JESUS & DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE INCOMPATIBLE?

On the surface, that headline carries a strange question! But is really? I was studying the Book of Ecclesiastes recently and in Chapter 2,  the "Preacher" - King Solomon - expounds pleasure. This led me to a study of the philosophy of Epicureans. The comparison with King Solomon and 21st Century America is uncanny! Solomon in his corrupt heyday did what was right in his own eyes, just like people today. He was the ultimate Epicurean.

Now, there is a misconception that Epicureans believe only in "wine, women and song".....or "eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die" and many carnal christians themselves believe and practice that lifestyle. Unfortunately, this included one of the most liked of America's Founding Fathers and most famous author of the American Declaration of Independence - Thomas Jefferson.

Contrary to creative historian David Barton, Jefferson was not a born-again Christian but a legitimate Epicurean libertine and Exhibit A of the current decline of America to where it is heading today- downhill with no brakes! Why would I, a born-again believe and support of the Founding Documents of the Greatest Country ever created by man make such a statement? Well, let's read what Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Paragraph 2)

There it is - "THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS"! Thomas Jefferson did NOT proceed to say that the Pursuit of Happiness is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ or the pursuit of the God of the Bible. But Jefferson did say this phrase IMMEDIATELY following his statement on the "pursuit of happiness" - "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

There it is! Unless Jefferson's love of the word "Government" is the original Biblical Greek word for "God", the Founding Father and creator of a modern US political party is guaranteeing that "safety and happiness" comes from government! This is typical Epicureanism where this philosophy's true belief was not just hedonism but a painless concept of "happiness" and metaphysical pleasure as the greatest good!! 

Is this what God - in the Form of The Son - JESUS CHRIST - died for on Good Friday almost 1980 years ago? Did the Creator of the Universe, the Ancient of Days, Who poured Himself out and humbled Himself and let corrupt politically corrupt religious leaders persecute, torture and execute Him on a Cross...did THAT GOD do ALL of this so that we should pursue our happiness as one man...sure he was a founding father,  etched in stone? Did Jesus DIE in Vain?

The answers to all of the above is of course, NO. The Lord Jesus gave His Life, as part of the eternal plan of God to rescue mankind from itself and restore him/her to a right relationship with Him. As we reflect on the Passover and Good Friday, on the Holiest week for both Jews and Christians, never lose sight of this.

We have so-called men and women of God - from pastors of "evangelical" and African-American churches falling all over themselves to endorse a Biblical oxymoron "gay marriage". We have young so-called "christians" in colleges like Biola, Wheaton and in America's megachurches not just thinking it is okay, but compartmentalizing God and secular culture so they can support the new trends AND be pro-choice on Abortion, while acting like a fool with their hands in the air to some loud praise band with their theological pants on the ground. None of these people could hold a candle to Pastor Saeed and others in the worldwide persecuted church...and in fact these same clergy and young "christians" will face the Wrath of God on Judgment Day.

The Cross is the great Divide. When the Lord Jesus gave up His onetime earthly life and said "IT IS FINISHED" - it WAS finished...and decided once and for all. Jesus is called The Word many times in the Bible...and He is deadly SERIOUS About His Word. He said so (every jot and tittle). That includes not just everything from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, but every syllable of every letter in between. Those religious types from the pharisees of the Sanhedrin; to the liberal clergy of North America to young "christians" playing church with their lattes and smart phones will be held to account for crucifying the Son of Man again and again and again with their heresies.

The Cross is the great Divide. The Pursuit of Happiness is not the problem, the means to it is. If the "Joy of the Lord" is your strength, we are on the right side of the Cross. If our happiness and pleasure are found in the things of and created by man and his corrupt culture, we ARE on the WRONG side of the Cross. So there really is a choice. 

The Choice is - do we choose the fleeting happiness of the world, which comes with bondage and chains to a captive philosophy OR do we choose today "to be with Him in Paradise"? You see, it really does come down to which side of the Cross you are on. As for me and my house, we will choose the Lord.  This fleeting life is measured in terms of what others say about you for 10 seconds on some news cast when it should be marked with the Seal of Approval from the Only One Who matters - Jesus Christ. Your happiness and mine should be defined by our repentance and acceptance and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9).

THAT SHOULD BE OUR PERSONAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE...BECAUSE IT IS THAT WHICH HAS SET US FREE AND LOOSED US INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM....NOTHING ELSE. THIS IS WHAT THE CROSS SHOULD MEAN TO US - AMONG OTHER THINGS - IT SHOULD BE A SYMBOL OF OUR FREEDOM FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF SIN....AND A PROMISE OF TRUE JOY AND HAPPINESS IN THE COMING ETERNAL KINGDOM, IN JESUS' NAME, AMEN.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.....Galatians 5:1 (NASB).

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN ATHEISM, PART 2

PART 2 - THE REVOLUTIONARY HEROES

THOMAS JEFFERSON

THOMAS PAINE

His book was the inspiration for the rebels with a cause – theFounding Fathers of a prospective new country. His words fired up the soldiersright before General George Washington crossed the Delaware. 

He was the authorof “Common Sense”, the biggest seller since the King James andGeneva Bibles in America! His words “These are the times that try men’s souls”have been engraved in the American story. He was a tiny little Englishman whowas introduced by letter to America by another man who loved good living – theerstwhile Ben Franklin. His name was Thomas Paine.  Once the AmericanRevolution was won, however, Paine needed more literary fields to conquer andliked what he was hearing out of France and the evil Jacobin Club. He movedthere to  join the men behind the Age of Reason ….and fellow atheists –Voltaire, Rousseau and others. In fact Paine even wrote another popular book bythat same name and thus began the proposed elimination of Christianity and theBible in pagan France. Now, the French Revolution was about to start. Butunlike the freedom, God-loving spirit of America, these people had an agendafrom another world.

The Jacobins burned down catholic churches; killed priestsand used the guillotine to destroy the entire royal family and anyone else whomthey wished. Their goal was to wipe God off the map in France! Voltaire, whoselast words before he died were “my feet are on fire”, remarked during this timethat within 100 years, Christianity will be wiped out in France! This offendedAmericans to no end, and not just Christian America, but decent people of allstripes, including American newspapers.  President Washington, John Adamsand other Founding Fathers were horrified.  Locally, especially in theuniversities of the northeast, anti-God rhetoric was exploding.  Charles Chauncy  lit the fuse of atheism with his attacks on the orthodoxChristian doctrine of the Bible and his Unitarianism was taken to extremelengths by college students at Harvard, Yale and other now well-knownuniversities.

These young college students went full bore atheist as thebooks and literature of the Age of Reason reached our shores, via subsidiesfrom French atheists and the Jacobin Club, who hoped to do to AmericanChristianity what they did to the French church! The idolatry of these youngAmerican students for the new atheistic movement, in the “Age of Reason” knewno bounds! They even started acting like groupies by calling themselves by thenames of these unsaved men: Voltaire, Rousseau, La Rue and the bunch. These men along with others, two of whom we will examine tomorrow (Ethan Allen and Elihu Palmer) joined up with Jefferson's new political party: the Democratic-Republican Party,( which prophetically enough, just left the Name of God out of their party platform this week)!

But it was not just these unwise young men. The great Founding Father ThomasJefferson was always a Deist, but his stint in France as ambassador reallysolidified his dislike of Christianity. Not knowing the furor that Paine's anti-Christian book "The Age of Reason" and the despicable conduct of the Jacobins and others during the anti-Christian French Revolution, President Jefferson invited Tom Paine back to the US in 1801 to celebrate. The outrage which greeted the return of Tom Paine to these shores shocked Jefferson. Yet, he should have known as American newspapers and the newly independent country did not take kindly to Paine's attacks on George Washington and Christianity!

Here is how the New York Evening Post from 1802 greeted the great American Revolutionary Hero of the 1770's.....Tom Paine....the same Tom Paine, who now had to disguise himself, get an alias and sneak down to visit his old friend Jefferson in the White House:

TO TOM PAINE

Detested reptile! Wherefore has thou come

To add new evils to our groaning land?

To some wild desert let they carcase roam, 

Where nought can wither by thy blasting hand.

In the dark hour that brought thee to our shore

The shade of Washington did awful scowl-

Hence, gloomy monster! Curse mankind no more,

Thy person filthy as they soul is foul!

(Seasons of Refreshing by Keith Hardman, Baker Pub. Pg 105)

Wow!! I don't know any Christian these days who speaks to atheists like that! But this is how Paine was welcomed back to America, causing his atheist friend Jefferson to regret the whole thing. By the way, personally, I don't recommend speaking like this to our non-believing friends. We need to pray first for them, then if they still reject the Gospel, leave them in the capable Hands of God and walk away.

There have been many well-meaning Christians over the years, who try to project Christianity and belief in Christ to these men and other Founding Fathers. The most well-known is David Barton, who just had his own controversy when Thomas Nelson pulled his "The Jefferson Lies" book from all bookstores everywhere. Barton is famous for taking public quotes of these men about God, adding one plus one and coming up with eleven. Jefferson and his friends and party at the time were no more believers in God than the Jacobin friends he had.  Even his Secretary of War Henry Dearborn was an avowed atheist. Dearborn once said of Christianity and the church "So long as these temples stand we cannot hope for good government"!!!  

If there is any doubt why things are the way they are in a country that is now $16 Trillion in debt with moral and spiritual crisis that is unsurpassed in human history, all we have to do is look back and we can find where it all began!

Tomorrow: The Conclusion - "Ethan Allen and Elihu Palmer"