Commentary: Nothing is Truly Secret

Secrecy Does Not Avoid Judgement
#1141c
Martin G. Collins
Given 02-Feb-13; 12 minutes

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Former President John F. Kennedy said,

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

There were secrets, unanswered questions and confusion surrounding his own brutal assassination, so much so that his own son doubted the official U.S. conclusion and quietly launched his own inquiries and investigation. His son’s own premature and suspicious death was surrounded by secrecy, unanswered questions and confusion. We may never know the truth behind the secrets.

Now, we are not stupid. We know that big government, big corruption, and big secrecy always walk hand-in-hand through one presidential administration after another. We have all heard the truism, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And so the U.S. Government continues to behave like a secret society in and of itself. It functions increasingly behind a thick veil of secrecy.

You remember the Waco massacre, the Ruby Ridge murder, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, the Columbine shooting, the Virginia Tech massacre, the Aurora shooting, and the Sandy Hook shooting. All of them were surrounded by secrets, unanswered questions and confusion—and we know who the author of confusion is. It is not God. God is not the author of confusion, but Satan is, and so is human nature

It's virtually impossible to find the truth in Washington these days. The ongoing investigation of the Benghazi massacre is a prime example of a whitewash. Not surprisingly, the government’s commission on Benghazi is basically declaring itself free of blame for the tragedy. More secrets! Not only is that scary, but even more terrifying is that the government is altering the facts and clouding the likelihood and true severity of impending national and international crises.

If the American people cannot find out exactly what their elected officials are up to, then their elected officials are likely to be up to no good. After all, their elected officials have been found to be the least trustworthy people in the nation, as surveys and polls show, especially about Congress.

I’m sure you remember Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s comment about ObamaCare: “You will just have to wait until it is passed to find out what’s in it.” We chuckle at that, but it is a very sad thing. She publicly told us that it is full of secrets!

Roughly 854,000 people presently hold top secret security clearances in the U.S. More ominous still, 33 building complexes have been constructed in (and around) the Capital Beltway over the last 11 years for “top secret” use. According to the U.S. Information Security Oversight Office, the number of new secrets rose 75% from 1996 to 2009. Over the same period, the number of documents referring to those secrets skyrocketed by a factor of nearly 10—from 5.6 million to 54.7 million. The United States presently has over 2.3 million national secrets, designated as such by the government over the last 10 years, some of which are Presidential Executive Orders.

Executive Order Number 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An "emergency czar" was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies. The bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to ensure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic. Some people have referred to FEMA as the "secret government" of the United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars.

This government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress. It has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant, and hold them without trial. It can seize property, food supplies, energy supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution during a “national emergency.” No one and no group should have that much absolute power.

What about “derivatives” of original U.S. secrets? What is a ‘derivative’? Any rephrasing, restating, or paraphrasing of an existing secret is deemed to be a ‘derivative’ of the original secret. In 2011, official government records indicate the existence of 92 million derivatives of original secrets.

Did you know that nearly every U.S. citizen alive today commits several felonies a day without even knowing it? Harvey A. Silverglate reveals the secrecy in which laws are established in the U.S. in his book, Three Felonies a Day. As the book's description states,

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague.

In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior.

Is not that what we are seeing in the news today, where they arrest somebody, and want to fine them or imprison them for saving a deer, or the many other things we see on the news that are absolutely absurd and ridiculous.

Thankfully, God says He will judge the secrets of men. The righteous judgment of God is an essential ingredient of the gospel Paul preached. He wrote,

Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law

Romans 2:16 . . . in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

In this passage, God is seen as the Creator and Sovereign of the universe, conducting the moral government of His human creation. God's absolute standards are known. God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous impartially according to their works, which reveal the motives of their hearts. Paul’s emphasis is on the righteous justice of God's judgment.

God is often represented as the Judge of mankind. But this does not affect the fact that He will do it by Jesus Christ. God has appointed His Son to administer judgment, and it will be not by God directly, but by Jesus Christ that it will be administered. The certainty of divine judgment is emphasized by the words “God will judge.” But the Agent of divine judgment is Jesus Christ.

This judgment will deal with men's secrets (literally, "the hidden things of men") and will reveal those things and prove that God's judgment is right and correct and accurate and impartial.

Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

The phrase “the secrets of men” in Romans 2:16 is an expression that means the hidden desires, lusts, passions, and motives of people; the thoughts of the heart, as well as the outward actions of a person’s life. The secret motives of the evil powers behind the scenes are known by God. They are getting away with nothing, no matter how many secrets they may have, even though they are in the millions.

This will be a characteristic of the day of judgment, that all these will be brought out in the open and receive their appropriate reward. It is by these that one’s character is really determined. The motives, thoughts and actions of a person constitute his character, and it is necessary to know these things in order to judge him impartially, and only God knows the heart.

People of immoral motives, people of unprincipled character, and who are corrupt at heart, are often applauded, flattered, and exalted into public admiration. But God promises that their secret motivations will eventually be exposed. All secret thoughts and plans will be brought into judgment. People should tremble at the idea that the secret plans and desires of their human nature, which they have diligently concealed for a long time, will be brought out into the light of day in the judgment. All their deceptions of concealment will be there at an end. They will not be able to deceive anyone any longer. They will be seen as they are; and they will receive the punishment they deserve. To execute this judgment implies having the power of searching the heart; of knowing the thoughts; and of understanding all the motives and plans of the mind. God entrusts this to Jesus Christ.

People of pure motives and pure hearts are often falsely accused. They are persecuted, criticized, and often overwhelmed with humiliation. It is right that the secret motives of their conduct are brought out, approved, and rewarded by God. Here is the final word on the subject, brought to us by God’s inspired written Word:

Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

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