VIDEO Conservatism and Race: A Positive Path Forward

On April 23, the great Robert Woodson delivered the inaugural lecture in Hillsdale’s Christ Chapel Drummond Lecture Series. His topic was “Conservatism and Race: A Positive Path Forward.”

Robert L. Woodson is the founding president of the Woodson Center, an organization dedicated to improving low-income neighborhoods, promoting civics education, improving race relations, and developing community leaders

A veteran of the civil rights movement, Woodson embraces what he calls “radical pragmatism” as the best way to improve the lives of “the least of God’s children.” His work at the Woodson Center seeks to ennoble and inspire the downtrodden rather than condescend to and coddle them. As my colleague David Whalen noted, “for decades, while public figures pose and wrangle about the poor and racial injustice, Robert Woodson has transformed the lives of many thousands. He does so because he understands responsibility, authentic human dignity, and the freedom through which people actually flourish. Where others just talk, Woodson has achieved near miracles.”

In recognition of his long and good service for America, Woodson was awarded Hillsdale’s Freedom Leadership Award.

Warm regards,

Larry P. Arnn
President, Hillsdale College
Pursuing Truth and Defending Liberty Since 1844

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VIDEO My Thoughts On Why America Is In Its Current Situation – Conservative Age Rising!

January 22, 2021

This post is unlike my other articles. Here are my personal thoughts on why America’s in its current situation:

If churches hadn’t stopped preaching hell, fire, and brimstone, America wouldn‘t be so screwed up right now.

The raw truth puts the fear of God in people! How many of us can truly count on one hand the number of people they know who they believe possess the fear of God? When was the last time you heard someone say they weren’t going to do something because they didn’t want to go to hell? Or how about this one, “I want to do what pleases the Lord”. Conviction is at an all-time low (in the church and the world).

Our ears have been tickled with lollipop and gumdrop teachings to the point where we think and unconsciously view Jesus as a “pushover, hippie genie”!

Read the Book of John and you will find that Jesus was INTOLERANT of ALL sin, EXTREMELY direct, sugarcoated NOTHING, and still was pure love and showed compassion. Did you know that Jesus’ heart races every time He looks at you? He’s madly in love with you.

The reason why He preached more about Hell than Heaven, is because He doesn’t want to lose us and desperately doesn’t want us to go there. He preached warnings for safety! It breaks His heart every time a soul is eternally lost. It’s unfathomable to imagine a life forever without God, lacking EVERYTHING, being void of all that is good. Friends, family, companionship, laughter, hope, rest, and even food are all nonexistent in the abyss.

We all hear the question so many typically ask, “Why would a loving God send someone to hell?” Yet, the truth is, people send themselves there. If you see someone walking toward a cliff and you yell to them, “Wrong way! There’s a cliff! You’re going to fall off and die if you don’t go the other way!” But the foolish person responds with either, “I’ll take my chances”, “I don’t believe you”, or “all roads lead to safety”, then that person who was warned ends up falling off the cliff and dying, who sent them there? THEY DID!

All things good come from God and Him alone. You can know the entire Bible by heart and still end up in H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Now is the absolute WORST time to be uncertain about where you’ll go if you die. Death does not discriminate against age, race, gender, nationality, or religion. You won’t just cease to exist. You’ll exist somewhere forever, but the question is, “Where?”

There’s one of two places to choose from—Heaven or Hell. Heaven will give you a forever warm reception, while in hell, you’d be an eternal unwelcomed guest.

I’ve had four near-death experiences and the first time I was NOT ready and truly uncertain if I’d see Jesus face to face. Oh, and guess what, I was a Christian! By God’s grace, He rescued me every time!

You see, some may have said a prayer at the altar once and thought they were heaven-bound, but if there hasn’t been a TRUE, genuine transformation of your life, thoughts, and speech, then it’d be wise to do a self-examination of the heart, because that’s where it starts. When Jesus enters your heart, there’s an evident transformation and your surroundings will know it. You can’t fool God.

The reason why America is in the state that it’s in today is because of the failure of the church. The church is what leads by example. Things can turn around for the good, but it starts with the church, first.

If you want to be like Jesus, then you’ve got to teach like Jesus!

Hell is the default. Heaven is your CHOICE. Jesus is the WAY! If you haven’t already, receive or rededicate your life to Him today. He’s the ONLY God Who thought you were worth dying for…and ACTUALLY DID! That’s love.

My Thoughts On Why America Is In Its Current Situation

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A New Conservative Age Is Rising!

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American History Down the Memory Hole?

by Jerry Newcombe, D.Min.

12/1/20

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving, but is this holiday becoming so politically incorrect that one day it will be doomed to be sent down the “memory hole”?

There is a war on American history. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Antifa and other leftwing groups toppled more historical statues. Tyler O’Neil of PJ Media (11/28/20) describes the extent of this vandalism, which included the spray-painting of anti-Thanksgiving messages and statues torn down in Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and Spokane.

Statues that were toppled or defaced included George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley.

It is interesting to note, during these anti-Thanksgiving melees, that George Washington was the first president to declare Thanksgiving as a holiday—a time for the nation to thank God for us having been able to create the Constitution. And Lincoln was the first president to make Thanksgiving an annual holiday.

This weekend’s vandalism, of course, comes a few months after the toppling of all sorts of American historical statues, including Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, and even abolitionist Frederick Douglas. The war on America as founded continues unabated.

One of the emphases on last week’s new spate of American history-bashing seemed to focus on a grievance of some Native Americans. There was a push for what they called “a national decolonial day of action” and what they called “land back.”

O’Neil explains: “’Land back’ seemingly refers to The LANDBACK campaign, a Native American movement supposedly fighting ‘white supremacy.’ The campaign calls for the dismantling of the ‘white supremacy structures’ supposedly responsible for removing Native Americans from their lands.”

America has never been perfect. Injustices have been done. On the other hand, we have made great strides to address many of these past sins. Meanwhile, notes O’Neil, “the nefarious message of Marxist critical race theory suggests we should upend society in order to satisfy historical grievances in the name of racial justice. This toxic vision undermines the very real progress America has made in terms of establishing civil rights regardless of race and in terms of securing broad prosperity through a free market economy.”

Recently, I spoke with a Native American pastor to get his thoughts on the Pilgrims and American history for a television documentary. Rev. Billy Falling, author of My Cherokee Roots, does not agree with those who denigrate the founding of America for all the bad things that did indeed happen—later—to Native Americans.

For example, Rev. Falling said of the Pilgrims, in whose honor we celebrate Thanksgiving: “The Pilgrims did have good relations with the Indians. The Pilgrims were kind to the Indians. They showed them love. They showed them compassion. They showed them the godly way to live.”

Falling added, “As a Native American, I thank God for the Europeans that brought us the Gospel and brought us Western Civilization.” He said that the Indians need the Gospel as much as any group of people: “We owe everything to those who brought us civilization and brought us out of the cannibalism and out of all of the sins of the flesh that were practiced in the day just like the heathen of the world. It’s hard today to find a ‘sweat’ where you can go as a Native American and go inside and ‘smoke out your sins,’ but it’s easy to find Native Americans in any congregation in the United States, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ because of the Europeans.  And I thank God for that.”

The war on American history does not bode well for our future. Tens of millions of young Americans are brainwashed into thinking America is evil and always was evil.

In his nightmare vision of a totalitarian future, “1984,” novelist George Orwell speaks of history constantly being rewritten by the state in order to satisfy those in charge. That history which was no longer acceptable to the Party was sent down the “memory holes” where it was to be burned away in “the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building.”

Orwell adds, “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”

Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel, once noted, “One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”

Those of us who appreciate what God has done in the creation of America have a lot of work on our hands to try and convince a lot of young Americans who have been brainwashed by Marxist assaults on American history in our schools that our history, flawed as it is, is worth preserving. Abolish Thanksgiving? No thanks.

https://www.djameskennedy.org/article-detail/american-history-down-the-memory-hole

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AUDIO Bringing America Back to God

By Rev Bill Woods

Judges 1-2

Judges covers Israel’s history for 305 years after Joshua died… 

    – Israel declined, backslid, and walked away from God. 

      – It’s frightening to see the parallels between Israel then and America today.

God established Israel, and gave Himself to them. 

    – He gave them the Law — the 10 commandments and the covenant. 

      – He gave them Canaan — the best land on earth.  .

All God asked for was their love and obedience.   

    – What’d Israel do? 

      – They denied God, defied His law, and defiled the land.  God had to judge them.

The parallel with America is alarming. 

    – No nation’s had a Christian beginning like the USA. 

      – We’re also given the Lord, the law, and a land — we’ve denied Him, defied Him, and defiled our land.

1.  America’s Denied God!

God’s been expelled from nearly every public venue. 

    – It started back in the ‘60’s in public schools, when Madelyn Murray O’Hair filed a suit  because she didn’t want her son, William, to be exposed to prayers of religious people praying to a God she didn’t believe in.

Since then it’s gone to public places — Assemblies, stadiums, court houses, coins, our Pledge of Allegiance — today we’re even fighting battles about what can be preached in church! 

• This pandemic has locked our nation down and people have lost their motivation.
• Churches have been denied the privilege of worship which has caused further deterioration.

It’s not separation of church and state — it’s separation of America from God Who’s blessed us!

• Currently there is a battle raging in America over who will be President of the United States.  Donald Trump has tried to lead this Nation back to a conservative base which recognizes God’s Standards.
• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Liberals wanting to defy God’s Standards and put in place abortion, gay marriages, drugs, and Marxism.

How will it end?  We will get what we need or what we deserve?

What’s happened that our “Christian” Nation has come to this?  Why have we deteriorated so quickly?

2.  America’s Defied God’s Law!

The Supreme Court ruled the 10 Commandments can’t be displayed in public places.

    – People might ponder them, maybe obey them — that’d violate separation of Church and State! 

America’s trailing the same path that Israel did. 

    – The official position of our government — the 10 commandments are dangerous! 

      – Kids shouldn’t see ‘thou shalt not kill’ because what if they obeyed it!

Ladies, if you broke down in the roughest part of town, and had to walk for help. 

    – Four men come out of a house and walk just behind you………..you’d be terrified! 

 Then you hear them talking about God, they’ve just left a Bible study. 

     – They’re carrying Bibles.  How do you feel now?  (PHEW!) 

The direction our Nation’s going is foolish, and defies common sense.

    – God’s promised to Bless and prosper us doesn’t it seem dumb to “bite the hand that’s feeding us?”    

    – We’re so afraid we’ll force our beliefs on other people and violate their beliefs that we’ve let the world destroy our core of morality.

    – Islam and other pagan, God denying cults aren’t afraid to force their beliefs.

    – The Communists weren’t afraid to force their beliefs.

    – Just Christians are holding the Truth, but so anemic they’ve no backbone to share it!

Like Israel, we’ve denied God, we’ve defied His Law and

3.  America’s Defiled the Land

We’ve done this in many ways — one primary way is the spilled blood of aborted babies.

    – There have been over 57 million abortions since the Supreme Court handed

    down its Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, allowing virtually unlimited abortions.

If you listened to the Democratic Convention you heard one of their planks is “Women’s Rights.”

    – Giving women a right to control their own body (mostly meaning abortion on demand).

You might not realize it, but the Democratic Party’s never recognized the sanctity of life.

The burning issue that led to the Civil War was the debate over the future of slavery.

The Democrats wanted to keep slaves for economic reasons and even made speeches proclaiming that to rid the country of slavery would destroy the wealth and happiness. – To them, slaves were property like cattle or sheep, not human beings!

The large plantations in the South utilized slaves to tend their agriculture and perform other menial duties.

The Republicans, under Abraham Lincoln, wanted to free the slaves because they recognized Blacks as human beings.

On the eve of the Civil War, some four million Africans and their descendants toiled as slave laborers in the South.

Slavery was interwoven into the Southern economy even though only a relatively small portion of the population actually owned slaves. – Slaves could be rented or traded or sold to pay debts, or even killed with no consequence,     because they were only property to be owned.                                                                                                                                   

Ownership of more than a handful of slaves demanded respect and contributed to social position slaves were just property of individuals and businesses, represented the largest portion of the region’s personal and corporate wealth, as cotton and land prices declined and the price of slaves soared.

The Northern states, one by one gradually abolished slavery.

When Congress established a law against slavery, Southern Democrats rebelled and that dispute led to secession, and secession brought about war in which the Northern and Western states and territories fought to preserve the Union, and the South fought to establish Southern independence as a new confederation of states under its own constitution.

The US Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865 and led to over 618,000 casualties.

Again, life was and still is cheap to the Democratic Party.

God removed His glory from Israel for sacrificing their children to Molech. 

    – Today He’s removing Himself from the USA. 

      – We need a national revival, a moral and spiritual awakening. 

        – What’ll it take?  If 9/11 and all the recent terrorist attacks isn’t enough, what will be enough?

• All these natural disasters are God’s efforts to wake us up.  Soon He’ll send Judgment!

God raised 13 Judges to deliver Israel from backsliding and bring national revival.

To understand imagine ‘the family fortune.’ 

    – When a family becomes rich there are 3 stages which usually occur:

           – 1^st generation generates the fortune.

·            – 2^nd generation speculates their fortune, through compromises and foolish decisions.

               – 3^rd generation dissipates the fortune and it’s gone.

That’s how it works with nations. (And churches) 

    – 1^st generation generates freedom, 2^nd generation speculates it away, 3^rd generation dissipates it until its gone.. 

      – Look at those nations that have forgotten God in history.

Generate

What do we know about the Israelites who entered the Promised Land? 

    – Under Joshua God gave Israel one victory after another. 

      – Walls tumbled down — kings were subdued. 

        – They’d never have won such victories without the Power of God.

That’s a picture of America! 

    – The Revolutionary War — Britain had more men, money, better machinery….it was David and

       Goliath but God was on our side — we won!

Patrick Henry’s speech sparked the revolution in 1775: 

    – “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery?

      Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me

      Liberty or give me death!”

George Washington — 1^st President. 

    – He took office putting his hand on the Bible.  He finished the oath and kissed the Bible. 

      – His 1^st official act was to lead Congress in 2 hours of worship.  

        – What would’ve the ACLU said about that.

In his inaugural address he said, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.” 

    – In plain English — God got us here, and we’d better not forget it!

Our founding fathers were clear this land was founded on God and the Bible. (Today, liberals are trying to discredit them)    

    – The Bible was the 1^st book used in public schools — until the 1940’s.

Speculate.

    – Succeeding generations in Israel began to squander it all away.

Judges 2:1-2 — God said, “Look at all I’ve done for you.” 

    – I delivered you from slavery, fed you manna, guided and guarded you into the Promised Land   

      – Now look at you…why have you done this?!

Judges 2:7 — Joshua’s generation saw 1st hand the great works of God.

Judges 2:10: And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.  — How sad!  Joshua’s generation failed to pass their values on to their children. 

    – America in the 1960’s — look where we are today. 

Americans are brainwashed by humanism, situational ethics, and relativism. 

    – We don’t understand the moral foundations and spiritual principles of our heritage. 

      – We’re trying to rewrite history and remove God.  (Losing Nation for Political Correctness)

        – One publisher said he wouldn’t publish any history before 1840.

Judges 21:25 is saddest verse: Judges 21:25:  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.   

    – They became people with no absolutes…no standard to live by. 

    – That’s our Nation!  How frightening!

Barna Research found 67% of Americans say there’s no such thing as absolute truth.  That right and wrong aren’t clear…what’s wrong for you isn’t necessarily wrong for me. 

    – Even more frightening — they did the same survey in evangelical churches — 52% said the same thing! 

     – Imagine, Christians saying there’s no right or wrong!

How’d Israel get to this point?  Through compromises.

Judges 2:1-2 — God said drive the enemy out — have nothing to do with them. 

    – They were to separate themselves from sin, as we’re supposed to do.

They Feared the Canaanites — Judges 1:19

    – If they had trusted God they would’ve won — they were afraid to try. 

      – They said, we can’t conquer these people.  We’d better accommodate them, surrender to them — compromise with them.

Are there Canaanites we fear today?

       – Many of our leaders want to surrender in the war on terror. 

          – They say we’re losing — we should quit trying to win. 

        – We should negotiate with the terrorists — stop trying to police the world.                    

            – By doing that we’re just inviting them to come to us.

Many politicians are calling for an end to the war on drugs saying we’ve lost — we should surrender and legalize it — if we legalize it we can control it — marijuana

    – Just like we’ve controlled alcohol! 

     – Trying to control drugs by legalizing them is like trying to control a fire with gasoline.

Parents are surrendering to sexual promiscuity. 

    – “You’re not going to be good, so be careful. — Wear protection.” 

        – What message does that give kids?

We’re putting ambulances at the bottom of the cliff when we’re supposed to put fences at the edge of the cliff!

It’s time to speak up! — God’s Word. 

    – People, God wants you pure and chaste. 

      – He wants you to be a virgin when you marry, not be passed around like a bottle of Gatorade  in a football huddle! 

We’re afraid of confrontation — we might offend someone. 

    – Whom shall I offend?  Man or God? 

      – Truth usually is offensive, but it’s our only hope — John 8:32:  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

We’re so politically correct about homosexuality that we’re afraid to say anything about it. 

    – Leave it as a personal decision in spite of what God says and in spite of what happens to a society when they go that route.   

Now America’s turning to Socialism. 

    – Ignoring lessons from countries who’ve tried it, we’re speeding down a dead end street that

      leads from Capitalism (which made us strong) to socialism, communism — we’ll soon be a nation with no wealth, no freedom, and no reason to work!

      – We’re at the tail end of the speculation generation — it’s getting scary!

Israel didn’t get rid of The Canaanites

Judges 1:28 — When the Israelites grew stronger, they forced the Canaanites to work as slaves, but they never did drive them completely out of the land.

They said we can use these people. 

  – They used them — God said have nothing to do with them!                                                                      

    – Sure they’re wicked, but some good can come out of them.

See America today!  Legalized gambling, the lottery, marijuana and such things. 

    – “Look at the good — we’ll build roads and schools, and generate tax dollars! 

      – Look at the revenue we can generate!”

It’s time to stop saying look at what we can gain and ask, what are we losing?

Now we’ve turned to borrowing, not just from banks, but from the world, especially China, who now owns us. 

    – We’re borrowing our children’s future — they’ll never pay it back…but hey, that’s their problem!

Just like Israel, we favor the world over God.  We have a President who wants to “Make America Great Again,” and honor God’s Standards and the populace wants to get rid of him?

They Fellowshipped With The Canaanites — Judges 1:32 — Instead, the people of Asher moved in among the Canaanites, who controlled the land, for they failed to drive them out.

    –  Hey, they aren’t such bad people! — They worship different gods — they’re good neighbors! 

Israel learned their wicked ways, indulged in their idolatry, sacrificed their children to Molech.

Today’s cry is, there’s nothing wrong with the Gay lifestyle.  What they do is their business.   

    – They should have rights; after all, they’re good neighbors…why can’t we just get along?! 

God says that lifestyle’s an abomination — it’ll be our downfall — breaks down the family, makes a mockery out of marriage…… 

        – If we adopt it we’re begging for His judgment — God’s done it before — He’ll do it again! 

Don’t misunderstand, God loves homosexuals and so should we. 

    – But we love them, not by accepting their sin, but by confronting it with God’s truth, offering the antidote which is their only hope and ours as well!

Israel ended where every man did what was right in his own eyes…and God had to judge. 

    – The parallels today are paralyzing.

Dissipation

Judges 2:3 — So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”

    – Thorns and snares………….. 

Judges 2:4 —When the angel of the LORD finished speaking to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.  

They wept because God was lifting His hand of protection off of them.

On 9/11 terrorists turned planes into missiles. 

    – Jerry Falwell said, “We’d better realize God is removing His protective hand from this nation.” 

He cited our national sins of abortion and homosexuality.  The liberal press crucified him.   

    – He was right.  God’s using our current administration to give us what we’ve asked for. 

      – It’s change, we’re finding out it isn’t change we can believe in.

Revelation describes the downfall of a world power.  It’s an economic disaster.  Is that us?

    Some ask, “Would a loving God allow that?” — If we ask for it! 

“Where was God at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December, 2012 when 28 people were killed including 20 children?”– We expelled Him in 1962!  We threw out His Bible and prayer and told God, you’re not welcome!

Now we’re in a godless generation — Is this the final generation in America?

We’re facing a very critical election……..Will we get what we need or what we deserve?

Our forefathers generated so much, our parents speculated it away. 

Will this generation dissipate it until it’s completely gone? 

    – We’re one generation away from losing our country. 

Is there any hope?  Where there’s God, there’s still hope!

Judges 2:16 — Then the LORD raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.

God would always rather forgive than to judge…but if we insist, we should be afraid.

During the civil war a benevolent gentleman saw a young black lady being auctioned as a slave. 

    – He bid just above every bid he heard and finally won the auction, paying a very high price. 

      – After winning he started to walk away — she followed him. 

        – He said, “Young lady, I didn’t buy you to own you, but to set you free.” 

          – “Free?”  she asked. 

“Yes, free to do whatever you want.” 

    – She replied, “Then I choose to go with you.”

After all God’s done for America, how can we spit in His face? 

    – We need to pray for national revival!

If you’re not saved, consider all God’s done for you…the high price His Son Jesus paid for you.     

    – Will you choose to be His servant and serve Him?

Many soldiers died so you’d have freedom to make that choice.

Christ died so you could make it!

THERE ARE ONLY TWO DEFINING FORCES WHO HAVE EVER OFFERED TO DIE FOR YOU. 

ONE IS JESUS CHRIST AND THE OTHER THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. 

ONE DIED FOR YOUR SINS AND THE OTHER FOR YOUR FREEDOM!

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PODCAST: BRINGING AMERICA BACK TO GOD

https://www.buzzsprout.com/824359/6266302

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How The Revolutionary War Taught More Americans To Oppose Slavery

 

July 8, 2020

 

As the author of nine historical books, my heart has truly been broken at the nihilistic, all-or-nothing approach to history demonstrated by anarchists tearing down and vandalizing statues, especially of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Often spray-painted on these statues is 1619, a reference to The 1619 Project, published by The New York Times.

“The fundamental [1619] claim that the Revolutionary War was fought to preserve slavery simply does not correspond with the facts, too conclusively for the point to be dismissed as mere hair-splitting. The issue is not differing interpretations of history, but an outright misinterpretation of it,” African-American scholar John McWhorter wrote on 1776Unites.com, which warns of 1619’s fallacies.

“For one, note the suspension of disbelief we are expected to maintain. Supposedly the Founding Fathers were trying to protect slavery, despite never actually making such a goal clear for the historical record, and at a time when there would have been no shame in doing so,” McWhorter observed.

My research of the record concurs. In fact, throwing off political slavery by England motivated many to fight for independence. In writing “Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War,” I read original letters, writings, and sermons from the nation’s founding generation. One question I asked: how did Christians justify taking up arms against their God-ordained king? Ministers and congregations looked to two primary biblical examples to resolve this faith crisis. Both directly related to slavery.

“I have this morning heard Mr. Duffield upon the signs of the times. He runs a parallel between the case of Israel and that of America, and between the conduct of Pharaoh and that of [King] George,” John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, in mid-May 1776, after attending church in Philadelphia. If God delivered the Israelites from slavery by Egypt, would He deliver America from enslavement by England? Adams hoped so.

“(Duffield) concluded that the course of events indicated strongly the design of Providence that we should be separated from Great Britain.” Duffield and Adams were not alone. “We have no choice left to us, but to submit to absolute slavery and despotism, or as freemen to stand in our own defence, and endeavor a noble resistance . . . every reasonable method of reconciliation has been tried in vain,” Baptist minister David Jones declared. “Our addresses to our king have been treated with neglect or contempt.”

Jones looked to Galatians 5:1, as did others, including Simeon Howard of Boston’s West Church: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

“It is the duty of all men to stand fast in such valuable liberty, as Providence has conferred upon them,” Howard proclaimed. “But in what way can a man be more justly chargeable with this neglect, than by suffering himself to be deprived of his life, liberty or property, when he might lawfully have preserved them?”

These Americans saw themselves as enslaved by Great Britain. This was not a new concept. Some of their ancestors had fled England to escape religious intolerance.

“They would hazard everything dear to them, their estates, their very lives, rather than suffer their necks to be put under that yoke of bondage, which was so sadly galling to their fathers, and occasioned their retreat into this distant land, that they might enjoy the freedom of men and Christians,” wrote Boston’s First Church’s Charles Chauncy.

The view that Americans were enslaved by England enabled many to see the hypocrisy and injustice of enslaving Africans, which was legal in the 13 original colonies.

“By the 1770s, black New Englanders, thousands of whom were Revolutionary War veterans, had begun sending petitions to northern state legislatures demanding an end to slavery. These, essentially, worked,” African-American scholar Wilfred Reilly wrote for 1776Unites.com. “By the 1790s, 10 states and territories, containing more than 50 percent of the free population of the new nation — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, the North-West Territory, and the Indiana Territory — were free land by law. And, the anti-slavery upswell continued apace.”

History isn’t always what it seems. It is more nuanced, incremental, and complicated than today’s all-or-nothing purity approach by the statue-toppling mob. This headline-only approach to history misses questions like this: How did George Washington transform from being born into a slave-owning family to emancipating slaves in his will, which was published in newspapers throughout the nation? What were the steps that made this transformation possible?

Those who erase history today are trying to prove they aren’t racist. Tolerance and living by an honor code affirming that everyone is created in God’s image is a better proof.

A healthy approach to history takes strength in the good from our past, such as the origin stories of freedom of religion, speech, and the press. It’s important to remember what we have overcome and those who’ve contributed to America’s growth.

“While acknowledging that slavery and discrimination are part of our nation’s history, we believe that America should not be defined solely by this ‘birth defect’ and that black Americans should not be portrayed as perpetual helpless victims,” 1776Unites.com’s founder Robert L. Woodson, Sr. explained.

One way to fight this culture war is to rediscover American history. Don’t rely on your memory of history class. Read 1776Unites.com. Flood local bookstores with purchases of American history and biographies by conservatives and scholars who rely on original writings.

Several years ago a publisher told me that patriotic books don’t sell. A professional at a major TV streaming company recently told me they probably wouldn’t produce a film now on George Washington. It’s time to prove that patriotism and American history are marketable ideas for books and films.

It’s not enough to buy products made in America. We must buy products about America. Our future understanding of the past depends on it.

Jane Hampton Cook is the author of the new book, “Resilience on Parade: Short Stories of Suffragists and Women’s Battle for the Vote.” The first female webmaster for the White House (2001-03), she is now a screenwriter and author of ten books, including “Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War.”

https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/08/how-the-revolutionary-war-taught-more-americans-to-oppose-slavery/

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Believers fight back to defend ‘Judeo-Christian principles’

Falwell, Kirk launch to go on ‘offense … for the church in America’

Actor Jim Caviezel portraying Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ.”

A new think tank is being launched to defend Christianity in America and oppose those “seeking to eliminate Judeo-Christian principles.”

Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, are behind the organization, to be known as the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty. It will be run as a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty University, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, under its 501(c)3 charter.

Its mission is to “equip courageous champions to proclaim the Truth of Jesus Christ, to advance His Kingdom, and renew American ideals.”

“The need for the Falkirk Center has grown as powerful voices and institutions are increasingly seeking to eliminate Judeo-Christian principles from American culture and society,” the founders said in a news released. “The news media, elected officials, academic institutions and special interest groups have used their platforms to deny America’s legacy of foundational Judeo-Christian principles and replace them with the creeds of secularism, influencing upcoming generations of Americans at alarming rates.”

Falwell said: “As attacks on traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs grow in frequency and intensity, the need has never been greater for a national revival of our foundational principles throughout our society and institutions in America. We are delighted that Liberty University can play a part in this mission for Christ and American ideals.”

Kirk added: “It’s time we went on offense to stand up for the church in America and to actively promote American freedoms based on the values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It’s an honor to partner with President Jerry Falwell and Liberty University on this purpose-driven mission that will be used to organize an army of believers in faith and liberty, from renowned pastors to young influencers, to renew our sacred freedoms and defend our deeply held convictions.”

The plan is to utilize various advocates and media strategies to “promote the core beliefs of America’s Founders in limited government, free enterprise, individual rights and liberties endowed by our Creator, and their deliberate and intentional creation of a republic and not a theocracy.”

The think tank will create “an army of advocates nationwide to join the cause and spread its messages about faith and liberty in all public forums and across all media platforms.”

Falwall, in an interview Monday with Fox News, said, “It’s sort of sad that we have to do something like this.”

He continued: “It’s just to provide basic education on American history. Because so many universities have become liberal indoctrination camps, the public schools have not taught U.S. history in so long, and young people don’t understand that the whole idea of the American experiment was based on the Judeo-Christian ethic…free enterprise, limited government, and the idea that all of our rights come from our Creator not from government, not from church.”

Falwell said progressive activists today are pushing the concept that socialism is backed by the Bible, but “that’s not what Jesus taught.”

 

Original here

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https://www.facebook.com/FaithLibertyDiscoveryCenter/

Daniel Webster: America Rests Upon Gratitude For Our Government Of And For The People

‘When, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed…gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness.’

Nov 28, 2019

 

This excerpt from “The First Settlement of New England” by famed American orator and U.S. Sen. Daniel Webster is selected from the “What So Proudly We Hail” collection of Thanksgiving original documents and information about them. The collection introduces the speech: “In 1820, the bicentennial of the Pilgrims’ arrival at Plymouth Rock—well before Thanksgiving became a national holiday—the great statesman, orator, and United States Senator Daniel Webster (1782–1852) delivered this oration (excerpted) at the landing site.”

The online What So Proudly We Hail curricula, extended from a worthy book of the same name, includes videos, poems, discussion guides, and other excellent resources for families, schools, and civic organizations.

Standing in relation to our ancestors and our posterity, we are assembled on this memorable spot, to perform the duties which that relation and the present occasion impose upon us. We have come to this Rock, to record here our homage for our Pilgrim Fathers; our sympathy in their sufferings; our gratitude for their labors; our admiration of their virtues; our veneration for their piety; and our attachment to those principles of civil and religious liberty, which they encountered the dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and to establish.

And we would leave here, also, for the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof that we have endeavored to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired; that in our estimate of public principles and private virtue, in our veneration of religion and piety, in our devotion to civil and religious liberty, in our regard for whatever advances human knowledge or improves human happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin.

There is a local feeling connected with this occasion, too strong to be resisted; a sort of genius of the place, which inspires and awes us. We feel that we are on the spot where the first scene of our history was laid; where the hearths and altars of New England were first placed; where Christianity, and civilization, and letters made their first lodgement, in a vast extent of country, covered with a wilderness, and peopled by roving barbarians. We are here, at the season of the year at which the event took place.

The imagination irresistibly and rapidly draws around us the principal features and the leading characters in the original scene. We cast our eyes abroad on the ocean, and we see where the little barque, with the interesting group upon its deck, made its slow progress to the shore. We look around us, and behold the hills and promontories where the anxious eyes of our fathers first saw the places of habitation and of rest. We feel the cold which benumbed, and listen to the winds which pierced them.

Beneath us is the Rock, on which New England received the feet of the Pilgrims. We seem even to behold them, as they struggle with the elements, and, with toilsome efforts, gain the shore. We listen to the chiefs in council; we see the unexampled exhibition of female fortitude and resignation; we hear the whisperings of youthful impatience, and we see, what a painter of our own has also represented by his pencil, chilled and shivering childhood, houseless, but for a mother’s arms, couchless, but for a mother’s breast, till our own blood almost freezes.

The mild dignity of CARVER and of BRADFORD; the decisive and soldierlike air and manner of STANDISH; the devout BREWSTER; the enterprising ALLERTON; the general firmness and thoughtfulness of the whole band; their conscious joy for dangers escaped; their deep solicitude about danger to come; their trust in Heaven; their high religious faith, full of confidence and anticipation; all of these seem to belong to this place, and to be present upon this occasion, to fill us with reverence and admiration . . .

‘It Rests on No Other Foundation Than Their Assent’

The nature and constitution of society and government in this country are interesting topics, to which I would devote what remains of the time allowed to this occasion. Of our system of government the first thing to be said is, that it is really and practically a free system. It originates entirely with the people and rests on no other foundation than their assent.

To judge of its actual operation, it is not enough to look merely at the form of its construction. The practical character of government depends often on a variety of considerations, besides the abstract frame of its constitutional organization. Among these are the condition and tenure of property; the laws regulating its alienation and descent; the presence or absence of a military power; an armed or unarmed yeomanry; the spirit of the age, and the degree of general intelligence. In these respects it cannot be denied that the circumstances of this country are most favorable to the hope of maintaining a government of a great nation on principles entirely popular.

In the absence of military power, the nature of government must essentially depend on the manner in which property is holden and distributed. There is a natural influence belonging to property, whether it exists in many hands or few; and it is on the rights of property that both despotism and unrestrained popular violence ordinarily commence their attacks. Our ancestors began their system of government here under a condition of comparative equality in regard to wealth, and their early laws were of a nature to favor and continue this equality.

A republican form of government rests not more on political constitutions, than on those laws which regulate the descent and transmission of property. Governments like ours could not have been maintained, where property was holden according to the principles of the feudal system; nor, on the other hand, could the feudal constitution possibly exist with us.

Our New England ancestors brought hither no great capitals from Europe; and if they had, there was nothing productive in which they could have been invested. They left behind them the whole feudal policy of the other continent. They broke away at once from the system of military service established in the Dark Ages, and which continues, down even to the present time, more or less to affect the condition of property all over Europe. They came to a new country.

There were, as yet, no lands yielding rent, and no tenants rendering service. The whole soil was unreclaimed from barbarism. They were themselves, either from their original condition, or from the necessity of their common interest, nearly on a general level in respect to property. Their situation demanded a parcelling out and division of the lands, and it may be fairly said, that this necessary act fixed the future frame and form of their government.

The character of their political institutions was determined by the fundamental laws respecting property. The laws rendered estates divisible among sons and daughters. The right of primogeniture, at first limited and curtailed, was afterwards abolished. The property was all freehold. The entailment of estates, long trusts, and the other processes for fettering and tying up inheritances, were not applicable to the condition of society, and seldom made use of . . . .

‘Every Feeling of Humanity Must Forever Revolt’

I deem it my duty on this occasion to suggest, that the land is not yet wholly free from the contamination of a traffic, at which every feeling of humanity must forever revolt,—I mean the African slave trade. Neither public sentiment, nor the law, has hitherto been able entirely to put an end to this odious and abominable trade.

At the moment when God in his mercy has blessed the Christian world with a universal peace, there is reason to fear, that, to the disgrace of the Christian name and character, new efforts are making for the extension of this trade by subjects and citizens of Christian states, in whose hearts there dwell no sentiments of humanity or of justice, and over whom neither the fear of God nor the fear of man exercises a control.

In the sight of our law, the African slave trader is a pirate and a felon; and in the sight of Heaven, an offender beyond the ordinary depth of human guilt. There is no brighter page of our history, than that which records the measures which have been adopted by the government at an early day, and at different times since, for the suppression of this traffic; and I would call on all the true sons of New England to cooperate with the laws of man, and the justice of Heaven.

If there be, within the extent of our knowledge or influence, any participation in this traffic, let us pledge ourselves here, upon the rock of Plymouth, to extirpate and destroy it. It is not fit that the land of the Pilgrims should bear the shame longer.

I hear the sound of the hammer, I see the smoke of the furnaces where manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see the visages of those who by stealth and at midnight labor in this work of hell, foul and dark, as may become the artificers of such instruments of misery and torture.

Let that spot be purified, or let it cease to be of New England. Let it be purified, or let it be set aside from the Christian world; let it be put out of the circle of human sympathies and human regards, and let civilized man henceforth have no communion with it . . .

‘The Voice of Acclamation and Gratitude’

The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this occasion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can be expected to behold its return. They are in the distant regions of futurity, they exist only in the all-creating power of God, who shall stand here a hundred years hence, to trace, through us, their descent from the Pilgrims and to survey, as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country, during the lapse of a century.

We would anticipate their concurrence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the pleasure with which they will then recount the steps of New England’s advancement. On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the Rock of Plymouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the Pilgrims, till it lose itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas.

We would leave for consideration of those who shall then occupy our places, some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government, and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understandings and improve the hearts of men.

And when, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed affections, which, running backward and warming with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them with cordial salutation, ere yet they have arrived on the shore of Being.

Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our own human duration.

We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed.

We welcome you to the blessings of good government and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting Truth!

Photo By Internet Archive Book Images – https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14597125217/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/popularhistoryof00brya/popularhistoryof00brya#page/n471/mode/1up, No restrictions, Link

 

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/28/daniel-webster-america-rests-upon-gratitude-for-our-government-of-and-for-the-people/