That nation is great which knows the Lord! Most Americans would be astounded to discover the Christian character of our Republic and the interposition of Divine Providence in the founding, the colonization, the independence, the development, and the government of United States of America. The events of our history, the testimony of our forefathers, the documents of our national heritage give vivid expression of the controlling power of Christian principles and the purposes of God.
The record of our history contains a vast, rich treasury of documented evidence declaring the Christian foundation upon which the United States was built.
The American revolution replaced tyranny with liberty: How did it happen? Why did it occur? When did it begin? The Revolution was effected before the war began. It was in the hearts and minds of the people. The event, which history refer to as the “American Revolution” and its begining with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was only the catalyst in the revolution, which began centuries earlier, on a different continent, at a different period in the progress of civilization.
What started the initial change from a society based on the supreme rights of the state to a society based on the supreme rights of man? The true revolution began with Jesus Christ who announced, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Christianity appeared and proclaimed to the world that man was created in the image of God and destined for immortality; that in the eyes of God, all men are equal. Christianity alone results in true liberty and reveals to man that external freedom is achieved by internal liberty: “the liberty where with Christ hath made us free.”
“Christianity always operated outward from within: if effected no violent revolutions, like the self-will which follows not God’s ways with patient resignation, but wishes to effectthose changesat once by an army of flesh which can only succeed under God’s guidance i gradual development.” [Memorials of Christian Life, 1845, by Dr. Augustus Neander]
America is abundantly blessed with freedom, and the people need to take heed to these words:
“The greatest and most dangerous of despotism is that beneath which the depraved inclination of human nature, the deadly influence of the world, namely,sin, miserably subjects the human consciene. There are, no doubt many countries, especially among those which the sun of Christianity has not yet illuminated, that are without civil liberty, and that groan under the arbitrary rule of powerful masters. But, in order to become free outwardly, men must first succeed in being free inwardly. In the human heart there is a vast country to be delivered from slavery -abysses which man cannot cross alone, heights he cannot climb unaided, fortresses he cannot take, armies he cannot put to flight. In order to conquer in this moral battle, man must unite wih One stronger than himself -with the Son of God.” [History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, 1867, by Dr. J. H. Merle D'Aubigue]
“I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth; The God governs in the affairs of men! And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable than an empire can rise without His aid?” [Benjamin Franklin]
“The power and goodness of the Almighty were strongly manifested in events of our late glorious revolution, and His kind interposition in our behalf has been no less visible in the establishment of our present equal government.” [George Washington]
“I believe we are all agents and isntruments of Devine Providence. I hold myself in my present position and with the authority invested in me, as an instrument of Providence. I am conscious every moment that all I am and all I have are subject to the control of a higher Power, and that Power can use me or not use me in any manner and at time as in His wisdom might be pleasing to Him.” [Abraham Lincoln]
The greatest fact of history, whether it is the history of the United States or of the world, is that God governs in the affairs of men. God is the Supreme Ruler of all nations, and they rise and fall under the control of His omnipotent hand. “Exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert, for God is the Judge: He brings down one and exalts another.” Psalms 75:6,7 . Each step by which this country advanced to the destiny of a free and independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some evidence of Devine Providence.
January 5, 1876, about 135 years ago, the Reverend S. W. Foljambe in a sermon delivered to the lawmakers of Massahusettes said: “observe the Hand of Godin the wise and deneficent timing of events in the dawn of our history. The events of history are not accidents. There are no accidents in the lives of men or of nations. We may go back to the underlying cause of every event, and discover in each God’s overruling and intervening wisdom. It has been said that history is the biography of Communities; in another, and profounder sense, it is the autobiography of Him who is graciously timing all events in the interest of His Christ, and of the kingdom of God on earth.”
This history of the world reveals the purpose of God in the development of the nations and the westward movement of Christianity. Regardless of our 21st century skepticism, God’s design for this nation irrefutably binds Christianity to America.
