Transcript

America's liberty and independence is founded on the Christian faith, Stephen McDowell says

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you are joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today we will be looking at America founded on the Christian faith. Over the last several podcasts, we have presented lots of different ideas and information, that show that without God in the Bible, there would be no United States of America. That God in his providence was at work in the lives of individuals, preparing them to come and give birth to the unique nation of the United States of America. And so we looked at many things that, that support this, truth. And so I want to kind of give an overview of some of the things we may have touched on, some new things to, ah, affirm this. Something that was not taught to me when I was in school and certainly is not taught in our government schools today, but that America's liberty and independence is founded on the Christian faith. You know, if you go to Philadelphia and go to the, national site where the Liberty Bell is preserved, and you read the inscription on that bell, it communicates this truth. This was a bell that was cast, I believe, in 1752. It hung in the State House in Pennsylvania for many decades. And when the Declaration of Independence was approved by the delegates that were meeting in Philadelphia In July of 1776, it rang out, calling the people together to hear, of this proclamation. And at the top of the Liberty Bell there is engraved a scripture verse, Leviticus 25:10, which says, Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants that thereof. now this was providential that this inscription is contained upon this bell and the context of that scripture in Leviticus 25:10 is the Jubilee year of liberty with the Old Testament Israel. Every 50 years God set it up such that this will be the jubilee year. And in the jubilee year, all debts were forgiven, all property returned to the original owners, all slaves were set free. And so when it was declaring, proclaim liberty throughout the land and all the inhabitants, this in essence was what was occurring in the birth of the United States of America. A new era of liberty was coming to mankind. A nation built upon principles in the Scripture that recognized the value of the individual, recognized the importance of Christian self government upon which you're going to build a free nation, importance of private property and so many other things. And so, just as this scripture verse is on the Liberty Bell, so the principles of Scripture, what the foundation of America was built upon. Ah J. Wingate Thornton wrote a book in the mid-1800s and summarizing what we've discussed in earlier broadcasts when he wrote that to the pulpit, the Puritan pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our independence. So he recognized what historians used to teach is that there would be no independence, there would be no United States of America without the pulpit, without the Christian faith, and without, he says, the Puritan pulpit. Because these Puritan theological ideas and Puritan worldview, prepared the people, to have the knowledge and character they needed to, to give birth to this new nation. So it's very important that we recognize the source of America's liberty and independence. It comes from the Christian faith, from the principles in the Bible. And those are the principles that the early colonizers carried with them when they gave birth and colonized the original states. As we've discussed in previous, podcasts, you know, the leaders and, and citizens at the time of our independence were Christian in their character and worldview. Again, the seed of that had been planted for generations and it certainly was manifest in the fruit of these, individuals. You know, there were 56 men who, who approved and signed the Declaration of Independence. These certainly are some of our Founding father. There's a famous painting of the signers of the Declaration in the United States Capitol rotunda. But all but two or three of those signers were Orthodox Christians. This can be, understood when we read their writings, when we look at the fruit of their action. Samuel Adams, for example, said in his last will and Testament that I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins. Samuel Adams, known as the father of the American Revolution, he reflected the idea of many, many of these signers of the Declaration. Our founders, they understood the Christian faith. They understood the central message of the Christian faith in relation to our relationship to God, the pardon of our sins. And it was the Christian faith that also shaped their worldview and hence their action and their whole action in regards to declaring independence was standing up upon their God given rights and liberties. George Mason in his last will and Testament said, my soul, I resign into the hands of my almighty Creator, whose tender mercies were all over his works, humbly hoping from his unbounded mercy and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins. George Mason, known as the father of the Bill of Rights from Virginia, his Declaration of Rights that were incorporated in Virginia's Constitution were a model that were used by Madison to produce what we now know as the Bill of rights, the first 10amendments to the Constitution. So we could go on and on about these men. Of course, the father of our nation, George Washington, epitomized the American Christian constitutional federal republic and his action and his, worldview. And we've talked about Washington in earlier podcasts as well. But we could look at many, many, many men to see their lives, their words, their actions, their beliefs, and affirm that their Christian faith was central in their life and in their actions. The Continental Congress displayed its Christian character in many ways. As we mentioned in the past, they proclaimed at least 15 days of prayer and fasting and prayer and thanks during the eight years of the American Revolution, recognizing we need to cry out to God for his aid and assistance and giving him thanks when he answered their prayer. But they did many other things that reflect their Christian faith. For example, in 1782, Congress approved the printing and distribution of what was called the Bible of the Revolution. This was the Aiken Bible, the first English Bible printed in America. Now, before independence, England, held a monopoly on printing Bibles in the American colonies, that they would not allow any English Bibles to be printed in the colonies. They were all printed in England and shipped here. Now there were some Bibles printed in other language. The first Bible, as we've said in the past, was printed in the Algonquin Indian language. There's German Bibles, but no English Bibles. And so when we declared independence, fighting began with Britain. We were cut off from our supply of the Bible. So the Congress, as they met together, recognized, this is, you know, the use of the Bible is so universal and it's important, so great, we need to find a way to get Bibles here. So they, first recommended the importation of Bibles from Holland or wherever they could get them. And then as the war was really coming to a close, a gentleman, Mr. Akin, had produced his own version of the Bible is really the King James version, but it was compiled to be printed, in America, gave it to the chaplains of the Congress for their recommendation and review, which they did. And then, in the preface to this Achan Bible, we see an official endorsement by the Congress, the Continental Congress of the United States. And it states imprinted in the front of this Bible. Whereupon, resolved, that the United States and Congress assembled recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States. So here it was, the Congress, acting as a Bible society, helping to promote present get the Bible out to the American people and Recommending it, saying, hey, this is a great Bible that you can use in your life and schools and study in churches and everywhere else. See, what we see during our struggle for independence, and we've discussed in previous podcasts, is that God supported the cause of American liberty. God not only moved on their behalf in answer to prayer, and we've looked at various ways that God did that, using the weather and other circumstances to bring about our victory, but he was not just responding to prayer and answering that prayer, but giving birth to America was part of his plan in history to advance his cause of bringing liberty to mankind. Charles Clay was the pastor of Thomas Jefferson. He was his Anglican minister in the Anglican Church. Jefferson was a part of, prior to independence, the American Revolution. But after we began to have a conflict with England, Jefferson said, hey, we've got to have a church, got to worship. So he started a church called the Calvinistical Reformed Church in Charlottesville, met the courthouse in Charlottesville, and he invited his evangelical Anglican minister, Charles Clay, to come and be a pastor of the church, because Charles Clay was a patriot. So he left the Anglican Church. And then, an artillery sermon from 1777. Charles Clay declared that the sacred cause of liberty is the cause of God. So they understood and recognized that God is the author of liberty. God is bringing liberty to mankind. It was for freedom. Christ came to set us free. And he was advancing and supporting this cause of liberty during the events of the American Revolution and of course, all the prior events that we've touched on here and there in previous, podcasts.

God's hand was seen in the Revolutionary War in many ways

And so God's hand was seen in the Revolutionary War in many ways. We looked at some of the specific, battles that took place and incidences and how God was involved, in that. You can go back to previous podcasts and, and review some of that. It was so conspicuous that George Washington, in a letter he wrote on August 20, 1778, looking back over the first three years of the war, he said that the hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. So to our commanding general, to, most average, Americans, to our leaders and everyone else, is that God's hand was conspicuous, that he was at work supporting the cause of liberty, supporting the cause of the American colonists because they were standing upon his principles. And, we discussed in previous podcasts how God did miracles, did miracles by bringing victories in battles, but also did miracles in sustaining the troops. Under the very difficult circumstances and situations like at Valley Forge. And how God miraculously supplied fish, to provide food for the troops who were starving. They. How God sent a professional soldier, Baron von Steuben, to help train these farmers, to be able to, fight better. And how God brought an ally, a national ally, when France joined with America to fight against the British. These were answers to prayers that helped assure the Americans would be victorious in the revolution. We saw how God moved at the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. And then in response to God, bringing about that victory, the Continental Congress set aside a day of thanksgiving in which they said, Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God, and it having pleased him and his abundant mercy to crown our arms with most signal success, it is therefore recommended to set APART Thursday, the 18th day of December, for solemn thanksgiving and praise. And so here it was. The Continental Congress set aside a day recommending everybody go to church, gather together, give thanks to God. And then in that proclamation, they recommended for everyone to confess their sins and humbly ask God through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance. These were not deists, some general people who kind of thought, well, there is a God and we might give some kind of verbal acknowledgment to him. No, these people were devout individuals who understood the central message of the Christian faith, who showed in their action and in their words that, that they relied upon him. And we mentioned how at the Battle of Yorktown, when God brought about that victory, which was the last major battle of the war, that in essence ended the revolution, assured our independence as a, as a free nation, that the Continental Congress, issued a resolve which, quote, resolved, that Congress will at 2 o' clock this day, go in procession to the Dutch Lutheran Church and return thanks to Almighty God for crowning the allied arms of the United States and France with success by the surrender of the Earl of Cornwallis. So again, our leaders, our, Continental Congress was acknowledging God is the one who's given us this victory. We need to go and give him thanks as a people. And George Washington and his general orders after the victory at Yorktown, he said this, and here's his orders quote, the general congratulates the army upon the glorious event of yesterday. Divine service is to be performed m tomorrow in the several brigades and divisions. In other words, church. We're going to all go to church, he said. Then the Commander in chief recommends that the troops not on duty should universally attend with that serious of deportment and gratitude of heart which the recognition of such reiterated and astonishing interpositions of Providence demand of us. And so our leaders, our commanding general and others acknowledged God's hand. Christian faith was foremost upon their thinking, their action, because, as I said, God supported the cause of American liberty. Christianity is the source of America's liberty and prosperity. Christianity is the source of American exceptionalism. And we discussed that in previous podcast. The United States Constitution, which went into effect in 1789, shows how the Christian faith formed the foundation of our, constitutional laws, of our form of government. It itself reflects the power and form of a Christian government. George Washington was unanimously selected the first President of the United States. And he took his oath of office in New York City in 1789 with his hand on the Bible, taking that oath as the Constitution prescribes, and an oath as Washington speak about in his farewell address. it means nothing unless you have a fear of God, unless you see a God who watches over you and your words and holds you accountable unto them. An oath means nothing. But it meant much to him, much to our founders. This is one indication of the Christian character of our U.S. constitution. It required only those who could take an oath to believe in the God of the Bible. Who's the, only God who will watch over his words to make sure they don't return void. So he takes his oath of office with his hand on the Bible. And Washington added the words so help me God, which every president since then has added. And so we see in the events leading up to the Constitution, the Constitutional Convention, the implementation of the Constitution, and even the power and form of the Constitution, it reflects the Christian foundation of the United States. And again in previous podcasts we looked at that. We looked at both the power and the form of our constitutional government. Now the power of the internal principles that are part of the life and worldview of the citizens of a nation. And so if you want to build a free nation, it has to embrace these principles. When we looked at those, as I said, we looked at Christian self government and covenant union, individuality, the value of uniqueness of every individual property or conscience, Christian education, Christian character, true faith in God and His word. That's the power that underlies our constitutional republic. But then we also saw that the form or the framework embraced in our form of government also flows from a biblical understanding of man and government. That, man has great value being created in the image of God. And man's life and property and family needs to be protected. But also we see in Scripture that man is sinful, and in need of a savior, and that you can't trust man with too much power. And so this view of man shapes how we structured our government. And again we looked at that in previous podcasts and you invite you to go back and listen to some of these and we see how the separation of powers and decentralization of government and the idea of a constitutional government of laws rather than men, impartial jury judges, and jury fair trial, the election of representatives and civilian control of police and military, these are aspects of the framework of our government that reflect its Christian foundation. John Adams, our second president, said that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. Adams understood that it's only a Christian people that have the character and worldview that's necessary to support a free government. Our Constitution, needs it will not work with any other people than those that are self governed and display all the internal principles upon which our nation, was built. So you need a Christian people to support our Christian form of government. And so America's form of government is unique. The prestigious literary journal North American review said in 1867 that the American government and Constitution is the most precious possession which the world holds or, which the future can inherit. This is true, true because the American system is the political expression of Christian ideas. If you were to take principles of the Bible and express them in a political fashion, the best mankind has been able to do that historically has been in the United States Constitution. it's not perfect and our founders understood it wouldn't be and made a way to have amendments to the Constitution. but it's unique. There's nothing like it. We've talked about that in past, podcast as well. In fact, the best way to describe our unique form of government is that it's an American Christian constitutional federal republic. Every one of those words, means something that helps to describe the uniqueness of our form of government. Governments that embrace a Christian power and form will best be able to fulfill the biblical mandate to protect the life, liberty and property of the citizen, enabling them to fulfill their biblical purpose. And so we see and have seen over many, many different previous podcasts that our liberty, our independence, the very fact that we became a nation, it was founded on the Christian faith. Without Christianity, there would be no United States of America. It by far was the central force, that guided and directed our nation, Its principles are what the American republic are built upon. And in fact, as we looked at in previous podcasts, if we were going to define a Christian nation, or the way I define a Christian nation, it's a nation built upon biblical principles. Every nation is built upon a set of principles that are rooted really in the religion of the people. What do people consider to be ultimate? That which is true and right in America, it's built upon the principles of the Bible. So we see historically how that came about. We can study the documents that form the foundation of our republic, and these ideas are reflected, as well. And so this is what produced the unique American nation. This is what produced America as an exceptional nation. And in the next number of podcasts, what I want to explore is then the fruit.

The planting of the United States of America was built on good seeds

What is the fruit? See, if you plant good seeds, you're going to get good fruit. And then the planting of the United States of America, it was built on good seeds, not perfect. We had problems. There were, of course, sinners that lived here as well. But overall, it was these Christian principles that were planted, and they began to produce good fruit in the generations that followed, the founding generation. So, in future podcasts, we're going to be looking at the growth of the American republic and how we began to live under liberty in the 18th century into the 19th century. And we still are benefiting from fruit that began to come forth during those early, generations. And so I hope you'll join us in, some of these future podcasts coming up so that you can see some of the great things that began to happen with the free people in a free nation. People who are able to benefit from the fruit of their labor to worship God, to, recognize and understand and pursue the calling God has for their lives. Because an abundant fruit did come forth that not only impacted America, but impacted nations all over the world. So I hope you'll join us. And, now, if you want to learn more, invite you to Visit our website, providencefoundation.com Take a look at some of our books that you can order, lots of different articles and other podcasts that you can read or listen to, and videos to watch as well. So thanks for joining us. Hope you'll be with us, next week. God bless.