“The Pilgrims — Overcoming the Hard Times”


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The Pilgrims - Overcoming the Hard Times 1Forefathers Monument, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is dedicated to the memory of the Pilgrims: Specifically to the memory of, “…their labors, sufferings, and sacrifices in the cause of civil and religious liberty.” One of the five statues which make up Forefathers Monument is Morality. This statue reveals the Pilgrims desire to live conforming their actions to the Bible. They demonstrated how Christ could live His life through us if we were surrendered to Him as a living Master. And that was true in hard times as well as good times. Their story shows us this reality—even in the most difficult circumstances.

When they came together in a church covenant in 1605 to: “…walk together in all His ways…whatsoever it should cost them…” (Bradford, William. Of Plimoth Plantation), it would cost them dearly. Several times over the next three years, English deputies would burst into their worship meetings, hauling the men off to jail; fining them and keeping them locked up for thirty days. This cost them financially because they were unable to work their farms during those times.

When they moved to Holland in order to have the religious freedom to teach their children the ways of Christ, they were Continue reading

“Thankful for Biblical Civil Systems”

Thankful for Biblical Civil Systems 1


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In 1623 the Pilgrims celebrated a time of Thanksgiving with their Indian friends, Chief Massasoit and his Wampanoag tribe. The Pilgrims were grateful to God for their Indian friends. The peace treaty into which they had entered helped both peoples to go on with their daily lives in an ordered manner. This is, of course, the purpose of civil law; to protect the God-given rights of life, liberty, and property. When this is done, the resulting order allows society’s institutions to function without the interruption of chaos. The Pilgrims’ Pastor, John Robinson, had taught them that this order flowed from Biblically based civil government, and thus, the first thing they did when they arrived was to write the Mayflower Compact; which instituted this type of government. I believe their new civil government was one of the things they were most thankful for on those first Thanksgiving Days.

And the Pilgrims’ new civil government was working. Their original economic system failed because it was 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