THIS IS NO TIME FOR SILENCE

“What has happened to the Christians in America?”

That was the response of the mayor of a prominent north Texas city after I handed him a copy of my book, Pilgrims and Patriots, and explained that it documents the role of faith and prayer in the founding of America.

I was momentarily stunned by his question and before I could respond he asked another question, “Do you think the Christians will rise up again?” I replied, “Yes, they are coming out of the closet.” With intensity in his voice, he replied, “I sure hope so.”

In reflecting on the words of this mayor, I realized that he constantly hears the loud demands and protests of liberals, socialists, LGBT activists, and all those who want to destroy the America of our parents and grandparents. In contrast, the voices of Christians seem silent, and he would like to know, “What has happened to the Christians in America?”

I am here reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” If the America of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln is to survive, we can no longer remain silent.

We are called to “salt” and “light” in our culture, and this involves letting our voice be heard on our jobs, in public education, and in all public sectors. We can no longer afford to hide in our religious enclaves. For salt to fulfill its purpose it must be shaken out of the saltshaker. 

Nazi Germany came into existence because too many Christians were silent. One German Christian, with great remorse, told how the church he attended was situated next to a railroad over which many Jews were carried to the concentration camps. When a train passed during their church service and they heard screams and cries,  "We sang louder," he said.

There is much hostility toward Bible-believing Christians in contemporary America. People, like Aaron and Melissa Klein of Portland, Oregon, have lost their jobs and their businesses for standing for truth. Nonetheless, we must not be intimidated. This is no time for silence. 

We should follow the example of the early church and pray for boldness. When the religious/political leaders in Jerusalem sought to intimidate those early Christians by threatening them and ordering them not to speak in the name of Jesus, they went to God in prayer.

They did not ask for deliverance from their persecutors, but for boldness to speak God's word. God was obviously pleased with their prayer, for Luke says,

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).

In its infancy, America was culturally transformed through prayer and the bold witness of God's people. Benjamin Franklin described the transformation that came over his hometown of Philadelphia, saying,

It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening with hearing psalms sung in different families of every street (Hyatt, The Faith and Vision of Benjamin Franklin, 33).

Such cultural transformation also occurred in the Second Great Awakening and the Great Prayer Awakening of 1857-58. It can happen again as God's people make a fresh commitment to be His witnesses and begin praying for a new pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the churches of America. (Acts 2:1-4). This is no time for silence!

Dr. Eddie L Hyatt is an author, revivalist and Bible teacher. He is the founder of "America's Reawakening" whose purpose is to call America back to her founding principles of faith and freedom and to pray for another Great Awakening across the land. He has written several books on revival and spiritual awakening available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

NO, MR. O'ROURKE, AMERICA WAS NOT FOUNDED ON WHITE SUPREMACY

Modern Socialist Democrats love to claim that America was founded on racism and white supremacy. The problem with their argument is that the concept of race is nowhere to be found in America's founding documents. The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are racially inclusive documents.

If a foreign visitor had read the Constitution at the time of its enactment, they would not have known that slavery existed in America. There is no mention of slaves or slavery. There is no reference to individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, or skin color. Instead of using race classifications, the Constitution speak of “citizens,” “persons,” and “other persons.”

Dr. King and Frederick Douglas Understood This

There is nothing in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution to indicate that the freedoms guaranteed therein do not apply to every individual. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. understood this, and in his stirring “I Have a Dream” speech, he challenged America, not to dispense with its founding documents, but instead, to live up to them. Speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he declared his hope,

That one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

Showing that he understood these guaranteed freedoms to be rooted in the country’s Christian origins, Dr. King, who was a devout Christian, went on to say that he had a dream that one day all Americans—regardless of their skin color—would be able to sing together the words of that Christian, patriotic hymn,

My country 'tis of Thee,

Sweet land of liberty, of Thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside,

Let freedom ring!

Yes, America’s founding principles are colorblind, even if her history has not been. The famous abolitionist, Frederick Douglas, understood this and argued that the language of the founding documents must be understood as applying to everyone. “Anyone of these provisions in the hands of abolition statesmen, and backed by a right moral sentiment,” he declared, “would put an end to slavery in America” (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 159).

Understanding the Three-Fifths Clause

One of the most misunderstood sections of the Constitution is the “three-fifths clause” in which only three-fifths of the slave population of southern states would be counted for representation. This had nothing to do with assigning value based on race. This was related to keeping the southern states from gaining too much power in the new Congress where the number of representatives from each state would be tied to the population of that state.

The southern states wanted to include their slave populations to gain more representatives and more power, even though slaves could not vote. The three-fifths compromise was a way of diminishing their influence in the new Congress in that it counted only three-fifths of the slave population for purposes of representation.

Even here, the Founders did not use the word "slaves" or slavery," but "other persons." Abraham Lincoln described this refusal of the Founders to acknowledge slavery in the Constitution as being like a man who hides an ugly, cancerous growth until the time comes that it can be eradicated from his body.

That the three-fifths clause had nothing to do with assigning value based on race is confirmed by the fact that, at the time of the Constitutional Convention, there were at least sixty-thousand free blacks in northern and southern states who counted the same as whites when it came to determining the number of representatives to Congress. Additionally, it is important to note that there were as many as ten states where blacks had full voting privileges.

The “Moral Outrage” Against Slavery

By the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 virtually all the Founders agreed with John Adams who said, “Every measure of prudence . . . ought to be assumed for the eventual total extirpation of slavery from the United States. I have throughout my whole life held the practice of slavery in abhorrence.”  

The brilliant historian, Dr. Thomas Sowell, who happens to be black, has confirmed this, saying, “Among those who turned against slavery in the eighteenth century were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other American leaders.” 

Nonetheless, at the Constitutional Convention, concessions were made toward the southern states out of concern that a union could not succeed if all Thirteen Colonies were not included. Sowell has said,

But don’t pretend that it was an easy answer—or that those who grappled with the dilemma in the eighteenth century were some special villains when most leaders and most people around the world saw nothing wrong with slavery.

In formulating the Constitution, the Founders were both careful and precise in the use of language. Unlike modern progressive socialists who see everything through the prism of race, they purposely avoided classifications based on race and skin color. Though not banning slavery in the South at the time, they put in place the legal mines that would eventually blow it up.

The Constitution is a Racially Inclusive Document

Yes, modern Socialist Democrats love to insist that America was founded on racist principles. They are wrong. David Azerrad was correct when he said, “The argument that the Constitution is racist suffers from one fatal flaw: the concept of race does not exist in the Constitution” (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 161-62).

The Founders did not invent slavery. They were born into a world where slavery already existed. They were not perfect, and it can be argued that they conceded too much at the time. Nonetheless, they did an admirable job of formulating founding documents that would eventually eradicate that horrendous institution and make America "the land of the free and home of the brave," with people of every race and ethnicity wanting to live here.

This article was derived from the book, Pilgrims and Patriots, by Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt. Dr. Hyatt has a passion to see America return to her founding principles of faith and freedom. He has written extensively on America's Christian founding and has created a PowerPoint presentation entitled "America's Reawakening" that he presents throughout the nation. His website is www.eddiehyatt.com.

THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN SAVE AMERICA

In his address to the nation after the horrible massacres in El Paso and Dayton, President Trump called for a cultural change in America. For him and many others, those horrific crimes were the most recent reminders that something is disturbingly amiss with our culture.

Who Will Bring Cultural Change?

This then leads to the pressing question, “Who will bring the needed cultural change? Will it come from the stars and starlets in Hollywood? What about the mainstream media or the educational system? Maybe from politicians? Perhaps from the music industry? 

The answer is “none of the above.” All these have miserably failed in this regard and have all contributed to what is wrong in the culture. No, the only hope for positive cultural change lies with the church—the followers of Jesus Christ—whom He called the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14)).

How Will it Occur?

For this to occur, however, the church must recover the Message that was entrusted to her by the Lord. The Message is the key. It was the Gospel Message, in fact, preached without compromise, that gave birth of the United States of America. 

This was confirmed by the late Harvard professor, Perry Miller, who said, “The Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a direct result of the preaching of the evangelists of the Great Awakening.” This was not a reference to the “style” of preaching, for there were varied styles, but to the Message itself that was preached.

Since George Whitefield was the most noted preacher of the Awakening, I will here seek to delineate the Message he preached. There is no question that Whitefield’s preaching brought cultural change to colonial America. Concerning his visit to Philadelphia in 1739, Benjamin Franklin wrote,

It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening with hearing psalms sung in different families of every street (Hyatt, The Faith and Vision of Benjamin Franklin, 32-33).

The Power of the Message Itself

While many in the church are looking for a bigger and better program or a more appealing style, the answer for cultural change lies in the Message itself. This understanding is critical, for in Romans 1:16, Paul speaks of the inherent power of the Gospel Message, saying, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes . . ..

Paul makes clear that the Gospel is not a conduit or channel for God’s saving power. The power is in the Message itself. Then, in I Corinthians 1:17, he warns that if we go too far in attempting to make the Message “cool, hip and acceptable” to contemporary culture, we run the risk of preaching a message that has been emptied of its power (NIV).

Whitefield’s Message

Whitefield was absorbed with the Message. He lived and breathed God’s Word. Concerning the early days of His ministry after graduating from Oxford, he wrote,

"My mind now being more open and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures on my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and every word" (Hyatt, George Whitefield, 12).

For his sermons, he did not rely on testimonies or feel-good anecdotal stories. His preaching was Biblical and Christ-centered. He would take a passage of Scripture, such as the healing of blind Bartimaeus, the faith of Abraham in offering up Isaac, or the parable of the ten virgins, and expound on it.

No matter which passage he used, he always made application to mankind’s lost condition and Jesus Christ as the only remedy for sin and the only way to be reconciled to God.

Recognizing the risk of oversimplifying the matter, Whitefield’s message can, I believe, be divided into three distinct categories.

1.       The dire condition of fallen, sinful humanity, separated from God and deserving of eternal damnation.

2.       The wondrous mercy and grace of God shown toward sinful humanity in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

3.     The necessity of a new birth, and the inadequacy of baptism, church membership, and all religious externals in which people have placed their hope.

Humanity’s Fallen Condition

Whitefield emphasized the truth of humanity’s sinfulness and lostness outside of Christ. Benjamin Franklin mentioned this in his Autobiography, telling how he was surprised that the people so admired and respected Whitefield despite the fact that “he commonly abused them, assuring them they were no more than half-devils and half-beasts” (Hyatt, George Whitefield, 51).

When this author first read this statement of Franklin, I assumed he was using hyperbole in speaking of Whitefield’s preaching on the sinful condition of fallen humanity. However, in a later reading of Whitefield’s sermons, I discovered that Franklin was accurately describing Whitefield’s message.

Preaching from the steps of the Philadelphia courthouse to a massive crowd that included Franklin and the leading citizens of that city. Whitfield did not hold back, but in stark terms, and a bit of hyperbole, painted a very unflattering picture of the fallen state of humanity. As the huge crowd stood and listened in rapt silence, Whitefield’s passionate and melodious voice pierced the atmosphere.

But let these modern, polite gentlemen, and my letter-learned brethren, paint man [humanity] in as lovely colors as they please; I will not do it; I dare not make him less than the word of God does. If I was to paint man in his proper colors, I must go to the kingdom of hell for a copy; for man is by nature full of pride, subtlety, malice, envy, revenge and all un-charitableness; and what are these but the temper of the devil? And lust, sensuality, pleasure, these are the tempers of the beast. Thus, my brethren, man is half a beast and half a devil (Hyatt, George Whitefield, 51-52).

Modern ears, use to being tickled with "feel-good" anecdotal soundbites, will react to such preaching, Nonetheless, in light of the cultural corruption we are seeing all around, mankind's fallen state is a Biblical truth that must be reconsidered.

Whitefield understood that humanity had been created a noble creature in the image and likeness of God. He also understood that the image had been marred by the fall and sin as described in Genesis 3. He is here describing, with some hyperbole, the awful condition of mankind in his fallen state, separated from God.

It has been said that the gospel is not really “good news” until we hear and understand the “bad news.” Whitefield was a master at painting the bad news for his audiences, but he was just as adept at presenting the good news of God’s love and grace for humanity. The contrast had a powerful effect on his audiences.

God’s Wondrous Love Revealed in Jesus Christ

After showing their lost, natural state, Whitefield always proceeded to point his audience to Jesus Christ alone as God’s answer for mankind’s dilemma. He made much of the wonderous grace and mercy shown to mankind through Jesus Christ. The contrast with mankind’s rebellious and sinful state provided a stunning comparison, and Whitefield often wept as he talked of the stupendous love and grace of God in coming to this world in the person of Jesus Christ.

In preaching to one large outdoor audience on Abraham’s offering up of Isaac, Whitefield had the crowd in tears as he described the love of Abraham for his son, and the emotions he must have experienced in binding his son and laying him on the altar. He then exhorted,

I see your hearts affected; I see your eyes weep. But behold I show you a mystery, hid under the sacrifice of Abraham’s only son, which, unless your hearts are hardened, must cause you to weep tears of love. How much more ought you to extol, magnify, and adore the love of God, who so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. May we not well cry out, “Now know we, O Lord, that you have loved us, since you have not withheld your Son, your only Son from us.

Oh, stupendous love! While we were His enemies, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might become a curse for us. Oh, the freeness, as well as the infinity, of the love of God our Father! It is unsearchable: I am lost in contemplating it; it is past finding out! (Hyatt, George Whitefield, 53)

The Necessity of a New Birth

Whitefield emphasized that many professing Christians had built their faith on faulty foundations, such as church membership, good deeds, family pedigree, social status, and cultural refinement. He emphasized that these old foundations must be overturned and faith in Jesus Christ alone must be laid as the only foundation for acceptance with God.

He brought this vividly to the minds of a large audience as he preached on the parable of the ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13. He pointed out that all ten were virgins, and all had lamps, which he said symbolized their outward profession. Only the five wise virgins, however, had oil in their lamps, which Whitfield said symbolized a new heart brought about by a living faith in Christ alone. He told of the five foolish virgins knocking at the door of the wedding but being turned away by the Lord.

“Lord, Lord,” say they, as though they were intimately acquainted with the holy Jesus. Like numbers among us who, because they go to church, repeat their creeds, and receive the blessed sacrament, think they have a right to call Jesus their Savior and dare call God their Father, when they put up the Lord’s Prayer. But Jesus is not your Savior. The devil, not God, is your father, unless your hearts are purified by faith and you are born again from above. It is not merely being baptized with water, but being born again of the Holy Ghost that must qualify you for salvation; and it will do you no service at that great day, to say unto Christ, “Lord, my name is in the register of such and such parish.” I am persuaded the foolish virgins could say this and more (Hyatt, George Whitefield, 54-55).

The Message Impacted America’s Founding

The Message of Whitefield and the Great Awakening transformed the culture of colonial America because it was the Gospel Message infused with God's power. No less a figure than Benjamin Franklin testified to this transformation. Profanity, immorality and drunkenness almost completely disappeared in some areas, and entire towns and villages were transformed.

New England alone saw 30,000 to 40,000 new converts and 150 new congregations. People lived to do good and missionary and humanitarian enterprises were spawned. Colleges such as Princeton, Columbia and Hampden-Sydney were established to equip ministers for the new congregations.

All of America's Founders, to one degree or another, were impacted by the Awakening. Concerning Whitefield’s final visit to America in 1770, historian Benjamin Hart, wrote,

The true Spirit of Christ had dissolved sectarian differences. America considered itself to be a nation of Christians, pure and simple, as Whitefield noted with satisfaction. “Pulpits, hearts and affections,” he said, were opened to him and any preacher of whatever denomination who had a true Christian message to share (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 109).

The Message Will Bring Cultural Change

It has been the Gospel Message that has changed American culture again and again and saved her from ruin. This was confirmed by a visitor whom I believe was Alexis de Tocqueville. Although the quote below is not found in his writings, it has been historically attributed to him and has the Tocqueville feel and sound. It most likely originated in one of the many speeches he gave.

Tocqueville, a young French sociologist, came to America in 1831 to study her institutions to see if he could discover how America had attained such greatness in such a short period of time. He came on the heels of the Second Great Awakening that had just transformed American culture and saved her from the negative influences of Deism and the French Revolution. 

After describing his search for America’s greatness in her great commercial centers, her political institutions, and her educational systems, he said,

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. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 178).

May the pulpits of America once again flame with righteousness by recovering the Message of Jesus, the New Testament and the Great Awakening.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s books such as, George Whitefield and Pilgrims and Patriots, available from Amazon in both paperback and kindle. To learn more about his vision for “America’s Reawakening," visit his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

AMERICA'S FOUNDERS LEFT US THE ANSWER FOR THE MASSACRES IN EL PASO AND DAYTON

The horrific massacres in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH are stark reminders that something is disturbingly amiss in American culture. Leftists will politicize these tragedies and use them as weapons against their political opponents and the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment, however, is not the problem. The nation lived with the Second Amendment for 200 years without these sorts of massacres. 

The problem lies with the loss of our Christian culture with its moral imperatives. America’s Founders, who diligently studied the history of nations and empires, understood this clearly.

The Founders’ Warnings

John Adams, for example, warned of the dangers for a society whose populace is unchecked by Christian morality. He said,

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, Pilgrims and Patriots, 173).

George Washington made the same point in his Farewell Address after serving two terms as the nation's first president. He said, "Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." He then warned us not to entertain the supposition that  "morality can be maintained apart from religion" (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 169).

When the Founders use the word "religion" they are referring to "Christianity." It is of utmost importance to note that Washington saw Christianity, not as something to be tolerated, but as an indispensable support for national stability and prosperity.

The Founders understood that a moral and Christian people would be guided and restrained by their faith convictions, apart from outward laws. They formulated the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, with this sort of people in mind.

This is why James Madison, the primary architect of the Constitution, said,

The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 131).

Perhaps, then, as part of the background check for purchasing a gun, the applicant should be questioned about their moral values. Do you respect all life? Do you respect other people’s property? Do you ever pray? Do you believe in absolute moral values? From whence do you derive your moral values?

Why America’s Founders Detested Atheism

Should we be surprised at what is happening? For the past 60 years there has been an all-out assault on Christianity in the public square with prayer, Bible reading and Christian symbols being forcibly removed from public schools and government property.

In our public schools, children are taught, not that they were created by a loving, all-powerful God, but that they evolved by chance from some cosmic soup somewhere. Without God, life has no meaning because we are only here by the chance clashing of atoms and molecules.

Such a belief system rejects absolute truth and leaves everyone to do whatever is right in their own eyes. Human life is demeaned, for given time and the proper environment, the bug crawling across the floor could evolve into something like us.

This is why America’s Founders detested atheism. Atheism offers no meaning for life and no transcendent morality to guide a people and nation. That is why, in taking the first presidential oath of office, George Washington placed his hand on a Bible. He was acknowledging a higher power and intelligence than his own by which the nation would be guided.

Church, It’s Time to Get Serious

During America's brief history, the ultimate answer to her woes has come in the form of national, spiritual awakenings. These awakenings, of which there have been several, have revitalized morality and Christianity in the populace. Hearts were changed and people began striving to live by the Golden Rule and to treat others fairly and justly.

America desperately needs another such awakening. Only another national, spiritual awakening will resolve the many societal issues, including the present gun controversy, for it will restore to this land the kind of people for whom the Constitution was originally written.

In speaking of spiritual awakening, I am not referring to another human-contrived religious event. I am referring to something from heaven, as on the Day of Pentecost, that comes in response to the desperate prayers and faith of God's people.

So, let’s take seriously the Biblical passage so often quoted by our Vice-President, Mike Pence. II Chronicles 7:14 says,

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt has a passion to see America return to her founding principles of faith and freedom. He has written several books, including Pilgrims and Patriots, that show how America was birthed out of a great spiritual awakening. He has also created America’s Reawakening, which he shares in churches, colleges and any venue where there is a hunger to know the truth of America's origins and how we can recover the vision of America's Founders.