“In January of 1776 at the start of the Revolutionary War Virginia Pastor John Peter Muhlenberg after preaching a sermon to his congregation from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 declared:
“There is a time to fight, and that time has now come!”
As he had taken off his clerical robes, he revealed the uniform of a military officer and began to lead close to 300 men from his church to defend their liberties. These bold, brave men would go on to become the 8th Virginia Brigade and Rev. Muhlenberg went on to become a Major General under George Washington and was later elected to the first federal Congress where he helped frame the Bill of Rights.
A preacher was involved in framing the Bill of Rights in case you didn’t know that. There’s your fun history fact for the day.
Winston Churchill- “A nation that forgets its past has no future”.
When we look at America today, do we recognize her from what she was 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 10? 5? 2 months ago?!
Our Constitution is being shredded every single day with each passing law while it is applauded and cheered by those who do not know what it says or means which is a large portion of the people today because we refuse to wake up and refuse to choose fact and reason over emotion.
The more advanced we say we are becoming the less freedom we actually have. We live in a society where truth is relative and we do what feels right according to our own heart and mind which means that just about anything and anyone can be justified to be “right.”
When we become our own gods and become the judge, jury, and executioner on every single issue because we “feel” we are entitled to that opinion, we have absolute chaos and truth, fact, and reason become meaningless.
When we threw out God’s Word and half of the people decided on a national level to reject the Bible as the infallible, absolute truth and standard in which our society is based and has always been based we lost our footing, our soul, our way, our vision of what ultimately has made truly great.
It’s never been her economic might, her military might, her political might but what has always set America apart from the rest of the world has always been the fact she was founded upon Judeo-Christian values and principles. She was founded upon the Word of God.
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
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.”
Endowed means “provided or equipped with”
How have we strayed so far from our founding principles? I can tell you what the answer is not and you may not like my answer.
It’s not the Democrats. Its not the Republicans. Its not the media. Its not Woodrow Wilson (As much as I think he has been one of the worst if not the worst President we have ever had). Its not the millennials. It’s not Bernie Sanders and Socialism. Its not the ‘Pro-Choice” crowd.
It’s the indifference of the Pastors and Christians over the last century that have allowed our freedoms and liberties to be slowly stripped one right at a time by standing idly by, remaining inside the comfort of the 4 walls of their church while losing that fire and passion for lost souls that the early church was built upon.
We have forgotten our role in civil government because we have secluded ourselves to the shadows and surrendered the good fight of faith on the civil scene. Since the Scopes Trials of 1922 when God went on trial in America we have allowed:
- Evolution to be implemented in school textbooks
- Prayer officially taken out of schools
- The Bible taken out as a required textbook
- Abortion made legal
- Same sex marriage made legal and widely accepted now among churches
- Megachurches have arisen with a feel-good message, a false gospel based upon emotion with no depth of theology
So, what is our role in civil government? Retreat and ignore? Or Stand fast and take action?
The Church has largely forgotten its role in the civil arena here in America and the crucial part that the church played in our founding.
Some say that Christians have never been involved nor should they be.
Some Christians believe that they should be allowed to express their faith and values inside the church, in their home, but show restraint when it comes to the public.
The teachings that are in the Word of God simply reject a compartmentalized approach to our faith and living our faith the public arena.
For many Generations before, Christians have embraced a much different stance.
What we have been conditioned to believe and what we have been taught in our textbooks for many decades now has been that the tipping point for many of the early colonists going to War with Great Britain was “taxation without representation.”
While it was one of 27 grievances that the Colonists had with King George it was not the first or the second. It wasn’t even listed in the top 10 grievances but rather it was listed all the way down at number 17. Taxation without Representation was grievance number 17 in the Declaration of Independence.
Our Founders had listed several other complaints more often than taxation without representation:
The Abuse of Representative Powers 11 times more
Abuse of Military Powers 7 times more
Abuse of Judicial Powers 4 times more
Stirring up Domestic Insurrection 2 times more
All of these were listed alongside Great Britain’s interference with foreign trade and immigration
Why aren’t most Americans familiar with the rest of the 27 grievances but seem to be taught grievance number 17 more than any other of the 27 grievances?
We started to see a shift during the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s which brought about new historians that would begin a “revised” version of American history. The names of these men are not limited to but include:
- Charles Beard– He authored, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, argues that the structure of the Constitution of the United States was motivated primarily by the personal financial interests of the Founding Fathers. Beard was a leading liberal supporter of the New Deal and an intellectual leader in the Progressive Movement. He did in fact have Quaker roots as he attended a Quaker School growing up as a young boy.
- W.E. Woodward
- Fairfax Downey
These “revisionist historians” began only looking at American history through an economic standpoint. It would seem that they believed that the only motivating factor in life would be the almighty dollar. They had taken an economic approach to teaching American History. These so-called historians completely disregarded our American Heritage from a spiritual standpoint and began to focus solely on our history based upon economics.
Charles Beard wrote a book titled “The Economic Basis of Politics.” This book had taken a look at our Constitution and the Revolution from an economic perspective. So, to boil it down for your economics became the basis of what students for generations to come would study regarding the Constitution and the Revolution even though the “only” economic clause in the Declaration was “taxation without representation.”
This is the one clause that has been hammered and drilled into our brains over the last half-century as the sole reason for going to war with England.
So now as a result after having two generations learn that economics, money is the only thing that matters, we now see the behavior of our younger generations reflect these teachings.
Take the issues at the ballot box for example. What issue is most important to you when election time comes? When you are looking at the qualities for what a candidate stands for what issues do you hold most important?
Pro-Life/Pro-Choice?
Traditional Marriage/Same-Sex Marriage?
Moral Issues in general?
Evangelical Christians were polled and asked these questions on which issues were most important? The answer: Economic issues. Their pocketbook. Whether or not this candidate could help secure their finances trumped moral issues identified in the Bible.
Our leaders today on a national scale are judged not on the notion of their moral character, personal integrity, their empathy, their faith but rather solely on the basis of how the economy is performing, the unemployment rate which ties into the economy, or how the stock market is performing, also ties into the economy.
Money over morals. Economic health over spiritual health.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 King James Version (KJV)
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
If you were to crack open an American history textbook prior to what Charles Beard wrote, you would find a completely different version of American history taught inside the classroom. Just read the 27 grievances that our founders had with King George and these grievances alone present a different viewpoint as to what is taught today.
There were more important issues that concerned and motivated the Colonists than just economic stability.
When you go all the way back to 1762 America had its very first missionary society. The Society to Propagate the Gospel among Indians and Others in North America.
Many Americans were united in this effort but King George quickly put a stop to this movement as he was convinced that wit would compete with the work of the established Church of England. So, he vetoed it.
This is the type of action that had sounded the alarm through the American Colonies many of which had contended for religious freedom including their own right and ability to start Bible Societies, Churches, Missionary Societies, and Sunday School’s.
Both Charles Carroll and Samuel Adams, who would both become signers of the Declaration, stated that it was “religious freedom” as the reason they both became involved in the American Revolution. But you probably won’t read that in a textbook anywhere.
I will say that America is no longer a Christian nation. Am I saying that we as a people were not built on the idea that no nation should be rightly governed without God and the Bible? No, I am not saying that. When you read my writings and listen to these podcasts I will always hold fast the notion that we were a nation built on the idea that we have a Creator and that every man, woman, and child should have that God-given right to freely worship that Creator without the interference from the Government.
America was set apart from the rest of the world because she was different. People have always come from all over the world because there truly has never been a nation like her. Our forefathers battled those stormy seas on that long journey across the Atlantic and got their first glimpse of Lady Liberty holding that torch high and proud symbolizing the start of a new life, a new beginning for them and their families.
America is on the verge of death. On the verge of no longer being set apart from the rest of the world. On the verge of completely losing forever what has made her great. She’s nearly extinct and as President Ronald Reagan said:
“America is the last great beacon of hope to the rest of the world.”
I will take that even a step further and say that as long as Christ is on the throne, even if America falls, there will still be hope in Jesus Christ.
I’m afraid that one day as I stare across the vast ruins of the United States, I will have to explain to my children what it was like to live free. What it was like to watch my fellow countrymen not live in a constant state of fear. I hope and pray that this statement that I have made is not true but I do not find America anywhere regarding the end times in the book of Revelation.
Abraham Lincoln said that America would never be destroyed by outside forces but from within.
These are not easy things for me to say because I love my country so much. It breaks my heart to speak on these subjects but these are areas of discussion that need to be addressed because the spiritual health of our nation is reflected by the spiritual health of our communities and the spiritual health of our communities is reflected by the spiritual health of our churches.
It is the difficult subjects that need to be spoken of and then prayed on. The Bible says in the book of James that faith without works is dead so then we must put our prayer into action. You know what prayer is also action. The power of prayer is the greatest action and greatest weapon against Satan and the enemy. Its what holds everything together even though half of our politicians have thrown it out, its still the most effective weapon against the enemy.
Will America have a revival or a funeral? That questions depends upon its Christians. When will we wake up? Revival tarries because the Church is dead asleep.
Sources: The Role of Pastors and Christians in Civil Government by David Barton. Wallbuilders Press.
Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom in America 