Founder’s Keepers

KEEPING THE RELIGION OF AMERICA’s FOUNDING!

Installment 3 – Part 2

KEYNOTE SCRIPTURE

“When the virtuous rule, the people are happy, but they groan when the wicked are in power.” – Proverbs 29:2, Christian Community Bible

KEYNOTE QUOTES

“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… Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith…a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia…covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick…do 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.”

The Mayflower Compact, circa 1620.

“While (citizens) are acquainted with the duties which they owe to their God, to themselves, and to men, they will remain free.  But if ignorance and depravity should prevail, they will inevitably lead to slavery and ruin.” – Samuel Huntington, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports.”  – George Washington

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible” – George Washington

INTRODUCTION

What in the world is happening with laws and freedoms in this country?  Do we really accept that the Law Enforcement in our State of Michigan will soon be able to legislate our thoughts and intentions?  That is exactly the intended result of recently passed Michigan HB 4474.  This bill, awaiting almost certain passage by the Woke Michigan Senate at the time of this writing, takes aim at cementing in yet another piece of the Humanist religious agenda to remove true gender-science (male and female genders only) from our culture by the legislation of fear and intimidation.

In a nutshell, the bill seeks to punish people who improperly use the wrong “pronouns” to “intimidate” those of the “sensitive” “gender confused” community.  Obvious to most rational-thinking people, this bill is unconstitutional because it legitimizes the government’s removal of 1^st and 4^th Amendment rights to free thought and free speech for those who don’t happen to agree with the Government’s new “multi-gender science.”  Science used to be debatable…that’s what makes true science, well, true science…it had to be proven with factual experiment and observation.  Christians that believe the Creation account in Genesis 1 are the true target of this Christian hate legislation.  I fall into that category.

This may seem like another victory for Christian-hating Humanists; the true anti-religious zealots running our government, education, media, and commercial institutions.  However, we, as Christ-followers, share ultimate victory over those who oppose God.  “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.” (Galatians 6:7).

These Humanists are your friends and neighbors you helped elect to office.  They simply practice a different religion than you…Humanism.  Take note of the secular Humanist doctrine disguised as “policy” that is being pushed by our elected officials; locally, statewide, and nationally.  It is happening as the majority of “concerned citizens” continue to sit on the sidelines paralyzed in fear…afraid to speak out and act.  Hopefully, if you are reading this, you are being defibrillated out of your comatose state and into a state of awareness and awakening.  That’s the prickly “pins and needles” feeling in your brain right now!

One of the problems of finally waking up is that once you are awake, you can’t go back to the same vegetative state of slumber you once wallowed in.  You can’t un-see truth.

That is only one problem.  Another problem is that you will develop an insatiable drive to uncover more, and more, and more truth.  God will bless you with a supernatural discernment…sometimes disguised as skepticism.  This newly found gift will force you to question most everything you once believed to be true and pretty soon your behavior will earn you that dubious label of “conspiracy theorist.”  Welcome aboard!  As a Christian, this is an honor!  Isaiah 8:12 warns us that all things called “conspiracy” usually aren’t.  He knew that the true conspirators are ALL THAT OPPOSE GOD.

Yet another problem with seeking truth is that you will eventually alienate those you thought were friends, family, and allies because they are not yet awake.  This is painful because once you discover truth, your desire is for all people you know and love to share this truth.  However, not, many of them are appointed to see truth.  What’s more, God will not allow still many more of them to see truth.  Who does He allow to see truth?  ONLY those who believe in Him.

Like all Biblical scripture, Proverbs 29:2 is true.  Take today in our country, for instance.  It’s difficult for anyone to honestly say that this nation is not in a deep state of groaning.  Look around.  I challenge you to deny that most in power are wicked (they oppose God).  However, Proverbs 29:2 promises happiness to the “people” (us), when the virtuous rule.  God assures us happiness.  But there is a condition.  The condition is that the virtuous must rule.   Can this really be the answer?  Yes!  It has been and can be again!

THE “VIRTUE” OF THE FOUNDERS

Let’s look first at the definition of the word “virtue.”  Noah Webster was a post-American Revolution era lexicographer, which simply means he compiled dictionaries.    He didn’t write dictionaries…in other words, he didn’t make up the meanings of words, he only compiled words and their meanings.

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1985, defines the word, “virtue” thusly:

“- conformity to a standard of right: MORALITY.  A particular moral excellence.”

Webster’s 1828 Edition defines “virtue” as being associated with religion this way:

“- The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and His laws, is virtue and religion.  Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to (God’s) truth.”

It is fact that Noah Webster wasn’t alive to edit his 1828 dictionary 8 times, so we must understand that those 1985 dictionary edits were made by others.  Notice how the meaning of virtue in the 1985 edition changed to remove religion and God as the standard.  The morality referred to these days is not one standard…it is now whatever “morality” feels good.  As with the word virtue, we have seen the definitions of many words change over time depending upon the cultural, economic, social, political, or religious narrative being driven by those in power.  My oh, my, how definitions change according to the depravity of the world over time!

One needs only to go back to the true history of the founding of the United States of America to see the difference in virtue then versus now.  True U.S. history dates the founding ideals of our Constitutional Republic to the Pilgrims that settled Plymouth, Massachusetts, as well as other East Coast locations long about the early to mid-1600s.

THE ENGLISH PILGRIMS: PURITANS AND SEPARATISTS

I am guilty of having forgotten most all I learned in school about U.S. history.  Recently, however, through the help of teachings by a group of Christ-following Constitutional scholars and teachers, I am re-awakening to the true Christian, Creator-God centered founding of this country…its true virtue!

A brief refresher of the settlement and founding of the United States will be helpful.  The point here is to tie God-centered civil and religious freedom to the founding of this country and not to endorse one group of immigrants as the sole founding force behind our republic.  It is evident the church has always been key in the history of the world and one could say it is the center of all human endeavor.  In this case, the history of the Catholic Church and the “Protestant” Church of England, formed by King Henry VIII of England, and the Catholic Church of the 16^th – 18th centuries requires extensive study for a complete understanding.  We won’t take the time necessary to do that here.

It is important to understand there were numerous groups of people fleeing Europe and settling on this continent in search of religious and civil liberty, many of which can fall under the umbrella of “Pilgrim.”  Our eventual goal, however, is to understand the foundation of the framework of our Colonial Declaration of Independence.  Please consider this extremely brief history lesson:

• The English Monarchs rule under Roman Catholic state-sponsored religion, persecuting all forms of Protestant worship.
• In mid-1500’s, King Henry VIII breaks from Rome to form Church of England (essentially Catholic without the Pope and monasteries). This was so he could divorce Catherine and also so he could collect tax from the monasteries!
• Demands for the Bible to be translated grew so people could read the scriptures in English.
• Split in the “Protestant” Church of England over too much “Catholicism.” A group called “Puritans” emerges.  Puritans were persecuted by the Catholics as well as King Charles I.
• In early 1600’s, Puritans began to leave England to settle in the Americas. Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England.
• A particular group of Puritans called “Separatists” established colonies on the East Coast including New Plymouth, Massachusetts. Separatists differed from Puritans in that they wanted total dissolution of the Church of England.
• A particular group of Pilgrims (Puritans, Separatists, businessmen, et.al.) sailed from Plymouth, England, to Cape Cod and dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor November 21, 1620.
• A landing party of these Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Mass., on December 11, 1620. They drew up and signed The Mayflower Compact, the first platform of government in the form of a covenant.
• Many other settlers colonized the East Coast of North America and established self-governing communities based upon religious and civil liberty.
• Over time, the English Monarchy began to oppress the Colonists more and more, exercising tyrannical rule.
• The Colonials eventually ally against the British Crown and sign the Declaration of Independence.

-Source: Owlcation.com, 21 April, 2023.  This article cited numerous sources including Daniel Baracskay’s “Puritans,” and Christopher Klein’s “Why Did the Pilgrims Come to America?,” among others.

The pivotal moment influencing the governing of the colonies of the Eastern Seaboard of North America, namely Plymouth, Massachusetts, was The Mayflower Compact.

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT – PLEDGE BEFORE GOD

History tells us the purpose of The Mayflower Compact was to lay a platform for self-government of the Plymouth Colony.  A quick re-read of the abbreviated Mayflower Compact (KEYNOTE QUOTE above) reveals the Pilgrims declared their intentions “In the name of God,” and, that the entire purpose of their voyage and re-settlement was, “undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith…”  These settlers centered their government on God and the Christian Bible!  There can be no doubt the religion of the first colonists of this country CENTERED their government and, thus, their lives, on Christian religion.

Note particularly the wording of the Compact refers specifically to the “Christian Faith.”  The Pilgrims were specifically fleeing Christian persecution by the Crown of England who enforced the “Protestant” Church of England.  This was not persecution by Muslims, or Atheists, or Satanists.  This was Christians fleeing Christian persecution.  This helps us to understand the deep desire for the Pilgrims to re-settle in a land where they could freely worship and advance the Christian Faith.  There is no mention of Judiasm, Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion in the Compact…only Christianity.  There is nothing wrong with any of these religions, this is simply to point out the Founders’ profession of the Christian Faith.

The Mayflower Compact was signed by 41 of the principal men of the first band of Pilgrims.  One of the signers, John Carver, was elected Governor of the new colony, a position necessary under the constitution of government under which his official duties were to be performed.  Execution of The Mayflower Compact laid the foundation stone of republican institutions on this continent.  Clearly, these institutions necessarily centered themselves on the bedrock of the Christian faith.

FROM COLONIES TO COUNTRY

In our quick-march up through history of the founding of the United States of America, we now fast-forward to the year 1776 in Colonial America.  The British Parliament, the governing body over the 13 North American Colonies, had been enacting ever-increasing oppressive and tyrannical laws in an attempt to reign-in the Colonial’s back under their control.  The Colonists had been ever-increasing their resistance to the Crown’s tyranny and had begun stirring around the notion of independence from British rule.

We all know the story.  We learned it in our U.S. History classes back when public school used to teach factual history.  The British began murdering Colonists for non-compliance and the Colonists continued to separate farther and farther.  Fighting began on April 19, 1775 at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The war was formalized and intensified following passage of the Lee Resolution, which asserted that the Thirteen Colonies were “free and independent states”, by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, and the unanimous ratification of the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4, 1776.  Battlefield fighting ended on September 3, 1783.  The war had lasted more than 7 years.  The British were not kicked off the continent until after the end of the War of 1812, which formally ended 17 February, 1815.

THE DECLARATION OF GOD’S AUTHORITY

The Declaration of Independence (Declaration), in the first paragraph, asserts to God’s sovereignty and authority as it says, “…and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…”  This is a unanimous testimony to the undeniable truth of the existence of laws not made by man, but of God.  It is a statement that all men are entitled to be governed by God’s natural, moral laws.  In the second paragraph, it says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”  Similarly, this is a profession by the Founders that all men are given these rights by God…the same God in the definition of religion and virtue.

The Declaration was ratified (signed and agreed to) by a majority of the Constitutional Members as a unified statement opposing Britain’s rule and authority over the Independent States.  It clearly stands on God’s authority as the standard of Rights and Laws to be given to free men.  There is no question that the Founders meant the Creator God of the Bible.  And since the Declaration established the framework for the eventual governing platform of the United States of America, The Constitution of the United States, it is plainly true the Founders intended and crafted America’s government to be one established to operate to the standard of the Christian Faith.  God is intended to be the center of government.

From the KEYNOTE QUOTE by Samuel Huntington, signer of the Declaration, it is clear that he believed citizens of this nation ought to understand and apply their duties to God and to their fellow man to ensure perpetuation of freedom.  If ignorance and depravity should prevail, in other words, if the moral laws and tenets of God were ignored, then slavery and ruin would prevail.  It seems like that is the direction we are heading today.

FOUNDERS’ RELIGION

Revisionist historians want us to believe the Founders were marauding band of Atheists, racists, and white supremists.  They point to select quotes by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, out of context, to support their claims, lumping all the Founders in as slave-owning capitalists.  The truth is nearly all the Founders were ardent Abolitionist Christians.  Abolition started before the Constitutional movement.

When one studies the un-redacted, un-revised writings from the times dating just before and just after the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, the lens through which the Founders viewed the world is crystal clear.  History clearly shows the vast majority of the Founders practiced the Christian Faith, and if not, then at the very least, the rest were Deists.  A Deist is a far cry from an Atheist.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with bringing prayer back into the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, when, after a lengthy dissertation on the necessity of Divine Providence in the battle thus far, Franklin reminds the gathering of past deliberations, saying, “In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?…In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible to danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection.  Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.  All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor…Have we now forgotten our powerful Friend?”  Franklin goes on, “I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business…”  Franklin is saying essentially, “back when we first started this effort, we appealed to God for direction because we knew we were taking on the greatest military power on the planet.  We prayed for guidance and God gracefully delivered us!  Surely everyone involved at that time saw the frequent intervention and blessing of God on our cause.  But now, now that we are stuck in this effort to craft our Constitution, how come we don’t turn to God now?”  Does Franklin sound like an Atheist to you?

George Washington, in his two famous quotes from above, clearly states his religious position; “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports.”  “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”  Is there any doubt Washington ties religion, morality, God, and the Bible to prosperity of government?

The Declaration, itself, illuminates the religious beliefs of the Founders.  According to Rick Green, founder of The Patriot Academy, an organization committed to re-educating Americans on the U.S. Constitution, as well as teaching citizens to live a Biblical Worldview, there are six immutable principals in the Declaration as follows:

1. There is a divine Creator – Believing such is the first step toward limited government, because if government is all-supreme, there is nothing that can impose limits. If God is not in the national equation, then government becomes God.
2. Inalienable rights come from God – Every person has a set of rights given by the Creator, not government, which government has NO authority to interfere with.
3. Government exists to protect inalienable rights – Government is not there to provide for us, but to protect us while we go out and produce. The more government provides for us, the less productive we are because we have less incentive.
4. There is a fixed moral law – A lack of fixed moral law leads to anarchy, where every person decides for themselves what is right and wrong and the powerful control the weak.
5. The consent of the governed or the will of the majority prevails – The consent of the governed DOES NOT overrule truths #2 and #4 above.
6. It is the people’s right to change their government – Because government comes from the people, we can change our government in any way needed if the first five principles are violated.

-Source, “Constitution Alive! Class Workbook, A Citizen’s Guide to the Constitution,” Rick Green, Patriot Academy, Dripping Springs, Texas, 2012, pp. 35-36.

The principles described above are backed by countless historical writings from the Founders if one takes some time to study un-redacted history.  One of the most influential minds of the times was John Locke.  Locke (1632-1704) was one of the first Englishmen to adopt the revolutionary view and write that monarchical absolutism was not the best path to civil government.  He held fast to the notion that citizens have the duty to resist government tyranny.  In other words, he proposed the theory that people had the ability to self-govern, and do a better job of it than a supreme, tyrannical government.  Obvious proof of his theory was bearing out in such places as New Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, the recently established, self-governing American Colonies.

More than 100 years later, the Founders of this country adopted Locke’s ideals.  Richard Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration said that Thomas Jefferson “copied” the Declaration of Independence from John Locke’s book “The Two Treatises of Government,” which cites the Christian Bible over 1500 times to show the proper operation of civil government.

CHRISTIAN MORALS, GOD’s LAWS, BUT FREEDOM OF RELIGION

The preceding paragraphs point out samples from the countless volumes of indisputable proof from the writings of people that settled this continent and shaped the eventual Constitution of the United States.  They quite convincingly did so with the moral standards of God, the Bible, and the Christian Faith at its center.  The framing document (The Declaration) and the by-laws (Constitution) guarantee, however, that Allah, Buddha, or the Starbucks Witch can be worshipped as the center of an individual’s religion, if they so choose.

Despite the fervent adherence to Christian morals of the Founders, the Framers of the Constitution guaranteed America WOULD NEVER become another Monarchy that endorsed a state religion, like the Crown of Great Britain endorsed the Church of England.  The Founders and their ancestors had lived that style of religious persecution once before and they meant to end that forever.

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States guarantees Freedom of Religion.  Thomas Jefferson said it quite plainly and sensibly; believing reason had to govern all human decision, “For the use of … reason… every one is responsible to the God who has planted it in his breast, as a light for his guidance, and that, by which alone he will be judged,” Jefferson explained.  His declaration to Benjamin Rush that “I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man,” was made in the context of religious freedom: any government effort to control religious beliefs was “tyranny over the mind of man.”

Politically, Jefferson believed that the new nation required complete religious freedom and separation of church and from state.  Jefferson certainly doesn’t sound like an Atheist to me!