“Why They Came – Part 2”


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Why They Came - Part 2 1The spray from the waters of Cape Cod blowing in the wind was covering the men in this small boat.  They were looking more and more like ‘ice men’ as the spray quickly turned to ice as it hit their beards and clothing.  The snow was becoming blinding.  The wind was picking up now, making any site of land impossible.  Not only was it looking like they wouldn’t be able to find a place to build their houses today, they were beginning to fear this might be their last day on earth.  This storm was such a rage, they began to pray in desperation that they could find any safe harbor.  Suddenly, as if God had intervened, the wind died enough for one of them to see what he thought was a shoreline.  They struggled desperately with the waves and the elements, and with great difficulty finally made land.  They had no clue where they were, for in weeks of looking around Cape Cod for a place to settle their families, they had never been here before.  They were really afraid because their guns had gotten wet and would not fire.  They had already encountered the Indians in this area and they had proven to be enemies instead of friends.  The men prayed and prayed for the storm to stop and for God to protect them.

The next morning when the sky had cleared the men found they were on an island in what is now Plymouth Bay.  The storm had blown them through the narrow entrance of the bay just as if God had planned it so.  Indeed they would come to believe He had; for as they looked across the bay to the mainland, they could see what would become their home.  The land was gently sloping, good for farming, with four fresh water springs.  The top of the hill was perfect for defense against unfriendly neighbors and the harbor was deep enough for ships bigger than the Mayflower to anchor.  Indeed, they believed God had prepared and preserved this spot for them.  But they didn’t know the half of it!

Four months later, they would Continue reading

“Why They Came”

Why They Came 1


© 2019 Don Pinson | [Download]
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The little boy tugged at the young man’s coat sleeve. “How far is it to America?” he asked, “Will we soon be there?” “No, lad,” the man replied, “It will take many days to cross this huge ocean.” The little boy gazed briefly across the ocean to the west. Then, unaware of the risks of such a voyage, he ran to find his friend to tell him this ship, the Mayflower, would be their playground for a long time. The young man continued to gaze across the vast ocean. His thoughts drifted back twenty years—to the time he had first met these people he was now a part of.

He remembered the wonderful meetings they had in their homes in England. For the first time in his life he had felt accepted, really accepted. These people were genuine, somehow he just knew it. Though others were saying this group were bigots who thought they were the only ones who were right and that they had “gone off the deep end” with their religion, he knew the truth. These people were real. They people didn’t claim to be perfect. They readily admitted that they too were capable of selfishness. But the unique thing about them (that so set them apart from those who were against them) was that they had entered into an agreement to help each other not give into selfishness by letting their friends point it out to them. And the way they did it seemed safer to him than living the way his relatives did. Because they recognized their own bent toward selfishness, they didn’t trust their own thoughts alone. They had agreed to compare their thoughts about another member’s actions to what the Bible said about those actions. Those who were critical of them certainly didn’t Continue reading

“Government Reveals Our Degree of Selfishness”


© 2019 Don Pinson | [Download]
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Government Reveals Our Degree of Selfishness 1When Davey Crockett was a Congressman he learned a lesson we desperately need to relearn in our nation.  He once voted for some $20,000 to be set aside from the national treasury to be given to families in north Washington, whose houses had burned.  It seemed to be the compassionate thing to do.  But later, back on the campaign trail, a well-respected farmer told him he could not again vote for him.  When Crockett asked him why, the man, Horatio Bunce, replied that he had violated the Constitution by voting that money for the destitute families.  Bunce then began to explain that the Constitution allows Congress only the right to vote appropriations for the duties which the Constitution enumerates that the government has the power to do.  It gives no power to give money to those citizens who need help.  Bunce said to Crockett, quote:

“The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man…

“If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper.  You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other.  No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.”

(Harper’s Magazine, 1867, as written by James J. Bethune, pen name of Edward S. Ellis)

Davey Crockett learned a vital lesson that day:  If the people didn’t agree to something in the original Constitution—or haven’t amended it since concerning that power—then the Congress, the President, or the Supreme Court has no right to do it—PERIOD!!!  This view of the Constitution is called Original Intent, and it is the only view that will preserve our liberty!

In the Bible, we learn that we must Continue reading