The American people are experiencing a grass-roots level rediscovery of who they are as a nation. It turns out that the people have been discovering that the text books from which they were taught at school had been tampered with, to the point that relatively few of them now know very much that’s factual about the beliefs held by their founding fathers.
The good news is that there is now a hunger for truth sweeping America. Her people have a renewed interest in the beliefs of those who signed the Declaration of Independence and were involved in writing the Constitution. It is good to see that God has not deserted America in that we are seeing His people there beginning to throw off the atheistic shackles of Secular Humanism with its attendant free-speech stifling Political Correctness.
As America recovers from her bout of amnesia a proliferation of books are appearing, books that restore her neglected Christian heritage, books that remove the distortions of decades of misguided social engineering.
One book coming out of this rebellion against historical revisionism is George Washington’s Sacred Fire by Peter A Lillback with Jerry Newcombe.
Sacred Fire comprises of some 1187 pages. It is well sourced from original documents and the endnotes themselves could fill a book! Gone is the Secular Humanist’s misleading portrayal of George Washington as some sort of vague Deist. From his own mouth and pen Washington's Sacred Fire is solely and purely the Triune God who alone gives true liberty. Lillback irrefutably demonstrates that Washington was a dedicated follower of the GodMan Jesus Christ.
“George Washington insisted on godly conduct and leadership in his army. He did not permit swearing, cursing, or drunkenness, which might impede rather than implore the ‘blessings of Heaven.’ Precisely a year before America’s Declaration of Independence was dated, Washington’s general orders declared,
"The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war, established for the Government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness; And in like manner requires and expects, of all Officers, and Soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine Service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.
"Precisely to help engender such a standard from his Christian soldiers, Washington instituted chaplains in the Revolutionary Army:
"The Hon. Continental Congress having been pleased to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment, with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third pr month—The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure Chaplains accordingly; persons of good Characters and exemplary lives—To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious exercises. The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger—The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.
"But Washington’s understanding of the value of chaplains did not begin with the Revolutionary army. In fact, when he was a young soldier, George Washington found himself in disagreement with his employer, the governor of Virginia, over the issue of chaplains. The young man, only in his twenties, was earnestly seeking chaplains to be a built-in part of the army (at the time, it was the British Army).” (Sacred Fire, p. 181-2)
Let’s pray that the Sacred Fire that ignited the passion for the individual’s liberty from oppression from Pope or Prince or Government at the time of the founding of America will burn in the hearts of her people once more. For that Sacred Fire is Truth that glows in the dark. It is a liberating Liberty, the kind of freedom that is found only in Washington’s God and in His Son Jesus Christ who died and rose again to set us free. Jesus Christ is the Truth. He alone sets us truly free.
Pray therefore that the Holy Spirit will continue the work He has begun. That America, that great Christian experiment, may no longer suffer collective amnesia brought on by a bout of insidious Secular Humanism, but rediscover who she is, a people whose rights and liberties come from God, a nation built upon the Bible.
Another book on a similar vein that I can wholehearedly recommend is Jerry Newcombe's The Book That Made America - How the Bible Formed Our Nation. I really enjoyed this well-written book and was thoroughly edified.
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