Haversack History Moving Forward

 Thank you for stopping by today.

It's been too long since I moved from New York to South Carolina and new cards were in order. The word in church today said get involved. Get active. Do.

So, here you have it. Haversack History presentations bring a light, enjoyable, and friendly view of an early US citizen of the 1792 period. Through stories and examples you'll gain insight into America's founding with snippets not often discussed.

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Are we a Christian nation?

Are We A Christian Nation?

Nation: 1. a large aggregate (a whole formed by combining several (typically disparate) elements) of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. Oxford Dictionary

For other uses, see Nation (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with State (polity) or Country.

A nation (from Latin: natio, "people, tribe, kin, genus, class, flock") is a large group or collective of people with common characteristics attributed to them — including language, traditions, mores (customs), habitus (habits), and ethnicity. By comparison, a nation is more impersonal, abstract, and overtly political than an ethnic group. It is a cultural-political community that has become conscious of its autonomy, unity, and particular interests. Wikipedia

Discussions concerning whether or not the United States of America are a Christian nation always result in opposing worldviews declaring their side holds truth. For instance, be assured the US is not a Christian nation by these words: "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" John Adams. Where in the definition does it say anything about government? It does not. It specifically leaves out government because there are two types of government; those operated by a church, and those not operated by a church. Mr Jefferson adamantly stated the United States federal government proposed under the constitution would not tax the Anabaptists in Connecticut because there would be no state religion. The Wikipedia definition specifically notes nation is not to be confused with State or country, both of which are terms associated with government.

How does one determine if America ever was a Christian nation? One looks at the historical evidence. Start with Columbus because he has been the historical reference since the fifteenth century. Evidence mounts the Scandinavians touched here first by circa 1000 AD. However, they didn’t leave enough of a mark to create a nation of people.

Columbus’ story starts before his trip. He approached Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand six other times. They saw no reason to grant him a charter. On the seventh time of his audience, Queen Isabella decides to grant him his wish because Spain, three days before, successfully cast the Moors out of Spain. “On January 2nd 1492 Los Reyes Católicos marched into Granada and the last stronghold of Moorish Spain came to an end.” (http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/history/moorish-spain/) It is said she saw an opportunity to thank God for the miracle of repelling the Moors. She not only gave Columbus a charter (GIVEN at Granada, on the 30th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1492-I, THE KING, I, THE QUEEN.), but supplied him with a Jesuit to evangelize whatever lands Columbus found and claim them for the Spanish crown. Aside from the Spanish propensity for destroying the wealth of whatever nation it came up against by taking the riches back to Spain, Columbus also failed as a Christian by wrapping himself in greed. He lost all respect and died penniless. Yet the Catholic way continued to expand into the western American continent for another three centuries. For instance, Spanish priests founded San Francisco in 1776.

During the same time period the French took Jesuit priests with them down the St. Lawrence, across the Great Lakes, into the central plains, and down the Mississippi. By 1535 Cartier explored as far as Quebec City. Further penetration into the North American continent established colonies throughout the regions as far south as Louisiana. The Louisiana Purchase handily doubled the size of the United States’ possession in 1803.

The English Crown finally made a move with Roanoke, VA in 1587, but that colony failed when the Catholic Spanish Armada attacked Protestant Britain the following year, prohibiting any supplies or assistance from returning in 1588. Jamestown in 1607 became the first Protestant settlement on the entire east coast of the North American continent in over one hundred years of exploration.

This Christian settlement of the entire North American continent demonstrates how the nation of the United States came into being. The discussion continues with the coming of the Pilgrims in 1624. They were not separatists; they had a charter from the King of England to live “in the northern Virginia colony” as English subjects. They left England because of persecution by the Anglican Church of England. They wanted nothing to do with the Anglican Priest in Jamestown. They wanted to follow the Protestant Reformation practices, not those of King Henry’s church. Still, they were Christians.

So, when I hear comments concerning America and how she’s not, nor has ever been considered to be a Christian nation, I must object. Clearly, by definition, we are a people with a common heritage of Christianity in all its denominations. Were there Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and New Age religions represented within the continent. Of course there were. Muslims were primarily the North African slaves without influence at the time in neither government nor culture and the same applies to most other segments of society, especially concerning the Atlantic coastal colonies. This statement does not downplay the atrocities committed against African, Irish, oriental, Hebrew, or native inhabitants. It doesn’t belittle their contributions of hard work or research and development any of them did, voluntarily or involuntarily. It’s simply a statement concerning how a nation is considered to be Christian according to the commonality of the people settling it.

History determines what constitutes a nation. Whether or not a particular people group lived, worked, contributed or grew significant within the concepts of what a nation is or may become, remains to be seen. One might consider hesitating when prone to demand the United States cannot be considered a Christian nation when all of its foundation is laid upon Christ’s Word spread across the continent on which it sits.

America's Responsibility

The Protestant Reformation guaranteed our ability to understand the scriptures in our own language. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots ensured British rulers knew law applied to them as well as to the people. The history of the colonies in America documented two hundred and fifty years of preparation before our forefathers  created a new form of government. America’s first try at government failed.

When the constitution hit the streets, everyone knew it required statesmen of character and morals to provide America with the best hope for the future. In today’s society, you have every right to ask, “Where are they?”

    Some of you already decided to vote along party lines in the election, probably because it’s what you’ve always done. Maybe you learned the party platforms and determined which one best represented you. Some of you struggle with your Christian worldview and wonder how you can vote at all given the circumstances. Some of you already determined there is no hope with the two candidates expected to win. Many of you are thinking my vote won’t make a difference.

    I’d like to point out your responsibility.

    Our constitutional republic requires your vote. We subject ourselves to cultural and media sources that tell us, “Your vote doesn’t count, especially in upstate NY.” Some have even said, “What difference does it make?” It certainly won’t if you stay home. The truth, as I see it, is your vote is your responsibility. It is required in order to adequately represent your way of thinking. Until everyone votes, neither candidates nor incumbents will understand America’s strength.

    The shame of America rests in the low turnout of voters. As long as people stay home from the polls, they will certainly NOT have a voice. Our right to representation guaranteed by the constitution is moot if you stay home. If you stay home, every other one of your rights is in jeopardy. If you stay home, church, God’s voice in the election disappears. Think about it. In a country where we are given the right to elect godly representatives, the Christian vote has been so low godly representatives don’t often run for office. The only way that will change is if YOU change it. Sitting home isn’t an option. If you don’t vote, you’ll have no right to voice an opinion about how bad things get when the country falls further into decline toward godlessness.

    Do not pass on your God given right, responsibility, and civic duty. Your vote does count. There’s too much at stake in this election for your voice not to be there. Rather than vote for the lesser of two evils, vote for the better of the candidates. Make America’s history report a turning point back toward God.

Carpenters' Hall and the Founders

 If there’s one thing carpenters understand, it’s the importance of a solid foundation to the longevity of a building. Not only a solid foundation, but one meant to match the purpose, details and use of said structure. Think of a nuclear power plant. How much trust would you have in the operation of said plant when you don’t know if the concrete in the foundation will withstand the pressures and heat created during the reaction? A new home is no different. Required building code inspections ensure homeowners the floors, basement walls and drywall partitions won’t crack because of a faulty foundation. If the foundation’s specifications are changed for any reason, the resulting damage to the home may be irreparable.

Have you stopped to consider how this same principle can be applied to the United States of America? Consider the foundation on which it was built—biblical principles. For instance, in Exodus18, Moses consults with his father-in-law about how to delegate authority to handle problems. “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” This is the foundation of our Constitution.

We the people choose representatives at a local level, county level, state level and federal level. However, the founders also knew people would be lazy and not knowledgeable concerning federal issues. Hence, we elect members of the House of Representatives and we elect state-level legislators. The founders expected the state legislators to be wiser and more discerning relative to who qualified to be elected to the Senate. Those same founders understood common civilians would have no knowledge of or discernment of the complexities of international relations and created the Electoral College for the purpose of electing a president. These delegated election processes are the foundation of the government of the United States of America.

What we now experience concerns the crack in the foundation. Carpenters can’t fix cracks in the walls or a tipping house when the foundation is damaged. The foundation must be reconstructed, and the reason the foundation failed must be eliminated. Was there too much water undermining the footers? A proper drainage ditch must be installed before repairing the foundation. Was there new construction added to the foundation that caused the failure? The new construction must be removed in order to put the foundation back in place.

And so it is with today’s version of the Constitution of the USA. The most significant deteriorating factor of our foundation is the 17^th Amendment. This 1912 addition to our by-laws completely unbalanced the federal government. It replaced the election of senators by the legislative bodies of the states with a popular election like that of the House of Representatives. It completely removed the wisdom and knowledge of the statesmen in office and replaced them with the ignorant public. One of the ploys engaged in obtaining the change included telling the public all politicians are crooked, so how could we expect crooked politicians to elect statesmen to send to the Senate in DC? Therein lays the hinge that swung open the public vote consideration. No one spoke up and said, “What if we simply elected statesmen with the qualifications Moses demanded of his leaders?” Read Exodus 18 again. “…able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness…”

Another modern issue concerns term limits. The founders considered the options when creating the foundation. People were expected to elect statesmen. As long as a statesman did their job and made decisions based on what made America better, they’d keep their job. If a statesman made a turn and became a politician (one in government for his own good), then the people would replace him. In the meantime, those with experience, wisdom and knowledge of the workings of the government would contribute to the general welfare of the nation. It’s not term limits we need. It’s the election of statesmen in all of our representative forms of government from local school boards all the way to the House of Representatives. That’s where the foundational principles so aptly applied by our founding fathers holds up our Constitutional Republic like a building set on a solid foundation.

Who do you say?

The discussion in politics, especially in light of recent events, often turns to the phrase the lesser of two evils. This implies we have no real choice and either way we go will result in a continuation of the downward spiral of the nation. I have a different view. What the country has been missing for so long is a better choice, as my cousin recently noted on a Facebook post.

When we turn this old saying around and create a positive, we begin to see how our country can regain its place in world politics. Rather than accepting someone is a little less evil to sit in the Office of the President of the United States of America, let us look at the benefits of choosing the better one.

This simple process allows us the opportunity to find the statesmen amongst us. It is the statesman who judges the value of a law according to how it best fulfills the intent of the Constitution. It is a politician who looks at the value of a law relative to his own best interests. Statesmen in today’s world are far and few between. Most of the politicians have never held a job. Yes, it’s a general statement, but you get the drift. If they don’t know what work is or how things work at the ground level, how do they expect to know what’s right for the country?

Now the question remains, how do we find statesmen to run for office? It’s a good question and one requiring more answers than can be placed in this blog. There are, however, a few questions I would ask someone purporting to be a statesman in the United States. The primary one is, “Who do you say Jesus is?” The importance of this question surfaces in the First Amendment. One must understand the context of the founding fathers when they wrote this Constitution of ours. The US was a Protestant Reformation Christian nation. Many of the founders were graduates of the seminaries of the day, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, William and Mary. God stood in the middle of their lives and they made decisions based upon their knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. The public, too, understood these concepts because their reading knowledge and skill came from scriptural lessons in the Bible, Primers and other educational resources.

Until we in the U. S. A. start seeking out statesmen to run for office, we may well have to suffer the lesser of the two evils. When we make the choice to pick the better of the two candidates, we power the move of God in the land where voting is a right established by Biblical principles.

Wise Guys and Evil Ways

 I Cor 1:19; For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Over the course of the last few Sundays, my pastor spoke about the difference between man’s highest achievement of intelligence and the gap that exists in order to get to the lowest describable level of God’s thoughts. Pastor read I Corinthians 1:19-31, which speaks to this confounding aspect. God used the simplest and base things despised by our world’s intelligentsia in order to make sure humans attained a threshold for knowing God’s character. The issue centers on whether or not a man will lower himself to a standard that allows one to begin to understand how God intended life to be.

In only one example of the wonders of this creation we begin to understand our God gap. We know that mankind’s science told us for years atoms were the smallest particles. From a google search:

John Dalton was an English chemist most famous for proposing atomic theory. He proposed atomic theory in 1803, which states that all matter is composed of small indivisible particles called atoms. It also stated that the atoms of each element had distinct characteristics and weight. Dalton’s theory was in direct opposition to Isaac Newton’s theory of chemical affinities, which was popular at that time.

Then we found out that atoms had protons, neutrons and electrons.

Now science is clear that protons and neutrons have quarks, and although electrons don’t have quarks, they do have a power though unexplained. Quantum mechanics may be able to break electrons down to strings, but that is new science and not proven. For instance, in response to questions from students at the University of Maryland to their Astronomy Department, Professor Cole Miller responds with this.

“On a final note, keep in mind that string theory is still just a theory. It is unbelievably elegant, to the point that people believe that it must be true. However, we are still at least a decade or so away from testing even the simplest predictions that it makes, let alone the theory as a whole.”

What we see here is that with all of mankind’s intelligence and knowledge, we have yet to determine how the wonder of God’s creation can be described.

If we are to understand God’s plan and character as described in scripture, we must take into account that the Creator, who made us in His image, also understood our limitations. In fact, throughout the scriptures of the Old Testament, man demonstrates to God how ignorant we are. Take the Israelis’ trek to the Promised Land after they left Egypt.

In Exodus 3:10 we find God commanding Moses to go to Pharaoh. Moses showed up on the Pharaoh’s doorstep after the burning bush incident. Pharaoh didn’t believe Moses spoke for God. God made sure that he stayed stupid until the seven plagues made the point for Him. The Hebrew people obtain rich rewards from their oppressors and hike toward the sea.

They feared for their lives when the Egyptian army bore down on them. Moses heard from God and raised his rod. Bingo, the sea split and dried up in front of the Jews so they passed over on dry land. God conquered the most advanced and feared army in the world in a matter of minutes when the sea crashed down on the soldiers. Even so, those people griped and complained their way for forty years in the desert.

When they finally settled in and followed God’s fire and smoke columns, He gave the Ten Commandments. Again, they spoke from their knowledge of good and evil and failed to follow the new rules established by God. That’s right. Man’s intelligence is no match for understanding His ways.

However, God’s mercy endures forever, and He sends a propitiation for our sinful ways in order that we may complete our purpose. He does this with the miraculous birth of Jesus. God also told of this coming event over hundreds of years, through the voice of many men, in lots of places. So many ways and descriptions were told that it would be beyond our scientists’ wildest conjecture of probability that any one individual could fulfill some three hundred prophecies. In fact, if you were to take only eight of these three hundred prophecies, the probability of any one person fulfilling all eight is one to the 17th power. Today’s science says that it’s improbable for anything to occur if the odds peak over one to the 3rd power.

Now that we begin to understand the level of God’s commitment to us, we begin to see how what God said retains importance for all of mankind. Perhaps one hasn’t accepted the notion of God. Perhaps one hasn’t believed in Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, but that hasn’t changed the facts attested to by history, language, philosophy and science over the last two thousand years. When God said, “Thou shall have no other god before me,” he meant it. When he said, “Thou shall not kill,” he meant it.

Since we people of the world tended to stray away from God and His Word, there grew a need to be brought back to Him. The Creator understood how we erred and He understood our nature. He made the things we worshiped the focus when He corrected our ways. His pattern remains true to this day. One example is how He used the Babylonians to hold the Hebrews in captivity for seventy years to make up for the four hundred and ninety years they did not rest on the seventh day. He still uses the despised to confound the wise.

When the founders of our constitutional republic wrote a simple document, they wrote specific words to convey basic thoughts; they predicated the understanding of it on being a moral and religious society. This we know because those same founders created the Northwest Territories Act of 1784. The third article reads:

“Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

They made this statement under the context of Protestant Reformation Christianity. Our society grew darker over the past two centuries. People replaced God with our intelligence. With our constitution ignored and our politicians corrupted, the non-religious and immoral society led us down a dismal path.

Our nation accepted murder by abortion over fifty years ago. It replaced the sanctity of life. The result led the nation toward anarchy where the culture of life lies hidden in the culture of death. The young exhibit no expectation of honoring life. Self-mutilation escalated. Suicide rates skyrocketed. Neighborhood murder threatened more people every minute. Simple acts of violence escalated to proportions unheard of in history. Urban crime rates soared. Laws passed to protect the innocent resulted in worse statistics than when the laws weren’t there, as experienced in Chicago, Baltimore and San Francisco, to name a few places.

So how do we as United States citizens turn our society toward the moral and religious standard envisioned by our forefathers? The answer appeared in simple terms thousands of years ago. God confounded our thought process. We thought great ways to eliminate the poor among us. We conjured programs to give people food. We changed the Constitution to cripple the Republic. We touted tolerance so evil would rise up. Yet He directed us to our knees. Leave your idols, focus on Me. Recognize your sin and ask forgiveness. Turn away from evil and by your action I will hear your prayer and heal your land (II Cor 7:14).

Our challenge lies not in understanding God’s thoughts, but rather in realizing that our thoughts cannot compete with His. Once we acquiesce to His simple standard of humility before Him, He frees us to accomplish our purpose. Without repenting from our pride and intelligence, our culture of life remains hidden in the culture of death, bound in abortion, and manifested in violence and murder rampant in our society.