“A CHRISTIAN SPARTA”

Friday, December 9th, 2011

May 1776, The Continental Congress issued a proclamation for a day of prayer and fasting, calling on Americans to “bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life appease [God's] righteous displeasure, and thr the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”

The ideal of liberty as an opportunity to foster public virtue was common among the Founders.

According to Samuel Adams, True religion and godly education made a people free, but tyrants souhgt to make people immoral and ignorant.

College of New Jersey (now Princeton) President and Presbyterian minister John Witherspoon “recommended certain moral duties that would bolster America’s communal health, such as industry, hard work, and frugality…”

Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, endorsed an unbreakable link betw. Christianity and republican govt…  “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in RELIGION; without this, there can be no virtue, and w/o virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican govts.”  The most obvious instrument of govt for inculcating virtue was public education.

… more from God of Liberty, by Baylor’s Dr Thomas S Kidd

Tags: benjamin rush, continental congress, Dr Thomas S Kidd, founding fathers, God of Liberty, Jesus Christ, john witherspoon, liberty, samuel adams, true religion, virtue
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One Nation Under God

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Independence Day, July 4, is important to Christians because America is the best hope of Liberty on the face of the earth.   Our republic was founded primarily by men who possessed faith in the Bible as God’s Word.  Many of our Founders saw America as a new Israel being carved out of the wilderness.  If the people trusted the Lord He could bless them; if they turned from Him He could forsake their labors.

The US Senate Judiciary Committee, in 1853, said in a report: “We are a Christian people…, from choice and education; and in a land thus universally Christian, what is to be expected, what desired, but that we shall pay a due regard to Christianity?”  The SC Supreme Court ruled in 1849: “Christianity is part of the common law… the basis for morality, the foundation of principles of right and wrong.”

Patrick Henry, who said, “Give me liberty or give me death” also stated, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

Not all the people who founded and shaped early America were Christians or even Bible believers, but the vast majority were.  Their biblical views shaped the state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence (”inalienable rights”, the “laws of nature and nature’s God”), and the US Constitution w/ a Bill of Rights.  This is indisputable.

The United States had treaties w/ Indians and they at times spoke of their Great Spirit watching over their tribes.  The US signed a treaty under duress of extortion w/ the Barbary pirates where lip service was made to their religion as Musselmen or Mohommadans.  But nowhere can you find the American Gov’t putting other religions on equal footing w/ the God of the Bible.  America has made its share of mistakes along the way but its adherence to the Bible, its foundation as a Republic, and its free market economic system succeeded in making it the greatest Nation ever to exist in human History.  These characteristics have enabled it to grant rights and freedoms for others from foreign shores as Patrick Henry stated.  Never has an Arabic or Far Eastern nation opened its doors to opportunities like those available here.  Our Faith and Culture alone has made those opportunities available.  That does not give them the right to subvert and undermine our cultural and spiritual foundations.  We as Americans, particularly as Christian Americans, must guard our rights and our power to vote in the face of those who would rob future generations of the liberties and faith of our founding fathers we grew up with. 

*All the quotes above , and more, can be found in the book For The Cause: Spiritual Revival in America available on this website.

Tags: barbary pirates, bill of rights, declaration of independence, founding fathers, independence day, july 4, mohommadans, patrick henry, us constitution
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Lee in Washington’s Shadow

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Rereading Dr Richard McCaslin’s Lee In The Shadow of Washington over the last week.  Dr McCaslin was a professor of mine at High Point Univ. in the early 90s.  Great thoughts on Lee’s take on Constitutional Republic:

Robert E Lee revered the Old Union that his father and his father’s friends founded; “he wanted to restore that Union….”  He did not oppose reunification, but stressed cooperation; register to vote and elect “wise and patriotic men”.  “The Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved and the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.  Lee clung to the idea of limited central gov’t….”

In letters to John Walker and Gov. Letcher of Virginia, he stressed these principles.  Speaking of his military actions with the Confederacy, “I had no other guide,… than the defense of those principles of American liberty upon which the Constitutions of the several states were originally founded; & unless they are strictly observed, I fear there will be an end to Republican Government in this country [sadly prescient]“.  British historian John Dalberg-Acton shared this from a conversation with Lee: “consolidation of the States into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it.”

Lee understood History– Rome went through this chain of events; France from revolution thr. Napoleon went through this chain of events; and so has the US.  As the central gov’t usurped power over the lives of citizens (Federalists1790s; Radical Republicans 1862-80; Liberal Democrats- Wilson, FDR, LBJ ; and both parties’ leaders involved with the Council on Foreign Relations 1919-present), the constitutional republic of our forefathers has been perverted beyond recognition.  Read Patrick J Buchanan’s numerous books detailing this process.  The neo-imperialist central gov’t of the US has  repeatedly acted aggressive abroad since 1917.  Countless incursions in Latin America; the Philippines; Lebanon;  nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

To his cousin Annette Carter, Lee wrote, “Every brave people who considered their rights attacked & their Constitutional liberties invaded, would have done as we did. Our conduct was not caused by any insurrectionary spirit…, for our construction of the Constitution under which we lived & acted was the same from its adoption & for 80 yrs we have been taught & educated by the founders of the republic… which controlled our consciences & actions.”   He fought to save, not destroy, the Founding Fathers’ original plan.  Lee died in 1870 believing the country’s ills could be cured within the system created by the Founding Fathers.  I share that same belief today.

Tags: cfr, council on foreign relations, Dr Richard McCaslin, Federalists, founding fathers, High Point University, Lee in the shadow of washington, Liberal Democrats, Patrick J Buchanan, Radical Republicans, Robert E Lee, Whigs
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Open Elections: More Choices

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Political parties were probably inevitable, but the Founding Fathers didnt really see them as a positive influence when you read the Federalist Papers.  They formed relatively quickly after the Washington administration.  Hamilton’s central bank/ strong central Gov’t ideology clashed w/ Jefferson’s states’ rights/ weak central Gov’t views, and the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were born.

The names changed through the years, but the opposing ideologies basically remained the same until after World War I.  The Great War was not enough of a threat to Americans to convince them to surrender sovereignty to a League of Nations. Henry Cabot Lodge led the Senate in defeating the Versailles Treaty in 1919.  Woodrow Wilson’s close advisor Col Edward House organized a group of political and business leaders from both major parties with a long term plan to move the United States toward integration in a World Government.  The Council on Foreign Relations went to work on achieving this goal. The deadlier and costlier WWII proved to be the catalyst to start the process as the United Nations was instituted and placed on American soil in 1945.

Southern Democrats once fought for states’ rights, but they are few and far between now in a party dominated by northeastern ultra-liberals; Ronald Reagan brought to fruition the seeds of Conservatism Barry Goldwater planted, but the GOP never used their years in power to undo the New Deal and Great Society. Do you wonder why big government incrementalism continues unabated regardless of the party in power since 1945?  The two major parties are ensconced with members of the CFR.  There are still good conservatives here and there, but the socialistic world gov’t ideologues control both parties. 

The Democrat party, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-2nd amendmt, and weak-kneed in foreign policy, is hopeless for America’s future.  While disgusted with the GOP over the last five years, one can hope the recent grassroots movement to stop Cap and Trade legislation and Government-Run HealthCare builds momentum in 2010 and on to 2012.  The disgust with the GOP is due to their ranks being dominated by RINOs.  CONSERVATIVES- more Americans refer to themselves as conservative more than any other label.  GOP- 20%, Democrats 33%,Liberal- 15%, Conservative- 35%.  Less Gov’t, lower taxes, free-enterprise capitalism, individual responsibility- traditional conservatism is the answer for what ails us.  No more blind support for Republicans who act like Democrats or sellouts to the CFR. Sarah Palin made the right stand this week supporting the conservative party candidate in the 23rd NY House district race whereas Newt Gingrich blindly supported a pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, anti-2nd amendmt Republican in the race.

The two major parties in the US, dominated by the CFR, have control of the election process infrastructure.  In the state of NC, it is almost impossible to get third parties on the ballot.  Where do these parties get constitutional authority for freezing out other choices for elections across this republic? It is unethical and in violation of the founders’ spirit.  While no third party candidate has won the presidency, several have affected the outcome — 1824, 1860, 1912, 1968, 1992, and 2001.  I attended the NC Libertarian Party convention last April and came away impressed with the folks involved with it. Dr Mike Munger (of Duke University) got 3% of the votes in the NC 2008 gubernatorial race; Dr Mike Beitler (of UNCG) is currently running for the US Senate seat held by Richard Burr for 2010. These are good men worthy of support. They offer a fresh choice from the run of the mill professional politician.  While I cannot support all of the Libertarian social issue and foreign policy positions, I score a 90 on agreement w/ their economic platform. There is a Conservative Party which is strong in some states, but not currently organized in NC.   Maybe it has a future here as well.  It is time to press the NC Legislature to amend the elections process and allow greater third party or independent candidate participation.  The major party monopoly on the process must be broken to overcome their wrong-headed policies.

Tags: cfr, col edward house, conservative party, council on foreign relations, federalist papers, founding fathers, great society, great war, hamilton, henry cabot lodge, jefferson, libertarian party, mike beitler, mike munger, new deal, rinos
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