What a blessing for our nation to celebrate our 250th birthday this Saturday! For a small group of colonists to grow into such a large and powerful nation over the course of two and one half centuries is surely something all Americans should celebrate! As we do so, we must recognize the hand of God in this nation’s history and glorify Him for His many blessings.
Although revisionists endeavor to edit God out of our nation’s history, first-person accounts from our early leaders clearly demonstrate their commitments to Jesus. Virginian Patrick Henry whose descendent recently recited his famous speech at Woodstock’s 250th celebration also said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason people of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
Because Jesus taught love and toleration, His followers who formed our nation wrote toleration into our founding documents. Religious freedom is not afforded only to Christians, but to all. Up until the founding of these United States, most rulers routinely executed those with varying religious beliefs and practices. Because of their desire to obey Jesus, however, our early leaders erected a tent of freedom under which Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others could worship as they saw fit so long as they didn’t infringe on the rights of others. Our Supreme Court even once declared that the United States was not just a religious people, but a “Christian nation,” which implies belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Sadly, the intentions and even the words of some of our founders have been twisted to mean things they were never meant to mean nor imply. Most prominently, when another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, wrote to the Danbury Baptists about how their rights would be respected and protected, he referred to, “a wall of separation between church and state.” While his original intention was clearly to assure these Christians of their freedom to believe and worship without government interference, his words have been yanked from their context and used to prohibit everything from Bible reading in public schools to prayers at graduation ceremonies.
In describing this misapplication, Citizen magazine wrote that Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black utilized Jefferson’s words but not his meaning to remove virtually every trace of Biblical Christianity from our schools. This started an aggressive avalanche of activity to not only prohibit those things overtly stated by the court, but to remove virtually all Christian influence from public life. Thankfully, some balance is being legally restored as believers are reclaiming the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for.
The movie A Great Awakening reminds us of the Christian underpinnings of our nation’s founding motivated in large part by the Black-Robed Regiment. This title was coined by the British for Christian preachers such as George Whitefield, Peter Muhlenberg, Robert Hunt and roughly a hundred others who taught how Biblical teachings condemned tyranny. One preacher, Rev John Witherspoon, even signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of them argued against slavery as well but would have to wait for emancipation until their descendants would take up that cause years later. But once again, it was Christian pastors who provided Biblical reasons for why America’s slavery was sinful and should be abolished.
While neither Henry, Jefferson, Muhlenberg, nor any other founders were perfect, most all of them realized this and asked God to forgive them of their sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. They sought God’s mercy and help in doing the work of establishing this nation that they were convinced He had created them for. As we celebrate our nation’s milestone birthday this Saturday, let us remember and cherish the same Jesus that many of these men trusted as their Savior and may we trust Him as ours as well. Blessings, George