PLUS

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

In the decision of Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (see previous post), Justice Brewer laid out a lengthy body of historical evidence that demonstrated our national Christianity. He used charters, constitutions, oaths, and court records. He stated:

“There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning. They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. There are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons. They are organic utterances. They speak the voice of the entire people.”

Justice Brewer then outlined the Christianity displayed by our laws, our businesses, our customs, and our society. He drew evidence from the efforts of our charities and the works of our missionaries, finally coming to the following conclusion:

“These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. In the face of all these, shall it be believed that a Congress of the United States intended to make it a misdemeanor for a church of this country to contract for the services of a Christian minister residing in another nation?”

The organic utterances of this nation provided irrefutable proof that we were predominantly Christian at our core. How are our individual organic utterances today? Do we live in such a way that all men know that we are His disciples? We must, to live up to the standards established by Christ, to properly impact our spheres of influence for Him, and to wrestle our nation back to its origins under Him.

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR TESTIMONIES WOULD PROVIDE IRREFUTABLE PROOF OF OUR DEDICATION TO THE LORD. May our individual organic utterances speak as loudly as the utterances of our predecessors.

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (that the Supreme Court will decide a landmark abortion case this year without Justice Scalia) set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

I Peter 2:12 “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

The case Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States was decided by the United States Supreme Court on Leap Day, 1892. This case centered around a law that prohibited foreigners from working in the United States due to a fear of foreign competition. As a byproduct of that law, foreign pastors and ministers were excluded from serving in the United States as well. Justice Brewer’s unanimous majority opinion definitively ruled that such a law did not apply to the ministry, in a large part because we were a Christian nation that would never prohibit foreign pastors from entering our country. Brewer wrote:

“But, beyond all these matters, no purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation.”

Justice Brewer went on to prove this truth by the words and the actions of our founders and from the entirety of our society. His argument was judicially sound because our nation had reached the legal threshold to prove such a claim.

Our nation may have drifted away from a legally sound body of evidence to prove our present-day Christianity, but individual Christians should never do so. Instead, we should live our Christian lives beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, the hope of our nation is that God’s power can shine through His people in this land to return us to our irrefutable Biblical origins.

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR GOOD WORKS WOULD GLORIFY GOD IN THIS LAND. We were once a Christian nation and can be once again. With a single voice, our honest conversation must make this affirmation.

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (that evangelicals are neither praying as they should nor voting as they should), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (that an ungodly man is currently headed for the Republican nomination), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

I Timothy 2:1-2 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Shortly after his inauguration in 1789, President Washington stated the following:

“If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it”

George Washington would be undoubtedly ashamed at the attack on religious rights in 21^st century America. Derived rights from the Constitution have been elevated over explicit rights in the Constitution. The most basic and clearly stated American rights have been superseded by those rights stemming from contorted legal arguments. Washington would have not signed the Constitution had he had the slightest apprehension that such events would unfold.

Who is to blame? The answer is complicated and multifaceted. Yet, there is one population group that should shoulder its share of the responsibility because of their sins of omission – us! We have been directed to pray for kings and those in authority so that we can lead quiet and peaceable lives. As our rights have been trampled on, and our quiescence and peacefulness have been stripped from us, we must take stock of the neglect of our prayer lives.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICA’S LEADERS AS WE SHOULD HAVE ALL ALONG. Our rights are more than endangered; they are being actively threatened. Our quiet and peaceable lives are more than at risk; they are being upended. Preemption of these problems through prayer would have been much preferable, but reaction to these problems by prayer is our only remaining option.

Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

General Washington wrote:

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good Citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion. To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.”

We are to be Patriots and Christians. In many ways, they are complimentary titles with the latter being more distinguished than the former. We must embrace both roles, insuring that our Lord is glorified by our activity in both arenas. We are to be inattentive to neither and zealous in both.

Our highest glory comes from a character that is Christian. We will have the most impact in our citizenship roles when we keep ourselves subject unto the higher powers. PLEASE PRAY FOR A CITIZENSHIP ROLE THAT IS COMPLIMENTARY TO OUR CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. We sometimes attend to the role of one or the other, while we should always be attentive to both.

SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (that American society is changing the meaning of the Bible and the Constitution), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Luke 12:48 “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

General Washington maintained his reliance on the Lord’s intervention and eyewitness of God’s power throughout the Revolutionary War. In 1781, he wrote:

“We have, as you very justly observe, abundant reason to thank Providence for its many favorable interpositions in our behalf. It has at times been my only dependence, for all other resources seemed to have failed us.”

Based on this testimony, President Washington wrote the following in 1789:

“The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf. And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored.”

Washington recognized the important truth that America owed much to God. We had been given much, and much was required from us. Yet, this attitude of appreciation and devotion has escaped us, along with the duty that should be derived from our blessings. We never deserved God’s rich blessings, but our current conduct no longer merits even a brief favorable glance from the Lord.

PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD RECOGNIZE THAT MUCH IS REQUIRED OF US BECAUSE MUCH HAS BEEN GIVEN. We have been hitherto favored, and must conduct ourselves in a way as would merit a continuance of God’s blessings.

Thought provoking 1997 quote from Justice Scalia (true about the Constitution and the Bible):

“The American people have been converted to belief in The Living Constitution, a ‘morphing’ document that means, from age to age, what it ought to mean. And with that conversion has inevitably come the new phenomenon of electing and confirming federal judges, at all levels, on the basis of their views concerning a whole series of proposals for constitutional evolution. If the courts are free to write the Constitution anew, they will … write it the way the majority wants; the appointment and confirmation process will see to that. This, of course, is the end of the Bill of Rights, whose meaning will be committed to the very body it was meant to protect against: the majority. By trying to make the Constitution do everything that needs to be done from age to age, we shall have caused it to do nothing at all.”