How Did We Get It?
The Bible: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” (Psalm 33:12).
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34).
“All nations which forgot God shall be turned into hell.” (Psalm 9:17b)
-
- Our Founding Documents:
- America Christian Roots -1492 – Columbus saw his voyage as fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that the heathen would turn to the true God: “It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) to sail to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures…Our Lord Jesus Christ desired to perform a very obvious miracle in the voyage to the Indies…”[1]
- Pilgrim Spiritual Covenant in England -1606
- The Mayflower Compact – 1620- signed by passengers before landing- “In the Name of God, and by the grace of God…Having undertaken, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith…”
- Our Pilgrim Forefathers – 1622 – History of the Plymouth Plantation by Governor Bradford: “Being thus arrived in a good harbor…they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven who brought them over the…furious ocean…What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His Grace…Praise the Lord because He is good, and His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 107).
- New England Confederation -1643- “We all came into these parts of America, with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[2]
- Old Deluder Satan Law – 1647- was the first law for public education. If you had 50 families in a community, you had to begin a public school, and teach the Bible. They said that the Devil’s number one objective was to keep people from knowing the Bible for themselves – keep them ignorant.[3]
- The Great Awakening – 1726-1742-. “During the 1730s and 1740s, a major revival swept through many of the colonies. This Great Awakening helped to bond the disparate colonies and united them in one spirit. It reinforced the vital importance of the Bible in the life of the Americans of that era. Ellis Sandoz, who heads the Eric Voegelin Institute at Louisiana State University, affirms… “Liberty thundered forth from colonial pulpits…and ignited the War for Independence.”[4]
- Declaration of Independence – 1776 (America’s Birth Certificate) – “That all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- New England Primer (c.1700-1850) Had the “Shorter Catechism” with the Ten Commandments, Bible history, doctrine, and prayer. Sold 3 million copies. Most widely read in America for about 100 years.
Had 10 Commandments put to rhyme:
You shall have no more gods before Me
Before no idols bend your knee
Take not the name of God in vain
Dare not the Sabbath day profane
Give both your parents honor due
Take heed that you no murder do
Abstain from words and deed unclean
Steal not, though you be poor and maim
Make not a willful lie, nor love it
What is your neighbors do not covet.[5]
-
- The Constitution of The 50 States – All 50 in their preambles acknowledge that God is their course of liberty and protectors.
- The First Seven Colleges (Ivy League)
- Harvard (1636) – Motto: “Veritas for Christ and the Church”
- Yale (1701)- Motto: “Light and Truth”
- Princeton (1746 – Motto: “Under God she flourishes”
- Columbia University – (King’s College – (1754) Motto: “In Thy light, we see the light”
- Brown (1764) – Motto: “In God we hope”
- Rutgers (1766) – Motto: “Sun of righteousness, shine on the west also”
- Dartmouth (1769) – Motto: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness”
The Voices of Our Founding Fathers:
- President Washington (1789) – “…it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor…I recommend to the people of the US a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.”
- Patrick Henry – “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
- John Q. Adams – “The highest glory of the American Revolution was that, it connected into one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
- Daniel Webster – “Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers…sought to incorporate and infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political and literary.”
- Thomas Jefferson – “Christianity is the best religion on earth because it is the only religion which changes the heart.”
- Andrew Jackson – “The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
- Chief Justice Earl Warren – “I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing the good book- talking about the Bible- and the spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding genius – the first charter of Virginia, or charter of New England, charter of Mass Bay, or the fundamental orders of Conn., the same objective is present: a Christian land governed by Christian principles.
How Have We Been Losing It?
-
- Analogy of the Frog – Put a frog in cold water, turn up the heat slowly, the frog will boil to death gradually, not realizing what is happening. Our country is gradually boiling to death, and the vast majorities of Americans do not seem to realize what is happening and are doing nothing. “The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke).
- The Myth of the Separation of Church and State by misinterpreting the First Amendment. “Separation of Church and State” not found in any of our founding documents. “1802, letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists who were concerned about the dominance of the Congregational Church. Jefferson quoted a famous Baptist minister Roger Williams, stating that there should be a hedge built between the church and state, but it related to denominations, not keeping God out of Government. It was not meant to keep religion out of the public square of ideas, but to keep the state from forcing religion, which is where they came from.”[6]
- The War Against Christianity in America –The start of the war can be traced to a landmark event in 1947 when Justice Hugo Black gave a decision that was actually written by lawyers of the ACLU.[7] It stated, “There would be a wall of separation between church and state.”[8]
- Charles Darwin (1859 – On the Origin of Species; 1871 – The Descent of Man) “There is no evidence that man was aboriginally endowed with the ennobling belief in the existence of an omnipotent God.” 1776 – It is self-evident that there is no God – 1871 – It is evident that there is not God.”[9]
- Humanist Manifesto – (1933-1934) – No Creator, No God – given moral absolutes. Within a generation (1933-1961) secular humanism taught in public schools and universities.
- Revision of American History to remove the facts of our religious beginning.
- The Outrageous Decisions of 9 Unelected Supreme Court Judges
- Atheism (1961) (as a religion) protected by the law.
- Prayer (1963) banned in school.
- Abortion (1973) the unborn no longer are protected under the constitution – Up to date, we have killed over 50 million babies. That is 3,000 yesterday, 3,000 today and 3,000 tomorrow. Unborn babies who never had committed a crime, never had anyone accuse them of a crime, never had a jury, never had due process, and were given capital punishment.[10]
“Illustration: Not so long ago, a father went into the delivery room, and took his newborn child in his hands and dashed that baby against the walls of that hospital delivery room, and snuffed out the life of that baby. Do you know what they did to that father? They arrested him and charged him with murder, and well they should have. But, irony of ironies, only a few hours prior to that, a doctor could have been paid for killing the same baby. Now, tell me, my dear friend, where is the logic in that? In America, four thousand three hundred pre-born babies will legally be put to death under the protection of the Supreme Court in an average day. And, ninety-seven percent of those abortion will be abortions for convenience.” [11]
- 10 Commandments (1980) banned in public.
- Teaching Creationism (1987) banned in public schools
- How Can We Get It Back
- Wake Up – “Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty” (Abraham Lincoln).
- Stay Informed
- “Silent Pulpits” Speak Out – PTA, School Board
- Humble Ourselves – Pray, Repent – (2 Chron. 7:14)
- Write Your Congressman
- Vote – Principle over Party – Morals over Money
- Serve in Public Office if God calls
- What Is My Individual Responsibility?
- If I fail, And America Falls, Am I A Traitor?
IT’S BETTER TO LIGHT ONE CANDLE THAN TO CURSE THE DARKNESS
Edward Everett Hale (US author, clergyman, 1822-1909)
“I am only one, BUT STILL I AM ONE. I cannot do everything, BUT STILL I CAN DO SOMETHING. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”[12]
[1] Dr. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcomb, What if Jesus Had Never Been Born, Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, 1994, p. 76.
[2] Josh Franklin, Sermon, “America’s Godly Heritage”, p.3
[3] Ibid. p. 3
[4] Dr. James Kennedy, p.65-66.
[5] Josh Franklin, . p. 7
[6] Ibid. p. 8
[7] Dr. D. James Kennedy, sermon, “The ACLU and Hugo Black,” April 2, 2004
[8] Pat Robinson, Courting Disaster (Nashville: Integrity Publishers, 2004)
[9] Josh Franklin, p. 8
[10] Ibid. p. 9
[11] Ibid. p. 10
[12] Ibid. p. 13