A few months ago, around Thanksgiving, I wrote an article (you can find it here) about the blessings that I have. In much the same vein I have been thinking about writing this article for some time now, and the longer that I wait, the more I see a need for it. History matters, facts matter, truth matters. Without history, we have no knowledge of the past, no knowledge of ways that we should not fail, no knowledge of God. Without facts, we have no knowledge that anything that we know or are taught is true. Someone could make up a story on the spot, and if we don't know the facts about what happened, we cannot even begin to comprehend if what they are saying is true or false. Without truth, we are doomed. For God is Truth, and without Him there isn't the smallest hope for any person alive.
I typically try to write in shorter amounts, as it provides a less time consuming activity for those who wish to read my article. However, as I begin to write this one, I feat that it may at least begin to delve into a length that is trending towards being "long". I do believe that when examining history, the context matters as well and therefore I hope to provide a framework that allows the reader to best learn, understand, and recognize the warnings of the past and the hope for the future.
People want to focus on America and how it was founded, but you can't even begin to understand that if you don't understand the background and heritage of the people who founded her. These people came from all over the world, seeking freedom of religion, a new chance at life, and sometimes an escape from their current endeavors in their home country. America upon it's founding was wild and beautiful, a country unexplored by the modern world. To understand the people who came to America, one must understand the world that they were coming from, and to understand the world that they were coming from, one must understand the history of the world and it's foundation. Namely, one must begin with Scripture and work their way from there to the present.
When one begins with this premise, one begins to see the nature of man and where he has come from. God created Adam and Eve in the Garden, from dust and a rib by His Word. All mankind to follow stems from these two individuals. It is here that so many make their first mistake in understanding history. They refuse to recognize God's account of the foundation of man and who he is. He is not something that evolved, for that would lead us to see that mankind could come from multiple sources and at different times. No, mankind was formed and created from the beginning by God alone. If one sees this foundation, then the rest can fall into place. If you cannot see this foundation as being critical in understanding history and mankind, then you will never understand history itself. For, the study of history is itself a reflection upon the actions of men long since passed from this world.
Adam and Eve sinned bringing death and destruction to the world. All present evil and hate stems from this one act in the Garden. Without it, there would be peace among all men. Since that time, mankind has sought to restore that peace on their own. C. S. Lewis said: "All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." When Adam sinned and brought death to all of his descendants, there was only one solution to the problem, one answer to the worlds problems. That solution was promised to Eve to come as her descendant and come He did. It wasn't in the timeframe that Eve hoped for since she hoped that He would be her son by birth. How she longed to be at peace as she was before her sin. She longed to walk in the presence of God once more! Yet, He would not come for many years, with history playing out over and over again in the same pattern. Trust in the Lord always was the command given, and yet it was rarely followed.
The nations of the world that spawned forth from Adam and Eve raged against one another seeking their own power and justice instead of the justice and mercy of God. Until, God destroyed every human alive except for eight individuals on the ark. From their line, all the earth has been populated. we now have in history two distinct times that God has used two people and eight people to fill the earth. Can we not now begin to see that God creates needed nothing but Himself and creates amazingly? He not only created man, but created him in such a way that he would be able to populate the entire earth twice! If we all come from one man, then why are there divisions? The above quote from Lewis would seem to state it perfectly, that man seeks something, anything other than God to bring happiness due to their sin! Sin leads to hatred, for isn't that what led to Cain killing Able? Isn't that what led to the death of Jesus?
Jesus died on the cross to redeem a people for Himself. A people that spans all of time, past, present, and future. He died to redeem Adam and He died to redeem the last chosen saint that will ever be born. It is through His redemption that we can see that Lewis is pointing to. Our own efforts will never bring peace and happiness, but in God, in God all the mercies and grace of the Father are bestowed upon those whom He loves! This love covers a multitude of sins and casts them as far away as the east is from the west. There is Hope! There is Joy! There is happiness in Christ!
At the time of Jesus's death, Rome ruled the world, just as the Egyptians, Persians, and Babylonians had before them. The nations of the world never change the pattern, it was merely the same example over and over again. God raises a nation to cause His will to be done and once He has finished with them, they fade into history as an old painting fades in the sunlight. Ever growing smaller in the next generations eyes, ever growing weaker in the assumption of their valor and might. Their power and grip over the world at the time that they had it didn't change, for no one could conquer them. Merely, the understanding of who they were and what they accomplished faded as the flower.
George Washington said, "We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience." Have we not seen enough history to learn? Has God not been patient with us? Has He not born with much patience vessels prepared for destruction in order to bring life to those He loves? History is not to be remembered for history itself, for it is no longer the present and serves to remind us of the failures of man over and over again. What Washington was saying is that the knowledge that is gained throughout life that experience, was dearly purchased by those who lived it. The sacrifices of war and the strife amongst family in defending ones beliefs never changes, but the way it is encountered should. However, as Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Never before have I been more convicted of this statement than I now am. Our country is in turmoil, and men are seeking peace and happiness in everything other than their Creator. We have destroyed statues and plaques commemorating events in our 400 year history that have been deemed worthless or upsetting. By doing so we have ensured for our future generation that they will be "A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." (Robert Heinlein) We have taken away one of the greatest strengths that this country had. The perseverance and courage to follow Christ above all. The determination to stand for what you believe, no matter the cost. The ability to destroy the very livelihood of half the country and yet recover! The ability to welcome foreigners with open arms to a shore that provides opportunities that could only be dreamed of. FREEDOM! Such a simple word, yet costing so much.
Freedom was given by God, not men. Therefore, the founding of America was built upon the truth of God, and it can only stand as such. Without upholding the truth of God, we will become as the Persians, the Romans, the Egyptians. We will fall away into history as just another nation that no one knows anything about. Instead of fighting to uphold this ideal, we as a nation are violently seeking our own destruction. James H. Aughey said, "The great comprehensive truths written in letters of living light on every page of our history are these: Human happiness has no perfect security but freedom; freedom none but virtue; virtue none but knowledge; and neither freedom nor virtue has any vigor of immortal hope, except in the principles of Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion." This is truth! Without Christ, there is no hope for freedom, for happiness, for truth. Without Christ, we are nothing!
An understanding of history can spare many a sorrow. "History maketh a young man to be old, without wrinkles or gray hairs, privileging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities or inconveniences thereof." (Thomas Fuller) We have been given a gift, we are a young nation, able to see the follies of those who have come before us. Yet, we refuse to even recognize their prior existence, much less to learn from their errors and destruction. Have we not seen Hitler and the rise and fall of Marxism? Have we not seen Stalin and the immense poverty that he placed upon his fellow countrymen in the attempt to bring equality to all? Have we not seen civil war, raging from coast to coast as men fought to give all they had to ensure the freedom of all? Are we really willing to ignore and topple all of that history in an attempt at trying to do their versions but a different way? Have we not seen enough!?
The church in America has failed miserably to uphold history is justice. For, if it had not, wouldn't people understand where they came from? Would schools be teaching evolution that was invented in the 1800s? Genesis to Revelation is history, it is the oldest historical work that exits. Yet, the church has seemed to write off its power in helping us to see the blessings and knowledge that it contains. Rebel against God, and you will be destroyed. We are doomed to repeat history because the church has failed to present it to a dying world all around them. "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next." (C.S. Lewis) Can we not see the truth in this? Those most remembered throughout church history are not those who sided with the world or compromised, they are those who cared little for the flesh and set the world on fire with passion for a King that was worth dying for.
The church in America has ignored history. They have believed a lie that men are not created equal by God, no matter how another sees them. They have insisted that the world has much to offer in the way of assistance rather than realizing that all of human history can be understood by understanding the pages of Scripture. If God has created something one way, then who is man to attempt to change it? All men, ALL, are created equal before God. The deformities their bodies may have, their height, their weight, their skin color, it is all equal. They are man, He is God. They are either in Christ, or they are not. The Gospel does not distinguish between skin tone, but deciphers the heart! "History shows that when the church uses the tools of the world's kingdom, it becomes as ineffectual, or as tyrannical, as any other power structure. And whenever the church has intermingled with the state, the appeal of the faith suffers as well. Ironically, our respect in the world declines in proportion to how vigorously we attempt to force others to adopt our point of view." (Phillips Brooks) The use of CRT/I is destroying the witness of the church. It is taking manmade attempts at happiness and twisting Scripture to try to justify their use.
Slavery was practiced across the entire world, it was not an American construct. Yet, as a nation founded on freedom, we fought our brothers to ensure its destruction. For assuredly, slavery as it existed in America was truly evil. It's destruction instead of ruining our country made us stronger. We grew and grew into a mighty world power. All the while we began to think that it was due to our own strength rather than the One who raises nations to do His bidding. We were raised to bring freedom to physical lives as a taste of what freedom is like in Christ! Yet, we went from a country of men, warriors fighting for truth and justice, to a country where we don't even know the difference between Hellen Keller and Hitler.
Our youngest generation fails to even see 100 years into the past. If we do not correct this wrong swiftly, our nation will be lost to similar forces as devoured every other country that has turned its back on God throughout the history of man. The greatest strength of a nation does not lie in its army, it lies in the strength of its churches. Those that fill the armies are either fueled by self, which stands against little or they are fueled by Christ. Oh! And who can stand against us who are fueled by the Spirit! The defiance that America had in standing up to tyranny around the world for many years fades daily. Yet, there is hope. Churches must rise up, they must open their doors to their neighborhoods, they must preach Christ and Him crucified. For, He is the only hope that we have as a nation. Hitler didn't take over half the world because of military strength, he took it over by causing the people to see God as little and abandoning their faith. Do not abandon your faith in this time of trial. Repent of your Peterly cowardice and raise a faithful banner to the only One who can hold you fast.
When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast; When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path; For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast.
He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.
Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast; Precious in his holy sight, He will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last; Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast.
He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.
For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast; Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast. Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast 'Till our faith is turned to sight, When He comes at last!
He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.
-Keith Getty
Kommentarer