Christmas and the Declaration of Independence

Initial exploration of the New World offered hope. It turned into riches taken and a failure to remember God for the Spaniard. For the French, a vast land with abundant wildlife and a failure to recognize God. For the English, an escape from the aristocracy and religious persecution. 

At first, the stresses and conditions of the new world offered little hope. Famine, death, attack from natives, and lack of a steady stream of supplies all contributed to the growth of fear. Great Britain sponsored a whole different level of pressure on the British subjects. The Atlantic seaboard colonists began to feel like second-class citizens of their homeland. 

We find the difference for the English settlers’ existence in their Christian principles, most often referred to as religion. Although the Anglican Church of England (a protestant take-off of the Pope’s empire) existed in Jamestown, the protestant reformation Pilgrims thrived. How? By establishing their principles in the Mayflower Compact and living a godly life. They worshipped God through Jesus Christ the best way they knew how. At every turn where it seemed disaster struck, they’d take a knee and offer repentance to God for whatever it was they were doing wrong. God blessed that. They also determined private ownership generated far more blessings than communal farming.

After one hundred and fifty years, a small vociferous group stood up to the giant. They declared why the world should know and understand their decision to break away from England. 

John Quincy Adams, a prominent founding father, made an early summarization of how Christmas and the Declaration of Independence relate. Here is a quote from him on the 61st anniversary of the Declaration.

“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? Is it not that, in a chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets 600 years before.”

This Christmas season presents another opportunity for America to understand its roots. Another day for individuals to take stock of their spiritual lives and reconnect with God. Jesus came not to rule the world but to save the lost that they might be the children of God. It’s our birthright to accept Him and fulfill the prophetic call on America. 

Make no mistake about your life, which has an eternal existence beyond this earthly realm. Our founders understood it. Their existence depended on it. Consider the foundations of our Constitution and what the Declaration of Independence has done for you. Give America a chance at a reprieve from God’s wrath. Accept His call to you.