Just How “Many” Were Raised from the Dead in the Mass Resurrection of Matthew 27:51-53?

Posted on April 19, 2025 by jackpelham

What can be figured out about how “many” people were raised from the dead here?:

ESV Matthew 27:50  And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

This article aims to track down the “semantic range” of the word “many” (πολύς in the Greek, and polys when spelled with our Latin/English letters). That is: What is the range of all that it could mean, based on the what is known about the word from its use elsewhere? I’ll demonstrate in the article below these quick facts:

  1. πολύς / polys is a relative term, quite like our English word, “many”. That is to say, 10 people would be “many” to have in your kitchen, but not “many” to have in a stadium.
  2. The meaning of πολύς / polys seems to be reliant upon the context it’s used in, as if it means something like, “a lot for whatever we’re talking about”.
  3. πολύς / polys is a very common Koine Greek word. In its various forms, it was used over 300 times in the New Testament writings, and over 500 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament writings. (See study links below.)
  4. What range of numbers was it used to describe? It was used to describe smaller numbers (such as “many” people in a house), and larger numbers, such as, for example: 1) a herd of 2,000 pigs, 2) the entire set of people for whom Jesus sacrificed himself; 3) the entire set of holy angels: ” “…ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands”. (At the end of this short article, I’ll display several dozen excerpts of its usage for your convenience, so that you can give the matter some deep consideration for yourself.)

Our Challenge

Had Matthew written that there were, say, 8 people brought back to life that day, there would be no need for this article at all, for there would be no mystery in the number itself. What would remain then would be the mysteries of “What was going on here?” and “Why was this resurrection event necessary?” and “What did this have to do with Jesus’ own resurrection on the same day?” Similarly, had Matthew told us that the number was 81,324 people (which number I just made up), we would also be relieved of needing to know the actual number, but would be faced with questions as to whether the number was significant: “Does the number 81,324 have some symbolic significance? Is it used elsewhere in the scriptures to mean something?” And with either number, the 8 or the 81,324, we’d be smart to wonder whether it had ever been prophesied about in advance.

But we didn’t get a number from Matthew; we got the very common word πολύς/polys/many. And that word is always used relative to the context. For this study, I read all 331 New Testament verses where it occurs, and about half of the 515 Old Testament verses where it occurs. (Go here and scroll down for the New Testament Verses. And go here and scroll down for the Old Testament Verses.)

Some Questions for Pondering and Study

These are the kinds of things I think we should be wondering when it comes to this passage and the way πολύς/polys/many is used here:

  1. If no actual number is given in Matthew 27:51-53, are there any other indications in this passage (or in others) as to the scope of the number raised?
  2. Are there any logical reasons to place boundaries on what the number might have been? For example, we can reason that it must have been more than one since:
    1) Matthew writes in the plural, and since
    2) πολύς/polys/many never refers to just one.
    Or similarly, we could reason by simple logic that: the number of holy people raised could could not exceed the number of holy people that were dead at that time — whatever number that might have been. Is there more that could be deduced like this?
  3. Are there any allusions to this event in the rest of the New Testament writings? For example, might this be a case of that?: ESV Romans 8:29b …in order that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers.
  4. Was this event ever prophesied in advance? And if it were, might the Ezekiel 37 “Dry Bones” prophecy be a case of that?

I argued in my 2021 article, Jesus’ Resurrection Day Was a Bigger Day than You May Realize!, that the Matthew 27 resurrection event makes sense as the literal fulfillment of the Ezekiel 37 Dry Bones prophecy. I still find this hypothesis compelling. And in discussing it with many over the last four years, I have been disappointed to see how few are willing to give the idea a fair hearing. Instead, many are quick to hand-wave it away in various ways, such as what follows:

Some Dubious Reasoning

I’ve been studying and discussing this mass resurrection for several years now, and have noted several ill-reasoned or non-reasoned assumptions that seem to be popular. I don’t intend to comment on what’s below, except to say that good logic does not demand these conclusions, however popular they may be:

  1. “This event must have been just an auxiliary miracle, generally adding heavenly witness to the miracle of Jesus’ own resurrection.”
  2. “This must have been just a few people who were raised, or the story would have been told by more than just Matthew.”
  3. “Those raised must have been the recently-deceased, as in the examples of those Jesus raised in the gospel accounts.”
  4. “This event cannot be the fulfillment of Ezekiel 37’s Dry Bones Prophecy because we all know that that is just an allegory for the spiritual reawakening of Israel.”
  5. “The mass resurrection of Matthew 27 cannot have been a literal fulfillment of the Dry Bones prophecy because: 1) If that had been fulfilled, the Bible writers would have told us this was the fulfillment. 2) Those “raised” in Ezekiel 37 were “an exceedingly great army”, and if the Matthew 27 event had been that large, we’d have been told about it specifically.
  6. Gotquestions.org agrees with me that the Matthew 27 event is the fulfillment of the Ezekiel 37 prophecy, but surprisingly goes on to say it was a “few” who were raised. This contradicts the use of πολύς/polys/many in Matthew 27, and it completely ignores the mention of “an exceedingly great army” in Ezekiel 37:10 and of “the whole house of Israel” in 37:11. Without making any argument in support of the “few” assertion, Gotquestions.org says (emphasis added):
    “The raising of a few and not all of the saints shows that Jesus has power to resurrect, but also points forward to the second coming and judgment of Jesus Christ, which will include all those whose names are written in the Book Life by faith in the grace of God.”

Conclusion

So, how “many” were raised that day? I think I’ve demonstrated above (and below) that the “semantic range” of πολύς/polys/many does not rule out a very large number. So we’d have to ask ourselves: If we were standing in Jerusalem that day, looking across all the tombs in the city, and were to hear a prediction that “many” people would rise from those tombs in a few minutes, just what would we expect to see (provided we took the prediction to heart)? Would we think 3 to be a proper fulfillment of that? Or if it turned out to be 3,000, would we find that number inconsistent with πολύς/polys/many ?

I’m not suggesting that I know the number. I don’t even have one in mind. I’m content to go with “the whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:10-11). I take this to mean all those whom God had considered faithful. (That is “spiritual Israel” as some call it, as opposed to those who were Jews merely physically.) But it takes some faith to think it this way, because “the whole house of Israel” was not entombed in Jerusalem; they were scattered across the nations on the Earth. And while the Matthew account only mentions those who were raised in Jerusalem, “the whole house of Israel” could possibly suggest that there was a mass resurrection among the faithful dead all across the Earth that day.

Can I prove that the Matthew 27 event is the same as the Ezekiel 37 event? No, but I think I make a strong case for it here, in my 2021 article: Jesus’ Resurrection Day was a Bigger Event than You May Realize. Sadly, however, so many believers seem to be trained to view the Bible as a collection of isolated incidents, only some of which are important to the overall story. They don’t tend to read with a view toward figuring out how each part of it fits into the whole, and what this might have to do with that. Rather, they endure the less obvious passages impatiently, in hopes of getting to something that is entertaining or otherwise useful as a stand-alone passage. So, while the Dry Bones prophecy makes for an entertaining Sunday School song, they don’t go looking for how that fits into the larger scheme of the Bible’s grand story.

What follows are some experts from where πολύς/polys/many is used (in its various word forms) in the Bible. In most instances, you’ll see a hyperlink for the verse details at BlueLetterBible.org. You’ll also see a Strong’s Number hyperlink just after the English word that was translated from the Greek.

New Testament

Matthew 27:52
καὶ πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἁγίων
and many bodies of the having-been-sleeping holy ones

(The form of the word above is polla (written in Latin/English letters), where the basic word itself is polys.

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many G4183 there be which go in thereat:

Mat 7:22 Many G4183 will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many G4183 wonderful works?

Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many G4183 shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many G4183 swine feeding.

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many G4183 prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Mat 19:30 But many G4183 that are first shall be last; and th

Mat 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. G4183e last shall be first.

Mat 22:14 For many G4183 are called, but few are chosen.

Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many G4183 for the remission of sins.

Mark 5:8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Mar 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. G4183

Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. G4183

Mar 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much G4183 people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. G4183

Mar 10:31 But many G4183 that are first shall be last; and the last first.

Mar 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. G4183

Mar 13:6 For many G4183 shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. G4183

Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. G4183

Luk 1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many G4183 shall rejoice at his birth.

Luk 1:16 And many G4183 of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

Luk 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many G4183 in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many G4183 hearts may be revealed.

Luk 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, G4183 I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Jhn 21:25 And there are also many G4183 other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Act 4:4 Howbeit many G4183 of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many G4183 be dead, much G4183 more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. G4183

Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many G4183 were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many G4183 be made righteous.

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many G4183 brethren.

Rom 12:5 So we, being many, G4183 are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

1Co 4:15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many G4183 fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

1Co 8:5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, G4183 and lords many,) G4183

1Co 10:17 For we being many G4183 are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many. G4183

Phl 3:18 (For many G4183 walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

Tit 1:10 For there are many G4183 unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:

Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; G4183 and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many G4183 be defiled;

2Pe 2:2 And many G4183 shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Rev 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many G4183 angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Old Testament

The following citations lack the Strong’s Numbers as BlueLetterBible does not provide them when showing excerpts from the Septuagint. In every instance, however, πολύς/polys is used in the Greek, in some form or another. And this is a good place to note that the word doesn’t only mean “many”, but also “much” and “large”. And it’s not always used as a an adjective, but is sometimes used as a noun.

Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isa 8:15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

Isa 17:12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

Isa 17:13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

GNT Isaiah 40:26 Look up at the sky!
Who created the stars you see?
    The one who leads them out like an army,
    he knows how many there are
    and calls each one by name!
His power is so great—
    not one of them is ever missing!

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

Jeremiah 31:8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country
    and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.

Eze 26:7 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

Eze 26:19 For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

Eze 37:2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

Eze 37:10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Eze 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

Eze 38:9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

Eze 38:15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

Dan 8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Dan 11:33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

Daniel 12:1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above;[a] and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Daniel 12:9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Mic 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

Zechariah 10:6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
    and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
    their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.
8 “I will whistle for them and gather them in,
    for I have redeemed them,
    and they shall be as many as they were before.
9 Though I scattered them among the nations,
    yet in far countries they shall remember me,
    and with their children they shall live and return.
10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
    and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    till there is no room for them.

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Jesus’ Resurrection Day Was a Bigger Deal than You May Realize!

Posted on April 12, 2020 by jackpelham

[NOTE 19 April 2025: See my new article on just how “many” people were raised on that day.]

The mass resurrection of “many holy people” just after Jesus himself was raised.

Jesus’ resurrection was, no doubt, one of the more glorious events in human history. But I submit that that day’s events were even bigger than most realize. There’s a detail right under our noses in Matthew 27, and most who read it never seem to grasp just what a big deal it is. There was another story running concurrently with Jesus’ own death and resurrection, and in Matthew, we get three sentences about it, which the author inserts at the point in time at which the second story began to unfold. Read it here:

Matthew 27:50  And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

The story of this mass resurrection begins at the moment that Jesus died. There was a rock-splitting earthquake, and it broke open the tombs. And the bodies of many holy people came to life again—at what exact point in time, we are not told. But after Jesus’ own resurrection, those holy people in their resurrected human bodies came out of those tombs and went into Jerusalem, where many people saw them.

That’s what we are told, and this is the only passage in the Bible that speaks of this event in historical-narrative fashion. You can search the other three gospels, and not find a peep about it. And nowhere in the epistles will you find the event covered in this sort of here’s-what-happened way. But even so, here it is in Matthew 27, right under our noses. And this really puts us to the test.

Do we need to take this story into account as we size up the big picture of Jesus’ resurrection? Or is it simply insignificant? Many, it seems, decide on the latter. They rarely talk about it, and when the preachers do happen to read past it in a public scripture-reading, many choose not even to comment on it. And when they do comment on it, often, the comments seem aimed at minimizing the importance of this spectacular event. You’ll hear things like, “Well, this miraculous event was just another way that God was showing the glory of Jesus’ resurrection.” And what a tragic understatement that is!

When we run across this passage in Matthew 27, it should immediately send us scurrying through the scriptures to see what else is said about it. There are some New Testament passages that allude to this, I believe, but none that come right out and tell us the story again like Matthew does, much less, telling us more about it. And some moderns may use this fact even as a reason to doubt Matthew’s account of it. But how many times does the Bible have to tell us a thing to make it true? If once isn’t enough, then we have some serious issues of faith going on. Right?

Because we tend to be “cognitive misers” when it comes to studying the Bible, it never occurs to most folks to go to looking for more information—and much less, to dare to get into the Old Testament in search of more material about this mass resurrection. But I believe that it was prophesied in advance, and more than once. Let me show you just two of the passages I have in mind, and then we’ll take a further look at some New Testament passages that I believe allude to this mass resurrection.

For starters, we’ll turn to the “Dry Bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37. I’ll post it below in sections, and intersperse a few comments along the way.

Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

“Very dry” makes it plain that these were, at least generally, the bones of those having been dead a long time. And notice how they were “on the surface”, where they could be seen. Matthew’s account has the tombs being broken open, where I would presume that their contents could be seen, at least partially, by onlookers. So let’s not miss this similarity between the two passages. Now going on:

Ezekiel 37:3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Notice that what was prophesied to happen here seems like the reconstituting of their human bodies, starting with the bones. The flesh and blood and skin and organs had long since rotted away, leaving just the bones. But God was foretelling a time when he would bring them back alive again. And this doesn’t seem to be a story about giving them “heavenly bodies” or “spiritual bodies”, such as we read about in 1 Corinthians 15. No, this seems very much to be the return of regular human bodies to the original bones.

Let’s continue with Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

So the bodies were reconstituted–and again, the description seems like the normal description of a human body. And once the “breath” (ruach, in the Hebrew, which is translated as breath, wind, or spirit) came into them, they came back alive and stood up. And Ezekiel makes it a point here to describe their number. They were “an exceedingly great army.” And this does jibe with the Greek in Matthew 27 somewhat. Matthew uses polys, which is a standard Greek word for “many”. The use of that word is a little aggravating in this present case, since it’s often used relatively. That is, the soldiers in a great army would be called “many”, but so would a crowd inside a house.

There is a linguistic link between the Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel 37 and Matthew 27, however. Each uses a form of the same Greek word for “many” (polys) that we saw in Matthew 27:52. Here are the excerpts with translations:

Matthew 27:52
καὶ πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἁγίων
and many bodies of the having-been-sleeping holy ones

Ezekiel 37:
συναγωγὴ πολλὴ σφόδρα
a gathering many exceedingly

Both passages use a variation of polys (πολλὰ / πολλὴ) to describe the number of those raised. And while this by no means proves that the two groups in question were the same, it is certainly a detail worth noting as New Testament authors frequently used specific words or phrases from Old Testament passages to which they wanted to draw the attention of the well-read reader. And if these two passages do speak of the same raised crowd, then Ezekiel gives us a fuller indication of number by including the word translated “exceedingly” here.

So let’s get back to the text of Ezekiel 37’s Dry Bones prophecy:

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Those to be raised were the ones among the dead whom God considered “the whole house of Israel”. The way I interpret that, it’s the group of all the faithful from Adam forward. (And I don’t have room here to explain that.) And he brings them back into the land of Israel–that “promised land” where they could finally live better with the help of the Spirit that he would put “within” them.

Is it just a coincidence that God poured out the Spirit on the Christians in Acts 2, just a few weeks after Jesus’ resurrection and just days after his ascension into heaven? That is, these holy dead were raised by the power of the Spirit on the day that Jesus was raised, and they were to live in the land. Well, also living there were the Christians, who were also given the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Peter plainly announces in his famous Pentecost sermon that that period was the fulfillment of Joel 2:

Acts 2:16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

So Peter announces that they are in the “last days”, and that the pouring out of the Spirit was to mark that era. And I want to show you a passage from just one chapter earlier than the Dry Bones prophecy. Many Christians use this passage thinking that it tells about God pouring out his spirit in Acts 2:

Ezekiel 36: 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Many see how this seems to fit Acts 2 so well. Not only do they connect the “put my Spirit within you” to Peter’s promise, “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:36-38), but they’ll even connect “sprinkle clean water on you” and “clean from all your uncleannesses” with the baptism Peter taught on that same day. But if you study the context carefully between Ezekiel 36 and 37, you’ll see it’s talking about the same people who were to be raised in the Dry Bones event. That is, when God was talking to the living Jews in Ezekiel 36, he was telling them about their own resurrection–one they would experience of they would be faithful to him during their first lifetimes. He wasn’t talking to them to tell them about what would happen to some future set of believers. Yes, there would be some significant events among the never-dead believers at the same time, but Ezekiel 37 was not about those future Jews, but about “the whole house of Israel” among the dead.

And so, the way I see it, Jesus was busting out all the faithful from Sheol/Hades, where they were “prisoners” and “captives”. And while an entire book could be written on this subject, I’ll just give you a sampler here with a couple of one-liners from Psalm 68, which is also quoted in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:8-9 (opens in a new tab)">Ephesians 4:8-9:

Psalm 68:6 God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Psalm 68:9b …you restored your inheritance as it languished;

Psalm 68:18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train

Psalm 68:20b …and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

Psalm 68:24 Your procession is seen, O God,

The Psalm shows God (or more specifically, Jesus, I believe):

  • Leading out the prisoners from Sheol/Hades to prosperity
  • Restoring his inheritance, who were languishing in Sheol
  • Ascending upward to the face of the Earth, leading the captive faithful behind him.
  • Delivering them from death.
  • Starting a procession of those so delivered—so as to be seen by many among the living.

And regarding the last item on this list, let’s look back to the account in Matthew 27.

Matthew 27: 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

First of all, while we’re looking at this verse, who was resurrected first? Jesus was. He was the leader of the procession, and they followed behind. Secondly, once they were raised, where did they go? They proceeded to Jerusalem where they were seen by many people, just as Psalm 68 had prophesied.

NEW TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS?

While the Matthew 27 passage is the only historical narrative of this mass resurrection in the New Testament, I believe it is alluded to in a few places. In the first passage I’ll share, these “many holy people” who were raised are referred to as a “cloud of witnesses” who were surrounding the never-dead Christians:

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Those “witnesses”, of course, were the subject matter for the whole of Chapter 11, just before this verse. Specifically mentioned among them are Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, just to name a few. And remember, Ezekiel 37 describes those who were to be raised as “the whole house of Israel”. And I contend that this does not include the unfaithful among the Israelites, for God had in mind only the “true Jews” among them, just as Paul puts it here:

Romans 2: 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

I believe that those “many holy people” who were raised were the true “inward” Jews. And that’s what God counted as “the whole house of Israel” from among the dead. Those people were brought back into the land at Jesus’ resurrection, where they would live out that generation among the never-having-died Christians.

And I believe they are the ones in view in this “First Resurrection” passage:

Revelation 20:4b Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

This describes a group of people who had kept themselves holy. And we should be careful to notice (as some fail to notice) that the group consists of not only martyrs, but also of those who “had not worshiped the beast…” and so forth. These people came to life in a “first resurrection”, and a second resurrection was to follow later, whatever “a thousand years” meant.

Now, to get them out of Sheol (which is called Hades in the Greek), the one who had kept them captive there (Satan) had to be “bound” so that Jesus could “plunder his house”. Now, this binding is mentioned just before the verses we read from Revelation 20. Let’s look at that passage, and then I’ll show you where Jesus prophetically foretells this binding himself:

Revelation 20: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

I think that the passage above parallels the binding that Jesus predicted shortly before his own death. Many miss the prophecy in the following passage, and I’ll discuss why after we read it:

Matthew 12: 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Yes, Jesus had been casting out demons, and was criticized by the Jews while doing so. But as so often happened with Jesus, this response went deeper than just to speak to that immediate situation. Yes, he was casting out demons from people so as to rescue the people from Satan’s power, but a greater campaign was imminent, and I believe Jesus alludes to that here. Not only was he “binding” these demons, but would bind their ultimate leader, Satan himself and plunder the underworld that was under Satan’s dominion.

And if you’re from the camps who think that the binding of Satan—his removal from the world, so that he could not deceive anyone else for a time—has still not happened today, I think that you have not been careful enough to pay attention to Jesus’ specific words here:

John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

Let’s notice three things here:

  1. The “ruler of this world” was Satan. Jesus calls him this three times in Matthew (and nowhere else that we have on record). Here are those verses for your study.
  2. He was to be “cast out”. This certainly fits with having been bound and cast into “the pit”, which is a special region in the far reaches of Sheol/Hades.
  3. The timing of this was “now”, Jesus said. It was imminent as of this Last Supper discussion he was having with his apostles.

Jesus said these things the night before he died. The next day, Jesus’ own spirit would leave his body after death and descend to Sheol/Hades. There he would not only “preach to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19), but would “bind” Satan (the “strong man”) and “plunder his house”, bringing up the faithful of “the whole house of Israel” so that they could live in the land again, this time bringing glory to him as never before.

Now, I want you to see the following passage in 1 Peter 3, because it ties some things together for us. Not only did Jesus die on the cross, but he went to Sheol and preached to the prisoners (who are not mentioned here as having been released), but then look what it says in the very last verse of the following paragraph:

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

At the time of this writing, Peter has Jesus already having superiority over all the other divine beings (except for God, of course). And this is consistent with Jesus having already bound Satan. But in case you think this passage is only about the holy angels, let’s look at another:

Colossians 2: 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Do you see this “disarming” of “rulers and authorities” that happened at the time of the cross? These weren’t the holy angels that he disarmed. No, these were Satan and his allies who were not only “disarmed” but “triumphed over” at that time.

THE ESCHATOLOGICAL PUZZLE

For many of those who concern themselves with eschatological (“End Times”) matters, this mass resurrection on the same day as Jesus’ resurrection is intriguing, if not provocative. That is, it puts the “first resurrection” of Revelation 20, as well as the “binding of Satan” as having already happened. Furthermore, it sets that “thousand years” clock ticking—whatever “a thousand years” was supposed to mean in this apocalyptic language.

Further, it makes us wonder at what time it is now. Is Satan still “bound”? If so, that would be a surprise to a great many who think he’s still out and about, causing mayhem. Or if he has been let out “for a little while” already, are we will in that “little while”? Or have we reached the end of the story, where Satan, after having been let out to have his final hurrah, has now been confined eternally to the Lake of Fire, from where he can no longer work his wickedness on Earth?

Well, those questions constitute quite a can of worms, and are quite worth exploring, I believe. Indeed, I have opinions about them myself. But the point of this article is to show you that Jesus didn’t just die and come back in those three days. Rather, he died, bound Satan, came back from the dead, and brought all those righteous captives with him. He brought their spirits back up from Sheol/Hades, and had their bodies miraculously reconstituted as before. And these people went into Jerusalem, appearing as a great cloud of witnesses to all who lived there, and to all who would visit. This is like the traditional view on steroids!

Imagine being in Jerusalem at that time, and seeing Abraham. Or King David! Imagine hearing their stories, not only of their own lifetimes, but of their time in Sheol. Imagine what this would do to your own faith, if you were among those believers in Jerusalem who had never died before. Imagine if you had been one of the mothers whose children were murdered by Herod in Matthew 2 (read it here), and then on the day that Jesus rises from the dead, he also brings back your children! I think that’s what’s being alluded to here in this Hebrews 11 passage:

Hebrews 11: 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection.

And if I’m wrong about this passage, then please tell me, to what other Bible story is Hebrews alluding here?

I don’t think that this particular sentence was referring to some ancient-to-them event, but to one that had happened earlier in that same generation, just after Jesus was born. And then, 30-something years later, they got their children back, raised from the dead!

The title of this article is: “Jesus’ Resurrection Day Was a Bigger Deal than You May Realize!” Do you see what I mean now?

It’s easy for us in this day and age to think of Easter as the day that Jesus rose from the dead, which was really great, and after which he had his apostles start the church, which would run perpetually until he returns. But that view, as great as it may seem to some, pales in comparison to a fuller view of what all happened that day. It was the most amazing day in Earth history, up to that point.

And that’s what I wanted to tell you in this article.

Yes, I know that this raises a boatload of questions that I don’t have time to get into here. You’ll want to know what became of those who were raised after Jesus that day. You’ll want to know more about the “thousand years”. You’ll want to know why the Bible doesn’t spell out this out for us in a more convenient form.

Well, questions are good! Go look into it. Go work the puzzle and see what you come up with!

Posted in Prophecy, Religion | Leave a comment

Is COVID-19 a Good Reason to Destroy America?

Posted on April 3, 2020 by jackpelham

By Jack Pelham

I won’t venture to make any predictions about the medical side of things, because I’m not even remotely educated in epidemiology.  But when it comes to the political and financial “remedies” that have been enacted in the name of saving us from COVID-19, I think that some Reality-Based Thinking is in order.  It seems to me that a soft coup is in play, using the crisis as cover for quickly and permanently transforming America into something she would never legally vote herself into being. 

Now, you should know that I don’t belong to any political party.  Rather, I’m with George Washington when it comes to “the baneful effects of the spirit of party.”1  No, I’m talking about something much worse than that; I’m talking about the sinister undermining of our fundamental principles by people who lust after money and power that is not rightfully theirs.

I don’t have room in this present article to give you a detailed list of the lying, cheating, and stealing that’s been going on, but I’ve detailed it in a separate article here.  It discusses many sinister developments, including, of course, the unfolding unconstitutional bailouts that’ll likely end up to be nine times bigger than the one that got so many people picketing on the statehouse and courthouse lawns all across the US in 2008/2009.  So, if you’re not already familiar with these issues, please take a few minutes to read about them.

If COVID-19 really necessitates all this, then where’s the rush to amend the federal and state constitutions to allow for this kind of governmental power?  I think it shows our society’s prevailing unruly and undisciplined attitude toward the Rule of Law and our preference for the more-carefree Rule of Man.

Millions will argue, of course, that the “general welfare” language in the Constitution solidly authorizes these COVID-19 efforts, along with anything else we might deem to be good and useful.  But how does, say, funding a bridge in Pittsburgh serve the general welfare of the Union?  That’s specific welfare, not general welfare!  The very notion that the term “general welfare” entitles Congress to do anything it likes would mean the framers were wasting their time to enumerate all of Congress’s powers in ion 8 (opens in a new tab)">Article I, Section 8!  But the liars never seem to tire of the game—excusing most every transgression by this frayed and irrational argument.

In my novel, The Extraordinary Visit of Benjamin True:  The State of the Union as no one else would tell it, the protagonist locks horns with a moral-relativist senator who talks big about dealing squarely in general, but who frequently cheats in order to get his way.  He stings the senator with this rebuke: 

“One big difference between you and me, Senator, is that I think that wrongdoing is wrong even when you do it.” 

~Benjamin True

Watch closely for yourself and see whether those who cry “Foul!” in government don’t frequently commit the same transgressions themselves.  We call this hypocrisy, of course.  It is run-of-the-mill cognitive and moral corruption.  Yet we allow it to be common practice in our governments—and that’s our fault.  And we’re about to pay the price for it in a bigger way than ever before.

Many politicians, of course, would think I’m being ridiculous, and that in light of the danger of COVID-19, the notion of following arcane constitutional rules is just stupid.  For them, I have some questions:

  1. If you think that following the Constitution is sometimes stupid, why did you take the oath to protect and defend it?  Does your word count for nothing?  Did you lie under oath just to keep the job?
  2. If you can violate the Constitution anytime you think you have a “good cause”, then is there really any limit whatsoever to the powers of the government?
  3. If the Constitution is such a hindrance to good government, why don’t you amend it legally, rather than trying to cheat your way around it?

Sadly, few American citizens understand the Constitution well enough to be alarmed.  And that’s worse than it was in the beginning, when more of us cared about it.  What’s also worse is that so few Americans today know what their legal rights are, or how the political process operates.  But this was not always so.  In the 1830s, about one generation into the life of our Constitution, a French writer visited to survey American life.  He complained that the Americans’ knowledge of European affairs was fuzzy, …

“…But interrogate him about his country, and you will see the cloud that enveloped his mind suddenly dissipate; his language will become clear, plain and precise, like his thought. He will teach you what his rights are and what means he must use to exercise them; he will know by what practices the political world operates. 2  (Emphasis added)

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Why did we ever let this knowledge go?  Did you know that it only takes about 45 minutes to read the US Constitution?  You could read it once a year and get a great return on the investment of those few minutes.

There were times in the beginning when we needed those “Minutemen” to be ready with their guns in order to fight off the tyranny of the British Crown.  And if we needed men and women with guns today, we could probably get them.  But the need of the moment is a few million exceptional patriots who are well-versed in the Constitution and who will raise a fuss sufficient to put the government back on its leash.  

As my character, Benjamin True, says to the people: 

“Life is short; why not be something extraordinary while we are here?”

~Benjamin True
  1. George Washington.  Farewell Address.  17 September 1796.
  2. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. English Edition. Edited by Eduardo Nolla. Translated from the French by James T. Schleifer. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2012). Vol. 1. 3/30/2020. <https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2735>
Posted in COVID-19, Economy, History, My Books, Politics, Rule of Law | Tagged | Leave a comment

Limitations on Federal Laws

Posted on April 3, 2020 by jackpelham

With the new surge of federal overreach related to COVID-19, I thought it would be good to put a couple of things on the record here for my readers’ convenience. This is a very simple post, showing two excerpts from the US Constitution. And at the end is a brief explanation of the most common cheat in constitutional law.

THE POWER TO MAKE LAWS

First of all, we should note that the Constitution does not allow the Supreme Court or the President to make laws. No, that power is given only to the Congress. Among other things, this means that Executive Orders and directives of the President are illegal, except where he is ordering the business of his own federal departments (over which he has rightful executive authority).

ARTICLE 1
Section 1
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

In short, this means that there are no legislative (law-making) powers granted by this Constitution to any person or institution but the Congress.

THE KINDS OF LAWS THE CONGRESS MAY MAKE

Some think that the Constitution gives Congress practically-unlimited powers to do whatever they please, but this is not true. Congress’ powers are limited, and they are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Study this list thoroughly and ask yourself whether they have the power to give away “stimulus” or “bailout” checks, or to suspend the freedom of assembly, or of travel–or to authorize anyone else (such as the President) to do such things in their stead.

Article 1 – The Legislative Branch
Section 8 – Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Many will try to cheat by way of that that first enumerated power (emphasis added):

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1

They will argue that anything, then, that is good for the “general welfare” of the United States is allowable. This cannot, however, have been the intent of the Framers in using this phrase. If it had been, none of the other items in this list of powers would have been necessary to write. It simply does not, and cannot, mean that Congress is authorized to pass any law they like.

Further, if you watch the kinds of acts of Congress for which this “general welfare” reasoning is used as “justification”, you’ll see that in most cases, they do not promote the “general” welfare of the Union, but the specific welfare of certain factions or localities. Putting in a bridge in Alabama, for example, does nothing to help the welfare of Wyoming. Or providing support to New York City does nothing to help the people of Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Even so, this “general welfare” notion is frequently employed to justify unconstitutional acts of Congress.

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Have We Become Too Corrupt, Mister Franklin?

Posted on April 2, 2020 by jackpelham

Benjamin Franklin was older than the others involved in the Constitutional Convention in 1987. These delegates from the various colonies represented many factions–many different ways of thinking. They had their biases, of course, and their cheats–along with whichever of their convictions were true and righteous. But they also had varying degrees of foresight as to what was likely to happen.  That is, they had different levels of understanding, both as to how the Union should be conducted, and as to how the various decisions they would make would play out in the real world.  They had different levels of skill at decoupling from the deliberacy of their wishes in order to analyze what was likely to be the results.

When the drafting of the Constitution had gotten close enough (in his opinion) to being serviceable, Franklin wrote a speech to be read to the assembly, being too infirm to present it himself. I have copied the speech below in its entirety, and I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes to read it, as it is not very long. Of particular interest, however, is the sentence that I have highlighted in boldface in the speech below, and that I have excerpted in its immediate context here (emphasis added):

In these Sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its Faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.

From Benjamin Franklin’s final speech to the Constitutional Convention. 1787.

The framers of our Constitution who met that summer in that hot Philadelphia room definitely wanted to avoid despotic government, and with good reason. They had recently fought a war (1785-1783), revolting against the occupying armies and the remote rule of the despotic King George III. Further, they definitely thought themselves capable of ruling themselves. Self-determination–the business of deciding for ourselves how best to govern–was the driving idea behind the revolution. And even so, not all of the colonials agreed it was proper to put off the king’s rule. They were very divided.

But as the king’s tyranny had increased, the colonies had become more and more likely to see self-rule as the best solution. So, they had ventured the war and won it. And now, some four years later, as their original constitution (The Articles of Confederation) had proved insufficient to hold the states together, they had come back to the table to hammer out this new Constitution, aimed at forging “a more perfect Union”—and they still wanted to avoid despotic government.

Franklin, however, warned of a time when such a totalitarian government might be the only way to hold the people together. He had said that any of a number of governmental types might well work—if “well administered”, mind you, and that this newly-proposed Constitution was just as likely to work. But there was a second limit to how well it could work. Not only did it have to be “well administered”, but it would not work on a people that had become too corrupted. No, he suggested that people who are too corrupted, simply require a totalitarian dictator to keep a society functioning.

John Adams, speaking of the same Constitution, would later remark in a letter that:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798

I think that both Adams and Franklin were seeing the same things: that the citizens were going to have to supply their own character, and that the righteous maintenance of the new government would rely on them doing it.

But what has become of us? Have we proven since 1787 to be a people who are sufficiently moral to keep our own government on the straight-and-narrow?

Uh, no. We have not.

The same motley crew of citizens, some of whom had cheated to get their way in events like “The Boston Massacre” and “The Boston Tea Party” would continue to cheat against the very Constitution they had just toiled to commit to paper, and to which they had to swear allegiance if they were to hold office under it. For example, the very first Congress passed the Judicial Act of 1789, which undermined the authority of the sovereign states in the Union by unconstitutionally granting the US Supreme Court (and its inferior federal courts) the power to hear appeals of state court decisions.

And did the people rise up to put an end to that lawless overreach of the Congress?

Nope. There was opposition, but it was not sufficient to repeal the lawless Acts, nor to punish those who had dared to enact them. The states had signed off on the Constitution, but then they proved not to be up to the task of being good citizen-overseers of the form of government they had chosen. The reality of the Americans actions simply did not live up to the grandiose rhetoric they had adopted. And they had ample opportunity to oppose the cheating.

Let me give you a compelling example:

This same John Adams (the 2nd president under the new Constitution), who called for “a moral and religious people” to uphold the Constitution, also signed into law the terribly-unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. If you don’t know about these acts already, you might not believe their audacity, but among other things, they made it illegal for anyone to criticize the government, up until the time of the end of Adam’s term as president! (In case it hasn’t occurred to you yet, this blatantly violates the First Amendment and that foundation of all freedoms, the Freedom of Speech.)

Now, there was opposition to the Alien & Sedition Acts. There was definitely an outcry. But was it sufficient to have the acts repealed and the enactors punished? No. And that’s the only outcome that would really count for anything. The citizens-overseers failed to get the job done. And the lawlessness continued on with the citizens quickly getting use to “the new normal,” as we would call it today.

Is that what Mr. Franklin meant by “so corrupted”? I think it is.

I think it’s very easy to have a view of ourselves that doesn’t match with the reality of ourselves. For example—and I don’t particular mean to pick on Texas, but they have provided this excellent example: “Don’t mess with Texas!” is a popular warning/boast, but even so, Texas has been “messed with” by way of federal overreach for a very long time. The state’s original self-determination has been undermined in countless ways by the ever-encroaching Federal Government, yet the people of Texas (who repeat this saying) seem to have a higher view of their self-determination than is warranted by the facts.

My apologies if it seems like I’m singling out Texas, because I’m not. I think that all Americans are vulnerable to this sort of self-inflated view of ourselves as protectors of the Constitution, or of our rights. We have been defeated so many times that such boasts are laughable, yet I don’t think we understand the track record that makes them so. We don’t understand what all has happened, and what it means. And this comes as little surprise when each generation ends up knowing less about the Constitution and our history than did the one before it. Further, with the advance of communications technologies, each successive generation has had more and more access to information, and yet uses that access less and less to focus on these important civic topics, and more and more for their own entertainment.

Is this the kind of corruption that Mr. Franklin had in mind?

In 2008/2009 I found myself with a picket sign in my hand for the first time in my life, protesting the T.A.R.P. bailouts on the Capitol lawn in Tallahassee, FL. These current bailouts could be 9-or-more times bigger before it’s all said and done, yet I think that the people have quickly gotten used to this “new normal”, and will hardly lift a finger in protest. It’s a sudden burst of speed in our longstanding descent down the slippery slope of lawlessness. And now the people are finally getting direct payments from the government into their bank accounts. It’s gone that far.

Were we heroes in the 2008/2009 protests? We might like to think so, but the fact of the matter is that our efforts fell far short. We failed to get the job done. We stood up to the government by protesting, but when the IRS cheated by failing to approve the tax-exemption applications of all those new “Tea Party” groups, most everybody quit pushing back. And the lesson we demonstrated was this: Americans have a definite limit to how far they are willing to go to put their government back on its rightful leash.

In 1789, America started a thing it could not finish. It bit off more than it could chew. It created this government, but proved unwilling to give it spankings as needed. It failed to live up to the piece of wisdom that Ben Franklin had metaphorically raised with this proverb:

“…it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel. “

Benjamin Franklin (1848). “The Way to Wealth”, p.7

In case you don’t “get it” right away, here’s the point of this metaphor: It’s easier to build a government than it is to keep it running right. And we have definitely failed to keep it running right. The government, which was supposed to be the servant of justice, became self-aware and self-serving. And how we are so far gone down that slippery slope that the only quick reform possible–even if unlikely–is that some benevolent and righteous king somewhere should take over our country and set things straight for us without our (corrupt) say-so in the matter.

But where will we find such a king? Surely not in Russia, nor in China. Nor in the United Nations. No, the emergence of such a king is itself as unlikely as is the idea that a few million Americans might suddenly take a notion to go learn the Constitution and what it means over these next few weeks, and from there, become effective citizen-overseers of their own local, state, and federal governments.

We have become so politically corrupted as to be incapable of self-determination in our current attitude and knowledge alike. The idea of taking the bull by the horns and getting something done is more foreign to us than ever. And that makes us incapable of ruling ourselves anymore—and much less of ruling our own government, whose members simply want control of the Union more than we do. (I expound on this in my Gold Bar Metaphor chapter in my novel.)

I think you were right, Mr. Franklin, to think ahead as you did—to see the possibilities of what might go wrong and how it might all play out. We have proved your analysis by our own negligence. And in this latest hurry-up to corrupt our government even further, we show no meaningful signs of turning ourselves around. I doubt very much that we could find even one in a hundred among us who understand what time it is, and of those, probably not one in a hundred would be willing to do the work required to reform the country. We have definitely become incapable.

Mr. President:
I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present, but Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it: For having lived long, I have experienced many Instances of being oblig’d, by better Information or fuller Consideration, to change Opinions even on important Subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow the more apt I am to doubt my own Judgment, and to pay more Respect to the Judgment of others. Most Men indeed as well as most Sects in Religion, think themselves in Possession of all Truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far Error. Steele, a Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that the only Difference between our two Churches in their Opinions of the Certainty of their Doctrine, is, the Romish Church is infallible, and the Church of England is never in the Wrong. But tho’ many private Persons think almost as highly of their own Infallibility, as of that of their Sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French Lady, who in a little Dispute with her Sister, said, I don’t know how it happens, Sister, but I meet with no body but myself that’s always in the right. Il n’y a que moi qui a toujours raison.

In these Sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its Faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.

I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution: For when you assemble a Number of Men to have the Advantage of their joint Wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those Men all their Prejudices, their Passions, their Errors of Opinion, their local Interests, and their selfish Views. From such an Assembly can a perfect Production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this System approaching so near to Perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our Enemies, who are waiting with Confidence to hear that our Councils are confounded, like those of the Builders of Babel, and that our States are on the Point of Separation, only to meet hereafter for the Purpose of cutting one another’s throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.

The Opinions I have had of its Errors, I sacrifice to the Public Good. I have never whispered a Syllable of them abroad. Within these Walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our Constituents were to report the Objections he has had to it, and use his Influence to gain Partisan in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary Effects and great Advantages resulting naturally in our favour among foreign Nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent Unanimity. Much of the Strength and Efficiency of any Government, in procuring and securing Happiness to the People depends on Opinion, on the general Opinion of the Goodness of that Government as well as of the Wisdom and Integrity of its Governors. I hope therefore that for our own Sakes, as a Part of the People, and for the sake of our Posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution, wherever our Influence may extend, and turn our future Thoughts and Endeavours to the Means of having it well administered.

On the whole, Sir, I cannot help expressing a Wish, that every Member of the Convention, who may still have Objections to it, would with me on this Occasion doubt a little of his own Infallibility, and to make manifest our Unanimity, put his Name to this instrument.

Posted in Character, Economy, Politics, Rule of Law | Leave a comment

To a Hammer, COVID-19’s a Nail

Posted on April 1, 2020 by jackpelham

Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “To a hammer, everything’s a nail.” It describes the cognitive bias we can have in how we see the world. It’s a self-centered way of viewing things. Being a typical claw hammer, nail driving and pulling would be all I would do. Give me a screw that’s half screwed-in, and I’m either going to pound it in the rest of the way or pull it out with my claw. After all, I’m not a screwdriver; I’m a hammer.

Well, I notice that this whole thing seems to apply somewhat to our various responses to COVID-19. Let me count the ways in which I could imagine people spinning things into their own point of view–to their own advantage–whether good or bad. You’ll need to be responsible with the following list, because I’m not saying that every person does these things. Rather, I’m simply talking about the possibility that people of these types might have this “hammer” mentality. So here’s my list, in no particular order.

  1. If I were a healthy-eating advocate, I might see the COVID-19 scare as an opportunity to influence others to eat well for immunity’s sake.
  2. If I were a big-government advocate, I might use the scare to build the government as big as I can in the name of saving as many as possible.
  3. If I were a small-government advocate, I might list the ways in which the big-government folks are cheating during this crisis.
  4. If I were a States’ Rights advocate, I might use it to draw attention to how the Federal Government continues to encroach upon the states.
  5. If I were a “Prosperity Gospel” preacher, I might use the bailout money as a proof that my doctrine is right, and that God is actually blessing the faithful donors in my flock.
  6. If I were a president, I might use the situation to appear as heroic as possible.
  7. If I were an opponent of the president, I might use the situation to blame the president for as much as possible.
  8. If I were an end-of-the-world preacher, I might use COVID-19 to convince people that God is now bringing the world to an end.
  9. If I were a “Police State” advocate, I might use the opportunity to increase my powers over people’s lives.
  10. If I were a seller, I might use the scarcity of certain goods as an opportunity for price gouging.
  11. If I were a debt-based banker, I might use the opportunity to buy up as much new debt as possible.
  12. If I were in the stock market, I might use the opportunity to buy up failing stocks for pennies on the dollar.
  13. If I were a one-world government advocate, I might use the shakeup to influence people to buy into a global government.
  14. If I had health-vulnerable people in my family, I might insist that everybody go all out in following the social distancing guidelines.
  15. If my family were all healthy, I might insist that the guidelines are overkill.
  16. If I were a Member of Congress, I might use the massive relief spending as an opportunity to slip in some pork-barrel projects.
  17. If I were an opponent of homeschooling, I might use the opportunity to argue that homeschooling is not effective enough, and that everyone should be forced into public schools.
  18. If I were a mayor or governor, I might use the opportunity to give lots of press conferences, for the purpose of increasing my public exposure.
  19. If I were a worrier, I might use this virus as an opportunity to obsess.
  20. If I were in the media, I might use this opportunity to increase viewership and ad revenues.
  21. If I were an anarchist, I might use this opportunity to rail about the evils of all government.
  22. If I were a political party member, I might use this opportunity to complain to my base about the evils of the other party.

I could go on and on, of course, but I think you get the idea. And while I’m particularly concerned about the bad things people might do, I did indeed put a couple of good things on the list above. And had I had more room to spare, I could have added several items about how people could use the extra at-home time for any of a number of good things, such as study, projects, and family bonding, just to name just a few.

One question I want to raise, then is this: What kind of hammer are you? What’s your knee-jerk reaction to this present crisis? I think it can be helpful to look at ourselves objectively in this regard. And I’d like to suggest that we ought to avoid being a “hammer”—that is, a one-subject thinker. It’s easy to obsess, and especially under stress. So we have to make ourselves think about a wider array of things in order to avoid the “hammer” mentality. I hope you’ll spend a few minutes today contemplating this question–if it’s not already obvious to you what your COVID-19 response is like.

Another needful question, of course, is this: How are unscrupulous opportunists using COVID-19 to advance their bad agendas? No matter how busy or concerned we are about health issues, we dare not lose sight of how tyrants and scoundrels are trying to use the situation to undermine what is good and just in our society. And I hope you’ll spend at least a few minutes pondering this today, too.

Posted in Character, COVID-19, Economy, Politics | Leave a comment

Constitutional Violations Perpetrated During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Posted on March 31, 2020 by jackpelham

IMPORTANT: Before you read this, I want you to know that I do not belong to any political party; I think the leadership in both major parties are enemies of the Rule of Law under the Constitution, even if not all the parties’ members are. I don’t see where joining either of them is going to help restore America to those founding principles that are good ones. I think that the Constitution, while certainly imperfect, is a superior model of government when compared to the corrupted model we are currently suffering. But even if it’s not, these politicians swore on oath to uphold it. They lied.

I have categorized the following violations. These are just the ones I know about with modest research. There are almost certainly more. Check back for updates. I have too many other projects to promise that I’ll keep this updated–and besides that, I suspect the lists may quickly become unmanageable as this current chapter of lawlessness seems to be just starting.

LAST UPDATED: 5 APRIL 2020

BAILOUTS / SPENDING / EXCESS OF LEGISLATIVE POWERS

  • March 18. Congress passes, and the President signs an unconstitutional bill to provide free Coronavirus testing to everyone.  (Read)
  • March 27. Congress passed $2 Trillion in personal and corporate bailout spending. This is completely unauthorized in the Constitution, and aims to put millions of citizens temporarily on the dole. Passed by Congress and signed by the President.  (Read) 
  • $4 Trillion more is expected in Federal Reserve loans to bailout businesses. (Read)
  • Considerable amounts of “pork barrel” spending attached to the above “emergency” measures.  (Read)
  • The unconstitutional, semi-private Federal Reserve Bank is now to own stock in airlines in return for stimulus grants.  (Read)
  • Increased calls for unconstitutional “Universal Basic Income”, that puts all citizens permanently on the dole.  (Read)

PERSPECTIVE: With total bailouts expected to reach $6 Trillion, this is about nine times as much as the 2008/2009 bailouts that inspired millions of Americans to picket the government. Is this business as usual? Well, yes and no. It’s not new, but this much at one time is unprecedented, and signals a major shift in the government’s willingness to cheat the system. Congress swore not to do such things then they took the oath of office. Both Democrats and Republicans colluded to do this.

POLICE STATE / EXCESS OF EXECUTIVE POWERS

  • March 16. The President orders unconstitutional “guidelines” (Read) curtailing business and personal activity, and crushing our economy.  However smart these guidelines may or may not be, the Constitution gives him no authority to be doing this, and among other things, it violates the freedom to assemble.
  • Since then, over half the states have issued their own shutdown orders–many of them violating their own state constitutions to do so.  (Read)  And the President has since extended his initial “guidelines” for another 18 days. (Read)
  • An increase in “police state” behaviors, including unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens  (Read) and various shutdown orders. 
  • County “Health Officers”, many of them unelected, and acting unilaterally, without supporting votes from local councils/commissions, have ordered the shutdown of local restaurants, bars, etc. (Read)
  • More and more local law enforcement agencies are stepping in to help enforce these unconstitutional orders. (Read)
  • NYC Mayor promises to “permanently” close churches who continue to meet. (Read)
  • Tampa preacher jailed after holding two services. (Read)
  • Governors ban foreclosures, evictions. (Read)

PERSPECTIVE: When the Executive Branches of the federal, state, and local governments decide to rule by fiat—that is, by decree—they undermine the constitutions they have sworn to uphold. They swore not to do such things when they took the oath of office.

CDC

  • The Centers for Disease control have instructed medical examiners and coroners to list the cause of death as COVID-19 for “all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death.” Such conclusion does not require a positive test. (PDF)
  • I can find no evidence that the CDC is doing anything to track (and report) the recoveries of those patients who, having been diagnosed with COVID-19, were sent home. If these cases are not reported as recoveries, but are allowed to stay permanently on the record, this would greatly corrupt the total number of active cases reported. Here’s an excellent video (13 minutes) on this problem.

PERSPECTIVE: Who in the world should be more expert on statistics than the CDC? Yet any beginner in statistics can tell you that this policy will not give accurate results. It seems instead that the wish here is to produce inflated numbers. This is flagrant cheating. It’s like assuming in an election that all the improperly-punched voting cards must be for the incumbent candidate.

STOCK MARKET

  • February 24 and March 23. The stock market plummets, blamed on COVID-19 although it was inevitable because of a “bubble” of over-investment. And this is all tied up in the Federal Reserve’s incorrigible insistence on a debt-based dollar.  (Watch)
  • Several, including Members of Congress, suspected of insider trading related to the COVID-19 crash. (Read)

PERSPECTIVE: This makes for unfair use of the offices they supposedly hold in the public interest.

GLOBAL GOVERNMENT

  • “Coronavirus Coup” behaviors popup up in governments around the world. (Read)
  • Increased calls for a global government to save us from this crisis. (Read)
  • “Shoot them dead”: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders police and military to kill citizens who defy coronavirus lockdown (Watch/Read)

PERSPECTIVE: Calls for uniting under a global government (one-world government) traditionally don’t get much attention in the United States, but it seems that calls for it may be increasing. Further, the greater the fear, the more likely that people will think irrationally about such things, and be inclined to try sign away the United States to such a terrible idea.

CITIZEN REPORTS

  • *Some* citizens inspecting local hospitals are not finding the mayhem they have been led to believe they’d find there. (Watch)
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The Deliberate Parent

Posted on December 18, 2019 by jackpelham

Let’s do a simple thought experiment about parenting.

Suppose that a particularly wise parent were to give the venture some good thought well in advance, and were to devise some basic goals for the eventual outcome of his or her parenting efforts. Suppose that for every desired outcome for the child’s character, the deliberate parent had developed at least a broad-brushed plan to address such things—things such as the virtues and concepts and principles and habits and skills and behaviors that are generally supposed to be good ones for authentic adults to have. And suppose that over the years, such things were deliberately built into the child by the parent.

Now, with that scenario in mind, hold your finger there and turn over to another scenario in your mind. Imagine instead the parent who is in favor of all these same virtues, concepts, principles, habits, skills, and behaviors, but who has no deliberate plan for seeing to it that any of them are sure to make it into character of his or her child. Oh, yes, I do hope my child turns out to be honest! one might say, but would have no particular plan for instilling honesty in the child. And, I most certainly want my child to have good housekeeping habits, might well pass the lips of a parent who, despite the wish, has no particular plan in place for teaching–or even for modeling–such habits!

Let us note that the one parent is deliberate, where the other is simply wishing. The one is quite willing to have a good outcome, where the other is quite willing also to work for it!

I don’t suppose it should take a genius to figure out which parent is more likely to raise a child that is more successful in attaining to the most virtuous life possible. No, it’s rather obvious, isn’t it—just as the fruits of the deliberate gardener are so much superior to those of the casual gardener—and as the figures of the deliberate accountant are much more reliable than those of the casual accountant.

I suppose an entire book would be in order to cover this idea and all its particulars—the chief of which is probably the business of prioritizing which things should be taught and encouraged, and in what order. But I suppose that the mere mention of the idea can be generally useful to parents who find it convincing. And then they can get on with the business of figuring out the details—some of which they will do excellently, and some poorly—just as I do! Even so, I’m inclined to vote for deliberacy over mere wishing any day!

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Speaking at Dad’s Funeral

Posted on December 17, 2019 by jackpelham

My Dad, Jackie Dean Pelham
9/18/1934 to 11/24/2019

My Dad (also named Jack Pelham) died at the age of 85 on November 24, 2019. It was my privilege to have been invited to speak at his funeral. I’m writing this post to share my remarks for those who could not attend. What follows is a mixture of my intended comments, which I had pre-written, and at least a little bit of my memory of what I actually said. Even if it is not an exact copy of my remarks that day, I am certainly proud to post it as a tribute to Dad, and I look forward to posting other memories and thoughts as they come over time.

Continue reading →
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Death, Grief, and Disappointment

Posted on February 25, 2019 by jackpelham

This article is in honor of the anniversary (yesterday) of the death of our daughter, Virginia Grace Pelham, born with Trisomy-18 on February 3, 2006.  She died 21 days later, having lived out the time that her malformed body was able to keep functioning.  As you might expect, this was a hard time for our family—for Kay (my wife) and James (our then-three-year-old son).  But it seems that we came through it better than some might have expected.  I say this because a few people told us so; they told us how devastated they would have been had it happened to them.  And so I thought I would share what we were thinking at the time (and still think), in hopes that it might be useful to others as they go through similar trials. Continue reading →

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