Mike,

Here is an exchange I had with a man zealous for God and country in the traditional way most Christians are. I thought it might interest you to read his words and my response.

Your brother in Christ,
K____

A Classic Blast to Get Us Thinking Again this 4th of July…

The Garden of Eden represented the perfect model of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – A dynamic and dependant relationship between God and man.
Yet man wanted more than perfection – He wanted independence. Thus, he traded true life, liberty, and meaningful pursuit for death, suppression, and meaningless existence.
Indeed, as Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they were “signing” the first Declaration of Independence – mankind was now “liberated” from God.
In sadness, God honored this ancient revolution and history records the fallout.
Thousands of years later, in a land far from where the ancient headwaters of the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates split, a collection of colonial revolutionaries joined together to sign a new Declaration of Independence.

But this time, things were different.

After enduring a worldwide legacy of man- made rules, restrictions, rights and religions, a little segment of mankind was declaring independence. Not from God this time — but from the global mess we had made apart from God.

Yes, at the root of it all, I think mankind was finally decreeing divorce from its awful and adulterous experiment. At an embryonic, leadership level, mankind was seeking reconciliation with God by declaring a revolutionary system of governance in His Name.

We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Humbled men were now declaring that true life, liberty, and meaningful pursuit can only exist in a nation where the baseline is our Creator. Real independence is only possible when we’re fully dependent on God.
I don’t want to over- spiritualize the founding of America and the context of its formative documents, but could the Fourth of July be more than a celebration of a fledgling nation declaring its independence from British rule? Could it be that the Declaration of Independence was a landmark attempt to return a remnant of mankind to a system of governance that acknowledges God as the baseline?
Think about it.

Except for some brief periods with the ancient Israelites, all state- governing systems in history have been built on one consistent theme: Those in power declare the rules and rights. Those in power enforce the rules and rights they have declared.
The Declaration of Independence is built on a revolutionary premise:

God provides the basic rules and rights. Those in power serve as representatives of the people, enforcing the God- given rules and rights they already share. If the representatives start using their power to change the basic rules and rights, ‘we the people’ have the power to replace the representatives and maintain the God- given baseline.

This is huge!

Contrary to what today’s “historians” will tell you, the founders didn’t mince words some 234 years ago:

“We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”
— Samuel Adams, during his signing of the Declaration

“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
— John Quincy Adams

“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws… All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
— Noah Webster
“If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him… Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”
— William Penn
“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, some say, is the king of America? I’ll tell you, friend, He reigns above.”
— Thomas Paine

“It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.”
— George Washington

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.
— Thomas Jefferson

Just something to think about as we reflect on what’s happening in our country this Independence Day, 2010,

R____
Hi R____,
Thanks for your email… I have something for you too… think about this:

1Jn 2:16 For all (including our parents Adam and Eve) that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Eve didn’t sin for the first time when she took the physical piece of the fruit. Eve was sin, made from the Hand of the Potter.

Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (Lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes, (lust of the eyes) and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (pride of life) she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Do we have more Scriptual proof this is so?

Rom 8:20 For the creature (this does not exclude Adam and Eve… does it?) was made (made by whom?) subject to vanity, not willingly, (not by uncaused free choice) but by reason of him (Can you give me a reason why translators don’t use a capital H here?) who hath subjected the same in hope,

Let me give you one more hint.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made (who is doing the making? who is making the creature of clay?) was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.

Corruptible flesh first, made from the dust of the earth, subjected to vanity… marred in the hand of the Potter… the first Adam – made again another vessel, a quickening Spirit, lifegiving, spiritual and uncorruptable… the second Adam.
I hope God will give you eyes to see and ears to hear his wonderful works and plan with all humanity. There will come a day when we all have to give an account of every idle word we speak. You, me, everybody.

Mat 12:36 But I (Jesus) say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Be careful when you speak.
Kind regards,
K____

Hello Again K____,

Thanks for sending this along.

Just yesterday I watched Glen Beck interview about a dozen of our most prominent ministers. He concluded his program by asking them if there were any among them who did not consider Israel to be God’s chosen people, worthy of our support. Not one of them disagreed.
This article you have sent me reveals that our founders, as sincere as they may have been, did not have a clue as to what was the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Look at these quotes:

“We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”
— Samuel Adams, during his signing of the Declaration

“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
— John Quincy Adams

“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws… All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
— Noah Webster

All of this talk about “restoring the Sovereign… civil government being connected in one indissoluble bond with the principles of Christianity, and the moral principles and precepts in scripture forming the basis of our civil constitutions and laws” is coming from patriots who are totally blinded by their own Creator to who is that Sovereign and what are those moral principles and precepts in scripture.
One of the most basic of those precepts is this one which comes straight out of the mouth of Christ.

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

… and this:

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉

The truth of God’s Word truly is impossible for the natural man to see. I would literally have been laughed off the set of Glenn Beck’s show if I had pointed out Rom 2:28-29.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Of course it all stems from not seeing the things you have correctly pointed out to this man. But don’t expect to get a response because there is no defense against the Truth, so it cannot be acknowledged without completely destroying the old man and his principles.

A patriot as defined by Noah Webster…
“Patriot
PAT’RIOT, n. [ L. patria, one’s native country, form pater, father.]
A person who loves his country, and zealously supports and defends it and its interests.

Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws.
PAT’RIOT, a. Patriotic; devoted to the welfare of one’s country; as patriot zeal.”
But as true patriots they need to remember another Christian principle:

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Whenever the weapons of our warfare do become carnal, we have at that point “despised” our Christian principles, and the result is that we will end up supporting a country which openly denies that Christ is come in the flesh, and we will put their interests ahead of our own interests all the while claiming that we do believe  that Christ is come in the flesh. Who is that we are supporting when we support an entire country who denies that Christ is come in the flesh?

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Peter despised the principles He had just hours before declared to love, when he drew his carnal sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

All who take up the physical carnal weapon of a sword shall perish under the spiritual sword of the Word of God simply because he or she is not a patriot who is “devoted to the welfare of one’s country”, and is not willing to “zealously support and defend it and its interests” in the way Christ supported them by dying for His principles. No one claiming to be a Christian with a physical weapon in his possession for the purpose of destroying his physical enemy has any use for these Words of Christ which words are Christ:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

None of this computes in the mind of the natural man, who places the events of this life above an ethereal realm of the spirit, but just like Peter, all men will in time “Go out and weep bitterly” for denying the very Lord they claimed to love to the death.

Mat 26:69  Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70  But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71  And when he was gone out into the porch, another [ maid] saw him, and said unto them that were there, This [ fellow] was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

It took the coming of the holy spirit and having Christ in his heart to make Peter more afraid of disobeying Christ than disobeying his countrymen. Only then was Peter willing to die for Christ instead of dying with Christ while physically fighting for Him.
This is what Peter, as a type of us, said after Christ came into his heart on the day of Pentecost:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Your brother in a King and a kingdom which is not of this world.
Mike