Bring America Back To Her Religious Roots
Part 2 – The Foundation
The 1st Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The church’s responsibility is to inform the public as to the qualifications required of our leaders. In Exodus 18:21, God spoke to Moses through the wise counsel of his father-in-law, Jethro, saying, “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:”. These “rulers” were to settle minor disputes themselves, but would bring major issues to Moses for final judgment. Those men became the government of the nation of Israel.
Until 1954 we could “name names” and compare candidates or office holders to each other and to Biblical standards. Now we can only generalize. The changes to the IRS tax codes that Congress passed in 1954 prohibited the church from informing the people of the character of a political candidate. That change to tax laws prohibited the free exercise of religion and directly violates the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Public schools were originally established and funded by tax dollars so that the people would be taught to read and understand the Word of God with the Bible being its main source for information. If government tried to pass legislation that was contrary to God’s Word the people would know it and then take action to stop it. We have allowed our government to redefine our Constitution and read things into it that our Founding Fathers would never have allowed. We have allowed activist judges to read into our Constitution the “right to privacy” by which a woman can obtain an abortion at any time for any reason.
To fully understand just what the role of the church is supposed to be in this nation we have to look at the role of the church before our independence, during our fight for independence and up until 1954 when the church was taken out of the political arena. Many of you will be surprised to learn how deeply involved the church and the Word of God was in the drafting of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I know that there will be many pastors that will be shocked at the church’s involvement in the development of our government. Too many pastors believe that the church shouldn’t be involved in politics at all. What this book will reveal will be unfamiliar to many pulpits. Revisionist historians have taught what THEY want you to believe instead of what the real history actually is.
There was a book printed that contained the writings of George Washington on four different areas of life. The original book contained comments by his contemporaries. The book is now being printed again. However, the comments are now by revisionists and they have left out almost all of the religious references from the original book and all of the commentaries of his contemporaries and refer to him as a deist. How you can print a book that is full of outright lies and call it historically accurate is beyond me.
Our Founding Fathers took their faith very seriously but many today would like you to believe differently. When the Massachusetts Bay colony was established in 1620, the “pilgrims” established why they were there before they got off of the boat. They wrote the Mayflower Compact.
“In the Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, or England, France and Ireland, King defender of the Faith,
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid;”
The “Ends aforesaid” was the advancement of the Christian faith. Our Founding Fathers lived their faith. Most churches today have a 30 minute message ending with “Call our office Monday-Friday between 9-5 if you want to get saved.” Most modern Americans couldn’t handle the church services in those days. They usually lasted from 4-6 hours and most of the town would attend. It was a firm belief of our Founding Fathers that to serve in public office you had to be a Christian.
We generally understand and agree that the primary purpose and function of the United States Supreme Court is to decide if the laws that are passed by Congress fall within the parameters set out by the Constitution. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court stated, “Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers. It is the duty as well as the privilege and the interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians as their rulers.”
Another of our Founding Fathers was Patrick Henry. His most famous (shortened) statement was ”Give me liberty or give me death.” This is not being taught in schools any more. It promotes patriotism and self-worth and that causes problems with dictating what some people want you to believe. Another statement he made which I assure you will never be taught in public schools is this one: “It can’t be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded NOT by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The revisionist historians want you to believe that Patrick Henry was a deist. (A deist generally believes a supreme being created the universe and that this truth can be known without either faith or organized religion. In most cases, a deist also rejects the idea that God intervenes in human affairs.) The revisionists want you to believe that most of the Founding Fathers were deists, even though ALL evidence proves otherwise. People simply don’t research anything out for themselves. There were 55 signers of the Constitution- 29 were Episcopalians, several were Methodist, and some were Baptist. There was only one alleged deist and that was Ben Franklin, but even he had enough sense to know that Providence should be called upon at times. Members of the Constitutional Convention had spent weeks debating key provisions of the Constitution without making any progress. During that time of intense debate, Franklin addressed the Convention on June 28, 1787. A part of that speech reads, “All of us who were engaged in this struggle must have observed frequent instances of superintending Providence in our favor.” So, that statement by Ben Franklin effectively destroys the revisionist’s theory about him. The next few sentences of his speech “seals the deal” on refuting his so-called deism:
“To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting, in peace, on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend, or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see this truth, that God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
Following that speech, our Founding Fathers spent four hours in prayer. In a public facility, our government officials had prayer and then followed that with preaching - the message was so moving that John Adams wrote to his wife about how important it was. From that moment on the Constitution began to come together with surprising ease.
Thirteen years earlier, Samuel Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who would become the governor of Massachusetts, wrote; “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient, He reigns in heaven from the rising to the setting of the sun. Let His kingdom come.” He also made this statement: “Pray that the light of the gospel and the right of conscience may be continued to the people of the United America and that His Holy Word may be improved by them so that the Name of God will be exalted and their liberty and happiness be secure. That He would be pleased to bless our federal government.” The Foundation is laid.
© Pastor Roger Anghis
Monday, November 8, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Bring America Back To Her Religious Roots Part 1- The Beginning
Bring America Back To Her Religious Roots
Part 1- The Beginning
The religious roots of our nation go very deep. Over the last 50-75 years we have lost a tremendous amount of truth: the history of how Christian religion not only governed the daily lives of our Founding Fathers but how that same faith was always a major factor in the politics of this nation.
In his seminal work, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler stated that the bigger the lie and the more often that it is told the easier it is to get the masses to believe it. In the 30’s and 40’s Hitler did just, that and the result was a world war that cost the lives of over 60 million people.
In 1947 our Supreme Court ruled that the 1st Amendment had erected a “wall of separation” between the church and state, and it had to remain impregnable. There was no preceding evidence of this “truth” in any court ruling for over 170 years, and not even in the first Supreme Court was the church/state position challenged. Yet, the Supreme Court of 1947 decided that our Founding Fathers were uninformed as to the meaning of the 1st Amendment. The 1947 Supreme Court for the first time used ONLY the phrase “separation of church and state” instead of the whole context of that sentence which is not found in any of our founding documents, but in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. A letter was written to then President Jefferson because they had a concern that the US might try to establish a state church as had been done in England. The state ran the church and taxed the people to support the church. When you read the entire letter that Jefferson wrote you will find that he does use the statement “separation of church and state” but it is easily understood that what he is talking about is keeping the government out of the affairs of the church, not keeping the church completely out of the government. In other words the ‘separation’ was an institutional separation not an influential separation. The Supreme Court decision of 1947 by liberal judges put on the Supreme Court by FDR, completely redefined the 1st Amendment. In that day 97% of the people of this nation declared an allegiance to God and in a nation where the majority rules, the 3% of our nation that did not believe in God ruled over the 97%.
In the early 1950’s one of the Supreme Court justices warned that we had better STOP using the phrase “separation of church and state” without it’s proper context or people would begin believing that it was part of our Constitution. Most of the people I talk to today about the so-called “separation of church and state” do believe that it is part of our Constitution. The bigger the lie and the more you tell it makes it easier for the masses to believe it.
Preachers today don’t believe that the church is supposed to be involved in the political arena. Because the church does not address this part of American life we have politicians that won’t protect our borders, we have politicians that believe that it is a woman’s right to destroy her unborn child and we have politicians that refuse to support our troops fighting the war on terror. The Bible teaches us that however the church goes, the nation goes. Preachers today don’t have a problem with how the government has taken our right to be involved in the politics of this nation away from us. Without the church’s influence our politicians have begun to take this nation down a path of destruction. And because pastors are afraid of losing their 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, they won’t stand up for their rights.
I have tried to help pastors educate their people as to what they can and should be doing in terms of their involvement with political issues, and the typical response is, “We don’t do anything political”. I invited 200 pastors to a meeting concerning this and only one pastor showed up! Some pastors won’t even take a side on abortions and same-sex marriages for fear of losing members or their coveted 501(c)3. They claim that it is a political issue. It has become a political issue but more importantly it is a moral issue that the church should be addressing. Half of the people sitting in the pews are living together without the benefit of marriage but the church won’t preach against it for fear of offending someone. One pastor I talked to felt “comfortable” with the American church’s present lack of involvement in the political arena. I used to feel the same way until one day the Holy Spirit asked me, ‘What if I’m not comfortable with the lack of involvement of the church in the political arena?” That is the question that pastors must ask themselves. Is God happy that the church is absent from the political arena and from the government?
There was a point in time in this nation when you couldn’t get elected UNLESS you confessed Jesus as Lord and had a record of attending church regularly. Religion was very important during the days of our Founding Fathers. One man was fined $500 for using the Name of the Lord in vain. That was over a year’s wages at the time. Today you hear people inside the church building using language that reminds you of a drunken sailor. I even heard the son of a pastor who could cuss better than some on the streets. Just a short while ago a man in a public meeting cursed and was arrested and jailed. When he got before a judge, the judge told the police that they had violated his right of free speech. What kind of place have we come to in the church and in our nation?
Today’s churches preach a lukewarm message not wanting to offend anyone. Any time you teach the truth somebody is going to be offended. Lukewarm messages have never built a strong church. Revelation 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of My mouth.”
Many of the preachers that I talk to don’t believe that the church is supposed to be involved in the political arena. But in the Bible God ALWAYS had a man or woman of God close to the king, ALWAYS! Saul, Israel’s first king had Samuel the prophet. Every king, whether they were godly or not, had a man of God to influence them. Even our presidents have had godly men to influence them. One man, Billy Graham, has counseled and prayed with every president since Harry Truman. Eleven presidents have been blessed by Dr. Graham’s prayer and influence. Every president we have had has had a man of God to advise him and pray for him. Our presidents have not always taken the advice of these godly men just as the kings in the Old Testament didn’t always take heed to the advice of the prophets. We have seen some presidents ignore the godly principles of our Founding Fathers and take our nation down a path that leads away from the things of God. One such president was Woodrow Wilson. He was a racist and a progressive with beliefs that were closely akin to Marxism. Later, we had Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the White House. He set this nation on the road to socialism and there are many today in that same political party that are hell-bent on finishing that journey. They support forcing religious organizations to hire homosexuals. They passed “hate crimes” legislation that could make preaching the Biblical view of homosexuality against the law. Over the years, they have supported the removal of religion from the public view including displays of the Ten Commandment, pictures of Jesus and the removal of prayer from government meetings.
The church has to stand up for its rights or we will lose all of our rights. Many pastors say that we have to abide by the laws. But when the laws of man violate the laws of God, Christians, and especially preachers of the gospel, are required to obey God! When John and Peter were brought before the Sanhedrin and told to no longer speak in the Name of Jesus, Peter refused to follow that order: Acts 4:18 “And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
(19) But Peter and John answered and said unto them, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye”.
(20) For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Until 1954 the church leaders could talk about political candidates from the pulpit openly, and whether the individuals and their words and actions were godly or ungodly. We could talk about political parties and whether their platforms and candidates stood for godly things or ungodly things. In 1948, Lyndon Johnson won his first election to the senate by a total of only 87 votes. He had a lot of political connections and was able to stop every attempt at a recount. During the 1954 senatorial campaign, this information was leaked to two 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that then began to inform the public about a possible rigged election. As a result, Johnson had language inserted into the IRS codes that barred any 501(c)3 from supporting or opposing a political candidate or a political party. Johnson was able to silence his opposition. The church had been silenced ever since.
© Pastor Roger Anghis
Part 1- The Beginning
The religious roots of our nation go very deep. Over the last 50-75 years we have lost a tremendous amount of truth: the history of how Christian religion not only governed the daily lives of our Founding Fathers but how that same faith was always a major factor in the politics of this nation.
In his seminal work, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler stated that the bigger the lie and the more often that it is told the easier it is to get the masses to believe it. In the 30’s and 40’s Hitler did just, that and the result was a world war that cost the lives of over 60 million people.
In 1947 our Supreme Court ruled that the 1st Amendment had erected a “wall of separation” between the church and state, and it had to remain impregnable. There was no preceding evidence of this “truth” in any court ruling for over 170 years, and not even in the first Supreme Court was the church/state position challenged. Yet, the Supreme Court of 1947 decided that our Founding Fathers were uninformed as to the meaning of the 1st Amendment. The 1947 Supreme Court for the first time used ONLY the phrase “separation of church and state” instead of the whole context of that sentence which is not found in any of our founding documents, but in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. A letter was written to then President Jefferson because they had a concern that the US might try to establish a state church as had been done in England. The state ran the church and taxed the people to support the church. When you read the entire letter that Jefferson wrote you will find that he does use the statement “separation of church and state” but it is easily understood that what he is talking about is keeping the government out of the affairs of the church, not keeping the church completely out of the government. In other words the ‘separation’ was an institutional separation not an influential separation. The Supreme Court decision of 1947 by liberal judges put on the Supreme Court by FDR, completely redefined the 1st Amendment. In that day 97% of the people of this nation declared an allegiance to God and in a nation where the majority rules, the 3% of our nation that did not believe in God ruled over the 97%.
In the early 1950’s one of the Supreme Court justices warned that we had better STOP using the phrase “separation of church and state” without it’s proper context or people would begin believing that it was part of our Constitution. Most of the people I talk to today about the so-called “separation of church and state” do believe that it is part of our Constitution. The bigger the lie and the more you tell it makes it easier for the masses to believe it.
Preachers today don’t believe that the church is supposed to be involved in the political arena. Because the church does not address this part of American life we have politicians that won’t protect our borders, we have politicians that believe that it is a woman’s right to destroy her unborn child and we have politicians that refuse to support our troops fighting the war on terror. The Bible teaches us that however the church goes, the nation goes. Preachers today don’t have a problem with how the government has taken our right to be involved in the politics of this nation away from us. Without the church’s influence our politicians have begun to take this nation down a path of destruction. And because pastors are afraid of losing their 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, they won’t stand up for their rights.
I have tried to help pastors educate their people as to what they can and should be doing in terms of their involvement with political issues, and the typical response is, “We don’t do anything political”. I invited 200 pastors to a meeting concerning this and only one pastor showed up! Some pastors won’t even take a side on abortions and same-sex marriages for fear of losing members or their coveted 501(c)3. They claim that it is a political issue. It has become a political issue but more importantly it is a moral issue that the church should be addressing. Half of the people sitting in the pews are living together without the benefit of marriage but the church won’t preach against it for fear of offending someone. One pastor I talked to felt “comfortable” with the American church’s present lack of involvement in the political arena. I used to feel the same way until one day the Holy Spirit asked me, ‘What if I’m not comfortable with the lack of involvement of the church in the political arena?” That is the question that pastors must ask themselves. Is God happy that the church is absent from the political arena and from the government?
There was a point in time in this nation when you couldn’t get elected UNLESS you confessed Jesus as Lord and had a record of attending church regularly. Religion was very important during the days of our Founding Fathers. One man was fined $500 for using the Name of the Lord in vain. That was over a year’s wages at the time. Today you hear people inside the church building using language that reminds you of a drunken sailor. I even heard the son of a pastor who could cuss better than some on the streets. Just a short while ago a man in a public meeting cursed and was arrested and jailed. When he got before a judge, the judge told the police that they had violated his right of free speech. What kind of place have we come to in the church and in our nation?
Today’s churches preach a lukewarm message not wanting to offend anyone. Any time you teach the truth somebody is going to be offended. Lukewarm messages have never built a strong church. Revelation 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of My mouth.”
Many of the preachers that I talk to don’t believe that the church is supposed to be involved in the political arena. But in the Bible God ALWAYS had a man or woman of God close to the king, ALWAYS! Saul, Israel’s first king had Samuel the prophet. Every king, whether they were godly or not, had a man of God to influence them. Even our presidents have had godly men to influence them. One man, Billy Graham, has counseled and prayed with every president since Harry Truman. Eleven presidents have been blessed by Dr. Graham’s prayer and influence. Every president we have had has had a man of God to advise him and pray for him. Our presidents have not always taken the advice of these godly men just as the kings in the Old Testament didn’t always take heed to the advice of the prophets. We have seen some presidents ignore the godly principles of our Founding Fathers and take our nation down a path that leads away from the things of God. One such president was Woodrow Wilson. He was a racist and a progressive with beliefs that were closely akin to Marxism. Later, we had Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the White House. He set this nation on the road to socialism and there are many today in that same political party that are hell-bent on finishing that journey. They support forcing religious organizations to hire homosexuals. They passed “hate crimes” legislation that could make preaching the Biblical view of homosexuality against the law. Over the years, they have supported the removal of religion from the public view including displays of the Ten Commandment, pictures of Jesus and the removal of prayer from government meetings.
The church has to stand up for its rights or we will lose all of our rights. Many pastors say that we have to abide by the laws. But when the laws of man violate the laws of God, Christians, and especially preachers of the gospel, are required to obey God! When John and Peter were brought before the Sanhedrin and told to no longer speak in the Name of Jesus, Peter refused to follow that order: Acts 4:18 “And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
(19) But Peter and John answered and said unto them, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye”.
(20) For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Until 1954 the church leaders could talk about political candidates from the pulpit openly, and whether the individuals and their words and actions were godly or ungodly. We could talk about political parties and whether their platforms and candidates stood for godly things or ungodly things. In 1948, Lyndon Johnson won his first election to the senate by a total of only 87 votes. He had a lot of political connections and was able to stop every attempt at a recount. During the 1954 senatorial campaign, this information was leaked to two 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that then began to inform the public about a possible rigged election. As a result, Johnson had language inserted into the IRS codes that barred any 501(c)3 from supporting or opposing a political candidate or a political party. Johnson was able to silence his opposition. The church had been silenced ever since.
© Pastor Roger Anghis
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