SABBATH THOUGHT 2024-05-11—THE ASSUMPTION THAT DESTROYED THE USA

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

The United States of America had its beginning when representatives of the thirteen states unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Before listing the many grievances against Britannia’s rule, it was clear that their decision was not made lightly. Included in the second paragraph of the Declaration is this statement:

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms [of government] to which they are accustomed.”

There is no question that Britain considered the Christian Bible as the basis of its religion, authority, and rule. But they had corrupted the Law of God through despotic oppression of all who were not participants in the power and acquisition of wealth behind the monarchy and its appointed authorities.

Even so, the Bible was not ignored in the formation of the new nation. The founding fathers rejected the corrupt rule of Britain but not the Law of God. They embraced it as the guarantee of the blessings that come from obedience to God. They penned this in the preamble:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people … to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them …

“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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

What followed the War of Independence from Britain was creation of the Constitution of the United States approved on March 4, 1789. It established the structure of the federal government into the three branches: the Congress, Presidency, and Supreme Court. The government was formed in order to:

“… establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

However, clearly absent from the Constitution was the means that would guarantee justice, tranquility, defense, welfare, and liberty. This came later in the form of the Bill of Rights ratified on December 15, 1791. It specified the “freedoms and rights” pertaining to speech, press, assembly, religion, and bearing of arms as well as limitations to judicial processes and power. In fact, the Constitution was only approved because of promises to include the amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Forming the governments for a new nation was incredibly difficult so it is stunning that the original Constitution itself failed to simply list the freedoms and rights denied under Britain. The reason was, as James Madison wrote, “the government can only exert the powers specified by the Constitution.” In other words, the people and states kept any powers not specifically authorized in the Constitution. Beyond that, all other authority was retained by the people and states, as was spelled out in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights was assurance that the federal government would be constrained by the Constitution. However, the founding fathers made one critical mistake. The Declaration of Independence records that they absolutely and commonly believed that the earth was established under the Law of God. This is evident when they wrote of the existence of “… the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God ….” Their thinking, indeed the very foundation of their very being, was such that they held “these truths to be self-evident, that all men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ….” That God created the earth and established His Law for all people was as unquestioned as air is for life.

But the Law of God never made it into either the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. They ASSUMED that successive generations would continue to regard God and His Law as the foundation for government, laws, freedoms, rights, and prosperity of the nation. And that assumption is disaster for us today.

Take, for example, freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights. It never included ALL speech. Speech that is harmful to individuals or the nation was never protected. Freedom of speech ensured that all are heard in matters that affect “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” which is the PURPOSE of the Bill of Rights.

The same is true for freedom of the press. It was to be an institution that reports facts so that all would be informed and able to personally make decisions on matters pertaining to their “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Bill of Rights does not allow the press to use deception and lies to sway public opinion.

The founding fathers always thought of freedom as being under the constraints of the Law of God. In true form it was not complete freedom but LIBERTY they tried to establish. They wanted freedom FROM oppression, servitude, and confinement; however, freedom requires constraints. Limited freedom is properly called liberty. It is living as we should, not as we please. However, they wrongly assumed that the Law of God would continue in the generations that followed. NOT specifically writing the Law of God into the Constitution or Bill of Rights has destroyed this country.

The corruption started with the “exercise of religion” free of government influence and control. The founding fathers believed they were creating a nation committed to the one true God and that religious freedom would be the guarantor of that. They never imagined it would be twisted to open the door to Satanists, witches, Islamists, pagans, atheists, and all other evil religions.

Once religious freedom was interpreted to allow every non-Christian abomination, it was only a matter of time before the principle of unconstrained freedom was applied to everything else. All of this is the outcome of assuming that the nation would continue to worship God who gave the earth ‘unalienable’ laws that guarantee “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But what was so critical to establish the freedoms in the Bill of Rights? The Ten Commandments. They are entirely absent from the Constitution and Bill of Rights. True liberty only exists if freedoms are constrained by laws, which is exactly what God with the ancient Israelites:

DEUTERONOMY 4:39-40 “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 “You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

The founding documents were ideologically based upon the Law of God. It was not written into them even though that was the mind and heart of the founding fathers. Think about what was once foundational to all classrooms—the Christian Bible and prayer. After they were banned from schools in 1962-3, everything changed.

Today, the rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights are gone. Ten Commandment plaques in government buildings have been torn down; owners are “deprived of property” by squatters and illegal aliens; abortion is legalized murder; “freedom of speech” protects porn and lies are no longer prosecuted as libel or slander; sexual perversity is taught to children instead of the Bible; violence is protected by the “right to assemble”; “unreasonable search and seizure” is up for interpretation; arrest warrants are issued without “probable cause”; people languish for months or years in jail without being charged so they are denied a “speedy trial”; there are no “impartial juries” and voir dire during jury selection is no longer ‘truth saying’ (the meaning of the French phrase); oaths are not binding and perjury is rampant; “cruel and unusual punishments” are inflicted upon victims as offenders go unpunished; government officials are no longer “Representatives” but dictators who live luxuriously on bribes; and the government regularly “denies and disparages the rights retained by people” by destroying political and moral opponents.

If the Ten Commandments were written into the governing documents of this country and religious freedom assured worship of the one true God, this country could still have some form of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” and such blessings might continue for many years. Instead, the founding fathers assumed that God would remain in the hearts and minds of people. For all their good intentions, that assumption has destroyed this country.

The Ten Commandments are the most amazing simplified law the world has ever known because every single crime, evil act, and abomination that takes away “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is encapsulated by them. But only for people who acknowledge the Supreme God. Those who do not … well, they are the same as those who are destroying this country.

The founding fathers could quote a lot of Scripture but, more importantly, they understood it. However, they overlooked the fact that even God did not leave things to chance. God knew that freeing the ancient Israelites from slavery was not enough. First and foremost, He established the Ten Commandments because He knew the human heart is “deceitful above all”[1]. Biblical statutes address real crimes. Do they cover every possibility? No, so judges of the Law were appointed to deal with the fact that “every intent of the thoughts of the heart of people is only evil continually.”[2]

The founding fathers focused on freedoms and rights, assuming that God would be in the hearts and minds of future generations. The Law of God is the constraint that assures “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” But people forget. Not including the “Thou shall not’s” in the founding documents was a terrible mistake.

In the end, the work of the founding fathers has failed but that would have been the result regardless of how well they wrote the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. This is obvious because no nation has lasted without God and His Law. Regardless, this nation has proven one thing to be true. When the Law of God is in the hearts and minds of people, they enjoy blessings of true liberty. When He is absent, the nation is destroyed. The founding fathers certainly knew this but the solution was also out of their reach:

JEREMIAH 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Constitutional lawyers and Supreme Court justices of today battle whether the Constitution and Bill of Rights should be ‘interpreted’ according to the founding fathers or the needs and desires of the people. Both are wrong. Scripture says “the Word of God is living.”[3] It is the means to life; not that it changes. Omitting the Ten Commandments from the founding documents has allowed wicked people to ‘forget’ that God and His Law is the foundation for freedoms and rights that bring “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” So, it is all vanishing away. Until God and His Law becomes the cornerstone of people’s hearts and minds, we are witnessing the suffering and death of a nation that once had every blessing of God.

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com