Copyright, 1997-Apocalypse Productions
Introduction-Three Basic Principles
HISTORY QUIZ-Who or what are the above pictures?-
(Click pictures for answers.)With the advent over the last century of historical revisionism in America, there have been increasing attempts to remove God from our history books. Therefore I feel that it is time for us to go back to the beginnings of our history as a nation and discuss at length the Christian foundations of America. To do this we need to look at our nation's history not as just another secular recounting of facts, but to take the time to show how God has moved throughout history to bring about His will on the earth.
For this reason, the history we will be discussing here will be based on three very important principles that most secular historians ignore, thus causing them to misunderstand the grand plan that God is carrying out here in America and among all the nations of the earth. The first of these principles is that God, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, created the universe.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. -Genesis 1:1
This basic principle shows us that men were created with a certain purpose and destiny in mind by an Almighty God. We need to know just what it was that our founding fathers believed concerning this in able to understand if they shared this view. Benjamin Franklin stated very clearly where he stood in this area.
"Here is my creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. As to Jesus of Nazareth, I think the systems of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see."
American President Thomas Jefferson also made it clear concerning what he believed about this.
"Almighty God hath created the free mind. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion. God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
President George Washington also stated his position on the matter of God and the creation of the universe.
"It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being."
These truths show clearly, not just in their personal opinions, but also in their public policies. Especially when writing the Declaration of Independence where the founding fathers clearly stated:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
The view that the universe was created by God is clearly the position held by the American founding fathers and all Bible believing Christians throughout the ages, thus is one of the basic principles that will be held in our study of them.
The second principle that will be the basis for these studies is the view that the God who created the universe sees the future of the universe and mankind and that all of history is simply us moving forward towards that final destiny.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:-Isaiah 46:9-10
The Holy Scriptures teach that from before the foundation of the world God has prepared His kingdom (Matthew 25:34), known the prophets' blood would be shed (Luke 11:50), loved Jesus (John 17:24), chosen us (Ephesians 1:4), and finished His work (Hebrews 4:3). The Bible also states that, before the foundation of the world, Jesus has suffered (Hebrews 9:26), was foreordained to be the Lamb (I Peter 1:20), and to die on the cross. (Revelation 13:8). It also states that the book of life has existed since the foundation of the world (Revelation 17:8). Did the founding fathers believe this also? Elias Boudinot was the president of the Continental Congress in 1783. He put it simply.
"No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens and the earth finished His almighty work, and pronounced all very good, but He set apart one day in seven for the commemoration of His inimitable power in producing all things out of nothing. The deliverance of the children of Israel from a state of bondage to an unreasonable tyrant was perpetuated in the Paschal lamb, and enjoining it on their posterity as an annual festival forever. The resurrection of the Savior of mankind is commemorated by keeping the first day of the week. Let us then, my friends and fellow citizens, unite all our endeavors this day to remember, with reverential gratitude to our Supreme Benefactor, all the wonderful things He has done for us, in our miraculous deliverance from a second Egypt, another house of bondage."
So here we see that the founding fathers understood that they knew that the ancient Jewish festivals given in the Old Testament were actually celebrating the coming of the Messiah centuries before it took place. These festivals also foretold of Jesus' future return to judge the world. I would say that they knew God could see the future and that He let us know this in the Holy Bible. Gilman Ostrander in his "The Evolutionary Outlook" states that the founding fathers had this view also.
"The American nation had been founded by intellectuals who had accepted a worldview that was based upon Biblical authority as well as Newtonian science. They had assumed that God created the earth and all life upon it at the time of creation and had continued without change thereafter. Adam and Eve were God's final creations, and all of mankind had descended from them."
Unless someone should think that this viewpoint concerning our founding fathers be assumed to be perpetrated by only one side in this discussion, let me share with you the words of Fred Edwords, the executive director of the American Humanist Association:
"All mentioned God, and not merely the clockwork God of deism, but a God actively involved in history. Their public religion harked back to the Old Testament with its view of America as the Promised Land. This was prevalent in many writings of the time."
Based on statements such as this, and many others besides, I feel that it is safe to say that God does indeed see the end of time from the beginning and that the founding fathers knew that this was true. This is the second principle from which we will build.
The third basis for this discussion of the Christian history of our nation is the fact that, since the beginning of time, there has been a continuing battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness for the souls of men. When God created the physical universe, it was in a state that knew no evil and was totally good.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. -Genesis 1:31
It was Satan that first introduced mankind to the knowledge of evil that we are currently dealing with in our world.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. -Genesis 3:5
While, through this process, sin entered the world, God also provided a means of salvation from this evil.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. -Genesis 3:15
Satan now knows that mankind will be saved from his evil influence through the actions of a man that will be born of a woman. One of the big pictures of the Old Testament is the devil's endeavor to kill the seed of the woman before He can overthrow Satan's rule of the earth. This is why Satan deceived Cain into killing Abel (Genesis 4). It is also why the devil inspired Joseph's brothers to try to kill him (Genesis 37), Pharaoh to kill all the baby boys in Israel (Exodus 1), Queen Athaliah to kill her own grandsons (II Kings 11), and King Herod to kill the babies in Bethlehem (Matthew 2). Most of the attacks that Satan launches against the nation of Israel are actually attempts to kill the Messiah before He can destroy the devil.
Needless to say, through God's Providence, all of the devil's attacks against the coming Messiah fail miserably. The Holy Scriptures also reveal that, throughout human history, two religious systems have competed for the souls of men. One is the bride (Ephesians 5:31-32) called the church and the other is called Mystery Babylon (Revelation 17:1-5). While much is known of the church, little is known today about Mystery Babylon. The Scriptures, however, have much to say about this hideous religious counterfeit to God's church.
Its name tells us much in itself. It is a mysterious religious system that began in Babylon. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, all pagan religions can be traced directly back to Babylon. Keep in mind that Herodotus said this 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ!
God chose the city Jerusalem, which was originally called Salem meaning "peace" (Genesis 14:18-19). Jerusalem was the home of the temple. Satan also chose the city of Babylon, which was first called Babel meaning "confusion" (Genesis 11:8-9). Babylon was the home of the hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
These two cities have been locked in mortal combat since the days of Genesis, and a simple glance at the Middle East today shows that this battle rages still, as Israel is now back in its homeland, and one of the major players opposing them is Sadam Hussein, who claims to be the reincarnation of King Nebuchanezzar, king of Babylon (Daniel 1).
Just as the Holy Scriptures have given us the doctrines of the church, so they also reveal to us the doctrines of Mystery Babylon. Indeed all false religious systems on the earth, in one facet or another, partake of her doctrines. Seven of these doctrines can be found in Genesis. The first 3 doctrines are to be found in Genesis 3.
1-"Yea, hath God said"-Questioning the word of God.
2-"Ye shall not surely die"-No final death and judgment.
3-"Ye shall be as gods"-Man can become God.
The 4th doctrine of Mystery Babylon is found in Genesis 4.
4-"Cain brought the fruit of the ground"-Works salvation.
The next two started at the building of the tower of Babel (Isaiah 47:12-13).
5-"sorceries"-All manner of white and black magic.
6-"pronosticators"-All manner of fortune telling.
The 7th is revealed to us by Jacob in Genesis 35:3-4.
7-"strange gods"-The worship of idols, or anything other than God.
Using these false doctrines, and many others, Mystery Babylon has continually endeavored to enslave the world for Satan. Every pagan religion in the world exhibits some, or all, of these doctrines in one way or another. The most dangerous side to this false religious system is its state-church concept. As revealed in Revelation 17, this great whore, or false religious system (Ezekiel 16) rides on the back of the beast or the nations of the world (Daniel 7).
Bible believers have stood against this evil church-state system since Old Testament times (Daniel 3 and 6). Still today, as in the ages past, the forces of darkness continue to wage this deadly war for the control of the nations of the earth.
When our Christian forefathers first came to America, it was to escape this false system of worship. The Pilgrims and Puritans, and many others to follow, came here to set up a Bible Commonwealth based solely on the truth of the Holy Scriptures, so there would be a land of freedom, safe from the many church-state systems in the world. With God's help, they succeeded. In 1787, during the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin appealed that those involved should begin each session with prayer because:
"And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: 'that God governs in the affairs of men.' And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
On April 25, 1799, Dr. Jedediah Morse, minister and "the father of American geography" assessed the decision the country faced in his day, and faces still, two centuries later:
"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism."
On Memorial Day in 1923, Vice-president Calvin Coolidge, who would be President in three months, called upon Americans to recall the motives of their Puritan forebears:
"They were intent upon establishing a Christian commonwealth in accordance with the principle of self-government. They were an inspired body of men. It has been said that God sifted the nations that He might send choice grain into the wilderness....Who can fail to see in it the hand of destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine Providence?"
As you can see, the true facts of history are very different from much of the historical revisionism that we see today which endeavors to use every excuse to write God out of the history books. Together we will try to overcome Satan's deception in this area by going back to our nation's beginning to see what actually took place, and how God worked through His people to make America "the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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