them. And, therefore, at what point does it become incumbent upon us to rise up as our forefathers to preserve a nation?

Reformation leader, Zwingli, taught that when leaders “attack God’s Word” or persecute people that God has placed in their care, Christians have a moral obligation to “resist them, and, if needful, depose them….” We are yet living in a grace period. We can resist and depose our leaders by voting them out of office.

Unfortunately the good thing about our Republic is also the bad thing about our Republic. The wheels of justice move slowly and cleaning house of the current leadership disposed to deconstructing the America we love will take both time and something else that Colonial America possessed—a cooperative spirit among the populace that solidified into the action that was needed.

I am not one who thinks we can fix this country or the world by political action. Nonetheless, I am one who believes that we have a God-given responsibility to participate in our God-given political process. November will present a national opportunity to engage in the God-given political process. Exercise your privilege!

*All references are secondary on purpose. I want to encourage you to read this resource. Gragg, Rod. Forged in Faith. Howard Books, A Division of Simon &Schuster, INC. 2010.

Howard Eyrich is a minister in the PCA and currently serves as Pastor of Counseling Ministries at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He is the author of the best selling pre-marital counseling guide Three To Get Ready, as well as Totally Sufficient and Curing the Heart both in 2nd editions. He and his wife, Pamela, have two children and eight grandchildren.