“The Pilgrims’ View of Government”

The Pilgrims View of Government 1


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The ship rode the waves in Cape Cod Bay in a restless sort of way. The voyage just completed had lasted sixty-six days. The last six weeks had been in unbelievable storms. At one point, the Mayflower had nearly gone to the bottom. Only by a miracle was a broken beam repaired with a tool that was supposed to have been left on the dock in England. There were other difficulties and the hard voyage had left the Pilgrims sea-weary and sick.

And yet, before they got off the ship, a document must be written and agreed upon by all those who would be making their home in America. The document would come to be known as the Mayflower Compact.

This government form was not Continue reading

“Pocahontas: Instrument of God”


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In the thick forests of the Virginia coastal region, Indian children had played for generations.  They had imagined themselves brave warriors or as the mothers of great chiefs.  They knew the land and how to gain their living from it.  However, no one in 1607, could imagine the power that one of these young lives would have on the destiny of America.  But she was no surprise to God, her Creator.  He had planned her life, as short as it would be, to be one of the most useful in history.

Pocahontas- Instrument of God 1Her name was Pocahontas and she met the Jamestown settlers quickly after they had landed.  Captain John Smith, the bold adventurer, wanted to meet the natives.  He left the safety of the group shortly after they landed and went looking for the inhabitants of the region.  However, his experience with them would not prove altogether friendly.  He was quickly captured and taken to Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas.  After preparing a meal for him and treating him like an honored guest, suddenly the Indians turned on him, apparently preparing to kill him.  They bound him and laid his head on a large stone.  Then, picking up clubs and dancing wildly, they advanced toward him.  Smith expected at any moment to be beaten to death.  But then, in a shocking move, young Pocahontas, only eleven or twelve years of age, suddenly moved toward him, taking his head and pulling it up into her lap, she bent over him, shielding him from the screaming braves and cried out to her father to spare his life.  By the mercy of God, Powhatan did spare Smith’s life.  Indeed, he accepted Smith into the tribe as a brave friend.  That friendship would Continue reading

“Halloween or Reformation Day?”


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October 31st marked the great change in history which began to restore the “liberty of conscience” to the human race. Five hundred years ago a young priest Halloween or Reformation Day 1tacked on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany a document that changed the course of history. Martin Luther was that young priest, and his bold act threw off the religious yoke of “the tyranny of the mind”. And while most in America now think of October 31st as Halloween, that’s a “Johnny-come-lately” idea. Up until the mid-1800s, on October 31st, we celebrated “Reformation Day”, for that was the day the mind of man began to be set free from hundreds of years of living in the fear of what other men thought. Once again, man began to learn that only God has the right to shape our minds for He created us, and thus by rights, owns us and our minds. What Martin Luther did would start to restore the precious freedom Jesus talked about when He stated,

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

We call that truth, the “liberty of conscience”, and it is a most sacred part of “religious liberty”. God used a lowly young boy, grown into a courageous young man, to Continue reading