Our Christian God
Dr. Robert Jeffress, Pastor of the First Baptist Church Dallas, presented a comprehensive message on the roots of Christianity of, in, and for the United States of America. Televised 6/28/20.
The Scripture for his message is Psalm 33:12 — Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
“God is no respecter of people or nations. The nation that reverences God, will be blessed by God. The nation that rejects God, will be rejected by God. The choice is ours.” Dr. Jeffress
The following is taken directly from his message – these are his words. To Dr. Jeffress I say, Thank You for doing all of this research for me! My comments are noted with **.
America was founded as a Christian Nation
Historical Evidence — Spiritual Beliefs of the Founders:
52 of the 55 men @ Constitutional Convention were Orthodox Conservative Christians. Two of those came to be leaders of the American Bible Society, believing that the Bible would set the nation on a proper moral course. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were Deists, but they agreed with the Spiritual Foundation for our country. Franklin believed that the Congress should begin each session seeking God in prayer — “The longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men.”
State Constitutions
Almost all of the 13 colonies had a State Sponsored Religion prior to the Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of Delaware 1776 includes — every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, shall make and subscribe to the following declaration: “I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, One God…”
The Original Intent of “the Separation of Church and State”
In 1881, almost every state had a State Sponsored Religion – all Christian – different denominations.
Tax dollars would go to the “official” church of that State. Other denominations argued against favoritism. In a private letter the newly elected President,Thomas Jefferson, quoted the First Amendment, Congress shall Make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. This is building a wall of separation between the church and state. (The practice of State supported churches was then phased out.)
Early Court Rulings – Our Spiritual Foundation
Maryland Supreme Court – 1799 – “By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty.” Runkel V. Winemiller
Pennsylvania – 1844 – US Supreme Court upheld the will of a wealthy man who funded a school for orphans but stipulated no teacher could be a Christian Clergy; Just because you cannot have clergy teaching doesn’t mean that you cannot teach Christianity. “Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, without note or comment, be read and taught as a diving revelation in the college…and its glorious principles of morality inculcated?”… “It is unnecessary for us to consider what would be the legal effect of a device in Pennsylvania for the establishment of a school or college, for the propagation of Judaism, or Deism, or any other form of infidelity. Such a case is not to be presumed to exist in a Christian country.” Vidal v Girard’s Executors
What Happened? Building the “Wall of Separation”
1947 – Supreme Court – FIRST time the “S” word was used. Why was it ignored for 150 years??? The State of New Jersey was using tax dollars to support religious (Catholic) schools. Justice Hugo Black delivered decision and his desire to build “an impregnable wall of Separation between the Church and the State” – prohibit the Catholic Church from receiving any support whatsoever. Everson V Board of Education Justice Clarence Thomas, “This doctrine born in bigotry should be buried.”
1962 – Supreme Court — Students in NYC could no longer recite the 22-word, voluntary prayer, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country.” Engel v Vitale No particular God was said.
1963 – Supreme Court — No longer could students voluntarily read ten verses of the Bible at the beginning of each school day. (Portions of the New Testament read without explanation could be psychologically harmful to the students.) Abington School District v Schempp
1967 – Supreme Court — Let stand a lower court ruling of 1966 – A kindergarten teacher could no longer allow her students to recite, “We thank you for the flowers so sweet; We thank you for the food we eat; We thank you for the birds that sing; We thank you [God]for everything” DeSpain v Dekalb County Community School District It might cause the children to think about God and that is unconstitutional.
**I KNOW THAT ONE!! – Yes, my kindergarten year was 1953. We recited that poem! The version Dr. Jeffres cited didn’t contain the word GOD, but that’s how I learned it!!
1980 – Supreme Court — Display of the Ten Commandments in Kentucky schools. “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon , perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. However desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause [of the First Amendment]” Stone v Graham “How do you reconcile that with what the Court had said 150 years earlier?”
John Adams said, “Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people. It is totally inadequate to govern any other people.”
“What has happened in the last 60 – 70 years? Has the Constitution changed? We have allowed the Atheists, the secularists, the infidels, to pervert our Constitution into something our Founders never intended. It is time for us to stand up and say without apology, America was founded as a Christian Nation!” Dr. Jeffress
Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6
10/11/20