THREE IMPORTANT FACTS EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT 1776

On July 4^th America will celebrate her 248^th birthday. Many are wondering if she can survive the current political, economic, cultural, and moral crises that presently envelop her. Below are three important facts about America this generation desperately needs to know—facts that can carry her through the current crises.

Fact #1
America was Birthed Out of a Great Spiritual Awakening

When George Whitefield, the most famous preacher of the Great Awakening, came to America to preach the Gospel for the first time in 1738, his prayer was that the American colonists would “no longer live as 13 divided colonies but as one nation under God.”

His incessant travels up and down the eastern seaboard, with thousands coming out to hear him preach in the open air, played a vital role in seeing his prayer answered.  Denominational, cultural, and racial walls were breached and for the first they began to see themselves as a single people with one divine destiny.

In this First Great Awakening, which began in 1726, entire towns were transformed up and down the eastern seaboard. So great was the change that a British appointed governor wrote to his superiors in England, “If you ask an American who is his master, he will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.”

These facts led the late historian and Harvard professor, Perry Miller, to declare, “The Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a direct result of the preaching of the evangelists of the Great Awakening.”

Fact #2
America’s Founders Were Not Racists

Out of the Great Awakening, an anti-slavery movement was ignited that led to virtually every Founding Father, including those who owned slaves, taking a public stand against it. George Washington, for example, declared, “There is not a man living who wishes more than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.”

The Declaration of Independence, with its colorblind language and statement that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," was understood by the founding generation to be a statement against slavery.

Indeed, abolitionists used both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.  Constitution, which came 11 years later, as weapons in the fight against slavery. Because the Founders took this stand at a time when slavery was accepted and practiced in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and most of the world, Frederick Douglass would declare,

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. 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.

Fact #3
America Has Been Sustained by National Spiritual Awakenings

By the dawn of the 19^th century, a generation had arisen that knew little of the Great Awakening of the previous century that had given birth to the nation. Spiritual indifference, immorality, and agnosticism seemed to pervade the land, prompting many churches to designate days and seasons for prayer and fasting for another “revival of religion.”

In response to their prayers, another Great Awakening rolled across the land like a giant tsunami wave.  Peter Cartwright (1785-1872), the circuit-riding, Methodist revivalist of the era, said, “The work went on and spread almost in every direction gathering additional force till our country seemed all coming to God.” The noted historian, Dr. Mark A. Knoll, called it, “The most influential revival of Christianity in the history of the United States.”

There was also a Third Great Awakening that brought the nation through its most trying time—a horrible Civil War. In my book, America’s Revival Heritage, Second Edition, I document what I believe was a Fourth Great Awakening that sustained the nation through another perilous time in her history.

The Conclusion of the Matter

Yes, in her most critical moments, America has been sustained by heaven-sent spiritual awakenings. It would seem, therefore, that Revival is in our national DNA. Knowing this adds confidence to our prayers that God will send another Great Awakening that will sweep across the land and save America from this present critical and dangerous moment in which she finds herself.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's books, 1726: The Year that Defined America and America's Revival Heritage, Second Edition, available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com.