Comprehending laws and contracts is impossible, unless we first learn the meaning of the words and phrases they contain.

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Post by notmartha » Sat May 13, 2017 5:23 am

The word “treason” is getting thrown around a lot lately. Many, including Keith Olbermann, are calling DJT guilty of “treason” and Alex Jones is turning around and accusing Keith Olbermann of the same crime. So what does treason mean, and are either guilty of it?


KJV References

Qesher, Hebrew Strong’s #7195, is used 5 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as conspiracy (9), treason (5), confederacy (2). It is translated as “treason” in the following verses:
1 Kings 16:20 - Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
2 Kings 11:14 - And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.

2 Chronicles 23:13 - And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.
Anti-Thought Control Dictionary, Ben Williams

CONTROLLED MEANING: The betrayal of one's country. To sympathize with, or give aid and support to an enemy of one's country.

CORRECT MEANING: The betrayal of government. To sympathize with, or give aid and support to an enemy of the government.

Government wants us to think that treason is against "the country" (the land and people), but in fact it is against "the government." Government and country are two different things. A government is a pack of political conspirators conquering and controlling a country. Betrayal of government is not betrayal of the country. To oppose government is to support the country. "Rebellion (treason) to tyrants is obedience to God." (Thomas Jefferson)

Treason implies treachery, deceit, breach of faith. Such an offense would require that a basis for trust had existed in the first place. Residency, alone, does not automatically assume a basis for trust between the resident and the government in power. Some explicit form of commitment or trust must exist first ... otherwise betrayal (or treason) is impossible.

Failed rebellions are inevitably labeled "treason" by the government. Successful rebellions are called "government.".
Excerpt from “Statism is Idolatry”, A Sermon by Pastor John Weaver
The basic question for the Christian is this. 'What is treason?' You say, ' but Pastor, you've been talking about idolatry. What in the world does treason have to do with idolatry?' A great deal. What is treason? Is treason unfaithfulness to the State. Or is treason unfaithfulness to God?

I want you to think about something with me. Whenever we use the word 'treason,' we normally think of it in terms of the State or in terms of civil government. But treason to the State, is the concept that has been used down through the ages to destroy the Godly.

Do you remember all of the Christians who were put to death in the Roman Empire? They were not put to death because they were Christians. In Rome, you could believe anything you wanted to believe, just as long as you swore by the genius of Caesar; just as long as you said, 'Caesar is Lord.' Christians were put to death not because they were Christians, but because they were called traitors and treasonous individuals, because they would not swear allegiance to the State.

All down through history, Christians have been put to death because they said, 'Jesus Christ is Lord.' For the Christian, it is idolatry, which above all else, constitutes treason to the social order. We know, and we believe, that God is True and His Word is True. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to God is idolatry; it is treason.

Did you know that the United States Constitution defines treason? In fact, Article 3, section 3, says this: "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Who is the 'them and their'? The states or the people?

What if the enemy of the people and the Christian turns out to be the State; turns traitor against The Law of God--and against its own Constitution? If we as Christians obey the State, or if we obey any government--when that government is guilty of idolatry, and guilty of going contrary to the Word of God, and we obey the government that tells us to go contrary to the Word of God--we become idolaters. And we become partakers with its sin and its punishment.

There is a concept that is around in this country; it's been around down through the ages. It's the concept of Statism. Statism is the idea, that the State or the government is always right. And that the State or government can do no wrong. It was Hegel who said, " The State is God, walking on the earth."

I want you to know that that concept is idolatry, pure and simple. Because it ascribes to man--it ascribes to civil government the Perfections, the Righteousness and the Justice, that belongs to God alone. And anyone that says, "the government can do no wrong or the government is always right," is saying in essence, "government takes the place of God."

God alone, is always Right. God alone, can never do anything unjust and unkind. And so, that particular idea, is idolatry. Government can be an idol just as much as anything else.


Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
TREASON, noun tree'zn. [Latin traho. See Draw and Drag.]

TREASON is the highest crime of a civil nature of which a man can be guilty. Its signification is different in different countries. In general, it is the offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power. In monarchies, the killing of the king, or an attempt to take his life, is treason In England, to imagine or compass the death of the king, or of the prince, or of the queen consort, or of the heir apparent of the crown, is high treason; as are many other offenses created by statute.
In the United States, treason is confined to the actual levying of war against the United States, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

TREASON in Great Britain, is of two kinds, high treason and petit treason High treason is a crime that immediately affects the king or state; such as the offenses just enumerated. Petit treason involves a breach of fidelity, but affects individuals. Thus for a wife to kill her husband, a servant his master or lord, or an ecclesiastic his lord or ordinary, is petit treason But in the United States this crime is unknown; the killing in the latter cases being murder only.
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1856
TREASON, crim. law.
1. This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance. 4 Bl. Com. 75.
2. The constitution of the United States, art. 3, s. 3, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war (q. v.) against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. This offence is punished with death. Act of April 30th, 1790, 1 Story's Laws U. S. 83. By the same article of the constitution, no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. Vide, generally, 3 Story on the Const. ch. 39, p. 667; Serg. on the Const. ch. 30; United States v. Fries, Pamph.; 1 Tucker's Blackst. Comm. Appen. 275, 276; 3 Wils. Law Lect. 96 to 99; Foster, Disc. I; Burr's Trial; 4 Cranch, R. 126, 469 to 508; 2 Dall. R. 246; 355; 1 Dall. Rep. 35; 3 Wash. C. C. Rep. 234; 1 John. Rep. 553 11 Johns. R. 549; Com. Dig. Justices, K; 1 East, P. C. 37 to 158; 2 Chit. Crim. Law, 60 to 102; Arch. Cr. Pl. 378 to 387.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891

The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance: or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power. Webster.

In England, treason is an offense particularly directed against the person of the sovereign, and consists (1) in compassing or imagining the death of the king or queen, or their eldest son and heir: (2) in violating the king's companion, or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king’s eldest son and heir: (3) in levying war against the king in his realm: (4) in adhering to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere, and (5) slaying the chancellor. treasurer, or the king's justices of the one bench or the other, justices in eyre. or justices of assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their offices. 4 Steph. Comm. 185-193: 4 Bl. Comm. 76-84.

“Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” U. S. Const. art. 3, § 3, cl. 1.

TREASON-FEALONY, under the English statute 11 & 12 Vict. c, 12, passed in 1848, is the offense of compassing, devising, etc., to depose her majesty from the crown: or to levy war in order to intimidate either house of parliament, etc., or to stir up foreigners by any printing or writing to invade the kingdom. This offense is punishable with penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, etc., under statutes 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12, § 3: 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, § 2; 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47. § 2. By the statute first above mentioned, the government is enabled to treat as felony many offenses which must formerly have been treated as high treason. Mozley & Whitley.

TREASONABLE. Having the nature or guilt of treason.

The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1895
treason cent.JPG
treason cent.JPG (173.55 KiB) Viewed 1329 times

WEX Legal Dictionary
The offense of betraying one’s own country by attempting to overthrow the government through waging war against the state or materially aiding its enemies. Also termed high treason; alta proditio.
According to the United States Constitution, Article III, § 3, “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
Under federal statute, a person guilty of treason against the United States “shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” 18 U.S.C. § 2381.

“The modern treason statute is 18 U.S.C. § 2381; it basically tracks the language of the constitutional provision. Other provisions of Title 18 criminalize various acts of warmaking and adherence to the enemy. See, e.g., § 32 (destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities), § 2332a (use of weapons of mass destruction), § 2332b (acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries), § 2339A (providing material support to terrorists), § 2339B (providing material support to certain terrorist organizations), § 2382 (misprision of treason), § 2383 (rebellion or insurrection), § 2384 (seditious conspiracy), § 2390 (enlistment to serve in armed hostility against the United States). See also 31 CFR § 595.204 (2003) (prohibiting the ‘making or receiving of any contribution of funds, goods, or services’ to terrorists); 50 U.S.C. § 1705(b) (criminalizing violations of 31 CFR § 595.204).” J. Scalia (dissenting), Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 560–561 (2004).


18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason
Case of Fries (1799), 9 Fed. Cas. 826, 877.

Treason in levying war, by this definition, consists of two sorts. First, marching expressly, or directly against the king's forces: secondly, interpretatively, or obstructively; doing a thing of a general nature. If to pull down a particular inclosure, it is only a riot; but if to pull down all inclosures, it is levying war against the king, because it is generally against the king's laws. Insurrections, in order to throw down all inclosures, to alter the established law or change religion, to enhance the price of all labour or to open all prisons--all risings, in order to effect these innovations, of a public and general concern by an armed force, are, in construction of law, high treason, within the clause of levying war; for though they are not levelled at the person of the king, they are against his royal majesty, and besides, they have a direct tendency to dissolve all the bands of society, and so destroy all property and all government too, by numbers and an armed force."

Lysander Spooner – No Treason 1 ... -no-i-1867

Lysander Spooner – No Treason 2 ... ution-1867

Lysander Spooner – No Treason 6 ... ority-1870


"A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers," Jonathan Mayhew, 1750
To say that subjects in general are not proper judges when their governors oppress them, and play the tyrant; and when they defend their rights, administer justice impartially, and promote the public welfare, is as great treason as ever man uttered;--'tis treason,--not against one single man, but the state--against the whole body politic;--'tis treason against mankind;--'tis treason against common sense;--'tis treason against God. And this impious principle lays the foundation for justifying all the tyranny and oppression that ever any prince was guilty of. The people know for what end they set up, and maintain, their governors; and they are the proper judges when they execute their trust as they ought to do it;--when their prince exercises an equitable and paternal authority over them;--when from a prince and common father, he exalts himself into a tyrant--when from subjects and children, he degrades them into the class of slaves;--plunders them, makes them his prey, and unnaturally sports himself with their lives and fortunes.
Sir John Harrington:
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
...I know not what treason is, if sapping and betraying the liberties of a people be not treason...

George Eliot:
There is a mercy which is weakness, and even treason against the common good.
Theodore Roosevelt:
Ezra Pound:
Sovereignty inheres in the right to issue money. And the American sovereignty belongs by right to the people, and their representatives in Congress have the right to issue money and to determine the value thereof. And 120 million, 120 million suckers have lamentably failed to insist on the observation of this quite decided law. ... Now the point at which embezzlement of the nation's funds on the part of her officers becomes treason can probably be decided only by jurists, and not by hand-picked judges who support illegality.
Alexander Hamilton:
The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law. The person of the King of Great Britain is sacred and inviolable: There is no constitutional tribunal to which he is amenable, no punishment to which he can be subjected without involving the crisis of a national revolution.
Thomas Jefferson:
Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.
Patrick Henry:
It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. ... Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things, which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. ... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
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