Sermon Tone Analysis

One Nation Under God

(Oct 26, 2008)

The TOPIC for today is: The Godly Heritage of this Great Country we live in

I need to give full credit to WALLBUILDERS.COM for both the concept, & information - I encourage you to go to their website - & get involved

April 19, 1775 - The morning after Paul Revere's Ride 70 men lined up on the Lexington Green in the MASS Colony

Not a trained army - but primarily a Pastor & the men & boys in his congregation (the Minutemen)

ready to stand for Freedom - against 6 Co's of the British military (800 trained soldiers) who were in position just 150 ft away

Capt.

Parker - walked up & down the line of the 70 - & he said "Do not fire unless fired upon.

But if they mean to have war, then let it begin HERE."

& then - the shot "heard round the world" was fired & the fight for FREEDOM in this country began

& in the following 8 ½ years the greatly outmanned & out-gunned American soldiers

miraculously defeated the far larger & far better equipped British Army & Navy

& it was DURING this war - the Declaration of Independence was ADOPTED by the Colonial Congress - on July 4, 1776

Ultimately making the Colonies of America ONE NATION UNDER GOD

That was 1776 - but this country had been in the creation & foundation stage for 150 years prior to that

& it was in those crucial years - that the foundation for this Country was actually forged

& what many today would like to ERASE is the Crucial & Fundamental Role that God & God's Word played

in Forging the Foundation of this ONE NATION UNDER GOD

So our purpose today is to briefly review how God & God's Word

gave Clear Direction & a Strong Foundation for the birth of this Great Country

Let's Pray

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Contrary to much of what we see today

this country's forefathers made the Bible

the actual, practical CENTER of their lives - & decision making

Our forefathers saw the Bible NOT just as a spiritual guide,

but as a practical guide for every day of life

& so (naturally) the Bible was sown into the fabric

of HOW the people of this new country should live

The great Patriot Patrick Henry who's famous

"Give me Liberty or give me death" speech

was delivered in a Virginia Church in 1775

wrote this; The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed

The famous educator Noah Webster

(Webster's Dictionary - 1st Published in 1806);

wrote this; The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good, & the best corrector of all that is evil in human society.

Another webster (not related) Daniel Webster - A great legal defender of the Constitution & Secretary of State; wrote this; To the free & universal reading of the Bible, men are much indebted for right views of civil liberty.

The Bible is a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow man

THAT - is how CENTRAL the Bible was to lives of our forefathers

But let's take a minute to go back to the real beginning

Where did our Founding Fathers get their commitment to God & God's Word

They were HEIRS to a Godly heritage that began in this land 150 years earlier

In the 1620's - the Pilgrims & Puritans really began arriving on our shores (130 years after Columbus)

& they came here with One Primary Book - THE BIBLE

In fact - their love for the Bible - & commitment to the Reformation was a huge part of what drove them here

& one of their primary purposes in coming to The New World was to form a society BUILT on God's WORD

in 1647 - the settlers began arriving in huge numbers & education became a real need

& in one of the earliest Public Education Laws in the Colonies was the Code of 1650

it stated - the Purpose of the Public Education System was to FIRST insure that all students had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures

& 40 yrs later - still concerned about Public Education, the 1690 CONN illiteracy law states, as its purpose: This Legislature observing, not withstanding our former orders made for the education of Children, there are many persons unable to read the English tongue, and thereby incapable of reading the Holy Word of God, or the good laws of this state.

in that same year (1690) the 1st text book was printed in the American Colonies

it was called, "The New England Primer" & it was the primary text book for American Education

for over 200 yrs - Until the early 1900's

It started off with Phonics - then came the Rhyming alphabet

To help the students memorize - there was a picture depicting a BIBILCAL EVENT placed by each letter

& then a Rhyme for the student to learn - For Example;

A - (pic of the Garden, &) In Adam's fall, we sinned ALL

B - (pic of the Bible, &) Heaven to find, the BIBLE Mind

C - (pic of the Cross.

&) CHRIST crucified, for sinners died

& EVERY single letter had with it a Bible Picture, & a Bible Rhyme

& in the back of this first American textbook were 170 questions to test Grammar school students

MOST of which - had to do with God's Word

An example from the 1st Grade test section; What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification?

for 200 of our very first years - this was THE textbook in America

& you can STILL buy this textbook today from WALLBUILDERS.COM

jump ahead 84 years to SEPT 6, 1774

The opening session of the Colonial Congress - the 1st meeting

The record of this session can easily be found & read today

& if you do read it - you will find that the men of the 1st Colonial Congress - in their 1st meeting

PRAYED for THREE HOURS & did a Bible study on PSALM 35 all of which are clearly recorded in the Records of Congress

Just stop & think about that for a minute !!

jump to 1776

when the Congress appointed a Committee to draft the Declaration of Independence

56 men were appointed to draft the Declaration that would literally change the history of this world

But pls listen carefully - 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence - had full seminary degrees

Nearly ONE-HALF of the signers of the document that birthed this Nation - were Ordained Ministers & Pastors

& most of the others were leaders in their churches

They believed in Divine Moral Absolutes

& they clearly wrote those Divine Absolutes right into our Declaration of Independence

And WHERE (technically) did these men find the ideas that made the Declaration of Independence like NO OTHER Governing document in the world

We know from the signers themselves that many of the concepts used for the Declaration of Independence

came from a writing by JOHN LOCKE called "Two Treatises of Government"

in which the Bible is mentioned no less than 1500 times

in less than 400 pages - - (can still get this today)

& here's another incredible proof of the Faith of our Founding Fathers

Prior to the Declaration of Independence

England (church of England) had made it illegal

to publish an English Bible

But as soon as the Declaration of Independence was signed

one of the signers - Benjamin Rush - started the

1st Bible Society in this country - to spread the Word of God

& within 8 yrs the same men who SIGNED our

Declaration of Independence had started 121 Bible Societies

for the SOLE PURPOSE of getting God's Word

into the hands of the people in this country

One of those Bible Societies - the American Bible Society

still distributes millions of Bibles around the world - every year

Let me say that AGAIN

The VERY SAME men who signed the Declaration of Independence