The unrevised King James Holy Bible is the sectarian, scriptural reference source. Internet information is the secular political reference source. All highlighting, underlining & etc. in the written statements are mine.
We must very briefly review the history of the relationship between “Church and State” in order to understand how the splintered, fragmented, denominational Church in America came into existence.
There are situations all through the Bible where individuals had an Unknown Divine Appointment to accomplish God’s desired ends.
(1Sam. Ch. 17) David is a perfect example. He went to take food to his brothers while they were in the Israelite army. David didn’t know he was on his way to fight a giant. Goliath challenged the Israelites. David made the decision, based upon his values, to fight Goliath and it was then he realized God had prepared him by letting him fight other, lesser battles with a lion and a bear. David fought and won. Look for Unknown Divine Appointments in the following.
The Mayflower Compact will be discussed in detail later in this article but first, a brief history. A British ship, the Mayflower, with 102 passengers calling themselves Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England on Sept. 16, 1620 to settle in the Virginia Colony. They first landed on the Cape Cod coast of America and realized they were outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Colony.
So, they drew up a compact and 41 of the male adults signed the Mayflower Compact to set up a self-governing body for the new colony of Plymouth. The land there was unsuitable and they set sail again and landed at present day Plymouth, Mass. on Dec. 26, 1620 and made their new home there. It was the first agreement for self-government to be created and enforced in America because they lived according to its authority instead of what Great Britain dictated.
They were the first Americans to “thumb their noses” at King James and the British Parliament and took it upon themselves to create their own government with the power to enact, constitute and frame laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices that were fit and convenient for the general good of the colony.
These Americans were refused a charter BUT their Mayflower Compact remained in effect and ruled their colony until 1691 when Plymouth was annexed by the much larger and more populous Massachusetts Colony that operated under a charter (rules) by Great Britain.
Seventy one years of self-government! The fact American colonists could take the right to establish their own government must have flashed through the other colonies like an electrical flash and surely it embered there in the breasts of the colonists like a consuming fire. England’s unjust governance and abusive taxation fanned the smoldering fires of freedom.
The Age of Enlightenment actually began in 600 B C with the Greek philosophers, grew in scope and volume as the centuries passed and was given its name during 1700’s. For effect the Enlightenment was a secular revolution by pantheists (they identified their deity with nature or believed in all gods), sensualists (one who demands physical sensation), materialists, philosophers, agnostics, deists, atheists and scientists against the Church.
The Enlightenment was also known as the Age of Reason because these groups believed all answers to man’s problems could be discovered by the human intellect. Secular (non-church) Humanism had been born, had been organized and was starting to flourish.
The Great Awakening countered the Age of Enlightenment (secular humanism) when religious revival swept Europe and the English Colonies in America. That Evangelical Revivalism was based on the Anabaptist belief, contrary to Calvinist doctrine, that man, through Adam’s fall, is born sinful BUT salvation was possible for all men through God’s free grace offered to all men because men possessed the free will to choose.
Calvinist theology taught that: humankind, due to Adam’s fall, is born sinful and God will save only a select few (the elect) who have been chosen before time began and everyone else will go to hell. Individual predestination? We will investigate in depth later in these articles!
In the American Colonies: In the early to the middle 1700’s the number of people who attended Church regularly was between 10-20% of the population depending on the published survey. The Presbyterians, Methodists, and the Baptists led the way in the revivals conducted by such famous preachers as Gilbert Tennent, George Whitfield and Samuel Davies.
Sometimes the writings of Jonathan Edwards, such as the burning, poetic “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, were read aloud at these revival meetings. By 1760-70 40-45% of Americans claimed regular Church attendance. (Psa. 22:28) Unknown Divine Appointments to prepare them to rebel against Britain?
March 5, 1770: The Boston Massacre of American civilians by British soldiers.
AND:
Oct. 20, 1774: The First Continental Congress produced the Articles of Association that asserted colonial rights, identified British Parliament’s violation of those rights and provided a plan that would convince Britain to restore those rights; “–the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a ruinous system of colony administration, adopted by the British ministry about the year 1763, evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies“.
The Congress agreed to meet again in May 1775 if Britain refused to address the complaints. Britain refused.
April 19, 1775: The Minute Men and British soldiers exchange gunfire at Lexington and Concord, “the shot heard ’round the world”. The Revolutionary War had started.
May 17 to July 6, 1776: The Second Continental Congress, met again in Philadelphia with Peyton Randolph as president but he was replaced by Thomas Jefferson. This Congress decided how the colonies would raise armies, direct strategy, appoint diplomats and make treaties. This Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States and On July 4, 1776 these fifty six men from the thirteen colonies signed the Declaration of Independence, 14 from the New England colonies, 21 from the Middle Colonies and 21 from the Southern Colonies.
Their age ranged from Edward Rutledge at 26 years to Benjamin Franklin at 70 years with the majority in their 30s and 40s. More than half were lawyers and the others were doctors, planters, merchants and shippers. They pledged; “to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred honor.” The majority were wealthy and had much to lose if the war was lost. Contrary to popular “traditional” websites none of these men were killed by the British, 1/3 served as militia officers, 4 were taken prisoner during the war and nearly all of them lost all or part of their wealth as a result of America’s war for independence.
ALSO:
June, 1776: Fifty five delegates from 12 states drafted the Articles of Confederation that established a Federal Government. Rhode Island declined to send delegates. The Articles of Confederation document was submitted to the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776 but took more than a year of debate before they were adopted on Nov. 15, 1777 and two days later the document was submitted to the states for ratification with a request for immediate action but it was not until Maryland’s approval on March 2, 1781 that all the states ratified the document.
The 13 articles established a “weak” central government in which nine states constituted a majority in times of disagreement. That form of government produced laws governing issues such as; states rights, individual rights, trade, value of money, waging war and etc.
War raged on, UNTIL:
Nov. 30, 1782: the British and Americans signed the preliminary Articles of Peace.
Sept 3, 1783: the United States and Britain sign the Peace Treaty of Paris.
Nov 25, 1783: the last British troops left New York City.
The Revolutionary War had lasted 7 years.
In 1787 fifty five men participated in the Constitutional Convention that produced the Constitution of the United States. George Washington presided over the convention. Only 39 of the 55 delegates signed the Constitution they produced in 1789. The 16 delegates who refused to sign the Constitution refused for various reasons such as; 1) fear of a strong federal government that would overpower states’ rights, 2) individual civil rights would diminish, 3) loyalty to the Articles of Confederation 4) lack of a Bill of Rights and 5) the fact that no Biblical or religious language was included in the 4000+ word document.
The 10 articles of the Bill of Rights were added in 1791. According to VFW Magazine, Sept. 2010, twenty two of the signers of the Constitution were veterans of the Revolutionary War having served in either/both the Continental Army or a State Militia force.
If you read the easily available internet literature about the lives and writings of these “founding fathers” of the United States of America you will see they range through the Christian spectrum of intensely religious—John Adams TO live like you want while you worship—Thomas Jefferson TO ho-hum, Christian in name only—Benjamin Franklin.
Thomas Jefferson is considered one of the “founding fathers” but did not attend the Constitutional Convention because he was serving in France as the American Minister to France. He did correspond regularly with the delegates and is considered the driving force behind the Bill of Rights.
The Christian Church affiliation of the “founding fathers” was varied such as: Episcopalian/Anglican, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Quaker, Dutch Reformed/German Reformed, Catholic, Lutheran, Congregationalist, Huguenot, Calvinist and Methodist.
George Washington, appointed a Major then promoted to Colonel and known as a hero in the French and Indian War, Major General and Commander of the Continental Armies during the Revolutionary War, the “glue” that held the Continental Army together at Valley Forge, chairman and a driving force of the 2nd Constitutional Convention, the first elected President of the United States under the new Constitution, wrote in his prayer journal;
“(7) A Prayer for Wednesday Morning”
“Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great creator of heaven & earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven, in pity and compassion upon me thy servant, who humbly prostrate myself before thee, sensible of thy mercy and my own misery; there is an infinite distance between thy glorious majesty and me, thy poor creature, the work of thy hand, between thy infinite power, and my weakness, thy wisdom, and my folly, thy eternal Being, and my mortal frame, but O Lord, I have set myself at a greater distance from thee by my sin and wickedness and humbly acknowledge the corruption of my nature and the many rebellions of my life. I have sinned against heaven before thee, in thought, word & deed; I have contemmed thy majesty and holy laws.”
“I have likewise sinned by omitting what to done, and committing what i ought not. I have rebelled against light, despised thy mercies and judgments, and broken my vows and promises; I have neglected teh means of Grace, and opportunities of becomming better; my iniquities are multiplies, and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing, and desire to be vile in my own eyes, as I have rendered myself vile in thine. I humbly bessech thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins, for the sake of thy dear Son, my only saviour, J. C., who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; be pleased to renew my nature and write thy laws upon my heart, and help me to live, righteously, soberly, and godly in this evil worlds;”
“make me humble, meek, patient and contented, and work in me the grace of thy holy spirit. prepare me for death and judgment, and let the thoughts thereof awaken me to a greater care and study to approve myself unto thee in well doing. bless our rulers in church & state. Help all in affliction or adversity–give them patience and a sanctified use of their affliction, and in thy good time deliverance from them; forgive my enemies, take me unto thy protection this day, keep me in perfect peace, which I ask in the name & for the sake of Jesus. Amen.“
Verbatim: www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/youasked/060.htm “Proof that Washington was a Christian“. George Washington, Anglican/Episcopalian Church vestryman, warrior, statesman, gentleman farmer, anti-slavery slave owner: Described by his adopted daughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis, who was also his step-granddaughter, in a letter dated 26 Feb, 1833 to author Jared Sparks;”
“–he never omitted attending church in the morning unless detained by indisposition,–attended the services with the most reverential respect,–his life and his writings prove that he was a Christian,–he communed with God in secret,–his mottos were, “Deeds, not Words”; and, “For God and my Country”,–on communion Sundays, he left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother.—(after communion)” Other sources also state George Washington was a devout Christian but would not partake in the communion part of his Church service.
Benjamin Franklin signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and founded the first non-religious university in America. After 4 or 5 weeks of deliberations the Constitutional Convention, of which Franklin was a delegate, was in danger of breaking up. The deliberations had never opened with a prayer and Franklin made a motion they should bring in a clergyman to pray for their deliberations.
Franklin’s motion was voted down by these religious men! Some sources say he was from a Puritan family and others a Quaker family. He attended a Presbyterian church five Sundays in a row, became a pew holder and a contributor but ceased attending weekly services. He was also identified as an Episcopalian by the Library of Congress.
In 1780 Franklin took a common-law wife, Deborah Read, who bore him a son and daughter. Alfred Owen Aldridge described Franklin as a confirmed Deist, who, in contrast to more militant Deists like Tom Paine, did not attempt to “wither Christianity by ridicule or bludgeon it to death by argument”.
Deism is the belief, based solely on reason (secular humanism), in the existence of God as the Creator of the universe who after setting it in motion abandoned it, assumed no control over life, exerted no influence on natural phenomena and gave no supernatural revelation.
March 1, 1790 [Franklin] wrote the following letter to Ezra Styles, President of Yale, who had asked him his views on religion. “As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehended it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity;”
“tho’ it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble—“ (Carl Van Doren. Benjamin Franklin. New York: The Viking Press, 1938, p 777) Benjamin Franklin died just over a month later on April 17, 1790.
General Statements
John Adams considered one of the most devout founding fathers, Vice President under Washington, 2nd President, and devoted husband wrote a letter to Zabdiel Adams 21 June, 1776; “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principals upon which Freedom can securely stand.”
“The only foundation for a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies.”
AND:
John Adams wrote to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Mass. “–Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. –“
YET: SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE:
John Adams: Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America: “–It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service” [writing the Constitution] “had interviews with gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses–” Unknown Divine Appointment?
James Madison: principal author of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, 4th President, a diagnosed epileptic with chronic arthritis, devout Episcopalian, married to a widow 15 years his junior who was expelled from the Quaker Church because of their marriage, wrote;
“–Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not. Such a Government will be best supported by protecting every Citizen in the enjoyment of his Religion with the same equal hand which protects his person and his property; by neither invading the equal rights of any Sect, nor suffering any Sect to invade those of another.”
Thomas Jefferson: newly elected 3rd President, devout, married with children and also the father of a bi-racial family by his slave Sally Hemmings, as proved by DNA testing in 1998, wrote in a letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Conn.; “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that the act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”
Into this grand experiment of liberty the founding fathers inserted a Supreme Court into the Judicial Branch and they feared it as bad as having a serpent guard their children.
It started with the idea of creating the Constitution to be a “living document” that would grow and change as necessity demanded. The only way they could agree upon this concept was to establish a Supreme Court comprised of judges, who were free of political ties, to fairly investigate and decide upon the intent of the writers of the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that he; “was not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.” AND: “As that [the human mind] becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.“
BUT: Thomas Jefferson also warned against treating the Constitution as “a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist, and shape into any form they please.”
THEN: After Jefferson became president he wrote: “The Constitution on which our union rests, shall be administered by me according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States, at the time of its adoption,”
SO: The ever changing Constitution, the basis for civil law, is actually based on America’s ever changing collective conscience. Conscience is based on values. A collective conscience is formed when a group of individual’s consciences agree to pursue a shared interest.
John Jay was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774-1779, serving as its president in 1778-79. He became the United States minister to Spain in 1779. He was part of the peace treaty negotiations between America and England and at the Treaty of Paris Sept. 3, 1783 he signed the final peace treaty with England along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and England’s representative David Hartly, a member of British Parliament.
John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1789. On Oct. 12, 1816 John Jay said; “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. National prosperity can neither be obtained nor preserved without the favor of providence.“
John Adams, mentioned above, wrote in a letter to Jonathan Jackson on Oct. 2, 1780; “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
WRITER’S NOTE: Dec. 6, 2012, The Supreme court is divided along liberal, conservative, political and moral (possibly religious) values. Both sides, Democrats and Republicans, jockey to gain the ability to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who shares their liberal, conservative, political and moral (possibly religious) values so the Supreme Court will interpret the intent of the Constitution writers “their way” and the lawmakers can then create civil laws according to their personal beliefs. END OF NOTE.
Gridlock has become the political norm in the Federal Government because of TWO political parties divided from each other by liberal, conservative, political and moral (possibly religious) values. SO: The Constitution can be changed accordingly just like Thomas Jefferson had dreaded three paragraphs above and John Adams had warned in 1780 when he wrote;
“a two party system is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution” AND 21 June, 1776; “The only foundation for a free Constitution is pure Virtue.“
SUMMARY TO HERE:
Have you seen the “theme” that the Founding Fathers expected the US Government to be administered by sincere, honest, dedicated, worthy, preferably Christian people to make just, secular decisions to govern a moral and religious people? When you stop laughing please read on. (Psa. 22:28) Unknown Divine Appointments?
These sectarian, Christian men, most belonging to different parts of an already fragmented Protestant Church, regardless of their moral or spiritual values or their degree of obedience and closeness to God, “created” three secular political documents that “founded” America as a nation based on democratic political principals that were expressed in the Constitution which was and is the basis of America’s civil law.
Don’t forget, the eastern seaboard contained thirteen English colonies claimed by England prior to the Revolutionary War. BUT: The first self-governing body in those colonies had been consecrated to God by a covenant called the Mayflower Compact.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights were either produced by unmentioned or unrecognized Holy Spirit revelation and/or educated intellectual reasoning and they guarantee each American citizen the right/liberty to worship God exactly as they believe, OR: to not worship God at all, OR: to not believe in God, OR to make some arbitrary degree of wealth, an object, a person, or a concept into their own personal God under legal protection from threat, persecution or harm from any other person or group of persons.
NO, America was not founded on Christian principals! ***America was founded to protect the individual’s right to express his concept of Christian principals OR whatever religion he desires!*** We are created in God’s image. God desires to be accepted and loved for who He is and what He is just like we do by a person with a free will and the freedom to choose.
BECAUSE: Use yourself for an example. A bought “I love you” is bitter ashes because the bought person loves the price you paid and not you. (Acts 20:28 & Eph. 1:14) The one fundamental benchmark of Christianity is that God had no greater price to pay than Himself through the Person of Jesus Christ. When you love the purchase price, Jesus, you also love the Giver, God Himself!
A forced “I love you” is more bitter than ashes because it would engender hatred from the forced person toward you. God respects mankind’s individual, free moral right to choose, He neither forces nor offers financial reward to obtain your love; as personified by Joshua’s statement; (Josh. 24:15) “–choose you this day who you will serve;” AND:
the spirit of choice as evidenced throughout the whole New Testament because people always had a choice as exampled by (Matt. 19:17 keyword: if, Mark 8:34 keywords: Whosoever will, Luke 9:23 keywords: If any man will AND John 6:59-66 esp. V.66 keywords: went back:) So the political, secular founding documents PROTECT God’s Biblical, sectarian method of offering salvation to mankind and the American Church became a world leader in evangelism.
SO:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WAS FOUNDED ON THE BELIEF THAT MEN, NOT GOD, SHOULD MAKE AMERICA’S LAWS. THAT IS WHY THE PRINCIPALS (ordinances) OF THE HOLY BIBLE WERE NOT FOLLOWED WHEN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONSTITUTION AND BILL OF RIGHTS WERE WRITTEN.
(Rom. 10:8-13) LOOK UNTIL YOUR EYES ARE USELESS RED ORBS AND YOU WILL NOT FIND GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION IN ANY OF AMERICA’S FOUNDING DOCUMENTS. (John 6:44 & 12:32 then Acts 4:10-12) JESUS’ NAME AND PURPOSE ARE NOT WRITTEN ANYWHERE IN THEM and the following basic principles of the Holy Bible and Christianity are never mentioned:
The Ten Commandments; (2TIM. 4:3-4) where are they written in the founding documents of America? (John 3:3 & 1Pet. 1:23) Where does it say “ye must be born again” in America’s governmental documents? (Mark 12:30-31) Where is it written “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart – and – thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”? (John 6:44) How many of America’s documents have what Jesus said; “No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”?
THE FACT IS THAT LAWS AGAINST MURDER, THEFT AND ETC. WERE IN THE SPOKEN OR WRITTEN LAWS OF VARIOUS NON-BIBLE TRIBES, CLANS, SOCIETIES AND NATIONS SINCE THEY HAVE EXISTED. so: GOD’S NAME WAS GENERICALLY INVOKED A TIME OR TWO IN SOME OF AMERICA’S FOUNDING DOCUMENTS BUT THAT IS ALL!
YES, these documents were written by, more or less, Godly men but they kept their religion out of the official documents and they separated the church and the state. “Civil law” in the hands of unjust, dishonest, greedy, selfish, narrow minded men is where the seed of America’s destruction is sown!
CIVIL LAW IS THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. AS AMERICA’S CONSCIENCE CHANGES MAN ADJUSTS MAN’S CIVIL LAW THROUGH THE COURTS ACCORDINGLY AS SHOWN BY SUPREME COURT RULINGS CONCERNING CONSTITUTIONAL CIVIL LIBERTIES.
THERE ARE COUNTLESS TONS OF WRITTEN LAWS, DOCUMENTS, AND PROCLAMATIONS PRODUCED BY AMERICA’S LEGISLATIVE, JUDICIAL AND EXECUTIVE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT BUT YOU WILL NEVER FIND THE ADMISSION IN THEM THAT THESE EIGHT WORDS PROCLAIM; “paraphrased“—> (MATT. 15:9) JUST BECAUSE IT’S LEGAL DOESN’T MAKE IT RIGHT! (MATT. 15:9 again) Jesus had said; “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
(2SAM. 22:31) GOD IS PERFECT. (MAL. 3:6) GOD DOES NOT CHANGE AND GOD’S WORD SAYS; (MATT. 24:12) “AND BECAUSE INIQUITY (WICKEDNESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS) SHALL ABOUND, THE LOVE OF MANY SHALL WAX COLD.” (2TIM. 3:12-13) “YEA, AND ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION. BUT EVIL MEN AND SEDUCERS SHALL WAX WORSE AND WORSE, DECEIVING, AND BEING DECEIVED.”
PROOF: GOD’S WORD IS NOT SOME MALLEABLE DOCUMENT THAT CAN BE CHANGED BY THE WHIM OF MAN, A PREACHER, A DENOMINATION, A CONSTITUTION, OR ANYTHING ELSE. (JER. 26:1-6 ESP. V.3) “IF SO BE THEY WILL HEARKEN, AND TURN EVERY MAN FROM HIS EVIL WAY, THAT I MAY REPENT (Heb. word: Strong’s #5162: defined: breathe strongly, to be sorry’ in a favorable sense to pity, console or unfavorably to avenge oneself) ME OF THE EVIL (Strong’s #7451: defined: distress, harm), WHICH I PURPOSE TO DO UNTO THEM BECAUSE OF THE EVIL (Strong’s #7455: defined: physical or moral wickedness) OF THEIR DOINGS.”
(JER. 26:1-6 ESP. V.3 AGAIN) Israel had gone into sin and God gave them a judgment message; paraphrased; “Come back to obedience to my word and I will pity and console you. If you do not, I will destroy you.” God nor his word did not change! Israel came back to God that time. BUT: (2Ki. 17:14-18 esp. V.17) Israel (the northern ten tribes) was destroyed when they started burning their children as a child sacrifice to Molech. Judaea/Judah, (the southern two tribes), was destroyed by the Romans (Matt. 27:25) after they rejected Jesus as Messiah. Israel the nation came back home on May 14, 1948, but those individual rebellious Jews in the 12 tribes did not! American civil law permits Americans to burn their children as medical waste in abortion clinics! Draw your own conclusions.
Of course someone will dispute the above 5 paragraphs and bring up; “The Mayflower Compact!” OK. Copied verbatim:
“In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and furtherance of the Ends aforesaid;”
“And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.”
The entire Mayflower Compact was a covenant! They covenanted AMONG THEMSELVES to form a civil political body. BUT: They founded the first colony for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and that constituted a COVENANT WITH GOD by His people! Earlier attempts at establishing a settlement in the New World had failed because of a lack of civil government. The Plymouth Colony lasted until 1691 when it was absorbed by the Massachusetts Colony.
Read some history. Every nation on Earth was “founded” by tribal people who conquered or formed alliances with their neighboring tribes then “evolved” into whatever nation they are now. EXCEPT:
In the history of the world only two nations were “founded” through a “covenant” with God.
#1 (Gen. 17:1-11 esp. V.8) Israel by God’s Old Testament covenant of circumcision, through blood-sacrifice, with Abraham to establish the nation of Israel. AND:
#2 America, by Christians, living under God’s New Testament Grace Covenant, through Jesus’ blood-sacrifice for the Church, who covenanted in the Mayflower Compact to establish the colony that would become America “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith”.
The point I’m making is that America was spiritually (covenant) founded by Godly people to achieve religious freedom from the Anglican Church of England and to further God’s kingdom but they rationalized they had to have a political type of government. They did not realize democratic principles in the form of civil law would be what would destroy the Godly Nation they were attempting to establish BECAUSE: they could not envision that Christian Church influence on the population would wane due to sin by its government and citizens.
AND: They could never have imagined lukewarm Christians, non-Christians and even non-believers would one day be the majority in the “civil Body Politick“ who made the decisions which would direct America’s course of action sometime in the future! (1Sam. 8:1-7) Israel did not break covenant with God when they wanted a king so they could be like the nations around them. (#1 1Ki. 12:1-24 then 2Ki.17:14-34 the northern 10 tribes calling themselves Israel and common history: (Matt. 24:1-2) the southern 2 tribes named Judah/Judaea were destroyed by the Roman empire) Israel was destroyed because of their sins.
Just like America and the Mayflower compact: The replacement of the Mayflower Compact with the Constitution, a physical (non-covenant) document, did not break the covenant with God and the only way it could be broken was by America’s sin, just like ancient OT Israel.
In order to create the Constitution a great disagreement over slavery was set aside but addressed in a sly way. The Constitution, Sept. 17, 1787, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph #3: “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included in this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years” [indentured servants], “and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of other persons. The actual Enumeration shall–“
For effect this statement declared Negro slaves three fifth of a person and thus a non-person, they put off addressing the sin of slavery and it would cost America dearly in the Civil War. There were other divisive issues that revolved around slavery such as state’s rights, culture, religion, financial issues and etc.
ALSO: In the years after America won its freedom the Age of Enlightenment doctrine (secular humanism) again started coming to the forefront in American culture and resulted in declining religious convictions. It was countered by the Second Great Awakening from the 1790’s to the 1830-50’s spearheaded by the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists led by dynamic preachers such as Charles Finney.
The church was spiritually awakened AND by the 1850’s 75-80% of Americans claimed regular church attendance. Was this an Unknown Divine Appointment to prepare America to cleanse itself by fighting the Civil War? How could American missionaries have successfully evangelized other races if America held Negro people in bondage?
THEN:
The slavery issue split the church; the Southern part upheld slavery because there is slavery in the Bible and the Northern part urged emancipation because #1) Jesus preached freedom and #2) slavery caused the founding documents to be based on a lie. Regardless of the above Constitutional statement, the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, said in paragraph #3 “that all men are created equal.” The Preamble to the Constitution outlined the purpose of the Constitution and it stated; “–establish justice–secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves”.
So a great Civil War was fought and over 600,000-800,000 soldiers were killed by all causes and uncountable resources were lost. A judgment? Read the Old Testament. The prophets would tell ancient Israel the nation not to sin, Israel would go into sin, God would send a judgment, a punishment, but, more important, it was designed to make Israel repent and return to God so He could protect them through covenant because He loved them. A lot of God obeying Israelites were killed or taken captive in these judgments just like Christians were killed in the American Civil War.
Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Bill of Rights but Negroes were not given true citizenship! It took more than a 100 years of sometimes bloody, political struggle for American Negroes to escape repression and enjoy full, political, constitutionally guaranteed civil rights but societal acceptance is still an ongoing struggle. God Bless my dear Brother Martin Luther King! (Acts 17:27 keywords: And hath made of one blood all nations of men: blood defined: Strong’s #129: kindred) Yes, I am white but that does not matter to God, or Martin, or me.
The resurgence of the doctrines of the Age of Enlightenment (Secular Humanism) had for the second time been overcome by the evangelical Protestant revival of the Second Great Awakening that also helped, by a Civil War, to end America’s shame, disgrace, cruelty and terror as it held its own people in bondage.
BUT:
(Dan. 1:3-10 keyword: eunuchs) Daniel is the example. Daniel was “castrated” to make him a eunuch so he couldn’t sire children with a woman of his captor’s Babylonian race and their bloodline wouldn’t be “contaminated” by his “God Person” bloodline which is a hidden prophesy about America’s civil law. (1John 1:6 through 2:2 Jesus’ blood is used to cleanse a person’s sins) SO:
God’s enemies are using civil law to “castrate” the church so Jesus’ “bloodline” will not “contaminate” their desire to please self by sinning! Israel, as a nation, finally went too far into sin, (Isa. 5:5-7) God removed His hedge of protection and God let Israel be destroyed.
At this present time, Dec. 6, 2012, the Age of Enlightenment doctrines have again been brought to the forefront of American culture led by science, philosophy, agnostics, atheists, sensualists and materialists.
Aiding this New Age (secular humanist) movement are some deluded, visible church denominations, and parts of denominations, that are scripturally bankrupt, spiritually deaf, morally corrupt, and materialistically burdened as they embrace obvious sin, disregard fundamental Biblical truths and deny the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit while they join forces with civil law in ushering in the great falling away that is happening and is foretold in (2Thess. 2:1-12).
Will there be a Third Great Awakening? OR: (Rev. 20:1-6) will Jesus conduct His own Third Great Awakening?
God has all power (Job 1:10-12, Luke 22:31 & Rev. 12:9) and Satan must have God’s permission (Rev. 12:9 keywords: deceiveth the whole world) to work his deception and seduction. As American government and society rejects God from their lives God simply says; “OK, you want Satan the Devil and his ways, here he is!” So, in reality, God is sending America strong delusion (deceive, seduce) at the hands of Satan, the Devil.
(2Thess. 2:7-11 keywords: send them strong delusion) Just like Ancient Israel God is sending America’s leadership stronger and stronger delusion and America’s proud leadership becomes more and more weak, indecisive, confused, uncommitted, divided, quarrelsome, selfish and unholy. “Separation of Church and State” according to civil law is the watchword even though it is not part of the Constitution and Bill of Rights!!
More and more American citizens are worshipping SELF, “entertain me” is the watchword, unholy pleasure is the coin of the realm, physical and emotional sensation is the altar where worship is performed and the unholy trinity is “I want, give me and I won’t! The weak, divided church is under stronger and stronger delusion and more and more congregations and denominations are permitting Biblical sin into their membership.
Why should God stay with America? America has kicked Him out of the schools, removed His commandments from the government buildings, attacked His Son’s name and despised the cross which is the symbol of Jesus’ suffering and death for our sins.
If someone treated you that way would you continue to give to them and protect them? Well? Would you? Of course not! All the above has happened and is happening in the guise of “separation of church and state” under Constitution based civil law.
The same thing that happened to Israel has started happening to America. Sure, there was always sin by some Americans. BUT: Sin has become and is becoming more and more rampant under political correctness, civil law and a sin promoting Judiciary. AND:
That sin has the seal of approval and participation from America’s civil government leadership. God made America great by blessing it financially, inventions, industrial production, an unstoppable war machine and etc. as long as America, as a nation, held true to the covenant with God.
WW2 could not have been won without America. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and etc. were occupied, Britain was drained and alone, Russia could not have withstood the German onslaught by all of Germany’s war machine BUT roughly half of Germany’s war machine was defending German occupied Europe against the American led attack. Surely you can imagine what the world would have been like under NAZI domination. SO: Had America been founded by Unknown Divine Appointment?