George Washington - A Man of Faith

Throughout history, people have honored the memory of our founding father, hero of the Revolutionary War, and first president of the United States. But even though everyone agrees that George Washington was a man of character, recently some have question whether he was a man of faith or just had a general belief in a distant God.

This change in people's opinions about George Washington's faith isn't because some new historical evidence has come to light but because some historians want to prove our founding fathers did not rely upon God. It has become politically incorrect to consider George Washington as any more than a deist, someone who believes in a distant God who doesn’t interfere with the plans of man.

This theory became popular in 1963, when Professor Paul Boller wrote a book, George Washington and Religion. Until then nobody questioned Washington's strong faith in God. Professor Boller wrote, “Broadly speaking, of course, Washington can be classified as a Deist.” But there wasn't any evidence to support that statement.

The truth is that the evidence to support the view that George Washington was indeed a man of faith is overwhelming. Peter A. Lillback wrote a biography documenting George Washington's faith based on fifteen years of research called George Washington’s Sacred Fire.

Here’s a few things that prove George Washington had a strong Christian faith in God.

• At age thirteen, Washington transcribed and memorized "110 Rules for Young Gentlemen," written by Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in the 1590's. They teach that man is God's servant who lives not for self, but for others. They became part of his character.

• When Washington was twenty, he wrote prayers to say each morning and evening. Every Sunday morning, he prayed, "...pardon, I beseech Thee, my sins; remove them from Thy presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept me for the merits of Thy son, Jesus Christ..."

• Captain Washington, at the age of twenty-three, was caught in a surprise ambush by the French and Indians near what is now Pittsburgh. Every British and American officer was shot except for Washington. He rode through the battlefield numerous times without being hit. Later Indians who had been in the battle said they believed His God protected him because many of them aimed straight at him, but it was as if there was a shield around him. Washington later wrote to his brother, "By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation, for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me."

• During the Revolutionary War, General Washington, Commander and Chief of the Continental Army, told his troops: "The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance or the most abject submission. We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die."

• As Commander and Chief, Washington pushed for army chaplains and required church attendance among the soldiers.

• At one point in the war, British General Howe had trapped Washington and his 8,000 troops on Brooklyn Heights, ready to crush them the next morning. Washington gathered every vessel from fishing to row boats and spent all night ferrying his army across the East River. By morning, many troops were still exposed to the British. This gave the British a chance to win the war. But the fog that almost always lifts from the river in the mornings, stayed thick and covered Washington’s retreat until the entire army escaped.

• In 1777 at Valley Forge, a dozen soldiers died a day in the freezing cold. They lacked supplies such as blankets or shoes. A Quaker named Isaac Potts reported seeing Washington on his knees in the snow praying aloud for his beloved country. He thanked God for exalting him to the head of a great nation which was fighting at fearful odds. Potts told his wife, "Till now I have thought that a Christian and a solider were characters incompatible, but if George Washington not be a man of God I am mistaken, and still more I shall be disappointed in God does not through him perform some great thing for this country."

• On May 5, 1778 Washington learned the French would join America as allies. The General told his troops, "It having pleased the Almighty Ruler of the universe to defend the cause of the United American States, and finally to raise up a powerful friend among the princes of the earth, to establish our liberty, and independence upon a lasting foundation, it becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the divine goodness..."

• While encamped on the banks of a river, Washington was approached by Delaware Indian chiefs who desired that their youth be trained in American schools. In Washington's response, he first told them that "Congress... will look on them as on their own children." That is, we would train their children as if they were our own. He then commended the chiefs for their decision: You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.

• In 1781, General Washington's southern army defeated a detachment of British troops. Lord Cornwallis was infuriated and began pursuing the outnumbered Americans. He waited the night at the Catawba River, which the U.S. troops had crossed just two hours earlier. Miraculously, a storm arose during the night causing the river to be uncrossable for five days. Cornwallis nearly overtook Americans at the Yadkin River, but another flood arose, allowing Americans to escape.

• The French navy seized control of the Chesapeake Aug. 30, 1781, driving out British ships. Washington rejoiced and besieged Cornwallis' stronghold at Yorktown. With no ships to escape upon, Cornwallis surrendered.

• Washington wrote Congress, "I take a particular pleasure in acknowledging that the interposing Hand of Heaven...has been most conspicuous and remarkable."

• During the oath of office, when Washington became president, he chose to take the oath with a Bible.

• President Washington often spoke on the importance of prayer and signed the first official Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in US history.

We can have confidence in the fact that faith in God was very important to President George Washington and that he was a strong Christian.

The Battle for Freedom of Conscience

"Thomas Goold being presented by the Grand Jury held at Cambridge, April 7, 1657, for not bringing his child to the holy ordinance of baptism, the said Goold appearing in Court confessed his child to be unbaptized, the Court sollemly admonished him of his dangerous error." Middlesex Court Original Papers, Charlestown, Massachusetts p. 699.

"The Snake in the Grass or Satan Transform'd to an Angel of Light," title page by Richard Gaywood, paper, etching, 148 mm x 93 mm. At the sides are a Puritan and a Covenanter above an author writing.{{PD-1996}}

"But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." Mark 13:9

The colonists from the early 1600's through to the writing of the Constitution witnessed time and time again people willing to endure much persecution for their beliefs. Thus, many came to understand a person's conscience cannot be bent to the will of the government or other rulers. To change what a person believes at the core of their being requires an act of God, not of man. A battle for a person's freedom of conscience played a significant role in the war for human rights.

The anabaptist groups, like the Baptists and the Quakers, were demonized by the courts for not baptizing their infants. The Puritans, from which the Congregational Churches were formed, came out of the Church of England (many of the preachers having been trained by that church), held to the doctrine of infant baptism so strongly that they viewed anyone not baptizing their infant a messenger of Satan:

 "'Tis Satan's policy to plead for an indefinite and boundless toleration." Thomas Shepherd, "Election Sermon" (1672), p. 24

"The Lord keep us from being bewitched with the whore's cup, lest while we seem to detest and reject her with open face of profession, we do not bring her in by a back door of toleration." John Cotton, "Bloody Tenet Washed," p. 132, 192

"The Loud outcry of some is for liberty of conscience … I look upon an unbounded toleration as the first born of all abominations." Reverend Urian Oakes, president of Harvard in 1675. http://mises.org/daily/5966/The-Libertarian-Origins-of-Rhode-Island

 Reflecting upon this battle in Colonial times, I could not help but see the parallel in our own times. The cry of anger against evangelical, Bible-believing churches (indeed all who lay claim to the title: 'Christian') no longer comes from a state church but from secularists, atheists, and those in the government who have little regard for true freedom of conscience. They tote toleration while denying business owners liberty of conscience on how they run their business. There is little difference between the above quotes and the actions and words of those who wish to impose laws that are contrary to the conscience of the business owner or the individual.

The Anabaptist groups (like the Quakers and the Baptists and the Seekers) continued to stand for their beliefs, against all persecutions: from arrests, to whippings, to hangings. They did not waiver. Such conviction led others to embrace their freedoms and even their faith. People gave up their positions, their wealth, their homes in order to hold to their core beliefs. And by standing firm, drawing others to them, they eventually won for us religious freedom...which I fear we are losing, particularly if we (out of fear of losing our comforts and 'peace') refuse to stand firm on God's Word--on God's Truth, and not man's--no matter the cost.

The Bible does teach us to obey the laws of the land and live peaceably, but not to the extent of denying Christ or denying God's laws. God's laws must come first in our lives. God, our Creator, knows what is best for us. He gave us those laws, those instructions on how to live, because He knew that to work contrary to them would lead to destruction. He didn't want that for us. As an example to us, He gave Peter and the other apostles courage to say, "We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

When  you are facing opposition to what you claim is your faith, are you willing to say as the apostles did, "We ought to obey God rather than men"?

"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because thy are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil."

John 17:14-15

The Proof of Your Faith Is found in the Revelation of God's Hand

"God had so appointed it, to stop their fierce proceedings against me for a lie, which they sought to take me in." Thomas Goold quoted by Nathan Eusebius, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (1665-1899), p. 44.

"And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." Acts 12:11

Thomas Goold, a leading property owner in 17th century Charlestown, Massachusetts and a wagon maker by trade, created quite a stir. He, the writer of the Confession of Faith for the Charlestown Church began to openly espouse Anabaptist doctrines. Along with Mr. And Mrs Osborn, he caused such concern that the leaders were compelled to write the first records of discipline in the First Parish Church of Charlestown, April 6, 1658.

"...it was consented to by the brethren that his wife [Mrs. Osborn], leavened with principles of Anabaptisme and Quakerisme, should receive an admonition for her notorious neglect of the publique worship of God, denying our churches to be true churches, and denying her membership with us,..."

The end result: excommunication.

These people would be removed from the care and protection of the community. For taking a stand, Thomas Goold would lose not only his social standing but eventually be fined on many occasions, and when he refused to pay the fines, imprisoned.

But Mr. Goold did not focus on the bad. He saw God's hand. When messengers of the church came to argue that he had lied regarding a date for baptism of his child, he recognized God's protection. A friend, who had borrowed his breeches, found the letter confirming Goold's words in the pocket. He also recognized God's protection in having his friend there at the time of this confrontation.

Based on what I have read, I wonder if Mr. Goold still waivered in his convictions at this early date of his trials. I wonder if God saw fit to use this time of testing to help Mr. Goold see God's protection so that he would trust God in future events.

When Peter was arrested, James the brother of John had already been killed by Herod. No doubt Peter feared he'd meet the same end. Yet God spared him. Did that mean Peter would never again face dangers? Not at all. History tells us he was crucified upside down. But between this arrest and his death, Peter would have much work to do for the Lord and would require great faith and trust in God.

As a chapel speaker at a children's camp, I'd listen to girls tell stories of how they hid their Bible under their beds so as not to provoke the anger of their mothers. Or tell of threats by other children in their school yard because they profess the name of Jesus. They, even as young children, stood by their conviction of faith and endured.

Today we see many Christian businessmen and women facing a financial noose. Like Thomas Goold, because of their convictions they may lose all they have gained via fines, and others will suffer because of the stand they take. I wonder if they, like Thomas Goold  and Peter, see God's hand and are encouraged to persevere.

While I read through the documents of our past and rejoice at the battles for freedom fought and won, I marvel at how quickly we are giving up those freedoms. Can you not see the similarities between what Mr. Goold experienced and what those Christian businessmen today who are taking a stand on their convictions are enduring? Even if you do not agree, surely you can see how we are going backward instead of forward in freedom.

We must pray. We can pray for the troubles to be removed, but we must also recognize that God may have a plan higher and greater than our own. The persecution the church in Jerusalem experienced caused them to run to other locations. The apostles had been given a commission:

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

 They had not yet gone to the uttermost part of the earth. Comfortable, enjoying the fellowship of others and the growth of the church, they stayed in Jerusalem until God scattered them by using persecution as a catalyst.

Every trial comes for a purpose. Whatever we endure can stand as a testimony of God's work in us and through us, if we chose to look for His hand. Thomas Goold, admonished and put away from the church, could well have been left alone, but God had another plan.

"Now after this, considering with myself what the Lord would have me to do;  not likely to join with any of the churches of New England any more, and so to be without the ordinances of Christ; in the meantime God sent out of Old England some who were Baptists;..."
Thomas Goold, quoted by Nathan Eusebius Wood, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (1665-1899) p. 50.

Again Goold saw God's hand. He gave God the glory for the relief and encouragement he received.

What about you? Is your faith proven by your ability to see God's hand in your circumstance? Does seeing His hand in your situation strengthen your resolve to stand by your convictions?

I am praying for our country and for those men and women who courageously remain resolute against those who seek to take away their freedom. I also pray that when the testing of my faith comes, I will be counted among the faithful and found to be without compromise.

"My breathren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience...
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
James 1:3-4,12

The Courage of Mrs. Leland

"The case was this: my wife, who was seated near the head of the bed, when she saw the Captain step from the bed with his sword drawn, and draw back his arm to give the thrust, like a female angel, sprang like the lightning of heaven, clasped her arms within his elbow, around his body, locked her hands together, and held him like a vice, till the men took away his sword. We then took a lantern and went into the road and carried on our meeting."
John Leland, The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland p. 27

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." 

Deuteronomy 31:6

Elder John Leland preached the Gospel from Massachusetts to North Caroline. He started as a young man in 1774 and continued traveling and preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ through the War of Independence until his death in 1841. He faced many dangers and threats, but God provided for him a strong and courageous helpmeet in his wife.

When Mrs. Leland held back the captain from thrusting his sword through her husband, she did so to prevent the captain from stopping her husband's preaching. Invited to preach at a woman's house, they were stopped at the gate by the woman's son, the Captain. However, her husband let Elder Leland in and the people came to hear the preaching. When Elder Leland opened the meeting with singing, the Captain attacked. Mrs. Leland likely saved her husband's life.

Raised by an abusive step-father, Mrs. Leland endured hardships as a child, like her feet partly frozen off and an illness that left her speech impaired. Then, as a wife, she was often left alone to care for numerous children with little means and facing many dangers from soldiers, runaway slaves, and vagabonds during the war. 

Though she endured much affliction, from near shipwreck to evil spirits, she did not endure them alone.

"It has been remarked of Mrs. Leland, that her faith was strong. Indeed, on some occasions, it seemed to rest on grounds that partook of the character of revelations. An instance of  this kind occurred in the storm by which they were overtaken on their passage from Virginia to New England, in 1791. After twelve hours of incessant watching and agonizing prayer, expecting momentarily to go to the bottom, she appeared to sink into a slumber; but presently turning to her husband, she exclaimed, "We shall not be lost." She had received this assurance from a figure in white which seemed to stand before her, measuring off piece after piece of a long white cord, and which said to her, "The vessel cannot sink, I have undergirded it.""

The Writings of Elder John Leland, p. 45.

 Two things we can learn from her life:

• Affliction and hardship bring strength to those who humble themselves in the Lord
• Strength to endure hardship and affliction will come from the Lord when we look to Him.

When we have reached the end of our strength, God offers us more from His fountain, if only we would drink.

Hard times have come and passed, and yet we will see more in the future. How we face them reveals not only our character but our faith. In this new year, we may see attacks on our faith from our government, from the community, and from individuals, not to mention those leaders of other countries who hate the Kingdom of Heaven. Each moment we must chose between trusting God and walking in obedience or compromising our faith for the 'comforts and safety' this world feigns to offer. When we chose to trust God, He will not fail to provide us with the peace that passes all understanding. I wonder if perhaps we may have opportunities to see the 'figure in white' He sends to watch over us?

"...Who are kept by the power of God through faith...though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:...

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;..."

I Peter 1:5-7,13

Henry Dunster and Freedom of Conscience

"The Lord gave me an attentive eare and heart to understand preaching. . . . The Lord showed me my sins, and reconciliation by Christ, . . . and this word was more sweet to me than any thing else in the world."

Henry Dunster, First President of Harvard College, 1653.

"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah 53:10

Harvard College

Henry Dunster was twelve years old when he found "reconciliation by Christ." This was the beginning of a life where the sweetness of that understanding would be tested by the temptations and trials of life. After studying at Cambridge University in England, he became a teacher. Then in 1640, civil war broke out in England, and Dunster emigrated to New England. While no doubt he experienced consternation over the Church of England before leaving to the New World, he would also find the religious leaders in Boston at odds with him. In 1654 Mr. Dunster was asked to resign from Harvard presidency for expressing beliefs the religious leaders of the time deemed heretical.

Currently, I am doing a study on the Messianic Prophecies, those passages in the Old Testament that foretell the first and second coming of Christ. The first coming happened approximately 2000 years ago. We anxiously await the second.

While studying Isaiah 51-53, I found myself pausing at Isaiah 53:10, "when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin". What a thought. Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He did not speak in protest when he was afflicted. He did not complain when he was unjustly sentenced to death, because He had a purpose in mind: to make Himself an offering for my sin. He poured out His Soul unto death in place of mine.

Reading through the Life of Henry Dunster, by Jeremiah Chaplin, Samuel Dunster, and Edward Swift Dunster, I reflected upon what needed to happen in Mr. Dunster's life before he would have the conviction of heart and spirit to stand against the religious leaders at that time who would suppress his freedom of conscience. His ability to be strong in the face of opposition began with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Quite likely Dunster took his orders in the Church of England, like other Puritan ministers. However, in his Confession of Faith, we hear his angst over what was happening in that church:

"The Lord hath made me bid adieu to all worldly treasures; and as corruptions in the Church came, first I began to suspect them, then to hate them....So, after 10 years' trouble, I came hither [to New England]; and the Lord gives me peace to see the order of his people." (Life of Henry Dunster, p. 13)

Imagine the thrill he experienced when he found himself not only accepted but highly esteemed by those well-educated leaders of the New World. But in this New World a maelstrom was brewing. As people gained knowledge of God's Word and began to think for themselves, they began to oppose the present religious leadership, and Dunster would be caught in the middle.

Roger Williams, a man Dunster respected, would be banished. Anne Hutchinson would be banished. Lady Deborah Moody was excommunicated. Obadiah Holmes would be brutally whipped. Many others would take a stand and find the fury of the religious leaders either on their back or reaching into their pockets.

Then came Henry Dunster's turn. He would need to examine his convictions and take a stand.

Imagine the horror those esteemed men felt when the man they chose to lead in the education of their youth took a stand against a doctrine to which they clung. I can almost feel the thunder of their anger. And my own knees knock in empathy for the meek and gentle Mr. Dunster.

And then I am reminded what Christ had done for me. I imagine Mr. Dunster thought the same. For taking a stand on what his conscience told him was right, Mr. Dunster would be demonized and considered possessed by Satan.

Today the secular world would have me emotionally stripped, and their verbal whip laid upon my back for my convictions. The Atheists would gladly call me a fool for my faith in God, my belief in Heaven, and my determination to follow Jesus Christ, who is to them a dead man but to me alive and well and Whose Spirit is living in me. I believe in the grace of God which saved me through faith. And because I believe, I stand on His Word thus His laws, as absolute truth contrary to what society and the government would claim is true and to the laws they create that are in direct opposition to God's.

As a child, I remember being mocked for that faith, but I would lock my jaw and push forward. No one could take that faith from me. I remember as a young adult being mocked for my belief that anyone who is not saved will go to hell. I remember having someone scream in my face that I was cruel to tell another that hell existed and the only way to Heaven was through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even a little more than a year ago I made a decision (based on convictions that what God in His Word says God means) to step down from a position of leadership. I could not reconcile what I believed with a stand the organization made, which I believe supported a view contrary to God's Word. My heart pounded in my chest. My palms sweated, and my hands shook. But my spirit was strengthened by God's Spirit. It took courage to speak knowing the emotions stirred by my stance have caused many within the past few years to be the recipients of violence. While I could not imagine the group I spoke to acting in such a manner, I had no doubt if word got out to the general populous I could experience backlash. But then I remembered the Cross. In obedience to God I must walk. In faith that His precepts are truth I must continue.

Each confrontation I have faced regarding my faith stirred within me a strength of conviction I never thought I'd have. Was I wrong to have spoken truth? No. Often I have reflected on whether there could have been a better way, and maybe at times I did not speak with seasoning, but I cannot say that I was ever wrong to answer a question with the truth found in Scripture. Nor was I wrong to walk away from an association yielding itself to the pressures of the world or to stand on God's precepts as absolute truth for my life.

Two facts remain: I am a sinner, and Christ offered Himself for payment of my sin. How then can I not stand for God's laws that declare me a sinner, knowing the price Christ paid for me when I broke God's laws? Would I have Christ sacrificed again?

Each of us will face moments of truth when we will show in our words and actions whether we understand God's laws are above man's. What will that moment reveal about our faith and our understanding of the price paid for our sins?

"Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."

I Peter 4:19

 

Thomas Jefferson and the Pursuit of Truth

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors" Thomas Jefferson 

"In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote."
Daniel 5:5

Approximately 538 BC, a new king ruled Babylon, Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar. A young man who appeared to have ideas different from his father and who was in love with his prosperity.

At the conclusion of his life, Nebuchadnezzar wrote:

"Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." Daniel 4:37

Nebuchadnezzar experienced the humbling press of God's hand on him and gained knowledge. Made a madman, he ate grass like the beasts until he knew that the most High God ruled the kingdom of men, giving it to whomsoever He will. He learned God's sovereignty.

His son, however, seemed not to have learned from his father. Belshazzar made a great feast. He took the holy items his father had taken from the house of God and used them in the worship of gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone. He denied the one true God as worthy of honor and worship, and exalted man-made objects in His place. In essence, mocking God.

At the changing of a king, God proved He was still in control. He put out His hand and proclaimed:

"...God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it....Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting...Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Daniel 5:26b-28

Belshazzar had believed falsehoods and errors about his gods and about the One True God. He seemed ignorant of the humbling his father endured before Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged all God's works are truth and that God makes abase the proud. Because of his vanity, Belshazzar was slain that night.

God sees America today. He knows whose minds are filled with falsehoods and errors and who knows truth. He knows who has denied Him for the gods of wealth and prosperity and fame and power, and who hasn't. God knows the heart of each citizen in minute detail, and He knows the waves of society washing against the sands of truth.

Election day is coming, and America will make a decision about the direction it will go. Each voter has or will make a choice based on his perception of truth. When the votes are numbered and finished, when our decisions regarding the future of our country is weighed in the balances, will America be found wanting?

This is a country that holds high the banner of separation from church and state. Yet the core of each person's values and beliefs determines the decisions he makes. You cannot separate a person's true faith from his actions. If your action denies the faith you proclaim, then you did not have that faith. True faith in God lives and breathes through the conversations (words and actions) of those who place their trust in Him. If you don't obey and hold to the truths of His Word, your faith is lacking. 

"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." James 2:17-18

On November 6, what will your ballot say about your values and beliefs? Will God look at it and find you wanting--find that you do not acknowledge God and the truth He lays out for every area of life (from conception to eternity) and society (from law, to justice, to fashion, and more) in the Scriptures?

Our country is already divided. The question is, will God give us to the Medes and Persians...will we find ourselves in further captivity and taken further from the "Promised Land" many colonialists believed America would be?

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
Thomas Jefferson

George Washington: Contending for Liberty

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth. 

George Washington, General Orders, Headquarters, New York (2 July 1776)

 "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" 

 Galatians 3:2-3

Perhaps the most difficult balance for a Christian to strike is that of good works and faith.

"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:17

Because of the glorious grace of God, shed upon us freely by the faith of Jesus Christ, we are free from the tyranny of religious rituals, traditions, and works as a means to appease and win favor with God. Yet, faith is revealed in our actions. What should those actions be?

"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off." Psalm 139:1-2

Perhaps the question should not be what actions reveals our faith but what motivates our actions? We, being fallible creatures, know not what follows our actions. God, being infallible and all-knowing, understands the heart behind our actions and judges accordingly.

In our pursuit of holiness we quickly create lists of dos and don'ts. Paul rebuked Peter for returning to the religious exercise of separation from the Gentiles. A work of the law Peter sought to use to justify himself in the eyes of the Jews.

Yet Paul saw that being dead to the law and alive in Christ meant his actions must reflect his life in Christ, who fulfilled the law when He died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

"For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in on word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Galatians 5:13-14

Contending for the liberty we have in Christ is superior to all the rituals, acts, and abstinence of religion, which enslaves. But we do not fight with harsh words, accusational statements, and angry countenances. Our contention for liberty is in love: "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

How are you showing your faith? Are your works reflecting the love and grace of God? Or are you executing works, rituals, religious abstinence in order to live the life of a religious mercenary who believes he will be paid for his good works by God with blessings?

"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment."

I John 3:23