For the month of July, I will be writing about what some of our Founding Fathers believed and said in regard to this great country. I realize that many people, including Christians, do not feel one ought to waste their time looking to our national roots. However, I believe Christians are called not only to save the lost but also to redeem cultures. This really is the essence of the Great Commission because the word for “nations” means, “all people groups.”
“Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations [ethnic people groups] baptizing [immersing] them in the name [the character] of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19
For most Christ followers this is incongruent with their understanding of Christianity. They believe that their role is to evangelize the lost and not redeem a society.
On my blog post from January 27, 2015 I quoted Erwin McManus who is one of my favorite authors. Read what he says:
“God’s purpose has always been about redeeming a people. But the modern church has reduced it to the conversion of individuals. There is a radical difference between leading one person to faith and leading a people to Faith.” – Erwin McManus
When I look at what our Founding Fathers did to establish the principles of God into a functional society and country it is quite amazing! Because of their sacrifice, intelligence, morality, and biblical understanding, they incorporated the Christian Way of life into the very essence of society.
I also acknowledge that many people love America but it is a radically different America than our Founders envisioned. I write these articles not from a naïve assumption that all will agree with me, nor that we agree with all of what America has done in the past, or will do in the future.
Some of these people are my own relatives who envision an America that is not founded on Christian principles of the Founding Fathers. Rather they, like so many others, wish to construct a ‘new America,’ built on Barak Obama’s view of our nation; that is a country of tolerance, entitlements, affirmative action, wealth distribution, feminism, gay marriage, late term abortions and sexual liberation. By the way as long as it does not effect one’s financial portfolio, job security or one’s health plan, they are all for the new America. As long as they benefit from these entitlements it is wonderful, but if they don’t they are against it. These people are now called “progressives” as they have changed their name from Liberals because that name fell in such ill repute number of years ago.
Many professing Christians would call me “out of step” because of their myopic view of Christianity. As one Pastor from Rolling Hills Community Church said to me, “Dale, people do not want to here about our country and the perplexing issues of today. We are called to meet felt needs not challenging culture issues.” As another Pastor said to one of the guys who I disciple, “You know, Dale, he likes those kind of things about America and it’s Biblical roots.” What that pastor was really saying was Dale’s interest in the Founding Fathers and American history has no relevance.
The great American divide is not a clash between conservatives who advocate liberty versus progressives who oppose liberty. Rather, the two sides affirm a certain type of liberty. One side, for example, cherishes economic liberty while the other champions liberty in the sexual and social domain. Nor is it a clash between patriots and anti-patriots. Both sides love America, but they love a different type of America. One side loves the America of Columbus and the Fourth of July, of innovation and work and the entrepreneurial spirit of capitalism, of the Boy Scouts and parochial schools, of traditional families and the flag-saluting veterans. The other side, loves the America of the new tolerance and social entitlements, wealth redistribution, and destroying the huge monetarily successful corporations. They seek above all equality for all even though we have created a sub-class of dependent people that enjoy that dependence because they can receive more benefits by not working than by working. This is the America that progressives celebrate on the Fourth of July which is radically different than the Fourth of July I will celebrate.
This is their value and they have the freedom to exercise this view because of what the Founding Fathers believed and their conviction that the Judeo Christian ethic could be incorporated into a society. Most people, including Christians, are woefully ignorant of what the Founders believed and continue to stay ignorant because they have believed the lie that Christians are not to enter into politics or into the cultural issues of the day. For the progressives they simply openly criticize and have become aggressively disparaging and vehemently vilify the foundations of this country.
Now with the latest ruling by the Supreme Court about Gay Marriage it will only get worse.
I am going to write about what the Founders believed and in many cases give the original documentation of what they said. There is something to be said about looking to the past to gain perspective for the present, which allow us to prepare for the future. I will also address five historical devices that are used to tear down the foundations of this country.
The great prophet Isaiah spoke for God who told him and therefore us that we ought to remember the things that He (God) had done in the past and that His purposes will be carried out in the future.
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'” – Isaiah 46:9, 10 NIV