“To destroy a people, you must first
sever their roots.”
Alexander Solzhenitzsyn
Peoples
and nations derive their sense of identity from their history. Cut off a people
from their past, and they can easily be molded into something very different.
This is what Karl Marx was referring to when he said, “People without a heritage
are easily persuaded.”
The Redefining of America
A glaring example of this crusade to rewrite America’s past is the New
York Times’ “1619 Project.” Supposedly begun to commemorate the arrival of
the first African slaves on American soil in 1619, their website reveals their real and sinister motivation. Their stated goal is to “reframe” American history by insisting
that 1619, not 1776, represents the nation’s true founding. They assert,
therefore, that America is racist and corrupt at its very core and in need of
fundamental change.
Their thesis is flawed, however, because they have chosen to ignore
what happened between 1619 and 1776. 1726, the year the Great Awakening began
and transformed Colonial America, has been censured from their critique.
Alexander Solzhenitzsyn spent eight years in a Soviet labor camp and observed how
the communists sought to cut off the Russian people from their Christian past.
He wrote, “To destroy a people you must first sever their roots.” And
commenting on the demise of nations in world history, Carl Sandburg, winner of
two Pulitzer Prizes, wrote,
When a
nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found;
they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them
along (Hyatt,
1726: The Year that Defined America, 11).
In her book, The Rewriting of America’s History, Catherine
Millard documents just how pervasive is this crusade to rewrite America’s
history. She points out that it is being carried out, not only in the rewriting
of textbooks, but also in the rewriting and reinterpretation of national
monuments. She writes,
It is happening through the rewriting and/or reinterpretation of
America’s historical records: in our national parks, monuments, memorials,
landmarks, enshrines, and churches. In some cases, changes are subtle, and in
others, blatant. It’s done through removal of key historic pieces that do not
support the current ungodly bias (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America,
9-10).
Knowing the Past is the Key to
America’s Future
Slavery is certainly a blight on America’s history. However,
because of what happened in 1726, America is not defined by what happened in
1619. 1726 was the defining year for America.
In 1726 a great, spiritual tsunami began that eventually engulfed all of Colonial America in a flood of religious fervor. This Great Awakening,
as it has been called, laid the spiritual, moral, and philosophical foundation
for a great new nation. It released anti-slavery sentiments that led to an
abolition movement that eventually brought slavery on this continent to an end.
1726 was, in fact, the year that defined America.
Understanding 1726 is, therefore, the key to understanding
America. It is also the key to America's future, for as George Orwell said in
his classic book, 1984, "Whoever controls the past, controls the
future" (Hyatt, 1726: The Year thatDefined America, 10).
Remembering Our Heritage
At the present time, America is
as divided, perhaps, as she has not been since the Civil War. And although
demographics and culture have changed,
the solution remains the same. We must remember our heritage. We must remember
1726.
In the same way that God spoke to ancient Israel in a
critical time of national danger and
spiritual apostasy, God is calling America to remember her heritage. The
call to Israel is recorded in Isaiah 51:1-2:
Listen to Me, you who pursue
righteousness and seek the LORD: Look to the
rock from which you were cut and the quarry from which you were hewn; look to
Abraham your father and Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was
only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
If the America of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln is to survive,
we must remember our heritage. The needed change is not going to come as a
result of a new church program, a new church crusade, a bigger and better choir, a new cathedral, or the next election. It
will come as we remember 1726 and cry out to God, “Do it again, Oh Lord!”
This article was derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. In this book, Dr. Hyatt documents how the Great Awakening in Colonial America had a direct bearing on both the founding of the United State and the ending of slavery on this continent. He has founded the “1726 Project” to spread this strategic and timely message across the land.
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