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

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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.