It’s been 248 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. The colonies were largely populated by people who came from European nations because of their religious freedoms being suppressed by the governments in charge. This resulted in a tremendous thirst for religious freedom that they heard about in the new world. Therefore, they made a dangerous journey by ship to the new world of British colonies. The King of Great Britain made a tragic mistake for himself by his actions of increasing taxation and suppressing religious freedoms. Therefore, the unrest among the leaders of the colonies increased year by year until they could tolerate no longer. Of the 55 signers of this Declaration, 52 were deeply committed Christians as to faithful study of the Holy Bible, church attendance, and prayers. The other 3 all believed in the Bible as The Divine Truth, and the God of the scriptures that intervenes in the affairs of men. Patrick Henry from the commonwealth of Virgina is famous for declaring passionately: “Give me liberty or give me death”. He also said after the founding of our country: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly nor too often this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by (true) Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ”. Thomas Jefferson said: “I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to The One True Creator and to the pure doctrines of Jesus”. George Washington said: “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible … as indispensable pillars of moral support”. Thomas Jefferson believed that the Holy Bible was the best friend of their newly formed government because it penetrated the matters of the heart before a crime would be committed. In 1782, the U.S.A. congress voted this resolution: “The Congress recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools”. For 100 years, the McGuffey Reader (authored by William Holmes McGuffey) was used in public schools as a primary textbook for learning in several areas. McGuffey said: “The Christian religion is the religion of our country.” It helps us to understand the character of God and the unique reasons for our institutions being as they are. He also said: “For all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology”. Of the first 108 universities started in America, 106 were distinctly Christian. At Harvard, a starting rule for incoming students was to learn Hebrew and Greek languages to assist them in better understanding the Holy Bible. The rallying cry during the Colonies Revolutionary War was this: “No King, but King Jesus”. Proverbs 14:34 reads: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”. To me, the King of the Universe assisted the colonies in breaking away from Great Britain because of their righteousness. The founding fathers believed that the principles of their new government were fused with the principles of Christianity in an inseparable bond. In other words, they didn’t believe in separation of church and state; except, in the rare cases that the church needed protection from a tyrannical government, not vice versa. The first amendment was meant to protect the church from the government, not vice versa. It states that “Congress must not establish any laws to restrict religious freedoms”. The founding fathers also believed that self-evident truth is found in the Holy Bible, which is the final authority for faith and practice. For the first 150 years of our country, all laws passed by Congress were derived from faithful study of the Bible. The book of Deuteronomy was the most often quoted book of the Bible. Congressmen were avid students of HIS Word. The concept for our 3 branches of government came from Isaiah 33:22, which describes the LORD as Judge, Lawgiver, and King. Today as then, we have the judicial system with the Supreme Court at top, both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives as the lawgivers, and the King was replaced in name by the title: President. The Congressmen and the President were to be elected by the people. They no longer wanted a King that received his power to rule by inheritance. The idea of tax exemption for churches is found in Ezra 7:24. Court rulings identified the U.S.A. as emphatically Christian. In fact, the court considered it impossible for this country to be otherwise. Another court ruling decreed that you couldn’t have a school that didn’t teach Christianity and the Bible. The House & Senate Judiciary Committee of 1854 expressed this: “At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the Amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged. In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders, and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants. The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ”. Separation of church and state is not in our constitution & amendments; but it is in the constitution of the U.S.S.R. - Russian Communist government. Separation of church and state is in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist group that was concerned about one Christian denomination being established as the state designated group that all peoples had to belong to. In that letter, Jefferson said that our Constitution & Amendments provided protection for all the Christian denominations from interference from the government.
