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Polls the last few days reveal that seventy-eight percent of Americans are dissatisfied with this present national government. The tremendous move toward socialism is now producing what it always produces: A falling economy and dissatisfaction among the people.
What should we do? Why not return to the roots of America? Why not return to the Biblical thinking of our Founders concerning education, economy, and government? Indeed, the way we educate is what produces the kind of government we have. Abraham Lincoln said it plainly:
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”
(Lincoln, Abraham. Attributed. Herald Star (Steubenville, Ohio, 1984). | Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America’s Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 79; (4th printing, 1994), p. 95. | Karen Morgan, People of the Past (Historical Presentations, P.O. Box 426, Cortland, Ohio, 44410, (330) 638-8606).)
The emphasis on the Bible brought revival and some reformation to Scotland in the mid-1500s. John Knox, the leader of the Reformation in Scotland, set the example by being a great man of prayer. Iain Murray, who wrote his story, said of Knox that his prayer was:
“…an earnest and familiar talking with God.”
(A Scottish Christian Heritage, I. Murray, p. 13)
When the persecution under Queen Mary first started, Knox wrote a book entitled: “What True Prayer is, How We Should Pray, and for What We Should Pray”. In fact, it is said that Queen Mary, whom satan greatly used to try to hinder the revival, herself stated: “I fear nothing so much as the prayers of John Knox.” All liberty is always birthed out of true prayer.
The Scottish Reformation is very important to Americans because it became the pattern for our own independence. The writing of the Declaration of Independence was the fruit of the tremendous revival known as The Great Awakening in America that occurred all through the mid-1700s. In this great move of the Spirit of God across the thirteen colonies, Americans began to earnestly pray and return to the Bible as the textbook for living. And not only was the personal and family life touched. How to structure and operate education and government was also greatly affected. And while the Scots had not completely established a republic as a result of their Reformation, Americans would. The writing of the Declaration of Independence would begin it; and the writing of our original Constitution would complete it. Found in principle in those documents is the four-fold covenant of the Scots with their rulers, which grew out of the Scottish Reformation of the 1560s. That covenant included the newly elected rulers taking an oath that they would:
- Obey the law of God themselves.
- Rule the people according to how the Bible said to do it.
Then the people took an oath that they would:
- Obey the law of God and be His people.
- Obey their rulers as long as the rulers kept their covenant with God and the people!
They gained this understanding from the Scripture in passages like 2nd Chronicles 23 where young Joash is crowned king of Judah. The Bible says there:
“And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king [Joash], that they should be the LORD’s people.” (2nd Chronicles 23:16)
Thus, the Biblical thinking of the Reformation in Scotland, as well as that among the Pilgrims, became the basis for the writing of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
Will America return to the Bible with a full commitment; believing we must build our personal and family lives from it? Believing we must once again educate our children from its principles? Believing we must rebuild our local and national governments from it? You—and I—must decide that!
Think About It. Because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.