Why Our Founding Fathers Wouldn’t Stand a Chance In Today’s America
Will some future court action demand that we rip from our Declaration of Independence all mention of God? The sacred document says, “…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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted Among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…. WE, THEREFORE, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES… And for the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Thus, the Almighty God is made mention of; indeed, is an integral part of the Declaration of Independence. These men knew that the wrath of King George, backed up by the world’s mightiest Navy, would soon descend upon them. They did not take lightly their mutual pledge of their very lives and fortunes, and expected that such a Declaration could indeed cost some, or all of them, their very lives!
Yet, they courageously signed that sacred document! It is a fact of history that God Himself intervened on many, many occasions to grant to our forefathers the freedom and liberty which they sought, and a fact that, through all of America’s wars, He has preserved and protected us. Yet, today, millions of our citizens, and, unbelievably the courts of our land have turned their backs on the very God who has sustained us!
God thunders at our peoples: “The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
“Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
“Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:9-12).
The “Wall of Separation”
Once the Constitution had been written, it became obvious that certain vitally important issues had to be addressed. Among them, and most pressing of all at the time, was the issue of religion! Because certain religious sects had gained virtual control over their state, and because religious zealots were busily persecuting those of opposing beliefs, the Congress had to deal with a situation which, if left untended, would have resulted in a “state religion” in the United States.
This was perhaps nowhere quite so poignantly illustrated as in Salem, Massachusetts, where those who were declared “witches” had once been burnt at the stake!
The first amendment settled the issue of states seeking to adopt and then impose a “state religion” on their citizens. It states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Thus, the first amendment envisioned a restriction placed ON THE GOVERNMENT, and NOT a restriction placed on the people! It did not say that the people shall never write about, post, publish, display, or mention their religious beliefs in any public place; in schools, government buildings or state-owned properties! It did not say that the name of God or religious symbolism should be forever banished form the halls of government!
There is no more precious right than that of being able to freely proclaim the good news of the coming Kingdom of God! Even the Roman government in Jesus’ day did not interfere with the Jews and their religion, nor did the Romans attempt to arrest Christ for freely proclaiming the Gospel! But given the climate in our country today, and the TREND obvious in decades of court decisions, that right could be in terrible jeopardy!
When Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence was implored by the Baptist churches in Danbury, Connecticut because they were being persecuted by the “Congregationalists” who were in control in the state, he wrote a letter which was destined to become famous.
He referred to the first amendment, using the words “wall of separation between church and State.” His statement has been hideously contorted today, and is believed by millions of Americans to be an actual part of the Constitution! It is not, and never has been, but millions assume it is!
Jefferson clearly reiterated that Congress had amended the Constitution so as to KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF RELIGION, but NOT to KEEP RELIGION OUT OF THE GOVERNMENT! Perhaps the Supreme Court could not decipher these words, but they are quite plain! This is a vital distinction, and one which every citizen should know. Here is what Jefferson wrote:
Again, Jefferson mentioned God the Father and Creator in his letter. Clearly, he was redressing the grievances of the Baptists, who were being much put upon by the Congregationalists, who held power in the state. His intent was to prevent government from imposing any particular form of religion on the people. It was NOT his intent to prevent the government or any individual within any governmental office from believing in, displaying, speaking or writing about his or her religion! Nor was it his intent to insure that every government institution, no matter how far removed from the federal government, such as a county hall or a county court, should forever be banned from displaying scriptural references, the Ten Commandments, or the name of God on their buildings or in their documents!
It was not until after World War II, in 1947, that the U.S. Supreme Court cited Jefferson’s statement apart from his letter, as if it were some kind of mantra. In 1958, in a court case brought before the Supreme Court (Baer v. Kolmorgen), a dissenting Justice warned, “If this Court doesn’t stop citing ‘separation between church and State,’ the American people will very likely begin to think it is part of the Constitution.”
Were his words true? Have not YOU supposed that the phrase is found somewhere in the Constitution itself?
It is ASSUMED today that an inviolable part of the Constitution is that no mention of God or religion is to be tolerated in any official government building, and that prayer and reading of scripture is ILLEGAL in our schools!
You are no doubt familiar with various court cases of recent years: a judge was chastised for daring to publish the Ten Commandments on the wall of his courtroom, and the name of God was ordered to be removed from State buildings.
However, while activists seek to find every case of the mention of God in any government institution, it is noteworthy that the oath of office contains the words, “So help me God,” and our dollar bills still contain the words, “In God we trust,” while the pledge of allegiance to the flag still contains “One nation under God.”
George Washington Believed In God
George Washington carried the name of the infamous King of England, against whose excesses our original colonies rebelled. He was much more than just our first president. He was president of the convention which framed the Constitution; the President who called for the Bill of Rights; the General of the Continental Army whose daring strategy of crossing the Delaware at night in a freezing snow storm proved pivotal in winning America’s independence from Britain.
When I was a lad in school, I was taught to study George Washington’s famous “farewell address” to the nation. The reason was because historians deemed it the most significant presidential address of all time. Today, the vast majority of school books on American history omit his address, and those few which might include it omit the portions which mention God, and which warn the nation.
George Washington, holding the beliefs as so eloquently set forth in his farewell address, could never be elected as our president today! We have sunk so far into the mire of Godless amorality and nihilism that his words would call forth nothing but sneers and hoots of derision from millions of our citizens. In that fact lies one of the major reasons why America is going down; why the sun is setting on the American dream; why our nation will soon suffer the most horrible punishments God has ever handed out to a nation!
Here are some key excerpts from what Washington actually said, together with commentary: “… I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence…[he mentions God, using the term “heaven” to refer to the Deity in his opening remarks] that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in time, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing… The name American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, [it was the Christian religion, and not the religion of other nations, such as Hinduism, Shintoism, Taoism, Animism, Paganism, or Islam] manners, habits, and political principles…All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community [how true! Today, the tiniest special interests shriek the loudest, with the result that such Godless initiatives as “Gay Rights” and “same sex marriages” are sanctioned by the courts!], and…to make the public administration the mirror of her ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interest… However combinations or associations of the above description [minority factions; special interests; activist groups] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion [such cunning and ambitious men, using the system of democracy to obtain power, end up destroying the democratic process itself].
“Toward the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite…that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles…One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown…”
Washington continued, “…The precedent [the written Constitution which precedes any current arguments; the established document] must always greatly overbalance…any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
This was the first president, reminding those IN GOVERNMENT that they could only expect to prosper if they remembered to INCLUDE RELIGION AND MORALITY IN GOVERNMENT! Washington wrote the following:
He continued, “And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.” This is a plain truth. Without God’s laws there is simply no moral standard. Evolutionary teachers and liberal leftists; those who believe in “situation ethics,” (if it feels good, do it!) naively believe they can maintain peace and order in society while rejecting the very CAUSE of peace and order, which is God Himself, His written word, and the acknowledgment that He exists, and that His word is sacred, and inviolate.
Washington concluded: “Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Yet, this is precisely the course that the United States of America has been upon since the days of the Warren Court, and since the incredible series of attacks against religion, and the Constitution itself. There are MILLIONS who believe that a kind of “national morality” can prevail without any mention of God or religion!
But morality does not come from evolving social customs! Because human nature is essentially rebellious toward God and His laws (Romans 8:7), and is primarily composed of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed, any so-called “moral standard” which omits God and His laws is not moral at all, but a temporal adaptation of human amorality dressed up in acceptable words.
Almost sadly, and as if with prophetic insight, Washington’s final statement seemed to indicate that he felt his words would be quickly forgotten. He said, “In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish –– that they would control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations…”
And what was the historic course which marked the destiny of nations?
They grew great under leaders of various principles; they became prosperous, fat, self-indulgent, and, eventually, corrupt. They eventually collapsed from within, or were overthrown from without. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, and all the monarchies of Europe underwent the same tiresome evolution: Birth, growth, senility, and death.
Washington dared not hope his words would make such a lasting impression that they would somehow control subjective passions which would gnaw at the roots of the nation.
Without the divine intervention of God, America could not have lasted as long as it has. And now, the seeds of our destruction have been planted within us. We have FORGOTTEN GOD!
Nationally, we have impugned and ridiculed His laws! Those churchmen who give lip service to the Bible preach that we need not OBEY it, but only “believe”! This, a kind of “religious situation ethics” has replaced the laws of God and the teachings of Christ.
No, George Washington could never win an election today! His firm belief that religious convictions should never depart from government simply would not be tolerated!
Paul prophesied of our society today, and Washington’s warning that national morality cannot prevail if we oust religious values from public life has proven prophetic also: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Truer words were never written.
Self love; no “natural” affection, but plenty of the Unnatural kind; lying under oath by the highest official in the land… is there any infraction, any crime, any sin which has not been committed?
Will our lawyers, judges and elected officials listen to God’s warnings?
God cries out, “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
“Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
“And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the high priest every one dealeth falsely.
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:10-14). Because our nation’s leaders have rejected God’s laws; because God’s word is “unto them a reproach” God will allow our nation to continue sinking into a morass of racism, hatred, crime, violence, pornography, homosexuality, amorality, and eventual economic and military collapse!
We SHOULD be saying, “We have identified the enemy –– and he is us!”
John Adams Could Never Be Elected Today
Perhaps one of the most profound statements ever made by a President of the United States was that made by the second President, John Adams. He was Washington’s Vice President, and, even though he held many different opinions than many of the other founding fathers, he stubbornly clung to the principles of the Constitution.
Here is that statement:
In the 1970s, when our Supreme Court declared school prayer “unconstitutional” they, like vote counters in Palm Beach County, Florida, seemed like those holding ballots up to the light and attempting to “divine the intent of the framers of the Constitution.”
Obviously, if the court claimed prayer in schools was “unconstitutional,” that meant they were telling the nation they had correctly divined the intent of the writers of the document!
Yet, John Adams said that our constitution was MADE ONLY FOR A MORAL AND A RELIGIOUS PEOPLE!
Obviously, then, the Constitution of the United States, like the Bible itself, has not been made for the immoral and irreligious people of our country today!
No wonder, then, that the Constitution, like the Bible and the family, are under attack today! Hosea prophesied of our peoples: “…the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
“By swearing, and lying [swearing to tell the truth and then lying under oath!], and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
“Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
“Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
“Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:1-6).
Our peoples are wholly absorbed by materialism. Too many of us have forgotten God, and millions more of us have a “form of religion” to which we give lip service, but will not OBEY God! Christ cried out, “Why call ye me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Abraham Lincoln: Sage, President, and Prophet
Among the many prophetic statements made by Abraham Lincoln was “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Thus, with our textbooks bereft of godly information; with our schools having become purely materialistic with no acknowledgment anywhere of the Creator or His presence, we have succeeded in turning out into America’s society countless millions of young hedonists who seek only material rewards.
It is to Lincoln we are indebted for the addition, in fairly recent years, of the words “One nation, under God,” to our pledge of allegiance to the flag.
In His famous Gettysburg Address, Lincoln said, “…from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they have the last full measure of devotion –– that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain –– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom –– and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
There are hundreds of quotations on record from Lincoln which show his deep personal awe of our Creator. Perhaps none is so poignant as his famous proclamation setting aside a national day of fasting and prayer.
Here is that document, issued in August, 1861, just 31 years before my father was born:
These humble words issued by our sixteenth president were without a doubt received by God in heaven. God preserved the nation through the awful bloodletting of the civil war, with far more than a half million casualties.
Today there are millions of “educated fools” in this world; men and women who, while gifted and intelligent, are steeped in purely materialistic knowledge while they have no idea that God Almighty put them on this earth for an awesome, transcendental purpose. Can any person be said to be “educated” when he or she does not know WHAT he or she IS; and WHY he or she is on this earth? Can one claim to be educated who does not know the PURPOSE of human life?
Will we see an end to the attacks against the Constitution and the family? Will we see honor, dignity, integrity and Godly humility once again in the highest office in the land?
Will Americans shed their cynicism toward those in public service, and once again acknowledge that every great gift of freedom and prosperity comes from God?
Our world is a very dangerous place! The United States of America should be the great HOPE for the world, instead of an example of every kind of hedonistic abandon. We SHOULD be an example to the world of stable, God-fearing homes; of hard-working, successful people who are imbued with lofty principles and spiritual values; of a society of wise, understanding and humble people who are grateful for their forebears’ sacrifices, and determined to preserve the wonderful freedoms they bequeathed to us.
God thunders at our heedless people: “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
“Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
“But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
“Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
“For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
“As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
“They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
“Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
“A wonderful [astonishing –– not good] and horrible thing is committed in the land;
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jeremiah 5:21-31).
This indictment from God could well be published on the front page of every newspaper and magazine in the country! These words FIT our society, and in this is a tragedy. Yet, if you as an individual will hear God’s indictments, and do as Christ said: “REPENT ye, and believe the gospel,” there is a promise of escape and salvation!
Good News and Bad News
As the bumper sticker rather crassly put it, “Christ is coming back, but O boy is He mad!”
The GOOD news is what Christ Himself preached. It is called “the gospel.” But the English word gospel comes from two old Anglo-Saxon words which mean, simply, “good news.”
That good news has been twisted, perverted and “spiritualized away” by a sentimental message about the person of Christ, while completely IGNORING the message he brought!
His MESSAGE was the advance witness and warning about a complete change in government over all this world! Christ did not come to “start a new religion.” He did NOT come to “do away with God’s law.” He did NOT come to “reform the synagogue.” He did NOT come to give men instructions to wear funny-looking dresses, or chant in huge, cold, stone buildings, or light candles, or make steeples out of their hands, or wear funny-looking hats, or to shake, rattle and roll in screaming abandon to rock music and call it a “revival!”
God’s word said Christ was coming to eventually inherit an earthly throne! “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:26-32).
God made a covenant with David. He promised David that his throne would never perish from this earth; that there would never fail of David’s seed to occupy a throne!
Notice Isaiah’s prophecy about Christ’s coming to earth: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The might God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6, 7).
Yes, Christ IS coming again –– and that will happen much sooner than you think!
But this time He is coming in the WRATH of God, as a conquering KING of Kings to take terrible vengeance upon His enemies! Notice the vision John saw of Christ’s return: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army [this is the “beast” power which will be occupying Palestine –– see Revelation 17:12-14].
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
“And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).
The average nominal Christian CANNOT IMAGINE the “Jesus Christ” they THINK they worship doing such a thing as personally hurling the great military dictator, the “beast,” together with the great false prophet (see 2 Thessalonians 2) into Gehenna fire –– burning them alive!
Nor can they admit into their hearts and minds that GOD’S LAW will be ENFORCED by Jesus Christ upon all the earth!
No, millions of professing Christians simply cannot imagine a war-making, conquering Christ.
They have been so brainwashed into thinking of Him as “the little Lord Jesus” away in a manger, or the dead Christ, hanging on a cross, that they cannot imagine the actual, REAL JESUS of your Bible; the one who even now is seated at His Father’s right hand, waiting for the moment when “His enemies shall be made His footstool” (Acts 2:34, 35).
But Jesus Christ is not waiting, like a petulant, heart-broken child for millions to “believe on Him!” He is not asking for people’s votes. He is not expecting that “well-intentioned men, working together in ecumenical harmony” will bring about His will on this earth.
Instead, He is on a COUNTDOWN from heaven –– He is soon to INTERVENE in the course of human events, and come back in the nick of time to save mankind from itself!
He said, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21, 22).
You know you live in a world with enough nuclear stockpiles in many, many nations, to more than obliterate all human life! You may see a NUCLEAR EXCHANGE in the mideast within a few years! You may then see a great European Army advance like lightning into the region, occupying Palestine to prevent the last Jew from being exterminated!
When you SEE a great religious leader sitting in a temple in Jerusalem, performing mind-boggling miracles, and claiming to be GOD INCARNATE; when you see armies surrounding Jerusalem, then you will know that the second coming of Christ is less than another four years away!
WATCH, said Jesus Christ, and PRAY ALWAYS that you may be accounted worthy to escape the terrible punishments God will send upon a nihilistic, God-rejecting society!
