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Happy Birthday America!

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There was a prophecy delivered by the prophet Malachi before the appearing of John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan 400 years later. In the prophecy he warned of something that all citizens of any great nation should heed. In it the prophet stated: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.6 And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction. (Malachi 4:5-6)

But now the question must be asked who are our prophets, and America’s Father’s? I could make a long list but will only briefly allude to a few. One of those father’s was Noah Webster, known as the Father of American Scholarship and Education. It is estimated that there were over 100 million copies of his Blue Back Speller in use in the 1800’s. This textbook is credited for teaching children how to read, spell, and pronounce words for 100 years. He wrote the first American dictionary, mastering over 25 languages to prepare himself for the task. What most fail to recognize is that Noah Webster was a devout, born-again believer. Dr. Del Tackett wrote: “When I was in Washington, studying the founders on the side, I was deeply impressed with their wisdom and intellect. Let’s begin with one of Noah’s statements:” In my view, the Christian Religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. “Note that Noah is reconfirming what we have seen before in terms of the foundations. But he is also expressing another common view, one that is quite logical: if Christianity is a vital foundation to freedom, then children must be instructed in that foundation.”

Another one of America’s spiritual fathers was John Adams (1735–1826). He was a Founding Father, the first Vice President (1789–1797), and the second President of the United States (1797–1801). A brilliant legal mind from Massachusetts, he championed American independence, helped negotiate peace with Britain, and established the navy. He once stated: Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. His second cousin, Samuel Adams (1722–1803) was a Founding Father of the United States, a key leader of the American Revolution, and an instrumental political philosopher. A master organizer and propagandist, he founded the Sons of Liberty, coordinated the Boston Tea Party, signed the Declaration of Independence, and later served as Governor of Massachusetts. Samuel Adams added to his second cousins remarks by stating: Religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness.

Dr. Tackett adds another founding father, Benjamin Rush. Dr. Tackett writes: “Dr. Rush was a brilliant intellectual, completing college at the age of 14 and then studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was a fierce abolitionist, advocated for women’s education, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Here is his perspective: The only foundation for…a republic is to be laid in Religion.  Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Here he begins with reiterating the foundations we have seen before. Liberty can only come if the people are virtuous, moral. But their virtue and morality must come from a foundation of religion. What does he mean when he uses the word religion? Here is his statement:…Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.

One overlooked spiritual father, connected to the fight of abolition in America, was Frederick Douglas. Myles Werntz, of Christianity Today wrote: In 1852, Frederick Douglass was invited to deliver a speech at the annual Independence Day celebration in Rochester, New York. After escaping from slavery some 14 years earlier, Douglass became an abolitionist and a sought-after speaker in the United States and abroad. As a Christian, Douglass filled his speeches with biblical allusions and often directly addressed churches. He spoke often of the contradiction between the faith Christians of his day professed and their acceptance of slavery, naming the distance between the words of Jesus and the prejudice and other moral failures of the American church. The Smithsonian Magazine celebrated Douglas in an article titled: A Nation’s Story: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”  In it the article stated: On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. His speech, given at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. It was a scathing speech in which Douglass stated, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn.” In his speech, Douglass acknowledged the Founding Fathers of America, the architects of the Declaration of Independence, for their commitment to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness:” After expounding on the honor due to the contributions of our founding fathers Douglas noted with sadness: But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

Douglas’ speech reminds believers everywhere that the “City on a Hill” birthed by our Puritan Fathers in 1630, was created simply because of the freedom and liberty afforded through the stripes of Christ. It is by His Blood that we gained our freedom from slavery to sin and through it was birthed our great nation. We must never forget that regardless of those historical detractors who hate and despise all this country holds dear we should never swerve from those Christian values that believed the “City of Christ” could be established on the “Hill” of North America. We must always be conscious that while we celebrate our emancipation and deliverance from slavery to sin there are still others who do not enjoy our freedom. May God, by HIs Grace and the Power of His Spirit, shed abroad the Love of Jesus in our hearts to such a degree that we cease remaining silent – joyfully extolling to all the freedom, peace and forgiveness we now enjoy.

Were You There?

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At the heart of the city of London is Charing Cross. All distances across the city are measured from its central point. Locals refer to it simply as “the cross.” One day a child became lost in the bustling metropolis.  A city police officer (A “bobby,” as they are referred to in London) came to the child’s aid to try and help him return to his family. The bobby asked the child a variety of questions in an attempt to discover where the boy lived, to no avail. Finally, with tears streaming down the boy’s face, he said, “If you will take me to the cross I think I can find my way from there.” What an apt description of the Christian life. The cross is both the starting place of our new life in Christ, but also the place we must return to, time and again, to keep our bearings in life. – Stuart Strachan Jr.

Today marks the day of all days, called “Good Friday” by believers around the world. At approximately 7AM, Roman governor of Judea, Marcus Pontius Pilatus, sentenced Jesus to die by crucifixion. At approximately 8AM, the patibulum, or cross beam was affixed to Jesus’ shoulders through ropes, as a soldier tied a rope around His waist and led Him through the streets of Jerusalem for all to see what happens when someone defies the power of Rome. The cross beam would have weighed approximately 50-60 pounds. Around His neck was hung the titulus crucis, a sign to be nailed to the top of Jesus’ cross declaring His crime: “King of the Jews”, written in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The site of Jesus’ sentencing is believed to have been the Antonia Fortress built by Herod the Great, and called the Praetorium by Pilate. From that site to Golgotha would have been approximately .5 miles. The weather at that time would have been hot, and dry while the road would have been unpaved, and bumpy studded with scores of crevices made by carts and beasts of burden. As one approached the outside walls of the city the road would have begun to slope upward leading to the hill of Golgotha, or Calvary (the Skull). Fluid accumulated around Jesus’ lungs, as His body was almost numb from severe exhaustion, severe mental and physical sufferings, the flogging, and the nerve-racking, and lancinating pains from the crown of thorns. Jesus fell more than once as He journeyed to the Hill, and the final fall led the accompanying soldier, the exactor mortis, to enlist Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross the rest of the way. Jesus’ robe was literally glued to His Body by the clotted blood which was ripped from His body before His crucifixion. Nailing His hands first to the cross beam, the median nerve (we know it as the “funny bone”) was pierced sending bolts of pain searing through Jesus’ arms. Several soldiers were enlisted to lift Him up to the stipes, or upright post, that was mortised at the top, allowing the soldiers to simply lift and drop the cross beam onto it. Next the soldiers affixed Jesus’ feet either to the sides or the face of the cross, and rather than placing a nail through both feet, archaeological and forensic experts, have surmised that both feet were nailed independently of one another. If the feet were nailed to the face of the cross the median nerve would have also been pierced sending shooting pain up through Jesus’ legs.

At the sixth hour, or noon, darkness covered the land. This lasted 3 hours. One teacher aptly said, If God the Father had to turn His back on His Son, no one else was going to be able to look at Him. Some would see this darkness as a sign of coming judgment. One ancient writer recorded: “When the sun is obscured, it is an evil sign to the nations….when the moon is obscured, it is an evil sign to Israel, because Israel reckons according to the moon, the nations of the world according to the sun.” It was into this darkness Jesus entered into the deepest depths of suffering, as body, soul, and spirit enter a separation between Heaven and earth, God and mankind. It was here Jesus was suspended making a way for us to leave this earth and ascend into His Presence.

At the highest point of His agony, and the filling full of all of histories sins, Jesus stretched forth and shouted in Aramaic, “Ho Mashalam!” Which is one word in the Greek: “Tetelestai!” Our English equivalent is a phrase, “IT IS FINISHED!” And as Scripture records, “He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” Those who owed so much that they never could repay – had their debt canceled by He Who owed nothing. He paid our debt through His sufferings, “cancelling the written code that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14) This is the GIFT! You can’t pay for it, or earn it. You don’t deserve it, nor can you escape it. His cross, His death, His cry, echoes through the universe as a testimony that can never be reversed.

In relation to this event thousands, and tens of thousands, have identified with their suffering Messiah declaring, along with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me!” (Gal. 2:20). We are reminded of the old hymn which asks, “Were You There”? This African-American spiritual probably predated the Civil War, asking the obvious question, placing each person who hears the question on the witness stand. The slaves who authored this song could readily relate to the sufferings of Christ, and the brutality of slavery. In the book titled, “Stories Behind the Traditions of Easter,” the author states: “Maybe the fact that spirituals were the joint cries and shouts of Christians looking for the freedom that only God could bring gives the message of this song much more impact. None of us were there in body when Christ died, but all of us need to go there in spirit. To understand the gift of salvation, each sinner must realize that he or she is a slave to the world: only then does seeing Christ on the cross make the impact all the more real.”

Non – Essential

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Essential is defined as absolutely necessary; indispensable; pertaining to or constituting the essence of a thing; noting or containing an essence of a plant, drug, etc. being such by its very nature or in the highest sense;

Many of us winced when our governor deemed alcohol and abortions essential, but not church. Yet we must face the painful truth and ask ourselves, Why has culture deemed it so? Where is the Power of the Spirit to set captives free and change continents of darkness into bastions of Light? Where is the power of the New Testament Church whose testimony included the following: Have you forgotten that the kingdom of God will never belong to the wicked? Don’t be under any illusion—neither the impure, the idolater or the adulterer; neither the effeminate, the pervert or the thief; neither the swindler, the drunkard, the foul-mouthed or the rapacious shall have any share in the kingdom of God. And such men, remember, were some of you! But you have cleansed yourselves from all that, you have been made whole in spirit, you have been justified before God in the name of the Lord Jesus and in his very Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:9-11, J.B. Phillips Translation)

Did you catch the bold faced statement? And such men, remember, were some of you! How is it that the NT Church had the power to deliver men, women, youth, children from hopeless slavery to these things but the modern church is powerless? May I suggest that part of the reason that we have become non-essential is that we have ceased aiming at Heaven. Our preoccupation has been too much with this earth, and we are reaping the results of our dereliction of love and duty.

C.S. Lewis states in Mere Christianity: “The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Confession & Declaration 34

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Galatians 4:5 To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons].

Ephesians 1:5 For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

It is amazing that Jesus is our Elder Brother and that we are co-heirs with Him. But even more amazing is the fact that we have been adopted into the Father’s Forever Family. Why is that so amazing? Well let me explain. When Paul wrote the above passages he had in mind the Roman concept of patria potestas. What in the world is patria potestas? Which in latin roughly translates to “power of a father.” The website, U.S. Legal defines the term as: The authority held by a male head of the family over his legitimate and adopted children and other descendents in the male line who are not emancipated. In earlier days the father had extensive power over the family, which included the power of life and death. However with the advent of time, Patria Potestas became limited to the responsibility to support and maintain family members. This is also termed as fatherly power.

Now that is really powerful. But in Roman times the concept of patria potestas also included freeing someone from slavery. The reason being that often those who were adopted had been slaves of their master. Once adopted the slave was made a son, and vested with the privileges, and relationships which came with their new status. Thus they were translated from calling their masters, lord, to calling them Abba, Father! What’s even more amazing is many of the terms we have covered thus far are integrally related with terms such as union with Christ, regeneration, conversion, repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. These terms become even more powerful when combined with the concept of adoption. Thus adoption becomes more like the embracing and restoration of the prodigal son – receiving a robe, the ring, the feast, and the celebration. And as the parable goes, the Father had been scanning the horizon for his long, lost son and when he caught view of him, pulled up the hem of his robe, tucked it in his belt, and ran to embrace his son. That’s our God and that’s our Heavenly Father.

Thus we see that being related to Jesus has its “perks.” The Father has responsibility to support and maintain us, and we move from being slaves to full-fledged members of the Family. We are no longer in a Master – slave, or Judge – prisoner position. No, now we are in a Father and son relationship. Hallelu – Jah!

Do you see the power of this term and how it can be used against your enemy the accuser of the brothers? When you have the accuser reminding you of your past – you can remind him that he needs to take it up with your Elder Brother, and Father. You are no longer slaves but have been adopted into the Father’s Family. You belong to them: Father, Son and Holy Spirit! It’s Their job to support and maintain you. It’s their fight. The Bible says, The Glory of the LORD will be your Rear Guard. In other words, God’s got your back! Press on! When Satan messes with you – he has picked a fight with the entire Godhead. That’s the coolest picture. It’s like Marvel Comics the Avengers.

Declaration 34: Holy Father. Abba – Daddy, I praise and worship You. You are my Beloved and I am yours. Thank you, thank You for adopting me into Your Forever Family. I thank and praise You that the entire Godhead has my back. Your Glory is my Rearguard. Thank You that I am no longer a slave to sin. Thank You that I am a child of Yours. Thank You for scanning the horizon for me, hitching up Your robe and running to embrace me. I leap into Your arms Father and receive Your Love. I hold You tight as You hold me. I am Yours. You have adopted me. I am Your son – by the Precious Blood of Your Son. Thank You Father for Jesus paying for me to adopted by You. You are my Treasure and Delight. I worship You! Thank You Father! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Holy Spirit! You are my Family. What a marvelous Family it is.