WILL AN AWAKENED CHURCH SAVE AMERICA?

I agree with many who are saying that the 2024 presidential election will be the most significant of our lifetime, and perhaps in American history. America is on the brink of losing her soul and the freedoms for which so many have fought and died. There must be a change in Washington D.C. come November.

There is, however, something deeper and more fundamental than the 2024 election that must be addressed if America is to be saved. At its very root, our problem is not political; it is spiritual and moral. This is why an awakened American church is the real key to the future of America at this time.

When America's Pulpits Were "Aflame with Righteousness"

That an awakened church is the key to America’s future was confirmed by the French sociologist and political scientist, Alexis de Tocqueville.

Tocqueville came to America in 1831 to study the country’s penal system and to see if he could discover the cause of her rapid rise to influence and power among the nations of the world. He arrived on the heels of the Second Great Awakening and was struck by the prayers and talk about God he encountered everywhere. He exclaimed, “The religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 166).

He also noted that Christianity and civil liberty seemed to have been merged in the thinking of Americans. He stated that he knew of missionaries being sent to the western frontier because of concern the settlers there could not enjoy the civil liberties promised in the Constitution apart from the influence of the Gospel. He wrote, “Thus, religious zeal is warmed in the United States by the fires of patriotism” (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Defined America, 167).

Although the quote below is not found in Tocqueville’s writings, it has the sound and feel of Tocqueville, and has historically been attributed to him.[1] After nine months of continually traveling and taking notes, Tocqueville is reported to have said,

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

If we are to see America saved, the pulpits of America must once again be “aflame with righteousness,” as Tocqueville put it. This is of utmost importance, for as America’s founders warned, only a moral and virtuous people can be a truly free people. This is why America’s second president, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

May God Awaken the American Church

As a nation, America can no longer be described as a “moral and religious people.” This has happened because we, God’s people, have not been light, driving back the spiritual darkness, or salt, restraining the moral corruption (Matthew 5:13-14). This has happened because of our burning desire to seen as "cool" and to be “liked” by contemporary culture. As a result, we are lacking the power of Pentecost.

I recall, for example, attending a Sunday morning service at one of the best-known mega churches in America I sat through an impressive church production that would rival anything from Nashville or Hollywood. However, I noted an emptiness in my spirit after it was over. My soul had been entertained but my spirit had been left dry.

On the Day of Pentecost there was a “sound from heaven” like a mighty rushing wind that filled the room and “tongues of fire” that sat up on each one of them (Acts 2:1-4). It was not their Audio-Visual Department creating those sights and sound. It was not a production of their Arts Department. Heaven had come down and was filling their souls in response to their prayers and obedience.

We have become very adept at producing lovely earthly sounds for our church programs. These, however, will not save America. If America is to be saved, we must recapture that sound from heaven, and it comes only through sincere prayer and obedience to the risen Lord. Only then will the pulpits of America once again be “aflame with righteousness.”

Only an Awakened Church will save America.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt believes that America can be saved but only through a revived and awakened church. This article is derived from his book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, which documents the impact of the First Great Awakening on the founding of America and the abolition of slavery.

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[1] Tocqueville probably spoke these words in one of his many speeches and someone wrote them down, and they were quoted and requoted and found their way into the public discourse.

DONALD TRUMP, THE USA BIBLE, AND ACCUSATIONS OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

President Donald Trump’s endorsement of the “God Bless the USA Bible” has been met with a storm of criticism. Some are calling it “sacrilege” and “heresy” and others claiming he is taking advantage of people’s faith for the sake of money. Others claim that by associating America with the Bible he is promoting Christian Nationalism, which they insist is dangerous and un-American.  

I am not writing here to speculate about Trump’s motives in partnering in the promotion of this Bible. My concern is the widespread ignorance concerning the major role of the Bible in the founding of America. My concern is the accusations of "Christian Nationalism" by those who use it as a weapon to try and silence those like me who have documented and emphasize America's overt Christian origins.

That the Bible played a major role in the founding of America was highlighted in a 1982 article in Newsweek magazine, entitled “How the Bible Made America.” The authors showed the Bible’s impact on the founding of America in vivid fashion and wrote,

For centuries, the Bible has exerted an unrivaled influence on American culture, politics, and social life. Now historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document: the source of the powerful myth of the United States as a special, sacred nation, a people called by God to establish a model of society, a beacon to the world (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 7).

The following are just a few of the many evidences that the Bible played a major role in the founding of America.

The Continental Congress Opens with Bible Reading

The earliest immigrants to America were children of the Reformation, which means they held to the principle of sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone.” This meant that they saw the Bible, not the pope or bishop, as their primary guide for faith and morality. The Bible was the book, more than any other, to be read and applied to all of life.

The Great Awakening (1726-70), which had a profound impact on the 13 colonies, produced an even greater love and respect for the Bible. The Bible was, in fact, the most popular book in America at the time of its founding. Even the most nonreligious Founders regularly quoted from the Bible.

It is, therefore, not surprising that when the delegates to the First Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774, they opened with an extended time of Bible reading and prayer. Rev. Jacob Dusche, who became their chaplain, began by reading the entire 35th Psalm to the assembled delegates, which included George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and others.

The reading of that Psalm produced a powerful impact on all those present. John Adams described this impact in a letter to his wife Abigail. In describing the reading of that Psalm, he wrote,

It was enough to melt a heart of stone. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seems as if heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read that day. I saw tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave pacific Quakers of Philadelphia. I must beg you to read that Psalm (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 108).

Dusche became their chaplain, and every subsequent session of this Congress was opened with Bible reading and prayer.

Congress Endorses the First English Bible Printed in America

The Founders’ respect for the Bible was also highlighted by their endorsement of the first English Bible printed in America in 1782. The producer of the Bible, Robert Aitken, had written a letter to Congress in which he asked for that government body’s sanction of his work. In the letter, Aitken called this Bible, “a neat Edition of the Scriptures for the use in schools.”

Congress enthusiastically responded to his request and offered the following recommendation to be included in this first English Bible printed in America.

Resolved: That the United States in Congress assembled, highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion as well as an instance of the progress of the arts in this country, and being satisfied from the above report, of his care and accuracy in the execution of the work they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States and hereby authorize him to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper.

Washington Takes the Oath of Office with His Hand on a Bible

George Washington’s great respect for the Bible was affirmed by his nephew, Robert Lewis, who served as his secretary and lived with him while he was president. Lewis said that he had accidentally witnessed Washington’s private devotions in his library and that on those occasions he had seen him in a kneeling posture with a Bible open before him, and that he believed such to have been his daily practice.

It is, therefore, not surprising that when it came time for Washington to be sworn in as America’s first president, he insisted on taking the oath of office with his hand on a Bible. There was no precedent that he should do this. It was his own decision and a declaration that the Bible would be the ultimate source of wisdom and guidance for his administration.

After being sworn in, Washington delivered his first inaugural address. It was no surprise to his audience that his speech was filled with references to God and the Bible. At the close of the ceremony in New York City, he and Congress proceeded to St. Paul’s Chapel where they participated in a worship service with more quotes and readings from the Bible.

The Bible Helped Shape America

The founders respect for the Bible was verified in a ten-year project to discover where they got their ideas for America’s founding documents. This exhaustive study found that although they quoted ancient writers of Greece and Rome and contemporary writers of the Enlightenment, the single most cited authority in their writings was, by far, the Bible (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage, Second Edition, 69).

The Bible was the lens through which they interpreted everything they read and studied. The well-known Catholic scholar, William Novak, has said,

Everywhere that reason led, Americans found the Bible. If they read Francis Bacon, they found the Bible. If they read Isaac Newton or John Milton, they found the Bible. In Shakespeare, they found the Bible. In the world of the founders, the Bible was an unavoidable and useful rod of measurement, a stimulus to intellectual innovation (Hyatt, 5 Pillars of the American Republic, 16).

Andrew Jackson, America’s 7th president, understood this. He once gestured toward a Bible and declared, “That book, sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests.” Teddy Roosevelt, America’s 27th president, said, “No other book of any kind ever written in English has ever so affected the whole life of a people.”

This is not to say that early Americans lived up to the Biblical standard. Far from it! However, they all agreed that the Bible, particularly the teachings of Jesus, was the moral standard and goal toward which all should strive. 

Keeping the Bible as the standard had far-reaching results. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for example, who regularly quoted from the Bible, often pointed out that it was Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that inspired the dignified, nonviolent social action of the Civil Rights Movement.

Yes, it was the Bible that made America great and enabled her to overcome slavery, Jim Crow, and so many other societal ills.

A Revival of Biblical Values

From the above brief overview, it is obvious that those who say associating the Bible with America is dangerous and un-American are grossly uninformed. My concern, therefore, is not that Donald Trump is promoting the “God Bless the USA Bible.” My concern is that so many in Washington D.C. and throughout the nation no longer respect the Bible as a source of moral wisdom and guidance. 

For example, in 2019, the Democrat National Committee (DNC) unanimously passed a resolution affirming atheism and declaring that neither Christianity nor any religion is necessary for morality. In other words, “We don’t need God or the Bible!”

This rejection of Biblical values and truth has left the nation adrift on a sea of moral confusion, Our only salvation is a national spiritual awakening that will restore reason, common sense, and a respect for God’s word. Such an awakening will restore respect for the Bible as held by the Founders and expressed by Abraham Lincoln who in 1864 commented on the Bible, saying,

In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.

So, in answer to all the secularist, anti-Christian critics, I loudly and unapologetically declare that I prefer the moral values of Jesus and the Bible over those of Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, and Levine, and the secularist, woke ideology they have embraced. America's Founders would obviously agree! 

This article was derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s books, 1726: The Year that Defined America, and America’s Revival Heritage, Second Edition, available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com. 

WHY THOSE ON THE LEFT FEAR FREE AND OPEN DEBATE

The vehement reaction of NBC and MSNBC hosts to the hiring of Ronna McDaniel was a clear demonstration that they fear being challenged by someone who can articulate a view that is different from their own. Since they lack confidence in the power of their own arguments, they forcibly shut down all who carry opposing arguments and smear their views as lies and misinformation. 

This sort of censorship is happening, not only at NBC and MSNBC, but throughout American society. On college and university campuses, conservative guest speakers, who are invited by conservative student groups, are regularly shouted down by left wing students and faculty who fear arguments that differ from their own.

This should concern every freedom-loving American, regardless of political affiliation. This is what happens in Marxist and Islamic regimes where views, other than the ones of those in power, are not tolerated. The histrionic reaction of Chuck Todd, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid and others to Ronna McDaniel, show how far the left has departed from America’s founding principles of life and liberty.

For example, the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of speech, was formulated by individuals who did not fear opposing views. By guaranteeing religious freedom and speech, they created a free and open marketplace where ideas could be freely shared, debated, and exchanged.

They could do this because they believed in the inherent power of truth. They believed that on an even playing field, truth would ultimately prevail. They agreed with John Milton who wrote, “Let Truth and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” Thomas Jefferson echoed Milton when he wrote,

Truth can stand by itself. If there be but one right religion and Christianity that one, we should wish to see the nine hundred and ninety nine wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage, Second Edition, 98),

Here is the problem. Those on the ideological left have rejected the existence of any objective truth with inherent power. And since their belief system has no inherent power, and is often irrational and incoherent, the “free inquiry” advocated by Jefferson is not an option. Because they lack confidence in the power of their arguments, their only option is to impose their views by force. This is tyranny and it is happening now in America.

There is hope and it consists in a return to America’s founding principles of faith and freedom. America was molded and shaped out of the First Great Awakening as documented in my book, America’s Revival Heritage, Second  Edition, and she has been sustained by subsequent Awakenings in her history. Recovering our true heritage is critical if the America of our parents and grandparents is to be saved.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt has over 50 years of ministry experience as a revivalist, pastor, and professor of theology. He is on a mission, along with many others, to "save America" by pointing the nation back to her founding principles and praying for another Great Awakening to sweep across the land. His numerous books are available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com.

RECONNECTING AMERICA WITH HER CHRISTIAN ROOTS

"TO DESTROY A PEOPLE YOU MUST FIRST SEVER THEIR ROOTS," wrote Alexander Solzhenitsyn who spent 8 years in a Soviet labor camp and observed how the atheistic communists sought to cut off the Russian people from their Christian history. The same is happening in America today, which is why this book is so timely and important.

If we are going to save America, we must reconnect her with her overt Christian roots. This book does that in a very profound way.

https://amzn.to/3VznsHE

WHY THE CHURCH MUST BE A PROPHETIC VOICE THIS ELECTION YEAR

"

I walked into the office of the mayor of a north Texas city, handed him a copy of one of my books, and said, “This book shows the role of faith and prayer in the founding of America.” He thanked me and then asked a question that momentarily stunned me. He said, “What has happened to the Christians in America?”

When I did not immediately respond to his question, he presented a follow-up question. He asked, “Do you think the Christians in America will rise up again?” I replied, “Yes, we are coming out of the closet.” He then exclaimed, “I sure hope so!”

As I later thought on this conversation, I realized that here is a mayor that is hoping Christians will come out of the closet and let their voices be heard. He continually hears the loud, shrill voices of those on the left pushing their radical demands and godless agendas. Christians, on the other hand, seem eerily silent and he wonders, “What has happened to the Christians in America?”

Prophetic, Not Political

America’s Founders wanted Christian influence in every area of the nation they were founding. They did not, however, want a Constantinian type Church that is a ward of the state and lacking in spiritual and moral strength. They wanted churches free of government influence and able to be a prophetic voice to the state and the nation.

This is why the early Puritans in America would not allow their pastors to hold political office. It was not to keep them out of politics; it was to keep politics out of them. They were historically aware of what happened when Constantine merged the church with the state, took the pastors and bishops under his wing, and provided them with comfortable salaries and all sorts of social perks.

Christian leaders became compromised in their newfound political acceptance. Maintaining acceptance and favor with the emperor was now more important than being a bold prophetic voice to the emperor. As a result, both the Church and the Empire became spiritually dead and morally corrupt.

It was a sad day in the history of the Church and the Puritans were determined not to repeat this mistake. And although we may not agree with their banning of pastors from political office, we do agree with them that Christian leaders must never become holden to any politician or political party and thereby lose their ability to speak boldly in the name of Christ to every situation. 

 America’s founders also wanted to protect the Church from government influence and this is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. “Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion or hindering the free exercise thereof,” was written to prevent a state-run Constantinian type church from ever being established in America. It was written to keep the government out of the Church, not to to keep the Church out of the government. 

The Election Sermon in Early America

America’s founding generation encouraged Christian teachings and intermingled them with their civic elections. An early example of this was the establishment of the “Election Sermon” in New England in 1633. This statute provided that each year, at the time of the annual election of the governor and his assistants, a minister would be appointed to preach an “Election Sermon.”

This was a major event, attended by both religious and civic leaders. After the delivery of the sermon, it was then printed and distributed throughout the colony. This tradition spread and continued for over two-hundred years. In 1860, the noted lawyer and historian, John Wingate Thornton, wrote,

The annual “Election Sermon”—a perpetual memorial, continued down through the generations from century to century—still bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, 20).

The Message of John Witherspoon

Yes, in early America it was considered a duty of Christian ministers to bring Christian values to bear upon politics and civic elections. This was made clear by one of America’s founding fathers who was also an ordained minister.

John Witherspoon was a man of deep faith and an ordained minister from Scotland. As a “dissenting Protestant,” he spent time in prison in his homeland for refusing to compromise his faith. A brilliant scholar, he was eventually released and emigrated to America where he become president of the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton University.

In America, he also became a member of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and he helped draft the Articles of Confederation. It was Witherspoon who authored many of the numerous calls for prayer and fasting that were published by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War.

Witherspoon and every other Founder would have considered it preposterous to think that he, a minister of the Gospel, could not bring his moral values to bear on an election. He wrote,

God, grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and that unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 153-54).

Christian Influence Necessary for the Success of the Nation

Yes, The Founders wanted ministers of the Gospel to bring their message to bear upon the nation. This is why George Washington, after becoming commander-in-chief, appointed Christian chaplains throughout his army. This is why chaplains were appointed to Congress and they continued the tradition, established by the Continental Congress, of beginning each day's proceedings with prayer. The early chaplains also conducted Sunday services in the House Chamber every other week.

John Marshall, who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801-1835, made the Supreme Court facilities available to a local congregation for their Sunday gatherings. So, on Sunday morning, the singing of Christian hymns and the preaching of God’s Word could be heard ringing through the chambers of both the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court. This was neither surprising nor offensive to anyone, for it fit perfectly within the mindset of the founding generation.

Washington and all the Founders knew that the success of the Constitutional Republic they had formed hinged on the moral character of its citizens and their ability to govern themselves according to Christian values. This is why President John Adams, in a 1798 address to the officers of the Massachusetts Militia, declared,

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious [Christian] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 168).

The Founders did not believe there could be liberty apart from virtue, or freedom apart from morality. They were convinced that only Christianity offered the moral and intellectual underpinnings that would preserve the nation they had brought into existence.

They refused to "officially" endorse any particular denomination or creed, but they absolutely wanted ministers of the Gospel to be free to declare Gospel truth. As William Novak said, “The founders did not believe the constitutional government they were erecting could survive without Hebrew-Christian faith.”

It’s Time for a Courageous Stand

Preaching an “Election Sermon” is the prerogative—and duty--of every minister and pastor in America. Not for the promotion of a political party but for bringing the truth of God to bear on the issues of the day. George Washington would agree for in his First Inaugural Address he declared,

The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the external rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained” (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots 2nd Edition, 173). 

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s books, 1726:The Year that Defined America, America's Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, and Pilgrims and Patriots 2nd Edition, These books and others by Eddie are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. Eddie believes that God is calling the church in America to rise up this year and “Save America.”

THE STARTLING CLUELESSNESS OF THE LEFT WING MEDIA

 

It is startling that a professional journalist could be this clueless about America’s founding principles and documents. But during an interview on MSNBC, Heidi Przybyla, a journalist for Politico, slammed Christians who believe that their rights come from God and not from government.

Przybyla declared that there is a difference between Christians and Christian Nationalists, whom she considers a threat to American democracy. One tenet Christian Nationalists hold in common, she asserted, is the belief that rights come from God, not from government.

After listening to Przybyla, one has to wonder if she has read the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration clearly states that human rights come from God and that governments exist to protect and secure those God-given rights. It reads;

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

An Anti-Slavery Document

America’s founding generation considered the above statement to be an anti-slavery statement and abolitionist often quoted it in their fight against slavery. This is why Frederick Douglas, in a July 4th speech in 1852, praised the Declaration of Independence and said to his audience;

The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”

As documented in my book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, America’s founders had been impacted by the antislavery movement that emerged out of the Great Awakening. So powerful was this movement that by 1776 virtually every founding father, including those who owned slaves, had taken a public stand against slavery.

This is why America’s founding documents contain no classifications based on race or skin color. This is astounding when we realize that they were formulated at a time when slavery and inequality were accepted and practiced in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and most of the world. This is why, in the same speech, Douglass extolled the founding fathers and said of them;

The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, 86).

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also understood the significance of the Declaration of Independence. When he was accused of being an extremist, he replied, "Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist?” He then quoted Jefferson’s words from the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, 85-86).

They Were All Christian Nationalists

So, if we accept Przybyla’s definition of a Christian Nationalist as someone who believes rights come from God and not from government, we are led to the startling conclusion that every founding father was a Christian Nationalist.

We also have to conclude that the giants of Abolition and Civil Rights, such as Lincoln, Douglass, and King, were also Christian Nationalists, for they too believed that the rights for which they fought had been given by God, not by a human government.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is on a mission to "Save America" by documenting America's overt Christian origins out of the Great Awakening, and calling for prayer for another such National Awakening. He has documented this vital information in his books, 1726: The Year that Defined America, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, and others, which are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

THE STARTLING CLUELESSNESS OF THE LEFT-WING MEDIA

It is startling that a professional journalist could be this clueless about America’s founding principles and documents. But during an interview on MSNBC, Heidi Przybyla, a journalist for Politico, slammed Christians who believe that their rights come from God and not from government.

Przybyla declared that there is a difference between Christians and Christian Nationalists, whom she considers a threat to American democracy. One tenet Christian Nationalists hold in common, she asserted, is the belief that rights come from God, not from government.

After listening to Przybyla, one has to wonder if she has read the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration clearly states that human rights come from God and that governments exist to protect and secure those God-given rights. It reads;

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

An Anti-Slavery Document

America’s founding generation considered the above statement to be an anti-slavery statement and abolitionist often quoted it in their fight against slavery. This is why Frederick Douglas, in a July 4th speech in 1852, praised the Declaration of Independence and said to his audience;

The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”

As documented in my book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, America’s founders had been impacted by the antislavery movement that emerged out of the Great Awakening. So powerful was this movement that by 1776 virtually every founding father, including those who owned slaves, had taken a public stand against slavery.

This is why America’s founding documents contain no classifications based on race or skin color. This is astounding when we realize that they were formulated at a time when slavery and inequality were accepted and practiced in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and most of the world. This is why, in the same speech, Douglass extolled the founding fathers and said of them;

The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, 86).

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also understood the significance of the Declaration of Independence. When he was accused of being an extremist, he replied, "Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist?” He then quoted Jefferson’s words from the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (Hyatt, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, 85-86).

They Were All Christian Nationalists

So, if we accept Przybyla’s definition of a Christian Nationalist as someone who believes rights come from God and not from government, we are led to the startling conclusion that every founding father was a Christian Nationalist.

We also have to conclude that the giants of Abolition and Civil Rights, such as Lincoln, Douglass, and King, were also Christian Nationalists, for they too believed that the rights for which they fought had been given by God, not by a human government.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is on a mission to "Save America" by documenting America's overt Christian origins out of the Great Awakening, and calling for prayer for another such National Awakening. He has documented this vital information in his books, 1726: The Year that Defined America, America’s Revival Heritage 2nd Edition, Abolitionist Founding Fathers, and others, which are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.