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In just the last few days we have celebrated Columbus Day.  But why do we celebrate this day?  I remember learning in school that Columbus discovered America, but I don’t ever remember hearing why Columbus discovered America.

When we read Columbus’ own writings, it becomes obvious he decided to make his journey because of inspiration from God, his Creator.  Columbus wrote,

“It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me)…that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies.  All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter…[But] There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures…”

(Columbus, Christopher. August 3, 1492, as recounted by Bartolome’ de Las Casas. Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1942), p. 149. | John Eidsmoe, Columbus & Cortez, Conquerors for Christ (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 1992), p. 106.)

While there are those who reject the idea that God can lead us in this world and make plain to us what He wants us to do, the Bible is Continue reading →

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“It’s hot!”  I must have heard that a hundred times this summer—including all the times I said it to myself.  The small amount of rain over a lot of weeks is quickly moving us toward a crisis with our water tables.

But while we’re quick to complain about the dry weather, we’re much slower to consider why the rain has been withheld.  I hear Pastors sometimes quote that “God sends the rain on the just and the unjust”, as Jesus stated.  And that is His normal course of action.  However, there are other Bible passages that shed further light on this subject.  For instance, 2nd Chronicles 6:26, when King Solomon prays to God and says, “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against [God]…”  Solomon obviously believed rain could be withheld because God’s people were in sin.  This was also proven with the prophet Elijah.  God told Elijah that He would withhold the rain because of the wickedness of King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel.  Moses warned Continue reading →

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In the first two years of our War for Independence from England, George Washington’s army had very few victories. They were out-manned, out-gunned, and out-supplied. Yet they refused to give up and clung tenaciously to the hope of liberty. And some miracles occurred in the winter and spring of 1778 which would begin to fulfill that hope.

As they had marched into Valley Forge to establish their winter camp, Washington spoke of how this was a most remarkable army. Though just volunteer farmers, they had stood up to the British army, the greatest in the world, with dogged determination. Even now, as they struggled into their winter camp, their sacrifice was evident. Many had clothes which hung in threads, exposing their naked bodies to the cold. Washington recorded how one could trace their steps by the path of blood left by many who had no shoes of any sort. That winter over 2000 of the 6000 man army would die from lack of food and exposure to the elements. Yet, they stayed. Their love of liberty meant more than any physical hardship they were experiencing.

And in answer to prayer, God sent a man all the way from Prussia who would Continue reading →

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Why did early Americans respect the Bible so much?  Why did our Founding Fathers who wrote our Founding documents reason from Biblical principles?  Why did they insist that their education and governmental systems be the means of communicating the truth to the next generation?

To really understand how they thought we must consider the time in which they were born.  Most all of them were born in the midst of an amazing work which came to be called the “Great Awakening”.  It was a time of revival that brought the Pilgrims’ descendants back to the faith of those original settlers in Plymouth.  It started in 1734 in the little village of western Massachusetts called Northampton.  The Pastor of the church there, Jonathan Edwards, described it in his own words in Continue reading →

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Whenever I’ve been in New England studying America’s history, I’ve always been awe-struck by the many monuments and markers in that region which told of our past.  Our beginnings there speak to us in a great way concerning our Biblical roots.  Everywhere I turned there were references to the work of Jesus Christ in the lives of our ancestors.  Why did our forefathers place these monuments there?  Why are their words so specific in their instruction to us?

For example, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims first landed, there is a large stone placed over the spot where they buried half their number that first winter.  On the back of that stone are printed some words we definitely need to know.  They Continue reading →

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It was December, 1777.  George Washington’s army filed silently into their winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  Washington would tell of the amazing commitment of these men by reporting how you could trace their path by the bloody tracks they were leaving.  A great many of the 11,000 were barefooted; many were nearly naked in this freezing cold.  More than 2,000 would die that winter from lack of food and shelter.  Yet the miracle was—they didn’t leave.  Why?

While it won’t be revealed completely until we stand before the Lord at the Judgment, at least one reason is the praying that George Washington did that winter.  There were different reports by people who said they came unexpectedly upon Washington kneeling in the snow in the woods, earnestly pleading with God for the cause of his nation.  While Washington was a very private person, and not at all given to showy religion, people close to him reported of his consistent devotions to God.  No doubt the last words his mother said to him before he left home to embark on his military career had greatly impacted him.  Mary Washington had Continue reading →