Oh How We Need to Rediscover Our Nation's History!

As many of you know I have a deep love of history, especially that of our country.  Over the past several years I have read numerous volumes about those early days of our nation's founding.  In fact, I have shared some reviews of many of those volumes.  Of all the nations of the world that have ever existed, in my opinion there are only two whose origins were directly guided by God: Israel and the United States.  We all know the story of how God entered into a covenant with Abraham and promised that great patriarch three things: numerous descendants, a specific piece of land with clearly defined borders, and that through one of his descendants the entire world would be blessed.  Of course, we know this descendant as the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Read Genesis 12, 15, 17).  And the miracle of Israel's founding, recorded for us in the pages of the Old Testament, continued as God preserved that nation through the perils of one pogrom and holocaust after another, finally coming to fruition with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.  If you want to read a power description of some of those 1948 miracles, I strongly recommend the book titled, "O Jerusalem!" written by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. 


Our nation's founding, I believe, was also guided by the hand of God.  I believe that guidance was seen in the spiritual awakening that occurred within the Colonies prior to the Revolution.  Instrumental were those ministry trips of George Whitefield.  And the powerful preaching of Jonathan Edwards echoed strongly within the corridors of America's Independence Hall.  Then one focuses upon perhaps the greatest group of statesmen that our nation has ever known: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John and Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, John Witherspoon, Patrick Henry, just to name a few.  These men all had diversity of opinions and convictions.  Oh the debates that occurred within the meeting rooms there in Philadelphia and in the taverns that dotted the nearby streets. Often those exchanges were very heated, yet there was this underlying thought that kept bringing this diverse group of men back together: they believed Providence was guiding them to create a new nation founded upon the principles that had a foundation upon a Judeo-Christian ethic and teaching.  Again, if you would like to read more about these men and that time, I highly recommend the book by Joseph Ellis entitled, "Our Founding Brothers." 


In the light of our nation's founding, to read of how people of faith are being almost driven from the posts of government becomes almost a national disgrace.  On January 12, Todd Starnes, who writes for Fox News, published an article that can be found at: www.foxnews.com/opinion/todd-starnes-yes-kamala-harris-and-mazie-hirono-are-religious-bigots.  Allow me to quote at length from this disturbing article: "There are a disturbing number of Democrat lawmakers who believe Christians must renounce their religious beliefs and affiliations in religious-based organizations if they want to hold public office.  The latest victim of this blatant religious bigotry is Brian Buescher, President Trump's nominee for the U.S. District Court in Nebraska.  Buescher came under attack by Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif,. and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, for his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a revered and highly-respected Catholic charitable organization.


"Both lawmakers posed a series of written questions demanding to know if he would end his membership in the Knights of Columbus should he be confirmed.  'The Knights of Columbus has taken a number of extreme positions,' Hirono wrote in the questionnaire.  'For example, it was reportedly one of the top contributors to California's Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage.'


"Harris referred to the group as an 'all-male society' and took issue with their positions on abortion and other culture war issues.  'Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman's rights to choose when you joined the organization?' Harris queried. 


"The condemnation from conservatives was swift.  'This isn't just about the Knights of Columbus or Catholics, this is an ongoing attack from the extremist left of the Democratic Party to silence people of faith and run them out of engaging in public service based on their religious beliefs,' Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, wrote in a statement."


Starnes than applauds Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii and newly announced presidential candidate, for calling out members of her own party for 'weaponizing religion.'  'We must call this out for what it is - religious bigotry,' she wrote in a scathing op-ed in The Hill.  'I stand strongly against those who are fomenting religious bigotry, citing as disqualified Buescher's Catholicism and his affiliation with the Knights of Columbus.  If Buescher is "unqualified" because of his Catholicism and affiliation with the Knights of Columbus, then President John F. Kennedy and the "liberal lion of the Senate" Ted Kennedy would have been "unqualified" for the same reasons.  No American should be asked to renounce his or her faith or membership in a faith-based service organization in order to hold public office.'"


Starnes then quotes Dennis Prager who had stated on Fox Nation's Starnes Country radio program, that secularists and leftists are attempting to drive people of faith out of the public arena.  "'The only organized opposition [to leftism] comes from within Judaism and Christianity.  The Orthodox Jew, the faithful Mormon, the traditional Catholic, and the Evangelical Protestant, these are the only opponents of leftism, and they know it, and they will do anything they can to suppress it.'"


"In 2017, Notre Dame law professor and mother of seven Any Coney Barrett was grilled by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif,, over orthodox beliefs.  'When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern.'"  I don't know about you, friends, but I applaud people whose lives are a reflection of those principles that they hold tightly to within their hearts.  There can be no pretenses or hypocrisy with such reflections.


"During that same year, Sen. Bernie Sanders - I-Vt., viciously attacked the religious faith of Russell Vought, the president's nominee to be deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.  Sen. Sanders deemed Vought unsuitable for office because the nominee believes that salvation is found alone through Jesus Christ.  He said someone with that kind of religious belief system is 'really not someone who this country is supposed to be about.'"  Excuse me, Senator Sanders, you really do not know your American History.  Senator Sanders, perhaps it is time for you to have a refresher course in American History; you need to know the story behind those Vermont patriots Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Men.  Perhaps, Senator Sanders, if you knew that history, you would not be rushing to create another Venezuela upon our shores.  Russell Vought is exactly the kind of individual our Founding Fathers had in mind when they created our great nation. 


Friends, look at those biblical examples that we have of men who served their nation and God so very well.  Joseph served Pharaoh and God in that ancient Egyptian nation.  David served his people and God well as King of Israel.  Daniel masterfully served not one, but two world powers, and yet also was faithful to God.  When the day arrives that Christians are shunned from the arenas of politics and government, then the apocalypse will be upon us.