And yet.....? As the wife of an LCMS lutheran pastor then you should be familiar with the doctrine of the two kingdoms. Why then haven't you rested in the fact that God is sovereign on this issue. The document that runs the US political world is the Constitution. Therein lies both the secular and God-willed solution. Pray, participate in the electoral process and know that if things appear to be off the rails, that too is under God's control. As long as prosecutorial discretion exists, and God forbid a zero tolerance no options justice system, some people will be unhappy. It just happens you are one of many right now including me BTW over ths issue. Do what is right and then trust God to bring justice.
I am trusting God. He is the ONLY refuge I have.
I am working within the electoral system. I’m also working within the law enforcement system, and have been for some time.
I just don’t see where the Constitution says that Congress takes the place of law enforcement when it comes to either the President or anybody else. I don’t see how that could even be Constitutional, to be honest - given the separation of powers and checks and balances. Congress is in charge of judging the qualifications of its members but that is not the same thing as executing law enforcement on either Congress or the White House.
Maybe the first question is what impeachment means. Does it mean a criminal trial, or does it mean a trial on the qualifications of the person to remain in office?
OK, I’ve got my Constitution in front of me, and I’m looking at Article I, Section 3, 7:
“Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”
I understand that to mean that being convicted in impeachment does not replace law enforcement measures. Can a criminal trial happen simultaneously or before impeachment? It doesn’t say.
But Article III, Section 2, 3 says “The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such TRial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.”
There is probable cause that Obama committed perjury multiple times in Arizona and other states. Sounds to me like Congress can impeach Obama if they choose to do so and in that case the trial is done by Congress in DC rather than by a jury trial in a state - but that doesn’t replace Article III’s requirement of the trial of ALL crimes by jury in the state where the crime was committed. And my understanding is that Article I says that impeachment is only about removal from office and does not replace due process by law enforcement in the states - which is not about holding office but about jail time.
My husband and I have spoken at great length about the left-hand v the right-hand kingdoms. We’ve also talked about the role of Christians within society. In Biblical times (particularly during the Roman empire) the people had no responsibility for government; what they were to render to Caesar was taxes. Even at that, Paul did speak out against the behaviors of the rulers. But what Caesar demands of Americans is much trickier. We are to be the accountability that makes the government work. Me filing criminal reports is not an optional thing. The laws of this country require that if I have knowledge of crimes that have been committed, I have to report those. If I fail to do so I am not rendering unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. It is also a crime on my part if I fail to report known crimes. It’s not just the Congress-critters who need to take seriously the role that they have in ensuring the sustainability of our form of government. I am also responsible. If I am a couch-potato quarterback who ignores my legal and moral responsibility to report known crimes, then I am every bit as guilty as the Congress-critters who abdicate their responsibilities.
My difficulty is that Caesar demands so much of me that it is near impossible to do it all and still feed my family. Literally. My responsibility to be an informed voter takes a LOT of time. My responsibility to report known crimes has taken and will continue to take a huge amount of time - and I’ve only really involved myself in one of many, many criminal issues that could be raised regarding this regime. Those in my family could tell you that between the time I’ve spent on those two civic (left-hand kingdom) responsibilities, I’ve got very little time left beyond what I spend working to earn income (so I can pay most of it back to the government in taxes). Which is what I need to do now, since it’s later than I had thought it was (my clock thinks Daylight Savings ended, apparently).
It makes no sense if I am legally required to report known crimes, and yet the Constitution guarantees that justice can never be executed within the system to which I am able to report the crimes. I just don’t see how that can be Constitutional.
Especially it would make no sense for me to take the time to obey futile legal requirements because the demands of the left-hand kingdom compete so dominantly for my time to engage within the right-hand kingdom. It’s a constant struggle between the needs in the left-hand kingdom and my desire to focus on the right-hand kingdom. And I don’t know how to do it all, or when I am veering too far to one or the other direction. When I am in church hearing the Word of God it is literally a re-charging, like a cell phone plugged into its source of power. If I was not receiving forgiveness and grace for all errors of priority, attitude, or behavior that I am unaware of as well as the ones I am aware of, I would be sunk. Truly sunk.