Rebutting Presumptions

Numbers 15:30, "But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people."

Deuteronomy 17:13, "And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously."

Psalms 19:13, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

This article is meant to help you when you're confronted by presumptions or accusations. You'll know what it's based on, and it's based on natural reason. Unless it's an unrebuttable presumption where, in fact, you have committed evil, and there's a witness. But we're confronted with rebuttable presumptions every day and we probably don't know it because we're trained to answer the good officer's questions. We've already been conditioned with a response.

Presumptions are something that the natural man has created. The natural man comes up with a presumptions and they cast a burden on you to prove otherwise. The natural man presumes evil, and those who presume evil where there is no evil, they are wicked men. You either serve Christ or you serve man, and that's why man will presume evil because that's what they involve themselves in, and that's all they see. Until you bring the Light of the Word to them and shine the light on them, and that does away with the evil if what you bring to them is the truth. The only way you're going to be able to rebut their presumption is to bring the Sword of the Word to them, to bring the Truth to them. That is the only thing which will overcome wickedness, and that's our duty.

Here's a typical definition of presumption:

Presumptions: "A Presumption is but a rule of procedure used to supply wants of facts and its only effect is to cast burden on opposite party of going forward with proof." Chechy v. City of Hamtrunk, Mich. 170 NW 2nd 58.

This all stems out of reason. And the reason they do that is because everyone is in the world (not necessarily of the world) and when we're in the world we are in tribulation, and this is part of the tribulation; the natural man presuming evil.

A typical example of a presumptuous question would be something like, "Have you beaten your wife lately?" Either a "yes" or "no" answer is bad. This question "presumes" you have beaten your wife already. If you answer "yes," you admit guilt. If you answer "No," you still admit to having beat your wife, just not lately. Their presumptuous questions steer your mind to the answers they want. In scripture, you don't find where God asks a leading question.

Government

The foundation of the natural man presuming evil is right out of scripture. This verse may also shed a little light on what government is. Sometimes we're accused of "despising governments" because we speak about how evil the government is, they say we're not supposed to do this because of:

2 Peter 2:10, "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities."

The modern Church says, between Romans 13 and 2 Peter 2:9-10, we're to obey the government, because if we don't we're despising government. But they forget the government is on Christ's shoulder according to the Word that they profess to believe (Isaiah 9:6) But what's interesting here, in 2 Peter 2:10, is when you go to the word "government" in the original Greek, it is "kuriotes." In Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary, kuriotes means "Lord and Mighty One." The word is peculiar to New Testament and Patristic Greek, and denotes the kingly glory of Christ."

So, those that say, "Well, you're not supposed to despise government," yes, they're right. But we're talking about Christ's government, not the secular government. And those that despise Christ's government are presumptuous and self-willed and not afraid to speak evil of dignities. And we see that every day with this so-called government which says God has no place in their world.

If we compare scripture with scripture, 2 Peter 2:10 is very similar to Jude 1:8,

Jude 1:8, "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities."

The Greek word "dominion" here is the same Greek word for "government" in 2 Peter 2:10. And notice the word "dignities" in these verses Both the words "government" and "dignities" refer to spiritual powers, and this is confirmed in the verse immediately following Jude 1:8. Notice verse 9 refers to angels and angelic powers. So, these verses are referring to those who despise spiritual powers.

To be able to rebut their presumptions, we have to be without spot (2 Peter 3:14). And there's only one way; through the blood of Christ. Even though you are unspotted from the world and have repented from your previous ways, it doesn't matter to the natural man, because he presumes evil all the time. And this is written right in his law, he fully shows you that he's going to presume evil.

Greenleaf on Evidence is one of the leading books on evidence. It states: "The opinion of individuals once entertained and expressed and the state of mind once proved to exist are presumed to remain unchanged until the contrary appears. " Sleeper v. Middlesworth, 4d 431.

And "when the contrary appears" is when you rebut their presumption. It says the court designated this presumption as one "against any sudden change in the moral as well as the mental and social condition of man."

So, he's looking at everyone as though they are the natural man until evidence to the contrary is presented. And that has to do with rebutting their presumptions.

"Rebut means to overcome, to contradict, to persuade or convince to the contrary." Bueller v. Madison, 166 P.2nd 205.

The Examples of Christ Jesus

Now, our Master, Christ Jesus rebutted many presumptions, and whenever we do these things, we always have to look to him, because he is our example. Here's a couple of the presumptions he rebutted, and it deals with the Pharisees and Sadducees because they always presumed evil, due to their natural reason, they were all "reasoning together."

In Matthew 12:23-28, they made a presumption that Jesus was casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Jesus rebutted this presumption with the Truth in question format. By asking them a question, you shift the burden from yourself to the intruder. In this case, Jesus rebutted their presumption with the following two question:

Matthew 12:26-27, "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?"

That's how we rebut their presumptions, you bring the Sword of the Word to bear down on them. A presumption is a lie to begin with, and the natural man admits that when he says it's a burden they put on people. And the only way to rebut a lie is to bring the truth, and the only place you find the truth is in the Word of God.

In Luke 20:1-8 and Matthew 21:23-27, the Pharisees asked Jesus, "By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" (Matthew 21:23). That was their presumption of evil because they already had in their mind that he was casting out devils by Beelzebub. By asking this question, the Pharisees passed the ball in Jesus' court. How did Jesus rebut their presumption? With another question! Now the ball is in their court, and the burden is upon them now. This is how Jesus responded after the Pharisees asked him their question:

Matthew 21:24-25, "And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?"

Then the Pharisees "reasoned" with themselves, trying to figure out how to answer Jesus. If they answered "from heaven," they feared Jesus would ask them, "then why didn't you believe him?" And if they answered "from men," they feared being stoned to death by the people because the people believed John was a prophet from God. So what did the Pharisees say to Jesus?

Matthew 21:27, "And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things."

The Pharisees could not give an answer! So they lost by default. Their own presumptuous question (evil intent) was destroyed by another question (placing the burden upon them instead) that brought the Truth to them and exposed their hypocrisy.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Jesus rebutted with the Word of God every time. And that's what we must do. By doing that, you not only honour the father, but you glorify him to the natural man. By expressing the hope that is in us, we glorify the Father.

Some may ask how one can rebut presumptions from an evil government, such as from Nazi Germany. Well, in Nazi Germany, when the storm troopers demanded someone to turn over to them the Jews that are hiding in their house, one could have replied with a question such as, “What's a Jew?” And after the Nazi's describe a Jew to them, they could have told them that they have nobody fitting that description in their home (for everything they say would be all presumptions). Or, another possible reply would be to ask the Nazi's, “What makes you think there are any Jews here?” This places the burden upon them. If they search the house and found so-called Jews in their home, there was no way the Nazi's could prove they were Jews (unless the Jews rendered to Caesar that which is not Caesar's). One cannot tell they are a "Jew" just by their outward appearance, for this is presumptuous. The Nazi's can ask them for their papers, but they can show them the scriptures! "These are my papers, Leutenant," and then proceed to tell them who they are according to the Word of God.

"Testimony by a witness in court in response to a question as to his own status, for example age, legitimacy, nationality, is closely related to the subject of pedigree declaration (pedigree has to do with animals, so they're looking for the human being). A person cannot know these facts except from hearsay information, for he cannot even be informed of these facts until an appreciative time after his birth." People v. Rath, 115 Ca.132.

So, your birth place, birth date, your family name, etc. are all hearsay information of where you come from. They are all presumptions, and they want you to confirm those presumptions. And you avoid confirming those presumptions and you rebut that with the Word of God. When someone wants to identify you, you tell them who you are according to the Words of God; how He has described you, and not how the world would like you to be described.

1 Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

In 1 Corinthians 2:14, God has distinguished that not everyone is the same. The natural man is not the same as the child of God. So don't believe that we are all the same, that we're all human beings. The phrase, "We're only human" is very popular, but that's promoted to convince everybody that everyone is the same. They're always looking for sameness. That's what the law of identification is, it has to do with sameness. that's why they're always looking for your name, and address, etc. If you have all those things, you are like everyone else, you're a human being, a natural person, and you're subject to their jurisdiction. He wants to see if you'll give recognition to all of the fictions out there; the name of a street, city, county, etc. that they create.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says "all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." That's what they're looking for because those are their own creation. A name is something given by those in authority to those in subjection to that authority. So, when the natural man creates something, such as a 14th amendment citizen, he has a particular definition of that, and if you fit that definition, you are one of his because you are one of his creations. Minimum contacts establish jurisdiction too, and what we have to do is shed all these things, and when they come to you with their presumptions, we have to rebut their presumptions.

The attitude these bureaucrats take is "Well, we're just doing our job." But at some point they're going to have to recognize the truth. What you're doing, are you doing it for truth or are you doing it for another purpose? Because you get paid for it? If you're doing it just because you get paid for it, you're a heathen because you're doing it for the purposes of mammon, of money.

And remember, ignorance of the law is no excuse:

"It is stated frequently that everyone is conclusively presumed to know the law." Holland v. Atlantic Stevendoor & Co. 210 Aff'd. 129, 205 NYS 397.