The question is not,
“Was America formed by Christians?” The question is, “Has
America a Christian form?”
The question is not, “Was America formed by Christians?” The question is, “Has America a Christian form?”
What is a “Christian form?” [Form – “That particular disposition… which distinguishes it from every other body?” Christian – “Pertaining to Christ…” – Webster]
American culture today, has lost the concept that “religion” refers to man’s relationship with God. Rather, we identify “religion” with a sect, or denominational label like, Buddhist, Baptist, Lutheran.
Many think of “separation of church and state” as having no national religion. Denmark officially supports the Lutheran denomination. Others understand it to separate civil government from any relationship with God. That is unreasonable!
The documentation of America as a Christian nation has been deliberately obscured in order to deprive us of our Christian heritage of individual liberty. “Choose you this day, whom you will serve,” is the essence of the Christian message. Found, by the way, in the Jewish book of Joshua.
Our founders referred to the Holy Scriptures as, “The great political textbook of the patriots.”
I believe we must relearn the Christian principles upon which our American society is founded.
The battle is not for the minds of men. The mind will believe what the heart accepts. The late Verna Hall put it this way, “The battle can be won only in the CONSCIENCE, the CHARACTER, and the LIFE of the individual American.”
It is an internal battle. The battle for American liberty is rooted in freedom of conscience and quality character.
If we continue thinking of “government” as political, economic, or military (external), we will miss the root problem. America’s form of government will not function without the Christian principles upon which it is founded.
The essence and structure of our Constitution are to be found in the Bible. There have been many republics before and after Christ.
Ours is the first in human history to have been formed as a Christian Republic. The power (sovereignty), rests in the hands of individual Americans. In turn, they must be God-governed by the principles of Christian self-government. Self-government without God is evil anarchy.
Our Constitution combined, for the first time ever, three essential elements: Representation, Separation of Powers (legislative, executive, judicial), Federalism. Each is Biblical.
Moses, perhaps history’s greatest civil executive, established a representative government.
“Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. … So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.” [Deuteronomy 1:13-15]
American history documents this quotation as the root of the “Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,” which was the first colonial constitution. If you think about it, you legislate, execute and judge your own actions every day. They must be separate and equal.
Any two can overrule the third in a “checks and balance” system that has served us well for 200 years.
If we lose these concepts in our individual lives, can we hope to have them work in our national life?
Isiah 33:22 states, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King.”
Our national-federal structure is a bit more subtle. You cannot be a U.S. citizen without also being a citizen of one of the states. One is a vertical and one a horizontal relationship.
“Jesus said …, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” [Matthew 22:37-40]
Self-government with union is the foundation for our own federal system, as well as our international community under the Monroe Doctrine.
Where is Christian self-government learned? The first sphere should be the home. At a business meeting, the speaker asked, “How many are parents?” Then he asked, “What is your earliest memory?” His point was, “Sometime, your child’s earliest memory will be created and remain with him for life. Suppose that memory involves family prayer, or a Bible verse. How great a heritage!” That speaker changed the lifestyle of our family 40 years ago and the results are very positive.
The loss of Christian influence upon conscience and character in the American home is not the result of aggressive “progressive” education. We defaulted and left the field to external forces.
For a century or more, our American seminaries have not been teaching the Bible as America’s political textbook.
If they do not teach America’s Christian history and relate our Constitution to Biblical principles, is it any wonder that the American church has also defaulted and walked off the field of influence upon civil government?
It is not the aggressiveness of liberal theology, modernism, or the like. It’s the clergy’s ignorance of biblical principles of civil government that prevents their ability to lead from the pulpit.
Dear reader, if you unselfishly will the best for your family and your nation, you have an individual responsibility. It comes with a price. I challenge you to rise to it. Liberty costs more than slavery because it is worth more than slavery.
