Allen Jackson - When God Intervenes - Part 1
The title is «When God Intervenes». If you’ve got an outline, you know there is some Scripture coming. I tell you that because I want to begin with a bit of history. You know, throughout history, one of the ways that revolutions are often fomented is they try to separate a group of people from their history. I used to read it, but I didn’t understand it. Often the first step in that is they teach you to hate your history. It’s not overly difficult to do because every person, every group of people, every nation has chapters that are less than stellar.
Imagine if your life was consistently defined by the darkest moment of your existence. And there are some chapters of American history that are not our best, but the good news is through the grace and mercy of God, we have overcome them and prevailed to come to better places. We are still doing that. And so I wanna take a minute and remind you a bit of our story because I believe it puts it in a light that gives a purpose and a meaning to our generation beyond just personal salvation. And while I’m a total advocate for the new birth, conversion for…I understand that we are birthed into the kingdom of God for a purpose. And it’s for a greater purpose than just getting a ticket you can put in your pocket that says you get to go to heaven.
In fact, if that’s the only reason you think you were introduced to the kingdom of God, I think it’s highly unlikely you’ll get to go to heaven. We have to decide we want to live for the glory of God. But I believe our history matters in the present perhaps more than it ever has. And so I’ll start with the Declaration of Independence.
Just the preamble, that’s the beginning. It says, «We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they’re endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor».
When they signed that document, they understood that they put their futures in the balance. Only about 1/3 of the colonists were in favor of the break with Britain. There were another 1/3 that wanted to maintain the relationship, and there were 1/3 that were waiting to see what would happen. So those that supported the revolution put everything at risk (their lives, certainly, their families) without question. Their futures and whatever fortune they may have had. The skeptics say it was an attempt to get rich. Knuckleheads. That’s a biblical term derived from a Greek word that means, «I disagree». If you look it up in a Greek lexicon, it’s a synonym with baloney. After the Constitution was passed and they added the Bill of Rights, ten amendments, that was the only way the Constitution would have been passed.
The First Amendment says this: «Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof». You understood the Constitution says that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion? The separation clause is not a part of the Constitution. «Or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances».
The amendment that provides for freedom of speech and freedom of the press provides for a freedom to worship God however we see fit without interference of the government. So anybody you know that advocates for freedom of the press and access they have to anywhere, anytime, any place, we’re given a very similar provision of freedom by our Constitution. That’s ours to guard. That’s ours to watch over. You will maintain no liberties and freedoms that you don’t stand up for. Government is in the business of usurping freedom. Governments want power. They always have, they always will. And they will take every power and authority. They will intrude wherever we allow them to do so. Just a little bit of history. Our nation is a unique nation.
We’re not the only nation. We’re not the only nation that has done good. We’re not the only nation that has been used for the purposes of God. But there are some things about this nation that are unique, and I believe we’ve been a unique force for good. Most of us aren’t familiar enough with global history. Russia in the news a lot these days. The Russian people have suffered horribly. When communism came to the Russian people, tens of millions of people died. Lenin and Stalin butchered, terrorized, and tens of millions of people were murdered in the name of giving something to the people. What they gave to the people was terror and murder and a reign of oppression.
And the people who advocate for socialism and communism have to deny the history to do so, and it’s only our profound ignorance that gives them a place in the public square. China, Mao Zedong with his great leap forward resulted in 45 million deaths in four years. For many years, they held a two-child policy. They forced abortion. They committed female infanticide. There’s remained 15 million abortions annually there. Peaceful Islam, as it’s frequently described to us, across the world where it’s in force represents consistently authoritarian, dictatorial, brutal regimes of violence. Women are not treated as anywhere remotely as equals. Outsiders are subject to dhimmi taxes. It’s economic servitude.
If you dare to mention any of the very observable facts that I just recited to you in the public square, you’re frequently shouted down as being xenophobic. I looked it up, that means you don’t like people from other countries. If you advocate for a biblical view of family and human sexuality, you’re often called a whole list of names, which usually begins with homophobic. I will tell you, as I have told you many times, and I’ll continue to repeat it, I believe with all of my heart that Christianity is the hope of humanity. Jesus changes us from the inside out. Christianity is a faith built on personal transformation. It’s not intended to be political.
There have been a few times when Christianity has ventured into the political arena, and it’s almost, without exception, ended poorly. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have an assignment to hold governments accountable. The American church has an enormous responsibility and opportunity. It’s very popular these days and has been for quite a season to assert that we are not a Christian nation. We’ve elected multiple leaders to the most powerful positions in our nation who have had the brazenness to say that we’re not a Christian nation. It’s gone unchallenged for too long. There are some things I think we should know. It is true that we’re not a theocracy. It’s absolutely true. It’s equally true that we are tolerant of other faiths.
Every faith is welcome in this nation. They have been from our inception. It’s true that we’re an inclusive society and we’ll embrace diversities of beliefs and show each one respect. It’s true that our founders clearly did not want a state church, a government-driven, government-enforced, government-funded church to define how we worshiped. However, it’s equally true that we’re a nation with a Christian heritage. And we have the same right to celebrate our heritage of the Christian faith as any other group has a right to celebrate their heritage of faith. If we will teach the heritage of any group of people in our public schools, the Christian heritage should be taught in our public schools. Its contributions to the well-being of our nation should be taught.
It shouldn’t be separate from the public discourse. It’s true that those pioneering and founding our nation sought freedom to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I can’t do it from memory, and I can’t say it as quickly as Tim did when he was here a few weeks ago, but I can remind you of some facts. The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of the Plymouth colony. It was written by the separatists, who came to be known as the Pura pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower, seeking freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination and not according to the dictates of the English church.
Prior to arriving in America, prior to leaving Europe, many of them had been imprisoned for their faith, had their properties confiscated. They signed that document on November 11, 1620, 41 of the ship’s more than 100 passengers. It’s equally true that our finest universities were begun as schools to train Christian ministers, places like Harvard and Yale. You have to sit a minute and think about that. They were founded as places to train Christian ministers. The ministers were frequently, some of them best educated and most respected people in the communities. We’ve come a long way from that.
Much of that on our own heads, nevertheless. Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, was founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Harvard College was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard of Charleston. He was a young minister who, upon his death in 1638, left his library and half his estate to the new institution. Their endowment has grown. Princeton University received its first charter from King George II under the seal of John Hamilton, who, at the time, was the acting governor of the Royal Province of New Jersey.
On October 22, 1746, Princeton is the fourth college to be established in the British colonies after Harvard, William and Mary, Yale. The charter was obtained through the efforts of a number of Presbyterians under the direct influence of the Great Awakening, which is a revival that has swept through the colonies in the early 18th century. Six of Princeton’s seven original trustees were graduates of Yale, which the trustees believe no longer provided a suitable atmosphere in which men could be trained for truly enlightened pulpits.
This situation influenced the trustees to establish a school where young men could be trained not only for the ministry but also for other worthy endeavors. The state as well as the church. We’ve lost our history, folks. We’re embarrassed to take Christianity to the public square. We’re reluctant to say that Christian universities should teach Christian principles and honor the authority of Scripture. Don’t support Christian schools that don’t teach Christian values.
It’s true that the individuals who founded our nation were overwhelmingly Christian men and understood their actions to be guided by God. It is true that our founding documents (the Constitution, the Bill of Rights) reflect a value system clearly derived from the Bible. Our Supreme Court building, our halls of Congress, many of our other of Washington, D.C.'s buildings, which house significant government functions, have Scripture verses prominently carved into the stone of which they are erected. The liberty and freedoms that we know and we prize today have emerged from a Christian worldview. Things like equality before the law, women’s rights, children’s rights, fair labor practices, tolerance, all of these views emerge from a Judeo-Christian worldview. They did not originate with socialism or communism or any of the other isms. We’ve forsaken much of our roots.
Do you know that 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Orthodox, deeply-committed Christians? The other three all believed in the Bible as divine truth, the God of Scripture and his personal intervention. It’s the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of the Scripture for the people of this nation. Patrick Henry, you may remember him from history. He’s often called the firebrand of the American Revolution. He’s still remembered for his words, «Give me liberty, or give me death».
Do you remember that? Good job, coaches. But in the current textbooks, the context of those words is frequently deleted. Here’s the larger statement. He said, «An appeal to arms and the God of host is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death». Those sentences, for the most part, have been erased from our textbooks.
Was Patrick Henry a Christian? Well, the following year, 1776, he wrote this, and I quote, «It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians. Not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ». For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here. Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the front of his well-worn Bible. Again, I quote, «I’m a real Christian, and that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator, and I hope to the pure doctrine of Jesus also».
Consider the words of George Washington, the father of our nation, in his farewell speech on September 19, 1796. «It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle».
Was George Washington a Christian? Well, consider these words from his personal prayer book. Folks, I would submit to you there’s more evidence of their Christianity than most of us. And yet we’ve been told repeatedly they were marginally Christian, they were greedy opportunists, and worse. «Oh eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words, and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by your Holy Spirit. Daily frame me more and more in the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ, that living in your fear, and dying in your favor, I may in your appointed time obtain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless, oh Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of you and your Son, Jesus Christ».
Consider the words of John Adams, our second president, who served as chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders, he said this: «We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other». They never imagined our nation could survive separate from the Christian faith. How about our first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay? He stated that when we select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our nation, we must select Christians. Can you imagine saying something like that? He said, «Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it’s the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers».
John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, the sixth president of the US. He’s also chairman of the American Bible Society. He considered that to be his highest and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said this: «The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity». Convinced yet? Calvin Coolidge, our 30th president, reaffirmed this truth. He wrote, «The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country».
In 1782, the Congress voted this resolution: «The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools». William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the «McGuffey Reader,» which was used for over 100 years in our public schools, with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the schoolmaster of the nation. These are the words of McGuffrey. He said, «The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great, moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology».
Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including, as I’ve already mentioned, Harvard, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard student handbook, rule number one was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures. I quote, «Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life in the studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. In seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him».
And the biblical notations are cited from the handbook. See, we’re not the first generation where our Christian schools have wandered into the weeds, who seek the applause of a secular culture by diminishing our commitment to biblical values. We’re simply the current version. The question is, how far will we allow the institutions to drift before we use our voices and our influence? We see the outcome. Places like Harvard and Princeton and Yale stand far from the boundaries of a biblical worldview today. For over 100 years, more than 50% of all Harvard graduates were pastors. It is clear from history that the Bible and the Christian faith were foundational to our educational and judicial systems.
However, there was a pivot. Pretty dramatic one, honestly. Those kind of changes don’t take place in a vacuum. There was a lot of cultural drift. But in 1947, there was a radical change in the direction of our Supreme Court. It required ignoring the precedents of the Supreme Court for the past 160 years. They ruled in a limited way to affirm a wall of separation between church and state in the public classroom. In the coming years, this led to removing prayer from public schools in 1962. Do you know the prayer that was banished? That heinous prayer that we couldn’t tolerate in a public place? I can give it to you. It’s only two sentences. «Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee. We beg your blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country, amen».
That prayer was so reprehensible it had to be banned by the Supreme Court. But we were busy. We were planting and reaping, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage. In 1963, our Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school systems, 1963. The court offered this justification: «If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children».
Now we put smut in the libraries. Bible reading was now unconstitutional, though the Bible was frequently quoted by those who wrote our Constitution and shaped our nation and its system of education, justice, and government. In 1965, the courts denied as unconstitutional the right of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly for his food. It was 1980, not that long ago, when Stone v. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. They said this: «If posted copies of the Ten Commandments were to have any effect at all, it would be to induce schoolchildren to read them. And if they read them, meditated upon them, and perhaps venerated and obeyed them, this is not a permissible objective».
Remember the First Amendment? «It is not a permissible objective to allow our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments». James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: «We’ve staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments».
I’ve given you the brief history lesson because I believe with all of my heart every generation has to choose to honor God. There’s really no question that those who founded our nation, who made such sacrifices to allow it to come into being, and that many generations between there and now, have believed that the Bible was an essential component to the well-being of our nation.