Patriot or Christian-either/or, or both/and?

Patriot or Christian-either/or, or both/and?

- Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

Each year around July 4 there is much debate within the Christian community about whether the Founding Fathers were Christian or if their legacy has been a carefully crafted lie. Some now say that America was not formed up by Christians and did not reflect a nation founded in the name of Christ. In 2011 for example, Filmmaker Chris Pinto appeared on radio and television shows lambasting David Barton of Wallbuilders for misleading Christian Americans about the foundation of Christ as the cornerstone of this nation. While I am not a historian, it is of interest to me. It is a fact that this United States of America, had predominantly Christian roots at its founding and its laws are based on the laws of the Bible.

The land was claimed in covenant with God to advance the Christian faith over 150 years BEFORE the Declaration of Independence. In 1565, the Protestant French Huguenots came to what is now Florida to escape persecution, but were martyred by Catholic Spanish troops. The 1606 Jamestown Charter from King James stated "...in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those Parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government..." The Mayflower Compact 16 years later proclaimed: "Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia..."

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America may not all have been Christians. They knew, however, that the Holy Scriptures contained in the Bible were the basis for all law. They unabashedly based the formation of the nation upon the laws of the God of the Bible. One can find Biblical principles throughout the Declaration and the Constitution. On January 10, 1963, Florida Congressman A.S. Herlong, Jr. read into the Congressional Record the 45 stated goals of communism from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen. Numbers 27-30 stated: "27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."" Jesus said in Matthew 24:4, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Those trying to say that because the Founders were not necessarily Christian, our nation is inherently evil are liars and deceivers. Rest assured that God was in control of forming this nation for His good purpose. You can be both a patriot and a Christian-the freedom of one confirms the other.