WHY WE BEGAN THE "REVIVE AMERICA" PROJECT?

Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And from the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and Sarah who bore you. (Isaiah 51:1-2)

 “People without a heritage are easily persuaded.” – Karl Marx

This is a critical moment in American history and I believe, as Mordecai said to Esther, that you and I have come to the kingdom for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). I believe that “The Revive America Project” is God's idea and that it has a strategic role to play in His plan for America and the world at this time.

The Revive America Project is important because our political leaders have rejected our Christian heritage and replaced it with secularism, multiculturalism and political correctness. This is dangerous, for having dispensed with a Christian belief system and world-view, they are left void of the moral and intellectual tools to forthrightly address the things that would destroy us, such as Islam from without and moral decay from within. But there is an answer.

At a critical moment in Israel’s history, God instructed His people to revisit their beginnings as a nation—as a people. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you (Isaiah 51-1-2). By revisiting their past, they would recover their sense of identity as a nation and would thereby be empowered to rise up and confront the challenges of their present and future.

We face a similar situation in America today and if our Republic is to survive we must revisit our past and once again see the hand of God in our beginnings as a nation. We must recover the truth of our heritage as a nation that was formed out of a Great Spiritual Awakening with people totally committed to Christ and His kingdom. And this is where "The Revive America Project" comes in.

While We Slept

Because we the church have been spiritually asleep, secular historians have been able to quietly re-write our history, removing the Christian influence and creating a politically correct America in their own image. This is having momentous ramifications for as George Orwell said in his book 1984, "Whoever controls the past controls the future."

Re-writing America's history has made it "easy" to lead the masses astray, for as Karl Marx said, “People without a heritage are easily persuaded.” Because of the re-writing of our history, secularists have been able to convince judges, politicians, and the American people that the First Amendment (Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion, nor hindering the free exercise thereof) was put in place to keep religion out of public life and maintain a secular state. Blatantly re-interpreting this clause as a “separation of church and state,” secularists have used it as a weapon to ban prayer, Bible reading and Christian symbols from public schools, colleges, courtrooms, town squares and even the military. The Founders would turn over in their grave.

America’s True Heritage

The Christian origins of our nation was assumed for the first 150 years of her existence. This is obvious by looking at historical references from this period. For example, a recent ten-year study project to discover where the Founders got their ideas for America’s founding documents revealed that, by far, the single most-cited authority in their writings was the Bible.

That is why the early History of the United States, published in 1816 by David Ramsey, would point out that the Founders “wisely judged learning and religion [Christianity] to be the firmest pillars of the church and commonwealth.” That is why the noted U.S. senator, Daniel Webster, speaking in 1820 at the 200-year anniversary celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, would highlight America’s overt Christian origins, saying;

Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in the full conviction, that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild peaceful spirit of Christianity.

A French Sociologist Discovers America’s True Heritage

In 1831 the French sociologist, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America to study its institutions and see if he could discover how she had achieved her greatness in such a brief period of time. Arriving on the heels of the Second Great Awakening, he was profoundly impressed with the spiritual vitality of America and wrote, “The religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States.”

Tocqueville was also surprised to see Christianity and the government so intricately intertwined, and observed that the means of improving the government were the same means employed in conversion and the advancement of the Christian faith. He concluded that, in America, “From the beginning, politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved.”

Although not found in his writings, a statement has historically been attributed to Tocqueville that has been quoted many times. It is likely that someone heard this statement in one of his many speeches and wrote it down for posterity. According to this unknown source, Tocqueville 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 forests - and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

The Supreme Court Affirms America’s True Heritage

In 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court completed a 10-year investigation in which thousands of historical documents were investigated concerning the historical roots of the nation. After citing more than sixty historical precedents, the Court unanimously declared, “There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning; they affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation . . . this is a Christian nation.”

There is Hope

I am thankful for all the people God is using today to help recover America's true past. I am thankful to God for His intervention in my life in 2010 when He revealed to me that there was a direct bearing of the First Great Awakening on the founding of the United States of America. At the same time I was convinced that we can see another great, national Spiritual awakening if God’s people will meet the conditions laid out in His word. It was out of that experience that I wrote the book, America’s Revival Heritage. It is also the reason I have put together a documentary PowerPoint presentation of how our country emerged out of a great Spiritual awakening and how the Founders were affected by that Awakening. This is all part of what we call "The Revive America Project."

Concluding Remark

If you do not have the book, America's Revival Heritage, I encourage you to obtain a copy and pray about how you might be involved in "The Revive America Project." The book can be purchased from Amazon and/or by going to my website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com/bookstore.html.