THE KEY TO AMERICA'S FUTURE

I recently awakened with a distinct, internal conviction that God has given us a key to America’s future. As I thought on this, I instinctively knew that the key to America’s future is a recovery of America’s past, for as George Orwell said, “Whoever controls the past, controls the future.”

The anti-Christian forces in America have been very busy taking control of America’s past and purging everything Christian from her founding and history. School children and college students are now taught that those first immigrants to America came for adventure and gold and that her founders were a bunch of wealthy, Deistic slave owners who were seeking more power.

These historical revisionists have known exactly what they were doing, for as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “To destroy a people you must first sever their roots.”  

Robbed of its Christian heritage, America’s populace seems vulnerable, as never before, to being shaped into an amoral, secularist society. We have reached the place of which Karl Marx spoke, when he said, “People without a heritage are easily persuaded.”

If we are going to take control of America’s future, we must use the key and take control of her past. We must restore her true heritage as a nation birthed out of great, spiritual awakening.

I was drawn into this in 2010 at a time when I had given up hope of America ever seeing another national, spiritual awakening. I was surprised by the Holy Spirit that day and for several hours my heart and mind were flooded with thoughts of hope and faith that America "could" see another great, spiritual awakening that would stem the tide of secularism, immorality and false religion that is flooding our land.

The other thing with which the Holy Spirit surprised me that day was the understanding that there was a direct link between the First Great Awakening and the founding of America. I had researched and written about the Great Awakening, but for the first time I saw that it had a direct bearing on the founding of this nation.

I knew instinctively that I was to put in writing what I was seeing. So, after more research and writing, my book, Pilgrims and Patriots, came into existence. Pat Robertson read the manuscript and called it “a must read!”

I have since created a PowerPoint presentation from the book that I call “Revive America.” In it I show how America was birthed out of great spiritual awakening and I call those present to begin praying for another such Awakening to rock our land.

This is the key to America’s future. We must take control of our past if we are to have any hope of taking control of our future for the next generation.

I am ready to take this message across America. If you would like to discuss hosting a “Revive America” event in your church or city, send me an email at dreddiehyatt@gmail.com.

A recent "Revive America" Event at
 Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas

THE FRIGHTENING IGNORANCE OF MODERN AMERICAN CULTURE

NBC stalwart, Chuck Todd, recently went on a rant against the idea that our rights as American citizens come from God. He played a recording of Judge Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for senator from Alabama, in which Moore declared, “Our rights don’t come from government; they don’t come from the Bill of Rights; they come from Almighty God.”

Todd appeared flabbergasted at such an “ominous” idea and suggested that Judge Moore, “Doesn’t appear to believe in the Constitution as it’s written.” Todd obviously does not understand that the idea of God as the Source of our rights comes directly from the Declaration of Independence. But what is disconcerting is that he describes those who think this way as dangerous and almost un-American.

But if our rights do not come from God, from whence do they come? A king? A pope? The news media? Whoever happens to hold governmental power at a given time? Some might answer, "the democratic majority." History, however, has shown that without transcendent moral restraints the majority can become a mob that runs roughshod over the rights of those in the minority.

This is why the book, Pilgrims and Patriots, is so vital at this time in our nation’s history. It is why “Revive America” events are so important for they have the potential to unleash another Great Awakening that turns this nation back to God.

Here is a quote from page 130 of Pilgrims and Patriots concerning the Founders' view on this matter of the Source of our rights.

“Jefferson, Franklin and the other Founders saw human rights as having a transcendent source, that being, God Himself. They and their forebears had suffered the loss of their rights, and their being given or taken at the whim of a monarch, pope or bishop. In this new nation, they were determined to fix them in a place beyond human reach. Government, they insisted, did not exist to give or take away rights, but to protect those rights already given by God."

Eddie Hyatt
www.eddiehyatt.com

http://amzn.to/2g085qn

HERE I STAND! HOW MARTIN LUTHER'S UNCOMPROMISING STAND FOR FREEDOM CONTRIBUTED TO THE FOUNDING OF AMERICA

October 31, 2017 will mark the 500-year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door and igniting the Protestant Reformation. Luther, a Catholic priest and University professor, was challenging his church’s practice of selling indulgences that offered forgiveness of sins and freedom from purgatory, all for a price.

From there, Luther went on to challenge papal authority and the sacramental system of the Catholic Church with his teachings on justification by faith, the priesthood of all believers and the ultimate authority of Scripture. Ordered by the Roman Church hierarchy to stop teaching these doctrines, Luther decided that he could not sacrifice truth for a superficial unity.

Luther’s Bold Stand for Freedom

He was, therefore, ordered to appear before a tribunal of cardinals, bishops and the Roman Emperor. Held in the city of Worms, it was known as the Diet of Worms. Standing alone before this imposing body of religious and civil authorities, Luther was ordered to recant his teachings or suffer excommunication, which could also mean death.

Luther told this court that he was willing to recant but only if he could be convinced by reason and the Scriptures that he was in error. The Roman hierarchy, however, was not in the habit of “reasoning” with those who challenged their authority, and they demanded that Luther admit his error there on the spot.

In his famous reply, which struck a blow for individual freedom and religious liberty, Luther refused to back down even though he knew his very life was at stake. He boldly concluded his defense of freedom with these words.

I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant anything, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand! God help me! I can do no other! Amen!

The Radical Reformers

Luther, however, was a man of his times and in later life, physically ill and frustrated with the multitude of hindrances to the Reformation, he advocated the use of force in dealing with those he considered enemies of the Gospel, which included Catholics, Muslims, Jews and Anabaptists.

It was the more radical, pacifist groups of the Reformation—the Anabaptists, Separatist Puritans and Quakers--who took Luther’s early stance on freedom of conscience and religious liberty to its logical conclusion and applied it to all areas of life, even when it meant suffering and death.

Like the early Luther, these groups considered the ideal of individual freedom and religious liberty to be tied to their Christian faith. This is clearly borne out in the opening statement of the Constitution of “The New England Confederation,” formed in 1643, which reads,

Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 52-53).

Yes, it was these so-called “radical” Reformation groups, the Separatist Puritans, the Baptists and the Quakers, that brought Luther’s original ideas of freedom of conscience and religious liberty to the New World and further developed them on American soil. This is what historian, Benjamin Hart, was referring to when he wrote,

It was Protestants of the most radical stripe, most zealous in their religious convictions (those whom the America Civil Liberties Union would like to see outlawed from the public discourse) who were in fact the greatest proponents of religious liberty as codified in America’s governing charter 200 years later (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 66-67).

These American Liberties are Under Attack

Today those radical ideas of individual freedom and religious liberty, on which our nation was founded, are under attack. Christian bakers, florists and other Christian artisans are being told they "must" provide their services to same-sex weddings, irrespective of the fact that it violates their conscience and sincerely held religious beliefs. This is un-American!

Christians are being told they have no right to make their views known in public. Senators Diane Feinstein and Bernie Sanders have recently challenged the fitness of judicial and cabinet nominees to serve because of their open Christian testimony. A recent “chilling study” revealed that a majority of college students believe it is OK to disrupt and shout down a [Christian] speaker with whom they disagree. This is un-American!

Yes, it is time for Christians in America to take a cue from Luther and once again make a stand for individual freedom of conscience and religious liberty. Like Luther we must be fully convinced by the word of God that ours is the true and righteous position. And then, we must not waver.

A Time for Truth and Boldness

“Remember George, this is no time to go wobbly,” Margaret Thatcher is reported to have said to George H.W. Bush as he mulled over what to do in response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990. This is an appropriate word for American Christians in 2017 when the ideals that made America and the Western World are under attack.

Yes, this is no time for Christians in America to go wobbly. We must, like Luther, take a stand for individual freedom and religious liberty. If we don’t take this stand, this unique liberty, that has been enjoyed by generations of Americans, will be lost to the next generation. It is that serious.

But if we take this stand in the spirit of Christ, we can count on the Holy Spirit to empower us afresh with another Great Awakening and these freedoms will be preserved for coming generations. Just look at how far-reaching was Luther’s uncompromising stand that day. It changed the Western World and provided an ideal for the founding of the United States of America.

This article was derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's book, Pilgrims and Patriots, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. Dr. Hyatt presents "Revive America" events in which he documents how America was birthed out of a Great Spiritual Awakening and shows why he believes another Great Awakening is immanent. He can be contacted at dreddiehyatt@gmail.com