Craigg's Corner - March

Our American, Christian Heritage

Notes from a Presentation by Dick DiTullioMarch 5, 2017

Craigg McRae serves as our representative to a monthly apologetics forum where strategies and information is discussed in order to engage our culture with the Gospel. Each month he's sharing a summary with us about what was discussed.

Much has been said of late that the United States is not a Christian nation and that we were never a nation founded with biblical principal. The forefathers at best were Deists and that they were secular in thought and nature. There has always been a separation between Church and state and that the government was designed to provide for all the needs of the people. These statements are completely false and a basic study of the founding of this country demonstrates that nearly all the founding fathers drew their strength and guidance from God. Our government schools have been changing the history presented to our children and focusing historical learning to just the twentieth century when God was being forced out of the government and our schools.

An example of the changing of history can be seen in the Mayflower Pact of 1620. The original pact reads as follows:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

This pact was signed by every man making up the founding of the colony but if you read it in a text book today all references to God have been omitted. The entire reason for this group of people to cross the Atlantic Ocean was for religious purposes and students today are told that it was for economic reasons they came.

Of the 56 signers of the declaration of independence, 29 had seminary degrees and 27 clauses within the declaration came from sermons given by the signers. The very concept of separation of branches in the constitution comes from Isaiah 33:22 and Jeramiah 17:9. The clause “separation of church and state” is nowhere in the constitution and if congress had had some guts in the early part of this century when the courts were bringing up this comment from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson and completely taken out of context, the abuse of this phrase would have been stomped out then and not taken on a life of its own as it has today.

A strong belief in God was paramount in all of the original writing by our forefathers, even if the individual writer was not a strong Christian. They knew that this form of government could not survive without the belief and support of our maker. They also knew that should God be taken out of the government, the government would very soon implode because flawed humans can and will be self-centered and greedy. Without a reliance upon and a focus on Christ, we wither and destroy ourselves.

One interesting study of note regarding God in an institution; a prison study in Texas showed that with faith-based prison release programs the recidivism rate is 8% but with secular programs, the rate climbs to 68%. If you are in the prison business, you want God out of the way. If you are in the rehabilitation business, you want God completely involved.

Since the 1920s, God has been losing His place in our government and schools and society has been paying the price. The quality of the education is pitiful when compared to what a high school student was expected to know in the 19^th century. Government was a small part of a person’s life then and now it overwhelms us with its reach into our day to day existence. We as Christians have to fight back and we don’t have to do it alone. There are organizations such as the American Center for Law and Justice, Wallbuilders.com and Americanminute.com that will take up our cause and allow us to express our view and get the truth to prevail. 

No God, no wisdom

Know God, Know wisdom