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Religions > Atheism |
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"UR Welcome! UR" |
| Date: |
17 Jul 2007 09:34:26 AM |
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Birth of a Nation |
Birth of a Nation
A hush fell over the congregation as the distinguished Christian leader
looked across the pulpit into the faces of the crowd. Raising his eyes
toward the rafters, he cried out, "Father Abraham, whom have you in
heaven? Any Episcopals?" The preacher boldly answered his own question,
"No!"
"Any Presbyterians?"
"No!"
"Any Independents or Seceders, New Sides or Old Sides, any Methodists?"
"No! No! No!"
As the audience sat captivated by the words of the great orator, he
roared, "Whom have you there, then, Father Abraham?" With a rush of
emotion, the fiery minister echoed once again, "We don't know those names
here! All who are here are Christians-believers in Christ, men and women
who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of His
testimony!"1
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil. He was the
most prominent voice in a spiritual awakening that swept North America in
the mid-18th century. With contemporaries such as Jonathan Edwards and
John Wesley, Whitefield helped inspire one of the most powerful revivals
in history. During the Great Awakening, tens of thousands of Americans
dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ. Men and women across America
received Christ and were baptized.
This sovereign move of the Spirit prepared our nation for the struggles
that lay ahead. Just six years after Whitefield's death, the colonies
plunged into the Revolutionary War. Many who had attended his services
sacrificed their lives as the Patriots waged a five-year struggle for
independence from England. This spiritual revival had strengthened the
colonists for the task.
Benjamin Franklin noted the impact of the Great Awakening: "It seemed as
if all the world were growing religious. One could not walk through the
town in an evening without hearing psalms sung by different families on
every street."2 Franklin was so impressed that he built an auditorium to
accommodate the crowds of more than 30,000 people that his friend, the
Reverend Jonathan Edwards, regularly addressed. That auditorium later
became the first building on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.
Edwards himself was astounded by the awakening's impact. In describing one
town, he said:
This work of God, as it was carried on . soon made a glorious alteration
in the town, so that in the spring and summer following, Anno 1735, the
town seemed to be full of the presence of God. It never was so full of
love, nor so full of joy . [T]here were remarkable tokens of God's
presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in the families on
the account of salvation being brought unto them, parents rejoicing over
their children ., husbands over their wives, and wives over their
husbands.3
The messages proclaimed from the pulpits during the revival years had a
lasting impact on the colonies. The idea that all men are created equal
was a radical concept at that time, but the colonists gained new
understanding of this principle from the preaching of men like Edwards,
Whitefield, and Wesley. They also taught that faith is indispensable to
liberty in a society of self-governing citizens.
Through the Great Awakening, the colonists, separated by hundreds of miles
in thirteen distinct colonies, began to think of themselves as brothers
and sisters in a common cause. As John Wesley preached: "I refuse to be
distinguished from other men by any but the common principles of
Christianity . Dost thou love and fear God? It is enough! I give thee the
right hand of fellowship."4
The idea of a free and independent community began to grow in the hearts
of the people. To be sure, Christians even then adhered to strict
denominational lines; but, for the most part, they agreed on their greater
goals. Nurtured by a shared vision of faith and freedom, the
once-fragmented colonies were becoming one.
By the time of the American Revolution, 99.8 percent of the colonists
claimed to be believers in Christ.5 Christian principles therefore
pervaded every aspect of their society. As Daniel Webster later stated in
a speech commemorating the arrival of the Pilgrims:
Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were
brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion . They
sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society,
and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil,
political, or literary.6
Education in the Colonies
Learning in those days had a purpose with a moral context. When an
illiterate people cannot read God's Word for themselves, they are unable
to judge the practices of government against biblical teachings. To avoid
the civil abuses that occurred in Europe, the early settlers enacted the
first law establishing grammar schools in 1642. Titled the "Old Deluder
Satan Law," it stated that since "one chief objective of that old deluder,
Satan, [is] to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former
time," children must be taught to read and write to ensure that everyone
could learn the Scriptures.7
For nearly two hundred years, all schools were Christian schools in which
Christian values were paramount. Since 1691, school children learned the
alphabet by studying the New England Primer, which used Bible stories to
teach reading and writing. Generations of children learned from verses
that taught them: "A-In Adam's Fall, we sinned all; C-Christ crucify'd,
for sinners dy'd; and N-Noah did view, the old world and new."8
Another book widely used in America's schools was the New Guide to the
English Tongue, written in 1740 by Englishman Thomas Dilworth. From its
pages, school children learned spelling and grammar with such phrases as:
"No man may put off the law of God. The way of God is no ill way. My joy
is in God all the day. A bad man is a foe to God."9
The Northwest Ordinance, which would later be signed into law by our U.S.
Congress, required that schools be instituted for the purpose of teaching
religion:
Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and
the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged.10
In the colonies, a Christian education did not end with grammar school.
Almost all of the first institutions of higher learning were established
as Christian schools.
Harvard, the first college in America, was founded in 1636. Its Rules and
Precepts stated: "Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly
pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know
God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to
lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and
learning."11
The charter for the College of William & Mary, founded in 1692, states its
purpose: "that the Christian faith may be propagated . to the glory of
God."12
In 1701, Yale College was founded to "propagate in this wilderness the
blessed Reformed, Protestant religion,"13 with the goal that "every
student shall consider the main end of his study to wit to know God in
Jesus Christ and answerably to lead a Godly, sober life."14 Like Harvard,
its founders required that "all scholars shall live religious, godly, and
blameless lives according to the rules of God's Word, diligently reading
the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly
attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret."15
Princeton University, founded in 1746, had as its second president
Reverend John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration. Witherspoon's
emphasis on incorporating biblical principles in government had an impact
on our Founding Fathers, 87 of whom attended Princeton. The university's
first president declared: "Cursed be all learning that is contrary to the
cross of Christ."16
Education's Christian foundation would last for over two centuries. In
all, 106 of the first 108 colleges in America were founded on the
Christian faith. By the time of the Civil War, non-religious universities
could be counted on one hand. College presidents were almost always
clergymen until around 1900.17
The Laws of the Colonists
Colonial law also reflected Christian values. A man who greatly influenced
the shaping of American law was renowned English jurist Sir William
Blackstone (1723-1780). At the time of the American Revolution, there were
more copies of Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England in this
country than there were in England. In a study of the nearly 15,000
documents written by the Founding Fathers between 1760 and 1805,
researchers discovered that Blackstone was the second most frequently
quoted person.18
Blackstone proposed that there were only two foundations for law: nature
and revelation in the Holy Scriptures. He wrote, "These laws laid down by
God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil . This law of nature,
dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other.
It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no
human laws are of any validity if contrary to this."19
Another man who had a profound impact on American law was Baron Charles
Montesquieu, a French philosopher. Next to the Bible, Montesquieu was the
individual most quoted by our Founding Fathers.20 In 1748 he wrote a
highly influential book called The Spirit of the Laws, in which he
proposed separating the powers of government due to man's inherent
sinfulness and desire for control. Montesquieu devised an ingenious plan
of government dividing the powers into three branches, based on Isaiah
33:22: "The Lord is our judge [the judicial branch]; the Lord is our
lawgiver [the legislative branch]; the Lord is our king [the executive
branch]."21
Montesquieu's work was studied intently by our Founding Fathers, who would
later use his plan of government for our own. The structure of American
government is therefore derived directly from Scripture.
The governments of the individual colonies were also greatly influenced by
Christian principles. In all but one of the colonies, the people were even
taxed to support the preaching of the gospel and the building of churches.
A Christian consensus dominated colonial society with few dissenters. With
so many people listening for the "still small voice of God," it is
undeniable that God was the author of what was about to happen.
A Spirit of Independence
During the early settlement of America, rebellion against the British
Crown was unthinkable. At the same time, Christians considered tyranny a
violation of God's law. This idea pointed back to the concept of "lex
rex," where law is king and God is the foundation for the law. The
Declaration of Independence reflects this when it states that if the laws
of nature and of nature's God are violated, a God-fearing people would be
justified in severing ties of kinship with the British Empire.
On the other side of the Atlantic, events were occurring that caused the
colonists to accuse the King of "absolute tyranny over the states." By
1760, many British leaders began to fear the Americans. The colonists
would soon outnumber Englishmen, and the growing strength of the American
economy meant that one day the Americans would expect representation in
the British government. As long as the Americans posed no threat to the
authority of the Crown, the King encouraged their self-government. But as
perceptions about the colonists began to change in England, some began
advocating that the colonies be "put in their place."
Soon England passed oppressive ordinances against the colonies. The Stamp
Act of 1765 imposed direct taxes on a wide range of products. The
Quartering Act required the colonists to provide room and board in their
homes for British soldiers-who in most cases acted as spies. The
Declaratory Act, the Townshend Acts, and other authoritarian measures
contributed to the tension between the colonies and their mother country.
The colonists began to revolt against the tyranny. After all, John Knox
and Samuel Rutherford had taught that all tyranny comes from the devil-not
from God, who wants people to be free. Therefore, the English king had
violated, not just man's law, but God's law, and the colonists felt
justified in seeking independence.
Under this oppressive taxation, the colonists identified with the
Israelites suffering oppression in Egypt, and appealed to God. The men of
Marlborough, Massachusetts unanimously declared: "A free-born people are
not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny . [We]
implore the Ruler above the skies, that He would make bare His arm in
defense of His Church and people, and let Israel go."22 The Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts, which organized the famous Minutemen, issued a
statement to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay: "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."23
The structure of American government is derived DIRECTLY FROM SCRIPTURE.
In 1765, the Reverend Jonathan Mayhew of Boston's renowned West Church
made a powerful plea for independence that helped incite the colonists
against England. He said:
The king is as much bound by his oath not to infringe the legal rights of
the people, as the people are bound to yield subjection to him . As soon
as the prince sets himself above the law, he loses the king in the tyrant.
He does, to all intents and purposes, un-king himself by acting out of and
beyond that sphere which the constitution allows him to move in . The
subject's obligation to allegiance then ceases, of course, and to resist
him is no more rebellion than to resist a foreign invader.24
When circulated in flyers and newspapers of the day, such words inflamed
the people, inspiring the 1770 Boston Massacre and the 1773 Boston Tea
Party. (It is a little known fact that the participants in the Boston Tea
Party actually paid for the tea they dumped into the harbor. While they
were determined to make a powerful statement by their act of defiance,
they also believed that it would be stealing to not pay for the tea
themselves.25)
The colonies soon resounded with the cry, "No King but King Jesus!"26In
short order, the groundwork for revolution was in place. War was
inevitable.
A Declaration of Faith
The first order of business was declaring independence. The Declaration of
Independence, the single most important document in the establishment of
the United States of America as a free and independent nation, was both a
political and a religious document. In studying its message, it is
apparent that the document is as much a Declaration of Dependence upon the
Lord as it is a Declaration of Independence from civil tyranny.27 The
Declaration states that all men are created, that their Creator has given
them rights, and that these God-given rights are inalienable. It also
states their firm reliance on God's protection and appeals to the Supreme
Judge of the world.
From the wording in this historic document, it is clear that the Founding
Fathers believed they were building their nation with the authority of the
Supreme Being, who alone should be King. As the Declaration of
Independence was being signed, Samuel Adams, often called the "Father of
the Revolution," declared:
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.28
As the Declaration reached the hands of the King of England, the Americans
braced for war. Yet, having just stated their reliance on God's
protection, they were willing to undergo whatever God had planned for
them. John Adams wrote:
It is the will of Heaven that these two countries should be sundered
[separated] forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall
suffer calamities still more wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. If
this is to be the case, it will have this good effect, at least: it will
inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors,
follies and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor and destroy us . The
furnace of affliction produces refinements in states, as well as
individuals.29
The colonies had no human chance of winning a war with England. The
British Empire at that time possessed the most formidable fighting forces
on the face of the earth. The ragtag assembly of volunteers, farmers, and
tradesmen who composed the ranks of the American military were out-manned,
out-gunned, out-financed, and out-generaled. Only a miracle could bring
success in a war with Great Britain. That is exactly what happened.
Miraculous Intervention
Time and again throughout the war, God preserved the American cause. Both
American and British observers recorded strong impressions that God had
sided with the colonies and against the English. From Brooklyn Heights to
Yorktown, God's hand brought mysterious fogs, unexpected floods, and other
phenomena that aided the side of the colonies.
One example was the night the Continental Army was evacuated under the
noses of the British near Brooklyn. On August 27, 1776, 20,000 British
soldiers nearly surrounded the 8,000 poorly trained American troops.
General George Washington was waiting for the final assault that would
finish off the Continental Army and cause the colonists to lose the war.
But for some unknown reason, General Howe did not press the attack. All
throughout the next day, the Americans still waited, but there was no
action from the British. Rain came and a northeast wind arose, preventing
the British fleet from sailing up the East River.
Knowing that time was running out, Washington outlined a daring and
possibly foolhardy plan to his officers. Using small boats, he would
evacuate his entire army to safety across the mile-wide river.
How could he expect such a plan to succeed? How many trips would it take
across the open water in sight of the British? Providentially, a company
of expert oarsmen were among the American troops. After nightfall they
began laboring across the choppy water, trip after trip, carrying a few
soldiers at a time. Hour after hour passed. Washington set a screen of men
in front positions to fool the British. The enemy did not notice a thing!
At midnight the wind died down so the boats could be loaded with even more
men. As the sky lightened, the oarsmen knew the boats would become easy
targets. The men remaining on shore waited nervously in the trenches.
Would their turn to escape come or was it too late?
Just as the sun peered over the horizon, a dense fog arose from the
ground. Visibility dropped to a mere six yards. The fog remained until the
last boat, carrying General Washington, set off across the river. Then the
fog lifted, and the British were stunned to see the shore empty of the
8,000 American troops. Guns were fired at the last departing boat, but it
was out of range!
Many American soldiers kept diaries of this miraculous event, and almost
all attributed the "coincidental happenings" to the intervention of God.30
During the battles, the fighting was fierce, and many Americans died
without seeing victory. But after five long years, England finally gave
up. On October 19, 1781, General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army
to General Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. After receiving word of
Britain's surrender, Washington ordered his men to set up prayer tents to
thank God for protecting the army and preserving the colonies throughout
the war.
The Faith of the Founding Fathers
Who were these leaders who stood fast during the war and formed our
nation? Almost to a man, our Founding Fathers sought to serve and glorify
Jesus Christ with their lives. One study found that of 15,000 writings by
the Founding Fathers included in newspaper articles, pamphlets, books,
monographs, and other documents, 94 percent of all quotes either directly
or indirectly cited the Bible.31 Fifty-two of the 55 framers of the
Constitution were avowed Christians. From their hearts flowed the
documents and structures to form the foundations for this modern nation.
In September 1774, the First Continental Congress opened its initial
session with prayer. Psalm 35 was read aloud: "My soul shall be joyful in
the Lord; it shall rejoice in his salvation . Awake and rise to my
defense! Contend for me my God and Lord" (vv. 9, 23).32
Those in attendance later recalled the atmosphere as they prayed fervently
for America and for the Congress: "[W]ho can realize the emotions with
which they turned imploringly to heaven for divine interposition and aid.
It was enough . to melt a heart of stone."33 John Adams remarked that he
had never seen a greater effect on an audience. "It seemed as if Heaven
had ordained that Psalm to be read on that day."34
George Washington often spent hours in prayer without interruption. In his
prayer book, he wrote: "Direct my thoughts, words, and work. Wash away my
sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by Thy Holy
Spirit . Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son Jesus
Christ."35
Of all the founders' writing, 94 PERCENT either directly or indirectly
CITED THE BIBLE.
The famous portrait of Washington pausing in battle to pray for the safety
of his men depicts an actual scene witnessed by a British reporter. He
later confessed that the sight of Washington on his knees convinced him
that God must be on the side of the rebels. No wonder God used Washington
to father a nation dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ!
In his dying words, Alexander Hamilton, signer of the Constitution, spoke
of his faith in Christ: "I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the
Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I
look to Him for mercy."36
Patrick Henry, whose "give me liberty or give me death" speech helped
spark the war, declared in his will, "This is all the inheritance I give
to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will
make them rich indeed."37
To discover the faith of some of the other Founders, consider the
following words from their wills:
Samuel Adams, signer of the Declaration: "First of all, I resign my soul
to the Almighty Being who gave it, . relying on the merits of Jesus Christ
for the pardon of my sins."38
Gabriel Duvall, delegate to the Constitutional Convention and U.S. Supreme
Court Justice: "I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty who gave
it in humble hopes of His mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ."39
Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration: "On the mercy of my Redeemer I
rely for salvation and on His merits; not on the works I have done in
obedience to His precepts."40
Other signers of the Declaration include John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian
pastor; William Treat Payne, a military chaplain; and Benjamin Rush, who
founded the Pennsylvania Bible Society.41
Of those who signed the Constitution, Charles Pinckney and John Langdon
founded the American Bible Society, James McHenry founded the Baltimore
Bible Society, and Rufus King helped found a Bible Society for Anglicans.
Abraham Baldwin was a chaplain in the Revolution, and four others were
theological writers.42 The list could go on and on.
Even those who were known as nominal Christians deeply respected God and
the Bible. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, considered heroes by
the anti-Christian secular movement of our day, clearly acknowledged
divine authority in the affairs of men and never questioned God's role in
the founding of this nation.
Franklin wrote to the president of Yale College, "Here is my creed. I
believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His
providence. That He ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable
service we render to Him is in doing good to His other children . As to
Jesus of Nazareth, . I think the system of morals and his religion, as he
left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see."43
Franklin's most stirring speech was delivered at the Constitutional
Convention of 1787. Representatives from the various colonies had spent
days of bitter dispute over the terms of agreement and were on the verge
of disbanding and going home. Then they received an angry rebuke from the
81-year-old diplomat:
I have lived long, Sir, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I
see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow
cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred
Writings, that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that
build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his
concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than
the builders of Babel.44
Then Franklin called for prayer and urged that every session of the
government in the future begin with prayer. Following their corporate
prayer, the assembly adopted the Constitution and framed the outlines of
the American government.
While Thomas Jefferson was not what many would consider a biblical
believer and follower of Jesus, he claimed, "I am a real Christian; that
is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."45 He wrote to Dr.
Benjamin Rush (also a signer of the Declaration of Independence):
My views . are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very
different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know
nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed,
opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a
Christian in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be; sincerely
attached to his doctrines in preference to all others.46
Built on Christian Principles
With the Revolutionary War over and our nation's independence won, our
Founding Fathers sought God's guidance in establishing a righteous
government built on Christian principles.
These men knew that the freedoms that had been won can only exist within a
nation guided by biblical principles. Our laws are rooted in a moral and
religious tradition dating from the time that Moses received the Ten
Commandments. James Madison, known as the "Chief Architect of the
Constitution," declared:
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the
power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our
political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government;
upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control
ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of
God.47
John Adams, who with Benjamin Franklin and John Jay negotiated the treaty
with Great Britain ending the war, wrote in his diary:
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! . What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this
region be.48
What he envisioned was becoming reality. His son, John Quincy Adams,
stated, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it
connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with
the principles of Christianity."49
The Declaration of Independence affirms that our nation was built on
God-given principles: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness."
The United States Constitution established a nation that was Christian
from the ground up. Between the lessons taught by God through the
Reformation and the moral character reinforced by the Great Awakening, the
Founding Fathers laid the framework for what has become the most
successful form of government in history.
Now the stage was set. The first settlers established the covenant with
God; the Founding Fathers set up a government based on godly principles.
How would the mandate and purpose established by our ancestors affect our
history? As usual, God's work in history takes His chosen course. In the
next chapter, we will look deeper into our national purpose and how
America was shaped to fulfill it.
[1]
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1 Peter J. Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory, (Grand
Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1977), p. 248.
2 Benjamin Franklin, 1781, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, (New
York: Books, Inc., 1791), p. 146. Quoted in Carl Van Dorn, Franklin's
Autobiographical Writings, (New York: Viking Press, 1945), p. 624.
3 Isaiah Thomas, ed., The Works of President Edwards, Vol. III,
(Worchester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1808-1809), pp. 14-19.
4 Dr. Paul Johnson, History of Christianity, (Atheneum, NY: Atheneum,
1976). p. 422.
5 Dr. D. James Kennedy interview by John N. Damoose in Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida, in 1996.
6 Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster, (Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1853), Vol. I, p. 22.
7 The Code of 1650, Being a Compilation of the Earliest Laws and Orders of
the General Court of Connecticut (Hartford: Silas Andrus, 1822), p. 92,93.
8 New England Primer, 1691. Quoted in John Bartlett, ed., Bartlett's
Familiar Quotations, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), p. 320.
9 Thomas Dilworth, New Guide to the English Tongue, 1740. Quoted in H. R.
Warfel, Noah Webster: Schoolmaster to America, (New York: Octagon Press,
1966), pp. 11-13.
10 The Constitution of the United States of America With the Latest
Amendments, (Trenton: Moore and Lake, 1813), p. 364, "An Ordinance of the
Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," Article III.
11 Rosalie J. Slater, ed. Teaching and Learning America's Christian
History, (San Francisco: Foundation for Christian Education, 1980), p.
vii.
12 1692. Original Charter of the College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, Virginia, Rare Books Collection, Swem Library. John Fiske,
The Beginnings of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
1898), pp. 127,128,136.
13 1701. Peter G. Mode, Sourcebook and Bibliographical Guide for American
Church History, (Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Co., 1921), pp.
109,110.
14 1701, as stated by the founders. William C. Ringenberg, The Christian
College: A History of Protestant Higher Education in America, (Grand
Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984), p. 38.
15 Richard Hofstader and Wilson Smith, eds., American Higher Education: A
Documentary History, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), p. 1.
16 Steve McDowell and Mark Beliles, America's Providential History
(Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1989), p. 100.
17 McDowell and Beliles, America's Providential History, p. 109.
18 Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman, "The Relative Influence of
European Writers on Law: Eighteenth Century Political Thought," American
Political Science Review, 1984, pp. 189-197.
19 William Blackstone, Commentary on the Laws of England, (Oxford,
England: Clarendon Press, 1769). Reprinted in Commentary on the Laws of
England, Vol. I, (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1879), pp. 39,41,
42.
20 John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution, (MI: Baker Book House,
1987), pp. 51,53.
21 Baron Charles Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, 1748, Anne Cohler,
trans. (reprinted Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 157.
22 1773, in a unanimous declaration by the men of Marlborough,
Massachusetts. Charles E. Kistler, This Nation Under God (Boston: Richard
G. Badger, The Gorman Press, 1924), p. 56.
23 1774. George Bancroft, Bancroft's History of the United States,
(Boston: Charles C. Little & James Brown, 1838), Vol. VII, p. 229.
24 Jonathan Mayhew, 1765 sermon in Boston. Quoted in Clinton Rossiter,
Seedtime of the Republic, (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, Inc.,
1953), p. 241.
25 Peter J. Marshall interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
26 1774, colonial motto issued through the Committees of Correspondence
from Boston, Massachusetts.
27 Rus Walton, They Signed for Us, (Plymouth Rock Foundation, P.O. Box
577, Marlborough, NH 03455).
28 Charles E. Kistler, This Nation Under God, (Boston: Richard G. Badger,
The Gorham Press, 1924), p. 71.
29 John Adams, July 3, 1776, in a letter to his wife Abigail. Quoted in L.
H. Butterfield, ed., Adams Family Correspondence, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1963), Vol. II, pp. 28-31.
30 Marshall, The Light and the Glory, pp. 313,314.
31 Lutz, "The Relative Influence," pp. 189-197.
32 John Adams in a letter to his wife sent from Philadelphia on September
7, 1774. Charles Francis Adams, ed., Letters of John Adams-Addressed to
His Wife, (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), pp. 23,24.
33 Thomas Y. Rhoads, The Battlefields of the Revolution (Philadelphia: J.
W. Bradley, 1860), pp. 36,37.
34 Charles Francis Adams, Letters of John Adams, pp. 23,24.
35 W. Herbert Burk, B.D., Washington's Papers, (Norristown, PA: Published
for the benefit of the Washington Memorial Chapel, 1907), pp. 87-95.
Quoted in LaHaye, Faith, pp. 111-113.
36 M. E. Bradford, Religion & the Framers: The Biographical Evidence,
(Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1991), p. 8.
37 Norene Dickson Campbell, Patrick Henry: Patriot and Statesman,
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair Co., 1969), p. 428.
38 From his Will. Stephen Abbott Northrup, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses,
(Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 5.
39 David Barton, Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, &
Religion, (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1997), 134.
40 From an autographed letter written by Charles Carroll to Charles W.
Wharton, Esq., on September 27, 1825, from Doughoragen, Maryland. Quoted
in Barton, Original Intent, p. 137.
41 David Barton, WallBuilders, Inc., 1998.
42 David Barton, "The Founding Fathers and Deism," article available on
Internet.
43 March 9, 1790, in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale
University. John Bigelow, Complete Words of Benjamin Franklin. Quoted in
Northrup, A Cloud of Witnesses, p. 159.
44 James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, (New
York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1987), pp. 209,210.
45 January 9, 1816, in a letter to Charles Thomson. Henry S. Randall, The
Life of Thomas Jefferson (NY: Derby and Jackson, 1958), Vol. 3, p. 451.
46 April 21, 1803, in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush. The Writings of
Thomas Jefferson, Vol. X, p. 379.
47 Gary DeMar, God and Government: A Biblical and Historical Study,
(Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), pp. 137,138.
48 John Adams, February 22, 1756, in a diary entry. L.H. Butterfield, ed.,
Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of
Harvard Press, 1961), Vol. III, p. 9.
49 John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821. John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of
the American Revolution 1860, (reprinted NY: Burt Franklin, 1860, 1970),
p. XXIX.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (53).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 11:00:18 PM |
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On Jul 17, 10:34 am, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
Thank you for admitting in public that you are a bigot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation
-PF, etc.
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| User: "UR Welcome! UR" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 11:16:10 PM |
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<panamfloyd@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1184990418.581734.240720@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
Thank you!
.. Backward Advances
Despite all her critics, America is still a great nation. It seems,
however, that for each step we take forward, we take two steps backward.
So far, we have examined several areas of deterioration that have hurt our
nation's progress:
.. The battle over ideas that began in the 1920s and 1930s
.. The materialism and greed that grew out of the Depression and World
War II
.. The overt revolution of the 1960s and 1970s
.. The chaos and confusion now rampant in our families, schools, and
streets
Right now you are probably thinking, This is enough! There could not be
more! But we have not looked at several areas that have made catastrophic
contributions to our freefall: the technological revolution, new artistic
expressions, the rise of cults, and the breakdown of law. All of these are
the result of our national embrace of humanism, relativism, and
materialism.
Incredible Advances in Technology
Today, thanks to incredible advances in technology, we can broadcast
messages around the globe by television, films, radio, and the Internet.
Innovations in technology are marvelous tools intended to broadcast the
glory of God. One example is the use of the JESUS film. Initiated in
1978-1980 and based entirely on the book of Luke, by 1998 this film of the
life of Jesus had been translated into more than 450 languages and viewed
by more than 1.2 billion people. The film has been shown in 222 countries
by thousands of Christian groups and denominations with tens of millions
being introduced to our Lord Jesus Christ. It is thrilling to realize that
the body of Christ has the ability to spread the gospel and build up
believers in their faith in the world's most remote areas using all kinds
of technological advances.
Indeed, the power of invention is a gift from God. As the Creator, His
nature is the essence of invention and discovery. Throughout history, He
has revealed secrets of His infinite wisdom and power to His chosen
servants. As Psalm 25:14 records, "Friendship with God is reserved for
those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his
promises" (TLB). Almost without exception, early American inventors gave
credit to God for what they discovered. For example, Samuel Morse,
inventor of the telegraph and Morse code, once told reporters that he
never felt he deserved the honors he received for his invention because it
was all achieved through God's help.
It is not surprising that the first message he telegraphed was from
Scripture: "What hath God wrought!" (Numbers 23:23, KJV).
The Technology Revolution
But somehow we have been deluded into believing that we are the creators
and discoverers-that we are like gods who hold the keys to all knowledge
and science. What a sad misunderstanding of who we really are.
Consequently, we have taken the technology that God provided for reaching
the world for Christ and used it for our own benefit. In so doing, what
God meant as a blessing has become a curse. Judge Robert Bork explains:
A culture obsessed with technology will come to value personal convenience
above almost all else, and ours does. That has consequences . Among those
consequences is impatience with anything that interferes with personal
convenience. Religion, morality, and law do that, which accounts for the
tendency of modern religion to eschew proscriptions and commandments and
turn to counseling and therapeutic sermons; of morality to be relativized;
and of law, particularly criminal law, to become soft and uncertain.
Religion tends to be strongest when life is hard; the same may be said of
morality and law. A person whose main difficulty is not crop failure but
video breakdown has less need of the consolations and promises of
religion.1
Paradoxically, although we have instant access to information on every
conceivable topic, we continue to be relatively uninformed. With an
incredible overload of information at our fingertips, we find ourselves
gravely undernourished in wisdom. Daniel Boorstin, former head of the
Library of Congress, remarks that science once boasted of our species as
Homo sapiens, the being who is wise; but today we might merely be
classified as Homo optidatum, the being who possesses the best and latest
facts. Sadly, he concludes, Homo optidatum is a "dunce"!2
Technology has brought about the "easy life." The harder facts of God like
holiness, repentance, and evangelism lose their appeal when a nation
becomes fat and rich, sated with convenience and affluence. Instead of
employing new resources to evangelize the nations, we use them to create a
life that costs us nothing.
Judge Bork believes the new technology, along with our affluence, has
helped usher in a state of complacency that will prove dangerous, if not
disastrous.
Affluence brings with it boredom. Of itself, it offers little but the
ability to consume, and a life centered on consumption will appear and be
devoid of meaning. Persons so afflicted will seek sensation as a
palliative, and that today's culture offers in abundance .
With the time and energies of so many individuals freed from the harder
demands of work, the culture turned to consumerism and entertainment.
Technology and its entrepreneurs supplied the demand with motion pictures,
radio, television, and videocassettes, all increasingly featuring sex and
violence. Sensations must be steadily intensified if boredom is to be kept
at bay.3
Technology and Entertainment
Because we have forsaken God, our technology has become a blight upon the
landscape. In many ways, we have surpassed even the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah, which were destroyed by fire from heaven for their sins. At
least their sins were localized; America, on the other hand, exports its
sin by the most sophisticated means, hastening the moral destruction of
every nation on earth.
For more than thirty years, the television and movie industries have
exploited sex, drugs, and violence to turn an unprecedented and indecent
profit. As a result, our standards of decency have almost collapsed. While
the Christian church stands idly by, films and television shows openly
mock and ridicule our God.
America exports its sin, hastening the MORAL DESTRUCTION of every nation
on earth.
Ted Baehr, editor and publisher of Movie Guide and a respected movie
critic, says that Christians willingly removed themselves from the
entertainment industry:
During the golden age of Hollywood, when Mr. Smith went to Washington, the
church was the active instrument in Hollywood through the Protestant Film
Office. For thirty-three years from 1933-66, the church was an active
influence working with the studios to make sure there was no excessive sex
or violence.4
In 1966, church mechanisms for influencing Hollywood voluntarily shut
down, despite the pleas of studio heads who begged them to remain. Ted
Baehr considers that the turning point in American entertainment. "If you
remember," he says, "in 1966 you had movies like The Greatest Story Ever
Told, about Jesus Christ. Probably the worst movie of the year was Mary
Poppins, and the best was The Sound of Music. By the time 1969 came
around, you had the first X-rated movie and the first sex and Satanism
film."5
As the church retreated from a position of responsibility, the
philosophies of moral relativism and secular humanism filled the void.
Today, American entertainment often glamorizes the worst influences in
society. The pornography industry nets more than $6 billion every year by
graphically displaying the most vile sex acts imaginable. Major box office
releases mock and belittle men and women of God. All too often, these
films subtly, and more recently very boldly, propagate humanistic,
occultic, and New Age ideologies.
Popular television programs now treat homosexuality as a normal lifestyle
choice. Graphic violence overloads our airwaves and cable systems.
Although industry executives assure advertisers of television's unrivaled
efficiency at selling goods, services, music, and fashion, they maintain
that the one thing it cannot "sell" is violence. However, despite its
claims to the contrary, the entertainment industry's immoral portrayals do
have a devastating influence.
Tests of Morality
The decay is insidious, as demonstrated by the sitcom Ellen. Initially its
producers wrestled over whether the show's main character should "come out
of the closet" as a lesbian. At first, loud cries were heard about how
disgraceful such a move would be. But within months, not only did the
character played by Ellen Degeneres announce that she was a lesbian, the
actress did too. That incident tested the public's reaction. When the
novelty of the comedienne's "big statement" faded away, viewers lost
interest in the show and falling advertising revenues sealed the sitcom's
fate. But the damage had been done. Soon few people were bothered by a
lesbian heroine in a major network show.
Another test arose when homosexual activists were outraged by a "viewer
discretion" warning placed on an episode where Ellen kissed another woman.
The activists protested, "What's wrong with two women kissing each other?"
This reinforces the belief that lesbianism is an acceptable lifestyle
choice, breaking the ground for even more offensive fare.
Sin always feeds on sin. By indulging our base natures, we crave more sin
in every area of life. What was merely tantalizing yesterday becomes
necessary today; what is stimulating today becomes tame and unexciting
tomorrow. Unless the intensity of the sensual experience is constantly
increased and the sin becomes more and more shocking, it quickly becomes
boring.
Pornography, as studies have shown, creates an insatiable appetite. It
begins with a lustful thought, which eventually leads to soft-core
pornography, then hard-core pornography, then often to violence and other
social pathologies.
Any pattern of sin is insidious and corrosive and can only be broken by
humiliation and repentance before almighty God. And we can say with
certainty and with the warrant of Scripture that unless changes come
swiftly in our habits of consumption in entertainment, this factor alone
may be weighty enough to bring God's final judgment upon America.
Art in Crisis
The largest patron of the arts during the Renaissance era was the Catholic
church. This is why we have so many great works by Michelangelo, Raphael,
Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and others, which give honor to God and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Michelangelo's art is some of history's best. The story of Creation on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome is one of the most awesome
achievements in art. The magnificent Pieta, chiseled from raw Carrara
marble, stands in a protected cove of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
The statue portrays the grief of Mary, clasping the slain body of her Son,
the Lord Jesus, in her arms. David, the statue commissioned as a symbol of
Florentine civic virtue, portrays a strong and virile young man as he
becomes head of the house of Judah. The Last Judgment includes a cameo of
Michelangelo himself in intense torment as he faces the reality of his own
sin.
To my knowledge, there are no such works in progress today that glorify
the Creator or the Savior on such a grandiose scale. Though some nations
may produce national works that glorify Him with paintings and icons,
America has none.
The masterpieces of the Renaissance were created to glorify God. The arts
of our day, on the other hand, are often used to defame and blaspheme Him.
It would have been inconceivable to the great masters that one day their
beloved Jesus would be depicted immersed in a jar of the artist's urine!
This was Robert Serrano's contribution, paid for by the National Endowment
for the Arts with taxpayer money.
The stark reality is that Jesus Christ has been removed from our public
square, and our tax money has been used by our artistic leaders to promote
obscenity. The apostle Peter, to whom the Basilica at the Vatican is
dedicated, warned of the consequences of such flagrant blasphemy:
Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not
bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the
Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are
like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and
destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish (2 Peter 2:10-12).
God is serious about destroying those who propagate heresies and lies.
Peter concludes:
If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,
putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not
spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people,
but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he
condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and
made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly . then the
Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous
for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is
especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful
nature and despise authority (2 Peter 2:4-10).
Those who maintain a godly lifestyle in the face of heresy and deceit will
be saved. But woe to those who through rebellion perpetrate such
destruction on a people and a nation!
False Prophets, False Religions
By allowing sin to flourish, America opened itself to even greater evil.
In recent years, men and women who claim allegiance to God have committed
acts of terror. Clinton Van Zandt was the lead hostage negotiator for the
FBI during the Branch Davidian standoff at Waco, Texas, in 1993. The
former FBI officer remembers one particular telephone conversation with
cult leader David Koresh:
He had his Bible, I had mine. We were working through the Scriptures, and
David Koresh was trying to tell me by the Scriptures why he had the right
to have sexual contact with young girls. I said, "David that's not
correct. Look at what the Lord tells us before and after."
"You are totally incorrect."
I said, "David, you are talking about annihilating your whole flock. We
read in Scriptures that the Lord will go out for one lost sheep and bring
it back again, while you are talking about an entire flock being
annihilated." That was the time David Koresh said, "Clint, who do you
think I am?" I said, "David, who do you think you are?" [Koresh] said, "I
am the christ."
Van Zandt watched in tears as the Branch Davidian compound burned. He saw
adults who proclaimed allegiance to Christianity abdicate their
responsibilities as parents, citizens, and adults, dying with their
children for cultic beliefs. He says, "It scared me for society as a
whole."6
People are not content with a superficial Christianity; our natures crave
a vital relationship with God. If we are denied the opportunity to
interact with our Maker-through prayer, Bible reading, and regular
worship-then we fall for any kind of spirituality that promises
transcendence. But cults cannot satisfy our souls.
People are not content with a SUPERFICIAL CHRISTIANITY; our natures crave
a vital relationship with God.
Books on a wide range of spiritual counterfeits now crowd the shelves of
local bookstores. We saw earlier how New Age religions are on the rise.
Today, television shows glorify angels or the occult. Science fiction, on
television and in the movies, promises mystical insight or paranormal
experiences. But these do not satisfy either. The common thread in
alternative religions is the promise of power without the personal
sacrifice. They claim, "Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5, KJV). That is not the road to
God, but the road to terror and eternal torment in the lake of fire.
By rejecting faith in Jesus Christ, America has also rejected God's
protective hand which, until recently, sheltered this nation from harm. We
have invited the devil with all his diabolical and destructive power into
our daily lives.
The Breakdown of Law
The blatant disregard for the law and for life is apparent in news stories
that have blazed across television screens and newspapers in recent
months.
.. A man arrested in a small New York town for selling crack cocaine
confessed he had traded drugs for sex and infected at least a hundred high
school girls with the deadly AIDS virus.
.. A teenage girl gave birth in a restroom at her high school prom,
then left her baby to die in a trash can while she danced with her
boyfriend to their favorite tunes.
.. In Los Angeles, two men in full-body armor robbed a bank in broad
daylight. Then they calmly walked outside and engaged in a fire fight with
dozens of police officers. In a withering volley of automatic weapons
fire, their bullets shattered everyone and everything in sight.
.. In Kentucky a boy caught up in the occult opened fire on a group of
high school students who were praying in a hallway. He killed three young
women.
.. In Arkansas, two young boys ambushed classmates with assault rifles
during a fire drill.
In three separate cases, juries convicted mothers of drowning, smothering,
or beating their children to death. Two Naval Academy cadets were
convicted of murdering a sexual rival. People in high government
positions, including the President, have been accused of lying, having
sexual escapades, and obstructing justice. Several cabinet-level
administrators have resigned or been indicted for financial impropriety.
Business and sports figures make excuses for unruly behavior or criminal
acts. These flagrant crimes show the utter disarray of our once-treasured
system of law.
Remember the principle of "lex rex" from early in our history? Law used to
be firmly based on what Scripture dictated was morally right. Americans
treasured the life and the property of others. Nations around the world
looked to America and Great Britain as practitioners of model legal
systems.
Have you ever wondered why our Founding Fathers did not add more moral
rules and regulations to our Constitution? Because they believed that
America's deep religious character would provide an enduring moral
framework for society. They never imagined that permissiveness and radical
individualism would sweep our land.
To date, at least three generations of Americans have been taught that
there are no legitimate restraints on personal behavior. As we have slid
into moral relativism, our laws have followed suit and increasingly become
merely what man says is right in a given situation. We now have
"situational" or "sociological" law, which is based on what a certain
group thinks is for the good of all the people at that given moment.
With God and the Bible, including the Ten Commandments and the Golden
Rule, removed from the foundation of our legal system, our laws no longer
carry moral authority. The free-will tyrannies of many judges, the freedom
of the individual, and the rights of the minority have become our new
standards. We no longer have a way to sustain a just order; consequently,
widespread chaos plagues our justice system.
When God's laws are the spirit behind the law, we can measure actions
against His higher, eternal moral code. We can judge events with
supernatural clarity, and can almost universally figure out what is right
and what is wrong, what is forgivable and what must be punished.
Not so in a godless society. With no overarching moral law, all that is
left is the letter of man's law. Then specific wording in the law becomes
sacred. There is no spirit to the law; there is only exactly what is
written on paper. Americans have learned to maneuver their way through the
written law to reap huge profits. Lawyers find ways to encourage lawsuits
to make millions for themselves.
Separation of Church and State
One hotly contested point of law today is the First Amendment to the
Constitution. Over the past fifty years, many have used this amendment as
a mechanism for removing the Christian faith from the public arena. By
citing the existence of an officially mandated "separation of church and
state," anti-Christian forces have worked to overturn the sacred
foundations of this nation. But they have no basis whatsoever in law or
tradition to separate church and state affairs. Rather, they are
instituting what some have called a "new American revolution."
The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This
statement was included to prohibit the establishment of a national church,
such as the Church of England, and to prevent the state from interfering
with the religious activities of its citizens. The state was not to be
partial to any one denomination; but neither was it to be hostile to
religious activities. In fact, the First Amendment never mentions
"separation," "a wall," or "State." These words were taken from a private
letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists.
Over the years, many illustrious men have described the role of religion
in government. George Washington said that if he had the faintest idea
that this Constitution would in any way diminish the rights of any
Christian denomination, he "would never have placed [his] signature to
it."7 Uriah Oakes, who served as president of Harvard College, said in
1673:
According to the design of our fathers and the frame of things laid by
them, the interests of righteousness in the commonwealth and the holiness
in the churches are inseparable . to divide what God hath joined is folly
in its exaltation. I look upon this as a little model for the glorious
Kingdom of Christ on earth. Christ reigns among us in the commonwealth as
well as in the church and hath His glorious interest involved and wrapped
up in the good of both societies respectively.8
Joseph Story (1779-1845), one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court,
said in 1840:
Probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the First
Amendment to it, the general, if not universal sentiment in America was
that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state . Any
attempt to level all religions and to make it a matter of policy to hold
all in utter indifference would have created universal disapprobation, if
not universal indignation.9
As late as 1944, Justice William O. Douglas, whom many identify as the
most liberal Supreme Court justice to serve on the bench, affirmed, "The
First Amendment has a dual aspect. It not only forestalls compulsion by
law of the acceptance of any creed or practice of any form of worship, but
also safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion."10
Today, however, "separation of church and state" has become a weapon used
by secularists to keep God out of the public and political arenas. Writing
in The Liberator, Matthew Staver explains,
There is nothing wrong with the way Thomas Jefferson used the "wall of
separation between church and state" metaphor. The problem has arisen when
the Supreme Court in 1947 erroneously picked up the metaphor and attempted
to construct a constitutional principle. While the metaphor understood in
its proper context is useful, we might do well to heed the words of the
United States Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist:
The "wall of separation between church and state" is a metaphor based on
bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It
should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.11
D. James Kennedy asks: "Does the separation of church and state mean that
God is to have no place in our land? Does it mean that this nation was not
founded for the glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom of our
Lord Jesus Christ? Does it mean that our government is to be secularist
and humanist in nature? Does it mean that our children are to grow up
without any knowledge of the God who brought about the founding of this
country? Are we to be neutral?"
Kennedy concludes: "From the history of our country, we realize that all
the documents which formed our country, the ideals of those who framed
them, the convictions of those who settled this land, all the
constitutions of the various states, the inaugurals of all our presidents,
the statements on all the monuments, unmistakably testify that this is a
nation under God founded for the furtherance of the Gospel and Kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ."12
Though we have been a predominantly Christian nation for most of our
history, that legacy is meaningless if it does not influence our thinking
and public conduct today. If we view history simply as something to be
proud of, some past accomplishment without practical applications to
modern life, our heritage is nullified.
Outlawing religion from the political arena is not what the Founding
Fathers intended when they drafted the First Amendment. We do a grave
disservice to our country by removing the influence of religion. If you
separate God from the public arena, inevitably you separate good from our
government. What a tragedy if we allow those who oppose our God to rob us
of our historical mandate to achieve God's purposes through government!
Our Christian legacy is MEANINGLESS if it does not influence our thinking
and public conduct today.
Inevitable Disorder
Because of the breakdown of our law, today professional legal advice is
necessary even when entering into the most simple agreement. Where a
genuine handshake used to close a business deal, today nothing is official
until the proper papers are signed and the "legalese" is correct.
Our criminal justice system also suffers tremendously. The critical
question in any trial used to be: Did the suspect commit the crime? Today,
the questions are: Did the police follow proper procedure exactly? Is
there a loophole in the written law that could get the suspect off the
hook? Did the judge follow the technicalities precisely during
proceedings? Was the jury tainted by the media? And when will the decision
be appealed? We have created a legal system of technicalities and
confusion which has released hardened criminals onto the streets, and
enslaved honest people in mountains of debt and taxes.
The medical community has also been ravaged by modern legal disorder.
Thousands of people are making fortunes by waging lawsuits which many
hospitals find cheaper to settle out of court. While some cases are
certainly legitimate, our legal system has paved the way for opportunists
to profit at the nation's expense.
The New Barbarians
C. S. Lewis warned of a time when a far more dangerous variety of criminal
will replace the older type of thugs. Organized crime and hooliganism will
become less disturbing, he said, as seemingly "decent people" commit more
and more crimes. He writes:
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that
Dickens loved to paint. It is not even in concentration and labor camps.
In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved,
seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and
well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails
and smooth shaven faces who do not need to raise their voices.13
Chuck Colson explains the consequences of unrestrained liberty:
Clearly, barbarism is the result of the loss of a transcendent value
system where people are taught to love God and to love one another. When
you take that away, you reduce us to our basest instincts. Conscience is
destroyed. Character is attacked. So we begin to see more and more
dreadful things happen .
We are going to see more and more barbarians-not only butchering-killer
types, but the subtle barbarians of the boardrooms with the three-piece
suits who promulgate values that are destructive of a respect for God,
community, and one another.14
After all, where did the ideas for Germany's "final solution" originate?
Not from within the dreaded concentration camps with their armed guards
and brutality, but in pleasant meeting rooms where the Nazi elite
contemplated schemes to dominate people everywhere.
This principle is true today. While society managed to defeat human devils
like Adolf Hitler, we are shocked to find that we, ourselves, are the
greatest risk to peace and the survival of our nation. The reason is that
we have licensed and condoned sin and thereby deadened our moral
sensibilities. The first sin we commit or tolerate is troubling; the
second a little less so; the third hardly a problem; and by the fourth or
fifth occurrence, even serious moral lapses can become acceptable.
Eventually, we do not know which evil we should oppose.
Talk to the man who embezzles from his company. At first, it is just to
pay a bill that he cannot meet and he is so guilt-ridden. The second time,
he has his excuses thought out. Perhaps he rationalizes, "The company owes
me anyway. Look what I do for them and they don't appreciate it." As the
months pass without repentance, he more easily shrugs off guilty feelings.
Soon he dips into the till whenever he thinks he will not get caught.
One of the worst names to be branded today is "INTOLERANT."
Without moral convictions, an entire nation can grow dangerously
accustomed to habitual sin. Conscience based on principles of truth
becomes passé. Instead, popularly accepted notions are "Whatever feels
good," "What's in it for me?" and "What can I get away with?" Those who
speak out against corruption or call for repentance and a return to high
standards are labeled hate-mongers, extremists, and reactionaries. And one
of the worst names to be branded today is "intolerant." Judge Robert Bork
writes:
With each new evidence of deterioration, we lament for a moment, and then
become accustomed to it. We hear one day of the latest rap song calling
for killing policemen or the sexual mutilation of women; the next, of
coercive left-wing political indoctrination at a prestigious university;
then of the latest homicide figure for New York City, Los Angeles, or the
District of Columbia; of the collapse of the criminal justice system which
displays an inability to punish adequately and, often enough, an inability
to even convict the clearly guilty; of the rising rate of illegitimate
births; the uninhibited display of sexuality and the popularization of
violence in our entertainment; worsening racial tensions; the angry
activists of feminism, homosexuality, environmentalism, animal rights-the
list could be extended almost indefinitely. So unrelenting is the assault
on our sensibilities that many of us grow numb, finding resignation the
rational, adaptive response to an environment that is increasingly
polluted and apparently beyond our control.15
Liberty turned into license threatens our entire way of life. Puritan
leader William Penn wrote in a letter to Czar Peter the Great of Russia,
"Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."16 I
believe this is what is happening in America today. Having "freed"
ourselves from the constraints of morality, we have enslaved ourselves to
the rule of government.
Yet another result of our national march toward destruction has been
especially obvious in the last few years. This symptom of a decaying
society illustrates the speed of our nation's downward moral spiral and
shows how far we have fallen. It all started with a court case called Roe
v. Wade.
LIBERTY turned into LICENSE threatens our entire way of life.
[1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Robert H. Bork, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, (New York: Harper Collins,
1996), p. 9.
2 Daniel Boorstin quoted by Dr. Os Guinness in interview by John N.
Damoose in Fairfax, Virginia, in 1996.
3 Bork, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, p. 9.
4 Ted Baehr interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in
1996.
5 Baehr interview.
6 Clinton Van Zandt interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
7 May 10, 1789, in addressing the General Committee of the United Baptist
Churches of Virginia. Jared Sparks, ed., The Writings of George
Washington, (Boston: American Stationer's Company, 1837), Vol. XII, p.
154.
8 Dr. Paul Johnson, History of Christianity, (Atheneum, NY: Atheneum,
1976), p. 422.
9 Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. III, 1833,
(reprinted New York: DaCapro Press, 1970), p. 726.
10 Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books,
1981), p. 35.
11 Matthew D. Shaver, The Liberator, Vol. 9 No. 4, April 1998, p. 4.
12 D. James Kennedy, from the sermon "Church and State," (Coral Ridge
Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries, 1979).
13 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, (New York: The MacMillan Co.,
1982), p. x.
14 Charles Colson interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
15 Robert Bork, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, (New York: Harper Collins,
1996), pp. 2,3.
16 Hildegarde Dolson, William Penn: Quaker Hero, (New York: Random House,
1961), p. 155.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (157).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
21 Jul 2007 12:07:48 AM |
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On Jul 21, 12:16 am, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<panamfl...@hotmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1184990418.581734.240720@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
Thank you!
. Backward Advances
Despite all her critics, America is still a great nation. It seems,
however, that for each step we take forward, we take two steps backward.
You said it. I would suggest, however, that it's not two steps
backward, but an even battle.
US Constitution vs the Alien & Sedition Acts.
http://www.csulb.edu/~crsmith/whitepapers/alien.htm
US Constitution vs slavery.
If you need a cite for this, you need remedial US history classes.
Free Speech vs US foriegn policy.
http://www.amazon.com/Captive-Press-Foreign-Policy-Amendment/dp/1882577221
And on it goes. Right down to the current era. Yeah, the US has it
right on paper. We already know that. It's up to us that appreciate
that ideal to keep fighting you idiots who wrap yourselves in my flag
as you scream your bigotry.
-PF,etc.
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| User: "UR Welcome! UR" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
21 Jul 2007 08:13:15 AM |
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<panamfloyd@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1184994468.533454.171570@m3g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
Thank you!
. Backward Advances
Despite all her critics, America is still a great nation. It seems,
however, that for each step we take forward, we take two steps backward.
.. The Deity Of Christ
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. CLAIMS AND ACTIONS OF JESUS
1) Jesus claimed prerogatives that only belonged to God.
a) The ability to send "His" angels (Matt.13:41)
b) The right to forgive sins (Mark 2:5)
c) The right to judge the world (Matt.25:31-46)
d) The right to change the Sabbath (Mark 27-28)
2) Jesus claimed a special relationship with God
a) He claimed to be one with the Father (John 10:30)
b) He claimed that those who saw and knew Him saw and knew the
Father (John 14:7-9)
c) He claimed to be preexistent (John 8:58)
d) He claimed that obeying Him would bring the Father's love and
acceptance (John 14:23)
3) Jesus was accused of claiming to be God and He did not deny it
a) This was the charge when He was brought before the High Priest
(John 19:7)
b) Even when He was condemned to die for this charge He did not
deny it (Matt.26:63)
4) Jesus accepted His disciples attribution of deity - Thomas stated
"My Lord and My God" (Jn 20:28)
5) Jesus contrasts His words with OT - "You have heard it said.But I
tell you. (Mt.5:21-22, 27-28)
6) Jesus claimed power over life and death (John 5:21)
7) Jesus accepted expressions that conveyed deity - "Son of God" (John
5:2-28)
B. CLAIMS AND ACTIONS OF OTHERS
1) John in his gospel - The prologue (John 1)
2) The writer of Hebrews
a) Speaks of Jesus as radiance of the glory of God and the exact
representation of his nature
b) God created the world through Jesus (Heb.1:2)
c) Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb.1:3)
d) Jesus is superior to the angels, Moses, and the High Priests -
He is God.
3) Paul
a) Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col.1:15)
b) Through Jesus all things exist and are held together (Col.1:17)
c) All the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily in Jesus (Col.2:9)
C. THE USE OF THE TERM "LORD"
1) The NT writers ascribe the term "kurios" (Lord) to Jesus.
2) This is the term used in the Septuagint to translate the
Tetragrammaton.
3) This is the term used to translate Adonai.
4) Several NT quotations of OT texts employing these terms are given to
Jesus.
Six Basic Heresies
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX BASIC HERESIES REGARDING THE PERSON OF CHRIST
EBIONISM - Denies the genuineness of Jesus' deity
ARIANISM - Denies the completeness of Jesus' deity
DOCETISM - Denies the genuniness of Jesus' humanity
APOLLINARIANISM - Denies the completeness of Jesus' humanity
NESTORIANISM - Divides Jesus into two persons
EUTYCHIANISM - Declares Jesus had only one nature
All of these views are false and are condemned as heresies. I am posting
this short list in order to stir some interest.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
21 Jul 2007 12:39:34 PM |
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On Jul 21, 9:13 am, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<panamfl...@hotmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1184994468.533454.171570@m3g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
Thank you!
. Backward Advances
Despite all her critics, America is still a great nation. It seems,
however, that for each step we take forward, we take two steps backward.
. The Deity Of Christ
Has previously been disproven. Thank you for playing.
-PF, Atl.
aa#2015/KoBAAWA!
.
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| User: "UR Welcome! UR" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
21 Jul 2007 03:01:32 PM |
|
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<panamfloyd@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1185039574.717121.33470@o61g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
wrote:
.. The Deity Of Christ
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. CLAIMS AND ACTIONS OF JESUS
1) Jesus claimed prerogatives that only belonged to God.
a) The ability to send "His" angels (Matt.13:41)
b) The right to forgive sins (Mark 2:5)
c) The right to judge the world (Matt.25:31-46)
d) The right to change the Sabbath (Mark 27-28)
2) Jesus claimed a special relationship with God
a) He claimed to be one with the Father (John 10:30)
b) He claimed that those who saw and knew Him saw and knew the
Father (John 14:7-9)
c) He claimed to be preexistent (John 8:58)
d) He claimed that obeying Him would bring the Father's love and
acceptance (John 14:23)
3) Jesus was accused of claiming to be God and He did not deny it
a) This was the charge when He was brought before the High Priest
(John 19:7)
b) Even when He was condemned to die for this charge He did not
deny it (Matt.26:63)
4) Jesus accepted His disciples attribution of deity - Thomas stated
"My Lord and My God" (Jn 20:28)
5) Jesus contrasts His words with OT - "You have heard it said.But I
tell you. (Mt.5:21-22, 27-28)
6) Jesus claimed power over life and death (John 5:21)
7) Jesus accepted expressions that conveyed deity - "Son of God" (John
5:2-28)
B. CLAIMS AND ACTIONS OF OTHERS
1) John in his gospel - The prologue (John 1)
2) The writer of Hebrews
a) Speaks of Jesus as radiance of the glory of God and the exact
representation of his nature
b) God created the world through Jesus (Heb.1:2)
c) Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb.1:3)
d) Jesus is superior to the angels, Moses, and the High Priests -
He is God.
3) Paul
a) Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col.1:15)
b) Through Jesus all things exist and are held together (Col.1:17)
c) All the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily in Jesus (Col.2:9)
C. THE USE OF THE TERM "LORD"
1) The NT writers ascribe the term "kurios" (Lord) to Jesus.
2) This is the term used in the Septuagint to translate the
Tetragrammaton.
3) This is the term used to translate Adonai.
4) Several NT quotations of OT texts employing these terms are given to
Jesus.
Six Basic Heresies
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX BASIC HERESIES REGARDING THE PERSON OF CHRIST
EBIONISM - Denies the genuineness of Jesus' deity
ARIANISM - Denies the completeness of Jesus' deity
DOCETISM - Denies the genuniness of Jesus' humanity
APOLLINARIANISM - Denies the completeness of Jesus' humanity
NESTORIANISM - Divides Jesus into two persons
EUTYCHIANISM - Declares Jesus had only one nature
All of these views are false and are condemned as heresies. I am posting
this short list in order to stir some interest.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
.
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
18 Jul 2007 04:37:48 PM |
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On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One cannot but admire the patience and forbearance of those early
Americans. That the "special relationship" with the UK survived in the
face of such outrageous provocation is no less than remarkable.
.
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| User: "skyeyes" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
19 Jul 2007 04:47:38 PM |
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On Jul 18, 2:37 pm, Nosterill <fladg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One cannot but admire the patience and forbearance of those early
Americans. That the "special relationship" with the UK survived in the
face of such outrageous provocation is no less than remarkable.
Naw, it's because we-all think you-all's English accent is so damn
cute. ;->
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
EAC Professor of Feline Thermomoetrics and Cat-Herding
skyeyes at dakotacom dot net
.
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| User: "Irv Hyatt" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
19 Jul 2007 09:47:20 PM |
|
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"skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> wrote in message
news:1184881658.607742.29060@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 18, 2:37 pm, Nosterill <fladg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One cannot but admire the patience and forbearance of those early
Americans. That the "special relationship" with the UK survived in the
face of such outrageous provocation is no less than remarkable.
Naw, it's because we-all think you-all's English accent is so damn
cute. ;->
Have you listened to the 14th's songs? Awwwwwwww, really cute voices.
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
EAC Professor of Feline Thermomoetrics and Cat-Herding
skyeyes at dakotacom dot net
.
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 02:32:13 AM |
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On Jul 19, 10:47 pm, skyeyes <skye...@dakotacom.net> wrote:
On Jul 18, 2:37 pm, Nosterill <fladg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One cannot but admire the patience and forbearance of those early
Americans. That the "special relationship" with the UK survived in the
face of such outrageous provocation is no less than remarkable.
Naw, it's because we-all think you-all's English accent is so damn
cute. ;->
Well I really should be flattered, what with being English myself, but
on a point of order.....
Ahem.... The English don't have an accent - we speak correctly.
Accents are for former colonials and remote backward regions like
Yorkshire.
There! At a stroke I have demonstated that the ancient English art of
outrageous provocation is not yet dead ;-)
.
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| User: "Father Haskell" |
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| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
19 Jul 2007 09:10:48 AM |
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On Jul 18, 5:37 pm, Nosterill <fladg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One cannot but admire the patience and forbearance of those early
Americans. That the "special relationship" with the UK survived in the
face of such outrageous provocation is no less than remarkable.
Better they should have dressed up like Indians and dumped
crates of bibles into Boston Harbor. Not that a few protestant
translations probably didn't get tossed into Davey Jones' locker
more than a few times.
.
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| User: "Nosterill" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
19 Jul 2007 09:18:41 AM |
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On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
.
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| User: "Father Haskell" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 12:06:15 PM |
|
|
On Jul 19, 10:18 am, Nosterill <fladg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 17, 3:34 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Birth of a Nation
<snip>
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
.
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| User: "UR Welcome! UR" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 01:33:46 PM |
|
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"Father Haskell" <fatherhaskell@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1184951175.215201.134680@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Birth of a Nation
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
Nope!
.
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| User: "Father Haskell" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 09:19:43 PM |
|
|
On Jul 20, 2:33 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in messagenews:1184951175.215201.134680@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Birth of a Nation
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
Nope!
Chopped him up and fed him to the pigs.
.
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| User: "Irv Hyatt" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
20 Jul 2007 09:28:10 PM |
|
|
"Father Haskell" <fatherhaskell@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1184984383.712695.212080@m3g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 20, 2:33 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in
messagenews:1184951175.215201.134680@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Birth of a Nation
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
Nope!
Chopped him up and fed him to the pigs.
What? The pigs weren't kosher?
.
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| User: "Father Haskell" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
21 Jul 2007 02:10:26 PM |
|
|
On Jul 20, 10:28 pm, "Irv Hyatt" <irvhy...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1184984383.712695.212080@m3g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 20, 2:33 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in
messagenews:1184951175.215201.134680@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Birth of a Nation
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
Nope!
Chopped him up and fed him to the pigs.
What? The pigs weren't kosher?
I'm sure Pastor Whitefield wasn't.
.
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| User: "St. Jackanapes" |
|
| Title: Re: Birth of a Nation |
22 Jul 2007 04:11:05 AM |
|
|
Father Haskell held us spellbound with...
On Jul 20, 10:28 pm, "Irv Hyatt" <irvhy...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1184984383.712695.212080@m3g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 20, 2:33 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
"Father Haskell" <fatherhask...@yahoo.com> wrote in
messagenews:1184951175.215201.134680@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Birth of a Nation
George Whitefield, an English evangelist, preached more than 18,000
sermons between 1736 and 1770, the majority on American soil.
One can but admire the patience of those early Americans in the face
of such outrageous provocation. The struggle for independence would
have been an inevitable consequence in order to prevent any recurrence
of this despicable behaviour.
What patience? They probably killed the sonofabitch.
Nope!
Chopped him up and fed him to the pigs.
What? The pigs weren't kosher?
I'm sure Pastor Whitefield wasn't.
The pigs didn't mind.
--
St. Jackanapes
http://www.jackanapes.ws
==================================
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