Posted on 04/15/2016 5:13:21 PM PDT by molewhacka
Those of us who have been around awhile look at all that is going on in our nation and the world, and realize how far we have fallen.
Literally, not a single day passes without new revelations regarding the corruption and treason that is the norm among the so-called leaders of both America and pretty much every other country.
I take hope knowing God is in ultimate control, and that all will eventually work to the good in His will and in His time.
That certainly does not excuse, however, the lack of sound moral principles of those in control of our man-made institutions (e.g., Tennessee Republican leaders blocking bills protecting traditional marriage and children from sexual predators in bathrooms).
If anything, God’s sovereignty should cause those in positions of authority to rethink the decisions they are making.
Though those who founded and guided our nation at its formation and for many years thereafter were not perfect by any means, they did understand the necessity of upholding Christian principles for the good of our country and us, the people.
In fact, these indisputable truths used to be taught in our schools so that all would understand the foundation upon which we stood secure.
Even those who refused to abide by these moral truths understood that choosing to do so had negative consequences.
When I look at the current crop of leaders, many are quick to cite their “Christian” connections, but precious few actually make decisions that are in keeping with the teaching of the Holy Bible, or even in keeping with the Constitution that is supposed to guide our laws and restrict government theft of our God-given freedoms.
The actions of most incumbents are in stark contrast with the standards and wisdom of those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor in founding our nation.
So many now undermine those sacrifices with apathy, unmerited entitlement and outright wicked rebellion.
John Adams warned Americans that, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
“Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry, 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 to the government of any other.”
Samuel Adams observed, “The rights of the colonists as Christians … may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”
Even the U.S. Supreme Court once understood the necessity of upholding Christian principles.
In an 1829 speech at Harvard, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story said, “I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society.
“One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law …. There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
In the 1892 decision in Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States, the Supreme Court recognized, “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind.
“It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian …. This is a Christian nation”
My, how both our judges and universities have changed for the worse!
We used to elect leaders who understood the role and necessity of upholding Christian principles in protecting our nation — instead of just using their “faith” as a smokescreen even as they do the opposite of what the Bible teaches.
President Calvin Coolidge understood this when he said, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
President Ronald Reagan reconfirmed these truths when he stated, “The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers’ abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual.
“This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”
Compare the current hostility toward Christianity in public education to the words of William McGuffy, author of McGuffy Reader, from which many learned to read for at least 100 years, beginning in the mid-1830s:
“The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our nation, on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions.
“From no source has this author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology.”
Even our federal government saw the writing on the wall. The words of Thomas Jefferson inscribed at the Jefferson Memorial include:
“The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man,” and, “God who gave us life gave us liberty.
“Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
“Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
These are truths that should again be taught from every pulpit and in every classroom if we are to have any hope of surviving as a constitutional republic.
ART HIGHLAND of Paris is a member of the local Volunteers for Freedom Tea Party.
Alan Keyes is one of the most excellent candidate for president in my book. Unmoved and unmoving, he would restore much that has been lost in Constitutional government integrity and societal morality.
If Jesus showed up in America tomorrow morning, the only reason he wouldn’t get lynched by noon would be the SJWs and faux-Christian nutballs taking longer than a few hours to decide which would have the right to string him up first.
Quaker roots?
And the right wingers would certainly be clamoring to be in on the act when He told them “I never asked Caesar to be My Church!”
I agree with you that that is what the majority would want to do (and post it online within seconds), but the next time Jesus physically shows up on Earth, it will be to put an end to this nonsense once and for all.
Based on the way we are going, that day may not be too far off into the future.
The church has been 1700 years, more or less, into trying to make church-state melanges.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the Savior say something along the lines of “You wonder why you don’t see something with the energy of the 1st century church? Well it’s because you dumbed down My churches and whitewashed your states.”
Religious Affiliation of U.S. Founding Fathers
Episcopalian/Anglican 88 54.7%
Presbyterian 30 18.6%
Congregationalist 27 16.8%
Quaker 7 4.3%
Dutch Reformed/German Reformed 6 3.7%
Lutheran 5 3.1%
Catholic 3 1.9%
Huguenot 3 1.9%
Unitarian 3 1.9%
Methodist 2 1.2%
Calvinist 1 0.6%
The 204 listed above are those who either:
- signed the Declaration of Independence
- signed the Articles of Confederation
- attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787
- signed the Constitution of the United States of America
- served as Senators in the First Federal Congress (1789-1791)
- served as U.S. Representatives in the First Federal Congress
www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html
This was one of the more recent attempts to forge a church-state mix, with a state that aspired to do more than simply keep order but to enjoin mores on a Christian level.
And it kinda sorta worked. If you don’t look at what the revolution DIDN’T set free.
Dumbed down church. Whitewashed state. Slavery....
And for what it’s worth, Mole, most of that filthy streak was represented, at least from recent antebellum times, by what we know as the Democrat party.
Yes, Democrats know how to talk the talk of religion too. And they still do; that’s how they can get America going on guilt trips, especially with a near-feckless actual church.
When it comes to religious hypocrites, I have observed most Republicans are giving the Democrats a run for their money.
In America, most churches are more concerned with their church business model than they are with going into “the fields that are ripe for the harvest”. As for discipleship, few have any inclination. Most of the resources are spent either making the ones already on the rolls feel comfortable enough to keep paying the bills or figuring out how to poach ready-made members from other churches.
That’s a rather broad, fact-free claim. However inasmuch as Republicans are plagued at all, it’s because of falling into the same folly of state as Christian mother of the people. It isn’t, it can’t be, Jesus never promised it, Jesus never commanded it.
I would bet that if churches saw charity as the arms and legs of evangelization (giving to people says the love of Christ better than preaching at them) we’d see both evangelization and charity burgeoning.
I happened a few years ago to see a copy of a letter that Franklin Delano Roosevelt wrote to church pastors imploring them to support his Social Security scheme. The demons directing this knew what they were doing. For a scanty, skimpy umbrella of Caesar, now unhooked entirely from Christ, the churches were able to say “I gave in my paycheck.”
I mean specifics-free claim.
We need look no farther than the church budgets and members’ calendars and checkbooks. For example, less than 2% of US churches budgets goes to missions. For even more challenging statistics, check out:
www.aboutmissions.org/statistics.html
Since there are far larger percentage of Republicans in these churches than there are Democrats, the fingers are pretty much pointing back at us.
I think there is a sad lack of thought being put into what even constitutes a mission.
I’m not calling one party sinless any more than God declared Judah sinless because Israel was worse.
Still there is a problem with the underlying model. Caesar isn’t anybody’s godfather. The church got a little but gave away a lot by means of embracing Caesar. The inevitable intrigue busted it up (first the Catholic/Orthodox split, and then the Protestant departure from the Catholic church). I would venture that the proliferation of denominations was necessary, however, to teach churches that they can’t unite around any model that vies for state support.
I am less concerned about how godly a president is and more concerned with how godly churches are. Until Christ comes and sorts out this mess personally — I’d rather have government be unbelievers that confess they are unbelievers and don’t try to carry on government like believers — than government by believers who try to carry things that are specifically Christian into the government sphere.
Nancy Pelosi is Catholic.
Good and valid points.
Jimmy Carter is Baptist, as is Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Hillary Clinton is Methodist.
As the old saying goes, all labels will either blow off or burn off.
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