Tag: Michael Peroutka

Anne Arundel County Council Candidate David Whitney's Questionable Defense of State Militias

David Whitney is an instructor in Michael Peroutka’s Institute on the Constitution and is also chaplain of the MD/VA branch of the white separatist League of the South. He is also seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Anne Arundel County Council.
Whitney is a minister who believes the Bible supports no restrictions on the Second Amendment. As a part of a recent newspaper interview, Whitney says he was asked about his view of state militias. He claims a Constitutional mandate but even more basic than that, he says opponents of militias are the enemies of God. As I will demonstrate below, his appeal to the Bible is highly questionable. Whitney writes:

So the opponents of the Militia are really opponents of God’s Law. For example, you simply need to obey what Jesus said in Luke 22:36 (KJV) “Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” Therefore it would be lawless to amend away the Second Amendment. So those who oppose Constitutional Militia not only reject the Founders of our Country, they reject and violate the U.S. Constitution and the State Constitutions and more importantly they reject and violate the Law of God; the command of Jesus which is the Supreme Law of the Universe. They are the truly lawless ones in America and not those who believe Constitutional Militias must be reestablished in our land.

Ok, let’s look at Luke 22:36 in context:

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.

Jesus and the disciples had just completed the Passover meal and Jesus was about to go out and pray. However, before He went out, He specifically referred to a prophecy that He would fulfill by being numbered among transgressors. Certainly, armed men would be considered subversives. Jesus did not stop talking at verse 36 as if he was encouraging the arming of a militia. If this was His teaching, then His militia would be pretty weak. They only had two swords and Jesus said in verse 38 that two was enough. Surely, the two swords were not enough to arm the disciples, but they would have been enough to number Jesus among the transgressors. Note that Jesus does not advise any more sales of purses, bags or sandals.
Even more evidence against Whitney’s interpretation is the fact that Jesus didn’t encourage the use of the weapons. According to John 18, Peter carried one of the two swords and when Jesus was confronted by the Roman soldiers later, Peter lopped off the ear of the high priest’s servant. The Luke 22 passage also records the scene without mentioning Peter.

47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him,“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

Understandably, the disciples were a little confused. They had swords but asked if they should use them. After Peter started carving up the opposition, Jesus strongly told him to stop and healed the servant. It seems pretty clear that Jesus had another thing in mind for the swords. They had served their purpose and it wasn’t to resist an unjust authority.
Whitney should worry more about bearing false witness than bearing arms. He is running as a Democrat with no intention to represent the people as a member of the Democratic party.

Creation Museum Gets Dinosaur Donation From Michael Peroutka

Michael Peroutka is in the news for something other than his support for the white separatist League of the South or his Christian Reconstructionist Institute on the Constitution.
According to the IOTC Facebook page, Peroutka donated a dinosaur to the Creation Museum near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Post by Institute on the Constitution.

This report has a picture of Peroutka at the Museum earlier today dedicating the Allosaurus to the museum. This local paper has more on the story. The Museum touts the exhibit as being an indication of proof for a young Earth.
Peroutka has said in the past that the promotion of evolution is an act of “disloyalty” to America.

Institute on the Constitution Pretends to Have an American Club at Calvin College

The Institute on the Constitution is a pro-Confederacy, Christian reconstructionist organization based in Pasadena, MD. Recently, they have promoted clubs in high schools and colleges called American Clubs. IOTC makes the ACs sound like an all-American enterprise but the presentations promote the merger of Christian reconstructionist religious views and civil government. Peroutka teaches that any law not in line with the Bible is not a real law. IOTC also promotes nullification which proposes that states and local jurisdictions can ignore federal laws if officials in the local jurisdictions believe the law to be unconstitutional. They are certainly entitled to their views and apparently these clubs have equal access, but parents should be aware of what the IOTC is bringing to school.
I don’t know how these clubs are being received in schools. There is one in Spanish River High School in FL. And Peroutka recently put pictures on his Facebook page of what he said was a high school in Hudsonville, MI. Other pictures of the same school room had a caption placing the school in nearby Grand Rapids.  While in Michigan, he also visited Calvin College and according to his Facebook page said an American Club had been established. However, according to Calvin College representatives, there is no approved American Club on campus. A group of students heard a talk but there is no officially recognized club at Calvin College.
That fact hasn’t stopped IOTC from using the picture of the Calvin College students as a promotional picture on their website for the American Clubs. See below:

Now compare this picture with the Facebook picture of the Calvin College group. They are the same.
In a way, it is fitting that IOTC is pretending that the Calvin group is a club. IOTC pretends to be a pro-American group when in fact Peroutka is a former board member of the League of the South, a group that advocates for the South to secede from the nation and set up a white Southern homeland. Senior instructor David Whitney at IOTC is the chaplain of the VA/MD branch of IOTC. Peroutka called the Confederate army the real American army in a op-ed on the IOTC website. Articles on the IOTC website justify discrimination and Southern slavery and attack Lincoln. As with the picture, there is a lot of pretending going on.
 
 

Institute on the Constitution Promotes Indoctrination of Students; Calvin College Has an American Club?

At least that is what this Institute on the Constitution’s Facebook post says:

Founder of the neo-Confederate Institute on the Constitution, Michael Peroutka, is here speaking to high school students in Hudsonville, MI. Watch the video below:

Post by Institute on the Constitution.

 
 
Post by Institute on the Constitution.
Peroutka tells the students that the American view is based on a biblical view of law and government. He then sets up a straw man by contrasting what he considers to be the biblical view with the pagan view of law and government. He says you can call it socialist or communist, but it is the view which is marked by teaching evolution.  He says this kind of government will give you health care, retirement and “put an RFID chip in your wrist to, we want to know where you are all the time.” The contrast drawn by Peroutka is apparently designed to scare the kids into buying into his Christian reconstructionist view of government. They look a little bored so maybe very little of the stuff is getting through.
About two weeks ago, I wrote about how Liberty University’s Liberty Counsel plans to defend the IOTC’s American clubs in public schools. It seems clear from a review of the IOTC Facebook page that Peroutka and staff are serious about starting these clubs in local schools.
While in Michigan, Peroutka apparently stopped in at Calvin College to promote the American Club there. This, to me, is a shocker. I didn’t think there would be a taste among that many students for what Peroutka is selling.

American Clubs Bring Neo-Confederate Institute on the Constitution to Public Schools; Liberty Counsel to Assist

The neo-Confederate Institute on the Constitution wants to come to a school near you.
The IOTC is actively pushing “American Clubs” with materials on their website designed to help students get a club started. Late last year, IOTC was featured at an American Club meeting at Spanish River High School in FL. In the photo to the left, IOTC founder and former board member of the white separatist group the League of the South Michael Peroutka speaks to high school students at Spanish River about the “biblical view” and “pagan view” of government.
And there may be money in high school clubs. Even though the IOTC is not a non-profit, Peroutka asks for donations to support the clubs.
One important organizational skill being taught to students is how to minimize truly controversial subjects. In this letter to the editor of a local paper, a student minimizes the sponsor of the American club by saying that liberals have spoken to the club members. The fact is that the people behind these clubs are members (Michael Peroutka, frequent conference speaker and former board member) and officers (David Whitney, chaplain of the MD/VA branch) in the League of the South a white separatist organization.
The American Club materials claim patriotism, but the views of the IOTC sponsors are frightening and anti-American. For instance, IOTC senior instructor David Whitney recently said citizenship should be restricted to Christians (presumably of his persuasion). On the website, Freedom Outpost, Whitney said:

Loving thy neighbor means protecting their God given rights as Exodus 12:49 commands. That means preserving the structure of civil government from all who would pervert the civil government into an agency of legalized plunder, whereby the God given rights of no one would be safe and secure. This means, as we have seen in the commands of Scripture that we restrict citizenship to those who, because they are committed to the Covenant of Disciples of Jesus Christ, are willing to submit themselves to serve in the roles of responsibility in choosing leaders who will preserve God ordained order.

Catch the double-speak? According to Whitney, we love our neighbors by taking away their citizenship rights. We have to preserve civil government from the unwashed masses who are incapable of participation because they aren’t Christians. Rather, we need Whitney’s elite Christian aristocracy to “preserve God ordained order.” These are truly chilling words and even more so when you understand that IOTC wants to bring this approach to your schools.
In his article, Whitney focuses on his dominionist dreams. Peroutka has expressed wishes for a Confederate past. In addition to his service to the segregationist League of the South, in his article about the Fourth of July, Peroutka laments that the wrong side won the Civil War. He calls the Confederate army “American soldiers” and says the Confederates were fighting to “defend and preserve an American way of life.”
Peroutka and Whitney should just be honest and call their clubs Confederate Clubs.
Given that Peroutka and Whitney want to discuss the Constitution and their peculiar view of the American founding, it might be possible for a school to refuse an application because the subject matter of the club is well within the school’s curriculum. I don’t see how this club could be considered a non-curricular club.
However, schools might be reluctant to refuse an application because Liberty Counsel has stepped up to support the IOTC effort to spread the Confederate view and Christian reconstructionism in our schools. What a team.