Pastors played a lead role in awaking Christians who came to America to escape religious persecution. They were instrumental in pointing out why King George of England and some of his subjects were un-Biblical in the way they were treating them. There would not have been a revolution without the work of these pastors who wanted America to have the kind of nation their Lord and Savior, The Great Creator and Governor of the Universe wanted His people to have. That these pastors and public schools taught the Bible so thoroughly is evidenced by how well almost everyone, including America’s leaders, followed the Bible. It has been said that America was about 99% Christian at America’s founding. It is amazing that it was still that way 168 years later, after the first settlement in America at Jamestown in 1607, when the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and America was that way in about 1870 when Liberalism openly started their rebellion against Christianity (see last week’s 2-5-14 post at http://www.americaisafallennation.com).
America was so Christian that the rare unbeliever like Thomas Paine really stood out. Ben Franklin and some others warned Paine not to print his anti Christian The Age of Reason, but he insisted. At Paine’s death, no cemetery would take him and he was buried in an upstate New York pasture! In those days, Christians wanted no part of apostasy. Many areas had requirements that candidates for office declare their Christianity.
The involvement in government by pastors at America’s founding was really remarkable when compared with today when most of Christ’s churches steer clear of political involvement. I think Christ’s Church is at a point where if they do not soon call for repentance and revival for what our nation has become and become political and unite to demand that our Christian rights no longer be trampled on, the freedom Christ gave his church will be taken from us. When the youngest of our citizens are told in public schools that they cannot even appear to be praying or speak about their Jesus or their Bible; that is Satan and his followers terrorizing Christ’s church.
How I wished you readers had a NASB Founders Bible like I do. For years I had wished I had some of the knowledge of David Barton of Wall Builders. David is the signature historian of many of the articles in the Founders Bible. The writers of the other articles are also very informative. These articles add about 500 pages of awesome knowledge to this Bible.
In a Founders Bible article by David Barton titled America’s True Experts of the Law he tells us:
1. Because the Bible presents guidance on all areas of life, including government, citizens regularly went to their pastors instead of Attorneys for guidance on the laws.
2. 26 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were pastors. By signing the Declaration, they risked their lives, the lives of their families and their property. They were not afraid of getting involved in politics; they were the politics of the day!
3. Pastors were not only members of the Continental Congress, signers of the Declaration of Independence and fought in the Revolutionary War; they were later instrumental in the Constitutional convention. Historian Alice Baldwin confirmed the Constitutional Convention and the Constitution itself were children of the pulpit!
4. Later, four dozen clergy were elected as Ratification Delegates and they played key roles in getting the Constitution ratified by the states. Many of the ratification meetings were held in churches.
5. The leadership of these pastors was remarkable:
a. Dr Witherspoon, a member of the Continental Congress and signer of the declaration, was also President of Princeton and trained many of America’s leaders. (I found out elsewhere that President Madison, who was considered the father of the Constitution was also trained at Princeton). As a member of Congress, Dr. Witherspoon was on over 100 congressional committees.
b. Reverend Frederick Muhlenberg helped draft Pennsylvania’s Constitution (and other pastors the constitutions of their states). He became the first speaker of the federal Congress and he is one of the only two signers of the Bill of Rights.
c. Several pastors were instrumental in pointing out the faults of the Articles of the Confederation which governed after the signing of the declaration, during the Revolutionary War of Independence and the ratification of the constitution.
I found these websites by doing a simple search on Pastors and America’s Founding. Please click on these links for more awesome stories of America’s pastors at our founding: http://www.reclaimamericaforchrist.org/lettertopatriotpastors.htm
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html
http://www.usachristianministries.com/us-history-quotes-about-god-and-the-bible/
Christian, I promise that the Founders Bible and the above websites will light up your Christian life.
Ron at http://www.americaisafallennation.com