A Dark And Quiet Room

First, read this.

Now, I’ve learned that you can’t always trust everything that you read in the New York Times, but let’s take this at face value for a moment.

They also said that the new law for the first time provided a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens.

“This more or less legalizes the N.S.A. program,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, who has studied the new legislation.

Translation: this gives legality and legitimacy to something that was already taking place. I thought that we weren’t allowed to make ex post facto laws. But I digress.

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m going to point out something that is in the Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

So, how can they just “pass a law” that works around the Fourth Amendment? I’m fully aware that electronic communications had not been invented at the time that this was written, but it seems like being “secure in their…papers” would seem to apply in this case, yes? And how am I secure in my “papers and effects” if my communications are being monitored without a warrant?

Oh, and then there’s this:

The new law gives the attorney general and the director of national intelligence the power to approve the international surveillance, rather than the special intelligence court. The court’s only role will be to review and approve the procedures used by the government in the surveillance after it has been conducted. It will not scrutinize the cases of the individuals being monitored.

So, the executive branch will have this authority without any specific judicial oversight? I feel so much better.

As you may have gathered, this news story bothers me immensely. First, it is an admission that our government has been violating the law. Second, it announces that more of our liberties have been eroded, and that without a peep. I thank God that some states are raising a stink about Real ID, but this is just another example of our national government taking more power in the name of liberty.

Seems vaguely Orwellian, doesn’t it? “Imprisonment is Freedom”. “Surveillance is Privacy”. That about right?

And, if you’re thinking that this is far removed from domestic surveillance, I direct you to Operation CHAOS, another illegal operation justified in the name of “national security”. It has happened before; it will happen again. The only question is “when?”

So, about this point, there’s part of me that wants to start screaming out my window, but somehow, I don’t think that it will help. Make no mistake, I am furious. But what should I do with my anger?

Rebel.

Oh, it’s not in the way that you think. I’m not talking about an armed uprising against the government. I don’t think that’s how God wants us to be handling this.

Rather, I mean that I will rebel against the lie that I need them to make me safe. I will do this by loving my neighbors on Orange Street, and caring for the widows and orphans that live nearby. I will do this by trying to do what is best for my church and family and city. I will do this by putting my trust in God for my safety and therefore daring to do the hard things to be a blessing to those around me.

And I will take all of this and throw it in their face, because, in all of it, I did not need them.

For several years, my family has had an annual Tax Code Burning as close to April 15 as possible. This started as a joke but has increasingly developed into our own form of political protest. Here’s how it works.

First, we get the fire started. Then we have the invocation to the spy satellites that are watching us, saying that we have all paid our taxes, being obedient citizens and loyal Americans. But we also announce that we are the followers of Christ. We will render to Caesar what is his, but we will not render to Caesar that which belongs to God.

Then we take out the Internal Revenue Code and take turns reading. Every so often, someone begins the cry, “Burn it!” Then we tear out that page and throw it on the fire. Then you pass the book to someone else, who does the same.

Eventually, we get bored and just pitch the rest of the book into the fire.

Then we sing Psalm 146.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!

I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the LORD!

Make no mistake. This is a battle hymn against the Messianic State that dares to raise itself up against the one True God. They claim that I need them, that my life is incomplete without them. But they are wrong.

One small act of rebellion. But, in the end, it will be through these acts that our God will overwhelm His enemies. So, for now, I can patiently await that day.