Our real roots...A history lesson that needs to be told....
OUR REAL ROOTS:
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 of
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
religion, 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 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 the 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
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 Court Justice, John Jay?
He stated that 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 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.'
Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: 'The Christian religion is the
religion of our country. >From it are derived our notions on
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 everyone
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 in our educational and judicial system. However in 1947,
there was a radical change of direction in the Supreme Court.
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.'
(Actually "Not" reading them will do more harm! Consider Columbine High School!)
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 rights 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
school children to read them. And if they read them, meditated upon
them, and perhaps venerated and observed 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?
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. I , Mary Jones, the designer of
this web page, encourage all who read and agree with the words herein,
to share it with others, so that the truth of our nation's history may
be told.