My Country Tis Of 'Thee: America & John Calvin

The following is from a talk given on October 30, 1994 at St. John's Reformed Church, Lincoln, NE, as part of a combined service of St. John's Reformed Church (RCUS), Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA), in celebration of the Reformation of the church, began by Martin Luther on 11/31/1517. The talk was given by Sandor E. Chomos. Preceding his talk on America and John Calvin is a brief biography of Mr. Chomos which was read by Rev. Howard Hart, pastor of St. John's.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He had chosen for His own inheritance."-- Psalm 33:12

Dear Brethren: Fifty-three years ago, my sermon at the Community Church of New York City was on the creeds and confessions of the 400-year old Hungarian Reformed Church. Now 1500 miles from New York, in Lincoln Nebraska, by grace of God, I will speak to you about the faith we have received from our spiritual forebears--from John Calvin, Martin Luther, and the many other Reformers who began their labor some 500 years ago.

First let me emphasize that Calvin, Luther, Melanchton, Zwingli, and their fellow Reformers did not establish a "new" church or a "new" faith. They simply tried to reform a church which had forgotten the teachings of Christ. To reform a church whose faith, through 1,500 years, had become stale, and had strayed from the teachings of the Apostles, the men whom Jesus Himself had appointed to spread the Good News to all the peoples of the earth.

Because of the actions of these Reformers, the Roman Catholic church has also experience internal reformation through the last 500 years. While we still have sharp doctrinal differences, today was can many times find ourselves more in agreement with the Pope and the Catholic Bishops than with mainstream Protestant clergy. It is heartwarming to hear Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" being sung in a Catholic church, and equally disturbing to hear liberal Protestant theologians deny the deity of Christ and the authority of Scripture.

One of our Calvinist distinctives is that of the Doctrine of Predestination. We believe that God fore planned the happenings in the lives of men and of nations. It was God's infinite wisdom, that guided Columbus to discover the New World in 1492, and that led Luther's posting of his 95 theses in 1517. These two event seem to be intertwined. America had to be discovered before the Reformation.

God seems to have been preparing a land where the followers of the Reformation could flee to avoid religious persecution. To allow the flowering of a nation, devoted to worshipping God in spirit and truth, powerful enough to spread the true gospel throughout the world. History demonstrates that those early settlers were staunch Calvinists. When the Pilgrims landed on the shores of this new land, they declared:

"We take possession of this land in the name of God Almighty, and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout this land to all inhabitants."

The American historian Richard Bancroft called the Pilgrim Fathers "men of the same faith with Calvin." It was also noted that "The Pilgrims were perfectly at one with the Calvinistic Churches in the Netherlands, and elsewhere."

The influence of Calvinism as a guiding force in the political development of the United States is one of the brightest moments in the history of Calvinism. John Endicott and John Withrop of Massachusetts; Thomas Hooker of Connecticut; John Davenport of the New Haven Colony; and Roger Williams of the Rhode Island Colony were all Calvinists.

William Penn was a disciple of the Huguenots, the French Calvinists. Then we must include the Puritans, especially such men as Jonathan Edwards and John Owen who defended Calvinism with great ferocity; The German and Dutch Reformed churches all had Calvinist confessions. Fully two-thirds of the entire colonial population had been trained in the school of Calvinist thought. Never in the history of the world had a nation been founded by people such as these.

These people came to America, not primarily for commercial gains, but because of deep religious convictions. These people brought with them a devotion to God, expressed through their desire to remain true to the teachings of Scripture. They made this devotion manifest in their Calvinistic Protestantism, recognizing the biblical truth in the doctrines of the great reformer.

With this background, we should not be surprised to find that the Calvinists took a very important part in American Revolution. Calvin emphasized that the sovereignty of God, when applied to the affairs of government proved to be crucial, because God as the Supreme Ruler had all ultimate authority vested in Him, and all other authority flowed from God, as it pleased Him to bestow it.

The Scriptures, God's special revelation of Himself to mankind, were taken as the final authority for all of life, as containing eternal principles, which were for all ages, and all peoples. Calvin based his views on these very Scriptures. As we read earlier, in Paul's letter to the Romans, God's Word declares the state to be a divinely established institution.

History is eloquent in declaring that the American republican democracy was born of Christianity and that form of Christianity was Calvinism. The great revolutionary conflict which resulted in the founding of this nation was carried out mainly by Calvinists--many of whom had been trained in the rigidly Presbyterian college of Princeton.

It is recorded that when Cornwallis was driven back to ultimate defeat and surrender at Yorktown, all of the Colonels of the Colonial army, except one, were Presbyterian Elders.

Another important factor in the independence movement was what is now known as the "Mecklenburg Declaration," proclaimed by the Scots-Irish Presbyterians of North Carolina, on May 20, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress.

These North Carolinians had been watching the progress of the Colonists against the Crown. They deemed it was time for the patriots to speak out. Calling their church representatives together, by unanimous resolution they declared the people of the colony free and independent, and all laws and commissions from the king would henceforth be null and void.

The Declaration stated the following: "We do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us with the mother-country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiances to the British Crown. We hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people, under control of no power, other than that of our God and general government of the Congress. To the maintenance of which we solemnly pledge each other our mutual cooperation and our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor."

That assembly was composed of twenty-seven Colonists. One-third of these were ruling Elders in the Presbyterian Church, including the president and secretary and one clergyman. The man who drew up that famous and important document was the secretary--Ephraim Brevard, a ruling Elder and graduate of Princeton. It was sent by a special messenger to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and many of these concepts were obviously incorporated into the Declaration of Independence.

From 1776 to the present time, the Declaration of Independence has been the inspiration of a new hope amongst the oppressed of every nation throughout the world. The Founding Fathers in 1776 made the radical statement that under the form of government they were proposing, all men were equal in political privilege and political obligation. The Declaration says to all humanity that there is only one family on this tight little playground of ours called earth.

As originally presented to the Continental Congress the Declaration of Independence contained numerous and frequent references to God. First, in the opening paragraph, where the write stated "the laws of nature and nature of God are invoked,"' in the second paragraph he states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with inherent and certain unalienable rights,"; and thirdly, that portion of the document in which the signators appeal to "the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our inhabitants." Congress also felt led to insert these few words--"with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."

The principles laid out in this document buttressed religious tolerance as well as political freedom. Charles Carrol, the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration and the last of the signers to die, wrote on February 20, 1829--"When I signed the Declaration of Independence, I had in view not only our independence from England, but the toleration of all sects professing the Christian religion and communicating to them all equal rights."

John Calvin was the first Reformer to demand complete separation between church and state. The Swiss Reformation brought about a government ruling by the will of the people, expressed through the majority vote of the populace. Calvin established a free state and a free church--two obedient bodies, but both under the sovereign authority of Almighty God.

When the authors of the Constitution set out to frame a system of representative government, their task was not as difficult as some may have imagined. They had a model from which to work. The German historian Ranke has stated that: "John Calvin was the virtual founder of America." Still another historian of the Reformation, D'Aluigne, writes: "Calvin was the founder of the greatest republics. The Pilgrims, who left their country and landed on the barren soil of New England founded populous and mighty colonies, were his sons, his direct and legitimate sons: that American nation, which we have seen growing so rapidly boasts as its father, the humble Reformer from the shores of Lake Lemon."

Calvinists have not been builders of great cathedrals, but they haven been builders of schools, colleges, and universities. When they came to America they brought with them not only the Bible and their confessions, but also the schools. As the pioneers advanced westward, establishing new towns along the way, they always set aide parcels of land, one for a church, and one for a school. Wherever one saw a church spire on the horizon, one could be sure that a school was nearby. As soon as the school was built, one of the first items installed was almost always a copy of the Ten Commandments for the classroom wall. The Bible was commonly used as a textbook.

Three of our oldest, most prestigious universities--Harvard, Yale and Princeton--were originally founded by Calvinists as institutions of higher learning where every course of study was infused and illuminated by the light of Scripture. The curriculum was designed to give the student a sound basis of theology to complement the other branches of learning. The goal was to teach them to love God, country, and to live honorable lives.

It is almost unbelievable to those of my generation, when we compare the schools of today with those which existed when we were young. Bibles are not allowed; some schools even attempt to prevent students from bringing their own Bibles to the classroom. The Ten Commandments can no longer be displayed in the school; it is seen as almost seditious to suggest the idea of prayer in school, and even mentioning the concept of God is not allowed in today's classroom.

Harvard, Yale and Princeton are now turning out graduates of the most liberal bent imaginable, not only from their regular courses of study, but from their seminaries as well. We are living in a day when we see practically all of the historic Protestant churches attacked by unbelief from within.

Many of them have already succumbed. The line of descent has been a slow move from Calvinism to Arminianism, to Modernism, to Universalism. Where the biblical principles expounded by Calvin are abandoned, there is a powerful tendency leading downward into the depths of Naturalism. Some have declared--and rightly we believe--that there is no middle ground between Calvinism and atheism.

What reasons can we give for the present state of defections from Calvinist doctrine? The celebrated five points of the Calvinist star are not shining so brightly. It can hardly be disputed by anyone, when we consider the trend of the present day, that the fortress of Biblical truth as presented in Calvinism is losing its strength in America.

There are no longer any large denominations which in their corporate capacity aggressively seek to maintain the Calvinist heritage. We have many small denominations trying to regain their heritage, and restore the truth which has been lost over the last hundred years to this land, which is heartwarming and commendable.

Probably no servant of Christ, since the time of the apostles, has been at the same time so much loved and hated, admired and abhorred, praised and blamed, blessed and cursed, as the faithful, fearless and indomitable John Calvin. Standing on the watchtower of the Reformation Movement, he was exposed to attacks from every quarter, from the Pope to his fellow reformers.

One piece of testimony we should not omit is that of Arminius, the originator of the rival system of theological thought. Certainly here we have testimony from an unbiased source: "Next to the study of the Scriptures, I exhort my pupils to pursue Calvin's commentaries, which I extol in loftier terms then Helmick himself, for I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scriptures, and his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that handed down to us by the library of the Fathers. so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, as rather above all other men, that may be called an eminent gift of prophecy."

This is Calvin's legacy to us. The tendency in our enlightened age is to look upon Calvinism as a worn-out and obsolete creed. It is assumed by large numbers of today's Protestant churches, that Calvinism has been outgrown in religious circles. In fact, the average church member, even most ministers of the Gospel among the large liberal Protestant denominations, are inclined to look upon a person who declares belief in the teachings of the Reformers, the Creeds, the Confessions, and the authority of Scripture, with a glance of amused tolerance, and call him the "religious right." It is almost unthinkable to them that there should exist such a person with such convictions.

As for seriously examining the arguments for Calvinism, the idea never enters their minds. It is deemed out-of-date, and is looked upon as one of the fanatic schemes of thought that men held before the age of modern science. After all, hasn't science and philosophy and religion declared man the maker of his own destiny, and relegated the sovereignty of God to the scrap heap of outmoded mythology?

Dear Brethren, let us remember the words of the Psalmist, as the appear in our text: "Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord..."

From the day that the Pilgrims first landed on the shores of this new land, the protecting hands of God have been spread over this nation. For almost 400 years his outstretched arms guided and protected this land, because of the faithful people who relied on His grace, recognized His sovereignty, acknowledged His only begotten Son Jesus as the Savior of the World, and attempted to live out His commandments as He provided them grace to do so. God allowed us to become the leader of all nations.

As long as the people exercised their faith through obedience and thanksgiving for His blessings, God continued to bless this land. Has God lifted His protective Hands from our nation? Or are we like Job? When Satan challenged God, and accused Job, a faithful servant of God, of possessing pious obedience only because of God's blessing, God allowed Satan to put Job to the test, to verify his faith in God.

Satan's charge against Job was actually a defiant denial of the wisdom of God. The primary purpose of Job's suffering, though unknown to him, was that he should stand before men and angels as a trophy of the saving power of God.

Though Satan was allowed to afflict Job in many ways, he was obliged to spare Job's life. The triumph of Job's faithfulness over Satan's malice provided a sign that He would bestow on the faithful the gift of eternal life through salvation by Christ's death on the cross, which was to come--the ultimate sacrifice made at the appointed time.

God allowed Job's faith to be tested at Satan's hands, but in the end, the Sovereign God prevailed. Now, brethren in Christ, Satan charges the people of America before God--that their trust in God is a myth, that their praise to God will cease if God's restraining hand is removed from Satan. It seems as if God may have obliged, and Satan has found that millions of hands willingly grasped his, and chose to follow his way.

The picture sometimes appears hopelessly bleak--America is on a slippery slope, gaining momentum as it plunges toward chaos and destruction. Crime, moral decay, political corruption, economic disarray, even natural disasters striking throughout the nation. The past decade has seen us drive nail after nail into the lid of our national coffin. While political leaders throughout the former Soviet Union beg to have the gospel preached to their people, recognizing after 72 years of atheistic humanism, that the only answer to their problem is Jesus Christ, Americans try to drive God even further from the open marketplace of ideas.

Christian defeatism grieves God. We should not stand as mere spectators, while the godless dismember our nation. Believers in Christ are to be over comers, not the overcome. Once again, Christians must become the nation's salt and light, it's preservative. We must strive to create a righteous nation with the reins of power in the hands of righteous leaders.

It was God who breathed life into America over 200 years ago. We, the servants of God, redeemed by the King of Kings, must reassert righteousness in her. God has done His part--there is salvation and healing for our nation through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, we must do our part.

The forces that have worked to reduce and remove the influence of God and Christ in the lives of our people have sought answers to society's problems by seeking to bring all men to the lowest, basest denominator possible. So much so that it seems as if the victim should apologize to the perpetrator being there to be robbed, or raped, or murdered.

God seeks to raise all who come to Him by grace through faith to the highest possible level--sons of God, joint heirs with Christ.

Do we possess a measure of Job's faith? Do we still retain a portion of the faith which our ancestors exercised to establish this country? Remember, brethren, Paul, in Galatians 5:1 said: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves to burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

The answer is up to us, the American people. Sooner or later we have to choose; we have to answer the important questions; we have to decide in which direction we will be heading. Are we going to follow the modernist, apostate, liberal church, or perhaps the so-called New Age religion, or do we stand and fight to regain our Calvinist heritage?

A blurb about the pastor:

Sandor E. Chomos was born in in Detroit, Michigan. His family returned to Hungary shortly after World War I, where he entered the Hungarian Reformed Church's school system. In 1934, as a student, he delivered his first sermon to a village congregation.

He was ordained as an evangelist elder in 1939, at the Sixty-Ninth Street Hungarian Reformed Church in New York City. The same year, he delivered his first English language sermon at the Community Church of New York--a sermon which dealt with the creeds and confessions of the 400-year old Hungarian Reformed Church. Her served as organist at the Eleventh Street Hungarian Reformed Church of New York, and in the same capacity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He has served as pulpit supply and interim lay-pastor at churches in Bethlehem, McKeesport, and Vintondale Pennsylvania from 1956 through 1987, as well as a member of the Classis and Synod.

In 1967 he became the head of a publishing house affiliated with the Hungarian Reformed Church. While there he was responsible for publishing several religious and fraternal magazines (serving as editor for one of the publications). He published a revised Hungarian translation of the New Testament by Bishop Laszlo Ravasz, which is now in use by the Reformed Churches in Hungary and Transylvania. Other major efforts include the Creeds of the Hungarian Reformed Christians (the Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism), a Hungarian Hymnal, and many other religious and historical works.

Mr. Chomos served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II, as a member of the Army's 94th Division, 302 Regiment, from 1942 until December of 1945.

Calvinist in the tradition of Arminius:

About Calvin, Arminius seemed to have dearly loved Calvin for he wrote as quoted above:

"Next to the study of the Scriptures, I exhort my pupils to pursue Calvin's commentaries, which I extol in loftier terms then Helmick himself, for I affirm that he excels beyond comparison in the interpretation of Scriptures, and his commentaries ought to be more highly valued than all that handed down to us by the library of the Fathers. so that I acknowledge him to have possessed above most others, as rather above all other men, that may be called an eminent gift of prophecy."

The President is a member of my denomination, so I know how to read that line and apply it.

However, there is reason to believe that the President is a Whitefield Methodist by virtue of the PResident's having come out of the Anglicanism (Episcopal) of his parents. (And other things from within the denomination that hints at it to me....that I don't want to get into here.)

I would be delighted to hear that the President is a calvinist Christian. Honestly. :>)

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