God N America

 Several years ago, I asked a Mexican-American about Cinco de Mayo. He told me it was a day that Mexicans had parties. When I asked why they partied, he did not know it was a yearly celebration to remember Mexico’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 during the Franco-Mexican War. While most Americans know that July 4 is the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, the gravities of the occasion are slipping away.

 

On June 28, 1776, the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. The Declaration of Independence was written by the “Committee of Five,” which consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson was the primary author, and Adams was its most vocal proponent. The document stated the principles for which the colonies separated from Great Britain. Less than a week later, Congress officially adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. It was later signed on August 2, 1776.

 

I used to think that Americans grew tired of paying taxes to the King and decided to start their nation. Unjust taxation is the seventeenth grievance of the twenty-seven listed in the Declaration of Independence. I thought that a radical group of men went to a tavern somewhere in New England, drank a few rounds of beer, and decided enough was enough. Not so. Those men we call “Founders and Framers” of our country were devout Christian men influenced by the Great Awakening. Many of them were relatively young men at the time of the Declaration and had been influenced by some of the great Pastors of their youth. Those clergymen had searched the scriptures and determined that unjust, tyrannical government was not from God and it was the duty of God-fearing men to resist despotism.

 

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress agreed with John Hancock, concurring in late 1774 when he said, “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual…Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” As a result, the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence did so with a “firm reliance on Providence” as they put their “lives fortunes, and sacred honor” on the king’s chopping block.

 

Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776. On July 8, 1776, a 2,000-pound copper-and-tin bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, rang out from the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) tower in Philadelphia, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon. The Bell still contains the inscription, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof (Leviticus 25:10),” which went unnoticed during the Revolutionary War. By the 19th century, it became a rallying cry for abolitionists, who first referred to the bell as the “Liberty Bell” in 1835. That name was widely adopted later.

 

On July 21, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote her husband, John, with this report:

Last Thursday, after hearing a very good Sermon, I went with the Multitude into Kings Street to hear the proclamation for independence read and proclaimed…When Col. Crafts read from the Balcony of the State House the Proclamation, great attention was given to every word. As soon as he ended, the cry from the Balcony was God Save Our American States….

 

John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and Congressional Secretary, Charles Thomson, signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Most of the rest signed it on August 2, 1776. When Hancock was the first to sign and purportedly said, “The price on my head just doubled.”

 

Signing this Declaration of Independence was an act of treason. You know that the end of traitors is death if they are unsuccessful in their insurrections. While we celebrate on this side of July 4, 1776, those men solemnly signed the document in silence, knowing they could die for inscribing their names. Some say that Benjamin Franklin tried to break the tension by saying, “We must hang together, or most assuredly, we will hang separately.”

 

In contemplating the effect that separation from England would have on him personally, John Adams wrote:

If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do live, let me have a country, and that, a free country!

 

Two days before Congress officially approved the Declaration, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, on July 2, 1776:

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

 

When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he stated, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”

 

I hope you see that Independence Day is more significant than we usually remember. The Declaration was the culmination of years of abuse by the King of England and the determination to take back God-given, unalienable rights that had been unlawfully and unscripturally stripped from Americans. The Declaration was not only a political document, but it was also a spiritual one as it slapped the Head of the English Church in the face with:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. . .”

 

I get a little misty when I think of the courage and sacrifices of our forefathers as they knowingly laid down their lives for their posterity – us! I am ashamed to see how far we have drifted from their intentions for our nation. Remembering their boldness and fortitude also stirs mine. I hope this little nostalgia keeps you on task regarding the tyranny before us today. It is our 1776!

 

Let’s Keep The Light of Declaring Independence from Oppression Burning!

 

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Every so often in my morning devotionals, I get an idea for an article.

When I read the words of David in Psalm 70 I could not help but think of America. Yes, David is praying for relief from his adversaries, but so is America. Let’s read Psalm 70 (NKJV) and as we do, let’s read it as though America. The once God-fearing nation is speaking to God.

The heading reads: To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance. Then the Psalm starts:

Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord!

² Let them be ashamed and confounded
Who seek my life;
Let them be turned back and confused
Who desire my hurt.
³ Let them be turned back because of their shame,
Who say, “Aha, aha!” [an expression of scorn]

⁴ Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”

⁵ But I am poor and needy;
Make haste to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.

 

Countries have lifespans, as do people, churches, and businesses. Most republics last about 200 years, and America has slightly exceeded that limit, but we are on the way out unless God intervenes dramatically. He is the One to raise and remove nations.

 

Looking back in history, you see the rise and fall of great empires like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greeks, and the Romans. Great Britain was once large and powerful, and the world said that the “sun never set on the British Empire.” Today it is a mere shadow of its former greatness.

 

America is following the same destructive course. Our Forefathers saw us as a “city set on a hill which cannot be hidden,” which attracted the world’s attention. The expression is from Matthew 5:14, as Jesus described His disciples as the world’s light.

 

This scripture was cited at the end of Puritan John Winthrop‘s lecture, “A Model of Christian Charity,” which he delivered on March 21, 1630, at Holyrood Church in Southampton before his first group of Massachusetts Bay colonists embarked on the ship Arbella to settle Boston. 

 

Winthrop warned his fellow Puritans that their new community would be “as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us,” meaning that if the Puritans failed to uphold their covenant with God, all the world would see. Winthrop said:

“So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”

 

America has broken its covenant with God, and one does not have to look further than the evening news to see it. The corruption of our current Regime with its illegal ties to China and the lack of justice show that America has gone far from God. Then there is the flagrant immorality, as a “slap in the face” of God. I am sure you can cite numerous other examples.

 

When churches or nations go too far, God gives them up to the evil desires of their hearts. In Romans 1, Paul states three times that God gives people up to their wickedness when they reject and renounce Him.

 

The enemies of God and America have attacked the nation through subtlety and infiltration to lead sheep to the slaughter. Our corrupt government has methodically stripped away the power of the people. Marxist officials, elected or appointed, have removed God from the public square and opened a floodgate for evil to enter.

 

America cries out to God for deliverance, to our God, who is the only source of help. To obtain His help, we must repent and return to His will, a sickening thought to many modern Americans who determined for their will to be done, not God’s.

 

We are in a fight for the soul or life of America, and we do not have time to waste. Our repentance must bring us back to the founding principles of the nation, which includes a “firm reliance on Providence.”

 

What if we allow the Regime to level the “city set on a hill?” Not only will America be lost, but so will all nations on earth. America has been the light of liberty to the world, and if we extinguish that light, the darkness of slavery will cover the world.

 

The naïve think that it will be a livable world without liberty. Why do you suppose so many people risk life and limb to come to the land of freedom and opportunity? If life without liberty is so grand, why don’t they stay home and enjoy it? The World Economic Forum has said that by 2030 we will own nothing and be happy about it. The oligarchy will hold everything, including us, and we will subsist on scraps.

 

Too often, we want the blessings of God without the presence of God. We have enjoyed the fruit of our Forefathers’ faith, but we have not counted the cost of the benefits of liberty. We have wanted “something for nothing.” God does not even offer His eternal salvation on the cross without a proper response from people, and He requires biblical faith on our part. Why do we assume we are entitled to the blessings of life and liberty if we are negligent and unwilling to count their cost?

 

The only hope for the world is America, and the only hope for America is God. We need God in America and Americans. Maybe we are “too little, too late,” but God has a way of giving us victory when we are in the greatest danger.

 

Go back to Psalm 70, read it, and pray as one under duress from enemies. Then go back and pray it again as the nation of America which is clearly under attack from the evil one and his cohorts.

 

Keep The Light of God’s Deliverance Burning!

 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 

So begins our Declaration of Independence, which Congress approved on July 4, 1776. That sacred document did not leap out of a vacuum. Men with intentionality and foresight created and approved the Declaration of Independence. It is a profound document and exists as the birth certificate of American liberty and government. For a full reading of the Declaration go to this link: https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/doi_reading.html.

 

I am in awe of the men who made our bold Declaration almost 250 years ago. What courage they had! What wisdom and foresight! They knew human nature, and they knew the word of God. The signers of the Declaration began the process which would shape a government based on the scriptures so that they and their posterity could live freely.

 

The Declaration lists more than “taxation without representation” in its grievances against the king. Unjust taxation is listed seventeenth in the twenty-seven grievances. Take time to read the whole document. There were more pertinent issues.

 

But let’s pause for just a moment and let me give you a brief timeline of the Declaration. As I said, this didn’t just happen, the Declaration was a well-thought-out document with purpose and intentionality.[1]

In a letter to John Adams on July 20, 1811, Benjamin Rush reminisced about the events thirty-five years before. Listen to an excerpt from the first paragraph:

“Do you recollect your memorable speech upon the Day on which the Vote was taken? Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress, to subscribe what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants? The Silence & the gloom of the morning were interrupted I well recollect only for a moment by Col: Harrison of Virginia who said to Mr Gerry at the table, “I shall have a great advantage over you Mr: Gerry when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.” This Speech procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the Solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.”

 

In a Letter from John Adams to H. Niles, 13 February 1818 Adams explains the Revolution (excerpt):

“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations… This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”

 

The Framers of our government understood that America is more than a nation with borders; it is an idea that comes from God’s heart into people’s lives. Some have called it an experiment in freedom, and to some degree, that is true. However, we must not lose sight of the biblical foundations of our nation. America did not start with a few delegates sitting in a pub complaining about the oppressive king. America began in the pages of scripture with the guidance of God. These men knew it, and we have forgotten it.

 

There is so much we can say about the marvelous Declaration of Independence. Let me read my favorite part. Listen to their God talk. This was no secular document as some have said:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

 

The truth of scripture rings forth in the words of our Declaration. Psalm 33:12 (NKJV) reads:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

We proved it when we adhered to God and demonstrated the converse by forgetting God. We need God in America again, and we need to reaffirm that for which our ancestors willingly gave their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

 

Take time this Independence Day to remember from whence we have fallen. Remember the courage of those delegates who put everything on the line so we could be free. Muster your courage to incorporate the truths of God into your life, and then into the life of our nation. This is more than a day off, much more.

 

Keep The Light of the Declaration of Independence Burning!

[1] “Creating the Declaration: A Timeline.” America’s Founding Documents, National Archives, 7 Oct. 2021, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/timeline.

Whenever I go to cemeteries to visit the graves of family members or to conduct funerals, I see graves of people I do not know. No doubt, the families and friends of those individuals gathered around those graves to mourn their passing. Those individuals are unknown to me but known to God and their families.

 

The scenario reminds me of visiting the Tomb of the Unknowns in the Arlington National Cemetery. When my daughter was in fifth grade, her class trip included Washington, D.C., and Arlington. We had the privilege of watching the soldiers guard the tomb, and then we were able to go into the barracks and visit with these elite guards of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard.” Let me give you a brief synopsis of the Tomb of the Unknowns from the Arlington National Cemetery website.[1]

 

In December 1920, New York Congressman and World War I veteran Hamilton Fish Jr. proposed legislation that provided for the interment of one unknown American soldier at a special tomb to be built in Arlington National Cemetery. The purpose of the legislation was “to bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed, or race in the late war and who typifies, moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead.”

 

On November 11, 1921, the Unknown was placed on a horse-drawn caisson and carried in a procession through Washington, D.C., to the Arlington Cemetery. American leaders conducted a state funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery’s new Memorial Amphitheater, and they interred the Unknown in the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” Nationwide, Americans observed two minutes of silence at the beginning of the ceremony. President Warren G. Harding officiated at the ceremony and placed the Medal of Honor on the casket.

 

 There are wreaths on the side panels (north and south) of the Tomb sarcophagus. On the front (east), three figures represent Peace, Victory, and Valor. The back (west) features the inscription: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.” We added additional unknowns from the wars following WWI.

 

In March 1926, the Army assigned soldiers from nearby Fort Myer to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards were present only during daylight hours and discouraged visitors from climbing or stepping on the Tomb. In 1937, the guards began standing watch over the Unknown Soldier twenty-four hours per day, even during hurricanes!

 

We do not know whose remains occupy the Tombs of the Unknowns, and those soldiers’ identities are known only to God though officials have attempted to identify them. The site is much more than a tourist stop in DC; it is a monument to the sacrifice of Americans for our precious liberty! We can go even further; the Tomb holds the remains of someone whose parents rejoiced at the birth of a son. This unknown toddler grew up to serve his country and honor his heritage.

 

Undoubtedly, the parents of these “unknown soldiers” received and read telegrams that expressed concern for their sons as “Missing in Action.” The families prayed for the boys to be found and returned home. The families never received that news, yet the unknowns are home.

We mustn’t separate the person from the mystery. The occupants of the Tombs of the Unknown Soldiers were people just like us, regardless of the era. We give “honor to whom honor is due,” as Romans 13:7 tells us. We do not know the soldiers’ identities, but God does.

 

Jesus, the Son of God, was unknown to the people who crucified Him. They may have known His name and reputation, but they didn’t know Him. The Roman soldiers could not comprehend the love of a God who would die for their sins, and neither did the Jews who shouted for His death.

 

The Father knew the Son and endured the same kind of grief we feel at the death of a loved one. God knew the end from the beginning and knew He would raise His Son from the dead, then receive Him safely home.

 

The death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are a picture for us. We, too, will die and be entombed in some way. When Jesus returns, the Bible says that He will open the graves, and he will raise us, too. Then we will ascend to be with God in the rooms He has prepared for us in His house. Listen to Jesus’ words in John 14:1-6 (NKJV):

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions [or dwellings]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.” ⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

 

The events of Jesus’ return don’t happen on our schedule but God’s. Having confidence in God’s word, we believe these events will occur. Even if we are unknown to the rest of the world, God knows His own and will raise us to eternal life one day. Therefore, to be known by Him, we must know Him and the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10).

 

Let’s Keep The Light of the Knowledge of God Burning!

[1] “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” Arlington National Cemetery, www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Tomb-of-the-Unknown-Soldier.

Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, surprised and overtook a small British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. Scholars consider the capture of the fort as the first American victory in our war for independence. Allen and Arnold captured the fort less than a month after the battles of Lexington and Concord.

 

Fort Ticonderoga sits at the convergence of Lake Champlain and Lake George. “Ticonderoga” was an Iroquois word meaning “between two waters” or “where the waters meet.” Those in charge of the fort controlled access north and south between Albany and Montreal. The fort was strategic in location and armament.[1]

 

Allen, Arnold, and the Green Mountain Boys silently rowed across Lake Champlain from Vermont in an early-morning attack about dawn. The Americans invaded the fort while the British garrison slept. Allen and Arnold led the troops to the officers’ quarters and awakened General Jeffrey Amherst, demanding the fort’s surrender.

 

The startled general asked by whose authority Allen demanded their surrender. Allen responded, “The Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” And he added the phrase, “The authority of the Congress being very little known at this time.” He might have claimed the power of Congress, but it being new, he called on the ultimate authority, God![2]

 

I have been to Fort Ticonderoga and have seen for myself its strategic location. I stood at the site where Allen said the famous words to the startled British General. I let my mind imagine that morning’s victory for the Continentals.

 

The story goes on. On December 5, 1775, the twenty-five-year-old Colonel Henry Knox removed fifty-nine cannons and mortars from the fort. Knox’s troops pulled the sixty tons of weapons 300 miles by ox-drawn sleds. They brought the weaponry to a hill overlooking Boston harbor in fifty-six days. The British withdrew from the city at the sight of these cannons.

 

On May 31, 1775, three weeks after the siege of Ticonderoga, Harvard President Samuel Langdon spoke to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He reiterated the need for God in America. He said:

“If God be for us, who can be against us? . . . May our land be purged from all its sins! Then the Lord will be our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble, and we will have no reason to be afraid, though thousands of enemies set themselves against us.”[3]

 

Fort Ticonderoga was a strategic military victory for Americans. The conquest was also a spiritual victory for the American cause. Ethan Allen laid out the bases for why he acted as he did. Yes, Congress authorized his actions. He and the Green Mountain Boys were not a rogue unit. They engaged in authorized, tactical warfare.

 

In addition, Allen and other Americans believed their cause was just and biblical. Preachers in their current and preceding generations had preached on the inalienable rights of God. As a result, Americans believed they had God’s authorization to resist tyranny and defend themselves. The battle of Lexington was the first organized military attack on the Americans. Self-defense became the order of the day as Americans fought back against the British tyranny.

 

Ethan Allen was not the only one whose enemies questioned his authority. Some of Jesus’ antagonists confronted Him one day and, according to Matthew 21:23 (NKJV), asked:

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

 

Jesus made people uncomfortable. He walked by the correct interpretation of God’s Law. So many people of Jesus’ day (and ours) prefer to go their own way. People want what they want and do not want to be challenged by God’s words.

 

By what authority did the government lockdown the nation and demand masks and injections? They acted on their authority, not the authority of Jesus. Jesus would have practiced the Levitical laws of purity and quarantine. He would have isolated the sick and let the healthy carry on with their lives.

 

By what authority is every form of immorality practiced today? We have every kind of degeneration. Our newest Supreme Court Justice is easy on pedophiles. Where do you think that will lead? The authority to practice evil is not of God. Yet, we want to be “happy” and think God wants us to be “happy,” so we do as those who do not live under authority. Those without authority become their standard and do “what is right in their own eyes,” according to Judges 21:25.

 

By what authority are churches sitting quietly and uninvolved as the world degenerates before our eyes? It is not by the authority of Christ. The Lord sent His disciples into the world to challenge and change the ungodly culture. Listen to the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV):

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

 

The Great Commission is about saving the souls of men. Jesus came to do that (Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10). He also came to equip His followers to challenge and change the culture so that we can do on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). The early disciples succeeded. The pagans said, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” in Acts 17:6 (NKJV).

 

Let us reflect on the path we are traveling. Let us examine ourselves and ask, “By what authority do we do the things we do?” The colonists claimed no King but King Jesus during the War for Independence. Can we claim the same authority? Can we say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and mean it?

 

Let’s Keep The Light of God’s Authority Burning!

[1] History.com Editors.” The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, A&E Television Networks, 20 May 2020, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/capture-of-fort-ticonderoga.

[2] Youngs, Bill. “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress”, American Realities, 6 Nov. 2013, www.americanrealities.com/home-page/in-the-name-of-the-great-jehovah-and-the-continental-congress.

[3] Federer, William J. American Minute. St. Louis, Amerisearch, Inc., 2012, p. 137.

 

I am sure you are familiar with the famous portrait, “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Emanuel Leutze painted two versions of the portrait. He began the first in 1849 in Germany, immediately following the failure of Germany’s revolution. Some believe he painted the portrait to stimulate patriotism in Germany.

 

In addition to General Washington, Leutze has filled the boat with various ‘types’ of soldiers. Washington and his two officers are distinguished by their blue coats, the trademark attire of a Continental officer. The remaining nine men appear to be members of the militia. Three men row at the bow of the boat. One is an African American, another wears the Scottish checkerboard bonnet, and the third wears a coonskin cap. Two farmers, distinguished by their broad-brimmed hats, huddle against the frigid cold in the middle of the boat while the man at the stern wears the moccasins, pants, and hat of a Native American. Some believe the red coat and black scarf figure may represent the women who fought and died for freedom. This collection of people suggests the all-inclusive nature of the Colonial cause in the American Revolutionary War.[1]

 

Our War for Independence included the aristocratic influencers of the day like George Washington. Those we would call “blue-collar” soldiers are also in the boat. So many of the obscure patriots made significant contributions to the cause of liberty.

 

Last week we mentioned the midnight ride of Paul Revere and his fellow horse riders. We have heard of Revere but William Dawes is less known. There were also others whose names are not known. These men did not take the field at Lexington Green, but they played a noteworthy role in warning two key Founders and preparing the Minutemen for the arrival of the 700 British Regulars.

 

Today I want to turn our attention to some even more obscure patriots. Several women played essential roles in the Revolution. Some of these women were spies, some fought in the field, and at least one made a similar ride as Paul Revere. These ladies did not get the acclaim of their male counterparts, but their contributions speak for themselves.

 

Let me begin with Margaret Corbin. Margaret accompanied her husband, John, when he joined the Continental Army in 1776. A British artillery bombardment fatally wounded John. Margaret took his place on his cannon to continue firing. She fought until she was wounded. Margaret Corbin became the first woman to receive a veteran’s pension from Congress.

 

Ann Simpson Davis is our next female patriot. Ann served the American cause as a spy. George Washington handpicked her to carry messages to his generals while the Continental Army was in eastern Pennsylvania. Ann was a skilled rider and carried secret orders in grain sacks and sometimes in her clothing. Washington honored her with a commendation for her service.[2]

 

I want to focus on a teenager named Sybil Ludington.[3] Sybil’s father owned a gristmill along a route between Connecticut and Long Island. Mr. Ludington served in the military for sixty years, including in the French and Indian War. Ludington was a British loyalist until 1773, when he changed sides to support the Patriots. He led his local regiment as a Colonel.

On April 26, 1777, a rider informed Ludington that the nearby town of Danbury was under attack by British troops and needed help. At this point, Ludington disbanded his regiment for planting season. His men were working throughout the area at their respective farms. The rider was too tired to continue, so Mr. Ludington enlisted his daughter, Sybil, to carry the news to the Patriots. She either volunteered, or her father asked her to make the ride. Either way, Sybil rode through the night, alerting the Colonel’s men of the danger and urging them to return to the fight. She rode all night through dark woods and in the rain, covering 20 to 40 miles. When she returned home, hundreds of soldiers gathered to fight the British.

 

After the Revolution, Ludington married Edward Ogden in 1784, at age 23. The couple had one son, Henry, and lived in Catskill, New York. Sybil’s husband died of yellow fever in 1799. She bought a tavern and helped her son become a lawyer four years later. When she sold the tavern, she earned a tidy profit and purchased a home for her son and his family, where she also resided. After her son, Henry died in 1838, Ludington applied for a Revolutionary War pension since her husband had served in the military. Congress denied her pension, claiming insufficient proof of marriage. At age seventy-seven, Ludington died in poverty.[4]

 

Our Founding Fathers were not the only ones willing to sacrifice their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. Every day people sacrificed, too. The majority of those involved in the War for Independence were not interested in acclaim. Most wanted Liberty and were willing to make all necessary sacrifices to attain it.

 

How does our generation stack up to our Founding generation? It appears to me that most of us today are more interested in comfort than Liberty. As Benjamin Franklin observed, many of us have decided to trade Liberty for a bit of security and deserve neither.

 

There is a progression that we need to consider. Someone has observed that “Hard times create strong men (and women); strong men (and women) create easy times; Easy times create weak men (and women),” and the cycle continues.

 

We live in “hard times” because we have been weak people. We have been weak because we have had it so easy. We have had life easy because our ancestors were strong people who sacrificed for Liberty, both for themselves and us.

 

I think of our eighteen-year-old ancestors who stormed the beaches of Normandy in 1944 and our young ancestors who sacrificed for our independence. I wonder if our current generation can rise to our challenges. Can we make the sacrifices they did?

 

James reminds us of the value of trials in James 1:2-8 (NKJV):

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

As much as we hate discomfort, we are better people at the end of our trials than before. Our nation became the greatest nation in the world. We endured the trials of independence from tyranny. It is our turn to step up to current challenges.

Keep The Light of Rising to the Challenge Burning!

[1] “Did You Know?: ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ Painting.” Purdue University: Purdue Today, 13 Feb. 2014, www.purdue.edu/newsroom/purduetoday/didyouknow/2014/Q1/did-you-know-washington-crossing-the-delaware-painting.html.

[2] Lee, Dr. Richard G., General Editor. The American Patriot’s Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America. Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, 2009. P. 272.

[3] FMI, Cummings, Brad, and Lance Wubbels, editors. The Founders’ Bible. Newbury Park, CA, Shiloh Road Publishers, 2012, p. 1133.

[4] Michals, Debra.  “Sybil Ludington.” National Women’s History Museum. 2017. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sybil-ludington

One of the misconceptions about the Christian Patriot movement is that people assume we feel heaven and spiritual issues are unimportant. Some will assume that we are only concerned with an earthly nation. Others may assume that we are trying to establish a “theocracy” in which a church or an oligarchy of churches will rule the country.

 

I want to say at the outset that the eternal is exceedingly more important than the temporal. Eternal life begins now, according to 1 John 5:13, and will extend into the world to come. Nothing in this life compares to what we gain in the next.

 

Our Founders fought for liberty from Great Britain, not just to establish a free country but to embrace the inalienable rights God has given us. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (or Property)” belong to everyone. Sometimes tyrants attempt to limit these rights. When that happens, we must push back and defend what God has given.

 

Our Founding Fathers valued their earthly liberties in light of eternity. They knew nothing mattered more than eternal life. In Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV), Jesus asked:

³⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ³⁷ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

 

Would you give up your soul for America? We know that God sets up and removes nations. America will one day end its existence. If we pour our efforts only into America, we will lose our souls. Yet, the republic our ancestors established will only work if the citizens follow biblical principles. John Adams knew it and wrote:

“We have no government armed with power capable of continuing with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Greed, ambition, revenge or seduction would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

 

Adams’ statement seems appropriate for our day. He knew that Liberty was a by-product of Christianity. Where Christ goes, He brings freedom. He gives us freedom from sin. He frees us from oppression as well. Listen to the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJV):

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

 

John Adams’ February 22, 1756 diary entry describes a Christian Republic. Hear his words:

Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God…What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.

 

Christ compels us to liberty. If we are not careful, we can become enslaved to anything. 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT) reminds us of this truth. Peter writes:

They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

 

If we are not the servants of God, we will become the servants of sin. Sin can and will control us. Controlling sin may come in the form of addictions or tyrants. In either case, we must work for freedom from that sinful control. Both require extraordinary effort.

 

The First Great Awakening in America of the 1730s and ’40s set the stage for the American Revolution. The preachers during that era had dug out truths of our inalienable rights. As a result, when it came time to oppose tyranny, many Americans stood against the King and Parliament. They learned dependence on God and acted on the teachings of His word in faith.

 

John Quincy Adams went on a diplomatic mission to France with his father, John, when he was ten. John Quincy’s mother, Abigail, wrote him of her concerns for his spiritual well-being.

It is almost four months since you left your native land and embarked upon the mighty waters in quest of a foreign country . . . You have constantly been upon my heart and mind. It is a very difficult task, my dear son, for a tender parent to bring her mind to part with a child, of your years going to a distant land… You have arrived at years capable of improving under the advantages you will be likely to have if you do but properly attend to them. They are talents put into your hands, of which an account will be required of you hereafter; and being possessed of one, two, or four, see to it that ‘you double your numbers [Matthew 25:14-17]  . . . Adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions. . . for dear as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death crop you in your infant years than see you an immoral, profligate [ungodly] or graceless child.[1]

 

Abigail expressed her concern for her son’s eternal salvation more than the success of the American diplomatic mission. In adhering to the biblical principles she had taught him, he would grow to be one of the great Americans of that era. He was a spiritual man who followed Jesus and a Patriot who loved his country.

 

Christian Patriotism is not an either-or proposition. Instead, it is both-and. One can be a Patriot and a Christian. When one follows the scriptures, there can be no other outcome.

 

Christian Patriots recognize that God places them in their lands. These Christian Patriots know that they are to bring God to their land. According to the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims knew it and intended to “advance Christian faith” in the New World.

 

When the Hebrews went into the seventy-year Babylonian Captivity, Jeremiah told them to seek the peace of their new nation. The best way they could do that was to initiate their biblical worldview to their new surroundings. As a result, Daniel and the three Hebrew boys practiced true biblical faith as an example to the nation. Listen to Jeremiah 29:5-7 (NKJV):

⁵ Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶ Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. ⁷ And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. 

 

When we follow God, we can have liberty in this world and the world to come. We gain both through Jesus. These are practical and eternal principles of God’s word.

 

Let’s Keep The Light of Eternal Principles Burning!

[1] Cummings, Brad, and Lance Wubbels, editors. The Founders’ Bible. Newbury Park, CA, Shiloh Road Publishers, 2012, p. 1522.

I will reveal my age with a personal story of my childhood. When I was about seven, someone gave me a book about turning points in American history. The author wrote the book on a child’s level. Still, it told about some significant events like the battles of Saratoga and Gettysburg. One that grabbed me was the story of the Alamo.

 

It so happened that that same year the movie, “The Alamo,” starring John Wayne, was released. My parents allowed me to go to that movie – alone. It was the first time I got to go to a movie without “parental guidance” in the theater.

 

I remember that the build-up to the battle lasted too long for a little boy of seven. I hung in and watched the whole show to the bitter end. I held back tears as the Alamo fell and the Texas patriots all died.

 

The battle of the Alamo began on February 24, 1836, when Santa Ana and his 3000 troops began a thirteen-day siege of the 189 Texans and Tejanos in San Antonio. The battle was essential to Texas’ independence. The Texan “freedom fighters” used the memory of the Alamo to rally their troops to fight the Mexican army.

 

In 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain and established a democratic Federal Constitution. Santa Ana rejected the Constitution and became the dictator of Mexico. He quelled every attempt to overthrow his rule.

 

The Texans created their Declaration of Independence. They recounted the tyranny of Santa Ana. In it, they stated that Santa Ana “denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience.”[1]

 

There are many lessons from the story of the Alamo. One is the drive for freedom inside of us. God did not create us to be enslaved people. He created us for freedom.

 

The apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus went to the cross to give us freedom in every aspect. Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) reads:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Freedom begins with spiritual freedom from the bondage of sin. It continues with every aspect of our lives.

 

A second lesson is that apparent defeat can turn into victory. As the Alamo fell, I am sure Santa Ana thought he would quickly end the Texans’ attempt at independence. We know that the Alamo inspired Texans to fight for victory over the Mexicans. Texas’ independence is similar to America’s War for Independence against Great Britain. The Americans lost battles but eventually defeated the British and became independent.

 

Let’s make an application to Jesus and the cross. There can be no doubt that Jesus’ enemies thought they had defeated Him by crucifying Him. However, on the first day of the week, He proved to be the Victor. He resurrected and appeared to His disciples, issuing them His marching orders (Matthew 28:18-20). His apparent defeat turned into His eternal victory.

 

Thank God for Jesus and His willingness to embrace the cross for us. He was victorious over sin and death. He paved the way for our freedom (Hebrews 12:1-2).

 

As an adult, I visited the Alamo on more than one occasion. People told me that I would be disappointed, but I never was. I have walked the grounds of that sacred place imagining those Patriots laying down their lives for freedom. That is the third lesson from their story. Jesus explains the concept in John 15:13 (NKJV): “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

 

On one of my visits, I found the location of where some historians believe William Travis drew the famous “line in the sand.” I imagined as Jim Bowie asked his friends to carry him in his sickbed across the line to declare his loyalty to the cause. The fourth lesson I can see is that sometimes we need to declare our loyalty even if it costs us. The men at the Alamo paid the ultimate price for liberty. Jesus paid our sin debt at His cross and freed us, though it cost His life. Martyrs have chosen to die rather than submit to evil authoritarian rule.

 

There comes a time in our lives when we have to declare our loyalties. That declaration may cost us time, resources, and even our lives. We are loyal to God, who gives us freedom and rights. We are to maintain and use them as good stewards of what He gives.

 

When we have had the privilege of freedom, it is a sin to let it go. “We the people” are the governing force of our land to uphold freedom. Christians are part of “we the people.” Shouldn’t we too engage in this spiritual war? Should we not resist when leaders oppose God? Do we not want our posterity to have freedom now as well as in heaven?

 

Some people in this world are so oppressed that the only freedom is in the world to come. It does not have to be that way for Americans and others who enjoy freedom now and then. Put on the whole armor of God and stand. God will ultimately bring victory.

 

Let’s Keep The Light of the Alamo’s Lessons Burning!

[1] Federer, William J. American Minute. St. Louis, Amerisearch, Inc., 2012, p.61.

 

On February 22, 1732, George Washington was born and died on December 14, 1799. He lived only sixty-seven years and ten months. Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee described George Washington in his now-famous tribute as, “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Americans have honored George Washington because George Washington honored America. Consider what he accomplished in his nearly sixty-eight years of life[1]:

 

Is there any wonder why Americans held Washington in such high esteem for generations? He led a life of sacrificial service to his state of Virginia and the new country of the United States.

 

From his father’s death until sixteen, George lived with his elder half-brother, Augustine, in Westmoreland County, just 40 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Most of George’s education was through homeschooling and tutoring. In 1749, he received his surveyor’s license from the College of William and Mary. He later served as the college’s Chancellor from 1788 till his death.

 

In 1751, George Washington accompanied his older brother, Lawrence Washington. On the advice of physicians, the latter spent the winter in the West Indies in a desperate attempt to regain his health. The illness nevertheless grew worse, and before he died, Lawrence left his estate at Mount Vernon to George.[2] Thus, George Washington became a man of wealth and influence in the colony of Virginia.

 

We can see the secular accomplishments of George Washington. Some have considered Washington a non-religious man or possibly a deist. I want to emphasize his faith in a few pertinent examples to show that he was more than an accomplished soldier and politician. God was in the heart of the man.

 

First, consider this correspondence to his fiancé, Martha Dandridge Custis from Fort Cumberland. You judge his faith.

We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few lines to one whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to you as to another Self. That an All-Powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and ever affectionate Friend.[3]

 

He married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802) in 1759. She was the widowed daughter of Virginia Militia Colonel John Dandridge.

 

Second, let me re-emphasize the faith of Washington. On June 1, 1774, Wednesday, the same day the British blockade of the Boston Harbor was to begin; the Colonies called for a Day of Fasting and Prayer “…to seek divine direction and aid.” George Washington’s diary entry that day was:

Went to church and fasted all day.

 

The third is the famous account of Washington praying in the snow of Valley Forge. We have probably all seen the picture of him kneeling in prayer beside his horse in the woods. You may remember that a Quaker named Isaac Potts overheard his prayers for the nation. Potts opposed the war and Washington.

 

After the General had prayed, Potts went home in frustration. When his wife inquired about his distress, he said:

“Indeed, my dear, if I appear agitated, ’tis no more than what I am. I have seen this day what I shall never forget. Till now, I have thought that a Christian and a soldier were characters incompatible; but if George Washington is not a man of God, I am mistaken, and still more shall I be disappointed if God does not through him perform some great thing for this country.”

 

Time does not permit telling all of God’s providential aid stories to Washington. I have mentioned God’s preservation of him at the Battle of Monongahela in previous podcasts. The Indians had prophesied that he never would be killed by a bullet after they had tried to shoot him numerous times that day. There are many more examples.

 

Today as you reflect on George Washington, I hope you do so with appreciation. His sacrificial spirit led him away from the safety and luxury of Mt. Vernon to the deprivations of the Continental Army. I hope you admire his humble spirit as one who did not seek positions of power but could not refuse when his country called.

 

Have you ever thought about what George Washington and the other Founders would be doing today? How do you think they would handle the tyranny of the time? Do you think they would roll over to oppressive mandates and threats, or would they faithfully step up to the challenge?

 

Perhaps a good Bible passage for Washington would identify with the life and death of Jesus. In Mark 9:35 (NKJV), we read:

And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

 

Ever since President Trump moved out of the White House, people have said that he was the greatest President in US history. I like many things about Trump, but I have a different point of view. I believe George Washington is likely the most significant American of all time and our greatest President. He demonstrated in his character that he is worthy of our esteem and imitation on many levels.

 

Let’s Keep The Light of Godly Character Burning!

[1] William J. Federer, American Quotations, 2013, p. 535.

[2] Ibid, p. 536.

[3] Ibid, p. 546.

Americans observe “Presidents’ Day” on the third Monday of February each year. Originally we celebrated the birthday of George Washington on February 22. Some states honored Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12. Congress combined the days in 1968 to honor both men, and it became known as “Presidents’ Day.” Many consider it to be a day to esteem all of our Presidents.[1]

 

The President is a crucial figure in the U. S. government. All of my life, I have heard the news media call the President the “most powerful man in the world” and sometimes, “the most powerful man in the free world.” The President’s primary responsibility is to ensure the faithful implementation of our laws. He accomplishes this through his cabinet and numerous executive agencies.

 

The President is the Commander in Chief of the Military. He has the authority to direct the activities of each branch of the Armed Forces. He does NOT have the power to declare war. The authority to declare war rests with Congress according to the Constitution.

 

The President has the authority to make treaties with other nations with the approval of Congress. He is our main negotiator and spokesperson. Even then, he is accountable to Congress and the American people.

 

The President has the power to accept or reject bills from Congress. If he accepts the bill, it becomes law. He may also veto a bill that prohibits it from becoming law. Congress may choose to override that veto and pass the bill as a law.

 

Our Framers designed a series of checks and balances to prohibit power from concentrating in one of the branches of our government. The three branches are the Legislative, the executive, and the Judiciary branches. The first two branches have direct accountability to “We the People.” The Supreme Court is not accountable to the people. This is likely one of the rare flaws in the Constitution.

 

The three branches of government have a biblical foundation. Isaiah 33:22 (NKJV) lays out the concept. It reads:

(For the Lord is our Judge,
The Lord is our Lawgiver,
The Lord is our King;
He will save us);

 

According to Exodus 18, the Lord approved a “Republican” form of government. That is not a political party but a concept. The idea is that the people selected representatives who would appear with Moses, their Chief Executive, to decide the direction of their tribes and nations. There is no mention of “Democracy” in our Constitution or Scripture. The role of our President, and our three branches of our government, have a biblical application.

 

We have had quite a collection of Presidents during the lifetime of our Republic. Even in the nation’s early days, there was conflict among the men who would become President and the political parties they represented. One of my favorite early Presidents is Thomas Jefferson. He was out of the country representing America in France when the Constitution was written. When he read the document, he was distressed over the absence of the Bill of Rights and the lack of term limits for elected officials. Jefferson was right on both issues. The Bill of Rights was added in our first ten amendments, but we still have to endure lifetime politicians in Congress.[2]

 

Our early Presidents took on solemn responsibilities for our nation. John Adams was abroad when the Constitution was written, serving as our Minister to Great Britain. George Washington and James Madison were the only two Presidents to sign the Constitution at the Convention.[3]

 

There was another side to our Presidents. The article, “99 Fun Facts about U. S. Presidents,” lists some colorful experiences.[4] Consider these few.

 

• George Washington never lived in the White House. The capital was located in Philadelphia and other cities when Washington was president. He is also the only president who didn’t represent a political party.
• “Lincoln Logs” are named after Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin where he was born. John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Francis Lloyd Wright, invented them.
• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams once traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace. While there, they took a knife to one of Shakespeare’s chairs so they could take home some wood chips as souvenirs.
• James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were once arrested together for taking a carriage ride in the countryside of Vermont on a Sunday, which violated the laws of that state.
• President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) is the only president (so far) to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. He was the 22nd and 24th president.
• James Buchanan, the only bachelor president, quietly but consistently bought slaves in Washington, D.C., and then set them free in Pennsylvania.
• Six presidents were named James: Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield, and Carter. Jimmy Carter was the first President to be born in a hospital.

 

Presidents have been men of influence and example throughout our history. That is why they were elected to the high office. Their influence reminds us of our spheres of influence. We may never make it to the Oval Office, but we have areas of influence in our lives. Paul reminded the young man, Timothy, of his responsibility to influence those around him in 1 Timothy 4:12 (NKJV):

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

 

The power of example is valid for Presidents, preachers, and all of us.

 

[1] “Presidents’ Day,” www.britannica.com, December 21, 2021.

[2] “Thomas Jefferson and the Constitutional Convention,” Thomas Jefferson & the Constitutional Convention | Study.com

[3] “Fascinating Facts about the U.S. Constitution,” Constitution Day Materials, US Constitution, Pocket Constitution Book, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights (constitutionfacts.com)

[4]  Karin Lehnardt, “99 Fun Facts about U. S. Presidents,” 99 Fun Facts about U.S. Presidents | FactRetriever.com, September 17, 2016.

God seems to work best when He works in and through the least and does the least expected. God chose a nation of enslaved people to be His representatives on earth. Jesus chose twelve “nobodies” to be His closest disciples.

 

Why didn’t God choose Caesar to be His Son? Why didn’t He choose a powerful nation like Babylon, Rome, or even the USA to be His chosen nation? God wants to leave no doubt of the root of the results when doing the impossible. If He chose the powerful or the talented, we would always assume that the power rested in the people and not their God.

 

Imagine thirteen fledgling colonies overturning the greatest nation in the world of the eighteenth century. These colonies united and became the beacon of freedom to the world. Who anticipated this nation to be a “city set on a hill” for freedom-loving people of the world?

 

The basis for America’s freedom is Christianity. Alexis du Tocqueville made this observation:[1]

Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the significant political consequences resulting from this new state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.

 

Today, freedom is threatened all over the earth. Governments impose all manner of mandates on their citizens. The people are miserable, angry, and energized. They have begun a worldwide pushback against tyranny.

 

We are witnessing daily demonstrations to defy tyrants. One would think that those demonstrations would have begun in the country that is the focal point of freedom, the United States. They have not.

 

There have been pockets of resistance in the USA, but only a few. Most Americans have been silent in the face of tyranny. Most have chosen to trade their freedom for their security. Benjamin Franklin stated:

“They that would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

 

At one time, freedom was essential to Americans. It came at a high cost and without compromise. Samuel Adams said:

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

 

Freedom does not appear to be so important to Americans today. Instead of America, God has been working through unexpected places, like Canada.

 

Canada has been known as a calm and “easy-going” nation of people. Yet, we see Canadians defying their Prime Minister and the Royal Monarchy for freedom.

 

American Churchmen once led the way for freedom as the “Black Robed Regiment” at the time of our Revolution. One would expect Pastors and other church leaders to don the robes of those Patriots and stand in defiance before tyrannical magistrates. That has not happened. Churchmen are silent for the most part.

 

Much like the Pastors in Germany during the Nazi regime, most Pastors in America have linked arms with the tyrants who want to remove “freedom” from our vocabulary. There are a few outspoken church leaders in America, as in Nazi Germany, but very few. Not many are willing to take up the banner of freedom. The fear of reprisals from the government and their congregations has stopped them.

 

The local Churchmen (for the most part) have not led the way for freedom. God has raised an unexpected group to fight for liberty as Churchmen cower in comprise. This group is composed of Canadian Truckers.

 

Who saw this coming? These Truckers do not want to be forced to take an experimental vaccine. Neither do they want it forced on their fellow citizens. The data is not in on the long-term side-effects of the shot. Why are governments so anxious for all of their people to succumb to their decrees to get the injection?

 

A forced injection goes against the freedom we hold dear. We want to maintain our freedom of choice as to how we will live our lives. We want the freedom to choose what we will or will not put into our bodies. Many of us recoil at a governmentally forced inoculation. Our government is supposed to operate by our consent.

 

Once again, let me emphasize that God is working through the unexpected. It is not Americans setting the pace to oppose tyranny. It is Canadians. It is not primarily Churchmen who have stood for freedom. It is Truckers.

 

Americans are coming out of our passivity. Parents and students are confronting school boards. Citizens are confronting town councils. There are pockets of protests. What about churches? Most churches are silent.

 

Charles Finney was a leader during the Second Great Awakening in America. I think about his words to his fellow preachers.

If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.[2]

 

I remember the first time I heard that quote. As a preacher, he convicted me. Finney was precisely on target. Preachers have given up their responsibility to boldly declare the word of God to inspire their congregations and communities to righteous living. Instead, we have allowed the pagans of our society to determine the parameters of sermons.

 

Speaking against a homosexual lifestyle is now off-limits. Condemning the murder of babies in the womb is out of bounds because “We have people on both sides of the issue.” How can that be?

 

How can Christians accept a way of life that God condemns? How can Christians approve of the murder of innocents? These would have given baby Moses to Pharaoh and baby Jesus to Herod.

We have criticized church leaders, but where is the outrage from the pew? Where is the demand for leaders to stand up for truth? Perhaps they think it is not their place to speak. They may believe someone else will do it. They may even think there is nothing to do.

 

Our liberties are slipping away while churches try to be politically correct. I fear we will be surprised one day when all of our freedoms are gone. That is why we must stand up as God-fearing people to resist tyranny.

 

Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) was a leading Lutheran Pastor in Germany with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Niemoller arose as an outspoken critic of Adolph Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. We remember his famous words:

First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.[3]

 

Have you noticed that they have come for the unborn, and most Christians didn’t speak up? It wasn’t a personal issue. They came for the aged when Governors of five states put the Covid infected people in the Nursing Homes with the vulnerable elderly. Many succumbed to the infection as a result. It wasn’t a personal issue, so we were silent.

 

We must learn to step up for liberty, or in time they will come for us, too. Would it not seem logical that tender-hearted Christians lead the way? Shouldn’t America be the “point of the spear”?

 

The Marxists will eventually come for their enemies and foot soldiers who are no longer helpful. The Marxists call them “Useful Idiots.” They do what they are told for some earthly reward.

 

Many political leaders fall into the “Useful Idiot” category. These people have sold out their values for wealth or power. They will be terminated when they are no longer helpful to a Marxist regime because they are no longer valued and perceived as a threat. Anyone who would betray their country can’t be trusted in the new regime.

 

In the meantime, these “bought and paid for” politicians lead in perverting the Constitution and laws of the land to serve their Marxist agenda. It is not just politicians; preachers also promote the agenda. Their payback is the protection of tax-exempt status by compliance with government mandates.

 

Governmentally compliant ministers preach a powerless and timid Jesus who wouldn’t offend anyone. They portray a weak and effeminate church. Preachers forget that Jesus drove moneychangers out of the temple and insulted religious leaders. They forget that the early church “turned the world upside down” as they carried the gospel from town to town (see Acts 17:6).

 

God chose a ragtag organization to carry His good news to the world. That group was what we call the “Church.” It was composed of the outcasts of society for the most part. It was made up of those who did not have a place of ease in the social order. The discounted Jews, the enslaved people, freedmen, tradesmen, women, and occasionally a tender-hearted political leader composed the church. God chose the least expected to prove His power.

 

Gamaliel was a wise Pharisee and could see the potential power of God in the unexpected people of his day. When the tyrannical Sanhedrin in Jerusalem wanted to kill the disciples of Jesus, Gamaliel spoke up. Notice Acts 5:34-39 (NKJV):

³⁴ Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. ³⁶ For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. ³⁸ And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; ³⁹ but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”

 

Tyranny and oppression are the orders of the day. The current Marxist regime wants to be in control of our lives and maybe even of our deaths. The regime wants to control you with a mask on your face and a jab in your arm.

 

Do we think we are in control of our children? Think again. The same tyrants have taken their control from us. Marxist school boards decide what our children will learn at school, not the parents. In most places, children will not learn the “3 R’s.” The Indoctrination Centers we call “Schools” are programming our children with political brainwashing. This is evidenced by the elementary school in DC who had their young children masked up and walking the halls chanting, “Black Lives Matter.” Is that why we send our kids to school?

 

The tyrants not only have our children’s minds in their indoctrination camps, but they also have their bodies. School Boards mandate masks, even when it is against the law. If teachers don’t wear a mask, they are fired. If children refuse the masks, they are disciplined. We will have compliance, not diversity, and indeed no choice.

 

God gave parents responsibility for their children, not governments or School Boards. Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV) reads:

⁴ And you, fathers [or parents,[4] PMG], do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

 

Is it any wonder why there is an upsurge in homeschooling? Parents are tired of bureaucratic overreach. They want their children to learn, not be indoctrinated to a Marxist agenda.

 

I applaud the parents who have chosen to homeschool their children. Many of our Founding Fathers were homeschooled. They had a better education than most today. Their parents equipped them for their world. They began where many Homeschool families begin, with scripture. Solomon stated in Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV):

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Maybe Homeschool education will save America’s intellect.

 

Pastors and other church leaders were on the “cutting edge” of our effort for independence in the eighteenth century. As I said, many were homeschooled. They studied the Bible as part of their curriculum. They were not godless, secular men.

Molly Carman published an internet article on the Family Research Council website, which describes the signers. She writes:[5]

The 56 signers held a variety of professions. There were 19 lawyers and 23 farmers, planters, or merchants of some kind. Four were doctors, three were judges, and two were politicians. The last five were a writer, a surveyor, an ironmaster, a statesman, and a clergyman.

 

While the signers of the Declaration of Independence held several different types of political positions, only John Witherspoon from New Jersey has “clergyman” identified as his occupation. However, Layman Hall from Georgia was also a clergyman who had graduated from Yale Divinity School; he changed careers and became a physician out of Yale Medical School in 1756.

 

The men who received college degrees did so at a Christian college. These early schools had the Bible as the foundation of their school and studies. It should be no surprise that they would add their signatures to the document of the Declaration of Independence, which referred to God at least four times.

 

Today we wonder how those “Christian” leaders could stand up to tyranny. How could those churchmen resist and not simply surrender to “unlimited submission” to an evil government? They were bold in their faith!

 

Our forefathers searched the scriptures and saw biblical mandate for freedom and opposition to tyranny. They knew verses like Galatians 5:13 (NKJV), “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty . . .” They saw the faith of Daniel and the three Hebrew boys as they stood against an ungodly regime. They saw Jesus drive the moneychangers out of the temple grounds, as He quoted from Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7 (Mark 11:15-19).

 

The book of Revelation shows us that we are to resist tyrants. Martyrs chose to die rather than submit to Caesar. It reminds me of a quote attributed to George Washington:

“I’ll die on my feet before I’ll live on my knees!”

 

How many modern American Christians would accept that challenge? What happened to the spirit of godly defiance to tyranny? That spirit is not where we would expect.

 

Too many American Christians prefer comfort to conviction. When I think of the sacrifices our forefathers made for themselves and their posterity, I tremble at our lack of appreciation and our timid responses to government mandates. Thank God for truckers who are stepping up and making a difference, filling the void of Christian leadership.

 

In Daniel 5 Belshazzar made a great feast and offended God. A hand appeared and wrote on the wall so that Belshazzar’s knees knocked together from his fear. Daniel saw the hand’s words, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,” and gave the interpretation. Daniel 5:26-28 (NKJV) reads:

²⁶ This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; ²⁷ TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”

 

I wonder what God would say to us as we indulge in our Super Bowl parties and leisure. Do you think we please God with our festivities? Or do you think He might find us wanting?

 

Jesus repeatedly challenges us with the unexpected. He showed us who is great in the kingdom of God, and it is not whom we would expect. Matthew 18:4 (NKJV) reads:

Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Did you expect that? You did if you know the scriptures. Jesus makes a statement that is not the way we think. He does this consistently in His teachings.

 

In this time of worldwide tyranny, God works through the unexpected. God’s unexpected action is not new. He told Zerubbabel that he would complete his task of rebuilding the temple.  Zechariah 4:6 and 8-10 (NKJV) read:

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.

 

⁸ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

⁹ “The hands of Zerubbabel
Have laid the foundation of this temple;
His hands shall also finish it.
Then you will know
That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.
¹⁰ For who has despised the day of small things?
For these seven rejoice to see
The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
They are the eyes of the Lord,
Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

 

The means to the end is not what the Jews expected. God unleashed His Spirit, and Zerubbabel completed his rebuilding of the temple. It didn’t require the exotic trappings of the day nor a great army. It merely took letting God lead. There can be no doubt that God accomplished the work.

 

The same principle leads to the defeat of tyranny. Oppression will end, but it will not be in the manner we might think. God will use the unexpected.

 

There is spiritual darkness over America and the world. The darkness is composed of the spirits of fear, laziness, apathy, arrogance, confusion, and coldness toward God. God will unexpectedly break these evil spirits.

 

The unexpected resources of Canadian Truckers are not the end of which God can use for His purposes. The authoritarian government does not expect us to step up and allow God to work through us for liberty. Paul describes the connection of the Spirit and liberty in 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJV):

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

 

You and I can play a modern role in defeating tyranny. We can rely on the power and providence of God just as our ancestors did. We can be part of the Third Great Awakening to reconcile men to God and restore our freedom.

 

I hope you have a community of like-minded people with whom you can stand against tyranny. That community may or may not be a church. I hope it is, but if not, find a John Birch Society chapter or an informal Bible study group of patriotic Christians.

 

Let’s encourage one another to overcome evil with good in these dark days. Let’s encourage freedom over unlimited bondage to evil. God’s will can be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

[1] Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: Vintage Books, 1945), Vol. I, p. 319. Cited by William J. Federer in American Quotations 2013, pp. 1270-71.

[2] Federer, p. 1211.

[3] This quote is on display in the Permanent Exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

[4] Strong’s Concordance, G3962

[5] The 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial: Life, Liberty, and Legacy (frc.org)

February 14 is a special day for couples. We fill the Day with hearts, flowers, and candy. We have set it aside to be a special day to express love and appreciation. The origin of Valentine’s Day is likely different than what we would imagine. Do you know the story behind the Day? 

 

Valentine’s Day is a love story, but it is more about a Christian resisting a tyrant. William Federer recounts the story of St. Valentine in his book, American Minute:

In the the3rd-century Emperor, Claudius II defended the Roman Empire from invading Goths. He believed single men made better soldiers, so he temporarily outlawed marriage. Claudius also forced the Senate to deify the former Emperor Gallienus. The Senate added him to the pantheon of the Roman gods for worship. 

Folklore has it that Saint Valentine was a bishop in Italy who risked the Emperor’s wrath by refusing to worship idols and secretly performing marriage ceremonies for young couples. The Romans brought Valentine before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and have his head cut off on February 14, 269 AD. While awaiting execution, the legend says that he prayed for the jailer’s sick daughter, who miraculously recovered. He wrote her a note and signed it, “from your Valentine.” 

In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius designated February 14 as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”[1]

 

That is a brutal account. Valentine resisted Caesar, and it cost him his life. How many modern Christians would be willing to resist similarly?

 

Most American Christians have bought into almost total submission to the government. Key leaders have told us that we MUST obey the government at all costs. When we read the Bible, we discover a different point of view. God did not call His people to blend into the world. Instead, He has called us to transform the world.

 

Jesus calls us to be “salt and light” to the world. His Father gave Him that task, and He has transferred it to us. Being salt and light is not easy or convenient. It can be costly.

 

The book of Revelation tells us of some of the difficulties that the early believers had to endure. Caesar mandated that people offer a sacrifice of incense to his statue to buy or sell. That was idolatry, and they could not comply. Revelation 11:7 (NKJV) details what some believe to be the work of Caesar against Christians. It reads:

⁷ When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

 

Those early believers refused to give in to the pressures of the Roman government. They chose to follow Christ any time there was a conflict of interest between Caesar and Jesus. Most would not compromise.

 

We know, according to Mark 12:17 (NKJV), that we “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” That is an important lesson and distinction. What do we render to Caesar? What do we render to God?

 

We immediately affirm that we render Caesar taxes. Jesus did, so do we. We render prayers for Caesar, as Paul points out in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. We render honor when it is due according to Romans 13:7. These are all true. What do we render to God?

 

The truth is, we give God everything in our lives. We are to hold back nothing. In a way, we have even given up our very lives for Him. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20 (NKJV):

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

 

Why was Valentine able to face martyrdom? How could those early Christians die in the arena? In a sense, they had already died with Christ. The writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 56 and declares in Hebrews 13:6 (NKJV):

So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

 

God is challenging us to make some determinations in our lives. Unless we have been hiding in our basements for the last two years, we know that authorities are trying to destroy Christ’s Church. We have to decide whose side we are on. To whom do we give allegiance, Caesar or Christ?

 

Ron Helle wrote in his article, “Courage for the Things of His Kingdom”:

“There’s a need for courage in the corporate church today. While brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are being martyred for their faith, much of the testimony of the American church is silenced by the vocal criticism of an increasingly secular society.”[2]

 

Today, while you are snacking on chocolates and sharing time with someone special, remember our most special One. Jesus laid down His life for us and not just at the cross. He gave His whole life for us, day in and day out. He showed us what it means to live for God.

 

We want our ease, but the Christian life is not always easy. Sometimes living for God means we have to show whose side we are on. The three Hebrew boys showed their allegiance in Daniel 3:16-18 (NKJV):

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

 

Let’s Keep The Light of Faithful Determination Burning!

[1] William J. Federer, “American Minute (St. Louis: Amerisearch, Inc., 2013), p. 51.

[2] https://patriotpost.us/articles/86014-courage-for-the-things-of-his-kingdom-2022-02-04

We sometimes let our hearts rule our heads as we face the many moral dilemmas of our day. Sometimes we operate out of well-meaning but misplaced compassion. We then set ourselves up as standards of right and wrong based on our feelings.

 

There is a standard of right and wrong to which we may turn. I would argue, as I believe our Founders would have, that the word of God is that standard. Our unchanging God of Hebrews 13:8 has given us His unchanging word for our benefit. Psalm 18:28-30 (NKJV) reads:

²⁸ For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
²⁹ For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰ As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

 

And, consider Isaiah 40:8 (NKJV):

The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.

 

The Bible is sort of an “owner’s manual.” God created us and knows us. He understands what we need to keep our “engines running smoothly.” That includes all three aspects of the physical, emotional, and spiritual. He lays all of this out for us in scripture.

 

People who were living before God called and equipped His nation were actually living a pretty bleak existence. God sent the nation of Israel on the scene with 613 commands to regulated their lives, personally, as a family, religiously, and civically as a nation. He gave them laws that were contrary to anything of this world such as being a moral people. The other nations practiced all manner of immoral behaviors based on their worship of idols and demons, as well as their own appetites.

 

God knew these activities would be destructive to the well-being of His creation. So, He set a model for us first in the nation of Israel. Isaiah 2:2 (NKJV) seems to indicate this:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.

 

He also gave us an even more personal example in Jesus. He said that He came to be a contrast to the great adversary. Notice John 10:10 (NKJV):

¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

 

God, through His word has answers to our issues. Sometimes God spells it out clearly in “black and white” as in the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20. Sometimes He gives us principles to apply like Leviticus 19:15 (NKJV):

¹⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.

 

This is a picture of God’s principle of justice. In other places He gives specifics. But here is the principle to live by.

 

Notice the importance of the “rule of law” (specifically the Torah of God) in 1 Timothy 1:8-11 (NKJV):

⁸ But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰ for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

 

In his Farewell Address in 1796, President George Washington identified the importance of preserving freedom of religion within a society:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.”

The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

 

Would you say that we are proving President Washington’s point? Today people want freedom FROM religion, not freedom OF religion. People seem to see God as some towering ogre bent on destroying our happiness. The exact opposite is the case. He seeks our best and lays it out in His word for us to pick up and follow. Our trouble is, we are settling for less than the best we can have. We have lowered the bar when we can be raising it.

 

Let’s Keep The Light of God’s Standards Burning!

Psalm 33:12 (NKJV)

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

 

The mission of God-N-America is to “reconnect God and America by telling His story in our history.” You see, whether intentionally or by apathy, we have forgotten our history. America has had a glorious past. That past was not just about conquest and victory in times of conflict, it was about an allegiance to God, unequalled in modern times.

 

This idea captivated me a few years ago when I heard some recorded sermons by one of my favorite preachers, Bob Russell of Louisville, Kentucky. In those lessons he emphasized America’s early connections to God and the providence of God in our history. Three stories stood out to me that captured my attention.

 

First, there was the story of George Washington at the Battle of Monongahela in the French and Indian War in 1755. Washington was a Colonial officer under British General Braddock. The British and Americans lost the battle that day but George Washington seemed to be miraculously protected. Fifteen years later an Indian Chief who had fought against him that day said of Washington that he was “the man who is the particular favorite of heaven, who could never die in battle.”

 

Second, there is the story of the Continental Army that was trapped by the British at Brooklyn Heights on Long Island August 27, 1776. Washington evacuated his troops all night to escape the British. However, by morning there were soldiers remaining on the Island who would surely have been killed or captured by the Redcoats had it not been for the peculiar fog that encompassed both armies. This enabled Washington to remove those troops. Those who were there called it Divine Providence.

 

Third, there is the story of Battle of Yorktown, in 1781 is actually referred to by some historians as the “Miraculous Convergence” in which a providential storm prevented the British from escaping the American Continental Army and brought the American War for Independence to an end.

 

As I investigated our history further, I found that there are many more stories of what appears to be divine intervention in the establishment of our nation. Even more examination showed some amazing things about our Founders and Framers. These men, were not a collection of atheists, agnostics, and deists as we have been led to believe. Those were the leaders of the French Revolution. For the most part, our leaders were devout Christians. They had a biblical worldview in which they based their actions on the Holy Scriptures more than the philosophies of men.

 

America was not a chosen nation like Israel. America was more of a “choosing nation.” Our ancestors chose to follow God and uphold the teachings of Jesus in their lives. Many who came to America did not come for “gold” but for God. As the Pilgrims stated in the Mayflower Compact, they came to “advance Christian faith.” That is, they came as missionaries to the natives in the New World, not as conquerors or masters.

 

Their study of the Bible revealed God’s will was to be in every part of life, from the individual to the family to the community to the nation. They chose to incorporate biblical principles into their lives and then into the life of our nation. The results of their faith-filled labors remind me of God’s affirmation of non-Jews who embrace Him in Isaiah 56:6-8 (NKJV)

⁶ “Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
⁷ Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
⁸ The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

 

I believe God has a special place in His heart for those who choose to follow Him and are not compelled to do so by tradition or by heritage. It has been said that God does not have any “grandchildren.” Every person who follows God is His son or daughter. It is incumbent upon every generation to develop a personal, fresh, deep-seated relationship with God.

 

Even the chosen nation of Israel had the opportunity to know God anew in each generation. Yet, they often ebbed and flowed in their personal and national relationships with Him. America has, too and God called us back to Him through events like the Great Awakenings.

 

Solomon stated in Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV):

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

Our awe and reverence for God is the beginning point of all knowledge. It is foolish to neglect Him. It is foolish to neglect His story in our history.

 

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. ⁷ “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7, NKJV). Just as our forefather chanted to the British, “We have no king but King Jesus,” we can declare His authority for our lives as our Lord, King, and Savior.

 

Let’s Keep The Light of Telling His Story in Our History Burning!