Amos Miller, Statism, and Tyranny

Tyranny and statism are two words that Americans desperately need to understand. The two words are intricately related, and a failure to understand (and oppose) the concept behind the words is at the heart of many problems in our nation.

Let’s start with tyranny. A good biblical passage from which to build a foundational understanding of tyranny is Proverbs 17:26: “To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.” Here we see that the word of God condemns the punishment of the righteous. Another translation renders it, “to punish the just is not good.”

Noah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, defined tyranny as the “arbitrary or despotic exercise of power; the exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice” (emphasis added). In other words, tyranny is the unlawful exercise of power.

Back to Proverbs 17:26 and the imposition of fines: It is not wrong for a fine to be imposed on someone who has wronged their neighbor or violated God’s law in the civil realm. For example, speaking of the thief, Exodus 22:4 states, “If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.” A fine imposed on the thief is not wrong; it is just.

However, it is wrong to impose a fine on someone who has not violated the law of God. It is an unlawful use of power. Romans 13:4 tells us what Christ has authorized the civil magistrate to do – namely, punish evildoers: “For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” Or, as Peter puts it, “to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:14). It is good for the wrongdoer to be punished, but it is “not good” (Proverbs 17:26) for a fine to be imposed on the righteous – namely, on a man who has not violated a specific law of God that is punishable in the civil sphere.

For example, years ago, when I lived in Delaware, our midwife committed a felony in helping deliver our children. The state of Delaware had created manmade laws that criminalized our midwife because she had not jumped through onerous, bureaucratic, regulatory hoops. She had done no evil; on the contrary, she had served us, her proverbial neighbors, by helping deliver our children. However, the state labelled her a criminal and would have fined her (or worse) had they caught wind of her righteous actions. They had imposed a fine on the righteous. They were in violation of God’s Word. Meanwhile, abortionists were allowed to slaughter babies in the womb at the Planned Parenthood not far from where we lived. If you know the Bible, you will remember this is not the first time that midwives had to defy the orders of tyrants (cf. Exodus 1).

So, here is a working definition of tyranny for the Christian thinker: Tyranny is the use of civil power that seeks to punish the righteous.

Civil government was instituted by God to punish evildoers (cf. Romans 13:5). However, if civil magistrates punish people for actions that are not evil (such as delivering babies or selling food to people) then those civil magistrates are being tyrannical.

Tyranny, then, presupposes an ultimate standard to which men can appeal. The unlawful use of power presupposes a law that sits above all of man’s actions, systems, and administrations. This, among many other places, is where the bankruptcy of secular, materialistic humanism reveals itself clearly. If it is true, as humanism posits, that there is no God with a divine law above us, then man is the measure of all things. Whatever man says is supreme. Tyranny, then, can simply be legislated into “law” and thus cease to be tyrannical by the very definition of the term. Unless a higher law exists above man, codified tyranny is an impossibility. Anything goes if man “makes a law” about it. For example, if the law of the land says it is acceptable to kidnap people and sell them into slavery, no one can logically oppose such a law (and its implementation) as wrong, tyrannical, or unjust. To the humanist, it matters not that God’s law forbids kidnapping a man and selling him (cf. Exodus 21:16). Man’s law is supreme and there is no higher court. (Thankfully, man is not always consistent in his humanistic thinking and at times opposes evil edicts on principle – something that only makes logical sense if a standard of good and evil exists above mankind).

The Double Tyranny of Manmade Law

There is a double tyranny in manmade law. First, if man makes a new law (i.e., a law not already given in the Bible), then we are faced with punishment for something God never intended us to be punished for. Luke Saint, in The Sound Doctrine of Theocracy, writes, “The very presence of a legislative body in a nation indicates that man truly believes that the whole counsel of God misses some key judicial elements on which a group of law-makers needs to enlighten the population.” The law of God never calls for a woman to be punished for delivering babies or a farmer to be fined for selling milk to his neighbors. A civil ruler enforcing a manmade law is being tyrannical because he is using his power in an unauthorized way. He is imposing a fine, as it were, on the righteous (cf. Proverbs 17:26).

Second, the tyranny of manmade law is revealed in the never-ending creation of new laws. Manmade law and a humanistic worldview make it virtually impossible for Proverbs 17:26 to be comprehended. How do we know what it means to be the “righteous man” if we cannot keep up with the mess of manmade laws spewing forth from state legislatures across this nation? One estimate (probably a very low one) puts the number of federal laws at 30,000. Good luck trying to figure out how many laws your state’s legislature has enacted. California has at least 390,000 regulatory restrictions. A California resident would need to study ten laws per day, seven days a week, for 106 years just to cover the state’s current regulatory restrictions, not to mention the federal laws and any county or township regulations. And that doesn’t account for any new laws added along the way. Despite what some misguided teachers may have said about Romans 13, you can rest assured that God will not be opening the federal register or the law book of Pennsylvania on the Day of Judgment. God will not judge people on the basis of their compliance with manmade laws.

God will, however, judge on the basis of his law. Contra manmade law, God’s law is wonderfully simple and understandable. This is why the psalmist said, “And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Psalm 119:45), and the blessed man meditates on God’s law “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Imagine the folly of the statist version of Psalm 119:9: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to the 390,000 regulatory restrictions of California.”

God’s moral law is summarized in “ten words” or “ten commandments” (cf. Exodus 34:28). It is this law that the Baptist Confession of Faith says “was first written in the heart of man” (19.2) in the Garden. This is the law by which all men will be judged.

At most, the Bible contains about 1,400 laws. The Old Testament contains approximately 613 laws, and the New Testament contains about 800 laws (if we account for repetitions). Many of the Old Testament laws, related to the ceremonial requirements, have been fulfilled in Christ. The civil laws, however, are still of “moral use” according to the Baptist Confession of Faith. (A moral use that, I would argue, certainly applies to the civil realm as well.) Even without subtracting the ceremonial laws, if a Christian studied ten laws per day, he would have covered all the biblical laws in less than five months. In case you forgot, that is 105 years, and seven months sooner than our California resident will be done studying the useless laws of man.

In many ways, a man must simply understand the Ten Commandments to know how to live in this world. Every other moral commandment in the Bible can be traced back to the Ten Words that God wrote on the heart of man at creation and carved in stone at Sinai. In a well-ordered society, a man simply needs to know the Bible to know whether he is doing right. In a humanistic, statist society, however, man must labor to keep up with the never-ending sludge of manmade law spilling forth from the state and national legislatures. Man can never know if he is following the law or breaking the latest edition of his state’s regulations. Man is ever at the mercy of next legislative session to know what is good; and what his pagan lords require of him.

On the other hand, Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden is light. And we can know now, just as Micah could know hundreds of years ago, what is good; and what does the Lord require of us but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.

Peter was undoubtedly correct when he noted that God has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

The Religion of Statism

Tyranny is the unlawful use of power, and statism is the religion undergirding that abuse. Tyranny is the fruit of the religion of statism.

What is statism? In short, it is the belief that the state (civil government) is the highest authority in the land and is therefore able to direct all areas of life. R.J. Rushdoony identified the problem with statism and manmade law decades ago: “Because [humanistic] law is unlimited the state is unlimited. It becomes the business of the state, not to control evil, but to control men.”

The American mind has been brainwashed in statism. Luke Saint notes that “government overreach has become a staple of American society to the extent that the statists seek to wield it as a magic wand to solve all their problems.” If there is a problem facing the American people, you will not have to wait long to hear the following: “There should be a law for that.”

Understand that whenever statism becomes the religion of the people, tyranny will be prevalent. This is because in statism, the state is god, and the worship of the state is demanded by the priests of the pagan religion. Any defiance of the state is unacceptable and blasphemous. A man driving down the road without an up-to-date registration has offended the statist deity and faces punishment to be meted out by the religious enforcement agents (i.e., police officers). A midwife who helps deliver babies, if she has not pinched her incense to Caesar, faces jailtime for her love of life, while the abortionist is lauded as a hero. The farmer who sells milk from his dairy cow to his neighbors is a criminal, but politicians will readily grant impunity to the massive corporation – they will “acquit the guilty for a bribe” (Isaiah 5:23).

Statism and tyranny are rampant today, but they are not new. We do well to remember that it was not against Roman law for Jesus Christ to be murdered on the cross. And yet, Peter said that Christ was “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). The Roman rulers punished the righteous. Nor was it against Chinese law in the 1950’s for state agents to enter the homes of farmers and confiscate food supplies and cooking equipment. We can only remonstrate against these acts as evil if we reject statism, if we reject the state as the highest authority in all of life. But if we reject statism, and reject it we must, we also must reject the legitimacy of the nigh on a million humanistic laws and regulations plaguing our land – from vehicle registration laws to laws against selling milk. So be it. Let God be true and every man a liar. The false religion of statism cannot invalidate the law of God: “To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good.”

Amos Miller: A Case Study in Tyranny and Statism

The perfect application of these points is the current persecution of Amish farmer Amos Miller in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Miller, who owns Miller’s Organic Farm in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, has (once again) become the punching bag for tyrannical statists. In the case of Miller, we see tyranny (the punishment of the righteous by the state) and statism (the worship of the state).

A bit of background: Miller does not sell his food in grocery stores, but only to his private buying club members – some drive hours and hours to purchase from Miller. As far as the law of God is concerned, Miller has done no evil as it relates to his food business. He offers a product at a listed price, honors that price, and provides willing buyers with that product. Far from doing evil, Miller is doing good to his neighbor. Nonetheless, the state of Pennsylvania recently raided Miller’s farm, seized some of his property, and “detained” hundreds of food items in Miller’s farm store, forbidding him from selling or even moving those items. In violation of Proverbs 17:26, not to mention all of God’s law-word, the state is punishing the righteous. What “crime” did Miller commit? He refused to offer his pinch of incense to the state. Amos Miller violated the first commandment of statism: he refused to ask the state for permission to obey God.

(Another Amish farmer, Reuben King, also offended the statist deity when he served his neighbors by selling rifles and shotguns. King’s sentencing is next week, and he faces potential jail time for his act of service.)

Alluding to Genesis 1:28, Luke Saint argues, “Dominion, which includes the Great Commission, is God’s purpose for us in how we interact with ourselves, each other, the earth, and God Himself.” God has called all of us, including Amos Miller, to take dominion. This includes serving neighbor, as Amos does with his farm products. Nowhere does God authorize the state to require a license in order to obey him. Man is called to take dominion (cf. Genesis 1:28); the state is only called to punish evil (cf. Romans 13:5). However, in statism the state is called on to do everything: provide, protect, instruct, and provide a sense of purpose.

There is a deep spiritual evil behind tyranny and statism. It is an evil that is revealed whenever Christ’s followers are attacked in this world. As Christ said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Any attack on dominion is a destructive attempt to thwart the advance of Christ’s kingdom in this world. The case of Amos Miller is demonstrative of this. Here is a man producing thousands of food products to serve willing buyers, and in come state agents – a group of people who produce nothing – to thwart his service to his neighbors. The devil, and his statist minions, cannot produce anything. They can only steal, kill, and destroy.

Perhaps the statists are jealous of Amos Miller – a man who serves his neighbors, employees, and community, without ever asking the government for a handout or kickback or selling his products in government-approved grocery stores. He represents a self-disciplined, dominion-taking man – the last thing the state wants. The state wants unhealthy, pornography-addicted, compliant taxpayers to work until they retire and then die shortly thereafter to decrease the surplus population. Amos Miller represents an escape from that hellhole.

Among many other things, the Miller story is a clear example of the righteous being punished; his story reveals the great evil of tyranny we are warned against in Proverbs 17:26.

The Soul-Destroying Power of Tyranny and Statism

John Owen once wrote that, in our efforts to mortify sin, we ought to “load [our consciences] with the guilt of [sin].” In other words, we need to dwell on the heinousness of whatever sin we are being tempted with. As it relates to tyranny and statism, we have our work cut out for us.

A failure to abhor tyranny and statism leads to many evils. At the top of the list is the willingness of “ordinary” Americans to enforce the tyrannical edicts of their superiors. If Proverbs 17:26 teaches us that it is wrong to punish the righteous (and it does!), then we can be sure it is wrong at any level of that punishment – from the head of the department of agriculture to the state employee who raids the farm. Both – and everyone in between – are responsible for their actions. And the Nuremburg defense – “I was just following orders” – will not fly on Judgment Day. State police and state agents, enforcing mandates against men who are not committing evil according to the law-word of God, do well to heed the counsel of Proverbs 1:10: “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” Ultimately, tyrants can only destroy people’s lives because of “ordinary” men and women willing to do their dirty work. Vladimir Lenin did not kill 3.7 million people. “Ordinary” people, following Lenin’s orders, killed 3.7 million people. Herod did not kill all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and under. “Ordinary” people following Herod’s orders, killed all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and under.

Another great evil of tyranny and statism is that it stunts the spiritual and emotional growth of individuals. Within the statist mindset, the state is our protecter and provider. The state will keep us safe from all danger, and we will comply with all its requests. The false religion of statism leads to fearful people who are unwilling and unable to make their own choices. Such a worldview leads to people who are afraid of a local farmer, but more than happy to listen to the government when they tell them to inject into their body (and their child’s body) any number of unknown poisons. As addressed above, the Scripture teaches that the civil magistrate has no authority to protect us, but only to punish the evildoer after the evil act. However, the religion of statism has catechized generations of people to think that the state will keep us safe. Biblical justice, however, is manifested when people thoroughly “execute judgment between a man and his neighbour” (Jeremiah 7:5). In the case of Amos Miller, for example, there is no person bringing a charge against Miller, allowing him to make restitution, and move on. Instead, the state is claiming to be the “offended party,” and seeking to force Miller into submission. 

The Cure for Tyranny and Statism 

Seeing that tyranny and statism are sins, the only cure is Christ. Christ came to “faithfully bring forth justice” and establish “justice in the earth” (cf. Isaiah 42:3-4). Christ not only saves from eternal damnation, but he also saves from the power of sin in this life. When Christ saves a person, he calls that person out of the kingdom of sin and darkness into the kingdom of light. He calls on them to “cease to do evil, learn to do good…seek justice, [and] correct oppression” (Isaiah 1:16-17). This can only be done with the standard of the law of God.

Moreover, only the Christian worldview offers a cogent intellectual and logical defense against tyranny. All other systems of manmade law and manmade religions cannot provide a transcendent standard above man’s edicts. The hypocrisy of statism is never more clearly revealed than when people laud civil rights activists of the past for defying the civil government and at the same time rail against the righteous for defying ungodly laws, claiming that it is “legally baseless” for people to practice civil disobedience.

Finally, only by understanding the concepts behind tyranny and the oppression of the righteous, will we be able to understand the many biblical passages that speak to these themes. For example, Isaiah pronounces a curse upon those who “call evil good and good evil” and those “who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:20-21). Isaiah’s indictment is the epitome of tyrannical civil magistrates who endorse sodomy in the streets and yet call an Amish farmer evil for serving his neighbor. Never will you find a more arrogant (“wise in their own eyes”) display than when spineless politicians tell you that you are unable to make your own food choices and need the Nanny State to select your diet for you (they might as well change your diaper and tuck you in at night too). The psalmist also decries the tyrannical oppressor who “in arrogance” hotly pursues the poor (Psalm 10:2). As it was then, so it is now. But the God of peace and his Christ will soon crush Satan under your feet.

May God be pleased to grant the tyrants, and their compliant underlings, repentance, and if not, may he be pleased to “break the arm of the wicked and evildoer [and] call his wickedness to account till you find none” (Psalm 10:15). Then the “righteous shall flourish like the palm tree” (Psalm 92:12) and “man who is of the earth may strike terror no more” (Psalm 10:18). Then, and only then, Amos Miller, and you and I, and our children after us, will be free to take dominion and serve our neighbors. Then the righteous will not be fined, and we will not be struck for our uprightness. Until then, as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

Note: This editorial was originally delivered as a sermon on Jan. 14, 2024, at Reformed Baptist Church of Lafayette (New Jersey).