Godk Monopo~ of Execution 125 Christians that there was something sinister about the Old Testa- ment’s specified mode of execution, then we should not be surprised to discover that humanistic concepts  ofjutice, including economic justice, have also become influential in the thinking of Christians. Christians have voluntarily transferred their allegiance from the in- fallible Old Testament to contemporary God-hating and God-deny- ing criminologists and economists. They have traded their birthright for a mess of pottage – or, given the nature of modern criminology’s propaganda, for a pot of message. Conclusion That God has delegated this right to execute to the civil govern- ment indicates that this institution has legitimate power. It can pro- tect men from kidnapping, a capital crime (Ex.  21:16). It can also protect men from the spread of disease, especially killer diseases, by means of imposing a quarantine  (Num. 5:1-4; Lev. 13-15). The  police power of the State is to serve as one of the foundations of social stability. It thereby permits men to apply time and capital to their callings. It offers legal predictabilip, which is vital to the flourishing of personal freedom and economic development. Most important, the right of the civil government to take a man’s life under specified conditions is apt to remind men of the ultimate Judge who gives the  gtit of life, but who also retains the right to remove life from those who rebel against Him. The civil government’s monopoly of execution testifies to God’s absolute hostility against sin, especially the sin of striking out against God’s own image. This is an extremely important point.  Man’s life is to be pro- tected, not because each man possesses a hypothetical absolute and original right of ownership over his own person (the fundamental assertion of most libertarian and  anarcho-capitalist  theoreticians), but because God is absolutely sovereign and the absolute owner of all things, including men. He will not permit His image, man, to be mortally wounded without imposing a form of judgment which, in time and on earth, is analogous to that final judgment beyond the grave. Peter speaks of “the grace of life” (I Pet. 3:7); to destroy human life is to reject grace. Murderers have no place in God’s in- heritance (Gal.  5:21; Rev. 21:8).