History Lesson
This is something that every AMERICAN should read, over and over again.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
This is excellent!- A good history lesson that we all should read. Patrick
Henry is not quoted properly in our present day school texts. "Give me
liberty or give me death" is not exactly all that he said or why!
Did 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 the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention. It
is 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 scripture for the people of this nation.
Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still
remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me death". But
in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he
said:
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts 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."
These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian?
The following year, 1776, he wrote this "It cannot be emphasized too strongly
or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by
Christians; not on religious, 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 on the front of his well-worn
Bible: "I am a real Christian, 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 these words from 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 the 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? Consider these words from his personal prayer
book: "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
thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus
Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed
time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord,
the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of
thee and thy son, Jesus Christ."
Consider these words by John Adams, our second president, who also served as
chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders he
said, "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."
How about our first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay? He stated hat when we
select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our Nation, we must select
Christians. "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers,
and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation
to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was the sixth U.S. President. He was
also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest
and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, "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."
Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth
when 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 United States Congress voted this resolution: "The Congress
of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."
William Holmes McGuffey, author of the McGuffey Reader, 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."
Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: "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 from 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 the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original
Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must
know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: "Let every
student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main
end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal
life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of
all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let
every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs
2:3)."
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 system. However, in 1947, there was a radical
change of direction for the Supreme Court. It required ignoring every precedent
of Supreme Court ruling for the past 160 years. The Supreme Court 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.
Here is the prayer that was banished: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our
dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers
and our country. Amen."
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional
in the public school system. The court offered this justification: "If
portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and
have been psychologically harmful to children."
Bible reading was now unconstitutional, though the Bible was quoted 94 percent
of the time by those who wrote our Constitution and shaped our Nation and its
system of education and 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. In 1980,
Stone vs. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. The Supreme
Court said this: "If the 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, mediated upon them, and perhaps venerated and obeyed them,
this is not a permissible objective."
Is it 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 have staked the whole
future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We
have 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."
Today, we are asking God to bless America. But, how can He bless a Nation that
has departed so far from Him? Prior to September 11, He was not welcome in America.
Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks. Revisionists
have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's Christian roots.
You are encouraged to make copies, and share with others, so that the truth
of our nation's history will be told.
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