June 29, 2008

Dr. Ron Sumners

Blessed Is the Nation

Psalm 33:12-22

Suppose that sometime this week you turned on the TV news and heard this announcement. “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has just issued a statement saying it is the duty of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

Another news item tells us that almost every state legislature has now passed a law requiring all elected officials to take this oath: “I do profess faith in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ His only Son, and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.”

A third item says that the Bible has been recommended by the Congress to be used and taught from in public schools.

What do you think the response to these announcements would be, especially from the media? I think there would be more reaction to them than we could even imagine. It would not be a positive reaction, but one of condemnation and outrage. The amazing thing is this: every one of these statements is historically accurate for a time in the course of our nation’s development.

It was John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and one of the primary writers of the Constitution who wrote, “It is the duty of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

It was the state of Delaware, along with most of the others, which required office holders to take an oath affirming their Christian faith before they could take office.

And not only did Congress in 1782 approve the use of the Bible in our schools, they even paid for them with tax dollars. And, in 1844, when someone sued to remove them, the Supreme Court ruled: “Why should not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, be read and taught as a divine revelation in the schools? Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?”

Just think about this: If these people, who were so instrumental in establishing our nation, were here to say and do those things today, they would be considered right-wing radicals and a threat to our nation. And I do not think that is an exaggeration!

We have strayed a long way from our roots as Americans. My purpose today is to do a little bit of education. Our school systems, colleges and universities have become so secularized – so distanced from religion – that huge chunks of information about the spiritual roots of our nation are neglected. And unless the church teaches them, where will you hear it?

So, here are some things that are worth knowing about the roots of our nation.

1. America was settled by people looking for religious freedom. Other nations, for the most part, came into existence by conquest for selfish and ambitious motives. But it was primarily the pursuit of God not gold that motivated the first settlers to come to the new world.

The hardy souls who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 fled from religious tyranny and oppression. In the Mayflower Compact, which they signed beneath the swinging lantern in the cabin of their ship, they proclaimed that they had come to the new world for “the glorie of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”

In the colonies, the first public buildings to be erected were churches and the first public assembly was for the worship of God. When sorrow came they gathered together in the church to comfort each other and to appeal to God for help. When bountiful harvest filled their barns, they gathered at the church to give thanks to God.

In 1643, as more and more people arrived on these shores, they joined together to form “The New England Confederation.” They wrote a constitution, the first constitution written in the new world, and it began with these words, “Whereas we all came to these parts with one and the same aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity and peace…”

These are our spiritual forefathers. They came to America so they could worship and practice their faith without fear of persecution. The first thing I want you to know, no matter what contemporary society says, is this; the earliest settlers came here primarily looking for religious freedom.

2. Our Founders had a strong desire to be pleasing to God and to do His will.

Before I go further, please remember that around 150 years passed by from the time of the earliest settlers to the beginning of our nation. The secular revisionists look to this period to debunk the idea of a nation established for religious liberty. As time passed, the original settlers died off, many of their descendents were more concerned with increasing their wealth and comfortable living than being faithful to God and His Word. Not much different than our nation today! As wave after wave of new immigrants arrived, many of them came for reasons other than religious liberty.

For example, whether out of concern for them, or just to get rid of them, England began a program of emptying its prisons by making it possible for prisoners to come to the New World as indentured servants. At the same time, the King of England granted vast tracts of land in the New World to his special friends. Large plantations were established and slavery was introduced into the colonies to work these plantations.

The spiritual atmosphere deteriorated rapidly. Churches were dying and many of them that had once sought religious freedom for themselves were not tolerant of others. It was during this time that some went off in strange spiritual directions.

For example, in 1692, a slave girl was brought by her master to Salem, Massachusetts. She had been raised in Haiti. She began to tell young girls wild and vivid tales about the power of voodoo. It was not long after that fear filled the community and the Salem Witch Trials began.

The end result of it all was that by 1730, only about 10% of the people in the colonies attended church at all. That which had begun “for the glorie of God and the advancement of the Christian faith” had almost disappeared. Those who oppose Christianity love to point out this low point of faith in the new world.

An amazing thing began happening in 1734. A handful of preachers - Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennant, John Wesley and others – began to preach in the churches and the streets and the fields. This movement soon turned into great crusades and revivals that spread throughout the thirteen colonies.

So many people came to Christ that it was known as “The Great Awakening.” Tens of thousands dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ and were baptized. So many people came to hear Whitefield as he traveled the colonies that he had to preach in open fields because there was no room in the churches.

Benjamin Franklin wrote: “It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing psalms sung by different families of every street.”

In fact, Franklin was so impressed with Jonathan Edwards’ preaching that he built an auditorium to accommodate the crowds of more than 30,000 that came to hear Edwards preach. By the way, Philadelphia had a population of 25,000 at that time. People were coming from everywhere to hear these preachers preach. Within just a few years, the number of openly devout Christians was no longer only 10% of the population. After the Great Awakening, over 50% of the population was openly Christian.

The Great Awakening was a precursor to the American Revolution. Our founding fathers, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, those who wrote our Constitution and Bill of Rights, those who put their lives on the line, who fought and died that we might be free – all these great leaders grew up under the influence of The Great Awakening. The generation that turned back to God became the leaders of the American Revolution!

Check out this prayer recorded in the personal diary of George Washington: “Let my heart, gracious God, be so affected with your glory and majesty that I may discharge those weighty duties thou requirest of me. I call upon thee for pardon and forgiveness of sins… Thank you for the sacrifice Jesus Christ offered on the cross for me. Thou gavest thy Son to die for me and have given me assurance of my salvation.”

I don’t care what the revisionist historians say about George Washington. He was a devout Christian. And he wasn’t alone in his faith.

Over a ten year period, political science professors at the University of Houston collected and catalogued 15,000 writings by the founding fathers. Their goal was to determine the primary source of ideas behind the Constitution by identifying the sources quoted most often by them. Guess what the primary source was! It was the Bible. 94% of the quotes of the founding fathers were based upon the Bible.

The point of all this is that the cultural environment on the eve of the American Revolution was undeniably spiritual. And this focus dramatically affected the men and women who gave birth to this nation.

3. America was founded by men and women who acknowledged God’s supreme rule over men and nations. They were not perfect. They were not all devout Christians, but they all acknowledged God as the supreme ruler over men and nations.

Most of you are familiar with the prologue to the Declaration of Independence. It says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 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 power from the consent of the governed.”

They were saying, “We want a form of government that will protect what the Creator has given to each of us.” Then, after listing 15 or 16 charges against the king, they make two more references to God”

“We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.” They said that God is the Supreme Judge of the world.

And then they end the Declaration with these words: “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, (that’s God), we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

The assembled group were discussing and debating the wording of the Declaration. They could not agree. Finally, one of them suggested they all get on their knees and ask God what should be done. These 55 men all went to their knees and began to pray and seek guidance from God.

John Adams, in a letter he wrote to his wife Abigail, said, “The most amazing thing occurred. Even the stern old Quakers had tears gushing down their cheeks.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful today if our president, our congress, and our Supreme Court got down on their knees and instead of partisan political motives asked, “God, what do you want for this nation?”

At the signing of The Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams, often called “Father of the Revolution,” said, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”

Folks, I believe that America was protected and directed by God from the start. The British Empire, at that time, possessed the most powerful fighting force on the face of the earth. The ragtag assembly of volunteers, farmers, and tradesmen who made up the Continental Army was out-manned, out-gunned, and out-financed. Only a miracle could have brought them success. It did!

The tallest structure in Washington D.C. is the Washington Monument. By law, nothing can be built there taller than the monument. Do you know what is inscribed at the pinnacle of the Washington Monument? These words are there: “Let God be praised.”

There may be legislators who don’t know that. There are certainly celebrities who don’t know that. The ACLU would petition to have the monument destroyed if they realized that! That must be our cry again as a nation if we are to survive. “Let God be praised!”